Hey guys, back with the old sample or on the podcast network.
We got a lot of stuff.
Had Ringo on my podcast.
We're gonna start with that, so we'll hear from Ringo Starr and then on take this personally with Morgan Hulesman. Raymundo's wife Bee or Laura which is her real name, came in to talk about her cancer journey. We're gonna hear a lot of clips. If you hear anything you like, go search out the show, subscribe. It would help us, it would help them. So let's get going now with Ringo star a beato. That's a bad accent at my house.
I want to ask you one more question about yourandparents because that resonates with me so much.
Did they get to see your success?
No, I was in the band then, and sort of.
I was in.
And we were playing in Germany. I was with Rory by then Rory's some of the Hurricanes, and I was there when my granddad went, and I was doing the gig in Germany when my grandma went, so I couldn't come home because everyone would had to play. But no, they didn't see it like unfolding. I mean, they knew I played, but they never came to a gig and we went big time.
We were local bands.
What was your in your mind?
You're ceiling when you were starting out and you're playing clubs, you're traveling around, like how big did you think?
How far did you think you could go in music?
I didn't.
I don't remember like thinking that. One of my mom's best friends, Annie Maguire, she would say, you know, I'd be hitting them in the house. I can see you on the London Palladium one day, son, and she gave spirits, so a lot of people in Liverpool gave your spirit. Anyway I played, I only could take the snare because we were a skiffle group. And Eddie Clayton, the guy
next door, and he was in the factory. I was in the factory and Roy the you know, it was just a wooden box with a pole and that was the base and I had a surle and that's how we started. And we had no sense of timing. I remember that once we played some sort of dance and oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they are taking her away and each other dancing. They're dancing cause you saw it down. So I'm amazed because I have really great time. You know time, and
I'm good at that. I mean, it's just God given gift that I can keep time.
What was your job in the factory.
My job was to be an apprentice engineer. At first I worked on the rail ways as a delivery kid boy. I was sixteen. And then I was on the coastal boats, like party boats, where like four or five hundred people would go from Liverpool to Wales and all they did was drink all the way and drink all the way back. And I lasted five weeks on the railway, five weeks on the boats, and then my mom you know, oh, I've been fired, and by Monday she'd got me in a new job, and she got me this job in
the factory. But while in that factory, that's when it came I want to play. I want to play. And then I joined this other group, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and we got this three month gig in a holiday camp in England. So I decided I'm leaving the factory. I was just twenty ish, and all of my family came to our house to tell me it's all right as a hobby sone, but they wanted me to keep that job. You know, and I said no, no, I'm
going and you know that's why I changed my name. Also, we went to this gig three months we were going to be there in the Rock and Calypso Ballroom.
And.
I changed my name fully to Ringo then because in Liverpool, if you do something, you know, if you're limping, that you'd probably be called limpy. But I started wearing rings that sort of a take on my mom. She loved flashy stuff, and so some people were starting to say, hey rings, what's going on?
You know, like gang members, we'd be hey rings.
And we got to Buttland's holiday camp and we all changed on. The guitarist called himself Tyle Brian and Johnny guitar was great, and uh, the.
Name was Johnny Guitar. His name, I assume you played guitar Ny guitar.
Really, yeah, because he changed his names to that. Really his name was Johnny, but it's you know, it was another name, family name. And uh, I put like Ringo, Stocky, that's not that Stocky doesn't look you know.
Didn't look right. So I put Ringo star.
Did you two rs the first time?
Yeah?
Two rs to make it star? And uh and it's been that ever since. Ball of the family who called me dad or granddad.
I've got two final questions for you.
Yeah, when you made the record and it was complete and you're able to hear it all back, did you like and do you like to listen to your own projects? And what did you think about this one when it was all the way done? Your own thoughts of your own.
Project when it was finished. I thought it was great. No, I really loved it myself, and it was very to me. I like to be The vocal was great, as I said, it was it. They were all in my key and it's like in a way though you know, we didn't never live together. It was put together by a man who knew me and and I think I'm tired of thank you.
My final question something again we alluded to earlier, was playing in the clubs and a lot of artists miss out on that now and they kind of get famous before they're ready.
Oh yeah, I think they.
You know, they have a hit in January, like those TV shows for the singing the singer who wins has a number one in January, and you don't air from him after May.
It's all over and they're not really able to They don't know how to deal.
Yeah, and they're not able to develop even as a performer, right because they don't do the clubs.
They're ong clubs.
They got so famous so fast. You know, the kind of the legendary story about you guys. You'd be in a club in Germany and play for like six hours a night.
Is that actually do two bands? When I was there with Rory and the Beatles were there. When we were the two bands, we were on separate clubs at the beginning. Then Koshma, the guy on the clubs, put us both on one club and we would battle each other for the audience, you know what I mean. It would stomp in and stuff. But at weekends we did twelve hours
between us. Yeah, and you know, I love it because we're in that book ten thousand hours, and they actually mentioned we actually put in our ten thousand Now.
I think that's where I first knew of the story reading that book. You'd put in that whole time.
We'd play anywhere and Saturday night in Liverpool whatever, the gig was one of the clubs that have an all night and they were so cheap they'd only ever hire a trio to custom less and or all of us were to these clubs and just play all night. Any chance we had to play, we would play.
Well, now you can put your iPhone on a little stand and read the lyrics. You didn't have iPhones back then. You had to remember or guess.
Well, yeah, now I can't work without my little lyrics sheets.
It's like, oh it is, well, I love the album.
Oh great, Well it's great being good talk, can't you.
Yeah? Yeah, really easy for thanks, real easy to talk to you too.
Yeah.
You never know whenever Ringo star is coming over.
Yeah you know, well they.
Did sit on that star, and now I know they are more.
Yeah.
Well maybe because I've told these same stories since I've been here nineteen times.
What story?
What story off?
What story did you tell here that?
Sorry I told that story.
Well, no, it's a good one.
Yeah.
Anybody ask you about your grandparents the whole time?
No, only you, That's all I want. This has been the best. You're saying that ever? No, I mean, look me best ever. Don't say ever, because then I know you're lying if you were to say really the best, I'll take it.
Ringo, It's been a pleasure, Thank you very much. The records awesome.
It caup little food for yourself life. Oh it's pretty bad, it's pretty beautiful, beautiful that for a little more. It's exciting, course said he can. You're kicking with four with Amy Brown.
I think I'm excited about my brow rebrand.
I too, Honestly, are really exactly we talked about this coming up.
I'll keep all.
Posted on the process. But I know so many people that have listened have come to you for brows or even their breast So I want you to touch on and the passion side of your work. I know you're passionate about both, but being able to give women confidence back if they have lost their breasts because of breast cancer.
Just share a little bit of that, just in case there's one person that needs to know your info, your number, or they have a BFF or a sister that needs to be calling you to be able to get that confidence back.
Yes, yes, oh I love it. That is where my heart is. I love brows. I love it. But I'd always seen the areolas and been like, oh, I'm going to do that one day. You know, you just put it in your back pocket and you think about it. But I'm busy doing all my other things. You know, that was the last thing that I thought I had time for at the moment. My dad he did pass away from colon cancer also, so I've had you know, my dad and my mom both affected with cancer. And it's just I know you have.
Well in March's colon cancer awareness. Oh yeah, so we're coming up on that, and I think I'm glad you mentioned that because if you see any symptoms, book and appointment, because early detection is everything with.
Colon cancer, and that that was what happened. Unfortunate with my dad. He found out it was you know, stage four, and he's that you know, he never went to the doctor, never complained, you know, just little workhorse, just did his own thing, and so he had little things that he saw, but he just never never did it, never got colonoscopies any of that stuff. And unfortunately he found out, Yeah, we found out around New Year's one year and then it was stage four and by the next April he
had passed. So he had two chemos and unfortunately his body just was you know, too far gone.
Well, I feel like you sharing that now and then with March being right around the corner, people are going to start seeing more, which is great, but awareness is everything. So in March, I hope that people are just inundated with facts and information because your dad, being an older man, that's who people used to think would just get it. Yeah, it was just older men, but it is happening to younger, yes, and younger and younger people and women.
Yeah.
Two, So I think I saw a stat that's like one in twenty four people are going to be diagnosed with calling cancer. So that's just one of those things that if you can catch it early, if you have any of the symptoms and maybe you're even being told it could be something else like oh maybe it's a hemorrhoid, or just get a second opinion or listen to your gut and make sure that you advocate for yourself, because this is one of those cancers that, yeah, if you
catch it early, your survival rate is very high. If you don't, or if you ignore something or you go too long, then that's when it gets deadly, which you unfortunately had to walk through with your dad. So you went through that with him, and then your mom had breast cancer.
Fast forward three years later.
Yeah, my mom was diagnosed with a stage three breast cancer. And she felt a lump, you know, as she checked herself and felt it one day. And my mom's a nurse, and yeah, it was crazy. My daughter was one and you know, had my business and then my mom ended up coming and living with me. So I kind of was responsible for making sure that she had you know, had her little friends on a chat list and would make sure someone would check on her and do all the things. And you know, we got her do all
of her appointments. But just personally seeing what someone goes through, I mean, it's awful. It's it's brutal, and you always think that, you know, you see people go through it, or you hear people go through it, you know, through the grapevine, but when it's actually your life, like seeing my mom. And my mom is strong, you know, she had six kids. She she did all the right things.
My mom never never drank, never smoked, you know, breastfed us, all all the things that you know supposedly you know, you're right, you know, odds of getting cancer less. But yeah, she she got it and it was pretty brutal. But yeah, seeing her come out on the other side was amazing and I'll never forget. You know, she had kind of would tell me that she she felt like Frankenstein. And I helped her out with everything except for like the like the drains and the stitches and that kind of part.
I get really woozy with you with that kind of stuff. So I couldn't do much of that. So I hadn't really seen her yet. And then one day my daughter had run into the bathroom when she got out of the shower, and it was the first time that I had seen her, you know, without her breast and you know, with with her stitches out and stuff, and you know, it was it was hard, you know, that wasn't even
my body. And I mean I had to go upstairs and cry just because I remember, like, you know, it's hard seeing someone you think so strong, you know, look like that. So I can't imagine what's going through her brain, you know, looking and seeing herself like that every single day.
And so yeah, after that, I start I went up I started researching all the trainings, and I was like, you know what this is it, you know, it is time, like mom is on the other side of her journey, like I am ready to go and find training and get certified. And it was like, you know, it was totally you know, God or you know, whatever you believe in. A training was going on that next month in Nashville, you know, which there wasn't a lot of trainings around.
So this, uh, this girl from Texas was coming and training people, and so I went and got trained and it's just been a ongoing thing and it just I feel like it's one of those things that brows. They make me feel so happy, and you know, I feel fulfilled.
I love my job, like I I love doing all aspects of my job, but when I get to do Ariola's it truly it makes me feel like I am, you know, impacting the world in such a positive way, and like, you know, I'm helping fight for my mom and my dad and you know all those things.
We're gonna do it live. We oh the one, two, three sore losers?
What up, everybody? I am lunchbox.
I know the most about sports, so I'll give you the sports facts, my sports opinions, because I'm pretty much a sports genius, y'all.
It's Sison. I'm from the North. I'm an alpha male. I live on the North side of Nashville with Bayser, my wife. We do have a farm it's beautiful. A lot of acreage, no animals, a lot of crops hopefully soon corn pumpkins, rye, I believe maybe a little fescue. Oh to be to term and over to you, coach.
And here's a clip from this week's episode of The Sore Losers.
Guys to our guest.
I am Troy. I'm from Sydney, Australia, hanging out in Nashville and Las Vegas this week, filling in for Arnold today. Who've left him out there now? But and just I feel like in a permanent state of hungover in Nashville.
Who are you with?
Just with a maid of mine?
So you just you decided to come to Nashville in Vegas? Is this your like once a year vacation or have you ever been to America?
I don't know to America before once or twice. But the Penrith Panthers, so they're a rugby league team. Yes, they are opening the season in Las Vegas. So we've we're branching out in Australia and opening the season in Las Vegas. So that's the whole reason that I'm here just to watch the Panthers. But I thought it'd come to Nashville.
Holy hell.
For a second, I thought the team's in Vegas. Why are you here?
They're in Vegas, but they play on Saturday, so I'll be there by Saturday.
So when did you get to Nashville?
Monday?
Okay, but you realize Nashville is nowhere near Vegas.
Yeah, but I love country music, I love drinking, and I love you guys.
Okay, how did you find us?
I mean, yeah, there's not many Australians Saul Losers fans in Australia.
How do you find us? Is it because of the big show?
Because of the big show? Yeah, music, big show in country music, and then you know, navigated over to the little show. Okay.
We're huge in Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Coast Reek and now Australia. Sydney. I believe that's where we started saying she's in us, the French Polynesian I believe. I believe it's somewhere near Bally.
I have no idea.
So the Peanuts Penrith Panthers, Penrith Panthers, are they like really good or are they?
Well? So for most of my life not, but we've actually won the last four premierships, so four pete last year so before that, as growing up it was a hard times but but yes, four championships in a row so pretty epic.
Now clarify it. You said Premier League, but that's not soccer and it's rugby the tush push.
It's rugby league, so it's similar to rugby, but it's probably a little bit more structured, so probably closer to the NFL than rugby union is. But yes, so rugby league would be the number one sport in Australia.
Tell me if I'm right or wrong here over unders. I believe I bet this back in the day when I had an addiction.
That's the whole reason that they're coming to America because they think there's a great window for people like Ray at like three in the morning who want to bet on sport in Australia.
Is the over under typically what's the score of a game? I would say fifty.
Year probably like forty low forties. Okay, yea.
So it's just like NFL.
What makes a good rugby team? Because I watched rugby sometimes like with the Olympics, and I'm like, they all look the same. They just throw the ball backwards I don't know the rules. I don't really understand it. So how do you get good? Like what is the difference in rugby?
So the difference is in terms of difference between say the NFL, for example.
Yeah, like what makes them so much like what makes a good rugby teaven what makes a bad.
Defense is definitely the key. So you want to you want to defend well, obviously I'm compared to say the NFL. You you both defend an attack, you don't have sort of two different teams. But yeah, defenses is absolutely key. And you're half back, which is equivalent of your quarterback's key. So, uh, the Panther's a lucky to play the best player in the game in Nathan Cleary is half back and that's, you know, a big reason why we won the last four four championships.
Do a lot of rugby players get injured and are out for the year, Is it like they just play through it?
Yeah, so no pads, no helmets, so they just like run at each other basically, So plenty of plenty of injuries, a lot of shoulders, pecks, knees, so yeah, yeah, pretty pretty big injury list generally through the season.
Sometimes you got to go without the condom. I will remove the headphones and just do it like that sometimes because they'll throw me off. Maybe it's the same thing with a helmet or something like that. Let me ask this about Nashville. Ye, so you got here a win did you on Monday? And you guys hit Broadway the bars? Are you doing an educational thing?
We did the educational thing. We did the museum and I see, but we've mainly been at the bars, yes, and just.
Are we did you research some you wanted to go to the old ones?
Yeah?
So last night I did do a lot of recess before we got here, but last night we did the old one, so tutsi's the stage those ones and the night before kind of the biggest ones. We ended up at Morgan Wall's bar, which I reckon was pretty awesome on a Monday night, Okay, and of course we yea it was. It was really good on a Monday night.
But we also, of course, pat tribute to the Sore Losers Coaches Convention and went to Category ten and Chan this last night and today we're going to the nash Real Tractor, which I only found out about from Sore Losers, so they should be aware of that.
That is what I'm talking about.
Let them know, please?
Did you does your mate know what this? Sore losers? I'm saying, mate, you go to their friend know about the podcast.
He knows about it, but he doesn't listen yet.
And he's like, you're wait, you're so. I'm hung over at the hotel and.
He's gone to a bar. He just sent me a message. Is it a bar? At eleven? Am? Just im a drink? Again?
That's the beautiful thing about Nashville. You can go to the bars early. We did learn living downtown the hard thing on Sundays. I don't think you can go before eleven weekdays all game. But and you can actually drink in the bar before you can buy alcohol at gas stations and grocery stores on a Sunday it's noon.
The good news is he won't be here on Sunday. He'll be in Las Vegas because they play on set the Peen Earth Peen Panthers Pinearth Panthers. That's tough to say.
So do you live in.
Yes, Oh, my gosh, can you say it?
Perth?
There is a new Rugby League franchise coming to Perth. Do you live on the water or Inland. No, Inland, Yeah, say forty five minutes.
Do you watch uh Love Island Australia?
No?
What what do you watch?
Like?
What?
What is good in Australia?
Fancy talk him up?
No?
Like, to be honest with you, we watched mainly American TV eight like there is Australian made stuff, but all the all the American shows that generally what what we watch it? And literally just yesterday HBO Max announced coming to Australia. We don't have HBO Max really no. So we're March thirty one with the last of US season two. They're they're launching.
So that's pretty cool. Do you watch Okay, there's an Australian show. I watch Colin from Account.
Yeah, that is all. That is fantastic. I actually know. I'm Harriet Dyer, who's the lead girl. Really knew each other a while ago.
So what do you mean you knew each other a while ago?
That's very platonic, Okay, I assure you.
And there's a lot of sun in Australia.
Yes, so I've just come from so we're just about to finish summer in Australia. Over the last week, I was, you know, thinking that we're coming to a snowstorm, but it's actually pretty.
Warm here because your tan a little bit.
Yeah, I think I got sunburn on the weekend before I got got it.
So what do you do in Australia?
So I run a or write for a local newspaper in Penrith.
Oh the newspaper is still popular yeah in Penis so like everywhere, of a bit of a change, but in Penrith, yeah, still going strong. So what do you write about sports? Do you just write about anything? I write about anything, but yeah, big focus on sports and rugby.
League geah, guard it lifestyle. So I think this is a textroduction.
This is a world trip because you're going to cover the Panthers in Vegas.
That's what I'll be telling the text upontment.
Yeah, less sports, more lifestyle.
Yeah, what what are you going to do in Vegas?
Where are you staying? Or the Paris in Vegas?
Okay have you ever been to Vegas?
Yes? One, I'm a honeymoon to Vegas.
Okay, how long you've been married?
Ten years?
Okay, yeah, I would say Paris. That's where I slept on Michael's couch. That is when we went on the back party, the bachelor party was here. It is small Ponzi scheme. See I was. I was heavily into gambling, so I was gambling all this money. I didn't have any money to pay for the hotel, so I told all them to book at what was MGM MGM, but I had no money to book.
No, this is the true story. No, no, bro, this is the true story.
I know.
And so Michael, who I slept on his couch at Paris, he hit me up and said, hey, do you want to sleep on my couch at Paris? And I said, dude, that's the best thing ever. That's exactly what I'll do. So we get to the booth at MGM and Lunch is checking in and I still hadn't told him that I'm not staying at MGM. Everybody's got their bags and luggage, and Lunch goes, yeah, it's me five other guys, and the lady goes, I only have rooms for four.
I literally had everybody.
No.
No, here's the point. I said, hey, everybody, give me your ID. She needs everybody's ID. And Ray still doesn't have the balls to tell me.
Is at the ticket counter.
He doesn't have the balls to tell me, hey man, I'm actually not staying here.
So he hands me.
His ID and so I put five IDs on the counter so she can check all our rooms in at once. And she goes, how they have four of these people down for a room here, And I'm like, who, which one's not?
That's here?
Guys who isn't registered?
And she picks up and she goes a Raymond, he doesn't have a room here. And I turn around and ray goes, oh yeah, I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm staying at Paris with Michael.
Here's the best part.
Here's the best part, Troy, I mean, here's the best part.
When's the last time you talked to Michael?
Sadly but not no. He kept in touch a little while after that. It's been a minute, but he has a family as kids. Sometimes he's in Mexico. I don't think there's great service. You have to have WhatsApp. It's been a minute. I get it, it was short lived. Had a hell of a night at Paris with him.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. Now my question, do you have kids?
One daughter? Yes?
Okay?
Hal four nice he's actually four turns four on this trip, so it wasn't that popular that I made the decision to go this week.
Okay and hold on.
A sag it?
So you thirteen hour flight?
How long was this? So? Actually it's a sixteen hour fl lot to Houston and then two hours to nashually eighteen hours. Eighteen hours?
Is your wife with your kids without them allowing you to fly to Tokyo for a week by yourself with a buddy.
With a mate.
Probably not, dude, My chick ain't even letting me go to south of Brentwood of Nashville with for a week with a buddy.
Take this personally with Morgan feels Man.
You guys may know her as Bay from the Bobby Bone Show, Raymondo's wife.
This is Laura, Laura, thanks for coming on. How are you? I'm good, Thank you for having me.
As you're going through this, are you angry because you're like, I've been doing these.
Checkups for three to six months routinely.
You've been doing everything that you needed to do and then you find out that it's stage three.
Yeah, just in that short amount of time.
And it wasn't like it wasn't one of those super aggressive ones.
That's something that I.
Still have to deal with mentally, I'm not gonna lie. There's a few different things. I want to first say that for some reason, I never asked why me, Like I've never was like a why me person. I've asked that, like when my parents, So she can get into later, I've had cancer and I'm like why them? But I've never was like why me. I do, though, struggle with why did they not catch it sooner?
When I was doing.
Everything I was supposed to do, and when I after I had surgeries, when they told me that was gonna need chemo, and I remember going into my colleges and she was like the first time I met her, she was like I look through all the She's like, I don't understand.
I don't understand why, why?
Why?
This is this thick?
And you are found out at stage three, so it's a hard pill to swallow. But then I also look at it as thank god that I went in that day because I wasn't I didn't feel it.
I felt it after she felt it.
But me going every six months, I wasn't trying to fill around as much as I should have.
And so thank god she found it.
So I go back and forth as in like a ugh, like, how can I swallow this pill?
Up?
I did everything I was supposed to do, but also she saved my life, so you can't really get too mad about that.
Now.
I want to get into more of your cancer journey in the story, but before we start that, I would love to hear you mention your family and the cancer history that you have in your family, which I also imagine it's just tough on multiple levels that you would experience this as a family and then you were going through it.
So walk me through that side of this a little bit with the breast cancer part of it. Come to find out, like later, way later, I didn't realize. I guess my great grandmother we think may have had breast cancer, but we weren't. We still aren't one hundred percent sure with that one. But my mom got diagnosed with breast cancer a year before me, and hers was stage one, and so they did what she's called a lump back tomy. So it's like with me, I did a misectomy where
they took all the tissue and everything. With hers, they just take the tissue and the surrounding of the cancer and then they did a they did radiation, so that's and then she's thank god, been maybe going on nine years cancer free. But also that was also a weird I don't want to say blessing, but we went to the same doctor, so they did start being a little more, Okay,
we need to treat you a little bit better. And they were telling me even then that maybe when I turned thirty five, that we need to do an MRI just to make sure that there's nothing in there since my mom had it. So I think maybe that was you know, maybe good at as far as helping them be more concerned with them, just be like, oh, these are five broadnomas or whatever. So that was the mom's side.
My dad ended up having melanoma, and his was again, it wasn't during my treatment, it was right after I finished.
I'll never forget.
I just finished all of my treatment, so the chemo, the radiation, and my dad my mom was like telling me.
I was like, it was like the end of the year.
I write, after Christmas, and my mom was like, your dad has melanoma.
And I'm like, oh my gosh.
Like I was supposed to be credy the end of this and now my dad has melanoma. So it's different cancer. But it's he's done really well with it. It came back, but he got it taking care of again, and so he's knock on wood, doing great now. But yeah, it's like my brother, he's I'm just waiting for.
This year to try what is happening? You know, he's got to keep that shoe off.
But yeah, So that's like the family history, and then a few we could go back way further where it's like my grandfather had died of cancer, my grandmother died of cancer, but it wasn't My grandmother was lung cancer. My grandfather I think it was a sophagal So, yeah, we have cancer all in our family, but this was definitely not so much breast cancer until a year before I got diagnosed.
There's so much with this, but I just have to imagine that, in the hardest way possible, that it helped you.
Yeah, that your.
Family had gone through it and you guys had really been unfortunately adjusted.
To that, especially my mom. I'll never forget. After I had the biopsy, I went home, and I had it on like a Thursday or Wednesday one those days. I remember I went home and then I like, I do not suggest this, don't do it I doctor would call doctor Google, and I remember seeing from the sure in my head of that ultrasound I was going through and looking at every picture and of online like cancer not cancer, and I could tell, okay, I knew that weekend that I had cancer.
My mom was like, no, you don't whatever.
And I remember going in that Monday and be getting found out and I was like, I told you I had it, but I remember I just told Mom was like I told her. I was like, I'm not strong like you because she just went through it. And I'm like, I'm not strong because I'd never felt strong. Every little thing was such a huge thing to me. I definitely deal with anxiety. So that was like up to the thousand. I remember just being like, I don't I'm not strong.
And the reason I say that is because I'm stronger than I ever knew.
I'm stronger than It's.
Just crazy what you can do and what you're like mine makes you think that maybe you can't, maybe you're not strong. And so for my reason to say this is one thing I did want to say, come on here, is that anyone that's going through this that's felling you're not strong.
Everyone's strong.
You just have to feel, you have to be you just have to be presented. Unfortunately, with something like this to make you feel like, Wow, I got through this.
I got through all of this. I'm on the other side of this.
Hey, it's Mike d and this week a movie Mike's Movie Podcast, I broke down what I think are going to be the best ten sequels of the year. I know everybody says that everything is a sequel, everything is a remake. Well, I wanted to dive into that and let you know my thoughts on the state a cinema. I also got into a spoiler free review of The Monkey and what I think is going to be the
best comedy of the year. Check out this full episode, but right now here are a couple of my picks for the best sequels of twenty twenty five and number two I have Happy Gilmore. It's coming out on Netflix. The official date still isn't out. I've seen some early images and stills from the movie. The only thing aside from that that I feel it's a little bit cash gravy is this movie is gonna be really heavy with
the cameos. First one wasn't like that. This has kind of become Adam Sandler's marketing strategy and kind of how he makes movies now is he includes a lot of celebrities now to pop up throughout them, and I feel like that takes away from the art of Adam Sandler, which his early movies didn't rely on that. I think it's kind of the model he created with the Grownups movies, And I think it's because Adam Sandler is at a point in his life where he just wants to create
fun sets. He wants people to come onto a set and have a good time while making a movie, often filmed in tropical locations, So I think that is why he does this now. He's just trying to have a good time, which I can't hate on him for. But I think it's just the fact that it's Happy Gilmore one of the best movies of his career. When you talk about top three movies of Adam Sandler that he's ever done, they all go back to the nineties. I mean top two is easily Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison.
For me, those are the quintessential movies I think about when I think of Adam Sandler. Maybe it's because they came out around each other. I also associate them with having the two Pac DVD back in the day. I feel like those are his two best movies, even though I think on any given day, Big Daddy could also
be my favorite. But throwing all those reasons to the when the fact that Travis Kelsey is in it, Bad Bunny is in it, you have Shooter McGavin returning, Julie Bowen is returning, it does have the pieces of the original, I think to me, it's also just thinking of the way that Netflix movies look now, where they don't really look like movies anymore.
They look really.
Glossy and bright and colorful, and doesn't really have that same warmth a movie from the nineties that I think a sequel like this needs. So I feel like it's a weird thing to complain about, but I think the cinematography isn't going to match the tone of the humor of Happy Gilmore. I hope that it does, but I'm so excited just to see what the plot is and to see how this plays out, and hoping that he wasn't lying and saying we have a really good script, that this movie is actually.
Going to be good.
So I ranked it so high because my hopes are so high. The last time, though, my hopes for this high an anticipation for a legacy direct sequel like this was back when they made Dumb and Dumber two and I was so disappointed in that movie. Don't do me like that, Adam Sandler. But my hopes are staying high. At number eight. I have Happy Gilmore two coming out on Netflix.
Later this year.
How surprising that they're not going to put out this movie in theaters? Is that another indicator? Because I think if you had a really good movie on your hands, oh, do you want to get that thing in theater? But Netflix pays them so much money and that's gonna be number one on Netflix for like two to three weeks, so they're really paying for that. But at number one coming out on November twenty.
First, it is Wicked for good.
We have Alfa Banow in full control of her power. She has declared an enemy of the state and turns into well a full out witch hunt. The thing I love knowing going into this movie is the fact that they already told us what happens to her character. At
the beginning of Wicked. It starts with her dying, and if you've seen the original Wizard of Oz, you already knew what was going to happen to her character, regardless to me, in my head, I just can't see it getting there because I love the character of El Fabas so much. Cynthia Riewo does an amazing job in the first one vocally and through acting, say with Ariana Grande, but in my head, I couldnt see her character getting
to that point. And I'm thinking to myself, like, maybe they change something, maybe they rewrite history, maybe there's some kind of magic that happens in between that that doesn't happen to her character, because I'm so invested and I love it so much that I don't want to see that happen to her. But I also think that there's gonna be some kind of a shift in Wicked for good. And this is me have never seen Wicked. I've never
seen it. I've never experienced that. I for that reason, have not looked up any spoilers on what happens in the musical because I don't want to know. So this is me pure speculation. What I like to do about movies is figure out what they're gonna do. So you
might already know. This is just my theory, but I think there's gonna be some real shift in her character where you see that rapid decline and maybe we see ourselves not rooting for her as much as we have been, and we do see this wickedness come out in her, where she really starts to change. People around her go
from defending her to being in fear of her. And then we ultimately do see your demise and it makes a little bit more sense, or we see the opposite of her still being kind of a good person and she sacrifices herself. Because this movie was also split into two parts, it was originally going to be one movie, and they had so much story to tell, so much content, that they split it into two. I am glad that they are releasing it one year after the first one,
so we don't have to wait a whole lot. I think it's also smart for them because if you missed Wicked one in theaters, even though it's about to be on Peacock on March twenty first, they could have those double features sold out as well, where you show Wicked one and then it rolls into Wicked two. Yeah, you're gonna be at the theater for like five hours, but I could see some people doing that. Then you're adding some single along screenings as well, and that is great
for movie theaters and taking this thing full circle. It is movies like that that create that experience that get people into the theater and that allow theaters to keep their doors open. And I will always be for that. So I'm not anti sequel. I'm just anti wasting money on things and wasting our time on things that feels like they weren't really made with the same quality as the original movies.
Carl Line, she's a queen talking and it was she's getting really.
Not afraid to face its episode, so just let it flow.
No one can do we quiet Carl Line, It's time for carelu.
And I will say that there are a lot of touring things that I mean. I was out on the
road when we were filming Nashville. I was out every weekend that well, every weekend, so we would film all the way through during the week to the point where like after the weekend, I would tour with Charles Eston and Brandon started coming out with us as well, which was wonderful, and six Wire, who are a fantastic band, but we would be pulling onto the lot of where we were filming in a real tour bus, getting off there, going into hair and makeup, and then getting onto the
stunt tour bus like the you know, the.
They were living a reality.
Actually, Yeah, and I was absolutely exhausted, Like, you know, your body is not the same after you've had cancer. You know, people, especially at such a young developmental age, there are lots of gifts that it gives you that continue to give and being also very so just social interactions sometimes are a little bit difficult for me. They're much easier now, but there's so much that I wouldn't have been able to do without Brandon. There the world
got so much more. I was able to see so much more kindness in the world, and just the world got softer.
You were protected, you could just drop your guard.
Yeah, when I met Brandon, and there's there's there's always like the things that happen in life that they happened, but just being able to interact with people and for me to be able to turn to him and say, I'm not sure if someone people tend to say things that they they say one thing and they meet another and I don't understand that, and to say to him like I don't understand what that meant. What did they
and he can tell me it's it's weird. It's like, you know, you just feel like an alien kind of thing. But everything about the world got better, including my own health and safety when Brandon showed up.
Guys, how so having autism as a kid an adult, I guess, but realizing it, when did you realize it? And then how did you get into acting if being around a bunch of people in this kind of situations, like how did you navigate that and like go into that field when you were kind of like when people were kind of nerve wracking to the new room guessing? How did you find it? And what did your autism? What does it present as for you? Like how do you work with it?
For me, it's just it's like I don't even say that I have I'm not correcting you in any way, shape or form, because there are so many different ways people talk about this. I am autistic, it's part of me. I had cancer. Some people have cancer. I don't. I don't consider myself to have autism. There's just a difference between like the my autism is like I am autistic, I have blonde, I'm like I'm a blonde. Yeah, yeah,
I'm an autistic blonde, Like you know what I mean. Yes, it manifests as like I was saying earlier, like it's very difficult for me to sit in a chair for a very long time and stay still actually have ADHD as well, which steered me to be able to hand like high energy, high sort of like pressure situations because I had a mission and the people who diagnosed me said I probably wouldn't have had the capacity because of the level of the level of autistic that I am.
I'm between a one and a two. It's like one, two, three, three you need help with absolutely every element of your life. Two you need some help, some assistance from somebody. One you might get away with it on your own, but you definitely still have some sort of challenges. But you could go undetected, which is what happened with me. So I sit between a one and a two. And I've always needed a little bit of help, and some people have been more understanding of that and some people haven't.
And a lot of that is just knowing, like knowledge is power. So once I was diagnosed, which was three or four years ago now, and it was a really long process, and it was something that I was able to do during the pandemic because it was all it's not a fun process at all.
Two years.
What is the process?
I mean, it's a very in depth, in depth psychiatric medical like your entire medical history, your psychiatric history, the psychology that you're living with, that you have lived with, traits that you have as a child that have stayed. Some may have stayed, some may have gone away. I like I could sing before I could talk properly. I was more I've always been more comfortable around animals than people.
There are certain like fluorescent lights are they always really bothered me and I just I really thought I put it all down to my my chemo and that like I was never going to be I was never going to have normal, regular health. There is no such thing as normal. But I had no idea what neurodivergence was. I I started suspecting that maybe I was on the spectrum probably ten years ago, but never had the time and didn't. There was just so much going on. I didn't. I mean I used to.
I had hyperlexia as.
A child, which is like like I think I read Silence of the Lambs when I was about seven probably should have done that, but I really enjoyed it. It was amazing. But for a seven year old to be able to process that and not be freaked out by it and understand what the story was about. Right, it's the opposite of dyslexia. But okay, I have dyscalculia, so I can't read analog clocks. It's very difficult to tell
left from right for me. So any director or director of photography who works with me is just like you know, and no one's ever given me any like heat about it, and I really can't count very well. Like honestly, people are like, oh cute, No, it's not cute. It's actually like it. At school, I needed help and I didn't have it because no one knew, and.
So you just kind of had to survive, yeap, And is that what made you want to start pursuing a diagnosis for it?
It was actually my dear friend Vivian, who has two gorgeous little autistic boys. They were the catalyst for the song Aurora, along with Sean McConnell's daughter Aby, and she has a different set of challenges. But this song Aurora is all about being yourself and and like I know, I know you're different. I know that you don't feel like you're being seen for who you are. I know that I know that you don't understand what's going on. I know you don't get the world around you. It's okay,
like you're beautiful. It's there's nothing wrong with you. That's what Aurora is all about. And Viv, who has been a friend of mine since we were eleven, she's known me for a long time. Takes a really good friend to call you and say I've been you know, she said, I've been doing all of this research for the boys to help protect them. She's such a wonderful parent, just navigating their journey through life as to autistic children who have different sets of needs that have to be meant
for them to thrive. And she said, you know, I've discovered a few things about myself along the way, and it honestly made me think of our childhood and it made me think of you, and I think I think you might be autistic. And it's sort of like a shoe dropped. I was like, oh, that would explain okay.
And that was a Sunday sampler. Thank you for listening.
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