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Speaker 1: On this episode of News World. I'm actually pleasing my

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Speaker 1: daughter Jackie, who was an enormous fan of our guest today,

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Speaker 1: and she recently emailed me and said, having been to

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Speaker 1: New York to listen to John Live, Dad, you've got

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Speaker 1: to have John and Rossik from the band Five for

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Speaker 1: Fighting on the podcast to talk about his new song

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Speaker 1: about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan called Blood on My Hands,

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Speaker 1: and so you'll understand why she's so passionate about it.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna do something I don't think we've ever done

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Speaker 1: before my podcast. I want you just to take a

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Speaker 1: matter with me and let's listen to John's song Blood

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Speaker 1: on my Hands. Got blurd on my hand, God blurd

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Speaker 1: on my hand, And I don't understand what's happening. There's

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Speaker 1: blood on these hands and still American left TI the

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Speaker 1: tile band. Now, how's that happening? Winking? Blinking? Can't you

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Speaker 1: look me in the eye? William mille Timer, when did

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Speaker 1: you decide this will defend your sacred motto now meets

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Speaker 1: never mind hands God, blood on my hand, God blood

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Speaker 1: in my hands, flag of the child of Bands. He

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Speaker 1: over afghanis dang general losting? Is there have no honor

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Speaker 1: in shape? Can you stand my room without the letters

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Speaker 1: in blame? Did iveld Joe stick a trip in your veins? Hem?

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Speaker 1: I can't hear her scream if she's not, she's not.

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Speaker 1: She's not on TV. I can't hear him scream if

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Speaker 1: he's not, he's not. He's not on TV too. Ever,

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Speaker 1: after lie that we left behind every child who won't

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Speaker 1: no freedom business covered in line for this American promise,

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Speaker 1: na shit in the bad God. Blood on a Hand, Hey, Joe,

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Speaker 1: just want American asking what's happening. John is the first

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Speaker 1: professional musician we've had our news world, so I'm very

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Speaker 1: pleased that he agreed to join me to discuss his

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Speaker 1: new song. And the kind of attention has been getting.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's really quite remarkable. As of the day

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Speaker 1: we're recording this, Blood on My Hands has four hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty seven thousand and views on YouTube, and I

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Speaker 1: recommend to you to look at the YouTube version because

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Speaker 1: he did it very cleverly and has the text up

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Speaker 1: there in a way that I think you'll find very

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Speaker 1: very compelling. Now, long before he did this song, John

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Speaker 1: had an incredible music career. His Grammy nominate his song Superman.

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Speaker 1: It's Not Easy became a worldwide hit. Single, went platinum

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Speaker 1: and was number one in the Adult Top forty. Superman

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Speaker 1: became an anthem for the heroes of nine to eleven,

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Speaker 1: and he performed the song at the concert for New

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Speaker 1: York City. Five for Fighting has sold over two and

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Speaker 1: a half million albums. In addition to making music, John

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Speaker 1: performs for the USO and is a great supporter of

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Speaker 1: the US military. He's given away five volumes of compilation

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Speaker 1: CD for the Troops albums to our US armed forces.

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Speaker 1: Over a million copies have been distributed to soldiers worldwide.

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Speaker 1: I am really pleased to welcome my guest Grammy nominated

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Speaker 1: singer songwriter patriot John and Rossik of five Pro Fighting. John, Welcome,

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Speaker 1: and thank you for joining me. Mister speaker. It's an

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Speaker 1: honor and a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you

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Speaker 1: for having me. So why did you decide to write

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Speaker 1: Blood on My Hands? You know, I had no intention

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Speaker 1: of writing a song. I think, like all of us,

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Speaker 1: when we saw the initial images coming out of Afghanistan

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Speaker 1: of people falling from planes and women throwing their children

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Speaker 1: over barricades to our soldiers, I was kind of just

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Speaker 1: horrified and stunned. But when our thirteen troops were killed

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Speaker 1: in the hundred Afghans, I was angry. Like many of us,

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Speaker 1: I felt that could have been prevented. I did what

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Speaker 1: many artists do. I went up to my piano and

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Speaker 1: I started banging on the piano, more as a cathartic

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Speaker 1: exercise than anything. But the song really didn't take shape

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Speaker 1: to a few days later, after our last troops left Afghanistan,

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Speaker 1: I got a call from a friend who's my hero,

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Speaker 1: who does amazing humanitarian work around the world. She said, hey,

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Speaker 1: I need a contact because we are organizing evacs of

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Speaker 1: am sits from Afghanistan, and me, being the singer guy,

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Speaker 1: I said, well, what's an am sit? And she said

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Speaker 1: American citizen? And I paused and I said to her,

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Speaker 1: are you telling me that you are risking your life

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Speaker 1: and your colleague's lives to go rescue American citizens we

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Speaker 1: left behind? And she started choking up and said yes.

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Speaker 1: So that night I wrote a few lines and the

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Speaker 1: song really finished itself when the President came out with

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Speaker 1: his Extraordinary success speech, which I think stunned all of us,

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Speaker 1: maybe not used her. You've heard a lot of things,

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Speaker 1: but It stunned me. And when that happened, I expected

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Speaker 1: our generals, because I hold our military and great esteem,

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Speaker 1: I expected General million General Austin to come out and

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Speaker 1: clarify that extraordinary success. But when they came out with

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Speaker 1: the wow, what a great airlift, I realized that it

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Speaker 1: was a political exercise. This was not a humanitarian exercise

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Speaker 1: of military extra size. It was a political one. And

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Speaker 1: that scared me. It scared me for our future. And

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Speaker 1: I wrote the Millie Austin Blinken lines that night, and

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Speaker 1: I put it out the next day. So I'm fascinated.

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Speaker 1: I'm not a musician. My wife is a pianist, a

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Speaker 1: French horn player, and spent sixteen years in a professional choir.

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Speaker 1: I'm what's called audience. We need those, I know. I'm

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Speaker 1: always told by musicians this is good, Yeah, this is

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Speaker 1: what we want. But when you're being creative, I noticed

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Speaker 1: you start, at least in this conversation, you start with

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Speaker 1: the piano and then go to the words. Do you

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Speaker 1: find that's how you almost always work. That first comes

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Speaker 1: to the music, then come the lyrics. You know, there's

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Speaker 1: no rhyme or reason. Sometimes you start with melody, like

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Speaker 1: the piano sometimes you start with a page of lyrics.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes you start with the concept. I had a song

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Speaker 1: called hundred Years, which is just about kind of recognizing

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Speaker 1: the moment, and this song kind of started with the concept,

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Speaker 1: and it was interesting how it evolved. I had the

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Speaker 1: Blood on my Hands idea from the beginning, and when

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Speaker 1: I was writing that, I really didn't have the rest

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Speaker 1: of the verses. And after the extraordinary success speech, I'm like, well,

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Speaker 1: I need to write a song that calls out million Austin.

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Speaker 1: And I'm like, and then, well, maybe I should put

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Speaker 1: that in the same song. So sometimes songs kind of

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Speaker 1: join each other and there's this kind of hybrid flow.

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Speaker 1: But this one, you know, it really was about the concept.

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Speaker 1: You know, there's been a great history of protest songs

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Speaker 1: in this country, and I thought somebody needed to say it.

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Speaker 1: Nobody was saying it. I was waiting for our great

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Speaker 1: American songwriters to talk about this national shame, this great catastrophe,

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Speaker 1: but nobody was saying it. So I felt I had

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Speaker 1: to say it. Well, I think that's really important because

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Speaker 1: I do think, as you point out, that there's a huge,

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Speaker 1: very long tradition of music mattering and music inspiring people

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Speaker 1: educating people, mobilizing people, and this song Blood in My

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Speaker 1: Hands is certainly in that tradition. Now you've said that

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Speaker 1: Blood in My Hands is a moral message, not a

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Speaker 1: political one. Draw the distinction and explained how you're thinking evolves.

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Speaker 1: It is a moral message. To me, It's really about

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Speaker 1: two things. When I first wrote it, it's about the

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Speaker 1: American promise. The American promise matters, our word matters. And

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Speaker 1: when the president came out and said we will get

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Speaker 1: every American out, and we did not do that. When

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Speaker 1: we said these SIV holders, that's a written promise, we

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Speaker 1: will take care of you, we did not do that.

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Speaker 1: When we abandon allies who fought next to our soldiers,

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Speaker 1: the American promise matters to me. And also accountability matters.

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Speaker 1: How can we address our mistakes? How can we think

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Speaker 1: better if there's no accountability for our mistakes? And it

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Speaker 1: is a moral message. I've said this many times, but

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Speaker 1: if Donald Trump was president or a Republican was president,

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Speaker 1: and we were in the same situation, I would write

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Speaker 1: the same song, only the names would change. And of

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Speaker 1: course in this world everything is political. And of course

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Speaker 1: in this world, if Donald Trump what's president, I would

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Speaker 1: probably be the toast of the town to those who

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Speaker 1: are shunning the song, And to me, that's another dangerous

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Speaker 1: problem of our society, the tribalism. You're right, there is

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Speaker 1: great protest songs, and I imagine if a Republican were president,

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Speaker 1: there would probably be twenty of them, but there's not,

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Speaker 1: And to me, that is a very dangerous thing for

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Speaker 1: a democracy. I know you talk about it a lot,

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Speaker 1: but it is a moral message. No man left behind

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Speaker 1: is not a Republican slogan or a democrat at one.

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Speaker 1: Accountability is not a democratic slogan, a Republican one. That's

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Speaker 1: foundations to our democracy. And if we lose that, who

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Speaker 1: are we? And we are going down a dangerous path.

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Speaker 1: Were you worried at all about the cancel culture when

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Speaker 1: you decided to release the song? Of course, this is

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, and I was advised by everyone who

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Speaker 1: loves me except my dad. My Dad's like, do it.

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Speaker 1: Somebody's got to say it because they know they're repercussions.

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Speaker 1: But you know, I remember you said something a few

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Speaker 1: years ago that stuck with me. I forget what radio

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Speaker 1: program I was listening to, but somebody asked you about

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Speaker 1: the culture war and somebody said, how's it going to end?

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Speaker 1: And you said something that I thought was very profound.

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Speaker 1: You said, when one side wins, that's when it's gonna end.

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Speaker 1: And for me, there certainly will be fallout. I've already

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Speaker 1: seen some fallout, But compared to what's happening to Afghanistan

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Speaker 1: women and children, compared to what's happening to our veterans

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Speaker 1: who are suffering from this PTSD, any fallout to me

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Speaker 1: at trivial. And if we don't write songs like that,

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Speaker 1: if we don't speak up, if we don't give permission

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Speaker 1: to the next person who may be afraid to write

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Speaker 1: a song like this, we're going to lose that culture war.

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Speaker 1: So I figured, as I said, whatever blowback there is

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Speaker 1: to me in the big pictures trivial. Part of what

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Speaker 1: I was impressed by is that you get right to

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Speaker 1: the heart of it. There is literally blood on the

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Speaker 1: hands of America right now because of the totally dishonorable

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Speaker 1: way we abandoned our allies from NATO, didn't tell them

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Speaker 1: what we were going to do. We abandon Americans, we

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Speaker 1: abandoned Afghans who were our allies. We sent a signal

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Speaker 1: to the world of how unreliable America has become. Songs

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Speaker 1: like this that are direct and clear and don't pull

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Speaker 1: any punches are really an important part of the catharsis

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Speaker 1: of beginning to come to grips with where we are

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Speaker 1: as a country and what we have to do. And

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Speaker 1: I'm curious, when you released a song, what was the

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Speaker 1: reaction from Afghan vets, the people who served in Afghanistan

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Speaker 1: who talked to you about the song. Well, you know,

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Speaker 1: when I first released it, I got thousands of emails,

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Speaker 1: you know, basically saying thank you for speaking my pain.

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Speaker 1: But I really never understood how deep it was until

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Speaker 1: I started playing the song live. I was on tour

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Speaker 1: for about three weeks and I played thirteen shows, and

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Speaker 1: at the end of each show, I would ask my

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Speaker 1: quartet to leave the stage. I was frankly worried about

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Speaker 1: them getting canceled. And I would talk about the song,

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Speaker 1: and I would talk about it's a moral message. I

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Speaker 1: would talk about how I wrote the song. I would

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Speaker 1: talk about that I'm working every day with my friends

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Speaker 1: on the ground rescuing Americans in real time. And after

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Speaker 1: the show, veterans would come up to me and mister Speakers,

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Speaker 1: some of them could not even talk. They were so emotional,

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Speaker 1: they were so upset, they were so ashamed. They would

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Speaker 1: just kind of mumble thank you for speaking about the song,

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Speaker 1: and we would just hug. And it was also active

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Speaker 1: people too. I played in Annapolis and I had some

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Speaker 1: sailors come up and they would say, thank you for

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Speaker 1: saying what we're feeling. We can't say it out loud

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Speaker 1: or we'll get court martial or dismissed. So I never

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Speaker 1: realized how important it was to our vets. And I've

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Speaker 1: actually banded my mission now to include veterans, and include

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Speaker 1: our Afghan vets and make sure that they're being heard

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Speaker 1: and be a voice for them, because I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: they're getting the attention they deserve from the VA as

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Speaker 1: the administration seems to want to just kind of push

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Speaker 1: this under the rug. I've had several friends who are

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Speaker 1: retired DOTA Force who are deeply engaged even now while

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Speaker 1: we're talking helping people get out of Afghanistan. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know, many weeks after we supposedly had gotten the

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Speaker 1: job done, we still haven't gotten the job done. And

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Speaker 1: I understand that you've personally been contacted about helping evacuate people,

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Speaker 1: which must be for a singer, it must be a

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Speaker 1: little bit unusual to suddenly find yourself in the middle

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Speaker 1: of real life dramas involving truly desperate people. Yeah. I

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Speaker 1: like the man in the High Castle, but I don't

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Speaker 1: like this alternate universe we're living in. It's actually a

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Speaker 1: disgrace that people in Afghanistan and citizens feel that they

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Speaker 1: cannot trust their own state department they have to reach

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Speaker 1: out to some singer guy. As depressing as this whole

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Speaker 1: episode is and the broken American promise, I do take

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Speaker 1: great hope in these incredible people who have drained their

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Speaker 1: bank accounts, quit their jobs are down in Afghanistan. As

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Speaker 1: we speak, impersonating Taliban rescuing not just our citizens, but

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Speaker 1: folks that fought alongside us, maybe saved our soldiers' lives.

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Speaker 1: And that does give me hope. And it is surreal.

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Speaker 1: And I also have to give a lot of credit

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Speaker 1: to congress Tom Cotton, who's been helping me, Congressman Waltz,

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Speaker 1: who's been helping me connect the dots. You know, I'm

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Speaker 1: just kind of a guy on a switchboard. I'm not

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Speaker 1: down there, but everybody's coming together to do the right thing.

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Speaker 1: So that does give me hope for our country, even

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Speaker 1: though our government seems to forgot who we are. So,

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Speaker 1: as you were finishing up the song and you were

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Speaker 1: listening to yourself at this very early process of creativity,

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Speaker 1: what was it you hope the audience the American people

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Speaker 1: would take from the song. I didn't have a big intention,

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Speaker 1: but once the song was done, I already saw the

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Speaker 1: media moving on a line in the song as you

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Speaker 1: heard that says, I can't hear her scream if she's

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Speaker 1: not on TV. And to me, I was hoping that

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Speaker 1: the song would keep Afghanistan in the forefront. You know,

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Speaker 1: I fear that the song will probably be more resonant

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Speaker 1: even six months a year from now than it is now.

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Speaker 1: It's only going to get worse. But as you said,

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Speaker 1: songs have a way of capturing the public's attention in

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Speaker 1: a way speeches don't. I saw it with Superman in

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Speaker 1: nine to eleven, and it's doing that for some you know.

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Speaker 1: Of course, unfortunately, the mainstream media has shunned the song.

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Speaker 1: Big tech seems to want to shadow band the song,

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Speaker 1: and I reached out to everyone in the mainstream media.

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Speaker 1: I wrote personal emails and as you know, they agree

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Speaker 1: with our sentiments, but I just feel we're so tribal

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Speaker 1: that everybody's afraid to alienate their audience. So if the

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Speaker 1: song helps keep Afghanistan on the front foot and it

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Speaker 1: kind of speaks for those who feel they're silent, that's great.

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Speaker 1: But we still have a long way to go. I

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Speaker 1: have some other mission plans. I'm making an actual music video.

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Speaker 1: I took my day off and DC and shot me

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Speaker 1: playing the song in front of the White House, so

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Speaker 1: I have other tools to keep Americans engaged in Afghanistan.

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Speaker 1: Because until we admit our complicity, you know, shame is

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Speaker 1: something that I understand, nobody wants to think about. We

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Speaker 1: don't want an eternalize shame. We want to kind of

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Speaker 1: dismiss it. But until we admit our complicity, come to

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Speaker 1: grips with what we did, I think this shame will

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Speaker 1: continue to fester and our moral conscience will just continue

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Speaker 1: to erode. So hopefully my song could be one part

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Speaker 1: of keeping Afghanistan and the people there in our minds

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Speaker 1: and in our hearts. You know, I think one of

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Speaker 1: the examples of the authenticity an integrity with which you

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Speaker 1: approach this was the decision you made about where the

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Speaker 1: proceeds from the sale of the song will go, because

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Speaker 1: we want all of our listeners to realize that they

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Speaker 1: have a chance here to participate directly in helping you

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Speaker 1: help other people. Well, thank you. There's kind of two

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Speaker 1: components that we're working with. One is the Gary Sone's Foundation.

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Speaker 1: My buddy Gary, who is our Bob Hope of this generation,

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Speaker 1: who does a lot of mental wellness for our troops.

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Speaker 1: So I've already spoken to Gary. We're going to put

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Speaker 1: into process a package helping our Afghan vets. So if

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Speaker 1: you watched the song on YouTube, if you stream it,

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Speaker 1: those proceeds will go to Gary. And also I'm developing

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Speaker 1: some relationships with Afghan charities, particularly one that works with

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Speaker 1: Afghan musicians. You know, many of the children's orchestra was

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Speaker 1: able to escape, but not all of them, So I'm

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Speaker 1: working with them to continue to try to get all

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Speaker 1: of the students out, all of the Afghan artists. You know.

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Speaker 1: You might remember in the beginning of the Taliban entrance

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Speaker 1: to Kabul, they pulled a folk singer for Wad and

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Speaker 1: Robbie and murdered him in front of his house. So

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to really help and support the artists there,

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Speaker 1: And isn't it sad that we live in a world

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Speaker 1: where folk singers pulled and murdered from his house. You know,

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Speaker 1: twenty years ago that person would be on the cover

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Speaker 1: of Rolling Stone, there would be benefit concerts for the

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Speaker 1: artists of Ahanistan. But our music community is crickets and

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Speaker 1: to me that is a disgrace. So whatever I can

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Speaker 1: do with this song to help the Afghan artists, maybe

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Speaker 1: do a concert on the mall next Memorial Day, I'm

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Speaker 1: going to continue to do that with some great folks

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Speaker 1: helping me along the way. Well, of course, as you

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Speaker 1: point out, we knew going in that the Taliban would

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Speaker 1: ban music because they'd banned music before. We knew that

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Speaker 1: they would dominate women and coerce them and force them

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Speaker 1: back into their homes. They did it before. I mean,

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Speaker 1: none of this stuff is new. We have an entire

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Speaker 1: block of people who reject reality, and it's fascinating because

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Speaker 1: you can't have a serious conversation with them because they

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Speaker 1: reject reality. So if you say to them you're comfortable

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Speaker 1: with the Taliban, well you know, they kill gays, they

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Speaker 1: kill musicians. They want a society with women having no

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Speaker 1: role outside the House. They just shrug. We have a

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Speaker 1: tribe of know nothings, learn nothings, seeing nothings, hear nothings,

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Speaker 1: and think nothings, and there sadly currently the dominant tribe

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Speaker 1: in terms of television and the universities and the White House.

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Speaker 1: You've had a very interesting career. And I noticed that Superman,

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Speaker 1: which became almost the unofficial anthem after nine eleven, but

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Speaker 1: you'd actually released it four months before nine to eleven. Now,

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Speaker 1: what led you to do Superman? And we're used surprised

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Speaker 1: by how it suddenly caught fire and sold huge numbers

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Speaker 1: around the world. Yeah, of course, I mean twenty years later,

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Speaker 1: I still have a hard time putting my head around it.

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Speaker 1: As mentioned Superman a couple of years before nine to eleven.

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Speaker 1: You know, it was kind of a song about the

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Speaker 1: frustration of the music business, unable to be heard. It's

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Speaker 1: not easy to be me. I certainly couldn't write that song.

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Speaker 1: Now I've actually met people with real challenges. It's pretty

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Speaker 1: damn easy to be most of us. But at that

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Speaker 1: time the song was kind of be coming a hit

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Speaker 1: around the world, and it was a unique song because

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Speaker 1: at the time the piano was not on the radio.

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Speaker 1: It was not the age of Billy Joel and Elton John.

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Speaker 1: It was the age of Lila Fair and boy bands

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Speaker 1: and grunge music, and so the song had a unique place.

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Speaker 1: And I was actually in London on nine to eleven,

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Speaker 1: and like all of us, watched the first plane hit

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Speaker 1: and was in shock, and the second plane started calling

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Speaker 1: everybody I knew in New York. But I didn't realize

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Speaker 1: the impact of the song until I got back. And

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Speaker 1: you remember, you know, there were no planes for a week,

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Speaker 1: and I took a plane from London. I landed at O'Hare.

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Speaker 1: I literally kissed the tarmac and I started seeing how

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Speaker 1: many news organizations were using Superman to pay tribute to

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Speaker 1: the firefighters who ran into those buildings and showed us

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Speaker 1: who real heroes are. And then, as you mentioned, I

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Speaker 1: was asked to play the concert for New York, which

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Speaker 1: and again, in another universe it would have been the

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Speaker 1: highlight of my life. Every living influence of mine was

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Speaker 1: on that stage, you know, Paul McCartney, Elton, Billy, you

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Speaker 1: know Clapton, Townsend. But that night it didn't matter. And

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Speaker 1: to be able to play Superman in Madison Square Garden

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Speaker 1: to those twenty thousand workers who had been down at

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Speaker 1: Ground zero, going through unimaginable you know, pain and suffering

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Speaker 1: digging through the rubble. It really showed me how music

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Speaker 1: can make a difference. You know, when the who played

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Speaker 1: and blew the roof off Madison Square Garden, I think

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Speaker 1: those people probably cried and screamed for the first time

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Speaker 1: in a month, and it wasn't awakening to me how

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Speaker 1: music matters more than charts and sales and hits and

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Speaker 1: all that stuff. And even twenty years later, when I

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Speaker 1: play Superman, it has that resonance, especially after this twentieth anniversary.

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Speaker 1: So I'm blessed that I had a song that helped

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Speaker 1: folks when we needed it, and hopefully this new song

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Speaker 1: can do a little bit of that as well. And

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Speaker 1: I have to say, just for everybody who's listening to

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Speaker 1: us who has no quite an idea of who you

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Speaker 1: really are. One of my favorite places. In fact, we

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Speaker 1: did a podcast with one of the leaders at the

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Speaker 1: Jet Propulsion Lab who had developed the Martian Lander. Hen

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Speaker 1: your dad is an astro physicist at the Jet Propulsion Lab.

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Speaker 1: Your mother's a piano teacher. You start taking piano lessons

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Speaker 1: when you're only two years old. I mean, no wonder

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Speaker 1: you learned to play the piano pretty well. Well, it

385
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,480
Speaker 1: wasn't as cool as going down to JPL in the

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Speaker 1: seventies and playing Star Trek on their main frame. Now

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Speaker 1: that was a highlight, And yeah, I had so much fun.

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Speaker 1: My dad would bring home the initial pictures of Titan

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Speaker 1: and the Mariner spacecraft. You know, if the seventies was

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Speaker 1: kind of the golden age of music, and it was

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Speaker 1: also the golden age of our space flight. And JPL

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Speaker 1: had the greatest minds and the freedom and luxury to

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Speaker 1: explore the universe. And I couldn't ask for a better childhood.

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Speaker 1: And I'm so glad you brought that up. I know

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Speaker 1: you're well into space and the opportunities there, and we

396
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:11,280
Speaker 1: have some exciting things going on right now in space,

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Speaker 1: you know, in the private industry. I'm very encouraged by

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Speaker 1: what mister Musk and some of the other folks and

399
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Speaker 1: mister Branson are doing well. I tweeted the other day

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Speaker 1: that William Shatner are going into space at ninety. Since

401
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Speaker 1: I'm seventy eight. It gave me encouragement that I may

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Speaker 1: have a future and be able to live out my fantasies.

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Speaker 1: And of course you're so much younger than I am.

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Speaker 1: You'll probably end up on Mars writing a whole new

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Speaker 1: song as a tribute to looking back at Earth from

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Speaker 1: the Red Planet. Oh, that would be a dream come true.

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Speaker 1: Wouldn't that be wild to have you do a concert

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Speaker 1: on the Red planet singing your new hit song about

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Speaker 1: the Red Planet. The thing about being American is we

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Speaker 1: can dream now. I also have to point out that,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's not just that you hung out, but

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Speaker 1: you actually graduated some of cum laude with a degree

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Speaker 1: and applied math from UCLA. This is not my vision

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Speaker 1: of the typical singer hanging out, you know, working the

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Speaker 1: way through. And then you had the big break because

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Speaker 1: you met your wife, who happens to be a music publisher. Well,

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Speaker 1: she heard you play in a coffeehouse. You know, the

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00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,920
Speaker 1: first date is a business deal. I mean, you've had

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Speaker 1: a very interesting life. Yeah, you are right. It's funny.

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Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, you do the math degree so you

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Speaker 1: can get a job. When the whole thing collapses, and

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Speaker 1: who would have known? It was just fate on Melrose

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Speaker 1: and Vine. When the successful music publisher walks in and

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Speaker 1: says I can get people record deals, and I was,

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Speaker 1: of course enamored by her the moment I met her.

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Speaker 1: It took her two years to see the light on me,

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Speaker 1: but we had the experience of growing together and experiencing

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Speaker 1: all the ups and downs of the industry. And you know,

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00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:42,760
Speaker 1: she was very kind of torn on blood in my

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00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:44,680
Speaker 1: hands too, because she knew the impact it could have.

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00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,359
Speaker 1: But you know, she also knew that the risk we

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00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:49,680
Speaker 1: were taking. But I've been blessed to have her on

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00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 1: this whole adventure, and it's actually made it so much

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00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,359
Speaker 1: more fun, as you know, you know, to share your

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00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,240
Speaker 1: experiences with your partner. You know, she's the best, and

436
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:00,920
Speaker 1: she always tells me when the songs aren't so you know,

437
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:05,119
Speaker 1: you need those editors. Yeah, that happens to my writing

438
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 1: with Calista. She's a really good editor. I'm not, and

439
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:10,760
Speaker 1: so she'll read some of my stuff and go, you've

440
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: really got a right slower and actually know what the

441
00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,760
Speaker 1: heck you're doing, which I find a little bit challenging.

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00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,040
Speaker 1: But you know, this is one of my favorite podcasts,

443
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,679
Speaker 1: both because you're a very interesting guy, but also because

444
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:23,600
Speaker 1: now I can say to my daughter, Jackie Cushman, that

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00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,080
Speaker 1: I have done exactly what she wanted. She will be thrilled.

446
00:27:27,119 --> 00:27:29,159
Speaker 1: She'll be telling all of her friends because she had

447
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:32,600
Speaker 1: such a great time in New York, loved the concert,

448
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,400
Speaker 1: was all over me about it. And I think, frankly,

449
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:40,399
Speaker 1: you're an even more fascinating guests than she sold you.

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00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:42,080
Speaker 1: So I'm going to call her when we get done

451
00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:44,240
Speaker 1: and tell her that she was right on and that

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00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 1: getting to know you as a real thrill. Now, I

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00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,680
Speaker 1: do want her to just take one minute and go

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00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,000
Speaker 1: back and remind people, and I want you to help

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00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:55,920
Speaker 1: me remind people that if they buy the song, that

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00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:00,919
Speaker 1: they are actually contributing to Gary Sinisa's foundation and two

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00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:05,359
Speaker 1: efforts to help Afghan people get away from the Taliban dictatorship,

458
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:09,240
Speaker 1: and that this is something you're doing because you believe

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00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:11,720
Speaker 1: in it so deeply. Yes, And I think it's also

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00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:14,359
Speaker 1: important too. As I said, the mainstream media has shown

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00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,399
Speaker 1: the song it'll never get one airplay spin on commercial radio,

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00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 1: and I think it really is an underground grassroots effort.

463
00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:25,360
Speaker 1: Even more important than playing the song, it's share the song,

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00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 1: especially with veterans, let them know that there's this song

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00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:31,720
Speaker 1: out there for them, and there's other songs and the

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00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,440
Speaker 1: more that we can get it around through the grassroots

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00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,720
Speaker 1: and let folks hear it. I think especially for our soldiers,

468
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:41,240
Speaker 1: it'll give them some solace that they're not alone. So

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00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,000
Speaker 1: I appreciate everybody. You know, it's fun. It's kind of

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00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 1: reminds me of you kind of in your initial efforts

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00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,960
Speaker 1: with the Contract for America. You're kind of alone, nobody's

472
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 1: listening to you. You're out on a log all by yourself,

473
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:56,160
Speaker 1: and the way it works is through grassroots, and to me,

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00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,640
Speaker 1: this song is having that same impact. So yes, play

475
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,200
Speaker 1: the song, you know, support Gary Sones Foundation, share the song,

476
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:06,320
Speaker 1: and speak up. If you have any misgivings about speaking

477
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 1: what you believe, speak up. We are, I think, the majority.

478
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 1: But this really is this culture war, and this song

479
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:16,480
Speaker 1: is just one little piece of freedom, letting people speak

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00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: their peace and respecting that from all sides. So speak up,

481
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,280
Speaker 1: support those congressmen and those folks who believe, like the speaker,

482
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 1: and I do that America is about all of views,

483
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:30,800
Speaker 1: all sides, and that a song that only gets support

484
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 1: from one side of the aisle is not what we're about.

485
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,960
Speaker 1: So I appreciate everybody doing just that. Yeah, and we

486
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:39,560
Speaker 1: will have a link on our show page so people

487
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:44,400
Speaker 1: can go buy the song and help with Gary Sonesian's foundation. John,

488
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:46,360
Speaker 1: I really want to thank you for joining me today.

489
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:49,720
Speaker 1: I think what you're doing to use your voice to

490
00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:52,400
Speaker 1: really call out the key players and the Bide administration

491
00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:55,960
Speaker 1: for their tragic failure and they're handling of the US

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00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,680
Speaker 1: withdrawal from Afghanistan. I think it's a great service to

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00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:03,160
Speaker 1: our country. Helps continue your tradition of honoring the military

494
00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:05,440
Speaker 1: and the men and women on the ground there who

495
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 1: were caught up in the chaos. And I do want

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00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:11,000
Speaker 1: to remind our listeners that they should both listen to

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00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:14,480
Speaker 1: Blow in My Hands, tell their friends and neighbors, send

498
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:17,160
Speaker 1: it out to their Facebook list or their email list.

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00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,160
Speaker 1: John is donating the proceeds to charities helping both Afghan

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00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,520
Speaker 1: refugees as well as members of the military working with

501
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:27,640
Speaker 1: the Garison East Foundation. So this is a really patriotic

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00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:31,040
Speaker 1: opportunity for people to make a difference. It's an honor

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00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:33,400
Speaker 1: to me, John that you would join us. I want

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00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 1: to thank you, and on behalf of Jackie Cushman, I

505
00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 1: want to thank you for what was apparently a great

506
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:41,040
Speaker 1: concert that she was allowed to attend in New York,

507
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:43,720
Speaker 1: so hopefully she'll get a chance to see you in

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00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,040
Speaker 1: Atlanta at some point. But thank you for being with

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00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:49,520
Speaker 1: me today. Thank you, mister Speaker, and thank you Jackie Cushman.

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00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:51,960
Speaker 1: It's been an honor. And thank you for everything you've

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00:30:52,000 --> 00:31:00,080
Speaker 1: done for our country and your clarity. Thank you to

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00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,640
Speaker 1: my guest John and Roussick. You can get a link

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00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,280
Speaker 1: to buy his new song Blood on My Hands on

514
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:09,080
Speaker 1: our show page at newtsworld dot com. Newts World is

515
00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:13,720
Speaker 1: produced by Gingwish three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer

516
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:18,080
Speaker 1: is Debbie Myers, our producer is Garnsey Sloan, and our

517
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 1: researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was

518
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,280
Speaker 1: created by Steve Pendley. Special thanks to the team at

519
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,880
Speaker 1: Gingwish three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope

520
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:32,720
Speaker 1: you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate us with

521
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:35,840
Speaker 1: five stars and give us a review so others can

522
00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:38,960
Speaker 1: learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of news

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00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,200
Speaker 1: World can sign up for my three free weekly columns

524
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:47,480
Speaker 1: at Gingwish three sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm Newt Gingridge.

525
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:48,760
Speaker 1: This is Newtsworld