The Jack Hopkins Show Podcast
The Jack Hopkins Show Podcast; where stories about the power of focus and resilience are revealed by the people who lived those stories
Jack Hopkins has been studying human behavior for over three-decades. He's long had a passion for having conversations with fascinating people, and getting them to share the wisdom they've acquired through years of being immersed in their area of expertise, and overcoming the challenges and obstacles that are almost always part of the equation.
The Jack Hopkins Show Podcast
The Sound of Settling: Tara Dublin on Music, Nostalgia, and the Fight for Truth in a Digital Age
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Can music truly bridge the emotional gaps in our increasingly digital lives? In this heartfelt episode of the Jack Hopkins Show, we sit down with Tara Dublin, author of "The Sound of Settling," to explore how the symphony of songs from our past can still resonate in the noisy present. Tara opens up about her nostalgic days as a radio host in Portland and reflects on the era before smartphones and social media, urging us to reclaim the unifying power of music amid the constant buzz of political discourse.
One unforgettable encounter can change the course of your life. Tara recounts her surreal backstage moment with Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, a meeting that not only inspired her storytelling but also the creation of the song "Times Like These." This episode goes beyond mere celebrity anecdotes, showcasing Tara’s resilience in promoting her self-published book during the pandemic and drawing parallels with the relatable characters in her narrative. Her story is one of invisibility and validation, as she navigates her role as a wife, mother, and author in a world that's often dismissive of such voices.
The conversation doesn't shy away from serious topics, touching on the importance of truth, political integrity, and democratic values. Tara's passionate insights highlight the significance of honest storytelling, be it in politics or personal narratives. With reflections on the shifting media landscape and the need for authentic connections, this episode is a tribute to the power of personal voice, communal support, and the timeless impact of music and storytelling. Join us for a moving episode that reminds us of the joy in embracing life and the strength in sharing our stories.
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The Power of Music and Nostalgia
Speaker 1Welcome to the Jack Hopkins Show podcast , where stories about the power of focus and resilience are revealed by the people who live those stories and now the host of the Jack Hopkins Show podcast , jack Hopkins .
Speaker 2All right . So , tara , you know I've been looking forward to this , because I think I've messaged you every day and I think we've messaged each other about every day since we've talked about this . You've got one hell of a story .
Speaker 3Thank you so much . Thank you , and I'm so grateful that you asked me to join you on your show , because it's not often that I get to talk about my book as I do with politics , because , you know , the politics is the thing that gets everybody going , but the book , which is not really political at all , is the thing that's actually closest to my heart . So I'm so glad that we're able to really kind of , you know , get into the weeds a little bit with it And'll still , you know , obviously touch on politics when we get there .
Speaker 2But I'm so grateful because I love this more than anything I've ever written in my life and I'm ready to get into it with you very nice and you know , I think , I think we need we don't realize how much we need these little mini breaks throughout our day after what we've been through the last eight years . We need to be able to talk about and listen to things other than politics to be able to keep that resilience going . And what a better topic than rock and roll .
Speaker 3Absolutely Nothing unites people like music does and nothing creates memories like music does , and that's proven . I mean , there are studies that are even now coming out saying that listening to music produces the same result as taking drugs . It just it . It hits your all of your fires , all of your neurons , and gets your adrenaline going and gets all kinds of good things firing inside of you , like love , you know , like those same kinds of endorphins that love produces . And music produces those things , and that's why music uh , lives in your brain the way it does and why music can evoke memories like that for you , like you hear a song and you're six years old sitting in the back seat of your parents car , or you're 15 at your first high school dance , or you're you know like , and nothing connects us like that . And music has always been a humongous part of my life .
Speaker 3I was on the radio here for five years in Portland , from 2004 to 2009 , and so and that's another reason why the book is set at the time that it's set because it's like pre-social media and pre-everybody living in their phones and I was not interested in writing a story like that . But my story doesn't take place now , it takes place then . So um it's , you know , all of it hits the gen x nostalgia feels , I think , on every level , but also could lure in the younger people because the recent dame girl stuff that's been going on . So you know , we can , we can start pulling all of that apart . But not only am I good at like making up stories based on one thing that I knew , but now apparently I'm psychic . So which is ? A great point .
Speaker 3It's a great point .
Speaker 2Well , you said something that I was viral in on for just a moment , because you talked about the time period Right . For just a moment , because you talked about the time period right and it's so simple to forget that it's not been that long ago when we didn't have the internet , we didn't have , you know , smartphones , we didn't have all of that , and that there was a time , if you wanted to put in a request , you had to actually dial the phone and call into the radio station and hope someone answered . You couldn't , couldn't just text it in or , uh , you know , instagram , or however you get it in . Now , uh , it's a , it's a different time and yet so much on an emotional level in your book is timeless , yeah , it really is Well , so let's go ahead .
Speaker 2Let's let's talk about the obvious why you decided to write the book the Sound of Settling .
Speaker 3The Sound of Settling right now , which is available at Tower Dublin rockscom . So , uh , uh , let me quickly try to encompass the backstory back in 2001 , well before there was ever social media . But there was , of course , the internet . But it was the beginnings of the internet truly for most of us and something that the kids who have only grown up with the internet aren't really aware of . But , like in the pre-social media years , it was like all people just didn't really trust the internet the way that they do now . If they do , I don't know this . You know pre-AI and all of that . But when we were first getting online in the late nineties and early two , thousands people were wary of each other . Who's real , who's not real ? What is this thing ? Is it ever going to go away ? Is it going to ruin our lives forever or whatever ? And back then if you told somebody that you were going somewhere to meet somebody that you met on the internet , they would be like that person's going to murder you , like there was no trust in the process . And then now if you said , oh , I'm going to go meet somebody , but they don't have a Facebook , 're not online at all , people like but then they're gonna murder you like , how are you gonna vet them ? So , in just like , two decades , the way it's , all the attitude about the internet is turned around is really interesting . So you have to lean forward because I have a bit . I had a notification that was silenced , okay , I hate when that pops up , okay . So back in 2001 , I was a mother of a two-year-old and I was married and I was living up here , but I was I don't know if you and I was a very active member of the Foo Fighters post board because , pre-social media , we would gather on websites and chat with each other that way and it had different forums and there were forums that were about the band and then there were forums that had nothing to do with the band and in between you could , you know , just talk to fellow fans about Foo Fighters . You can get all that , you know , as you would , right , you know , pre Reddit . That's how we did and I made a lot of friends on that board as a young new mother , because babies sleep a lot and my ex-husband is a doctor who worked a lot and I spent a lot of time on that post board and at the ripe old age of 32 , uh , I had a had myself a crush on dave grohl , because he's dave grohl , okay , and if you know anything about him pre , pre this year , okay , let's just not get there yet . Back in the day , post nirvana , early foo fighters , he wasn't the ginormous rock star that he is now . He was very accessible and he was , you know , really cool guy , and sometimes he would actually write letters to the board and everybody would lose their shit .
Unexpected Encounter With Rock Star
Speaker 3And so , uh , back in the so , back in 2001 , in august of 2001 , foo fighters uh , had a show at the troubadour in los angeles , just for people who were registered on their board , and you had to win a spot , and then , if you won , you had to win a spot , and then , if you won , you had to get yourself there . They weren't providing , you know , lodging or transportation , and that was on you . And so there were like 40,000 people on that board by that point , and or 30,000 , I don't even know , but I still entered the contest , I was still one of the people who won and I flew down and it was like this . So this is a month before 9-11 , just to kind of give you perspective . So my friends met me at my gate Remember when people can do that . And then the next day the next day was everybody just hanging out at the venue because you had to get wristbands and then we stood out all day and then we just went back online and so by the time the show started I was right in the front and there was no barrier and it was my first ever Foo Fighters show and everybody knew that I loved Dave and so everyone was really great about making sure that I was in the front and you know how girls go to rock concerts and they're like , oh my God , the lead singer totally looked at me . So , guys , oh , my .
Speaker 3God , the lead singer totally looked at me . But when he did , he said I know who you are . And I was like why , why are ? And I was like why , why and how and why and why , over and over again , why ? And saying to me and talk to me . And I have an mp3 from that show with him saying my name . And I was just like why , why again , why ?
Speaker 3So if you've ever been to the troubadour , there's a tiny backstage above the floor and my friends encountered jimmy chamberlain from smashing pumpkins and they were doing shots with him . He's like you guys want to go upstairs ? And we were all like , uh , yeah , so we got , we go upstairs to the backstage room and dave is standing by himself drinking a beer . And I thought I would just , you know , be me and this jersey mouth . And I was just like , hey , dave , you know , like we had seen each other the week before and knew each other . And he goes , tara , and he gives me this huge hug and says in my ear it's so great to finally meet you . And again I'm like what , what , what , what , like you're the big deal rock star . I'm not anybody that anybody should know what .
Speaker 3And to this day I don't know how he found me on that post board . He once told me that he thought I was a big sweetheart and a fox and that's lovely , and he once called me his Internet crush . But I don't know Again , to this day , I still don't know how he found me in that miasma of the Internet , that miasma of the internet . From what I do know he would get , he would , you know , enjoy several lots of drinks and get on that board at like 3 am and drunkenly peruse and whatnot , and then they're you know .
Speaker 3But nothing ever happened between us . I need to , I need to seriously stress that . And it was like sure then . No , no , it totally did not , because that night that we met in 2001 , he wanted me to go get something to eat with him and I had to get on a flight the next morning and fly back home back to my then husband and my then two-year-old son . And I did that . That was the choice that I made , because that , to me , was the only choice . I mean I wasn't going to cheat on my husband . I mean I was tempted .
Speaker 3I can't say that I wasn't tempted because I was not a happily married doctor's wife person , but I was a mother and still am a mother and it's still the most important thing in the world . And I was not going to and come on , I mean with a rock star , come on , even with Dave . I was just like , no , I'm not , I'm not throwing away this life or a notch on somebody's belt that I can tell so , but I can tell so . I have a story like come on , and you know , I was also not the most ideal of conditions because I'd been standing outside all day .
Speaker 3Like I described in the book , when Lila meets Grady , they meet in the same way , it's very similar . But she doesn't have a child , she's just unhappily married and she's going to use winning a contest to see her favorite band as a means to create her own life for herself . And instead what happens is that the lead singer of her favorite band is like , hey , I love you , and she's like , actually , I love you too , and then they go off together as I could not , I could not . And so over the years people would say , well , what if you could have ? Or what do you think would have happened if you did , or do you regret it ? And no , by the way , I would like to say I would .
Speaker 1I do not regret never exchanging bodily fluids with him , considering , considering what I learned afterwards .
Speaker 3Uh , and again , you know , there are things that I know that I'm always gonna just kind of keep to myself out of respect for him and his wife and his daughters , especially because he has daughters . I'll maintain that respect . It's not like there isn't a whole shit ton out there for them to find themselves , but , um , you know , again , it was always respectful , like I don't
The Story Behind Times Like These
Speaker 3not . You know , throughout the years people have taken my uh love for this band out of context because they don't know me and they don't know the backstory and they don't know that I was not a happy person and I felt really invisible as a mom . Uh , back in 2001 , I felt invisible both to my husband and the world at large . That only saw me as a doctor's wife and a mom when I was more than obviously we're all more than that and it was frustrating and so it was always a story that I had in the back of my mind . And then you cut to years and years later . I got divorced in 2005 . I've had my own life since then , my children have grown up , and then we had this thing , this pandemic thing , and in the subsequent years between the day I met Dave Grohl and today or the pandemic , I should say 2020 , I had not spent that much time with him and I had not spoken with him that often , but I am pretty , fairly positive that I'm the person who inspired him to write the song Times Like these , which prevented Foo Fighters from breaking up , which is another thing that I sent you along with so that you could hear all of the backstory .
Speaker 3But basically , we had a conversation in 2002 when he was here with Queens of the Stone Age , where they were Foo Fighters was on the verge of breaking up , and he wanted me to go to Coachella because both of the bands Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age were playing and Foo Fighters were going to play a set of covers and then break up literally on stage is what was allegedly going to happen . And I was like , okay , well , if you're going to maybe get on a plane and go camping , then you have to play a cover of my favorite song . And on a plane and go camping , then you have to play a cover of my favorite song . And he asked me what my favorite song was and I said heroes by david bowie , and he said I'll never cover that song . Like he was totally waiting for me to say that and the reason that he wouldn't was because he was friends with the wallflowers , who had covered heroes on the same godzilla soundtrack that he had collaborated with sean dirty combs or we probably shouldn't be talking about either .
Speaker 3But uh , it all comes back , it all comes back around . But anyway , he was like I can't . I was like dave , I can hear it in my head and it's like they woke up jacob dillon at two in the morning and put a microphone next to his head . And he's like and when I met , when I met rami from the foo fighters , who's now in the foo fighters but was in the wallflowers he was like , yeah , basically that's how it happened and I'm sorry , but dave was like no , no , no , I can't do that .
Speaker 3I was like , all right , well , if you're gonna make me get on a plane and go camping , but you're not gonna cover my favorite song , then you need to write me a song that's just as good as heroes . And he was like sure , I'll do that for you . And then he went off back to his hotel in portland and if you watch the foo fighters documentary from 2011 back and forth , he says he wrote the song times like these while on tour in a hotel room in Portland . He just happened to leave out the detail that I gave him the fucking idea . It's fine .
Speaker 3And so I've been waiting for 22 years to get confirmation about that . So there's that . There's that while I watch him and his wife , you know , d plane from his private jet where I'm just like , are you enjoying that life I gave you , it's fine . And then , but also since Taylor Hawkins passed away , I feel like like , ah , he doesn't need me piling on him and I would never like I don't have . I just want confirmation from him . It's not like I'm going to sue the guy , cause it would be a . He said , she said , but I know for a fact , I know for a fact .
Speaker 3So , it was just one of those things , but there's nothing like that in this book . I mean in this book which I know that you started reading , which I so very much appreciate . It's available . It's available at TaraDublinRockscom both in the paperback and the Kindle version , and I can see how many pages have been read on the Kindle and this month alone , over 4,000 pages have been read on Kindle . So that means like 10 people have finished it , which is very gratifying for me , even though I have 118 000 followers on twitter .
Speaker 3Leon is suppressing the fuck out of my account . By the way , his name is leon now because donald trump called him leon at a rally because he has a verbal dyslexia , along with everything else that's wrong with him . So , with my account being suppressed like it is , it's's been very hard , especially since Leon over the last few months , really suppressing me a lot . I have people who have been following me forever saying I haven't seen you . Where have you been ? What's going on ? So it's been hard to promote this book that I love so much . That's gotten amazing reviews from people . My readers fly through it , they say they can't put it down , they read it overnight and they're all demanding a sequel , which I have written . By the way , I have a follow-up written . I just I'm holding on to it because I'm waiting to get a proper publishing deal .
Speaker 3I self-published this a year ago and so , but the reason I wrote it in the first place was not I want to get attention , it was I need something to do during the 2020 pandemic . Lockdowns is how it started , and it was all of those questions that people had asked me , and I'm not crafty . I'm not a person who's going to sit and do needlepoint . I wasn't going to do sourdough starters . Remember what everyone was doing in those first few months of the pandemic lockdowns , where we were like , I need , I need a craft , I need a hobby . We watched Tiger King and then we needed something else to do and I tried . But I'm not a tactile , crafty person . I'm a writer , I'm a words person . I was on the radio here . I'm a talking person , I'm a words person . And so I was like , well , what could I ? What , what , what ? And then I was like , hey , there's that idea that might be fun to do when I'm not paying attention to Donald Trump killing us all because he won't do shit about this pandemic .
Speaker 3So it was a nice break from what 2020 felt like , which was worse than now , because we couldn't even go outside and we couldn't seek comfort in other people . My kids were over at their dad's house because he had a bigger spot , and so I was really alone . I got kittens , but then , other than that , it was what am I going ? He had a bigger spot and so I was really alone . I got kittens , but then , other than that , it was what am I going to do with this time ? And what I did with this time was write this story and then just rewrite it and rewrite it and keep honing it until I felt like it was in a good place . And then I started sending it out to agents and received nothing but rejections for three years .
Speaker 3And then last September , a friend of mine was like I'm so tired of hearing you bitch about this book and I'm so tired of hearing you talk about Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters can just fucking self publish it .
Speaker 3Just do it , rip the bandaid off and do it . And I did , and I did , and it was a process to get the font looking right and making sure it was all good and the way I wanted it . I was terrified to release it into the wild , being a MAGA target the way I am , knowing that they would come as soon as they found out about it , they would leave bad reviews and whatever . And then , after a while , I was like fuck it , I know how they operate by now . I'm not intimidated by their online shit , I'm just going to do it . I love this too much to let it just not exist in the world , and so I put it out there . A year , a little over a year ago . As of today , I've sold almost 770 copies , which again , is this much compared to 118 000 followers . But if I put 770 books in front of you , you'd be like shit , that's a lot of books so it's absolutely right and the reviews consistent .
Speaker 3Like when the first review started coming in , I was like , um , because you don't know how people are gonna like when I get asian rejections , I'm like , well , maybe this is a giant hunk of shit and I'm just too close to it and I don't know that . But the first reviews were like this is sexy and it's exciting and it's vivid and it really it's evocative of that time and it you can really tell that you want that . She knows her stuff and like everything that is in the book . That because the conceit of this book is that this band exists in a world where nirvana doesn't but everybody else does right , paul mccartney exists and green day exists and the mtv awards exist but nirvana doesn't and dave grohl doesn't exist but it's . I use as many real people as I can to evoke the time in real music and real events . And if , like I looked at Wikipedia to find out when the MTV Video Music Awards were in 2006 and who was there , and I wanted to really make it as real feeling as possible , I wanted to imbue these characters with enough qualities that people could relate to them and root for them but also be like about that item . Okay , so you're fallible , that's good . And ultimately , what it comes down to and where I decided to take it was I made .
Speaker 3It's really Lila's story . It's really about her journey and it's really about how women specifically end up having to compromise what they want from life and their ambitions and their own wants and needs because of their relationship . Their partner has a more demanding career , or you are tied to a household for some reason , or you're committed to this way of life and after a while you're like but what about me ? You know ? And it boils down to the age old rock and roll question should I stay or should I go ? And it's also .
Speaker 3There's also a lot of really fun Foo Fighters Easter eggs in this book , because it's it was , you know , inspired by Dave Grohl , inspired by his life's story , but not 100% him , like everything about Grady is not Dave Grohl , inspired by his life story , but not 100% . Him , like everything about Grady , is not Dave Grohl and everything about Lila is not me . Their story begins like ours does , but it goes on a completely different path because , again , no bodily fluids ever exchange . And I do not regret that at all , because it makes my story even that much more unique , because , while I think so yeah , I mean while rock stars have been pulling women from their audiences since rock and roll began , I don't know that there's a recorded incidence of a rock star knowing a fan's name ahead of time , before he knew her , before he saw her in the crowd . That's unique , I think . Right .
Speaker 3Right , because he said I know who you are we had not met , we had not spoken to each other online , we had not nothing . It's not like today where I could send a tweet to Mark Hamill and have him respond . You know , it's not like that at all . Right and so , and for , you know , people who have only grown up with social media or have gotten so used to how we behave now online , and of course , if it wasn't for the Internet , dave and I never would have met . But also it's just the innocence of that time
Celebrity Love Story and Psychic Predictions
Speaker 3, I think .
Speaker 3Still , I tried to create in that book too , like the rise of social media , the rise of paparazzi culture . It's something that everybody's very much used to now . But we were not back in the early 2000s , we still had some sense of celebrities having privacy , but then we had , you know , the co-rise of the Internet with you know , the paparazzi news magazines like TMZ and Inside Edition and all of those , and remember A Courage Affair . So all of that kind of collided all at once and I wanted to put I want to explore what it would be like to try to have a relationship , you know , in that world , because it's very abnormal , like it's hard enough to have a relationship under the most , you know , average of circumstances , but when you're living under a microscope where the whole world knows what you're up to like , I think that adds an element of interest . And then also there's only so much that people will tolerate when it comes to seeing a happy couple .
Speaker 3You know , happy couples are only interesting for so long and then they get boring and they need a conflict and so , like the conflicts that they , that Lila and Grady , lived through in the book , some are inspired by stories that I heard from real life . Then there are others that I fully made up . I fully made up all on my own because I needed a place to take them . That would be interesting . And then even subsequent like again , and I cannot reiterate this enough I first wrote this book in 2020 . I first published it a year ago . So things that have subsequently happened , like again I'm psychic , because there are things that have happened where I'm just like , wow , that's close . That's really like like staggeringly close to what I've written .
Speaker 2So and I'm sure that's gratifying in its own way yeah , yeah , yeah , some of it is .
Speaker 3Some of it is because it'll make the easter egg hunt a little bit easier for people . But then there are stuff where I'm like I made that up and it happened , what ? So maybe not exactly how I describe it , but there's a similarities enough with real life where people are like wait , when did she write this ? So it's and it's just , it's just a fun read and it was , like you said at the beginning , where it's . We desperately need an escape from the day-to-day , you know , and it's a great fun . Non , it does not take place now is key . Right , it's a key , it's a . It's a . It's a blast from the past kind of a feeling . It'll stir nostalgia in gen x and also like send younger generations looking up like that's what they did , that's what they had to do . They had to do that instead . And you know like I , I always like the rotary phones . I love watching the videos like the younger kids trying to figure out a rotary phone .
Speaker 3I found that hilarious , but you know right and I also like other reasons for people to read it . Read it like there's a great blurb from cameron crowe and there's a lot of celebrity things in there and I want it to be a streaming series and so so , again , you can get it right now at towerdoublinrockscom , and if you also , if you don't , and it'll just direct you to Amazon , and if you don't want to support Amazon and I don't blame you you can also get it at powellscom , or have your local indie bookstore order it , or your local library order it . You can get it all kinds of ways . And it's also free if you have kindle unlimited .
Speaker 3So there's my pitch and I just need a proper book deal because it's like it's so frustrating to watch other people's books go viral where I'm like , hi , I'm over here with this sure well to to anybody listening or watching I I want to say this People send me books all the time that they are wanting to promote .
Speaker 2Now , I'm not a mega podcast yet I hope to be there one day but I have enough of a following that people think , hey , let's see if we can get on and promote our book on yet another podcast . And I have to be honest , there are a lot of people who send me books who you've never seen on this podcast and probably won't see , because when I started reading their stuff I was like , yeah , this isn't good . You know , I don't want to promote this to somebody and then have them read it and go yeah , this isn't good . I don't want to promote this to somebody and then have them read it and go , yeah , this sucks , why is he promoting that ? Right , I messaged you , I read two pages of your book and I was like , wow , in a sense and I don't want to say that we have the exact same style , but in a sense I felt like I was conversing with somebody like myself , because it was spicy and it was juicy and it had all these wonderful spices in it that you didn't go several paragraphs and not have that moment , you know
Rock Star World
Speaker 2it .
Speaker 2It cruises along and then boom , and then it cruises along and then boom . And I think that was the first message that I sent back to you . Thank you , you know , I it's so . It's something . I think when you read a story , the whole point is to enjoy the experience , right , to feel something , to kind of feel your emotions change and to take you from the state that you're in and take you somewhere else . And in this case , it takes us back pre-COVID , it takes us back pre-Trump , it takes us back pre a lot of shitty things that we would like to forget . Right , and if there's one thing I think we all need right now , it is to have a little portion of our day where we are able to exit mentally , emotionally , and go somewhere else and be entertained at the same time . And I can't recommend your book enough because it will do .
Speaker 3Thank you , thank you . That's a compliment that I've received again and again that people , you know , like I've had people say that they've stayed up all night reading it , that they couldn't put it down , that they missed the characters when they're done , that I've had men message , you know , tweet me and say that they have a crush on Lila women have a crush on Grady um , and that they they just want more , they want to be able to spend more time with these characters . And it's such a huge compliment when you know I mean I know how it felt to me when I wrote it and I know what it felt like to me when I read it back to myself and I wanted people to feel that same way too . And it is . It's being able to transport yourself out of whatever you're experiencing , and that's why we read right , that's why we read right , that's why we watch movies and TV shows . It's all of it .
Speaker 3All of this entertainment is supposed to be an escape , to take us out of a world . And , specifically , if you're someone who's curious about the world of rock and roll , so if you loved Almost Famous , or you loved the movie Rockstar , or you loved Daisy Jones and the Six , or the idea of you . It gives you that glimpse into the backstage world of what it's like to travel with a rock and roll band and what it's like to be a woman in that world . And so , because I know what it's like to be a woman in that world , I had an eyewitness view when I was on the radio being a DJ . I got to see a lot of things and bands almost treat you as part of their crew or someone who's essentially almost even invisible after a while , because you're part of the world , you're not a spectator , you're in , you know , you're in the that universe and so , like I've hung out it's at so like countless sound checks and countless uh parties and I've been in countless green rooms , and so I know how these people speak to each other , I know how they relate to each other , I know how they deal with some of the trappings of fame , and so I wanted that to be really evocative for people , because there are people who are super curious about that world you never get the wristband to go backstage people who never get that vip glimpse , and so , um and and making it realistic , you know , like it's not crazy to think that a woman could meet her favorite rock star , like that , the way they do , because that's the way I met mine , right , so it's real , it's all based in reality and I think that's another reason why people connect with it , because , well , I , I don't have any issue with any other genres of writing , because if somebody sits down and takes the time to write a book , who's science fiction or fantasy , or it's horror or it's whatever other genre you know that people , people are drawn to , like I personally , um , and I understand the escape of escapism of the wizarding worlds or the lord of the rings or game of thrones I just didn't have the energy to create my brand new universe with its own rules
The Power of Personal Voice
Speaker 3and guidelines .
Speaker 3And well , you know , and if I open my locker at school , I enter this realm of fairies who play . You know , I don't know . I just I thought about it for a hot minute . I'm like because in 2020 , like what is selling ? What is selling ? What's pure escapism and I just I don't have , I don't have the energy to create the next Hunger Games . I just don't so , but instead , it's what ?
Speaker 2is a lot of energy .
Speaker 3Right , and I also didn't want to write about politics because they did say right . What would they say Right , what you know , what do I know ? I know the world of rock and roll for real and a lot Right , very well , very , very well . And I would rather , as we've been talking for half an hour , talk about music or books more than politics as well , versus I am in politics and then , even though my right now my paid gig is politics , I'd rather my paid gig be making this into a TV series and promoting the second one and getting a proper publishing deal and a proper option , which is close to impossible right now and as hard as I've been promoting it and I try to boost it on tiktok and you know , lots of books go viral . And then there's all the republicans who get their publishing deal but nobody reads their books .
Speaker 3Um , but also the republican publishing racket is basically a money laundering service for donald trump and the rnc . So , and if you don't know about that , that's just a republican writes a book . No , they don't . They get a ghost writer who's probably in a straitjacket somewhere at the moment and don like don jr's . I don't know . Do you know this ? Don jr has his own publishing company , but they're physically located in canada , so they don't have to pay certain taxes and tariffs on american products and they publish marjorie taylor green's book right and a bunch of other books , and then there's like a one called Cornerstone Publishing and they're all .
Speaker 3they're all like subdivisions , like divisions of bigger publishing houses , and basically these books go out and the RNC buys them up in bulk to falsely inflate their , their sales so that they end up on the New York Times bestseller list , but nobody ever reads them and they just end up collecting dust on the shelves with somebody's unread . You know John Grisham and James M Patterson books . That's where they end up . And so then , but then people like myself , who have something real , don't get the chance because the bigger publishing houses are focused on a shady congressman who's got 5 million followers or something . But this book gets , you know , consistently good reviews , and not even from people who are related to me , but people who actually read them , like you .
Speaker 3You know people who are seeking that escape , people who have stumbled upon my twitter by mistake , because they found me because of politics and they went there and they were expecting this to be a political manifesto of some sort . Nope , no , there's barely . There's a little bit towards the end , because Lila really tries to find herself and that's another part about this is in her attempt to figure out who she is , separate from being the rock star wife . She connects , she tries to connect with other people because her world is so small , and so one of the people that she connects with is her gay friend , blake , who is a doll and a delight and a super fun character , and so his issues eventually become important to her . But it's not the gist of the book and I'm not in here trying to like . There's no hidden democratic propaganda agenda , as the manga people have accused me of .
Speaker 3no , I'm not I'm not brainwashed , I'm not in a cult and I'm not trying to brainwash you . This is just dave gold . Think , thought I was cute a million years ago . And the the thing is is that , as hard as I have tried to explain to people why the the itself is significant . The backstory is significant because at that time , in 2001 , I felt invisible as a human being . I did , and I think that and I hope that there are a lot of women out there listening and can relate to this feeling , because being overshadowed by your partner is real . It's a real thing that a lot of couples go through and sometimes it's the woman who has the larger career and the man is grappling . But when you're a doctor's wife and you're not earning anything , you don't earn the money that comes in and your role is to be the wife and the mother . People sometimes don't honor that . There are people who don't think being a mom is valid a valid way to live out your life , which I disagree with entirely .
Speaker 3Working moms have a valid existence . Non-working moms , equally valid existence . We're not here to split those hairs , but it was more about feeling invisible . Doctors' wives weren't supposed to have their own opinions and be seen and not heard because the doctor man is speaking . And being a mother makes you you're invisible . You are beholden in your role to wife and mother and you're not allowed to be anything else .
Speaker 3And I resented that . I resented that so much Because there's so much more to me than who my partner is and I resent being labeled as just being able to be in one column Because of who I was married to and where I lived or whatever , and so being able to strike out on your own and using your voice to the best of your ability made a huge difference . But it was the feeling invisible that I couldn't shake and so and I think that's something that Lila is all and that's why I made Lila kind of grapple with that also because your voice is so valid , regardless of who you are , and you shouldn't be able to . Your voice shouldn't be suppressed just because it may be a slightly different than the people who are around you and you should never try to assimilate your voice because you're afraid that you're going to make somebody mad or you're going to make somebody I don't know sick , I don't know . Challenge them a little bit , I don't know . Challenge them a little bit . And even though you know my personal situation may have changed over the years and now I'm like the most single woman alive and no one can tell me what to do . I'm not a stalker . I'm not Dave Grohl's stalker , which is really important that people understand that , because even though I felt invisible at the time and Dave Grohl made me feel seen , I didn't , I didn't take that to believe . Dave Grohl loves me above all others and I'm super important and check my action and I'm awesome and my shit doesn't stink . None of those things . I still , to this day , don't know where he lives and I don't care , never tried to find his house and I never would , don't have his phone number and wouldn't try to get it . All of the like , the misrepresentations , though she's a stalker , she's a groupie . No , no and no like . I'm not the one who was like . I know who you are .
Speaker 3If he hadn't said that to me first of all , this book wouldn't exist , because I wouldn't have been able to make something up like that . But if he had never said that to me , I I mean I'd still like the band . I mean I probably wouldn't have gotten like more into them . I probably would be like still a casual , with a slight crush on him maybe , or , but like it would have dissipated . But he kept it going for enough of a time that it made sense to keep . Now it's totally different . Like I didn't even know he had a third child till she was like five , which I felt really really emotionally healthy . I felt so healthy when I found out about that because I was like good , for me .
Speaker 3Cause there was a period in my life when I when I totally would have known and I , and then and now , and now , of course , people think I'm the Dave Grohl whisperer where if something happens and he's connected to it , I get my Twitter gets blown up . So , like when he said Taylor Swift doesn't sing , doesn't sing live , and I'm a Swifty I'm a Swifty over 50 . I love Taylor Swift . I'm very happy that she finally came out and endorsed Kamala and all of that , but when he said that she didn't sing live , I was like what are you doing there ? Why you don't have to do that . Well , you don't have to shit on other people to see who are you , what ? Who is this ? What's going on ? So that's when I started thinking like something hinky is up with him . Now , again , he lost his mother and his best friend , taylor Hawkins , within six months of each other , and that would fuck anybody's shit up . So , again , like he gets a pass for maybe , like acting out or drinking more , smoking more , but after while , like you , would hope that he would chill . So then he rectified himself by promising to sue Donald Trump for using my hero at one of his rallies .
Speaker 3And in between those two incidences , I saw Foo Fighters here in Portland . And so it was the Friday before I went to the DNC and an hour before I left to go see Foo Fighters here , I found out I was going to the DNC and so I was like not in my body and I didn't care anymore so much about Foo Fighters because I was going to the DNC . But I went . I still went , of course , to Foo Fighters and my biggest issue , because I hadn't seen Foo Fighters since like 2015 and I hadn't spoken to Dave since 2009 . And remember , this is right before the big scandal broke . So I got to the rail in the pit and I was like is he going to recognize me ? Because I look a lot different , because my hair is shorter and gray now , and if he does recognize me , will he be happy to see me ? Because if he wasn't going to be happy to see me , then I would have been really sad and I tweeted it . But yes , he to see me , then I would have been really sad and I tweeted it . But yes , he did see me . Yes , he was very happy to see me .
Speaker 3And my favorite was when , when , when , when , the foo fighters are suing donald trump , stories came out a week later and people were shitting on me for defending him , like he doesn't care about you , he doesn't know who you are . I'm like really , here he is going . So yeah , I think he does know . It'd be nice if he'd reach out , because allegedly he knows that this book exists . So that would have been nice if he had reached out . But now maybe he's a little bit busy hiding from the world . Because as soon as the story broke , like I literally I got home from the DNC and the story about him suing Donald Trump was blowing up and I was like , cool , I can't get away from this guy ever . Ok , fine .
Speaker 3My lives will continue to converge like this . My swiftiedom , my politics , all of it is just going to keep coming back . Great Fine .
Speaker 2Whatever let's point this out for people who may not have caught on this was not one of those chance encounters that that there was like this one time . And then everything's based on the you . I saw pictures of you with dave in several different instances , so he knew who you were in that when he saw you again , he knew who you were every time was receptive to you . So again , it's not one of those flash in the pan . I met him one time .
Speaker 3No , he knew you yes , right , he knew me before we met . Every subsequent show after that I got to hang out with him until 2015 when he had that leg , when his leg was in that cast and he sat in the throne , yeah , and so when I went to see foo fighters then , um , like he got all the way down to the end of the runway and I was at the end and he saw me and he dedicated breakout to me and he was super . But that was the first time I went to a foo fighter show that I didn't get to talk to him and I haven't had a conversation with him since 2009 , when he was here in portland with that side project . He did called them crooked vultures and that was him and josh from queens of the stone age and john paul jones from led zeppelin , and I met john paul jones . I met john paul jones and I want to . I want to tell you I did not say the words Led Zeppelin to him . I was so proud of myself , just like , because everyone does , everyone does , right . Everyone who meets him asks him about Led Zeppelin . I did not . I said you were literally instrumental in one of my favorite albums of all time . And he was like I'm waiting and he's like looking at me like you're going to say Led Zeppelin III and I'm going to be stuck talking about Led Zeppelin III and I was like Automatic for the People by REM and his face just changed because I went to college in Athens , georgia . I love REM , that's one of my favorite albums of all time and he did the orchestrations on it and played on it athens , georgia , and not anything else for five minutes and that was glorious
Dave Grohl, Nirvana, and Democracy
Speaker 3.
Speaker 3I have also never said the word nirvana to dave girl and I've never said the name cobain to him either , because I wanted to be the one person in his life who did not ask any questions about it at all . And that comes from when the beginning , like almost 30 years ago , foo fighters . When I first heard foo fighters I didn't even know it was the drummer for Nirvana . I just thought this song fucking rocks and I love it . And then I bought the record and I was like this album is killer .
Speaker 3And then I found out who it was and I don't know if you remember this , but back then , right after Kurt Cobain died , everybody said that Chris Novoselic would be the one to go on and have the successful band and then dave would like end up being a session drummer . I was like , really , I don't think so , and so , um , but like all the way back then reporters would only want to talk to dave about nirvana and they never wanted to talk to him about foo fighters . And they wanted to know if he thought courtney love killed kurt . And I'm just like so disrespectful because he would repeatedly say I'm , you know , I'm just here to talk about my new bed over here . And I vowed to myself that if I ever got back on the radio and got to interview him or even ever met him , I would never just , and I still never have . Like he said , he has mentioned it to me , but I've never talked to him about that .
Speaker 3But obviously the stuff that I heard in here , that's in here , the stuff that I've heard has been fictionalized in there . So , but now I don't know him at all . I don't . I don't know his life . I mean , I've heard things and I know people who work for him and I have seen things and I have heard stuff , and there was one time a long time ago I was a long time ago in 2005 , things that Dave would never want people to know about because he was not there and I heard stuff and saw stuff and was told stuff and I put some of that stuff in here too .
Speaker 3But the bottom line is that my heart he always has a special place in my heart because what he did for me that night at the Troubadour , august 5th 2001 , 2001 was changed the way I saw myself , which is a huge thing to do to somebody who feels invisible . Because , again , I didn't feel very appreciated by my husband at the time . I felt taken for granted , I felt , um , but society didn't see me , and the lead singer of my favorite band , who I have a crush on , thinks , thinks I'm cute and knows my name , and did this in front of a sold-out show , in front of all of these people who are on the same post board as me and will go back on that post board like Dave was talking to Tyra and blah , blah , blah and it was . I mean , imagine what that would do to you as a person who felt invisible , not important , not seen , just average , nothing , not like .
Speaker 3Maybe inside of you you felt like there's something special about me , but I don't know what it is because I haven't uncovered it yet , and so after a while I stopped asking the question of why me , and what mattered was that it was me like I have this really cool , unique story that literally nobody else has like .
Speaker 3There are women who can say things that they've done with dave girl that I can't , but nobody else can say that dave girl had a crush on them and pointed them out at a sold-out foo fighters show before they ever met or ever spoke to each other , and I don't know how much currency that has , and I don't know that I'll ever get confirmation about this . I don't know if I'll ever get confirmation that I inspired the song times like these , even though I know it to my core , and so does everybody else who hears the story , because if you hear the two songs side by side instead of hearing I , I will be king you hear I I'm a one-way motorway and I'm like , really , really , is that pretty much exactly what I told you to do ?
Speaker 3yeah , yeah , kind of yeah it is , and that's fine . There are people like what do you think you're gonna get ? You think he's gonna give you 50 million dollars . You think he's gonna give you the rights to the publishing . You think this would be nice to not have people think I'm crazy , because I know I'm , that I'm not , you know , just like .
Speaker 3The same way , the maga people go after us because we're voting for democrats and they think it's a mental illness to point out the truth about donald trump . Uh , it's not a mental illness to live in reality . It's not a mental illness to know what your capabilities are . It's not a mental illness to tell the truth and know the truth and live in your truth , which is what Democrats do . So , between pushing the book and pushing the truth , these are the two things that matter to me the most in what's happening in our world right now is I'm trying to make this happen .
Speaker 3For me personally , this is the best thing I've ever written . I love it with all my heart and soul . Other people love it . Other people want to see it succeed . They want to see me succeed , and that means a lot to me personally . Additionally to that , right now , the most important thing for me is preserving our democracy , and I know it's incredibly important to you and I . Before we even go further and I don't know how much time we have left I want to thank you for being able to do what we're all supposed to do as American citizens , which is to put this country ahead of our personal beliefs and our personal needs , knowing that if we don't do the right thing , that we will not have an America as we have known it . That's what's at stake right now and that's what I learned I mean , I already knew that , but being at the DNC in person every single night and being a part of that moment , which there were Republicans who went on that stage , who spoke about being a Republican and are still Republicans and still have their beliefs and what the Republican Party was before Donald Trump flung his diaper all over our political norms , and I do believe that you'll be able to get back to the Republican Party as you knew it to be and respected it .
Speaker 3I think that it's going to take a few election cycles to do that , but it's people like you , jack , and it's people like you know who are involved with the Lincoln Project , and Olivia Troy and Adam Kinzinger , and all of these Republicans coming to speak out against Donald Trump because they know the truth . It's the truth about Donald Trump that matters , and it's the truth about Kamala Harris that matters , and it's the , the experience , and it's not just us now saying and it's you , a legitimate voice , and it's legitimate republican voices . Joe walsh is out there driving across country having kitchen table discussions , um , and that that's huge , that matters . And all of these republicans who used to work in the white House , people who worked in national security , people who worked for Reagan and Bush , people who served their country , people who are on the Joint Chiefs of Staff , people who are Republicans to their core , are voting for Kamala Harris because they understand what's at stake and that it's country over party is saving our nation .
Truth, Accountability, and Political Integrity
Speaker 3And if you thought america was great , I'd like to know when you thought that was , because I would like for people to name a time in this country where every single citizen in every single community enjoyed 100 , the same freedoms and the same uh , you know just quality of life equally , as we are supposed to under the Constitution , instead of what we're doing now , which is scapegoating people who have melanated skin , people with different religious beliefs , people who , you know , came here from another country to seek a better life , and instead what this country is saying is you don't matter if you're not a white , male , republican , christian . And so thank you for being able to acknowledge and see that what matters is democracy first , and then we can fight about it and then we can figure it out , but what matters is that we still have a country on November 6th , when we wake up .
Speaker 2That is what matters , and I want to tie what you just said about politics and who you are as a person as it relates to your book together . One thing you could have done Dave Grohl asked you to go out and eat with him after you first met , right ? Mm-hmm , that's a true story , yes , it is . You could have just left that hanging for the suspense , like fill it in , you know what happens with rock stars . Or you could have even taken it a step further and made up a story about what happened when you got invited by Dave Grohl . What really intrigues me is that opportunity was there and , as you know , from a marketing perspective , that's the kind of salacious stuff , right , that hooks people . But you didn't . You not only didn't fill it in with bullshit , you went the step of saying but nothing happened . I , you know nothing happened .
Speaker 2Now a PR person might tell you well , don't admit that , Just leave it hanging , right , let people fill it in themselves . But that tells me a lot about you as a person , just your feeling about . Hey , you know , I want to be truthful about this . So that's what makes your book to me even more intriguing is that you are very clear . Look , this is not a one-for-one story . This story that I've written it's got a lot of the truths about what happened in it , but I took the liberty to add the things that I knew that would make it interesting in fictionalized characters , and I see the carryover into politics . For you right it . There are just some things that the truth is the truth and , whether you like the truth or don't , you go with the truth if you are truly about democracy and freedom for all . So I just wanted to point that out , thank you . It's not just this position you have politically , it's reflected in how you live your life , and that's it .
Speaker 3I mean I hate being lied to , I just hate it , and I avoid lying to people . I mean there's omissions of details so that you're sparing someone else's feelings , but I don't out and out lie . I don't embellish , I don't , because eventually people are going to find out , and that's one thing that I reiterated to both of my sons throughout their lives I would rather hear the ugliest truth than the most beautiful lie , because the truth eventually comes out , and when you lie to somebody and they found out that you lied , you know like they lose trust in you , and losing trust is really bad , because getting trust back with someone is very hard and being disappointed in someone , you'll always feel that sense of disappointment in them because they lied to you , they deceived you and , for whatever their reasons were oh , I didn't want to hurt your feelings , or oh , I didn't want to admit it to myself , or oh this , or oh that or whatever it's still going to come out . So you have a choice . When you have an uncomfortable truth to tell somebody , you can tell it in your way , because you're going to have to live with that story regardless , and so you might as well just tell the truth from the start yeah , like . And you can even preface it by saying I'm not excited to tell you this or whatever , and like .
Speaker 3And one of the examples that I always use over and over when it comes to democrats holding our own accountable michael avanadi . Michael avanadi was a humongous disappointment . So was john edwards . Those are two examples that I always hold up , because john edwards , we thought was the second coming of john f kennedy , which he kind of was , because he cheated on his wife . So , but we found out he was a ginormous piece of shit . He didn't just cheat on his wife , his wife was dying from breast cancer and going through chemotherapy and he fathered a child out of wedlock with his mistress .
Speaker 3That's not going to be my vice president . Fuck that . No , no , no , no , no , no , no . So we hold our own accountable , but we also tell the truth . And if we can't do something , we're going to tell you it's going to take a while . And if something's not going to be easy , we're going to tell you it's not going to be easy . We're not going to lie and tell you you're going to overnight COVID is going to disappear like a miracle . We're not going to lie to you and say that we're not going to cut your taxes or we're going to not going to increase your taxes . We're not going to , we don't . I just that's not it . That is not it for me , and so , for me , more than anything else , I don't care who it comes from and I don't care who it's about . I don't care if it's about I don't care if it's about me .
Speaker 3The truth is the truth , whether you like it or not , and I often wonder what our we would . Honestly , we would be enjoying Hillary Clinton's nice , successful second term right now . Donald Trump's parents had just taught him to accept loss like a normal human being . You don't like it ? Sorry , suck it up , big guy . I mean , it's just . I don't like all of the news either , but the example that I always give for people because news that you don't like isn't fake , it's just I don't like that story . Okay , too bad Like the example I always give is you're stuck in an airport terminal .
Speaker 3Cnn is on the TV above you . There's a story about a hurricane where people , so many people , have died . Let's just say it's a massive hurricane . All these people died . They weren't ready for it . Oh my god , that's terrible . You see people on the roofs , getting rescued by boats and helicopters . Oh my god , that's terrible . They take a commercial break . They come back . Then they have a report about how inflation is at a historic low at 2.5 percent under president joe biden , and bidenomics is working . Which story is real to you ? Sure you don't get to decide . It's not about if it's real or not . It's about .
Speaker 3Here's the truth . Here it is . You get to you . You are welcome to not like it , but it's really important that you learn how to accept it , because it's not about your feelings . Again , it's the fuck your feelings crowd really freaking out about the facts about Donald Trump . Donald Trump and they're a cult , twisting themselves into conspiracy pretzels to avoid all truths about him , why they believe any lie about a Democrat on its face . Look at Springfield . Look at that ridiculous People in Springfield , ohio , are receiving bomb threats and death threats because JD Vance and Donald Trump won't back down and say sorry , we were wrong . They just won't , they just won't , they just won't . And this is how far we've gone as a country .
Speaker 3And reiterating you voting for Kamala Harris doesn't make you a Democrat . It makes you a patriot . It makes you a concerned American citizen . You don't just change your party affiliation to vote for who you want to vote for . You can do the right thing and still claim to be a Republican . You can do that . It's possible , and it is possible to remain a good human being through the whole process . And it's also possible to demand better of your party leadership , and I would contend that prior to 2015 , if the GOP tried to run a convicted felon , adjudicated rapist , as their presidential candidate , people might have complained a little louder .
Speaker 3I'm just suggesting that because it's true . And so , yes , again , and really it's truly that and it's the truth of the matter . And here's the truth , if you can separate the act from the person . One question that I also ask Republicans when they try to get into it with me , me , is would you invite a convicted felon who is credibly , you know , accused of rape ? He's a judah and adjudicated rapist . Would you invite that person over for dinner ? Would you let that person sit at a table with your child if you knew that they had raped little girls ? And but what if that person and if that person's name wasn't donald trump ? Of course you wouldn't . Of course you wouldn't , but you accepted of him because you can't admit you were wrong about him .
Accountability and Democratic Restoration
Speaker 3At this point , the sundowning , the yelling about Hannibal Lecter and sharks , and there's a giant faucet in the Pacific Northwest that's going to provide California with water .
Speaker 3There has to be . I want to believe in my core that there's a point where the truth does matter , but you and I and other people who are living here on Earth One , we have to be the ones that continue to make it matter and hold corporate media accountable , to continue to report it . And the one thing that I always encourage people to do if you don't believe anything you hear on TV about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris , just go to the White House website whitehousegov slash the record . Kamala Harris just go to the White House website whitehousegov slash the record . Everything that every administration has done is archived on the White House website and you can go and see the current record and see what this administration has accomplished between what bills they've passed and everything else that they've done and what they continue to plan to do . And it's all real and not filtered through any media to tell you how to feel about it . Those are just facts and it's the truth such a great , such a great suggestion .
Speaker 3I mean , it really is , and that's what I tell people you know , like if you're arguing with someone and you don't know where else to go with it . Stay away from the cult of personality and deal in the facts , because the facts are just what they are so if people want to dispute a track record that exists , it's up to them
Speaker 2you . You said you don't have to switch parties . You can vote for kamala harris and remain a republican . Now I want to talk about that for a moment because I think it's so important and in fact I think there's benefit to that , at least perceptually Now . When I was so pissed off when I had the break with Donald Trump , I had the break with the entire party because of the enabling that I had seen going on . So I did splitsville and not only left the Republican Party .
Speaker 2I now think of myself as a Democrat right Now .
Speaker 2There's value in that , I suppose perceptually . But I think the real value is in an Adam Kinzinger , for example , who says , look , I'm not going to bullshit you and say suddenly I believe and back and support every single policy in the Democratic Party that I'm going to just abandon everything that I've ever believed and jump parties , because to a lot of people that might sound kind of unbelievable , especially from a politician . But when somebody says , look , I'm still a Republican at heart , but I'm not going to vote for the Republican this year , I'm going to vote for Kamala Harris , I think there's real power in that . Even when people don't realize initially that there's power in it , we all heard people saying okay , yeah , liz Cheney , but she's still a Republican , adam Kinzinger , but he's still a Republican . I think that's where the real juice to be squeezed is , in the fact that , even though they still identify with much of the original GOP policies and positions , even with that , they're going to vote for Kamala Harris . So thank , thank you for bringing that up .
Speaker 3Well , it's important it's it is important it's
Speaker 3important that people see that there is leadership available in the Republican Party . That doesn't involve shurning everybody up with fear tactics and propaganda , belittling communities outside of their own . It doesn't mean that you attack your enemy and you threaten them with violence and that it wasn't like that . It wasn't like that before Trump . Yes , people politically disagreed . Yes , there were outliers and lone wolves who maybe acted out on their own violently , but on the whole , I was on Twitter in 2012 when Obama was running for reelection against Mitt Romney , and at no time did a Mitt Romney supporter threaten me with rape or death or went after my sons or called me . You know the names that I get called by MAGA because I'm a walking MAGA bingo card with extra columns . Because I'm single , I'm Jewish , I have cats , I live in Portland . I'm a Democrat because I'm single , I'm Jewish , I have cats , I live in Portland , I'm a Democrat . You know all of the things .
Speaker 3It was not like that before Trump , before he gave everybody blanket permission to be a screaming racist , xenophobe , misogynist and just you know homophobe , transphobe all of the things . He gave them blanket permission to scream their hate into the world and make it known and nobody wants to have to go back from that , but I am here to tell you that this is no longer sustainable . It's no longer sustainable . We've been living under this for so long and it's finally cracking . And I think that his abnormalcy really needs to be spoken about in the same conversations as Republicans saying they're voting for Kamala because it is ultimately about accountability . And who do you want representing the United States of America on the global stage as your president ? This is my president and I trust them to make sure that every single morning , I'm waking up in the same country I went to bed in , you know , and making sure that no one's taking away the Department of Education and nobody is trying to control your body as well as mine . And it is so far gone from what the Republican Party used to be , but again , you can get it back .
Speaker 3It's about getting rid of the MAGA people who have infiltrated Congress , and it's going to take a few election cycles to do that . And if Donald Trump is publicly saying , if he loses in Congress and it's going to take a few election cycles to do that , and if Donald Trump is publicly saying , if he loses in November , he's not going to run again in 2028 , which is what a relief , because he'll only be 80, . What 83 ? Or 82 , or 83 if he's still alive . So there it is . There it is Now your non-MAGA GOP , after hearing that should already be organizing , should already be organizing , not for 2028 , but for 2026 .
Speaker 3For your 2026 midterms , if you're not still under the specter of Donald Trump , because think about him being sentenced in November , because that is happening Think about not having him over your head anymore and dictating how your party votes , because that's what he's doing now . He made Republicans vote against the bipartisan border bill . He wants Republicans to shut down the government before an election . He still has too much power and he doesn't even hold an office right now , and we need to get rid of his daughter-in-law and the other plant at that top of the rnc . And you need to start having the conversations of how do we rebuild this party . You need to be having those conversations now , because as soon as they cast their vote for kamala , they're going to be thinking about now , how , now , how do we get our party back ?
Speaker 3so and I'm you know I'm not here to write an opposition memo , but your party , as you know it won't exist if you continue to allow any MAGA person to continue to have presence , and so it's my greatest hope that we get the Democratic majority back in the House . We either hold or increase our majority in the Senate . Kamala Harris came out today that she is willing to get rid of the filibuster if it means implementing and codifying Roe , and so that's another reason to keep voting blue down ballot , and so we get that trifecta . We can implement real and meaningful change in the ruling body , and so it's getting rid of the MAGA people in Congress who don't want us to have the freedoms that Americans have enjoyed all along .
Speaker 3It's the MAGA Republicans who want to take away your Social Security . It's the MAGA Republicans who think that we're not going to have a secure border , and I've had this discussion over and over again . It's MAGA Republicans who killed the bipartisan border bill that a President Kamala Harris would have signed . Joe Biden would have signed that bill . He would have , but it would make Donald Trump look bad .
Speaker 3So Republicans should vote for Kamala Harris , because she's going to give them the secure border that they've been claiming they want , while also building up the middle class and making sure that everybody is paying their share and making sure that public school kids are getting educated , making sure they have food in their bellies , making sure that everybody has health care , making sure that everybody can make their own decisions about when they start their family , how they grow their family and what goes on in somebody else's house is really none of your damn business . Our hopefully next vice president , tim Walz , will tell you so . Your ballot and your vote is your business and it's private and it is secure to and don't let anybody tell you differently . Like yes , there are people who are trying to mess with our elections and those people will be held accountable , like Mark Elias is on this right and so .
Speaker 3I love him so much and I'm so grateful that there are , you know , in that state , that senator from Nebraska who won't let them divide . He voted against them . He won't let them divide their electoral college votes .
Preserving American Democracy Through Voting
Speaker 3These are the people who matter . These are the Republicans who are willing to stand up and say I love my country , I want to preserve our democracy .
Speaker 3And remember , just because it's a democracy doesn't mean you have to be a Democrat . You just need to be someone who's invested in enjoying the freedoms that you enjoy and making sure you continue to have them , that your children have them , your grandchildren have them . Do you like being able to go to the store whenever you want ? Do you like being able to cross state lines without showing paperwork , like these basic things that we just take for granted as Americans ? You know all of those things that we just take , the freedom that we enjoy in moving around , the autonomy that we enjoy as Americans . That's how you keep America great is making sure that we can still do those things , regardless of your skin color , your community , who you love , none of those things matter . What matters is that you are willing to uphold your democracy so that you can have that life . So , and we and Democrats , by the way want Republicans to have all the same freedoms we want . It's not just for us , and that's what Donald .
Speaker 3Trump doesn't want that Joe Biden says he's the president for all Americans . Kamala Harris says she's only had one client her entire life the people . She is there for the people when she was attorney general , when she was a prosecutor , when she was a senator and now is vice president . She's here for the people . And Donald Trump is there for himself . And he didn't run because he's not running again , because he wants to be president again , because he's a devoted civil servant . He's running because he wants to stay out of prison Look how many people have gone to prison for him .
Speaker 3And so , again , you and the rest of the Republicans were able to take a step back and see the bigger picture beyond the MAGA cult . You are the ones who are going to be able to preserve your party once you're able to preserve American democracy , by voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz . And so that's why we have these conversations , and they're not easy . These are the difficult conversations that Michelle Obama asked us to have when she was at the DNC , and I'm taking that to heart . My own stepfather is going to vote for Trump for a third time . There's nothing I can say to him . There's nothing .
Speaker 3I can say to him there's nothing I can say Nothing , nothing .
Speaker 3And he lives in New York . Like his vote is spitting to the Grand Canyon and he can say that he's voting for Kamala to negate my mother's vote for her . But what he's really telling me is I don't care about the women in my life . I even said that to him . Like you don't care about the women in my life . I even said that to him . Like you don't love me , you don't love my mother , you don't love your four granddaughters . If you're going to vote for us , sure I do , no , you don't . You just care about brown people not getting into your city . Like that's just shitty , that's just you're leading with your hate and you're voting with your hate instead of your love . If you love this country , then vote for the people who are going to really take care of it . If they're saying they want to eradicate government agencies that have been taking care of shit for all of this time , pretty well , that should give you pause .
Speaker 2You mentioned something when you said you don't love me or you don't love women . Here's the thing the party that is big on America first . Here's an example where they're not putting America first . They see their views on immigration as being America first , but they're really not . They are about people they don't want in their country . They are about people they
The Importance of Truthful Messaging
Speaker 2don't want in their country . If you are America first , you focus on the Americans that are here , that are part of who you claim in your moniker to support , but when you're taking actions that are going to hurt the very people that you claim you put first , it's insane you know women more and more .
Speaker 2Yeah , the argument doesn't have to be made near as much now as it did even five or ten years ago that women can do so many of the things men can do . Why ? Because we see it Right . We are seeing it in action Now . Clearly there's a rebellion against it , and perhaps stronger than it's ever been in history . You know , a lot of people might argue that , saying well , I don't know about that , because look what women can do today that they weren't able to do . That doesn't mean the feeling , the underlying feeling , has changed with that . People feel differently about it and I argue , people who were against it at one point are still against it , but in a stronger , more visceral way , now that the hate that's generated by the party that claims to put America first is being channeled right to people like you , people like my daughters , people like my wife . It's so inside out but , like you said , so intuitively and intelligently , there's nothing you can do to change your stepfather's mind .
Speaker 3No , and it's frustrating . It's just frustrating because if you were to put Kamala Harris's record side by side with Donald Trump's record , without their names at the top , so you have Kamala . You know , if I just gave you a piece of paper with bullet points , here are two candidates I have not put their names on the top and I have not put their party affiliations on the top and I've just listed in column A . This candidate has been a prosecutor , an attorney general , a you know , a senator and the vice president of the United States . This person has been found guilty of 34 felonies , including this is facing 54 more . Has been found guilty by a jury of sexually abusing a woman . Has done this , this , this and this . Has bankrupt casinos , bankrupt business . Is not allowed to run a business in New York City . You just put it there Gender neutral , party neutral .
Speaker 3Even the most ill-informed human would look at those and go well , the person in column B is not someone I'd want leading my country . Just basic , just the basics , the basic facts . And , unfortunately , in this era of social media and cult of personality and the endless , constant , 24-hour news cycle that's barraging people with all different kinds of images and all different sources that they don't know who to trust . And now we have to worry about ai , deep fakes and propaganda and this person and this person and that person , that people and donald trump six was successful at one thing and one thing only , and that was sowing distrust in the media . He successfully did that . Everything else he's failed at , absolutely everything else . He has successfully duped a whole bunch of people and it's disheartening to me as a thinking person that those people don't stop to think for themselves and say this doesn't feel right . To me , this seems concerning . I'm a little off about it , which is why I don't fight with the fake accounts . I can spot a fake account on Twitter in a second and I know how to not waste my time .
Speaker 3But if it's a member of Congress , someone running for office or somebody who's got a ginormous platform whether it's Elon under another name , or it's somebody enormous platform , whether it's Elon under another name , or it's somebody you know , with anybody with a huge platform , I will go back and forth with them and I will say show your facts , show your work . What do you have ? You don't have anything except bullying and hateful rhetoric , and you're so dug into this cult that you can't possibly admit that you were wrong . Show me one thing , one thing that Donald Trump did for you that didn't benefit himself first and had actually improved lives for all Americans . Show me one thing , and you cannot . He doesn't have policy . He doesn't have a successful track record . All he has is this cult who is owned by Russian blackmail . It's the Russian blackmail and we know this because Merrick Garland told us and we're going to find out more . We're going to find out more about this Russian propaganda campaign .
Speaker 3So I wish that more people cared more about the truth than saving face on the internet . If I'm wrong about something and the first person to admit I'm wrong , if I'm wrong about something , I'm the first person to admit I'm wrong . I'm happy to admit that I'm wrong because I want to be right . I don't want to use whatever platform I have to do people or lie or push something that's false . If I put , if I tweet something and I find out it's fake , I delete it and then I tell people I deleted a tweet because I found out it was fake .
Speaker 2Yes , yes .
Speaker 3Integrity matters . I want our corporate media .
Speaker 3You know integrity in politics is few and far between , but it still matters . Integrity in the media matters . I just want people to tell me what happened without telling me what they think about it , and let me decide . Let me decide how to feel about this . And I show you something and it is real . Don't tell me it's fake fake . Don't tell me a picture I took or a video I took is fake . Don't do that . Do your own research . You don't like my source . I'm sorry you don't like it . Go to the white house . And there it is . That's the source . Go to the , if you're . And it also , by the way , people fighting about the next debate doesn't matter if your debate is on abc , cbs , fox news or under a bridge in the middle of America . The facts are the facts , no matter where they are spoken . They are saying truthful things . On Fox News , kamala Harris is leading him in the polls .
Speaker 3Kamala Harris did not do the things that they say that she did as a prosecutor , because her track record is available to you . She didn't put disproportionately more black men away , like just all of these lives that are so easily proven . If people weren't lazy and people would take the time , and they expect us to lazily spoon feed them and do , and they send us on a wild goose chase and they come out and say , well , this didn't happen . Well , here's a google thing saying it did . Well , I waste , I just wasted time , I just your time . Now you're not tweeting about this . Now you're tweeting about this bullshit thing I made up . So , while we're winding up here and we're in the last weeks of this election , anybody who's still hanging out with us and watching , if you're on social media and you see somebody pushing just such absolute bullshit , you have a choice , and your choice is to try to change their minds , which you're not going to . You're not going to . You're not going to change their mind . That's unfortunate , but you're not . All you can do is be responsible and consistent in your own messaging , which is I'm not lying to you .
Speaker 3Here is the truth . These are the facts . This is what kamala harris has said she's going to do . This is what she's already done , and everyone's like why hasn't she done it yet ? She's not the president yet . You know , like the vice president's powers are not unlimited , you know , and so you need to be patient . I mean , she's done a lot , she has done a lot . She's actually , you know , she's she's decided , she's , you know , broken more ties in the senate than any other senator in the past and overseeing and as vice president , she's also decided more votes , so , or , and that's what it is , and so , like she's done tons of things .
Speaker 3Go look at the website . Go look at you know , go , yeah , I don't know what the undecided voters saying I don't know what she's about bullshit , you don't bullshit , you don't . She's a democrat . What she's about ? Bullshit , you don't Bullshit , you don't . She's a Democrat . What are Democrats about ? All Democrats have a pretty similar take . We want all human beings to enjoy their lives without fear of retribution from another human being . I don't think that's a lot to ask . Nobody wants to take your gun away . We just don't want you to kill other people with it . Maybe it should be a little bit harder for you to get it . Maybe you should take a class on how to operate it , like you do when you get a driver's license , you know like it should be harder to get a gun than to drive a car .
Speaker 1That's just our take yeah , but once you got it we're not .
Speaker 3Please tell me about a time a democrat showed up at your front door and said give me all your guns right never happens it happens it doesn't happen .
Speaker 3It's not going to happen . If you want to voluntarily give them up , no one's going to get mad at you . I posit that there should be a voluntary let me say that again voluntary a voluntary gun buyback in this country where it is subsidized by the government and you can voluntarily turn in all your shooty weapons and all those things and get a tax credit or you get a stipend from the government where they're like here's $1,200 . Thank you for helping . And then they take all of that shit and they melt it down and they improve our bridges and tunnels and railroads as part of the infrastructure plan . It's one thing we could do . It's positive , it's a solution , not taking , but if you were willing to give awesome , that's so exciting . Let's do that . I have bazillions of great ideas that could be implemented . It's just people like I don't like that .
Speaker 3Do you want to live or do you not want to live ? Do you want your food to be free of additives ? Do you want your air to be clean ? Do you want your water to be clean ? Basic shit like that . Would you like to be able to go to the doctor when you need to and choose that ? Whatever doctor you need to go to ? Would you like to have health coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions ? Would you like your mental health care also to be covered ?
Speaker 3Guess what Democrats already have a plan for that , not concepts of a plan An actual plan . The CHIPS Act actual plan , the Inflation Reduction Act actual plan . And those are all things that Kamala Harris is also partially responsible for as vice president , because she's part of this administration that delivered all of that , just like this administration delivered record low inflation , has delivered consistent job numbers every single month , pulled us out of a pandemic , got us a vaccine and boosters . Millions of people are not dying now , of COVID , you know , and more people died in red states than blue states because of Republicans not wanting to tell us the truth .
Speaker 3All of these things Republicans remove what Democrats deliver , and that's a little , that's a little catchy little phrase for you . I don't know why these Republicans don't want us to have nice things , but they don't , and so we want you to have nice things .
Challenges of Political Discourse and Accountability
Speaker 3Oh , everybody , everybody , even Joe Biden says it all the time I am a president for all Americans , even the ones who didn't vote for me , and he addressed the UN General Assembly today for the final time , and he ended it by still saying that he is stubbornly optimistic about the future of this country . And that's where we all should be . We should all be stubbornly optimistic , and we're not lying down , and I'm not letting Nazis run me off of Twitter , and I'm not letting them keep me quiet and I'm not letting them prevent me from voting , that's for sure . So you know , remember your vote is your voice . You're allowed to exercise it any way you like , and when you are in your voting booth or you're sitting at home with your mail-in ballot which everybody should be able to do , by the way everybody should be able to vote from home , by mail , on paper ballots that cannot be hacked or changed . That's your moment , that is your time to say this is the kind of country I want for me , for my family , my future family , my children , my grandchildren , their grandchildren . It's like Kamala Harris says every time she speaks in public what kind of country do you truly want ? Do you want a country where you're like churned up and living in fear all the time because that's what you're used to ? Or would you like to go back to normal , like we did in the Obama years , where we just lived and we were not up the president's butt constantly , that the president wasn't under a microscope every time they he moved a muscle , unless he ate a hamburger with mustard or wore a tan suit and then , oh my god , holy shit , um , but again , like I want , I want people to be able to put their heads on a pillow at night and feel good and wake up not terrified because we have gotten so addicted to the rage cycle that Donald Trump created .
Speaker 3And I was so naive , jack , I don't know how you felt when , when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in , but I felt and I guess it's you know , and it sounds naive , and I guess it's you know , and it sounds naive . I really thought in that moment that Donald Trump would have been so it was . So it would have been so embarrassed because he was not celebrated when he left . There was not a great big bye-bye ceremony like we had for Obama . He just kind of slunk off and left and kind of waved at nobody and got on Marine One and was taken away from us .
Speaker 3I really thought , between that and his and and the criminality that he was facing , he would go away and we would hear about him sporadically like Donald Trump was in a New York courtroom , donald Trump was in an Atlanta courtroom , donald Trump was in a Florida courtroom . That's all we should have been hearing and the president is supposed to set the tone for the country . And if we had properly , if it had properly been done that weeks after January 6th , where he should have been shoved into the back of our consciousness and let Joe Biden be in the front with his optimism and his basic goodness , and Kamala Harris and her joy and our deep bench of amazing Democrats in that cabinet , we would have a totally different feeling and Joe Biden wouldn't have had to step aside because his challenger wouldn't have been Donald Trump . It would have been a real Republican and they would have had a real debate and we would have had just a totally different situation if the media didn't have PTSD from covering TFG for four years and understood how to properly cover Joe Biden .
Speaker 3But they didn't do that . There's a huge mistake on the part of the corporate media , and there were those of us trying to shine the light and we're still doing it on still your president , joe Biden , who has only a handful of weeks left . If the media had done its job properly , if they had put Donald Trump into the background and made him just this curiosity oh the criminal's back in court . Oh this criminal . Oh this criminal .
Speaker 3Oh this convicted felon with a mug shot , that's not who should be leaving leading the gop at all no , I don't and if we and if the media had taken that responsibility after joe biden was sworn in and said this is what we did ? I see we did , and all you have to do is go back and look at how they used to cover things before Trump . The way they used to cover Nancy Pelosi before Trump , the way the Republicans used to treat her before Trump , the way the Republicans treated Democrats before Trump . Yes , they disagree , but nobody threatened each other's lives on social media . They didn't bicker like middle school bullies threatening the kids in the , in the , you know , in the , in honors English or whatever .
Speaker 3It wasn't like this and that's what I want for this country , like I want political discourse . I don't expect everybody to agree . I want your government to be challenged . That is what we are entitled to . We're entitled to that and that's what your vote is and that's what your voice is and that's what the Constitution protects our free speech and our First Amendment right to challenge our government and say I don't like that .
Speaker 3You're doing this , but I saw an interview with Jane Fonda pointing out that these are our choices . Right , we have a team , we have a ticket who's invested in bettering this country and all of the things that you see wrong with it . Yes , they hear your complaints . Yes , they know you want to cease fire in Gaza . Yes , they know that you want food prices to go down . Yes , they hear you and yes , they're trying . The other party does not give one shit about you . They're not trying to make your life better , they're lining their own pockets . They're letting Peter Thielal , peter paypal , is pulling the strings on jd vance . Yeah , that's how you got him as your vice presidential nominee , because he threw a bunch of millions at donald trump's campaign it is I mean it is it is .
Speaker 3Do you , do you want these , these silicon valley billionaires , deciding how your day-to-day life goes ?
Speaker 2because I don't and I don't want them going to the doctor with me , do you ?
Speaker 2you know the government shouldn't be doing that . Billionaires aren't throwing money at this election because they want something better to happen for the average person . Billionaires throw money at this election because they want and desperately need better things to happen for themselves . That's it . It's really that simple . Former president , the Trump family , on every level , continues to grift in ways that are frustrating because pre-2016 , right , a lot of us had this misconception that if something bad happened in politics , in that a law was broken or a real no-no happened . We had this belief or maybe for some people it was just a hope that it would not go unchecked , that something would be done Once it was discovered and an investigation had been done . Boom , it's over , and we have watched one episode after the other with the Trump family . When Laura Trump was put in charge , you know that was the first episode .
Speaker 3It's abnormal , it's fully abnormal and nobody challenged it . They're like what are they
Political Corruption and Hypocrisy
Speaker 3doing ? No , Right , we shouldn't be just a blatant nepotism like that should just shouldn't be allowed in politics .
Speaker 3I mean , it's happened in corporate America and it wouldn't happen at the DNC , because you know , if we heard that Chelsea Clinton was all of a sudden in charge of the DNC , people would never stop screaming about it no , no , or you know something like that . If something like that happened , if Hunter Biden was put in charge of the DNC while Joe Biden was running for reelection , it's absolutely the same , exact thing . It is the same thing , and we have tried to point out the hypocrisy over and over again . And you can call it false equivalence or not , but that he's always been allowed to get away with these blatant just just , complete just throws away all societal and political norms , to just do and say whatever he wants , consequence free , and that people treat his criminalities as slaps on the wrist . I mean , he has a prisoner number . He has a prisoner number and a mugshot and they are fundraising and grifting from that instead of being ashamed by it . This is how far we have gone . This is how low . They have dug a hole . This is where the bar is now At this moment . They always invent a new low for society on the daily .
Speaker 3So now it's blame the Jews if I lose because he's gone there . He's blaming the Jews . He's ranting about melanated people from other countries coming to this country , because he was screaming about it the other day . They're coming from Africa and they're coming from this country . And oh , just say , just say it , now he is . He is this close to saying the N word about it the other day . They're coming from africa and they're coming from this country . And oh , just say , just say it , now he is . He is this close to saying the n-word at one of his rallies , this close .
Speaker 3And so we're living at a time where , if people really don't stop and take a breath and go , what have I been doing ? What have I been doing now ? I have I been doing ? Now ? I don't know that there are enough cult deprogrammers out there , and I wish that there were because , again , it is my truest hope that these people come back to themselves and go . All right . Well , now I see what I did . I have enough forgiveness .
Speaker 3Like the Democratic Party is big enough that we will welcome you at any stage . Like it's just like being a Swifty . We don't care how long it took , you , just come on over . Come on over , we all , we will accept you . We accept all people , all colors , all creeds , all gender associations , however you identify . Come on over .
Speaker 3We want to make sure that your life is a good one is a good one . So I don't know why that scene is a bad scene and I don't know why that scene is something to be ridiculed . That we like joy and humanity and treating each other with basic kindness and making sure everyone thrives , and that everyone if you here's a weird thing Democrats want . When you leave your house in the morning , we want you to be able to come back to lives . We don't want you getting shot at school or at work or at the mall or at the movie theater , at a concert , at a coffee shop , at your church , your temple , your mosque . We don't want that . We don't want that . And then , at the end of your life , we want you to enjoy the Social Security that you've paid into your entire working life , instead of handing it over to the Republicans .
Speaker 3Because why would you do that ? Why would you do that ? Why would you do that ? Why would you give away your money to somebody else ? And it's this top 1% .
Speaker 3How much money does a human being need Is another question that I often ask people . Elon Musk has untold billions . Peter Thiel untold billions . Donald Trump doesn't have nearly as much money , as he brags that he does . But these Silicon Valley billionaires , billion , billionaires , billion , billionaires you can't spend that amount of money in a lifetime . You just can't .
Speaker 3I mean you could try , you give it away , or you could be egregious and be like I'm going to buy this boat and this rocket OK , there's all my money . But truthfully , how much do you need as a human being ? And then so you die with the most toys or the most zeros in your bank account . You can't take it with you . So what are you going to want ? Why the greed ? The personal greed that we have to suffer that our politics are impacted by a private person's personal greed because they have more money than we do , that they have money enough to buy a politician to implement it . It's abhorrent . That's abhorrent to me . So again , there's like there's not enough money that you could pay me to sell out my country and that we're hearing about these influence getting four hundred thousand dollars a month to make these videos , this russian propaganda . It's not . And then yet they turn around and say that I'm being paid by george soros . You know that anti-semitic trope , that we're all being paid by George Soros . No , I'm not . Never gotten a penny , never gotten a penny from George Soros Boy , that back paycheck that he owes me .
Authenticity, Connection, and Book Promotion
Speaker 3So it's all about the truth , jack , as all we . You know everything that we say , we've been saying in this time that we've been talking , it all comes back to what is the truth . Where did this come from ? What is the truth and why does it matter ? It will always matter , even if people are ignoring it eventually . Eventually you can bury it , you can ignore it , you can deny it , but eventually , like all bodies you're , the truth floats to the surface and eventually it's discovered and eventually we find out who tried to obstruct that truth and who tried to prevent that truth and who lied to us . And then you know that that's when . That's when the shit goes sideways .
Speaker 3That's when you find out and so we're in the and they don't like the find . That's where we are right now .
Speaker 2We're in the finding out they really don't like it so , as we start to wind down here , first let's stop and and let people know where they can find you , what . How can they find you on Twitter ? Let's start there .
Speaker 3I am Tara Dublin Rocks on Twitter and TikTok , and then Tara Dublin Rocks , and then the number one on Instagram and threads , and I also have a sub stack which is sub stack slash Tara Dublin . And then you can buy this at Tara Dublin Rocks dot com , which just takes you straight to the Amazon page where you can buy it either on the Kindle or on paperback , and I hope that you do , because the Sound of Settling again is the most it's my favorite thing that I've ever written , although my friend Thad , who's like my editor , he's read the follow-up and he says it's even better than this . So what I'm hoping is that people will check it out and share it on their social media with people and boost it , because you can help somebody go viral in a good way and you can help somebody get boosted , especially when we're being suppressed , and so it is my greatest hope that I get this book in front of an agent or a publisher or I get a big account to share it .
Speaker 3There are big accounts on Twitter who have the book , who have millions of followers , but they just haven't shared it with their followers yet . And I'm I feel like if I , if I said like I did with you , I sent you my book , you were like yes , I'm reading it , I like it , it's good , this is authentic , it's genuine . That's that's the best of all words . I don't want someone to promote me if they don't believe in it . Right , if they're like , oh , I can't , I couldn't get into it or it's not my thing , and I wouldn't feel authentic to me that I would understand that I send this book to someone who prides themselves on being an influencer and they say , yes , and this isn't , it's not free for me to send it to you . Like , it costs me money to send you my book and I believe in you and I believe that you're going to do right by me , but then you don't .
Speaker 3That's kind of like so , but authentically like , right now it's all I have is social media word of mouth . That's what I have right now , and so every single person , every single reader , matters to me so very much . Every single person who tweets me to tell me that they enjoyed my book , I follow them back , I quote , tweet them and I share them , because it is so . It touches my heart in a way that I could just like gush for another hour and a half about what it means to me . To have somebody acknowledge this and to take time and money and support me is huge for me and it makes me very , very happy . So , and going forward , I'm going to hopefully have my own podcast soon on the sexy liberal network , and so that'll be another destination where we can hang out and chat , and I'll have you on my show there to get you in front of yeah .
Speaker 3No , it's all about reciprocation too , because I also don't do anything just for myself . If I'm here with , I'm here with you , but I'm going to promote the hell out of your podcast . And if you have a book , I'm going to promote your book . Or if you have a thing , I'm going to promote your thing , because that is also the best of what social media does , besides connecting people who are like-minded , it is really is .
Speaker 3It's about helping each other and that's what we're supposed to be doing as human beings , and I feel like it's our responsibility as humans to be allies to all of the communities that we weren't born into . I wish more people felt that way . They don't . But if I can , if I can spread that message right , like I don't have to agree with you about absolutely everything , to share space with you , because that's not , that's not human right . It's human to disagree and it's human to like different things .
Speaker 3And you know , you and I could listen to the same piece of music and you can be like this fucking rocks , and I'm like this is a giant hunk of shit . You might love Hotel California . I think it's the worst song ever written . It's not even about that . It is you love music and I love music . Let let's talk about that that , how that connects us as humans . And so you don't have to be a political person to hang out with me . You can . You can read my book and come talk to me about that . I'm on . Tiktok also is tower doubling rock , so you can go . Look at my videos . They're not always political . Sometimes they're about my book , sometimes they're just silly , sometimes they're about taylor swift , um . So it's again . It's it's being , it's connecting with each other as the human beings that we are and trying not to lose that humanity in this world . Very nice .
Speaker 2Well , I will say one more time I loved your writing from the first paragraph on . I know it's something that people are going to find compelling and again I want to . If somebody missed this in the beginning , I won't promote a book that I've read down through and I'm like , eh no , I don't really care for this .
Speaker 2I just don't have that in me to promote someone and promote their book when I think the book sucked and yeah , I've had some of those sent to me and and , as I said , you've not seen them on this podcast and probably never will well , your authenticity matters so it does . I love your writing style , thank you . I think others will too , if you like , rock and roll .
Speaker 3If you're interested in the behind-the-scenes world of rock and roll , with some sexy sex and some Foo Fighters Easter eggs , there's some fun Foo Fighters , easter eggs , and so what's interesting is , in this whole time that it's been out , very few people have said oh , I saw that this is a Foo Fighters thing , or this must be a Foo Fighters thing . I mean , it's obvious when I tell you the backstory that the band is modeled on this or the previous band is modeled on this , but then there's lots of stuff in it where you're just like I wonder what that is . So if you're , if you're someone who reads the Sound of Settling which I hope that you do I hope that you'll reach out to me and we can talk about it . Actually , just the other morning I did my first ever book club , which was super fun . We got on Zoom and we talked about the book for about 45 minutes and it was a joy .
Speaker 2It was a joy to do .
Speaker 3that . I would love , I would be very happy to do that when I have my own podcast . It'll be a nice balance like this , where we'll talk about politics , then we're going to talk about fun pop culture stuff and music and remember how human we are and that , like you also said we had said earlier it's finding our joy , which we are allowed to do . You don't have to live with this churned up in your stomach .
Speaker 3And something that I do when I leave and I don't leave my apartment very often I I work from home , I write for hillreportercom and that's my job right now , but the only thing that I do when I leave my house in Portland and I encourage other people to seek out something similar . I belong to a group here in Portland called the Low Bar Chorale , and we are a community where we get together in a bar every couple of weeks with a live band and we sing contemporary songs in three part harmony and it's beautiful . It's a beautiful connecting , it's so great and our lead singer teaches us our harmony parts and so we go over it a little bit and I'm in the low group as a like you wouldn't be able to tell from this voice , but um and we do fun .
Speaker 3we do fun special theme shows sometimes . Sometimes we just get together and sing a bunch of different songs . Tonight we're meeting . Tonight we're getting together at Mississippi Studios in Portland and we have a special string quartet that's joining us , which will be super interesting , and we're doing Sting Elliot Smith , but also Chapel Roan and the Remotes . So with a string , quartet , which is super fun .
Speaker 3And then the night Thursday night we're going to we're taking the act on the road to Salem , oregon . We're doing an all Taylor Swift show , which makes me so ridiculously happy . It makes me so happy . All I'm going to be doing on Thursday night is being in my Swifty low bar corral era and
Encouragement to Enjoy Life
Speaker 3loving all of that . So I encourage all of you read my book , go out and listen to live music , even if you don't know who's playing . Go to a bar , sit down , get yourself a beverage of choice , listen to some live music and have some conversation and give yourself a break from the daily garbage fire , because you're allowed to .
Speaker 2Not only that , like I'm ordering you to go out , go out and have fun live you are allowed to live and you're allowed to enjoy life , and that's another thing .
Speaker 3Republicans don't want you to enjoy life , but democrats totally do .
Speaker 2Carol dublin , it has been a pleasure to have you on and I I got so much more from you than just the book .
Speaker 3That's usually what happens , so enjoyable .
Speaker 2Your book and your politics are woven together in the core values . Right yeah , you are who you are , both in politics and in your writing , and that is so commendable , and I look forward to having you back sometime and absolutely being a guest on your show when you get your podcast rolling it's a done deal , as it's a lot . Thank you , so so much , I really appreciate it thank you , tara thank you , jack you .
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