I got 2 turntables and a microphone....not really, but I have a mic and a bigmammy chair on wheels., and that's pretty cool.

I got 2 turntables and a microphone….not really, but I have a mic and a bigmammy chair on wheels., and that’s pretty cool.


 

Today I am filled with excitement and nerves. I’m a relatively high strung person anyways, but when I am looking forward to something I can be a bit much. Today Von and I are going to record LHRL’s first podcast. Being that I am the stereotypical over-thinker, I have already thought about all of the things that can and will go wrong. I have already pictured us on a virtual stage where the whole world laughs and throws tomatoes at us, where people ask “why the hell would anyone give a sh*t what you have to say”, all while holding torches and ready to run us outta town. Realistically, people will do all of those things (minus the tomatoes and torches…I hope), but that is the risk associated with doing it. The risk is why I MUST do it. The fear and the anxiety that I have about sitting down and recording myself tells me that there is a potential reward, and I must seek it. The reward that I am seeking is not fame, fortune, or recognition. The reward that I seek more intensely than any other is ADRENALINE. If there is adrenaline involved, I want to try it. Maybe only up to a certain point, but I do love adrenaline. There is a chance that we might record ourselves, I feel like an idiot and never do it again, but I hope not. I think this is a real opportunity to do something interesting. This is not a venture where either of us are looking for monetary gains, as we both have other interests which provide for our families on some level. The fact that neither of us are leaning on LHRL for anything other than fun and a degree of fulfillment is what makes it so much fun. Today, Von and I are just going to talk a little about ourselves, discuss how we stumbled into LHRL and the direction we see it going. There is really no telling what the hell we are going to talk about. We have no scripts, and don’t have any plans to establish an outline. We are just going to press record and see what happens.

If I was to do my life over again, I think that I would be a sociology major. I would like to teach a sociology class so that I can talk to humans about human interaction while watching humans interact. I AM ABSOLUTELY FASCINATED WITH PEOPLE. I love meeting them, and I enjoy getting to know them on a personal level. I like to know what experiences individuals have lived through in order to make them what they are. I like to know what makes people tick. I like to know what gets people excited, pissed off, afraid, motivated, sad, miffed, and satisfied. This all sort of came about as I was sweeping parking lots a few weeks ago and I had been introduced to Alina Duran, the aspiring Olympic Hammer Thrower. I had just written an introduction for a bio that she had submitted to LHRL and I kept thinking about all of the questions that I wanted to ask her personally. I didn’t want the standard, form letter, basic interview stuff. What I really wanted was to sit down, face-to-face, and really get to know her, and find out EXACTLY what it is that drives her to do what she does. I sent Von a message while in the middle of a vast parking lot at 10pm at night with a backpack blower still attached and running that said, “there is not a reason in the world that we are not sitting face to face with the area’s most intriguing athletes and getting to know them better. We should have Scott Hollis stuffed in a van with his recording equipment and I should be hosing the Mad Dog and Thunderbird off of y’alls breath every morning as we travel long distances to interview the next interesting individual.” I know, I am getting a little ahead of myself. It’s runs in my blood. I get excited, and I get ahead of myself. If getting overly excited about life’s offerings is a problem, I am glad to have it. I suffer from worse things. I might be a total wreck behind a microphone. When I hear a recording of myself, I want to vomit. I think I sound like a total hick, but my understanding is that a lot of people don’t like the way they sound when recorded. I think I can get over that because in the end it, it really has nothing to do with me anyway. I want to get to know the other person. What really excites me about the whole thing is that I don’t have to know sh*t…about nothing. I don’t have to try to position myself as being an expert in any field. I don’t have to tout any wisdom or knowledge. I don’t need any degrees or certifications. I think basically that I just need to have a genuine interest in getting to know the other person and let them make it interesting. ALL PEOPLE ARE INTERESTING. If you don’t believe this then you have not asked enough questions. I have met a wide variety of people from just about every socioeconomic class that there is. Each one of these people has a story to tell. They all have something to offer and they each want more than anything for two things in this world:

  1.  To be loved
  2.  To be accepted

I think that it will be a real pleasure to try and hunt down some intriguing athletes and find out how they operate. I don’t think it a necessity for the athlete to be mainstream or wildly popular. I don’t think that recognition is a perfect correlation to how interesting an athlete must be. There are some really talented people out there, who would be difficult to spend an afternoon with, and trust me, some of my best friends are the most talent-less and seemingly useless people on the planet….but I can sit on a patio and laugh at their stories for days on end. I’m obviously teasing, as I don’t know anyone who is talent-less nor useless. My point is that I think that we can have a lot of fun in finding INTRIGUING athletes to learn more about. The lack of professionalism combined with my overwhelming lack of knowledge, mixed with the lack of desire to achieve either of the aforementioned, should provide for some interesting and entertaining content. The beauty of it all? If it sucks and no one is having any fun….it just goes away. No one is out a thing. Try to have a good day, and wish me luck. God knows, I need all the help I can get.

Here is our first episode…

Peace, Love, and all things Beef related,

Beefcake