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Speaker 1 On this episode of the Commercial Break.

Speaker 1 But I'm gonna tell you right now, don't give your money to these people because you will end up being disappointed. $1.1 million, give the commercial break $1.1 million,

Speaker 1 and we will turn off the RSS feed and the commercial break. You can put whatever name you want on it.
Chrissy and I will do an episode every day for the next five years just to you. That's it.

Speaker 1 That's what you get for $1.1 million.

Speaker 1 And I think that's a much better deal than staying on a yacht for four days in a festival that no one's going to play at. You know what I'm saying? Is it going to be 33p acoustically?

Speaker 1 Who's going to play there? I can't believe that he's doing this again.

Speaker 1 The next episode of the Commercial Break starts now. 2:30 in the morning!

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah, Cats and Kittens. Welcome back to the Commercial Break.
I'm Brian Green. This is my dear friend and the co-host of this show, Chris and Joy Hoadley.
Best to you, Chris. Hey.

Speaker 1 Best to you, Brian. Best to you out there in the podcast universe.
Thanks for joining us. I was going to say you're the Mads to my Dave,

Speaker 1 but you know, I don't know how many people will get that. How many people will pick up on that? Will you pick up on it? I don't think so.
The Mads to My Dave. Okay, like Madison? Like Madison.

Speaker 1 I got it. Okay, so you're that far in the show.

Speaker 2 You're that far in the show.

Speaker 1 I am not. I am only three episodes in, but I unfortunately saw a reel that indicated what I'm headed into.
So here we go. Love is Blind.

Speaker 1 Okay, don't tell me everything, but Love is Blind up to episode four, spoiler alert. Turn off the first segment because we're going to talk about it.

Speaker 1 Love is Blind is back because it seems like it's back every two months.

Speaker 1 They're constantly doing one and they're about a year behind on production. So what you're seeing now is filmed about a year ago.
And I see why they do this is so that the...

Speaker 1 When they get together for the recap, you know, the live reunion, they actually have some meat and potatoes to talk about. Some time has gone out.
People who are married are either married or not.

Speaker 1 People who have been together, you know, it just gives them some breathing room. Plus, it probably takes a long time to cut and edit those shows

Speaker 1 into a storyline that makes sense. And they do storyboard these out.
Make no bones about it. They flip-flop, you know.

Speaker 1 They might take something that happened on day three and make it look like it happened on day two to further the storyline. You get it.
It's editing of a reality show. It's not all straightforward.

Speaker 1 They have to make make it interesting. I got to say, slow start on Love is Blind season number 12 or whatever on.

Speaker 1 Slow start. They focus a lot on the pods.
They do. Well,

Speaker 1 there's three full episodes. Now, I believe four full episodes.
It goes into like, they're still in the pods. I'm in like six.
Oh, really? Yeah. They're still in the pods at six?

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's a little unusual. Yeah.
I think two seasons ago, they got, they had like two episodes in the pods, and then they were right in a diamond.

Speaker 1 I like that. Me too.
Plus, I like my people a little crazier than they are this season. However, there is one X Factor that everybody is talking about who's watching Love is Blind.

Speaker 1 Her name is Mads or Madison. She is a smoke show.

Speaker 1 Smoke show. And when I mean a smoke show, I mean the type of woman who eats men for breakfast and spits them out before brushing her teeth at noon.

Speaker 1 This girl is trouble with a capital T. Been there, done that.
I literally have dated women with the exact same personality. Now,

Speaker 1 Astra and I are watching because this is a couple's watch.

Speaker 1 There's not a lot of stuff that we have as a couples watch because Astra doesn't like me watching TV with her anymore, but she'd prefer I'd be in the studio than anywhere else.

Speaker 1 But this is a couple's watch. So we got excited.
Love is Blind. You know, it happened to come out on Valentine's Day.
So we sat, we watched, but it was so slow. The first episode or two was so slow.

Speaker 1 We only got through one episode a night. Whereas last season or the season before, we were getting through two or three, maybe four episodes in a night.

Speaker 1 New episodes would drop and we'd burn through them.

Speaker 1 So I wasn't super like hyped about this season after the first episode, but smartly, the producers started focusing in on a girl named Madison. Now, Assert and I are watching this.

Speaker 1 Madison's having these dates, and she's kind of,

Speaker 1 she's kind of whittling it down to two or three guys. But every guy that she is talking to, she is trauma dumping all of the things that have happened to her.

Speaker 1 When a guy says something, she will say, Let me give you an example. Well, my mom was a drug addict, and so I had to raise myself and make hard choices.

Speaker 1 Fast forward to a couple scenes later, she's with a different guy. Well, I grew up in a very strict church.
And I thought to myself, you grew up in a very strict church with a drug addict mother?

Speaker 1 Like something didn't add up to me.

Speaker 1 And every time they showed Madison, she had yet another trauma, another drama another and listen I'm not diminishing trauma if she did have a drug addict mother and had to grow up and raise herself I kind of raise myself too like that's a very traumatic thing to go through and as an adult if you haven't kind of sat down and

Speaker 1 reasoned with that part of your life, then it's a very difficult thing to

Speaker 1 move past for sure. And so, but she kept saying, I'm past it.
I've done it. I'm self-aware.

Speaker 1 But then every time something something came up, she had to bring up the trauma again, every time, every conversation.

Speaker 1 Another example: I don't want to talk about sex right now because I grew up in such a strict church. I'm very, yeah, I'm very, um,

Speaker 1 I'm reserved, and I was made to feel like sex is shameful and that women weren't supposed to have sex unless it was for the purpose of making babies.

Speaker 1 Very next scene, she's like half-naked, twerking, basically mutually masturbating with another guy in the pod. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Which was very, and I know the producers did this on purpose to kind of like, you know, give this, hey, she's saying this, but she's doing that, saying this with this guy, doing that with that guy.

Speaker 1 What's up? So they're also honing in on this and they're doing it slowly and pretty connivingly, but you can pick up on it very early. So if you haven't watched it, I'm giving it to you.

Speaker 1 I'm not giving away anything. But Madison is trouble with a capital T.
One of these guys is on to her. One of these guys is so

Speaker 1 self-aware and I think emotionally intelligent that when Madison is saying these things, he is not like rolling over like a puppy dog for her sexy voice. Now, he has no idea what she looks like.

Speaker 1 I don't think anyway. He has no idea what she looks like, but just the way she talks can kind of twist you into a knot.

Speaker 1 I'm sure a lot of these guys are just drooling listening to her voice and her talk in this sultry, sexy way. Well, one of the guys,

Speaker 1 he's seeing past it and he's like, Yeah, I don't know. He asks, What's your attachment style? And she says, dismissiveness.
Whenever something happens that I don't like, I tend to run away from it.

Speaker 1 Right. And he says, Yeah, I don't think I like that.
I don't think I, I don't think that's something I could handle. He's being honest with her.
Where the other guys are like, madness,

Speaker 1 well, wait till you see. Let's take it a little further in.
Oh, really? Well, I saw the reel this morning, and I understand.

Speaker 1 What did it say? That she kind of like blew up the whole thing for another girl altogether. Well, that happened, but then there's something further that happens.

Speaker 1 Okay, well, drop the bomb.

Speaker 1 Drop the bomb. Ellie? Yeah, Love is Blind.
Love is Blind. Spoiler alert.
We're talking about it. By the time this comes out, everybody will have already seen it.
She narrows it down to the one guy.

Speaker 1 I think his name's Dave. I don't know.
He's the guy who also said that he grew up like

Speaker 1 that he was a nerdy guy

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 got bullied as a kid. So they kind of had that in common or something.
Anyways, it gets down to the two of them and

Speaker 1 he doesn't do it. He doesn't do it.
He mares it to him and only him. And then she says, he says, I can't move further.
It's too much. He's like, I can't.
Engagements a lot.

Speaker 1 This is the guy who I was talking about. I like that guy.
I like that guy too because he was honest with himself. He's like, I think something's off here and I'm not going to do it.

Speaker 1 She doesn't do the engagement. So I don't know what happens after that.
Okay. There's some kind of a repair or she moves on to another guy.
I don't know. Very interesting.
Good for you.

Speaker 1 I think that guy's name is Dave. Good for you.
Dave or Sean, one of the two. Good for you, Dave.
Good for you. I'm so proud of you, Dave.
Yeah. I'm so proud of you.
Because he was really smitten.

Speaker 1 Yeah, of course. And if he saw what she looked like, he's probably going to kick himself in the fucking nuts.

Speaker 1 Yeah. She was a model.
She's an artist. She's an international woman of mystery.
She's done. I mean, every time they talk, someone talks to her.
She did something different.

Speaker 1 She's doing something different. I don't know.

Speaker 1 She seems like a bit of a chameleon to me, like an emotional chameleon and listen i'm not pointing out madison to say that you know don't don't take this as oh brian just thinks all girls are crazy no i don't i there's no you can just recognize you can just recognize i just recognize the crazy honed your skills having lived with it yes dated it been there done that and and maybe we all have had some similar experience yeah with someone that just is emotional an emotional chameleon they gaslight you they tell you whatever you want to hear they give you love they pull it away this is madison this is what she's doing.

Speaker 1 And you can see it in even through the editing of the show. If you've ever been in one of these relationships, guy or girl, then you feel it.
You're like, oh, this seems a little too familiar to me.

Speaker 1 And even though Madison is a total bomb of a physical woman,

Speaker 1 it's just so much. There's so much drama behind those eyes that it's like, run as fast as you can.
Yeah, well, this guy did. Yeah, he's going to kick himself in the nuts when he finds our Instagram.

Speaker 1 When he finds our Instagram bikini pictures, he's going to fucking flip out. I haven't even looked at her for her.
I get a little

Speaker 1 like I don't want to ruin it for myself.

Speaker 1 I was trying to look ahead. And I know that they're not supposed to post, but you can tell little things if you check out their Instagram.

Speaker 1 They make rather benign Instagram posts until the episode reveals whatever the episode reveals.

Speaker 1 But yeah, but then the rest of the rest of the stories are like, eh. Oh, and I can already see a crack in one of the ones that did get engaged.
Oh, really? Okay. All right.

Speaker 1 Well, don't tell me that because there was, we so far have seen one engagement, and it looks like something that actually could be.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that one, that first one, yeah. Is that the one where we're seeing cracks? No.
Okay, good. All right, because I like those two.
It's when they see each other. Oh, it's when they see each other.

Speaker 1 Love is not blind, guys.

Speaker 1 Love is not blind unless you're actually blind. Yeah.
Do you know what I'm saying? That's it. It's just the truth.
We use all of our senses to eat. We use all of our senses to fall in love.

Speaker 1 All of our available senses. Let's put it that way.
But love is not blind unless you're actually blind. That's the truth.
It can't be.

Speaker 1 There's no way you can't look at someone you're not attracted to and go, I want to fall in love with that person. It's really hard to do that.
I mean, it is.

Speaker 1 So many people have tried with me and it just, and it didn't work out with anybody except for Asterisk.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I want to get her eyesight checked. You won the prize with her.

Speaker 1 I married up for sure. All right.
While we're on television shows, which we tend to talk about once a week, but while we're on television shows, I wanted to let you know, know,

Speaker 1 I am watching, I think,

Speaker 1 probably one of the best television shows I have seen in a long time. And let me preface this by saying I am not a medical drama kind of guy.
Oh, yeah. ER,

Speaker 1 what was the other one? Gray's Anatomy.

Speaker 1 You can name the endless amounts of medical dramas that there have been on television, saying elsewhere.

Speaker 1 All the medical dramas that have been on television and caused quite the ruckus, quite the stir. I have just never been convinced they're interesting enough to watch for any period of time.

Speaker 1 I'm not into it. It's not for me.
I'm sorry. It's just like a, it's like, I don't know, like bad,

Speaker 1 like bad romance drama wrapped in with some medical bullshit. And there's always some mystery that someone's uncovering and some medical miracles happen out of nowhere.

Speaker 1 It's all a little too fluffy and bullshitty for Brian, okay? I like

Speaker 1 seven little Johnstons. That's where good television lives.

Speaker 1 However,

Speaker 1 that's it. You're on the pit.
I am on the pit. And the pit.

Speaker 1 Take it off. So fantastic.
And that Noah Wiley, who's on that show, executive producer, co-writer, and the lead in that show, plays like the

Speaker 1 pit is a teaching hospital in Pittsburgh. They call it the pit because he works in the emergency room that is filled with people, and they don't have enough time.

Speaker 1 They don't have enough money, and they don't have all these other reasons. It's just like a real live emergency room.
It is so incredibly real down to the

Speaker 1 down to the

Speaker 1 like the props that they use for the medical procedures, the words that they're saying. They're using words that clearly only surgeons or doctors or medical professionals would even know.

Speaker 1 So it's like you're a fly on the wall. You are a fly on the wall.
In the emergency room. Yeah, on a real emergency room.

Speaker 1 Not one where they're fluffing up the language for the viewers, you know, to kind of homogenize it for everyday viewers. This is like they're saying the real words.

Speaker 1 And then in between, the storylines slowly unfold. Okay.
And the storylines are interesting enough to keep you engaged. The acting is fantastic.
It's quick-paced. They're taking care of a new patient.

Speaker 1 You know,

Speaker 1 and by the way, I love how this is done. It's 15-hour shift at the pit, 15 episodes, an hour each show.
So you're actually following them minute by minute during the show.

Speaker 1 So it's not like there's big jumps in time forward or backwards. I mean, there are some flashbacks so you can get some of the story, but basically when it's 9 a.m., you're following them from 9 a.m.

Speaker 1 to 10 a.m. And

Speaker 1 they're treating the patients in real time during that hour. And those patients can stay for multiple episodes, depending on what kind of case they have, or they can be in and out in an hour.

Speaker 1 So it's fascinating. It's fantastic.
I fucking love it. It's on Max.
You should watch. Everybody should be watching this.

Speaker 1 It is very much being talked about right now. It's already been picked up for a second season.
Michael Crichton and his, Michael Crichton's estate had sued the pit because Noah Wiley was on ER.

Speaker 1 And then one of the writers and producers from ER also is a writer and a producer on this. So they're saying they stole the idea for ER.

Speaker 1 But I saw a couple episodes of ER and I don't remember it being half as engaging as The Pit. Yeah, also, I was in my 20s when the ER, or 20s or 30s when ER came out.

Speaker 1 And maybe it just wasn't that stage in my life when I could deal with a medical drama. I love this show.
Watch it.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 there's a point here. There's never a point to the commercial break, but there's a point here.

Speaker 1 I have for a long time on this show have wanted to find a way to wrap music into the show, but we are not equipped to actually play music on the show. We're big music fans.
Yeah, we're big music fans.

Speaker 1 But the radio stations, you know, you listen to radio or you listen to Howard Stern or someone on Sirius, and they can play all the music they want because they have ASCAP licenses.

Speaker 1 They're able to do so. Those things are terribly expensive.
And I looked into it because I really wanted to play music on the show.

Speaker 1 And it's just not a possibility. It's too expensive for the amount of downloads.
For all five downloads we have, it's like $70 million.

Speaker 1 But I'm going to take some chances here and there. And I'd like to share with you new music when I find it.
Now, this music is not new, but this is a fantastic song.

Speaker 1 I'm going to give you the name of a band, and I'm going to let you listen to a song that was the opening song to The Pit. Oh.
Okay.

Speaker 1 You know, those people that control the music on shows now are doing a really good job. It's the only place you can find music these days.
Do you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 1 So, but they do do a great job because

Speaker 1 I think the cost of playing some of this music has come way down.

Speaker 1 And there are more licensees, like musicians, artists, people who own these rights, that are willing to put this music in shows for cheaper prices because they know it will lead to more streams.

Speaker 1 And that's the name of the game. When I was a kid, you would have never heard a Beatles commercial, a Beatles song in a a serial commercial.
Fucking frosted flakes and let it be, really?

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 that has all changed. The landscape of music has completely changed to the point where it's so impossible to make money selling albums that these people have to make money anywhere they can.

Speaker 1 They're willing to license these songs out. And I think they do it for a much more reasonable rate.
And the people who are putting the music in these shows are really good at what they do.

Speaker 1 They find like these little unknown artists, and they can blow one commercial or television show can blow them up. Okay, ready? Opening to the pit.

Speaker 1 I'm going to say a name of an artist, and I want to know if you have ever heard the name of this band. Okay.
Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise. I have.
Yes. All right.

Speaker 1 Here is the opening to the pit. He's really good.
This got me because honestly, I wasn't even considering watching the pit. And then I saw the little trailer for it.
And then I pressed play.

Speaker 1 And this was the first thing I heard. And this wrote me in for the rest of the rest of the eight shows that are out so far.

Speaker 1 Honestly, I wish this had played the whole episode. I just would have listened.
I've listened to this for 15 hours. Happy good day.

Speaker 1 It's alright.

Speaker 1 Good stuff.

Speaker 1 I have no idea what this has to do with medical drama, but it's so good.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's so good.
It draws you into the first episode. And there's like shots of Pittsburgh and riding over the river.

Speaker 1 It's... It's

Speaker 1 how are you going to turn a television show off if it's got this at the beginning?

Speaker 1 Am I right? Yes. Am I right? You're right.
You're right.

Speaker 1 So, Robert Bradley, speaking of Love is Blind, Robert Bradley is a blind man.

Speaker 1 And the way that this band got started is the other members of the band wanted to start like a grunge band back in the 90s. They were like that grungy kind of thing.
Everybody, wasn't it?

Speaker 1 But they were really bad.

Speaker 1 They were

Speaker 1 on the 33P level. They were definitely not Chopper Johnson material.

Speaker 1 They were in a practice space, I think in New Orleans. They were in a practice rehearsal space and on a break or getting ready to practice or whatever, the lead guitarist

Speaker 1 heard Robert Bradley singing in another studio space. The window was open.
He could hear him through the window.

Speaker 1 And then he came out later. He heard him through the window again.
And then hours later, Robert Bradley still singing. And so he convinced him to come and sing for the band, sing with the music.

Speaker 1 And this is what came out of it. And

Speaker 1 some of the music that these guys put out is just fantastically soulful. And Robert's got that voice that I think only a blind man from New Orleans can have, honestly.

Speaker 1 You know, if you think about it for two seconds, that's a million years worth of life experience in that voice. And I just got me.

Speaker 1 I'm convinced. I'll watch the pit for at least one episode.
Just to hear that. And the funny thing is, there is not another drop of music in the entire series.
That's it. One song, song, that's it.

Speaker 1 But whoever made that choice, whoever picked that song, whoever got Robert Bradley shit, called the Robert Bradley whatevers and said, hey, can I use this song? was

Speaker 1 100% right that that gets you through the first 15 seconds and then you're involved. You're like, okay.

Speaker 1 And then the doctor walks into the ER and he starts his shift and you're like, okay, well, I guess I'll just stay around for one hour.

Speaker 1 Oh, man. And it comes out every Thursday.
Fuck you, Hulu. I mean, not Hulu Max.
Fuck you. I just want to watch all 15 hours.
Is that okay? I would burn through that show. I really would.

Speaker 1 Anyway, Love is Blind, The Pit. I would suggest the Pit before Love is Blind, but you know, they're both medical dramas in some way, shape, or form.

Speaker 1 All right, let's take a break. And I got to talk to you about something that is crazy.
Something crazy has returned. What? I will blow your mind when we get back.

Speaker 1 Let me do something Brian has never done. Be brief.

Speaker 3 Follow us on Instagram at thecommercial break. Text or call us 212-433-3TCB.
That's 212-433-3822. Visit our website, tcbpodcast.com, for all the audio, video, and your free sticker.

Speaker 3 Then watch all the videos at youtube.com/slash thecommercial break. And finally, share the show.
It's the best gift you could give a few aging podcasters. See, Brian?

Speaker 1 That really wasn't that difficult now, was it?

Speaker 3 You're welcome.

Speaker 1 This episode is sponsored by our longtime sponsor, Squarespace. I am working on a new project, Information TBD.
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Speaker 1 This is a company we trust. It's a product we use.
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Speaker 2 This is Free Range with Von Miller, the podcast where I step outside the lines and I take you with me.

Speaker 2 Each week, we're talking everything from the biggest stories around the league to the biggest stories off the field. This isn't your average sports podcast.

Speaker 2 This is game meets culture, locker room meets living room, and no topic is off limits.

Speaker 2 So if you're into good conversations that ruffle a few feathers, join me every Wednesday and follow Free Range with Von Miller everywhere you get your podcast.

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That's rula.com/slash commercial.

Speaker 1 You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against your budget.

Speaker 1 Okay, are you ready for some of the craziest news you will hear? Music-related, festival-related

Speaker 1 this year, or maybe ever.

Speaker 1 Do we all remember freaking the way fuck out back in 2020

Speaker 1 when some douche canoezle some scam artist decided to put together something called fire fest yes yes yes yes fire fest the there's two documentaries ignominious

Speaker 1 festival that never was the best festival that never happened on the Pablo Escobar's private island with you know swimming pigs sandwiches baloney sandwiches and tents that weren't set up and artists that didn't didn't show.

Speaker 1 And, you know, basically the total shit show that almost killed some people, honestly.

Speaker 1 Left them out in the middle of this island without infrastructure, water, food, and certainly no festival, certainly no music. And this guy went to jail.
He did. Because he raised a lot of money.

Speaker 1 And that money went where? No one really knows. It went to just trying to put together a festival that was clearly short of the mark, short of any mark.
Like this,

Speaker 1 this wasn't worthy of a dive bar, let alone an actual festival on on a private island where people paid tens of thousands of dollars to get pampered for an entire five days.

Speaker 1 They didn't even get a pot to piss in. And lots of people were pissed, and lots of people were stuck, and lots of people

Speaker 1 were put in really tough situations, bad situations, by this one guy. Now, let me tell you how this has to do with the commercial break.
About three years ago, I get an email. We're our own fire fest.

Speaker 1 We're our own fire fest.

Speaker 1 And like malls to a flame, shitheads beget shitheads because about three years ago i started getting communication from a guy who claimed to be one of the new executive producers for fire fest two yeah they're trying to bring it back they did bring it back it is back i mean that's what they say right

Speaker 1 let me give you the uh let me give you the skinny on this they have not they have not announced one artist because I'm sure no artist would attach themselves to this. Right.

Speaker 1 Who would attach themselves to this?

Speaker 1 I don't know. I don't know either, but I can't imagine it's going to be anybody worth seeing.
I'm sure that there is somebody out there who, if they get the money, they will go do it.

Speaker 1 Because it's hard to make money in music. You know what I'm saying? So maybe

Speaker 1 they'll

Speaker 1 decide to do it. Okay.

Speaker 1 So three years ago, I start getting communication from a guy who will remain nameless. And he starts telling me that he would like to put...
this guy who had just gotten out of jail on our show.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Could he come on our show? Do you remember this? I remember you saying that.
Okay.

Speaker 1 And we communicate for a long time about this. We go back and forth.
I'm trying to make a decision about whether or not this makes sense for the show, whether or not we want to even get involved.

Speaker 1 Yeah, was this before he went to jail? This was after he got out of jail. After he got out of jail.
Okay. Remember, he only spent like a year in jail.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Firefaced. Hold on one second.
I just want to get, I want to make sure that I get some of these facts right.

Speaker 1 So this guy communicates with me for about a month, and

Speaker 1 he says they're going to put together a prep show for Firefest 2 at a secret location somewhere in New York.

Speaker 1 And if you allow Billy to come on your podcast, Billy McFarland, the guy who actually created this, the guy who went to jail, if you allow him to come on your podcast, then I can get you one ticket.

Speaker 1 to this like Firefest 2

Speaker 1 prep concert, whatever. He was trying to put together like a satellite show or something, right? Okay.

Speaker 1 Where they were going to make this big deal. I don't think that ever happened.
You could get a ticket to that. I will get you one ticket to that at face value.

Speaker 1 So Billy was going to come on the show, make an announcement about Firefuck Fest or whatever it was too, Fire Scam Fest 2. And then I was going to have the privilege of paying Billy to go to his show.

Speaker 1 thousands of dollars to go to his show. But then I couldn't say anything bad.
I could ask questions, but I, you know, I couldn't shit on Firefest, whatever.

Speaker 1 It became this long, complicated conversation where clearly this guy was trying to get money out of me. He was trying to get me to pay him to have Billy on the show.

Speaker 1 Now, you're probably saying to yourself, Brian, do you even think Billy was involved in any of these conversations? Or is this just some guy who decided, you know,

Speaker 1 I found a sucker, essentially? Well, I had been CC'd on multiple emails with Billy, and Billy responded on at least one occasion. And while I don't know Billy's specific email address for sure, 100%,

Speaker 1 sure seemed like it was Billy's email address. Let's just put it that way, right?

Speaker 1 So Billy was trying to get money out of podcasters like me. I assume this I'm not the only one, to then go and put his little shit fest together.

Speaker 1 And he hadn't even paid back the people who got fucked over the first time. That's right.

Speaker 1 He's trying to make money.

Speaker 1 And as a matter of fact, I think our good friend Andrew Callahan, if I'm not mistaken, all gas, no breaks, found Billy McFarland and found out that he was acting as a ticket broker for prestigious concerts and events, and he was making, trying to make thousands or tens of thousands of dollars reselling concert tickets after he got out of jail.

Speaker 1 And they actually almost sent him back to jail because he wasn't allowed to do that. He was using other people's credit cards to do that or whatever it was.
This guy is trouble. I mean, I get it.

Speaker 1 Second chances, I agree with it. I've had plenty of second chances in life myself.
This,

Speaker 1 now, I'm sure I'll have a few more before I'm dead. This, the commercial break, has had 30 second chances in its life.
We are the little podcast that couldn't.

Speaker 1 But this guy, Billy, is notoriously dumb at what he does. And if you pay for Fire Fest 2, you are just as dumb.
Don't give this guy your money. Don't do that because he is going to disappoint you.

Speaker 1 There will be no Fire Fest 2 in the way in which he envisions it or tries to sell it to you. He's a good salesperson.
He doesn't follow through on what he says he's going to do time after time.

Speaker 1 And he's always trying to build people out of money. That's clearly Billy's game.

Speaker 1 You want to take a guess at how much these tickets are?

Speaker 1 Sure. About

Speaker 1 $2,000.

Speaker 1 For one Fire Fest general access pass, it is $1,400.

Speaker 1 What does that get you, you might ask, Chrissy?

Speaker 1 The basics. I can't even get to this website because it's some complicated, you know, slick website.
I think there is

Speaker 1 also a level of tickets where you need to fill out an application. Fill out an application.
Fill out an application.

Speaker 1 That's his thing, right? He tries to make everything seem very exclusive. Yeah, very exclusive, indeed.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 For this, you will get access includes access to the festival grounds on Isa

Speaker 1 Mujeres at the water stage. Transportation will be provided from our preferred hotel locations.
The Fire Ignite package grants four-day access to the Fire Fest,

Speaker 1 May 30th through June 2nd. Doesn't it seem like it's like there's not a lot of time to be selling those tickets?

Speaker 1 Yeah, this is going to be a shit show, no doubt about it. You have to get your own travel.
You have to get your own accommodations.

Speaker 1 But then there's another level of tickets, Chrissy, which I think is probably more suited to us. If we're going to go to Firefest, this is what we're going to do.

Speaker 1 We're going to do the Fuego VIV experience.

Speaker 1 We're going to do the Fuego experience. And what's that going to include? Let's see here.
That is going to include access to

Speaker 1 Islam Mujaris. Islam Muharris.

Speaker 1 We're going to get to explore, embrace the unknown, and defy impossible alongside some of the most fascinating people in the world.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 I don't know what this gets you besides that.

Speaker 1 Really? Access to the most fascinating people in the world?

Speaker 1 Access to the most fascinating people of the world. And I'm paying 20.

Speaker 1 I am paying for that.

Speaker 1 I will pay.

Speaker 1 How much is that? That's $5,000. That's what I'll pay for.
A ticket. Yes.
Your own exclusive getaway.

Speaker 1 But I can get the Phoenix artist access for $25,000.

Speaker 1 $25,000. Now, to be fair, this does include private travel.
So you can, this website, by the way, Billy, is terrible. It's terrible.
Who uses Flash anymore? Honestly,

Speaker 1 you're using Flash, dude. Stop it.
Make a website that doesn't take up all the resources

Speaker 1 on your computer. Okay.

Speaker 1 Fire Phoenix package grants. four-day Phoenix access to the Fire Festival.

Speaker 1 And that's all it says. What?

Speaker 1 Clearly, this can't can't be true

Speaker 1 what

Speaker 1 you don't get anything else but that

Speaker 1 sounds like a deal to me yeah fuck that i'm not gonna do that you don't even know who the artists are phoenix passes include complimentary luxury accommodations for two in the fire artist areas

Speaker 1 uh at the five-star impressions isla mujeredes or the five-star Almalare Isla Mujeredes for three nights.

Speaker 1 One king or two doubles, private ground transportation to and from the Cancun airport or the fire ferry, and the fire concierge will reach out to the Phoenix pass holders to assist with travel and accommodations.

Speaker 1 Okay, so you get your travel. Commercial flights are red.
Oh, you don't even get travel on this one. It says commercial flights are readily available in and out of the Cancun airport.
Fuck you.

Speaker 1 Fuck you. So that's all I get.
I can't wait to see how this goes down. Oh, now added the Prometheus package for $1.1

Speaker 1 million.

Speaker 1 Yes. Prometheus guests will live like the gods of fire.

Speaker 1 Prometheus pass holders have their accommodations provided by fire, and they will have the option of a four-stateroom yacht or a luxurious four-bedroom villia with immediate proximity and access to play of fire and festival grounds for three nights from Friday to Monday.

Speaker 1 The fire concierge will reach out to you

Speaker 1 to coordinate your ultimate stay. You will also be flown in and out

Speaker 1 on a private plane.

Speaker 1 I mean, there's a sucker born every minute. I know that there's a sucker born every minute.
I get it. And I also get that there are going to be some people on this earth who just can't pass it up.

Speaker 1 In the year of Doji and Dogecoin and Hak Tua, you know, Tua Coin and all this other stuff.

Speaker 1 There are some people who have money who probably should have never had money and they're willing to spend it just to be involved in something notorious like this.

Speaker 1 So, I do have a feeling that Billy will sell tickets to this, even though he has announced no artist.

Speaker 1 No one knows who's going to be there. And you're going to pay someone $1.1 million to take a private plane down to Cancun and stay for only four nights on a four-stateroom yacht? I promise you.

Speaker 1 And what do you do? Like, fill out, like, just check, yes, I want this $1 million package. Yeah, run your Amex.
Run my credit card. Run your your Amex.

Speaker 1 Run your Amex to Billy's. There's the number.
Personal Zell. That's right.

Speaker 1 I mean, honestly, guys, for $1.1 million,

Speaker 1 you could rent a four-statero yacht in Cant. You could fly privately, probably for $50,000.

Speaker 1 A nice plane for $50,000 down to Cancun, Atlanta to Cancun, and back, a really nice plane, like a 12-seater, like the kind you see in rap videos. You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 1 You get down there, you can probably rent a yacht

Speaker 1 for 20 days, fully staffed, and go anywhere you want to in that Yucatan Peninsula and come home with $500,000 in your pocket. I promise you, it does not cost $1.1 million to rent a yacht.

Speaker 1 for four nights and be at a festival where no one's playing.

Speaker 1 There's no one announced. Why would you do that? I don't know Billy.

Speaker 1 I'm sure that somebody likes him, but I'm going to tell you right now: don't give your money to these people because you will end up being disappointed. $1.1 million.

Speaker 1 Give the commercial break $1.1 million

Speaker 1 and we will turn off the RSS feed and the commercial break. You can put whatever name you want on it.
And Chrissy and I will do an episode every day for the next five years just to you. That's it.

Speaker 1 That's what you get for $1.1 million.

Speaker 1 And I think that's a much better deal than staying on a yacht for four days at a festival that no one's going to play at. You know what I'm saying? Is it going to be 33p acoustically?

Speaker 1 Who's going to play there? I can't believe that he's doing this again. I can't believe someone's letting him do this.
I mean, I guess, you know, who's going to stop you from doing it?

Speaker 1 But I can't believe the people down in Mexico

Speaker 1 haven't seen the movies. They're not like, ah, you know, we should get a deposit.
We should get a deposit. Yeah, surely they have.
Yes. And I think that Billy is probably hedging his bet.

Speaker 1 He's waiting for people to buy tickets so that then he can pay artists to get down there. That's why he hasn't announced anybody.
Because what festival in the world starts selling tickets in artists?

Speaker 1 I know that there's like Bonaroo has been going on for the thousands of years and it'll probably be the last thing remaining when the fucking

Speaker 1 asteroid comes down to Earth. We'll probably all be at Bonnaroo.

Speaker 1 And so they sell tickets year-round even before they announce, but they have a track record of treating you right. They have a track record of doing this.

Speaker 1 They have a track record of being successful at getting really fucking good artists year after year, time after time. Billy has zero track record of anybody even showing up to play on a stage.

Speaker 1 Why would you trust that he's going to give you the best experience ever? What is the experience? Being in a hotel in Mexico for $25,000? Fuck you.

Speaker 1 Fuck you. I don't believe it.
I don't take it. Can you believe this? No, I can't believe this.
That being said. Can't wait to see how it ends.

Speaker 1 That being said, I am going to email this guy that I was talking to a couple of years ago and see if we can get a couple of tickets to go down there. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Because it was going to turn into a shit show. I want to be there.
Right. So we can document it all here on the commercial break.
I'm sure a lot of people want to do that. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 Oh, you know, there's going to be

Speaker 1 media requests out the ass. And after this rant, I'm sure we won't be invited.
But we'll try nonetheless. Okay, we'll take a break and we'll be back.

Speaker 3 Rachel here. While Brian takes his old man Bladder to the little boys' room, let's talk turkey.
TCB needs your help. If you love the show, do us all a favor and share.
Sharing is caring.

Speaker 3 And we know you care. Don't you? Well, don't you? Ooh, that was some childhood trauma.

Speaker 4 Rearing its ugly head.

Speaker 3 Do you want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at 212-433-3822. And you could be the next TCD disembodied voice.
Ooh, what'd you do today? I was a disembodied voice.

Speaker 3 You know, that sounds more dangerous than it actually is.

Speaker 3 Find us on Insta at thecommercial break, on the web at tcbpodcast.com, and all the episodes on video are available the same day at youtube.com slash the commercial break.

Speaker 3 I'm gonna go help Brian get back up the stairs while you listen to the sponsors, and then we'll all meet back here and get back to this episode of The Commercial Break. I'll take a raise now, bitches.

Speaker 1 Bye.

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Speaker 1 Okay, so I wanted to follow up on a conversation that we had a couple of days ago about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Okay.
The band is not Mana, it's Mana.

Speaker 1 And they are a very famous Mexican rock and roll band. Nice.
And Astrid saw them when she was a kid, and she really loved them. And so I got myself educated about them and their music.
They're older.

Speaker 1 They're like, you know, they're like the bad company probably. And not, they're like the Zeppelin.
You know, they're older. Okay.
They're loved. They've got millions.

Speaker 1 I mean, they've got billions of streams on Spotify. So clearly they're very popular.

Speaker 1 And they are in

Speaker 1 this year's rock and roll nomination class. And that means that the academy, the rock and roll Hall of Fame Academy or voting class is currently voting on who should get in.

Speaker 1 And I think they elect five every year, if I'm induct five every year, if I'm not mistaken. And then you can vote.
We, the public, can vote. Also, you can vote up to seven times.

Speaker 1 Oh, I didn't realize we could vote. Yeah, you can vote up to seven times.
It might even be seven times per day. Go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website and vote.

Speaker 1 But I think there's like a couple thousand members that vote, I believe. And our vote only counts for one of those votes.
So it is a, it's like, it's almost a joke at the end of the day, right?

Speaker 1 I get why they're doing it, but you don't have any real effect on what happens. But I thought that I would get an update on where we stand with the voting.
Oh, okay.

Speaker 1 With just a couple of days left to vote, I thought we should get in the game here, right? Okay.

Speaker 1 Currently,

Speaker 1 fish

Speaker 1 are in the lead.

Speaker 1 After just a couple weeks of voting, 101,000 fans have voted as one of the 14 nominating classes, one of the 14 nominees for the class of 2025.

Speaker 1 This is the first time that the group has been nominated. Billy Idol is in second place.
There are so many people on this earth that aren't well. Billy Idol? Of all the people, Billy Idol?

Speaker 1 Honestly? Yeah.

Speaker 1 But maybe then you think about who the people are who would go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website and vote, just like I did. I voted for Outcast, by the way.

Speaker 1 Soundgarden is in third place with 57,000 votes, followed by Cindy Lauper, Bad Company, Joe Cocker, Chubby Checker, so far down the list. That's a joke.
The Black Crows

Speaker 1 are on the back, lead the back half of the list with 39,000. Mariah Carey, 36,000.
Outcast is 35,000. Oasis is 32,000.
Joy Division is 31,000. While the White Stripes are at 31,000.
Really?

Speaker 1 I'm surprised. And Mana comes in with just 12,000.

Speaker 1 Artist historians. Okay, so there's 1,200 people who vote

Speaker 1 and ours counts as one vote.

Speaker 1 That's kind of a joke. Like they should, they should make it one artist get, like, allow the public to vote first.

Speaker 1 Whoever gets, whoever wins is inducted.

Speaker 1 And then they get, and then the other people, the other 1,500 people, 1,200 people who vote on it, then they get to vote the other four.

Speaker 1 That feels like it would make, then it was meaningful to me. And I think you get a lot more people to vote on it if that was the case.
Because I'm tallying all of that up.

Speaker 1 If you can vote seven times, maybe seven times in a day, and there's only like five or six hundred thousand votes that have been cast, that's not like a huge amount of votes that are being cast.

Speaker 1 But if they said, okay, now you're going to induct one of the five, then I would be much more involved in it. Yeah, I'd actually want to go and vote.

Speaker 1 I agree that fish should be inducted. It's their first, they're, it's their first class inductees if they do get inducted.
I don't agree with the rest of the way that this is going down.

Speaker 1 Chrissy and I told you guys this. Fish, Joe Cocker.
Chubby Checker.

Speaker 1 White Stripes. White Stripes.
Outcast. Those are the people who absolutely need to be in.
Soundgarden will come around again. They will be in.
Don't worry.

Speaker 1 I listened to that album the other day on my wife.

Speaker 1 Oh, man. Is it good? Oh, man.
Is it good? Life-changing, actually. Just the way that it's.
I thought of young Brian getting in the car, driving, listening to it. Oh, I didn't drive until I was 18.

Speaker 1 I didn't have a license until I was 18. You said you drove across the country listening to it.
I drove across the country with other people. No, I wasn't driving.
With other people driving. Yes.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but man,

Speaker 1 that was like a transformative album. I just absolutely loved it.
So, yeah, Soundgarden will get in, and I agree that they deserve to get in. But Joe Cocker has had to, this has got to be his.

Speaker 1 30th time being nominated. I mean, for God's sakes, how many times are we going to nominate Joe Cocker before he gets in? Or Chubby Checker even? He was around in the 50s.

Speaker 1 This has got to be his 30th year being nominated. Chubby fucking Checker.
He did the twist, kid. Yeah, he started it.
Or was that Little Richard?

Speaker 1 No, it was Chubby Checker. And what did Lil Richard do? Oh, tons of stuff.
Yeah. Good golly, Miss Molly.
Good golly, Miss Molly.

Speaker 1 Tons, tons of stuff.

Speaker 1 Good golly, Miss Amali. Tootie Fruti? Tooty Fruity.
Oh, Rudy. A tooty fruity.

Speaker 1 Oh, Rudy.

Speaker 1 I'm telling you why I did not like 2D Frutti. It's because when I was in the band playing my sexy phone, full of saliva and spit flying everywhere.

Speaker 1 When I was playing my sexy phone, I had to play 2D Fruti, it was one of the songs that we played at the football games.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Tootie Fruity! Oh, Rudy. That's what I'm thinking with the band.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yes.
And that 150 times over and over and over again while they set up the next play. Whatever they do in football.

Speaker 1 And that's why Brian did his best to avoid Friday nights at the stadium in high school.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I was sick. I wasn't there.
I was in disguise. I would not show up to the band, but I would show up to the game and not go in the stadium so I couldn't be seen by my band director.

Speaker 1 I mean, I did everything I could to get out of those. Not because I was embarrassed to be in the band.

Speaker 1 It was neither here nor there. I wasn't particularly a popular kid in school anyway.
I just wanted to have fun.

Speaker 1 I just wanted to have fun. I didn't want to be, I didn't want my Friday nights taken by.

Speaker 1 What did you think it was going to be getting into the band? I thought it was going to be.

Speaker 1 What did you think you were going to do in the band? Have sex? I don't know. I thought there were going to be hot man chicks playing the flute, and

Speaker 1 I was going to get in their first chair, if you know what I mean. I know.

Speaker 1 I thought I was going to wet their reed. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I, I, well, you did it it for the looks.
I had to take an elective.

Speaker 1 I had to, you know, my parents encouraged us to do things outside of school, you know, like any parents do.

Speaker 1 You try and be a well-rounded person. I loved music.
There was no doubt about that. I had a passion for it.
I was playing that loud guitar horribly at home for hours on end.

Speaker 1 And I think that I just wanted to direct that energy somewhere. And the band seemed like the natural place to do that.
At least I got to play the English. I was going to get all the way.

Speaker 1 But I didn't want to fully commit to everything the band had to do.

Speaker 1 Like, I liked to go to Bush Gardens every every year for the band stuff, for the band, you know, the band camp, whatever it was, a band challenge or whatever it was, you know, that cost my dad $10,000 so I could go and smoke cigarettes and avoid any responsibilities with the band for five days.

Speaker 1 I liked that kind of stuff. But the Friday nights at football, years in a row, it was, I just, you know, it was kind of a little much for me.

Speaker 1 I actually wanted to see what the other kids were doing when I was sitting there.

Speaker 1 And then every year. Nothing like showing up in disguise to really hang out.
I swear to God.

Speaker 1 I swear to God. I do remember a specific night, and my band director would get on my ass.
His name was Mr. Poole.
And he was a really lovely guy. And he was just trying to guide a very

Speaker 1 wild child into some kind of responsibility. And he could be tough, right?

Speaker 1 I think he was a man of a certain flavor, if you know what I mean. I think he, I think he was,

Speaker 1 you know, I think he liked other men. That's what, that's what I think.
And so he was very effeminate in his movements, his actions, and his voice. But

Speaker 1 you were just as scared of him as you were of the senior viceroy football coach. Because when he meant business, he meant business.
And he could get a ornery real quick.

Speaker 1 And it kind of scared me a little bit. And so he would always like jerk a knot in my chain.
He'd call me into the office. You know, where were you on Friday night? And I'd be like, I was, Mr.

Speaker 1 Poole, I really was not. This is the third Friday night.
You were not feeling good.

Speaker 1 So the next Friday night that you're not feeling good, you're going to be leading scales in the class for the next two weeks. And I didn't know my scales.
So I didn't want to lead scales.

Speaker 1 No one wanted to lead scales. So I was like, oh, shit.
And then, so I remember one night I was stoned out of my brain. It was Friday night.
The game started at 7.30.

Speaker 1 It was like 6.30, 6.45. And I knew I had to go there, but I was too stoned to do it.
Like I was just too stoned. And all my friends were going to the game.
So what did I do?

Speaker 1 I never wore a baseball cap. I still don't.
Very rarely. I wear a baseball cap.
I put on a baseball cap.

Speaker 1 I put on some, you know, baggy clothes. And I went in and I like stood in the back.
I had no fun whatsoever. I was paranoid.

Speaker 1 And one of the girls in the band recognized me and she was like, shouldn't you grab your saxophone? And I was like, huh?

Speaker 1 I didn't bring it. Huh? No, I don't think I understood what she said.
She was like,

Speaker 1 I was like,

Speaker 1 and I just, I ran. I ran out of the place.
I was like, I was too scared. And she kept my secret.
Thank you very much for keeping my secret.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it was. But I'd say if there were like, you know, 10 home football, seven, eight, ten home football games a year, Mr.
Poole was lucky if Brian showed up to two of them. Yeah.
Two of them.

Speaker 1 But I'll tell you what I did show up to. I always showed up to the.

Speaker 1 Graduation ceremonies, which were at the Atlanta Symphony Hall in these huge symphony hall, huge, right? Yeah.

Speaker 1 And we would have to sit on stage and play that fucking song, the March of the Whatever, you know.

Speaker 1 We would have to play that

Speaker 1 while every single graduating student came up and got their degree. And even though the school

Speaker 1 was much smaller, like two hours, it would, you know,

Speaker 1 but I liked it because it gave me and my first chair friend a chance to go downtown, smoke cigarettes around the building and fuck off for a couple of hours and kids that's really what's important in high school smoking cigarettes and off for hours believe me

Speaker 1 more good advice from uncle brian oh yes the good old days

Speaker 1 oh man the good old days

Speaker 1 honestly i pine for that you do i i i don't know i don't really but i mean I didn't realize how good it was back then to have a home that was paid for, electricity that came on no matter who paid the bill.

Speaker 1 You know, I didn't have to worry about working. Uh-uh.
You know, work was essentially just for fun money. You know,

Speaker 1 smoking cigarettes wasn't going to kill you. They didn't know that back then.
You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Just like,

Speaker 1 I tell my kids all the time, don't try and grow up. Don't try and grow up.
It's okay. Just enjoy it.
Like, don't worry about the next thing. Don't worry about...

Speaker 1 you know, what mommy and daddy are talking about. Don't try and grow up.
It's just turn the lights off. Enjoy.
Yeah, turn the lights off and go to fuck to bed.

Speaker 1 Stop throwing up on my shoulder.

Speaker 1 Listen, you know, you get to a certain point in life and you realize just how good you had it back in the day.

Speaker 1 But I digress.

Speaker 1 The truth is, kids, I should have followed through on my responsibilities and shown up and played on Friday night football because that would have been the right thing to do.

Speaker 1 But then I wouldn't be the same lazy, mediocre comedy podcaster I am today. You wouldn't.
That's That's right. Canceling recordings every fifth day.

Speaker 1 I don't want to do it today.

Speaker 1 212-433-3TCB. 212-433-3822.
That's where you can leave us text messages. Questions, comments, concerns, contents, ideas.
We'd love to hear from you. We will respond.

Speaker 1 Or you can leave a voicemail and maybe you'll hear your voice on the next episode of the commercial. Break.
How's that? How's that for a deal? That's good. Right? You don't have to sit that one out.

Speaker 1 Go leave us a voicemail. I'll cut it up in weird ways and make you sound strange.

Speaker 1 At the commercial break on Instagram, TCB Podcast on TikTok. And do us a favor, go watch our show after you finish listening to our show.

Speaker 1 Youtube.com slash the commercial break for all the episodes the same day they

Speaker 1 air here on the audio feed.

Speaker 1 The air hair hair. The air hair hair on the audio feed.
feed and tcbpodcast.com. All the audio, all the video, and your free TCB swag.
Give us your address. We'll send you some.
No must, no fuss.

Speaker 1 Okay, Chrissy, that's all I can do for today. I think so.
I'll tell you that I love you. I love you.
Best to you.

Speaker 1 And best to you out there in the podcast universe. Until next time, Chrissy, and I will say, we do say, and we must say, goodbye.

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