WEBVTT - #2 Gregor 0:00:15.210 --> 0:00:25.089 Pushkin bad time. I was just stepping out. I was 0:00:25.210 --> 0:00:29.810 just you enjoy music, right, Yeah. This week's show kind 0:00:29.850 --> 0:00:32.690 of deals with music, and it got me thinking. I 0:00:32.690 --> 0:00:35.610 have a confession to make. You know how, sometimes, like 0:00:35.690 --> 0:00:38.570 you have dinner parties and they're great. I wanted to say, 0:00:38.610 --> 0:00:43.410 sometimes how you sometimes play music? Yeah, sometimes I'm a 0:00:43.450 --> 0:00:45.410 little hesitant to come over for dinner. 0:00:46.010 --> 0:00:47.769 You're always hesitant to come over for dinner. 0:00:47.810 --> 0:00:51.129 Well, it's not including Mary Club's forty fifth birthday. Do 0:00:51.129 --> 0:00:53.730 you remember that? I do you know that Bumballeo song? 0:00:53.970 --> 0:00:56.530 I can't find my Gypsy King CD because your husband 0:00:56.650 --> 0:01:00.890 hit it. It's killing me, killing everybody. The reason sometimes 0:01:00.930 --> 0:01:04.410 I have some difficulty with my digestion these dinner parties 0:01:04.490 --> 0:01:07.570 is it's the Bumballeo song. It's the Gypsy Kings. Oh 0:01:07.690 --> 0:01:10.970 this is great. You know what bumble bambalaya translates as 0:01:11.610 --> 0:01:15.530 what wobble wobble? All right, we'll speak to you one 0:01:15.570 --> 0:01:17.730 thing before we go. Okay, I'm going to say bumbalao 0:01:17.890 --> 0:01:21.490 and then you say bumbalaya. Okay, I do, and then I. 0:01:25.450 --> 0:01:27.050 Bomb bye bye. 0:01:31.210 --> 0:01:36.330 From Gimblet Media. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is Heavyweight 0:01:37.010 --> 0:01:39.570 today's episode, Gregor. 0:01:48.770 --> 0:01:50.530 This guy's gonna ram you from behind because you're going 0:01:50.570 --> 0:01:53.330 eleven miles left, although you usually don't do it from 0:01:53.370 --> 0:01:53.770 the right line. 0:01:54.010 --> 0:01:57.130 Okay, let's not give killed. Do you have a driver's license? 0:02:00.010 --> 0:02:02.050 This is Gregor and me on our way to lunch, 0:02:02.490 --> 0:02:06.210 and what you're hearing is typical. When I'm driving, Gregor 0:02:06.290 --> 0:02:09.610 comments on my speed. When I eat, he comments on 0:02:09.650 --> 0:02:13.010 my table manners, and when I eat yogurt, he comments 0:02:13.049 --> 0:02:15.290 on the way I lick the inside lid, calling it 0:02:15.370 --> 0:02:19.450 both lecherous and unmanly. Some might say that Gregor is 0:02:19.490 --> 0:02:24.570 overly critical, possibly even prickly, but I would not. I 0:02:24.610 --> 0:02:28.890 love Gregor for many reasons. His loyalty, his generosity, his 0:02:29.010 --> 0:02:30.810 being the kind of person will pick you up at 0:02:30.810 --> 0:02:33.410 the airport at four in the morning without even complaining. 0:02:33.970 --> 0:02:36.410 But it's perhaps his courage to say the things that 0:02:36.490 --> 0:02:40.370 were all not exactly thinking, but maybe thinking about thinking, 0:02:40.850 --> 0:02:46.650 that is most thrilling. And so when he showed up 0:02:46.690 --> 0:02:50.050 at my office mocking himself instead of me and speaking 0:02:50.050 --> 0:02:52.810 in biblical parables, I was concerned. 0:02:53.370 --> 0:02:55.450 Was it the Pharaoh and the Joseph story who said 0:02:55.610 --> 0:02:57.450 the seven lean years and seven fat years? 0:02:57.610 --> 0:02:57.850 Yeah? 0:02:57.930 --> 0:02:59.930 I had this insight today that the fat years are 0:02:59.930 --> 0:03:00.610 about to end. 0:03:01.050 --> 0:03:02.490 Would these have been the fat years? 0:03:02.490 --> 0:03:05.090 That's what I realized Literally this morning. I woke up 0:03:05.090 --> 0:03:06.850 and I was like, wait, those were the fat years? 0:03:07.930 --> 0:03:13.050 You know, in every conceivable way, financially, stability, prestige, all 0:03:13.090 --> 0:03:15.570 the job stuff, and like creative accomplishment stuff. I just 0:03:15.570 --> 0:03:18.650 feel like it's like going up and I'm watching it 0:03:18.690 --> 0:03:19.410 go up and smoke. 0:03:20.690 --> 0:03:23.650 Gregor is forty eight years old and by profession he 0:03:23.730 --> 0:03:27.370 makes marketing videos for a cleaning product usually found in 0:03:27.410 --> 0:03:29.890 the bathroom. I can't tell you the name of this 0:03:29.970 --> 0:03:33.570 product for fear Gregor will lose his job. In other words, 0:03:33.850 --> 0:03:36.250 he's not the filmo tour he dreamt of being back 0:03:36.290 --> 0:03:41.370 in his college days, underlining back issues of Kye to Cinema. 0:03:41.530 --> 0:03:43.650 On top of that, he says that over the past 0:03:43.690 --> 0:03:47.210 few years he's seen his career slowly sucked downward. Not 0:03:47.370 --> 0:03:51.050 unlike Oh, I don't know, the spiraling waters of a 0:03:51.090 --> 0:03:54.770 sink unclogged by a chemical drain opener designed to flush 0:03:54.810 --> 0:03:56.650 pipes and attack clogs at their worst. 0:03:57.730 --> 0:04:00.370 What's that children's game where everyone goes around the chairs 0:04:00.930 --> 0:04:05.570 musical chairs, chairs, and everyone sits down, and you're like, oh, 0:04:05.930 --> 0:04:08.650 that friend of mine became a CEO. These four friends 0:04:08.690 --> 0:04:12.370 are like EVP SVP senior whatever. 0:04:12.090 --> 0:04:12.850 At their things. 0:04:13.410 --> 0:04:15.290 That friend of mine wound up sitting in the president 0:04:15.290 --> 0:04:18.010 of Estonia's chair, and then you're like the music stops 0:04:18.529 --> 0:04:20.210 and you're left standing. 0:04:21.370 --> 0:04:24.130 I've heard him reel off this list before, and Gregor 0:04:24.170 --> 0:04:27.250 fully admits it. The success of anyone he knows, no 0:04:27.289 --> 0:04:29.890 matter how thin, his connection to them, feels like a 0:04:29.890 --> 0:04:33.770 reflection of his own shortcomings, including the ascension of his 0:04:33.890 --> 0:04:39.010 elementary school's librarian son, who is now the president of Estonia. 0:04:39.489 --> 0:04:42.489 The point of the story is where's my presidency of 0:04:42.570 --> 0:04:46.010 my Estonia? My circumstances was. I was like, oh things 0:04:46.010 --> 0:04:48.289 will you know, about to break through, about to change? 0:04:48.849 --> 0:04:52.249 And now, like you could say, well, this is just 0:04:52.289 --> 0:04:55.009 to setback, it's you know whatever, Soon your ship's going 0:04:55.049 --> 0:04:55.529 to come in. 0:04:55.810 --> 0:04:59.409 But it's just not you know. I mean, that's just 0:04:59.409 --> 0:05:02.249 the simple truth, the uncomfortable truth. 0:05:03.210 --> 0:05:05.890 Of all Gregor's stories about the success of his acquaintances 0:05:05.929 --> 0:05:08.770 and friends, there's one story that he returns to most, 0:05:09.210 --> 0:05:11.730 and not only is it the greatest success story of 0:05:11.770 --> 0:05:13.969 them all, it's the one that touched his life the 0:05:14.010 --> 0:05:17.410 most intimately. The story all begins about twenty years ago 0:05:17.489 --> 0:05:20.569 in Manhattan, when Gregor was living in a small apartment 0:05:20.609 --> 0:05:24.529 in Chinatown with his older brother Dimitri. One night, they 0:05:24.570 --> 0:05:27.370 had a friend of theirs over for dinner, a techno 0:05:27.570 --> 0:05:28.450 musician friend. 0:05:28.969 --> 0:05:30.570 He was really poor at the time. He was living 0:05:30.609 --> 0:05:33.330 in like I think, in like a basement in a 0:05:33.409 --> 0:05:37.570 warehouse or something, for forty dollars a month. He was 0:05:37.609 --> 0:05:40.249 an articulate smart guy, still an articular smart guy, but 0:05:40.289 --> 0:05:41.929 he's sort of an unlikely rock star in that his 0:05:41.969 --> 0:05:43.570 hair had mostly fallen out even when we were still 0:05:43.609 --> 0:05:46.289 in our twenties. But I watched his ascent. He played 0:05:46.289 --> 0:05:49.330 the bigger and bigger crowds during this techno kind of stuff. 0:05:49.929 --> 0:05:55.449 And then eventually he got a record contract, and I 0:05:55.529 --> 0:05:57.850 at the time got hold of a very obscure set 0:05:57.890 --> 0:05:59.770 of CDs which were field. 0:05:59.489 --> 0:06:03.250 Hollers oooh on troubles. 0:06:04.609 --> 0:06:06.289 I thought it was really interesting stuff. I loaned him 0:06:06.289 --> 0:06:08.089 this box set of CDs. 0:06:07.529 --> 0:06:10.169 Oooh lone trouble. 0:06:10.250 --> 0:06:17.689 So he then sampled it very heavily god and created 0:06:17.690 --> 0:06:20.689 a record which got him very rich and very famous. 0:06:22.810 --> 0:06:34.370 This guy you're speaking of, This guy's Moby trouble. Moby 0:06:35.289 --> 0:06:48.450 bald headed, bespectacled, castle dwelling, multi million records selling Moby. 0:06:48.890 --> 0:06:51.529 But back then he was just Gregor's pal who spent 0:06:51.570 --> 0:06:55.729 weekends at Gregor's family's place and attended family birthday parties too. 0:06:56.529 --> 0:06:59.450 In bars and during long car rides, Gregor and Moby 0:06:59.529 --> 0:07:03.089 had long, earnest conversations about God and the things they believed. 0:07:03.489 --> 0:07:07.330 They were living their twenties together and those CDs Gregor 0:07:07.409 --> 0:07:11.410 lent Moby. The Box. Sounds of the South was recorded 0:07:11.410 --> 0:07:16.010 by the ethno musicologist Alan Lomax. Beginning in the nineteen thirties, 0:07:16.210 --> 0:07:19.610 Lomax and his father John made thousands of field recordings, 0:07:19.970 --> 0:07:23.449 mostly in the American South. These recordings are among the 0:07:23.450 --> 0:07:27.890 most important in American music, preserving dozens of African American 0:07:27.970 --> 0:07:31.730 songs from the early years of the twentieth century. Wait 0:07:33.010 --> 0:07:37.330 some Time better know than Alas some Time. Another hit 0:07:37.369 --> 0:07:40.330 on Moby's album is called Honey. It makes use of 0:07:40.369 --> 0:07:44.610 the song sometimes sung by Bessie Smith Jones. Jones was 0:07:44.650 --> 0:07:47.970 taught these songs by her grandfather, a former slave born 0:07:48.010 --> 0:07:54.410 in Africa. This is Moby's version, So is everybody feeling alive? 0:07:54.770 --> 0:07:59.530 Y I've here elected to play for you the live 0:07:59.610 --> 0:08:02.170 version of the song with all of its foot stomping 0:08:02.210 --> 0:08:05.610 and audience cheering. It's how I imagine Gregor hears it 0:08:05.970 --> 0:08:08.930 echoing in his head during those sleepless nights when his 0:08:09.170 --> 0:08:12.170 kishka's are slowly being corroded by battery ascid. 0:08:15.690 --> 0:08:18.970 When I discovered this CD set, I was like an evangelist. 0:08:19.010 --> 0:08:20.489 I was like, this is amazing. You got to check 0:08:20.530 --> 0:08:21.929 this out. He was over the house and I was like, 0:08:21.970 --> 0:08:23.650 you got to take this home. This is amazing stuff. 0:08:23.650 --> 0:08:25.450 This is the best CD I've heard. You know, I 0:08:25.489 --> 0:08:27.610 don't know how long I've been listening to NonStop rotation. 0:08:27.690 --> 0:08:30.090 I love the CD. So it wasn't just laying in 0:08:30.090 --> 0:08:31.449 a pile. And he happened to put it in his 0:08:31.489 --> 0:08:32.490 bag and walk out the door. 0:08:33.170 --> 0:08:39.650 I said, I sold him on it. 0:08:34.770 --> 0:08:45.890 And Moby makes use of several Lomax recordings on his 0:08:45.970 --> 0:08:50.130 album Play, which went multi platinum. Play eventually became one 0:08:50.170 --> 0:08:53.730 of the most commercially licensed albums ever recorded. At the time, 0:08:54.250 --> 0:08:57.090 the songs were used to promote everything from luxury cars 0:08:57.170 --> 0:09:01.810 to credit cards, and before Play, according to Rolling Stone Magazine, 0:09:02.130 --> 0:09:05.490 Moby was quote bumbling around New York as it has been, 0:09:06.250 --> 0:09:09.530 And then was there an intermediary step before or that? 0:09:09.650 --> 0:09:11.730 And then hearing it on the CD where he said, hey, 0:09:11.930 --> 0:09:13.130 by the way, thanks. 0:09:12.930 --> 0:09:16.650 No, I said, this is amazing thing. Next thing I 0:09:16.690 --> 0:09:18.730 heard it's on the radio and I said, hey, can 0:09:18.730 --> 0:09:19.690 I get that box setback? 0:09:19.770 --> 0:09:22.090 And then years of not being friends. 0:09:22.490 --> 0:09:25.250 And according to Gregor, that was all he wanted to 0:09:25.290 --> 0:09:28.570 get his CDs back. He was looking for neither riches 0:09:28.610 --> 0:09:33.090 nor credit, just the CDs, which he claims were only alone. 0:09:33.770 --> 0:09:36.330 And so this is how it went. He began leaving 0:09:36.370 --> 0:09:40.090 Moby voice messages by Gregor's count, about a dozen that 0:09:40.210 --> 0:09:44.329 all went unanswered. Then, in a final act of desperation, 0:09:44.770 --> 0:09:47.890 Gregor penned a song called Moby give Me Back my CDs, 0:09:48.650 --> 0:09:52.650 which he sang into Moby's answering machine with accompanying karaoke 0:09:52.810 --> 0:09:58.209 music to the tune of Brian Adams Heaven. After much cajoling, 0:09:58.490 --> 0:10:01.650 Gregor dug up his lyrics, which I will now perform 0:10:01.730 --> 0:10:08.170 for you, Moby give me back my CDs. The recordings 0:10:08.250 --> 0:10:13.650 from the yield the Alan Lomax box at CDs. I 0:10:13.690 --> 0:10:19.970 think there were seven. Those discs are all that I need. 0:10:20.650 --> 0:10:24.930 The ones I gave you from my house. I think 0:10:24.970 --> 0:10:31.250 you'll be sure to see there were seven and that message, 0:10:31.290 --> 0:10:34.810 Gregor says, was met with over a decade of silence. 0:10:36.210 --> 0:10:38.530 Did he ever explain, like, did he just ever come 0:10:38.570 --> 0:10:41.130 out and tell you honestly what became of those CDs? 0:10:42.090 --> 0:10:42.170 No? 0:10:42.810 --> 0:10:45.250 I think he was busy, like playing, like, you know, 0:10:45.290 --> 0:10:47.930 a concert to ninety thousand people in Rykovic and drinking 0:10:48.010 --> 0:10:53.250 champagne out of a prostitute shoe. Couldn't be bothered, Obviously, 0:10:53.290 --> 0:10:56.210 I put an exaggerated value on the CDs. I'm sure 0:10:56.210 --> 0:10:58.570 he could have sampled anything, and he had a plenty 0:10:58.610 --> 0:10:59.930 big career before. 0:10:59.610 --> 0:11:00.410 That and after that. 0:11:00.610 --> 0:11:04.130 I mean, I'm not insane, but it was more that 0:11:05.250 --> 0:11:07.810 displaced feeling of like I had this thing go off 0:11:07.850 --> 0:11:09.290 and bloom without me. 0:11:09.850 --> 0:11:10.330 M m. 0:11:10.370 --> 0:11:13.290 I'll tell you an interesting detail in that. Yeah, whenever 0:11:13.370 --> 0:11:15.210 Moby music comes on, I can't listen to it. 0:11:16.050 --> 0:11:17.330 But do you think if you get it back you 0:11:17.370 --> 0:11:18.130 won't feel that way. 0:11:18.170 --> 0:11:19.930 I feel like I could work it through like therapy 0:11:19.970 --> 0:11:21.650 where I could then listen to the music again. 0:11:21.850 --> 0:11:23.370 You know, there's a sense of what. 0:11:23.450 --> 0:11:27.570 About my you know, where's my gold album? 0:11:27.770 --> 0:11:31.370 Yeah? 0:11:32.850 --> 0:11:35.410 Gregor has theories about why nothing ever happened for him, 0:11:35.650 --> 0:11:38.610 and they revolve around an aspect of his personality, an 0:11:38.610 --> 0:11:41.930 aspect he refers to as a lack of affability. 0:11:43.010 --> 0:11:46.050 Like a lot of times I'll say something completely earnestly 0:11:46.210 --> 0:11:51.330 mm hmm, like past the water, and they're like, are 0:11:51.330 --> 0:11:52.170 you being sarcastic? 0:11:52.530 --> 0:11:53.930 Like that happened to me all the time? 0:11:54.690 --> 0:11:56.809 How could you ask for the water sarcastically? 0:11:56.970 --> 0:11:59.930 I come across as being sarcastic when I'm not. 0:12:00.810 --> 0:12:02.370 So it's almost like a handicap of. 0:12:02.330 --> 0:12:03.610 It's a huge handicap. 0:12:03.810 --> 0:12:06.810 I think it's fundamentally, as I understand my own life, 0:12:07.130 --> 0:12:09.850 that is my cross to bear. That's what's wrecked my well. 0:12:09.930 --> 0:12:12.450 I think you would even like you told me that 0:12:12.530 --> 0:12:17.250 story about where you were in the conference room at work, 0:12:17.450 --> 0:12:20.050 They're like complimenting you on your new glasses or something 0:12:20.050 --> 0:12:22.689 and saying, hey, what does your wife think of those glasses? 0:12:22.730 --> 0:12:24.450 And you were like, how the fuck do I know? 0:12:24.690 --> 0:12:26.570 Why don't you ask my own wife to find out? 0:12:26.770 --> 0:12:27.330 Do you remember? 0:12:27.810 --> 0:12:27.970 Yeah? 0:12:27.970 --> 0:12:28.450 I don't remember. 0:12:28.570 --> 0:12:28.970 I mean, so. 0:12:30.410 --> 0:12:31.690 They said like, what is your wife think of that? 0:12:31.770 --> 0:12:33.970 I was like, how do I know? Ask my wife? 0:12:40.730 --> 0:12:43.890 Recently, Gregor and Moby have found themselves back in touch, 0:12:44.330 --> 0:12:48.690 though in the most tangential impersonal way possible through group 0:12:48.770 --> 0:12:53.050 emails and texts. Gregor's older brother Dimitri, remained friends with 0:12:53.130 --> 0:12:56.210 Moby over the years, and Dmitri recently had a baby, 0:12:56.770 --> 0:12:59.330 so he loops in Moby, Gregor, and one other old 0:12:59.330 --> 0:13:02.570 friend on updates. This has evolved into a small group 0:13:02.650 --> 0:13:07.090 of friends exchanging witticisms and fun facts like did you 0:13:07.130 --> 0:13:09.570 know that the fatty flesh around the elbow is called 0:13:09.570 --> 0:13:13.690 a weness? So while the new group email friendship isn't 0:13:13.690 --> 0:13:16.250 the same as the old close one, it's still an 0:13:16.250 --> 0:13:19.850 open door, and so I couldn't help asking the question, 0:13:20.770 --> 0:13:23.610 now that that door has swung open again, do you 0:13:23.690 --> 0:13:26.330 see this as an opportunity to ask for those CDs 0:13:26.370 --> 0:13:26.929 once again? 0:13:27.050 --> 0:13:29.690 I was thinking about it, were you just because it's 0:13:29.730 --> 0:13:32.610 kind of a little symbolic of what I don't even 0:13:32.650 --> 0:13:34.890 have a CD player anymore, right, But I was just thinking, 0:13:35.890 --> 0:13:38.330 for talismonic purposes, it would be interesting to have. 0:13:38.290 --> 0:13:40.210 Them back say more about that. 0:13:40.770 --> 0:13:42.010 I think that it might soothe me. 0:13:42.850 --> 0:13:43.930 Do you really think it would? 0:13:44.410 --> 0:13:47.450 I'll actually give you the clarity which just came to me, now, okay, 0:13:48.010 --> 0:13:49.650 it's not Instead of the money and the fame and 0:13:49.690 --> 0:13:55.970 all that stuff. What it is is tangible evidence. Understand 0:13:57.090 --> 0:13:58.890 you did this, you exist, you did it, you pulled 0:13:58.930 --> 0:13:59.290 it off. 0:13:59.890 --> 0:14:02.370 You want to be able to say, see these CDs 0:14:02.370 --> 0:14:03.650 on the shelf, that's. 0:14:03.410 --> 0:14:05.530 The ones that I gave to mommy, because for me, 0:14:06.050 --> 0:14:08.810 this would just be a version of proof. 0:14:14.370 --> 0:14:17.730 Wanting the CDs you lent someone decades ago and expecting 0:14:17.810 --> 0:14:22.970 them back is of course insanity, but insanity's repeated often enough, 0:14:23.370 --> 0:14:28.050 especially between friends, can begin to feel pacifying, lulling. 0:14:27.770 --> 0:14:28.330 Even. 0:14:29.610 --> 0:14:32.530 Excuse me, in a way, you just want your due. 0:14:33.250 --> 0:14:33.570 Yeah. 0:14:33.970 --> 0:14:38.250 Do you think you can articulate that in a way 0:14:38.290 --> 0:14:40.810 that would make it understandable to him? 0:14:40.850 --> 0:14:43.170 Do you think I'm pretty confident I can't, because he's 0:14:43.210 --> 0:14:44.570 still pretty sensitive. 0:14:44.930 --> 0:14:49.290 Okay, pretty sensitive, pretty sensitive. Like the time Moby seemed 0:14:49.290 --> 0:14:53.210 to bristle when Gregor emailed him about something totally innocuous, 0:14:53.810 --> 0:14:58.690 a condolence for the death of Moby's friend David Bowie. 0:14:58.890 --> 0:15:01.010 You know, I said some witty thing about David Bowie dying, 0:15:01.090 --> 0:15:03.410 he wrote, like texted back, like the picture of him 0:15:03.410 --> 0:15:05.050 and David Bowie in the cover of Entertainment. 0:15:05.130 --> 0:15:06.730 Let's back up for a moment, what was the witty 0:15:06.770 --> 0:15:08.450 thing you said about David Bowie's death? 0:15:09.210 --> 0:15:10.650 You know that good night funny man? 0:15:12.330 --> 0:15:14.050 What does that even mean? 0:15:14.930 --> 0:15:16.530 That's usually what I say when people die. 0:15:22.090 --> 0:15:24.410 If this is a sampling of the hot takes Gregor 0:15:24.450 --> 0:15:27.290 has in store, I fear that this newly opened door 0:15:27.330 --> 0:15:31.130 between Moby and Gregor might not remain open forever. I 0:15:31.170 --> 0:15:33.290 also knew that if he has any hope of ever 0:15:33.330 --> 0:15:37.850 getting back those CDs, he'll need a middleman or interlocutor 0:15:38.530 --> 0:15:43.410 or interlocutor. So perhaps, against my better judgment, I allow 0:15:43.490 --> 0:15:46.010 myself to be swept up by the moment. I just 0:15:46.090 --> 0:15:48.170 don't know if this is going to lead to anything 0:15:48.170 --> 0:15:52.210 but heartbreak? But why don't we go after the CDs? 0:15:52.810 --> 0:15:53.170 All right? 0:15:54.210 --> 0:15:56.970 And with that ringing call to arms, my path was 0:15:57.010 --> 0:16:03.690 set and the mission begun. Say I'm Moby, Like, how 0:16:03.730 --> 0:16:04.730 would you ask. 0:16:04.930 --> 0:16:08.570 Hey, Moby, can I have back those CDs? I've never 0:16:08.610 --> 0:16:11.170 understood approach other than a direct approach, So that's what 0:16:11.170 --> 0:16:11.570 I would do. 0:16:12.730 --> 0:16:15.930 After the break the Hollywood Hills, a surprise encounter with 0:16:16.050 --> 0:16:29.530 Rue Paul and maybe Moby. Maybe the airline tickets were purchased, 0:16:29.730 --> 0:16:32.490 the hotel was booked, but a couple days before we 0:16:32.490 --> 0:16:37.210 were set to leave for La, I got nervous. If 0:16:37.250 --> 0:16:40.170 Gregor already was in a bad place, could my meddling 0:16:40.410 --> 0:16:41.690 possibly make things worse? 0:16:42.130 --> 0:16:42.410 Hello? 0:16:43.210 --> 0:16:43.810 Hey Annika? 0:16:44.090 --> 0:16:44.930 Yeah, Jonathan. 0:16:45.330 --> 0:16:47.370 I decided to reach out to the person who knows 0:16:47.370 --> 0:16:53.530 Gregor best, his wife, Annika. So do you know about 0:16:53.530 --> 0:16:57.450 this this little project that your husband and I are undertaking? 0:16:58.810 --> 0:17:01.970 So I think that the is a strategy to like 0:17:02.010 --> 0:17:05.170 ambush Moby and try and get him to give back 0:17:05.210 --> 0:17:08.930 the CDs that he lent Gregor thirty years ago or however, 0:17:09.450 --> 0:17:11.129 well it was ago. Is that true? 0:17:11.889 --> 0:17:16.170 You make it sound like such a classy operation. Yeah. 0:17:16.649 --> 0:17:19.609 Has Gregor brought this issue up to you before this 0:17:19.649 --> 0:17:22.570 whole Alan Lomack CD issue? 0:17:23.169 --> 0:17:29.090 So I met him on November eleventh, two thousand, Yeah, 0:17:29.129 --> 0:17:35.449 and it came up pretty early in our relationship, so. 0:17:35.409 --> 0:17:39.050 He yeah, like first date conversation, It was. 0:17:39.050 --> 0:17:41.929 Definitely early on. It's very hard for him to let 0:17:42.010 --> 0:17:46.289 stuff go. And like, even like early on our relationship, 0:17:46.330 --> 0:17:51.769 we went to Spain together and we bought a bottle 0:17:51.810 --> 0:17:54.729 of olive oil in some town or something and we 0:17:54.850 --> 0:17:57.529 left it by accident in the rental car and it 0:17:57.689 --> 0:17:59.129 still bothers him. 0:18:00.250 --> 0:18:02.570 Do you know. I think I actually know that Olive 0:18:02.570 --> 0:18:03.489 Oil story. 0:18:03.609 --> 0:18:09.129 Oh yeah, yeah. There is something that is in his 0:18:09.250 --> 0:18:12.209 character that is very much like the Larry David character, 0:18:12.250 --> 0:18:16.050 where it's like, you know, like obsessing about a very 0:18:16.090 --> 0:18:19.689 small point. But you know, he's a very he's like 0:18:19.730 --> 0:18:23.730 a very sensitive person. So it's just part of who 0:18:23.770 --> 0:18:27.650 he is and part of his wonderful package. 0:18:27.929 --> 0:18:31.850 Does this undertaking have your blessing or do you think 0:18:31.850 --> 0:18:32.649 it's foolhardy? 0:18:33.409 --> 0:18:36.649 I don't. I sometimes I worry about Gregor's feelings because 0:18:36.649 --> 0:18:41.210 he is very hurt, very easily, and I don't know 0:18:41.250 --> 0:18:52.050 if Moby is really that sensitive to his feelings. 0:18:54.530 --> 0:18:58.289 I Gregor flew in from San Francisco and I was 0:18:58.290 --> 0:19:01.210 there to greet him at the Bob Hope International Airport 0:19:01.290 --> 0:19:01.969 in Burbank. 0:19:02.169 --> 0:19:04.050 So this is the dream factory I've heard about. 0:19:04.050 --> 0:19:08.969 It's beautiful here. Even the underground parking lots smell like sentent. 0:19:09.929 --> 0:19:12.889 We have four hours before our appointment with Moby, so 0:19:12.929 --> 0:19:16.170 we set off in our economy sized Krrio or similar 0:19:16.570 --> 0:19:23.930 to experience everything LA has to offer. Are you excited? Yeah, 0:19:24.050 --> 0:19:25.290 you don't sound excited. 0:19:26.090 --> 0:19:27.170 No, I'm full of anxiety. 0:19:27.209 --> 0:19:30.969 And let me tell you I feel an increasing sense 0:19:31.090 --> 0:19:33.889 of dread about the futility of this undertaking. 0:19:34.689 --> 0:19:36.570 You can get those CDs back, my friend. 0:19:36.770 --> 0:19:38.730 Okay, whatever you say in a. 0:19:38.649 --> 0:19:40.649 Plastic bag, which he'll supply. 0:19:41.889 --> 0:19:45.609 You're gonna negotiate this look manage at which time of 0:19:45.649 --> 0:19:51.450 my client's choosing the one plastic bag recycled acceptable plus 0:19:51.689 --> 0:19:54.769 one coupon good for any flavor from basket in Robin's 0:19:54.770 --> 0:19:59.050 ice cream or any substante there too. 0:20:01.730 --> 0:20:04.090 With just three hours and fifty nine minutes to go, 0:20:04.609 --> 0:20:08.249 things were off to a rollicking start. It's like not moving. 0:20:08.490 --> 0:20:10.370 There's always traffic in Los Angeles. 0:20:10.490 --> 0:20:12.249 Look at the traffic. Are we gonna make it for movies? 0:20:12.570 --> 0:20:14.289 Yeah, we're gonna be stuck in horrible traffic. 0:20:14.970 --> 0:20:18.290 We have until two, No, we have until one. 0:20:18.570 --> 0:20:19.809 Oh really we'll never make it. 0:20:23.530 --> 0:20:26.730 Oh look there's the big Hollywood sign. Wow, what a sight. 0:20:26.850 --> 0:20:29.969 Huh used to say Hollywood. 0:20:29.490 --> 0:20:32.969 Land Actually before that it was called hollywood Landville. 0:20:33.010 --> 0:20:38.330 Is that true? 0:20:38.929 --> 0:20:40.929 Do you want Mexican food? Do you ever eat Mexican food? 0:20:40.970 --> 0:20:43.770 I love Mexican food. And to make U turn yeah, 0:20:43.810 --> 0:20:45.689 go go go? This is like a four lane uie, 0:20:45.810 --> 0:20:46.889 it's six really. 0:20:46.730 --> 0:20:47.690 Go go go go? 0:20:47.850 --> 0:20:53.449 Yes, when you knew to someone before they were famous, 0:20:53.810 --> 0:20:57.609 and you treat them like someone who's not famous. Sometimes 0:20:57.649 --> 0:21:00.530 they don't like that. Sometimes they're used to the difference 0:21:00.649 --> 0:21:02.129 and the rock star treatment from everyone. 0:21:02.250 --> 0:21:04.729 Can you can you try to treat them with a 0:21:04.770 --> 0:21:05.649 little more difference. 0:21:06.689 --> 0:21:07.570 That's what I'm gonna try to. 0:21:07.649 --> 0:21:12.689 But the mask always slips. 0:21:10.689 --> 0:21:13.050 Insofar as me coming here with you, How do you 0:21:13.129 --> 0:21:16.129 feel about me as an interlocutor? 0:21:16.850 --> 0:21:19.050 I'm actually full of dread mostly because of that. 0:21:19.330 --> 0:21:20.409 But what is that supposed to me? 0:21:21.050 --> 0:21:23.330 Because I recognize that I need an interlocutor. I did 0:21:23.369 --> 0:21:24.929 say that, and I do believe it. I think that 0:21:24.970 --> 0:21:26.570 you're going to be allows the interlocutor. 0:21:26.770 --> 0:21:28.369 What do you think I'm gonna embarrass you in front 0:21:28.369 --> 0:21:29.850 of your yes, famous friends? 0:21:29.929 --> 0:21:31.250 Yes, yes, that's. 0:21:31.050 --> 0:21:37.489 What you're afraid of. Yes? No, But seriously, you think 0:21:37.490 --> 0:21:38.209 I'm gonna blow this? 0:21:39.010 --> 0:21:40.689 I just feel like you don't get the vibe of 0:21:40.689 --> 0:21:42.449 what it's like when you're in like a guy's house 0:21:42.970 --> 0:21:43.770 and you're gonna. 0:21:43.570 --> 0:21:46.010 Be like, say, nice toilets, what are he's made of? 0:21:46.090 --> 0:21:46.530 Porcelain? 0:21:47.169 --> 0:21:51.449 Ay, I'm gonna be like Johnny please, and you'll be like, no, 0:21:51.570 --> 0:21:52.529 I don't know what they're made up? 0:21:53.209 --> 0:21:55.250 Is to me the final iroty of this whole thing 0:21:55.290 --> 0:21:57.809 that you're concerned that I'm gonna embarrass you. 0:21:58.090 --> 0:21:59.770 I don't want you to trip me up in my game, 0:21:59.850 --> 0:22:01.570 my stride, my cadence. 0:22:01.290 --> 0:22:02.649 And what is it gonna be a part of your 0:22:02.689 --> 0:22:04.130 game here to. 0:22:04.090 --> 0:22:05.969 Try and relax and be myself. But I'm gonna be 0:22:05.970 --> 0:22:07.730 made self conscious when you're like, do. 0:22:07.730 --> 0:22:09.449 You validate parking here? 0:22:09.770 --> 0:22:15.169 And I just need you to validate God, this is 0:22:15.209 --> 0:22:17.409