Moby (00:00:08):

Hi, Lindsay.

Lindsay (00:00:09):

Oh, hi Moby.

Moby (00:00:10):

We're recording and this is a very exciting extra special episode. And do you know why it's a very exciting, extra special episode?

Lindsay (00:00:19):

I do, but I think that you should say it out loud.

Moby (00:00:21):

Okay. Because this is our one year Moby Pod anniversary episode.

Lindsay (00:00:26):

It's very, very exciting. I can't believe it's been a year. Time flies when you're having fun. And I really actually mean that because it's been very fun.

Moby (00:00:32):

It has been very fun. And I was looking back at the list of all the people we've talked to and all the things we've talked about, and it's so eclectic. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And I don't, I personally think that's a good thing. Oh yeah. I hope you think it's a good thing. Oh,

Lindsay (00:00:47):

It's great. I mean that,

Moby (00:00:48):

Is that a leading question on my part? I probably is a leading question a little bit. Bit. Like it would not be allowed in a court of law to say like, I think this happened. Do you think it happened? Like <laugh>, I'd be a terrible trial lawyer. <laugh>.

Lindsay (00:00:58):

But I would, I would love to watch it. You know, I love watching trials.

Moby (00:01:01):

Okay.

Lindsay (00:01:02):

Suits. That was a suits reference. Yeah.

Moby (00:01:04):

Uh, so, um, <laugh>, I haven't seen suits, so I, apart from the lady who no longer is part of the Royal fam Megan, Meghan Markle,

Lindsay (00:01:12):

Marco. Okay.

Moby (00:01:12):

Hi Bagel. So any case, not to go on a suit tangent. 'cause I've never seen it

Lindsay (00:01:18):

<laugh>.

Moby (00:01:19):

It's been one year, which on one hand isn't a lot of time. And especially as I've come to understand the podcast world more a year is nothing like we're infants. Like, there are all these podcast people out there who we talk to who've been doing it for like 10 years. Yeah. It's crazy. So like, we're still babies. We're still a

Lindsay (00:01:37):

Little baby pod

Moby (00:01:39):

<laugh>. But nonetheless, as I was saying, I really had this moment when I was looking back at all the people we've spoken to and all the strange things we've covered. And I love that it, it makes no sense, which in a way makes, at least for me perfect sense. Well,

Lindsay (00:01:55):

That was a little bit what we set out to do. I remember when we were first talking about the podcast and, and we, we came up with all of these very specific ideas of, let's do a podcast that's just about creativity, or that's just about animal rights, or that's just about any of the things that we care so much about. But then you said something that I initially didn't really understand, which was, let's just do whatever we want. Let's just leave it wide open. Let's make it as broad as possible so that we leave ourselves open to talk about whatever, whenever. And at first I was like, no, it's chaos. But it's actually been, I think the best part of doing this podcast is that we can talk about whatever moves us. It's so fun and leaves us, I mean, we can be as creative or stupid or smart as we want. We can have anyone that we find interesting or that we really love to come on the podcast. So I think it's an awesome thing.

Moby (00:02:50):

And also, I will say how surprised I've been that there's something potentially profound about podcasting. And what I mean by that is, as we've said, like you have conversations with people you've either never met before or people you know, but have never had an in-depth conversation with like some of the people we've had on the podcast, like Steve O Hunter, Dan Butner, ed Begley, like people I've known,

Lindsay (00:03:16):

Even Lisa

Moby (00:03:17):

Edelstein. Yeah. Lisa, people I've known for quite a long time. But for the most part, my conversations with them socially tend to be kind of light and fun. Just like, Hey, what's going on? Do you want to go order onion rings from Hugo's? Or something like just, and you

Lindsay (00:03:32):

Don't get to go in depth about your own experiences and really ask and listen. It's such a, it's this little container Yeah. That we

Moby (00:03:40):

Have here. And I've been really surprised by that aspect of it. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> the, and it might sound like I'm being overly dramatic, but Yeah. The potential for profundity has been really surprising and wonderful. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And also because it's one of the only times, at least in my life, where you have a long conversation and for the most part you don't interrupt the other person. Yeah. Like you, it's that when one person is speaking, everyone listens. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and everyone. And when, as a result, when people are speaking, especially 'cause they know it's being recorded, it's a chance for them to sort of say things that are more earnest and more thoughtful that otherwise they might not ever have a chance to talk about. Yeah.

Lindsay (00:04:17):

I completely agree.

Moby (00:04:19):

Also, I'm aware of something what that I think, at least I think I'm aware of something. Did you write an epic poem about our one year Moby Pod anniversary? I

Lindsay (00:04:30):

Did. I really wrote a poem. Okay. And it reads like a children's book. And I dunno how epic it is, but it does exist. And

Moby (00:04:38):

Let's just, you know what,

Lindsay (00:04:39):

I had a lovely time writing it.

Moby (00:04:41):

In this era of overstatement and self-promotion, let's just say that you've written the greatest epic poem that's ever existed. Keeping in mind I haven't read it yet, nor have I heard it, but I would love if you would share your one year Moby Pod anniversary epic poem with me and Bagel and Mike and Mike Fki, who's sitting over there in the corner. Okay, great. Okay. So do you wanna read your epic poem specifically for me and Bagel and everyone listening specifically?

Lindsay (00:05:07):

Yes. Okay. Are you ready? Yes. Bagel, are you ready?

Moby (00:05:11):

Lindsay Hicks epic poem about one year of doing Moby Pod

Lindsay (00:05:16):

365 short days ago.

Moby (00:05:19):

So far so good. Lindsay, sorry, I won't interrupt. Okay. I'm gonna

Lindsay (00:05:22):

Stop <laugh>. Okay.

Moby (00:05:22):

Okay. Please start from the beginning. Okay.

Lindsay (00:05:23):

365 short days ago, Lindsay and Bagel approached their friend Mo. The people need more than just your great songs. Your voice has a place in the podcasting throngs. So Moy considered, but at first he doubted why take up more space in a place that's so crowded, but Lindsay and Bagel pushed him to try it. You've got cool things to say. No need to keep quiet.

Moby (00:05:47):

<laugh>. Uh, I hate my laugh. No, keep going.

Lindsay (00:05:51):

We wanted to start with something quite showy. So we kicked the pot off with tales about Bowie. I guess it was stressful to enter the fray. So next up was some tips for our anxiety. Our film punk rock vegan movie had just graced the screen. So we spoke to its star, the Great Derrick Green. Next was the actor New York's party queen, the prolific painter Lisa Edelstein. When fee for fighting a fact war was waged just a few battles, but more will be staged. Then there was the time demons damaged our mic. Rachel Sta fought back with a light counterstrike. If you wanna live healthier long past 100, Dan Butner can help. And his hotness, abundant <laugh>. If you wanna make choices for a better planet, ed Bigley Jr's here to help you plan it.

Moby (00:06:44):

Okay, <laugh>.

Lindsay (00:06:46):

Okay. We covered remixes and ambient music. If it makes a sound, Moby can produce it. There was quantum mechanics and bad pickup lines. We even took a journey through Mo's vegan time. The soft side of Steve-O had us enamored, gentle and funny, and now never hammered. <laugh>

Moby (00:07:06):

<laugh>.

Lindsay (00:07:08):

Peter Kalmus had once chained himself to a bank, would you rather survive or fill your gas tank? We wrote two cool songs about sadness and crying and one about aliens Earth occupying Dr. Kristen Thompson preached psychiatry. We told stories of storms and sobriety. Our friend Gwenna Hunter makes LA way better. Her cool vegan food bank is quite the joy spreader. Nobody saves animals quite like Gene Bauer. We were so impressed with his compassionate power. You'd think the next guest was Demonic Poseidon. But he's just a sober civilian. Our friend Hunter Biden, we had so much fun with the sweet Ashley Jackson, a busy genzer can't catch her. Relaxing

Moby (00:07:55):

<laugh>.

Lindsay (00:07:57):

We chose meditation to end '23. Shockingly Thankful Bagel, Moby, and Me. While we hoped Moby Pod would inspire and beguile it's our listeners who've joined us, that made it all worthwhile.

Moby (00:08:10):

Wow. Um, that was great. Really. Yeah. Thanks. I mean, some of the rhymes Maybe I like,

Lindsay (00:08:16):

Did you like when I rhymed Planet with Plan It? Yeah.

Moby (00:08:20):

I guess that's a rhyme. Or is that a pun? There's that word play.

Lindsay (00:08:22):

I don't really know. I also tried to, um, ro hundred with Abundant.

Moby (00:08:27):

Do you know, there were some moments that weren't a plus, but overall everything was perfect. Thanks

Lindsay (00:08:32):

<laugh>. Yeah. I also rhymed fray with anxiety. Yeah, that's, that's one of my personal favorites.

Moby (00:08:38):

It was really great. Thank you for summing up a year of Moby Pod in one epic poem. That is the greatest epic poem ever written. <laugh>. Okay. So moving on. I thought it might be interesting to talk about our most distinct memories of each guest.

Lindsay (00:08:57):

Great. Let's do it. I love that idea.

Moby (00:09:00):

Okay. So should we

Lindsay (00:09:01):

Start, do you wanna go in order? Because I've got our little list here. Yeah. Let's,

Moby (00:09:04):

Let's start, let's start one year ago with our very first guest. And for each guest we'll just talk about some impression, some memory, something that surprised us. 'cause everybody luckily, I mean, we haven't had any stinkers. Everybody's been great.

Lindsay (00:09:20):

Everyone's been so awesome. We've been really, really lucky. Okay. So who, so our first guest, which I remember, I was so nervous when we had him over and remember we were recorded outside. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, we were so crazy. <laugh>, um, was Derrick Green.

Moby (00:09:34):

So Derrick Green, he's the singer from Sepultura and he grew up in the hardcore punk scene. And he was one of the most insightful special voices in punk rock vegan movie. And I wasn't nervous to talk to Derrick because I'd met Derrick a bunch of times and I knew Yeah. He's such a wonderful contradiction because when you see him on stage, he looks like a giant demon. I mean,

Lindsay (00:09:58):

He's so tall and big and strong. Yeah. But then he's the sweetest, nicest, gentlest, most thoughtful, compassionate, vegan guy.

Moby (00:10:07):

I remember a couple weeks before we talked to him, he, and I think his nieces had gone to the Hollywood Bowl for a Disney singalong night. Yeah. That's, and so he's on social media, like singing along to Frozen with his nieces. He's like, God, that's cute. So juxtaposing that with this six foot five huge rockstar demon on stage. Yeah. And the fact that he's such an insightful, compassionate animal rights activist. Yeah. So I, I think if you're for starting off our Moby Pod, that

Lindsay (00:10:40):

That was a big, that was a big kickoff.

Moby (00:10:41):

I love, I love that. That was a really good one. And also sort of just indicated like, one of the goals is to talk to people in a way that might be surprising. Yeah. Like to show, to show aspects of people that people listening wouldn't otherwise expect. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. So is Lisa next

Lindsay (00:10:56):

Then Lisa was our second guest.

Moby (00:10:58):

So Lisa, I've known Lisa for a very long time. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And Lisa has sort of had three lives. Her first life, which we talked about. She was the queen of the club kids. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> in New York in the eighties, you know, Lisa e and she was like on the cover of Fanzines and was out every single night at the Limelight. And

Lindsay (00:11:19):

She was legendary. People know, I mean, she was a big deal, Lisa e

Moby (00:11:23):

Um, and then obviously she transitioned that into a remarkable acting career.

Lindsay (00:11:28):

Unbelievable.

Moby (00:11:29):

And it's been, I mean, okay. I you, you might know this better than I do, but obviously she was in House, she's in, uh,

Lindsay (00:11:35):

Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce,

Moby (00:11:36):

Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce, which

Lindsay (00:11:37):

I watched over the Pandemic. And boy was that, is that a delight? It's delightful. Delightful TV show.

Moby (00:11:41):

Um, the West Wing.

Lindsay (00:11:43):

Yes. She was in the West Wing. Um, I always forget that.

Moby (00:11:45):

I think she was in Seinfeld. She might have had a cameo. Seinfeld. Cool.

Lindsay (00:11:49):

I mean, what hasn't Lisa? She's done a gazillion things and she's so

Moby (00:11:53):

Good. But the main thing we wanted to talk about with her was her painting, which

Lindsay (00:11:57):

Her Oh my God.

Moby (00:11:57):

<laugh> to state the obvious, there's a long tradition of musicians trying to be fine artists. Yep. And for the most part, it doesn't work out too well. But in Lisa's case, when she first showed me her paintings, I remember thinking like, oh no, what if they're bad? What if they're bad? How am I gonna pretend they're good? And then she showed it to me and they were so much better and deeper and darker than I had, than I had imagined. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So it was wonderful. We talked to her about creativity and then I believe up next. Okay, so Dan Butner, what a story. And I learned so much. I've known him for a long time and I've learned so much about him just by sitting down doing the podcast with him. I mean, obviously talking about Blue Zones. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But like, I'm still intimidated by every aspect of him. Like riding a bicycle across the Sahara Desert, riding a bicycle from Alaska to Patagonia. It's like

Lindsay (00:12:46):

Unbelievable. Like things I didn't even know that you could do <laugh>.

Moby (00:12:49):

Yeah. So he just so impressive and I'm so thrilled that I guess the Blue Zones has done incredibly well on Netflix.

Lindsay (00:12:57):

Yes. It has done so well. And he's all over the place. I mean, and preaching longevity and preaching a vegan diet to anyone that'll listen. And a lot of people are listening and I think it's an amazing thing. Yeah. It actually, okay. I've been trying to get my parents to adopt a little bit more vegetables into their diet and I've actually gotten my dad to start eating beans more regularly. You're

Moby (00:13:23):

Kidding. It's keep I just want to contextualize this for the people listening. Lindsay's family lives in Texas. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And they're lovely people.

Lindsay (00:13:31):

It's a regional, there's a very specific regional diet. Yeah.

Moby (00:13:34):

I don't wanna be critical of them, but like, they're your dad, especially like, wonderful man <laugh>, but definitely not someone who's inclined towards eating a lot of beans unless they're probably wrapped in bacon or

Lindsay (00:13:44):

Yes, exactly. Or filled with like pork bits. But my mom has been getting him to eat beans more regularly and at first he was like, no, I won't do it. But now he's getting a little bit more comfortable with it. I think it's an amazing thing. And it's because I got them the Blue Zones book and my mother read it. Well, she says she read it and she started following Dan Butner and she was so inspired by the longevity aspect. It's very hard to connect the compassionate side that we all have to a piece of food on a plate. Like people don't connect it to the animal that suffered. But I think when you re-contextualize it in, do you wanna have a sick and end of your short life or do you want to feel good for so much longer? And when you put it in those terms of like, it's up to you. You know?

Moby (00:14:34):

And there's one other aspect of that, uh, which is especially tragic and heartbreaking, literally and figuratively, is in most of the Western world, people are sick and people expect to be sick. Like, I mean, I have family who live in middle America and like they're obese. Yeah. And they expect to be obese because everyone around them is obese. And like, if you don't have diabetes by the time you're 50, it's almost like something's wrong with you. Yeah. You know? And like they're constantly in and out of the doctor's office getting different types of prescriptions. But that's the status quo. And it's so tragic and heartbreaking that it doesn't have to be. And I've even had a friend of mine's brother, he's I think in his thirties and he's obese and diabetic and very sick. And she went to him, she was like, you know, you could just modify your diet and probably be a lot healthier. And he got mad at her and he was like, absolutely not. Yeah.

Lindsay (00:15:28):

People are very emotionally attached to their habits.

Moby (00:15:31):

It's really

Lindsay (00:15:32):

Just, even if it's hurting them, it's such a strange thing.

Moby (00:15:36):

So God bless Dan Butner. Yeah. I think he, for being an evangelist, a self-evident evangelist going to people and saying, oh, if you eat better and live a healthier life, you'll live a healthier life. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> not to be insecure, but I had an idea.

Lindsay (00:15:50):

What's your

Moby (00:15:50):

Idea? My idea was I'm going to take your epic poem and set it to some sort of music

Lindsay (00:15:57):

And are you gonna like sing it?

Moby (00:15:59):

Uh, no. Doubtful. Um, I'm gonna take your po like your reading of the poem and set it to

Lindsay (00:16:04):

Music. Oh, fun.

Moby (00:16:06):

Maybe we'll see how it works. I've never taken an

Lindsay (00:16:09):

Epic poem. Maybe you should sing it.

Moby (00:16:10):

<laugh>. Let's see it. Okay. So when we finish this part of the recording, I'm gonna take your recording of the poem and maybe I'll redo it myself with singing, but probably, I think I'd rather take your version and orchestrate it. I don't know what that means. And I don't know if it'll work.

Lindsay (00:16:30):

Maybe I'll have to reread it in a more presentational fashion.

Moby (00:16:35):

Okay. And then, so at the very end of this episode, we will debut the orchestrated epic poem that you wrote. Yeah. Keeping in mind, I've never orchestrated an epic poem, so

Lindsay (00:16:47):

There's a first time for Earth.

Moby (00:16:49):

I might have a few different tries. Great. Like a joyful version, a somber version, an energetic version, A quiet

Lindsay (00:16:57):

Ooh, great. We could do an a SMR version. <laugh>

Moby (00:17:00):

<laugh>. You like a smr? I love it. I can't stand it. It, yeah. Okay. So it's just my favorite Agree to disagree. Just like San Diego and Anchorman. Yeah. Okay. So who's next?

Lindsay (00:17:14):

Um, my dear friend Rachel Stavis. And

Moby (00:17:17):

This was this, I would say of the year of doing Moby Pod. This was the strangest moment of all of the Moby Pods because she is a demonologist and an exorcist. And as we were interviewing her and talking about demons, there was a type of interference in her audio that I've never heard before. And so on the social media post scary. We had a photo of the waveform. You could, we played the audio and it was so disconcerting because I've been engineering audio for decades. I've never had that happen before. I'm talking about decade. The first time I plugged a mic cable into a microphone was probably, okay. This is gonna be sad. Um, my mom used to date country western musicians, multiple, I don't know. I mean, it was the seventies and she would take me to go see them in bars. So part of my childhood was spent in country western bars in Connecticut in the seventies, and I would get put to work. So I'd be like plugging mic cables into microphones when I was nine years old. So that's almost 50 years of plugging mic cables into microphones. Wow. Starting when I was nine. I've never, the first time I ever heard that distinct inexplicable type of interference was when Rachel started talking about demons.

Lindsay (00:18:49):

That's so weird. Ugh.

Moby (00:18:51):

That's why. Like, and, and it might sound like we, I remember when we launched that episode, I was like, are people gonna think I'm just sort of making this up? Like, is this just like PT Barnum style showmanship <laugh>? It's like, no, I promise you I've had microphones stop working. I've had cable stop working. I've never heard that before.

Lindsay (00:19:08):

Yeah. Weird things happen around Rachel. Weird electronic technical things happen around her. I've seen it happen many times. But I love Rachel, aside from being an exorcist and a demonologist, she's also a really good friend and a really good gift giver, which I think is a special talent.

Moby (00:19:26):

I wouldn't know anything about that. Yeah. So, okay, so, and then, because I, my memory, was it Kirsten was next? Yes. Okay. Your memory is Kirsten Thompson pretty good.

Lindsay (00:19:35):

Yeah. Yeah. Kirsten Thompson. So she,

Moby (00:19:37):

Dr. Kirsten, Dr. Kirsten Thompson. And what a story like this amazing therapist who's helped so many people and just a lovely, warm person, but also like the fact that she was supposed to start work as a financial analyst in the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.

Lindsay (00:19:57):

Shocking. I mean, what?

Moby (00:19:58):

Yeah. Like her story was just so, I mean, apart from her insight as a psychiatrist and a therapist, that that alone would've made her fascinating. But just her story was so interesting and surprising. But

Lindsay (00:20:11):

What a beautiful thing. 'cause I, I think a lot about what she said of she had this experience of being there and being young and about to start, start this journey and seeing people much older that seemed unhappy, thinking they were about to die. And it making her think is this life is short. Is this how I wanna be living my life? And she eventually got out of it and went to school to be a surgeon because she wanted to do something that made her feel fulfilled because of that experience of honoring the kind of the, the shortness of life

Moby (00:20:49):

And, and to become a Yeah. And then to quit being a surgeon, to go back to school to get your PhD in psychiatry.

Lindsay (00:20:56):

I mean, yeah. Like

Moby (00:20:57):

What, I mean, I'm a college dropout and, uh, I just, again, like I love these inspiring people, but I do sort of feel kind of inadequate by comparison.

Lindsay (00:21:06):

Oh yeah. I was like, I had to like, bust my just to get a BFA in classical theater. I didn't even have a minor <laugh>.

Moby (00:21:16):

Okay. So who's next?

Lindsay (00:21:17):

Next up is Steve-O

Moby (00:21:20):

Okay. So this, I think for a lot of people, this people were very surprised that we're having Steve-O on Moby Pod. Um, because to state the obvious, Steve-O is universally globally known as literally a.

Lindsay (00:21:38):

Yeah. He's, he's a clown

Moby (00:21:40):

And he went to clown school. Yeah. And he is known for being this goofball, like, who gets a tattoo of himself on his back while he's riding dune buggies. And like, I mean,

Lindsay (00:21:51):

The stuff they came up with to do was just like so dangerous and absurd and some often hilarious. Um, but, but

Moby (00:21:59):

People make the assumption that's who he is. Yeah.

Lindsay (00:22:03):

There's just

Moby (00:22:03):

This complete doof. I've known Steve o weirdly enough, we're bo, we're both sort of from dairy and Connecticut, but I've known Steve o on and off for quite a while. And I did his podcast and we had the most thoughtful, deep conversation about sobriety and spirituality. And so that's why I wanted him to come on ours. Not to talk about like, what's it like to get tattooed in the back of a dune buggy, but what's your journey towards having a spiritual life? What's your journey towards sobriety? And it was, I, I don't know because I don't like to read comments 'cause they make me scared. Um, but I did have some people reach out to me saying, wow, I never expected him to be so like, gentle and thoughtful.

Lindsay (00:22:50):

He, I mean, that was my experience because I had never, I had never met him before we had him over. And, you know, I grew up watching him be this insane person on tv, a. Yeah. And I was so, so taken with his kind of his gentleness and how he loves his partner and he just wants to like live this life and find ways to be creative, but also to like help people and support people on their spiritual sober journey. I mean, it's just, it's a beautiful

Moby (00:23:22):

Thing. And I mean, you would think, I mean, so many people, their goals involve like making a ton of money with crypto or becoming commercial real estate investors or becoming an influencer who makes a sex tape. His goal is to open an animal sanctuary. Yeah. And that's so surprising and wonderful. And it's really going back to what we were talking about earlier. I love seeing these sides of people that are so inspiring and thoughtful. And I'm, I'm just grateful. Like, even if no one was listening, I just think we've had a year of just, I don't know, amazing contact with, with surprisingly special people.

Lindsay (00:24:01):

Surprisingly special people like Peter Kalmus.

Moby (00:24:05):

Okay. So I have never met Peter in person. I think he's the only remote interview we've done. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> because he's in North Carolina. And I discovered Peter Kalmus on social media because he's this outspoken climate scientist. And I've been like most people interested in climate change for a long time. Like, I had a conversation with Al Gore decades ago, and I asked Al Gore about meat and dairy production and climate change. And Al Gore said famously to me, he said, oh, well the role of meat and dairy production, climate change is the real inconvenient truth. So I've been following climate scientists on social media and climate activists. And Peter Kalmus was just the top of the heap. Yeah. So smart. I think multiple PhDs. But he also, he walks the walk and he goes out and he protests and gets arrested and he doesn't mince his words about climate change. 'cause there is a tendency or propensity that a lot of people have to talk about climate change as if we can respond to it in our own sweet time. Right.

Lindsay (00:25:10):

But he brings this sense of urgency in a way that I think a lot of other people don't quite do. It's amazing how he has no fear. Yeah. He doesn't care if it spooks people or scares people. He's like, we should be having a real reaction, real response if it makes us do something about it.

Moby (00:25:32):

I mean, the analogy for me is like, if someone's house is on fire, do you politely let them know that they might want to think about addressing the fact that their house is on fire? Or do you scream at the top of your lungs, Hey, your house is on fire. The only home you have is about to disappear. And so his response is inspiring, but it's also when you take a step back, you're like, that's how we should all be responding. Mm-Hmm.

Lindsay (00:25:55):

<affirmative>, I felt so lucky Yeah. That we got that time with him. Me too. It was, it's one of my favorite episodes. Only because I feel like it's so, it was so important. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and so timely. And I hope that we can, I mean, maybe we have him on again, but I think people of that nature that are preaching things that could potentially save our species, like maybe more of that. Yeah. Um, our next person was Gwenna Hunter.

Moby (00:26:21):

Okay. So speaking of magical human beings. Yeah. So we have for a while been trying to work on a documentary about the Animal save movement. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And we are hopefully going to be launching that in some form in 2024, but

Lindsay (00:26:38):

In one form or another. Yeah. Maybe an unexpected form.

Moby (00:26:41):

And so Gwenna, we met her because we interviewed her about her experience at Animal Save. And I don't know if you, I mean, I don't wanna speak for both of us, but my reaction was when she started talking, she spoke about animals and the suffering of animals and meat and dairy production and bearing witness just in a way that I'd never heard anyone talk like, 'cause it was personal and deeply emotional. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and spiritual in a very ancient sort of way. Yes. Like it felt, I, I felt like, I remember when we were interviewing her, I was getting choked up and I felt like, I don't know, it felt like I was in a different time and place.

Lindsay (00:27:18):

Me too. I, what, what I, 'cause I think a lot of animal activists, because, you know, we see so much awful stuff all the time that I'll speak for myself. I think I disconnect emotion from it because I just can't, I just can't handle it. If I connected emotion, emotion to my animal activism every day, I would just be so depleted because it's so, I mean, the emotion is so huge and so big and the fear and the, all of those feelings are so big. But something that really struck me about Gwenna was how connected her emotions were to the experience of being an animal activist. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And the way that she commute. I, I mean, it was, I, everyone in the room was emotional and had tears in their eyes while she was talking.

Moby (00:27:59):

And this, you know, we sort of live in this world where people think that vulnerability is a weakness. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. We live in this bellacose age where people think that, you know, like yelling and being tough, like that's strengths. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And what people like Gwenna show me are like no vulnerabilities. A strengths. Yeah. And it's terrifying as well to like inhabit, honestly inhabit that vulnerable place is so strong and so challenging. Again, everyone we've spoken to I've been honored to have on, but her in particular, I felt like it was like we had a visit from an ancient goddess I know who came to visit us from a time portal.

Lindsay (00:28:38):

Yeah. There is a beautiful depth in Gwenna and it was so great having her on. Our next person was also a very inspiring person who's also a major hottie, which is, uh, Gene Bauer. So

Moby (00:28:51):

Gene, for people who might not be aware, he started Farm Sanctuary, you know, one of the first farm animal sanctuaries and rescue organizations. He's also at present, and I'm sure there are other people, but he's the only person I know who's been vegan longer than I have, which I both love. And maybe a little bit resent him for <laugh>. And similar to Dan Butner, he's just this superman. Like he jogs to the top of mountains, doesn't walk, mean doesn't hike to the top of mountains. He jogs to the top of mountains. He does ultra marathons while he's not running Farm Sanctuary and lobbying Congress and saving the world. So that he was our first two part episode just because we had such a long in depth special conversation with him. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and his place in the animal rights movement is so legendary and iconic. Yep.

Lindsay (00:29:40):

He is iconic. I I mean he's one of the people that when we first started talking about doing a podcast was one of the first names I ever mentioned just because of how much he's given Yeah. To this movement. I mean, it's, it's kind of unbelievable. And

Moby (00:29:55):

His ninja power of being sort of like humble and gentle and sort of soft spoken, but so intelligent. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and so insightful. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> like if you talk to him in passing, you could sort of think, he seems like just very, just very gentle. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But then you realize like, oh, there is like steel and persistence underneath that. Yep. And I sort of love the provincial aspect is that he grew up so you live a mile away from me. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And he grew up right in between where we live. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So the fact that he was able to like, walk down from his parents' house Yeah. To do our podcast that was just felt like you walked over with Bagel, he walked over from his parents' house. Like it felt like we were just like pals meeting up in the neighborhood.

Lindsay (00:30:39):

Yeah. No, it was, it was so awesome having him. And I loved the way that those episodes turned out.

Moby (00:30:46):

Okay. So I think we're up to the Lunatic Big Guns episodes that, so this Hunter Biden was next, right?

Lindsay (00:30:55):

Yes. Hunter Biden.

Moby (00:30:57):

And so this, I mean, again, I keep saying this, but everybody we've spoken to has been surprising and special. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. There are a bunch of things that made me excited to talk to Hunter, and it was also our second two-part. Episode one was he is one of the most well-known people on the planet. And he's so demonized, vilified, even progressives vilify him, but like on the right, they see him as this mastermind evil demonic figure.

Lindsay (00:31:28):

I mean, the stories that are out there about Hunter are so out of left field. And yes, this is a man who has made mistakes that I think he has owned up to and has worked very, very hard to make amends and live a better life as we spoke about on the podcast. But God, the feedback on that of how, how strongly especially, um, conservatives respond to him. I mean, such vitriolic anger

Moby (00:32:01):

At him and, and the contrast. And this made me so happy. And, and I, I went on CNN to talk about this episode and I think the journalist was disappointed because they wanted me to feed the flames. They wanted me to create something salacious and TMZ worthy. And I was like hunter's, my friend. He spends his days making beautiful, gentle paintings and drinking bad coffee and hanging out with his wife and his son. And he is funny and humble and caring the contrast between how the right and Trump and these people have vilified him and who he actually is. The fact that we were able to show that mm-Hmm. <affirmative> one, I felt like I just, he's my friend and I really wanted people to get a chance to meet him. Yeah. You know, not how he's portrayed in the media, but to meet him, but also hopefully in our own very small way to sort of point a little bit of a finger at this culture of hatred that exists. Especially, I'm really thrilled and we didn't talk about this that much, but that we were able to launch his episodes in December, which for me was very intentional. 'cause for a lot of religious traditions, that's the most spiritual time of the year. Yes.

Lindsay (00:33:10):

It's a time of community, family, gratitude, warmth.

Moby (00:33:16):

And I just don't know any spiritual tradition that says you should condemn and judge people you've never met and never spoken to. Like all these Christians, these republican Christians, these right-wing Christians who claim to be like working on behalf of Christianity. Like show me in the New Testament where it says you're supposed to hate and judge strangers,

Lindsay (00:33:41):

Especially based on, based on hearsay. Yeah. Based on things that you don't know if it's true or not, but you decide it's true because it fits your narrative of a, a president that you don't like because of reasons that were preached to you on some weird,

Moby (00:33:57):

I mean, there's another way to describe what you just politely referenced. It's a lie. They're lying. Yeah. It's a lies. So where I'm gonna add that to my, my Jesus question. Like where in the New Testament did Jesus say to his followers, you should lie about people you've never met and make sure that you hate them and promote violence against them all based on lies and falsehood. Like there's, I I'm, I'm not a big fan of like, sort of binary deities, but that doesn't seem like it's a little more demonic and devilish than anything to do with an actual like Judeo-Christian spiritual tradition.

Lindsay (00:34:35):

I couldn't agree more. I also, something I'm thinking about, because we were just talking earlier about how now the right is saying that Taylor Swift is a left wing demon who is a deep state plant and it's all kind of this contrived thing and it's, there's some mastermind, evil mastermind kind of pulling the strings. And I think that Hunter is a little bit wrapped up in that narrative of there is some secret cabal making all of these plans to do something bad. I don't really understand what what the ultimate goal of the secret.

Moby (00:35:14):

It's, it's very confusing. And it used to be very easy to dismiss that crazy right wing narrative when it was just like a few lunatics like standing on street corners. But now it's 45% of the population of the United States like Trump is currently in the lead. I mean, it's, I I hope shocking one thing and I know that politics can annoy people, but I do think it's our, our responsibility this year to try and do at least a few episodes that address

Lindsay (00:35:42):

About the state of the political Yeah. Landscape.

Moby (00:35:45):

Especially because so many progressives and Democrats are planning on not voting or they're gonna vote for RFK Junior or they're like, I'm like a third party candidate would be great if it was viable. But as we saw with Ralph Nader, as we saw in the last election with Jill Stein, like a third party candidate guarantees that the Republican's going to win. And it's just, it's yes. And I know that people might get mad at me for saying that, but like, it's just empirically supported truth.

Lindsay (00:36:15):

This is something that I have always hoped to accomplish with this podcast is to promote gentleness and creativity and compassion and thoughtfulness and a more peaceful, fruitful way of living. And I think that so much of politics has is so, is so far from removed from anything that even remotely looks like peace or, or a fruitful life.

Moby (00:36:43):

Well it's interesting you say that because something I've become more aware of recently is like, so I have a lot of cognitive dissonance around the culture in which we live, as I'm sure you do as well as I'm sure do the people listening. But one thing I was texting with my friend Charlotte, and we've been sort of just like feeling this, like what is going on? And what we realized is a lot of our perspective, it's rational and it's just supported by evidence. The idea that not killing people with guns is better than killing people with guns. The idea that climate change is real just makes sense because that's what scientists and evidence say, you know, on and on. Again, like it's just like we have kind of empirically supported rational perspectives and when the other side invents their perspectives, it's almost like we're trained to respect diverging opinions. We're trained to tolerate other people's perspectives. I'm like, yeah, but what about when they're wrong? What about when they're, their beliefs are not based on anything other than convenient narratives shared by lunatics. Like, but

Lindsay (00:37:53):

So many of their perspectives are just outright violent. Yeah. And deadly, I, I saw this report of this, I don't remember what the percentage is, but some huge percentage leap in pregnancies from rapes and women that have died from not being able to abort deadly pregnancies. Like Yeah. Because of right wing policy that is violent, that is deadly and that is their policy. And it just doesn't make sense to me. Yeah.

Moby (00:38:22):

That's what I mean. Like the sort of synaptic cognitive gulf of like, how do we make sense of it? Climate change is real and the fact that denying it, denying viciously denying it is where does that come from? And like, I, I'm, so I just can't process it and it's hard

Lindsay (00:38:39):

To look

Moby (00:38:40):

At. And so

Lindsay (00:38:40):

It's hard to think about.

Moby (00:38:41):

And I would say presumptuously in our own tiny way, like Moby Pod. Yeah. We've talked to people and shown people who they are show their vulnerability, show, show them when they're being inspiring, show them when they're being honest, show people who are out there day to day trying to actually change things for the better. And that's, I I think it's nice to create this little micro like utopian microcosm.

Lindsay (00:39:03):

Yeah, I think so too. It's the, you know, we're just creating the world we wanna live in.

Moby (00:39:07):

And so we're up to our last guest of the year now.

Lindsay (00:39:10):

No, we have two more. Oh,

Moby (00:39:11):

That's right. I forgot. Okay. Yeah. 'cause we had one that was your,

Lindsay (00:39:14):

'cause we were supposed to

Moby (00:39:15):

Yeah, we had your Covid guest. Yes. So, so Lindsay had Covid and as a result, um, so Ashley Jackson was supposed to be the first guest of the New Year after our anniversary episode and she was instead the last guest of the first year, if that makes any sense.

Lindsay (00:39:33):

Well, the last guest of our Yeah, yeah,

Moby (00:39:35):

Yeah. And so we had Ed Begley, ed, beautiful, wonderful Sweet Ed. He came over with soup. His stories about old Hollywood were phenomenal. And also his journey to sobriety, his journey to veganism. I mean, in terms of like environmental activism. No one I can think of has walked the walk more than Ed.

Lindsay (00:39:55):

Yep. Every single aspect of his life is driven toward drawing awareness to the environmental hellscape that we're living in. Yeah. But also to living a more thoughtful, compassionate life. And he's also just so nice. Yeah. What a what a what a kind person taking

Moby (00:40:16):

Public transit to the Academy Awards. I mean, I mean like, I'm so grateful for the people we've had on Me too and then wrapping it up with Ashley Jackson, uh, the daughter of Reverend Jesse Jackson and Ashley before she came over here, we had never met her. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> almost everybody else on the podcast we had communicated with or been old friends with. Um, and Ashley, we, we'd never met Ashley and we're like, uhoh, what's gonna happen? Like, is this gonna be good? Is this gonna be bad? Are we gonna, and she's my favorite person.

Lindsay (00:40:45):

What a delightful time we had with her. It was like sitting with an old friend even though we had just met. I just, I enjoyed her so much. We're actual friends now. And her story is great. She's so inspiring. I think we've both said on multiple occasions that she gives us both hope for the future of human beings.

Moby (00:41:03):

I mean, it's sometimes I look at like Gen Z culture and I'm like, uhoh, do they not know that? Like they have to vote. Do they not know that like climate change is real and being an influencer is not. Do they not know how dire And of course they do. It's not like Gen Z have their head in the sands. But it seems like sometimes I'll look on TikTok and I'll be like, oh boy, look at all these distractions. And who's paying attention to the actual problems? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And then you meet Ashley Jackson and you realize, oh, gen Z. Like there are some super inspiring, smart, remarkable people like her. So yeah, to your point, she absolutely gave me hope for future generations, assuming they can figure out how to fix all of our problems and mistakes. Yeah.

Lindsay (00:41:48):

We really put them in a bad, in a bad place. But yeah, she was so great. And then yeah, that's all of our guests.

Moby (00:41:55):

And so now, and I hope that going through our year of guests has been interesting. It certainly was for me. But, um, definitely we we went into a slightly more earnest, emphatic tone. Yes. Sometimes you and I are inclined towards being a little bit ridiculous. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> in the last, going through all the guests. We were not too ridiculous.

Lindsay (00:42:17):

Not no. Well also I take our guests very seriously. Yeah, me too. 'cause they're really

Moby (00:42:20):

Cool and it's an honor to have them on the show. Yes. But now can we, but I don't

Lindsay (00:42:24):

Take us very seriously. <laugh> as you shouldn't. Yeah.

Moby (00:42:28):

Can we go and do something a little more ridiculous? Uh

Lindsay (00:42:31):

Yeah.

Moby (00:42:31):

Which is so you have some listener mail?

Lindsay (00:42:35):

I do.

Moby (00:42:35):

I do. And I have, while you were getting listener mail, I actually reached out to some of our friends and asked them for some questions. Okay.

Lindsay (00:42:44):

Should I go first with, um, our listener questions?

Moby (00:42:47):

Or do I There's one in particular. One of our friends had a very great request. I'm gonna hope it's just for you. Okay. Okay. Someone, I don't wanna name names, but let's say his name rhymes with Bobert.

Lindsay (00:43:01):

Robert Russell? <Laugh>.

Moby (00:43:02):

He said, I love Moby Pod, but why isn't there more choreography? And I just, well, I mean obviously the first question is, well, because it's primarily something people listen to and choreography doesn't work too well. But nonetheless we do film meet some, we

Lindsay (00:43:21):

Do film. I mean, we could do some choreography right now. Mm.

Moby (00:43:25):

Maybe we think about it <laugh> and maybe for a future episode. I'm just saying, um, his

Lindsay (00:43:31):

Question. I'm actually a great choreographer. Some people dunno that about me.

Moby (00:43:33):

Okay. So a future episode in for Bobert's. Uh,

Lindsay (00:43:37):

So is it choreography that like, I will come up with the choreography and I will teach it to you and you will do the dance.

Moby (00:43:44):

He just said, why isn't there more choreography and dancing? Because

Lindsay (00:43:48):

Can I just give you some dance moves and a costume and then you just

Moby (00:43:52):

To an extent depends. Dance, nobody's watching. I'm, I'm way too comfortable with humiliating myself in public. But sometimes, sometimes I regret humiliating myself in public. Uh, sometimes I'm proud of it, like when I put on the cow costume. Um,

Lindsay (00:44:06):

Yeah, that was great. So I think we put you in a costume and

Moby (00:44:09):

Vice versa. So don't feel so vulnerable. I do the same thing with you. Yeah. Okay. Great. Okay. That

Lindsay (00:44:13):

Sounds weird and fun. Yeah. And thanks Robert for that.

Moby (00:44:16):

Okay. So, uh,

Lindsay (00:44:18):

So do you wanna, do you want to go to our, I just picked a few Yes, please. Um, that I

Moby (00:44:22):

Thought were quite nice. And by way, thanks everyone for sending in comments and questions. Yeah.

Lindsay (00:44:26):

Thanks guys. Zev s really wants to know what we do when we're not working. Okay. What you do when you're not working and what I do when we're not, when we're not working.

Moby (00:44:37):

Okay. Well, my work schedule is weird 'cause I work seven days a week. 365 days a year. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, like, I pride myself on never taking days off.

Lindsay (00:44:45):

I think you once said that weekends and holidays are for the week.

Moby (00:44:49):

<laugh>. So here's the thing. I love my job and I'm just, I don't like socializing that much. Interesting. So I love staying home, working on music, working on writing, working on activism. And when I'm not doing those things I like to play with Bagel. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I like to go hiking. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I like to watch old episodes of 30 Rock and Family Guy. And The Simpsons. And The Simpsons. And I like to read books. That's, I I mean I But you

Lindsay (00:45:19):

Also cook, you cook a

Moby (00:45:20):

Lot in order to eat. Yeah.

Lindsay (00:45:22):

Yeah. But you're not like ordering from DoorDash. You're not buying like pre-made Amy's burritos. You are like cooking.

Moby (00:45:31):

I cook every meal for myself. Correct.

Lindsay (00:45:32):

Like from scratch cooking. Yeah. That is, I don't think you realize what a commitment that is and also how rare that is. I have a lot of Amy's burritos.

Moby (00:45:41):

Amy's burritos are delicious. They're great. I'm not, I mean like door ordering the vegan food on DoorDash, microwaving Amy's burritos. That's great. Yeah. It's weird. Where did this come from? I think it started when I was first a vegan living in the abandoned factory. Like in order to eat I had to cook. I had no money and simple ingredients. So I had to learn how to make beans and oats and I kind of eat the same way now.

Lindsay (00:46:04):

I think it's amazing.

Moby (00:46:05):

So Zev as that's when I'm not working, Lindsay has a much more interesting question. 'cause Lindsay actually likes going out into the world and socializing.

Lindsay (00:46:12):

Oh, I love socializing. I love to go to parties and dinners and boy do I love a good event, especially if I get to dress up and wear red lipstick.

Moby (00:46:23):

And when you get to have past appetizer, like vegan,

Lindsay (00:46:25):

Vegan past, oh God, I love past apps. Yeah. I love past apps more than almost anything. I also really love an open bar even though I can't drink that much because it's just, I like the vibe. I love going to movies sometimes. Um, Bagel and I go on lots of really nice walks and sometimes hikes. I also love to read and I do a lot of yoga. A lot of yoga.

Moby (00:46:47):

So we're both simple. But maybe I'm you're a little less simple because you actually go out into the world and socialize and see humans and go to parties. Yeah. And I do my best to avoid all that stuff. Yes.

Lindsay (00:46:59):

'cause you don't love to socialize, but we socialize like every day you and me, it's

Moby (00:47:03):

Work, but it's, it's like work socializing and also the fact that we, you know, like a significant part of our work life involves making sure a Bagel is happy. Yeah,

Lindsay (00:47:11):

Exactly.

Moby (00:47:12):

Okay. I have a, a comment here from one of our friends. Okay. And the comment was simply as animal rights activists, can you please do more in the animal rights space? To which I say absolutely. Like I feel like we, we have, and I I like the idea we

Lindsay (00:47:28):

Do quite a lot in the animal rights space.

Moby (00:47:30):

I mean, I like the idea of creating balance. I also really like the idea of addressing, I mean, sometimes we address animal rights very directly, like, you know, with Gene Bauer, um, like with Gwenna sometimes even

Lindsay (00:47:41):

With Ashley, with, um, with so many of these people. And even Peter in a way, you know, and Dan and their own way talk about

Moby (00:47:48):

That's what I mean the, the, the sort of the tangential way of looking at animal rights. Like with, with Dan Butner looking at it from a sustainability health perspective with Peter Kamis looking at it from a climate change perspective with Steve o looking at it from just an ethical perspective from someone you wouldn't expect. So, and Derrick Green looking at it from the perspective of a six foot five rock God in

Lindsay (00:48:09):

S and even from Lisa, who is, it's just a very, it's just an ingrained part of her life of she does all these amazing things, but she's also committed to veganism. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and animal activism in her own time. Yep.

Moby (00:48:20):

So, so yes. More animal rights. Absolutely. And if you have thoughts about people we should talk to and unique ways of looking at the animal rights issue, look, whether it's from the, the animal perspective, whether it's from climate, whether it's from health, whether it's from antibiotic resistance, whether it's from water use, sustainability, all of the above. Like anything we can do more animal rights.

Lindsay (00:48:44):

Absolutely. More is always in all aspects of our lives forever. I think we should always be trying to find more ways to infuse animal rights into literally everything that we do.

Moby (00:48:53):

Um, okay. So what's the next question? Comment. Okay.

Lindsay (00:48:55):

The next question I think is really funny. It's from Susanna Salberg. She said, I wonder if you're a fantastic story about the Naked Mole rat will ever come back. She wants, she misses the Naked Mole rat story. Do you remember the Naked Mole rat story where we started doing, we were trying to like come up with a movie in real time and

Moby (00:49:13):

Oh yeah.

Lindsay (00:49:14):

We ended up, there was like, the secret to human life was in the DNA of the Naked Mole rat. Yeah. And this, you know, woman came across it.

Moby (00:49:23):

So Yes, we'll absolutely revisit. I I mean, I love we, we only kind of did that once, but revisiting storytelling, like, why don't we start, maybe not every episode, but start like, why, just like create a little ongoing story that is ongoing and a story uhoh.

Lindsay (00:49:41):

Yeah. I think let's do it. I think it's really fun and I, a couple people have asked me about when we're gonna do it again, so we'll do that again. Thanks Susanna, for bringing that up. Okay. Here's a question that I think might have a fun answer, which is, have you thought of periodically taking the show on the road for live in audience experiences? Alicia Arradondo asked?

Moby (00:50:01):

Yes. The road most likely will consist of going to places in and around Los Angeles because I'm kind of provincial or in

Lindsay (00:50:10):

New York because we also go Yeah, that's go there

Moby (00:50:12):

Often. That's good idea. We could go to New York. Um, but we actually have a couple on the road live Moby Pods coming up. Uh, we just don't have specific dates yet. So once we have specific dates, you guys will be the first to know. A

Lindsay (00:50:31):

Hundred percent. Here's something. Bill Leonard who has become, is just such a great friend of the pod and chimes in a lot and always has really interesting things to say. He has something, I don't know, I've never really thought about and I wonder if you've thought about it, but he, he's apparently a very sensitive vegan and gets upset when people talk about eating meat, whatever. So he asked are there any books that are vegan friendly fiction or nonfiction that like, don't talk about animals or hurting them, like vegan friendly fiction?

Moby (00:51:06):

Hmm. Um,

Lindsay (00:51:08):

I don't know. I, I mean, I can't think of anything. And I was wondering if you could think

Moby (00:51:11):

Of something. I mean, the world of movies I can think of. So like, there's Babe and there's some of the Aardman entertainment Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> movies, uh, Okia. Um, but yeah, in the world of fiction, I mean obviously there's a lot of fiction that doesn't mention animals at all, but by exclusion that doesn't mean it's animal friendly. Just there aren't animals in it. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>

Lindsay (00:51:31):

Omission is tantamount to

Moby (00:51:34):

<laugh>

Lindsay (00:51:35):

Violence. Yeah.

Moby (00:51:36):

So, no, that's a, it's a wonderful question. I can't,

Lindsay (00:51:39):

I think it's such a good question because I never really thought about it before of like vegan friendly by just a story that is aware and compassionate towards animals without necessarily being a book about veganism or a book about animal rights. Yeah.

Moby (00:51:52):

That's what an interesting perspective and question. Thanks. Thanks

Lindsay (00:51:55):

Bill Leonard, um, oh, here's one that I thought was really fun from Neil Kun Cocoon. He asked, are there any thoughts about making songs created in the podcast available somewhere, like the Moby Pod songs that all live in one place?

Moby (00:52:11):

That's a great idea. I'm embarrassed to say that's the first time it's ever kind of crossed my mind. So yes, we have a bunch of Moby Pod songs that we're, that we're just keep and they're all ridiculous.

Lindsay (00:52:24):

They're all absurd.

Moby (00:52:26):

We definitely, we have them and at some point we should definitely make a Spotify playlist or something with the Moby Pod songs. And if, if the musical version of the epic poem is worth including, then we'll include that as well.

Lindsay (00:52:39):

Amazing. Great. I just thought that was really, that was really funny. Um, oh, and Julie Bickerstaff thinks that we should podcast about books that changed our life.

Moby (00:52:49):

Great idea. Let's do a book episode. I think that's a

Lindsay (00:52:52):

Really, really interesting idea. Fantastic

Moby (00:52:54):

Idea. Let, let's, let's just do, and maybe okay, so here to that end, if people can send in books that have changed their lives so we can actually like, include

Lindsay (00:53:05):

Yeah. I think that's a really, really cool idea too. And our friends should write

Moby (00:53:09):

Them and our friends, but like Yeah. You know, it's funny, I act, I I was having that text conversation with some friends earlier about, you know, the, the media books, music, movies, things that have changed our lives. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So we definitely, I'd love to do that. Yeah,

Lindsay (00:53:21):

Great. Me too. Except for the fact that I actually can't read

Moby (00:53:25):

<laugh>.

Lindsay (00:53:26):

Um,

Moby (00:53:27):

Um, I mean, I don't want to throw you under the bus, but you were just reading

Lindsay (00:53:32):

<laugh>. I actually memorized it. Okay. And I was just acting like I was reading. Thanks.

Moby (00:53:36):

So you thank everyone for, I mean, I know that there are more questions and there are more comments. There were a

Lindsay (00:53:40):

Lot more, I just picked, I just picked a few so that we don't have like a three hour episode and from people that, um, are very active in our inbox at Moby pod@moby.com.

Moby (00:53:50):

And then one of our other friends sent through a sort of like two word ex with an exclamation point suggestion, which was just more Bagel, which of course Yeah, no course.

Lindsay (00:54:00):

A hundred percent. Yes. Always

Moby (00:54:03):

One. Where you problem is, of course we film these episodes and we put them up for free on the YouTubes and elsewhere, but for, I mean like 90% of the audience is listening and audio, by definition it's a podcast Bagel is many things. She is not, and I don't, I I I wanna say this the most respectful way, um, speaking English words is not her strong suit. Yeah.

Lindsay (00:54:30):

She's not, she doesn't speak a language that is widely available or understandable by Yeah. By human beings. I speak Bagel, I speak Bagelese,

Moby (00:54:41):

I talk to Bagel all the time, and she talks back, but it tends to just be sort of like the equivalent of me going, <laugh>. And she looks at me and she goes,

Lindsay (00:54:51):

Yeah,

Moby (00:54:52):

Yeah, yeah. That, that's our conversations. And also there's the soulful looking into each other's eyes, conversations. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Like, there's tons of communication, but it's not the sort of communication that necessarily works with a podcast that is language oriented.

Lindsay (00:55:08):

I mean, we have our own language where there's a, there's a way that she will approach me when she has to go to the bathroom. There's a way that she will approach me when she wants a treat. There's a way that she'll approach me when she wants me to sit on the couch with her. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And these are all three things that she needs quite often, but also she approaches me differently if she wants different kinds of treats. Yeah. So, you know, we have our shared language. But

Moby (00:55:31):

Again, I mean, it was up to me, the entire podcast would just be about Bagel.

Lindsay (00:55:35):

I know we, yeah.

Moby (00:55:36):

But there's not much apart from sitting here and being adorable that she can offer in terms of language. I

Lindsay (00:55:44):

Mean, we could do a whole Bagel episode where we just talk about Bagel and maybe there's a Bagel song. Yeah. If you want. That's

Moby (00:55:48):

A great idea. So throwing

Lindsay (00:55:50):

It out there.

Moby (00:55:51):

Um, and speaking of songs, so let me go. And in the world of podcasting, I'll be back in two seconds, but I'm gonna go add musical accompaniment slash orchestration to your epic poem. But

Lindsay (00:56:05):

Wait, I have a question uhoh before we, before we go away, which is, I would love to know some of your favorite and least favorite moments from this year of pod

Moby (00:56:16):

Least favorite moments. Like, there were a couple moments we decided not to share favorite moments. Honestly, I'm gonna be very, this is gonna be so bland, but it's honest. Everything. Mm. Like everything has been, from my perspective, special in its own right. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Especially like some of the conversations, um, some of the ridiculous stuff has been wonderfully ridiculous. Um, I think we could do more ridiculous stuff.

Lindsay (00:56:43):

I completely agree.

Moby (00:56:44):

Yeah. I mean, we just went through all our guests and every, every one of them was so unique and inspiring and special. Like, they're from, like, I feel like we got really lucky with the diversity and the intelligence and, you know, the open-minded nature of the people he's spoken to. I,

Lindsay (00:57:03):

I couldn't agree more though. I have to say. I mean, obviously our guest episodes were one thing, but there were a lot of episodes that were just us where we did some dumb, dumb, dummy dumb stuff.

Moby (00:57:12):

Dumb In a good way though. But

Lindsay (00:57:13):

Like, 'cause like remember when you sang the song to the aliens asking them not to kill us? Yeah.

Moby (00:57:18):

You wrote that song. Yeah.

Lindsay (00:57:19):

That was really fun. You were really, you're really good at party songs. Well,

Moby (00:57:23):

Putting on space costumes and making our friends dress up in space, costumes, <laugh> and sitting on Laura and Daron's deck, AKA Spaceport and filming that episode. That was, yeah. That was really fun. That was really,

Lindsay (00:57:35):

Really fun. I loved that. Even though I was really nervous. 'cause I'm not used to being in front of people because I'm not a rock star who's been touring for 30 years. So I get nervous when I go in front of people, but I got very comfortable very fast, because you're very good at making me feel comfortable because you are so unaffected. You just don't get nervous in front of

Moby (00:57:54):

Crowds. In front of crowds. Yeah. Yeah. The one thing I will contextualize that particular episode is one of the most interesting aspects of it was, so we ordered a ton of vegan pizza for everyone. <laugh>, but we also had to get drinks. So you and Bagel and I went to a huge rundown dirty supermarket in Los Angeles. I don't wanna name names because

Lindsay (00:58:18):

I think we named it on the episode, <laugh>. Okay.

Moby (00:58:20):

But we, we went to this big, messy, dirty, incredibly crowded supermarket to buy all the drinks. And I don't think we realized how much drinks weigh, like we're buying like, bottles of soda and bottles of water.

Lindsay (00:58:34):

'cause we didn't wanna buy plastic, so we only brought, bought aluminum and glass.

Moby (00:58:38):

And that in hindsight, I realized we could have just, they're like all these services that like, could like

Lindsay (00:58:45):

Instacart it or

Moby (00:58:46):

<laugh> like Yeah. Like, like Instacart could have brought it to the space port. And so just that moment of like, we

Lindsay (00:58:52):

Were so stressed, it was so hard and stressful for

Moby (00:58:54):

Us. And it, but it's kind of made me happy as well in that like we are, we were, the onscreen talent we're the on air talent. We were the ones, like most people would be preparing by like, okay, like, what are we gonna talk about? What's our script? And instead we're standing in a 45 minute line <laugh> at this rundown dirty supermarket to buy grape soda and metal cans.

Lindsay (00:59:18):

Yep. That was crazy. But also, I forgot, we ordered all this pizza and I forgot to get plates and forks and stuff. I got salad. I didn't bring forks. So that was a weird thing that I did. Um, <laugh>. But also, but I loved that. I thought it was so fun. And I also have to say, I really loved the episodes where we wrote songs. Yeah. Because I, let's do more of that. I, well, it's, it was very novel for me because I have never written a song before.

Moby (00:59:43):

Okay. So I have an idea and we've, it's sort of your idea, but I'm going to say it. So I'm, I'm gonna give you credit for it. You had this idea of we write a song, but then we get different people to perform it on Moby Pod. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So let's have a party. You and I'll write a song and then we'll get some of our friends to perform it. And it won't be a competition. 'cause there won't necessarily be a winner, but we can almost, so instead of us playing the song, other people will play the song.

Lindsay (01:00:09):

I think that's a wonderful idea. But I do think that it should be a competition and there should be a winner because nothing's more fun than pitting friends against one another. Yeah.

Moby (01:00:16):

What if, what if everybody, what if everybody who enters wins a different type of pro? Like, like we can <laugh>. Yeah. We can invent like, like San Francisco grade school style. Invent just sort of like made up prizes.

Lindsay (01:00:28):

I think that's a wonderful idea.

Moby (01:00:29):

Like someone gets a potato with a crown on it. Ooh. Yeah. Okay, so let me go 'cause I'm gonna go orchestrate your epic poem and then we will reconvene in the world of podcasting in about two seconds. But in the, my actual world, it's gonna be 24 hours.

Lindsay (01:00:45):

I can't wait.

Moby (01:00:46):

Okay. So 24 hours begins now and in the world of podcasting it will be two seconds. Here we go now. Okay, so we're back. Guess

Lindsay (01:01:05):

Who's back? Oh no, that's Eminem. We don't talk about Eminem.

Moby (01:01:08):

Hopefully in the world of podcast listening, this gap will have been approximately three seconds long,

Lindsay (01:01:16):

If not,

Moby (01:01:17):

But what I've done since last we spoke is, and anyone watching can recognize that, um, we look one day older and we're wearing different clothes

Lindsay (01:01:26):

And I sound different. I probably sound more mature than I did yesterday.

Moby (01:01:29):

Yeah, you definitely, like, you've learned a lot in the last 24 hours.

Lindsay (01:01:33):

I did actually.

Moby (01:01:34):

So, okay. So what I've done is taken your epic poem and put music to it. Okay. And I also did my own version of it. You

Lindsay (01:01:43):

Did your own. I did. But you, you recited the poem.

Moby (01:01:46):

Yes. And so we have to put on headphones to listen. Okay.

Lindsay (01:01:50):

Let's do it. Um, are we doing this right now?

Moby (01:01:52):

Sure. In about a couple of seconds, the first one is going to play. Okay. And the first one is supposed to be very pretty. Okay. You ready? Yeah. Let's do it. Here goes

Lindsay (01:02:02):

365 short days ago, Lindsay and Bagel approached their friend Mo. The people need more than just your great songs. Your voice has a place in the podcasting throngs. So Moy considered, but at first he doubted why take up more space in a place that's so crowded, but Lindsay and Bagel pushed him to try it. You've got cool things to say. No need to keep quiet. <laugh>.

Moby (01:02:27):

Okay. So that's the first one.

Lindsay (01:02:29):

Okay. I like it. I like the kind of like, if it's like a Robin Hood

Moby (01:02:33):

And now here comes the second one, which is much more electronic. Okay. Ready?

Lindsay (01:02:41):

Ooh. This badass <laugh>.

Moby (01:02:50):

And I put some crazy modern processing on your voice.

Lindsay (01:02:55):

365 short days ago, Lindsay and Bagel approached their friend Moe. The people need more than just your great songs. Your voice has a place in the podcasting throngs. So Moe be considered, but at first he doubted why take up more space in a place that's so crowded, but Lindsay and

Moby (01:03:13):

Modern, right?

Lindsay (01:03:15):

So modern. It's like, it sounds like a speech. Before I go to Space, <laugh>. Quiet, quiet, quiet. Whoa. <laugh> remix.

Moby (01:03:27):

Um, okay, so here's the third one, which is I believe the punk rock version. Ooh.

Lindsay (01:03:32):

Okay. 365 Short days ago, Lindsay and Bagel approached their friend Mo, the people need more than just your great songs. Your Voice has a place in the podcasting throngs. So this is so silly. More space and a place that's so crowded. But Lindsay and Bagel pushed him to try it. You've got cool things to say. No need to keep quiet. We wanted to start with something quite showy. So we kicked the pot off with tales about Bowie. I guess it was stressful to enter the fray. So next up was some tips for our anxiety. Our film punk rock vegan movie had just graced the screen. So we spoke to its star, the Great Derrick Green. Okay, I like that.

Moby (01:04:19):

So that's the punk rock one. Now you want to hear my version of it?

Lindsay (01:04:22):

Uh, desperately

Moby (01:04:23):

I did it. I did a scary version. Ooh. Like it's kind of, you'll you'll hear it's very ominous. Okay.

Lindsay (01:04:29):

Okay. Okay. I'm very excited.

Moby (01:04:30):

365 short days ago, Lindsay and Babe <laugh> approached their friend Mo

Lindsay (01:04:39):

<laugh>.

Moby (01:04:39):

The people need more than just your great songs. Your Voice has a place in the podcast on th thrones.

Lindsay (01:04:47):

Oh my God.

Moby (01:04:49):

Considered. Oh, at first he doubted what's gonna happen. I take up more space in a place. So crowded. But Lindsay and Bagel pushed him to dry it. You've got cool things to say. No need

Moby (01:05:07):

To keep quiet.

Moby (01:05:09):

<laugh> <laugh>. Yes. That's my scary version. Um, okay, so then I did one because I know you like indie rock. I do. And you like gentle, happy guitars. I do. So I thought we would end with one that's just sort of uplifting and happy. Okay. The one caveat, it involves the whole poem. So it's about three minutes long. Should we just listen to it? Yeah, yeah, let's do it. This is the one that I think is like, the others are hopefully delightful and ridiculous. But this one I actually like a little bit more. Okay, great.

Lindsay (01:05:42):

365 short days ago, Lindsay and Bagel approached their friend Mo. Yeah. The people need more than just your great songs. Your voice has a place in the podcasting Throngs. So Moby considered, but at first he doubted why take up more space in a place that's so crowded, but Lindsay and Bagel pushed him to try it. You've got cool things to say. No need to keep quiet. We wanted to start with something quite showy. So we kicked the pod off with tails about Bowie. I guess it was stressful to enter the fray. So next up was some tips for our anxiety. Our film punk rock vegan movie had just graced the screen. So we spoke to its star, the Great Derrick Green. Next was the actor New York's party queen, the prolific painter Lisa Edelstein. When fee for fighting a fact war was waged just a few battles, but more will be staged. Then there was the time demons damaged our mic. Rachel Sta fought back with a light counterstrike. If you wanna live healthier, long past 100, Dan Butner can help. And his hotness abundant

Lindsay (01:06:55):

<laugh>.

Lindsay (01:06:57):

If you wanna make choices for a better planet, ed vaguely Jr's here to help you plan it.

Lindsay (01:07:05):

<laugh>.

Moby (01:07:06):

See the music's changing. We Yeah,

Lindsay (01:07:08):

Yeah, yeah. There's a real evolution happening. Makes a sound. Moby can produce it. There was quantum mechanics and bad pickup lines. We even took a journey through Mo's vegan time. The soft side of Steve-O had us enamored, gentle and funny, and now never hammered.

Lindsay (01:07:25):

<laugh> <laugh>.

Lindsay (01:07:29):

Peter Kalma had once chained himself to a bank, would you rather survive or fill your gas tank? We wrote two cool songs about sadness and crying and one about aliens. One Earth occupying

Lindsay (01:07:44):

Dr. Kristen Thompson preached psychiatry. We told stories of storms and sobriety. Our friend Gwenna Hunter makes LA way better. Her cool vegan food bank is quite the joy spreader. Nobody saves animals quite like Gene Bauer. We were so impressed with his compassionate power. You'd think the next guest was Demonic Poseidon. But he's just a sober civilian. Our friend Hunter Biden, we had so much fun with the sweet Ashley Jackson, a busy genzer can't catch her. Relaxing. We chose meditation to end '23, shockingly Thankful Bagel Moby and Me, while we hoped Moby Pod would inspire and beguile it's our listeners who've joined us. That made it all worthwhile. I love that. That's really beautiful Mo what you did

Moby (01:08:37):

<laugh>. Okay. So that's the one I thought was the nicest and probably most relevant for your lovely epic poem.

Lindsay (01:08:45):

I love that. That was so beautiful. Oh,

Moby (01:08:47):

Good. You,

Lindsay (01:08:48):

You used a lot of instruments, <laugh>.

Moby (01:08:52):

Yep. Yeah. There's, there's two guitars and an organ and a piano and a bass and drums and strings. And it

Lindsay (01:09:00):

Beautiful. Like, it felt like a very, like very well populated, beautiful orchestration.

Moby (01:09:06):

Well, thanks. You

Lindsay (01:09:07):

Really are a one man band.

Moby (01:09:09):

That's

Lindsay (01:09:10):

Amazing. That was actually very beautiful. Like whatever the poem was silly, but that music was really beautiful.

Moby (01:09:15):

<laugh>. Well, great <laugh>. Um, so should we, should we, we've been talking for quite a long time now.

Lindsay (01:09:22):

Well, yeah, yeah. It doesn't feel like it to us now, but boy did we talk a lot yesterday and

Moby (01:09:26):

So should we say goodbye and thank you to everybody? Yeah.

Lindsay (01:09:30):

Yeah. But I do wanna say something that's maybe, I don't know overly earnest, which is I do have a lot of gratitude for this podcast and getting to do this podcast with you. It's really, really fun and it's a really fun thing to do with you, my friend. And it's a cool, wonderful adventure that we've gotten to go on together and with Bagel and I'm very, very grateful for that. So I just wanna extend my gratitude to

Moby (01:09:56):

You. Well, I feel the exact same way. We talked about this a little bit earlier, but like most new podcasts are very specific. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you know, it's about one specific thing or one specific idea. And it, it seems commercially counterintuitive to have a podcast that tries to contain everything. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But it's made it so much more interesting, I think. Yeah. You know, when, when we came up with the list of all this stuff, like the things that you mentioned in your epic poem, I was like, wow, it's only been a year <laugh> and we've talked to all these people and been ridiculous and earnest and tried to save the world while also being goofballs. Yeah.

Lindsay (01:10:32):

That's the goal.

Moby (01:10:32):

So as we've said a few times, like I love doing this and I think there's something really just like as a medium podcasting can be really special. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. It's also it's directness of it. Yeah. There's no one else involved. Like, we're not going through another company. We're not going through, you know, no one's having editorial input. Advertisers aren't telling us what to say or do. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. We just get to communicate directly with each other and with the people who are listening. Yeah.

Lindsay (01:10:56):

We are only influenced by the things that we care about most and the people that engage with us that have been listening to the podcast. And it's really nice. Which leads me to my next kind of earnest gratitude sentiment, which is the, the people that listen and the people that engage with us, especially on our email. We get a lot of amazing, thoughtful, sweet emails with interesting things and suggestions and ideas and it's just, it's so cool to see people engage. So that has been another great Yep. Part of

Moby (01:11:30):

It a hundred percent I

Lindsay (01:11:32):

Agree is, is getting to kind of build those relationships with the people that care about the same stuff that we care about. Um, and I also want to say thank you to Jonathan Nesvadba, but in a more, uh, detailed way than I usually do because he edits every single episode of this podcast. He does it all himself. He does all of the fancy sound fixing <laugh> stuff that, I don't know what it is. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, what's it called?

Moby (01:11:55):

Uh, well it usually equalization and compression. Yes. And, and editing as well. 'cause Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> We have a lot more ums and uhs and pauses. So someone listening to us might think that we're the, we have like phenomenal elocution. The truth is, it's just Jonathan making us sound good. It's

Lindsay (01:12:10):

Jonathan being incredibly detail oriented and obsessive about making the podcast great. So I just wanna say Jonathan has done such a great job and I know he's editing this right now, so don't you edit this out, Jonathan. Yep. But you, Jonathan has done such a wonderful job and this podcast would not be what it is without the long hours that he puts in to make it what it has become. And I also wanna say thank you to Mike Formanski, who is, who edits the video and does all of our video stuff. He's done an amazing job. He's such a talented person and he also does all of like the graphics. So the, the um, thumbnail that you see, Mike made that as well. And so Mike's talent has made this also what it is. And I also wanna say thank you to Human Content who has helped us in so many ways. Yes, they distribute the podcast, but they're also wonderful friends and have given us wonderful advice and guidance as we've been trying to figure out how to do this. Um, so a huge thank you to them as well to to Aron and Shanti and Rob at Human Content. And I also wanna say thank you to Bagel who is our mascot and our bestie and makes life better and richer. Yeah.

Moby (01:13:21):

Um, I agree with all of those things. And then just to repeat what you said to everyone who takes the time to listen and respond, just thank you. 'cause it's like, I mean I tend to be a fairly isolated person, <laugh>, but there's something really nice about community. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Even if it's virtual community, you know, like we're a communal species. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And we thrive when we're engaging with each other just as long as it's not like Black Friday at a shopping mall after Thanksgiving <laugh> or at a NASCAR event. Yep. So thank you for joining us and listening and engaging. And so I just wanted to also quickly say some of the things that we have coming up. Ooh. So we're gonna be doing a couple of live podcast events. We don't have specific dates, but one is going to be around the anniversary of the punk rock vegan movie and the other, the 25th anniversary of the release of the album Play. So we're gonna do sort of like an acoustic set of songs from Play and a look back at like the weird phenomenon, how Play came to be, what was going on in the world, what was going on with me. We'll have guests and guest musicians. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So that's coming up. And what I'd like to do is announce those here so the people listening will have first dibs on tickets.

Lindsay (01:14:37):

Yes, absolutely. I think that's a great idea. So if you know you can grab those tickets, hopefully if you don't live in LA you can come and hang. 'cause I remember last time we did the live podcast, people came from all over Mm-Hmm.

Moby (01:14:47):

<affirmative>. And that we weren't even selling tickets. That was

Lindsay (01:14:50):

Just like, I know. So those were just a giveaway. So this people will have a chance to actually buy them and figure out how to get here. But yeah, that's very, very exciting. I'm really excited

Moby (01:14:56):

About, and once we know more, everyone listening will know more and you'll know first.

Lindsay (01:15:00):

So standby for that. That's coming soon. Yeah. Yeah.

Moby (01:15:02):

We said thank you so many times, but just once again, thank you Lindsay. Thank you Bagel. Thanks Jonathan, Mike and Human Content and thanks to everybody who's listening and we'll talk to you in a couple weeks.

Lindsay (01:15:12):

And thanks Moby for Moby-ing <laugh>,

Moby (01:15:16):

You had to end on a ridiculous note.