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Speaker 1: Pushkin bad time. I was just stepping out. I was

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Speaker 1: just you enjoy music, right, Yeah. This week's show kind

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Speaker 1: of deals with music, and it got me thinking. I

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Speaker 1: have a confession to make. You know how, sometimes, like

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Speaker 1: you have dinner parties and they're great. I wanted to say,

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Speaker 1: sometimes how you sometimes play music? Yeah, sometimes I'm a

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Speaker 1: little hesitant to come over for dinner.

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Speaker 2: You're always hesitant to come over for dinner.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's not including Mary Club's forty fifth birthday. Do

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Speaker 1: you remember that? I do you know that Bumballeo song?

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Speaker 1: I can't find my Gypsy King CD because your husband

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Speaker 1: hit it. It's killing me, killing everybody. The reason sometimes

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Speaker 1: I have some difficulty with my digestion these dinner parties

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Speaker 1: is it's the Bumballeo song. It's the Gypsy Kings. Oh

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Speaker 1: this is great. You know what bumble bambalaya translates as

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Speaker 1: what wobble wobble? All right, we'll speak to you one

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Speaker 1: thing before we go. Okay, I'm going to say bumbalao

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Speaker 1: and then you say bumbalaya. Okay, I do, and then I.

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Speaker 3: Bomb bye bye.

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Speaker 1: From Gimblet Media. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is Heavyweight

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Speaker 1: today's episode, Gregor.

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Speaker 2: This guy's gonna ram you from behind because you're going

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Speaker 2: eleven miles left, although you usually don't do it from

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Speaker 2: the right line.

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Speaker 3: Okay, let's not give killed. Do you have a driver's license?

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Speaker 1: This is Gregor and me on our way to lunch,

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Speaker 1: and what you're hearing is typical. When I'm driving, Gregor

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Speaker 1: comments on my speed. When I eat, he comments on

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Speaker 1: my table manners, and when I eat yogurt, he comments

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Speaker 1: on the way I lick the inside lid, calling it

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Speaker 1: both lecherous and unmanly. Some might say that Gregor is

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Speaker 1: overly critical, possibly even prickly, but I would not. I

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Speaker 1: love Gregor for many reasons. His loyalty, his generosity, his

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Speaker 1: being the kind of person will pick you up at

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Speaker 1: the airport at four in the morning without even complaining.

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Speaker 1: But it's perhaps his courage to say the things that

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Speaker 1: were all not exactly thinking, but maybe thinking about thinking,

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Speaker 1: that is most thrilling. And so when he showed up

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Speaker 1: at my office mocking himself instead of me and speaking

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Speaker 1: in biblical parables, I was concerned.

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Speaker 2: Was it the Pharaoh and the Joseph story who said

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Speaker 2: the seven lean years and seven fat years?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: I had this insight today that the fat years are

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Speaker 2: about to end.

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Speaker 1: Would these have been the fat years?

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Speaker 2: That's what I realized Literally this morning. I woke up

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Speaker 2: and I was like, wait, those were the fat years?

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Speaker 2: You know, in every conceivable way, financially, stability, prestige, all

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Speaker 2: the job stuff, and like creative accomplishment stuff. I just

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Speaker 2: feel like it's like going up and I'm watching it

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Speaker 2: go up and smoke.

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Speaker 1: Gregor is forty eight years old and by profession he

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Speaker 1: makes marketing videos for a cleaning product usually found in

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Speaker 1: the bathroom. I can't tell you the name of this

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Speaker 1: product for fear Gregor will lose his job. In other words,

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Speaker 1: he's not the filmo tour he dreamt of being back

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Speaker 1: in his college days, underlining back issues of Kye to Cinema.

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Speaker 1: On top of that, he says that over the past

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Speaker 1: few years he's seen his career slowly sucked downward. Not

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Speaker 1: unlike Oh, I don't know, the spiraling waters of a

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Speaker 1: sink unclogged by a chemical drain opener designed to flush

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Speaker 1: pipes and attack clogs at their worst.

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Speaker 2: What's that children's game where everyone goes around the chairs

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Speaker 2: musical chairs, chairs, and everyone sits down, and you're like, oh,

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Speaker 2: that friend of mine became a CEO. These four friends

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Speaker 2: are like EVP SVP senior whatever.

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Speaker 3: At their things.

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Speaker 2: That friend of mine wound up sitting in the president

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Speaker 2: of Estonia's chair, and then you're like the music stops

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Speaker 2: and you're left standing.

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Speaker 1: I've heard him reel off this list before, and Gregor

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Speaker 1: fully admits it. The success of anyone he knows, no

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Speaker 1: matter how thin, his connection to them, feels like a

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Speaker 1: reflection of his own shortcomings, including the ascension of his

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Speaker 1: elementary school's librarian son, who is now the president of Estonia.

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Speaker 2: The point of the story is where's my presidency of

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Speaker 2: my Estonia? My circumstances was. I was like, oh things

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Speaker 2: will you know, about to break through, about to change?

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Speaker 2: And now, like you could say, well, this is just

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Speaker 2: to setback, it's you know whatever, Soon your ship's going

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Speaker 2: to come in.

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Speaker 3: But it's just not you know. I mean, that's just

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Speaker 3: the simple truth, the uncomfortable truth.

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Speaker 1: Of all Gregor's stories about the success of his acquaintances

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Speaker 1: and friends, there's one story that he returns to most,

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Speaker 1: and not only is it the greatest success story of

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Speaker 1: them all, it's the one that touched his life the

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Speaker 1: most intimately. The story all begins about twenty years ago

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Speaker 1: in Manhattan, when Gregor was living in a small apartment

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Speaker 1: in Chinatown with his older brother Dimitri. One night, they

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Speaker 1: had a friend of theirs over for dinner, a techno

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Speaker 1: musician friend.

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Speaker 2: He was really poor at the time. He was living

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Speaker 2: in like I think, in like a basement in a

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Speaker 2: warehouse or something, for forty dollars a month. He was

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Speaker 2: an articulate smart guy, still an articular smart guy, but

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Speaker 2: he's sort of an unlikely rock star in that his

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Speaker 2: hair had mostly fallen out even when we were still

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Speaker 2: in our twenties. But I watched his ascent. He played

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Speaker 2: the bigger and bigger crowds during this techno kind of stuff.

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Speaker 2: And then eventually he got a record contract, and I

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Speaker 2: at the time got hold of a very obscure set

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Speaker 2: of CDs which were field.

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Speaker 4: Hollers oooh on troubles.

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Speaker 3: I thought it was really interesting stuff. I loaned him

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Speaker 3: this box set of CDs.

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Speaker 4: Oooh lone trouble.

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Speaker 2: So he then sampled it very heavily god and created

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Speaker 2: a record which got him very rich and very famous.

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Speaker 1: This guy you're speaking of, This guy's Moby trouble. Moby

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Speaker 1: bald headed, bespectacled, castle dwelling, multi million records selling Moby.

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Speaker 1: But back then he was just Gregor's pal who spent

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Speaker 1: weekends at Gregor's family's place and attended family birthday parties too.

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Speaker 1: In bars and during long car rides, Gregor and Moby

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Speaker 1: had long, earnest conversations about God and the things they believed.

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Speaker 1: They were living their twenties together and those CDs Gregor

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Speaker 1: lent Moby. The Box. Sounds of the South was recorded

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Speaker 1: by the ethno musicologist Alan Lomax. Beginning in the nineteen thirties,

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Speaker 1: Lomax and his father John made thousands of field recordings,

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Speaker 1: mostly in the American South. These recordings are among the

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Speaker 1: most important in American music, preserving dozens of African American

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Speaker 1: songs from the early years of the twentieth century. Wait

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Speaker 1: some Time better know than Alas some Time. Another hit

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Speaker 1: on Moby's album is called Honey. It makes use of

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Speaker 1: the song sometimes sung by Bessie Smith Jones. Jones was

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Speaker 1: taught these songs by her grandfather, a former slave born

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Speaker 1: in Africa. This is Moby's version, So is everybody feeling alive?

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Speaker 1: Y I've here elected to play for you the live

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Speaker 1: version of the song with all of its foot stomping

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Speaker 1: and audience cheering. It's how I imagine Gregor hears it

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Speaker 1: echoing in his head during those sleepless nights when his

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Speaker 1: kishka's are slowly being corroded by battery ascid.

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Speaker 2: When I discovered this CD set, I was like an evangelist.

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Speaker 2: I was like, this is amazing. You got to check

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Speaker 2: this out. He was over the house and I was like,

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Speaker 2: you got to take this home. This is amazing stuff.

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Speaker 2: This is the best CD I've heard. You know, I

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Speaker 2: don't know how long I've been listening to NonStop rotation.

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Speaker 3: I love the CD. So it wasn't just laying in

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Speaker 3: a pile. And he happened to put it in his

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Speaker 3: bag and walk out the door.

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Speaker 2: I said, I sold him on it.

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Speaker 1: And Moby makes use of several Lomax recordings on his

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Speaker 1: album Play, which went multi platinum. Play eventually became one

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Speaker 1: of the most commercially licensed albums ever recorded. At the time,

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Speaker 1: the songs were used to promote everything from luxury cars

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Speaker 1: to credit cards, and before Play, according to Rolling Stone Magazine,

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Speaker 1: Moby was quote bumbling around New York as it has been,

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Speaker 1: And then was there an intermediary step before or that?

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Speaker 1: And then hearing it on the CD where he said, hey,

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Speaker 1: by the way, thanks.

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Speaker 2: No, I said, this is amazing thing. Next thing I

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Speaker 2: heard it's on the radio and I said, hey, can

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Speaker 2: I get that box setback?

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Speaker 3: And then years of not being friends.

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Speaker 1: And according to Gregor, that was all he wanted to

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Speaker 1: get his CDs back. He was looking for neither riches

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Speaker 1: nor credit, just the CDs, which he claims were only alone.

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Speaker 1: And so this is how it went. He began leaving

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Speaker 1: Moby voice messages by Gregor's count, about a dozen that

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Speaker 1: all went unanswered. Then, in a final act of desperation,

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Speaker 1: Gregor penned a song called Moby give Me Back my CDs,

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Speaker 1: which he sang into Moby's answering machine with accompanying karaoke

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Speaker 1: music to the tune of Brian Adams Heaven. After much cajoling,

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Speaker 1: Gregor dug up his lyrics, which I will now perform

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Speaker 1: for you, Moby give me back my CDs. The recordings

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Speaker 1: from the yield the Alan Lomax box at CDs. I

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Speaker 1: think there were seven. Those discs are all that I need.

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Speaker 1: The ones I gave you from my house. I think

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Speaker 1: you'll be sure to see there were seven and that message,

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Speaker 1: Gregor says, was met with over a decade of silence.

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Speaker 1: Did he ever explain, like, did he just ever come

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Speaker 1: out and tell you honestly what became of those CDs?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 2: I think he was busy, like playing, like, you know,

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Speaker 2: a concert to ninety thousand people in Rykovic and drinking

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Speaker 2: champagne out of a prostitute shoe. Couldn't be bothered, Obviously,

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Speaker 2: I put an exaggerated value on the CDs. I'm sure

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Speaker 2: he could have sampled anything, and he had a plenty

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Speaker 2: big career before.

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Speaker 3: That and after that.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not insane, but it was more that

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Speaker 2: displaced feeling of like I had this thing go off

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Speaker 2: and bloom without me.

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Speaker 1: M m.

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Speaker 2: I'll tell you an interesting detail in that. Yeah, whenever

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Speaker 2: Moby music comes on, I can't listen to it.

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Speaker 1: But do you think if you get it back you

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Speaker 1: won't feel that way.

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Speaker 2: I feel like I could work it through like therapy

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Speaker 2: where I could then listen to the music again.

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Speaker 3: You know, there's a sense of what.

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Speaker 1: About my you know, where's my gold album?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Gregor has theories about why nothing ever happened for him,

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Speaker 1: and they revolve around an aspect of his personality, an

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Speaker 1: aspect he refers to as a lack of affability.

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Speaker 2: Like a lot of times I'll say something completely earnestly

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Speaker 2: mm hmm, like past the water, and they're like, are

201
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Speaker 2: you being sarcastic?

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Speaker 3: Like that happened to me all the time?

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Speaker 1: How could you ask for the water sarcastically?

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Speaker 3: I come across as being sarcastic when I'm not.

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Speaker 1: So it's almost like a handicap of.

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Speaker 3: It's a huge handicap.

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Speaker 2: I think it's fundamentally, as I understand my own life,

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Speaker 2: that is my cross to bear. That's what's wrecked my well.

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Speaker 1: I think you would even like you told me that

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Speaker 1: story about where you were in the conference room at work,

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Speaker 1: They're like complimenting you on your new glasses or something

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Speaker 1: and saying, hey, what does your wife think of those glasses?

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Speaker 1: And you were like, how the fuck do I know?

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Speaker 1: Why don't you ask my own wife to find out?

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Speaker 1: Do you remember?

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Speaker 5: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: I don't remember.

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Speaker 1: I mean, so.

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Speaker 3: They said like, what is your wife think of that?

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Speaker 3: I was like, how do I know? Ask my wife?

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Speaker 1: Recently, Gregor and Moby have found themselves back in touch,

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Speaker 1: though in the most tangential impersonal way possible through group

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Speaker 1: emails and texts. Gregor's older brother Dimitri, remained friends with

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Speaker 1: Moby over the years, and Dmitri recently had a baby,

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Speaker 1: so he loops in Moby, Gregor, and one other old

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Speaker 1: friend on updates. This has evolved into a small group

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Speaker 1: of friends exchanging witticisms and fun facts like did you

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Speaker 1: know that the fatty flesh around the elbow is called

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Speaker 1: a weness? So while the new group email friendship isn't

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Speaker 1: the same as the old close one, it's still an

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Speaker 1: open door, and so I couldn't help asking the question,

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Speaker 1: now that that door has swung open again, do you

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Speaker 1: see this as an opportunity to ask for those CDs

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Speaker 1: once again?

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Speaker 2: I was thinking about it, were you just because it's

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Speaker 2: kind of a little symbolic of what I don't even

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Speaker 2: have a CD player anymore, right, But I was just thinking,

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Speaker 2: for talismonic purposes, it would be interesting to have.

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Speaker 1: Them back say more about that.

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Speaker 3: I think that it might soothe me.

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Speaker 1: Do you really think it would?

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Speaker 2: I'll actually give you the clarity which just came to me, now, okay,

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Speaker 2: it's not Instead of the money and the fame and

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Speaker 2: all that stuff. What it is is tangible evidence. Understand

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Speaker 2: you did this, you exist, you did it, you pulled

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Speaker 2: it off.

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Speaker 1: You want to be able to say, see these CDs

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Speaker 1: on the shelf, that's.

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Speaker 2: The ones that I gave to mommy, because for me,

250
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Speaker 2: this would just be a version of proof.

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Speaker 1: Wanting the CDs you lent someone decades ago and expecting

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Speaker 1: them back is of course insanity, but insanity's repeated often enough,

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Speaker 1: especially between friends, can begin to feel pacifying, lulling.

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Speaker 3: Even.

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Speaker 1: Excuse me, in a way, you just want your due.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Do you think you can articulate that in a way

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Speaker 1: that would make it understandable to him?

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Speaker 2: Do you think I'm pretty confident I can't, because he's

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Speaker 2: still pretty sensitive.

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Speaker 1: Okay, pretty sensitive, pretty sensitive. Like the time Moby seemed

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Speaker 1: to bristle when Gregor emailed him about something totally innocuous,

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Speaker 1: a condolence for the death of Moby's friend David Bowie.

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Speaker 2: You know, I said some witty thing about David Bowie dying,

265
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Speaker 2: he wrote, like texted back, like the picture of him

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Speaker 2: and David Bowie in the cover of Entertainment.

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Speaker 1: Let's back up for a moment, what was the witty

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Speaker 1: thing you said about David Bowie's death?

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Speaker 3: You know that good night funny man?

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Speaker 1: What does that even mean?

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Speaker 3: That's usually what I say when people die.

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Speaker 1: If this is a sampling of the hot takes Gregor

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Speaker 1: has in store, I fear that this newly opened door

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Speaker 1: between Moby and Gregor might not remain open forever. I

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Speaker 1: also knew that if he has any hope of ever

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Speaker 1: getting back those CDs, he'll need a middleman or interlocutor

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Speaker 1: or interlocutor. So perhaps, against my better judgment, I allow

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Speaker 1: myself to be swept up by the moment. I just

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Speaker 1: don't know if this is going to lead to anything

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Speaker 1: but heartbreak? But why don't we go after the CDs?

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Speaker 3: All right?

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Speaker 1: And with that ringing call to arms, my path was

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Speaker 1: set and the mission begun. Say I'm Moby, Like, how

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00:16:03,730 --> 00:16:04,730
Speaker 1: would you ask.

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Speaker 3: Hey, Moby, can I have back those CDs? I've never

286
00:16:08,610 --> 00:16:11,170
Speaker 3: understood approach other than a direct approach, So that's what

287
00:16:11,170 --> 00:16:11,570
Speaker 3: I would do.

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Speaker 1: After the break the Hollywood Hills, a surprise encounter with

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00:16:16,050 --> 00:16:29,530
Speaker 1: Rue Paul and maybe Moby. Maybe the airline tickets were purchased,

290
00:16:29,730 --> 00:16:32,490
Speaker 1: the hotel was booked, but a couple days before we

291
00:16:32,490 --> 00:16:37,210
Speaker 1: were set to leave for La, I got nervous. If

292
00:16:37,250 --> 00:16:40,170
Speaker 1: Gregor already was in a bad place, could my meddling

293
00:16:40,410 --> 00:16:41,690
Speaker 1: possibly make things worse?

294
00:16:42,130 --> 00:16:42,410
Speaker 3: Hello?

295
00:16:43,210 --> 00:16:43,810
Speaker 1: Hey Annika?

296
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Speaker 5: Yeah, Jonathan.

297
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Speaker 1: I decided to reach out to the person who knows

298
00:16:47,370 --> 00:16:53,530
Speaker 1: Gregor best, his wife, Annika. So do you know about

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00:16:53,530 --> 00:16:57,450
Speaker 1: this this little project that your husband and I are undertaking?

300
00:16:58,810 --> 00:17:01,970
Speaker 5: So I think that the is a strategy to like

301
00:17:02,010 --> 00:17:05,170
Speaker 5: ambush Moby and try and get him to give back

302
00:17:05,210 --> 00:17:08,930
Speaker 5: the CDs that he lent Gregor thirty years ago or however,

303
00:17:09,450 --> 00:17:11,129
Speaker 5: well it was ago. Is that true?

304
00:17:11,889 --> 00:17:16,170
Speaker 1: You make it sound like such a classy operation. Yeah.

305
00:17:16,649 --> 00:17:19,609
Speaker 1: Has Gregor brought this issue up to you before this

306
00:17:19,649 --> 00:17:22,570
Speaker 1: whole Alan Lomack CD issue?

307
00:17:23,169 --> 00:17:29,090
Speaker 5: So I met him on November eleventh, two thousand, Yeah,

308
00:17:29,129 --> 00:17:35,449
Speaker 5: and it came up pretty early in our relationship, so.

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00:17:35,409 --> 00:17:39,050
Speaker 1: He yeah, like first date conversation, It was.

310
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Speaker 5: Definitely early on. It's very hard for him to let

311
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Speaker 5: stuff go. And like, even like early on our relationship,

312
00:17:46,330 --> 00:17:51,769
Speaker 5: we went to Spain together and we bought a bottle

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00:17:51,810 --> 00:17:54,729
Speaker 5: of olive oil in some town or something and we

314
00:17:54,850 --> 00:17:57,529
Speaker 5: left it by accident in the rental car and it

315
00:17:57,689 --> 00:17:59,129
Speaker 5: still bothers him.

316
00:18:00,250 --> 00:18:02,570
Speaker 1: Do you know. I think I actually know that Olive

317
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Speaker 1: Oil story.

318
00:18:03,609 --> 00:18:09,129
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, yeah. There is something that is in his

319
00:18:09,250 --> 00:18:12,209
Speaker 5: character that is very much like the Larry David character,

320
00:18:12,250 --> 00:18:16,050
Speaker 5: where it's like, you know, like obsessing about a very

321
00:18:16,090 --> 00:18:19,689
Speaker 5: small point. But you know, he's a very he's like

322
00:18:19,730 --> 00:18:23,730
Speaker 5: a very sensitive person. So it's just part of who

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Speaker 5: he is and part of his wonderful package.

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Speaker 1: Does this undertaking have your blessing or do you think

325
00:18:31,850 --> 00:18:32,649
Speaker 1: it's foolhardy?

326
00:18:33,409 --> 00:18:36,649
Speaker 5: I don't. I sometimes I worry about Gregor's feelings because

327
00:18:36,649 --> 00:18:41,210
Speaker 5: he is very hurt, very easily, and I don't know

328
00:18:41,250 --> 00:18:52,050
Speaker 5: if Moby is really that sensitive to his feelings.

329
00:18:54,530 --> 00:18:58,289
Speaker 1: I Gregor flew in from San Francisco and I was

330
00:18:58,290 --> 00:19:01,210
Speaker 1: there to greet him at the Bob Hope International Airport

331
00:19:01,290 --> 00:19:01,969
Speaker 1: in Burbank.

332
00:19:02,169 --> 00:19:04,050
Speaker 3: So this is the dream factory I've heard about.

333
00:19:04,050 --> 00:19:08,969
Speaker 1: It's beautiful here. Even the underground parking lots smell like sentent.

334
00:19:09,929 --> 00:19:12,889
Speaker 1: We have four hours before our appointment with Moby, so

335
00:19:12,929 --> 00:19:16,170
Speaker 1: we set off in our economy sized Krrio or similar

336
00:19:16,570 --> 00:19:23,930
Speaker 1: to experience everything LA has to offer. Are you excited? Yeah,

337
00:19:24,050 --> 00:19:25,290
Speaker 1: you don't sound excited.

338
00:19:26,090 --> 00:19:27,170
Speaker 3: No, I'm full of anxiety.

339
00:19:27,209 --> 00:19:30,969
Speaker 2: And let me tell you I feel an increasing sense

340
00:19:31,090 --> 00:19:33,889
Speaker 2: of dread about the futility of this undertaking.

341
00:19:34,689 --> 00:19:36,570
Speaker 1: You can get those CDs back, my friend.

342
00:19:36,770 --> 00:19:38,730
Speaker 3: Okay, whatever you say in a.

343
00:19:38,649 --> 00:19:40,649
Speaker 1: Plastic bag, which he'll supply.

344
00:19:41,889 --> 00:19:45,609
Speaker 6: You're gonna negotiate this look manage at which time of

345
00:19:45,649 --> 00:19:51,450
Speaker 6: my client's choosing the one plastic bag recycled acceptable plus

346
00:19:51,689 --> 00:19:54,769
Speaker 6: one coupon good for any flavor from basket in Robin's

347
00:19:54,770 --> 00:19:59,050
Speaker 6: ice cream or any substante there too.

348
00:20:01,730 --> 00:20:04,090
Speaker 1: With just three hours and fifty nine minutes to go,

349
00:20:04,609 --> 00:20:08,249
Speaker 1: things were off to a rollicking start. It's like not moving.

350
00:20:08,490 --> 00:20:10,370
Speaker 3: There's always traffic in Los Angeles.

351
00:20:10,490 --> 00:20:12,249
Speaker 1: Look at the traffic. Are we gonna make it for movies?

352
00:20:12,570 --> 00:20:14,289
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're gonna be stuck in horrible traffic.

353
00:20:14,970 --> 00:20:18,290
Speaker 1: We have until two, No, we have until one.

354
00:20:18,570 --> 00:20:19,809
Speaker 3: Oh really we'll never make it.

355
00:20:23,530 --> 00:20:26,730
Speaker 1: Oh look there's the big Hollywood sign. Wow, what a sight.

356
00:20:26,850 --> 00:20:29,969
Speaker 1: Huh used to say Hollywood.

357
00:20:29,490 --> 00:20:32,969
Speaker 2: Land Actually before that it was called hollywood Landville.

358
00:20:33,010 --> 00:20:38,330
Speaker 1: Is that true?

359
00:20:38,929 --> 00:20:40,929
Speaker 3: Do you want Mexican food? Do you ever eat Mexican food?

360
00:20:40,970 --> 00:20:43,770
Speaker 1: I love Mexican food. And to make U turn yeah,

361
00:20:43,810 --> 00:20:45,689
Speaker 1: go go go? This is like a four lane uie,

362
00:20:45,810 --> 00:20:46,889
Speaker 1: it's six really.

363
00:20:46,730 --> 00:20:47,690
Speaker 3: Go go go go?

364
00:20:47,850 --> 00:20:53,449
Speaker 2: Yes, when you knew to someone before they were famous,

365
00:20:53,810 --> 00:20:57,609
Speaker 2: and you treat them like someone who's not famous. Sometimes

366
00:20:57,649 --> 00:21:00,530
Speaker 2: they don't like that. Sometimes they're used to the difference

367
00:21:00,649 --> 00:21:02,129
Speaker 2: and the rock star treatment from everyone.

368
00:21:02,250 --> 00:21:04,729
Speaker 1: Can you can you try to treat them with a

369
00:21:04,770 --> 00:21:05,649
Speaker 1: little more difference.

370
00:21:06,689 --> 00:21:07,570
Speaker 3: That's what I'm gonna try to.

371
00:21:07,649 --> 00:21:12,689
Speaker 2: But the mask always slips.

372
00:21:10,689 --> 00:21:13,050
Speaker 1: Insofar as me coming here with you, How do you

373
00:21:13,129 --> 00:21:16,129
Speaker 1: feel about me as an interlocutor?

374
00:21:16,850 --> 00:21:19,050
Speaker 2: I'm actually full of dread mostly because of that.

375
00:21:19,330 --> 00:21:20,409
Speaker 1: But what is that supposed to me?

376
00:21:21,050 --> 00:21:23,330
Speaker 2: Because I recognize that I need an interlocutor. I did

377
00:21:23,369 --> 00:21:24,929
Speaker 2: say that, and I do believe it. I think that

378
00:21:24,970 --> 00:21:26,570
Speaker 2: you're going to be allows the interlocutor.

379
00:21:26,770 --> 00:21:28,369
Speaker 1: What do you think I'm gonna embarrass you in front

380
00:21:28,369 --> 00:21:29,850
Speaker 1: of your yes, famous friends?

381
00:21:29,929 --> 00:21:31,250
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, that's.

382
00:21:31,050 --> 00:21:37,489
Speaker 1: What you're afraid of. Yes? No, But seriously, you think

383
00:21:37,490 --> 00:21:38,209
Speaker 1: I'm gonna blow this?

384
00:21:39,010 --> 00:21:40,689
Speaker 2: I just feel like you don't get the vibe of

385
00:21:40,689 --> 00:21:42,449
Speaker 2: what it's like when you're in like a guy's house

386
00:21:42,970 --> 00:21:43,770
Speaker 2: and you're gonna.

387
00:21:43,570 --> 00:21:46,010
Speaker 1: Be like, say, nice toilets, what are he's made of?

388
00:21:46,090 --> 00:21:46,530
Speaker 4: Porcelain?

389
00:21:47,169 --> 00:21:51,449
Speaker 2: Ay, I'm gonna be like Johnny please, and you'll be like, no,

390
00:21:51,570 --> 00:21:52,529
Speaker 2: I don't know what they're made up?

391
00:21:53,209 --> 00:21:55,250
Speaker 1: Is to me the final iroty of this whole thing

392
00:21:55,290 --> 00:21:57,809
Speaker 1: that you're concerned that I'm gonna embarrass you.

393
00:21:58,090 --> 00:21:59,770
Speaker 2: I don't want you to trip me up in my game,

394
00:21:59,850 --> 00:22:01,570
Speaker 2: my stride, my cadence.

395
00:22:01,290 --> 00:22:02,649
Speaker 1: And what is it gonna be a part of your

396
00:22:02,689 --> 00:22:04,130
Speaker 1: game here to.

397
00:22:04,090 --> 00:22:05,969
Speaker 2: Try and relax and be myself. But I'm gonna be

398
00:22:05,970 --> 00:22:07,730
Speaker 2: made self conscious when you're like, do.

399
00:22:07,730 --> 00:22:09,449
Speaker 3: You validate parking here?

400
00:22:09,770 --> 00:22:15,169
Speaker 1: And I just need you to validate God, this is

401
00:22:15,209 --> 00:22:17,409
Speaker 1: so pretty, What a pretty place to live?

402
00:22:17,889 --> 00:22:19,689
Speaker 3: Hey, well you're selling off CDs. You can live in

403
00:22:19,730 --> 00:22:20,369
Speaker 3: a place like this.

404
00:22:20,929 --> 00:22:23,570
Speaker 1: Worried about our being tardy, I decided to run down

405
00:22:23,609 --> 00:22:28,850
Speaker 1: the clock doing laps around Moby's very pretty block, little

406
00:22:28,889 --> 00:22:31,689
Speaker 1: tiny houses. They keep going straight. This is really pretty

407
00:22:32,369 --> 00:22:33,490
Speaker 1: nice view of the mountains.

408
00:22:33,649 --> 00:22:36,890
Speaker 3: This is his house right here where all right here?

409
00:22:37,010 --> 00:22:38,129
Speaker 3: I want to drive by it.

410
00:22:38,250 --> 00:22:40,409
Speaker 1: This house right there at the corner. We were passing

411
00:22:40,449 --> 00:22:43,449
Speaker 1: the gates of his home over and over when a

412
00:22:43,490 --> 00:22:45,530
Speaker 1: half hour before our appointed meeting.

413
00:22:45,929 --> 00:22:47,810
Speaker 3: That's movie right there, is it? Yeah?

414
00:22:47,970 --> 00:22:51,090
Speaker 1: Oh Jesus, Moby emerges through the gates to get his newspaper.

415
00:22:52,090 --> 00:22:55,049
Speaker 1: Excited about seeing an honest to goodness famous person. I

416
00:22:55,090 --> 00:22:58,690
Speaker 1: instinctively slowed to a crawl and pulled over beside him.

417
00:22:58,850 --> 00:23:02,009
Speaker 3: Go say hi, no, no, come on, let him go

418
00:23:02,689 --> 00:23:03,250
Speaker 3: to keep going.

419
00:23:03,290 --> 00:23:04,249
Speaker 1: We just turned around.

420
00:23:04,369 --> 00:23:05,570
Speaker 3: He didn't see any Yes he did.

421
00:23:05,609 --> 00:23:09,449
Speaker 1: He turned around and we made eye contact, like right

422
00:23:09,490 --> 00:23:11,809
Speaker 1: up to him, and he turned around and he seemed scared.

423
00:23:11,889 --> 00:23:13,290
Speaker 3: That's exactly what I'm talking about.

424
00:23:13,649 --> 00:23:14,330
Speaker 1: What did I do?

425
00:23:14,369 --> 00:23:15,010
Speaker 4: You're creepy.

426
00:23:16,929 --> 00:23:18,609
Speaker 3: Creepy, they don't slide up to people and they're going

427
00:23:18,649 --> 00:23:19,010
Speaker 3: to get their.

428
00:23:18,929 --> 00:23:21,369
Speaker 1: Pretty That's true. I really, I really did slide up

429
00:23:21,369 --> 00:23:21,609
Speaker 1: to him.

430
00:23:21,689 --> 00:23:25,129
Speaker 2: Yeah, he did, like a creep You're gonna go another

431
00:23:25,169 --> 00:23:28,049
Speaker 2: pass through when he comes up for his milk.

432
00:23:32,369 --> 00:23:35,210
Speaker 1: We walk off our nerves in a nearby park, where

433
00:23:35,250 --> 00:23:38,649
Speaker 1: Gregor dispenses life wisdom to a passing toddler.

434
00:23:39,649 --> 00:23:41,609
Speaker 3: Enjoy it, kid, best, It's going to be for the

435
00:23:41,649 --> 00:23:42,290
Speaker 3: rest of your life.

436
00:23:43,889 --> 00:23:45,810
Speaker 1: Who says things like that to a child?

437
00:23:46,090 --> 00:23:47,970
Speaker 3: His happy in love? His shirt said love. He's holding

438
00:23:47,970 --> 00:23:48,490
Speaker 3: a little.

439
00:23:48,290 --> 00:23:55,129
Speaker 1: Girls outside Moby's door. We do some last minute strategizing.

440
00:23:55,250 --> 00:23:56,609
Speaker 3: Am I supposed to be the good cop or the

441
00:23:56,649 --> 00:23:57,649
Speaker 3: bad cop? I can't remember.

442
00:23:57,889 --> 00:23:59,889
Speaker 1: Well, I guess you were supposed to be the bad cop. No,

443
00:23:59,929 --> 00:24:01,290
Speaker 1: I'm the bad cop, you're the good cop.

444
00:24:01,369 --> 00:24:02,570
Speaker 3: I'll usually play the bad cop.

445
00:24:02,689 --> 00:24:03,770
Speaker 1: So fine, you're the bad cop.

446
00:24:03,770 --> 00:24:05,530
Speaker 3: It's twelve to fifty seven. It's not really one yet.

447
00:24:06,330 --> 00:24:09,730
Speaker 2: Hall wait oh hello, Hi, I'm sorry, sorry, we're early.

448
00:24:10,409 --> 00:24:12,649
Speaker 2: It's twelve fifty seven. It's three minutes too early.

449
00:24:13,369 --> 00:24:17,090
Speaker 1: Moby's personal assistant, a terrifyingly fit woman in jeans and

450
00:24:17,129 --> 00:24:20,769
Speaker 1: T shirt, leads us towards Moby's home. By rockstar standards,

451
00:24:21,010 --> 00:24:21,930
Speaker 1: it's pretty modest.

452
00:24:24,810 --> 00:24:28,050
Speaker 2: Hello, Hello, Hi, Sharman, Moe, been far too long? Should

453
00:24:28,050 --> 00:24:28,690
Speaker 2: I take shoes off?

454
00:24:28,810 --> 00:24:31,370
Speaker 1: Hi? I am Jonathan. Were led into a sunken foyer

455
00:24:31,449 --> 00:24:34,210
Speaker 1: where a couple of assistants are gathering equipment and making

456
00:24:34,250 --> 00:24:37,689
Speaker 1: themselves scarce. Standing at the top of the stairs looking

457
00:24:37,730 --> 00:24:41,449
Speaker 1: not unlike a bald headed gray hoodie Norma Desmond is Moby.

458
00:24:42,129 --> 00:24:44,969
Speaker 1: Gregor and he do not hug or even shake hands.

459
00:24:45,490 --> 00:24:46,409
Speaker 1: They don't even wave.

460
00:24:47,090 --> 00:24:49,850
Speaker 4: It's been far too long, my friend where he's staying?

461
00:24:50,250 --> 00:24:54,170
Speaker 1: And Gregor drops his bag and has a looxie.

462
00:24:54,570 --> 00:24:56,930
Speaker 2: Beautiful location, your beautiful assistant.

463
00:24:57,330 --> 00:24:57,649
Speaker 4: Everything.

464
00:24:59,290 --> 00:25:02,290
Speaker 1: He's even brought along a thoughtful gift, something to cater

465
00:25:02,409 --> 00:25:06,730
Speaker 1: to Moby's strict veganism and clean, healthy lifestyle. Fancy all

466
00:25:06,810 --> 00:25:08,409
Speaker 1: natural lemonades.

467
00:25:08,490 --> 00:25:13,850
Speaker 2: Something disco with turmeric, WHOA something awful with probiotic cayenne peppers,

468
00:25:14,449 --> 00:25:16,530
Speaker 2: something horrifying with lemons.

469
00:25:17,649 --> 00:25:21,690
Speaker 1: To our parched dismay, Moby takes the beverages and places

470
00:25:21,689 --> 00:25:24,609
Speaker 1: them in the fridge. Gregor and I are never to

471
00:25:24,649 --> 00:25:28,369
Speaker 1: see those beverages again. As we settle in and I

472
00:25:28,449 --> 00:25:31,729
Speaker 1: set up our recording gear, Gregor notices a pile of

473
00:25:31,810 --> 00:25:32,689
Speaker 1: video equipment.

474
00:25:32,929 --> 00:25:34,490
Speaker 4: Why do you have two C three hundreds here?

475
00:25:35,649 --> 00:25:38,689
Speaker 1: Remember that slippery mask? Gregor mentioned the one hiding is

476
00:25:38,770 --> 00:25:42,570
Speaker 1: rough Edges ten seconds in and it was already a slippin'

477
00:25:42,929 --> 00:25:43,290
Speaker 1: Why am.

478
00:25:43,250 --> 00:25:45,450
Speaker 4: I not involved that produce films all the time?

479
00:25:45,449 --> 00:25:47,929
Speaker 1: I can help you to which Moby, rather than saying

480
00:25:47,970 --> 00:25:50,169
Speaker 1: he's worked with David Lynch and David le Chappelle and

481
00:25:50,409 --> 00:25:53,850
Speaker 1: probably all set on that front, instead says, I mean

482
00:25:53,929 --> 00:25:54,929
Speaker 1: you live in San Francisco.

483
00:25:55,010 --> 00:25:57,369
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I'm here all the time, not literally in

484
00:25:57,409 --> 00:25:59,929
Speaker 2: your living room, in your kitchen, though I could be

485
00:26:00,010 --> 00:26:00,449
Speaker 2: more often.

486
00:26:01,409 --> 00:26:04,289
Speaker 1: Gregor can't help treating Moby like a nephew making his

487
00:26:04,330 --> 00:26:07,930
Speaker 1: first student film. That is, Gregor's treating Moby the way

488
00:26:07,970 --> 00:26:11,929
Speaker 1: he treats me. And this of course is concerning.

489
00:26:11,530 --> 00:26:15,609
Speaker 4: First of all, before we even get that far, how would.

490
00:26:15,449 --> 00:26:21,210
Speaker 1: You At this point, Moby has mostly no idea why

491
00:26:21,250 --> 00:26:24,289
Speaker 1: we're here. I made an appointment with his assistant, but

492
00:26:24,330 --> 00:26:27,450
Speaker 1: it was left vague. So Moby takes the direct approach.

493
00:26:28,010 --> 00:26:28,970
Speaker 7: So what are you guys doing?

494
00:26:30,889 --> 00:26:32,169
Speaker 4: Well, this is an excellent question.

495
00:26:32,889 --> 00:26:36,050
Speaker 2: Well, let's begin at the beginning, around the time contemporaneous

496
00:26:36,050 --> 00:26:40,209
Speaker 2: with your recent autobiography, the mid nineties two thousands, and.

497
00:26:41,090 --> 00:26:44,090
Speaker 1: Like, after all of his braggadoccio about how he was

498
00:26:44,129 --> 00:26:46,609
Speaker 1: going to walk in there and demand the CDs back,

499
00:26:46,929 --> 00:26:51,689
Speaker 1: Gregor's nervous, being uncharacteristically mealy mouthed, unable to explain the

500
00:26:51,689 --> 00:26:53,090
Speaker 1: basics of our mission.

501
00:26:52,850 --> 00:26:55,369
Speaker 2: And so this conversation became down this kind of alleyway

502
00:26:55,490 --> 00:26:58,129
Speaker 2: of that facet of like I was kind of like,

503
00:26:59,209 --> 00:27:01,129
Speaker 2: what is me?

504
00:27:01,250 --> 00:27:04,090
Speaker 1: Moby had limited time, so at the risk of embarrassing

505
00:27:04,129 --> 00:27:06,769
Speaker 1: Gregor in front of his famous friend, I decided to

506
00:27:06,770 --> 00:27:10,369
Speaker 1: step in and explain. So and I tell my story

507
00:27:10,409 --> 00:27:13,209
Speaker 1: of you coming to last time I saw Gregor. He

508
00:27:13,250 --> 00:27:16,889
Speaker 1: came to visit me at work, and you were kind

509
00:27:16,929 --> 00:27:20,649
Speaker 1: of in this mood where you were feeling like maybe

510
00:27:20,689 --> 00:27:25,209
Speaker 1: those things that you were hopeful about achieving were not

511
00:27:25,250 --> 00:27:27,450
Speaker 1: going to be happening, and I think you were in Well,

512
00:27:27,449 --> 00:27:30,729
Speaker 1: Gregor looks on skeptically. I try to explain to Moby

513
00:27:30,770 --> 00:27:35,170
Speaker 1: Gregor's midlife malaise how everyone was passing him by. Can

514
00:27:35,209 --> 00:27:37,930
Speaker 1: you relate to the feeling of like, have you ever,

515
00:27:38,090 --> 00:27:42,369
Speaker 1: at different points in your life felt like like surpassed

516
00:27:42,369 --> 00:27:44,369
Speaker 1: by your friends? Or you know what I mean? Oh?

517
00:27:44,449 --> 00:27:50,570
Speaker 7: Yeah, Like there's always going to be someone doing so

518
00:27:50,730 --> 00:27:52,530
Speaker 7: much better than you that if you spend the time

519
00:27:52,530 --> 00:27:54,410
Speaker 7: to look at it, you're going to feel bad about yourself.

520
00:27:55,010 --> 00:27:57,609
Speaker 7: Like my nemesis, well, according to him for a while,

521
00:27:57,689 --> 00:28:00,209
Speaker 7: was Eminem, So if he was my nemesis, I was

522
00:28:00,290 --> 00:28:03,809
Speaker 7: just being beaten publicly and badly because he was always

523
00:28:03,850 --> 00:28:09,530
Speaker 7: more successful, always selling more records, always more popular, always cooler,

524
00:28:10,090 --> 00:28:13,210
Speaker 7: And so depends on who I was comparing myself to.

525
00:28:14,050 --> 00:28:16,810
Speaker 7: Over time, like other people start selling more records, getting

526
00:28:16,810 --> 00:28:21,529
Speaker 7: better reviews, you start selling fewer tickets. And then as

527
00:28:21,770 --> 00:28:28,850
Speaker 7: the two thousands progressed, my career waned and other people's escalated,

528
00:28:29,129 --> 00:28:30,570
Speaker 7: you know, Like I would go to visit my record

529
00:28:30,649 --> 00:28:34,250
Speaker 7: company and they'd have my picture behind the receptionist desk,

530
00:28:34,609 --> 00:28:36,570
Speaker 7: and then one day I show up and it's Jack

531
00:28:36,570 --> 00:28:39,010
Speaker 7: White's picture behind the reception system.

532
00:28:38,570 --> 00:28:41,810
Speaker 2: Like wha what Yeah, I mean, I think the only

533
00:28:41,850 --> 00:28:44,450
Speaker 2: way to hear that, honestly is in the split screen

534
00:28:44,490 --> 00:28:49,170
Speaker 2: between totally head nodding, one hundred percent agree and totally

535
00:28:49,250 --> 00:28:51,490
Speaker 2: like easy for you to say, because you're looking down

536
00:28:51,490 --> 00:28:55,810
Speaker 2: from the mountain, looking up, you're like, fucking knock that.

537
00:28:55,730 --> 00:28:57,250
Speaker 4: Guy off the mountain because all I need is mind

538
00:28:57,250 --> 00:28:57,690
Speaker 4: billion dollars.

539
00:28:57,690 --> 00:28:59,249
Speaker 7: Then I looked at But really, the kick in the

540
00:28:59,290 --> 00:29:02,210
Speaker 7: teeth of fame is that if you don't have it,

541
00:29:02,370 --> 00:29:04,170
Speaker 7: you beat yourself up that you don't have it, and

542
00:29:04,209 --> 00:29:07,969
Speaker 7: if you do have it, you're miserable and you kill yourself. Literally,

543
00:29:08,050 --> 00:29:11,610
Speaker 7: the most depressed I've ever been in my entire life

544
00:29:12,209 --> 00:29:15,769
Speaker 7: was the height of my professional success. And I remember

545
00:29:15,810 --> 00:29:19,569
Speaker 7: this one moment so clearly. I was at an MTV

546
00:29:19,650 --> 00:29:23,050
Speaker 7: Awards in Barcelona, and there's this hotel called the Arts

547
00:29:23,050 --> 00:29:26,050
Speaker 7: Hotel in Barcelona, and it's so beautiful and at the

548
00:29:26,130 --> 00:29:29,810
Speaker 7: tippity top of the hotel they have four three bedroom

549
00:29:29,850 --> 00:29:33,330
Speaker 7: apartments and I was in one. P Diddy was in one,

550
00:29:33,890 --> 00:29:36,330
Speaker 7: John bon Jovi was in one, and Madonna was in one.

551
00:29:36,890 --> 00:29:39,249
Speaker 7: And so you'd take like one elevator to get to

552
00:29:39,330 --> 00:29:42,010
Speaker 7: a certain floor, then another elevator to another floor, and

553
00:29:42,050 --> 00:29:44,210
Speaker 7: then a security guard would wave you through up to.

554
00:29:44,209 --> 00:29:46,090
Speaker 1: Our hallowed floor.

555
00:29:46,810 --> 00:29:49,330
Speaker 7: And the first night I was there, I invited some

556
00:29:49,370 --> 00:29:51,290
Speaker 7: people over to like look at the view and drink,

557
00:29:51,330 --> 00:29:53,410
Speaker 7: and I kept drinking by myself, and I got more

558
00:29:53,410 --> 00:29:56,770
Speaker 7: and more despondent, and I literally, at the end of

559
00:29:56,810 --> 00:30:00,610
Speaker 7: the evening, before going to bed, was walking around this beautiful,

560
00:30:00,650 --> 00:30:04,570
Speaker 7: insane apartment crying, thinking about how I could get out

561
00:30:04,570 --> 00:30:10,050
Speaker 7: the window to kill myself. And the next day I

562
00:30:10,050 --> 00:30:13,610
Speaker 7: won an MTV award. So it's like, professionally, things couldn't

563
00:30:13,610 --> 00:30:14,209
Speaker 7: have been better.

564
00:30:14,650 --> 00:30:14,850
Speaker 5: You know.

565
00:30:14,930 --> 00:30:17,130
Speaker 7: The day before I'd played a huge concert, selling lots

566
00:30:17,170 --> 00:30:19,250
Speaker 7: of records. The day after won an award, played more

567
00:30:19,330 --> 00:30:22,450
Speaker 7: huge concerts, And I've never been more despondent.

568
00:30:24,010 --> 00:30:26,009
Speaker 2: I appreciate your making up that story just to make

569
00:30:26,050 --> 00:30:26,570
Speaker 2: me feel good.

570
00:30:26,730 --> 00:30:29,970
Speaker 7: It's completely true, because I remember walking around this hotel

571
00:30:30,330 --> 00:30:33,249
Speaker 7: and these walls of glass only had these little bitty

572
00:30:33,330 --> 00:30:35,610
Speaker 7: like foldy open windows at the bottom, and I was

573
00:30:35,690 --> 00:30:37,330
Speaker 7: looking at that and I was like, fuck, if that

574
00:30:37,410 --> 00:30:39,770
Speaker 7: window opened more, I would just jump out and die

575
00:30:39,810 --> 00:30:43,690
Speaker 7: because I'm done. You think, when you get to where

576
00:30:43,730 --> 00:30:46,249
Speaker 7: you want to go. Finally you'll be happy. But then

577
00:30:46,290 --> 00:30:48,570
Speaker 7: you get to where you want to go and you're

578
00:30:48,610 --> 00:30:50,890
Speaker 7: just as miserable as you were. In fact, you're even

579
00:30:51,610 --> 00:30:54,090
Speaker 7: even more miserable because you no longer have anything to

580
00:30:54,130 --> 00:30:59,489
Speaker 7: aspire to, and you feel this hopelessness because everything like

581
00:30:59,850 --> 00:31:01,690
Speaker 7: what's left to aspire towards.

582
00:31:03,370 --> 00:31:06,050
Speaker 1: It feels like Moby's trying to explain something to Gregor.

583
00:31:06,570 --> 00:31:09,490
Speaker 1: Moby grew up poor with a single mother and lived

584
00:31:09,530 --> 00:31:12,530
Speaker 1: on food stamps. When Moby was a kid, his dad

585
00:31:12,570 --> 00:31:15,210
Speaker 1: died in a car crash, and a few years ago

586
00:31:15,370 --> 00:31:18,810
Speaker 1: his mom passed away from lung cancer. He has no siblings,

587
00:31:19,290 --> 00:31:20,610
Speaker 1: so essentially he's alone.

588
00:31:21,610 --> 00:31:22,130
Speaker 4: I look at.

589
00:31:22,010 --> 00:31:24,690
Speaker 7: Gregor and I think of like, I know his family

590
00:31:24,810 --> 00:31:27,890
Speaker 7: very well, and from my perspective, like, first all, he

591
00:31:27,930 --> 00:31:29,690
Speaker 7: has a fel like I don't. Really I have some

592
00:31:29,770 --> 00:31:30,970
Speaker 7: aunts and uncles and cousins.

593
00:31:31,209 --> 00:31:31,890
Speaker 1: You have some other.

594
00:31:31,770 --> 00:31:39,489
Speaker 7: Siblings, I'm sure, and and to me that still makes

595
00:31:39,490 --> 00:31:42,890
Speaker 7: me feel like, oh, he's figured out things that I

596
00:31:43,010 --> 00:31:43,930
Speaker 7: don't understand.

597
00:31:50,770 --> 00:31:52,570
Speaker 2: Of course, I'm very successful that I have a beautiful

598
00:31:52,650 --> 00:31:55,170
Speaker 2: child and blah blah blah, two of them, actually I

599
00:31:55,170 --> 00:31:55,930
Speaker 2: won't say which one.

600
00:31:55,970 --> 00:31:59,850
Speaker 4: I have two children. One is beautiful anyway, you know,

601
00:31:59,930 --> 00:32:00,330
Speaker 4: the like.

602
00:32:01,130 --> 00:32:05,450
Speaker 2: A man's wealth is measured in family, you know, and

603
00:32:05,970 --> 00:32:06,810
Speaker 2: but it's not you.

604
00:32:06,810 --> 00:32:08,969
Speaker 1: You turn every time these things come up, you will

605
00:32:09,170 --> 00:32:09,930
Speaker 1: to make them into light.

606
00:32:10,090 --> 00:32:11,489
Speaker 4: Well, that's what I'm saying is something that you hear

607
00:32:11,490 --> 00:32:12,610
Speaker 4: at the in the South Park, right.

608
00:32:14,570 --> 00:32:16,650
Speaker 2: But what I'm saying is that that era when like

609
00:32:17,050 --> 00:32:19,170
Speaker 2: it still seemed like life had potential to go a

610
00:32:19,170 --> 00:32:22,370
Speaker 2: bunch of different ways. Now it seemed less. So it's

611
00:32:22,410 --> 00:32:24,690
Speaker 2: not even squandered potential. It's just like you could have

612
00:32:24,730 --> 00:32:26,810
Speaker 2: been somebody becomes like you didn't.

613
00:32:28,330 --> 00:32:32,370
Speaker 7: Every year you lose a little bit of potential, you know,

614
00:32:32,450 --> 00:32:36,289
Speaker 7: Like at this point, like I'm fifty and I'm like, oh,

615
00:32:37,170 --> 00:32:38,969
Speaker 7: most of my life I thought at some point I

616
00:32:39,010 --> 00:32:50,529
Speaker 7: could be a father. I'm like, well probably not. And

617
00:32:50,570 --> 00:32:52,850
Speaker 7: I have one issue. Yeah, don't really have to peek.

618
00:32:52,970 --> 00:32:59,930
Speaker 1: Go ahead and think, well, movie was conveniently indisposed. I

619
00:32:59,970 --> 00:33:03,610
Speaker 1: took the opportunity to reiterate our mission getting back the

620
00:33:03,650 --> 00:33:07,010
Speaker 1: CDs as much as it behooves you, like, just try

621
00:33:07,050 --> 00:33:08,610
Speaker 1: to keep it toout the CDs.

622
00:33:09,850 --> 00:33:12,410
Speaker 2: I don't think we only have about ten minutes to

623
00:33:12,410 --> 00:33:14,330
Speaker 2: get to it. Do you want me to wrestle onto

624
00:33:14,330 --> 00:33:17,249
Speaker 2: the ground and know you have something, particularly money, you

625
00:33:17,250 --> 00:33:17,730
Speaker 2: want to say.

626
00:33:18,730 --> 00:33:22,690
Speaker 1: Moby emerges from the bathroom, cutting our conversation short, and

627
00:33:22,730 --> 00:33:26,650
Speaker 1: Gregor steps up to the plate and begins in the middle.

628
00:33:27,209 --> 00:33:30,370
Speaker 2: Yeah, I still listen to Sounds of the South on YouTube.

629
00:33:30,370 --> 00:33:34,170
Speaker 2: They have the full set. And as far as that

630
00:33:34,209 --> 00:33:37,690
Speaker 2: actual desset, did you hang.

631
00:33:37,490 --> 00:33:39,650
Speaker 7: On to that or that is the CD? The box,

632
00:33:39,690 --> 00:33:44,970
Speaker 7: that's the actual stuff. Yeah, they're somewhere. Most of it's

633
00:33:45,010 --> 00:33:52,330
Speaker 7: in storage and Queens is like this medium sized storage locker.

634
00:33:52,410 --> 00:33:55,970
Speaker 4: It's just like packed to the rafters with stuff.

635
00:33:57,570 --> 00:34:01,970
Speaker 1: Finally, it's my moment to be the interlocutor. I think

636
00:34:02,010 --> 00:34:07,050
Speaker 1: Gregor sort of wanted those CDs back, if only to

637
00:34:07,130 --> 00:34:09,529
Speaker 1: put them on a mantle, to feel like I was

638
00:34:09,570 --> 00:34:12,490
Speaker 1: a part of something, like I mattered, I existed.

639
00:34:12,770 --> 00:34:15,049
Speaker 2: I mean I view this more like I handed you

640
00:34:15,090 --> 00:34:16,690
Speaker 2: the pen and then you wrote, you know, the great

641
00:34:16,690 --> 00:34:17,170
Speaker 2: book with it.

642
00:34:17,170 --> 00:34:19,090
Speaker 4: It's not that I had some role in.

643
00:34:19,130 --> 00:34:21,610
Speaker 1: But like the guy who introduced Andy Warhol to the

644
00:34:21,650 --> 00:34:23,610
Speaker 1: can of Campbell's soup or whatever.

645
00:34:23,610 --> 00:34:25,489
Speaker 2: I mean, this is not like a legal deposition where

646
00:34:25,490 --> 00:34:26,290
Speaker 2: it's like who said it.

647
00:34:26,330 --> 00:34:27,890
Speaker 4: I mean it was fucking twenty five years ago.

648
00:34:27,930 --> 00:34:30,450
Speaker 1: As Gregor and I Parry. It's almost like we forget

649
00:34:30,530 --> 00:34:34,290
Speaker 1: that Mobe's even there when suddenly he pipes up one thing.

650
00:34:34,410 --> 00:34:38,290
Speaker 7: Just to be super clear from the album play, two

651
00:34:38,410 --> 00:34:41,850
Speaker 7: of the most remarkably iconic songs on the record would

652
00:34:42,010 --> 00:34:44,570
Speaker 7: never have been written or existed had I not been

653
00:34:44,610 --> 00:34:47,650
Speaker 7: given those CDs. Like I didn't know who Alan Lomax was,

654
00:34:48,170 --> 00:34:52,170
Speaker 7: and that the box set called Sounds of the South,

655
00:34:53,490 --> 00:34:55,890
Speaker 7: I didn't know it existed, and I certainly like it

656
00:34:55,930 --> 00:34:58,410
Speaker 7: was an expensive box set. And there's no way I

657
00:34:58,490 --> 00:35:01,530
Speaker 7: was going to walk into Tower Records and spend sixty

658
00:35:01,530 --> 00:35:04,610
Speaker 7: five dollars or however much it was going to be

659
00:35:05,010 --> 00:35:07,410
Speaker 7: on a box set I knew nothing about from an

660
00:35:07,530 --> 00:35:10,170
Speaker 7: archivist I'd never heard of. So like, those are one

661
00:35:10,250 --> 00:35:13,370
Speaker 7: hundred percent the result of me being given those CDs.

662
00:35:14,250 --> 00:35:16,770
Speaker 1: Wait, so we're saying you're not Gregor's not getting the

663
00:35:16,770 --> 00:35:19,890
Speaker 1: CDs back. Okay, here's the story.

664
00:35:22,090 --> 00:35:27,530
Speaker 7: Friend of mine, her mother died in a very very sad,

665
00:35:27,610 --> 00:35:32,130
Speaker 7: tragic way, and she came to me and she started crying,

666
00:35:32,530 --> 00:35:34,650
Speaker 7: and she said that at the funeral they played the

667
00:35:34,690 --> 00:35:38,210
Speaker 7: song Natural Blues and everyone in the church was crying,

668
00:35:38,850 --> 00:35:40,930
Speaker 7: and it was one of the most powerful emotional moments

669
00:35:40,930 --> 00:35:43,770
Speaker 7: of her life that wouldn't have ever existed if you

670
00:35:43,890 --> 00:35:46,930
Speaker 7: hadn't given me those CDs. So to me, that's more

671
00:35:46,970 --> 00:35:54,010
Speaker 7: priceless and precious than any sort of like objective, quantifiable metric.

672
00:35:56,330 --> 00:35:57,290
Speaker 1: How does that make you feel?

673
00:35:58,690 --> 00:36:01,610
Speaker 4: I mean it makes me feel like.

674
00:36:03,610 --> 00:36:06,970
Speaker 2: Thinking about, you know, getting a pair of bolt cutters

675
00:36:07,010 --> 00:36:09,810
Speaker 2: and breaking into a steady storage in Queens is not

676
00:36:10,210 --> 00:36:10,890
Speaker 2: what I'm going to do.

677
00:36:10,970 --> 00:36:11,770
Speaker 4: That was my plan.

678
00:36:14,370 --> 00:36:16,770
Speaker 1: And so Gregor doesn't get what he came for. But

679
00:36:16,890 --> 00:36:19,650
Speaker 1: maybe not getting everything you want in the grander scheme

680
00:36:20,290 --> 00:36:22,130
Speaker 1: isn't so bad.

681
00:36:30,450 --> 00:36:37,970
Speaker 7: One practical issue. So I have two podcast interviews to

682
00:36:38,010 --> 00:36:40,730
Speaker 7: do today. You guys are the first and a second.

683
00:36:40,890 --> 00:36:44,370
Speaker 7: You're in good company. It's with Rue Paul nice crazy.

684
00:36:45,210 --> 00:36:48,049
Speaker 7: I mean, if you wanted to, we could always drive there.

685
00:36:49,290 --> 00:36:50,489
Speaker 7: Like if you guys want to get in the car

686
00:36:50,570 --> 00:36:53,610
Speaker 7: with me, My girlfriend is coming here. She's gonna go

687
00:36:53,650 --> 00:36:55,489
Speaker 7: with me because she's an obsessive Rue Paul fan.

688
00:36:55,570 --> 00:37:00,569
Speaker 1: Oh wow, Moby, his girlfriend, Gregor and I pile into

689
00:37:00,570 --> 00:37:04,490
Speaker 1: Moby's Preas seen from the outside, Gregor seems happy to

690
00:37:04,530 --> 00:37:07,290
Speaker 1: be a part of Moby's life again. He's even feeling

691
00:37:07,330 --> 00:37:11,330
Speaker 1: comfortable enough to favor us with his famous John Travolta imitation.

692
00:37:11,410 --> 00:37:12,290
Speaker 3: I could drink tea?

693
00:37:12,490 --> 00:37:14,650
Speaker 1: What do you think I could drink tea?

694
00:37:15,690 --> 00:37:18,450
Speaker 2: John Travolta When she says, he says, watch your coffee

695
00:37:18,450 --> 00:37:18,690
Speaker 2: with me.

696
00:37:18,730 --> 00:37:21,570
Speaker 3: Sometimes she's like, in Manhattan, we don't drink coffee.

697
00:37:21,570 --> 00:37:22,050
Speaker 1: We drink tea.

698
00:37:22,090 --> 00:37:23,730
Speaker 4: And he's like, so what I could drink tea?

699
00:37:25,490 --> 00:37:29,009
Speaker 1: And then, for whatever reason, Moby takes over my role

700
00:37:29,170 --> 00:37:33,130
Speaker 1: of interlocutor and begins explaining Gregor's style to his girlfriend.

701
00:37:33,770 --> 00:37:41,850
Speaker 7: And Gregor is funny and at times like would maybe

702
00:37:41,850 --> 00:37:45,250
Speaker 7: be here. It comes honest in a way that people

703
00:37:45,410 --> 00:37:48,810
Speaker 7: might be take offense too or.

704
00:37:48,770 --> 00:37:53,970
Speaker 1: At Or, as Moby's learning firsthand, interlocketing for Gregor isn't

705
00:37:54,010 --> 00:38:01,770
Speaker 1: so easy.

706
00:38:01,850 --> 00:38:06,130
Speaker 7: Hi, I'm here for RuPaul's podcast.

707
00:38:05,890 --> 00:38:08,570
Speaker 1: At the hotel. We're shown into a conference room where

708
00:38:08,690 --> 00:38:15,010
Speaker 1: we're green Rue Paul and his co host Michelle As

709
00:38:15,050 --> 00:38:17,690
Speaker 1: I trail behind Moby. For the first time in my life,

710
00:38:18,050 --> 00:38:21,050
Speaker 1: I feel a part of a bona fide Hollywood entourage.

711
00:38:21,530 --> 00:38:24,170
Speaker 7: So we've been doing an interesting podcast because Gregor and

712
00:38:24,210 --> 00:38:26,330
Speaker 7: I have known each other for twenty seven.

713
00:38:26,170 --> 00:38:31,330
Speaker 1: Years at all. Yeah, We watch as RuPaul interviews Moby

714
00:38:31,690 --> 00:38:35,250
Speaker 1: and when Moby says interesting things like my mom was

715
00:38:35,250 --> 00:38:36,770
Speaker 1: born in San Diego.

716
00:38:36,610 --> 00:38:39,330
Speaker 2: Was born in San Diego.

717
00:38:39,410 --> 00:38:43,650
Speaker 1: RuPaul responds with engaged interest. And when Moby off handedly

718
00:38:43,770 --> 00:38:49,250
Speaker 1: mentions a song, RuPaul and Michelle sing it, and as

719
00:38:49,290 --> 00:38:53,570
Speaker 1: they do, I find myself thinking only one thing, now,

720
00:38:53,610 --> 00:38:55,730
Speaker 1: this is how you run a podcast.

721
00:38:58,690 --> 00:38:58,850
Speaker 2: Right.

722
00:39:01,010 --> 00:39:04,050
Speaker 1: When Moby and Gregor say their goodbyes, Moby tells him

723
00:39:04,050 --> 00:39:06,489
Speaker 1: that he'll be coming to San Francisco soon and he'll

724
00:39:06,490 --> 00:39:08,770
Speaker 1: be sure to give Gregor a call, and Gregor says

725
00:39:08,770 --> 00:39:12,450
Speaker 1: he'd like that. But before parting, Gregor can't help giving

726
00:39:12,490 --> 00:39:13,890
Speaker 1: it just one last nudge.

727
00:39:14,010 --> 00:39:16,010
Speaker 2: I have one more question for you. Can you just

728
00:39:16,010 --> 00:39:18,130
Speaker 2: tell me the name of the storage facility where the

729
00:39:18,170 --> 00:39:20,770
Speaker 2: CD is. No, it's for a friend. They need to

730
00:39:20,810 --> 00:39:23,650
Speaker 2: store something in Queens. No, there was one place. I'm

731
00:39:23,690 --> 00:39:25,010
Speaker 2: just saying, Hey, it's the same place.

732
00:39:27,410 --> 00:39:30,370
Speaker 1: Gregor's comfortable enough to joke around about something that had

733
00:39:30,370 --> 00:39:34,410
Speaker 1: once plagued him, and Moby's comfortable enough to uncomfortably laugh

734
00:39:34,450 --> 00:39:50,170
Speaker 1: along with him. All around it feels pretty nice. So

735
00:39:50,250 --> 00:39:52,290
Speaker 1: how did you feel about how that went? I think

736
00:39:52,330 --> 00:39:56,490
Speaker 1: it was cathartic, No, really, seriously. With some time to

737
00:39:56,570 --> 00:39:59,450
Speaker 1: kill before a flight, Gregor and I decide to hike

738
00:39:59,570 --> 00:40:02,010
Speaker 1: up to the observatory. Do you feel like he screwed

739
00:40:02,010 --> 00:40:03,450
Speaker 1: you out of your CDs? Yet? Again?

740
00:40:04,570 --> 00:40:07,410
Speaker 2: The honest truth is he did give me a good

741
00:40:07,450 --> 00:40:09,010
Speaker 2: long song and dance about how we all learned the

742
00:40:09,290 --> 00:40:10,969
Speaker 2: and I didn't get the thing that I set out

743
00:40:11,010 --> 00:40:14,210
Speaker 2: to get. But in seriousness, I honestly feel, in a

744
00:40:14,250 --> 00:40:16,930
Speaker 2: funny sort of way, I got what I came for.

745
00:40:17,130 --> 00:40:20,370
Speaker 1: Which was what you didn't get your CDs.

746
00:40:21,970 --> 00:40:23,730
Speaker 3: You see, you're a petty person.

747
00:40:24,810 --> 00:40:27,730
Speaker 2: What you just saw and apparently were deaf you couldn't

748
00:40:27,770 --> 00:40:31,810
Speaker 2: hear was a reconciliation with two guys after twenty five

749
00:40:31,890 --> 00:40:33,090
Speaker 2: years of slight estrangement.

750
00:40:33,490 --> 00:40:34,890
Speaker 1: So you guys did get to be friends.

751
00:40:34,970 --> 00:40:38,530
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we just buried the hatchets. This CD thing, Yeah,

752
00:40:38,610 --> 00:40:40,529
Speaker 2: that is a symbol. I mean, who cares about the CD?

753
00:40:40,650 --> 00:40:42,690
Speaker 1: But you one' who cared about the CD.

754
00:40:43,170 --> 00:40:46,770
Speaker 2: Look, it's hard to come together and just hug it out.

755
00:40:47,010 --> 00:40:49,610
Speaker 2: What you just witnessed was a version of hugging it out,

756
00:40:50,090 --> 00:40:52,810
Speaker 2: two men having a good cry.

757
00:40:53,050 --> 00:40:54,489
Speaker 3: That's about the closest that I come.

758
00:40:56,890 --> 00:40:58,850
Speaker 1: Well, then, I think that was great. I think this

759
00:40:59,010 --> 00:41:04,010
Speaker 1: was a success. I agree, still would have been nice

760
00:41:04,010 --> 00:41:04,890
Speaker 1: to get your CDs back.

761
00:41:04,930 --> 00:41:11,450
Speaker 2: Of course, I don't know if the rental car you

762
00:41:11,690 --> 00:41:14,450
Speaker 2: got there had a CD player, but it doesn't. It

763
00:41:14,490 --> 00:41:16,130
Speaker 2: would have been no better ending to this day than

764
00:41:16,170 --> 00:41:18,610
Speaker 2: to drive out of the parking lot cranking that CD.

765
00:41:18,930 --> 00:41:22,090
Speaker 1: Yeah, but the cars don't have Nobody has CD players anymore.

766
00:41:22,130 --> 00:41:24,250
Speaker 2: And let me tell you something, if some of the

767
00:41:24,250 --> 00:41:26,850
Speaker 2: Mobi's song comes on the radio right now, I'd let

768
00:41:26,890 --> 00:41:27,250
Speaker 2: it play.

769
00:41:28,010 --> 00:41:30,290
Speaker 3: I'd even sing along if you I'm going to.

770
00:41:30,330 --> 00:41:31,410
Speaker 1: Find it out my phone and play.

771
00:41:31,570 --> 00:41:32,050
Speaker 3: That's okay?

772
00:41:32,850 --> 00:41:36,049
Speaker 1: You sure? Because I actually downloaded it it specially boys.

773
00:41:41,290 --> 00:41:44,570
Speaker 1: Three days later, and much to his surprise, Gregor received

774
00:41:44,570 --> 00:41:48,290
Speaker 1: an email from MOBI. This might sound odd, the email read,

775
00:41:48,690 --> 00:41:51,290
Speaker 1: but I realized I never said a true, heartfelt thank

776
00:41:51,330 --> 00:41:54,610
Speaker 1: you for giving me those CDs, So, in all sincerity,

777
00:41:55,090 --> 00:41:57,969
Speaker 1: thank you. I'm sorry it's taken so long to say

778
00:41:58,570 --> 00:42:01,610
Speaker 1: thank you. Gregor said he was happier that the thank

779
00:42:01,690 --> 00:42:04,570
Speaker 1: you came three days later. This way, he knew it

780
00:42:04,610 --> 00:42:07,170
Speaker 1: wasn't just out of politeness, that it must have been

781
00:42:07,290 --> 00:42:11,210
Speaker 1: quote boring a hole through his head for days after

782
00:42:11,250 --> 00:42:14,489
Speaker 1: receiving movies thank you, Gregor immediately wrote back a thank

783
00:42:14,530 --> 00:42:16,810
Speaker 1: you of his own in the form of a joke,

784
00:42:17,330 --> 00:42:20,090
Speaker 1: which if you didn't know Gregor, could also be taken

785
00:42:20,130 --> 00:42:23,490
Speaker 1: as an insult. But Moby did know Gregor, and so

786
00:42:23,610 --> 00:42:26,650
Speaker 1: for Gregor, it was back to being a normal friendship.

787
00:42:59,610 --> 00:43:09,570
Speaker 1: Now that the Fernitures returned to its goodwill home, the

788
00:43:09,810 --> 00:43:14,650
Speaker 1: last month's rand is scheming with the damage to Poz.

789
00:43:15,170 --> 00:43:20,850
Speaker 1: Take this moment to do so if we imagine and

790
00:43:21,090 --> 00:43:25,610
Speaker 1: we talk felt around from.

791
00:43:25,610 --> 00:43:30,170
Speaker 2: Far to from things at accident.

792
00:43:30,530 --> 00:43:37,810
Speaker 1: Lee to Heavyweight is hosted and produced by me Jonathan

793
00:43:37,850 --> 00:43:41,330
Speaker 1: Goldstein along with Wendy Dore, Chris Neary, and Khalila Holt.

794
00:43:41,490 --> 00:43:44,690
Speaker 1: Editing by Alex Bloomberg and Peter Clowney. Special thanks to

795
00:43:44,690 --> 00:43:49,170
Speaker 1: Emily Condon, Paul Tuff, Stevie Lane, Michelle Harris, Dimitri Erlik,

796
00:43:49,450 --> 00:43:53,090
Speaker 1: Sean Cole, and Jorgehus and a very special thank you

797
00:43:53,610 --> 00:43:56,250
Speaker 1: to my dear friend Jackie Cohen. The show was mixed

798
00:43:56,250 --> 00:43:59,330
Speaker 1: by Hailey Shaw. Music for this episode by Christine Fellows,

799
00:43:59,330 --> 00:44:03,530
Speaker 1: with additional music by Talk Star, the Eastern Watershed, Klesmer Quartet,

800
00:44:03,610 --> 00:44:06,050
Speaker 1: and Hailey Shaw, who also did our ad music. Our

801
00:44:06,050 --> 00:44:09,090
Speaker 1: theme music is by the Weaker Thands, courtesy of Epitaph Records.

802
00:44:09,410 --> 00:44:12,290
Speaker 1: Follow us on Twitter. At heavyweight or email us at

803
00:44:12,290 --> 00:44:15,450
Speaker 1: heavyweight at gimlimedia dot com. We'll have a new episode

804
00:44:15,530 --> 00:44:16,050
Speaker 1: next week.

805
00:44:22,130 --> 00:44:23,690
Speaker 2: I should go back and ring his doorbell now and

806
00:44:23,730 --> 00:44:24,890
Speaker 2: ask for that Lenaide book.

807
00:44:25,770 --> 00:44:26,930
Speaker 3: It was kind of expensive.

808
00:44:27,330 --> 00:44:28,650
Speaker 4: Doesn't seem like you're gonna drink it.

809
00:44:29,450 --> 00:44:31,370
Speaker 1: Gotta feel thirsty, And you know what, I don't. I

810
00:44:31,410 --> 00:44:33,170
Speaker 1: don't want to show up twenty years from now asking

811
00:44:33,170 --> 00:44:34,890
Speaker 1: for those lemonades because they're gonna tell me it's in

812
00:44:34,890 --> 00:44:36,130
Speaker 1: a storage locker in Queen's.

813
00:44:36,170 --> 00:44:36,970
Speaker 3: Yeah, what'd you do with that?

814
00:44:37,210 --> 00:44:39,730
Speaker 1: Seriously? Like when someone brings you beverages, like you put

815
00:44:39,770 --> 00:44:41,810
Speaker 1: them out on the table. Maybe bring out a glass

816
00:44:41,810 --> 00:44:42,890
Speaker 1: for a person or a straw.

817
00:44:43,010 --> 00:44:44,170
Speaker 3: What kind of a monster is he