Bellied Up - Rules of The Midwest Junk Drawer #169

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Charlie grills Myles about being an NSYNC fan. Our first caller needs help after his wife reorganized the junk drawer—so Charlie and Myles share funny tips on how to rebuild it from scratch. Then, another caller takes us on a wild ride with a history lesson about monster trucks.Tap here for Prizepicks:https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/belliedupuse promo code: belliedup

Hello, folks. Welcome. Welcome to another episode of the Bellied Up podcast. We want you to belly up to the bar with us and take a load off. That's how we would start the show if it was like on NPR. You know? Yeah. Yeah.

It's kind of like, grab a seat, grab a drink, and share some laughs with us today. My guest, of course, is Miles, the you betcha guy. Miles, how are you? doing today i am doing splendid are you what we are here at station number six and it is just a cozy environment and um a lot of character a lot of fun i'm looking at the back wall it's made of this beautiful upcycled wood and i am drinking an old-fashioned by barren's old-fashioned brandy you know i've heard a lot of good things about that brandy it's actually very delightful we do have the guy that started it though is kind of a piece of shit but well it's funny that you

mentioned that because we must disclose that the guy who started it is sitting right next to you which makes it an awkward conversation i don't know if i like your mpr voice why not yeah i don't know why it's a little cartoony for me oh i'm sorry to hear that is that cartooning would you like to watch the cartoon because just because it's cartoon he doesn't mean it's a good cartoon yeah it is a little weird anyway um let's let's move past it so we don't lose any no i'm i'm completely moved past it okay cool me where are we at today charlie well we're at station number six miles cool brick walls cool i like brick and wood on walls and they got both of them here um and they also got a blink 182 poster yeah look at that i know i'm in the

right spot i was kind of a blink 182 kid growing up charlie Were you? Oh, yeah. Oh, you kind of strike me as that. That's why you're wearing that black t-shirt right now. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Some things never die.

So, okay, so you like a little Blink 182. Now, Blink 1282 is less goth, Charlie, if that's the joke you were trying to make. I'm just going on a poster. They're more punk than they are goth, okay? But they know their way around a black t-shirt. When they were popular, you had to have been in high school. I feel like you're trying to say that like an insult. No, I mean, like, like.

like what you graduated high school in 2006 2005 2005 that's peak blink 182 yeah you had to have been at the at your prom just grinding on gals listening to blink 202 right dry denim dance club fornication i hope you wore your double stitched jeans for that miles you need to blow a tire I It's a lot of friction Yeah There's a lot of rubbing and friction going on I remember 8th grade

We were dancing to back that ass up Yeah You are big fun Shake your tail feather Yeah Yeah Miles what were your favorite bands growing up?

I like 1A2 a lot I was into OAR Of a row I know this about you What was your favorite O-A-R song? Depends on the mood. Depends on the mood.

I really, really, I think my favorite album of theirs is the live from Madison Square Garden. Oh, yeah? I mean, we're talking about, hey, girl, we're talking about, there's a song that's got a great riff to start it off called Lay Down. How does it start?

A little guitar ref. Yeah, yeah. Nice. I thought you meant. I was waiting for the vocals to drop, but lay down, rest here in my arms and lay down, lay down. Nice, dude. Did you, did you ever go see O-A-R? I did.

Yeah, they did a smaller show in Moorhead, Minnesota. And I went over there. Did you bring a gal with you? The coolest part about O-A-R is they, uh, they, they, they, they, they, they, they did a smaller show in. They have a song called Crazy Game of Poker when they said, It was a crazy game of fun. And everyone brings a deck of cards and throw cards in the air. Oh, really?

In that song, it's actually quite an out-of-body experience. Did you do that? I didn't know about the card thing. So I just grabbed some on the ground and threw them in the air. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice. Oh, that's fun, man.

Yeah. What about you? What was your favorite bands growing up? Oh, boy. I liked Everclear. Did you? That was my first. favorite pet

I am still living with your ghost lonely and weary of the west coast you know I could yeah I was big and the ever clear man I didn't know what they were talking about

but actually I didn't do it I don't know it must have been like middle school I had a about wow CD. Oh, little bow wow. No, no, no, no, no. He wasn't little bow wow anymore on this album. He was just bow wow. Okay. So put some respect on his name. Okay. All right. Is that really Snoop Dog's nephew? I have no clue. I grew up thinking that was Snoop Dogg's nephew. Can we get a fact check on that? But the funny thing is, so I had like a CD player that also doubled as a alarm clock. And that was the CD that I'd have in there. And when the alarm would go off, it would just, start playing whatever CD you're in there and the bow wow and so the first song on that album is just starts with a dog just barking so for like two years I just woke up every day to a dog barking that was my alarm can you even listen that song now and not get yeah the the anxiety of like your alarm going oh god yeah be careful what you put in your CD alarm clock man yeah

um that yeah they what's your most embarrassing favorite band most embarrassing favorite band the group you like the most so you're kind of embarrassed about now well i went to an in sync concert at the far go home when i was like in the sixth grade like because you wanted to see them or because your mom won free tickets off or no because me and my brother wanted to see him my dad had to take us wow dude i wish i could, like, go back and just be on a fly in the wall, watch my dad at an in-sync concert. It would be peak.

My dad doesn't even like going to, like, concerts, period. I mean, if you're- And it was like me and my brother and like 10,000 screaming girls at this concert. I mean, it was a great concert. We had a great time. Everyone got a glow stick, you know? That's a great, great visual. Your dad, bud went to an insink concert.

So, dude, like, like, you know, the old Midwest dad, sometimes you're like, he doesn't show love ever, right? That's how you knew my dad loved us as he took us to an insane concert. He didn't have to say it. You know, he just showed us by taking us to the concert. I mean, I think he showed you for like the next 10 years of your life. He could go 10 year pass. I'm not showing you any affection. He bought 10 years of love with that one concert.

You are correct. Dude, because that's peak, man. And that must have been expensive. Yeah. Yeah. And that was kind of probably around the time they were real popular. So, yeah. So how did you as a fifth grader not know that was listening to NSNC cool?

Couldn't have been. I mean, what do you mean boy bands were like peak at that time? Yeah. For women, Miles. For women. I don't know. I would disagree. I think there's a lot of people listening that liked Insane.

Sink of Backstreet Boys. Really? Yeah. A lot of guy. You didn't like their songs? How about you, Jake? Ah, he's too young. No, he's not too young.

Miles, he's like 22 years old. Of course, he's too young. Let's rewind this story. Let's go ahead and rewind. That's fine. I don't care if you think that that's girly for me to like some Insink of Backstreet Boys song. I don't care.

I don't know. I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight knowing that. I know you're going to sleep like a baby, but I'm just fascinated by this because you're the last person I would expect but you even say it yourself the place was loaded with girls. Yeah.

There was some guys there too. My dad. Dude, that's hilarious. What was your favorite song? Because it was when the no strings attached album came out. Obviously, I mean, you know, bye, bye, bye, bye.

It was a big deal. Yeah. Yeah, it was December 3rd, 1999. See, I'm, 1999. Oh, shit. So that was even, I was even younger than that. 1999, my dad took me to a concert in 99 to the Fargo Dome. That means that I was six.

There's no way. I could look more. It's, it was probably, it had to have been later than that. Yeah. No way I was six at a concert. I mean that, yeah. You like just gained consciousness at six. Right.

Yeah, I could see that. I could see like six years old not knowing any better going to an N-Sync concert. You know, look at me, I'm turning into a middle school bully right now. Yeah. Usually you're the middle school bully. Really? Yeah.

I think anybody listening would agree with me that A, you're usually the bully, and B, yeah, only girls listen to N-Sync. Whatever, dude. No, I think it's cool. I got more respect for you somehow and yet way less respect. So it's wild how that works. Do you gain or lose respect for my dad? I mean, I honest, I'm, I, that's a no point. I'm just like, your dad didn't know what he was getting himself into.

I just want the visual. I would pay so much money to get surveillance video from the Fargo domain just to find your dad. See how many beers he went to get for this? Oh my gosh. No, he had to have one point been like Bob in his head, don't you think? Probably. I mean, there's a few bangers in there. Let me ask you this. I can guarantee he didn't do that. He didn't do what he's. I got. The last concert I went to with my dad, he just was pissed that he had to stand the whole time. My back. It was actually before his knee replacement. So he was down bad. Oh, yeah. Can we just go home? So,

I can, you know, get, get horizontal. Now, did you ever bring this up with your dad? Yeah, I feel like we talked about it before. I don't know. He might have, he probably doesn't even remember it because he's blacked it out, you know. Yeah. He's wise. Just seeing these shirtless guys come up oiled up on stage.

Yeah. Again, as two boys, he's like, well, I guess I'm not going to have any biological grandchildren. yeah i mean that helps my cause right that i was maybe six or seven when i went rather than like 13 but my brother's like five years old at me so he's got you know if i was seven that means he was 12 so okay anyways well um either way props dude i mean i like it i think it's great it's fine if you want to make fun of me for that you know it's uh you know you're you're fragile masculinity is showing, Charlie.

No, anyone else I would pretend to not care about it, but you, I'm just surprised. You're just catching me surprised. No, you know what? Here's the truth, Miles. I want to let you know the truth. Is that I let the bullies run my mind. And for me, it wasn't even an option to listen to NSYNC. Yeah, see when you're the bully.

When you're the bully. To do whatever you want. You get to pick and choose what bullying is, you know? You guys don't listen to NSYNC. Wow, dude, that is, you listen to Eminem. That is so girly. It's true, man. You were the first grade school influencer was the bully.

Yeah. You know? Wow. Yeah, well, I'm sorry. Listen, and whoever you are out there, it's okay to listen to NSYNC. And I'm just surprised that. What I did is I took a time machine back in time when it was okay to tell someone it's weird. You listen to ins.

If social media was around at that time, there'd have been a bunch of TikToks about guys pretending, you know, they remember the trend where they would put their hand in front of their mouth, pretending they didn't like a song that was kind of girly and then they'd be singing it behind it. Oh, that like they're yawning? Incinct would have been prying for that. Yeah. Yeah, that's funny. So, yeah, it's fine. Well, cool, cool. Strong out there, Insync Nation.

Well, Charlie, should we take some collars? Yeah, let's do it, Miles. Also, no relation to a little bow-wow and Snoop Dogg. Okay. No relation. Good to know. Guys, we're in the heart of football season now. And right now, prize picks will give you $50 in lineups when you play your first $5

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Yeah, man, you made me a little bit of scratch dough, cash money. American US a dollar. A little sock drawer money off a price picks. Yeah, it was nice. It's why I'm buying you drinks today here. Oh. Yeah.

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Oh, hi. Oh, I'm doing fine. How about you, gentlemen? We're good, man. We hear you got some junk drawer problems. Oh, yeah. You know, it's the bane of my existence. No, I have got a good life other than in a great life, but she rearranges everything every

couple of weeks, it seems like. and just a couple weeks ago she got rid of the junk drawer for some odd reason. Whoa. Now the metro is practically empty. Whoa. Just sitting there. Well.

Your wife cleaned out the junk drawer, Clyde. Oh, yeah. Put it all in a little box and hit that box under a table. And now I don't know where to find batteries or a little Philipset screw. Yeah, I mean, I didn't even know it was possible. I thought when you just sold your head. house you just take the junk drawer drawer out and you just bring that to the next house that's exactly what you do then they just have to deal with finding a new drawer for it and that's why every junk drawer

it doesn't quite fit right yeah it's always been fashion in there so you just don't well yeah well yeah now you don't have wd 40 you don't have your junk drawer anymore yeah what the hell are you gonna do man what are you going to do when you need a thumbtack what are you going to do when you need a debatry? What are you doing? You know, what are you going to do when you need to write a grocery list and there's no pad of paper? What are you going to do when you need a scoopie tokens? What are you going to do when you need a Sharpie? Yeah, I have no idea because everyone in those things you mentioned is now in its own separate little place. And I think I know where a couple of them are, but I'm sure in a few weeks, those are going to change locations too.

what do okay so why do you think she cleaned out the junk drawer like was she did she need the space for something else or what i honestly don't know there's only a cell phone charger in there now and she she actually switched the drawer to a different location because we had a drawer just for her hand towels you know i mean hands house can go anywhere they can i mean they could go in the junk drawer in fact yeah that's true actually a great like if you want to have a nice junk drawer like lay one of the hand towel down and then everything goes on top of that it's a nice feel in the junk drawer

yeah that's a high class junk drawer right there so she's got a drawer maybe I should make a I should make a fancy junk drawer for her make it look nice and maybe she'll go for it yeah but that's not that's not the point of the junk drawer the point of the junk drawer is it's so where you know

where everything is and yet you know where nothing is all at the same time that's the point of the junk drawer and then the thrill you get of search. Also, yeah, Charlie, I think what you need to do is you need to just slowly start putting more stuff. I mean, that's a junk drawer.

So, like, you're just going to, you know, like involuntary things, like breathing, your heart pumping, your body does involuntary things. Yeah. Midwesterners involuntary response to having a piece of junk is putting in the junk drawer. Right. If she thinks you're not going to continue to put stuff in there, she's crazy. Sorry, calling your wife crazy. but um just stating facts here so like it's going to fill up again and i think what you're going to

find yourself in is a junk drawer oh a junk drawer a a junk drawer war you're going to be in a junk drawer war you're going to be in a junk drawer war and that's no good for a marriage no it's not it you're right but i i do wonder though i do wonder um if you know how like when like strikes a prairie and it burns they say it's good because it it brings up the better like flowers the native species i wonder and you can run this experiment for us because i've never not had a junk drawer but what happens when you start a new junk drawer you have an opportunity to do a junk drawer even better now yeah we're going to look at glass half full yeah you can get rid of all that that weird stuff and then you can really think about like like how to do this i mean you're all miles already said

you're starting with a use one of your wife's good hand towels and line the new drawer with that see how that changes the dynamic you know keep an open mind here yeah it's like the the people start like a cute little ecosystem and like a fish thing yeah you know it's like called again i don't know but aquarium or aquarium of sort but then they'll like put like moss in there Yeah, terrarium. Terrarium. Terrarium. Yeah, you basically are starting a new terrarium of junk in the junk drawer. Okay. So, Miles. And how does, you know, try, throw something crazy in there, you know? Well, what is the junk drawer starter kit? What is every good junk drawer have to have? Every good junk drawer has got to have loose nails and screws. Got to have thumbtacks, like you said.

It's got to have an assortment of writing utensils. It's got to have a tape measure or three. probably different size tape measures. Yes. You know how you get like a little guy that goes in there? But then you do need a good solid 25 footer. You need a big guy in there too. You need every battery known to man. And I'm also talking about those little circle batteries, you know, the ones that might

spontaneously start on fire if there's a little water spilled on them. You need one of those lithium ions in there. And dip a little water in there just to see because frankly, nothing bad can happen in a junk drawer. And that's what people should realize. When you're in the junk drawer, it's a black hole for the things you need in your life. The junk drawer gives what you need at that time. Another good one in my junk drawer. I don't know if you have this.

I leave my checkbook is in my junk drawer. Checkbook. Yes. Got to have a checkbook. Years too. Yeah. I got one. And also the little thing you use to clean your glasses.

I've got like four of those in my junk drawer. It's a great one. It's one of my glasses are always dirty. Um, drywall anchors. I got a plethora of drywall anchors in there. Let's not forget the drywall screws. Also a screwdriver, Phillips and, um, Allen screw driver. And then, you know, you, everyone always acquires a tiny little screwdriver with the tiniest head on it. And you're like, I don't know where I got this, but I have it. My, I got one of those in there as well. Um, um, um, yeah, oh, you got one of those what, oh, yeah, one of those glasses. Yeah, right. Yeah, like, yeah. I don't even have glass.

glasses. It's like, why do I have this? It just appears, man. And frankly, that's how a junk tour is. Once you get the terrarium started, if you will, once you get the junker, it starts growing things. So just out of nowhere, you will get like a gift card to Fleet Farm. It's going to grow there. There's not going to be any money on it, but it grows there. Assorted business. Like a free, free dip cone at the dairy queen. Yeah. Yeah. A little coupon in there. They just appear in there. You're going to say, I haven't even been to a DQ in at least two and a half days, and yet I don't remember getting one of these, but there it appears. Napkins from culvers.

You're going to have them just lined up in there. Ketchup packets, mustard packets, soy sauce packets. They're all going to be in there. And actually, in case one of those bursts open, you got the little hand towel down too. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, go ahead, Clyde. no problem. You guys had to describe almost the perfect ecosystem for the

jump tour, but you seem to you forgot maybe the most important one, which is duct tape. Yeah. Oh, God. Yeah, you're right. You're right. And with that, all sorts of adhesives, you know, you've got to have guerrilla glue in there, super glue. Oh, tapy. Yeah. Wood glue.

Yeah, wood glue is great. Yeah. And little Allen keys, do we mention those? I'm forgetting about the, what's it called? The putty. like to fill holes in the drywall? What's that called? Oh, that little liquid nails type stuff. No, like, uh, like the little, uh, spackle.

A little spackle. A little sparrow, though. Just that little, that little, yeah, that little detail jar of spackle in there. And of course, you got to have yourself a little spatula to do it with, you know. I mean, I just use a spatula from the kitchen for that, but. Oh, that's good. That's good. Um, now, you know, I think, go ahead.

Well, I was sorry to know. But I'm just wondering, maybe it's a cultural thing because she's not from America. And, you know, we've got maybe too much abundance here in this country that we actually have a drawer just for joke. Wow. Okay. All right. Where is she from? She's from the Philippines.

Okay. All right. Nice. How'd you guys meet? Well, a good old-fashioned Internet. And then I met with her in person, of course, and whatnot. I try to find an American, but, you know, there's some jobs that Americans aren't. willing to do when doing me is one of those

jobs. Hang on a second, that's good. I was actually pretty good. Clyde, how did you I've never heard that joke before in my life? That is phenomenal. There's just some jobs that

Americans won't do. And doing me is one of those jobs. but it's not supposed to be a job you know it's supposed to be a pleasure um it's a passion a passion passion project yeah it's probably a cultural thing charlie probably yeah yeah yeah what what website did you meet on oh god it's actually old plenty of fish years and years ago plenty of fish and uh that's right cool are they even still going or are they out of business If they're still in business, I'd be shocked, I'd tell you. He's like the UI was terrible.

So what did she say about your junk drawer? Oh, gosh, I tried to bring it up. And she's like, oh, it's just useless why we have this. And I tell you, well, it's where everything goes. It's the one spot where you can find almost anything you need. And it's reliable. and it just feels good to have that in your life that you know for sure if you need something boom there it is yeah it's like a like a like a like a kid uh a sense of comfort is their blanket yeah midwesterer's

sense of comfort is the junk drawer you know yeah we want it close by it all times we just even if it's not bias we want to know it's there and it exists and um yeah it's like you know i got that to look forward to when I get home tonight. Right. Right. There's nothing. Yeah. You know, I had a few drinks and I pop open the junk drawer and there's some ibuprofen in there, you know?

And I find sometimes therapeutically, Miles, what I will do because my junk drawer is so overflowing that I'll open it up and junk drops to the shelves underneath. And when it gets to that point, you've got a, you know, it's like doing your lawn. Well, now you just got two junk drawers. Well, I tried. It's like an overflow. Yeah. A little waterfall. Charlie's got, Charlie's so Midwestern. His junk drawer is a waterfall into the drawer below. So now he has two junk drawers. It's like decorative. You know, you get like one of those waterfalls in your backyard. Oh, the peaceful sounds of screws and Sharpies falling into the drawer below. I just open the bottom drawer and they just fall onto the floor, you know.

You just stick a bucket underneath it. Sorry, we got a leak in our drunk drawer. Guys coming over to fix that later. Well, you know, if I didn't spoil me, maybe I should just build a bunch of more drawers for it. So she has as many drawers as she wants that I can get one or two junk drawers out of it. Well, here's the thing. Why don't you, if you're in a junk drawer war,

why don't you commandeer one of her, you know, if she's got a spice drawer or something, start hiding those around the house and just start throwing junk in her spice drawer. See what happens. That's true. Why should the salt and pepper be together? You know, it's the same logic she's used for why the thumb packs and the debt they need to be together, you know? These belong together.

That's great. That's great. Yeah, I think, no, you said she put it all in a box. Yeah, I was in a shock. She fit it all in there, quite frankly. Well, yeah, you just got a junk box. Did she? separated out?

I'm sure she took a few items out that I forgot we're even in there. You know, you know how it goes. Yeah. But she's just sitting there under the table now and I don't know. Granted, I have a garage in a barn, so I have plenty of stuff to put junk,

but, you know, it's not in the house. This is not the same. You don't want to go outside. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't matter what is how many garages, storage,

you have i mean you're you're a midwesterner it seems like and um you need that junk drawer i've had an invasive thought you guys ever get invasive thoughts yeah let's hear it like you're driving on the road and you're like what if i just go hard right right now yeah like what yeah what if i drove off this breach is that yeah intrusive thoughts that's what they're called and my intrusive thought has been what if I were to organize my entire junk drawer and like put all the markers in the one baggie put all the tax into one coffee tin you know I've thought about that miles I just want to be vulnerable with you and Clyde I want to see a specialist about that yeah I think I will next you're going to tell me you're going to keep an inventory and a spreadsheet for your junk drawer

have a sign out sheet for stuff you've done it too yeah no that's i mean every good junk drawer you got to like smash shit down to get the drawer closed yeah because you need the hinges a little messed up you want it to be like every time you pull like either the hinges are on or there's a pencil kind of sticking up preventing you from pulling it farther and you just got all right there's that paper clip. Yeah, and it's like... There's that mini stapler. It is shocking

how many things you can put in a junk drawer and still get it closed and open. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. It's, I was just in my junk drawer this morning. I was, and I found two wedding invitations from my one from my sister's wedding,

one from my other sister's wedding. And I was like, isn't this so funny? they were mad I did an RSVP to the wedding and I said I never got an invitation and they were both in the junk drawer and I'm sure they would love to know that their wedding is just junk to you well Miles now

that's not true you're kind of incriminating yourself here Charlie no not at all because the junk drawer is just the name of the drawer it doesn't imply that there's junk in the drawer you know Charlie you kind of seem to me like a guy who would be you know wanting to throw the invites on the fridge

You seem like a cluttered fridge guy, you know? Yeah, I would be. Charlie just screams cluttered fridge. You know, he's got, he's got wedding invites on there from 2012, you know? The only thing preventing me from being a cluttered fridge guy is finding my magnets, which are any magnets. They're somewhere in the junk drawer. I just don't know where, but as soon as I find those, I will be a cluttered fridge guy again.

So what is, you're from the Midwest then? Oh, yeah, born and raised. So what is... So what is your wife from the Philippines think of the Midwest? Oh, well, you know, she likes it. It's a different way of living, but there's lots of Filipinas that actually moved to the Midwest and live in our area.

So she's still got a connection to her homeland. But it's a completely different lifestyle. You know, they don't have winter over there, of course. That's a big adjustment. it, but hell, she grew up on the house, didn't have a door on the front of it. Yeah, just a curtain. Really? You know, the neighbors come by and the cousins come by and everything.

So, you know, it's a completely different way of living, but she seems to be adjusting real well. Do you ever get over there yourself? Oh, yeah. We took a road trip. We rented a 80-horsepower Toyota go-car, basically, driving through the mountains. You see those Discovery Channel videos of a million fish swimming all to. together and they don't hit each other. Yeah.

You know, that's what it's like driving in Manila. Well, no. Did she let you drive there or was she like, no, I'm handling this? No, I drove the entire time. Yeah, that's interesting. One time I was at a stop line, there was an ambulance behind me. I pulled over and her and her sister are like, what are you doing? I'm like, well, there's an ambulance.

But, oh, don't care. Don't worry about that. They'll find a way around. So you're telling me they don't got four ways. stops in the Philippines? Well, they do. They just don't pay attention to them. They don't care about them. It's like a suggestion.

Wow. Yeah, if you'd like to stop, you can. If not, don't worry about it. It's like the complete opposite of here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys, there's no stop shunals. They'll give you a $150 ticket. That's how they

fill the potholes. That's really interesting. What's the other big cultural shock between the Philippines and the Midwest. Well, I'll tell you they got a great sense of humor over there and they are just grateful to be alive. They work 120 hour work weeks

sometimes and they'll still find ways to smile and laugh and be grateful for what they got. Meanwhile, here, some people are just mad if the line at Wendy's drive-through is two minutes too long. That's true. Yeah. Right. There's a lot more

gratitude over there and joy. But in reality, what are they doing back there? I mean, how hard is it to Like a, you know, make a cheeseburger. That's fair. You know, Miles, we just had a nice moment here on the bellied-up podcast. We don't often get to travel to different parts of the world

through the stories of our callers. And you hear how these cultures have something they can teach us. And you just flipped it on its ass. All right. Sorry about that, Clyde. He saw NSYNC when he was a child. He's trying to act out because of it. I mean, that will affect any grown man in strange ways.

I can understand that, yeah. Yeah, it was his first concert was NSYNC, and it was his idea, so I was six. Oh. It still says a lot about you, Miles, I'm afraid. What's your wife's name? My wife's name, Cherry, like the fruit. Cherry?

You got to tell Cherry we says hi. Oh, of course, yeah. And get some suggestions for a bar in Manila for us to do bellied up in the Philippines. Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, there's a ton of them, that's for sure. Yeah, that would be great. Miles is saying he wants to give me a birthday present. No, I had.

Clyde, tell me this. do you in your marriage do you guys call the bedroom an ice cream shop no free no why yes because there's always a cherry on top wow I want you to know that he held up his hand for a high five and the only reason I high fived him was because I was bullying him earlier in the show for liking in sync so wow it's a pity high five okay sure no that's good one that's good one yeah so um where do you guys live in the midwest right now that's central michigan we got a little farm there oh nice dude central michigan from the philippines central michigan i love it well that's

great um clive we we love hearing about uh the philippines and And we love hearing about you and how your wife doesn't, the reasons she doesn't appreciate the junk drawer. And it makes sense. I think what the best thing that came out of this, Charlie, is let's look at this as a positive. You now have the opportunity to grow a brand new terrarium of a junk drawer. That's true.

That's true. It's a positive. Yeah. If the formula that's good by me, I just want to say one thing about Charlie is the whole mitten stuff. state fiasco between Wisconsin and Michigan. Yeah, go ahead, Clyde. I mean, much with that thumb, did it lose a battle with a table saw or something?

Yeah. Yeah. It's not really a thumb over there in Wisconsin. Yeah, it's not really a thumb. Is it, Clyde? No, it's not really a thumb. Well, what's that growth above your pinky called the UP? Huh?

What's that? Did your pinky get locked up at three-mile island for like five years, huh? Give us the UP and you can be the Mitten State. We don't want to be the Mitten State. It's a bargaining chip for the UP, okay? Hey, we won the U.P. Fair and Toledo War. Come on, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You got the UP and Ohio got screwed. We all know how that went down. Charlie, how big is Toledo? Oh, thanks for asking my house. It's about three Milwaukee's. How big is Milwaukee? Milwaukee, it's about Oh, hang, I screwed it up.

I screwed it all up. It's like a third of Milwaukee. It's a third of Milwaukee. Yeah, it's about three Toledo's, yeah. You know, it's our age old bit, and the last two times I've screwed it up. Clyde, you know, I'm starting to lose it mentally here. So I took it, I took, yeah, I think I took the same pill

twice this morning so I am on a lot of psychedelics so all right no hate I actually was born in milwaukee myself were you I know I have a respect for a moment yeah my dad kept us for about two weeks took a good look around and said no I we need to move out here let's get out really you were only there two weeks two weeks yep he got transferred for a job to mention you oh okay wow two weeks after you're born they, are you guys moved? My God. Oh, that sucks. Are your folks still together or did that do it?

Oh, no. I mean, they got, they put it a few more years after that, had seven kids, like good old Catholics do, you know? Sure. And, uh, but, you know, they ended up splitting up for, uh, probably very good reasons, we'll say. All right. Well, all right. And we'll leave it at that. That's for another day.

I know. Yeah. Yeah. You'd be good there, Clyde. Tell Cherry we says hi. I will you guys have a good day there at the bar all right thank you Clyde bye bye

we're great guy great guy nice guy I love the name Clyde too Hein's a great name I have to name my second kid Clyde are you having a second kid in my house we're gonna have a second kid at some point I don't know when yeah there you go yeah just gotta

just gotta yeah we didn't give the name Clyde I'll fucking love Clyde. Clyde will be a good male name. Owen. Clyde Owen, Montpricisie.

Clyde and Montfrecis. Is Clyde short for something? Clydesdales? Clyde Dale. Clyde Dale, Montrecy. There it is. All right. another caller, Charlie? Yeah, Miles. Miles, I'll tell you what falls here, man. And you know,

you know what that means. It means everyone's snorting those pumpkin spice lattes and driving around with one in their hand, looking at all the leaves, a bunch of leaf lookers. All those leaf lookers. Yeah, they're just sounds like a slur for people who like, get out of the way of a leaf looker. Yeah. Excuse me. What the hell? We got another leaf looker on our hands. Just enjoying the colors. Okay. And you're going to have that this time of year, Trale. Yeah, because it looks like a cramped on the landscape, you know? That's what it looks like. Yeah. And it's beautiful the colors, but you know what happens when people are slowing down and others are speeding up to get to the game an accident can happen. Throw deer on top of that. Accident prone, baby. What you want to do, though, is if you get

injured call nicolay law 1 855 nicolay Travis what's happening it smiles and charlie on the bellied up podcast how you doing what's up team man what's happening i'm just over here at the old fire station organizing some stuff in a truck here and uh join the beautiful weather oh are you a fireman or i i am uh paid volunteer fireman fireman all right paid volunteer fireman that's a little little contradictory you get a stipend though

yeah yeah we could call it that what city what town chatech wisconsin chatech hey miles and i landed a boat in chatech and we did poorly a few times right yeah we shot our video

cow versus deer in chitech Wisconsin one of my all time favorites um I see I don't think I knew about that one. Oh, you got to look it up. It's a classic. Yeah, love some shattack. So you guys are not part of the professional firefighters union up there. No union, no union. Okay. One question from earlier in the podcast. We were debating on, so firefighters, are they EMT certified or do they have a certification like an EMT? Were we debating that on this podcast,

Yeah, we were talking about that. No, we weren't. Yes, we were. No, we weren't. Well, I guess it depends. Hold on, no fighting. No fighting. Everything's good. Okay. So, I mean, I think you'll see that a lot with more of your full-time guys, especially if they run an ambulance service of some sort. But us being more of a volunteer department, we do have the option for people to be medical first responders.

But it's not something that's required. there is an ambulance service that's in the same building, but it's not technically a part of the fire department. Got it. Got it. All right. Is the ambulance volunteered to? The ambulance is not.

That is a paid position, poorly paid, but paid nonetheless. Okay. Well, not to transition too much here, but I think you called in because you want to talk monster trucks. Oh, absolutely. the the what I think in my opinion should be the official sport of the Midwest really monster trucks wow monster jam monster jam Friday Friday Friday Friday grieve digger big foot kids tickets only five bucks you'll only need the edge

kids tickets only five bucks I don't know they're making any money making kids tickets five bucks. Aren't the only, those only people going to monster truck shows? Dude, they're selling that popcorn for 25 bucks and it is the saltiest popcorn makes you want to buy a $5 soda or a $10 soda. Back in the day when we were kids, those $5 kids that seats were the they were the absolute ticket. But yeah, to take a family of four now, you got to get a freaking loan. Really? It's gone up and price. Even Monster Jam is is not immune to inflation then. I see. Yeah. Wow. No. No. No, not at all.

The thing I know about kids health-wise is the developing lung needs diesel flowing through it in an enclosed area for two hours at least once a year in order to properly function as an adult. Yeah, I mean, I turned out okay. I know. I went to a couple of them. My nephew just went to one. I was bummed. I was out of town. That's... You want to know something really funny, Charlie? What's that? I've been to an in-sync concert,

but I've never been to Monster Jam. Oh, really? Get the fuck out here. Oh, shit. Give me a card. I got to have a conversation with my parents. Immediately blames it up there. I'll be right back.

I got to make a call. Dad, I'm sorry. Dad was the insane concert, though. I mean... Were you an in-sync guy? I mean, how was it for you? I mean, I can't say I was, but how was that? Yeah, see, classic.

He definitely was. It was great. Got a glow stick. My dad took us. Wow. Yeah. Totally worth it. Yeah.

I'm getting the sense that he might kind of be an in sync guy. I told you, there's a bunch of people out there that liked Insync, but they're afraid to say it. And I'm going to be the voice. It's okay to like Insync fans. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Ba, bye, bye. no they have another song one or two yeah i could tell you i just don't have time um okay so what what is it about the monster truck experience that you think is so midwest well full disclosure i'm a little biased because i've worked around them for close to 15 years now really doing several different things uh But, I mean, I know that Miles has never been, but I think when you go and you experience it up close, it's just such a, the best way I can describe it is visceral.

But also it was created in the Midwest. It was born in the Midwest. It was bred in the Midwest. And it's for, it's for absolutely everybody. It's for your rednecks. It's for your rich folk that just are looking for some entertainment. I mean, the list goes on and on. There's so many reasons.

But the biggest thing is I think it just really appeals to, everybody in the Midwest because it is a Midwest activity through and through. I didn't know it started in the Midwest. Did you? Where did it start? It started in Missouri. The first monster truck was Bigfoot, which some people may or may not know. Guy just had a truck with 48 inch tires, went out in the middle of a field, ran over a couple cars in 1981. It was on video. And then two years later, the first public car crush was in 1983 at the sold-out Pontiac Silver Dome. Sold out two years like, dude, this is incredible.

Miles, I feel like we got to make a movie about the story of the origin of the monster truck, except you can't be a producer because you went to an NSYNC concert instead. So. Yeah, I might ruin the production a little bit. Yeah, just the backstory. They're like, this doesn't seem as authentic. God, why you keep wanting to put these songs in the soundtrack? It just don't fit the vibe, you know?

Buy, bye, bye is it's just going over all the cars. These feel like they should be in the Barbie movie, not the Monster Jam documentary. That's really cool, man. Also, like, you know, our ancestors or when the founding fathers started this country, they're like, we're going to set this up and, you know, in 300 years. 200 years we're going to be a peak society and, you know, there's going to be all these other things. And then you fast forward. And they're like, uh, actually we used our freedom to put giant wheels on a truck and run over other cars with it.

Are you? America, baby. It's like, I'm sure that's what they had envisioned when they wrote the Constitution, you know? Well, I'll tell you what they also didn't envision. Miles was your six year old ass going to see a bunch of men dancing around without their shirt on hard nipples and everything bud watching over you going to see monster trucks yeah they envision girls see a monster trucks that's what they envision um no i think uh i i just think it's a great well can you bet on it i feel like it would really become a a great sport if you could bet on it you know I mean, I'm sure. I'm sure people, you know, can do some side bets if they really feel the need. For me, it might be considered a little bit of insider trading, but I don't know how Vegas would look at it.

Oh, so I guess I've never been. So is it kind of like the WWE? It's like it's, you know, it's a predetermined thing who wins or like a Jake Paul boxing match? definitely not predetermined but you know it is it is it is I guess in a lot of aspects you know more of a show the primary purpose is to you know some family entertainment

the trucks are paid in appearance fee rather than you know getting paid to win in most cases so I bet you get a better show if you paid him to win uh maybe maybe But also, like, if you don't put on a good enough show,

then maybe that promoter won't call you back either. So there's probably a fine line. So give us the rundown of for someone who's never been to a monster truck rally, Monster Jam, what can they expect? Like, what are the different sections? Like, when I went, I remember they're being kind of like, you know, you start small and you get big, kind of a crescendo. But what's the typical run of show?

well so I guess you got to start with where you can find them so for example kind of at a smaller scale you might find one at a small county fair a lot of times a fair might pay a promoter to come put on a show there book a few trucks yada yada we just put one on this last weekend at houghton michigan at their county fair but the general layout of most shows is you show up you get to access the pit party and that's one that's one thing that's cool about monster trucks is The drivers are accessible. It's not like NASCAR, you know, where you might have to pay a bunch of money to go meet somebody. Yeah, that's true. A lot of times you can go meet the drivers, take pictures with the trucks, go see them up close and personal, all that jazz. After that's over. Usually the trucks will start with a skills competition where they have two or three attempts to do something cool, usually on two wheels, like balance it on the front tires or whatever. That's sweet.

Then there is a bracket-style racing competition. then there will be freestyle and that's kind of your crescendo. So it is definitely a buildup, you know, from kind of the slowest up to the most exciting. And the freestyle is just go hit all the shit you want to. And if you do the cool stuff within whatever amount of time, you win. Yeah. I like that. And honestly, you've sold me.

I am not going to make the same mistake. My dad made. You know, becoming an adult is, you know, trying to write all the wrongs that your parents. did to you, and I'm not taking my kid to a Taylor Swift concert. I can tell you that much, or a chapel ron. I'm going to take him to the monster, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I would like to go. I'm not going to lie. I would like to go to a Taylor Swift concert. Yeah. I mean, it'd be fine. You know, it's no in sync, but. Are you now backing up? I'm like you just said. See, I told

you he was a closeted in sync fan. I know, I know. See? I just need to create a safe space for but I'm not making Miles are you looking up flights right now to go see the Backstreet Boys residency in Vegas at the sphere I would be absolutely fucking lying if I didn't get served at Backstreet Boys at the sphere TikTok and I watch like

all four minutes of it I'd be lying yeah I don't know that's cool you know what I'm all boy bands yeah maybe I just haven't like fully experienced certain parts of myself and I should get an n-sync

CD, you know? I mean, maybe that's it. I'm just shutting myself off. I'm repressing these parts that I like to dance. I'm not good at it, but I like to do it. I like to sing. I'm not good at it, but I like to do it. Maybe if I didn't shut myself off, I'd be better at it.

More exposed, you know, Miles, is he just being closed-minded, or? I think so. I think Charlie's just sheltered, you know. It might be the case. It might be the case. You know, if there's one thing I've learned on this bellied up podcast is who are we to judge, Miles. But I'll tell you this, to bring it all back, I think what we really need is a monster jam, Taylor Swift combo.

So how do we make that happen? I want Taylor Swift driving. I mean, we all know with the NFL that that just, you know, sent the numbers through the roof. So how do we get Taylor Swift involved? We got to get. Well, yeah. Who's your hottest monster truck driver? I made a swing at some sort of Taylor Swift's Monster Jam crossover at one point

since Taylor Swift was brought up here back when I used to work for Monster Jam and this was probably oh 2015 or 2016 we were in Syracuse New York and every week they would play shake it off at that point it was still popular right they would play it and they'd come up over my headset and they would tell me to dance and they put the camera on me I'd never do it and then in syracuse the last show of the tour i uh i did it and danced and it ended up on youtube is it can we watch it what's the video called um i guess if you just search my name and taylor swift it probably comes up yeah what's your name uh Travis obviously uh last

name is s e W I L O tour taylor swift or whatever you being named Travis go. Here we go. Click on that. Here we go. Wow. Damn, dude. And this is why they say white people can't dance. Right here. This is video evidence. That's the only reason they got, however many views it got is because of the poor dancing. Not the good dancing.

There's a lot of views. That was 10 years ago. Holy smokes. Wow. Nice job. I don't know, man. I bet the crowd went mild for that. It didn't look that bad at dancing to me from this white guy thinks that. That kid got a gun? What? Did you see that?

Yeah, he's got a gun. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Right. It escalated quickly. The kid's got a gun. Is that a BB gun or what is that? I don't know, but it looks like a long gun on some sort. Yeah, that was 10 years ago.

That wouldn't fly that monster jam anymore. he just puts it right down as soon as he sees the camera. The kid's also like four years old, too. It was, that's a gun. What the fuck? You guys are putting a kid with a BB gun. Wait, wait, wait. Go to the comments.

See if the comments talk about that kid with the guy. See if more comments are talking about the dancing or the kid with the gun. Yolo. A lot of yolo comments. I like to imagine I didn't do a good enough job dancing. Maybe that gun would have been used on that. I don't know. The one guy said, well, this wasn't worth watching.

And then they said. And then there was another guy that said, neither dancing nor funny. So. That's just mean. Because first of all, that was worth watching. And I thought you danced very good. See, there's bullies. That was probably miles 10 years ago in grade school bullying you.

How old were you? Oh, you were like early 20s. He was still bullied back then. Well, he was listening to N-Sync. Yeah, it was reactionary. Yeah, that kid's definitely got a gun, dude. That is, that's 2015 for you, though, dude. That was, anything went back then.

Different time, different place. You know, let's bring back BB guns to Monster Jam. Right. I think you guys need to get out to some sort of monster truck show. When's the next one? I have, well, for me personally, we're going to Saintingness, Michigan, uh, was it September 13th. We got a show there.

You're doing the show. Yeah, yep. So, uh, I work for a company called Monster Truck Throwdown. We do shows in Canada and the Midwest. And, uh, so I'll, I'll do, depending on the show, I'll have different tasks like track building or, you know, with ticket sale things or helping coordinate the show or whatever. Well, I can tell you this. I'm going to get there.

but I need my kid to be a little older so we can really appreciate it, you know? And when your kid gets hold, let's combine, let's do a bellied up at Monster Jam. It's just the whole time you can't hear anything. Trucks in the middle of. If you guys ever end up at the right one that I help put on,

maybe we could get you behind the wheel of something. Oh, there. I want you to think about that, though. You want Charlie. We have a truck. I raced. We have a truck that's a lot more tame that is meant for giving rides. You know, people can during the show before and we're not, we don't want, you know,

the governor on it, you know, Charlie, like we don't, we don't want to be riding in the grandma truck. We want to feel the horsepower between our legs, you know. Yeah, dude, and I got to experience. I want to be able to open it up. I've raced on dirt, dirt tracks. I've raised my Volkswagen rabbit against a sport mod. and I lost.

So, five on the floor, baby. Yeah, diesel. 45 miles to the gallery in that car. 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit. I tell you what, you might not be as fast, you can make a lot more laugh. Oh, you bet. You bet.

And you can just inhale that diesel fuel, dude. I got diseases I don't even know about yet. But yeah, that would be fun. That would be a great time. Miles and I are there. It's his chance to recapture the childhood he should have lived. Absolutely. I mean, some of us never grow up, you know, and I think that's what it is for me, for sure.

But we did have that ride truck at my wedding last year, and that was a pretty good time. Except for that six-year-old in the front row of the gun, he's at six years old, he was going on 40, you know. He's on a watch list. We should figure out where that kid is today. well man we appreciate calling in today this is great charlie you're going to have to get to a monster jam we can go at the fargo don't they got to they have it all the time in fargo i feel like so all right yeah i think every february i think they usually have two or three shows throughout the weekend i've been there the last two years uh as a crew guy yeah okay cool man well let's let's

schedule it out miles let's do bellied up in uh fargo in february and we'll go the monster jam Yeah, dude. Hell yeah, brother. Well, thanks for calling in, man. We appreciate you. Hey, thank you guys. And tell your folks that I says, hi. Don't forget to watch out for those deer now.

Yeah, you watch out for monster trucks. And fires. Oh, yeah. Head on a swivel, boys. Oh, yeah. Good on you. All right. We'll see you soon.

Thanks for volunteering. All right. Not often you talk to a paid volunteer monster truck fellow, is it, Miles? Not very often. Not very often. yeah my kid likes like trucks and cars and stuff so I think he would really love going to monster car he was probably so disappointed in you who your kid if he knew about but honestly Charlie this is I'm gonna spin zone this to blow your mind let's do it spin the zone blow me

this this is way better because what can you think of as a better experience than you and your four-year-old child both experiencing something for the first time like Monster, Jan. You are right. We're both going to be just enamored at what's going on. I mean, you guys are going to have the same look. I got to be there to film it. I got to be there. Tell Ann that I got to go.

Okay. I got to ruin the family time. I want to sit there and watch. Yeah, I doubt Ann's going to want to go. So we'll have an extra ticket. Yeah. yeah that's going to be so you're right though i mean maybe you did this maybe this was god's plan all along yeah and um you also should take him to the ensink reunion tour you have to

gonna show you what i did as a kid but worse though you have to wait until he's like 12 years old so he has a chance to be the bully that you were in grade school and i want to just hear him rip you the whole way home or maybe he won't yeah I don't know if he's like his mom he won't be a bully you know so all right well this was a fun

episode miles I had a good time with you today yeah we're here at station number six if you're in West Dallas you got to get on the stripped here they got a bunch of cool shops and yeah they got the we got to see the beef jerky vault down the way

they got a meat shop yeah they got it's crazy like They, they're, the butcher is legit. We saw them back there slicing their own meat. They got a whole dehydrator over there. And then they got a cheese shop with coffee in it. Mm-hmm. They got a bakery.

We walked him back. They make their own stuff. And Miles and I, I mean, it was getting dangerous. They made their own donuts. Yeah. Yeah. We've only had the breakfast Sammy so far. But yeah.

Station number six, West Dallas, Wisconsin, the Beecher Street, downtown area. Come check it out. Well, guys, thanks for tuning in to another episode of the bellied-up podcast. Tip your bartender, and we'll see you the next one. See you next one. And hey, until K, if you guys like it in sync. I was just kidding. Okay.

Bye-bye. Okay, hope you guys have a good one. Goodbye now. Oodaloo. Thank you.