Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.36 - Mike's Home Studio Episode!

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

Lawn Care Zen, Crime Docs, and Classic Rock Revelations In this Monday morning episode of Good News York, host Mike Brindisi checks in from his home studio in Ithaca. In high spirits due to the nice weather, Mike shares his love for lawn care and mentions a particularly meticulous neighbor, humorously dubbed 'lawn guy.' He transitions into a discussion about the overwhelming choice of TV shows on streaming platforms and recommends crime documentaries 'Gone Girls' and 'American Nightmare.' Mike touches on sports, specifically the intriguing rumor about Arch Manning potentially being drafted by the New Orleans Saints. Lastly, Mike dives into an 'On This Day in Music' segment, highlighting iconic albums like Jimi Hendrix's 'Are You Experienced,' The Rolling Stones' 'Exile on Main Street,' and Led Zeppelin's 'Houses of the Holy.' Alongside announcing upcoming guests and giving shoutouts to the production team, Mike wraps up by encouraging listeners to enjoy the sunny weather, mow their lawns, and delve into the classic rock albums mentioned. 00:00 Introduction and Morning Greetings 00:48 Embracing Lawn Care and Landscaping 02:38 Neighborhood Lawn Guy Observations 05:02 Weed Whacker Woes and Weekend Plans 05:53 Navigating the Overwhelming World of TV Shows 07:54 Crime Documentaries: New Obsession 10:01 Sports Talk: Saints, Arch Manning, and Shedeur Sanders 18:22 Intersection of Music, Comedy, and Sports 19:54 On This Day in Music History 27:47 Conclusion and Sign-Off

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If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. Yes, good Monday morning. It is Good News York, and I am Mike Mendesci here with you coming to you from my Ithaca studio, my home studio, my bunker, if you will. I'm shot out of a cannon today. Danny and Matt are off doing a push-up contest for charity. I'm kidding. They don't care about charity.

They're just doing push-up somewhere. So you're stuck with me. I'm in a great mood because the weather's nice. Okay. The weather is nice. I am, I've got shorts on. So that's, that you know, because I wait till the last second to do shorts. And then once I'm in shorts and flip-flops, I stay that way for the entire season. But I am. I did a lot of landscaping and lawn work this weekend, which by the way, man, I have fought it for so long. Like I just, I feel like I'm sliding into my 40s perfectly, you know? Because I, I've just accepted that I like to. to do old man shit. I love taking care of my lawn, seating it, watering it, weed whacking,

uh, mowing. I love it. And, you know, I used to fight it. You know, I remember I was at a restaurant once, like five, six, seven years ago, I don't know. And I saw a, a commercial on television for a mulch. They were doing like a mulch blowout sale. Where it was, you know, whatever, like 10 bags for five bucks.

I screamed and pumped my fist like the Yankees had won the World Series or the Bills won the Super Bowl and I was like, what has happened to me? I am an old, old man. But once you accept it, it's glorious. Because I've heard from other men and women, I'm sure.

I haven't heard from women, but I've heard from other men that they too just love mowing the lawn and then looking at it after. And I've decided this sector of people, us, our idea of heaven really is just eternally riding on a mower with headphones on, drink in the cup holder on a sunny day, preferably sunny and 73. That's my sweet spot, by the way. Any hotter than that?

And I'm like, you know, any cooler than that. And I'm like, oh, a little chilly. That's my sweet spot. Sunny 73, baby. Okay? And I'm on a mower for eternity. Just zend out, you know? Got a drink in the cup holder, something else.

And we're just cruising. With that being said, there's a guy that lives in my neighborhood. It reminds me like the episode of Friends, where they were like naked apartment guy or whatever. We have a lawn guy in our neighborhood. Now, when I say lawn guy, I don't mean like me, just like loves mowing the lawn. I'm talking.

This dude, okay, whenever my wife and I drive by, he's always out there. if it is spring or fall, as long as it's not raining or snowing, he's out there and he's manicuring his lawn. And I mean every time we drive by, it's something different. First of all, he's got an electric lawnmower, which is red flag.

Like it's got a long cord and it's plugged in. And I'm like, might have some bodies in that garage. But he's either mowing or he's on his hands and knees and he's just like fidgeting around. mulching and planting or he's just standing out there. I mean, I guess he's kind of describing

what I said I do. But here's the difference. We have caught this man on hands and knees cutting his grass with scissors. That's next level. That's level five lawn master. But here's the thing. That's also level one serial killer, possibly.

He seems like a nice guy. What do I know? But then we thought there's got to be more to this. Nobody takes care. And by the way, his lawn, I'm so fucking jealous. You know, our lawns, you know, the snow melts. Everything's brown and bald, light green. His is like a fluffy carpet ready to go.

And listen, he puts the work in. And when you put the work in, you get results. So I can't be upset. I'm very jealous, but I don't have that kind of time. So we decided this dude, he must be like a Cornell. You know, I live in Ithaca. He's got to be like some sort of, I don't know if botanist is the right, he's a professional.

And recently we saw like kind of the hydroponic lights in his window and we're like, uh-huh, yeah. So I'll keep you up to date it on Long Guy. I got to get some footage of this guy. And I'm not making fun of the dude. I am, I should just, you know what I should do? I should just interview him for the show. That's what I should do.

I should interview him for the show because he is absolutely fascinating to me. Shout out to lawn guy. Okay. I had my weed whacker out this weekend. I can't, can someone help me? I just, I start to weed whack, everything's fine, and then the spool thingy shoots out.

And I have to rewire it, and it shoots out. So I'm doing something wrong. I don't understand how it's 2025, and we don't have some sort of, we have an innovation for everything, you know? I mean, Amazon can pretty much bring a spoon to your mouth and drop food in there if you order. order it. Why are we still

wrapping nylon around a fucking weed wacker? So I am, I actually posted a video about that. Oh, what else? So, yeah, so I, after I get done here, I will be out there on the rider for the first cut of the season. I'm very

excited about that. Man, I wanted to talk to, I am alone here, so you know, I'm kind of speaking it into the air. But, you know, over the years, I had, you know, my, like anybody else, I had my handful of shows that I was into, whether it be Breaking Bad or Sons of Anarchy or the Sopranos, whatever, right?

So I've got my daily sports shows that I love to watch. And then I had whatever series, Ozark, sure. With the oversaturation, you know, between Prime Video, Netflix, Disney Plus, Peacock, Hulu. There's so many goddamn shows. I was like, how are you not watching Billy? Or, you know, how are you not watching the restaurant? I'm just making names up. And I'm like, because I have a life.

I've got a lawn to cut. No, it's just, it's a beautiful time as a viewer to consume media because it's everywhere and there's so much of it. But man, I'm having such a hard time finding like a show because by the time I'm searching on Netflix, if it's at the end of the day and I have like two hours before I fall asleep to actually just like catch up on some shows,

by the time I decide what I want, I'm too tired. And I fall asleep with the remote in my hand. But, listen, I'm not breaking any news here. Rotten Tomatoes has been around forever. And I finally decided, why don't I, you know what? I've got like five or six shows that I want to watch on.

Netflix. You know, how am I going to whittle this down? They all look equally good. So I went to Rotten Tomatoes. And Rotten Tomatoes has this feature where you can click Netflix, Hulu, Prime, all the things I,

you can click one of them, you can click all of them, and then a genre, and it just whittles it all down and you get, like, you know, good reviews. So highly recommend that. But, man, I am also, I talked about becoming someone I'm not. With the lawn, I'm becoming someone I'm,

I wasn't as a viewer. I'm getting into these crime docs. I'm a middle-aged white woman. And sometimes I eat yogurt while I'm watching it. If I do avocado toast, just stick a fork in me. But, man, there are some good... Let me tell you, I watched last night. I was just getting...

There's four episodes? Three episodes. Doesn't matter. I was going to watch one episode, maybe two, and then go to bed. Hooked. Watch the whole thing. Gone girls. is the name of the documentary about the Long Island Gilgo Beach Killer.

Holy hell. This documentary is next level. I was blown away. And to give you a frame of reference, another one to watch that I think might even be a hair better than Gone Girls. Probably the best crime doc I've ever seen, even though I'm new to the game, would be American Nightmare. These are both on Netflix.

Check it out. Honorable mention to the deadly American marriage, that's new. There's a lot of dead in the title and nightmare. Well, I guess, you know, it should be. It's a crime dot. A deadly American marriage, good, really, really good. But when I'm talking next level, cream of the crop, you got to check out Gone Girls and you got to check American Nightmare.

The trailer doesn't even give it justice because it gives you the, it gives you the basis of the movie, right? That's what a trailer does of the dokey series, whatever. It doesn't even scratch the... The trailer doesn't... The trailer tells you about the first part. There are so many twists and turns. I think I even had an audible, holy shit at one point.

For me to just have an audible, holy shit, you know it's good. So I am all into the crime docs. I'll take your suggestions. But for me, my bar has been set with... with American nightmare. Yeah. Talk about sports real quick. I'm not going to get heavy into it.

We got heavy into it last week. We had Dell Reid, co-founder of Bill's Mafia. Thank you again for coming on Dell. Got a lot of feedback on that. Since then, I do want to mention, because this is something cool whether you follow sports or not, I think.

So Derek Carr is the quarterback of the Saints. And he had a shoulder injury and it was rumored he was going to miss some time, if not the whole season. And the Saints, you know, late drafted Tyler Shuck from Louisville. But there's been this theory floating around even before the draft that the Saints were going to tank,

which means, you know, just completely blow the season and not win as much as they could. So they get a very high draft pick, if not the number one draft pick. Because the rumor is that they want Arch Manning. Arch Manning is the, oh, I should probably know exactly. He's basically the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, two Hall of Fame quarterbacks that are retired.

He's their older brother Cooper, who he's got the short end of the stick, poor guy. Well, now's his time to shine. His son plays for Texas, and is, of course, he's a Manning. He is outstanding. I don't know if he's projected to be the number one pick. I think Caleb Downs. I forget the guy's name.

I haven't done any looking at the next year's draft. But my point is, here's the catch. The reason why the saints, people are saying that they might tank for Arch is because Archie, the grandfather, Peyton and Eli's grandfather, was a quarterback who is the franchise quarterback for the new. New Orleans Saints way back in the days long before I was born. And so Payton and Eli and Cooper all grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. And therefore, it lines up, the Saints,

depending on how Tyler Shuck works out. Tyler, they're looking for a quarterback. Unless Tyler Shuck is like somehow the second coming, it would be absolutely. amazing to see a quarterback who grew up in a city play for that city. Now, I say that because as far as my knowledge goes, I have looked it up. You can correct me right in if you want. I don't think there's ever been a franchise, like a star quarterback.

There might not have been any quarterback, but I know there hasn't really been a star quarterback who grew up in a city and then played. played for that team. And this could be the first. And not only that, but it's full circle because this kid's grandfather was the franchise quarterback for the Saints. So all of that to say, I need, we need that to happen. We really do.

It's something that whether you're a saint, I'm not a Saints fan, you know, I'm a dired-bills fan. We need that for sports. That is the coolest shit. I think the closest thing we had, if you want to count this, in my research, I found that,

oh, who was it? Kosar? For the Browns, Bernie. Quarterback for the Browns. I think he was a Cleveland native and played, but didn't have the greatest career, but didn't have a terrible career. Anyway, my point is, it needs to happen.

Archmanning to the Saints, it would be good for the fans. It would be great for the NFL, and it would be amazing for Saints fans in particular. So look out for that. Keep an eye on that. Shador Sanders, you know, everyone's keeping an eye on him. Let me just say this. Look, there's going to be so much coverage about Shadur Sanders because his father is Dion and he's a high-profile player.

Let's just leave it at this. I'm not going to get too far in the weeds here, but the man had reportedly terrible interviews with teams, and he had gone on record. You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're in a podcast, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free.

and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from and start earning from ads

just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. As saying that he purposely

tanked some interviews so that teams wouldn't pick him. He carries himself with... There's a line between arrogance and confidence. I learned from a buddy of mine who was a sports psychologist that if you don't go out onto the field or out into the rink or on the court, whatever sport you play, if you don't truly believe that you're the best out there, you're already losing.

You've already lost. You have to believe you're the best. But there is a fine line. And let's be honest. His father, Dion, one of the greatest athletes of all time, especially one of the greatest football players of all time, he was known for being cocky. And he said that. I'm cocky. I'm, you know, I'm the best. And his son exudes that same kind of energy.

And that's fine. Because when you come from that lineage, I feel like you kind of get a free pass. But you can't play the victim when you call yourself legendary and you haven't thrown a pass in the NFL yet. When you treat some of the teams that are interviewing you like you're too good for them.

So then when you get drafted into the, you know, the fifth round where he got drafted and act like, what's happening? That's what's happening, dude. Sometimes the juice isn't worth the squeeze. I've said that before on here regarding Shador Sanders. So I think it's great for all parties involved that this happened, that he slipped to the fifth round because this is going to be less of a financial investment for the franchises,

less of a risk, especially where he went. because they have a quarterback room of like five guys that it's a, it's mind-boggling what's going on there, but that's the Browns. And he, what I'm trying to say is, I'm losing my train of thought because I'm just cluttered with Shador Sanders' BS lately.

I'm trying to say is, it's great for all parties involved because he will now truly have a reason to grind. And what I mean by that is, I don't want to say he's been spoon-fed because he worked to get to where he did in college and to where he is now. There's no denying that with a little help from his dad. But he's got talent. It's not like he's got zero talent, right? It's more about he's never had to really grind.

Right? Or at least in his mind. And on top of that, he's also making NIL money, right? These players make money in college now. So they don't have as much drive to really grind and get to where they want. Not all. Some. I think this was such a humbling experience for him. He needed this because I think this is what's going to make him work even extra hard, especially because he's in a QB room with five other potential starters or whatever it is.

So, man, this could be great for him as a player because he's going to feel like I'm pissed. It's a chip that he didn't know he would ever have. And I think that's great for him as an athlete, as a competitor, as a player, as a QB. And I think it's great for the organization because they're going to get the best out of them, or at least as close to, right? So that's my thought on that to wrap up, just to recap a little bit of the sports thing. Moving along, before we go. I mean, I'm not going here in the next few minutes,

but the last thing I want to talk about, I thought I'd do something fun, man. I'm kind of, for those of you that do know me, know that I'm at this weird intersection of music. You know, I had a band called the New York. rock. I love writing and performing music. I'm a comedian, right? I love comedy. I love performing comedy. I love watching comedy. Life is a comedy to me. And sports, especially NFL, but all sports, I've always love sports. So I'm at this intersection of sports, comedy, and music. And along the way, I never really knew how that all fit together or if it could fit together. And, you know, thank you to my partner,

Matt, my guy, not my sexual partner. Well, not yet. No, my friend, my boss, my guy, my co-anchor on this show, Matt, gave us a platform where I've kind of been doing all three of those, talking about all three of those. Just giving me a place where it all makes sense. And I'm so thankful for that because I love all three. Very much. Almost equal. So with that being said,

I thought I would do a little bit of on this day in music. All right? So I don't know if this is going to be a recurring segment, but I just thought it was pretty cool. Now, look, I'm a big rock guy. All right, I love rock and roll. But over the years, it's such a boomer thing for me.

I love rock and roll. It is just so great. I only have 10 minutes left on this. there's actually a countdown on this recording. But anyway, I thought I would just bring this up because it's fun, it's cool. I love rock music, but as time went on, I found out a good song is a good song.

Good music is good music, whether it's country, rap, hip-hop. I mean, you listen to my Apple Music Library. I mean, you could go from Alanis Morissette to Pantera to Frank Sinatra. You know what I mean? It's just good music is good music. And I feel like nowadays that's kind of more of a thing anyway.

People are listening to everything and by mood. Because all the great stuff's been done already as far as I'm concerned. But on this day, in 1967, Jimmy Hendrix's experience, by the Jimmy Hendrix experience,

was released in the UK. widely regarded as one of the greatest debuts in the history of rock music. I mean, it's Jimmy Hendricks. The album features Jimmy's approach to songwriting, electric guitar playing, which was at the time unlike anyone had ever seen. Some songs on there you would know, Voodoo Child and others. But Purple Hayes, I think Voodoo Child was on that one. But there were two on there that are my favorite Hendricks songs,

and that's Red House, which I would play, which maybe I'll play in post-production. I'll put it on there. Red House by Jimmy Hendricks is my favorite Jimmy song, and then Castle Made a Sand. Check those songs out. Those are your songs of the day today. But in 1967, on May 12th,

the Jimmy Hendrix experience came out, which is really mind-blowing. Because also on this day, in 72, the Rolling Stones released Exile Island on Main Street. What? How are two iconic albums released on the same day? Obviously, years apart.

But yes, Exile on Main Street, there was their second album on their own label. It was a double set, featured two singles, Tumbling Dice, and Happy. And in 2003, the album was ranked number seven on the Rolling Stones Magazine list of 500 greatest albums. That's outstanding. And by the way, well, let me round it out with this.

And then in 73, a year later, Zeppelin had come out in March with Houses of the Holy. But today, in 1973, they started a three-week run at number one on the U.S. album charts with their fifth album Houses of the Holy. Had no quarter. It had a bunch more that I'm blanking out on. But it doesn't matter because they went on for two. sell 11 million copies in the U.S. of Houses of the Holy. And I got to think of it.

And then I went to the album while I was looking this stuff up. There was eight songs on that album, which was your average. A lot of times albums had, you know, it went by minutes, but sometimes they'd have eight, sometimes they'd have 12. I'd say eight to 12, somewhere in there.

But I'm thinking of the way that the music business is now and the way that the business model is set up, barely a business. It's mind-blowing to me the difference in how much money people made back then to now. I mean, it was eight songs. You could record eight songs right now, throw them out there,

and nothing happens. Doesn't get a sniff. Or you might get one of your songs becomes a hit. Even then, you're going to make a couple bucks, man. Back then, 11 million albums. Off of eight songs. They put out eight songs and 11 million copies were sold. It's just, look, it's the sign of the times, right?

It's just the way the world consumes things now, but it's just mind-blowing, you know, what it took then to become an icon. Eight songs on an album, and they sold 11 million. And now you can barely sell a song. But here's the thing, you know, the one thing that I used to love and that I feel bad my kids are going to miss out on is I remember when like load and reload came out for Metallica

or the new Dave Matthews Van record. I don't know. Anything. Lit. We would get out of school. I remember the day Duky came out. I remember I feel like it was also the same day as four by Blues Traveler.

There's a day in 1992 that'll blow your fucking mind, by the way. It was like Pearl Jam. Everybody came out with the most amazing records. Anyway, my buddy Brett and I went to his house. We went and bought the albums. We went to his house, unwrapped him and listened to him over and over. And I remember when Load and Reload came out. It was a little bit older.

It's teenagers. You know, smoking cigarettes, riding around in the Mohawk Valley, just playing those albums over and over while handing each other the liner notes. And I know. I sound like an old man. I don't care. I feel like it sucks for people coming up now that they won't get to experience it. Yeah, sure.

They can listen to it on their phone and read whatever. But it's just, it was an experience, man. It was like when you're passing a joint, man, it's the experience. Anyway, so on this day of music, again, you had in 1967 Jimmy Hendricks's RU experience came out. In 72 on this day, exile on Main Street, and in 73 Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy started. It's three-week number one run. Which, by the way, speaking of the stones real quick, like I like, I like.

the Rolling Stones a lot. I'm not a hardcore fan. I'm a hardcore Beatles fan. But with that being said, it's purely out of taste. I don't believe in the whole, well, I'm a Beatles guy. I'm a Stones guy. Why can't you be both? Or I'm a dog person. I'm a cat person. I like dogs and cats. I don't know. I'm not trying to be too much of a diplomat here. I just feel like why can't they coexist? Anyway, that's my thought. And I will say this. I'll finish it on this one, on this Monday edition of Good News York. Regarding Hendricks, if you go back and watch Hendricks, like literally go back and watch,

not the stuff you've heard in the Woodstock performance, those are great. I'm just saying, go watch him on different shows he was on. Sometimes I feel like we have to say like, oh, he's one of the greatest guitarists, but you don't really feel that. You feel like you're obligated to say that. He was one of the greatest guitars.

His style, even today, holds up. For me, I've always said, People try to go, who's the best guitarist of all time? That's fucking impossible, man. But I believe there's best, some of the best, and then technical-wise, and then I believe there's the favorites, right? Your taste. So for me, I think pound for pound the best, in my opinion, be Eddie Van Halen.

Technical-wise. Hendricks is up there too. All of them are up there. But for me, it's him. Favorites? That's so hard. Slash. Why slash?

Because you could sing every solo he ever wrote. Same thing with David Gilmore from Pink Floyd, one of my favorites. Slash David Gilmore, Jimmy Page, iconic riffs and solos. But anyway, that's on this day in music. I'm going to head out. I'm running out of time here. I am on a timer today. Too much to explain.

But this has been a Monday edition of Good News York. Mike Brindisi, fly in solo. Be back tomorrow in studio with Matt Mazer. The Dynamic Duel. We will be back for Tuesday, Newsday. We got a lot of guests coming up in the next few weeks. Very excited about that. Shout out to our producer, Danny Tripodi and Malachi Mazur, our great Good News York editor.

Thank you guys for tuning in. Remember, you can always catch new episodes Monday through Thursday at 5 p.m. Eastern at good newsyork.com. Check out our YouTube channel. We're at Good News York on all social media. And you can follow me on social media at Mike B-TV. Put it up on the screen, Malz. Mike B-T-V-M-I-K-E-B-T-E-V-E-E on all social media. Get out there, mow your lawn, throw your headphones on,

and you know what? Listen to the three albums that came out today in music history that were released on May 12th. Jimmy Hendricks is, Are You Experienced? Exile on Main Street by the Stones. And Houses of the Holy Began, it's number one, three-week, number one run on the Billboard charts today. So there's three albums for you to listen to,

doing your lawn today. Get out there. Enjoy the sun. We love you. Mike Brindisi. See you tomorrow.