The Harland Highway - 566 - Turning 25 years old, a groovy music solo.

Episode Date: March 31, 2014

Where where you or where are you at 25 years old?? The Question of the Day, and a very cool music solo! Bingle dingle wingle!!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Here we are at the Harland Highway, we meaning us, all of us, me, you, whoever you're with, everyone listening, pavement pounders, freaks, turtles, geeks, cyborgs, whoever, you're all welcome here. What a show we have today, we will be doing the Harland Highway question of the day, something annoying that's been bugging me that will be asked out loud. We're also going to be talking about solos And I don't mean hand solo I mean musical solos in songs Drum solos, guitar solos And I have an excellent

That's the clue X Excellent Solo for you today One I'm sure you're not used to hearing It's a very unique rock and roll song Solo That I want you to hear

many of you have probably heard it but it just i want to yeah and then also uh we're going to be talking about what were you doing when you were 25 years old one of the pavement pounders calls in and asked me what i was doing at 25 and boy did that open up a can of worms a lot of memories a lot of insightfulness and uh who knows hopefully you'll like that little story hopefully you'll like it all why because we work hard right here on the harle Highway You just made a wrong turn onto the Harland Highway

I am out here for you You don't know what it's like to be me Out here for you It's like I picked the wrong week I'm smoker I'm funny how I mean funny like I'm a clown I amuse you Like I took the wrong week, quit drinking

I make you laugh I'm here to fucking amuse you You're riding down the Harland Highway With Harland Williams I buy that for a dollar What wasn't we had for dinner tonight well we had a choice steak fish yes yes i remember i had lasagna what do you mean funny funny how am i funny like i picked the wrong week when i'm fit of me she's got a thought for samantha

thing to say welcome to the harland highway picked the wrong week question of blue all right here we go you're on the harland highway I feel that music Come on Just feeling You go now Oh yeah The wind moves some look in my direction

I caught it in my hands today I finally made a tricky friend's connection You winked and gave me your road day I take you all the trip beside the ocean That's enough I said cut the music. Thank you. Okay.

Let's not start the show with one of these. Anyways, welcome, folks. I played that song off the top. It's called Moonlight Feels Right or something like that from a band called Starbuck, which came out way back in the 70s. Okay? It's kind of a catchy tune.

It's got a really cool vibe the second you hear it and kind of sucks you in, you know. It's kind of that groovy, mellow kind of, I don't know. There's something about it, but the reason I plucked it out is because this song over the years has been like, you know, a staple on kind of regular pop stations. I mean, it was a big, it was a big AM FM radio hit back in its time. when it came out it got constant rotation it was it's a a well-known song for people that are a little older maybe um some of you youngans might not know but if you don't hey i'm turning you onto it it's it's actually a a cool tune man you can't deny it kind of gets you going and the guy's voice is kind of cool and the lyrics are kind of cool and i like it that the name of the band is

Starbucks because it was like way predated Starbucks coffee So I don't know Starbucks should have this as their theme song Or Starbucks should be playing live When you go into a Starbucks Okay

That doesn't mean you play the music Shut it off, shut it off Roger Okay, here we go Roger, shut The music Roger Shut the music off now

Now when I point to you When I give you when I put my finger in the air Roger that's a cue We've been doing this for a long time Good Lord That's the cue that you hit music and stuff I'm not going to go through a training session on the air with you. Just let me finish this bit here.

Anyways, this band called Starbuck, and this was a popular song that was, it played up against every other popular song, Aerosmith, and disco tunes and rock tunes and mellow tunes, and it was just part of the rotation. But what set this song apart, which I find fascinating, is there's a solo in the this song that is kind of peculiar okay now when I say solo we've all heard uh songs where there's uh you know a guitar solo or there's a drum solo or uh you know like uh let's say uh guns and roses there's a there's a guitar solo for uh you know sweet child of mine Or the drum solo in, you know, Tom Sawyer by Rush.

Or the famous drum solo by Phil Collins, and I can feel it coming in the air tonight or whatever that song is. You know what I mean? But here, you get tons of songs with the solos, just about everywhere. rock song as like a guitar solo drum solos maybe not as much but there's always some kind of solo um but how often do you hear kind of a rock tune or a contemporary song or a hit song where there's an exylophone solo you kind of don't i don't think it's i don't know if it happens at all so this is why i picked this song out i want to lay down for you a jam

Ammon Exylophone solo. I know it seems ridiculous. You're like, oh, God, how dumb is this going to, but it actually kind of grooves. It kind of moves. It's so quirky and weird and silly that it's kind of, you know, if you give it a chance, if you give the old Exilophone a chance, I mean, if you ever play charade games or alphabet games and you ever come to the X, you always use the name Exilophone. phone same way you use zebra when you get to z so give it a chance here it is this is uh from

this is from starbuck moonlight feels right uh here it is probably one of the only rock and guitar uh rock and xylophone uh solos you'll ever hear on uh on the regular radio hit it rog You're like You're like. Oh, yeah. Listen to that. You got to love that. That was kind of grooving.

That's kind of grooving and happening, right? You know, you can go back and listen to it again. Maybe the first time it didn't grab you, but if you listen to it again, Yeah, I guess I've got giving you a warning And me and Ludo, we're acting to play Okay, Raj, cut it off, cut it up, cut it off God So anyways, there it is

You know, probably the only rocking exhalophone solo that I know of And I don't know, it just kind of always stuck in my head And I thought, you wild cats, you pavement pounders, would get a blast out of it. But, you know, don't judge. Don't, don't be dumping on no exhalophone now, player. Oh, don't be stepping. Don't step off on no exhalophone player.

You go back and listen to it again. Maybe give it some time to breathe, like listen to the rest of the podcast. Go back, scroll back. Scroll back and get some X. Drop some X, man. Oh, yeah. Pound some X down your throat, into your ears. Listen to that xylophone, solo.

Oh, yeah, dude. So anyways, there we go. A rocking way to start the podcast, dropping some X. No, no, cut it off. I did not kill you. I didn't point. Cut it up. Turn it off.

Turn it off. God. God! What is Witt do today? Are you drunk? Let's move on. Move on. God. What we've got here is failure to communicate. Hello? Hello. Hey, Harlan, how you doing?

This is your favorite kid with the son-oh-da-old. This is Tim, I was going to ask, recently, I just had myself, a birthday, I just turned, I just turned 25, and I was thinking of all the things I have done, all the things I haven't done, and I was wondering where you were at, when you were at that age, and sort of feeling like I haven't done as much as I should have or as much as I was able to, I was just interested. in hearing that at the ripe age of a fourth of a century year old where you were and what you were doing uh hope everything else is well i love your show as always and keep on trucking down that highway my friend bye wow wow wow wow wow wow wow what a question what a what a what a what a question there, Tim. Thank you for that question. Wow, that's going to take me back. I mean, good Lord, 25. You know, I've always been, I guess, kind of an overachiever, a go-getter, or a moron, or whatever it is. But, you know, I came out of college with all my guns blazing, man. I actually

left college early because I was so eager to just get my life started, to get out into the world and start kicking down doors and punching in windows and stuff. And so when I was 25 years old, I was living in Toronto, Canada, and I was doing a multitude of things. Good Lord. I was, let's see, I was working. I was working in a mailroom for the police, the police force in Ontario, where Toronto's located. That's the province where Toronto's located. So I was working in the mail room during the day. And, you know, I'd work 9 to 5.

I had to deliver mail and hand mail out to people and drive down to police headquarters and deliver mail. and had to clean the stock room and I had to do, you know, do all these kind of deliveries around. So I'd do that from 9 to 5. And then I was also doing some freelance kind of audiovisual kind of work where it was kind of combining the animation process with slideshows, corporate slideshows. I had met a guy who did these big presentations,

and he did these like really elaborate slide shows where he'd use like 50 slide projectors, which is so antiquated to hear about now because we live in a different time and a different place. But I studied animation in college. And so what I did is I used the same process for animation, whereas I draw the stuff on clear plastic celluloid. and then I'd draw it with India ink right on the plastic celluloid,

and then I'd have to flip it over and paint it and do these big presentations. So I would come home, I would come home after work at 5 o'clock. I'd go to work on this tedious painstaking slideshow art, and I also hired one of my buddies from college, so he'd also be working on it during the day at my apartment, and then I'd come home and we work on it together. So we'd do that, and then I'd work on that for a few hours,

and then I'd run out the door and do stand-up at the comedy club in downtown Toronto because I was just kind of getting my stand-up career going. That's why I needed a day job to pay my bills, and I was doing this other thing to keep my feet in the art world, which I trained for in college. And so I was doing that. And then at the same time, you know, I would go to the comedy clubs. Then I'd come home and I'd work until, you know, one, two in the morning with my buddy doing these slideshow things.

And then I'd get up at, you know, 7, 8 a.m. and go into work and work for the cops. And then also in between that, I was working. on my children's books i i was writing and illustrating my own children's books had a series of those gone so i was i was doing that oh and uh and that was just the work side of my life the the uh the um the uh kind of the pleasure side of my life well actually i was also doing a little bit of touring too i was when i could get a weekend away i would do a little tour and do my stand up um and then just on a social level, I was hanging out with my friends and I was doing stuff. And then I was also at a phase of my life where I wanted to see the world. Hey, everybody, who wants to have

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and they never came back i'm the director of barbarian a lot of people die in a lot of weird ways you're not going to find it in the news because the police covered everything all up on august days this is where the story really starts weapons and so um So during all that madness, I was like, you know, I want to see the world when I'm young, not when I'm old. You know, I want to see when I'm old, but, you know, things are different when you're young. You do things differently when you're young than you do when you're old. So I took like four months off and decided to go over, hit the South Pacific, and I just took off to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. and I basically did a planes, trains, and automobiles over there

where I would take a train somewhere, I would fly somewhere, I would hitchhike somewhere, I would ride a bicycle somewhere, I would walk somewhere. I mean, I was all, I was just, you know, I was just, I was on my own, I was out the door from my parents' place, I had my own little apartment, I was done with college, I was done learning, and I was just on a quest. I was on a quest to just take over and do whatever I could and feed my senses and see the world and try to figure out what it was all about, sort of, you know?

So I was doing a lot, man. I was doing, and I'm probably not even remembering all of it. I was out buying, I bought myself a little car. I bought a Fiero, one of those little black two-seater sports cars in the day. I had the Fierro going, and I was sports. the acid wash jeans and the mullet oh yeah i had the mullet and the bon jovi cowboy boots oh god i almost feel queasy i was like richard marks oh i feel ill i think there's pictures too but i was doing a lot man i was burning the candle

at not both ends but like i was i just blew i was burning a stick of dynamite is what i was dawn um i guess because i've always had this this weird thing that life is short and that that you only get one one roll at the dice and you only you only get to do stuff once and and and and also you only get to do certain stuff when you're at a certain point in your life a certain age and i guess i was a guy that just didn't want to waste any time and i was like i just i just want to build this thing i want to i want to build and i want to expect explore and I want to experience. I always had this petrified idea of getting to the end of my life

and looking back and going, why didn't I do that? Why didn't I go to the other side of the world? Why didn't I overcome my fears? And when I say that, I mean, I was terrified to do stand-up comedy. Like standing up in front of a crowd was and talking and let alone trying to be funny. That was just, it was terrifying. But instead of running from that, I grabbed onto it. And I was like, I'm in charge of this, man.

I'm in charge of my fears, not the other way around. And so I wanted to conquer that. And I wanted to, in a sense, I guess by traveling, I wanted to conquer the planet. I'm like, this planet is mine. I don't mean mine personally, but I mean, as me being a human being on this planet, this is my world. You know, it's like if I bought a house and I didn't go in all the rooms, I'd be like, what's the point? I mean, this is my house. I've got to go in all the rooms and experience them and see them.

And so I guess I viewed the world, the planet we live on, as, you know, I just didn't want to be riding the subway every day and looking at the same buildings and going to the ballgame and watching TV and going camping. and that was all fine and dandy, but I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm a human being, and this round, this round globe that I'm on is, is my world. I got to see it, I got to experience it,

I got to taste it, I got to smell it, you know? So I headed out, and that was just the start of it. I mean, since that trip to the South Pacific, I've been all over the world. I mean, man, you name it, I've been to Africa, Indian, Nepal, Scotland, Germany, Cambodia, South America.

I mean, I've been all over the place, man. And it's just as fascinating as I thought it would be. And it's been just as rewarding and stimulating as I thought it would be. Oh, my goodness. So I was out there at 25 doing a lot. You know, I was doing a lot. So maybe I'm not the best guy to tell you this, because you also said in your voice message that you were worried maybe you weren't doing enough

or you haven't done enough. You know, that's all a matter of personal perspective and personal point of view. Because if you start thinking about what everyone else is doing, then you start going crazy. But I think what you got to do is look inside your spirit and go, what do I want out of life? what do I want to experience while I'm here? What do I want to do? What do I want to leave behind? What is this life about?

What does it offer me? What can I give it back? What can I do to combine those two together? And you have to create your own depth and your own perception and your own horizons in life. But I will say this. okay then i don't want to be mr preachy or you know but since you asked and uh hopefully this is a little more philosophical or insightful but it goes by quick man it goes by real quick you think it's

slow but it's it's quick especially as you start to get a little older once you step over that 50 line okay and for the first time in your life you start to sense your mortality and you go, wait, wait, wait a minute, I'm, I'm 50. I'm halfway to 100. Most people don't make it out of their 80s. I've got how long left? And when you get there and, you know, when you read magazines like men's health and fitness and vanity fair, they're like 50s, the new 20.

Well, okay, people live longer and their attitudes a little more youthful, but don't be deceived. 50 is 50, and you're closer to the end than you are to the beginning. Not to sound like a Debbie Downer, but that's just biology. And 50 can come around the corner pretty quick. Not to say that if 50, everything stops. I mean, if 50, you could decide to start doing all the things you've never done. I mean, the point of what I'm saying is to get out there and fulfill what you think needs to be fulfilled. and I would I would urge you not to let the direction of society guide your ship.

I think a lot of people get into the system where we're born, we get a social security card, we kind of gently, kind of, you know, quietly get nudged along to do all the right things, well, you're going to go to school, you're going to get a job, you better buy a car, you've got to get an apartment, have you got a girlfriend, huh? How are your clothes? How do you look? Do you have an iPad? You're at the right country club?

Do you eat at the right restaurants? Who are your neighbors? What's your zip code? Do you have a nice cell phone? What kind do you have? You know, there's all these little things that kind of help us flock together. and sometimes it's kind of like being in a dryer where you're tumbling around with all the other pieces of clothing and a little bit of static electricity builds up and you find yourself kind of sticking to everyone else so it's safe and

and it's kind of warm right but you got to look beyond you got to look out the dryer window you got to look out the dryer window and see that there's a great big world out there man if you live in america there ain't no tigers if you live in america there ain't no drafts or polar bears you want to see that you got to go there you want to swim with piranhas you got to go to south america you want to uh you want to go to the tajmahal you got to get to india man you want to walk through the bamboo forests in china guess what they're in china there's so much stuff out there but people people can get tumbled people can get tumbled into the dryer and don't don't be deceived there's a lot of the subliminal forces that try to keep people there

oh yeah there's a lot of subliminal forces there's social programs and there's government and there's there's corporations and there's a lot of there's a lot of kind of subtle forces at work try and or maybe they don't try but they're successful at sometimes keeping communities and people in their place and I'm not saying

it's necessarily an evil thing but maybe it's even just that us as human beings we have that tribal instinct where we kind of want to stick together with our own or we feel safe in our own territory and all that

stuff and all the modern conveniences of the world and all the kind of programming that gets thrown at us as we're born sometimes contributes to making us kind of staying in the box and sometimes we don't even know it. And so going back to your question, I would urge you to reach out, find out what it is you want to see,

what stimulates you, and do it man go go do it go go after it go go taste it go touch it don't let it all slip by don't let it slip by because that's sad you know i've met people like that where they've just spent so much time trying to figure out how to fit in with society how to get the right job how to how to get the right car how to how to how to get the right car how to how to how to be buddies with all the right people and meanwhile this fabulous planet and all the all the things that are that life not just the planet but life offers kind of get muted and and passed over so it's up to you man it's really up to you but but my experience is to and has been and you know

like i said it started at 25 to just really get out there and and and Look at life as a giant, endless buffet. And you just want to stick your finger in every bowl, man. Because it's fun. And yeah, there's danger around different corners, and there's reward around different corners, and there's mystery around different corners, and there's enchantment.

And there's all kinds of things. There's sexiness, there's romance, there's love, there's hate, there's deception. but you don't get to taste them all, you don't get to feel them all if you don't kick the dryer door open and step away from that warm, cozy safetiness. If that's even a word, safetyness? Yes, that's a word.

I learned that over in Indonesia, on a dark remote island. So, see, just there you go. Just going to a dark remote island in Indonesia. I learned stuff. But anyways, man, I hope that answers your question. And I hope you, you know, find it is what you're looking for. And by the way, let me add one thing, okay?

Sometimes, and, you know, I was talking about all these outward things, sometimes people find just what they need rate, rate within a very very, small space. Now, my little tirade there was about going out and experiencing if, you know, in order to help you expand, but there are some people that are wired where they don't want that. They just want to sit in that comfortable zone. They're very comfortable just coming home every night and doing their thing. And if you are, that's fine. I'm not knocking that, But I will throw a recommendation at you. If that is your world, if that is the zone you're in,

I'm going to challenge you do something this year to step outside of that zone. Just take a look around. Try something different. Go outside of your box and see if maybe it jostles something loose. Maybe you find a new gear you didn't think you had. Or maybe your eyes open to something. something fresh and stimulating you just never know man that's what i mean there's a whole world out there so there's my long-winded answer uh it kind of had to be that was kind of a intense deep

question but it was very interesting and made me reflect and i'm sure there's a lot more things in there that i'm not remembering but that's kind of the broad sweep of where i was when i was 25, a quarter of a century old. Good night, Nellie Frittato. Was she even born yet? So, hey, wishing you well, safe travels, and follow your dreams. That's what I say. Steer your ship. make this life your life and my old saying that I came up with myself and I've said it to you before on this podcast but you know it's what I've lived by

my motto is live life don't let life live you and I'll leave it right there have fun all right Rods let's throw to a commercial and we'll be right back here on the very deep Stimulating Almost too deep

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Be careful how you use it. The Harland Highway. Question of the day. Okay, here it is. And this one is super annoying. I don't know if you guys have ever experienced it, but why do people with umbrellas when it's raining, why do they walk under canopyed sidewalks

and hug the wall where there's less rain than there is out in the middle of the sidewalk. Why do people with umbrellas do that and cause people without umbrellas to have to walk out into the rain around them? Oh, yeah. Can you tell them a little steamed and damp and wet and soggy? Yeah, I see it a lot. I've been in, for whatever reason, over the last number of years in situations where it started raining, okay? And I'm walking down the sidewalk, and I don't have an umbrella, I don't have a hat, and I'm getting strategic, right? It's almost like a video game where, you know, the video game's like Super Mario where he has to jump to each pillar before it, like, collapses.

Well, I'm walking down the side walk looking ahead and going, okay, there's a canopy over there. I can be dry for about 17 steps if I walk under that canopy. And then there's an awning over that coffee shop. So if I walk under that, I've got about 10 more steps of dryness. And, oh, there's a big, long thing. It's like an overhang over an office building. And, oh, I'm going to be out of the rain for a good, probably 120 feet right there.

oh yeah and you piece together these little like kind of dry zones and you hope that you can make it to the subway or you can make it to your destination with minimal amounts of rainwater falling on you okay but then you'll be walking down the sidewalk and there's a ton of people with umbrellas who came out prepared and equipped and for some reason they've decided with their um Umbrellas up and open to do the same thing you're doing, and they're walking underneath the awning where there's no rain. But because they've got a big bulky umbrella and they're nine feet wide now, you find yourself having to get the hell out of their way. Then you're like, wait a minute. You've got an umbrella, you moron, get out in the rain. Make like Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh and get out in the rain.

you're not going to get wet you're forcing me to go around you what the hell's wrong with you what if i was a gremlin forcing me to get wet suddenly i turn into it maybe i wish i was a gremlin i can turn into a gremlin and eat your umbrella ass that didn't sound right did it chim chim chimmery chim chimchimmy no no no um so anyways for those of you umbrella rain hogs out there move your ass make like mary poppins and fly chim chimchimmy chip no no stop um so that's my big question of the day why do people with umbrellas hog the dry parts of the sidewalk oh i'd like to stick that umbrella where the shine and open it. Wow.

Your neck would pop out like a dinosaur from Jurassic Park with the neck gills. The Harlan Highway. Question of the day. Oh, yeah. We're going to leave it right there. We're going to end the show on that stimulating thought. But please check out Harlem Williams.com. You can write me there.

Also, when you're there, look for our phone number. You can leave me a voicemail. The phone number is right there at the bottom of the homepage. Also check out our store while you're there, Harlem Williams.com merchandise. Check out my stand-up comedy schedule. I'm kind of off the road for the next little bit because I'm shooting my second season of my sitcom package deal.

But we'll be back on the road towards the end of May. What else? Check out the Amazon link there. If you're doing any shopping on Amazon, click through the link on harlowe williams.com you'll still get to the same place but we get a little kickback help throw a few dollars towards the podcast here which would be nice since we don't have a sponsor or anything like that um what else check out atc.com all things comedy that is a podcast network full of funny comedians one of which is me on there other great podcasts you can be found on

ATC.com And I think that's it. I think that's it. It's been great having you here. I hope you enjoyed yourself on the Harlan Highway today and I look forward to the next one as always with y'all.

With y'all. And until then, you know what I'm about to say. We'll see you next time and chicken chow-me. Baby?