Episode 110 · The GaS Digital / Ray Kump Era
The Great Francis James
Aug 23, 2018 · 1:07:51 · 20 segments, 142 moments indexed
- 1 min
Cold Open: Lexington Gig and the Arby's Gift Cards
#Tim opens the show thanking the Lexington, Kentucky crowd and joking about audience members who bought Arby's gift cards for him and Ray, riffing on Ray's no-carb diet.
1moment
- 0:56Tim welcomes listeners to the show and thanks them for tuning in.
Comedy Off-BroadwayLexington, KentuckyArby's
- 1 min
Trying (and Failing) to Meet Justify the Triple Crown Winner
#Tim recounts spending 48 hours trying to meet the racehorse Justify after his Triple Crown win, going on local TV and radio, and jokes about wanting a piece of the horse's hair.
2moments
- 1:15Ray's doing no carb, Tim asks if you can just go into Arby's and order meat.
- 1:36Tim spent 48 hours trying to meet Justify, the Triple Crown winner, after Winstar Farms finally responded saying he could meet the horse when he's back in New York.
Winstar FarmsJustifyRay Kump
- 2 min
Tim plugs Dan St. Germain's album 'No Real Winners Here' and explains the iTunes review/Instagram screenshot contest to win one of Ray's paintings, with joking asides about Ray's morgue painting habits.
5moments
- 2:21Album is called No Real Winners Here, available on iTunes and Amazon.
- 2:39Dan St. Germain will be doing stand-up in New York City.
- 2:56Tim announces a contest: screenshot your iTunes review of the show and tag Ray on Instagram to enter a raffle.
- 3:26Prize is a custom painting by Ray, who showcases his work on Instagram.
- 3:44Ray used to paint at the morgue.
- 6 min
Guest Dan St. Germain, wearing sunglasses after retinal surgery, tells the long story of his dream tryout as a professional wrestling commentator for an indie promotion, accidentally spoiling wrestler Sabu's surprise appearance on air, getting confronted backstage, and fleeing the venue in his cab.
11moments
- 4:13Dan's lifelong dream was to become a professional wrestling commentator.
- 4:38Dan created a character with a suit, leather jacket, and a $5 cabbie hat bought outside a CVS to look like a heel.
- 5:13Half the wrestlers at the show were juggalos, making Dan's douchebag look stand out even more.
- 5:29Right before the event, Dan got a text that Michelle Wolf was canceled by Netflix, which derailed his mindset.
- 5:52The promoter Joey gave wrestlers a speech reminding them not to say anything homophobic, transphobic, or racist because it could blow up on Twitter.
- 6:14Dan was explicitly told the entire night not to say the word Sabu because Sabu was the surprise replacement wrestler.
- 6:44Dan started commentating and did a decent job putting over the wrestlers, only stumbling on one guy's name.
- 7:51During the match, Dan accidentally said "if you want to go see Sabu go to the bar" instead of Sandman, immediately blowing the surprise.
- 8:54After freaking out and getting confronted by the promoter and Joey Janela, Dan grabbed his duffel bag and ran out of the auditorium, flagging down a cab to drive home.
- 9:08He ruined his dream wrestling commentary gig by saying the one word he was explicitly told not to say.
- 9:27Everyone had told him beforehand there was no way he could screw it up, but it was a slip on his part.
Joey JanelaMichelle WolfSabuLewis GómezSandmanTeddy HartDan
- 1 min
A tangent about vape pens and Juuls leads into a story about a Long Island comic named Rob Sivadonis who used to smoke huge vape mods in diners, and a check-in on the state of the Long Island comedy scene.
5moments
- 9:35Tim and guest discuss vaping with Juuls during the show
- 9:45Tim wonders how long people are supposed to keep vaping — whether it's a five-year thing until October
- 9:57Rob Sivadonis from Long Island used to vape massive mods that looked like big cigars in diners
- 10:11Waiters would tell Rob to stop vaping, but the big fat wrestler didn't care and would keep blowing vapor
- 10:31Tim hasn't seen Rob in years but checks on the Long Island comedy scene every now and then
Rob SivadonisLong Island comedy scene
- 2 min
Dan describes hardcore wrestlers who hit each other with light bulbs, an ex-con wrestler named Johnny Gage, and a bizarre conversation with an older comic in a green room who wants to break into the Shanghai comedy scene instead of NY or LA.
7moments
- 11:05Tim says he'd do well with extreme wrestlers in Pennsylvania who hit each other with light bulbs.
- 11:32A mid-50s comedian in Kentucky said he moved back to raise a kid and now doesn't think New York or LA are worth it.
- 11:58Tim talked to someone big in the Shanghai comedy scene and thinks he could be on the cutting edge of Chinese comedy.
- 12:18Tim mentions showing Dan a painting and bringing Francis James on, but there's some confusion about a voice message.
- 12:34The painting on Tim's wall appears to be a drain from the morgue with bits of liver and fat in it.
- 12:49The timing of a deal involving Man of Fortune or Man of Fortress seemed intentional and classy.
- 13:03Tim thinks if Democrats take the House and Senate, he'll probably step down.
Johnny GageCamdenChinese comedyKentucky
- 3 min
Trump Impeachment Chances and Succession's Media Families
#Tim and Dan speculate about whether Trump would resign if Democrats retake Congress, compare him to Nixon, and pivot into a discussion of HBO's Succession and real-life media dynasties like the Murdochs.
5moments
- 13:37Trump won't resign gracefully like Nixon; he'll dig in and fight back.
- 13:48Tim describes how people have supposedly tried to make Trump's legal problems disappear if he changes trade policy, but he refuses and acts like a lunatic.
- 14:05Watching Succession sparked Tim's interest in wealthy media families and how vicious they are with each other.
- 14:28Media families in New York City—there are only five or six of them, and the Murdochs are one example.
- 15:01Trump and Murdoch represent a certain type of person obsessed with controlling information and media.
- 3 min
New guest Francis James, an opera composer/librettist, joins after a long trip from the Bronx; the group discusses growing up with Telly Savalas portraits in Long Island diners, his singing voice, and he performs an impromptu operatic vibrato.
7moments
- 16:07Francis commutes from the Bronx, taking the BX6 bus, then the 4 or D train at Yankee Stadium, then the L train to get to the studio.
- 16:54Tim learns Francis is writing operas.
- 17:23Francis had a German punk band back in the day.
- 17:46Francis and Ray grew up in Long Island Greek diners where there were always oil paintings of Telly Savalas on the walls.
- 17:58Francis is writing both the music and libretta for operas, treating it as a process of distillation where poetry is performed by the voice and counterpoints with the music.
- 18:21Contemporary opera has no market unless you're Philip Glass or John Adams.
- 18:32Tim suggests Francis could do musicals instead, potentially putting them on as community theater productions.
John AdamsPhilip GlassTelly SavalasJackie OhRay Kump
- 3 min
Francis discusses seeing Carmen and Don Giovanni, his childhood as a child actor in black box theater, and laments how opera has gone from popular culture for the masses to an expensive elite pastime, including a bit about the old Amato Opera on the Bowery.
7moments
- 19:02Tim's cousin Robert Lopez wrote the music for Book of Mormon, Avenue Q, Frozen, and Let It Go—he's an EGOT winner.
- 19:44Tim attended Carmen at Lincoln Center with his mom and the Rosary Altos Society from church, where old women were farting the whole time.
- 20:26Carmen is a very erotic opera that rivals Don Giovanni in that regard.
- 20:36Opera was popular culture for the masses when it was created, but now it's only accessible to the elite.
- 20:51Tim grew up in Long Island doing theater as a child in accessible black box productions where anyone could see shows.
- 21:23Twenty years ago Tim went to the Amada Opera on the Bowery, which was an affordable ensemble venue doing six or eight operas a year, always sold out.
- 21:40The Amada Opera was proletarian—on the Bowery near CBGBs—but now it's a John Varvatos store.
Robert LopezBook of MormonCarmenAmada Opera
- 2 min
The group riffs on whether a comedic opera about modern America could work, joking about Paul Manafort as a farcical Julius Caesar figure, before a Phantom of the Opera singalong breaks out.
5moments
- 22:07Tim refuses to sing for the viewers, worried about hurting them, then reveals he has perfect vibrato.
- 22:40He performs a snippet of what sounds like classical or operatic material, demonstrating his range.
- 23:02Tim mentions they planned to do a "Song to Summer" every time something depressing was said, but forgot.
- 23:24Guest reveals he was a child actor and worked on shows early in his career.
- 23:42Discussion turns to roles available in operatic works, including street urchins and dock workers in pieces like Carmen.
- 5 min
Francis expounds on MK Ultra mind control, the Franklin cover-up, and Bohemian Grove's Cremation of Care ceremony with the owl statue of Moloch, tying in Walter Cronkite's salary and a tangent about crab parasites in sushi and morgue X-rays.
9moments
- 24:22Tim took Ray to see Phantom of the Opera for the first time, leading to psychotic behavior within five minutes of them all singing at each other.
- 25:14We're living in a contemporary opera right now, but the problem is there are no heroes—you can't treat Paul Manafort like Julius Caesar.
- 26:06MK Ultra was a CIA program for mind control and creating Manchurian candidates by splitting personalities via ego manipulation.
- 26:44The Franklin cover-up involved child sex rings and the savings and loan crisis.
- 27:01Every conspiracy conversation now requires discussing Bohemian Grove, like it's mandatory small talk at Arby's.
- 27:40At Bohemian Grove, CEOs and major politicians basically get drunk like it's summer camp and urinate all over the trees.
- 28:15Tim worked at a morgue where TWA Flight 800 bodies came in, and a deaf coworker showed him X-rays of people with full crabs inside their skulls.
- 28:29Soft-shell crabs are weird when out of season, and eating them in sushi rolls probably kills the parasites.
- 28:44JonBenét Ramsey case comes up in conversation about conspiracies.
Bohemian GroveMK UltraPaul ManafortWalter CronkiteCBSFranklin Cover-upPhantom of the OperaThomas Wolfe+1 more
- 6 min
Francis gives his takes on JonBenet Ramsey, doubts about the moon landing via Kubrick's Barry Lyndon lighting, extraterrestrials as possible future time travelers, UAP sightings as black budget tech, Nazi anti-gravity research, and the Laurel Canyon military-intelligence-music scene conspiracy.
10moments
- 29:01Tim questions who would sexualize a five or six year old daughter in beauty pageants
- 29:15Stanley Kubrick shot the fake moon landing footage for NASA, borrowing CIA satellite imaging technology
- 29:56Gray aliens may be time-traveling evolved humans from 150,000 years in the future
- 30:46Air Force pilots spotting UFOs in 2017 New York Times report might be seeing black budget military technology instead
- 31:12Nazi Germany's Bell anti-gravity propulsion technology was incorporated into the US space program
- 31:52The dichotomy of innovative technology built at the expense of genocide and human extermination will need serious scholarly examination
- 32:16Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass is Tim's favorite opera, saw it at BAM in 1976
- 32:34Laurel Canyon conspiracy: military children and CIA connected figures dominated the rock and roll scene
- 33:07Most acclaimed artists in America are wealthy, well-connected people tied to the national security establishment, not poor downtrodden people
- 33:25Laurel Canyon featured a peculiar mixing of spooks, intelligence types, cults, Charles Manson, Frank Zappa, the Byrds, and satanic churches
Laurel CanyonStanford Research InstituteWeird Scenes Inside the CanyonCharles MansonDave McGowanFrank ZappaJoni MitchellPhilip Glass+10 more
- 3 min
The group mocks Elon Musk's celebrity status and Tesla stock drop, then Francis discusses living in Mott Haven near Yankee Stadium and the rapid, cheaply-built real estate development pushing the boroughs' borders outward amid a transit crisis.
8moments
- 34:49Tim argues Elon Musk is just a rich and lucky guy who shouldn't be listened to about anything.
- 35:01Elon Musk is becoming too much of a celebrity and less of a thinker, especially after losing billions when Tesla stock dropped.
- 35:21Tim asks about neighborhoods in the Bronx and whether the guest likes places like Arthur Avenue and Riverdale.
- 35:36Guest describes living in Mott Haven, a formerly very dangerous area near Yankee Stadium that's now seeing new development.
- 35:56New modern buildings going up all over Mott Haven with steel frames, concrete, and brick facades, a dramatic change from the dead South Bronx of the 1970s.
- 36:21The Bronx and areas like Jamaica Queens are becoming investment hotspots as city borders push outward.
- 36:37Tim notes this expansion is happening during a transportation crisis, with subways and ride shares in terrible condition.
- 36:57Guest recounts a metaphysical experience in graduate school reading Marshall McLuhan at the New School in the 1980s.
- 3 min
Francis connects his grad school reading of Marshall McLuhan to realizing the economic system is rigged in favor of the wealthy through depreciation and tax shelters, citing Trump's bankruptcies, and pivots into automation and AI eliminating jobs discussed at Bilderberg.
7moments
- 37:41The wealthy pay less in taxes through loopholes and depreciation shelters, allowing billionaires to reduce their tax burden.
- 38:23Bilderberg recently discussed automation and employment for the first time.
- 38:34Neither the 1916 election nor current politics addresses robotics, algorithms, or artificial intelligence.
- 38:47Climate change, solar flares, and other cataclysmic threats are completely ignored by media and policymakers.
- 39:05Tim points out that tabloid coverage of Stormy Daniels drowns out reporting on catastrophic environmental threats like icebergs and forest fires.
- 39:23New York's character and population have a unique distinction from the rest of America.
- 39:39The question shifts to what has fundamentally changed about the people living in New York over time.
- 5 min
Francis discusses New York's wealthy 1% versus its tenacious artistic underclass working multiple jobs, Goldman Sachs and Lake Como elite gatherings, Drexel Burnham's collapse, and the coming automation wave replacing security guards, bank tellers, and delivery drivers with robots and drones.
11moments
- 40:16New York has an artistic underclass willing to work three or four jobs or live with roommates at 30 to pay rent.
- 40:38Tenacity is a great American virtue that's been negated by talk of economic polarization, though America is more unequal now than in the robber baron era.
- 41:00In the past, labor made industrialists wealthy; today, companies view labor as a cost stealing their profits.
- 41:25Tim tells a story about eating red wine braised octopus and fusilli with bone marrow in Maraya while wearing his tour bus jacket, and getting a dirty look from someone at Goldman Sachs.
- 41:51When Goldman Sachs faces its day in court, the same thing will happen that happened to Drexel-Lambert in 1986—bankruptcy, but the ill-gotten gains get rechanneled into other corporations while people pay the tax.
- 42:27The only guarantee with capitalism is that you will have non-organic corporations with powers beyond the individual that eventually go bankrupt.
- 43:05We've already built systems that are smarter than the people who can train them at this point.
- 43:32Tim does front desk security at a luxury building in Bushwick and will probably be out of it in two to three years because robots will replace the three eight-hour shifts.
- 44:05The person, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and the high-tech economic elite own the technology; they employ maybe 30,000 people but eliminate the jobs of 3 million.
- 44:56Amazon drones delivering everything will be insane; if one has a mishap, people walking on the sidewalk below will be in disaster.
- 45:12You'll be forgotten in the drone; you're an addition.
Goldman SachsAmazon.comDrexel Burnham LambertBill GatesElon MuskGeorge ClooneyJeff BezosOprah Winfrey+2 more
- 4 min
Francis lays out a theory of postwar industrialist profiteering, the end of the gold standard under Nixon, the petrodollar system, and argues the US has lost every major war/intervention since 1947, from Korea to Iran's Mossadegh coup.
8moments
- 45:35Post-WWII plan: industrialists given new tech while Europe and Japan got 19th-century equipment, but industrialists chose monopoly profits for 20 years instead.
- 46:38Nixon took the US off the gold standard in 1971, leading to a deficit economy funded by petrodollar debt and unending war bubble.
- 47:13America's worst foreign policy disaster began in 1947 when the US became the world's policeman—and we've lost every conflict since.
- 47:36List of American military losses: Korea, Vietnam, Congo, Lebanon, Iraq—the US does coups but only wins them for 48 hours.
- 47:58CIA destabilized democratically elected Mossadegh in Iran, installed the Shah, then got the Islamic Revolution anyway—proof the US should have kept hands off.
- 48:36Instead of adopting single-payer health insurance like Canada did in 1971, America got CBS medical dramas like 'Medical Center' starring Chad Everett for nine years.
- 49:04Media stabilizes the American disconnect by not pushing for honest, truthful voices from comics and social critics.
- 49:21Tim references just performing in Lexington, Kentucky, where audiences are looking for honest and true commentary.
Mohammad MossadeghRichard NixonReza PahlaviMarshall PlanFranklin D. RooseveltHarry TrumanPierre TrudeauKeynesianism+2 more
- 8 min
Francis lays out an elaborate 9/11 conspiracy theory involving peaceful nuclear demolition charges from a Dmitry Khalezov documentary, controlled demolition science, volcanic glass, and cancer deaths at Ground Zero, while Tim and Dan push back skeptically.
10moments
- 49:47Tim brings up labor unions and their role in industrial decline, citing Detroit and the audio industry as examples.
- 50:33Guest explains that America's decline in the late 70s coincided with peak federal government, Wall Street, and labor union power, when unions abandoned their purpose.
- 52:07Shift to 9/11: guest claims it was an inside job and references the Project for a New American Century.
- 52:47Tim mentions watching '9/11: The New Pearl Harbor' documentary on the way home and questioning its claims about flight paths.
- 53:28Guest brings up Dmitry Khalezov, a former Soviet nuclear weapons official, and his book making claims about the World Trade Center demolition.
- 54:01Guest claims the WTC and Sears Tower were the first buildings demolished using nuclear charges instead of traditional dynamite and thermite.
- 54:38Tim questions the nuclear charge theory and asks whether it was actually nano-thermite instead.
- 55:11Guest explains Soviet peaceful nuclear detonation technology used in mountains, which creates volcanic glass and hermetic sealing.
- 55:49Tim acknowledges cancer deaths at ground zero and asks if the guest believes those were caused by radiation from a nuclear charge.
- 56:37Guest describes molten metal remaining at the site for over six months and explains how shock and blast waves from a detonation would create glass spores.
9/11World Trade Center9/11: The New Pearl HarborControlled Demolition IncProject for New American CenturyDmitry KhalezovSears TowerSoviet Union+5 more
- 5 min
Francis continues the 9/11 theory into suitcase nukes allegedly on the planes, Building 7's demolition railway, Cantor Fitzgerald derivatives being wiped out, and recommends Rebecca Roth's books, prompting Dan's joke about losing trust after her sixth book.
10moments
- 58:46Experts claim Soviet suitcase nukes were aboard the planes that hit the towers, and this discovery prompted the decision to demolish the buildings.
- 59:20Building 7 housed the control center and had a railroad system for detonating the charges placed under each tower.
- 59:49Cantor Fitzgerald was one of only two companies authorized to trade in derivatives worth enormous sums before 9/11.
- 1:00:12All the derivative documents at Cantor Fitzgerald were destroyed when the building exploded, allowing the money to be written off.
- 1:00:26Buzzy Kroghard allegedly had undisclosed accounts with Deutsche Bank and the CIA, and shorted airline stock.
- 1:01:22Tim recommends watching Dmitry Kalazov's documentary "The Third Truth," a six-hour film about 9/11.
- 1:01:39Kalazov was an FBI expert informant and witness whose testimony was cut from the 9/11 Commission report.
- 1:02:04Flight attendant Rebecca Roth wrote a book called "Mechanical Deception" discussing what could have happened to the planes.
- 1:02:45Tim expresses skepticism about Rebecca Roth after discovering she has six books out on conspiracy topics.
- 1:02:58The guest is asked whether Alex Jones is a disinformation shill or an intelligence operation.
Cantor FitzgeraldRebecca RothHiroshimaRand CorporationAlex JonesThe Third TruthCIADmitry Kalazov+3 more
- 2 min
The conversation covers whether Alex Jones is a disinfo op, censorship and the FBI/CIA's corrupt history, liberals suddenly defending the deep state under Trump, AI in financial markets and the military, and men leaving their wives for sex dolls.
6moments
- 1:03:12Censorship is wrong, and Tim cites Popper's work on open societies as the framework.
- 1:03:28Trump has made liberals defend the FBI and CIA, institutions with a long history of corruption dating back to J. Edgar Hoover.
- 1:03:49The bizarre thing is liberals giving the deep state a pass now as if it hasn't been responsible for decades of problems.
- 1:04:38Guest claims it's not difficult to predict American elections.
- 1:05:02AI has been operational in financial markets and the military for twenty years.
- 1:05:14People are leaving their wives for sex dolls and having blissfully erotic relationships with them.
J. Edgar HooverClyde TolsonDonald TrumpVincent TaseyKarl Popper
- 2 min
Tim wraps the show by re-plugging Dan's album and social media handles, the Instagram contest rules, and closing thanks to Francis James before saying goodnight.
8moments
- 1:05:30Dance Hymnal's album No Real Winners Here is out now on Amazon.
- 1:05:44Catch Dan Saint Germain in New York City; find him on social media as Dan St. Germaine on Instagram.
- 1:05:59Tim Dillon on Instagram and Twitter at Tim J. Dillon (D-I-L-O-N); Ray Kump at Ray Kump on Instagram and Twitter.
- 1:06:11Instagram contest: follow, take a picture of the review, tag Tim or send it direct for a chance to win a painting that might be worth something if he gets arrested.
- 1:06:43Tim tells Dan Saint Germain he's phenomenal and articulate for someone who knows we're living in hell.
- 1:07:07Dan thanks Tim, Ray, and Sean as comedic minds of their generation and says he's known them since they were starting out.
- 1:07:22Tim jokes they'll see Dan when they're all living small in the Bronx together in the Philippines.
- 1:07:34Sign-off: Tim says goodnight to everybody.
Dan Saint GermainSean DonnellyDance Hymnal