Get A Hobby! Marshall Phillips Talks to A&G

gotta fear of the beard. Hear the beards. Marshall Phillips did our news for how many years did you do? It was grand total of fourteen years? Really, yes, I know, wow, I know. God time goes by and I thought about that. You know the other thing too, because I have been retired now for a while and it has certainly not been boring. But one thing I keep wondering when I

wake up is what day is? It? Is that something that happens to every time My kids are that way you beat out of school, and they have never they have have no idea if it's a Monday or a Saturday. Exactly. You know, so I have to I have to mendally make a cue. Okay, what date, let's look at the all right, we know what day it is. So you did you retired December nineteen? Yeah, so so had the news? Had you done the news about a virus in China

at that point show? Yeah, we did, We did mention it, and I was I think I had mentioned that I heard in the BBC. I was following it because I, you know, would wake up early, early in the morning and I would be, you know, here in the BBC they were talking about, oh, there's nineteen cases of this mysterious and then the next day it was there's twenty nine cases. The next day it was there's four cases. So you retired, and then three months later the whole

world shuts down. Yes, yes, yes, to put a damper on some of your plans for your first year retirement. My first year of retirement was pretty much spent at home. I think I I think I called one time and was telling you how I was building this whole uh

tribute to Chardonnay bottle. I had a pyramid. I had a Chardonnay bottle pyramid out in front of my house here, you're you're in the age group that you know where it's pretty deadly for and there was no vaccine at the time, so heck, yeah, yeah, no, I mean, and the good I think good thing was I did use the time. I have moved twice in the last year and a half, no, three twice, now twice. Yeah, I was trying to figure out because I've been bouncing around

from a lot of places. But I used the time to actually clear out the rest of the the stuff from my mom's home. She had passed away a few years before, So I got all of that out of the house and then got the got it rehabbed and everything else, and then put it up for sale. While wow, all this was still going on, no vaccine, COVID restrictions mass everywhere, and it was pretty challenging. But it did

give me something to do. I wasn't just sitting at home going okay, now what yeah, And you know, luckily it's the age of the internet and everything like that, so you can be in contact with people or fallow the news or whatever like it would have been thirty years ago or whatever. Um, so just what's your overall taking this? I mean, in terms of in terms of interesting things that have happened on planet Earth, even for a guy of your worldly nature, it has to stand out.

Is is A is a pretty big one. I was not around for the Spanish flu, so this is the first pandemic I have ever. You know, lived through things, knock on wood, lived through and I I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you you're vaccinated. At this point five times, you know, I ben't. I used another name and got more No, but I do have to tell you. I know everybody wants to get back to normal, and I

really appreciate that. But when all of a sudden, you know, they said, I take your mass off and have a good time, I'm kind of going, okay, but let's be careful. And now we've we've got this what do they call it, the uh delta? The delta you know variety. I can imagine it does look differently if you're a susceptible age group, where you know this could really make you sick. Um, And you know, if you're under if you're under sixty, really it's not that deadly. And if certainly if you're

under forty, it's very unlikely you would kill you. But um, you know you probably feel the same way my parents. And my parents took it very seriously. Oh yeah, no, there's no doubt about it. And as soon as I could get vaccinated, I did. You know, I'm really glad I did, because you know, that's one less thing you

have to worry about yourself, to be cautious. But you're not like, oh my god, now because now when you're in retirement, when when I don't have a job to come to every day, every little thing becomes a huge epic with me. I've noticed that with retired people. I am on the phone daily to my friends scattered about the country, you know, got going ranting and raving about any number of things. Now they're kind of expecting it.

You know, if I don't call at least every couple of days, and they called me, you know, just afraid I may have exploded. So I was gonna ask you about you and your friends in your set. So you're an old hippie who hung around with hippies back in the day, and um, a lot of your older liberals that that I follow are kind of looking at some of their fellow younger liberals and saying, what is going on with you? People, And uh, I wonder if you've noticed in you that among your crowd, amongst my crowd,

I will I will tell you something. A lot of my crowd, people that I've known since I was thirteen and we all went through many things together, are much more liberal and I am so they're so they're joining in with more of the younger wolf crown. Oh yeah, very much so, very much so. And you know, we have spirited discussions about you know, we don't get too

heavy into politics, but mostly policy. I just think it's interesting that the crowd that was always so suspicious of the FBI and the CIA in general, a lot of those people now that they're they're all hail the FBI and c I A. Are are our masters who will keep us safe. And I'm like, where did that come from.

I do have a couple of friends that have surprised me over the years, and you know, I will look at them and pictures of them and announced that you're looking very prosperous because I've noticed that their waist size has expanded amazingly. Oh yeah, yes, and they're looking very prosperous these days. In general, what, um, what has surprised you about retirement, because I remember asking my dad. I like to ask retired people this question because I hope

to be retired someday years from now. But what's what surprised you? What didn't surprise you about retirement? Well? What has? Well, yeah, what's to surprise me? Or what I've had to have a realization about is make sure when you retire you got some kind of hobby, something else to do, because, uh, after my second move, now, there have been a few days where I'm going, okay, now what But fortunately things

keep coming up and I have to deal with. So I haven't, like I said, I haven't been born, but I can see a time down the line if I don't get bitty and start to you know, salsa dancing or something again, you know it, you really are sort of faced with Okay, now, I know my my dad's younger brother. I remember him asking, he said, what are you gonna do when you retire? You don't golf? You don't fish, right, I mean, you know, because like Joeseph Golfer,

that's that's how he pictures retirement is playing golf. I get it. All. I know fishermen who can't can't wait to the idea that they're gonna be able to fish every single day. But if you don't have one of those things, I don't um, you do have to do something um and And you know, most people, their whole lives of working, can't wait till the day when they don't have to work anymore. But there's a lot of time in a day, day after day after day. You

got to do something. Oh yeah, oh yeah. The other thing too is a lot of my really close friends do not live anywhere near me. So again it's like, hey, how you doing on the phone. How about the sense of who you are? If you had any problem with that? Because so many people, I think particularly men, defined themselves by their job, by their job, And when you don't have that, have you had any problem with? Who? Who am I? What am I? No that I that I haven't had any problem with? Well, now I gotta I

got a bullet for you. I have given up the grape. All booze are just wine. I have given up the grape. I'll put it that way. No, just just because how do I put it? After I built the temple to Chardonnay for that year and a half, I just thought, you know, dude, let's try something else. Yeah, yes, So did you feel that it was starting to play too much of a role in your life? Yeah? The thing, Oh, I'll tell you this, the one thing you got to be careful of when you're when you are a retired gentleman.

If you don't have immediate family around you, you know, occupy you. Boredom is your worst enemy, you know. Just okay, Like we were saying, all right, it's two in the afternoon. Again, it's the now what do I do? Question? So you gotta try and figure out some other ways, new ways to occupy yourself. You're for people who don't know Marshall Phillips who did the news for us for many, many years and retired a couple of years ago and never married,

no children, right, so still a couple of lady friends around. Yes, Michael's got a question. Yeah, you're still playing the lottery, Marshall. Yes, I am scratchers. You still have that hobby? Oh? Yes, oh yes, And I will tell you this without try bragging too much. I don't know if I mentioned on a day if your wedding, Michael, Yeah, I had purchased a scratcher and after your wedding I came home and I scratched it. I won six hundred and seventy lucky day.

That was Michael's wedding. Well, I told you I waited till after the ceremony to do that. I got another question from Marshall Phillips, a legendary newsperson. I mean we haven't even mentioned that legendary a broadcaster at some of the biggest stations in the history of radio over the years. So it was a week ago tonight that Joe Biden said at that CNN town hall, if you get vaccinated, you will not have to wear a mask. I repeat, if you get vaccinated, you will not have to wear

a mask. He said it twice, and within a couple of days the White House changed directions. You gotta remember there following the science or following the science. So they claim Marshall Phillips joins us he was our news guy for I didn't realize it was fourteen years that you did that. Was that the longest radio gig you had

in your tire luster's career, Yes, yes it was. I had a couple of eleven year runs, a couple of eight year runs, and a whole lot of six month runs and two year runs and you know how it has, how it is um so without getting it we were Marshall was just telling me a little story up there. Did you run the red light? Do you think you ran the red light? No, I I admitted, I have admitted, yes,

I I ran the red light. I wasn't aware i'd run the red light, but they had a picture of me, you know, And so and again I just moved into this area and every intersection has cameras. And how big is the ticket for that five and sixty chunk of money? Man? Yes? So no, I paid it up. That's the first moving elation I've had, probably in thirty five forty years. Well, the only reason I bring it up is you once went to jail, Yes, for driving tickets parking, which are

not a moving viol No. No, And you didn't pay your parking tickets in l A County. It was in Fullerton, Orange County. And you know the bottom line was no, I paid parking tickets like crazy. But I was working nights, sleeping in the daytime, and where I lived, you had two hour parking in front of your house two hours, so every two hours you gotta move your car. Yes, I had to wake up, move my car, go back to sleep, wake up, moved my car. That's unrealistic way

to live. And I went when I moved in, when we rented this house, I moved, I went to the police department, said, hey, listen, I've I've just moved in. Here's my lease agreement and everything. Can I get a you know, residents sticker, so you know, to deal with the park They said, nope, no, we don't. We don't offer those but that but that's that's crazy because you

have to be parked somewhere. So you're just gonna what difference does it make whether you take up this spot for four straight hours, where you take up two different spots two hours each, It doesn't make any difference in terms of the number of spots available. And so I would still even though I was getting moving the car around, I was still getting You would you would actually set your alarm. So this is when you so you working nights, This is actually like your your this is when you're

supposed to get your eight to ten hours. So you would set your alarm and wake up every two hours and go move your car. That's craziest night after night. How often did you successfully do that? I would get three tickets a week, maybe four. But so that means that many, many times you woke yourself up out of a deep sleep, like did you sleep in your clothes or would you put on some clothes and go out and move your car? I had my satin robot and so and so you have to go all the way

out to your car. How far away? It wasn't very far? Oh, you know there was a front yard, you know, a sidewalk, a lawn now, and then you just moved like the next closest spot. Yeah, pretty much, just back and forth and back and forth. My god, I can't imagine waking like the third time, not, you know, not the thirtieth time, Like the third time, I'd say the screw it. And there was an alley behind this house, but you couldn't really park in the alley because it was one of

those like single lane, one way, a little strips. So moving towards you ended up in the whosco. How many parking tickets had you gotten before you ended up in corners? I paid hundreds and hundreds of dollars and I even went to the police Department's Fulton Police Department, and I think I talked to the chief, but I said, here's the deal. I mean, I live here, and I got I've been paying tickets like mad. Could you double check to see if I have any more outstanding tickets? And

they ran a computer check. Yes, you do. This seems like a real spirit of the law letter the law to thing to me too, the spirit of the law law it is not to make people who live around their move their cars every two hours. But they stuck you with the letter of the law. They stuck me with the letter of the law. And in the bottom line is so I paid off those and I kept trying to pay the tickets, you know, trying not to

get tickets and pay the tickets. And then one evening around six o'clock, oh only till five, though after five I didn't have to move. So it's just unfortunately had to sleep during the day. Yes, yes, uh so one night around six o'clock, I hear knocking him the door, and I peek out through the window and I see two long here guys, and I thought, maybe they're murdering my roommates friends. You know, they look hippie. As I opened the door and the two guys literally burst in

and demand, are you Marshall Phillips. Yes, down down down to the ground, on the ground. Oh yeah, on the rug. Because the confused by this is this? Did they to something else? The whole deal was the tickets. Some of the tickets have gone to warrant and I hadn't. Apparently you gotta get down on the ground. Yeah. Yeah. It was unbelievable and we're out of time. But you spent a month in jail. I did. I did for contempt at court. A month a love in jail. Absolutely unbelievable.

Our show, we really want to mate with you. Classic class, next, a classic callback. I'm the host of final thoughts at Jack Armstrong. Let's get a final thought from Michael Angelo. My final thought is directed at Marshall. Thank you for coming to my wedding. Even though you were had a health condition, you snuck in there. We really appreciated you showing up. Loved it. I did too. That was great times. Let's get a final thought for guest newsman today and

my Marshall Fillips. Sorry, Marshall, you know it was amazed. I drove right here without getting lost, and yeah, walked through the back door and saw familiar faces. Now retirement is okay, but make sure you've got something else to do, so you don't just sit there and go, okay, now what excellent point and probably not a good idea, and wait and and to not wait until you get to retirement to decide when you want to do. Yeah, I don't. I don't have a thing. I don't fish, I don't golf.

I don't know what it would be. Start working on it that I'm gonna come up with something, building a model, ships in a bottle or something s