It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's Radio.
Thanks very much, Nicole. It has been a wild weather afternoon and evening here in New England and particularly in eastern New England, and we're going to talk about that in a moment with Matt Ben's of AQI Weather. I appreciate that he'll take a few minutes to it's been a busy night for him. But my name is Dan rayam the host of Nightside. Rob Brooks is back solo tonight, running the program from the broadcast headquarters at an undisclosed
location in Midford, Massachusetts. My name is Dan Ray. I'm the host, and we have a very interesting set of interviewees during this particular hour. We're going to talk about seniors in the workplace, seniors going back to work because of the economy. You're going to talk about a topless protest coming up this Saturday on the Boston Common. And then we're going to talk with US Spencer Buell of
the Boston Globe about several New England jingles. You know, those little jingles that you just can't get out of your head. We'll be talking about those. But we're going to start off talking about this wild, wacky weather that we've all experienced. I've talked to several friends of mine in the last two hours, and with us, it's Matt ben's ACKI weather meteorologist. Matt. Thanks for joining us. It's been kind of a busy afternoon and evening for you, I would suspect.
Yeah, and thank you for having me here. Yeah, definitely a busy afternoon into the evening with these slow moving heavy thunderstorms that brought not only heavy rain, bud strong dusty winds. We had many ports of hail here across the Greater Boston area and things finally beginning to calm down.
Just now, when did you first notice I don't know what time your work schedule is, but when did you first get an inkling that today might be a more interesting I think this is the most interesting weather day of the summer. I stand to be corrected by you, the expert, But when you see hale, I've seen hale on the newscast tonight and the six o'clock news looks like they were hail size of ping pong balls coming down. Yeah.
Yeah, ping pong golf ball size hail certainly something that you don't see all the time here in New England, and yeah, you know it started off earlier on this afternoon when thud of storms really started to blow up across New Hampshire and the kind of just sustained themselves pushing due south, which you typically don't see a lot of our storms come from the west or from the southwest, but these came from the north. So already you knew it was going to be unusual day just because of
the direction the storms were coming. But of course there was a severe aspect in the heavy aspect of those storms as well as they headed south and just kind of sustained themselves here through the late afternoon and early evening.
Yeah, it looked like watching some of the weather forecaster in the six o'clock newscast, it looked like Boston got a good amount of rain, nearly two inches as I understand that.
Yeah, round two inches of rain in Boston. Some spots just checking south to town towards Plimpton, and then they just had a line from there down south towards the north side of fire Mouth, anywhere from two to four inches of rain. Wouldn't be surprised if some backyard rain gauges out there, maybe had that three to four inch mark. But yeah, certainly some heavy soaking rain for a lot of areas.
So now is it quieting down? I'm told that during the summertime, once the sun sets, it tends to quiet things down, at least this sort of weather activity tends to get quieted down.
Yeah, it will start to calm down. We do have one set of storms coming out of the southern southwestern part of New Hampshire pushing into the northern part of the state right now. There is a warning on that up in New Hampshire. But it looks like that those are beginning to lose their intensity because they gain all their energy from the daytime heating of the sun and that's what helps to create the thermals in the atmosphere
that rise up and develop these storms. So once the sun sets, things generally, at least in our neck of the woods, start to calm down once you get to this time of the night.
Now has this little afternoon weather phenomena. Has this helped us a little bit with the big storm in Nesto that is just about has finished with Puerto Rico as moving towards Bermuda, and it looks as if it's going to avoid us this weekend. Did this little weather pattern kind of keep Ernesto a little further off out to sea than it might have otherwise been.
Yeah, that's a great observation, and that's exactly what we're seeing right now. A large upper level low is what we'll call it, coming across New England is now moving into the maritime provinces of Canada, and what that's helping to do is steering. It's nudging Ernesto to stay out to see instead of turning towards the northwest, it's going to be more north and eventually we'll go more northeast as we head into the weekend and early next week.
One thing that Ernesto is doing right now, it's slowing down the weather pattern. So we've kind of been stuck with this particular storm now the last two days. Typically we'd only see these storms stick around for a day or so, but now this has been a couple of days across New England. Finally shifting off towards the east, and then with Arnesto coming north, we may actually manage a couple of dry days here through the weekend before things get wet into early next week once again.
So we might look out. We've we've done pretty well with weekends and this summer, and I was away for about nine days, so I kind of missed a couple of weekends. I don't want to be speak out attorn here. I was on a trip to Italy with a bunch of nightside listeners. We've been we've been pretty lucky with weekends. Well. I believe last weekend was kind of nasty, I'm told by some friends. Is that true?
Yeah, yeah, last weekend was. We had a pretty pretty wet stretch of weather going into the earlier this week, through the last weekend and even the week before just kind of a gray, rainy stretch of weather. So at least for us for this weekend at least turning out
dry Saturday Sunday. Do you want to stress? So, even though Ernesto is way offshore, this is driving in some swells that are going to be reaching the east coast here over the next couple of days, So it may be pretty inviting to go out to those beaches, but just be aware ripped currents and some rough surf will be a concern here for both Saturday and Sunday.
Absolutely, as we grab these final few weekends, we'll come a few final few weekends of August and then Labor Day. All of that, we know we hate to see this time of year ago as quickly as sometimes it appears to be. Matt, appreciate you taking the time with us today. I hope you have a very RESTful and easy rest of the night, and nothing more, nothing more. Pops me
you bet you, thank you so much. When we get back, we're going to talk with a director of financial planning, analysis and treasury for a company called caring dot com. His name is John Farrell, not the former Red Sox manager John Farrell. We'll double check on that just to be sure. But he's going to talk with us about seniors in the workplace. Three and ten seniors in the workfhace in the workforce, I should say, have decided they unretired primarily due to inflation.
Uh.
This is this is a real problem, and it's a problem for people who thought, Okay, my work and my work days are over. Now I can kind of kick back and relax, not necessarily, so we will explain on the other side of the break. My name's Day. This is Nightside. We also are going to talk about a topless protest this weekend on Boston Common, and four very familiar New England jingles from more than a few years ago, that most of us who have been around for a
while probably can't get them out of our heads. Well, we will explain all of this, and then coming up at nine o'clock time, we'll talk with Boston Herald syndicated columnist Jeff Robbins about concerns in the Jewish community over the Democratic ticket, the Harris Waltz ticket. We will explain that. Later on tonight, we're going to ask you about how your economy's doing. Everybody's talking about the big macro economy. I want to know the micro economy. How is it
working in your household at this time? Back right after these messages. My name is Dan Ray. This is night Side. You're listening to WBC ten thirty on your AM dial. And remember if you ever had problems getting us on the radio, you always can find us on the iHeart app. You can listen to WBZ News Radio on the iheartapp, and that iHeart app is free downloaded for free.
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World Light Side Studios on WBZ NewsRadio.
Well, I think a lot of us have been talking about the economy in the last few months. Actually the last couple of years, we had a lot of inflation. Inflation is slowing down a little bit. But once inflation gets a bite into our pocket books and our wallets, it doesn't let go with us. As John Farrell the director of financial planning, analysis and treasury for a company called carrying dot Com. John Farrell, not the former Red Sox manager of a few years ago. Welcome tonight's side.
How are you, sir?
Good eating Dan? How are you doing tonight?
I'm doing great. There was a namesake manager of the Red Sox's name was John Farrell.
I'm well aware. I have his card. I'm actually a born and raised Red Sox fan. My dad's from Walpole, mass so Yeah, I was raised Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, Bruins. I had a Drew Blood soldiersy on me before I knew what was what.
So well, good good for you. And by the way, I have a lot of friends and relatives in Walpole, Massachusetts. Lewis Avenue uh was a was a home of some relatives of mine. Anyway, some disconcerting news three and ten seniors in the workforce have unretired primarily due to I guess inflation. What's going on.
Yeah, So, as you alluded to kind of in your preamble there, Dan, in the last you know, four or five years, the economic situation and specifically in this country has been pretty uh pretty pretty uh volatile. I guess you could say it, right, you know, starting with the pandemic and and then you know the stimulus stimulus that comes from that, and then right in you know, right into the supply shy socks and and uh demand side shocks.
Then we have shocks that hit all the you know, building building materials.
And everything like that.
And so you know, navigating for this for seniors as they thought they were ending their career has been a very very treacherous demand of them.
Yeah, a lot of those folks are like me, baby boomers who grew up and were told, hey, you work hard, and you're able to retire maybe when you're sixty two, sixty five, worst case scenario sixty eight, so three and ten seniors in the workforce today, how do we how do you calculate seniors? Is that people over sixty five, people over seventy's what's the the and yeah. Yeah.
In the survey we we care dot com we did, the age range we included is between sixty two and eighty five.
Oh okay, okay, So are they people at the high end of that age range who are still working out of necessity. I'm not talking about somebody who has a job that is kind of an avocation type job. I'm talking about people who are working because they must work.
Yeah, So as far as that's the type of work, you know, I can't speak to that as much. But in our survey, you know, all respondents aged eighty eighty five rejoined to remain in the workforce to pay down medical or other debt. And so you know, we're getting people, you know, through that entire spectrum of ages stick to two two eighty five that are replying that they're having to go back into the workforce, yes.
After having retired.
Sorry, So that would be the younger people. There would be people, ironically who would have been born in nineteen sixty two and to have been born in nineteen eighty five. People could have been born as as as early or as late however you look as nineteen thirty nine. So these are people in the who were born in the forties, fifties, and a couple of years in the sixties who are now being impacted. This is the group you're concerned about.
What's the future look like? I mean, obviously some of those folks, you know, at the higher end of the spectrum, they don't have a lot of work years left.
Well, if they're unretiring, you know, I guess they would they would say their work years are done, right, you know, they thought they were done with the with the carousel and going around and around, and so what does the future look like? Dan, That's a great question. I think.
I think it's risk. That's That's the kind of the world I keep coming back to with this survey and this and this and this and this piece is you know, seniors in this country are having to take on more and more risk, and the risk in either too much risk in their portfolio, right, having to invest in vehicles
that maybe they shouldn't be at that age. Or it's risk in going back to the workplace and and having to wake up and put that damage and then those miles in the in the body right, Or it's it's having to cut back on essential expenses, whether that be you know, the nice to have medication or whether that be a level of care or service that they need. And so you know, the future is it's okay.
So what's the scary things about your Your company is called caring dot com. Tell us what that does? I see the director of Financial Planning, Analysis and treasury. Does your company provide some help to these folks who are looking at their bank accounts and looking at their longevity and looking at their medical needs and saying.
With with a pitch like that, you know, you could be Tim Wakefield. So you know, Karen dot com, we're a free, free website to do all all who need it.
You know, it's the entire service is free. We help you through the entire journey, whether you're beginning it, in the middle of it, or restarting it right and and we have all types of resources for seniors, whether it be you know, link and resources to help finding you know, a new job or just you know, guidance through the financial landscape of you know, estate planning and end of life planning. And so you know, you can call us. We have people on the phone, we have resources digitally
on the website. You know, however you want to get in contact with us, whatever level of you know, technology or interacting your comfortable with Go ahead, let me ask you this.
Okay, free, which is which is obviously a good price for somebody who's being forced back into the workforce. How does your website generate money? I may be free, but I'm assuming that you're getting a paycheck? What what what's the sources?
And yeah, of course, so you know, with the community that we work with and some of the and some of the senior senior homes you work with. You know, if we're able to find a solution for a senior and it works for them, and it works for the family and and you know, and they're happy. You know, the community, the community we work with, we have a contract with them and and they and they pay s good enough.
No, that's that's totally legitimate. Uh. It sounds like a great service. It's real simple, simple simple. It's called caring dot com. I call it the treadmill of life. I use that term when I put my son on the kindergarten school bus many many years ago, as he you know, sort of struggled to get up to that first big step, I said, welcome to the treadmill of life. So these are folks who got off the treadmill of life and
now we're back on the treadmill of life. And if you're in that situation, caring dot com has some free information, free services, and maybe even some counseling. It sounds like if you have people on the phone, live and in person. Correct, John, did we lose? Did we you? We just lost? John? I was giving winding up for the big finish there. If we get him back. I just want to make sure that people understand that they can go there and
get web information on the website digitally. Okay. Uh. But also it sounded to me as if they do have some people who are available via phone, so you can ask questions and get some answers and all of this will be free. Uh. If you want to take avail yourself of it again, it's caring dot com. You got them back? Rob Okay, John, I was I was doing
the big pitch there. I was trying to close it up for you, and so all I wanted to do was emphasize that besides the website for people of the baby boomer generation, we like to talk to other people, you do have some people who they can.
Get We have perfect we have we have fas FAM advisors. They're waiting by the phone. Whenever you guys need to talk to them. We have them all you spread out all across the country. We got we got coverage. Yes, if you don't if you want to talk to somebody, you want to talk it through. I'm that way too. You know. I don't like all the time the visital messaging because I think the feedback loop on that sometimes
can be just too slow to solve problems. And so of course we have people waiting by the phone ready to talk.
Great and by the way, some bad news tonight the Red Sox are losing in Baltimore. John, kind of closer to where you are down there. I believe you're in that Dan.
Tonight we got to focus on Drake Man, making sure he's going all right. I haven't watched anything yet, but now don't.
Tell me you give there are only three games out of the wild Card. Come on, don't be it no prom John Fowl. I really enjoyed the conversation you gave me straight answers. I asked you tough questions because I always make sure that anyone we have on this show, and I didn't get a chance to talk to you earlier in the day, are actually actually going to be of help to my listeners, and that my listeners are not going to find themselves in some sort of financial trap.
You sounds like a great organization Caring dot Com, and you sound like a great guy, even though you weren't the Red Sox manager in twenty thirteen.
Thanks very much.
Okay, you're a good sport too.
Yep, thank you Dan, Thank you John.
All Right, we come back. Very interesting story. There's going to be a topless protest this weekend on the Boston Common. I'll let you know when where, And well, look, I think it's interesting, I really do. We might even talk about this at some length tomorrow night, but we're going to talk with one of the protest organizers of this Boston rally. Topless protest will take place on the Boston Common, not at a beach on the Boston Common. It's going
to be in support of what's called gender equality. We'll be back right after the news at the bottom of the hour.
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
All right, welcome back, Thank you very much to call. By the way, I just wanted to make mention because I'm enjoined in our remote studio tonight by a wonderful dog named Mustard. He's a corgy his grandfather one of his grandfathers, I guess. And he's a Corgi that was adopted from a great shelter a year ago. He's a magnificent dog. And he has sat here with me quietly, has not barked. I gave him the instructions you can't
bark during the program. He's the Uh, he's his his parents and my daughter Katie, and my son in law Ted. Uh and uh. I just am so thrilled that that Mustard really understand I think he understands what we're talking about. And maybe Mustard, you should close your ears on this one. No problem. I want to welcome to a remote studio here. Uh uh Cassio, Perier Cassio. I hope I pronounced your first name correctly. Is that the way it goes?
Yes? Yes, yes, thank you.
Dan, excellent, Okay, Mustard Casio says hi. Uh. Cassio is the organizer of a rally on the Boston Common which is going to I guess start at the Embrace Statue, which is now quite the landmark on the Common and it's a topless protest to take place Saturday, is it one o'clock? I believe, yeah, And you're gonna end up marching up to the state house topless. Normally these sorts of topless protests take place on beaches. So why this locale on Saturday?
Very simple? Topless equal right. If men can be topless in public, women should have the same constitutional rights. Otherwise men should cover the just.
Okay, so you're looking for gender equality now that there are probably some men who may may not who are not in the best shape. Let's put it like that. So we'll we'll leave that. So I was surprised in the article that I read that there's a bunch of states around the country where topless sunbathing is allowed. Is that correct?
Yeah, it is correct, But it's not in Massachusetts.
Oh no, no, I mean that's that's why you need the That's why you need the rally. I get that. But the thing that was was really interesting to me there was that a lot of those states were sort of from the heart land there, I think Kansas and Wyoming, not states that you would think of necessarily as places where uh, you know, going topless for women, going topless those wouldn't be the states that would come to mind initially interestingly enough to do you know what I mean by that politically?
Yeah, well, yeah, Massachusetts is a liberal state, right, so we're able to have the semi constitutional rights as men and they don't have a beach we do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this was.
This said here. According to Equality, men acquired topless freedom in the nineteen thirties only Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Those are not necessarily liberal communities, along with some other individual counties and cities, allow full topless equality, meaning topless women can go topless. How watcher crowd do you expect of participants? Let's start it off with that
way do you expect on Saturday? And how big a crowd do you think you would draw of spectators and supporters either, and some might be both spectators and supporters, some might just be spectators.
We have no idea. This is not our first time in Boston. We usually do it in New York City, and just some we decided to do it in Boston. We've been having a lot of media.
Coverage Boston Globe, The Herald, and other major media for the States so we hope to have a nice crowd.
Okay, well, look now you're on WBZ, which is the largest radio station in New England.
On night side, done in the.
Primetime hours, so I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people. So it starts at the statue at one o'clock and then yes, you take a stroll across the Boston Common. This is a dumb question, but I have to ask it. Have you been given a permit for this rally or could the police come and say you don't have the appropriate permit? Have you sought to get a permit for the for this rally in March?
We don't know what to protest, so everybody is allowed to protest. We didn't know what's going to go that big either as far as the media coverage, so we might have a lot of people. We'll see what happens. But I think it's everybody should be able to have the right to protest without asking any permission.
Yeah, well, I will tell you that in Boston. That's one of the ways in which they sometimes try to shut down these They'll say they'll say, well, you need to have a permit issued. I'm sure you must have lawyers or whatever associated with your group. And you may think about that because you you know, you want to make you want to have your protest, and I just it's just a little friendly advice, is what I'm trying
to tell you. You may want to look at. I understand some people want to say, look, the last the last thing we want to do is we don't want to ask permission. I get that, But Boston Common is one of those areas where sometimes you might you might need a you might need a permit. Just a little bit of what a word to the wise. How many of these protests have you been involved in and in what other cities and what success and what reaction have you had from the public at large.
Cassio Well Go Topless was founded in two thousand and seven by a rail who is the international spiritual leader of the Rail movement. And we started protest in New York City. So since that year, every year we go to New York City.
And how have you been received? Have you been welcomed? Oh? People cheered, you give us, give us a what sort of reaction you get?
Oh?
Yes, yes, it's a big it's a parade that we have now every year in New York City, which is actually illegal for women to be topless, But we want to bring awareness that even if it's legal, many women don't exercise that right and they don't even know sometimes it's legal.
So it's legal in New York City, but probably not legal in Boston. I don't know if you've ever heard the phrase benned in Boston, and we have a various history of Puritanical history. We had blue laws in Boston where certain things couldn't happen on sun I mean, you know, Boston has sort of a tradition of being the most progressive city in terms of these protest of this nature.
If you get if you get the same yeah, the same time gay marriage is legal, right.
Oh yeah, and it was one of the one of the first states, if not the first state. So yes, yeah, so you know you're right. I mean, maybe maybe your protest on on Sunday will open up beaches. You know, they do have Anantucket as I'm sure you know that's now. I guess a lot on the Nantucket and there are some other beaches I'm told around Massachusetts where you know, you can go topless, whether you're a man or a woman. So, uh, this is your first time in Boston, Cassio or no
have you? Are you familiar with the city?
So yeah, okay, I wasn't sure.
I thought you might have been a native New Yorker. Okay, so you are. You're a New Englander, so you know what's going on. I'm gonna be very interested to see how well you received. I think you'll be received much better than perhaps many people might think. So best of what on Saturday, I hope everybody is absolutely totally respectful to the people who will be there, and that that nobody nobody gets out of line, if you know what I'm saying.
Okay, I think it's gonna go very well.
I think so, okay, Cassio, Cassio Perier. And if folks want to get more information in advance of the rally, is there a website that we can direct them to? What what what?
Go?
Well, that's a that's pretty simple, Go topless dot org.
And we have a Facebook page, Instagram and tweet x. Yes.
Okay, so you're you're all up on social media and they can start with go topless dot org. Cassio. I enjoyed our conversation. Thanks very much, Thank you for the shout out from Mustard the Cordy.
Thank you very much.
All Right, when we get back, we're going to talk about four New England jingles from more than a few years ago. But if you've been around New England for a while, you're going to know most of these. We're going to talk with Spencer Buell, who's a writer for the Boston Globe. I think this next segment will be fun, something which all of us will stir some some memories.
And maybe you'll be singing these tunes or whistling these tunes or humming these tunes tomorrow once you hear them after not that many years back on Nightside.
Right after this, now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Yes, indeed and very comfortable Window World Nightside Studios. And I'm delighted to welcome Spencer Buell, who writes for the Boston Globe. Spencer, welcome to Nightside. How are you.
Great?
Thanks?
Thanks for having me.
Absolutely I think this is your Nightside dabut you if I'm not mistaken. And uh, and I'm fascinated by this, uh this story. What do you do stories on kind of nostalgic things. Tell us what's what's your not necessarily your beat, but but what's your area with the Globe.
Yeah, so my so my beat for the Globe really is I cover Cambridge in Summerville. We have this newsletter, the Camberville Newsletter that we uh that we write, that we put out. My focus is generally on those two cities.
But I also the Globe very kindly lets me branch out into stuff that I think is really interesting, and sometimes I write for the Globe magazine and so so this case, the reason you brought me on here today, that was a Globe magazine story where I got to branch out and do something I think is really fun.
Oh, it absolutely is fun. I had a chance to read it. So, uh, those of us in New England remember many of these. I think I remember all of them, but correct me if I'm wrong. But these these were jingles that were just everywhere in the seventies and eighties, particularly on television. Is am I am I focusing people properly when I say it that way.
Yeah, that's right. I mean we So what we did was we focused on we really wanted to do a story about famous New England jingles, and because it's me writing the story, I you know, I grew up in Massachusetts and the nineties and two thousands, and that's sort of where my frame of reference is for a lot of my favorite jingles, the ones that I really grew
up with. But the thing about a lot of these New England jingles is a lot of them go back quite a way, and so they've been on the air since the eighties, you know, which I will point out there are a lot of pop stars that would love to have stayed on the air since the eighties. You know, there's songs that don't last the summer. And well, let me go.
Let me go to a couple here, just so people know what we're talking about. Okay, let us go to the Giant Glass jingle. Well, I don't know the Giant Glass is still around, they may be, but this is cut nineteen. I think everyone who is an adult and has spent time in New England for the last you know, thirty or so or more years will recognize this one Cut nineteen.
Rob Giant Glass will replace your windshield and give you a safe drive away time to ensure your car safety. So called the number more New Englanders trust undred and fifty four Giant.
Now. I don't know who that announcer was, but what a great set of radio, old radio pipes he had deep deep oh yeah pipes. And that jingle's been around. I haven't heard that one in a while. Is Giant Glass still in business? Do you know? Or no? It isn't.
It isn't, so it was bought out by Safe Light, and Safe Light of course has its own jingle.
Yeah.
See, I've made a promise to myself. I wasn't going to sing on the radio. But you know the one you know that you no I know?
Yep, absolutely, Okay, So we got another one here that I think everybody who is ever skied in New England would be familiar with. I'm not going to tell people what it is because as soon as they hear it, they will know it's cut twenty one rob.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
We've got to get rid of that jingle.
Are you serious?
That jingle is great?
The jingle is the best.
There are a lot of people that won't come up here because of that jingle.
Let's have the customer to vote. Hey, let's set up a ballot box.
Up in the front.
One for saving it and one for losing.
Let the people decide cool democracy lose.
Mota. Oh yeah, now look, aunt what chusets is still around? I don't know if that jingle is still being employed by the by the owners of more chuse It's what's the history there, Stephen. But they apologize.
So they So they loved their jingle. They've been using it for many years now. They they do still very much use it. The story with that one, I love that all of these have like a have a backstory, and this one, this one definitely does. So this was like around around nineteen ninety. They didn't have a jingle yet, but they had these billboards all up and down the
mouse pike. And somebody's driving up and down the mouse pike and they see the watch who said billboard while they're listening to an old nineteen sixties dance hit called the wah wah Tu see. Yes, I have to be honest with you. I to be honest with you. I did not know the wa wa su see, but a lot of people did.
I did, I did. I never did it, but it was but as a young child, I remember the wa tu see. Yes, remember the rest? Yes?
So so here I am dating myself again as like a guy in his thirties who my references the nineties. I grew up with wah wah choose it, not the wawa tu see. But anyways, this guy hears it and he pitches it to the watch use of people. He just he records it himself and brings it to the watch juset Mountain and says, this has got to be your jingle. And at first they didn't like it. They're like to goofy, I don't know, let me hear it again. And by the third time they heard it, they said
it was like, this has to be it. This is this is our jingle going forward. And they've kept it the whole time. They said that people it's so recognizable that sometimes all they do in their commercials is they just play those first three notes, the bump bump bump. When people know it's what use it, They're like, they don't even have to say watch you said anymore?
We got two more. Here here's one that I think everybody This one, of course, wa war two sits is a winter jingle. This is a summer jingle cut number twenty two rub when the sun and the sun gets hot a very see me but has some fun boy. I'll tell you a lot of people know that that one. That is for sure. I think that might have been around even for a guy in his thirties.
Absolutely, that was. That one dates back to nineteen eighty four. So guy, the guy who recorded that, this guy named Tom Roussel, and at the time, he was like a Berkeley grad who was looking for work in music. He was doing all these playing all these gigs everywhere, taking lessons like kind of it's not always easy to make a living as a musician. And one of the gigs
that he had was writing jingles for small businesses. In one day, he gets you know, he gets a request from a local water park to do a jingle, and so he puts it together. He writes it in about three days, which is how long he had to do it to write it, record it with a bunch of musicians. The song goes out there and it stayed on the radio for forty years. Just pretty remarkable. But this guy, remember he's just working as a freelancer. So he was paid a one time feet four hundred bucks and that
was it. You know, de root is not Tom.
Yeah, forty years, four hundred bucks. That works out to what's it like ten bucks a years when you do the math. Okay, last, but not least one that all of us remember. And this is a company. I'm not sure if they got bought or not, but they were. They were everywhere. This is cut twenty three rob Bernie and feels. It's all about the furniture and it's all that beautiful customer quality becom in price. That's nice. Yeah,
that's nice. Are they still around? You know, I haven't bought furniture a number of years.
So they are still family owned by the Rubens family. Bernie of Bernie and Phil's sadly passed a few years ago, but the family is still running it. So it's now the third generation is now at the helmet that thing, which is which is pretty cool. So the thing with this jingle is that they had it for many years too. But in the twenty ten's, like around twenty fourteen, I think it was they decided that they were going to
get rid of the jingle. They think that people were getting sick of it, and then it was sending kind of the wrong message that it was like, well, you know, we're we do more than just sell an expensive furniture. We got good stuff here, so they got rid of the jingle, but people were calling for it. They missed it. They really wanted the nostalgia Bernie and Phil, who they loved, you know, they're sort of like New England's grandparents.
Yep.
And so the grandkids now at the home of the company said we want to bring it back, and so the jingle is back. It lives on.
You would call that, they would call that back by popular demand, literally exactly right. That's great, that's right, Spencer. This was a great topic, a lot of fun for us. Whenever you have something that you'd like to talk about, which this was in the Golob magazine last week. I was in Europe last week. That's I got to go read it. Was it in last week? Was it coming up?
It's coming out on Sunday, So it's on. You can get it online now or you can pick it up in you get it delivered or pick it up in print form on Sunday.
Well, I will be reading it on Sunday afternoon, that is for sure, Spencer. Great to make your acquaintance, and I hope we get the cafe come back soon with another very interesting and fun topic. Spencer Buell, The Boston Globe.
Thank you so much, Spencer, thanks so much for having me on.
You bet you we come back. We're going to be talking about a little politics here and some unease within Jewish voters about the vice presidential pick and maybe even the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. I'll explain with Jeff Robbins, who himself is a very committed Democrat, but he has some concerns. Although there's no way, if you know Jeff Robbins, he's ever gonna crossover and vote for Donald Trump. I will explain it all right after the nine o'clock news