WEBVTT - Jon Bon Jovi: “It comes down to truth.” 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:05.720 You're listening to Math and Magic, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:09.920 I think it comes down to truth. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:15.200 No matter what we're collectively marketing and or the dirty 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.080 word it's selling, it has to be based in truth 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.799 because even if you pull the wool over someone's eyes once, 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:22.640 it's not going to resonate the second time. 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:25.360 I'm Bob Pittman. 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:27.960 Today is a special episode of Math and Magic, and 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.920 it might sound a little different, not only because our 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.360 guest is one of the biggest rock stars on the planet, 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:37.000 but because we recorded live on stage at the Possible 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.320 Conference at the Fountain Blue in Miami. And I hope 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:44.040 you enjoyed my conversation exploring math and magic, which I 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:48.879 bon Jovi. Today we have a guest who is a 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:53.120 magician in many obvious ways, which we'll explore today. But 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:55.360 the math's pretty good too. You've sold one hundred and 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:59.080 fifty million albums worldwide. He's played twenty eight hundred concerts 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:01.440 and fifty for thirty. 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:02.560 Five million fans. 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.720 He had three top ranking tours in six years, matching 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.720 a record held by only the Rolling Stones. He is 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:13.360 also a successful business person. He and his son started 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:17.080 the wildly successful Hampton Water Wine company. He's a generous 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:22.080 and impactful philanthropist. He's an actor, he has strong political 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.320 convictions which make their way into his music. And he's 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.720 a well known family man, great marriage and role model 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:33.119 for how to do it the right way. But what's 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:35.920 also interesting is he started his ride at about the 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.400 same time we started MTV, so we were sort of 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:40.800 locked through this thing. 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:43.840 And you know, when people start, especially in the music. 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.080 Business, you never know who's going to be there thirty 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:48.880 years from now, and very few are. 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.840 So we got the guy who is here, John bon Jovi. 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:54.960 Well, thank you, thank you, Mom, thank you. I'm happy 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:56.320 to be here. Good morning. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:01:59.200 We got a lot to talk about. 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.520 But first I want to do do you in sixty seconds. 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:04.400 What we're going to do is we're going to lightning 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.480 round style. Give you a couple of choices. 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.320 Lay down right like you're ready to go. Ready to go. 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.680 Prefer cats or dogs, dogs, early. 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:18.240 Riser, night out, morning guy city or country city, winter 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:19.160 or summer. 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:21.959 Summer, salt, your sweet torn. 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.959 Beach, your mountains, beach, off of your tea coffee text 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:29.680 dark call depends. 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:34.840 Garden State or Madison Square Garden Garden State. 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:36.600 There we go. 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.000 Here's the Jersey folks, It's about to get harder. All 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:44.760 time favorite musical artist The Beatles. Childhood hero. 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.760 Bruce had a lot to do with my being here today. 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:50.600 There we go. 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:58.520 Technology, you can't live without my teenage kids, favorite country 0:02:58.520 --> 0:02:58.920 to visit. 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:02.280 The final one, What did you want to be when 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:02.880 you're growing up? 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:03.280 Me? 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:09.800 And it happens only in America? So let's jump in. 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:14.520 You are one of the best and most enduring brands 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.400 in music? How do you stay connected with this audience 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:20.440 for forty years? 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:23.640 Nothing would have happened if you didn't have a song. 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:27.000 So the brand had to be built on a solid foundation, 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:30.040 which was the song and being true to who and 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:31.720 what I was. 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:35.560 In order for the collective we to. 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:38.200 Then be true to who we were, and so that 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:40.960 is the basis of all of it. Not to chase 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:45.320 fads and fascions was also really important to me. Fads 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:49.400 and fashions come and go, and the truth will always prevail. 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:52.520 Were you ever tempted with any of the fads or fashions. 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.760 Not really to be? I don't think well, I don't 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:55.160 think so. 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.440 I may have been a byproduct of the closure wore 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:01.640 in the a or the haircut you hadn't it. But 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:05.560 that's who and what you were in real time. And 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:08.720 if the next fat in fashion came along, ie in 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:13.840 our business, boy bands and then grunge music and then wrap, 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:16.479 you know, we were there at the advent of rap, 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:21.000 and to start doing duets would not have seemed honest, 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.320 you know, to certainly be with a boy band and 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.440 or none of that would have rang true. So I 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:28.760 was smart enough to know not to get a flannel shirt. 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:32.640 When Seattle became popular, it was just stay the quarters. 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:36.680 Let's talk about intergenerational hits, and these are marketers here, 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:40.560 so they're looking for things that are enduring. My friend's daughter, 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.120 it is twenty two. She was in a college bar, 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:47.279 living on a prayer comes on. The kids all start 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:50.159 dancing on the tables. They weren't even born when the 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:55.400 song came out. What is it about your music that 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.880 connects was such a young generation, even though it was 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.480 made originally for a completely different generation. 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:04.120 Again, I think it comes down to truth. 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:09.400 No matter what we're collectively marketing and or you know 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.800 the dirty words selling, it. 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:12.920 Has to be based in truth. 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:15.600 Because even if you pull the wool over someone's eyes once, 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:17.960 it's not going to resonate the second time. So when 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:20.880 we wrote a song, if I was doing it from 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:24.320 a place of honesty, that song resonated with me, and 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:26.680 therefore I was confident it would probably. 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:27.680 Resonate with that audience. 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.320 Songs like Living on a Prayer, when we wrote them 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:33.480 to be bluntly honest, I didn't realize what we had, 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:37.880 but I felt that the character driven storyline was legit, 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:40.880 and in doing so, you know, obviously that's. 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:42.719 One of the many that has stood the test of time. 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.600 It's as simple as that, because it's everybody's story. 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:50.600 So when you create a new song, how often do 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:52.960 you know that you've got something special? 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.679 Absolutely do not, as you know, as we talk behind 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:57.760 the stage. I got in around two thirty this morning 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:00.920 and have been recording some stuff in Los Angeles for 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:01.839 next year. 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:05.600 And I left there thinking I've got it. I'm a genius. 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.000 But I wake up this morning you go, I don't 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:09.960 know what I'm talking about. I just did it again, 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:12.080 you know, you really, you don't know. There's so many 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:13.799 times that I've thought I had it and I don't, 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.280 and so many times that I was surprised. 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:18.320 So by the way, for us old people, let me 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:19.120 just throw something out. 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.240 Hey, But you've gotten older, have you got more questions 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:25.159 when you were younger? Did you think this is going 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.440 to be a hit or is this something that as 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:28.280 you age you go. 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:29.039 Who knows. 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:32.920 There's a certain confidence you have when you're a young kid. 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:37.279 I was much more fearless, and it was probably naivete. 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:41.160 Now I don't live in fear, but I don't pay 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:44.000 attention like I used to. There was a story I 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:46.400 was talking about yesterday and it was during the era 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.520 of Slippery and Wet, and I remember this really well, 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.560 reading a music publication and George Harrison was alive and well, 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:55.839 and it was asked about the success of the band 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.120 and he said, I don't know who they are. And 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.440 I was initially offended. And I was saying to the 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.880 guy yesterday that I was talking to. He wasn't saying 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:08.520 something offensive about the band. It was just not where 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:12.160 he was at in his life then. So as we 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:15.760 were talking about young, young, young artists yesterday that coming 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:19.120 out of TikTok, you know the guys with one new song, 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:20.760 I said, no, I'm sorry, I don't know them. And 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.480 it wasn't meant to be at all offensive. It was 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.040 that I'm not paying attention to that. All I can 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.920 do is beyond my journey and write who I am 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.840 and what I want to talk about, and not to 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:33.360 look around based on that. 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:35.520 It has to be based in truth. 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.280 So let's take that one step further. 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:43.320 You are almost like a rock star by day, family 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.560 man by night, and everyone who knows you comments that's 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.280 sort of your reputation. I don't think you've ever fallen 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:51.920 victim to the trappings of being a rock star. You 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:54.840 stay in rooms, not sweets. There are no trails of limos, 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:58.880 there's no tons of security, no visible hangar ons, and 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.200 you have one of the most six celebrity marriage is 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:02.760 how does that happen? 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:04.360 There have to be some lessons in that. 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:08.600 But the group of everybody here who probably has opportunities 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:11.200 to get seduced by power and privilege. 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.640 So did I look, I'm those saint, I'm the lead 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:18.560 singer and a very successful rock band. We've had a 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:22.280 lot of wonderful memories, but they were what they were, 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.520 and you know, on the family side of things, that's 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.120 my rock and my wife and I went to high. 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:32.120 School together, and I know that we grew together. 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:34.600 That was important, you know, we grew up together, so 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.080 she saw every facet of this, and then you know, 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:39.960 we grew together. That's imperative here. And then you know, 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.240 the kids, I hope they see that work ethics. So again, 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.559 if you can bestow on your kids anything is if 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:50.560 they could see by example what you've done, maybe they'll 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:55.360 take the good of it and disregard some of the bad. 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:58.000 I'm no saint, it's just it's a work in progress. 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.720 You grew up obviously the product of the seventies and 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:05.679 early eighties. How did your family life influence you? And 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:08.840 what are those sort of lessons that you learned there 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:10.400 that show up as you today. 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:12.680 In the time that I was born, in nineteen sixty two, 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.400 President Kennedy was in office, my parents fully bought into 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.960 the whole camelot. You know, we can go to the moon, 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.200 you could be anything you want. We're going to buy 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.720 a house in middle class New Jersey. I was blessed 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:27.240 with that. I was born at the right time, in 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:30.000 the right place, looking a certain way, and so there 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.120 weren't a lot of, you know, obstacles in the way 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.080 of dreaming. And I know the difference, and I know 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:39.000 the difference especially now, so I was lucky, and then 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:39.640 hard work and. 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:42.040 Luck makes for success, you know. 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.040 But a lot of it had to do with the time, 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:48.920 the place, the color of my skin, the economic advantages 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:52.680 of you know, two parents that worked, and that work 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:54.679 ethic was instilled in all of us. 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:56.959 Got to hope my kids say something like that about 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:00.719 me at a certain point. Are there any words from 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.720 your parents that echo in your head now? And then 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:07.360 that advice they gave you or comments they made. 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.240 Other than my mother was smart enough to say the 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:10.679 band's name should be bon Jovi. 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.960 That was pretty good advice. You know. 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:19.240 Even then, I knew that if I was going to 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.920 fail or succeed, it was going to be, you know, 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:23.559 my responsibility. 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:29.439 So that was actually great advice. That my folks were 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:30.480 supportive enough. 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:33.280 And when the drinking age in New Jersey was eighteen 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.040 and you could sneak into a bar at sixteen, you 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:37.319 could cut your teeth, but you didn't have responsibility yet. 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.440 You didn't have to worry about a paycheck. You know, 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:41.960 you lived under your folks roof at sixteen, at least 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.000 I did. All they told us was that if you're 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:45.160 going to be in a bar, at least we know 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:47.480 where you are, and so if you're going to focus 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.880 on something, keep focusing on it. I didn't go to college, 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:52.640 you know, but I had a record deal by the 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:54.720 time I was twenty one. It's the same record deal 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.400 at the same company, and I'm sixty one, and that's 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:58.920 pretty good. 0:10:58.760 --> 0:10:59.640 Yeah, that's pretty good. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.880 Give me a little loss of that stability, and the 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:04.800 music business not allow of it. 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:06.280 You. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.080 Also, we were talking a little bit of a backstage 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:11.960 where parents, we all have these kids coming into their 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:17.439 own great temptation to tell your kids what they should do. 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:20.800 Did you give your parents a vote, you know. 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:22.760 In retrospect. But I don't want to hear that, Bob. 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:24.640 I want to hear that I'm right and my kids. 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:25.360 Should listen to me. 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:30.280 This is bullshit, because I've come to that phase and 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:32.960 stage in my children's lives where they don't listen to 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.800 me any longer. And I'm I'm just dad. Oh you 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.240 don't know what you're talking about, and you're like, oh God, 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:42.760 But you know, it's a continual learning. In the process 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:46.960 of learning and being a parent, ever evolving a. 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:50.040 Being a family man. You're actually in business with your sons. 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.600 Yeah, in this great successful watch company. 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:55.080 Hampton water, Hampton Water. 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:57.280 How did that dynamic come about? 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:00.520 My son, Jesse, was a walk on football player at 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:04.520 Notre Dame and his roommate was a hockey player. And 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:08.280 I often drank Rose wine, and for many many years, 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:10.560 under the guise of not telling my kids that I 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:12.600 was drinking as much, I'd say, Daddy wants. 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:13.199 Some pink juice. 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:15.480 And one night the kid came home and he said, 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:18.360 I've got an idea. It's not pink juice anymore. It's 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.360 Hampton water and you know, and I went, wow, I 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.920 love that. And then we start to jokingly saying we 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.000 should have a wine knowing nothing about the wine business, 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:29.840 and I said, if you go back to school, use 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:32.720 that business degree, come back with a power point if 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:34.640 it makes any sense, I know where to go with it. 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.720 He did six years later, where the number five rose 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.560 in the world, and he's really on the verge of 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:47.480 something big, which is fabulous. One thing we did from 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:51.480 day two was we really were confident that we weren't 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:53.520 going to have a celebrity brand, but we were going 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.640 to have a family business. And so you know, I'm 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:58.520 Santa Claus, I'm the guy that shows up for the 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:01.160 photo op he's the one that does all the hard work. 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:03.959 But we've got a full staff. Were in all fifty states, 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:07.640 we're in fifty plus countries, and it's a family business. 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:08.400 It's going great. 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.440 So let me get attle entrepreneurs lesson in here. 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:16.080 Yeah, if you had known everything you know now about 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.679 the wine business, would you have started it? 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:18.920 Then? 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:19.960 Yeah? I like this. 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:24.480 I find it sexier than selling you know, socks. You know, 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.240 I get the samples. I like taking the samples home 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:31.480 at night, so you know, we're having fun with it. 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:37.080 More importantly, I'm absolutely pay for the privilege of being 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.480 in business with one of my children, who make me 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:41.400 proud every day. 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.760 More of math and Magic right after this quick break, 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:49.560 Welcome back to Mathem Magic. 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:52.560 Let's hear more from my conversation with John bon Jovi. 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:59.239 Soul Kitchen. You and your wife started it. 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:01.800 It served over one hundred and sixty thousand meals. I 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:05.160 think it's the number you've used your power and connections 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:05.920 to help others. 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:07.040 That's a hallmark. 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:09.200 I think you've done on a very small scale, and 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:11.920 then you're doing on a much larger scale too. Where 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:15.160 did that strong commitment to help others come from? 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:19.520 There was probably instilled in me in my years of travel. 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:23.560 The seeds were probably planted by my parents, but they 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:29.760 weren't necessarily philanthropic, or certainly weren't political. In my world travels, 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:34.520 i'd seen a lot of unfair inequality. But on the 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:38.480 streets of Philadelphia, I was the co owner of an 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:42.800 arena football team with a buddy of mine named Craig Spencer. 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:43.760 Whose daughter's here today. 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:49.880 And I said, we can win in the market if 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:53.920 we think of this differently than the Big four baseball, basketball, football, hockey. 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.240 And that was to be more philanthropic than anyone. 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:58.600 One night, I was looking out of the window of 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:02.040 the hotel and I saw a man sleeping on a 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.960 great dead a winter. And I called a buddy of 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:06.800 mine who was born and raised in Philly, and I said, 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:09.120 if you could find me somebody in the homeless area, 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.680 I'd like to talk about housing. And he found me 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:16.360 the Michael Jordan of the issue, a sister of mercy 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:19.160 by the name of Mary Scullion. So Sister Mary and 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:21.400 I meet and she says, maybe you guys can save 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.360 up enough money to refurbish a row home. And I said, 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:27.480 how much is it to do a block? And I said, 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:29.680 I'm not being a wise ass, but if we can 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:31.200 do a block, we could do a neighborhood. If we 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.800 could do a neighborhood, we can impact the city. She said, 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:37.400 I like you, And one thing led to another. We've 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:40.800 built a thousand units of affordable housing. We have four 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.840 soon to be five Soul Kitchen restaurants. The restaurant is 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:48.680 an incredibly unique model. It didn't exist anywhere, but Dorothea 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:52.240 dreamed it up. It's a pay it forward model. If 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:53.880 any of you were to come to it, there's no 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.320 prices on the menu. It's a farm to table environment. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:15:59.720 It looks like a beautiful beestro, but you would never 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:01.640 know that someone next to you is. 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:02.560 Actually in need. 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:05.160 And get out of your mind's eye that it's a 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:09.280 soup kitchen, because it's not those amongst us that are 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:11.400 making ends meet barely. 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.160 You know the old adage two paychecks away. 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:18.880 In the economic downturn, this was really prevalent again in COVID. 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.680 People would come to our restaurant. They are greeted by 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:25.840 a what looks like a hostess, but really a social worker. 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:32.440 That social worker discusses the concept and if you are willing, 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.280 you participate and that means you're busting a table, you're 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:39.360 working in the garden, you're doing something that is earning 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:46.240 that meal. Empowering somebody, having them give the opportunity to 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:50.360 earn that meal makes someone feel so much better than 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:51.200 a handout. 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:52.400 It is a hand up. 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:55.360 And so we created this model in the restaurant those 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.560 who want to affect change directly. If you and I 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.560 go in there and you put down fifty dollars, it 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:03.800 pays for your meal and the meal of that guy 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:04.840 and his wife. 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:06.239 Daughter sitting next to you. 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:11.159 Directly, I'm affecting change and that guy's volunteering, or if 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.200 you don't volunteer, you sort of feel like you're missing 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.400 out of the party. So we started the first one 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:18.520 in a thirty three seat restaurant. It serve over one 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:22.720 hundred thousand meals. Our second one was after Supers from 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:26.080 Sandy in New Jersey. We have an all service providing 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.000 in there, which was integral to this too, because people 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:33.240 who are in need of a meal, they need opportunities 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:38.480 for service providing, whether it's work credentials or job training, childcare, 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.840 dental doctors. We have access to all that in our 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:45.760 second location. Then in a genius move. We realize that 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:50.800 kids on college campuses who are struggling with food insecurity. 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:54.560 So we went to Rutgers University, and to be honest 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.960 with you, the chancellor didn't realize her own food pantry 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.160 was what and where it was until mister bon Jovi 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:03.920 showed up and she's walking through the halls of Rutgers 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.000 and sees that food pantry and goes, we can do better, 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:09.119 and we said we'd like to put a sole kitchen 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:10.320 on campus. 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:12.840 The phone rang off the hook. 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:16.439 From UCLA to Georgia, universities across the nation wanting to 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:18.240 open soul kitchens and then COVID hit. 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:20.560 It set us back. 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.600 But Rutgers was the first one to stand up and 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:26.440 say we want to do this. And now it's doing 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:30.560 very well there and at a place called Jersey City University, 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:34.040 and now we're going to expand on the college model because, 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.560 much to many people's surprise, kids on college campus just 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:38.679 have food insecurity. 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:40.200 That's great. Great. 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:50.119 We can't leave today without the hot topic AI music. 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:57.520 I want AI to do my interviews to travel for me. 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:01.080 Yesterday was my first opportunity to see that mash up 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.480 with the weekend and. 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:04.879 It scared the hell out of me. 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.719 What I'm hoping though, is that again the truth prevails, 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:12.320 and so you know, a real song written by the 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:16.520 real guy, I hope is always going to win that fight. 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:21.720 So I guess I'm going to offer the same massage 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:23.679 I did when I came in. Don't fall for fads 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.200 and fashions, and let's be aware that that one's scary, 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:28.919 you know, AI really is. It can be used for 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:31.000 good and it can be used for bad, and we 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:31.920 should all be very. 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:32.440 Aware of it. 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.000 We are probably all of us in the advertising business, 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:41.800 probably overrepresented in New York Silicon Valley, LA. You're out 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.600 on tour, you really see the country. What advice would 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:47.560 you have for everybody here in terms of trying to 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:51.200 talk about everybody in America, not just the narrow world 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:51.880 we'd live in. 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.400 The coasts, as we call it, the flyover. Yeah, there's 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:59.200 fifty states with fifty diverse opinions of who and. 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:02.080 What we are as an But that's really what we're supposed. 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.000 To have made the nation great, which was that we 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:07.800 the people, and you know, everybody has their values and 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:11.359 they should be spoken to without just the use of 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:16.240