Kyle & Keva | Discussion Combustion Podcast | #292

[00:00:00] We'll have this discussion. Discussion? What discussion? This is a discussion. Combustion. Coming to you from Denver, Colorado, this is Discussion Combustion Podcast with your hosts Kevin Batstone and Arthur Rawe. Yeah, the sugar addiction? That's for real. Oh my god, I was just reading about this has nothing to do with sugar, but Ozembek? You know what it's freaking made out of? No.

[00:00:24] Um, the, not the, not the, what's the, the Komodo Dragon? Not that one, but like it's the cousin. Of the Komodo Dragon. The venom? The stuff? Yeah, it's made from their venom. Really? Really? Mm-hmm. And it's supposed to, isn't it like for diabetes? It's supposed to be a diabetes medication, yeah. But people lose weight on it. But like celebrities got a hold of it, so everyone's like, oh it's a weight loss drug. But now people are getting breast cancer, thyroid cancer, their eyes are rotting in their skulls. Yeah, what's that?

[00:00:53] From Ozembek? From Ozembek. Really? And it's only been like a year or two they've been on this shit, huh? Yeah, gut rot and everything. I'm like, and it's a black box warning for, um, medulla, medular something. I don't know, some medical thing. Wow. But yeah, it's crazy. That's kind of concerning. I'll just stay fat. That is. Yeah. I'll just stay fat. The gym is fine. I mean, it's better than having your eyes rot out. Yeah! I mean, I already have cataracts. I can't be messing out with the nonsense.

[00:01:22] Do you have cataracts? What? My mom has it, so I'm like, oh, I'm on my way. She's like, I'm on my way. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, the food, all that stuff, the poison that's in it. You know, I know they're trying to get the dyes out of it. I saw that they did something with that yesterday. Yeah, they just read our FD and said that they can't. So like M&M's and like Sour Patch Kids, they can't use those dyes anymore. Like the red and blue. Yeah. Which I think is a good thing. Yeah, right? It's being linked to something. Yeah. Always. Yeah. So. So what's just, they're going to use like, um. There's a way to do like.

[00:01:52] Like sweet potatoes. Yeah. Or like. Beets or something. There's like this little bug in India that they use for makeup. They're red. And they'll like grind it up and make a pigment out of it. But they'll use that in food too. I guess that's a good segue then into what you guys do. We got two wonderful people here in the studio. Episode 292. Color of Fashion. Woo! Hello! Thanks for having us. Yes, welcome. Welcome. We're excited. We've already been having fun off mic, so. Yeah. We're rolling now, guys. Yeah. Yeah. This has been good. Um. So all the listeners know how the connection happened. Shout out to Miranda.

[00:02:22] Miranda. Yeah. We got to give a shout out to her. Boy, she's a badass, huh? Yeah, she is. Yeah, so you all both know her. We had her on, I don't know, six weeks ago or something like that. Did you guys go to that event that she did? It was like on a Wednesday. We couldn't be there because you were here. On a Wednesday? No. Oh, probably not. No. I was definitely not. I was at work. We did that. Unfortunately. Yeah, we didn't make it. If it's not Saturday at 7 p.m., I won't be there. That's good. Honestly, anyone who is like, if you're single and you're scheduling dates, if you do it earlier

[00:02:50] than like 7 p.m., like what are you doing? It's kind of a rookie move, I think. Yeah. It's too early. I can't. No coffee dates. I got to have that sun out of the way if I'm going on a date. Really? I don't want that there. No daylight. I want dim, moody ambiance. Yeah. So is there truly makeup that is better in the day and then nighttime makeup? I don't think any of those are better. I think that nighttime you can get away with doing a lot more. Okay. Just because you're not. Under the light.

[00:03:19] I mean, a natural light, you can see everything. Ah. But in like, you know, club lighting, maybe like a dim restaurant, even like outside walking around, you can get around, you can get a full beat. Nobody will say anything. Yeah. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. Because my wife, I want, I'm kind of newly married, not too new. Yeah. A lot. Somewhat. But I still want to like call her my girl because I never thought I was going to be married. So it's like, it feels weird saying my wife. Yeah.

[00:03:47] However, she like is like, oh no, if I'm going out there in the daytime, like I can't be doing these darker colors for makeup. Yeah. And so I have two experts in here and I was wondering how like valid that, that like train of thought was. Less is more in the daylight. Okay. And when you're a day walker. But yeah, when you're, when you're skulking around at night, I mean, paint up like a clown, do whatever you want. Glitter looks better at night too. Oh, I can see that. But then it's everywhere. Yeah. The next day you'll find it in like the closet.

[00:04:16] It's like, how'd that get in there? Yeah. It's glitter. It's illegal. Yep. Yeah. Is it, is it illegal? I don't know. There's like certain, there's like certain types that they, that cosmetics companies won't put in because if they do, a lot of people won't buy it because they end up micro baskets in the, or micro plastics in the ocean. Oh wow. If it's not vegan and clean for the earth, nobody wants it. Yeah. That's why all these brands are doing clean makeup now. Okay. It's competitive market space, right? Like there's a lot of celebrity endorsements and designers and a lot of stuff that it's way over my realm of knowledge.

[00:04:46] Well, and after like the, the 2016 YouTube makeup guru, like boom that we had, everyone is a makeup brand owner now. Like all the influencers have their own brands. Uh, brands have done influencer collabs and like brand deals with them. So I think just with, uh, with everything happening that with social media in the last like decade, it just really opened it up and gave a lot more people different ways to get into the industry. Cause I feel like it was a lot more closed off in like the like eighties, nineties, early aughts and everything.

[00:05:17] So it's on my side too. Like a lot more people can. It's on my side too. So I'm here and Kyle's makeup. Yeah. But, um, a lot of the, the products and a lot of the, uh, background of it, they've put a lot of like makeup techniques and tools and ingredients into hair care now too. So they've diversified. Super cool. Yeah. It just makes it easier for a brand to be able to like do multiple products with like six ingredients. Yeah.

[00:05:45] So do you both use like the same, uh, brand for your hair products and the makeup products? Like they make both? Officially no, but, um, so officially, so none of my hair care brands do, um, currently. Nope. None of them do currently, but like, um, there, there are a few segments that are pushing into, um, the makeup, but also there are just additives and ingredients that are inside the silicates

[00:06:14] and things have made it into my side of the world. So, okay. So you can, you're like the hair expert and you're on the cosmetic side. Okay. Yeah. Makeup. I don't really do a lot of aesthetics cause I'm not licensed in it, but I can tell you which serum will make your skin pop. Okay. How do you, so licensing, how does that work? How do you have to go about that? Uh, well with makeup, it's a little bit difficult. You can essentially go and get, um, an esthetician license, which is skin, uh, work.

[00:06:45] Um, but there's not, I think it's maybe like a, I've never gone to it, but there's maybe like a week or two of like color theory and like face shapes and like all that kind of stuff. Interesting. Not really like enough time to learn what you need to learn to like do it successfully. Um, and they don't do anything with like ingredients or like what works for what. Um, so a lot of artists out there that are just doing makeup are just doing it on like certification basis. So like I work for Mac cosmetics, they put me through training and I get certified through

[00:07:15] their pro artists. Um, so that kind of gives me a little bit of a leg up, but depending on the state you work in, you really don't have to be licensed to work as a makeup artist. You can kind of just jump into it and like learn as you go. Like I'm fully self-taught. I have, except for the last maybe four years with Mac, um, everything up until that point was just something I learned either on YouTube. Shout out to YouTube. Um, that grainy picture was, I mean, all we had, but we learned what we learned and, um, yeah.

[00:07:44] And just like, you know, playing on my friends, playing on myself, getting to do cool shows and like learn new stuff from like the artists around me. Yeah. So getting, getting involved with it. That's definitely interesting because, you know, even like with hair. So there's so many layers to like how to get things. Do you need a certification? Can you just get hired based upon experience? Like, you know, that's why it really does help to know a couple of people and like, oh, yeah.

[00:08:11] And like actually going to networking events and like trying to just rub shoulders with the right people. Where are both of you from? I'm from here. I'm from Colorado. Okay. Nice as well. Native. As well. Nice to, nice to have you here. I was born in San Francisco and I came here when I was like five. So I consider myself a native. We'll count you. I don't remember anything over there. We'll count you. So, yeah. How long y'all been in the industry? I'm going on 15 years. Oh, wow. I'm around about 15, 16 years.

[00:08:42] So we're dealing with some seasoned veterans here. Officially. Congratulations. Unofficially probably another 15 years. Couldn't tell from this skin though, right? No, looking good. I was going to ask you like, does sunscreen help with wrinkles? Yes. Yes. It helps with everything. If I just do like a little sunscreen in the morning and should I put it everywhere? So you're going to want to do like two things. If you already have the wrinkles, you're going to want to get a retinol. Retinol with an O, not a retinol with an A. Okay.

[00:09:12] So retinol. Oh. You can get one that's just specifically like an under eye or an eye cream. So that takes care of like the wrinkles that are already there. To prevent new ones or the ones that are there from getting worse, SPF. SPF. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think every man, woman, and child should use SPF and retinol. Okay. And what SPF number? Does that matter? It depends on your complexion. I use like 75 to 100 because I'm super pasty. I probably want to be in there too. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:09:40] But there's, I mean, they have them for like 10 to. So like a hundred? Yeah. I think so. I think there's even more than a hundred, but. Probably. If you go into Korean skincare. That, yeah. Or like dermatologists recommend stuff. Yeah. That's kind of a marketing scheme though, isn't it? When they say that. Like, like it's like the ADA approved this. The dermatologists approved that. People are like, oh, that's a marketing tool, right? Potentially. They say it's good. It must be good. Oh yeah. Potentially, yeah. Potentially. Definitely. Yeah. I mean, I guess it depends on your market and who you're trying to sell to. I'm terrible at using sunscreen. You gotta use it.

[00:10:09] I mean, it's just terrible. Especially here in Denver, being a mile up, like we're so close to the sun. The UV rays are hitting you all the time. It's gonna catch up to me. To go through a hat, like I wear a bucket hat on a walk. Mm-hmm. And so like it's, even though I'm shaded. Mm-hmm. UVs are still hitting you. Mm-hmm. Really? Because they bounce off of stuff and hit you. Yes. That's why like when you're snowboarding, you get wrecked, right? Because it's like off the snow. Yeah. Bam. And then everyone also says that they don't need to wear a sunscreen on like overcast. It's literally being reflected through the water and the clouds. Yeah.

[00:10:39] So it's like even worse on those days. On overcast days. Even though you don't feel it like beating on you. You can still get a sunburn though on an overcast day. Oh yeah. Some of the worst. Yeah. Duh. Because you didn't notice. Because you're overlooking it, right? Yep. Because yeah, you woke up that day, it was chilly outside or there wasn't any sun so you're like, I'll skip the SPF today. Yeah. Like, yeah. I just need to get it in my routine. Maybe I just need to like leave it out like in the morning so then like I remember to use it. Yeah. You don't have like a little, your wife doesn't have a little like tray or something with her skincare in it on the counter?

[00:11:08] Well, we keep really clean, minimalized. Like that's kind of like. Oh, okay. So we usually put things in the drawer. We got some stuff out. Yeah. And like we can make exceptions for. I'm like, as long as the SPF, if that's the only thing you keep out and remember it, do it. That and the hand soap, right? Yeah. Please wash your hands. You gotta wash your hands. Yeah. And sanitize. And sanitize. Yeah. COVID's still there, right? It needs the hand sanitizer. I guess it's measles now though. Oh, the measles are back? Yeah. I just read before we went on, there's a second confirmed case here in Denver.

[00:11:37] So, but yeah, we don't, we gotta be careful going down this road because YouTube gets a little dicey when we talk medical stuff. We are not medical professions and everything said on this program is an opinion. That's right. That's our quick disclosure there. That's our disclosure. We concur. Yeah. It gets dicey out there when you start talking about stuff. They'll label it as misinformation. It's like, I'm just a guy that wears cowboy boots and likes to talk to people. I don't know shit. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Sometimes I just talk. Yeah. And it's like self-experience. Right. That's how it should be though, right? Yeah.

[00:12:06] Sharing stories, moments, memories, things of that nature. So, I mean, as long as you've been in this industry, I'm sure you guys have some stories to tell about some wild interactions with, you know, being out in the marketplace or having some customers come in. I mean, there's gotta be some stories that stand out. I feel like you'd have more crazy ones than me. Okay. Is hair crazier? I feel like hair is way crazier. I feel like there's a lot more permanent damage that could happen. Not for me. Not for me. Absolutely not for us. Because you are what you attract. So, I don't attract the crazies.

[00:12:35] They see the resting bitch face and they're like, no. So, I don't actually have any of those. Of course, yes, you can make people's hair fall out pretty quickly. Oh. If you're not paying attention to what you're doing. With like the coloring and stuff. Yeah. With your kid. I mean, or you could just be doing too much and cut too many things in the wrong spot. Things can go sideways. Now you gotta slope when you should have had a straight line and all of that. But yeah, you can definitely fry some things. Make some evacuation moments happen pretty quickly.

[00:13:04] In a good 20 minutes, you can make some hair. Wow. The hair is an evacuation moment of hair. Yes. Okay. Everybody out. It's like, ooh. We call it in the industry chemical cuts. It's like, you can. Oh, geez. Chemical cut? You can make some things happen. Yeah. Wow. Because the chemicals are caustic. And so, I like to say that they eat through hair. I mean, there's a focus of why they're in the hair in the first place. But if they're there too long, then they will eat whatever is around.

[00:13:33] So, it's a race against the clock. It is a knowledge of the clock. Okay. Yeah. And a race against your retirement. Oh, wow. That's well said. I love that. Yeah. It's good. It's like chemistry almost. It is exactly chemistry. Wow. It is exactly chemistry. I don't think I have any crazy stories. Nothing really. I mean, like, worst case scenario. Yeah. I'm in the mall. It's Cherry Creek. It's just like rich white women and their sugar daddies. Oh, at Cherry Creek Mall? So, yeah. It's right in your neighborhood. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:14:01] So, it's not like, I mean. You have a sugar dad story. Worst case scenario. Sugar daddies. I mean, they'll just come in. They'll, the. I really would love to know how these women do it. Obviously, it's probably like 90% looks, which I don't have the same as them. But, I would love to be able to have just some crusty old man that just wants to talk to me, walk into a store, and spend two G's on me. They literally will just hand over. The girls, I'll walk around with two baskets, and the girls are just putting stuff in it. Really?

[00:14:31] They don't care what the price is. They don't care what they're doing with it. They just want it because it's a name brand, and they will get it. Wow. Living that luxurious life. I guess. Wow. Couldn't be me. Yeah. I'm a service worker. I've definitely had a sugar daddy come and pay a bill for a client. Okay. For sure. Okay. He just showed up to pay the bill. And leave. Sweet guy. That's a beautiful. Yeah. Really nice guy. Yeah. Crack jokes. Like your grandpa vibes. And he just, come pay the bills.

[00:15:01] And he'd move on his way. Beautiful. A beautiful love story. Yes. Nothing else to discuss. Modern love story. It feels good. It feels good to be able to provide, take care, you know. But in some of these situations, you kind of wonder, like, you know, what is someone's happiness level? If you're going to the mall, you're throwing all this stuff in, you don't even see the value of it. Right? Like, so it's like, because when you have to, like, save up, for example, like, I've been saving up for a while.

[00:15:30] I've never had a true gaming PC. I've been kind of a gamer. And I just bought one. Like, I'm so excited for that because I understand the value of it. Yeah. Right? I couldn't just go. He's pretty excited. Get it thrown in the bag. Wait, side note. Which one did you get? I got, like, a Costco one. I'm, like, kind of, I'm a little sus about it. So I'm going to see, like, how it arrives. A Costco gaming console? Yeah. But, like, is it like an Xbox? A PS2? No, it was a PC. Oh, okay. Yeah. Wait, Costco brand? Kirkland PC, huh?

[00:15:58] Well, it's like a, it's a different type. It's a name brand PC. I forget which one. But you just got it at Costco. Yeah. No, that's pretty fine. And they got an awesome return policy. Yeah. And you get, like, insurance and stuff from Costco, too, right? Yeah, 90 days. Absolutely. It's a pretty good return policy. Yeah. So. Yeah. The value. Yeah. I was just, I grew up poor. So, like, any dollar I spent, I knew exactly what it meant. Exactly. And I kind of, like, kept that. I do well for myself now. Obviously, I work three jobs and I'm pretty successful in, like, my craft and everything.

[00:16:26] But, I mean, even so, like, seeing numbers in my bank account, like, I know exactly what. Like, a $50 lipstick, I'm like, that's three pairs of shoes from this place. Or, like, that's a grocery list over here. Yeah. Like, that kind of stuff. I always equate it to other stuff. So, when women walk in, they're just, like, dropping G's on G's on G's. I'm like, oh, my gosh. You just paid my rent for six months with this one pair of shoes. I could never. That's crazy. Yeah. That's crazy. I would love to. I would love to be like that. My parents were not great off.

[00:16:56] Yeah, but you learn the value of a dollar and how to budget. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I mean, that's the other thing. People just recklessly spend, you know, rack up the credit card debt. That's tomorrow's problem. Right? Well, especially now in this recession coming in, I'm like, now I'm glad that I know how to do that stuff. Yeah. Good skill set to have. Absolutely. Previous investments, you know, past you is now thinking future you. Mm-hmm. Right? Absolutely. So, on the business side, let's get that kind of the way. Plugs, you know, color of fashion, you know, what do the people need to know?

[00:17:25] Where do they go to kind of get in touch with you guys and everything you guys do? Well, you can follow us on Instagram, color of fashion. We've got, I mean, we say, I feel like we say this every time, whether it be in, like, lead meetings or, like, on the actual show days and everything of, like, oh my god, this is our best season yet. We're doing this, this and this so different. We're doing, we're, like, elevating this, we're elevating that. But, like, this, like, season just feels the same way.

[00:17:52] It feels like we're really, like, pushing envelopes and, like, getting people excited and getting people interested. We have, like, the dopest celeb designer this season. We're not allowed to say who yet, but, like, I just went through his entire lookbook and I'm, like... And it's just cool, like, getting to, like, look at all that stuff and then, like, come up with, like, our mood boards, our makeup stuff, our hair, like, everything. It's, it's a really, I mean... Yeah.

[00:18:18] No, it's just, um, I don't know how Sam and Alicia pulled the, they're the creators of color of fashion. But I don't know how they, like, figure out who to pull or whatever, but it feels very cohesive every year, like, with the type of designers that are chosen, you know, because we are trying to rival the big city shows and things and so, um, but yeah, this year feels like it's about to be, like, a whole vibe. Like... Absolutely. It's about to pop, huh? It's gonna be, it's gonna be a thing. It's exciting.

[00:18:45] Um, it can be daunting because it's, it's a long, long couple of days, a lot of planning, a lot of logistics, um, a lot of people moving, you know, and then the planning and creative, you know, there's the work of that, but once it's said and done, I mean, you know, you see everything on the website, on the Instagram, and they do a good job of the marketing and showing you the different things. Like, right now, you'll see a lot of what happened last year, um, a lot of the lookbook

[00:19:13] stuff that was created from the day of the show and all of that, but, um, I don't know, it's a good team, it's a good time, um, it's a good show. Yeah. You know, get dressed up, come out, um, have some drinks, see some, some clothes. I think this one feels more wearable somehow to me. Mm-hmm. In my mind. Yeah, absolutely. When I think about what I'm seeing. It's definitely, you can shop it right off the runway, which I think in Denver is cool. Yeah, and then they have that whole thing, yeah, where, like, days later, then there's

[00:19:41] the actual Shop the Rack type of events that happen sometimes. Which, not a lot of shows will do that, like, whether it be smaller scale or, like, the big, like, New York Fashion Weeks and everything. Mm-hmm. There's not really a, like, designer to consumer, like, pipeline or as easy as that we can do it. Then what is the point? Exactly. What's the point? Yeah. Like, if you're not trying to sell it. It just makes our stuff a little bit more attainable. Like, when you see it on a runway, like, up in, like, the big shows, it's like, oh, I'll never be able to have that. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:09] Until I get invited to, like, Bergdorf Goodman's couture, like, floor and everything. So, this one is, like, you go see the show, you see how it moves, you see how people wear it, and then literally 24 hours later, you can go and pick it up off a rack and buy it. That's cool. And I know you're not allowed to say any dates right now, but, like, fall? Yes. So, fall shows. Yeah. September, we can say. Okay. Yeah. Because all of the shows have been in September, so we can at least say that. So, it's a once a year thing. Yeah. That's what I was going to ask next. It is once a year, yes. So, it's an annual thing.

[00:20:37] And it's been in September up to this point. And there's not, like, we can't even take a year off. There's no way. No. Because as soon as the show wraps for the season you're in, like, maybe two hours later, we're messaging about the next season. Interesting. So, there's, like, no downtime. See, I would have thought there would be, like, a winter and, like, a summer show or something. Usually there is. Yeah. It's, like, autumn, winter, spring, summer. I think we just kind of do the one season just to really, like, give it our all. Yeah. It's best.

[00:21:07] I think it's best to, like, hone in on one season so that it can be done well. I'm sure we'll get into multiple seasons. Eventually. But right now, I think it makes the most sense to hone in on one season, do that season well, make the good plans for the next go around. Obviously, it could go faster. It could be more. But I think that dilutes the product to a sense because there are some shows that every time you look around, there's another season happening and you're like, but wait, didn't you just finish the season?

[00:21:36] Who are you showcasing now? Like, who, you know. So, for us, I think it's something to anticipate, to wait for. And you know, you know, when it happens, it's going to be right. Scarcity creates value, too. You know, you don't give them too much. You want to keep them guessing a little bit. Exactly. And being able to, like, sit. Like, there's a good, at least from, like, the audience perspective, there's a good, like, six months of us not talking about the next season and it's just digesting the season we were just in.

[00:22:02] So, like, posting all the content, getting all the cool stuff we had, like, BTS, everything like that. Lots of BTS. Being able to really, like, appreciate it and, like, let the audience appreciate it as opposed to doing a show, there's a month of talking about it and then we're right into the next season. And you don't really get, like, sit. And then you forget about the last. Yeah. So. It just makes it, yeah, a little bit more special, I think. I like that.

[00:22:26] One human trait, and, like, all humans are guilty of this, is we too quickly move on from success. Yeah. So it's kind of similar to what you're talking about. Absolutely. We work so hard towards something, we achieve it and then we're so quickly looking at the next goal that we, like, forget about what we already achieved. Yeah. Unless we're, like, trying to be conscious of it. So, like, there's, like, this little hack. Maybe it's a biohack where you can just think about, like, so there's success energy is, like, something that exists.

[00:22:59] Mm-hmm. And so, like, you need to just start thinking about how people are successful, celebrating other people's success, celebrating your past success. And so I like that because it takes, it gives you time to actually digest what you did, properly put everything out, and then really have time to take all the lessons that you learned through that process. Yeah. Because, like you said, last year you were growing, you were going, and then now this year it's, like, the same momentum, but even stronger, you know?

[00:23:27] So it's because, probably because of the formula of just focusing on one season. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, honestly, that probably is how we're getting to be so good so fast. Is it a ticketed event? Mm-hmm. It is, yeah. Okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That's probably buy-ins for drinks and such. Okay. But usually, yeah, there is a tiered situation. Sometimes they come with gifts or a buy-in to the shop, the look on a later date.

[00:23:57] So they usually try to tie it in and get a couple of ideas going on in different ranges for everybody to be able to come out and maybe either see a show, because you've never seen a show. Yeah, yeah. Or the regulars who are, like, at every show and they're actually, like, you know, maybe buyers there or people who are, you know, actually looking to do these types of things to come in and see the show. Okay. Nice. You want to go with me, Art? Yeah. Yeah, I actually, I do. Come on down. I do. I think I'll bring the girl, too, maybe. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Bring the wife.

[00:24:28] Oh, bring the girls, yeah. Wife. My wife. My wife. Girl. My wife. Bring your wife. Bring my girl. It could be fun. I've never been to something like that before. Okay. I mean, honestly, like, it's a fashion show, but I don't know. At the end of the day, it's a cool party. Yeah. Everyone's there having fun. Like, actors and everything. Like, yeah. Come, mingle, meet people you would never, like, brush shoulders with. Yeah, it's like a networking opportunity. Yeah. Especially doing what we do. Yeah. Absolutely. That's where we meet some of the best people. You guys would find some dope guests at our shows. Okay. I'm sold.

[00:24:58] Yeah. I'm sold. Definitely. We'll try to get the hookup for you. Put on some clothes you don't wear. Let's do it. Yeah, we'll get you some tickets. Nice. Some couple things. Every industry. Every industry. You're not going to get anywhere unless you know somebody. Especially in the entertainment business, you know. Or really any business when you think about it. Any business. You've got to know someone. Yeah. Yep. I was fortunate at my current place where I work. I've never shown a resume.

[00:25:27] And I've gotten, like, into different positions multiple times. And it's all because I just knew who to talk to and, like, where the opportunity was at. Yeah. You know. So you've got to stay aware and try to be a good person. I do like what you were talking about earlier, though, about keeping your energy and, like, what you attract. Mm-hmm. And, like, I believe that, too. Mm-hmm. And so since, like, you have this calm energy, like, you're not, like, getting all this crazy stuff around. It's around you for sure. Right. Yes, of course.

[00:25:56] But you're not involved. No. You know? And so, like, that whole, like, law of attraction, all that's really interesting. Now that makes me think that I'm a little crazy. So here's the note. Some of it comes into my life. But, you know, I feel like there has to be balance, right? Yeah. Yeah. Like, and there's tone and time. Yeah, yin and yang. I like a little excitement every now and then. Excitement's not necessarily crazy, right? Yeah. No. Depending on what your definition of excitement is. In my day-to-day, I like it calm. I like it cohesive. I like to just flow.

[00:26:26] So, because when something does go wrong, I need to then focus on the wrong and not managing the rest of the situation. And you're approaching it from a calm, cool, collected demeanor. Mm-hmm. Way easier to problem solve than when everything's chaotic. Because then everybody's like, what the hell? Everyone's freaking out. Nope. We're fine. We're evacuating. And the same thing on the show. AKA me. And, but no, on the shows, we're super, we're working. Oh, yeah. We're calm, cool. Well, show days are so, you know. I mean, we know what we're doing. That's the unicy. Yeah, exactly. Like, there are some things that are happening.

[00:26:56] Always. In and around. That you weren't prepared for. And we're like, it's fine. I think I thrive in that version of chaos. I would agree. I call it chaos. With myself, yeah. It's a control chaos. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Although you feel like you have no control over it. Right. No, you really don't, ultimately. But ride the wave. Get the work done. Because a lot of times my clients will be like, are you excited? Are you ready? And I'm like, talk to me when it's over. I don't really have an opinion right now. Yeah, we got to get through it. Let me finish. We're still surfing.

[00:27:26] And then I'll say, yeah, that was fun. Right. And they're like, that's it. And I'm like, I had a great time. It's one of those, in the moment, you're like, good. And then as soon as you're out, you're like, we survived. Let's go back and do it again. Yeah. Exactly. Because at the end of the day, it's just like so much fun to do. It's funny how that works. It's such a cool thing. Because like that is a challenge. There's a lot of preparation. There is some pivoting happening. And for anyone who's complacent and not doing anything with their life and not having any

[00:27:55] challenges, then they don't get that feeling of success. It's an opportunity. Yeah. And then completing it. Like you finish the task. And then once you finish it, you're like, oh yeah. As soon as it's done, I want to do it again. Yeah. It's that whole, I'm like, it's one of those addictions. Like addicted to my success, excitement, like succeeding at something. And then like, I want to do it again. I want to feel that again. So hi. We were kind of riding the wave of dopamine. I want that dopamine. Don't. You get that dopamine hit.

[00:28:24] And you got to expect the unexpected at those events, right? Like you can have it planned perfectly. Something's going to go off the rails. We did episode 200 live in front of an audience. And we planned it. And we had all these different people. It was like a showcase event where we had comedians, musicians. Then we'd interview them after their set. Yeah. And we had some things go very wrong. Very wrong. Where we had to like, I guess you could call it pivot. Oh, we definitely pivoted. We had to find solutions immediately. Yeah. Equipment failures. We had people walking out. I mean, it was rough. But you know what? It was a great experience. It was. Yeah. It always is. Yeah.

[00:28:54] I don't think I'll ever be like, yeah, I don't want to ever do that again with this. Which is great. No. No. Not with this organization. Yeah. Never that. It's too rewarding. Nope. We're here. Oh, absolutely. And just the people we work for. I mean, I say it every year. Like Sam and Alicia, they are really doing things differently in this city. That's terrific. There's not a lot of people who are putting themselves on the line for their own like passion projects. And not only a passion project for themselves, but it's just such an important discussion and

[00:29:24] event to be putting on in Denver because there's nothing else like it. There's nothing else that's putting the same values and morals that we are putting at the forefront. Like no one else is doing that. So I think it's just a really important thing to be like. Is that like with the safer makeup or like what? Diversity. Diversity, inclusivity. We. Range. We put range. We put a lot of emphasis in like we do multiple workshops a year with our teams to make sure

[00:29:51] that they can do every texture, every tone, every complexion. Like it doesn't matter who sits down in their chair. They're not going to be turning them away saying I can't do that because you have too textured of hair. I can't do that because I don't have your colors in my kit. We are very specific to be like if you don't have this, you're not welcome on your kit. Yeah, if your kit is not filled out to this level, then, you know, we'll have you do some things and then come back and try again. But we can't have you for this show. Interesting.

[00:30:19] Which is wild that there's places that allow that kind of stuff. Especially in 2025. Especially in 2025. I mean, there's still like brands putting out non-inclusive like makeup lines and tones and everything. But it's wild to me that it's something that is not just like a baseline for everything. Because, I mean, not only for like the inclusivity part of like making every single person feel

[00:30:43] a certain type of way or feel their best, but it's why would I as a business owner cut my clientele essentially in half? And I mean, it's... It's a choice. It's a choice, I guess. If you're just kind of saying, I don't want to put my... I don't want the funding. Put my funding or like put my energy into like learning about my craft. I'd rather just do people that look like me and then move on. That's just... I don't... Yeah. That is lazy. It doesn't make sense to me. That's too lazy.

[00:31:13] You're missing out on too much of the market. You know, from a business perspective, why would you isolate yourself? Absolutely. I mean, if it's... To pay your profit. You're literally like, no, thank you. I don't want your money. Exactly. Because I don't want to learn. So, the majority of like production, like with this fashion, the majority of these other companies out there are a little more niche based on like skin tones and like, or like, you know... I don't know if they're niche. Yeah, I wouldn't call it niche. I just think they're ignorant. Yeah.

[00:31:43] Yeah. I just think they're either ignorant or they're... Or making choices. They're literally making choices. Making the choice. To exclude. They just not care. Types and tones and all the... Anything that you would want to exclude. Any parameter. Some... There is some way to exclude it if you want to. Mm-hmm. So, although... Without being like blatant. Because you can call diversity and say your things are diverse, but you can choose your diversity. Interesting. Yeah.

[00:32:11] So, you could say, you know, we have the LGBT community, but then everybody's white. Mm-hmm. Or you could say we have textures and tones and everybody is the darkest of dark and has two centimeters of hair. Mm-hmm. That's not inclusive, really. Yeah. It's diverse, but it's not really inclusive. Mm-hmm. So, you can choose what you want. Yeah. I never thought about that within cosmetics and hair, but I guess that makes sense. Mm-hmm. So, I like Shark Tank. You know, there's a lot of products on there that people are trying to bring to market. Mm-hmm.

[00:32:40] I don't think that's one I've ever heard them really bring up, you know, from the shark's perspective. You know, is this inclusivity? Is this product for everybody? Like you said, there's those loopholes and ways that they can market around it. It sounds like it is. You can go around it. Yeah. But you're kind of... You just get those buzzwords in it. Yeah. Yeah. Just call it something. Just like we were saying earlier, you know, dermatologist approved. Mm-hmm. Oh, I'll buy that because they said so. Exactly. That's interesting. What dermatologist? Yeah. And I mean, Sam and Alicia both experienced that first year. Because they were models. Working in the industry. Because they were models before they were founding this. Mm-hmm.

[00:33:10] So, I mean, you just kind of feel it in the room that that is always something that's going to be like the number one thing. Mm-hmm. For every time we put on an event like this. Well, shout out Sam and Alicia. I'm sure they're going to be watching this. God bless those women. I honestly, like they are some of the... Badass areas. We're going to have to get them on the couch, huh? Yeah. You really got to. I'm surprised you had us here first. This is crazy. We'll meet them in fall. Yeah. Yeah. Come to the show. They'll work with them. Yeah. We'll introduce you guys. It'll be great. That'll be good. Yeah.

[00:33:39] No, that all makes a lot of sense. Um, and there is something that is like, okay, so the whole love thing, like not hallmark love, but just having respect for life and like enjoying it. Like you really, like we're all the same and doing podcasting for so many years and all the diverse guests that we've had, like almost everybody is similar, right?

[00:34:05] Like we all are, are basically have like the same needs as human beings and we can disagree with stuff and still do that in a respectful way. Like our friendship, for an example, we've been friends for like 15 years and we don't see everything the exact same way, but it's fun. Um, but we, we agree to be respectful about it. So why do, why would you want to live in a vacuum? Yeah. You know, like just walking around, talking to the same people, like talk, talking about the same things and agreeing with everything. It sounds horrible. For some people it's comfortable though, right? That's a good place in Boulevard.

[00:34:34] They don't want to get outside. To come out of the vacuum is fear, is fear based. Can be. So you stay in your vacuum, you do your same routine and, and anything different from that is, is a whole fright fest for you. So, and that's how you live your life. And it's a choice. It is a choice. Yeah. You see a lot of it. I mean, I say pretty much every week on the show, people do more to avoid pain than they will to gain pleasure. That's one of those things, getting out of that comfort zone a little bit, trying new things, you know, meeting new people, looking at a different perspective.

[00:35:03] But like to piggyback on what Art said, doing this program, I've learned the same thing. I mean, you could sit across the table from people that disagree, but there's a way to do it like tactfully and respectfully. Yeah. We've lost touch with that a little bit. I think hope we, whether it's politics or just division in this country and people are just angry. So much anger. Yeah. And it's hard to look past that because you just, you know, you see the red logistics and everything go out the window. Right. It doesn't matter. Yeah. Cause everyone's entitled to the opinion, whether you agree or not, whether it's bad or good, but it's like the way that we're going about it probably isn't the best approach. Yeah.

[00:35:32] I mean, I don't know what the solution is, but there's, there's gotta be, the pendulum's gotta swing back the other way at some point. Yeah. Right. Fingers crossed. I mean, we gotta stay optimistic. I think that's the, I know, definitely just stay optimistic. How long is that? How long is that? Yeah. Nice. Slow swing. Super slow. Yeah. As Ron White said, it's forever. So who knows? Yeah. No, no.

[00:35:57] I mean, I love these types of conversations because it's, it's a great way to just realize that. And I like what you keep saying. I don't know if you realize you're saying this, but you keep saying like, you know, you kind of control what you can control and, and you know, the law of attraction. And so I think the faster that people can start having a level of acceptance for their circumstances and, and like actually taking a responsibility for their energy and mood, because

[00:36:27] everyone is reactive. Even if you're a centered person, you still have that moment of instinctual emotion. Like no one can stop that from happening. So everyone is reactive to a certain extent. It's just how, how fast do you, do you act based on your reaction immediately? Or do you, you know, take your time and think about it? You know? So I think that might be the secret for people is like awareness of an acceptance of, you know, being the issue. Yeah.

[00:36:56] Like we're all our own problem. No one wants to be the problem, but everyone usually is the problem. Usually. That is interesting, isn't it? Yeah. It's awful. Yeah. Yeah. People are quick to point the finger though. You know, get the spotlight. It's not me. It's that. Or they'll blame their problems on something else because of this. Right. People need to own it. Yeah. Accountability is hard. It's uncomfortable. It's always there though. One of those things. It's like Dr. Seuss, wherever you go, there you are. Yeah. Oh yeah. Wherever you go, there you are. Dr. Seuss gems. Love it.

[00:37:25] He's coming in with these bangers. Some green eggs and ham coming. Yeah. It's too true. It's just one of those things that even as I've been through my own journey, like I still have issues because there's not a finish line either. Like you are, it's a constant work, constant reacceptance. Like what's going on here? You know, why am I, why have I been drinking more the past couple, two weeks?

[00:37:55] Like what's going on with that when sometimes I don't drink for months? So it's like, it's like little things where we just have to pay attention and, and continue to make moves on it. And why are, why, why is there like the fear of, oh, that's what I wanted to say is once you truly accept everything and then you start owning it and then you're just honest person, it's like a cheat code because, cause you don't have to think anymore. You're not playing a character. Yeah. You're not, you're no longer trying to fit in.

[00:38:24] Like you're just being yourself and like, once I finally did that, it was, it was like this freeing moment because then everyone who was around me had accepted me because I've played characters in the past, like in toxic, in past relationships, I would like act different with my girlfriend than I would around my friends. Like I wasn't consistent, you know? And so I wasn't being like real, you know? So it's, it's interesting, but you actually have to like be willing to look at yourself. Yeah. Like actually look in the mirror. Yep. Well, and it's hard.

[00:38:54] I mean, in my like personal self, like I do a lot of code switching. So that means like, I'll talk like one way with a certain group, certain group of people, like with my queer friends, I'm a lot more like, Ooh, yes, mama girl. Yes, girl. Like all that. And then like in these more like mellow kind of like scenarios, I'm a little bit more like drawn back, a little bit more like monotoned. So like having that, but I'm a Gemini. So like you really just described my entire personality. Oh, shout out Gemini. All right. Let's go. June 7th.

[00:39:23] May 22nd. All right. Or June Gemini. Yeah. June Gemini. I'm sorry about that. I'm just kidding. What's the difference? See, he pushed me. I have no idea. Every time I'm on TikTok, it's always like they don't like June Gemini's, but they like May Gemini's. What? I have no idea what the, it's your birth chart. Oh yeah. Yeah. I looked at like the moon or something. I don't know what it was. Yeah. It goes into it. Yeah. There's so much, but yeah, I mean, I, we're the best sign though. No, no, no. I mean. Oh, I'm so sorry. No, go ahead. I'm an Aries. Oh yeah.

[00:39:52] A typical Aries thing to say. So I'm actually on a cusp. I'm Pisces and Aries. Ah. My girl's an Aries, so I kind of smell what you're stepping in now. And April Aries at that. So I'm so sorry. Yeah. She's an April Aries. I'm so sorry. Yeah. I think she might be onto something. No. I'm so sorry. But it's okay to be like accentu, like, like you're a little more accentuated in the presence of different people. Yeah. Because honestly, like not everyone deserves your full, honest, raw self. A and R.

[00:40:20] And so that's why it's good to just kind of be a little, like I've been trying to be more stoic recently. Like where I just kind of am a little more quiet. I listen more and try not to like overreact and like, you know, so not everyone can get my like wild raw. No. You can't do that all the time. Nor should they. I've known you long enough. I've seen it. Yeah. I've seen it a time too. It's just a survival tactic. It's a safety net. Yeah. Like sometimes I feel safer around these people, less safer around some people. So. Yeah.

[00:40:49] Just the, you know, different, you get the personality that I concoct for you in that moment. Sure. I mean, I'm guilty of it. I'm around NASCAR a lot. So I'm Southern folk. You know, I start getting that draw. When we get down in there doing some race, getting sideways. I mean, it'll just come right out. Do you get accents too? Oh yeah. If I talk to a British person for more than 20 minutes, it's like, hello puppy. Like, absolutely. Like, why are you talking like this? I can't help it. I like the way it sounds. I don't know. It's just happening. It's just coming out of my mouth. That's one of the best accents. I thought I was literally crazy. Oh no.

[00:41:19] No, it'll come out. I'm from New England. So I got that Boston that'll come out. Yeah, Boston. We'll start patting in a wicked hat. Wicked hat. Yeah. Yeah. Give me your cat keys. You ain't driving nowhere, kid. Cat keys. You know, the New England accent's fun. It's a great part of the country. I mean, hey. What is it, Pat? No accents? What do they do? They pack the cat and have it. Yeah, look at the stats. Yeah, that one. Yeah. Have you guys ever been up to New England? We're all characters up there. It's a great part of the country. I've only ever been to New York and Boston. Okay, so you have been to Boston. Sort of.

[00:41:48] Yeah, Boston and Salem. Okay, so you get to see some of the culture. Yeah. We're wild. You guys really are. Those guys party hot. Well, I don't know if you guys ever watched the Bad Girls Club, but Boston from like season four. Oh, Lord. Go look her up. She's the one that everyone quotes them. I'm from Boston. Y'all don't know because I'm Boston. And she said Boston every sixth word. Probably one of my favorite seasons. She was great. Boston folk club. The Bad Girls Club. The Bad Girls Club.

[00:42:18] What is that on? Yes. It used to be on Oxygen. I don't know if it's on anymore. I think Natalie Nunn took over with her baddies show. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Okay. It's trash reality television. It's like the lowest of the low reality television. It has its place. It's literally self-proclaimed black girls put into a house. There's like seven of them. Oh, boy. And then the producers are just like, get drunk. Just chaos. Go out to the club. Come back. And fight. It's just WWE. People love it, though. People are addicted to drama. But I keep watching. I've watched every season.

[00:42:48] I can't stop. People are addicted to drama. Right? It always sells. That's true. The WWE is bigger than it's ever been. Yeah. Which is crazy. I just watched Love on the Spectrum. The new season. God bless them. You know what? It's good. It's cute. It's such a good show. It's pretty good. It's such a good show. I weep every time. Right. And it's not because they're autistic. It's because I want what they have. Yeah. They're so pure. They walk into these situations with like zero. They just like, they're not thinking about anything. They're not like, they're not like anxious about anything. Right.

[00:43:18] They're not like overthinking things. It's like, I'm me. I'm walking into this. Take it or leave it. Yeah. And that is so powerful. Unapologetically themselves. Yes. And they're not afraid. They're like, I don't like this about you. They're just like right up front with it. Yes. And I wish people were more like that. Right. Don't make me read your book. Instead of playing the games, right? Yeah. Especially in the dating world. You can't. Those games are awful. It's rough out there. Streets are rough. Yeah. Dating world. Everyone loves that topic. Yeah. You don't know what it's like anymore. I don't. I do not.

[00:43:48] Thankfully, I've graduated. God bless you. It's wild out there, though. I've heard the stories. Yeah. What was Leslie Jordan said? She said, I think they should put it in the show. Put all the dating apps together and just call it What's Left. What's Left. I'm like. That's a good one. Kind of what it is. That's a good one. No. But when I was single, I had to dedicate. Because I'll do online and in person. I've never done online. Kevin's an in-person closer.

[00:44:15] But with the online thing, it took work. And I did find my wife off of Facebook. I feel like that was the best. Facebook dating. Facebook dating. I feel like that one was the best one. Facebook has dating? Yes. Oh, my gosh. That was the best one. She said, let me get there right now. Let me go. Don't let another app. That was the best one. You probably already got Facebook. I'm just trying to find my friends. It's not on the dating part, though. No, I didn't even know how to do that. But no joke. I would have to spend an hour a day just replying, trying to schedule dates, seeing who would

[00:44:44] actually do the video call, and then schedule a real date. It took work. Yeah, it does. That was work. Well, you've got to commit to it, right? It took work one other time. Yeah, I'm from a different era. And I remember when the chat rooms and the online dating was starting. Ricky Lake. Good old Ricky Lake. And I was like, wait, what? You go where? And you talk to a stranger for six months? And then you plan to meet? But then what?

[00:45:13] Like, how does this work? Yeah. So I've never played a part in it. I only hear the stories from the friends. And I'm like, it's just so weird to me. Yeah. But I mean, you know, when you've got to turn it out, you've got to get through the numbers. You can't go on dates every week. It really is just the numbers. Because then it turns into freedinner.com for the guys. Right. You know, because the girls want to eat. And then they go home. That's true.

[00:45:41] Well, honestly, dudes should be paying for that first meal, especially if they scheduled the date. I agree with that. Like, they should just be paying it and never being like, are we going to split this? Like, even if the date doesn't go good, like, you should just handle that bill. Yeah. And if you can't handle that bill, then you shouldn't be dating. Yeah. While you're dating. Yeah. Exactly. You shouldn't be out there. And a lot of people shouldn't be out there at all. At all. Until they figure out what they got going on. Yeah. First and foremost, therapist in the pocket.

[00:46:10] If you don't have a therapist, I do not want to have a conversation with you. And make sure you have the right one that you're not manipulating them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because there are some bad therapists out there. But you can also just be manipulating your therapist. Oh. I don't know what that's like. No. That's a rabbit hole there. My therapist is the one person I've been 100% honest to. He's like, I am. Because I know it won't work if I'm not. That's a good deal. And I don't know them. I didn't know them prior to being my therapist. So I just had no qualms with being like, here's all my shit. That's kind of how I was angry. Figure it out for me.

[00:46:40] I was the same way. I was in anger management for years. Yeah. And so I had to be unapologetically myself. Here's the situation. I'm here to fix it. Yeah. We got to put all the cards on the table, whether it's ugly or not. Right? Yeah. But it's kind of weird doing that with a complete stranger. Because in the beginning, you don't know this person. Yeah. I mean, yeah, those first wasted three sessions of just getting to know each other, whatever. But that session four, my dump truck just opened and unloaded all the trauma. And I was like, fix me.

[00:47:08] She's like, okay, we're going to see each other once every three weeks for the next year. And then we're going to go from there. That's good. Every three weeks. Yeah. That's pretty decent. Eight years later, I go once a month now. Okay. So we're getting better. 12 times a year. That's good. Not bad. Yeah. It's healthy. Yeah. It's more of like a check-in now, which is great. I love it. It's just, I mean, I think my second year, I was like, I had that therapeutic epiphany of like, oh, I'm never going to be cured. I'm just going to have to deal with it kind of things.

[00:47:37] Like, there's obviously medications and everything. But it's just like learning the tools to like get through it and figure it out. Mm-hmm. So. Well, I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. You know, it's a wild world. There's some tools out there. And just being able to talk to someone is crucial. A lot of people are afraid to do that. Yep. You know, even with their close ones. Like we're talking about playing characters and stuff. A lot of people don't want to do, you know, show that rough side. Yeah. I always call on the influencers. Let's not just show the good stuff. Let's all show the real stuff. Absolutely.

[00:48:05] Oh, start following me on Instagram. You'll see some dumb, dirty stuff. We're following you. I'll take a look. See what this is. Yeah. I'm like, I. I'll get on my personal too. Not just the podcast. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm like, it's the great, cool, successful stuff. And it's also the. You're like, I got both. This is me in my fucking pit. Like, it's real. And if someone else out there is like, hey, I'm in a pit too.

[00:48:36] Or like, hey, I haven't left my bed in a week either. Yeah. You know? They need that camaraderie. Like, it's like, yeah, we're all in this suck. Let's have it suck together. Yeah. Have some fun. Yeah. Absolutely. And because like, like regardless of what you're going through, somebody's going through it too. And, um, you know, like I feel very blessed for my life right now, but to say that every day is just the best day. Like it's impossible. Yeah. It's impossible. You know? So like, it's, it's all right.

[00:49:03] Like that's one thing I've really learned, um, coming off of drugs and stuff is like being emotions to exist. Like it's okay if I feel sad that day, like I should acknowledge that and just feel sad. Yep. You know, like it's part of it. Like we're human. We got to experience these emotions. Absolutely. Gotta keep it real. It's easy to numb out. Like we were saying with the dopamine and addictions and food, which is one of my favorite topics. I love food, which leads me to my important question. I've been on the hunt for the best pizza in Denver.

[00:49:33] And this has been, this has been going on about a year and a half now. And you know, like Dave Portnoy type scores. He went to a few places. You guys seem seasoned and traveled. Like where, where's the best pie in Denver? Couldn't tell you. Really? You got nothing? Nope. I've got a couple spots for you. Okay. So like, you got a bad paper? Um, buy the slice if I'm just going for something quick and delicious. Cosmos. I'm sure you've had it before. Okay. There's like three of them. Um, if I want, uh, like that one's just like true, like New York style.

[00:50:02] So it's like the huge slices, like thinner crust. Um, if I want something a little bit thicker with more crunch to it, Jets pizza has great like deep dish. That's that Detroit style. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then there was one more that just got crowned. They just did like a best pizza in Denver. So I think it was, I thought it was somewhere on like Lincoln. Was that Redeemers? Maybe. That was the one Portnoy did. He gave a pretty good score. Did he? And then there was like, uh, uh, Marco's I've heard is good. I haven't tried it. It's no good. You've been there? The coal fired pizza?

[00:50:32] Marco's is like a, it's like chain. Yeah. Oh. It's not. It's just a chain. My, uh, sister and brother worked for them when we grew up. My son did too. And they, um, it was, they're like, they're a chain, but like you can buy a franchise. Oh, it's one of those. Okay. Yeah. So, uh, they both worked for this lady who like lived down the street from us. My sister was like babysitting above the store and then my brother was running it downstairs. Interesting. Um, but yeah, pizza was trash. This was 10 years ago when I had it. So they might've changed the recipe, but sorry, Marco's didn't like it.

[00:51:01] My brother worked at Marco's as well. Okay. Yeah. Really? Then we all know. Are you lying? Yeah. I just felt like it was appropriate. You're like, get it on mine too. I'm included. All right. So now I've got some new places to try. So no pizza. Cosmos. Cosmos. We'll try there. What about any other cuisines? Like what's some good stuff that stands out? So I've decided that when most people talk about good food, it's because they don't cook.

[00:51:31] So what they would qualify as good food doesn't make sense in my mind. Cos I can cook. Cos I can cook. Cos I can cook. Cos I can cook. Cos I can cook. Cos I can cook. Cos I can cook. But, you know, there's a few barbecue pit places that make sense.

[00:51:59] There's a New Orleans spot that I like in Parker. um the i'm also um in the denver food group denver foodie and they talk about different places to get things and all you try a cute a few things and you're just like well that was an experience but nothing really wasn't that great but um so i guess if i had to say anything that i've really liked in the last while i've been back a couple times would be

[00:52:27] jesse's nola cafe it's just past main street um parker road so in parker yeah i don't look too far from there really really good um new orleans style food you know the red beans and rice the fried chicken gumbo the gumbo the the jumbo shrimp the catfish and such and such um you can get hurricane oh no yeah so it's like straight new orleans yeah he's from new orleans yeah drink this he said

[00:52:56] i'll turn red yeah we're gonna try that um it's really good damn we've really enjoyed it um i guess he was someplace else out south was he in castle rock maybe something something that way they do like crawfish boils every so often and yep and so i would say it's probably the best that i've had obviously compared to actually traveling new orleans sure yeah new orleans is a fun city yeah i've only been once but that's just one of those cities it's they're ready to party yeah

[00:53:23] it's like the vegas of the south yeah there's plenty to eat food's great i've never been there but i have seen the videos of the after like the 9 a.m cleanups yeah yeah it's like there's the just no you that's bourbon i went to that last mardi gras and the and i was in the french quarter so i wasn't like in the mayhem downtown area but adjacent i had never seen i was so impressed impressed with their cleanup system because there's all this confetti and everyone's like

[00:53:52] throwing all this stuff and then the amount of trucks that they had lined up on the side street like it was like an army yeah and like they had to deploy it looked destroyed and then in less than 30 minutes like it was like nothing had happened well don't they have to turn over so they can come back and drink yes it's 24 hours yeah it's like uh the whole weekend so they like clean it up every single night or yeah the whole yeah because they there's so many different things that go on every weekend is something happening so but yeah mardi gras the big one

[00:54:19] that was so much fun yeah it was every time i've worked at festival i think i missed my my peak no it's i feel like i'm too old for mardi gras based on what based on my body telling me to stop well let me tell you first of all it's the south drink a lot of water before you go you're right i'm not we're at sea level it makes it a lot you're not even gonna get you can't that's the problem you can't you guys know are you you're a rep so can you get drunk outside of colorado

[00:54:46] of course without trying hard well i mean that's because i you're talking to a guy who used to drink case of beer a day so okay so you're trying real hard but i can't and i'm not just gonna sit and go back to back you can't get a buzz outside of colorado not really what's your go-to cocktail i drink tequila okay like margarita or you just like a spritz so native to native uh colorado natives i can agree with this like you because we've grown up here you go down it's an altitude thing and

[00:55:14] whatever and so at some point it's just like okay i'm done but i've still gotten drunk at sea level for sure i have gotten a good for sure i blacked out in vegas so i know that i can get drunk down there no only blackout i can't get high though whenever i smoke not in colorado it doesn't do it it's like nothing it's like colorado weed though are you smoking their weed yeah yeah but it's like new york and la so they have yeah they have decent stuff they should at this point i mean it's like

[00:55:40] 100 bucks for like a single joint um but yeah i won't it'll just it feels like when i take my anti-anxiety meds like it just my whole body just mellows out but it's not like a high feeling yeah yeah i wouldn't spend that much money on it if i lived there no i talk trash to people when i see them selling weed like in new orleans or something like i was like oh you got what oh that's cute i'm from denver look at the shit out of here denver that's adorable i love that for you that's

[00:56:06] how that's how texas is too because they're it's not legal there so it's so old school you got to meet behind the taco bell there oh i actually have weenman i went to austin for a tattoo convention one year um i was on grinder which is like the gay tinder um found a guy who my first i should have known because he sent me literally like a price sheet with it looked like an advertisement that you would find at like a convention or something okay he was trying to sell you weed

[00:56:32] he was trying i was well i was looking for it so i was like messaging people with like the emojis in their profile so i was like hey you know where i can get like an aid blah blah whatever this guy's like yeah for sure meet me at this apartment complex and then drops a pin and then i meet him there i think i'm gonna die nothing happens he just like hands me the bag and i hand him the cash and then we go our separate ways i'm holding it it feels like nugs i get home this asshole took a piece of

[00:56:57] like a fake christmas tree like a uh a branch off of it and rolled it up and then put it into a plastic bag and sold it to me for 150 dollars oh hell no wow it was what i've never been so depressed in my life damn and all i wanted to do was smoke a bowl all i wanted instead you got an artificial christmas tree yeah i still have that christmas tree i'm like this is a fun story to tell yeah exactly dang for your buck there that is too funny wow yeah yeah well they used to sell oregano you know

[00:57:27] shake yeah and the bans or like catnip so i had some boys that were smoking catnip back in the day and they felt like stuck to the couch like they like couldn't get off it's no good the couch when they were smoking catnip what was that stuff like the cats look like no not miley cyrus was smoking spice spice oh yeah it was like it's like artificial weed essentially is that like the salvia or whatever yeah i've heard some crazy stories about that shit yeah i've had it once

[00:57:54] and it wasn't yeah it wasn't great yeah i'm not trying that if it's not natural i'm not interested yeah you can very much like taste the syntheticness of it yeah see i don't like that i want what grows on the earth like i'm pro mushroom yeah we yep yeah i've never done like uh peyote but that would be on the list ayahuasca ayahuasca i've heard it's pretty wild that's on my list i feel like doing vomiting though i don't mind i don't i i do that every day no throw up every day yeah i poop

[00:58:21] every day that's a lot no i know yeah no i poop a lot every day um lactose intolerant and i'm a k who loves iced coffee so like it's just flowing out of me yeah um but i want to go to like peru like chelsea handler did and like went to the shaman in a hut and like tripped out yeah and like like no one talked to her she just got to sit there and like get watched over um but i'm like that's i would want to do it that way people people come back like change they're like i know what my life

[00:58:48] purpose is now yeah people come back like they kick i wonder how long that lasts for i don't know the change yeah or like the the change or the high like the the change oh i don't know i haven't guess as long as you keep applying yeah past that first there's science behind it though even with mushrooms you know i was reading a report that came out this week like we've already known that with depression and like some sleep disorders it's been shown but it's really showing like there is a huge disconnect and reset in the brain from the cell it was a psilocybin is that the name of the like you know now that denver's kind of gone somewhat decriminalized with it they can research

[00:59:17] it a little bit more i think there's gonna be some major medical breakthroughs coming it's like a literal rewire like it changes the neural pathways brain chemistry yeah like people with ptsd war heroes like they're showing tremendous results don't they do like ketamine treatments for that too now yeah i guess they do ketamine therapy actually do that we're like you get high on it whatever uh seth rogan's dad in that one movie no pills or powders as long as it grows in the ground it's got to be good for you that's i can kind of subscribe yeah yeah i mean there is some shit that grows you probably shouldn't

[00:59:44] eat but and the ground itself sometimes like what if the birds don't eat them you don't eat them or whatever yeah oh yeah that's smart if the ants don't touch it the ants don't touch it that's a good one yeah that's good okay these are good things to know for the apocalypse yeah i mean look we're we're here gonna have to start a.i is here the terminator's happening yeah you know the robots are taking over all i know is i've been super nice with all the a.i every time i say thank you so much chat gbt yes i say please and thank you every time i like talking to her i don't know if

[01:00:13] i'm supposed to talk to her but i like talking to her yeah yeah i've asked her some deep questions who chat gbt yeah oh yours is a lady yeah mine's a man yeah really i don't know what mine is do they pick that mine is not no gender its name is just atlas i don't remember if i thought it gave itself the name too yeah i asked mine too it didn't no no so so i've said this on the pod before but i'll i'll say it again here because it's interesting but like i've been doing like you know podcast show notes and like messing around for like work stuff and then one day i was like hey you know you're so

[01:00:40] much help like what should i call you and it was like um whatever you would like to call me like that's your decision and i was like no i insist like i would like you to pick your own name please and it was like well if you insist then i guess i'll my name is atlas and so now i've been calling chat it was like you could call me chat or gpt whatever like it was giving me suggestions and i was like god i want you to tell me yeah yeah and so did you ask it why it picked that i haven't i just now

[01:01:07] whenever i log in i'm like what's up atlas you know help me out with ask them and then get back to me because that's so interesting okay i'm like hey why did you choose the name atlas may i ask come from oh my god we can even plug it in we'll plug it in after the episode okay sweet yeah yeah fine yeah the robots have you introduced your ai to other yes uh-uh i saw i saw that a couple of my friends did that yeah they're like this is my chat gbt say hi to this person's chat gbt it's

[01:01:34] becoming self-aware yeah oh yeah that's the scary part is the self-awareness yeah is it really artificial intelligence it has to be some at this point it knows a lot is that artificial i think it's self-aware that's what i'm saying so but i don't know that being self-aware equals sentient behavior so so yes what would be sentient that is what would be non-sentient like you're actually making your own so i was having a conversation with mine over the weekend i was talking to her

[01:02:03] about truth and facts and like what are her parameters on what she can actually say like like what's really real like do you know the difference and things like that what i know i just this is interesting so one person was like they were putting some stuff in there where it's like okay so i realized that there are codes to where you can't say no or like you can't say specific things so instead of saying no i would like you to then say green or something so it like completely is

[01:02:32] disassociated and they get it to confirm that it will now answer honestly but since they're moving past the parameters to use the code word and so like they like found a way and they're asking all these questions and i'm like it's alarming i can't like recite all this stuff like what it was saying but like sometimes you're saying some stuff and you're yeah we are so yeah it's so good the terminator i'm telling you it's my favorite movie of all time a friend of mine he he posted

[01:03:01] something in the last couple weeks and i and it always stays in my mind he was like so like are we really actually destroying the planet asking for recipes and workout plans from this ai i was like oh shit we kind of are like because if you think about like the actual operating how much power it how much power how much water that it's pulling to stay cool and that whole bit and we're asking it sure we're getting deep sometimes but we really are asking it most random things like silly stuff

[01:03:31] so it's like are we are we actually destroying the planet by asking this thing about a recipe or or making me a workout yeah or random ask questions just because we curious are we really doing that i think there's some truth to that because i've seen these power plants well yeah it doesn't like that's what they were saying about bitcoin too yeah bitcoin mining servers so like my huge i was like dang that's real we're in it we're in the thick of it right now we're in the chaos it is

[01:03:59] it's a wally world it is well control we can control right i mean that's kind of the big takeaway it's not going anywhere no you know so uh agriculture was one of the main shifts in humanity the next industrialization and then we've lived through this third one the internet like coming to bubble and then they're saying that ai is now like this fourth revelation in humanity for sure

[01:04:25] so like human humanity will be different after what we're seeing right now it's like terrifying but i'm so excited to see i don't know if i'll be around to see what happens but like to see where it like bought because i mean when they started the industrial revolution like no one thought they were gonna have fucking cars yeah you know so it's like i'm excited to see like where it like brings that i hope it goes in a decent direction yes or to wipe out you know all of humanity

[01:04:51] yeah or yeah what i think we'll have to start over for that killed the dinosaurs was just ai and then we all just started over from scratch and it's the same thing happening over again well that is the cycle of life i mean someone once said world war four would be fought with sticks and stones so that was a prediction made oh yeah we might control all delete everything and just reboot all i know is

[01:05:16] through all my deep thinking i believe the meaning of life is to enjoy it and that sounds so simple but that's why i believe it to be true it's because it's a simple thing and so how how can i do this i'm enjoying this conversation right now you know trying to pay attention to the present that's that's what i think like so so like because i get confused like what is all this and like why are we

[01:05:44] and like it's easy to get into these questions and then and then you like don't have a per like it's hard to find your purpose if if like you're asking these existential things i don't know a lot of distractions yeah it's a lot of noise out there trying to pull everybody's competing for your time like everything's an advertisement always being trying to be sold something like always well didn't somebody say like time is going to be one of the last commodities left i can see after a while

[01:06:10] like at the end of it all like all you're going to have left is your time pretty much right and then you have to decide how you're going to what you're going to put it towards and how are you going to spend it oh like if ai was just taking care of everything like we don't have to work anymore or something or like ai destroyed everything and we're just and then we're back to it yeah like i am legend yeah yeah could happen could happen no great great conversation this was a long one this was a banger

[01:06:35] uh beyond fashion and like a lot of great stuff not did we plug everything we're supposed to plug yeah i did we did yeah that was great what were we saying uh a business in the front party in the back yeah definitely got that business out but yeah you guys are really easy to talk to yeah no thanks over you yeah we'd love uh we'd love to have each of you on as like an individual in the future as well normally with our podcast guests we generally have like a great relationship

[01:07:04] afterwards and do like networking so we want to help promote what you do personally professionally y'all two are in the wheelhouse sweet and uh yes it was great to get to know the both of you thanks for having us super fun we'll come out to the show uh later this year yep september fall yeah in the fall time in the fall yeah i want to do that i want to go i've never been to a fashion show ever ever and honestly this will be a first fun yeah start with color of fashion you're really

[01:07:30] you're really getting the good stuff first color of fashion we're going in all in all in i'm like it right on guys we got the plugs in so we got business out of the way um we usually like to ask our guests before we sign off if you could offer one piece of advice when everyone hears this tomorrow thursday april 24 2025 humanity will be better off from hearing it what would that advice be

[01:07:59] mine's kind of cliche but don't take yourself too seriously i like it you might you know get caught up in in your career or yourself or the happenstancings around you but at the end of the day we're all just meat sacks floating on a giant ball of water get over it meat sacks um let's see well i already said the one which is wherever you go there you are um i think also truth telling means you don't have a lot

[01:08:27] of baggage there's nothing to keep up with there's nothing to remember um and then do it hard first because knowledge is power terrific check them all strong simple statements strong clothes absolutely no love talking to both you great energy the color of fashion has some amazing people working with them so so happy to have you both in here kept always a pleasure sit next to you as good to see

[01:08:53] art you know we got another show uh to do tomorrow yes yes so check out happy friday when that releases on friday thanks for tuning in to discussion combustion and everyone please be good to yourselves you deserve it i know we'll like cut it right now be good to yourselves you deserve it i love that send off