Bill Meyer Show Podcast - Sponsored by Clouser Drilling www.ClouserDrilling.com - 05-12-26_TUESDAY_6AM

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

Morning news catch up and then Nathan Worcester from the Epoch Times discussing border and Patrol funding, where it is at. I talk with Tom Doyle author of RINGO - A FAB LIFE

This hour of the Bill Meyer Show podcast is proudly sponsored by Klauser Drilling. They've been leading the way in Southern Oregon well drilling for more than 50 years. Find out more about them at Klausor drilling.com. Now more with Bill Meyer. It is so good having you here on Pebble in Your Shoe Tuesday. Join the conversation at 7705-633-770-MED. If you got a good pebble in there, let me know about that, okay? One person sent me an article yesterday.

I think it was Brad sent me an article from Revolver. And it had to do, is it time to ban junk mail? Is it finally tight? And no, that's a pebble in the shoe for many people. You know, I'm not bugged by junk mail all that much. I mean, I get a lot of it, but okay, just take a look, just go into the recycling. Is it something that you think got to be done? Is that a big deal?

you know, if I wanted to actually pass some more laws or change something in the way we get communicated with, I would rather truly ban spam. And I know that they say, oh, yeah, we have these laws now. Congress has these laws now, you know, the Can Spam Act, all the rest of these things, you have to have one touch unsubscribe and all the rest of it. Oh, Bullstein. It doesn't, you know, I'm way more bothered by email spam and all the marketing that. that way I think than I am by the paper.

The paper stuff, okay, just goes right into the recycle. Fine. You know, that's about it. Interestingly enough, though, if you were to ban junk mail, it would probably kill the United States Postal Service right now. They still need a lot more money from Congress, but is it worth it? What, would you want to ban? Okay, between email spam and or spam in the mailbox at home,

What is worse in your view? To me, it's the electronic stuff because it is sent at practically no cost, and everyone to a certain extent has to be looked at individually to find out if it's actually real. Junk mail, I mean, you pretty much see it right away. I don't have a real problem with the junk mail. Brad, I think I may disagree with you on the banning of the junk mail.

We'll see about that. Okay? It's really interesting that two organizations can look at the same information and come up with a completely different point of view. Yesterday I had a reported and was talking about this story that I saw in the Oregonian that talked about Oregon visitors spending stalls, and it's facing fresh headwinds because we have a lot less travel coming into Oregon from Canada and from international travel. Now, some of it is just economically based. Some people are getting irritated at maybe the immigration. I know there's been talk about that. But still, you know, the tourism economy only grew a little over like 1% between 2024 and 2025.

Now, that's way, below inflation. By the way, the inflation rate coming out right now, and it seems to be heating up a bit to around 3.8%. So, Oregonians is saying, hey, you know, this is pretty rough. Yeah, it went up a little bit. you take inflation into account. Yeah, it's actually going down. The Portland Business Journal, who should know better, says that Oregon tourism holds steady amid international visitor decline. That's not true. That's exactly what the data did not say. Way fewer Canadians and way fewer international people traveling. And I guess the main thing is, is that with tourism, see,

the whole thing about tourism is that, my gosh, we're going to become millionaires here in Southern Oregon by going to each other's basketball games. That's almost the way it seems to be painted. Ooh, you know, we had this, the kids unlimited. This is this basketball tournament. Yeah, and look at the tourism. Yeah, parents forced to buy a hotel room because their kids playing in the championship. You know, that kind of thing.

You know, is that the kind of tourism? Is that the tourism? Yeah, the pickleball. We got the pickleball thing. And here's another cosplay. Here's another comic book character or a cosplay sort of event in downtown Bedford. I guess maybe we will get rich

just to become millionaires just by swapping hotel visits to each other cities. I shouldn't sound so cynical about that. I don't know. Let's talk about something that really matters. How about the weather? How long have you been told,

for how many years have you been told that your SUV, your lifestyle, the fact that you have air conditioning, the fact that food gets shipped in from the San Joaquin Valley in California, and it's being used to, you know, we use evil fossil fuels, so-called fossil fuels, diesel, and natural gas for fertilizer. And oh my gosh, you know, you're making Mother Earth cook.

It's your fault that global warming is here. How long, how many decades have we been hearing this? And then I see this story coming out of Washington Post of all places. Washington Post, the CIA's newspaper. And I was reading this this morning. And it said, could an El Nino this year match an 1877 event that killed millions of people on the planet? A super El Nino. This is in the Washington Post.

Washington Post. As chances, yes, in other words, don't sweat the tourism numbers when you hear this story, okay? As chances rise for one of the strongest El Nino events on record later this year, the potential for dangerous conditions has prompted comparisons to 1877 when such an event drove catastrophe around the globe. El Nino's warming of ocean waters in the east central tropical Pacific develops every few years. this year ocean temperatures could surge 3 degrees Celsius. That's 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit above average and break records. The climactic shift that happened 150 years ago, devastated crops raising the question of whether a similar disruption

could threaten global food security yet again. The strongest El Nino on record from 1877 to 1878 fueled conditions that led to a global famine, which killed more than 50 million people across India, China, Brazil, and elsewhere. That was three to four percent of the estimated global population at that time. It would be the equivalent of a quarter billion people, 250 million people, if it were to happen today. It was arguably the worst environmental disaster to ever befall humanity. Researchers writing about this event in the Washington Post is reporting it.

And the disaster took years to unfold. Drought began spreading across the tropics and subtropics in 1875 in the years that followed, A combination of strong climate forces in the Indian and Atlantic oceans formed alongside the record-breaking El Nino, amplifying and prolonging the drought. Of course, what are we talking about drought? Now, I'm not saying that this is, you know, what we're looking at here. But still, now, note everything that the Washington Post doesn't say. Wait a minute. If human-based climate change is what is causing all of this on the planet in 2026,

What caused it in 1877? Much smaller population. No cars. Yeah, he had people burning wood, things like that. They'd go out and kill some whales, you know, for lamp oil, things like that. Is the Washington Post, is the CIA's newspaper finally letting it out of the, or letting the cat out of the bag, that, yeah, the climate change seems to be based on natural forces. As a matter of fact, it was a natural. natural thing back in 1877. It killed millions. Yeah. How about them apples? Now, I'm not saying

I would be happy to see, you know, that that happened this year just in order to prove my point that, no, it's not about whether you're driving an SUV to work every day rather than taking RVTD, which, by the way, is looking to get more, you know, its tax money renewed this year, okay? But be that as it may, they have been selling us this canard that it's been human-based caused all the time. And yet one of the largest environmental disasters, they had no explanations. Well, it's just something that happened. Weather forces came in here. The ocean warmed and people died. That's essentially what they're saying. And now they're forecasting it right now. But what are they going to try to hang that on human-based climate change?

What caused it to kill millions of people back in 1877? It's like, do they don't even realize, Did they think that we have no memory of what they've been reporting over the last 20, 30 years, 30, 40 years? It's all your fault? Everything is your fault. Everything's our fault, right? Well, whose fault wasn't it that millions died in 1877? From the same kind of weather development, El Nino, a super El Nino, which appears to be developing right now in this current world. Now, hopefully we'll be a little bit better prepared right now.

but wouldn't be a bad idea to talk away some food. I would say that to you at any time. All right, all right. This is the Bill Myers Show and you're on KMED, 621. Why is selling your home quickly so very important, particularly in this kind of market? Hey, it's Lars. First and foremost, most buyers search within a price range.

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Nobody knows the local market better than Jared does. That's why Hockinson Realty is who I trust when it comes to buying or selling a property, and you should too. Call Jared today, 541-772 sold, or reach out to Jared Hockinson on the web, 541772Sold.com. Put Jared's more than 25 years of experience to work for you, and always be sure to tell him Lars sent you. Everyone deserves to grow old with respect, but many older adults experience abuse, including physical or emotional harm, financial exploitation, isolation,

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Learn more at Oregon.gov slash respect. That's organ.gov slash respect. Brought to you by the Oregon Department of Human Services. Hi, I'm Matt Stone from Pressurepoint Roofing, and I'm on 106.3, TmED. 623. For the last 30, 40 years, we've been told it's only humans. That's what's been causing all of the climate chaos. You know, when you hear the Jeff Merkley's talk and the Jeff Goldens and the Socan, you know, it's always this.

And now the Washington Post, ends up letting the cat out of the bag for actually doing some reporting. It said could the El Nino setting up this year, which is potentially a super El Nino, which means the ocean is considerably warmer, and it caused a huge famine back in 1877. And it killed millions back then. And with the point being, it's just like, okay, New York Times, or I'm sorry, Washington Post, you're always telling us it is just us. We're the only reason that this is happening.

And so, all right, how did it happen back in 1877? This has happened before, and they think it's going to happen again. That the drought that we're seeing out here on the West Coast and everything else could be the setup for a super Il Niño, and that it was just like 1877. Oh, well, why didn't you tell us before? All you've been telling us is that, oh, boy, you better get on RVTD or else. It makes my teeth hurt sometimes when you see this.

because, now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. But anyway, let me go to Vicky. Vicki, you're part of the early morning commenters club, kind of like the Southern Oregon jury, at least the early morning version of it. That's on your mind, huh? Oh, I feel so powerful. That's right.

On the jury. But you are not on the Schofield, the Danny Schofield jury. I don't know if you want to be on that jury. It's going to be a long trial. No, I'd rather choke on my coffee some more. I imagine so. I get it. Well, I had two points.

So, first of all, the tourism, you know, I've lived here since 1980, and this valley was based on timber and, you know, farming and... It was a resource-based economy in those days. Right. And they have turned it into a mini-Portland. They want all these tourists to come in. They've spent so much money on tourism, and now if tourism is slowing down, what was the point of all of it? Why don't we do something that will sustain our economy?

Well, it's apparently, well, it's this whole thing that we're going to get rich by going to each other's cities and visiting, you know, again and again and again. That's how we're going to make it happen. I guess that just seems to be why you have to throw at the wall and see what sticks, like, like, well, the ball stadium, for example, in another one. You know, you've got to do that. And I think there's also a part of it, though, there is a certain percentage of the population, Vicki, that I think looks at this as a matter of civic pride. like we can't really be a real city unless we have our own, our own ball team, let's say. You know, like a big ball team with our ball stadium or something like that. They never want to build it with their money.

They want to build it with everybody else's money, though. That's the problem I have with it, okay? Well, I would have a much more pride in having our students know how to read and do math. Oh, that's loser talk. That's loser talk. Oh, come on. I'm a loser. So my second...

Yeah, worried about whether the kids could actually read or so, yeah, I know. Boy, that's loser talk these days. All right. Yeah. And the second point I wanted to make is, you know, Earth is a living, breathing. Yeah. And if you're looking back at 1877 when the world was populated with people, well, what happened when the dinosaurs died? I mean, this earth is evolving.

And if you ask me, the El Mino and whatever other kind of disasters go on, it's almost like Mother Earth's population control. That's an interesting way of looking at it. Well, we better be nice to Mother Earth then, if that's the case. Please, Mother Earth, don't kill us. Hi, KMD, good morning. Who's this? Welcome. Hello.

Hi. Hey, Bill. This is Phil. Roe Griver. How are you doing? Doing fine, Phil. It's on your mind there. Well, a big old pebble in my boot.

I was golfing at Dutcher Creek Golf Course yesterday. And in between the fourth and fifth hole on the cart path, on some guy's barn on private property spray-painted 86-47 on his barn. No kidding. This is near Gold Hill. Really? No, no, no. Dutcher Creek. Travis Borsman's golf course. Oh, oh, I thought that was the one out on. Oh, okay, all right.

I'm mixing up the golf courses. I was thinking about that one out by Gold Hill on Old Stage Road or something. Okay, never mind. All right. So anyway, I took a picture of it, and I came home, and I was so frustrated, and so were all the people that are on the golf course looking at it. And I called the Lars Larson Show, and he recommended that I call the local Secret Service office. Yeah.

And, you know, if this James Comey can be indicted for something like that, I mean, maybe this guy needs to have some suits at his front door knocking. Okay. Would that be considered a credible, a credible threat? You know, someone paints a side of their barring that way? I have no idea, but see something, say something, correct? Uh-huh. Well, okay, you certainly say something, at least have them show up, nothing else.

Like, hi, are you okay? Oh, you're just a crazy Democrat. Got it. Okay. So they just put the notes, crazy, unhinged, TDS, Democrat. at least let them know they're watching. Is that kind of what you're thinking? I suppose.

You know, it's just something that's been on my mind and bothering me. I don't know. Yeah, well, thanks for letting me know about that. And if you see something crazy like that, you call me anytime, Phil, because crazy sells, all right? Yeah, and I wanted to call the show to make sure that everybody that goes out there might have a little something to say to this guy if they ever see him in the backyard. All right. Did you see him by chance?

No, I look. Oh, no. Okay. Thanks, Bill. All right. Thanks for the call, Phil. Over at Dutcher Creek, Dutcher Creek Golf Course. It's not the golf course doing. It's the guy living there or by it, I guess.

Hi, good morning. Who's this? Welcome. This is a minor, Dave. Yeah, Dave. Yeah, I was going to say this is it was really bright, becoming drought to rip out a bunch of dams. Oh, why? No, remember, no, it's not ripping out a bunch of dams. The Klamath River is running free, my friend. It is going to be free to dry out.

It's going to be dried up. Yes. The Klamath River free to dry and turn into a little mud puddled in the middle of summer. Okay. So tomorrow I go in for operation for kidney stone removal. So I hope everybody prays for me. I certainly will. Prayers for you.

And does it look like it's going to be a rough one? It'll be good to get rid of the stones, I'll bet. Yeah, well, if they have to use a micro-can. and micro laser to remove the kidney stone, and they have to go through my bladder to do it. Yikes. It's a little more that I needed to know this morning, but I still wish you luck on that, okay? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, it's life. All right. Well, let me know, okay? Poppy an email when you get out of surgery, okay? Can you do that? Yeah. It's tomorrow at 2 p.m. And I'm writing down in the morning to University of Davis' surgical tower.

All right. Well, all the best to you, Dave. Minor Dave, wish the best for a quick and speedy recovery. 6.30. You think a ticket for not wearing your seatbelt is the worst that could happen. A fine, an inconvenience, a little embarrassment. But then comes the crash. There are injuries, a hospital bed, the long road to recovery, the moments you'll miss. Suddenly, a ticket doesn't seem so bad. That ticket?

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had another court check-in appearance yesterday. RV Times reports Judge Jeremy Markowitz said there will be no further delays for the trial after July. September 14th is the planned start date. Jury selection begins in June. Schofield is facing 44 felony counts of second-degree assault over allegations she swapped fentanyl for non-sterile tap water. It led to many patient infections, some who died at RRMC.

Medford Police had a heavy presence at South Medford High Sunday night into Monday after a social media threat against the school. NBC5 reports the threat originated from a student's email account, but they're thinking it may have been hacked and there was no real threat. If you'd like to target shoot on federal lands, listen up. Higher fire restrictions are about to go in effect on BLM lands in Oregon and Washington State. The BLM says starting this Thursday the use of fireworks, exploding targets or metallic targets, steel or jacketed ammo, incendiary devices and sky lanterns are banned. It's all about reducing the chance of human-caused wildfires this summer. And the statesman journal reports that Oregonians tend to fall for scams more often than the average American for some reason.

We're ranked number eight for fraud risk, according to federal data. Oregonians suffer fraud at the rate of around 173 cases per 100,000 people each quarter. of the year. The most common scams include fake online stores, counterfeit social media ads, fishing emails, and scam calls disguised as shipping or payment notifications. Bill Meyer, KMED News. Don't Portland Southern Oregon. What works for Portland politicians doesn't work here, and I won't let them forcing on us. I'm Duane Yunker, your Oregon State representative from Josephine County in Grants Pass. In Salem, Southern Oregon is a minority, and that's why my most important. important job I have isn't passing more mandates. It's being a strong voice, pumping the brakes on

bad legislation. I help leave the fight to protect your right to vote on the gas tax because politicians shouldn't raise your cost of living without your consent. That fight is saving the average Southern Oregon family about $500 a year. Next term, my job is clear to protect taxpayers, hold Salem accountable and keep more of your money in your pocket. I'm Dwayne Yonker, and I always stand up for Josephine County at home and in Salem. I'd be honored to earn your vote. Paid for Yonker for State Representative, PAC ID 2307.1. You're hearing the Bill Myers Show on 1063 KMED.

Proud to bring on Epic Times National and Political Reporter Nathan Worcester, who was with me this morning. And we wanted to catch up what's happening with Homeland Security funding, border security, all those kind of things. kind of not particularly sexy right now on the front page at the moment, but it's important to a lot of voters because everybody's talking Iran, Iran, Iran. But Nathan, it's good to have you back. Welcome to the show. Good morning. Yeah, Bill, good morning. Glad to join you. Yeah, why don't you kind of bring us up to snuff here because I'm not exactly sure where we are right now when it comes to border security. I'm hearing that it's completely closed. That's not really true. There's always going to be some people coming across there. but is this something which is making news in Washington, D.C. at this point that you're covering over at the Epic Times.

Well, you know, we're at a stage kind of early on in terms of really getting the reconciliation through, but we're meaningfully significantly further than we were just a few weeks ago. And I should say we have the Senate text from two committees. We're waiting on text from House committees. And then at that point, they should relatively swiftly move it forward. to passage on both ends. They need to make sure the language is similar and all that, but the June 1st deadline, I have not heard any indications that that's about to be broken. Of course, this is Congress, so there are often reasons for objections. Really, the biggest thing that is

in the Senate Judiciary Committee text, the $1 billion for security connected to the president's ballroom. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, he suggested that might not actually passed mustard in the Senate. Oh. So the issue would be the Senate parliamentarian, who is the umpire, more or less, to the process of reconciliation. Yeah, could you explain that role?

I mean, I remember when we were talking during government shutdown times, there was this talk of the parliamentarian, and I still can't say that I understand who that person is. And what I think is a she, right? What she does. It is. It is. Yes, the Senate parliamentarian.

basically is charged with enforcing rules. You know, people will raise questions about just how fairly and justly those rules are enforced. And, you know, right now it's Republicans seeking to get these packages through. But with reconciliation, there's something specifically called the bird rule, which puts very tough restraints on what you can do, basically ensures that you can't have anything focused on policy. The idea is this is just supposed to be. to be essentially a tax bill focused on spending. And there also are requirements when it comes to the deficit. You can't add anything beyond a 10-year window. Rand Paul, he suggested that the Byrd rule, it would not be able to move through that, this ballroom security request.

And the ballroom issue, there's been Democrats and Rand Paul, a few other Republicans raising concerns about that. The counter argument, of course, is that the money is not actually going to construction of the ballroom. It's going towards this security need, which after the White House correspondence dinner, assassination attempt, I think there's significant concern. Yeah, I think common sense says that going out to, well, certainly going out to the, to that same hotel where Reagan was had an assassination attempt a number of years ago, it's looking pretty bad every time we go there.

Presidents go there, bad things happen, Nathan, you know, from the looks of it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, in general, we've seen so many assassination attempts, so many strange incidents, even soon after what happened at the White House Correspondents Center. There was shooting incidents near the White House. So scary stuff in D.C. And things that raised this basic question about, well, just how safe is the president or other lawmakers for that matter in this political climate?

Now, so this is so they don't think that the, so Rand Paul, I just want to make sure Rand Paul doesn't think that this is going to pass muster then. What would be the more proper procedure to make this happen? Do you do a separate appropriation bill of some sort? Then you have to go back to square one. Where to we find ourselves right now, you think? Yes, and we're in an early stage of handling just through the standard process, a lot of the coming fiscal years of spending.

But anything connected to the ballroom, even security, I think that would be a chance. for Republicans to get Democrats to vote for it. So it seems like the reconciliation bill is the vehicle, maybe the likely is shot for them to actually do this. Yeah. Now, speaking of that, you know, that project, there seem to be a lot of construction projects that the Trump administration is working on right now. Now, what is the funding source for the arch that has been talked about, you know, the Trump arch that had been planned for Washington, D.C.? Yeah, that is a good question. I believe this is going to be a combination of federal funding,

about $15 million through the National Endowment for the humanities, if I'm not mistaken, and then a little bit in terms of matching funds, so 13 of the $15 million, and then special initiative money. So that's a combination of private and federal money. Okay. Now, the other story du jour which has been getting, covered in the Epi Times has to do with this reflecting pool story. And now we have a lawsuit

against the reflecting pool story. Can you help us understand any of the dynamics going on in this situation? President Trump's, of course, seemed to want to get this fixed at a relatively modest cost unlike what has been going on up to this point. What do we know? Yeah, there's some estimate that we could see $13 million as opposed to about $1.8 million to actually repair it and to paint it blue. Still, though, when you are dealing with billions of dollars, even into the trillions that we're talking about the national debt, that's a fairly trivial amount of money. You know, that has not really caught fire with lawmakers as much as the ballroom or as as much as some other issues.

But I certainly expect we're going to continue to see any of these projects, whether it's the arch or the reflecting pool, anything connected to the ballroom, these will continue to be mechanisms for this kind of partisan squabbling. These will continue to be political footballs. And I do have to say the reflecting pool strikes me in terms of the cost, in terms of the change, it would be visually, striking, but I just, it seems like small potatoes. Well, yeah, but it seems that every time that the president tries to do anything to improve Washington, D.C., that there's a huge restriction,

because, I mean, the reflecting pool's been in bad shape for a long time, hasn't it? I mean, under several administrations, it's needed to be repaired, but no one's done anything. Isn't that the case? It's the way it's been presented to me. Yeah, looking there, you can see it's in need of some improvements. I mean, that's true of a lot of buildings throughout Washington. This is, something I can say has been discussed, but also I've heard from people working in some federal buildings, things like people who've encountered the old FBI headquarters. They will say that it's in serious disrepair. That's true of so many places. And again, I think some of these are going to be more controversial than others. The, you know, Arch, for example, I think there's, it's going

to be difficult to see people come together across the aisle for that one. But yes, I would agree I would agree with you. I would agree with you. Something tells me, yeah, you're probably not even going, yeah, I'm going to go over to the Trump arch. Yeah, I don't think so. Although Fetterman and the Republicans have been strange bedfellows lately as of recent times, that's for sure. But you know, when it comes to the real money, the real money is being spent in the military industrial complex. And is there any growing pushback against a billion or so a day for what is going on in Iran? What is the status of that right now? Because it's been relatively quiet of pushback other than the usual partisan squabbling about this. How do you see it there, Nathan?

Well, as we speak, there are hearings going on. There's going to be ones in the Senate and the House with Defense Secretary, Secretary of War, Pete Hegg said, focused on, okay, where is this money going to come from, where it's going to go? So far, my understanding, and I'm not there, but I think as compared to previous instances, in a sense, he sounds a little more chastened or a little more focused on addressing some of what lawmakers was said. The administration is in a tough spot right now in Iran, I think, because there is this ceasefire. On the other hand, we have seen some exchange of fire. And I imagine that the administration right now, Iran is more of an in getting some sort of. supplemental for what has been spent in that country or in connection with it already, that's

a bigger focus than at least the portion that will come through regular appropriations of this request. And then again, they're hoping to get a significant chunk of it across the line, including, I believe, for things like replenishing munitions, but doing that, again, through reconciliation, which would only take Republican votes. So in a sense, I think we are seeing maybe some reflection on that price tag, but on the other hand, the way that we could see this amount of defense spending come across the line, there's going to be easier paths that might not require that kind of scrutiny. 1.5 trillion proposed for the military for next year, for the next year's budget.

You think that's just like an opening bargaining chip or like a number to start with? You know, you shoot high. I mean, from what I understand, it's like more than practically all the entire world's rest of the militaries combined, for what I understand. Just a huge, huge amount of money. And I know there's a lot of stuff that needs rebuilt over time there, but what do you think? Yeah, one point five. I mean, that's close to a 50% increase. You had last year, you know, the math gets a little bit complicated with various supplements.

Well, yeah. And the point being, well, the point being here, Nathan, is that the military is not exactly known for, you know, striking a hard bargain, too. And so when all of a sudden you're going to throw a one and a half trillion to it, that sounds rough. That seems to me like dead on arrival, but I could be wrong. Yeah, the Pentagon is not exactly passing audits with flying colors these days. It's a pretty consistent pattern. On the other hand, I think, you know, one thing I've observed in Washington is that there's not the sort of aversion to that kind of spending,

that you might anticipate, I think that there are a lot of people who, they're going to raise issues maybe with the specifics of what's happening in Iran, then, you know, we're going to see more war-power resolutions. But from asking people about that figure, I have not heard, even from many Democrats, the sort of pushback I would have anticipated. Well, I always appreciate your reporting that you're doing on the Epic Times. And once again, Epic Times National and Political reporter Nathan Worcester. What is probably the most underreported story that's going on? It's been crossing your desk that you think we should be looking for more information on. Well, this one is just starting to get reporting, but right now, a big issue flashing is the

possibility of military intervention involving Cuba. So that's one definitely worth tracking, and we could see the House and the Senate paying attention to that very soon. All right, very good. Epic Times National and Political Reporter Nathan Woosfer, and Nathan, I really appreciate you coming in and sharing a few thoughts, and it really worth your your subscription rather, and I appreciate you coming on the show this morning, okay? Be well. Absolutely glad to join you, Bill. All right, thank you. Thanks, Nathan. 647 at KMED. This is the Bill Meyer show. And coming up, we're going to have a pallet cleanser. We're going to go off into a little bit of rock and roll history about Ringo. Yeah, that guy, Beatles drummer. We'll talk to Tom Doyle here

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What do you have to lose? Call 800-869-2045. Again, 800-869-2045. This is News Talk 1063, KMED. and you're waking up with the Bill Myers Show. Ah, yes, Ringo. Ringo, the first of the Beatles to have a hit after the Beatles wrapped up there. And joining me right now is Tom Doyle, and he has written extensively on, well, many of the Beatles, many rock stars. He's an acclaimed music journalist, author, longstanding contributor to Mojo and Q.

It's appeared everywhere. And Tom, your latest is Ringo, a fab life. How you doing this morning, sir? Welcome. Not great stuff, Bill. How are you doing, man? I'm doing really well. I have to tell you, you've been close to musical greatness for most of your career. And I am really enjoying a fab life. I just want to give you a little personal note here that I, the first instrument I learned how to play was drums because of watching the Beatles.

And Ringo. And I would read about Ringo in a little bit. And I was just a little kid. And my parents went out and bought me a drum set from S&H. dreams stamps, you know, when I was a kid, gave him for my birthday. Right, man, you want me too. I mean, I became a drummer because of watching Ringo. You did. No, okay. Yeah. Now, I didn't stick with it like he did. But still, the stories that you were painting, though, in this book, Ringo of Fab Life, I was just really enjoying. It was like a real portrait here, especially this early part that I'm going through right now, post-World War II,

and how, I guess, it was a rough life for him. I didn't realize that he had such a sickly, a tough beginning in many ways. Why don't you tell us a little bit about that? I never really read about that. Well, it is astonishing, actually. It's one of the crazy things, really, about Ringo's life, is the fact that, I mean, he was nearly struck down twice as a kid. When he was six in the early summer of 47,

he spent 10 weeks in a coma after suffering from a burst appendix. and two or three times his mother was told that he might not last the night but he survived and then age 13 he caught flu which then developed into TB and he spent another year in hospital so obviously this put him back

in his schooling and stuff like that McCartney says a great thing about Ringo which is everything that Ringo knows is self-taught you know so he really is the university of life and stuff but yeah he had a really rough upbring in Liverpool Yeah, and it was a poor time, right? Post-World War II was not an easy time. And I guess what his first drumstick, where his first drum set was what, banging on pots or something, I don't know, things with nuts in it.

What was it exactly, remind me from the book, please? Well, this is it, actually. It was when he was in the hospital the second time that he caught the bug, the drumming bug. And he had like a couple of long wooden spindles, and he would use these as drumsticks and sort of play. on his bedside cabinet, which I'm sure drove all the other kids crazy. But, yeah, as soon as he gets home, he then, yes, that's filling in full of nuts and bolts, and that's a snare drum, and he gets some big old bass drum, and he hits it with, you know, a bit of wood that's supposed to go on the fire and stuff, you know. So he was obviously, he was drawn to drumming in such a compelling way that it was

obvious that it was going to be his future if he could make it work. Yeah, if he could. and you talk about in this book, it's a great book, I'm really enjoying it, it's Ringo, a fab life, and you go through the various early bands. He was the eldest. He was actually the oldest of all the four Beatles. Wasn't that the case? The oldest?

Yes, that's it, right? And the thing that's interesting is that he was a professional drummer by the time that he met these amateurs who were the Beatles, you know. And he said that really, you know, because he was in this band called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. And they played like summer seasons at holidays. camps and stuff and, you know, they wore sort of multicolored suits. They were professional show band. And the first time that he met the Beatles, he said, oh, we were the professionals. They were just a bunch of scruff.

Yeah, to hear John, well, have John Lennon be referred to as a bunch of scruffs along with Paul and George. Sure. I imagine that. You know, you talk a lot in this about that early section, especially in the 1950s, that rather than rock and roll, skiffle, was really big. big. And I have to tell you here, Tom, I have no idea what Skiffle sounds like. Can you help me? I know nothing about this, but that was the rage then. And Ringo was a big part of that before,

you know, the rock and roll craze really took over. Yeah, it was almost like a pre-punk rock phenomenon, right? I mean, basically kids would play bluegrass and country in the 50s, right? But in a sort of fast punky way, there was a guy called Lonnie Donigan. I don't know if he ever had any hits in the States, actually, but he was a huge influence on all the rock stars. right, from the 60s generation because he was in the sort of late 50s. But yeah, I mean, there's a brilliant sort of image of Liverpool at that time with all these giffle groups running around

and basically the bass player would have what was called a T-chest bass. It was basically a broom handle and a bit of string stuck inside a T-chest. But then at the same time, there was all these sort of marauding teddy boys and stuff like that there. So Ringo would sometimes come home

with some of these drums on the bus and he'd have to kind of trying to escape getting beaten up. Yeah. I mean, it's still quite a rough place with Liverpool. I was up there a couple of years ago. But, I mean, it's obviously it's a brilliant place. I absolutely love it, and I love the people there. But, yeah, I mean, Schiffel was huge, and that's, but it was an American thing.

It was like a punky tea. Okay. Well, you know, that explains a lot of then about, you write in there about how Ringo was always fascinated with the American West. In fact, didn't he try to go to Texas one time? before, before Beatle time, I think. He's, like, fantasizing about moving to Texas? Yeah, I mean, it's because he loved the country blues thing of Lightning Hawkins, basically.

And so he considered moving to Houston, right, because he just thought, well, that sounds great. And America, I mean, obviously, you've got to remember, I mean, even in my generation, I was born in 67, but we got America through TV screens and through records and through movies. And so it was kind of entrancing to us. But yeah, I mean, Ringo decides that he wants to move there, but he told me that basically what happened was he went down, right, to get forms, right, from the Liverpool consulate or whatever. And he said that they'd filled out all these forms, him and his buddy. And then they took them all back.

He says, then they gave him a load more forms. And he thought, ah, no, I just ripped him up and got on with his life. But yeah, that's interesting. I mean, a year before he joins the Beatles, he could have emigrated to America. And then everything could have changed at this point. Now, the thing is, Ringo, what would you say then, Tom, about Ringo's drumming style, not particularly flashy, but yet when you think about it, more sophisticated than it may sound? It's kind of the way I tend to look at it, but what about you as a drummer? Yeah, that's absolutely bang on, right?

Because, I mean, what he is, is he's a really solid and driving drummer. And I suppose he got a bit of a bad reputation because drummer's up to that point had been Gene Kruper, you know, and Buddy Rich. and big solos and twirling the sticks, and Ringo wasn't that. But his speciality was listening to the lyric of the song and then trying to depict that in the beat. So, I mean, you know, the holes in Blackburn, Lancashire and the day in the life, right?

Those Tom Tom things that he's doing, those roles, that's him actually trying to depict the holes, you know. So he's a very imaginative drummer and remains a brilliant drummer to this day, actually, if you listen to these new records. And really well-liked, but there's a lot of struggle there too, and it's all covered. And no, he wasn't the Keith Moon-style drummer, but I'll tell you, he always gave the Beatles songs exactly what it needed. And I think that's the important part about, you know, he was never an overplayer.

And that really served the Beatles well, didn't it? Yeah, absolutely, right. And you listen to Ticket to Ride. I mean, the beat sounds like a sort of juddering locomotive, you know. And then you listen to something like comes together. And, I mean, basically, as we'll now know, right, Lenin had brought in this song that was sort of cribs off of Chuck Berry. So it's a really simple blues. And then Ringo plays this drumbeat on it, which is like Cubist.

It's almost like Picasso or something. It's not what you would play over a simple blues riff or whatever. So, no, Ringo's super imaginative. Yeah, indeed. Tom Doyle, once again, great job on this. It is a great read. I'm about a third of my way through. I'm looking forward to seeing all the rest of it about the movies.

and the wives and all the other things that are going in. Yeah. Great job. I'm giving you a couple of, I'm giving you a couple of drumsticks up, okay? I appreciate all my drumsticks are in the air. All right. Thanks, Tom. Same here, Bill.

Thank you very much. All right. Tom Doyle, and I highly recommend. It was a lot of fun. And Tom is my pallet cleanser for the morning, too. You know, you get all the serious news, and then Ringo, and everybody likes Ringo. And from all accounts, a very good guy, even though he's a very good guy, even though he's had a lot of personal struggles

and sometimes overlooked a lot in the music world. And that's not a good thing, I guess. 7 o'clock, this is KMED, KMED, HD1, Eagle Point, Medford, KBXG, Grants Pass. We're going to catch up on Fox News and then, gosh, you're going to be digging into this story I was going to have for you yesterday, artificial intelligence in the designer baby craze.

Yep, it's a thing.