Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 92: Eric "Benny" Bloom (Lettuce)

Episode Date: July 21, 2020

Andy welcomes us back to the show this week with updates and general encouragements to drink more water and eat six things of fruit. And on the interview hour we welcome another member of the legendary Lettuce crew, Eric "Benny" Bloom! This dude is awesome (don't skip this one y'all). Shawn and Andee recount the tale of Raw Dog and we close out with our buddy, Evan from 14er to talk about some good medicine. This is EP 92 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  Check out www.ericbennybloom.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Ahri Findling Andee Avila Shawn Eckels  Arno Bakker 

Hey Andy, my name is Mike Evans. I work for Scooter Braun. We handle representation for Justin Bieber. We got your email. Justin would love to do the podcast. I do have a couple of stipulations we send out to everybody he does an interview with, and if you agree to them and sign the NDA, we should have no problem. So let me just go through them here. You can't look Justin in the eyes. No questions about any of his tattoos and what they mean. He recently stopped wearing deodorant for medical conditions, so no questions about how he smells. No questions about Haley or any member of the Baldwin family.

No questions about Scooter Braun. Nothing about his sex scandal, drug scandal, or arrest record. No questions about World War II or Donald Trump or horses. He has said everything he needs to on the point. Also, he only sits in hammocks, so make sure you have one hanging from the ceiling for the podcast. And when you greet him, no handshakes or hand pounds. Justin only does chest bumps

and Japanese bows. Okay, that's it. Let me know if you have any questions. He is in LA next week, so let me know if you can meet him. Thanks so much. Give me a call back. All right. And we're back.

Andy Frasco's world-saving podcast. I'm Andy Frasco. How's our heads? How's our minds? Are we taking care of ourselves? Are we drinking enough water? If we're taking drugs, are we substituting them at least with some

vegetables? A couple vegetables. If you're going to take fucking go out for the weekend, you know, every time you go out, you should at least have like six things of fruit or whatever. I don't know. I don't even follow that rule. I should. Because every time I fucking start partying, you know, I feel like shit follow that rule. I should. Cause every time I fucking start partying,

um, you know, I feel like shit the next day. Yeah. Is anyone else like that? Or is it just getting older like that? Like when you, I never used to have hangovers. Now I have one good bender and I'm, you know, start having existential crises. Like, like I'm having nightmares during the day. So just drink water, take care of yourselves. Life is short and we don't want our mind to run shit when our dopamine level is all fucked up from having a great fucking night. So there's my PSA for the day. But everyone doing good?

I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good this week. Had a great work, productive work day. Interviewed some great people. Getting the shit show rocking. It's amazing when you take a couple days off. I took a week off last week and now I'm just like, it's always like the week after you take a week off. It's kind of like, oh fuck, still on vacation mode.

Then that next week, you're fucking shit up. So I'm pumped up and doing good. Got one more week of the dance party, which I'm kind of sad about. Maybe they'll re-up my contract. I just got a lot of things brewing. The band, I started writing songs with Anders Osborn uh, that was because of the podcast, which is fucking awesome. Um, and just, you know, trying to enjoy life, you know, it's like we, we get stuck when we get nervous. I don't know about you guys. When you, when I get nervous or have anxiety, I just start working, just work a lot and stay distracted. And I finally said, you know what? I'm going to focus in. I'm not going to, you know, anxiety work. I'm going to find out what my feelings are and why I'm having anxiety and not question it and let it run its course and move on.

Because, you know, anxiety is not forever. It comes and goes in waves like life. You know, it's like the same philosophy is if you're having a bad day, you think every day is going to be a bad day. But if you look on the bright side, maybe tomorrow will be a fucking kick-ass day. I want everyone to have a kick-ass day. I know with this quarantine, everyone's going back on lockdown. Denver, thankfully, isn't yet, but it's a mandatory mask, so we're going to be rocking masks for the whole summer. It's going to be the summer of the mask and whatnot, but it's crazy. We're back in our houses again.

We didn't follow the rules, and now we're grounded. America is fucking grounded. Everyone else, all the little European kitties are out in the festivals, flocking, flocking the roads. I see all my, my European homies and they're out like fucking, you know, having barbecues with their fucking shirt off and like shit is sweet, but America it's not happening. So we just got to be a little more cautious and a little more focused. You know, I even mean, I mean, I, I put on a mask whenever I'm outside of the house. If I'm going to a liquor store, if I'm going to the groceries, I rock my mask.

Think of masks like snowboarding outfits. I think girls in snowboarding outfits are fucking hot. I mean, it's sexy. I don't know why I think girls in snowboarding outfits are fucking hot. I mean, it's sexy. I don't know why I think that, but maybe we could do that same philosophy with the mask. Sparkle it up. Get your vibe in there. You want to put on some, I don't know, put on a fucking Grateful Dead, lightning bulb fucking mask and let's rock this shit because the sooner we do that, I think the sooner we'll have live music and the sooner we could get back to our previously scheduled program. But until then, we're here, guys. Thanks for listening to me. I got a podcast rocking. I got

the shit show. I'm just kicking ass. Thanks to everyone watching the shit show. People are really digging it. I appreciate that. Getting a lot of love. I'm setting up this three-day weekend in August. The band's flying in town, I'll tell you first because you guys are my family. But yeah, I'm setting up this three-day telethon. The band flies in. I realized the band has not played the whole new album live in its entirety. So we're going to do that. And we got Kyle Ayers hosting it. It's going to be a lot of fucking fun. I'm calling it the virtual pool party, maybe,

if you guys have any other ideas for what I should call it. Maybe the big weekend or the world-saving weekend. We'll figure it out, but I'm not announcing for another week and a half or two weeks. So if you have any marketing juices, help me flow with it. But it's's gonna be really cool really interactive like the dance party i got uh relics and every my producer on the dance party who's gonna be rocking with us all three days so it's gonna be a lot of interaction a lot

of calling people into the zoom for the shit show and and doing games with kyle ayers and his talk show like never seen it. And we're going to do a spelling bee, a virtual spelling bee, and we're going to do some fucking beer Olympics. We're just going to have a weekend, especially if we're going to be stuck here in August. Might as well make the best out of it

and fucking get it going. But enough about me. I'm pumped up. I'm just feeling good. I'm back in my house. I have an Airbnb in it. So last week I wasn't there and I felt like a crazy person. I think you need your space sometime. As I get older, I realize I need my space. I need somewhere to go. I can't just go

to someone's house because I'll be like a wild dog and fucking party. It was so out of character. I did ketamine, guys. I snorted ketamine in my nose. You know how I feel about the booger sugars. I can't rock that shit anymore. I'm getting too old. The anxiety hits. I'm like, fuck it.

I'll try this ketamine. Everyone talks about it. Denver is crazy with the ketamine. Everyone's on ketamine or cocaine out here. It's really tempting to do it all the time, but we don't. So that's good. So shout out to me for not doing it. But I was having a hard time last week

because I didn't have a place to go. When I'm with my friends, I don't know how you guys are, but when I'm with my friends or if I'm don't know if how you guys are, but when I'm with my friends or if I'm out at sleepover, I'm not turning off. I keep going until my body explodes. So having a house forces me to chill out. I watched some Brad Pitt movie, that full dozen age, like legit Benjamin Button. Like that Benjamin Button is a documentary about Brad Pitt. Um, I wish I could get that lucky.

Hopefully I will. Hopefully this Denver gives me that leather skin. So I look like just fucking leathered out and, uh, and when I get older, but who knows, you know, but that's it for that. Um, but we got a great show for you. Uh, this week we got Eric great show for you this week. We got Eric Benny Bloom from Lettuce. He's a badass.

He was super cool, super friendly. All in all, good guy. And I had a great conversation with him. Everyone says I should meet him because he's fucking, he's got a personality and he talks shit. And the episode was everything I wanted out of Benjamin. Or Eric. He likes to be called Benny, I wanted out of Benjamin. Or Eric. He likes to be called Benny, so I call him Benjamin. And then to close the show, we got Evan Anderson from Fourteener.

I've been smoking this Fourteener weed ever since I've been in Denver, and I really like it. It's really good, and it just feels clean. just, just feels clean. And, you know, I got, they got to show me this, their facilities and stuff, and it was just a bad-ass situation. So I got him on the show to talk about a little bit about the weed business. So he's going to be on the tail end and how they're adjusting through COVID when, you know, you know, weed shops, you don't think, but weed shops are doing pretty good. But it's that face-to-face interaction when you're talking about, you know, the weed you sell, especially if you're growing the own genetics. I mean, so like adjusting through COVID through showing people what type of, you know, greens and turbines and yada yada.

It just, it takes a lot more when it's digital. So shout out to Evan. I had a great talk with him. And Benny too. Benny is in the wine business in Denver. So this is kind of like musicians and their hobbies and what they love to do. And, you know, weed and wine go perfectly. So I thought this would be a good episode to put them both together.

So ladies and gentlemen, before we get out of here, because Evan and I talked for a bit, I'll close out here for the show. Stay safe. Fuck the haters. It's okay to say no to things. Wear condoms and try to be happy, not for anyone else, but yourself sometimes. We always think about others, but have you thought about yourself? Do I have to put on the fucking Rocky music? God damn it. Have you thought about yourself? Think about yourself. Think about what you love. And we're going to get through this. I swear, guys, summer, it's stay at home summer, but we're going to get through this. I swear, guys. Summer, it's stay-at-home summer. But we're going to fight this fucking dilemma together.

All right, guys. I love you. And I will catch you soon. Love you. All right. Next up on the interview hour, we have Eric Benny Bloom, Grammy-nominated lettuce. Hey, Chris, play some lettuce while I pimp out Benny. Benny's fucking hilarious.

I've always knew Benny was a character. And to get to know his life a little bit, fascinating story. He's been everywhere. He's a traveling man. He lives in New Orleans. Now he lives in Denver. He started a wine company. This episode is, as you'll see, is going to talk about musicians and their other things that they're doing during COVID and stuff. And he's just a good guy. And I knew we'd get along and he's, I think he's going to be part of the, part of the team. So ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for my guy, Eric Benny Blow from Liz. ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത� សូវាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប� Danny motherfucking Bloom.

Swearing already. Watch your language. I have children that might listen to this. What's up, buddy? You know, a lot, actually. What's going on in your life? You know, just really doing it, you know, just really enjoying this downtime that has presented itself in the coronavirus era. Yeah, I feel like it's like we're pivoting into a different era of what it is to be a performer

and what it is to be a musician, right? Yeah, or just a human, you know? Yeah, it's kind of screwy. A lot of people are taking it good and bad. I own a wine company. Let's go right into into it let's go right into the meat of the to the must of the situation must acquit so yeah i own a wine company and uh i get to focus on that you know because i tour a lot as a musician and i have people that kind of work for me and also help run the company with me, but being the guy's name, my name is on the company, so when I'm here, it's better.

It's a better business. It's a natural wine company, and when I'm not here, it's not as good. So being here, I could focus on it, and I don't make any money musician anymore. Low-bred gigs, like I'm 23 again, which is fine. I don't look like I'm 23. I play better. You look like you're 23. Except for my gut. Come check this gut out, ladies.

Yeah, dude. It's a cute gut. Holler at that Benny gut. Benny gut. So yeah, it's I love playing music. Of course, I'm playing music since I was like, you know, 11. Where'd you grow up? I grew up in Bristol, Rhode Island. I'm an East Coast prick.

How did Lettuce and everyone meet? I'm not an original member. Nigel's younger than me by a couple months. They started back in 93 or some shit, or even 91, some crazy time. They all met at summer camp. They went to Berkeley five-week summer camp, which is a music summer camp in Boston when they were in high school. And then they all went to college, essentially,

all went to college together and started a hang, a group. And they started playing. Then they started playing gigs. And that's kind of when Let It Started. And then years and years later, like in 2011, they didn't have a – they only had – they were sean rossi's to play trump but with some new plays of dave matthews and then they he left the group for dave matthews and then he kind of went through a couple different people christian scott maurice uh

gabe mervine played a couple things and then they heard me of course you know what are you gonna do when you hear benny bloom you know i played a gig So Live, and I didn't play one solo until the end. And they all, and I started like, do you want a solo? I'm like, yeah, I think I can do it. I think a solo. Were you confident then that you were going to get the gig? Yeah, because I love So Live.

I love Lettuce. For years, I always wanted to play with them, and then I finally got the call to play with them. I was like, all right, good luck, guys guys because once you hear me it's it and it's true they literally all look back at me and i was like what what's going on they were like they were into it yeah and after the gig like you got the gig you're in the band you're literally in the band like what are you doing in three days we have a lettuce gig i'm like all right and i did that gig and then same same kind of thing i got the gig because you know right place right time i was kind of cool not as cool as the boys they're really cool and i know the music and i'm i'm funky enough ish and i have good sensibilities

musical sensibilities to just read musical situations i think i've been working on for years so where'd you go to school i went to to five colleges. Why? Just because I never graduated. I just wanted to change the scene, man. No, I went to school. William Patterson, a really great, lack of a better term, like swinging, black music, jazz music, kind of really focusing on that old term, but jazz music. And then I quit that.

I quit college. I went back up to Rhode Island. I went to community college for like six months. Then I quit that I quit college I went back up to Rhode Island I went to community college for like six months then I quit that obviously and I went to New England Conservatory very famous music school in Boston across the street from Symphony Hall and Berkeley and I did that for two years and I used to do a lot of cruise ships I'd go to carnival cruise ships and then I want to talk to you about that yeah I have a lot of stories you picked picked the right guy. And then I did college, and then I quit that. Then I was on cruise ships. Then I got married and moved to New York City.

And then I went to City College up in Harlem. And then I quit that, moved back to Rhode Island, went to school at Rhode Island College for education, tried to be a music teacher, moved to Australia with my wife at the time. And then I got into a pop band, quit school, did David Letterman, all these things. Hold on. So do you have a commitment issue?

Look at this. We're getting real, huh? I'm looking at the little thing. I see Muppet Porn right here. Let's change the subject. No, I mean, yeah. I'm a trumpet player. I don't like to hold notes for too long.

I'm ready to move. Yeah. I mean, that's the move. I think that's why I fell in love with the road and fell in love because I was afraid of committing to something. I mean, it's like, look at trumpet. I'm a freelance. What you do, you're the last guy called.

So, the horn player. I'm always down for change as musicians. I think it's also built in us. But yes, a lot of change and uh you're just never solid with the gig so i'm i'm cool with that concept and with college it's like you don't need a degree to play music now if you want to teach in an actual school and be accredited you have to have a real degree and i was like i don't want to fucking teach i want to

play and learn so that's just like you learn a lot from the students your boys and your girls you're hanging out with your people listen to the people practice and like yo i gotta get over here come over here my friend graduates he moves to la plays a britney spears like yo and i need to trump it on a track it's like that's how you get gigs it's not like teachers but then the teachers are like yo you're really you're way better than all these other younger dudes do you i have i need a sub on this jet on this gig in two weeks it's like that's what school is for is connection not really the piece of paper so in a sense i did it right i met so many thousands of people in the long run of cruise ships and different gigs and colleges i've met so many

people that are now like for lack of a better you know term famous and i have a lot of favors i can call on so so school is i looked at it like that so yeah as a commitment issue but i like to travel i like to i like to move around so i don't look at it as like i don't like to commit i just like to experience a lot of different things yeah it's also like you know the burden of having six years of tuition that debt you know that's expensive right yeah and music schools yeah i started with like you know my parents paid them they have that we have no money we're not rich they paid for the first year or two it was like it was cheap school it's like 14 not even 40 yards like it's like yeah 11 grand even the conservators well no that one but then i

started then i was good enough i couldn't get music scholarship for the first one because it was a state school. So I failed all my shit in high school. I was like a C, B minus average. You know, like we want to give you a full scholarship for music, but you can't because your grades are shitty. So therefore, every other school I went after, I got essentially full scholarship. So I don't have a lot of school loans, only the beginning. So that's why I moved around.

It was like free. Yeah. So it was free. Yeah. That's why I did it. I was like free. Yeah. So it was free. Yeah. That's why I did it. I wouldn't have accepted 100 grand in debt. Yeah, it's crazy. Especially think about how much, you know, the first 10 years, you're not really making

any money as a musician unless you get lucky, right? Well, I'm a different musician. That's the thing. You know, you're like a leader. You have your own band. And maybe you always didn't, of course. But as a trumpet player like i play weddings so i've been playing weddings since i was like 19 18 playing jersey wedding bands and

martha's vineyard all of florida donald trump's house joe biden donald trump i played donald trump's house every new year's for the american heart association ball with like the palm beach symphony esteban opened for us. Shut the fuck up. I was in a green room eating food with Esteban. So any crazy stories over there? Yeah, crazy stories. I danced with Sarah Jessica Parker. I played Joe

Biden's kids' weddings, both of them at his house. So is that where you learned your gift to Gab? Were you like the front man of that thing? No wasn't i was they were all like i just i'm just like this i just watching eddie murphy yeah you know being this all the kind of shit that we do just comedic i like comedy i think you you do too so but no i don't it wasn't any specific thing i just i just did a lot of different things so i was earning money and i and as a trumpet player i'm not you're not going to get calls unless you make a gig

You're not waiting for people to call you You call them and you make a show Same for me I'd always have a swingy jazz band Kind of vibe Then I'd have a little funk thing Then I'd do a Sunday brunch Then I'd have a wedding

And I would have all these things And still now That's just the only way to get musical calls Is to make your own band and like get a restaurant to hire you. Get a small club. That's it. That's why I've been working for a long time. So that's why I quit school a lot, too. I was gigging two nights a week in college and these dudes are just like smoking weed and drinking in the dorm room on Friday and listening to music, which is cool.

But you could do that Monday through Thursday. Can we talk about your family? Where'd you get the work ethic from? Sure. Work ethic. Wow. I don't know about that. I mean, you're gigging. You figure it. You figured out how to make a living doing your thing.

You had to get that work ethic from somewhere. Yeah, I guess my dad. My parents, they're super blue collar. And my dad was a grocery manager at a small kind of whole food store before it was whole foods kind of shit for a long time. He's just, you know,

six to five every day. You know, built the deck kind of guy. Yeah. Jewish, hilarious. Just a normal ass dude. And my mom, she was like a secretary forever. Used to also work at the grocery store like nothing nothing big just simple people she didn't really grow up

with money no i had no money my parents put it all in their house they bought my grandparents i'm portuguese and i'm russian so my portuguese grandparents had a lot of land in this one area of the town not a lot of land law but they gave my parents a plot and then they built like it's back in the 80s a two hundred thousand dollar house and then they paid for it and that was kind of it that's great that's all the money we had i didn't have any dope clothes or i had to like rent a trumpet and like you know i was gigging i was starting to make money and my parents my dad would bring me everywhere he'd bring me to jam sessions when i was 15 and 16 throughout high school.

He'd bring me to all the late clubs. I'd sit in with all the professionals and everywhere. My dad would drive me everywhere just to play music because he went to live vicariously through me because he wasn't that. So he knew at a young age that you had something special. Yeah, he knew I was going to be something. Yeah. Whatever that is. Well, that's pretty fascinating because then he kind of is your muse in a way

yeah my dad was he used to listen no you when you're a kid you listen to radio my dad on the radio i'm like oldies in motown and do-op experts my dad he knows every song who wrote him who was in the band what year he's like crazy like an audiophile so i kind of got that from him and he sings a little bit not professionally in any way but just you know learning black music and and and do-op and all this shit so it's really cool my dad was very instrumental that and then my older brother who's like four years older than me was uh always down to listen to like your early hip-hop fooshnickens and fucking farside black sheep all the dope shit and then he also loved frank sinatra fucking uh bob marley like i got into a lot of good music because the people around me Farside, Black Sheep, all the dope shit. And then you also love Frank Sinatra,

fucking Bob Marley. I got into a lot of good music because of the people around me. That's really what got my musical tastes. What was the proudest moment you think your dad saw of you at first as a musician? He's got a lot. I played Carnegie Hall when I was 17. Shut the fuck

up. I did it too. I was in a choir though. You did it? I was in a jazz band. I. Shut the fuck up. I did it too. I was in a choir, though. You did it? A choir? I was in a jazz band. I was in the All Eastern. When you make Allstate every year, if you make number one, you have a chance to go with the All Eastern Seaboard. And I did All Eastern at Carnegie Hall.

That was a big one for my dad. I guess him seeing me at the Grammys was a big moment, but I lost. Yeah, but still getting nominated was pretty special. Yeah. What was that like, though, being a funk band, being a jam? I mean, to be with your brothers to make music and then get nominated for that, that is obviously, it's beautiful. You can't really, there's no words for that.

It's really beautiful. And have all the people around you there that you love watching. So it's great. They put you in the back of the well you could sit where you want i'm no actually no there are seats but in this two grammys is a daytime grammys and there's the nighttime gram for all the famous people yeah so the daytime shit still red carpet and all this shit but you know it's like the jazz stuff the like the world music it's not like fucking the lady gaga's yeah so then if you want you can come back at four

o'clock five o'clock for the second thing but we i lost we lost so i was like fuck this and i went to the hotel bar got drunk i wanted to have a really good story fell asleep at like seven woke up at 10 went to a wine bar by myself like candlelight and the wine was kind of it's kind of what you went into so you went into it. Did you thought you were going to win? I had a really good chance. And I knew. I went to college. A guy gave my first email.

Mark Giuliano. He was in my suite mate. He was nominated for the same category. Christian Scott, one of the best drum players in the world who played with Letta for a quick time was also one of the five people in the category. Then there was us. Then there was this random duo, Rodrigo Gabriela

who has been... It's essentially in the Grammys was us then there's a random duo rodrigo gabriella who has been it's essentially in the grammys you have to get nominated a shit ton and then you'll win like the christian has been nominated four times rodrigo seven times so they won so it's like you know play the game yeah you'll win all politics so i think maybe this year with this album the next one we just put out we'll probably get nominated again what was the category it's like instrumental some shit instrumental jazz i don't know it's stupid um but it was cool you know and i won a grammy me and zoidus and nigel we won a grammy for being on john cleary's album john clear the great new orleans pianist i have a grammy but not but it's also being a side man on music I didn't write. I get to toss around

the stupid term, but to have it with lettuce is obviously a much bigger and a real thing. Is that one of the most important things to you to get something like that? No, totally not. I totally use it to be a jerk-off. I totally be like,

I do all the time. I'm like, hey, everybody, thanks for coming out. I have the random drummer, Alejandro. Put your hands together or don't. And me, Grammy-winning award musician, Benny Bloom. I just want to lead with that. I want to leave you with that, people. I just...

I really use it. Every promotional thing is like, Grammy-nominated Benny fucking Bloom. Yeah, I just do it to be a full dick because it obviously doesn't matter i'm still a douchebag i'm still not that good it's really it's really great are you hard on yourself yeah i mean for a joke i know i'm dope it's great but like what are you hard on yourself about i mean i just don't do shit yeah i mean i do obviously i own a company i'm always emailing i'm doing things like

i don't practice much anymore, and I should. I'd be really good. Yeah. But I've also been doing this since I was 11. Yeah. I'm 39, so 28 years. Are you burnt out? I'm not, but yeah.

I mean, especially with the corona shit, it's like, so you're going to practice for eight hours a day, and you're going to write all this music, and there's a lot of white noise out there. And it's like, people don't, right with the climate know the black american plight and uh just so much shit it's like do people really want to hear my instrumental or vocal music they really really care i'm a little dark on that like there's a lot of dope music out there and i'm gonna kill myself and we don't make money off it putting it out so you're gonna spend all your time all your energy and your own personal money generally and put all this music out for kind of what so people kind of it's like it's the dj dj add error i'm not like angry about it but i right now my focus is on a

company that i can maybe actually make a good amount of money with and it's a great thing and i really love it and i've been doing music straight for fucking 28 years. So nothing wrong with like chilling on music and stuff. I still have a band. I'm still on Lettuce. I still do my own things, but I'm not sitting home. So yeah, I just wish I put a little more effort in my music, but there's only so much time in a day. And the more effort I put into my wine company,

the better it is and it's really starting to do very well. And that's crazy to me that I can have a career in music and then also own another company yeah and it's the art of the recharge yeah you know we need everyone needs a recharge especially when you're grinding for so long doing something kind of like a relationship you ever had a relationship i've had a couple what uh how how'd you do on those here we go handy for any fresco podcast. World saving. World saving. I don't really know you. I want to get to know you.

I like this. With everyone else listening as well. I've had a lot of, you know, I've seen a couple ladies in my life. Yeah, I was married. I'm divorced. Had a long relationship with a girl. I live in New Orleans. That didn't end well. I mean, you know you know yeah I'm a nice guy I'm not like

a crazy philandering asshole definitely you know whatever I don't want to get too deep with my personal side but yeah I I definitely you know I've been in some relationships and they've been great

I'm best friends with all my people I'm generally very cool with every ex i've ever had and uh yeah i mean i want to spend more time on myself after being divorced and you know i almost moved to australia with my ex and she's the best he's my best friend she's australian and i almost moved there. And my last, you know, girlfriend I almost married. You know, it's like, it's just wherever you go, there you are. You know, that's my favorite saying. It's like, there's a lot of things I need to work on myself. I don't want to waste anyone's time. I want to get myself a little bit more together.

I'd love to get this company in a great place. But yeah, I guess I don't have commitment issues. I just think things kind of work themselves out. Yeah. And then you're not in the same place. But it's never like an issue of craziness and just, you know. You don't seem like a guy who forces anything either. No.

If it works, it works. You know, I'm not saying I have never cheated in my life. I'm not getting serious, which is not a good thing. And I'm not like that. But there's been a time or two where you've done dumb shit. And that will ruin things right there because you've got to be honest. Essentially, in relationships, you have to be honest. And if you're not honest with yourself or your partner,

it's like you're doing a disservice to everyone involved. So generally, I don't have those issues. But the last one ended like that. I take a lot of blame for that. And, uh, but yeah, so everything's cool.

It just right now it's a lot of beautiful women out there and they don't need me in their life. Fucking it up. Like, like, uh, we'll work it out at some point, but you heard it from the source.

Benny's single. Let's get, let's get, let's get the world saving ladies out there to get, to get Benny some love. Save this boy. What did you learn about yourself through, uh, as Benny, theny the lover i mean we just do all the relationships just just being honest you know i'm you know i've been house trained by my ex-wife and my last girlfriend

of five years so like you know i cook i clean i do errands you need me to take your shoes that you that you ordered and they don't fit from the internet i'll take them back to the post office when you're at work. Don't even worry about it. I'm that guy. So you're that guy. Take the dog out. Are you that way with your bands, too, and your friendships? Yeah, I take care of everybody.

I love to. I love... If you didn't clean this shit up, then tomorrow morning, the crew's going to see the fucking mess you made. Or, you know, fucking one of my guys in the band, I call him Pig Ben. You know who you are. So, yeah, I love to clean. I love to clean. I love to make sure shit's dope.

I love to give people wine. I love to make sure people are eating right. I love to talk about music. If you need something, you need a ride. I love the best time my parents are. They love taking care of people and not needing it in return. Yeah, it seems like you give a lot. Do you save anything for yourself?

I don't know. Good questions. Good questions over here. Someone's done a couple of these. I, you know, I, yeah, that's why I'm trying to get this wine company going because I feel like the music and everything has given me so much. The music's given me a lot of friends and life and just everything. And I'd love to chill more.

I mean, I don't even know. I feel like I don't think about myself enough. But, I mean, what do i need you know like it's just i'm good i guess i mean like what do you what do we close your eyes what do you need benny i'm doing i'm closing my eyes i'm looking i'm thinking of a beach i'm thinking of a typewriter i'm thinking of a pina colada I really was so maybe you just need a vacation I think you know I think I do I love traveling and it sounds like

I sound like I'm an 18 year old I like to travel travel with me take me this is so I'm sorry I'm sorry valley people with me. Take me. This is so, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Valley people. I grew up in the Valley. Yeah, that's why I wanted to really throw that at you. No, I love,

you know, I love, you know, like Japan's my favorite country. Love Japan. I want to go to Japan more. I want to go to like, I love, Italy sounds cheesy. Italy, you know, now that I'm a town wine boy, I can like, I know the winemakers. I know, that i'm a town wine boy i can like i know the winemakers i know like i can like go to their house and play music that's what i want to do yeah let's do small tours with like a quartet you hire in different countries like a spanish cats

you know yeah and then you like go to like my five or six wineries and you stay in their beautiful places and then you go to the next country and do like mini tours yeah and really getting to know families old school eat food go to the beaches along the way go check out some stuff i've been camping a lot since i'm a colorado boy i'm really liking the slow down and i like in colorado i love it it's beautiful because i'm you know there's a lot of fucking ragers out here chill yeah uh there are dude i've never seen so much fucking cocaine in the city I'm trying my best I'm trying my best too It's not easy

You heard it here But you know it's great Because you can be healthy You can if you're a fucking human And you can get it together I go to Aspen and I'll sell wine there And I'll go to Vail And on the way I camp by myself

I got all the gear and I'll sell wine there and I'll go to Vail. And on the way, I camp by myself at Disperse Camping. I got all the gear. So I'm like camping Benny, mountain man Ben. Fucking amazing, Benny. It's great. I got a computer. I have a big double charger. I can charge it all night.

I can do emails. I can stargaze. I take a little mushrooms. I'm hanging out. I cook. It's really awesome. So is there an art to selling wine? Yeah. What is it? Before awesome, you know. So is there an art to selling wine? Yeah.

What is it? Before we talk about that. Sure. What makes you fall in love with wine? What is it about wine that made you stop and have a recharge? Quickly, you know, we all drink wine. It's great. It's amazing.

Get you drunk, blah, blah, blah. But Zoytis, Ryan Zoytyan zoidus from lettuce my partner of the company as well brought me i was my last pretty light show in new orleans and he brought me a fucking unbelievable natural wine with no sulfites fully organic it's like you know i i don't it's like liquid drugs it makes you feel so high and it's it's just a different feeling you don't get from other types of alcohol or just anything. It's like when you're on mushrooms without any of the visuals. The energy you get. The goo.

Yeah. It's like that. When you have a real glass and a half, two glasses of stuff. It's not super expensive. And he gave it to me right before I walked on stage. And I felt great. And I played my ass off. I was connecting in another way I haven't.

Yeah. It's fucking beautiful. I played my ass off. I was connecting in another way I haven't. Yeah, it's fucking beautiful. But it's also like, as a seller, you basically know the story of the vineyard, right? And you're basically selling a uniqueness, right? It's an experience in a relationship.

You're like, this particular fucking, you know, Mencia grape from the north of Spain, done by the same family for three generations, and now they change all their vineyards to organic. They have a horse that plows the land. It's like all of these actual things. You can see it. You can see the land. That's what they do. They in it. Farmer

wine. It's not a bunch of white dudes in fucking suits that are drinking Bonotero or Naomi. Opus 1. Opus 1 that they would not hang out with you if they met you. They're not trying to hang with you. These farmers would be having a fucking dinner and the wine is more real and better for the land and better for you. But you're trying to because you're fucking lazy. You want to drink a bagged slap wine or you don't have any money.

And you like, you know, it's just like there's a disconnect in what we're drinking. We're drinking these products made by a bunch of white people that are fucking rich and just raping the land and now raping you uh your at least your wallet and your body uh in a health term not in a sexual term and it's just a shitty thing and that's what i want to do when you when you have these wines you feel better and i want to keep doing that i don't want to drink a lot of wine i want to drink better wine yeah and not more expensive so when you sell wine you have to know who you're talking to if you're going to aspen you have to get a natural awesome version of a fucking basic karen chardonnay for that you want to get a better version if i'm here in denver i can do all these cool crazy sparkling orange wines that look different there's like a whole

you have to know who your customer is and i think we all love sour beer we all love kombucha we love all these things this is alcohol it's just it's just fermented alcohol now it's not even like that's wine this is this it's just it's booze and it's organic and it's good it's good for you you know right relatively speaking so it's kind of what's the difference i mean salkins on this organic thing brooks on this organic thing brooks part of the company i know yeah that's it's just what's it what it's just like we eat organic. Well, no, just saying, you eat organic when you can, generally.

Yeah, yeah. And so why are we drinking schwag? Why would we go, we all take supplements, looking over there, you see vitamin D, it's got all the good shit in the house, and then everyone's drinking

fucking like Jack Daniels. Yeah. It's like, you know, that's where you get the smaller, smaller is better, local is better, organic is a better thing.

And then there's like, because you can have organic grapes, but then when you go after that, you take the grapes off the fucking vine, you put them in your cellar, you can do anything you want. They don't have to tell you. You can add coloring. A lot of times they add sugar. They add extra alcohol if it's too low in alcohol. They can add tannins.

So it's like, oh, nice tannins or it's very jammy and fruity. They can add things to do that. They use fake yeast, inoculated factory yeast instead of airborne yeast that's big for sour beers. It's like a lot of things that make natural wine.

And it's like just the whole process from the fucking vineyard. It's hands off. You want your shit hands off. You grow it, take it, and put it in your thing.

It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. And now, your Planned Parenthood moment of the week. If you ignore what he's saying, then he realizes your word's final. I'm already done. You don't have to push my backpack

he has learned to communicate through whining what does isabel only have them when you want i want my hot dog from yesterday they gave one to obama oh dear let's just stop it for a moment so i have to drive anyone bonkers he He has learnt to communicate through whining. I am the most fabulous whiner. And I'm not happy. And I'm a whiner and I keep whining and whining. He needs to be set a very good example of how to be able to use his normal voice to communicate. Don't take responsibility at all.

As soon as they see a grown adult behaving how they do, it becomes a comedy show. What does it sound like when he whines? Look at the way I've been treated lately. No politician in history has been treated worse. One more on show. I want a drink. I want my boss. Exactly.

Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. People have this idea that natural organic wines are more expensive. Because they're less, smaller production, hard to find. And yes, they've been more expensive. My company, I try to find, work with wineries that have things that are fucking $16 on the shelf all the way to like $60. I don't have any $100 wines. I'd like to find them, but I can get

them, but then we can't buy them. I can't afford no $100 wine on the regular. I can afford a $21 bottle though a couple times a week. That's still some money. But booze is $30. There you go. And it's better for you. No hangover. You drink a little water, have a cracker, you'll never know you drank, for real.

Have one bottle between, you know, even yourself. If you don't chug the whole thing, you'll be fine, you know? So that's kind of where I'm at. I like to use better things, and it's not as expensive, you know? Did you get into this love in New Orleans? Like, tell me about your life in New Orleans. Like, food and stuff. I saw your videos. You were cooking

and shit with your girl. Cooking with Benny. I was vegan Benny for a long time. Five years. Straight vegan. What? Yeah, I was vegan. You never know about fat Ben by the gun. So that's another rumor. You can still get fat when you're vegan? No, I'm not fat.

Skinny Ben back in the day. Yeah just became vegan i was this time i wanted i got divorced there's a switch i joined lettuce i became vegan and joined pretty lights it was pretty dope a lot of stuff that was a big party and it was pretty good it was rage band in new orleans too i moved one year after all of that happened then i drove down nigel hall will live there and i moved and i met everybody and i'm a trumpet player and i know about lettuce lettuce the great band and luckily it helped me get move into a place having people know me and i'm a trumpet player new orleans trumpet town yeah and so i come in and i know new orleans music very well i came up on louis armstrong i came up on nicholas payton a lot of Wynton Marsalis, all of these famous New Orleanian people. So I decided to move down there and it was a perfect fit.

Like I know the brass band music. I knew Galactic. I knew Dumpster Funk. And I just get to roll in and they let me sit in. I got a pass from a lot of people I shouldn't have got a pass from yet. And so it really opened doors for me. And then, of course, I drank wine and everything. But then I started getting the natural wine by touring and soy dust and all this shit and then you know i start going around i said gold and then i was still vegan but and i really was it's

you can eat very vegan and clean in new orleans you don't have to just eat fucking cream sauce and beignets and fucking po boys so i did a lot of that and um the food culture in new orleans amazing it's amazing it's it's one of the last american stands of real culture talk about that you know it's just uh you know it's a black city i mean there's a lot of white people it's it's but it's a very black american city and it's there's a big culture you know they like to cook they love to you know the music and the african um connection is strong still so they love music they love dancing they love all of these parts of the culture that they try to keep together before the white people take it all and uh even though the white people at least

at least like we care, because a lot of people are white and from New Orleans for many generations, and it's a culture. It is obviously still a lot of racism down there, but compared to most cities, there's a lot of white people that really love the black culture

and really immerse themselves in it. We're up here, it's a little more separated and tough to find. It's regulated to just food and barbecues or something like that. Now here it's a little more separated and tough to find it's like regulated to just like food and like barbecues or something like that now i'm being you know a little i'm not speaking correctly but down in new orleans it's more on the street you have a lot of tradition the mardi gras indian tradition the music is so deep from bounce music to fucking old school you know swing it's all black black music you have the original congo square where the slaves

were allowed to congregate every sunday and like dance and do their music and that's where jazz the word even that's a racist term now but jazz is yes a very racist term well tell me about it jazz is a a term you know reasons like hey dem boys and their jazz behaviors j-a-s-s like they're they're they're jassing you you'd like stop that jazz and then they they coin of course a white man made like you know they make all the record label people make uh names for styles of music like funk and rhythm and blues you know like they steal all the shit so jazz was put on this music and jazz is like a very broad term from what is jazz what is actually jazz swinging ding ding ding no it's so much

more than that so it's really just all black music it's hard to like say what that exactly is but everything is so together in in one style like what's hip-hop now what's pop what's anything like what's so hard what's funk what's country what's blues you know it's like so so anyway but but that's where congo square started at all and it's still around it's just a beautiful city i love it i i'm sad i left in a lot of ways because the culture and the amount of friends i had and just you get to fucking go in like right these brass bands are coming in front of your house you get to go with a nice mixed family and go eat fucking like red beans and rice on a fucking sunday or thursday

rather and then it just it's this it's just a small community and you know everyone really quick and people hang out a lot on the streets and you know right in your fucking your front porch everyone's out on the porch it's really fun when you're in the cool neighborhoods you're not on the fucking super white ship so did you have to force yourself out of new orleans because you're in the cool neighborhoods. You're not in the fucking super white shit. So did you have to force yourself out of New Orleans because you were partying too hard? No. Party more fucking here. Jesus Christ.

Yeah, that's how I feel too. This place is ridiculous. Denver's crazy. This is fucking fucked up. But it's the mountain life. It's, you can be, when you dial in your life here, it's a perfect,

you can have a perfect life. Yeah. I really think so. I agree. I'm getting closer. But New Orleans, no, I didn't party too hard i i was with a girlfriend and we we i we broke up and i started this wine company which i was gonna live here two weeks go to new orleans two weeks do the back thing and zoidus to do the same thing but i broke up i broke up my girlfriend and i did red rocks our

album came out was my birthday and i started the company all one week it was like this really big switch and i was like well tell me about that week what were you feeling old did you feel what it was like some bad news when our relationship just kind of right after my birthday where it was flying it was like the day before i flew here and it's some bad news and we ended up like kind of taking a break it wasn't good and i had that in my mind we were still recording a couple songs for the um the pre then the album that just came out our album had just dropped we just played we're just doing red rocks it was my birthday and i had to start a wine company which means i rented a mustang for a fucking month because it was cheap

because they were trying to fight against uber costs so rentals are fun you rented a mustang not a canada no i was black it was great great and i ran around like a fucking wine salesman running all these wine shops my like fucking cowboy hat fucking talk about grammys and natural wine i'm like and i got a fucking mustang i'm like you buy this fucking wine so i'm running around everywhere, like, you know, eight places, nine places a day, all over Denver and Boulder. And just trying to get the company moving for like a month. It's a grueling. I bet it's hard to sell. I mean, like, you're basically a traveling salesman.

It's ridiculous. You're like Harold Hill from The Music Man, dog. Just rolling in. Oh, the world's foggle wag is the call. So that's essentially what I was doing. and it was a very trying month for me and then i went back to new orleans and it wasn't where i'm like you know what i gotta be out here for this company and if we're fucking having issues you know i love our work we're totally we're friends now and everything but i was like i'm gonna go i'm gonna go move to denver and it sucked To leave Immediately I came home

Packed all my shit Drove across the country And I lived at Scott's house For the fucking like three days It was fun Everyone I think It's like Every musician

Moves to Sleepy's house Sleepy DJ Sleepy So So yeah It was a really tough transition And then also Trying to run a company

And be all the emotions Were you sad? Now? No were you sad then? Oh it was horrible It was a very It was one of the worst periods of my life, for sure. Have you ever taken therapy or anything?

No. I've gone to some therapists back in the day, but it's just life. You got to fucking deal with it. I was part of the reason why we broke up, major part, so you got to deal with that. And I was the one who wanted to start a fucking wine company,

and so you got to deal with that and you know you wanted just like you make the you made the decision so i can't like i could talk to someone about it but you still got to get up and take care of the ship yeah so and now the company's doing a lot better i'm in a better place um relationship wise at least with that you know music is always good except for now because of the world so it's like yeah i just used to have to wait you just to wait for it i've already divorced i've already been through shit so i'm like so it's about patience it's about patience life is about patience there's not there's no other choice yeah and everything happens for a reason and you i'm really big i'm

getting into buddhism nature and buddhism and it's all about karma you call you cause and effect you literally you know i do believe in destiny but you make your own destiny if you did this and then this is going to happen or that's going to happen so you could say that's your fucking destiny but you did that like i could have done a couple other options too so maybe it's all destiny but i feel like i have choice like i could be a heroin addict or i could not do heroin so it'd be like i just what's the point of saying everything is destiny it's like you have a choice so if i moved to denver i want to start this company i could have also not done that yeah so with the idea of having a

choice do you do you still regret anything what just anything everything just like what benny fucking up if you enroll relationships, you know. Not making the best thing, not giving someone enough attention. Music, not practicing enough when you're younger. And practicing the right things. Not getting up in the morning and doing things. Partying too late. You know, spending money when you shouldn't.

Like, I have a lot of regrets. They're small regrets. But nothing that I beat myself up of because there's always tomorrow and the rest of the day. So I'm cool. Like I'm really enjoying this life. That's for sure.

Shit is dope. That's great, man. I want to go back to your previous life when you were working at cruise ships. Uh-oh. So not a lot of people know that you were a personality on the cruise ships, right? Like what were you doing?

I wasn't a personality. But like everyone says, you did a lot of people know that you're like a you're a personality on the cruise ships right like what were you doing a personality but like everyone says you did a lot of impression work and you did it wasn't like a stand-up comedian so what were you doing on cruise i was playing in a fucking like dance bands so if you go on the cruise ships if you ever been on one yeah not jam cruise yeah you have um you have like in the lounge where they like the big lounge you'll have like a uh the dancers will do a show and we're the band that they like the big lounge you'll have like a the dancers will do a show and we're the band that plays for the dancers then there's also on the the main lido deck there's a reggae band and then in the other small little bar there's a fucking generally a filipino cover band and every ship yeah doing earth, wind and fire because you know you know

la filipinos be singing yeah they're unbelievable so you're where were you living like where were you stationed no you live no you know i'd be in college and then in the summer i'd go on a career you'd fly to miami you join a new ship as a sub i'm subbing for the second trumpet player or he just left his contract ended and i'd fly in and meet the band and have to literally sight read every you know my perfect or excellent sight reader like many other people but and you have to sight read all this fucking music and get to know people. And then two months are up. You know, you go to a bunch of islands, you know, do the same thing every week.

You know, you go to fucking St. Martin. You go to St. Croix. You go to fucking Guadalupe. And then you come home after that time. Could you get on those trips? Yeah. Can we say I mean, or make love? Yeah, I definitely I had some fun experiences you're

not allowed to mess around with passengers because you can get uh fired but yes of course i did you go to the disco and uh and you fucking like meet people if you have the suit now you have to have a suit on generally you have to have my name tag and they and then towards the end of the week every week every week there'd be people that didn't get laid. And they weren't going on ships to get laid. Yeah. And they didn't get laid. So the end of the week, you normally would just clean up.

And I remember you go down the hall, and you're not allowed to enter rooms, but I'd have them leave the door open, like locked, the lock. And you're just like, 213, just zip right in there. Yeah. It's a little shady. I remember one time, the staff captain, big time dude, but he liked me. A lot of international people on ships too,

hence my Australian ex-wife. He's like, I came home the next morning, I came down to deck zero in my tuxedo. And he goes, ah. He goes, next time bring a change of clothes. I was like, he did, but I was like, wow. He's like, walk of shame, huh? I was like you're bad he did but i was like wow he's like walk of shame huh i was like whoa i could have got fired normally they just party with each other right yeah dude deck theory there's a crew bar where all of the like the filipinos and the

russians and all the people that like work the deck and are like like under the boat kind of doing the you know the galleys and the chefs. Indians. Actual Indians. And then there'd be the staff. There's crew, staff, and officer. And I'd be staff, which is the hairdressers, the people that watch the kids, Camp Carnival, the musicians, the dancers. So that's the whole thing.

You have another bar where only you're allowed to go, or officers. So there's a bar for crews? There's three. There's a crew bar, which is raging. Yeah, like Romanian fucking, what's the, it's like casino, because it's like the hot Romanian and hot Polish.

Dude, the hottest people ever. And I know like five words of 20 languages because of this. Because you want to talk to some people. Yeah. So I'd go to the crew bar. But then you have to sit around the table with a bunch of fucking Romanian casino dealers. And they're all speaking Romanian. And then you have to have someone translate for you.

I like being in those immersive language hangs. So you don't know anything. You have to wait for someone to translate. Yeah, that's why I fell in love with Europe. I mean, we toured Europe twice a year and I love going into deep Poland and not knowing what the fuck is happening and trying to

puzzle my way through a flirt or something. You know? It's like, she talked to me, but it's kind of like, what about Japan? Why do you like Japan so much? Japan is the best. I love it. Yeah, we just played there last year. I mean, wasn't so much? Japan's the best. Have you been?

I love it. Yeah, we just played there last year. I mean, wasn't it fun? It's the best. Best food. They're like the best at everything. Best beer, best trains, great clothes. Like, every single thing they're very proud of and they do very well. Yeah.

So that's why I'm like, they just don't, everything is the best, literally. They love natural wine. They grow wine now. It's like everything that they touch turns to fucking gold't. Everything is the best. Literally. They love natural wine. They grow wine now. It's like everything that they touch turns to fucking gold. And I love the food so much. I'm learning Japanese again. Trying to get good, actually real at it. And it's just fun.

You're learning Japanese? I'm learning Japanese, yeah. Rosetta Stone. Keep going with Japan. So yeah, it's just the best country. It's the people are the nicest. I'm just a foodie. I'm a really big foodie. Like it's just it's just the best country it's the people are the nicest i'm just a foodie i'm a really big foodie like it's just so douchey it's just a douchey thing to say of course we're all like we all like food but you know when you have the food in japan with such care yeah when the people are so nice i remember when we flew back from fucking japan

we get to minnesota to transfer and the lady taking our tickets everyone is so nice there but in minnesota like ticket give me a ticket yeah like i just people are so not nice here we're such jerks to each other in japan it's just you learn so much about yourself and it's just like what just how to treat humans and how to treat each other with such respect and to love the simple things they're all about simple things and zen and buddhism and shinto and all. They're all about simple things and Zen and Buddhism and Shinto and all these. They're all about these like super manicured little gardens. Everyone's, it's just, it's simple.

Sushi's simple. It's a piece of rice and it's a fucking piece of fish on some rice. Everything is simple to them. They find the joy in the most simple things and they do them to the best of their ability. And we're like trying to do a million things and do all of these things on like 18 things on a burger. It's like, just do the burger simple. Yeah. And that's why.

So I think you nailed that. Japanese perfected simplicity. Yes. And they've been on that tip for fucking thousands of years. And so it's a lot of Asian cultures. Korea, same thing. I haven't been to China yet, but I really love Japan. And I have a lot of friends there, a lot of Japanese friends and Americans that have moved there.

So I want to spend more time there and obviously Europe. Yeah, we play China every New Year's Eve. Wow, really? Yeah, for the last eight years. Ni hao ma. Hang hao. Are you Cantonese or Mandarin? I'm doing Mandarin.

Cantonese has the seven pitches. It's a little difficult. Look, Benny, you fucking worldly motherfucker. Benny, Benny Bloom. What have you learned about people through your travels that you could teach Americans? I mean, it's just like,

not just be open to shit, but be into it. Be into like trying some weird food, going on a little day trip with some fucking people. I mean, people are all the same.

They're just more simple and there's less stuff to worry about. Not less stuff to worry about, but, you know, there's just... You think we live to work and they work to live? I think there's definitely that aspect, but they're just more like, I don't know, it's hard to say.

It's like I'm sure they're doing a lot of the same things we are over here. There's a lot more family-oriented things. I still think that in other cultures, they spend a lot more time with their families and we kind of move away. You know? And just being open to hang with people and like learning a little I think if you learn a little language of

every place you go and really try, it changes how you just, it changes the respect they give you. You speak a little bit with a decent accent. I know it's very basic and not that cool and let's learn about the city learn about the history learn wherever you're going and it just makes you they give you a lot more respect because now they fucking they see you care about their shit do you think we have this i americans have this idea of not giving a fuck because we're so isolated. Isolated.

Yeah. Because we don't, it costs money to go over there. Like we have everything. America is one of the greatest countries in the world and very beautiful. So we have a lot of things we can do here. It's so big. You don't have to run away.

You can really explore America. And there's some people just like never end up leaving and they don't care. And everything is now in your little town. You have every food. Oh, I have sushi here. I have a Thai place here. I love Thai.

Oh, it's great. It's like you don't know shit about Thai. There's no little version of it. So people don't get out enough. People don't learn enough. I just think by me being on eight different cruise ships in my career, eight. What the fuck up?

And how long is each cruise? I did one for three weeks. I've done one for three months what was the three month one like that's great i was like two and a half months were you bored or was it no because it's you get you totally get a little bored but you know you get the islands and i get like saint martin has the best fucking most indian people they sell a lot of the electronics on the island it's great buying do you know how many fucking amazing amazing indian restaurants within one street i used to go to a different one

Like every day And just get super fat It was my day off And then just go drink In the bar after And then you listen To dope music With your friends

That was like the hard drive era You change hard drives Do you have any guys Do you still talk to I talk to so many guys From cruise ships I know so many people That's how I learned

People from around the world Whenever I tour I have people I see From my cruise ship days from like fucking 15 years ago, 17 years ago. As a cruise ship employee, I guess, do you think cruises are over because of this corona thing? It's definitely not dope.

And they're not even fun. Like, they're cool if you're an American douche and you want to go see a bunch of islands. That's cool. Or if you go on a high class cruise and you go on like the Yangtze River and you want to like do it like that. I did an alaskan cruise when i was 18 i got to see a lot of the glacier bay that's kind of cool yeah but you don't get to experience anything you

just like fucking see it you go for like a couple hours and you come back taking a real vacation and immersing yourself is where the magic is yeah so that's kind of where do you see yourself in 10 years betty you know know, I love California. I might want to move to San Francisco. Go wine. Want more wine vibe. I'll be making some wine finally with a winemaker collaboration. And a lot of more time in other countries.

And definitely still playing with lettuce, depending on the world. I'm sure we will be. And doing my own thing. Like the Benny Bloom funny, like you. I like doing a show. We're entertainers. I like entertaining, but also having really good music. Having a funny, like me singing country tunes, fucking singing blues, playing shit, being funny, drinking wine,

and just having a little review that I, like a dinner and a movie kind of vibe that I take around the country and the world, just doing that when I'm not playing with lettuce, and the wine company will be kind of doing its thing, so I just want to get more into this. I like the Corona era because it's making us get a little smaller, back to

our roots and reimagining ourselves. What are we really doing? That's why I think this is a good thing for me i get to kind of get back to that small group thing and really connect so i agree man i agree i think corona has taught me so much about myself of who i am because when you're distracted and you keep on doing things for everyone else you forget about yourself like we said in the beginning yeah and now you're stuck in your house you're stuck selling your wine or you're stuck doing things you actually want to do.

Like I've always wanted to do a talk show, like an online talk show and a variety show. And like, the time is now, right? Seeing you, you know, you're doing, you know, it's you, but you're doing so many different things with just comedic, finding comedic, your angle. You're just fucking with a lot of different things. And I'm sure it's fun. It's fun, man. It's better than music almost Sometimes I feel that way

Yeah sometimes And it charges both They both charge each other Yeah I need both Like you need both Yeah exactly But they charge each other And all of a sudden

Like you don't play music for a while All of a sudden you come back You're better In certain ways Yeah Wow Look at your life Benny the whiny

The foodie The trumpeteer Trumpeteer let's go um fucking stickman cruise stickman approved i got one more question for you thanks for being on the show buddy i really appreciate it yeah you're running you're on a great you're growing a great show i appreciate it and we should get you to do a show i could do a show i'll produce it i like it now we're talking let's go 10 10%? Yeah, okay. We'll talk about that later.

I'm Jewish. I was about to say what you mean. I'm half, so I'm like. I'm half too. My dad's half. My dad is the Jew. Okay,

your dad's a Jew. My mom's a Jew. So you're Jewish. Yeah, I'm Jewish. You're Jewish. I'm Jewish. Yeah.

What do you want to be remembered by, Benny, when it's all said and done? Being nice. Yeah? I think I fucked it up, but still. What do you want to be remembered by, Benny, when it's all said and done? Being nice. Yeah? I think I fucked it up, but still. No, you do.

No, you're not. You're just honest. People subtract honesty with being nice. I'd rather be someone direct to me than someone who's just going to blow smoke up my ass just because it's fake nice. No, we don't want that. I just want to be remembered, being a nice guy.

Yeah, that's it. How's your band doing? How's Jesus doing? Jesus doing good. I don't know if I can speak on that, but he's doing good. He's finding his own way to deal with this. He's out there. He's kind of isolated.

He's got his brother and he's got his crew. He's totally good, but he's the fucking man. He's the life force of the band. We love him. He's fucking great. Who's your best friend in that band it's hard to say i mean uh me and zoid are tight but having a business and playing next to each other every fucking day is a little trying i know he's sick of me um and schmied is the best schmied is just a realist and he'll tell you he's just he's like the father um and not not nigel's like my ultra homie on

nigel's is my best best friend but uh i would say me and dyche really get along me and dyche are just he's just a bad dude and he's just no bullshit he'll tell he's straight but he's always he's just you know he'll always there to talk he'll always go to bat for me if some shit's wrong he'll stand up for me they all will but yeah to me just he's been really good to me uh even when i'm up which is great yeah they're all there it's hard just it's not like there's a favor they're all like that what's the worst you up in that band what was it um i like uh oh i when i after uh jam cruise this jam cruise i was i supposed I fucking When I After Jam Cruise This Jam Cruise I was I was supposed to have my passport And when I

I didn't I lost my passport Months earlier And then I reported it lost If you report it lost It's invalid Yeah Didn't know that

Told my fucking tour manager too And you found it? Then I found it I told my tour manager He's like oh we're good He kind of didn't know either And I was like oh we're good So I go on Jam Cruise They should have As soon as by looking at that number They should have seen I told my tour guide, he's like, oh, we're good. He kind of didn't know either. And I was like, oh, we're good.

So I go on Jam Cruise. They should have, as soon as by looking at that number, they should have seen that this wasn't valid. They let me on Jam Cruise. When I get off Jam Cruise, they come, wouldn't let me off the boat. Like, come with me. You have to come with me. Didn't you know Jam Cruise?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the same thing. My boy got deported. That's a little different. And I was so scared, like I had drugs on me Or some shit Which I know I didn't I'm not that stupid And they walk me downstairs

To the fucking The room Yeah the white room The white room And they're like Your shit is invalid We're taking your passport And I was in America

I'm just fine But I'm like I'm literally getting on a plane In three hours Going to Mexico To open for the Grateful Dead With lettuce One of our biggest gigs ever And then I Yeah to three hours going to Mexico to open for the Grateful Dead with lettuce.

One of our biggest gigs ever. And then I, yeah. And I was going to Tulum for a couple days, and then I was going to do this thing. So they're like, yeah, you got to get a passport, or you're screwed. So they took it. They took it. Fuck you, baby. And my manager's like, get it back.

Everyone's like, you got to do something. And I was trying to find a sub for the lettuce show. Did you need passport for mexico though yeah you do very much so and they're like yeah you like you're not gonna get here like i have to find a sub to do the biggest one of our biggest gigs in mexico so i just get out of it i just got an expedited expedited passport like miami with a million motherfuckers It was like some Scarface ship Bunch of crying babies Hours and hours And it just took days to get it done I stayed there two days

It was just scary and they were like You know if they had to get a sub it would have been bad It would have cost a lot of people a lot of money And just put the band in not a great place So that was one of the only fuck But I've never like missed a gig I don't think I've ever subbed out in like maybe one gig in like fucking 10 years so i'm i'm good i'm a pretty solid member of the band yeah you never got into any drugs or either no i mean i'd party a little

bit but i'm always i'm right in europe yeah i'm real i got so drunk in brussels i threw up all night long it was really bad i played you know it was It was after the show And the next day we had played Luxembourg I slept right in the sound check Couldn't really play Slept right to the gig They were all a couple of dudes Like oh you ate bad food No you got drunk

And I'm like fuck you guys I fucking literally am one of the baddest dudes I know I kill it every fucking day I love all of you I give you nothing but love and then i literally destroyed the gig it's because i know i would and i literally they were like they would have net they're like we would have never known you were fucked up from the night before you know it's like so you can't catch me you can't catch me for now for now anyway to catch a predator oh fuck we'll do that ch Hansen Hey Chris Come out here please

Hey Mr. Eric Bloom Is that your name? We have Is that your screen name? Yeah Is that your screen name? Fuck It's just

Benny the trumpeter But Benny Thanks for being on the show And I appreciate you man You're a funny guy Everyone says That we should meet

And I'm glad We're friends We live in the same town So I hope Major success For your wine company. So I hope major success for your wine company. Thank you. I hope you find

the love of your life. That's, you know, you're a real son of a gun. I like it. All right, Benny. Thanks for being on the show, buddy. Thank you, brother. Now, a message from the UN.

Here we go. One, two, three. Well, let me tell you a story about Lake Charles, Louisiana A night where my friend had so much fun He had so much fun Well he went to a dive bar That never closes

And that's the night that he fell in love That's why they call him Raw Dog Dumps the Dick He was late in the evening and she might have been thick He was licking her pussy up against the wall He stick his dick in the grease and said, how y'all? Well he checked that the close was clear So he whispered in her ear

To let him fetch for some protection Well he reached down in his pocket And he came up empty handed And that's the night that he got the hurt That's why they call him wrong dog He dumps the dick He was late in the evening and she found him in a thing He was licking her pussy up against the wall

He sticked his dick in the grease and said Wow, what an interview. Thank you for that. It's amazing to hear people's stories and whatnot. And speaking of another story, we have Evan from Fourteener. Andesan. Hey, evan how you doing how are you so a little background on evan here evan did you start 14er i did as a dream you said you started you start fond love weed when you're 17 maybe even before that like what tell me about it oh my business partner now and i fell in love with a blunt my parents backyard when we were little teenagers because that was what we were allowed to do without getting in trouble

yeah yeah so growing up you grew up out here? No, I grew up on the East Coast. Jersey, baby. So was it frowned upon to smoke weed in high school? I don't know if it was frowned upon. Certainly worked out for me. I was a victim of significant physical injury related to sports. What happened? So I had multiple shoulder reconstructions and 20 some broken bones by the time I was a senior in high school so real pain was a real problem and opiates never really worked

the way they were supposed to and when I discovered that weed was a good alternative for managing severe and chronic pain I I never looked back. Yeah. Ended up at Boulder as soon as I was able to discover that that was the place that seemed to be most tolerant of the medicine that worked for me. So you fell in love with weed because of the medicine. Absolutely. That's what 14-year was started on. That was the principle of 14-year as we started.

And the world has changed the the true medical patients that really exist in this world don't necessarily need the medical cannabis that's produced in the state of colorado what they need is really good cannabis unfortunately medical cannabis has turned predominantly into a way for college kids to get weed because you only have to be 18 to buy it. That's it. But there's so many good things about cannabis that people... Yeah, but you don't need to pay or not pay recreational taxes to gain the benefits of medical cannabis.

So when did you start 14 or how old were you? I was 24. So tell me about the beginning process. How hard was it to start growing pot legally? It was crazy. I was in graduate school. I was getting my MBA while the economy fell apart in 2008. And my economics professor and a bunch of the other professors in the program at CU decided that they needed to have

like a powwow with us and sit us down and say, listen, if you want to get a job when you're done with this program, you need to either start a company or you need to move overseas. either start a company or you need to move overseas and at the time i was i was in the market for purchasing a ring for my my now betrothed congrats thank you so the idea of moving out of the country was not really viable and i approached a couple of guys who i am still partners with to this day and said, maybe we should actually do this. And August, what shit, next month will be 11 years since we took on our first garden and decided to make 14er real.

And then how many gardens do you have now? We have three now. Hopefully getting another one soon. And when you say garden, like tell the audience, how big is the garden? It's licenses. It's anywhere from a little room to a giant warehouse. We have a couple little rooms and a big warehouse.

It's not huge. We are by no means the definition of commercial cannabis, but we do our best to serve as many people as we can. Was that the dream though? Be commercial or not? Hell no. Absolutely not. We fought commercial cannabis as hard as we could since day one.

I mean, my partners and I are all the same partners that started this company. Have you ever been trying to get bought out? Oh, we've been offered many, many, many times. Lots of people want to have great weed produced by great people in a really reliable fashion. But that is very much not what we are looking to sell out for. It will take a lot for our partners to ever walk away from this. We love what we do. We love this plant.

We are committed to it. We have been through the best times and through the shittiest times in the most complicated regulatory world that has existed since prohibition of alcohol we've managed all of it with good people and we are committed exclusively to the quality of product that we produce a lot of people can get mad at us for a lot of things but selling shitty pot is never going to be one of them if it is is, let me personally know. It is about the medicine. It's always been. It always has been. Listen, I could have sold out a long time ago for a lot more money than I have today and not had to worry about this. But this company is, it's a staple in this town. And I believe that it should be because we stand behind what we do. I came to this town

because it had a love for pot. I still have that love. I want to advance it. My entire organization is seated in Boulder. Every license we have is a Boulder license on top of being a state license. Most of our staff lives here and we are committed to where we live. I love Denver. We distribute to Denver, but my store, our store is in boulder and that's where it's going to stay for at least the foreseeable future this is the town that gave us the opportunity to do what we do and we're committed to keeping keeping our operation here as long as we can loyal as fuck my god stay loyal not dude i don't know how to what The devil you know is better than the one you don't. Say that again. The devil you know is better than the one you don't.

And I know that as difficult as it has been for the city of Boulder to effectively and responsibly regulate pot, 14er has been a standalone for them. They use us for training for the police officers, for the state police, for the state police,

for the regulators, for the city council members. We are a standard that holds a really high standard for ourselves. We are a standard that the city can be proud of. And we are very proud of that. That's fucking great. I mean, if you're not proud of your product, why be in it? You know, I wouldn't. Yeah. If i weren't willing to literally roll this joint of truth while on the interview with you i wouldn't be in this business yeah you gotta i mean isn't that the biggest thing about following your dreams you got to believe in the dream if you don't i promise you there were a million different scenarios that would have totally fucking ruined me if i didn't believe in the product that we were actually selling like what

the the the political wrangling and the the legal wranglings that we have to go through to maintain this license and to do what we do just because the city of boulder is tolerant does not mean that other levels of government are. And we have to be ready to deal with the perpetual fight that we are still a federally illegal business. It is still a perpetual fight. We have entire staff members and significant percentages of our professional fees go to fighting the argument

that we are not an ongoing criminal enterprise in the eyes of the federal government. It's fucking insane, dude. It know but like especially like dealing with those type of struggles and dealing with the struggles of running a business via covid i mean like how are you maintaining your mental health truth yeah roll it up dog uh honestly and my children and being outside and enjoying what colorado has to offer there's a lot more here than the stress of running a business and it's worth staying focused on it keeps you keeps your head in the right spot so but but then again you feel like you're restless

because you don't have enough to do right now. I do. So I keep finding new shit to do. Like what is a new dream of yours that you recently got inspired by? Some new production space, some tissue culture, some preservation of the genetics that we spend most of our

time creating. I mean, this business is not the perpetual production of regular pot. It's the perpetual recreation of what the best pot could possibly be. We spend a disproportionate amount of our expenses go towards genetic creation and breeding and testing and finding the stuff that everybody in the grow team and everybody in the store team and everybody on the marketing team all agree is the best. If it's not,

then we don't want to continue to propagate it. If it is, which luckily recently has happened a bunch, but I mean, I think we might've gone the entire year of 2019 without launching a really new genetic. Now we've got four or five coming out this year so far that are things we're really proud of, that we worked really hard on, and that we can all stand behind. So is that where the money's at in genetics? In patenting genetics?

I don't know where the money is, man. Look at the entire cannabis industry right now some of the people who have made the most money i mean i just saw today the the first cannabis billionaires were declared and it was two guys who started a vape technology company in china so i don't know where the money is in weed i don't i don't really give a shit there's some money in selling great pot to people who are willing to pay for it and that's where i am i i'm sure that there's ways to make more yeah it's not what i'm looking for the only thing i've ever really given a shit about in this business is making sure that the weed that we grow is

something that i would stand behind and want to smoke with somebody and we we try and take care of our staff we try and take care of our team we try and take care of our customers but in reality at the end of the day we're here because this plant needs to be respected and propagated in a way that honors what it can do for us and that's what we are here to do and there's a lot of people who want to argue with me about that. But if you've known me for a long time, then you know that that's why I'm here. That's what I do. I love this plant. I know my partners do. I know every person on my team does. We're not in it for, we're not in it to become billionaires. Enough money to support our families is nice, but we're not in it to become billionaires enough money to support our families is nice but we're not in this to to sell out and unfortunately a lot of the weed industry

right now is being the the public image is a lot related to people making piles of money and selling out of the business and becoming tobacco it's if that ever happens you could bet your ass i'll be gone quickly so basically you're telling me life is about doing stuff not for money but doing stuff for how how much you love something do it for as much money as you need but if you don't love what you're doing you're not gonna be able to do it for very long not not effectively and i got i got a lot of very young staff i got people who have promised an opportunity to start families the idea that i would bounce right away and leave them with one-year-olds and a fucking dream i failed to honor for them is a scary scenario and i'm not gonna do that does that stress you out that you're relying on all these people? These people are relying on you to keep them rocking?

We got thunder coming. Yeah. It's fucking scary, man. The idea that the shit can go away tomorrow is really fucking scary. Yeah. And the one thing I've learned over this many years is that hiring great people who have the same vision

is really important. We have compliance officers and HR managers and all of the things that it takes for a business to really serve its staff and then its customers. It's proven to be the most important thing. I think my staff likes me more than my average customer likes me. And that makes me smile. Yeah. Well, that's the reason why we're doing it. I mean, we just had this conversation about my band, man,

and how hard it is to keep the band going through this COVID thing. You're probably doing the same thing with your employees, man. 100%. And a lot of people's jobs are changing right now. I mean, my entire retail staff's job used to be customer service and now they work filling orders for people and they don't get, some people don't like that, that personal interaction. I think a lot of people that are in, in the 14 or retail operation love it. They, they thrive off of the opportunity to talk to people about cannabis. And one of the most difficult things that we're dealing with right now is the kind of reinvention of how that customer experience works.

I know that a lot of my consumers, a lot of the people who have been regulars at 14 are there because, and continue to come back because they know that they're going to get to talk to this bud tender, that bud tender, and they're going to have an experience that they can rely on and coming up with a way to convert that to a digital platform, to, to a COVID,

to a COVID era consumer experiences. It's hard. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know exactly how to do it yet, but we're going to try, but you'll figure it out. You're a smart fucking guy.

Well, I appreciate everything you do for me and this for just being a friend and having these talks you know i don't get to see too many people and get to talk like this to people uh that's not on facetime so it's nice to face the face is real yeah that's what's important. And I'm just proud to be your friend. So keep doing the Lord's work or the fucking weed's work. Whatever. Somebody's work. The people's work. One last thing before we leave.

What do you want to be remembered by, Ev? It's probably the truth. Being the truth? The truth. If you know 14er, you know what that means if you don't know 14 or i encourage you to find out but the truth is a it's an important thing for all of us to consider it's an important thing for all of us to embrace we've luckily been able to have a strain called the truth but i think it represents a lot more yeah quite honestly and people who are willing to have honest conversations and be good folk that's what i

want to be remembered by promoting the truth that well thanks for being truthful to me and uh um because i remember when i first really had a conversation with you was at boulder theater yeah and you're you're wild together you Yeah. I was wondering if you remembered that conversation. Oh, fuck yeah. I had a great one with you. And I didn't really know who you were, but you're like, do you know who I am? I don't know that I said those words.

He didn't say it like that, but I felt it like that. I'm pretty sure Andy pointed to the hand-drawn 14er on the map in the basement of the Boulder Theater, and he was like, that's who Evan is. Yeah, it was. I'm just trying to be, I'm just trying to be. The other Andy. Yeah, Andy Thorne, yeah.

Hey, Thorne. Yeah, and well, what you've been doing to the Colorado community is wonderful and I'm just proud that you are part of this community

and I'm proud that you believe in me as much as I believe in you. So thanks for being on the show, buddy. Thank you. All right, guys, have a good night.

We'll see you next week. Wear condoms. Be safe. Quarantine's real. We just talked about it. It's still going on. So wear masks. So Scotty Zhang,

ghost light doesn't yell at you. All right. Love you guys. Talk to you soon. You tuned in to the third season of Blissful Blah at Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast.

Thank you for listening. Produced by Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast. Thank you for listening. Produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angel, I'm Chris Lawrence. Please subscribe, rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For more info on the show, please head to Instagram at worldsavingpodcast. For more info and blog updates, head to andyfresco.com. Check out the new album, Keep On Keepin' On. Or let Andy entertain you at a Thursday night online shitshow.

Or at this crazy Saturday night wanna dance with somebody dance parties. Summer season is here, no festivals, no music. So instead of trying to keep the lip going and hoping to find some shitty Patreon-born YouTuber gigs this summer, I decided to reroute. Build in closets and wardrobes, build a tiny summer house and do some painting. It will be October in no time and yes I sort of hate it compared to the wonderful life I live but I'm also thankful that people trust my skills or my good looks or whatever. They have my back and I managed to make some money. It's a big danger in this line of work actually, it pays a lot better than being a musician. All right, how are you doing? Making ends meet? Worried? No work? Putting on a virtual dance party

every week? Let's make sure to carry each other, get one another's backs, keep each other safe, keep each other sane, keep each other healthy. Let's unite, for it will be a long road ahead. See you next week.