Taylor Swift

We weren't able to connect with Taylor for our live podcast, but we explore the Taylor Swift phenomenon and the role kinds plays in her "brand."

Transcript

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Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota Nice that it desperately needs. I am Jon Schweitz. I'm here with Steve Brown. Hi Steve. Hi. And I'm here with Kevin Gorg, who is, uh, where are we calling you at, Kevin? I'm, uh, around the Twin Cities area in my vehicle currently in beautiful Eden Prairie. Eden Prairie. Okay. Have you ever been to the Shields over there in Eden Prairie? Oh my gosh. That place is tremendous. Yes. I go there probably once a week at Shields. That's it. I love that place. Sporting goods. It's like a sportsman's mall. Why do you go there every week? KG, popcorn, multi level. It, no, they've got, uh, they've got golf gear, which I don't like playing golf, but I like having all the good golf gear he's got. They've got all the, like, sweatshirts, the comfy ones, like, the Unreal, they've got sports stuff, I just love checking out their, their stock, I mean, it's unbelievable, it's got a Ferris wheel in the middle of the store, like, it's that big, it's incredible. Yeah, those Unreal shirts, they're lovely shirts, but, um They just don't fit me the way that a shirt should fit a, a man, but anyway, uh, everybody is different. Um, we have a really special show later today. We have a special guest who wasn't able to join us, but she's given us some information. Yes. We talked to her earlier. In, uh, and it's, uh, Taylor Swift. Couldn't get the rights. Did I, did I spill the beans? I'm not supposed to spill the beans? I'll cut that out. I was going to explain we couldn't get the rights and then I interrupted you saying that. Yeah. We couldn't get the rights for her to be on with us because her, uh, well, and that was who TayTay we're talking to Taylor Swift. All right. And I've learned a lot about that with her today. I know she was fantastic, but we're going to get to that in just a second. KG, you were at a special event today with the Minnesota wild. What was that all about? Eighth annual. Yeah. Very cool deal. They put on every year, uh, eighth annual leadership summit. At the XL Energy Center. So, uh, the rink isn't there, but we're right in the middle of the building, um, on the ground floor. The, uh, the guests are all up in the, uh, in the bleachers, so to speak. But, uh, they invite all the captains from every team in hockey in the state of Minnesota. So every high school team, boys and girls gets invited, their coaching staff and their captains get to come. And they have a panel of, of different players at different levels that are, you know, Asked to be kind of guests on the stage and I'm kind of the moderator that goes up there and we sit on the stage one by one and interview these different luminaries. Brock Faber started the procession today, uh, Minnesota wild defense. Then we had Trent Tucker, who is a basketball legend and won an NBA championship with Michael Jordan, but has two boys that play hockey with Natalie Darwin. Yeah. So his two boys play hockey. It's funny because. You know, his kids were drawn to hockey and part of it is obviously they live in minnesota It's the state of hockey all that cliche stuff and he said it was an interesting conversation He just wanted his kids to be involved like any parent, you know, like you want your kids involved in something do something Love hockey and so There's a layer to that that was a little uncomfortable, but we had to have the conversation because, you know, people in the game of hockey aren't used to African Americans. So there, I've had this conversation with Matt Dunn, but there are a small percentage of people. That try to make them feel bad or make them feel uncomfortable. And his kids have dealt with that. And Trent has a unique perspective. And he said, you know what he said? He told his kids at a young age that you have to embrace that because it's a learning experience. And he said, you'll be better at the other side. And he said, your teammates will be better because they're probably not used to this. You know, and they play over here in Eden Prairie, ironically, where I'm right now talking with you guys, and he said, you know, the teammates start to see the other team taking shots at their teammates, their brothers from the locker room, and it's like, wait a minute, this is not acceptable, and so there are a multitude of lessons that are learned, and Trent has such a, uh, a positive outlook on every situation, so I thought it was super important today for For those high school players that were in attendance to hear that message from Trent Tucker and, you know, it was a five hour deal, right? And each one was about a half an hour to 45 minutes. Trent was probably the most powerful of the bunch. Natalie Darwich was tremendous. And then we had the St. Cloud state coach and one of his captains. We had the Shakopee coach. Who's an African American man named Calvin. Great guy. And one of his captains, we had a little discussion there. And then we had the Andover girls coach and one of her captains and to see these kids like these high school seniors up on the stage answering questions and, and carrying on these, these are hard, like, Diversity and social media and conflict in the locker room. I mean these are not it wasn't just a bunch of flowery stuff We had some hard conversations and I thought it was tremendous. That's that's pretty heavy for high school kids That's pretty cool that they're gonna getting those opportunities to really have those good conversations. Yeah, I nailed Eric's made the point, too she's like, you know, it's great you guys are here and it's great you guys are talking about this because You know, we don't like to think that it's out there, but when you get into your season and, you know, the pucks start to fly, so to speak, things come up and there's drama in every locker room. There are situations that if you're going to be a winning team, good captains and good leaders have to figure out a way. To defuse that and so I thought overall leaving today, uh, just a couple hours ago that the kids that were in attendance, the captains that were there, the teams that participated, we had I think 300 total players and coaches. I just thought what a cool, um, stepping stone for them into this next season, you know, when we get to the fall. And I think hockey is such a unique sport in the sense that, you know, you kind of get to know who the first line is, who the second line is. And. I know of a guy who has a, uh, grandson who was a sophomore this past year on a team and, uh, was skating on the first line with two seniors. And this sophomore is apparently a very solid player. I've talked to other people about this. And, um, was frustrated throughout the course of the season because these two seniors, Didn't care for the fact that there was a sophomore on the same line and did not pass the puck to this guy as often as they probably should have. As a result, the team did not do very well. And it's just, I think that, you have to have strong captains, strong leaders on a team like that to make sure that that BS isn't going on. And I just think that it, uh, we live in a, in a mixed up crazy world where, you know, people are so motivated by self interest and instead of the whole idea of being about the team. Um, are trans kids in high school? No, they're, they're 12 and 14. Okay. They'd probably be in peewees and bantams. And he said they just love it. Are they big guys? They sat down last night. I didn't ask their size. I would assume they're fairly tall. He's like six, seven, right? He's at least six, five. I think, yeah, maybe six, seven, but. Um, you know, it's funny, he said last night watching the Stanley Cup, they just couldn't get enough. They, they loved it, you know? Yeah. And, uh, you know, he told them when they started, like, listen, I, I will take you to early morning practices, late night games, anything you need until I have to start to poke and prod or wake you up to get there. Like, you have to be all in. Or I'm out. And he said, these kids just love it. They, they love hockey so much. I just, I found it fascinating because, you know, I grew up watching Trent Tucker play for the Gophers and win that NBA title playing for the Knicks, playing for the Bulls. And I would always just assume, right, his kids, especially the winter sport would be basketball and they're hockey guys. And so it, I think it's really cool to hear Trent talk about, Making that adjustment because as a parent, he just wanted his kids to find something that they enjoyed doing and hockey is it for them. But he also said they play multiple sports. And that's another theme to the conversation that everybody talked about, including Natalie Darwitz and Brock Babers, how much. Easier it is for kids to be well routed when they have more than one group of friends and more than one group of teammates when they're involved in different activities. How it helps them evolve as a young person, and I could not agree more. Yeah. Yeah, is, Brock Faber's a Minnesota kid, isn't he? Maple Grove. Oh, he's a Maple Grove guy. Okay. He talked about leaving home. One of the, one of the players in attendance, uh, texted a question in and Dave Schwartz was kind of my co host, so he would relay the text messages and they asked, what's the hardest decision you've had to make throughout your early career? And he said, leaving home at 16 to go play in Michigan for the U. S. developmental team. Sounded great, right? Sounded exciting. When he first got the invitation he was honored and thrilled. He said that leaving mom and dad at that age was super hard. Yeah, that's tough. I got a 21 year old who's having trouble leaving home. No, that's He's such a good kid. No, he is, he is. It's funny, he hasn't even started his job and he got a call that they're already giving him a raise. What? Yeah, it's shocking. How this? Yeah, the kid that was on your couch last week. Yeah, that. Wow. Yeah. It's all working out for that guy. Oh, he's a talented guy. Don't be fooled. I know. So speaking of the Stanley Cup. Yeah. Last night after the game, one of my favorite traditions in all of sports. K. G. Did you, uh, did you witness the, uh, the traditional traditional Handshake at the end. I love the handshake and I got to make one quick point on the Stanley cup that just blew me away last night. And I'll give you the quick backstory. Kyle Poso is a Minnesota kid that grew up in St. Paul. He's actually African American. He played for the Golden Gophers. Well, now it's been 17 years played for the Buffalo. Yeah. He got traded at the trade deadline guys. So this is three months ago. He got traded to the Florida pitchers from Buffalo. His last year of playing in the pros last chance. He's never won a cup. So they went last night. He plays for the Florida Panthers and these Panthers have been together. Now this core of guys have been together for five or six years. They've been one of the best teams in the league. This same group went to the cup last year and got beat by Vegas. So they finally get it done. This group of players, right? The Captain Barkov takes the cup, lifts it up. It's really cool. Predictably, he comes back. He gives it to Sergei Bobrovsky, longtime goalie. One of the best goalies in the world, gonna be a Hall of Famer, predictable, very cool. The next player that gets the cup is Kyle Oposo. No way. He's been there for three months. And after He was a healthy scratch for a few of the games too, wasn't he? He got scratched in one of the final games, and one game before that, never scored a goal. And I hope Young people, if they find our show, remember this thing, he never scored a goal. He was a fourth line player that was in and out of the lineup. But when the coach was interviewed after all the celebration last night, he said, you wouldn't have believed the impact this guy had on our group and how much it meant to them to have a leader like Kyle Oposa, who didn't care about ice time, didn't care about stats. But loved his teammates and just wanted the team to win. And he said, that's why he got the cup when he did. He earned the respect of his teammates from day one in three months. I was blown away by that. And the, he had announced that this was his last season, right? Yeah, this is it. And I covered him when he was a gopher. I was covering a lot more college hockey back in that 07, 08, 09 era. And he was there at that time. And I'm going to tell you, you won't find a much better kid than Kyle Poulson. Awesome, awesome human beings. I'd imagine that you'll have him on wooden sticks. I was looking at you. We'll be right back. This is wooden sticks. I don't dare bring it up. I don't dare bring it up. I looked over at Steve and he had this look at his eye and I'm like, I'm going to beat you to it. I was going to pretend like I was sleeping just to make you, uh, you laugh here. Sure, you guys are the best. Remind me, how did we get into Hockey Talk so deeply? Hockey. po. Where did, uh, Kyle, uh, Zo, is that how you say it? He played at Chaddock. He grew up in St. Paul. Okay. Paul. Yeah. St. Paul Kid obviously was a St. Paul kid. And, uh, really a, you go back and look at his college career, he was a big time player at the U Oh, yeah, absolutely. I, I can't say, I know, uh, almost I can, I don't know very many of the names you guys are talking about right here. I'm, I'm kind of glossing over. You're still a good person, but. Brock Faber, man. I like, I like Brock. Who doesn't like number seven? He's a fun guy to watch play. I like Brock Faber. That's the only name I recognize in all that conversation. Natalie Dierowitz, you're not familiar with that name? No, no idea. Really? Trent Tucker, I've heard that name. Natalie Darwitz is like the greatest women's hockey player in Minnesota history. I've heard you guys probably talk about her. I'm still sticking with Brock. He's the only guy I know. She went to Eagan High School. Is that right, Kevin? Yep, she was at Eagan High School. And she scored like hundreds of goals in high school. Really? Yeah, skating around people like pylons. Cool. Eighth and ninth grade, she was like already the best player in the state. And so when I was coaching boys high school hockey, she was playing. At Eagan, I used to bring my team to her games to watch her because she was kind of like Wayne Gretzky when we were growing up, right? She could take over a game and do these magical things with the puck. Yeah, she was incredible. Went on to play at the U, played for multiple Winter Olympic teams, and she's been a coach at the college level, coach at the high school level, GM, and she kind of hinted today that she might want to get involved in the job. In the NHL, boy, she pulled no punches to me. Like, she basically just spoke her mind about a lot of different things. And I think the kids were kind of blown away, like, this gal is for real. Like, she's, she's got A real solid, confident way about her that I just love. Well, and her career came to a crescendo a couple of weeks back when she was on Wooden Sticks with Kevin Gore. Yeah, that's where it all, that's where it all goes to. That's where it all, this is just a promotion for Wooden Sticks. Mike Madonna, Mike Madonna got, he, he's in the hall of fame, but he's always going to look back at that conversation he had. With Kevin Gore. He had arrived. Yeah, the hall of fame and the comps and all that stuff was great, but you know, that 45 minutes I spent with Kevin Gore. Yeah. 36. Yeah. Cleared the path. I like it when you speak in the third person. I hope that you'll do more of that. Okay. I have. A Don't Be That Guy story that might be one of the greatest experiences that I've had in a long time. So we're going to pivot from the Stanley Cup, from NHL, to a Don't Be That Guy moment. So imagine if you will, I am in line at a McDonald's drive thru, like that never happens. Every single Oh, I love it. I like where this story is starting. Every morning, I get My large diet coke and sometimes I'll get a little something else, but anyway I am in line, and you know there's you have the choice of going to the outside line. Yeah, sure you got lanes Well, there are two cars in the outside only one on the inside so I choose the inside lane Yeah, and I pull up and I'm sitting there, and there are cars going by me. Uh oh So I rolled down my window, and I'm just curious, and I look, and this woman that's in front of me, and she's in a Honda Pilot, okay? She's got a, it looks like a cash register tape, and she's reading off all the things that she wants to order. Which is fine. From a, okay, the note was on a cash register. Like all the things that she wanted, like she was reading off of this long sheet of paper. Like a scroll. Like a grocery list. Like a grocery list. So the first thing that I think of is Why don't you go inside for that one? You know, when it's that long of a list. And she's going through, and she orders, I want three bacon, egg, and cheese McMuffins. And the lady who is taking You can hear it. I can hear it. Oh, I'm right behind her. They're pretty loud sometimes. Set down the menu. What's that, Kevin? Set down the menu. Here we go. Oh, wow. He's nervous. Here we go. Oh. So the lady that's working inside, I know who it is, because I am very familiar with this store. You guys are regulars. I'm there all the time. She says to this woman, there's no bacon, egg, and cheese. Egg McMuffin. And this woman does not, cannot seem to wrap her head around the fact There should be actually, right? Well, whether there should be or not, there's not. There is a sausage egg and cheese McMuffin and an egg McMuffin which has a Canadian bacon thing on it. So it's kind of like counts as bacon, or counts as bacon. That's Canadian bacon. Right. And the woman says, do you mean Canadian bacon? She goes, no, I want regular bacon. And they're going back and forth and I decide it's time for me to intervene. Oh. And I said, I said, ma'am, there's no such thing yelled this from your car, my car. There is no such thing as a bacon egg and cheese McMuffin pick something else She slaps her arm on the side of her car. Oh, and she yells at me mind your own business Oh, and I said this situation has become my business Because I've been sitting here Listening to you berate this poor person rude. She was being so rude. Okay. Why can't you understand me? You And then what she said is, well, there's bacon, egg, and cheese, uh, biscuits. Why can't you just put the bacon, egg, and cheese on a muffin? But you don't have to get mad about it. I can see the point, but there's a way to ask for it nicely, right? So we go back and forth. She just like, she opens her car door like she's gonna come back and I'm like, I said to her, I go, what are you doing? I said, place your order. It's Sunday morning. Cars are going by. You're waiting. Let me finish. I have to get to church and on her, the back window. She has a sticker that says always faithful, and I said, you might want to think about getting to church too. So, I'm not sure who the don't be that guy should apply to, if it's her or if it's me, but she had pushed my buttons. But when I yelled to her, there is no such thing. As a bacon, egg, and cheese McMuffin picked something else and she slapped her, her arm, large arm on the side of her, of her vehicle. She's trying to shut you down. Shut me down. Guess again. Wow. Mean woman. Did she get food? Did she adjust her order? Yeah, what happened? Um, I think that she changed it to just regular Egg McMuffins. You know, I was kind of caught up in the moment. And, uh, I'm not sure how it resolved. But when I did get up to the window, the gal that was there, She looked at me. Yep, my friend. She goes, that was fun. And I said, I said, I didn't mean to intervene, but I just, I, it was taking forever. She clearly wasn't understanding what you were saying. And the woman, giving her some grace, she goes, I understand why you would think there should be a bacon, egg, and cheese McMuffin, but there's not a button on my thing for that. So pick again. I mean, it was really, and she's, it's this girl, she's got a Spanish accent. Um, you know, so English is clearly a second language to her, but she speaks fluent English. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was, she and I got a nice chuckle out of it. Wow. So don't be the guy. Yeah. Which, what's the rule here on this one here is if you have a list that is like 12 items to 15 items long, go inside. Don't take up a better idea. Go ahead and order online. There you go. Trip to wherever you're going. Or, you know, technology now that you can do even at McDonald's, they even ask you to use the mobile app. You can do that and save everybody a lot of time. You guys are pros. Even better. Oh, you're right about that. Go buy a box of whole grain cereal and make some better choices for your fitness situation. Right. Oh, I don't like that at all. That's a terrible idea. I, uh, you know, she, uh. I think if you guys haven't had the side of sausage at McDonald's, I could eat a stack of like six of them. Are they? Their sausage patties are unbelievably good. Oh, the patties. Okay. Yeah. I can't remember. Can you get a side of sausage? Yeah, so sometimes when I go there, I'll get a small diet coke, I'll get a hash brown, and a side of sausage, and I turn it into my own little breakfast sandwich. So you take the hash brown, crack it in half, and turn that into the bread? Thank you. I'm, I'm going tomorrow. Again. That is a, that you, we call it a sponsor. McDonald's is not a spot, nor is Diet Coke, which probably should be with you too. Yeah. We see. Yeah. We call that a, that's a McGorgon. Hi, I'd like a sausage McGorgon, please. With the DC, with the Diet Coke. And if they don't give it to you and there's no button, then you get after them. That's yeah. They're going to get a button for it. And then that's all fine. So mcc, Corgan, you know, I, I am a hash brown has, is like$2 and 79 cents, but I would argue, would argue. That the hash brown might be, the McDonald's hash brown might be the most perfect food ever made. It's greasy, it's salty, it's crunchy, it's soft. Yeah. It does it all. Yeah, it's kind of got it all. And Gord put sausage between it, so it's like a, it's a, So do you get two, do you get two? Nope, just one. Cracks in half like I said. You get, you get a Diet Coke, you get a hash brown and a side of sausage, it's like 5. 28, maybe I'm off by a penny or how, yeah. Take the hash brown, break it in half, put the sausage in between the two, and chomp away. I'm gonna make a quick suggestion. I got one suggestion for ya. Here's what you do. Because this, the, the, the hash brown is part of that dollar, buy one, get one for a dollar menu. Oh, the frugal, frugal move. You could get, listen to this. Yeah. Yeah. You could get a sausage McMuffin, hold the muffin, and a hash brown, so you're also getting the ooey gooey goodness of the cheese, and you put that between your broken in half And it's not pretty, but it probably pretty, but it's, you're also saving probably 82 cents. Well, do you know how, remember they had a couple of summers ago, they had the, uh, Travis Scott meal. Oh yeah. This is the Kevin Gord meal. Or maybe it's, maybe it's the John Schweitz. Maybe it's a kindness chronicled me. I don't know, but Oh, who knows? It was probably, it was like a cheeseburger and a special spicy sauce. Something or other, but my kids are into it. Since you mentioned Travis Scott. Yeah. Let's talk about somebody. Wasn't that the guy? Yeah, it was. Yes, he did have a Travis Scott band. Okay, go on. So, let's transition to another musician. An entertainer? Who shares the initials of Travis Scott. Yeah, who could that be? Our friend, Taylor Swift. Now, we spoke with Taylor earlier today. She was unable to be with us live, but um, You know, there's a lot of people out there that are haters on Taylor. And I have no idea why I have no idea why I would like to come to her defense on a number for a number of reasons, you know, um, and I have some examples of stories of kindness that Taylor has been engaged in. And I'm assuming that you guys have done so as well as that was the, uh, the assignment, the assignment for the day, because we were talking to her. So we had to have some, well, and, and when we talked to her, It was really, her humility kind of prevented her from talking about how kind she was personally. But we, we dragged it out of her and got her to admit that, You know, she does these things because she's just, you know, trying to be a better person. Mission accomplished. I think the, I think the reason why people don't like her is because of that, her image, and she's kind of, you know, vanilla. She's kind of vanilla for people, but it doesn't, If you look at her career, she's so consistent, she's so talented, she does her thing, and she doesn't care what people think. And that's kind of why she's, uh, prevailed amazingly. And to me, I think that people think that her, you know, the kindness that she shows is all part of her plan to manage her image. Yeah, yeah. And when you look at the price tag that's attached to some of the kindness that she's shown there's more than just managing image. she really sincerely cares about the people that she works with before we get started though. Yeah. Can you imagine? How great it would have been to be princess Charlotte. So Taylor has been playing, I think at Wembley. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And, uh, in, uh, London the last couple of days. In fact, I think Travis Kelsey made an appearance on stage with her and was, yeah, I only saw some kind of weird footage from it, but yeah, what, what, what happened with, uh, before the concert, she met with the Royal family. And I'm thinking at this point, princess Charlotte is thinking this is the best reason to be a princess. I get to meet Taylor Swift backstage at Wembley Stadium. I mean, could it be better? do you have a story that you would like to start with? Well, I looked up some information about her. Okay. And, uh, and yeah, it is, it's kind of overwhelming when you, when you consider Some admirable aspects of her as a kind person talent aside. Yeah aside from any of her talent She's a generous gives generous donations to different groups. You bet. She's known for that For example, she donated 1 million dollars to the Louisiana food relief in 2016 She's done that many times hundred thirteen thousand to the Tennessee equity project in 2019. She just gives away huge amounts of money to Charitable donations like Well, the big story, at the end of 2023 is when it was coming to the end of her North American, uh, eras tour. This is my favorite one. She gave away 55 million in bonuses, which included 100, 000 bonuses to each of the truck drivers that haul her stuff around. Right. We have talked about this on the show. We did talk about it, but I mean, we talked to Taylor about this today, and she was, you know, she kind of dismissed it as not a big deal. And I I did read somewhere that she makes between 13 and she grosses between 13 and 15 million Per date on the heiress tour, which is that's a little bit of dough, but she's sharing now, which is pretty amazing so a comment that comes to mind and I think I think this did come up before on our show, but Isn't the old adage or the the understanding is if you're a jerk and you become a millionaire You're just a, you're just a jerk with a lot of money. If you're a good person, you become a millionaire or whatever, bazillionaire, it enhances who you are. So you are amplifies. Yes. I'm not saying that very clearly, but it was clear enough for me to kind of, but I guess what it tells us that. She was a good person and now she's just a good person with a bunch of money that just is spreading around and I think that's, uh, pretty admirable. Um, fan engagement and support. Some more things that she's really known for. Um, she's known for being really genuine to her fans while doing like, uh, care packages and, uh, inviting her fans, uh, home to her house for like listening parties and things like listening party thing? Yeah. Like she would have these, I think she called them secret sessions. Yeah. And she would have them at her house. She would bake cookies, chocolate chip and coconut, I think is her specialty, but she would bake all these cookies and she would have these people at her home for these listening parties. Pretty cool. Yeah. I don't know if I would do that. Well, can I just share one Johnny Clueless thing that, you know, I can't even come close to that, except. Um, several times, um, we've given people rides home after our shows. Which I think is so awesome. We've, we've actually, people were like, having lots of drinks and were like, hey, anyone needs a ride home? Like, it was kind of a joke, but people were like, hey, can we get a ride? Like, okay. Piled in the van, we gave them a ride back to their place. They know who they are. Like, oh my god, that was us. I've done that. I love that story. There was a great story, uh, about Chris Martin from Coldplay. Chris Martin, waved down, flagged down a cab in London. And there was a woman standing right behind him who was also looking for a cab. And he invited her to get into the car with him. She didn't recognize who he was. Yeah. And he said to her, Where are you going? And she had this shocked look. He was getting a cab to go to where his concert was, and this woman was going to his concert. No way! I'm not kidding you. She was not very aware of who she was going to see. No, because she was right behind him. I suppose, not to expect to see that guy. She didn't recognize him right in front. Why would she expect to see him on the street? And he turns around and says, here, why don't you come with, you know, because it was raining out or something like that. I mean, I think it's just, God, that's so cool. I have one. Taylor Swift stuff. Do you guys know who the wrestler Mick Foley is? So you have another name like the Gravedigger or something? Yeah, something like that. So Mick Foley is a very famous WWE wrestler and he used to wear like this crazy mask. I mean, he's a giant of a man. So apparently Taylor Swift lived next to a guy by the name of Jeff Jarrett who was also a WWE wrestler. They lived in the same neighborhood and this was back in like 2012 when Taylor was just starting to become a big deal. Jeff Jarrett's wife was suffering from cancer and she passed away and Taylor on the day that the, that the, their mom passed away. Taylor took the three daughters, spent the day with them and for the next several months, uh, babysat these kids from time to time just to give the data break. And, you know, at the time, she wasn't the Taylor Swift that she is today, her career was just, she wasn't a nobody. She was, and that's cool. The only reason that that story became public is because Jeff Jarrett's buddy, Mick Foley, the wrestler, uh, told that story on some, uh, talk show talking about, how Taylor Swift, if you are an ex boyfriend, watch out. But if you're anybody else. She's gonna treat you with just kindness and grace. So I just, I loved that story and I think one of those girls actually played her in a made for TV movie about Taylor Swift. Really? Yeah, I thought I read that as well. I might have just made that up. Taylor was her babysitter. That's crazy. Taylor was her babysitter. Very cool. Do you have one, KG? Yeah, you know, I did some research and we're going back 9 or 10 years. So she was still a big deal, but just not like it's gotten here the last couple years. And we, we hear about these Swifties and these young kids that just are crazy about Taylor and tries to keep tabs as much as she can. Well, one of those Swifties that was a huge Taylor Swift fan that had been to her concerts and posted these pictures was battling cancer. Her name was Naomi Oaks. She was 11 years old and her family had put together one of those. GoFundMe pages. They were trying to raise 30, 000 for various surgeries that this young lady was going to have to go through. Taylor got word that that was out there and she immediately acted and she immediately sent 50, 000 to the family and then connected with the family to have a conversation with Naomi and inspire her to go through that treatment and have success. To me, Like you hear these stories and it just makes you feel good, right? Like for people that get that money, they can, and that fame, they can sometimes maybe get lost in. In the shuffle of just how great their life is, but to check in on others and make sure others are okay. And I, the trucker, that one was my favorite one from the concert, um, story last year when the tour ended and that kind of bonus. But when you, when you reach out to one of your fans and I'm sure you can't reach them all, and I know that there are critics out there everywhere, but I just think if you do the research and you really look at who this person is, I was lucky enough to take my daughters to a concert and see her live. Six, eight years ago. She is, she just seems like a legitimately awesome human being and I think sometimes good things happen to good people. She's got a ton of talent, don't get me wrong, but she does a lot with that and I just, I think it's wonderful. Yeah, it's a, it's, it's pretty cool what she's actually doing. Um, she paid off student loans. Medical bills and made significant contributions to go funny stuff. Kind of what Kevin was saying, but can you imagine Taylor Swift pays off your student loan or your medical bills? Well, Joe Biden's doing it right now for all kinds of people. We're not going to go there. Um, are you guys familiar with the, uh, the song Ronan? So Ronan, it's a Taylor Swift song. I don't think I know that. I don't know. So the backstory on the Ronan thing is Taylor got wind of the fact that there was this mom who is writing this blog. about, um, the cancer journey that she was having as a mom, uh, for her son Ronan, who at the time was four years old. Ronan passed away, and Taylor reached out to the mom and said, I have written a song based on your blog and I'm asking your permission to, to publish the song. And the mom was completely blown away. This was back in 2012. And the mom was blown away by it. Taylor gave the mom uh, writing credit and the mom has been getting proceeds from uh, writing that song through her blog. Yeah, the story's in her blog. I'm not kidding you, look it up. Look it up. I'm not making this one up. And what's really interesting is uh, there was a, a, a program called Stand Up To Cancer and Taylor performed. The song Ronin at the Stand Up To Cancer benefit, uh, back in 2012. But, you know, to me, the fact that, you know, she writes up most of her own stuff, as I understand it. Yeah. And the fact that she, you know, draws inspiration from things like blogs about moms dealing with little kids going through cancer. I just think that that tells you a lot about this person and how, you know, what a thoughtful, Gesture and to ask for permission and I mean, I just think that it's beautiful. I can see okay now Let me get into something here. I can see how People would be, well, who does she think she is? You know, like you guys, you have all that power. Don't be that guy. Right, right. But I, but I think that's, what's amazing about her bravery is that even though all that baggage, you know, is connected to, to like being someone who reaches out and does something. She's not, she's clearly not doing it for the credit because she's continually doing it. It means she's getting that, that oxytocin. She's like, this is why I'm making all this money. I'm doing this. And it just keeps coming back to her. She is a legit billionaire. I have one more great story She often surprises fans with you know showing up at their house and doing private concerts she did a private concert for a 96 year old veteran who The word got out that his great granddaughters were huge Taylor Swift fans And he said for his 96th birthday, he'd love to meet Taylor Swift Wow, so she shows up at this guy's house He's 96 years old and he's singing Shake it off along with Taylor Swift and the great granddaughters. I mean, how awesome is that? Yeah. I mean, just one of the memories, not just for the 96 year old, but for everybody in that family, like that is a once in a lifetime, legitimately amazing opportunity that she created. And yeah, she's out there, right? She does it. She doesn't look for all the TV cameras and all the credit and she just, She's got a good heart, you can tell, and I'm, I'm really happy my daughters are Swifties because I think that's a pretty good role model. Right. It's a, she's, she's an advocate for a positive influence for, for girls, for anybody, but for young girls, uh, empowerment and advocacy and encouraging positivity. Um, through, through her lyrics and all of her public statements and Unless you're an ex boyfriend, then look out. That's true. Well, that's a different story. She's got a draw from something, you know. Yeah. All of her sons. She's a friend of the podcast. Now we can call her a friend of the podcast. She is a friend of the podcast, and again, I regret that she was unable to be with us on live. She's a busy lady. But, you know, and Tell me I wouldn't stick down the road, don't worry. Of course she will. Yes. That is fantastic. Fantastic. Um, Steve, you have, uh, so we, I think we've, uh, exercised, uh, our Taylor Swift, uh, segment. Sure. But you have some, uh, some suggestions that we would like to Invite our listeners to, uh, to engage in a, uh, challenge, a weekly challenge. Yeah, this is kind of a new idea that we want to put out there and we want to hear about how it went. So this is not complicated. This is not, um, some big assignment. This is not woo woo stuff. I'm going to, I'm going to suggest we can maybe pick from this list, but I have a list of, um, some ideas. This would be a weekly challenge for our listeners. To go out into the world and do one of these things or you know, try this this week See how it works. See what you find from it. If you don't do it, it's fine. Whatever We want to hear some good stories. Do you have a challenge for this week? Well, we could start with number one. Go ahead. Compliment a stranger So the challenge would be to give a genuine compliment to someone they don't know So not whistling at a pretty Female, while they walk by, that would not be qualification. Okay, I have, I have an interesting story along these lines. Okay, okay. So the other day, uh, Becky and I and her mother, uh, went out to dinner at Phil's Tara Hideaway in Stillwater. You ever been to Phil's? Sounds lovely. It's fantastic. They used to call it Club Tara? Club Tara. Yeah. Yes. I've been there. Phil's Tara. Down. Yep. Club Tara. Down in the hall. Yep. And the waitress that we had, Uh, 21, 20 year old gal, she came up and honest to God, she had like the cutest face I have ever seen. I mean, she was adorable. Yeah? Now, 55 year old creepy guy, Becky looks at me and she goes, don't say it. Like she walked away and I'm like what she goes. She saw your face light up. I mean her face lit up to Becky's dead Okay. Yeah, she's like, can you believe how cute that girl was my wife would say the same the same thing Couldn't have been cuter. Yeah, and she goes you're gonna say something aren't you? I'm like, do I have permission and Connie? You can't hear a thing. She's like, yeah, I go so she comes back and I said This is not meant to be creepy, but the, the, the table has decided Oh! That you have just about the cutest face we've ever seen on a human being and I'm not kidding she was that cute And she took the compliment like an absolute gem. And she got very blushy. And I said, it's the whole table, not just the 55 year old guy. And she's like, she goes, it might have been creepy if you would have said it when there was nobody here, but the fact that you did it in the presence of, I'm assuming your wife, smart move and your mother. And I said, well, that's my mother in law. Let's make that clear. Um, and what are they? What I haven't been there since the seventies. Oh my God. The food is so good. What's there? Don't they have something special? Greek. It's, it's, it's owned by a guy named like Phil Antonakis. But isn't this, isn't it a certain steak or something there? Is it filet mignon or something? Gyros, maybe? They, they do have great gyro. They have a great gyro appetizer. No, but like a steak. Isn't there like a steak thing? I don't know. Yeah, they have steak there. They have all the cuts of meat. Okay, right. They have pork chops. It's been a long time. They've got a, and it's always packed. Yeah. It's a little place, right? It's little. The tables are right on top of each other. It's it's crazy. Yeah. Um, so, so that's somebody compliment, but don't do it to a young woman unless you are with a group of people and you can present it as a team decision. Yeah, it doesn't have to be on someone's looks like compliment a stranger on anything. Well, what are you going to compliment him on? Well, I don't know. Hey, that's a cool jacket. Okay. That's not cool either. You know, um, it's Minnesota though. You never know. I did, I, I was at a, a, a Home Depot park, I was walking into Home Depot last week, and I saw a guy bend over and pick up some garbage that was on the, on the ground. And I did say to him, I said, I love seeing stuff like that. Yeah. I go, thanks for doing that. Yeah. So that was kind of a compliment. That's a perfect example. And by the way, I love your jacket. And by the way, that's a great cut of a jacket. That's a great cut. It's very slimming. It's very slimming. Okay. So 85 in human, but it looks good on you though. Why are you wearing a jacket? Is that a compliment? No, that's not. Yeah. What is wrong with you? So that's, that's the assignment this week. Okay. Or for, for the, for, until our next show, which is compliment a stranger. Give it a try. See what happens. If it doesn't work out, we don't want to hear about it. But if it does, you should let us know. I also want to, uh, invite our listeners to, uh, to rate our podcast on both Spotify and Apple. In fact, uh, we haven't had a lot of ratings, but Of the, I think we've had like 26 people that have gone on and, um, 24 of them have been five star. Yeah. Somebody gave us a one star, so thanks for that. That was just a jokester. That brings the, we don't want those jokester ratings because the better our ratings are, the more people that this, uh, show, uh, Shows up in there. Yeah, it helps us and it's easy to find. I actually I found both of them I've ever done it before for any podcast and I'm gonna start doing it It's just like a little button at the top going to rate this show Open it up and give a little review. Did you rate us? I didn't because I feel like that's a little weird Yeah, I mean Voting for yourself to be the captain. I read it. Yeah, I voted like 10 times just so we had like 30 people you do that Yeah Um But in all sincerity, uh, we enjoy doing this podcast. We don't have advertisers. We don't do it for anything other than the fact that we like hearing ourselves talk. Yeah. We get, love getting together once a week or so to, uh, to talk about these things. And we love the fact that there are some people that seem to enjoy the show. They're at least listening. Who knows if they enjoy, but at least they're listening. So I just want to thank you all for listening. Yeah. So. So let's, uh, review the show and let us know what you think. Or if you have, uh, you've met this challenge in some interesting way, email, uh, or, uh, connect with any one of us currently on our Facebook pages. Yeah. And we've got some upcoming guests. Um, Kyle Lock post. So. He's uh, possibly an upcoming guest. That's the guy that KG was talking about. The Wooden Sticks guy? The Wooden Sticks guy. Yeah, after I get done with our Wooden Sticks conversation, we'll slide him right on over. That would be fantastic. Um. Yeah. I have some people in line. I think Travis Kelsey, because of our conversation with Taylor, I be much more receptive. I would like to get Jason Kelsey on, because he seems like a hell of a good guy. Maybe an easier get probably an easier get right Travis. He's retired. Yeah, he's probably looking for something to do. You know, what's funny is if he asked us to be on his podcast, I bet you we would do it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they got a big, they got a big listenership. I think the Taylor Swift thing has worked out okay for the Kelsey brothers. I think so. It seems like their profile has been done. Uh, amplified. Elevated. Elevated. Amplified. Um, so, anything else? No. Um, so stay tuned for the outro music, which is how Steve has it listed on here. And with that It better be Taylor Swift. Off we go.