Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 82: Keller Williams & Jamie Kilstein

Episode Date: April 28, 2020

Andy Frasco & the U.N. have a new album out! We check in with Andy as he shares more insights from The Mushroom Bunker (i.e. his home). On the Interview Hour we welcome back a bright star in a dark night, Keller Williams! He and Andy talk about the future of music in a post-covid world. Dolav has strong feelings about sports. We welcome guest co-host, fellow podcaster & comedian, Jamie Kilstein to close us out this week. It's episode 82 yo. Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out Andy's new album, "Keep On Keepin' On" on iTunes Spotify  Don't sleep on Keller! https://kellerwilliams.net/ And tune in to Jamie Kilstein's Podcast jamiekilsteinpodcast.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Dolav Cohen Ahri Findling Arno Bakker 

I'd like to do a song for you that I guess is about the greatest song ever written about America. It's by Woody Guthrie. It gets right to the heart of the promise of what our country was supposed to be about. of what our country was supposed to be about. And I guess, I don't know if you talked to some of the unemployed steel workers from East LA or Pittsburgh or Gary. There are a lot of people out there whose jobs are disappearing.

I don't know if they feel this song is true anymore. And I'm not sure that it is, but I know that it ought to be. So I'd like to do this for you, reminding you that with countries, just like with people, it's easy to let the best of yourself slip away. This land is your land. This land is my land. From California to New York Island From the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and me.

Alright, here we are. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I'm Andy Frasco. How we doing, everyone? How's our heads? How's our minds? Are we staying healthy? Are we working out?

We're not just sitting on the couch feeling bad about ourselves because we're being told to stay in our houses. Let's stay focused. Get that eye of the... Do I have to play it again? Get that focus in. Stay focused.

Mind over matter. I know this quarantine is fucking bullshit. You got to jerk off. Fucking jerk off. You got to make love. Make love. You got to find a new hobby that makes you just pumped up.

Do it. Because life is too short. No, that's the wrong one. But yeah, seriously, take care of yourselves. Life is too short. This is just a transition. We're going to be back outside. I went outside.

I went to the park and I felt like a crazy person. I took some mushrooms and I walked to the park. I was like, yeah, I'm just going to chill at the park and I felt like a crazy person. I took some mushrooms and I walked to the park. I was like, yeah, I'm just going to chill at the park. And all of a sudden, I'm like dying for conversation. So I got talking to some strangers and shit. Hey, how you doing? And I met some friends. I think everyone's dying for some conversation.

So talk to people you haven't talked to. I know you're going through these quarantine where you FaceTime the same people. I bet that shit's boring by now. It's four weeks in. What else are you going to talk about? Find some new people to talk to, get some new perspectives about isolation and how we're going to take care of our brains and how we're going to take care of our minds through this and how we're going to be better people when we get the fuck out of our houses. I'll tell you one thing. It's like week five. The thirst traps are happening.

It's really happening. Shout out to Howard Stern. It's happening. We're all getting horny. This is the time. Babies are going to come out. Your booty call up from two months ago. Hey, Angela. What are you doing?

Yo, you wanna, you know, people are getting restless. Like, just come over, fuck it. You guys make love. You forgot to buy condoms two months ago because you don't think about condoms during the quarantine. When you're a single man, you don't think you're, the only thing, the only, believe me, your hand is the only action you're gonna get.

So you're gonna go, she's gonna come over, he's gonna come over, whatever. Y'all gonna raw dog that shit. And that's how you have accidental babies. So calm it down. If you're going to do some fucking, some hinge hookups or something, you know, you know what I'm saying.

Wear condoms. This is the first date. I mean, we're all going to go, it's going to be like rapid dogs. I swear to God, once the doors open, all these single men and ladies are going to be running to the bars, ready to fuck. So be careful. Stay focused. Find love. Remember what we learned in this quarantine. Have fun. We're going to have a blast. But enough of my ranting about being the new age baby boomers, because it could happen. You know, we're pissed off. We call our parents boomer.

Well, when we're 80 and we start popping out all these fucking kids, you know, they're going to be calling us boomer or Jenner, generationer, or, you know, I don't know. Millennial. All right, millennial. Whatever.

So anyway, I got a new album. Just put out a new record. Shout out to everyone who fucking bought the record or listened to it and gave me some nice comments this weekend y'all are sweet if you haven't heard the record

or if you don't really like my music and you're just here for the conversations it's totally fine what I ask though, if you'd like is give it one more shot listen to this record with open ears and say ah Frasco he's not talking about drugs and pussy no more

he's actually talking about some shit so if you can that'd be amazing but Keller Williams fans that are here hi guys we got Keller Williams on the show great conversation great fucking guy I feel horrible for all the musicians out there.

We're all figuring out how to figure out life because we can't play live shows. And our scene, we make our livelihood through live music. So shout out to everyone who's been going, watching all the live streams for all the bands and all that stuff because we need you more than ever right now because we don't know what's going on.

We probably won't see shows. You probably won't see shows for months. And we're all trying to adjust to that. So while we figure out the transition, because we will, because the renaissance is happening, people. The music renaissance is happening. I feel it. The vibes are coming.

So we're going to have great music for you. I feel it. The vibes are coming. So, we're going to have great music for you. All the musicians are kicking ass out there. We're going to have fucking, we're just, we're going to talk about some things now because, you know, when you're self-isolated, you start thinking about things you normally put on the back burner because we fill ourselves with such

nonsense and busyness, you know, because we're afraid to find out who we are. So I hope we come out of this quarantine finding out who the fuck we are, because I have. I'm feeling myself. I'm feeling good. I'm getting creative. And I hope you are too.

And if you're feeling low about yourself, don't worry. This too shall pass. You know, keep on keeping on. New record. All right. Let's start the show. Packed show. Keller Williams.

Then we got comedian Jamie Kilstein, who talks great. We had a great conversation. Both killer conversations. So ladies and gentlemen, let's start the fucking show. I'm ready. Are you ready?

Let's go, baby. All right. Enjoy Keller Williams. All right. Next up on the interview hour, we got our boy, Keller Williams. Yo, Chris,

play the song Right Here by Keller. I love that song. Keller's great. He's one of the best musicians I've ever met he plays everything he's

just a good guy we talk about everything we talk about what his quarantine life is like and how we talk a little bit about Jeff Austin we talk a little bit

about what he's doing and how we're transitioning our lives after COVID. It's like COVID or like after Christ, but it's like FAC. So ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy right here this song and enjoy the interview I did with Kelly.

Catch you on the tail. Food and water and wine and weed, coffee, Grey Goose and nicotine Then we're all together Any place is home, no matter where we roam Let's just dance right here all night You can punch me in the gut with your prison shift my skin you can cut as long as you understand it's all part of my evil plan just to dance right here all night. Keller Williams. How you doing? What are you doing?

I am chilling the fuck out on a Sunday. I have been really adapting the late night situation around here. Lots of toys, lots of instruments, lots of things to do, especially in the dead of night when there's no one to bother. So that gets me up around noon every day. And my son's like, dad why why do you always get up around lunchtime i think i texted that before but uh yeah it's uh it's definitely you know getting back on the creative side and that's something i think it's uh i really needed you know

i haven't i've been since this whole thing went down, I've definitely adapted so many different projects, like things around the house and the land that I live on, creating paths and collecting wood and chopping wood and having these big outside fires and cleaning up parts of the house. And of course, the whole live streaming thing it's been uh it's been definitely interesting and um uh but yeah you know i'm we're all getting through it and i'm feeling i'm feeling um it might be difficult to go back you know that's what i'm saying it's nice to like do a show in your living room and then don't have to fly back home and deal with the guilt of getting to the house.

Explain your quarantine routine because how long did it take you to start getting creative again? Well, I'd say a couple weeks, man. Probably like two and a half, maybe three weeks. It started in kind of like a, kind of like a,

like not really a depression, but more like an anger type of thing where I was out on this bank with a machete just whacking and fucking sticker bushes and shit trying to create this path. God damn it! Pussy! We're pussies! We're all pussies!

We should be going out and entertaining people! the next thing you know, it's like people are dying double every day from what it was yesterday. It was obviously the right thing you know, it's like people are dying double every day from what it was yesterday. And it was obviously the right thing to do. But a couple weeks after that, man, yeah, it was a lot of alternative tuning kind of improvs that go on my back porch.

And I would record everything with my little voice memo and send them off to a few people. One is Bobby West, who goes by the name Ero Thyme, Ero Thyme, E-R-O-T-H-Y-M-E. And he takes those recordings and he boosts it up and levels it out and makes these beautiful tracks behind it. Through voice memo? Well, he takes the voice memo tracks, boosts it up, and then in the studio, he creates the bass and the drums and then some keyboards around it. He creates the bass and the drums and then some keyboards around it. There's one that we've released, or he's released, under Eero Thyme called Sasquatch from Stone Mountain. I was in Stone Mountain, Maine, and they have this screened-in back porch in the backstage. And it was just going off with bugs and birds and shit.

And it was just really prominent. And so I recorded this song, just the improv, this new tuning that I came up. And as I was recording it, I just got this wave of sewage and shit and stink it just just kind of came by and just it's like it's like like like as if some kind of stinky ass ghost went right through you or something and and i started talking to uh the staff and i said that's what happened and they're like oh it's probably bigfoot bigfoot probably just ran by. I was like, oh. So there's no words or anything, but that track's called Sasquatch from Stone Mountain. And it's on Spotify. And it's pretty cool.

It's Eerothime. But yeah, we got another one that we're working on, too. I'm thinking about a full-length maybe. Like the quarantine sessions? Yeah, yeah. And you're just throwing voice memos at them? And then they're making it from that So you're not re-recording vocals or nothing?

Well, the second one that we're doing He sent it back With the beautiful music on it I texted it to my daughter Got some headphones Got her phone Took my phone into the closet Clothes and shit around, you know, so it's all dead. And I did my vocal track over time.

It was just like, all right, one, two, three, four, drop. I can't bear it. And because I gave him that little thing, he just dropped it right in. And damn if he didn't just like compress it and and put all this delay on it and it's really cool that one's not out yet but uh i'm really excited about that one what gets you high about making music is it the tunings like what like explain like what what you love about songwriting i like to entertain myself and make myself laugh. Yeah. You know, that's kind of where it starts for me is making myself entertained and laughing. And it usually starts with some kind of hook or the hours and hours of mindless doodling on the guitar.

I'll just sit down and watch TV or something. And my daughter's like, Dad, do you even listen to what you're playing? And I'm like, oh, no, no, no. But then once I started paying attention, it was like, oh, I can – there's a lick there, you know. But a lot of instrumental stuff comes out of just mindless doodling. But, you know, it's just about really trying not to get too deep, was doodling but you know it's just about really trying not to get too deep uh trying not to um you know go political trying to uh trying to make myself forget about everything that's

happening around me knowing that it'll all be there when i come back you know yeah i feel that like what is like what's getting you through this thoughts of unknownness in our industry? Hanging out with your kids, making music that makes you smile and laugh. What are you doing to get through this times of uncertainty with especially our career? Well, I'm forcing myself to get outside and definitely forcing sunlight, you know, like vitamin D. It's definitely very important to my mental capacity. Yeah. Our mental health, you know.

My mental capacity is limitless. Seriously, though, you've been creating shit and fucking just having fun with yourself for how long now, Keller? I've been playing with myself since I was about 14. Before we even be able to come, man, I've been playing with myself.

No, yeah, my first gig was 86. You're telling me about that, you were telling me about that. You were telling me about that, how your first gigs were doing those, not like you're making a shit ton of money with your first gigs. Yeah, it took years to try to get back to make $175 in three hours. That was like, what?

That's crazy. I'm never going to work again. Well, fuck college. So what's the game plan then for this next, because you don't want your next gig. My next gig is not until August. I don't think, I think August is starting

to go down now too. Yeah, it's crazy. Well, we're trying to, I've been sitting on tons and tons of old shows uh i've got uh dats the dats every i mean just like before pre pre 2012 i guess right 2012 2013 i think is when we started going into like the little uh memory stick digital thing you know so before that it was all d, and I've got thousands of them. And I've got a couple that are marked. And so we're going to maybe release some live shows,

and I was going to cherry pick up a record of a bunch of folks that I've played with over the years. And then there's certain projects that will get released as whole shows. and then there's certain projects that'll get released as whole shows. So that's a little, you know, an idea of income. No, not really. It's like really like, you know,

fractions of a cent per stream. Is that right? What about like, yeah, I mean, that's like, how do you pick a song? How do you pick a set? Like, are you re-listening to all your sets? Or is someone else doing that for you? I'd go fucking crazy, dude, if I had to re-listening to all your sets? Or is someone else doing that for you? I'd go fucking crazy, dude,

if I had to re-listen to all that shit. The last thing I want to do is listen to myself. Really, though, there are sets that I remember being really good and so I'll dial those up and I'll listen to it really

objectively you know I've never really released stuff because I never really wanted my mistakes out there you know I always had a problem with releasing you know mistakes so just because I guess I come

I mean I'm definitely into live music and I love listening to live shows, but the studio thing kind of ruined me for releases in the sense where, you know, I want it to be perfect. I want it to go out. And so the stuff that we have released that's

been live, like a couple records, were all multi-tracked and fixed. So it's like, but these shows are not multi-tracked. It's pretty much just warts and all type of thing. And I'm starting to come around to accepting defeat on my mistakes. On your flaws? Yeah.

Well, no, it's just like just getting words wrong and just flopping words. It's just like, you know, just getting words wrong and just flopping words. It's just, it's shitty. And, and, and, uh, out of tune guitars and, and being in the moment and just going through the song with his

out of tune guitar just makes me cringe, you know? But, um, I do that. I do that often. Yeah. Well,

like be out of tune. Be out of tune. Yeah. Yeah. What, what would you, what's, what do you consider it as a perfect show for you?

That you remember. You say you remember these shows. What are the key things that need to happen for you to remember a show? Wow. Well, I guess remembering that, first of all, it has to end well. And once you walk off the stage, have you ever fucked up an encore before? Oh, man. And then walked off the stage going, God damn it.

Yeah. damn it yeah uh uh you know uh that took uh antidepressants for me to like uh to not you know i'd be like you know a year later and i would think of that show and i'd be like oh oh fuck okay just get through it it's like my mind is crazy are you over critical about yourself i used to be you know and and now now listening to all these shows i I mean, I think I'm starting to come around a little bit. The perfect show, I would say, would be people in the front row just being respectful and singing and dancing and laughing. And people not getting pissed, shouting out requests that I'm not going to play. And it's almost like I feel like I should play this to shut this fucker up. I mean, it's just a song, man.

It's just a song. Why don't I just fucking play it? I don't fucking want to. Yeah. And that's the thing, though. It's our artistic creativity. Even part of the set list is no different than part of the song, right? Yeah. And that's the thing, though. It's our artistic creativity. Even part I get it now. Not that my songs are the hits, but at least play this one, this fucker's yelling out so much.

What song is that for you that everyone? It's a lot of Freaker by the Speakers. There's a boob job. There's a cover I did from, uh, David Wilcox. And does that make you sad that people only want to hear old music? Um, no, I'm, I'm happy that they want to hear any music, you know? Uh, and if I can make myself happy and just play a few songs I don't feel like playing every now and then, it's a nice common ground. Think about if you had a single that was just so massive and you had to play that single every day. Would you think that would frustrate you, that you're forced to play something?

Because you're a very creative guy. You're on the spot type of guy. would frustrate you that you're forced to play something because you're a very creative guy you're on the spot type of guy you're like i'm like you in the sense where once i feel like i'm going to autopilot i feel like i'm it's not the show that i want to give out you know do you ever go to autopilot yeah i have i used to do that uh a lot uh when i was on a bus, you know, and when you're, when you're out for like three weeks on a bus, you, or we played six nights a week and, and, you know, so Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you know, by Thursday, if, if the energy's not there yet, then you can kind of go into autopilot.

That fifth, fifth, sixth night sixth night you know it's definitely it's hard to really grab that energy and it's easier just to kind of get through it but i have adapted that three that three day week yeah you you you pimped out your fucking schedule dude you fly in you roll in there thursday you do till sunday and then you go home like speaking of that do you like now like that you've Sunday And then you go home Like Speaking of that Do you like Now like That you've taken Have you ever taken

This long of a break? No Yeah so what's going on? How's your head Through all this shit? Well you know It's Like I said

It's It's been interesting And I've Really It's been like a A bit of a vacation, but yet at the same time, a little bit worse. My kids are both doing the homeschool thing now,

and they miss their friends, and it's always a tricky dynamic. Hold on. Are you their teacher? No. Okay. No. dynamic. Hold on, are you their teacher? No. No.

I'll be like, what is your lesson plan, Keller? Well, they go to a great school and they have adapted the whole online thing. So the teachers are actually online with them

and classes are small. Have you ever spent this much time with your family before? No. Yo, my kid's blonde. I didn't know your eyes were that kind. My son has gotten to the highest of levels of Fortnite. Really? To where he was getting killed constantly, where now he gets money for Christmas and for his birthday,

and he just doesn't spend it on anything but upgrading his Fortnite guy. I mean, you can buy a skin. The other night, we were all standing around watching Travis Scott. Yeah. You know who Travis Scott is? Oh, yeah, the rapper? Yeah. He was playing Fortnite? No. No, he – I guess Marshmello started it, but they have created Travis Knight skin that you can buy to where you're going around killing people as Travis Scott.

Travis Scott, that's what it is. Travis Scott. if you get enough points and you buy the right stuff and, and kill enough people, you get to go to this private Travis Scott show. That's inside Fortnite doors, doors for at six shows at seven. And, and this is a kill free zone and everyone who gets to get,

to gets the points goes in. I don't know if you ever played Fortnite, but there's several options to where you can dance, you know? So there are all the guys are just in there dancing. And then starts and travis scott comes out as this monstrosity of a giant and you know this kind of you know doing this whole thing and and and then they all dive in the water and then they're all underwater and everyone's really tripped out it's about a 10 minute show hold on so it's a live stream no no, no. They make you think it is, but it's actually just a track that the animation has gone crazy,

that only a certain amount of kids or adults can go to, and you have to get to points to get in there. Okay, so it's like an exclusive party if you're a fortnight because it's happened obviously it's all over youtube and you know a bunch of kids probably sitting there with their phones on uh in fortnight and then post it to youtube so you can watch it it's pretty cool um you hear about twitch does your son talk about twitch at all Does your son talk about Twitch at all? I know that from the big Jack Johnson festival. Oh, he did it on Twitch?

He did it on Twitch yesterday, but I tuned in on Facebook. That was really well done. Do you think that's the future for the next couple months? What is Twitch? What is that exactly? Twitch is basically your own television show. But it's mostly started for guys who play fortnite and all like your son's friends right right watch them play video games and shit yeah so like the new adaptation that we're trying to think about as musicians because like you can't tell your kid

don't spend money on that shit when we're spending money on like colorful pick guards and shit. It's like, all right. Yeah. You're right. You're right. You love what you love. And it is his money. Yeah.

And, uh, but now he has none. Yeah. So, uh, hopefully he can, uh,

he can live with, uh, uh, what he, you know, what he has on his, on his fortnight guy or do some goddamn work for a change. Get a goddamn fucking job, Little Williams.

I got lots of jobs around here. I got lots, lots of ways for him to make money. Yeah, like what? Oh, man. I pull these weeds over here in this garden. You can like, I teach him how to do a weed eater. You know, shit, get on my tractor in this garden uh you can like uh i teach him how to how to do a weed eater you know um uh shit i get on my tractor and and and mow a bunch of mow a bunch of fields yeah we've got

i married into this land out here and uh it's uh it's a pretty great place to be during this time you know do you ever do you see any other people do you have have neighbors? My mother-in-law lives in the small house next to her. There's a bunch of trees in between us. Yeah. And my brother-in-law lives about a mile and a half down, and he's a pimp mac daddy farmer. Yeah? Have you been going in there, into the farm and stuff?

No. No. No, there's lots. I mean, I could. I could. no no no there's a lot i mean i could i could i mean but uh there's a lot of uh he's got a lot going on over there he's got uh free range chickens and uh and and and cattle and um so i don't want to disrupt anything but yeah he does really well right now doing delivery, uh, uh, beef, chicken and eggs. Yeah. And, um, and it's, he's doing great, but, um, yeah.

And my daughter, my daughter is like really, really into, uh, uh, school and she's, uh, you know, there's a lot of stuff. You got lucky dog. Yeah. Nice school. Your kids love fucking school. You could, my son, my son doesn't. We just found out that on his online thing he's got his his laptop up and he's in he's in a class he's got you know brooklyn 99 on the ipad right over here with a little earbud over here just kind of yeah yeah he's just watching like brooklyn 99 during this during this fucking class but uh my my daughter's

doing really well and she's really into art, and she's doing these pastel kind of silhouettes of different things, and it's really cool. She's gotten really good, and her wall's starting to look amazing. What have you learned about your kids since being with them the whole time now? I've learned that they definitely like their own space. They definitely like to chill out and then to come back together. But everybody kind of needs their own space since we're around each other all the time. And it's just starting to work now.

It's just a big learning curve at the beginning. And I think, you know, after like three weeks, all of a sudden it was spring break. And so then there was like an actual week off of, from online classes at home. And we've never really spent a spring break at home. You know, we definitely look at that time and we know when it, when this kid's spring break is a year in advance. uh my wife books you know around that leaves that off you know we were supposed to go to st thomas this year and i was going to do shows in st john's on 420 oh wow and i love your fox video or your fox theater

i was like i was, Oh, this is, he's going to do a stage dive. It's gotta be a stage dive. One, the one man stage. Here it comes. Oh man. I love that.

You're like, you know, pointing to the, uh, pointing to the sound guy. Sound. You're like, Hey,

do you feel crazy? Fucking entertaining a screen and you don't have a response. Yeah. You know, I've taken it under my wing. I've watched a bunch of these too. And, you know, it's always awkward at the end of a song, you know? Yeah, when you're tuning and shit. Oh, yeah, yeah.

It's just awkward at the end of a song when the guy stops playing. And so I just like do weird shit in between songs, you know, like, yeah. You should get a soundboard where you have stuff like this. Like, like,

hold on. Oh yeah. Just people dancing and shit or clapping. Yeah. Yeah. I liked, I liked the applause thing that you got there. You're on your shit show. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I like the applause thing that you got there. You're on your...

Shit show. Yeah, shit show. Another week, another shit show. I love that. You know, I'm just trying to... Because I don't know, like, my life right now, it's like, what, am I going to be a talk show host now for four fucking months?

I mean, we got to think about how... Because people are going to need music, right? So how are we going to entertain these people? Because I feel like a lot of people, if this thing continues to go on, they're going to need us more than ever, especially if they know that live shows aren't going to happen. Yeah.

How is your relationship with your wife? Now that you're in a house together, you have different schedules. You know, you're up all night fucking recording and then you wake up at noon. Is she cool with all this shit she has to be she has no choice she is taking it harder than anyone else ever uh because we are I was planning on retiring in 2037, 17 years from now. And that's when the mortgage would have been paid off, hopefully, if we keep it up without refinancing, keeping it going longer. And now that shit is shot.

She has been just 40 hours a week for a while there looking at the grants and looking at the – they just did a big small business loan recently. And that's just like so confusing and so time-consuming. The $350 billion that got spent by the government for these small business loans, they were given to people who took just hours and hours of time trying to figure out how to fucking do it. And she was one of them. I don't think we've actually gotten the money yet. They said it's in an account somewhere that we can't seem to reach but um it's positive like mafia shit dog you can't touch this money yet it's u.s government you know this is not uh is that would you say that's mafia yeah is that pretty much instead of uh instead of really you know giving up and selling the house, we're starting to really put a dream into action, which is something that we never thought would happen. And it still might not, but it's getting closer and closer of turning this property into an event space.

an event space. And so once it's, uh, it's going to take, you know, a lot of money and a lot of time and a lot of people to put it together. And it's still in the, I think stage and God, wouldn't that be great stage. And, and then it's always been, God, it'll never fucking happen. It'll never fucking happen. But yeah, it's fun to talk about, right? Totally. But I got all these ideas and spaces for stages and all natural. We even have- Wow, how many acres? You have a big ass acre? You have a lot of acres or what? Yeah.

Sick. Yeah. Just ours is like 80. What the fuck? No wonder you've been hiding at the fucking, by rivers and shit. I'm like, where the fuck is this motherfucker, dog? He's just like taking videos of him dancing by rivers and shit. Yeah, I'm not sad. Yeah. Is the property expensive?

Yeah, the taxes, you know, the taxes definitely are super expensive. And we lease out a lot of the land to like these generation farmers that have that were around, you know, working for my wife's grandfather when they were kids, you know, and then they kind of grew up and now they're old and they're there. We lease a couple of fields to them in which they pay us a small percentage on their yield. And they're doing like feed crops. Like they'll take the whole field of corn and they'll let it brown and go to seed. And then they'll chop it up and that'll be like a feed. And same with like soybeans.

it up and that'll be like a feed and uh same with like soybeans and um but uh the the take on it on our side is very little and um so it barely covers a gig yeah yeah so i'm trying to create these this space for just in case it opens up and people are allowed to gather again you know we could even do like a six foot distance venue you know to where there'll be there'll be little painted out boxes yeah you know just to i don't know uh but we can get 100 200 300 people in six feet apart yeah you know maybe like if you come with the group you know you know if people feel weird about it 200, 300 people in Six feet apart Yeah You know Maybe like if you come with a group You know You know

If people feel weird about it You know That could be an option Maybe there could be a section Of social distancing And people that don't give a fuck I don't know Who knows you know

Speaking of that though Do you think venues are fucked? These venues that are 300 caps And 500 caps Who are like Not owned by AEG Not owned by You know the live nations do you think they're gonna have a really hard time you know the first half in minneapolis yeah so the

owner of that guy is i think starting some kind of like coalition and going to uh the government for aid, you know, for funding. And so I think that's positive because they said something about, you know, the live music industry creates billions and billions of dollars in revenue. Not only, I mean, it's ticket sales and the booze, but it's the restaurants and the hotels surrounding the area. And so I think that there's hope on the horizon for that if the government pulls through in an artistic way, which, God, who knows? I mean, our government's injecting fucking antibacterial into their veins. So who knows how long they'll be around if they keep doing that.

It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Sports with Dolav. He's talking shit about the game. He's got a weird fucking name. It's Sports with Dolav. He's talking shit about the game. He's got a weird fucking name. It's Sports with Dolav. This week we're going

to be talking some fucking sports. We're back baby. NFL Draft. The Draft. It happened. Shit went down. There were trades.

Dudes got picked all digitally. On the phone. It was sick. It was weird. But it went down. Roger Goodell got picked all digitally on the phone was sick it was weird but it went down roger goodell still sucks who knows what the season will happen but at least we got news plus the jazz are back it's going down nba's back jazz players are healthy no more covet getting ready for the season. Hitting the gym. And they're ready to kick some fucking ass.

Plus, we got the Jordan Dock, the last dance. Y'all can check it out. Entertaining. Fucking amazing. Shit's dope. Fuck you. Bitch. We all know the Lakers weren't going to win this season.

If this thing lasts for six, seven months, what venues are we going to play? That's why you making a venue is, I think, a great idea because it's your land. It's kind of like how Levon did the barn, you know? Very much an inspiration was Levon. Phil Lesh. Sweetwater.

No, no, that's Bobby. Bobby at Sweetwater. But Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael was directly inspired by Levon. Really? Of course, Phil, yeah. Yeah, Phil was really into it. Really? Of course, Phil, yeah.

Yeah, Phil was really into it. I mean, he built this 300-capacity kind of looking barn on the inside with really cool wooden ceilings. And it stays dark. It's not mandatory that people play there, but it's like a very select type of folks. But there's like three shows a day in the restaurant. of folks. But there's like three shows a day in the restaurant. And there's like a 50-person log. And somebody will just put a bass player, a guitar player, a keyboard player, and a drummer together, some of them which don't know each other. And then they do a set together. And that happens like a couple times a day. Really cool thing. But I got a chance to play levon's barn as after he died but it's a really interesting concept and we definitely have that uh what was the vibe like there well um it's not a bar you

know it's not a restaurant they don't uh sell any booze or anything uh i think it's uh it's like the gates open at six the doors uh or uh the show starts at eight and i think the gate closes at eight you know maybe hold on so how long are the shows i think they're full-on like two two set shows oh cool uh how big is it? It's tiny. It's a studio. So you kind of on the stage right behind you is like a balcony. And then that house is like the drum room. And so there's drums behind you. And then there's a bunch of seats in front of you. And then there's like a wraparound uh balcony and

i think maybe a 200 at the most maybe i'm not really sure what the capacity was uh but we definitely have that idea here um yeah what's your vision at this house as well you know there's uh where our basement is uh where i do my live from keller seller episodes perfect every monday and wednesday night on stagey.com hey um and um and so we're looking at that as kind of like the after show speakeasy type of thing to where we can do big dance parties down there in the middle of the night. Upstairs could be turned into a listening room. Hold on. Is it a barn? No, no, no.

What is it? It's a house that, you know, for years and years we lived out of motorhomes and my wife was selling merchandise and nobody was buying it. And anyone coming up to the merch table was just drunk guys hitting on her, you know. So she's just like – Is your wife a babe? Oh, yeah. Fuck yeah. She's hot, huh baby yeah um all right continue

but yeah so she's designing this house you know and uh and 2003 2004 we started to do really well and then um we broke ground in 2003 and uh uh moved in in 2006 and uh we created something really big and cool and then around 2007 i stopped making money i stopped making that money yeah and uh so now it's it's the house has kind of become um a worry in the sense of the future for the amount of money we're not bringing in now and the amount of money that we owe to this place. But my wife is on it, and she's coming up with all kinds of ideas. And the past couple weeks, we've gotten into a mantra of use it or lose it. And like I said, it's always been a pipe dream in the sense of, wow, we'll never do this. It's crazy.

It's so much money. But now it's kind of like, oh, fuck, we should do this. Because even the gigs that we're starting to see in possible fall, December, whatever, they're not the same kind of money because everything's just – the shows, the money's all changing because everyone's building back up. So are you getting a lot of door deals? I think there's a few in there, yeah. It's like maybe a small guarantee versus a percentage you know yeah um i think that's kind of what it's does that stress you out is that stressing you out

seeing like the money this show's come in with the you know the guarantees where you're expecting you know you're expecting keller williams money dog you're fucking a legend dog what the fuck and you and you see the offers you you're like, wow, this is... But it's everyone hurting, so it's not like an insult on you, right? You don't feel like this is an attack on Keller Williams. This is just a war against entertainment right now.

Well, before when I would tank shows, I would think it's an attack on Keller Williams. By the way, what do you think Keller Williams money is? I don't know. I don't know. But you're a legend, dog.

I mean, you're flying. I mean, you have it set up. Like, I've watched. The flying thing is because it's a two-man operation. Yeah, yeah. It's not like a band where you got two hotel rooms, you got one minivan and two flights. It's cheaper. Yeah.

It definitely costs a lot of money in the long run if you look at the visa bill at the end of the year. Yeah. But it works for us. It definitely works for us. And I don't think I could really go out and be out for three or four weeks at a time. You know, traveling the whole time. I've just gotten so used to that weekend thing.

So what about now, though? What about now, though? And looking at these guarantees, like, do you feel like you have to do a three or four week tour now? I haven't thought about that. Maybe online Teaching lessons That could be fun I could do that maybe Why don't you throw a variety show

You're so fucking creative A variety show What's that Church house companion Prairie home companion You have a live audience And it's just you doing all this stuff. I think that's people.

I mean, you're so fucking creative, dude. You could do something like that with your fucking house and never have to leave the house ever again. You're right. You're right. You're right. That's a good idea, a variety show. Yeah.

I don't know. I'm just brainstorming with a homie here. Oh, I love it. I love it. That's good but like what's going to make us not tour because I look at my schedule and everything got postponed to fall

and next year and it's like fuck if this really is confirmed from the postponing I'm on tour for five months straight wow ouch I can't say no because I'm not at a position in my career to say no you got to get

into meditation at that point i imagine you know five months are you are you a medic do you meditate no teach me what do you like what's the purpose of meditation well i guess it on the road i have I have not mastered it by any means. But I think the idea is just to get out of your head and to really focus on your breath. Your mind will wander like it does. And then you always come back to your breath. Yeah. And if you could do that, your mind goes off, but then you come back to your breath, and then you kind of feel the surroundings. In my sense, my best place is on a paddleboard in the middle of this river, and I got stereo bugs on both sides of the river because it's a small – it's kind of a narrow river. You can swim across it really easily.

Apparently, George Washington skipped a silver dollar across it, but that's fucking bullshit. Yeah, that's a fucking big-ass... I call bullshit on George. Don't fucking try to fucking tell us how cool you are. Okay, fuck you, George. Yeah. Chopped out a cherry tree? It's bullshit. That's all bullshit, too. A kid. Come on, chopping a cherry tree. Get the fuck out of here,

George. Get the fuck out of here. Fairy Farm. That's where he... He's where he grew up. It's right down from my house. Are you present on stage? Yeah. Or are you thinking about the next thing? Your show is so just...

Tell me about that. Are you thinking about the next step or are you thinking about this step when you're on stage? I used to go out without a set list. And then while I'm playing, I would think about the next thing. And then you're not present.

And then I'm not present. And then I wouldn't get somewhere. And then after that song, I'm kind of doodling around, trying to figure out what to do. Sometimes there'd be some real beauty in that improv, just trying to figure out what's next. But the past 10 years or so, I've been really focusing on set lists and almost too much in the sense where I would pull up what I played last time I was at that venue and process of

elimination, try not to play that shit, or at least not in the same order or open and close with the same shit. No one cares about that, and everyone tells me that. Why do you spend so much fucking time on it? Because we're perfectionists. That's right. And so when I do have a set list, I definitely am present when I don't have to think about what's coming next. But what about like –

No, go ahead. No, I want to know. No, go ahead. No, I want to know what you like. I like, I like the reaction of people when I'm present and I catch eye contact with them, you know, and like look away and like fuck with people, you know? Yeah. And you really kind of have to be present with that too. with them you know and and like look away and like fuck with people you know yeah and uh and

you really kind of have to be present with that too and you can't like focus too long or else you'll get one of these like you know you'll get a you sing that you know oh he's looking at me i'm i'm not gonna look at him and that's always weird but um yeah i've written songs you know uh like i guess freaker by the speaker was by was about actual shit that was going on in front of me. You make up a lot of lyrics when you forget your fucking lyrics? Yeah, it's a lot of babble, mostly like made up languages, you know. You're just doing rhythms of the melody. I love it. Bobby McFerrin shit. You're a doing rhythms Yeah Of the melody I love it Bobby McFerrin shit

You're a fucking legend What about Okay tell me I love that shit dude Cause I'm in that stage too Where I don't do a set list And then sometimes I'll go into autopilot

And then People Consider me One trick pony sometimes You know like Oh no So It's like

Cause I'm just like Trying to be present But like With a No fucking set list style But then I realize I'm not present I'm just like trying to be present, but like with a no fucking set list style. But then I realized I'm not present. I'm thinking about the next song while I'm focusing it on here. Or I'm like, you know, looking at, you know,

women and people doing drugs on, you know, it's like, what the, I'm not present. I'm not on stage. I'm just observing. I'm watching television in a sense. Right, right. Interesting. Are you in a sense. Right, right. Interesting. But like...

Are you entertained though? Fuck yeah, dude. I think, because I'm like a quarterback, you know, like the reason I don't have a set list because if I have a crowd of like, say Cougars,

some nights I'll have fucking 200 Cougars just want to just like come out and just like touch me and shit. So I'm like, all right, fuck, I'll play the game. I'll be like Chippendales. I'll go in there, take off my shirt, get the ladies me and shit. So I'm like, all right, fuck, I'll play the game. I'll be like Chippendales. I'll go in there, take off my shirt,

get the ladies rocking and shit. But then there's sometimes you're at a festival and they want to hear a jam, but sometimes you're still in Cougarville from last night. So it's like, fuck, I can't play love songs at the fucking summer camp. Yeah. Do you stage dive at every show usually?

Yeah. I think about that now via Corona. Yeah. Do you stage dive at every show? Oh, fuck yeah. Yeah. I think about that now via Corona. That's going to fly anymore. But you're not infected. So it was a good run. It was a good run. Damn. Do you ever get dropped?

I've gotten dropped once when I wasn't performing. I've never been dropped on stage. But sometimes. I sometimes I opened for, I think I opened for Umphreys one night and it was like the Northwest and they're not kosher with the fucking crowd surf, you know, so I roll in

there and, you know, Umphreys has a song called Andy's Last Beer. So like, Andy, will you sit in and I'll just drink beer. So I just drank like five beers through them and crowd surfed and uh i ate shit fucking hard they dropped you did they drop you on the on the on the dive or no no i i'm like i go like this like you know that move i did on the fox theater i didn't go backwards. I always go dick down. Dick down. So I'll get my,

I get my dick punched all the time, but I'll always go dick down. You got to wear a cup. Because if I know, I want to know I'm falling. Yeah. Oh yeah.

So you can kind of catch yourself. You kind of catch yourself or kind of like get in there. Have you crowded? Were you ever like into like punk rock and shit? I was.

Yeah. But I was so young that the only time, the one time I really got in a mosh pit, I got my ass whipped. I got an elbow in the face. I just got an elbow in the face. What band? What band? Oh, it was a local band.

Oh, what were they called? Naked Lunch. Yeah. Oh, the Ventilators. The Ventilators. Naked Lunch was the reforming of the Ventilators. But no the ventilators. The ventilators. Naked Lunch was the reforming of the ventilators. But no, those were the ventilators. It was just like –

Like it popped in the head or something? Yeah, just the elbow. It was just kind of – I'm done. I'm done. I'm out. But yeah, I was definitely a skateboarder with the Walkman, the cassette Walkman and going downhill.

Not Spunks, not Spunks, not Spunks, fuck off, not Spunks, not Spunks, not Spunks, fuck off! Dude, I love that shit, dude. Deck candies and shit. Yeah. What do you consider is a perfect set? I mean, when you're thinking about a set list, and you're thinking about the wave, what's your wave look like, Keller?

Well, I guess now it would be a few new songs. It would be a few old – You always open with a few new songs? I usually open with like an instrumental. Cool. To get the vibe? Just to kind of like, you know, feel it up a little bit and just to do some weird shit to kind of get people into an idea.

Definitely some sing-alongs. And definitely some jams and some grooves. And definitely some audience participation. Just fucking with them. What do you do to fuck with them? I want to know. What's the most fucked up thing you've, with the just fucking with them, you know? What do you do to fuck with them? I want to know. What's the most fucked up thing you've done to the crowd? Oh,

recently I've been going, I have this bit where I say, you know, this hippie was outside and looked at me in my face and he said, dude, you're playing Peoria? People in Peoria love fucking Coldplay. And everybody goes, no!

No! I was like, dude, if I don't play it, this hippie's going to kick my fucking ass. I've got to play it. Luckily for you haters, I don't know any Coldplay. But there is one song that I really like. And of course, I don't know the words. So I get the crowd. You remember more than a little Tanya Zimby Jackson and Sugar Davis?

Yeah. So Tanya, the other one, Tanya, the amazing one, not Sugar Davis. Tanya's the elder, my rock. She said, honey, honey, if you ever forget any words, you just say, you just say, you just mouth watermelon, watermelon. And that almost takes off everything. Even if you don't see it, you say watermelon. And so I added watermelon.

I added guacamole to that too. And so I added guacamole to that too. So I play the music to clocks. What's the crowd do? Are you committed to the bit? Yeah, I'm committed to the bit. And what I do is I get the men, all macho, they sing all the words, but they only use the words watermelon guacamole. So it's like watermelon guacamole, watermelon guacamole singing, watermelon guacamole.

And then I'll get the girls, girls only to go, you know are you are so i'll get them all riled up pissed off that they're getting ready to do a cold play song but then it turns into bliss when everyone just sings all the words really loud and now it's starting to get you know uh uh requested you know and i can't I can't fucking do it online. Yo, dude, fuck Coldplay, but play that Coldplay cover, dude. That's right. I like fucking with them like that. People are so fucking funny like that, dude. Outside of the money, outside of the stress

of our fucking careers, what have we learned about ourselves through this quarantine? Whatever you learned about yourself, Keller? I have learned I need to force myself to do stuff. And once I do, I feel great about it. Why do you feel you have to force yourself? Because, you know, it's just easy just to not get up

and just to flip on the TV and nap. Is that a form of depression? Yeah, I would say so absolutely um and uh and then once i'm outside you know i feel a lot better you know i've definitely uh gone through different um you know medications and stuff and i've definitely found the right one for the past couple years but it's really mandatory I mean I I was I was like I come home on Sunday nights usually and then Monday I would just kind of decompress and then Tuesday and Wednesday I would get ready for the weekend and and you know do you know do chores and and do everything but now it's like um now that that monday turned into every day

you know yeah and and it's like as soon as i got home i guess my last show was may 5th may i'm sorry sorry march march 5th march 6th or something yeah and it was like a Thursday night. And then it was like, all right, so the next two nights, it was like Memphis, Arkansas. What was it? We're in Arkansas. Not Fayetteville, no. Little Rock. Little Rock.

Yeah, yeah. It was, yeah, Revolution. Yeah, Revolution. Little Rock. And, yeah yep with that amazing backstage you know with the leak that comes down the wet floors and no roof and your

so great shout out Little Rock shout out Little Rock shout out Rev Hall no but yeah and then the next night was in OK City and then so the Thursday night they were like yeah you, you should cancel the next two nights. And I was like, fuck it.

Let's do it. Let's not cancel. And we would have been the only act on Paradigm and Madison House to be working that weekend. So they talked me out of it. Yeah. I came home pissed off and just started macheting shit on the bank. Yo, but for real, what's making you sad the last couple of years? I guess just normal artist shit, self-doubt, comparing numbers, comparing songs, comparing how I'm perceived. It's much easier to focus on me and entertaining myself.

And I guess I got away from it for a couple of years. And maybe that's what it is. Yeah, when we stop. I mean, why do we do art in the first place? Once we stop forgetting that and we start. It's like Jerry Maguire, dog. He wrote the memo saying, this company needs to be smaller.

And I'm like, yeah, it does need to be smaller. We need to love our artists. I'm so pissed off at Paradigm. I don't want to talk about it. It's so fucking frustrating. But same shit. Compassion. We forget who we are, Keller.

You know who you are, Keller? You're a fucking goat, okay? You're a motherfucking legend. Hold on, let me turn this up. You hear that? Do you hear that? I, the tiger. Let me pump you up right now. You're a fucking goat. You deserve everything.

You are the fucking man, Keller. You tell them, whoever is in your mind that says, oh, Keller can't do it, tell them to go fuck themselves because you can do it. You are a legend. All right, I'm done. I am in. I'm in.

I feel great. I'm going to do some push-ups. But seriously, yeah, I mean, I go through these stumps too. Like, I don't want to be perceived as the drug party guy because I have a lot more to talk about than that. I want to talk about mental health. I want to talk about... Did the whole Jeff Austin thing fuck you up?

Oh, fuck yeah. Was that a couple of years ago? When was that now? A year and a half ago? That was last summer. That was last summer. Last June. That fucked...

Or was it two summers ago? I felt like it's two summers ago. No, no. I think it was last summer, last June. That fuck, what, what, what? Or was it two summers ago? I felt like it's two summers ago. Wait, wait, where, no, no, I think it was last summer because I think the thing, the older thing was this year, was January. It was Austin and Neil this summer. Yeah. Yeah, Neil Cassell, right, right, Cassell, right. Yeah, Neil Cassell, right.

Cassell, right. But yeah, it totally fucked me up because I didn't really – I played with him probably three times a year on projects like Grateful Grass, and then I would do this Thanks for Grassgiving around Thanksgiving and fly in some people. And I would only see them before the shows and for a little time after the shows. We toured together on one of those big tours. It was, what was it called?

Acoustic Planet with Bela Fleck headlining and me and Yonder switching to first and second. That's fucking tight. There was no changeovers there's nine nine guys in three bands and everybody was set up and so whoever was first one by one of the second band would come on jam and then the first guy would leave and then baila or one by one you know bailer victor would come on and they it was three acts no changeover whatsoever uh really really cool concept.

Hold on, hold on. We really hung out and partied a lot on that tour. So you had Yonder, Bela, you, Victor Wooten all hanging out together for a month? Yeah, every show there was like three songs. Was it Flat Tones? It was Jeff Coffin. Oh, my God. And Victor and Roy, Future Man. So you really got, I mean, you're close with Jeff, yeah?

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, we don't chat, but he got me into a Dave Matthews show. That's cool. But yeah, we're not really close, but we know each other. So what about the death affected you? It just came out of nowhere for me. Obviously, like I said, I only hang with him a few times a year, and it was always super positive, super positive.

always super positive super positive um but i had uh heard the week prior that he was canceling shows and he was like crying on stage and getting drunk and not really being able to finish songs and stuff and i did i i did hear that and uh um was surprised and then uh I think it went down on a Thursday. Yeah. And I remember I was in the caverns in Tennessee. And I was just really shocked. And texting him all day. Once I heard that he was sick, I kept texting him. And finally, his wife texted me back on Saturday night, said he can't answer because he's on oxygen.

So he definitely stayed around for a few days. And it was just, it's tricky, man. It was tricky. it was it was tricky um and it uh i went through the whole you know anger thing you know of uh you know his family and stuff uh but definitely opened my eyes to um my life and how i could how i could think as well you Someone that close to you that you had no idea. Obviously, we weren't that close, close enough to where we're really good friends, but didn't really know about his condition. And it definitely opened my eyes and my wife's eyes too. And she was very, she knew that I was going through some stuff too. And she's very concerned.

And I'm definitely 100% not in that direction. I have little pity parties every now and then, but I don't think I could ever go that direction. I think I'll go naturally soon. Bare me. You're going to try to get that silver dollar like George Washington, dog. Dude, yeah. Maybe if I'm halfway across the river

on my paddleboard, I can skip it. But depression is a silent killer and you have people that you could talk to about this stuff, right? Absolutely. Absolutely, yeah. Good. You could talk to about this stuff right absolutely absolutely yeah good yeah you can talk to me too i know especially yeah i think uh i think um i think there was a text thread from you and me maybe a year ago where i was like yeah i don't know what i said but you were like yeah call me up yeah anytime and i appreciate that and you and it's a couple other friends too that are very adamant on you know any time of day plus there's there's backline um which is an amazing organization

specifically for musicians uh so it's i think that whole jeff neal thing really opened up the conscious of of how fucking bad it could be do Do you talk to a therapist? Have you read therapy? No, no. Are you nervous to do it? No, no. Uh, obviously,

uh, right now I've gone from gray goose to smear and off to Bowman's, which is local rock gut, uh, $12 a half gallon. And, uh, so obviously there's no money. There's no money in the budget for any kind of

extra extra therapy but um uh do you talk to your wife about stuff like this absolutely yeah yeah absolutely open definitely an open uh uh conversation uh with her about anything yeah that's great because you know i'm I'm, yeah, as I get, I went through therapy for a little bit and I went with, I went with a guy, New York Jew, just like does all the comedians. Like, yeah, he gets me. Does all the comedians. Because all the comedians are, I mean like that, think about us.

I mean, you're kind of doing the comedian thing. Not comedian, like the idea, but like traveling with only one person. Right. You're in a town for three days or you're in town, three towns. I wish I was. That's one thing about comedians is cool. You get to like do a three-night run. Yeah. Always.

But I didn't mean to interrupt you there. No, but that's true, though. It's the same concept. It's like you're traveling with one person, so you you're thinking about you're not with like seven people so like you're with yourself bro you're with your brain and you're thinking a lot so comedians I think have it a lot harder

than we do because you can do the same set every night but you can't come back to that venue and do the same set you have to be completely different and uh some of them get 15 30 minutes if you're lucky you get an hour you know and so yeah i could see where there's just tons and tons of of need for therapy for comedians well man kelly i love you man I'm here for you, bro

You need anything from me Fuck, you need a dick pic? I'll send you a dick pic No problem Please don't ever do that Good morning, babe Who the fuck is this, Keller? Who the fuck is Andy Frasco? Send your dick

What the fuck? Get to work No, you're good. You're good. I promise I'll never look at your dick. And promise me something. You'll never, if you get into a weird funk, you fucking write, you fucking do everything you can.

And I'll fucking come over to the Virginia and rent out that side house, okay? And watch out. Watch for your ass. I don't got gigs either, dog. I need to travel. I got three people here that I never want to leave ever. So you don't have to worry about that.

And you definitely just come on to Virginia and you play this land. This land's begging for some frasco. This land is your land. This land is begging for some Frasco. This land is your land. This land is my land. This land is Frasco's land. From Denver, Colorado, to Virginia flatlands, to the Rappahannock, to the Rocky Mountains, this land was made For Andy and Keller

Thanks for being on the show, buddy. I love you. Thanks for having me. You're always the best. And I'm going to hit you up. That's it. This is a platform that really fucking works for you, man.

And don't be afraid to keep doing this as much as possible because you're making a lot of people really happy. Am I annoying people? Am I on too much? Well, they can fucking flip off.

They can flip around, you know? They can come back to you. All right. You know, you're not annoying me. I think you're doing a very serious, positive service and we thank you.

I thank you, Keller. So enjoy that $12 vodka and I'm going to send you a Grubhub certificate to get you some real vodka. Goodbye. Later, buddy. Later, man. These messages for Mr. Andy Fresco. This is Mike in Amazon customer service.

We got your order yesterday. in Amazon customer service. We got your order yesterday. And I don't know if you're aware about our agreement right now with the U.S. Postal Service, but we are only allowed to ship essential items from our Amazon warehouse. So there's a couple of items in your order that we will not be able to ship you. I'm just going to go through them so that you know that these items are on backorder for another five to eight weeks the first item is a Sibian model XTR second item is three butt thugs assorted colors the third item is the one gallon jar of ky jelly the fourth item is one fleshlight model mia malkova everything else in your cart has shipped

again the items that i just mentioned should ship in five to eight weeks. If they don't, we will give you a call and update you on the shipping timeline. Thank you very much, and thank you for shopping Amazon. All right. Thanks, Keller, for being on the show, getting deep with me. My homie, shout out to Keller. Great guy.

Feel bad for all the musicians out there who can't work until, fuck, maybe next year. So we're trying our best to figure out a game plan. That's why we have the podcast master, the guru of the internet world, Jamie Gilstein. How you doing, bro? What's up, brother? I am good. What's going on out here?

Is this a new, I mean, you guys have been dealing with this, comedians have been dealing with this, figuring out how to integrate. Sadness? Sadness. Existential dread? Yeah, like, I mean, like, you guys had to figure out how to way to get content out every day, you know, like we could just tour and play all these cities and stuff. You have to like, you really have to do your stuff virtually to really get your comedy across, right?

Yeah, but that's just because people don't respect us. It's not because we're fucking innovators or anything good. All of us, if you gave any comedian an option and we're like, you want to be in a band? All of us would be like, fuck, yes. Why do you think that is? I mean, there's that old adage, right, where it's like

comedians want to be rock stars, rock stars want to be comedians. I've got to open up for some really cool bands just because they love comedy and I would give up anything to not even be the lead, to be like a rhythm guitar player in like a fucking bar cover band.

So I think. Is it the camaraderie? What's that? Is it the camaraderie? Like you're entertaining with people. No, the camaraderie is so bad. It's like the saddest, most negative. If I walked into a comedy club and was like guys i i

read a tony robbins book because i want to better myself everyone would be like boo get the fuck out like it's most negative toxic i mean i love my comedian friends but for me i mean i here here's what i think it is and i'll go on like a tiny industry rant that may just be because my agent hasn't called me back. So bear with me. With music, for the most part, once a band gets to a certain level, people are coming to see that band

because they are emotionally invested in that band. With comedy, for the longest time, the meeting I had the most with like, uh, TV people or industry were like, Hey man, we love what you do. Political edgy. And I, and I would go, uh, great, let's work together. And they're like, Oh no, no, Jesus Christ. We can't do, we'll get fired. Uh, you know, we love what you do, but don't do what you do. Comedy for a really long time, I mean, ever since the boom in the 80s, sustained itself off of mediocre club comics, going on a late night show, doing a dumbed down set, you know, my wife, blah, blah, blah, toilet seats,

like women be crazy. And everybody applauded, nobody got fired, and it was fine. And the comics that really broke through that spoke to me were like Bill Hicks and George Carlin and Dave Chappelle and these comics that really were edgy and took chances. But a lot of them – I mean Hicks didn't become a known name until after he died. It was harder for them uh to break through i mean now because of podcasts and guys like rogan you're seeing more comics break through but i think that we had to put ourselves out there so much more virtually comedy clubs make their money off of overpriced drinks so the so the majority of people who so unless you're the Allman Brothers band, if you were to play

the Beacon Theater, you're probably playing there for one night. If I go to a comedy club, I'm playing there Thursday through Sunday, two shows Friday, two shows Saturday. How does someone like me sell all those shows? The majority of those people got free tickets, not to see Damien Kilstein, who is filthy and talks about politics and depression and whatever, but to go see comedy. So they may think comedy is Larry, the cable guy. They may think comedy is Carrot Top. They may think comedy is, you know, Joe Rogan and stuff and cool.

But a lot of those people do not know what to expect. So I would do shows where people came to hear like relationship humor and I'd be like, Hey, the military industrial complex, but the comedy clubs don't care because they're making their money off of drinks that are double in prices because it's named after some dead fucking comedian. So it's, you know, $15 for a Jack and Coke and there's a two drink minimum.

So that's how they profit. So for us to build an audience, we have to like clown dance our way onto podcasts, the internet, blah, blah, blah. Whereas music, in my opinion, and maybe this is just grass is greener shit, but in my opinion, music, it's like when someone becomes a fan of the band, they're a fan of the fucking band. They don't need you. They'll buy your album when you put out the album. They'll try to talk to you on social media. And then they want to come to your live shows.

Hopefully they buy merch. Yeah. So basically you're just being, you're putting on a costume just so you could play these clubs and play for a crowd that doesn't know who you are in a sense. So why is that a healthy medium for comedy though it's not i mean well now it is because podcasts are building a very personal base as i'm sure you've discovered yeah that then people will come to see the comedy to the comedy clubs and the goal is you know first you

start having 20 of the audience is a fan of yours and then other people you're trying to win over maybe the people you went over go to the podcast then they become fans and you know then hopefully next time you come to the club it's 50 50 and then you're getting to the point where you're selling out and it's just your fans and then you're getting the fuck out of comedy clubs and you're doing theaters okay so it's just the same grind as as musicians because i had to work on finding venues who did the sunday shows where they did a two dollar you call it and it was a surprise band from on the road like i did that in arkansas for a bunch to build my fan base right but yeah but i feel like it'd be a catch 22 because if you don't reach the theaters a surprise band from on the road. I did that in Arkansas for a bunch to build my fan base.

But I feel like it'd be a catch-22 because if you don't reach the theaters and you're just doing the comedy circuit, I feel like it'd be hard to be creative or be expressive the way you want to be expressive, right? You're playing for the audience instead of playing for yourself. Yes. And so i was watching this uh man i was watching this rick rubin documentary on showtime have you seen that

oh yeah i saw the studio and shit it's incredible i'm like taking notes it's incredible and he talks about he essentially gives artists permission to be hated, which to me was so important because I, so I have this set on Conan. I did this comedy podcast yesterday and this guy goes, you have the most infamous set on Conan. It was groundbreaking, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, oh, it got me banned from the show and I lost my agents um but what it was was it was political but it was like this rant you can see me tapping my foot it was like very uh i mean it's my music roots essentially is what it was and i always was like fuck i have to define myself like am i a music guy or a comedy guy and can i combine the two or does that make me like a fucking prop comic

and blah, blah, blah. And over the last couple of days, I've been watching this Ruben documentary slash eating mushrooms. And I realized like, I can be whatever the fuck I want. Like when the Beastie Boys run DMC, when they were doing their thing, hip hop was fucking hated.

I just watched this interview with Jay-Z where one of the biggest hip-hop magazines had to go back in time to re-rate one of his albums to give it five stars. It's okay to be hated in the beginning because that probably means you're doing something different. And what Ruben said that stuck with me that I wrote down was he said, if you're making art that everybody likes, it's probably mediocre.

You want to be someone's favorite band and someone else's example of the music that they hate. And that to me was like fucking life changing. Because I'm always in my head and want everybody to like it because I have fucking dad issues and I'm codependent. Yeah. So it's, I feel like it puts less pressure on your brain to be perfect. Yes.

And then you start, you know, I was watching Rick Rubin talk to Kendrick Lamar and Kendrick was like, I just, I had to stop thinking about the audience. There's another line where Ruben says, he says, the audience is the least important person that you are factoring in when you are writing music. And it's so true, right? Like the jokes of mine that have hit the hardest are always the ones that I go, I shouldn't do this, or no one else is going to feel that way. And then the laughter is so much more cathartic for the audience because they were also thinking that they were the only ones that thought that way, or they were also thinking he shouldn't have said that or whatever. And so when you're just making the comedy that makes you laugh, it's going to reach

that audience. Albeit it might be a smaller audience, but they're fucking your audience and same with music. Just making the comedy that makes you laugh, it's going to reach that audience. Albeit it might be a smaller audience, but they're fucking your audience. And same with music. I mean, if you tried to write commercial jingles, it's like, eh, that's going to be a lot fucking rougher than writing the weird-ass, soulful music that you write. Yeah. So what is like, when you go into your spirals, your depression spirals, is it because you're overthinking your position in life? Yeah, I think that, you know, politically, I think one of our biggest problems nowadays is sort of this toxic tribalism.

We all have our sides. What's that? Toxic. It's essentially, if I'm a progressive, everybody I follow is progressive. I can't say anything that would offend the progressives and anyone who disagrees with me as a Nazi in short. Um,

and I think that people are forgetting how to talk to each other. And that's also happening with art, right? Like you're a jam band guy or you're a jazz guy. I mean, what was so beautiful about the jam band scene is it really was one of the ones that started to first mix. I was talking to, I did this Bernie Sanders gig a couple of years ago with O'Teal and Fishman. And I was, yeah,

it was in Brooklyn. Oh, sick. So what were you doing? What's that? Go on with your story. You did this thing for Bernie. Oh yeah.

And I got to do one of my rants before fucking Fishman. You know, I look, I snuck backstage on hallucinogenics to try to meet fish once. So like I had to play it. He heard my podcast, and it was insane. That's awesome. But I was picked.

All the punk rock guys used to give so much shit to the hippies, right? There was the great punk versus hippie war. But they actually have so much in common because they subverted the mainstream. They didn't care about being played on the radio and they built their own audience. You know, what's so beautiful about the jam band scene is that it takes from jazz and bluegrass and funk and soul and rock and it can combine all of those things. I think that's what we need more because anytime I talk to an agent or whatever, if I'm like, Hey, I want to do this music thing. They're like, all right, well, we got to get you to the music department. But then it's like, Oh, well, it's kind of funny.

Well, it's like, Oh, well then we got to get you to comedy. And you know, they're just putting you in a box before you could even get out your idea. Yeah. And that's been sort of the beautiful thing about quarantine is like, I don't have shows and I don't see my agents. And so I'm just gonna make the shit I've always wanted to make and I'll send it to them first.

And if they don't wanna do anything with it, I'm gonna fucking put it up online or put it on my Instagram and just do it that way and build my own audience, which was the original jam band ethos, the original punk rock ethos. I mean, I lived in LA for so long

that even when I was on Conan, like, yeah, fuck the establishment, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was this self-righteous asshole. I still wanted to be validated by the mainstream. I still wanted Netflix to come to me with a special. I still wanted to play the mainstream clubs. As much as you're cool with kind of being on the outside and building your own audience, which has always been my career, I think there's also a part of me that whether it's because I'm a high school dropout or I was a fucking

loser or because, you know, I don't know, I want my hot ex to see it. Like I still do want that mainstream shit, but quarantine and mindfulness and psychedelics is really making me remember that it's like, I just want to make the art that I like. Because when I started to get success is when I started to write towards that success instead of write what moved me. And then I crashed and burned. Yeah. So maybe that's what got you depressed was you have these two worlds where you want to be accepted by the sheep.

But you're trying to move your fucking how you are, which isn't normally accepted by the sheep. I go through these things too where I'm like, man, I want to be really big. I want to get past that hump. But then I realized like, well, I want to be really big. I want to get past that hump. But then I realized like, well, you can't talk about pussy. You can't be taking drugs on your live stream. You got to play ball if you really want to do that, right? But what does play ball mean, right? Does that mean strip you of the things that make you you, that brought you?

You know what I mean? It dilutes you. It's like sugar water. You put a little water in it. There's a difference between evolution and conformity. And what I mean by that is growing naturally is good. If I, for my whole career, did a whole set about drugs and alcohol, blah, blah, blah, in a weird way, one of the edgiest, coolest artistic things I could do was sober up and

get my party audience to laugh at that shit. But that's because I did it on my own. If I was told, But that's because I did it on my own. If I was told, hey, you want to host a late night show, you change your art to conform, it's going to just end up being a mediocre version of that anyway. And it's going to fail because it's not authentically you. The most important thing you can do as an artist is be authentic. So even if I was given the chance to take over for Jimmy Fallon, and I was like, okay, I won't curse, and I'll tussle Trump's hair, and I'll do it, I'll play games, I would be shitty at that. Because Jimmy Fallon's good at that, and I'm not. And I would be even worse at that because I would be doing it contemptively. You know what I mean? And people can just fucking see through that shit.

And they'll know that it's not me. What I'm saying, Andy, is you can never stop saying pussy. Thanks for being on the show. I'm here for you, bro. And yeah. Oh, pitch your podcast before we leave. Oh, Jesus Christ. Yeah.

So my podcast is Jamie Kilstein Podcast. You can go to jamiekilsteinpodcast.com for all the links or just look up Jamie Kilstein Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. The last three musicians we had are so wildly different. Styles P, the legendary rapper,

you, and then Clem Snide, who just, I don't know if you've heard that album. Is it sick? It's one of the most well-reviewed albums like that dropped this year you should check it out it's fucking beautiful but then like a ton of comedians you guys know and like self-help people you guys know and uh you know we're all just trying to get the same thing and then my Twitter's where I'm popular and verified. But fuck Twitter. It's just like a cesspool. My Instagram is where I'm going to start putting music.

And I'm making weird comedy sketches. And you guys can all follow me. It's at the Jamie Kilstein. Well, fuck yeah, Jamie. Thanks so much for being on the show. And you're a fucking legend. Me jerking you off. This is me jerking you off.

Howard Stern style. Yeah, baby. Yes, yesking you off Howard Stern style With consent I love you brother Have a good one bro Alright There you have it Thanks Jamie for being part of the show Thanks Keller

Fascinating episode It's a little long this episode But a lot of information I think you'll like With that being said I love you Be safe. With that being said, I love you. Be safe. I'll see you next week. We got a fucking big old lineup now. I got the fucking

FaceTime rocking. We're having conversations. Podcasts going around. Shit show. Every Thursday, we got Al from Mo, Raina from Ghost Light, Brendan Bayless from fucking Umphreys on the show. We got some funny videos made by my buddy Danny and I.

And we got some music with me and Sean. So thanks for coming out to shit show. Thanks for donating all the money to Backline. Y'all this shit. Well, be safe. I'll leave it at this. It's week five or week six of this crazy shit. Maybe some people are about to get off this thing.

Some people are going to do it for another month or two. So stay strong. Keep your mind right. Don't worry if you have anxiety because this is new to everybody. Everyone is feeling this way. So don't be scared to talk to your friends. Don't be scared to talk to people that inspire you. Take out all the bullshit, all the guys and the people out there that are just fucking you up.

Don't listen to them right now. When you go back in the real world, then be nice and say, hey, what up? But fuck it right now is you. So focus on you and wear condoms, baby boomers. Seriously, we're going to be baby boomers if we start fucking and coming and everything. So be careful of that. All right, guys. I love you. I'll see you next week. I'll see you Thursday. Buy the new record.

Keep on keeping on. And Arno, give me something nice and sweet, baby. You tuned in to the third season of Cackling Conversations at Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast. Thank you for listening to episode 82, produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angelou and Chris Lawrence. Please subscribe, rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For info on the show, please head to our Instagram at worldsavingpodcast.

For more info on the blog and tour dates, head to andyfresco.com. The new album, Keep On Keepin' On, it's out. Check it out online, familiarize yourself with the lyrics so you can all sing along next season. In the meantime, keep on keeping on, y'all. This week's guest is singer-songwriter Keller Williams.

Find him on kellerwilliams.net. And this week's co-host is Jamie Kilstein. Listen to his daily podcast from Misfits at jamiekilsteinpodcast.com. There's a song by Woody Guthrie, sang by Bryce Springsteen. And our special guests this week are Ari Findling, Dolof Cohen, and Bruno Bacher.

Today we celebrate our king's birthday. The Netherlands, yes, we have a king. A somewhat archaic leftover from the Middle Ages. But to me it's a nice reminder how from the 13th century onwards we managed to checkmate our king by becoming wealthy ourselves. Our capitalism provided the money for an independent voice, how the kings had to pretty please the cities for some

spending money, and how in the end the individual burger yes this word also means citizen these burgers allowed the king to cut ribbons and provided the hand to feed him. The burghers became kings in their own world. Burger kings, yes, or so they thought. Now they find themselves under siege from the self-crowned king called Corona. Tune in next week for Starvation, the second episode of the continuing saga.