BONUS Dr. Maron's Memories
Marc:OK, hey, folks, listen to me.
Marc:I know that last week I teased that I was going to release some of the town hall show, but I'm going to save that.
Marc:I got to save it.
Marc:I can't burn it yet, but I will soon.
Marc:There's plenty there.
Marc:I just let me just do Montreal and then we'll get to the town hall stuff.
Marc:So instead, what I'm going to play is what I talked about on Monday show.
Marc:that I kind of teased it there.
Marc:This is a recording with my dad.
Marc:I was just out there in New Mexico.
Marc:So my relationship with my father has has been up and down for a long time.
Marc:But usually in the last decade or two, it's been OK.
Marc:It's been OK.
Marc:And I get a kick out of him.
Marc:But
Marc:We used to way back in the day, we used to have him on the radio show that I did at Air America and he didn't know he was on.
Marc:We just call him and he he never listened to anything I ever did.
Marc:So he never knew.
Marc:And we we'd ask him about movies and stuff.
Marc:We called it a movie review segment.
Marc:so we started with that him not knowing that he was on doing movie reviews and to be honest with you i don't think he ever knew really that he was being recorded for the show which was the beauty of it so eventually we just started to uh ask him questions about his ideas on things and uh and this is a clip this is from 2010 and
Marc:And I was just sort of going at him because he loved when I busted his balls.
Marc:He got such a kick out of it.
Marc:Still does, really.
Marc:He likes I can make the guy laugh.
Marc:That's sort of how I did my training.
Marc:That's how I that's how I paid my dues was making my dad laugh, my depressed dad.
Marc:But this clip is from 2010.
Marc:He had some big idea.
Marc:for me to start an entertainment enterprise, like a theater or a complex or a radio studio.
Marc:In the middle of Riodoso, New Mexico, he just had this idea, probably inspired by Imus, but he decided that I needed to build a theater in the middle of nowhere in Riodoso, New Mexico.
Marc:So this is my dad and me from 2010.
Guest:I'm Aaron.
Marc:Hey, it's Mark.
Guest:How you doing, man?
Marc:Good.
Marc:How you doing?
Marc:What are you doing?
Marc:You just sitting there sending me emails?
Guest:I had some ideas.
Marc:All right, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Marc:Everything's cool.
Marc:What, are you sitting there with a patient now?
Guest:No.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Well, let's talk about this idea.
Marc:Let me see if I got the email here.
Marc:Not manic, colon.
Marc:He'll give you the land, you know, I mean, he's...
Guest:Right now, he's a very good guy.
Guest:He's a very good patient.
Guest:I don't know what his assets are, but he owns 8,000 acres.
Guest:He's got a couple brothers.
Guest:And his life has been just riding bulls right up until yesterday.
Guest:But he had a seizure, grandma's seizure on Sunday, another one on Monday.
Guest:Drives all the way in from Ruedo to see me because I'm the guy who's taking care of him.
Guest:I suggested just, you know, I said, first of all, you've got all this land.
Guest:Why don't you use it?
Guest:Why don't you, like, fill my scout ranch?
Guest:give them all to see if they want an extended area to send Boy Scouts to.
Guest:You know what I mean, number one.
Guest:Number two, I said, Don Imus, yeah, he listens to Imus.
Guest:I said, he's got this thing going from not far from him, I guess, up over there near Santa Fe.
Guest:He said, yeah, I know where that is.
Guest:And I said, you know, maybe get in touch with Imus and see if he wants to extend his holdings and increase his share because he gives –
Guest:He gives a lot of, supposedly, a lot of access to kids to go up there and play cowboy and to rehabilitate their screwed-up lives in the cities, right?
Guest:Right.
Guest:And then I was thinking, you know, if he's got this land and you've got some connections, you've got a few people that you want to set up there near Ruido, so I don't know where it is near.
Guest:You know, you have to go out and look at it.
Guest:And you want to set up access there and put up a playhouse and whatever, a little bit of that.
Guest:and run a show place out of there and be a radio personality, which you would seem to like to do, you've got an option here to do it.
Marc:No, no, I mean, I think it's an interesting idea that, you know, I'm doing it out of my small garage behind my house, but somehow or another that if I had a lot of land, that that would somehow make it better, easier for me to do radio, just because Imus is down the street.
Marc:I like the idea.
Marc:That somehow or another, in your mind, look, Imus has got property nearby.
Marc:So I figure if you get my son set up on a compound, that him, yeah, maybe he could just hijack some of Imus' signals.
Marc:Or maybe, who knows, Bob, maybe I could call Imus and say, hey, why don't I just run a wire from your place down to my house?
Marc:And we'll, you know, we'll just, I'll be on your, like, a secondary channel.
Marc:You know what?
Marc:Let's have the bull rider call Don Imus.
Marc:And then you get me and you conference me in.
Marc:And then you can be there, too, in case people aren't clear about it.
Marc:So let me get this idea.
Marc:We got the rodeo rider and we got Don Imus and you on the phone.
Marc:And you say, look, Don, my son wants to do radio.
Marc:And my friend who rides bulls, he's on the phone, too.
Marc:He's got somewhere not far from you.
Marc:So I figured there's got to be a way we can work this out.
Marc:You know what happened after that?
Marc:They would take you to the hospital.
Marc:They would take you to the hospital.
Marc:But I like the idea.
Marc:It's a good idea.
Guest:Yeah, you could pull something off.
Guest:I mean, you know, at your point in life, you know, you're doing this, and I don't know what you're doing, but whatever you're doing, if you're happy, that's great.
Guest:But if you've got an opportunity to do something that seemed like a great idea, there's nobody else out there in Ruedoso, you know, broadcasting or having a playhouse, I mean,
Guest:You've got all these connections.
Guest:You've got all these talents.
Marc:All right, let me just ask you something practical.
Marc:All right, so let's examine the playhouse idea.
Marc:So now how do you see that exactly?
Marc:So he's got a lot of land out there.
Marc:Now there's dirt roads to the areas.
Marc:Like he's going to give me a – let's say he gives me five acres.
Marc:Is that near the highway?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I have no idea how it's set up.
Guest:I'm sure it would be – I'm sure he would give you anything you wanted because –
Guest:He would do that for me.
Guest:Okay, all right.
Marc:All right, so let's say we get it kind of near the highway, and then we have someone design a playhouse, all right?
Marc:And then, okay, so then I got the playhouse in Rio Doso.
Marc:It's near the highway, and we could maybe even put on the billboards, not far from Don Imus' ranch.
Marc:And I call a couple of my friends.
Marc:I say, you guys, you want to come do a comedy show?
Marc:And they go, where?
Marc:How much does it pay?
Marc:I'm like, well, no, it's just a playhouse.
Marc:It's in Rio Doso, New Mexico.
Marc:It's not far from Don Imus' place.
Marc:And...
Marc:I figure we just, we'll see what we make and we'll split it.
Marc:Well, you'll come out.
Marc:My dad, this is my dad's idea.
Marc:It's great.
Marc:Well, I don't know.
Marc:Hold on.
Marc:I got to call him and ask him where the fuck you fly into.
Marc:Because I don't.
Marc:Wait, let's wait.
Marc:Where would they fly into?
Marc:Do they drive out?
Marc:Where do you fly into to go to Rio de Janeiro?
Marc:Albuquerque?
Guest:Albuquerque or, let me think.
Guest:I guess Lubbock, you go to Lubbock too.
Guest:Lubbock could work.
Marc:Oh, this is a good sell.
Marc:All right, so look, you can either fly into Albuquerque or Lubbock, Texas, and then you rent a car and you drive out.
Marc:How far of a drive is it from Albuquerque?
Guest:About two and a half, three hours.
Marc:Oh, not a problem.
Yeah.
Marc:So you come down to Mark Maron's Playhouse near Don Imus' place.
Marc:You drive three hours.
Marc:I'm sure we'll get a crowd.
Marc:We just got to put it in the Albuquerque paper and the Lubbock paper, and maybe we'll run a bus or something.
Marc:Dad, let's open a casino.
Marc:Does this guy know any Indians?
Guest:It's not far from the Miscalero Apache.
Marc:okay all right all right this is a this is a workable idea i'm glad you sent me these emails because yeah i was a little i was i woke up with a little that feeling like i don't know what i'm gonna do with my life and i took my vitamins i opened up my emails i'm like thank god my dad has an idea that's not manic
Guest:I believe in using all resources that are handed to you.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:You're handed 8,000 agents with all your talents and smarts and contacts and experience.
Guest:Theoretically, you could set up a trailer there and just test it out.
Guest:All you need is a freaking microphone and a tower, right?
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Guest:You got a radio station, yeah.
Marc:Okay, all right.
Marc:Well, okay, I understand.
Marc:That's a little more practical than the Riodoso Playhouse, I think.
Guest:Yeah, but you might be able to get a great audience.
Guest:I mean, this, you know, the other guy that you don't like, you know, Bill Summers, who has this radio show on Saturday morning, 8 o'clock.
Marc:This is the guy that sells the memory revitalizer?
Guest:Correct.
Marc:Look, as much as I may not like him, I went to his office and bought six jars of memory revitalizer.
Marc:I had to say to the guy at the office, I go, come on, really?
Marc:I mean, what's in this?
Marc:And he had to tell me that it's all good stuff.
Guest:Yeah, that was Roy, the Rotund Roy, who will miss anybody and lose some weight.
Guest:Meanwhile, Bill Summers had a heart study on this new thing I'm doing, which you find interesting.
Guest:It'll be set up by the time you get to New Mexico or whatever that is.
Guest:But we're doing central arterial pressures.
Guest:And if your blood pressure is high, even though your brachial pressure is okay, your central pressure is high, then you're on dosing of arginine and citrulline as well as D3.
Guest:Over three months, you come down to normal.
Guest:There's big studies going out there now.
Guest:It's going to hit the main line, and we're going to be in on it.
Guest:I'm going to be lecturing on that.
Marc:You're going to lecture on that?
Marc:Yep.
Marc:I can have you down at my theater in Rio Doso if you want to.
Marc:If you think you can pull in some people.
Marc:We'll put a billboard up and everything.
Marc:Dr. Marin, don't miss it.
Marc:This weekend only.
Marc:Lecture on arginine.
Marc:I think it's all coming together for us.
Marc:I think we've got a real future.
Marc:Call the guy who writes Bulls but can't do it anymore.
Marc:Tell him to build the theater.
Marc:And then tell him about the Vitamin radio comedy presentation.
Marc:This is going to be great.
Marc:We're actually going to be in business together.
Marc:I can't wait.
Guest:I think someplace in all this mishmash that we're talking about, I think theoretically it is obvious.
Guest:All it takes is somebody with a big pair of gonies to say, hey, come on in here with your deep pockets.
Guest:Let's set up a studio for three months, see what happens, and just get me to contact with a...
Guest:with a radio station that I can be a mainstream radio coming out of Ruidoso, New Mexico.
Guest:Okay.
Marc:Yeah, I like the fact that I've, you know, several times now made it seem ridiculous in its conception, and you've laughed a lot at it, but we still come around to the idea that you're like, no, no, no, no, this is doable.
Marc:This is doable.
Marc:I appreciate the tenacity of your fantasy.
Guest:How did I just get started in the radio out there in the middle of nowhere?
Marc:Well, I'm working out of my garage here.
Marc:But we're doing okay with the podcast.
Marc:But I'll keep this in mind.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:I love you.
Marc:Bye.
Marc:Bye.
Marc:So that was when my dad had it together mentally.
Marc:So as... I guess I haven't really talked about it much.
Marc:My dad's got mild dementia.
Marc:And it's sort of the beginning of it.
Marc:And...
Marc:I don't know much about the illness, but I do know that he seems to have a lot of his old memories still.
Marc:The days yesterday and today and a week ago, tricky.
Marc:But the old stuff is sort of there.
Marc:So I was going through stuff looking for something I needed to find in my attic.
Marc:And I found this envelope of photographs that I must have gotten from my great aunt, from my father's aunt, Evie.
Marc:I've had these photographs for years.
Marc:They're actual photographs of my father as a child, as an infant, as a teenager, as a college student.
Marc:And there was a lot of them.
Marc:And there were some other people, pictures of his sister, of other members of his family, his father, his cousin.
Marc:But I thought, well, it is serendipitous that I find this a day before I'm going to visit him.
Marc:So I brought the envelope out there.
Marc:with the intention of showing him the pictures and also with the intention of trying to record it to share with you guys.
Marc:So I did it.
Marc:And to watch him remember so quickly the people and such specific details to remember, you know, neighbors or friends from elementary school to remember his childhood pets, his fraternity brothers.
Marc:And and then there was a I had the handwritten copy of his valedictorian speech that he gave when he graduated high school.
Marc:So I don't know really what I was expecting, but he remembered everything.
Marc:He didn't really remember writing the speech.
Marc:But I got to be honest with you, when he was reading the speech, I detected emotion.
Marc:I felt emotional.
Marc:It was almost like time travel for him, I imagine.
Marc:I don't know if he got weepy.
Marc:He said he didn't feel anything.
Marc:But there was something happening in his face.
Marc:And his wife, Rosie, who was there, and you can feel her presence on this clip, brought him a Kleenex.
Marc:But I don't I don't know if it was if he was experiencing emotion because he read a lot of the speech that he wrote.
Marc:He did not really remember writing it and he didn't believe that he did.
Marc:But anyway, this is a bit of me showing my father some pictures and then giving him his his handwritten and hand edited.
Marc:The thing scratched out.
Marc:There were two copies of the speech that he had written.
Marc:and having him read some of it.
Marc:It was moving, and it was difficult, but beautiful.
Marc:So, all right.
Marc:I'm with my dad.
Marc:I'm looking at pictures.
Marc:Do you know what this is?
Guest:National Honor Society.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Is that your name?
Guest:Yep.
Marc:You were in the National Honor Society.
Marc:Do you remember it?
Guest:Not really.
Marc:That's a Christmas card from you to your mother, which I think was interesting because, you know, being Jewish and everything.
Marc:But apparently, you know, the Jesus was powerful back then, too.
Marc:And apparently you drew a picture.
Marc:Look at the front of it.
Marc:It's a little Christmas tree.
Marc:I don't know if I would expect you to remember that.
Guest:Where'd you find all this stuff?
Marc:You know, I don't know why I had it.
Marc:I was going through, I guess I'm not unlike you, I'm losing my mind.
Marc:So I went up to look for my diploma.
Marc:Because I need it for something.
Marc:Can't find it.
Marc:And I found this envelope of pictures that I don't remember.
Marc:I can't remember.
Marc:Do you know who that is?
Marc:Barbara.
Marc:It's Barbara?
Marc:Who's that, your cousin?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Alice's daughter.
Marc:So that's your cousin, first cousin.
Marc:Yeah, first cousin.
Marc:So you remember that, huh?
Marc:How about this one?
Marc:What do you know about that?
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:My fraternity.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:ZBT.
Guest:ZBT.
Guest:You remember all those guys?
Guest:I do.
Guest:I do remember those guys.
Guest:Toborowski was married to a very bright lady.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:She committed suicide.
Marc:Well, wasn't that bright.
Marc:No.
Guest:This is Al Benstock.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Jerry Lockage.
Guest:He died.
Guest:He had cardiac arrest.
Guest:And Dave Nachumson and, oh, I can't think of this kid's name.
Guest:Something Jacobs.
Marc:Yeah?
Guest:Anyway.
Marc:You don't talk to any of those guys anymore?
Guest:No.
Guest:He had a seizure.
Guest:Jacobs?
Guest:Yeah, he had a seizure during class one day.
Guest:Was he all right?
Guest:Yeah, I mean, but that sort of brought it to the attention of the doctors that he was in trouble.
Marc:Well, epilepsy?
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:Look at this one.
Marc:1939.
Marc:Little baby Barry.
Marc:What does it feel like to look at that?
Marc:Look at that.
Marc:You were a baby once.
Marc:One years old.
Marc:That's crazy.
Marc:Yep.
Guest:Sure is.
Marc:That's a good one.
Marc:Do you remember this dog?
Marc:Yep.
Marc:You do?
Marc:Penny.
Marc:When did you have that dog?
Guest:Oh, I don't know.
Guest:But I remember him.
Guest:Penny, Penny, Penny.
Marc:Look at this.
Guest:Eleanor.
Marc:That's your mom, right?
Guest:Yep.
Marc:How about this one?
Marc:That's Grandma.
Marc:Ida.
Marc:Do you remember her?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Was she a nice lady?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Did she talk much?
Marc:I don't remember her talking.
Marc:Was Barney her husband?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Was he a character?
Marc:I didn't know him.
Marc:You didn't?
Marc:He was dead already?
Marc:I don't know.
Guest:I don't remember him.
Guest:I love this picture.
Marc:It's Ben.
Marc:Your dad?
Marc:My dad.
Marc:Looks good in that pic, huh?
Marc:Yep.
Marc:You remember him talking much?
Marc:Yeah, more or less.
Marc:Look at this picture.
Marc:That was when you were a lifeguard?
Guest:Keppel Park, probably.
Marc:You're doing pretty good with this quiz of your life.
Marc:It's a dementia test.
Yeah.
Guest:Who's this lady?
Guest:That's Phyllis.
Guest:Your cousin?
Guest:Nope.
Guest:Neighbor.
Guest:Phyllis Saskin.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:You remember her?
Guest:Yep.
Guest:Why?
Marc:Did you have a crush on her?
Guest:No.
Guest:She was a few years older than I was.
Hmm.
Guest:That's the little dog.
Guest:Penny?
Guest:No, another one.
Guest:Inky.
Guest:Inky?
Guest:Whose dog was Inky?
Guest:I was mine.
Guest:My dad took him down, took him out and turned him loose on Hudson Boulevard in like a
Guest:Grassy area?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I got killed.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:Hit by a car?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:In front of you?
Marc:No.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:Look at this picture.
Marc:That's a nice baseball hat.
Guest:That's me.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I was skinny, didn't I?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Really skinny.
Marc:Look at this.
Marc:You're on a pony.
Guest:Do you remember that?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You do?
Guest:No.
Guest:I don't remember that.
Marc:I don't know what this is, but I think...
Marc:I think this might be your valedictorian speech.
Marc:Is it possible?
Marc:Throughout the history of the world and the pursuit of knowledge, learning?
Guest:Learning is a habit to most alert individuals.
Guest:And even the slow person cannot but help absorbing something new in the course of his everyday activities.
Guest:Deep stuff.
Marc:Is that your valedictorian speech?
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:Maybe.
Guest:Yet, one really stops to think that this habit of learning is what makes the world advance.
Guest:The honorable truth is that our world will end of learning ceases.
Guest:A world of such calamity...
Guest:will most likely never occur.
Guest:It's happening now.
Guest:Yep.
Guest:The source of learning is the inciting force of the drama of life.
Guest:Holy shit.
Guest:Somebody must have helped me with this one.
Guest:Shit.
Guest:This doesn't sound like me.
Guest:Is it your writing?
Guest:It is my writing.
Okay.
Guest:Maybe you were smarter then.
Marc:It must be a valedictorian speech.
Guest:You think?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:How come I didn't do better?
Marc:What do you mean?
Marc:How much better could you have done?
Guest:I mean, how come I didn't become something good?
Marc:You became a doctor, wasn't it?
Guest:BFD, right?
Yeah.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:What else would you have become?
Guest:Nothing.
Guest:That's what we were prepared for at that time.
Guest:Face tomorrow with the confidence, understanding and fearlessness.
Guest:man, of a man or woman.
Guest:It is not for us mortals to question the miracles of the human mind and the powers of learning.
Guest:Huh.
Marc:Good job.
Marc:Is it emotional?
Guest:No.
Guest:What does it say?
Marc:What does that say?
Guest:It is only for us to be thankful to God for such
Guest:A mechanism and such a powerful ability.
Guest:Stepping into a future filled with uncertainty can be optimistic.
Guest:Hold my head up and walk proudly forward because I have a solid basis for a conference-education as valedictorian, yeah?
Guest:June 1956, it is my sad and singular honor to have the help of God.
Guest:The help of God.
Guest:What was it to say?
Guest:The help of God.
Guest:It is the greeting of a bright and prosperous future.
Marc:There you go.
Marc:You and God did it.
Marc:That was great.
Marc:I feel uplifted.
Marc:When you read that, you don't remember doing it?
Marc:No.
Guest:Not at all.
Marc:But zero.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:But you just did it.
Marc:You traveled back in time.
Marc:You did the speech again.
Marc:That was probably the first.
Marc:I'd imagine that's the second time you did it.
Marc:You're only the second time.
Marc:When was that?
Marc:1950, what?
Marc:Six?
Marc:Six.
Marc:And then you went off to college?
Guest:I was in the class of 60.
Marc:Yeah, so right away.
Marc:Right there.
Marc:Good times.
Marc:Well, that was exciting.
Marc:Dad, it seems like you're okay.
Marc:I think you're just fooling everybody with this.
Marc:With this thing.
Marc:It's all a ruse.
Marc:I'm glad you remembered the dog.
Marc:Both of them.
Guest:Inky.
Guest:All right.
Marc:So as an experience, that was very sad but beautiful for me.
Marc:But as an idea, I really think that if you have people in your life that you love that are elderly, you should probably do this whenever you can, whether they're healthy or not, to sort of re-engage their memories.
Marc:You know, I try to re-engage my memories a lot lately.
Marc:Maybe it's out of fear that
Marc:That I'm going to end up like my father.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:But it's sort of who we are and what we're made of, actually, is how we got here.
Marc:And sometimes going to those memories is hard.
Marc:Sometimes it's traumatic.
Marc:Sometimes it's amazing.
Marc:Sometimes it's just sort of like, oh, yeah, that was me then.
Marc:Hope you enjoyed that.
Guest:Thank you.