In this episode, we tackle the taboo subjects of a mask or no mask. It sucks getting old and getting gray hair at least in my opinion and how the media changes our perception based on what they choose to show us. Basically, Trish and I hang out for another hour perusing topics and subjects sit back enjoy and have a good time.
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Tony Randazzo:
It’s hard to speak your mind these days. voicing your opinion is tough and a climate where you’re either seen as an ultra conservative or a bleeding heart liberal. But what about our perspective? What about the Gen X perspective? Hi, I’m Tony a latchkey kid from the 80s and 90s. Now I’m in my 40s wearing cargo shorts, collecting Star Wars figures and reminiscing about the days before my first cell phone. The Gen X perspective is for us cut somewhere in between boomers and Millennials are we see things a bit differently? I’m tired of staying silent. It’s time to rant, discuss, unload and debate. Join Tony and his guests as they tackle the topics of Pop Culture, Sports, religion, and yes, even politics. If life’s a Rubik’s Cube, we’ve got the experience to tackle it. Welcome to the Gen X perspective with Tony Randazzo. Hey, everybody, welcome to number two of my interview with Trish the dish from jennex voice. So in this second part of our epic, long interview, we tread into some dangerous territory, starting to talk about everything from politics to the BLM movement, and kind of everything in between. We end the episode talking about getting old and gray hair, in my case, a gray beard. And Trish as she proudly wears her gray hair as she moves through this thing we call life and everything in between. We got some comments during our live stream from Eric out in Arizona and some other folks and we had a lot of fun. So enjoy. part two of our sit down on Gen X perspective. And I hope you guys enjoy. Thank you.
Unknown:
So this should be an even more exciting adventure.
Tony Randazzo:
I just click the live button again, I’m gonna see what’s gonna happen this time.
Unknown:
You know, this is I was saying this when there was no you and possibly no audience. I was saying how. And I’ve brought up Tom Green before and been like, you know, he he’s done a lot of he’s kind of the the godfather of web, you know, he calls it webo vision, right? And he’s done some things where you’re just kind of sitting there watching him, you know, to teeter around with shit and, and it’s like, oh, my life. Oh, I’m alive now. Hey, Eric says hi, Tony. Do you know how to make that pop up on the screen? So everyone else can I folks, I’m just kind of walking Tony through this whole stream yard experience. I’m I mean, I’ve done. I’ve done one more of these than he has so. So if you hover over his thing, his comment you can in comments, not private chat, but comments. There should be a button that shows show and you should be able to show Eric’s
Tony Randazzo:
Yeah, look at that show.
Unknown:
Hi. Hi, Tony. We’re stoked. You’re here. Hopefully,
Tony Randazzo:
that is Yeah, that is one of my dad’s lifelong friends. And he comes and sees us almost every year this year. You didn’t come visit. He’s actually in your neck of the woods somewhere.
Unknown:
Oh, cool.
Tony Randazzo:
He’s Arizona. Oh, yeah. He’s spent his time out there and beautiful weather and then comes and visits us usually when
Unknown:
he’s like the opposite of a Snowbird or maybe that is a Snowbird I I personally don’t even know what a Snowbird is anymore. Because I’m just like, you know, I just live in a state where everyone’s a Snowbird.
Tony Randazzo:
Oh, he’s a mesa. There he is. He just posted?
Unknown:
Okay, okay, I’m in Glendale. So, mesa is dope. mesa is dope. Yeah, I love that place. Oh, we’re live. So so so Hi, everyone. I’m Trisha dish from the genex voice and I’m so delighted to be here with with with Tony. we’ve, we’ve been actually chatting for the last hour and 48 minutes so it’s it’s super, super awesome to to have part two, which is what we had planned anyway, didn’t we Tony, we were like we’re gonna be hanging out for a couple hours tonight.
Tony Randazzo:
We’re gonna figure out how this thing works. So that yeah The pod v con convention in two weeks, right? Two weeks?
Unknown:
Yeah, yeah. So excited. You’re gonna be live, you’re gonna be live streaming, March 13, at 1pm Mountain Standard Time. So I know that you’re an hour after me. And I’m so excited. I’m so stoked for you to be tapping into the vodcast. World,
Tony Randazzo:
Tony, because we’ll be doing that from I’ll be doing that live from Florida because I’m going to go south, and where it’s nice and warm down by the Florida Keys. And we’ll have some fun doing it there too. And talking to the whole world because that’s an international event. Yes, we
Unknown:
have people in South Africa we have Israel we have Canada, we have and in both parts of Canada, right. Canada is a huge country. And so we’ve got both parts. Both Vancouver and and Toronto, so a super cool, super cool grad.
Tony Randazzo:
That’s awesome. Yeah. And you know, the whole thing about Canada cute is an interesting place. I’ve spent time in Canada.
Unknown:
So as heavy as have I
Tony Randazzo:
yeah. Interesting. Language thing they got going on there. And they definitely aren’t. They just tolerate Americans. So well.
Unknown:
Well, I tell you what, though, when I was in Moscow, and spoke French, I was actually asked if I was French, and it was the biggest compliment as an American. I was just like, oh my god. Thank you. Thank you so much for not assuming I was American first. That is, that’s so cool.
Tony Randazzo:
Yeah, that’s gonna be a lot of fun. So we we have a relationship up here along the border where, where people normally in normal times.
Unknown:
It’s hard to hear you Tony.
Tony Randazzo:
I wonder why crazy cuz I feel like
Unknown:
we’re just figuring stuff out. Eric, can you hear me? Okay. I’m just curious as to how the sound is going.
Tony Randazzo:
I guess my I could turn my headphones down and maybe my mic way up. I mean,
Unknown:
what kind of headphones are you rockin Tony, are you doing the audio? Audio Technica like me? No,
Tony Randazzo:
they’re sure. Okay. Okay, early. But they are.
Unknown:
How’s that? Eric? Yes, you are great. Okay, maybe that’s me. Better. It’s better. It’s better. Good. Thank you, Eric. We appreciate the feedback.
Tony Randazzo:
Yeah, cuz so I have this mic. I switched. I was using a Rode pod mic and switch to the shore. SM seven B. I decided to play with that one. And, and it’s a different experience. So switch back and see. See how the other one does. I haven’t plugged it in in a while. See how it works.
Unknown:
I’ve got a switch to watch.
Tony Randazzo:
This one’s a little that’s probably a good choice. It isn’t. isn’t a workday? No. Tomorrow, Sunday,
Unknown:
no. Small Sunday. It’s all it’s all the same day in the handy life.
Tony Randazzo:
That’s right.
Unknown:
But it’s a workday for me because I’ve got to edit. I’ve got to edit my next pack podcast that’s coming out on Tuesday. But
Tony Randazzo:
yeah, I’m gonna be doing a little editing, I guess myself here, at some point. A couple hours worth of a podcast that we’re doing right now on the road on the road caster, we’ll see what
Unknown:
which is, which is fine. You know, you can always add an outro that’s like hey, so we we stopped and now we’re live.
Tony Randazzo:
And we’ll explain what craziness is going on with us for sure.
Unknown:
Yeah, that’s the fun part of podcasting. Right is that you sort of can add these intros and outros that kind of explain what’s going on. Oh man, Tony, again for Eric and everyone else has tuned in right now on this live feed like I got it I gotta say again, like kindred spirits of so stoked to have met you during these pandemic times. And and I feel like you and I have been friends forever because we’re now going on almost two hours to chatting together and and i’m not even close to being bored. I’m not even close to be annoying. No, I I got to go change my laundry out. You know, like, it’s not even like that. It’s Yeah, it’s so amazing. And I don’t know if that’s a common thread through through all generations, but I feel like if you find a Gen X or in the world, it’s kind of like, like a dog seeing another dog. You’re just like, I want to know everything about you like how’d you grew up? What’s your story man?
Tony Randazzo:
give so much to do with the older we get the less. Our circle stays so small, you know, you don’t write and you know you’re not hanging out and freaking Denny’s at two o’clock. In the morning, we are running on journeys, you know, that doesn’t happen anymore because we’re, you know, adults with jobs and lives and all that good shit.
Unknown:
Yeah, yeah, it’s
Tony Randazzo:
like, yeah, I think that it’s, it’s neat to find people that you have stuff in common with in this whole podcast, podcast, meeting in, in interacting with people via the this whole thing that’s happening is such a fascinating. I mean, it’s a neat thing, and it can be a really good thing. And it’s a great way to be able to express what people got going on what we have going on, you know, how things can be so common in two Yeah, crazy, different lives that never intersected, but could have very well intersected. And it’s Yeah, yeah, thing to be able to do that single through this whole thing.
Unknown:
I gotta ask you, I asked you, Tony, were you. So So I know that in, in the in the period of time that that I was going to undergrad? You were in the wilderness, but I’ve got to ask, did you were you on? So sort of the social platforms, for lack of better words in those days, because we didn’t really have those terms back then. In the 90s. Were you in chat rooms were you in Apple chat or whatever it was then I was doing that at one point where
Tony Randazzo:
but I shied away from it because I sucked at typing. So again, I never taught typing, and I was dyslexic. So I suck at spelling and writing is that, you know, nowadays, you don’t have to be good at spelling. You just have to be able to talk and it’ll
Unknown:
or, or people really forgive the autocorrect world that we live in. Right. So I know a lot of Jen Sears who constantly have these terrible typos. Yeah. And and I and I forget them because, like, that’s right. Well, and I also forget them because it’s like, well, you know, like, we’re in a hurry, but I fucking time to spellcheck. Oh, excuse me. I’m live and I’m using my words. Hopefully, that’s okay. Eric, I hope you’re okay with the swearing. A big part of our chin chin next world.
Tony Randazzo:
Yeah. Is our language for sure. That’s really crazy. It’s funny to kind of watch us on two screens. I should probably not do that as much. But
Unknown:
it’s Eric says,
Tony Randazzo:
Oh, we were so yeah, never learned how to type in was a sucked at spelling. So I kind of skirted around it and didn’t partake in the early days of like, AOL messenger. I had one friend that was on all the time. And I was living in San Francisco for like six months. I was I was working up there. And I was by myself. Like, I had no family. No friends with me. I didn’t know anybody there. And that’s when I kind of partake in trying to figure out how to do that. But people type so damn fast. It was so intimidating that it didn’t last for me very well,
Unknown:
I get that I get that I had I had a friend. I had a friend in New York. So so I was I was keyed in pretty quickly with the whole social media world. Like, I always talk about Friendster, which is before MySpace which was before Facebook. And and, and she was an instant messenger was my link to the world when 911 was happening. And I was trapped in my job at the time, which was Christian Dior, and it was able to, you know, on Yahoo Messenger, tell my friends, like, Hey, I’m alive. Everything’s good. Like, don’t know what the fuck is going on in this world right now. But
Tony Randazzo:
I’m alive. I was in Montana. When that happened. I was stuck in a hotel room. We’ve just done a hair show, the night before, whatever it was that weekend, and I was scheduled to fly out and fly home to Oregon. And I was and I got stuck. Right. There were no planes going in the air. At that point. I ended up
Unknown:
the whole country kind of shut down. And I ended up
Tony Randazzo:
shitbox car from some rental company
Unknown:
like a geostorm. I don’t remember
Tony Randazzo:
what it was. But I drove straight through from noxa, Montana all the way to Portland airport where my car was parked in the Portland airport and I had this rental car that I I told the people that I was taking it to Oregon, they said you can’t and I did it anyway. And I dropped it off and they forgave it. Thank God. I don’t know how much money that would have cost. Drop it off, and then I hadn’t had a cab. This cabbie guy took me over to the long term parking lot. And I had to basically bribe the guy at the at the lot to let me walk in there because that wasn’t common in the whole airport was shut down to get my car out and I ended up having to jump this embankment wall to get to my car. And then I drove another two and a half Ours back over the hill to bend to get home that night. And it was Oh, and I was in that was the first time that I became news obsessed. Like I had NPR or the news on my on the car radio, the whole drive trying to figure out what the hell just happened to our country and it was such this crazy 1820 hours of my life trying to get back home before something else happened because nobody knew what the hell was going on. It was just this whole crazy.
Unknown:
Yeah, and I was in the city. Now. I was just trying to get to my friend and Brooklyn from Midtown, because I was working a Christian Dior at the time. And my whole situation was from eight in the morning till 4pm in the evening, my job Oh, Dana says hi, that’s that’s one of my friends here in in Arizona. She’s the nurse that I was telling you about. That’s that’s basically fiance of the guy that I consider my brother. But yeah, I was I was I was just trying to contact family I was trying to I was actually in charge as the receptionist of the sort of administrative part of Christian Dior. So I was working in the same floor as the CFO, the CEO of Christian Dior, and my task was you know, make sure Bernard potties family is is is is contacted, so I wasn’t even allowed to call my own family. So thank God for yahoo messenger because I was able to message my my uncle in California, and one of my friends in Springfield, Illinois and various other humans to be like, yeah, I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m just in Midtown, you know, and Christian Dior. I don’t know if anyone’s familiar with Midtown, but the Christian Dior corporate offices were right across the street from the Trump Tower. And this we’re talking about, I want to say 57th Avenue between Madison and Fifth Avenue or 57th Street. I don’t, I don’t know. I’m old now. It’s been 20 years. But it was it was pretty wild. Like I I took I took the subway from Grand Central Station which had been bombed threatened, right, right after I right before I had jumped on to take take the train to Brooklyn to be with a good friend of mine from Flagstaff. And, and it was, Tony, I don’t know how much you’ve spent time in the city. But it was like you could hear a penny drop. It was or a needle drop. I mean, it was so quiet. And it was so surreal. And then when the when the subway came up across the river, the Hudson River, right. I could finally see the the Twin Towers actually smoldering. Wow. And it was a trip it was it was it was surreal. And the only thing that that we could think of in that time was I gotta get I gotta get with people that I love. I didn’t have any proof that I lived in the Chinatown apartment that I lived in, because I saw it my Flagstaff ID. And and so I was homeless actually for about three days. Wow. It was it was wild man. It was it was. And that’s what I was talking about, like Aarthi. I think our generation is this generation that’s able to, to navigate that and pivot very quickly, during these sort of like crazy transitions. Yeah,
Tony Randazzo:
we’ve dealt with crazy.
Unknown:
Yeah, we have, we really
Tony Randazzo:
have. But every generation has, I mean, if you go back to the boomer generation, and they have those pivotal moments, and then you go back further, and then you know, then you start talking about world wars and really crazy shit. But we’ve all we can’t go too long without screwing something up on us.
Unknown:
Right? Well, and I think it speaks to humanity in general, right? Like, we have this propensity towards survival, right, which means that we’re going to make it so so even in this, this, these pandy times that we’re in, we have this ability to sort of navigate, like you were saying, like, you were in this bubble until about November, and then it finally hit you in your area. But but but there’s a there’s a lot of humans who have made it through this pandemic. I mean, and we we haven’t really celebrated that we haven’t really celebrated how many of us have not been infected. We always we always talk about how many have been, which is important. Don’t get me wrong, but I think it really speaks to the survival mechanism of humanity for good or for bad, right, what we’ve done to this planet,
Tony Randazzo:
I mean, that’s all in their conversation. And it’s, you know, and what people focus on. So, you know, the news, of course, is He’s going to talk about the negative, not the positive, so they’re not going to bring up how many people are, are still the difference in those numbers, I don’t even know what they are. And something I’m going to have to look up later. But it’s what’s the percentage of humans that have been, that have happened. And I know that it’s very lopsided, that there’s a lot more people that haven’t, that have, but still, it’s, um, you know,
Unknown:
it doesn’t give an excuse to do crazy shit right now, right?
Tony Randazzo:
It’s got to make money. So they got to always focus on crazy negative, that’s their job. So
Unknown:
but but there is a lot of us, like Dana, like, like me, like you who have been Uber careful. And perhaps Eric, who says 911 was very pivotal for all ages. And I agree, I agree with that. It is, it is this moment in time, where where we we are, there are plenty of humans who are taking this very seriously, and who do not believe it’s a conspiracy theory. And, and, and, and, and I, I’ve told you my story of having to work on a university campus, you know, and being exposed to hundreds of Gen Z years. And just being really taking sort of these precautions really seriously, and being safe, and, and not being infected. Yeah, and
Tony Randazzo:
I have, I mean, at least in my experience, here, where we had, you know, we had the, the infection rate didn’t really hit us until later in the game. And people for the most part, you know, we never saw any big issues with people not wearing masks, I mean, you saw a little bit of it. And that, of course, is the stuff that always gets kind of intensified. And, you know, we had a lot of customers through our stores this summer. And I’m gonna say, if it my wife, myself, my sister, and maybe one or two other employees had one customer each, that really kind of went over the top with not wanting to Let’s wear a face mask, wear a mask or whatever. So but if you add that up, based on the amount of people that we had come in 99.9% of all the customers were great. And they were thankful to be able to be out on some level, and they were wearing masks, and they were doing what we were asking them specifically to do and in the business owners that I interact with daily, as well in the community have all had basically the same experience. So I got to believe that for the most part, most people have no if you believe it or not, if you if you think the masks help, or they don’t they’ve gone along with what they’re being asked to do. And, you know, there’s something to be said for that. Yeah, yeah. I also think that Americans in general, when they’re gonna be over something, or if they want to call bs on something, they will, and they do, and you always have the outlier. Crazy crazies, but, you know, it is what it is so
Unknown:
well, you know, it’s interesting, because, um, you know, and I’m treading on some dangerous levels of of,
Tony Randazzo:
that’s right here. We’re live now, the first hour and a half, we talked about all sorts of stuff. And now we’re like, mice look
Unknown:
at crazy right now. Right. But But I, I’m so surprised that there are more cases of an outbreak that can be traced to certain activities, as it were, that that that we as humans have done without masks. So for instance, getting getting good and getting crazy right now, I’m about to step on some toes. That’s what we do here. But January 6, we have not seen a study of an outbreak of, of the pandemic, with with those folks that have stormed the Capitol. And you know, and I find that very interesting, and I and I, and I feel like I don’t know if that is lack of information. I know Eric says Ouch. Yeah, I know. I’m going there. I’m going there brother. I’m going there. Um, but but I I find that very interesting that there and I can throw out Michigan when a bunch of maskless gun toting Americans stormed the Michigan Capitol I know I’m sorry, I glasses deep to this amazing product.
Tony Randazzo:
But but but I find that very interesting that we’re not hearing any sort of, I’m gonna have to throw out the opposing question. You know, All those New York City protests that went on earlier in the year, and when our when our mayor of New York City, you know, said that everything is banned and you’re not allowed to do anything but go out and protest is okay. And none of those folks, and a lot of them weren’t wearing masks, there was never any studies, there was never any research done on any of those mass gatherings. For the tried and true trumpers and or any other any other mass gatherings that have happened during the pandemic they haven’t really looked into, or there hasn’t been enough data for them to either side?
Unknown:
I don’t know about you, but I’m interested in that. I want to know, I wouldn’t know. Look at all the BLM protests that were happening in the country. And and for the most part, they were messed up. And as opposed to Trump rallies that were maybe not messed up. I personally. Yeah. Because Because the question asks, you know, you start wondering if the question is more, you know, is it is it social gatherings? Or is it is it something else? And I think that we as human beings, um, I don’t know if you saw Eric’s latest comment. Um, but I feel like these are things that we need to we need to dissect and analyze as a society.
Tony Randazzo:
Got it. And I, you know, and again, it’s, you know, just like talking about watching Fox News in the morning and watching CNN at night or whatever. Wow,
Unknown:
yeah, I don’t watch either of those. So I can’t even imagine
Tony Randazzo:
if you were on Fox during the BLM protests as an example. Also, they showed were pictures of them burning buildings down, right, because that did happen. It’s violence. They want to they want to violence violence in there, we’re showing that but they were also showing a bunch of people protesting without masks on but if you went to the CNN same coverage, same event, you would see a difference. So it’s I have a hard time believing any of it because we know that the media, both sides are just doing it for ratings, the jerks,
Unknown:
which is such a shame, because isn’t really about ratings, we want to know what’s happening. And it just so happens that we don’t know where else to go. That’s right. So so you’re giving us this sort of this meal, okay. And and I’m a vegan. Okay, so So I go to a meal, right? And and they say, oh, everyone here is eating broccoli, because the vegan is part of the group that’s eating broccoli, as opposed to the pork that’s being served. So you’re not seeing the whole picture, are you I mean, that’s really way out there. But Right, right, so So Eric, man, I’m so happy you’re here with us tonight. Because one of one of the conversations I’ve had with one of my Trump supporting family members, was that BLM is bad? Because they’re burning stuff down Trish, and that is good. And I’m like, that is such a minutia part of actually, what’s what’s happening, though,
Tony Randazzo:
yeah, it oversimplifies the situation, because it’s, um, there’s so much more to it than that, because it was it. You could argue both sides of the same, same argument, you know, was it really the BLM people burning stuff down, or were just people that were being, you know, they were, you know, capitalizing on the opportunity to do a little looting and do a little burn and have a little party in and do what they were doing. And I think that we’ve seen that on the other side, as well at different rallies or gatherings where you always have bad actors, and usually the people that are organizing protests, they’re doing it because they’re passionate about it, wherever they land on the spray doing it. They’re doing it for just causes they’re doing I have to believe in humanity, that they’re those people in that that are gathering that are bringing their kids, for whatever they’re protesting. They’re doing that because they’re passionate about that, and they want to protest peacefully, usually,
Unknown:
well, they want their voices heard
Tony Randazzo:
what their voices heard, and then you get some jackasses come in, and screw it all up. And I think that that’s what happens 99% of the time on both sides, and they make everybody look bad. And then it just gives more ammunition and more fodder and people just become
Unknown:
and what’s a shame is that you lose sight of what the what is the meaning of the actual protest.
Tony Randazzo:
Immediately. Yeah, it’s low. You don’t know what so?
Unknown:
Yeah, so So, being a compassionate human that I am. I want to hear what the Trump supporters have to say and I want to hear what their voices I’m not as interested in in knowing What?
Tony Randazzo:
Well, and you have the, you know, you have the the fortunate life experience where you’ve lived in some of those smaller Midwest communities. I mean, you were in Illinois for a while, and, you know,
Unknown:
central Central Illinois.
Tony Randazzo:
And my, you know, my family and my dad has always been, I was raised, you know, to understand and know, all sides of everybody. I mean, we were never isolated. Like, my, probably my grandfather’s generation were you still lived in Italian neighborhoods in Jewish neighborhoods and Irish neighborhoods, like he’s from German, German, my grandfather was German, you didn’t go out of the neighborhood garden? in St. Louis. Very, very much like, is the German way to be and, and I think there’s more people like us, well, that’s the whole thing is we’re a snapshot of our generation. And people. I mean, we want we don’t want people to be mean to each other. I think inherently I don’t want
Unknown:
but we want voices to be heard, right? Because that’s the beauty of America. Now and, and I’ve lived in other countries. And I’ve and I’ve moved back to the United States twice. So I’ve jumped out of the United States twice and have come back twice. And I remain here in America. And and and, and for me, I feel like the beauty of this country is is the the right to protest against our government. It’s the right to share our voices, the freedom of speech, but with the freedom of speech comes consequence. And so when you’re talking about burning shit down, and you’re, you know, I’ve got some very, very, very anarchist friends who are like, I can’t wait to do this protest, because I’m going to do some Molotov cocktails, and I’m like, Whoa, bro. What are you doing, man? Because I believe in the whole Gandhi, you know, sort of, you know, peaceful protest, you know, Nelson Mandela way of going about things like, but but unfortunately, in our political climate, it is right, you know, boy, who, who’s being the loudest? And who, who’s burning shut down the most. And, and that’s so terrible, because it’s, it’s, it’s really losing the message of what either side is saying,
Tony Randazzo:
Yeah, there’s no message anymore, unfortunately. But it seems to be on the decline. And maybe that’s because we’ve turned the climate down a little bit. Um,
Unknown:
I have an answer to this. I have an answer to this. It’s this, the Socratic way of, of debating. So what you do is, if someone has an answer for every question, please, I have family members like this. And I’m not very good at this I’m working on this is is is asking questions. So if they have an answer to everything, continue to ask questions, right? Because then it allows them to, to, to start either parroting what they’ve heard, so that you can continue to ask more questions. Or it allows them to take pause and realize I don’t, I don’t actually have an answer to that. And that’s where the real magic can happen. That’s where the left and the right can actually come together. Right? Well,
Tony Randazzo:
you got to be able to listen to each other, you got to be able to stop talking for half a second and listen to what they’re saying. You may not totally agree with them. But you you might find common ground in there somewhere, you might learn something about yourself or somebody else. And that might be okay, too. You know,
Unknown:
I have to say, Tony, you know, my my aunt uncle are boomers and their Trump supporters and then and I respect them. And I know this is dangerous territory to get into. Because Because I should not be supporting Trump supporters. But I hear what they say when they talk to me, you know, and I think that’s a really important aspect of the dialogue is, is hearing the parts that that people believe that they are that they’re saying so? So for instance, the reason why my aunt uncle appreciated someone like Trump coming into office was because it was building their retirement it was building their savings building there.
Tony Randazzo:
Yeah, it sure was. Yeah.
Unknown:
And and and so what is what is that happening now in the government? The The funny thing that’s happening in the government now is that we have someone in office who is is is hell bent on fixing the pandemic. And I think I think that we’re losing. Excuse me. Oh my gosh. I’m drunk on your wine. I will continue to, to say that the this coyote moon Mark head is, is KPN. um and and I have imported another glass because I’m like this, this is it. This is it. I’ve, I’ve, we’ve been sitting here for a couple hours now. So I’ve got a, I’ve got to reel it back. But I really I really think that the the, the people that are empowered now have have decided that the most important thing is to get people vaccinated and get a handle on the pandemic, and then we can go from there. Because that should be in my opinion, that should be, you know, the most important thing that we’re doing right now.
Tony Randazzo:
And I agree with you on that. I think 100% I think that if they just get that done, if that’s all he does, and the next four years is right through this nightmare, and we can get beyond it and get some semblance of normal back for different people. That’s different things but essentially not having to wear a mask or worried that you’re gonna die when you leave your house.
Unknown:
If I can, man, Can I hug my friends? Again?
Tony Randazzo:
I have no friends again. Can I go see my grandmother? All those things? Jesus? Yeah, this administration just gets that done and screws everything else up. country still gonna be fine.
Unknown:
I’m gonna be okay with that.
Tony Randazzo:
We’re gonna be ready to get back and fight for those other things. So, you know, and again, it’s,
Unknown:
well, you know, my, my brother said, my brother, my brother said a really interesting thing. When when Trump was officially elected, he said, you know, Trish, again, this is very controversial. I’m about to say this, he said, because we’ve we’ve seen what the last four years have brought. But But at the time, he said, you know, really, our lives aren’t gonna be touched. Right? Like, individually. Life is gonna go on as, as normal, like every presidency that’s out there. And, and, and to be fair, to be fair. And again, I’m, I’m a white woman, and I recognize my privilege in saying this, but my life has not really changed that drastically, having Trump in office. But what I’ve found is that there is is a lack of leadership that his administration gave us, that that was daunting to me. And, and, and, and scared me even even very early on his his his sort of negative rhetoric, and just this, the whole impeachment process, that they brought up the whole
Tony Randazzo:
Trump thing. Yeah, it was,
Unknown:
it was it was very much an awareness of how do words affect humans? And and, and, and can you be held responsible for those words? And I think that that is a very important aspect of the Trump administration that I think that philosophers and sociologists will be examining and historians will be examining for for decades
Tony Randazzo:
to come. That’ll be interesting to see how history unravels this whole thing. But again, it’s just Trump and his policies in general. And, you know, and I’m, and I’m going to the opposing argument here a little bit for fun, is he if you want to tone down his rhetoric and his what made Trump Trump is tweeting, storms and his stupid crap that he would say, art, we wouldn’t have paid it half of any attention. They would have just been a bunch of Republicans in there doing republican stuff, doing republican policy, and he was such a ham. Yeah, totally. He was such a well, he was in the entertainment industry. God bless you, he was
Unknown:
a reality TV star, dude. Yeah.
Tony Randazzo:
So he if he would have just not done any of that. We would have had a different opinion of him. I think there’s still be Trump haters because he was a Republican, or because he was Trump. But you know, there were people that hated both Bush’s there are people that hated ronald reagan for the love of God. But there were also people that, you know, yeah, I mean, you know, what was his nickname? You know, slick Willie. That was when we were growing up. That was kind of right in our high school days was when the whole Monica Lewinsky thing was going on. And you know, the democrats were ruining the world in office and
Unknown:
except for Tony, when I lived in France, and I and my French friends would ask me, why are you Americans so obsessed with the sexual activities of your leader?
Tony Randazzo:
I think this probably has something to do with
Unknown:
Well, well, what was interesting was was was unpacking that with them. Yeah. And, and, and the French were like, everyone knows that the, you know, this was in the 90s. They were like, everyone knows that the French Prime Minister is going to have a lady on the side, like, why are you as American so obsessed? Which, which is a very interesting sort of cultural unpacking of things, because you start realizing that Americans are really, or at least in the 90s, we’re still really trapped in this sort of idealistic 90s. Sorry, 1950s. World of That’s right. Christianity and the church. Yes. Yes. And marriage and very not free. Yeah, different values. I
Tony Randazzo:
mean, the countries, you know, those are countries so young, we still have a long way to go to make before we kind of get our identity. I mean, if you look talking about Italians, or French, you gotta start talking in terms of hundreds and hundreds, you know, 200 years is a drop in the bucket for those places, and they’ve had a long time to figure out what’s right and wrong and important.
Unknown:
Right. Oh, and I love that you said what’s important, right. So so for us as Americans, it was important for us to unpack the infidelity of our precedent. Well, because that’ll get him because it’s never been done before. Right. And and, and, and, and I think that’s very interesting. And I think that’s a very, and and it got to the point where I could see where the French were coming from where it was like, Yeah, why are we fucking worried about our?
Tony Randazzo:
I think, well, it became a big deal, because he got caught. Just like me,
Unknown:
well, it became a big deal, because we had never seen it before. So not so much that he got, well,
Tony Randazzo:
it never been revealed, right? They were just doing things back in the old days, like, you know, getting rid of Marilyn Monroe, instead of coming out the papers that she was. I mean, we can really go down this rabbit hole, we can pull. Marilyn Monroe because they couldn’t deal with putting it in the news. Seriously. And she was awesome.
Unknown:
She was amazing. And, and and what, uh, what Yeah. Would you really unpack like, hollywood versus word? Politics, which is what I think and and this is going to be a wackadoodle thing to say. But I think Trump was the epitome of Hollywood meets politics in American government.
Tony Randazzo:
Yeah, he totally was. Yeah,
Unknown:
yeah. And for good or for bad, right? Because, because he knew how he knew how to work that. And it’s still working that God bless us all. I don’t know how that man at 70 whatever years old has the energy to even Oh, he works around most people. I mean, yeah. I mean,
Tony Randazzo:
he grew up in a different world than then we can even imagine to. Right. Put yourself in those shoes. I don’t know how you would do that. But yeah, different. Crazy. We should pick Why didn’t we talk about this stuff when nobody was listening to us?
Unknown:
Ah, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know we. But when you and I get together, we just kind of where we go. That’s where we go.
Tony Randazzo:
Here. Yeah. And I’ll tell you what, well, what I will tell you is it’s 930 in upstate New York, and
Unknown:
we’ve been at this for a while. A couple hours. I’m getting hungry. Yeah, I haven’t eaten dinner yet
Tony Randazzo:
either. But oh, so Trish, I do want to cordially invite you to be my co host at pod v con. Chemistry for sure, would lend itself to doing that. And I’d love it.
Unknown:
I accept, I accept.
Tony Randazzo:
And we kind of figured out how not to hit the big red button and close everything out.
Unknown:
I’m so excited. I’m so excited to do this. And then yeah, and like I’ve said before, I’m so impressed with your your knowledge and and just jumping into everything. And you know, I think that is so Gen X that we are not afraid of technology. In fact, we’re almost we’re like a like a like a horse and carrot like we see it and we just want to kind of go after it and then every every sort of technological advancement that has come out of in our lifetime Hri two it is just I feel like Gen X has always been there ready and willing, willing, let’s let’s do it. Let’s let’s unpack it. Let’s be a part of it. And I think that’s what separates us. And we’re the first generation of middle agers to become middle aged online. And I think that’s a really exciting thing to unpack
Tony Randazzo:
to share with people. Yeah, I never thought of it that way.
Unknown:
Oh, I think about all the time, I don’t
Tony Randazzo:
think about myself as being old. And that’s part of the problem is I didn’t see
Unknown:
an old man.
Tony Randazzo:
Middle Age 40 year olds thinking. They’re so goddamn old. And I’ll say this, I don’t know if Eric is still listening. But I remember Eric because I’ve been in my life for ever, I think. And I remember when I was a kid looking at him and my dad and his buddies who were probably my, our age thinking to him, they’re old. And, and now I’m that age, and, and they’re in better shape than most of them.
Unknown:
You think so that middle age is such a different, um, it’s such a different thing now because I and I don’t know if I have student workers that are just being kind to me, but I always hear like, Oh, I would never have guessed you’re not old to LA. And I’m just like,
Tony Randazzo:
I think because they as they’re getting older that it because like us, as we got older, that line kind of blurred like old people weren’t old anymore. And young people were really young. And it’s just, you know, I think we just you’re you’re you are as old as you want to be. I think and if you want to be a crotchety old bastard and be grumpy and be decrepid then go do that. And you’re going to be that if you want to stay young and vibrant, and, and be hip as them kids would say, then do it. And that’s all that matters. And, and the nice thing about starting to get middle age, not older or old, but Middle Ages. I don’t give a shit anymore.
Unknown:
Oh, isn’t that
Tony Randazzo:
it is so amazing to finally get to a point in my life where? vanity? You know, I just don’t? Yes, you always care a little bit. I can’t say that. I don’t
Unknown:
care a little bit. Yeah,
Tony Randazzo:
I’m not totally not bothered by stuff. But I like give a shit meters so much slower than it used to be.
Unknown:
And they’ll freak right. Like, why and I don’t know about you. But I don’t feel like keeping up. Like I at this point at 45. I no longer feel like I need to keep up with with the latest lingo or the latest latest trends. I pay attention just because I’m an actor. And it’s always been a big part of our, you know how we’ve grown up. But I don’t I don’t feel like I’m ashamed. I don’t feel like doing plastic surgery. I don’t feel like coloring my grades. I don’t feel I want to be 45 and I want to embrace being 45
Tony Randazzo:
just not to get off the subject. But my wife. I was just asking her about this because she just did my sister’s here today. And she did it silver. And I asked us why she you know, being out of touch slightly and not as up to speed in the current trends is I should be maybe I you know, it’s like what is she trying to just be older and my wife looked at me with kind of a stupid look. Oh, it’s like, no, it’s you know, it’s a trend now and she pulls up like 15 pictures on her phone and says, this is you know, this is what’s going on like, Oh, I caught it. Okay,
Unknown:
right, like I got carded.
Tony Randazzo:
Let me get caught up for a second gray. Okay, gray is not gray anymore. Gray’s silver, and gray is not gray. It’s trendy. So look at that. You’re trendy. Yeah, it’s natural. And now you’re just being trendy.
Unknown:
Yeah, it was. Okay, and, and I and I pulled off my beanie and I was like, does this does this look like I’m okay like and and we’ve progressively gotten more wild. But anyway, this is the style and I was like, do you really think that this is the style where I would have this be regular color and this be gray? Like I don’t think that’s the style?
Tony Randazzo:
Yeah, I don’t know. Yeah. I’m not wanting to talk about hair color.
Unknown:
And you don’t look like you have a single gray hair on you except for your your flavor.
Tony Randazzo:
And if I grow my beard and it’s white, which bums me out, because then if I have my beard, which I usually do at the beginning of winter, which I did have, everybody says, Oh, you color your hair because my hair is jet black, I have a little bit in the sideburns. But my beard is white, white, white as snow white. It’s horrible. And so I get harassed with this white beard and this black hair. So it usually doesn’t make it all winter before I get harassed enough that I shave it off, and it just bothers me because then I do a little thing that bothers me. So color it, I can’t bring myself to coloring my beard because that just seems
Unknown:
Why does it bother you though, like, it’s, it’s a rite of passage. I feel like it’s hard to get to this point.
Tony Randazzo:
I think it makes me feel old. And I don’t want to end and living in the North Country and no sunlight, no vitamin D. And then I have this white beard. And it just, it all plays together in this. I got to go south. Like if you look on page from when we were in Florida last year, or my Instagram page, I have my beard and it was half gray. And it’s twice as great as those pictures are now actually made it. Actually we went to Florida earlier last year. That’s why I still had I would have had it if we went a month ago. So yeah,
Unknown:
I don’t know. I feel like embrace the natural man. Because it’s like, for me, I don’t know if you can see how white these temples are. White set of grays. I’m like, you know, honestly, it I would have to I would have to color it every week. You would? Yeah. And and and I went on a date once with a guy that was about 10 years younger than me. And I colored my hair, you know, at the time. And I was like, I’m what am I fucking presenting to this human? Like, I’m not being authentic? Like, I’m great. I’m fucking great. And I worked fucking hard for these days. Like I i’ve been great since I was 23. Actually, and and like a two to finally have given up like coloring that and fighting that has been has been so monumental and so freeing and like, Yeah, I don’t I don’t see anything wrong with it. You know, I feel like we’re being progressive. We’re being progressive. Like Dana said, You’re being comfortable.
Tony Randazzo:
And lucky is to America is being progressive too.
Unknown:
Yeah, I love it.
Tony Randazzo:
Alrighty, so I am going to I’m going to sign off and we will talk obviously, before we obviously before our convention and stuff, we’ll we’ll we’ll get together and make sure we got maybe we won’t have a game plan because it works so far pretty good with that one, but but thank you for going through this whole process with me with stream yard and live streaming stuff and all this fun stuff. Make sure it all works. And it’s been an awesome evening chatting with you and we’ll talk soon, same
Unknown:
same. I’m so glad that we’ve connected in these pandy times and thank you so much for what you’re doing. And I’m just super stoked to connect with you, brother.
Tony Randazzo:
Indeed you to have a good one, be safe, and we’ll talk soon. Thanks for listening to the Gen X perspective with Tony Randazzo, where we see things a bit differently. Let’s get social scientists on Facebook by searching Gen X perspective Twitter at Gen X underscore podcast and on Instagram at Gen X perspective. You can also find us online at Gen X perspective.com. And reach out to Tony directly at Tony at Gen X perspective.com. to maybe you can talk strategy on how to beat Super Mario Brothers three. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Gen X perspective wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for listening