The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Author Doug Melville On The Forgotton Story Of America's First Black Generals + More

Episode Date: November 8, 2023

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We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed. We have the brother, Doug Melville. Welcome. How you doing today, gentlemen? How's life today? How's life today?

Happy to see you. It is release week for us, man. This is it. Invisible Generals is out. It is the new release off my book in print, Black Privilege Publishing with Simon & Schuster, man. Happy to be able to put this into the world. Tell them what Invisible Generals is.

Yeah, so Invisible Generals is my family story of America's first two black generals. And these two gentlemen, a father and a son, were critical to the integration of the United States of America's military, which was 75 years ago this year, and also were the two men responsible for getting the legislation passed to create the Tuskegee airmen. And then the son commanded the Tuskegee airmen. So these two men did so much in history and out of the 335,000 people in the military at the start of world war two,

there was only two black officers, a father and a son, and they were the invisible generals treated as if they were invisible as a way to get them to resign, drop out or get dishonorably discharged from the military. But they use it as a superpower to help change America. When did you know that was going to be the title of the book? Probably from the beginning, you know, my dad, uh, he was, um, that was kind of how he presented the story to me about Ben and his father, uh, as the invisible generals. And I just liked the way it sounded. He said it kind of in passing to me, but it was something that, you know, stuck on.

And, and the more I researched and the more I got involved in it, the more you realized they were really treated like they were invisible. No one talked to them. They were silent. So, uh, that was a title that i thought was fitting and not only that not only them their contributions we talked about this on the daily show a little bit but it's so fascinating to me like tell them what what they helped create yeah yeah so um a lot of times you know when you talk about veterans or you talk about people in the military, you only talk about their military service. But the reality is there's so many more contributions. So Ben Davis Jr., the youngest of

the two invisible generals, when he retired in 1970 from the military, he then went on to work at the Pentagon and he was responsible for leading the efforts to create what is now known as the TSA. So there was only two airports in the whole United States that had commercial security. And it was a lot of hijackings and skyjackings. So when he came from the military, he said, the first thing that I should do is try to make commercial aviation as safe as the military aviation. And that would start with preventing hijackings and making sure that airplanes are safe because customers and clients were starting to feel really uneasy. And back then, hijackers would board the airplane. They would take out weapons. They would run down

the aisle, take everybody's jewels, and then open the door and parachute out. So this happened 70, 80, 90 times a month. I mean, if you look at the statistics, it's crazy. But airlines were just getting started at that level and scale that we know them today. So he said, we have to make sure that aviation is safe. And it was key to do the proper communication because he didn't want people to get scared and then not want to fly because you make everybody nervous to travel and things of that nature. So he said, there's two things that we have to do. Number one, we need to have people undercover and have them federally regulated to make sure like, you know, passenger 57, like Leslie Snipes, you know, he has to go on here and like protect the plane. And he oversaw the training of 4,000 officers who ended up being

the first federally funded air marshal or sky marshal program. So that was one solution. And the second solution was take the two airports in D.C. that had commercial security and see how he could replicate that using X-rays and using metal detectors for luggages and people to ensure that they were safe when they went in. So this man did both of these contributions, and people never heard of him. Yet we use these things all day, every day. We don't even think about it.

I was going to ask, he did it so long ago. Why did it take so long for the whole world to jump? Was it the 9-11 fear? Yeah, 9-11 fear was when TSA kind of upped their game a little bit and became a little bit more of a federally funded and centralized because each airport was doing it somewhat individually. They had the federal standards, but each airport had a little, you remember before 9-11, you would kind of go to security. You could walk to the gate. One minute early, you'd be like, oh, went off in your

pocket. They'd be like, you're so crazy. What's going on here? So that was when it became what we, most people know of it today. But, you know, he did these under the guidance of the president at the time. And it was important that he made aviation safe. So that's one of the stories I share in the book is how can we not know these stories? And then the speed limit, like that's crazy to even think that there was a time where there was no speed. Yeah. Yeah. And this was under the Carter administration. Those two were under the Nixon administration.

But under the Carter administration, he went and they brought him on in 1975 to be a special assistant to help create a national speed limit. So it served two different purposes. Part of the purposes was to ensure that maximize gas because there was a gas shortage and they wanted everybody to drive, you know, at a rate that would maximize the RPMs of the car. And then the second part of it was to federalize a national speed limit because there was a lot of confusion in the States, truck drivers, ticketing, but people didn't want it, you know, and it was really his last

assignment. And some would argue he got, you know, that was his last assignment and some would argue he got you know that was his last assignment because everybody was writing letters going we hate the 55 mile an hour speed limit it was 65 you lowered it you're i bought this fast car i hate it so he was nicknamed mr 55 but it wasn't something at the time that was very complimentary people really thought it was uh more of a burden but he was the one who made sure that was put into a federal. So my question is, it's a lot, right? It's a lot. So you talk about TSA, you talk about, you know, what he did in the military and, you know, even the speed limit. What made you want to share this story?

What was the point where you said, I want to share this story? Yeah. So, you know, it came out in an unexpected way. So I was invited to a screening of the movie red tails and um terrence howard in the movie uh was the commander of the red tails and we're all there it's the red tails it's you know a bunch of you know actual tuskegee airmen on one side and then the actors on the other side and i'm in the middle and they they're like doug this is the screening of red tails and i was like oh my gosh i'm so excited and then we get down to the screening

and he comes on the screen and he's his name was changed dang and i was like what colonel bullard who is that so i'm furious and i i leave and there's an after party and i start asking people at the party who's who changed the names and they're like oh Doug this is Hollywood this isn't a documentary this is this is a movie that fictionalizes the Red Tails and I go yeah but all the families are here and all the names are changed and I went home and I said dad this is you know outrageous and my dad laughed at me and goes Doug if you think change in the names are bad, let me tell you how I was raised and how Ben and his father helped raise me and how they lived as if they were invisible because our lives were threatened. And then he shared with me the story

and that kind of sent me on a journey to start researching and going in because even my dad found out things during this process that he didn't know about. And it was an incredible experience to go do that. What inspired you to dive into rediscovering your family's legacy? Yeah, I think, you know, once I started scratching it, well, the first thing I did was I set a Google alert. And honestly, Charlamagne, I set the Google alert in 2012, 13, 14, 15. And I was like, one day someone's going to write about this or why does nobody know about it? And then in 2015, the Google alert went off that West Point Military Academy was considering renaming their biggest, largest barracks after General Davis.

There was actually three names. It was William Westmoreland, it was Norman Schwarzkopf, and it was Benjamin O. Davis. So Ben Davis Jr., he graduated from West Point in 1936, but they didn't know he was black when he entered the academy. So on his first day, they put him in a makeshift room at the end of the hallway with no roommate and he goes to campus uh for four years with not one person talking to him so they use silencing as a way to get him out of the military so he goes to bed the first night the second day he wakes up he hears pitter patter of the feet of other cadets he feels like they didn't put a flyer

under his door because he was in a solo room at the end of the hall so he gets dressed and he runs down to the room and the door is locked and he listens in and they say we accidentally let an n-word in and we need to silence him until he drops out so So he calls his dad and he goes, Dad, can you believe this? And his dad goes, Son, there's 8 million Americans on the outside that are rooting for you. I raised you for this moment. I trained you for this moment.

I'm always here. Write the day of graduation on the wall and look towards that day. And no matter what anybody does to you, you have to graduate. And he went there 50 weeks a year 50 weeks a year not one single human interaction outside of the classroom right so i don't even know how anybody could do that and the he would always talk about his most embarrassing moments where every single day when you had to eat, you have to ask for permission to sit.

Because he was the only black, no one wanted him to sit at the table, so he had to eat standing up every single day, three times a day for four years. So now it's time for him to get ready to graduate. And they pull him in the office and say, you can't be in charge of anyone because the military was still segregated. So they asked him to drop out. And they said, why don't we set you up with a law firm? And he said, I'm going to graduate because I would like to be a pilot. And I graduated in the top third, so I should be able to select what I want to do. And they said, it's never going to happen. So you're wasting your time. He then graduates. He ignores that and graduates. Now it's just him and his dad is the only two black officers in the United States.

So we had not gone back to West Point or our family hadn't really talked about West Point, not good or bad. You just didn't, you just didn't even, you know, it was like persona non grata. But then when I got that Google alert, I went up to them and I shared to them this story. And over the course of the process that they go through, they ended up selecting General Benjamin O. Davis to be the name on the largest, most expensive barracks in the center of West Point campus. Wow. Talk to us about, you know, why telling these stories is so important for the families to retain ownership. Yeah. So my biggest thing of my purpose was when I started finding out after Red Tails, the families of these movies that we watch don't necessarily get paid.

You know, the family of other movies, Devotion or, you know, Red Tails. Sometimes the families are brought on as advisors, but there's not necessarily a name and likeness fee there's no creative input from the families necessarily so the more i started researching this the more i realized is that the people who film the story or write the story own the story because people in the military are public servants. So it's all public domain. So all these stories of congressmen, elected officials, military veterans, anyone in the public sector, anyone can tell your story and you don't have to get paid for it. So I said there is no way that this story is going to survive and have someone else swoop in tell the story how they want own the rights to the story and then here the family is doesn't get any rights for the name or the story you know i was it's it's just it's crazy i love the title of uh the chapter

extraordinary just to be ordinary explain that so extraordinary just to be ordinary was kind of like that rule that maybe your family gave you that you got to work twice as hard to get half as much that's right you know this is basic stuff black family by the way black family yes yeah yeah no it's it's a it's it's a thing that you're raised with you know my dad would always say doug c is for garbage man and i would say no dad you know billy got a c or other people he's like nah nah doug nah nah you can't get a c so i think extraordinary just to be ordinary was really the plight of these two men graduate uh are the only two officers in the united states of america and now they can't be in charge of anybody because the military is segregated.

So their job was to go to black colleges and teach ROTC. So for four years, they go to all these black colleges. And this is when the black graduation rate was under 10%. So the literacy rate was low. They go to all these black colleges. Two officers that should be in charge of people going into battle. And they're teaching military war college. But they didn't complain.

They said, what we're going to do is we're going to tell these men, you're black men. Keep your chin up. Keep your head up. Focus on the dream. Write a goal on the wall. And one day this country is going to call you and need your service. At the start of World War II, black pilots were needed. And all those men that they taught ended up being the 15,000 Tuskegee Airmen that went down to Alabama. And that was the creation of what the Tuskegee Airmen became.

So when I said extraordinary, just to be ordinary, you have to sometimes be 10 times qualified just to get a job that someone else did with a different background that you just, you know, they just walked right into it. And you know, crazy, this is real life stuff. I mean, this is like all of us. You know, you see someone got 10 PhDs and then this guy's like, oh yeah, but my uncle did it. Yeah, true.

So what's your thought on military now, especially the way that they treated your family members and the way they've consistently treated black military men? What's your thoughts on it now? I think the military is evolving. I kind of look at it as like a heartbeat. It just goes in and out, in and out. I think the military now is in the best place it's ever been. There's more people looking at this subject than ever before. There's more people talking about it. There's more eyeballs on it. But just like any big organization or institution, you know, more can always be done. But I think if you look at our Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C.Q.

Brown, you know, General Austin, you know, the top generals in the whole United States of America are black men or men of color. So the military really has made a conscious effort to do better. And I think a lot of people are making an effort. I think the challenge is, is that the receiver of the effort, the people that benefit the most, always feel like everything's going too slow. Oh, why is it not moving faster? Oh, by the time I do this, I'm going to be too old. So the military is trying to evolve. and I think that's all you could really ask, but I think it's our responsibility to also evolve it by bringing facts and stories that change the narrative.

Black people in the military, their stories have been made invisible or have been erased, just like with redlining. I mean, there's so many stories of all these different black communities flooded to become lakes you know you look at Central Park I mean you look at all these different things and say what everything it keeps getting erased and deleted so if we don't go back and ask our fathers and grandfathers and uncles and aunts what happened back in the day we're never gonna really get the real story and then we have to take everybody at their. And that word may have been skewed or biased based on the people who wrote the word, based on historians, based on what people chose to feel was valuable in writing.

You know what I love, man? I love the fact that, you know, when you look at all the books that are being banned and you look at things like critical race theory and how they're really trying to erase so many of black people's contributions, this why books like invisible general are so important how do you feel about that yeah you know uh i i actually it's funny enough char i i asked if i could have a book band meeting because i wanted to understand what constitutes a band book hilarious and i asked i called everybody and i we had a zoom and i said said, excuse me, can I request a banned book meeting? And they all get on the phone, and they were explaining to me, if you bring up a side of alternative history,

then that could be considered to be a banned book. Is there such a thing as alternative history? It's either history or it's not. Well, that's right, but it's alternative to what is the general understood history that came out. So it's very subjective. Don't present the general understood history that came out. So it's very subjective. Don't present the truth about history. Don't be showing up here with a new story that no one ever heard of

and then try to get it put into the schools. But the thing about the banned books that's so wild, and think about it, we don't ban websites, we don't ban anything on streaming, but there's something about the book and something about the written word that everything stems off of that people want to ban and it's just really odd for me but the result of that meeting was they said that in the state of florida in the state of texas public schools and universities sometimes public libraries may not actually uh carry the book due to the book ban and it may actually end up on

a list. That's crazy. Wow. And in the book, you also say a father figure inspires his men to achieve. I love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Ben Davis Jr. was really the many of the Tuskegee Airmen, the ones that are still alive or you read stories, they looked at him as a father figure. And actually, Ben Davis Jr. had no biological kids of his own, but my dad was his oldest nephew. And when he found out his wife couldn't bear children, he wanted the same relationship with his son that his dad had with him. And they went to Connecticut and got my dad at seven, brought him down to Tuskegee. And my dad was raised by him and his wife, Agatha. And I just look at that and say, you don't have to do that. You know, you're, you're fighting all

these other people, you're doing all this work and you still want to go and be that extra father figure. So that was really, you know, where he sat in my family, but also for all the Tuskegee Airmen, they always say, if it wasn't for Ben Davis, he would always say you have to use the system to defuse the system, and that was his big line to the men. Use the system to defuse the system. I like that. Don't go out here trying to do too much. Just use the system to defuse the system.

First, you've got to get in the system. Then once you're in the system, you've got to have a voice. Then once you have a voice, then you get a vote. Once you get a vote, then you can make policy. And that could take 20, 30 years. But if you want to change the way things are, I mean, it's our responsibility to do it. I love that. Let's talk about the Million Dollar Star chapter too, because you say sometimes you're tolerated, but not celebrated. Other times you're celebrated, but not compensated so yeah more important celebrated or compensated yeah so the million dollar star chapter i talk about um uh so ben didn't get his

fourth star in 1967 under lbj he retired in 1970 he should have been a four-star general so 30 plus years go by luckily senator john m John McCain vouched after many, many attempts to get him his fourth star that he rightly deserved. So finally, the bill passes. It was two stipulations. Number one was you're going to retire under, you're going to get the four-star under retirement, so not active duty, which is standard. But number two was the family would not get one penny of compensation for the 30 years past or the years forward. And it caused a whole argument in the family. And his wife of over 60 years does not

go to the ceremony she says we will not go all the things the united states did to us and you don't want to pay us but you want to give us the star so when i say go where you're celebrated not tolerated i really mean that but then don't go where you're not compensated because that happens every day. You know, people that are historically oppressed are paid with opportunity in lieu of money. And this is something that we have to make sure we tell our children, our family members. When you don't have any money, people pay you with opportunity, which is good in some cases. Can opportunity lead to money, though?

It can, but you have to have that time. And when you need that hand-to-mouth situation where you don't have that money, rents due, car payment, et cetera, then you have to really do the best you can do, and then you feel like the opportunity is not confirmed. It's like the opportunity bank. Is it real? And for some people that have money, you can buy time.

But if you don't have any money, opportunity is great, but it doesn't really mean anything without that money. With all these stories, listening to your family members in the military, did you ever want to go into the military? Hell no. Yo, Envy, listen. I can't do all that. I want to tell jokes and laugh and shuck it up and like,

hey, what you guys doing? When we going out tonight? You know, when we playing spades? I'm trying to do the like fun, cool thing. That military, when they said you got to get up, eat up, sit straight, iron, make your bed, I was like, whoa, take it easy, take it easy. I'm trying to go to college and live my college experience. Right, right.

I'm not trying to go to the military. They never promoted it good or bad. And I think sometimes when we talk about Veterans Day, we forget. Sometimes people aren't in the military, but they still live a veteran family life. But I can tell you one thing. I think the military, it's a hard assignment. It's like West Point is like Harvard, but also with PT. You still got to go through all the exercises and everything,

but I'm not really trying to do all that. I'm trying to laugh it up, hang out with the fellas, what we're doing on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The military is like, get one day off, quick, eat up, stand up, sit up. I'm like, oh man, I can't do all that. So what do you hope people take from reading Invisible Generals, man? I would like people to get from Invisible Generals. First off, we need to support our veterans and tell our stories of our veterans. That's right. And I think that's the main thing I want people to do is take a minute, love thy veteran. Veterans Day right around the corner.

Veterans Day, that's what I'm saying. We need to be out here loving the veterans, hyping them up. 11-11. Being positive, looking at them as not people running around In fatigues but people all in the world CEOs, CFOs COOs I think that's so important And then the next thing I want people to take out of this book

Is I want everybody to own their own story You have got to write Your family story Charlemagne, Envy, everybody We write memoirs sometimes but sometimes you have to go back two or three generations understand the jet fuel that your family worked for and that generational collateral and see can you actually continue something you're not lost you didn't just get dropped here but I want people to take that time to look on their

couch before their family members pass away and say hey hey, you know what I'm saying? Let's go out here. Let's learn about our family. Because I switched my career to become a diversity officer in corporate America when I found out my family story. I was working in LA for Magic Johnson, and he was teaching me what diversity was, but I wasn't doing a diversity in a corporate environment. But the second that I found out my family story, I say, you know what? I'm going to make sure I make those who are invisible, visible and corporate environments. And that was because I asked the people on my couch what they lived through. So if there's one thing to take out of it, that's what it would be.

Absolutely. Veterans day is 11, 11. That's right. Right. 11, 11 at one 11. That's the time a world war one ended. So-11. That's the time World War I ended. So make sure to do something great for a veteran this week. You know, I've said this a million times. I hate how this country treats its veterans. There's nothing I hate more than seeing somebody who's fought for this country on the side of the road with a sign begging for change. Like, I feel like veterans should get free room and board. Absolutely.

I think they should get free health care, and I think they should get a stipend every month to, you know, take care of whatever they need to take care of. Yeah. And especially mental health. Absolutely. You know, the amount of veterans that commit suicide, the amount of veterans that are homeless and, you know, their benefits get cut off, their work skills may not be tight. So I think, you know, we could all just learn a lot and realize that, you realize that their experience was just five minutes ago, but we do need to do something for the veterans. And today's Election Day, Veterans Day is just coming up this weekend, so try to do something. Are you doing anything?

I feel like I do a lot. I don't want to say that, but I do a lot for the veterans all the time. But I don't, yeah, I'm down, you know, other than just providing money and resources. Yeah, yeah. That's what I try to do. That's mainly what I try to do. Like I cannot pass somebody who I know fought for this country and not give them $20, $50, $100, something.

Yeah. You know, like in talking about invisible, man, how can you be in traffic or just walk by somebody in the street who told you I fought in this war, I fought in that war, I fought in that war. You just ignore them? Like, damn. And then you know what's crazy?

You ignore them to go to the charity event. Oh, my God. You be like, hey, man, we going downtown. We got the big charity event. Everybody's dressed up. But then in the meantime, you are not, you know, helping the people that are right there in front of you. What are some things we could do?

I think the first thing is right there. You know, if you see somebody with a sign, you know, everybody has their own way that they donate money, but I think the first thing is give money to a veteran, number one. Give time to a veteran, number two, if you have any opportunity to donate time. I think number three is go to a VFW, which is a veteran of foreign war outpost, outpost, go to the VA hospital, read to a veteran, talk to a veteran,

ask them if you could cook for them. You know, there's so many different ways. There's millions and millions and millions of veterans. I mean, we're really not, um, even when I talk about, you know, corporate diversity, I mean, veterans don't really get that level of shine or opportunity that other people get, kind of when you look at all the different areas that companies support. But veterans in America in particular, it's a huge, huge opportunity. And I think number one, even acknowledge a veteran, have a party. You know what I'm saying?

You go home, you get the cake, you know, just like it's a birthday. Hype it up. Give it the love. Give it some, you know, gas on it. You know, remix it. I mean, I don't see no Veterans Day parties at the club. You know, we could do that too. We got a veteran playlist.

You know, I don't know. I'm just saying, do whatever hits, you know. Yeah, for me, it's a story. Like, you know, my dad fought in Vietnam. So my dad's a vet. So for me, I try to take the, the kids to hear his stories, you know,

cause you learn so much and it's so much, you know, like my dad, who was a vet and police officer, you hear so many stories, but it's those stories that tell us how things were, you know, good or bad,

you know, what he had to deal with and, and, and all the things that he did. My dad doesn't fly now because when he was in the military, he flew planes and he fixed planes. So because of that, now he don't effort planes at all. He's like, nah, if I got to go to Florida, we'll drive.

Like he's that type of person. Like he just is. And he tells the reason why. And he tells the reason of G-Force and how it feels to be in those type of planes. So those stories are stories that I can't tell my kids because I was never in the military. You can't tell the kids,

but they can only get from grandpa. You know what I mean? And that's what we try to do every day. Yeah, no, that's really, really important. And I think the other thing is talking about the homeless veterans, you know, when you say the word invisible, it's invisible maybe to some people, but it's very visible to the person living it.

You know, we say invisible generals, but the black newspapers cover him all day every day but the mainstream didn't cover him so what is visible and invisible that guy sitting on the corner we may all be walking over him but he sees other of him all over the city and says there's tons of us how come no one can see it so it's visible to some but then invisible to others. There you go. Well, make sure y'all go pick up Invisible Generals. It is available everywhere you buy books right now.

You can go to Amazon. You can go to Barnes & Noble. You can go into the Barnes & Noble bookstore, local bookstores. Invisible Generals, man, the latest release off my book in print, Black Privilege Publishing with Simon & Schuster, Atrius Simon & Schuster. So, Doug, thank you, brother. Doug Melville. Thank you, man.

I appreciate you. Thank you, brother. Doug Melville. Thank you, man. I appreciate you. Thank you, brother. And where can they find you? And I want to just thank you, Charlemagne, for believing in the story. Absolutely. And actually saying that you were the one who was going to help me tell this story because it's so important to realize without people like you helping these stories get out into the world, the story doesn't exist.

You know what I mean? It was really you that stepped up, and i just appreciate you so much because every single thing counts and every single decision helps one at a time and it's like each one teach one so i appreciate you so much for believing in the story and my family and you know helping just the beginning man we got documentaries books movies yeah we got all that we We getting paid. What's up? Where's that cheese at? It's Doug Melville. It's The Breakfast Club.

Good morning. Wake that ass up. In the morning. The Breakfast Club. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself.

It's okay. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best, and you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all. Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand-new history podcast

for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, the Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Each episode is about a different, inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it.

Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records, because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get real and dive straight into todo lo actual y viral. We're talking musica, los premios, el chisme, and all things trending in my cultura. I'm bringing you all the latest happening in our entertainment world

and some fun and impactful interviews with your favorite Latin artists, comedians, actors, and influencers. Each week, we get deep and raw life stories, combos on the issues that matter to us, and it's all packed with gems, fun, straight-up comedia, and that's a song that only Nuestra Gente can sprinkle. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, everyone, this is Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Layton, and Daphne Zuniga. On July 8th, 1992, apartment buildings with pools were never quite the same as Melrose Place was introduced to the world. We are going to be reliving every hookup, every scandal, and every single wig removal together. So listen to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, this is Justin Richmond, host of the Broken Record Podcast. Every week, I or my co-host, Leah Rose, sit down with the artists you love to get unparalleled creative insight. Our new series is looking at one of the most influential jazz labels ever, Blue Note Records. You'll hear from artists like legendary bassist Ron Carter, singer-songwriter Noah Jones,

and guitarist Julian Lodge. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.