¶ Artist Discusses Inspiration and Erie Life
Welcome everybody to another episode of the ride home rance podcast . This is , as always , your host , mike Bono . I have a great guest for us today . He comes to us knowing former guests of the show , brandon Wiley , and Caesar Westbrook joins the show . Caesar , thanks for joining , man .
Thanks for having me , man . I'm really excited . I appreciate it .
Hey , not a problem . First and foremost , how do you know , brandon ?
Oh man , I've been . I've been good friends with Brandon for about Six years now , five or six years . I actually do the graphic design and media work for his . Is not proper organization open eyes . So I work pretty closely with Brandon and he told me about the show and and told me he'd be recommending you guys . So so that's pretty much how I know Brandon .
Yeah , Brandon's a good dude . He's been on the show a couple of times obviously his individual show and he's been on a couple of our Round tables that we we'd like to have throughout the year and you know it's just great . So how did you get involved with open eyes ? Was it just through Brandon ? Is that how y'all met , or is ?
How did that come to fruition ?
We met through a mutual friend and then he kind of found out what I do on the art side and he told me he was trying to get his , his organization up and running again , because it kind of came to a little bit of a halt and so we kind of just merged a little bit .
I was able to help him out and get things rolling , and it's kind of what I needed at the moment as well . Just as far as you know me , getting a different , you know it takes the scenery and doing something a little different . So you know , we kind of both suited each other and it worked out .
And I've been working with them ever since , so we're like a really really , really good friend . So it just kind of works out .
I Mean , I get that a hundred percent . The manager of the show , johnny Fitty Falcone , I mean we go back to the college days at Bethany . We were both athletes , we kind of hung around each other there and , you know , reconnected later on after graduation and everything like that and have this show together .
So you know , it's good to know people you know have that , have that relationship with them . And I gotta tell you , though I think I talked to him more than I talked to my wife , and that's I Mean it's anytime my phone rings nowadays , you know my wife just looks me , said fitty , yeah , it's pretty . So I get that a hundred percent .
But now you're in the eerie area . Have you always lived in Erie , or Did you ?
know , I'm originally from Lancaster , pennsylvania , so I live there most of my life . I've only lived in Erie now for about nine years . I moved here when I found out I was expecting my son , so that's when I moved up here .
He'll be nine at the end of this month , and so I've been up here as pretty much as long as I knew he was gonna be making an appearance . And yeah , man , it's been . It's been good to me , erie's been great to me .
But I went to , I went to school at IEP , and so then , a year after I graduated , there is when I moved up here and been here ever since I'll tell you this good luck with the nine-year-old .
I'll tell you I have a 14 year old now . So , yeah , I'd love to tell you it gets better .
I know in my household we have a blended family , so my girlfriend , I took all together , we have three . So we have Two , nine , well , about to be two nine year olds , and then a 13 year old , who who's gonna be actually 14 At the end of this week , on Friday , so okay .
So we have a good you know a good range of ages to work through , and I already can see it's not getting easier .
So I get that . You know my son , he is a , he's a stepson , you know I don't I don't even like to say that term or because for the past eight years , you know I've picked up the payments . You know what I mean , and you know that that's my son .
But my wife and her divorce actually inherited two stepdaughters two as well , and the divorce in there 22 and 23 , I think , wow , they're in the 20s so . But I mean we don't get to see him as much as we would like to , obviously . But you know I definitely get the blended family aspect . There's not a dull moment in the Bono household here , for sure .
I believe it , I fully believe it .
So I get this a lot . I mean , I grew up in a little town in West Virginia , about an hour outside of Pittsburgh , so Erie gets kind of an underrated value , as you know , like places to visit and vacation . Now , what are your favorite things to do in Erie ?
You know what I mean and like what are some of the unique spots that maybe some of the listeners might like to go and visit ?
Yeah , I mean , on my free time I'm a big fisherman and I like to fish whenever I get a chance , so I like to take advantage of the lake . One thing I realized is a lot of people that are from here don't take advantage of it , and it's just . I found that kind of odd .
I'm like you know , you're literally five minutes from you know a great experience and you know you would think they take advantage of it a little more . But that's something I love to do . I stay active . So , you know , I like to work out and , like I said , I have my kids , so I try to do stuff , fun stuff , all the time .
I'm a big foodie as well , so anywhere there's good food you can find me .
So , a lot of the like the festivals they have throughout the summer , you know , like the Rift Fest , the Greek Fest , all that stuff , I try to try to make a pop up and , just , you know , support those and just have a good time with those , whether it's with my friends or with my family .
So those are primarily the my biggest , biggest things I like to do is just be outdoors and stuff Like that .
But I love to travel too , so that's one thing I'm trying to trying to sew into my life right now is traveling and just getting out there and doing different things and visiting , visiting places or friends that live in areas that I haven't been to yet .
Yeah , I mean I guess I could say I used to like to travel . Now , being a comedian , it's part of what I do .
Yeah , I got , I mean it's it's fun to get to see new cities and you know , like you said , I mean I'm I don't know if I would call me a foodie , but you know I love food , like that's just part of me and growing up Italian , you know it's just . Yeah , we don't leave food anywhere . That that's not really though .
It is like your mom is so funny because that is so true .
Like , even when , like I now live two hours away from my parents and my family and all that , but even when I'm sitting down with my wife and that eating dinner , I can still hear my parents in the back of my head Like there's still food on that plate , like you're not done eating . Yeah , yeah , it shocks my wife still to this day .
She's just like where does it go Go ? Yeah , I was , I was like right to my ego . That that's exactly where it goes . It goes right to my ego . That's about it . That's awesome . Like you know , being on the road a lot , I don't get the typical three meals a day . So I mean people always talk about like the intermediate fasting diet and stuff like that .
I mean I kind of do that on a regular basis just because I only have a certain time slot to eat Throughout the day , but one meal I eat is the size of like four . Yeah , I don't know if I'm really doing this right , but yeah right . But it's , yeah , it's working out . I guess it's , I guess it's , I guess it's working .
But I want to talk about your art for a little bit and how you got into wanting to be an artist . So what kind of inspires you to do your art and where do you get your inspiration from ?
I've always done it . You know , when I was younger I wasn't as public about it just because I was so busy . I was a three sport athlete in high school and and then I was a two sport athlete in college . But in college is when I majored in art .
I went to school to be a teacher and our teacher and I switched my major a little more than halfway through just to finish with with an art studio degree and I really didn't get the ball rolling with my art career until after I graduated , which is ironic . And so that's when I started doing portraits and stuff for people and then I slowly got into like
¶ Passion Pursuits
bigger pieces and then now I do a lot of murals and I'm actually doing like some decent size jobs for some you know some pretty relevant companies and organizations , and so I guess it's just something that I started off small , just , you know , just being a little , a little .
You know something as not even a hobby , just something I did on the side , and now it's it's Consume my life and it's it's pretty much my way of living right now and I really do love it because , you know , I'm one of the few that get to say they do they , they get to do what they want for a living and and you know , and then make a , you know a
living off of it .
You know I again , I relate to that a lot . You know , comedy started as a hobby For me . A buddy of mine would run open Mike Knight's in the town that I was in a little small town and we would go , and Once a month we would go to this show , do anywhere from 10 to 15 minute sets and just have fun Sitting at a bar drinking with your buddies .
That went up and cracking jokes . Yeah Turn turning into a career . You know what I mean it's . It's all funny how those things in I I like starting out I had like crippling stage right , really , yes , that's one thing . Like people were always shocked like we see you on stage now . Like you , you seem so comfortable .
Well , I've been doing it 11 years , so like , yeah , I mean I'm comfortable .
Now .
I don't have to show up an hour early and start getting some liquid courage in me before anymore , but it's still like because I mean , like I said , I'm really close with Brandon and he had the same , the same thing .
He had fear of speaking in public crowds and now it's like so you would never guess it , just because of how I could stage presence and you know , is speaking engagements and everything like that . So I can , I can only imagine how that transition was for you . That's amazing , let's , that's , that's really crazy . That's awesome .
It took a good , three years before I was actually like , alright , I don't need to to Drink as much to get up on stage and you know , to be able to talk to people and all that . But yeah , it was , it was something that just you know it like a switch flipped . I was just comfortable on stage .
I mean , the adage in comedy is it's not If you're going to bomb on stage , it's when you're going to bomb on stage , because it happens . Everybody , all the famous comedians out there , have bombed in their career and I think I bombed so much early on . I'm trying to figure it out that it's just like you got it out .
What are ?
you know what I mean , that it's just now , I don't . I just that , and I think my General disposition in in life is what I mean . I tell everybody I just don't care . Like there's I Reached an age when it's just like somebody , like I don't like him , like oh , you hit me right where I don't care . Oh my god , like I'm sorry , like I don't care .
So when do do you get that like when people see your murals and stuff like that , do you ever see or hear somebody like it happen to be walking pie and people like down talking a little bit ? Does that still affect you with your art ? Is there a transit Translation with that ? With art and you know stage fright and stuff like that ?
Um , maybe in the beginning it might have got gotten to me . Um , I Don't , I don't , I don't really hear . If it happens , I don't really , you know , hear it now . But even if I did , I I don't it's , I'm numb to stuff like that . Just because you know I can , I can do the most prolific piece out there .
You can't please everybody , and that's in any profession . You know what I mean . You can't , you can't please everybody . And as long as you're doing you know what you , what makes you feel good , and you know , you know you feel you feel great about what you're putting into the world .
That's really what it comes down to and that's really all that matters , because you're gonna have people , no matter what , you know that they might like it a little , they might like it a lot , they might not like it at all , but you know it's , it's it's all about you continuing to push and continue to to perfect .
You know what , what God given talents you have , and that's it 100% .
I , you know I I love comedy and you know I love what I do . And to me , you know , that's not work . You know doing that isn't work because I love what I do . But for sure , joy that I get out of a here in the laughter in the crowd , that that's would bring me the biggest joy .
But the very close number two is when someone's in the crowd and they're wanting to talk over top of the microphone to tell me how much they don't think I'm funny . I'm just like oh , but you bought a ticket . And here's the funny thing I already have your money . Oh , so I don't care Exactly .
Everything after that doesn't matter .
And I'm sure it's like this with art . But people see the anywhere from right now with me and where I'm at in my career , the 15 minutes to the hour that I'm on stage . You look at how you work an hour a day . How hard can that be ?
It's like no , there's a lot that you don't see behind the scenes Absolutely , and the build up and I'm constantly writing jokes . There's never a time when I'm not working and I've found lately that , especially with the world that we live in today , people's shared pain is funny and being able to talk about stuff like that on stage .
People are always like well , how can you get up there and talk about that and not break down ? And it's like well , it takes just as much energy to laugh at something as it does to be upset about something . If you can learn to find the funny in any situation , you're going to be a lot happier person . Very , very true .
I agree A perfect example of that and make a quick story that I want to move on to more of your murals and stuff like that . But about a year ago my grandfather on my mom's side passed away . It happens , it's something , that it's a sad day Absolutely , but at the funeral . My grandfather on my dad's side can't hear , doesn't wear his hearing aids .
If he does , he doesn't have them on or turned up , so he doesn't know how loud he's talking , and he's a loud Italian right off the boat from Sicily , so he's already loud on a normal basis .
So he's sitting there and him and my wife are sitting there and they're talking and we're in the funeral parlor five rows away from where the casket is sitting , and it's early and not a lot of people are there yet Just kind of immediate family is there right now and those two my grandfather just didn't get along .
Oh , really At all , wow , and that's funny in itself . But he leans into my wife , thinking he's whispering , and he turns and he goes . I don't know how many people are going to show up to this . He was kind of an asshole when nobody liked him . Oh my god , to which I just like I don't know what .
At first you could be like I'm embarrassed and I started laughing hysterically when he said that out loud . And then my dad jumps in . He was like Jesus . What are you ? He's right there . Then my grandmother turns around and starts to yell . It was the funniest thing in the world and we make a joke about it to this day .
It's a sad day , but that's what we remember , is that funny moment that happened at that and that's what we talk . My wife , even if there's ever a time when I start talking a little louder than I normally do , she's always looking at me and she's just like you're , just like your grandfather . Don't look now , no one's going to . He's an asshole .
We just laugh .
And that's what you've got to do .
And that's what I try to convey to people is laughter is the best medicine and you take a sad day , and now what we remember from that day is everybody laughing at my grandfather , thinking he was whispering and he wasn't . Yeah , yeah , that is funny so your murals that you have in here . Where can people find those around the city ?
They're a little scattered all over . I've done Dobbins Landing , so down by the tower . I've done that one . Done one on 12th and French . That's right there by the Sonoco gas station . That one is for Luther Manis and his contribution to serving our country and just his life story pretty much . I have one now on the 7th and Parade .
That's on the side of a childcare center . I just did that one this summer . I have another one on 11th and Ash . That one is on a three car garage . It was heavily tagged in graffiti and we kind of gave that one to makeover so I did that one there . One of the locations for gallery nights , the shop on 19th and Chestnut .
Inside of there it's a really unique space , man , they have a bunch of studios for there's woodworkers in there , there's photographers , there's a whole palette of just creatives in there . And I was able to do something in their Bay area .
There used to be a train that ran along 19th Street a few years back and they wanted to kind of pay a nod to history of that area and I did a train that looks like it's coming down the street on the inside of their Bay . So I did that one , the caring place or right off the Bay front through Highmark . I did something for them in their office space .
So I have a few indoors , some outdoors , but yeah , if you're driving around , I mean I have them in all parts of the city . You're probably close to one if you're in town .
So okay , seems like you can go anywhere in area and find a PC here at work .
Yeah , I'm pretty blessed man . I've been like I said , it was treated me well as far as me chasing my passion and being able to do this full time , absolutely Now .
Do you do any other type of art right now other than the murals and , if so , where can people find those ?
Yeah , I do portraits and I do commission stuff . I'm usually really busy like leading up to Christmas and stuff like that People wanting stuff for like their family . Mother's Day and Father's Day is usually a pretty big one for me too . But yeah , I do mostly . That's pretty much . Mostly .
What I do is just like a lot of canvas stuff and then I do , like I said , the murals and stuff right now . So it just all depends on what somebody's looking for . I'm always willing to try different things and new things too kind of switches it up for me and gives me a new challenge , and we both know that that's well needed and in all walks of life .
So yeah , Absolutely .
I mean , I challenge myself . Typically I try to at least get two or three in a year of this , because I'm obviously , when you're known as the angry white ranting comedian , you don't really , you know you don't have a lot of clean sets , let's just say that . And I challenge myself .
Like I said , I try at least two or three times a year to book a PG-13 or underrating show , to challenge myself to not just be losing my mind on stage and it's been some of the best shows that I've done in my career is the clean shows , and it's funny to me that people are like oh hey , cleese , I was like you can find clean comics that are hysterical ,
that are on Netflix and they're professional headliners you can promise not to rip about yourself .
When you're in those situations you know like cause going into it .
You don't think this is gonna be enjoyable or fun or anything like that , but you extract something out of those moments that you know what I mean , like that carry you through the rest of your career or whatever it is that you're doing , and you don't realize that it's something that just happens without you planning for it , and so I think that's really neat .
Yeah , absolutely , and I'm starting to enjoy it . I might add a few more
¶ Random Questions and Promotions
clean shows throughout the year as it goes on , just to keep challenging myself , because it's still a lot of fun . But , cesar , we are running down near the end of the show here . I do have to get this segment in . We haven't done it in a while and I'm so happy this is coming back . And that is the Fast Fiddy Five .
Five random questions from the wonderful manager of the podcast , johnny Fiddy Foucony , and I got to tell you , cesar , these have zero to do with what we've been talking about , what this entire show . These are the most random questions you could find and they're kind of rapid fire . But you can elaborate if you need to .
So , if you are ready , we can go ahead and do it . All right . So question number one is Wendy's or Arby's better ?
Oh damn , that's what I'm talking about , Because I have Wendy's today , Arby's and I say Arby's I mean 51-49 Arby's . It's close , it's pretty close .
Number two would you rather live in Italy or Spain ?
Spain . I like Spanish food , spanish women , yeah , yeah .
Not mad at it . Number three is grilling steak or chicken better Chicken , Okay , yeah . Number four is macaroni or pasta salad better .
Macaroni salad . Okay yeah .
And this is a fitting question , knowing we're both where he is from and where you're close to . So last question would you rather go to a bachelor party in Pittsburgh , PA or Cleveland , ohio ?
Cleveland , ohio , simply because I hate driving in Pittsburgh . I hate . There's a lot of things I hate about Pittsburgh so I'm just going to go and say Cleveland .
Growing up as close to Pittsburgh as I did , I hated driving in that city . I absolutely hated it . Now that I live the same distance away from Columbus Ohio , I much rather drive in Pittsburgh than Columbus . I despise the town of Columbus Ohio . I love the comedy clubs . As far as driving goes , I absolutely you know , minus the football team .
That's for another show .
I don't have enough time to go into that rant about how much I can't stay in Ohio State University . That's not right with me . But yeah , at least in Pittsburgh people still just move . You know what I mean .
I just hate their bridge system . I miss a turn every time I'm in Pittsburgh . I don't know how . It's unbelievable , it's crazy .
The bridge getting into and out of Pittsburgh still fascinates me . All right , everybody in the left lane needs to get to the right . Everybody in the right lane needs to get to the left . Here's 20 feet . Make it happen . Make it happen , absolutely .
That's about it .
But like I said , Caesar , we're running down near the end of the episode . Here . I give every guest this opportunity at the end of the show . I'm going to give you about a minute . If there's anything you want to get out there , whether it's for open eyes , your art , anything like that , the floor is yours , my man .
Oh , man , I just want to thank you guys for having me on the show . It gave me a chance to kind of tell my story , tell a little bit about myself and what I do . And all I ask is you know , Everybody , no matter who you are , man , walking the gift that God gave you and do it to the maximum capacity that you can possibly do it .
It'll pay off , pays dividends and continue to support local artists , local businesses , things like that .
And yeah , man , I don't have too much more man , Just everybody , stay strong and keep grinding , All right you know , I love it when guests have just a good message at the end of the show to end the show .
I obviously love it when they promote what they have going on and stuff like that , but when there's a good message at the end of the show , I think it really puts a stamp on how well everything's going and I love that and thank you for that and thank you for being on Before we end . I know everyone has heard all of the new responses .
We do have one more I have to talk about . It just got started and it is my own personal coffee brand , bono's Brew . You can find it on Shopify . I will put that link in the description of this episode . All different flavors , all different strengths . If you're a coffee drinker , you're going to want to check this out .
I have everything from the pods for cake cups and natural ground coffee beans , all made and brewed in Chicago , illinois , and ships within three to five days . Why go to the big box stores when you can just order online and have it delivered right to you ? I'm super pumped about this opportunity . Everybody .
Please go and check it out for all the listeners of the podcast . If you use the promo code RIDEHOMERANCE , I will give you 5% off of your first purchase . That is it for the sponsorship reasons and that is it for this week's episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast . Thank you , cesar Westbrook , for coming on . This was a lot of fun .
Really appreciate talking to you . As always , if you enjoyed the show , be a friend , tell a friend . If you didn't tell them anyways , they might like it just because you didn't . That's going to do it for me and I will see y'all next week . Bye .