#2 Gregor

Pushkin bad time. I was just stepping out. I was 0:00:25.210 --> 0:00:29.810 just you enjoy music, right, Yeah. This week's show kind 0:00:29.850 --> 0:00:32.690 of deals with music, and it got me thinking. I 0:00:32.690 --> 0:00:35.610 have a confession to make. You know how, sometimes, like 0:00:35.690 --> 0:00:38.570 you have dinner parties and they're great. I wanted to say, 0:00:38.610 --> 0:00:43.410 sometimes how you sometimes play music? Yeah, sometimes I'm a 0:00:43.450 --> 0:00:45.410 little hesitant to come over for dinner. 0:00:46.010 --> 0:00:47.769 You're always hesitant to come over for dinner. 0:00:47.810 --> 0:00:51.129 Well, it's not including Mary Club's forty fifth birthday. Do 0:00:51.129 --> 0:00:53.730 you remember that? I do you know that Bumballeo song? 0:00:53.970 --> 0:00:56.530 I can't find my Gypsy King CD because your husband 0:00:56.650 --> 0:01:00.890 hit it. It's killing me, killing everybody. The reason sometimes 0:01:00.930 --> 0:01:04.410 I have some difficulty with my digestion these dinner parties 0:01:04.490 --> 0:01:07.570 is it's the Bumballeo song. It's the Gypsy Kings. Oh 0:01:07.690 --> 0:01:10.970 this is great. You know what bumble bambalaya translates as 0:01:11.610 --> 0:01:15.530 what wobble wobble? All right, we'll speak to you one 0:01:15.570 --> 0:01:17.730 thing before we go. Okay, I'm going to say bumbalao 0:01:17.890 --> 0:01:21.490 and then you say bumbalaya. Okay, I do, and then I. 0:01:25.450 --> 0:01:27.050 Bomb bye bye. 0:01:31.210 --> 0:01:36.330 From Gimblet Media. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is Heavyweight 0:01:37.010 --> 0:01:39.570 today's episode, Gregor. 0:01:48.770 --> 0:01:50.530 This guy's gonna ram you from behind because you're going 0:01:50.570 --> 0:01:53.330 eleven miles left, although you usually don't do it from 0:01:53.370 --> 0:01:53.770 the right line. 0:01:54.010 --> 0:01:57.130 Okay, let's not give killed. Do you have a driver's license? 0:02:00.010 --> 0:02:02.050 This is Gregor and me on our way to lunch, 0:02:02.490 --> 0:02:06.210 and what you're hearing is typical. When I'm driving, Gregor 0:02:06.290 --> 0:02:09.610 comments on my speed. When I eat, he comments on 0:02:09.650 --> 0:02:13.010 my table manners, and when I eat yogurt, he comments 0:02:13.049 --> 0:02:15.290 on the way I lick the inside lid, calling it 0:02:15.370 --> 0:02:19.450 both lecherous and unmanly. Some might say that Gregor is 0:02:19.490 --> 0:02:24.570 overly critical, possibly even prickly, but I would not. I 0:02:24.610 --> 0:02:28.890 love Gregor for many reasons. His loyalty, his generosity, his 0:02:29.010 --> 0:02:30.810 being the kind of person will pick you up at 0:02:30.810 --> 0:02:33.410 the airport at four in the morning without even complaining. 0:02:33.970 --> 0:02:36.410 But it's perhaps his courage to say the things that 0:02:36.490 --> 0:02:40.370 were all not exactly thinking, but maybe thinking about thinking, 0:02:40.850 --> 0:02:46.650 that is most thrilling. And so when he showed up 0:02:46.690 --> 0:02:50.050 at my office mocking himself instead of me and speaking 0:02:50.050 --> 0:02:52.810 in biblical parables, I was concerned. 0:02:53.370 --> 0:02:55.450 Was it the Pharaoh and the Joseph story who said 0:02:55.610 --> 0:02:57.450 the seven lean years and seven fat years? 0:02:57.610 --> 0:02:57.850 Yeah? 0:02:57.930 --> 0:02:59.930 I had this insight today that the fat years are 0:02:59.930 --> 0:03:00.610 about to end. 0:03:01.050 --> 0:03:02.490 Would these have been the fat years? 0:03:02.490 --> 0:03:05.090 That's what I realized Literally this morning. I woke up 0:03:05.090 --> 0:03:06.850 and I was like, wait, those were the fat years? 0:03:07.930 --> 0:03:13.050 You know, in every conceivable way, financially, stability, prestige, all 0:03:13.090 --> 0:03:15.570 the job stuff, and like creative accomplishment stuff. I just 0:03:15.570 --> 0:03:18.650 feel like it's like going up and I'm watching it 0:03:18.690 --> 0:03:19.410 go up and smoke. 0:03:20.690 --> 0:03:23.650 Gregor is forty eight years old and by profession he 0:03:23.730 --> 0:03:27.370 makes marketing videos for a cleaning product usually found in 0:03:27.410 --> 0:03:29.890 the bathroom. I can't tell you the name of this 0:03:29.970 --> 0:03:33.570 product for fear Gregor will lose his job. In other words, 0:03:33.850 --> 0:03:36.250 he's not the filmo tour he dreamt of being back 0:03:36.290 --> 0:03:41.370 in his college days, underlining back issues of Kye to Cinema. 0:03:41.530 --> 0:03:43.650 On top of that, he says that over the past 0:03:43.690 --> 0:03:47.210 few years he's seen his career slowly sucked downward. Not 0:03:47.370 --> 0:03:51.050 unlike Oh, I don't know, the spiraling waters of a 0:03:51.090 --> 0:03:54.770 sink unclogged by a chemical drain opener designed to flush 0:03:54.810 --> 0:03:56.650 pipes and attack clogs at their worst. 0:03:57.730 --> 0:04:00.370 What's that children's game where everyone goes around the chairs 0:04:00.930 --> 0:04:05.570 musical chairs, chairs, and everyone sits down, and you're like, oh, 0:04:05.930 --> 0:04:08.650 that friend of mine became a CEO. These four friends 0:04:08.690 --> 0:04:12.370 are like EVP SVP senior whatever. 0:04:12.090 --> 0:04:12.850 At their things. 0:04:13.410 --> 0:04:15.290 That friend of mine wound up sitting in the president 0:04:15.290 --> 0:04:18.010 of Estonia's chair, and then you're like the music stops 0:04:18.529 --> 0:04:20.210 and you're left standing. 0:04:21.370 --> 0:04:24.130 I've heard him reel off this list before, and Gregor 0:04:24.170 --> 0:04:27.250 fully admits it. The success of anyone he knows, no 0:04:27.289 --> 0:04:29.890 matter how thin, his connection to them, feels like a 0:04:29.890 --> 0:04:33.770 reflection of his own shortcomings, including the ascension of his 0:04:33.890 --> 0:04:39.010 elementary school's librarian son, who is now the president of Estonia. 0:04:39.489 --> 0:04:42.489 The point of the story is where's my presidency of 0:04:42.570 --> 0:04:46.010 my Estonia? My circumstances was. I was like, oh things 0:04:46.010 --> 0:04:48.289 will you know, about to break through, about to change? 0:04:48.849 --> 0:04:52.249 And now, like you could say, well, this is just 0:04:52.289 --> 0:04:55.009 to setback, it's you know whatever, Soon your ship's going 0:04:55.049 --> 0:04:55.529 to come in. 0:04:55.810 --> 0:04:59.409 But it's just not you know. I mean, that's just 0:04:59.409 --> 0:05:02.249 the simple truth, the uncomfortable truth. 0:05:03.210 --> 0:05:05.890 Of all Gregor's stories about the success of his acquaintances 0:05:05.929 --> 0:05:08.770 and friends, there's one story that he returns to most, 0:05:09.210 --> 0:05:11.730 and not only is it the greatest success story of 0:05:11.770 --> 0:05:13.969 them all, it's the one that touched his life the 0:05:14.010 --> 0:05:17.410 most intimately. The story all begins about twenty years ago 0:05:17.489 --> 0:05:20.569 in Manhattan, when Gregor was living in a small apartment 0:05:20.609 --> 0:05:24.529 in Chinatown with his older brother Dimitri. One night, they 0:05:24.570 --> 0:05:27.370 had a friend of theirs over for dinner, a techno 0:05:27.570 --> 0:05:28.450 musician friend. 0:05:28.969 --> 0:05:30.570 He was really poor at the time. He was living 0:05:30.609 --> 0:05:33.330 in like I think, in like a basement in a 0:05:33.409 --> 0:05:37.570 warehouse or something, for forty dollars a month. He was 0:05:37.609 --> 0:05:40.249 an articulate smart guy, still an articular smart guy, but 0:05:40.289 --> 0:05:41.929 he's sort of an unlikely rock star in that his 0:05:41.969 --> 0:05:43.570 hair had mostly fallen out even when we were still 0:05:43.609 --> 0:05:46.289 in our twenties. But I watched his ascent. He played 0:05:46.289 --> 0:05:49.330 the bigger and bigger crowds during this techno kind of stuff. 0:05:49.929 --> 0:05:55.449 And then eventually he got a record contract, and I 0:05:55.529 --> 0:05:57.850 at the time got hold of a very obscure set 0:05:57.890 --> 0:05:59.770 of CDs which were field. 0:05:59.489 --> 0:06:03.250 Hollers oooh on troubles. 0:06:04.609 --> 0:06:06.289 I thought it was really interesting stuff. I loaned him 0:06:06.289 --> 0:06:08.089 this box set of CDs. 0:06:07.529 --> 0:06:10.169 Oooh lone trouble. 0:06:10.250 --> 0:06:17.689 So he then sampled it very heavily god and created 0:06:17.690 --> 0:06:20.689 a record which got him very rich and very famous. 0:06:22.810 --> 0:06:34.370 This guy you're speaking of, This guy's Moby trouble. Moby 0:06:35.289 --> 0:06:48.450 bald headed, bespectacled, castle dwelling, multi million records selling Moby. 0:06:48.890 --> 0:06:51.529 But back then he was just Gregor's pal who spent 0:06:51.570 --> 0:06:55.729 weekends at Gregor's family's place and attended family birthday parties too. 0:06:56.529 --> 0:06:59.450 In bars and during long car rides, Gregor and Moby 0:06:59.529 --> 0:07:03.089 had long, earnest conversations about God and the things they believed. 0:07:03.489 --> 0:07:07.330 They were living their twenties together and those CDs Gregor 0:07:07.409 --> 0:07:11.410 lent Moby. The Box. Sounds of the South was recorded 0:07:11.410 --> 0:07:16.010 by the ethno musicologist Alan Lomax. Beginning in the nineteen thirties, 0:07:16.210 --> 0:07:19.610 Lomax and his father John made thousands of field recordings, 0:07:19.970 --> 0:07:23.449 mostly in the American South. These recordings are among the 0:07:23.450 --> 0:07:27.890 most important in American music, preserving dozens of African American 0:07:27.970 --> 0:07:31.730 songs from the early years of the twentieth century. Wait 0:07:33.010 --> 0:07:37.330 some Time better know than Alas some Time. Another hit 0:07:37.369 --> 0:07:40.330 on Moby's album is called Honey. It makes use of 0:07:40.369 --> 0:07:44.610 the song sometimes sung by Bessie Smith Jones. Jones was 0:07:44.650 --> 0:07:47.970 taught these songs by her grandfather, a former slave born 0:07:48.010 --> 0:07:54.410 in Africa. This is Moby's version, So is everybody feeling alive? 0:07:54.770 --> 0:07:59.530 Y I've here elected to play for you the live 0:07:59.610 --> 0:08:02.170 version of the song with all of its foot stomping 0:08:02.210 --> 0:08:05.610 and audience cheering. It's how I imagine Gregor hears it 0:08:05.970 --> 0:08:08.930 echoing in his head during those sleepless nights when his 0:08:09.170 --> 0:08:12.170 kishka's are slowly being corroded by battery ascid. 0:08:15.690 --> 0:08:18.970 When I discovered this CD set, I was like an evangelist. 0:08:19.010 --> 0:08:20.489 I was like, this is amazing. You got to check 0:08:20.530 --> 0:08:21.929 this out. He was over the house and I was like, 0:08:21.970 --> 0:08:23.650 you got to take this home. This is amazing stuff. 0:08:23.650 --> 0:08:25.450 This is the best CD I've heard. You know, I 0:08:25.489 --> 0:08:27.610 don't know how long I've been listening to NonStop rotation. 0:08:27.690 --> 0:08:30.090 I love the CD. So it wasn't just laying in 0:08:30.090 --> 0:08:31.449 a pile. And he happened to put it in his 0:08:31.489 --> 0:08:32.490 bag and walk out the door. 0:08:33.170 --> 0:08:39.650 I said, I sold him on it. 0:08:34.770 --> 0:08:45.890 And Moby makes use of several Lomax recordings on his 0:08:45.970 --> 0:08:50.130 album Play, which went multi platinum. Play eventually became one 0:08:50.170 --> 0:08:53.730 of the most commercially licensed albums ever recorded. At the time, 0:08:54.250 --> 0:08:57.090 the songs were used to promote everything from luxury cars 0:08:57.170 --> 0:09:01.810 to credit cards, and before Play, according to Rolling Stone Magazine, 0:09:02.130 --> 0:09:05.490 Moby was quote bumbling around New York as it has been, 0:09:06.250 --> 0:09:09.530 And then was there an intermediary step before or that? 0:09:09.650 --> 0:09:11.730 And then hearing it on the CD where he said, hey, 0:09:11.930 --> 0:09:13.130 by the way, thanks. 0:09:12.930 --> 0:09:16.650 No, I said, this is amazing thing. Next thing I 0:09:16.690 --> 0:09:18.730 heard it's on the radio and I said, hey, can 0:09:18.730 --> 0:09:19.690 I get that box setback? 0:09:19.770 --> 0:09:22.090 And then years of not being friends. 0:09:22.490 --> 0:09:25.250 And according to Gregor, that was all he wanted to 0:09:25.290 --> 0:09:28.570 get his CDs back. He was looking for neither riches 0:09:28.610 --> 0:09:33.090 nor credit, just the CDs, which he claims were only alone. 0:09:33.770 --> 0:09:36.330 And so this is how it went. He began leaving 0:09:36.370 --> 0:09:40.090 Moby voice messages by Gregor's count, about a dozen that 0:09:40.210 --> 0:09:44.329 all went unanswered. Then, in a final act of desperation, 0:09:44.770 --> 0:09:47.890 Gregor penned a song called Moby give Me Back my CDs, 0:09:48.650 --> 0:09:52.650 which he sang into Moby's answering machine with accompanying karaoke 0:09:52.810 --> 0:09:58.209 music to the tune of Brian Adams Heaven. After much cajoling, 0:09:58.490 --> 0:10:01.650 Gregor dug up his lyrics, which I will now perform 0:10:01.730 --> 0:10:08.170 for you, Moby give me back my CDs. The recordings 0:10:08.250 --> 0:10:13.650 from the yield the Alan Lomax box at CDs. I 0:10:13.690 --> 0:10:19.970 think there were seven. Those discs are all that I need. 0:10:20.650 --> 0:10:24.930 The ones I gave you from my house. I think 0:10:24.970 --> 0:10:31.250 you'll be sure to see there were seven and that message, 0:10:31.290 --> 0:10:34.810 Gregor says, was met with over a decade of silence. 0:10:36.210 --> 0:10:38.530 Did he ever explain, like, did he just ever come 0:10:38.570 --> 0:10:41.130 out and tell you honestly what became of those CDs? 0:10:42.090 --> 0:10:42.170 No? 0:10:42.810 --> 0:10:45.250 I think he was busy, like playing, like, you know, 0:10:45.290 --> 0:10:47.930 a concert to ninety thousand people in Rykovic and drinking 0:10:48.010 --> 0:10:53.250 champagne out of a prostitute shoe. Couldn't be bothered, Obviously, 0:10:53.290 --> 0:10:56.210 I put an exaggerated value on the CDs. I'm sure 0:10:56.210 --> 0:10:58.570 he could have sampled anything, and he had a plenty 0:10:58.610 --> 0:10:59.930 big career before. 0:10:59.610 --> 0:11:00.410 That and after that. 0:11:00.610 --> 0:11:04.130 I mean, I'm not insane, but it was more that 0:11:05.250 --> 0:11:07.810 displaced feeling of like I had this thing go off 0:11:07.850 --> 0:11:09.290 and bloom without me. 0:11:09.850 --> 0:11:10.330 M m. 0:11:10.370 --> 0:11:13.290 I'll tell you an interesting detail in that. Yeah, whenever 0:11:13.370 --> 0:11:15.210 Moby music comes on, I can't listen to it. 0:11:16.050 --> 0:11:17.330 But do you think if you get it back you 0:11:17.370 --> 0:11:18.130 won't feel that way. 0:11:18.170 --> 0:11:19.930 I feel like I could work it through like therapy 0:11:19.970 --> 0:11:21.650 where I could then listen to the music again. 0:11:21.850 --> 0:11:23.370 You know, there's a sense of what. 0:11:23.450 --> 0:11:27.570 About my you know, where's my gold album? 0:11:27.770 --> 0:11:31.370 Yeah? 0:11:32.850 --> 0:11:35.410 Gregor has theories about why nothing ever happened for him, 0:11:35.650 --> 0:11:38.610 and they revolve around an aspect of his personality, an 0:11:38.610 --> 0:11:41.930 aspect he refers to as a lack of affability. 0:11:43.010 --> 0:11:46.050 Like a lot of times I'll say something completely earnestly 0:11:46.210 --> 0:11:51.330 mm hmm, like past the water, and they're like, are 0:11:51.330 --> 0:11:52.170 you being sarcastic? 0:11:52.530 --> 0:11:53.930 Like that happened to me all the time? 0:11:54.690 --> 0:11:56.809 How could you ask for the water sarcastically? 0:11:56.970 --> 0:11:59.930 I come across as being sarcastic when I'm not. 0:12:00.810 --> 0:12:02.370 So it's almost like a handicap of. 0:12:02.330 --> 0:12:03.610 It's a huge handicap. 0:12:03.810 --> 0:12:06.810 I think it's fundamentally, as I understand my own life, 0:12:07.130 --> 0:12:09.850 that is my cross to bear. That's what's wrecked my well. 0:12:09.930 --> 0:12:12.450 I think you would even like you told me that 0:12:12.530 --> 0:12:17.250 story about where you were in the conference room at work, 0:12:17.450 --> 0:12:20.050 They're like complimenting you on your new glasses or something 0:12:20.050 --> 0:12:22.689 and saying, hey, what does your wife think of those glasses? 0:12:22.730 --> 0:12:24.450 And you were like, how the fuck do I know? 0:12:24.690 --> 0:12:26.570 Why don't you ask my own wife to find out? 0:12:26.770 --> 0:12:27.330 Do you remember? 0:12:27.810 --> 0:12:27.970 Yeah? 0:12:27.970 --> 0:12:28.450 I don't remember. 0:12:28.570 --> 0:12:28.970 I mean, so. 0:12:30.410 --> 0:12:31.690 They said like, what is your wife think of that? 0:12:31.770 --> 0:12:33.970 I was like, how do I know? Ask my wife? 0:12:40.730 --> 0:12:43.890 Recently, Gregor and Moby have found themselves back in touch, 0:12:44.330 --> 0:12:48.690 though in the most tangential impersonal way possible through group 0:12:48.770 --> 0:12:53.050 emails and texts. Gregor's older brother Dimitri, remained friends with 0:12:53.130 --> 0:12:56.210 Moby over the years, and Dmitri recently had a baby, 0:12:56.770 --> 0:12:59.330 so he loops in Moby, Gregor, and one other old 0:12:59.330 --> 0:13:02.570 friend on updates. This has evolved into a small group 0:13:02.650 --> 0:13:07.090 of friends exchanging witticisms and fun facts like did you 0:13:07.130 --> 0:13:09.570 know that the fatty flesh around the elbow is called 0:13:09.570 --> 0:13:13.690 a weness? So while the new group email friendship isn't 0:13:13.690 --> 0:13:16.250 the same as the old close one, it's still an 0:13:16.250 --> 0:13:19.850 open door, and so I couldn't help asking the question, 0:13:20.770 --> 0:13:23.610 now that that door has swung open again, do you 0:13:23.690 --> 0:13:26.330 see this as an opportunity to ask for those CDs 0:13:26.370 --> 0:13:26.929 once again? 0:13:27.050 --> 0:13:29.690 I was thinking about it, were you just because it's 0:13:29.730 --> 0:13:32.610 kind of a little symbolic of what I don't even 0:13:32.650 --> 0:13:34.890 have a CD player anymore, right, But I was just thinking, 0:13:35.890 --> 0:13:38.330 for talismonic purposes, it would be interesting to have. 0:13:38.290 --> 0:13:40.210 Them back say more about that. 0:13:40.770 --> 0:13:42.010 I think that it might soothe me. 0:13:42.850 --> 0:13:43.930 Do you really think it would? 0:13:44.410 --> 0:13:47.450 I'll actually give you the clarity which just came to me, now, okay, 0:13:48.010 --> 0:13:49.650 it's not Instead of the money and the fame and 0:13:49.690 --> 0:13:55.970 all that stuff. What it is is tangible evidence. Understand 0:13:57.090 --> 0:13:58.890 you did this, you exist, you did it, you pulled 0:13:58.930 --> 0:13:59.290 it off. 0:13:59.890 --> 0:14:02.370 You want to be able to say, see these CDs 0:14:02.370 --> 0:14:03.650 on the shelf, that's. 0:14:03.410 --> 0:14:05.530 The ones that I gave to mommy, because for me, 0:14:06.050 --> 0:14:08.810 this would just be a version of proof. 0:14:14.370 --> 0:14:17.730 Wanting the CDs you lent someone decades ago and expecting 0:14:17.810 --> 0:14:22.970 them back is of course insanity, but insanity's repeated often enough, 0:14:23.370 --> 0:14:28.050 especially between friends, can begin to feel pacifying, lulling. 0:14:27.770 --> 0:14:28.330 Even. 0:14:29.610 --> 0:14:32.530 Excuse me, in a way, you just want your due. 0:14:33.250 --> 0:14:33.570 Yeah. 0:14:33.970 --> 0:14:38.250 Do you think you can articulate that in a way 0:14:38.290 --> 0:14:40.810 that would make it understandable to him? 0:14:40.850 --> 0:14:43.170 Do you think I'm pretty confident I can't, because he's 0:14:43.210 --> 0:14:44.570 still pretty sensitive. 0:14:44.930 --> 0:14:49.290 Okay, pretty sensitive, pretty sensitive. Like the time Moby seemed 0:14:49.290 --> 0:14:53.210 to bristle when Gregor emailed him about something totally innocuous, 0:14:53.810 --> 0:14:58.690 a condolence for the death of Moby's friend David Bowie. 0:14:58.890 --> 0:15:01.010 You know, I said some witty thing about David Bowie dying, 0:15:01.090 --> 0:15:03.410 he wrote, like texted back, like the picture of him 0:15:03.410 --> 0:15:05.050 and David Bowie in the cover of Entertainment. 0:15:05.130 --> 0:15:06.730 Let's back up for a moment, what was the witty 0:15:06.770 --> 0:15:08.450 thing you said about David Bowie's death? 0:15:09.210 --> 0:15:10.650 You know that good night funny man? 0:15:12.330 --> 0:15:14.050 What does that even mean? 0:15:14.930 --> 0:15:16.530 That's usually what I say when people die. 0:15:22.090 --> 0:15:24.410 If this is a sampling of the hot takes Gregor 0:15:24.450 --> 0:15:27.290 has in store, I fear that this newly opened door 0:15:27.330 --> 0:15:31.130 between Moby and Gregor might not remain open forever. I 0:15:31.170 --> 0:15:33.290 also knew that if he has any hope of ever 0:15:33.330 --> 0:15:37.850 getting back those CDs, he'll need a middleman or interlocutor 0:15:38.530 --> 0:15:43.410 or interlocutor. So perhaps, against my better judgment, I allow 0:15:43.490 --> 0:15:46.010 myself to be swept up by the moment. I just 0:15:46.090 --> 0:15:48.170 don't know if this is going to lead to anything 0:15:48.170 --> 0:15:52.210 but heartbreak? But why don't we go after the CDs? 0:15:52.810 --> 0:15:53.170 All right? 0:15:54.210 --> 0:15:56.970 And with that ringing call to arms, my path was 0:15:57.010 --> 0:16:03.690 set and the mission begun. Say I'm Moby, Like, how 0:16:03.730 --> 0:16:04.730 would you ask. 0:16:04.930 --> 0:16:08.570 Hey, Moby, can I have back those CDs? I've never 0:16:08.610 --> 0:16:11.170 understood approach other than a direct approach, So that's what 0:16:11.170 --> 0:16:11.570 I would do. 0:16:12.730 --> 0:16:15.930 After the break the Hollywood Hills, a surprise encounter with 0:16:16.050 --> 0:16:29.530 Rue Paul and maybe Moby. Maybe the airline tickets were purchased, 0:16:29.730 --> 0:16:32.490 the hotel was booked, but a couple days before we 0:16:32.490 --> 0:16:37.210 were set to leave for La, I got nervous. If 0:16:37.250 --> 0:16:40.170 Gregor already was in a bad place, could my meddling 0:16:40.410 --> 0:16:41.690 possibly make things worse? 0:16:42.130 --> 0:16:42.410 Hello? 0:16:43.210 --> 0:16:43.810 Hey Annika? 0:16:44.090 --> 0:16:44.930 Yeah, Jonathan. 0:16:45.330 --> 0:16:47.370 I decided to reach out to the person who knows 0:16:47.370 --> 0:16:53.530 Gregor best, his wife, Annika. So do you know about 0:16:53.530 --> 0:16:57.450 this this little project that your husband and I are undertaking? 0:16:58.810 --> 0:17:01.970 So I think that the is a strategy to like 0:17:02.010 --> 0:17:05.170 ambush Moby and try and get him to give back 0:17:05.210 --> 0:17:08.930 the CDs that he lent Gregor thirty years ago or however, 0:17:09.450 --> 0:17:11.129 well it was ago. Is that true? 0:17:11.889 --> 0:17:16.170 You make it sound like such a classy operation. Yeah. 0:17:16.649 --> 0:17:19.609 Has Gregor brought this issue up to you before this 0:17:19.649 --> 0:17:22.570 whole Alan Lomack CD issue? 0:17:23.169 --> 0:17:29.090 So I met him on November eleventh, two thousand, Yeah, 0:17:29.129 --> 0:17:35.449 and it came up pretty early in our relationship, so. 0:17:35.409 --> 0:17:39.050 He yeah, like first date conversation, It was. 0:17:39.050 --> 0:17:41.929 Definitely early on. It's very hard for him to let 0:17:42.010 --> 0:17:46.289 stuff go. And like, even like early on our relationship, 0:17:46.330 --> 0:17:51.769 we went to Spain together and we bought a bottle 0:17:51.810 --> 0:17:54.729 of olive oil in some town or something and we 0:17:54.850 --> 0:17:57.529 left it by accident in the rental car and it 0:17:57.689 --> 0:17:59.129 still bothers him. 0:18:00.250 --> 0:18:02.570 Do you know. I think I actually know that Olive 0:18:02.570 --> 0:18:03.489 Oil story. 0:18:03.609 --> 0:18:09.129 Oh yeah, yeah. There is something that is in his 0:18:09.250 --> 0:18:12.209 character that is very much like the Larry David character, 0:18:12.250 --> 0:18:16.050 where it's like, you know, like obsessing about a very 0:18:16.090 --> 0:18:19.689 small point. But you know, he's a very he's like 0:18:19.730 --> 0:18:23.730 a very sensitive person. So it's just part of who 0:18:23.770 --> 0:18:27.650 he is and part of his wonderful package. 0:18:27.929 --> 0:18:31.850 Does this undertaking have your blessing or do you think 0:18:31.850 --> 0:18:32.649 it's foolhardy? 0:18:33.409 --> 0:18:36.649 I don't. I sometimes I worry about Gregor's feelings because 0:18:36.649 --> 0:18:41.210 he is very hurt, very easily, and I don't know 0:18:41.250 --> 0:18:52.050 if Moby is really that sensitive to his feelings. 0:18:54.530 --> 0:18:58.289 I Gregor flew in from San Francisco and I was 0:18:58.290 --> 0:19:01.210 there to greet him at the Bob Hope International Airport 0:19:01.290 --> 0:19:01.969 in Burbank. 0:19:02.169 --> 0:19:04.050 So this is the dream factory I've heard about. 0:19:04.050 --> 0:19:08.969 It's beautiful here. Even the underground parking lots smell like sentent. 0:19:09.929 --> 0:19:12.889 We have four hours before our appointment with Moby, so 0:19:12.929 --> 0:19:16.170 we set off in our economy sized Krrio or similar 0:19:16.570 --> 0:19:23.930 to experience everything LA has to offer. Are you excited? Yeah, 0:19:24.050 --> 0:19:25.290 you don't sound excited. 0:19:26.090 --> 0:19:27.170 No, I'm full of anxiety. 0:19:27.209 --> 0:19:30.969 And let me tell you I feel an increasing sense 0:19:31.090 --> 0:19:33.889 of dread about the futility of this undertaking. 0:19:34.689 --> 0:19:36.570 You can get those CDs back, my friend. 0:19:36.770 --> 0:19:38.730 Okay, whatever you say in a. 0:19:38.649 --> 0:19:40.649 Plastic bag, which he'll supply. 0:19:41.889 --> 0:19:45.609 You're gonna negotiate this look manage at which time of 0:19:45.649 --> 0:19:51.450 my client's choosing the one plastic bag recycled acceptable plus 0:19:51.689 --> 0:19:54.769 one coupon good for any flavor from basket in Robin's 0:19:54.770 --> 0:19:59.050 ice cream or any substante there too. 0:20:01.730 --> 0:20:04.090 With just three hours and fifty nine minutes to go, 0:20:04.609 --> 0:20:08.249 things were off to a rollicking start. It's like not moving. 0:20:08.490 --> 0:20:10.370 There's always traffic in Los Angeles. 0:20:10.490 --> 0:20:12.249 Look at the traffic. Are we gonna make it for movies? 0:20:12.570 --> 0:20:14.289 Yeah, we're gonna be stuck in horrible traffic. 0:20:14.970 --> 0:20:18.290 We have until two, No, we have until one. 0:20:18.570 --> 0:20:19.809 Oh really we'll never make it. 0:20:23.530 --> 0:20:26.730 Oh look there's the big Hollywood sign. Wow, what a sight. 0:20:26.850 --> 0:20:29.969 Huh used to say Hollywood. 0:20:29.490 --> 0:20:32.969 Land Actually before that it was called hollywood Landville. 0:20:33.010 --> 0:20:38.330 Is that true? 0:20:38.929 --> 0:20:40.929 Do you want Mexican food? Do you ever eat Mexican food? 0:20:40.970 --> 0:20:43.770 I love Mexican food. And to make U turn yeah, 0:20:43.810 --> 0:20:45.689 go go go? This is like a four lane uie, 0:20:45.810 --> 0:20:46.889 it's six really. 0:20:46.730 --> 0:20:47.690 Go go go go? 0:20:47.850 --> 0:20:53.449 Yes, when you knew to someone before they were famous, 0:20:53.810 --> 0:20:57.609 and you treat them like someone who's not famous. Sometimes 0:20:57.649 --> 0:21:00.530 they don't like that. Sometimes they're used to the difference 0:21:00.649 --> 0:21:02.129 and the rock star treatment from everyone. 0:21:02.250 --> 0:21:04.729 Can you can you try to treat them with a 0:21:04.770 --> 0:21:05.649 little more difference. 0:21:06.689 --> 0:21:07.570 That's what I'm gonna try to. 0:21:07.649 --> 0:21:12.689 But the mask always slips. 0:21:10.689 --> 0:21:13.050 Insofar as me coming here with you, How do you 0:21:13.129 --> 0:21:16.129 feel about me as an interlocutor? 0:21:16.850 --> 0:21:19.050 I'm actually full of dread mostly because of that. 0:21:19.330 --> 0:21:20.409 But what is that supposed to me? 0:21:21.050 --> 0:21:23.330 Because I recognize that I need an interlocutor. I did 0:21:23.369 --> 0:21:24.929 say that, and I do believe it. I think that 0:21:24.970 --> 0:21:26.570 you're going to be allows the interlocutor. 0:21:26.770 --> 0:21:28.369 What do you think I'm gonna embarrass you in front 0:21:28.369 --> 0:21:29.850 of your yes, famous friends? 0:21:29.929 --> 0:21:31.250 Yes, yes, that's. 0:21:31.050 --> 0:21:37.489 What you're afraid of. Yes? No, But seriously, you think 0:21:37.490 --> 0:21:38.209 I'm gonna blow this? 0:21:39.010 --> 0:21:40.689 I just feel like you don't get the vibe of 0:21:40.689 --> 0:21:42.449 what it's like when you're in like a guy's house 0:21:42.970 --> 0:21:43.770 and you're gonna. 0:21:43.570 --> 0:21:46.010 Be like, say, nice toilets, what are he's made of? 0:21:46.090 --> 0:21:46.530 Porcelain? 0:21:47.169 --> 0:21:51.449 Ay, I'm gonna be like Johnny please, and you'll be like, no, 0:21:51.570 --> 0:21:52.529 I don't know what they're made up? 0:21:53.209 --> 0:21:55.250 Is to me the final iroty of this whole thing 0:21:55.290 --> 0:21:57.809 that you're concerned that I'm gonna embarrass you. 0:21:58.090 --> 0:21:59.770 I don't want you to trip me up in my game, 0:21:59.850 --> 0:22:01.570 my stride, my cadence. 0:22:01.290 --> 0:22:02.649 And what is it gonna be a part of your 0:22:02.689 --> 0:22:04.130 game here to. 0:22:04.090 --> 0:22:05.969 Try and relax and be myself. But I'm gonna be 0:22:05.970 --> 0:22:07.730 made self conscious when you're like, do. 0:22:07.730 --> 0:22:09.449 You validate parking here? 0:22:09.770 --> 0:22:15.169 And I just need you to validate God, this is 0:22:15.209 --> 0:22:17.409 so pretty, What a pretty place to live? 0:22:17.889 --> 0:22:19.689 Hey, well you're selling off CDs. You can live in 0:22:19.730 --> 0:22:20.369 a place like this. 0:22:20.929 --> 0:22:23.570 Worried about our being tardy, I decided to run down 0:22:23.609 --> 0:22:28.850 the clock doing laps around Moby's very pretty block, little 0:22:28.889 --> 0:22:31.689 tiny houses. They keep going straight. This is really pretty 0:22:32.369 --> 0:22:33.490 nice view of the mountains. 0:22:33.649 --> 0:22:36.890 This is his house right here where all right here? 0:22:37.010 --> 0:22:38.129 I want to drive by it. 0:22:38.250 --> 0:22:40.409 This house right there at the corner. We were passing 0:22:40.449 --> 0:22:43.449 the gates of his home over and over when a 0:22:43.490 --> 0:22:45.530 half hour before our appointed meeting. 0:22:45.929 --> 0:22:47.810 That's movie right there, is it? Yeah? 0:22:47.970 --> 0:22:51.090 Oh Jesus, Moby emerges through the gates to get his newspaper. 0:22:52.090 --> 0:22:55.049 Excited about seeing an honest to goodness famous person. I 0:22:55.090 --> 0:22:58.690 instinctively slowed to a crawl and pulled over beside him. 0:22:58.850 --> 0:23:02.009 Go say hi, no, no, come on, let him go 0:23:02.689 --> 0:23:03.250 to keep going. 0:23:03.290 --> 0:23:04.249 We just turned around. 0:23:04.369 --> 0:23:05.570 He didn't see any Yes he did. 0:23:05.609 --> 0:23:09.449 He turned around and we made eye contact, like right 0:23:09.490 --> 0:23:11.809 up to him, and he turned around and he seemed scared. 0:23:11.889 --> 0:23:13.290 That's exactly what I'm talking about. 0:23:13.649 --> 0:23:14.330 What did I do? 0:23:14.369 --> 0:23:15.010 You're creepy. 0:23:16.929 --> 0:23:18.609 Creepy, they don't slide up to people and they're going 0:23:18.649 --> 0:23:19.010 to get their. 0:23:18.929 --> 0:23:21.369 Pretty That's true. I really, I really did slide up 0:23:21.369 --> 0:23:21.609 to him. 0:23:21.689 --> 0:23:25.129 Yeah, he did, like a creep You're gonna go another 0:23:25.169 --> 0:23:28.049 pass through when he comes up for his milk. 0:23:32.369 --> 0:23:35.210 We walk off our nerves in a nearby park, where 0:23:35.250 --> 0:23:38.649 Gregor dispenses life wisdom to a passing toddler. 0:23:39.649 --> 0:23:41.609 Enjoy it, kid, best, It's going to be for the 0:23:41.649 --> 0:23:42.290 rest of your life. 0:23:43.889 --> 0:23:45.810 Who says things like that to a child? 0:23:46.090 --> 0:23:47.970 His happy in love? His shirt said love. He's holding 0:23:47.970 --> 0:23:48.490 a little. 0:23:48.290 --> 0:23:55.129 Girls outside Moby's door. We do some last minute strategizing. 0:23:55.250 --> 0:23:56.609 Am I supposed to be the good cop or the 0:23:56.649 --> 0:23:57.649 bad cop? I can't remember. 0:23:57.889 --> 0:23:59.889 Well, I guess you were supposed to be the bad cop. No, 0:23:59.929 --> 0:24:01.290 I'm the bad cop, you're the good cop. 0:24:01.369 --> 0:24:02.570 I'll usually play the bad cop. 0:24:02.689 --> 0:24:03.770 So fine, you're the bad cop. 0:24:03.770 --> 0:24:05.530 It's twelve to fifty seven. It's not really one yet. 0:24:06.330 --> 0:24:09.730 Hall wait oh hello, Hi, I'm sorry, sorry, we're early. 0:24:10.409 --> 0:24:12.649 It's twelve fifty seven. It's three minutes too early. 0:24:13.369 --> 0:24:17.090 Moby's personal assistant, a terrifyingly fit woman in jeans and 0:24:17.129 --> 0:24:20.769 T shirt, leads us towards Moby's home. By rockstar standards, 0:24:21.010 --> 0:24:21.930 it's pretty modest. 0:24:24.810 --> 0:24:28.050 Hello, Hello, Hi, Sharman, Moe, been far too long? Should 0:24:28.050 --> 0:24:28.690 I take shoes off? 0:24:28.810 --> 0:24:31.370 Hi? I am Jonathan. Were led into a sunken foyer 0:24:31.449 --> 0:24:34.210 where a couple of assistants are gathering equipment and making 0:24:34.250 --> 0:24:37.689 themselves scarce. Standing at the top of the stairs looking 0:24:37.730 --> 0:24:41.449 not unlike a bald headed gray hoodie Norma Desmond is Moby. 0:24:42.129 --> 0:24:44.969 Gregor and he do not hug or even shake hands. 0:24:45.490 --> 0:24:46.409 They don't even wave. 0:24:47.090 --> 0:24:49.850 It's been far too long, my friend where he's staying? 0:24:50.250 --> 0:24:54.170 And Gregor drops his bag and has a looxie. 0:24:54.570 --> 0:24:56.930 Beautiful location, your beautiful assistant. 0:24:57.330 --> 0:24:57.649 Everything. 0:24:59.290 --> 0:25:02.290 He's even brought along a thoughtful gift, something to cater 0:25:02.409 --> 0:25:06.730 to Moby's strict veganism and clean, healthy lifestyle. Fancy all 0:25:06.810 --> 0:25:08.409 natural lemonades. 0:25:08.490 --> 0:25:13.850 Something disco with turmeric, WHOA something awful with probiotic cayenne peppers, 0:25:14.449 --> 0:25:16.530 something horrifying with lemons. 0:25:17.649 --> 0:25:21.690 To our parched dismay, Moby takes the beverages and places 0:25:21.689 --> 0:25:24.609 them in the fridge. Gregor and I are never to 0:25:24.649 --> 0:25:28.369 see those beverages again. As we settle in and I 0:25:28.449 --> 0:25:31.729 set up our recording gear, Gregor notices a pile of 0:25:31.810 --> 0:25:32.689 video equipment. 0:25:32.929 --> 0:25:34.490 Why do you have two C three hundreds here? 0:25:35.649 --> 0:25:38.689 Remember that slippery mask? Gregor mentioned the one hiding is 0:25:38.770 --> 0:25:42.570 rough Edges ten seconds in and it was already a slippin' 0:25:42.929 --> 0:25:43.290 Why am. 0:25:43.250 --> 0:25:45.450 I not involved that produce films all the time? 0:25:45.449 --> 0:25:47.929 I can help you to which Moby, rather than saying 0:25:47.970 --> 0:25:50.169 he's worked with David Lynch and David le Chappelle and 0:25:50.409 --> 0:25:53.850 probably all set on that front, instead says, I mean 0:25:53.929 --> 0:25:54.929 you live in San Francisco. 0:25:55.010 --> 0:25:57.369 Yeah, but I'm here all the time, not literally in 0:25:57.409 --> 0:25:59.929 your living room, in your kitchen, though I could be 0:26:00.010 --> 0:26:00.449 more often. 0:26:01.409 --> 0:26:04.289 Gregor can't help treating Moby like a nephew making his 0:26:04.330 --> 0:26:07.930 first student film. That is, Gregor's treating Moby the way 0:26:07.970 --> 0:26:11.929 he treats me. And this of course is concerning. 0:26:11.530 --> 0:26:15.609 First of all, before we even get that far, how would. 0:26:15.449 --> 0:26:21.210 You At this point, Moby has mostly no idea why 0:26:21.250 --> 0:26:24.289 we're here. I made an appointment with his assistant, but 0:26:24.330 --> 0:26:27.450 it was left vague. So Moby takes the direct approach. 0:26:28.010 --> 0:26:28.970 So what are you guys doing? 0:26:30.889 --> 0:26:32.169 Well, this is an excellent question. 0:26:32.889 --> 0:26:36.050 Well, let's begin at the beginning, around the time contemporaneous 0:26:36.050 --> 0:26:40.209 with your recent autobiography, the mid nineties two thousands, and. 0:26:41.090 --> 0:26:44.090 Like, after all of his braggadoccio about how he was 0:26:44.129 --> 0:26:46.609 going to walk in there and demand the CDs back, 0:26:46.929 --> 0:26:51.689 Gregor's nervous, being uncharacteristically mealy mouthed, unable to explain the 0:26:51.689 --> 0:26:53.090 basics of our mission. 0:26:52.850 --> 0:26:55.369 And so this conversation became down this kind of alleyway 0:26:55.490 --> 0:26:58.129 of that facet of like I was kind of like, 0:26:59.209 --> 0:27:01.129 what is me? 0:27:01.250 --> 0:27:04.090 Moby had limited time, so at the risk of embarrassing 0:27:04.129 --> 0:27:06.769 Gregor in front of his famous friend, I decided to 0:27:06.770 --> 0:27:10.369 step in and explain. So and I tell my story 0:27:10.409 --> 0:27:13.209 of you coming to last time I saw Gregor. He 0:27:13.250 --> 0:27:16.889 came to visit me at work, and you were kind 0:27:16.929 --> 0:27:20.649 of in this mood where you were feeling like maybe 0:27:20.689 --> 0:27:25.209 those things that you were hopeful about achieving were not 0:27:25.250 --> 0:27:27.450 going to be happening, and I think you were in Well, 0:27:27.449 --> 0:27:30.729 Gregor looks on skeptically. I try to explain to Moby 0:27:30.770 --> 0:27:35.170 Gregor's midlife malaise how everyone was passing him by. Can 0:27:35.209 --> 0:27:37.930 you relate to the feeling of like, have you ever, 0:27:38.090 --> 0:27:42.369 at different points in your life felt like like surpassed 0:27:42.369 --> 0:27:44.369 by your friends? Or you know what I mean? Oh? 0:27:44.449 --> 0:27:50.570 Yeah, Like there's always going to be someone doing so 0:27:50.730 --> 0:27:52.530 much better than you that if you spend the time 0:27:52.530 --> 0:27:54.410 to look at it, you're going to feel bad about yourself. 0:27:55.010 --> 0:27:57.609 Like my nemesis, well, according to him for a while, 0:27:57.689 --> 0:28:00.209 was Eminem, So if he was my nemesis, I was 0:28:00.290 --> 0:28:03.809 just being beaten publicly and badly because he was always 0:28:03.850 --> 0:28:09.530 more successful, always selling more records, always more popular, always cooler, 0:28:10.090 --> 0:28:13.210 And so depends on who I was comparing myself to. 0:28:14.050 --> 0:28:16.810 Over time, like other people start selling more records, getting 0:28:16.810 --> 0:28:21.529 better reviews, you start selling fewer tickets. And then as 0:28:21.770 --> 0:28:28.850 the two thousands progressed, my career waned and other people's escalated, 0:28:29.129 --> 0:28:30.570 you know, Like I would go to visit my record 0:28:30.649 --> 0:28:34.250 company and they'd have my picture behind the receptionist desk, 0:28:34.609 --> 0:28:36.570 and then one day I show up and it's Jack 0:28:36.570 --> 0:28:39.010 White's picture behind the reception system. 0:28:38.570 --> 0:28:41.810 Like wha what Yeah, I mean, I think the only 0:28:41.850 --> 0:28:44.450 way to hear that, honestly is in the split screen 0:28:44.490 --> 0:28:49.170 between totally head nodding, one hundred percent agree and totally 0:28:49.250 --> 0:28:51.490 like easy for you to say, because you're looking down 0:28:51.490 --> 0:28:55.810 from the mountain, looking up, you're like, fucking knock that. 0:28:55.730 --> 0:28:57.250 Guy off the mountain because all I need is mind 0:28:57.250 --> 0:28:57.690 billion dollars. 0:28:57.690 --> 0:28:59.249 Then I looked at But really, the kick in the 0:28:59.290 --> 0:29:02.210 teeth of fame is that if you don't have it, 0:29:02.370 --> 0:29:04.170 you beat yourself up that you don't have it, and 0:29:04.209 --> 0:29:07.969 if you do have it, you're miserable and you kill yourself. Literally, 0:29:08.050 --> 0:29:11.610 the most depressed I've ever been in my entire life 0:29:12.209 --> 0:29:15.769 was the height of my professional success. And I remember 0:29:15.810 --> 0:29:19.569 this one moment so clearly. I was at an MTV 0:29:19.650 --> 0:29:23.050 Awards in Barcelona, and there's this hotel called the Arts 0:29:23.050 --> 0:29:26.050 Hotel in Barcelona, and it's so beautiful and at the 0:29:26.130 --> 0:29:29.810 tippity top of the hotel they have four three bedroom 0:29:29.850 --> 0:29:33.330 apartments and I was in one. P Diddy was in one, 0:29:33.890 --> 0:29:36.330 John bon Jovi was in one, and Madonna was in one. 0:29:36.890 --> 0:29:39.249 And so you'd take like one elevator to get to 0:29:39.330 --> 0:29:42.010 a certain floor, then another elevator to another floor, and 0:29:42.050 --> 0:29:44.210 then a security guard would wave you through up to. 0:29:44.209 --> 0:29:46.090 Our hallowed floor. 0:29:46.810 --> 0:29:49.330 And the first night I was there, I invited some 0:29:49.370 --> 0:29:51.290 people over to like look at the view and drink, 0:29:51.330 --> 0:29:53.410 and I kept drinking by myself, and I got more 0:29:53.410 --> 0:29:56.770 and more despondent, and I literally, at the end of 0:29:56.810 --> 0:30:00.610 the evening, before going to bed, was walking around this beautiful, 0:30:00.650 --> 0:30:04.570 insane apartment crying, thinking about how I could get out 0:30:04.570 --> 0:30:10.050 the window to kill myself. And the next day I 0:30:10.050 --> 0:30:13.610 won an MTV award. So it's like, professionally, things couldn't 0:30:13.610 --> 0:30:14.209 have been better. 0:30:14.650 --> 0:30:14.850 You know. 0:30:14.930 --> 0:30:17.130 The day before I'd played a huge concert, selling lots 0:30:17.170 --> 0:30:19.250 of records. The day after won an award, played more 0:30:19.330 --> 0:30:22.450 huge concerts, And I've never been more despondent. 0:30:24.010 --> 0:30:26.009 I appreciate your making up that story just to make 0:30:26.050 --> 0:30:26.570 me feel good. 0:30:26.730 --> 0:30:29.970 It's completely true, because I remember walking around this hotel 0:30:30.330 --> 0:30:33.249 and these walls of glass only had these little bitty 0:30:33.330 --> 0:30:35.610 like foldy open windows at the bottom, and I was 0:30:35.690 --> 0:30:37.330 looking at that and I was like, fuck, if that 0:30:37.410 --> 0:30:39.770 window opened more, I would just jump out and die 0:30:39.810 --> 0:30:43.690 because I'm done. You think, when you get to where 0:30:43.730 --> 0:30:46.249 you want to go. Finally you'll be happy. But then 0:30:46.290 --> 0:30:48.570 you get to where you want to go and you're 0:30:48.610 --> 0:30:50.890 just as miserable as you were. In fact, you're even 0:30:51.610 --> 0:30:54.090 even more miserable because you no longer have anything to 0:30:54.130 --> 0:30:59.489 aspire to, and you feel this hopelessness because everything like 0:30:59.850 --> 0:31:01.690 what's left to aspire towards. 0:31:03.370 --> 0:31:06.050 It feels like Moby's trying to explain something to Gregor. 0:31:06.570 --> 0:31:09.490 Moby grew up poor with a single mother and lived 0:31:09.530 --> 0:31:12.530 on food stamps. When Moby was a kid, his dad 0:31:12.570 --> 0:31:15.210 died in a car crash, and a few years ago 0:31:15.370 --> 0:31:18.810 his mom passed away from lung cancer. He has no siblings, 0:31:19.290 --> 0:31:20.610 so essentially he's alone. 0:31:21.610 --> 0:31:22.130 I look at. 0:31:22.010 --> 0:31:24.690 Gregor and I think of like, I know his family 0:31:24.810 --> 0:31:27.890 very well, and from my perspective, like, first all, he 0:31:27.930 --> 0:31:29.690 has a fel like I don't. Really I have some 0:31:29.770 --> 0:31:30.970 aunts and uncles and cousins. 0:31:31.209 --> 0:31:31.890 You have some other. 0:31:31.770 --> 0:31:39.489 Siblings, I'm sure, and and to me that still makes 0:31:39.490 --> 0:31:42.890 me feel like, oh, he's figured out things that I 0:31:43.010 --> 0:31:43.930 don't understand. 0:31:50.770 --> 0:31:52.570 Of course, I'm very successful that I have a beautiful 0:31:52.650 --> 0:31:55.170 child and blah blah blah, two of them, actually I 0:31:55.170 --> 0:31:55.930 won't say which one. 0:31:55.970 --> 0:31:59.850 I have two children. One is beautiful anyway, you know, 0:31:59.930 --> 0:32:00.330 the like. 0:32:01.130 --> 0:32:05.450 A man's wealth is measured in family, you know, and 0:32:05.970 --> 0:32:06.810 but it's not you. 0:32:06.810 --> 0:32:08.969 You turn every time these things come up, you will 0:32:09.170 --> 0:32:09.930 to make them into light. 0:32:10.090 --> 0:32:11.489 Well, that's what I'm saying is something that you hear 0:32:11.490 --> 0:32:12.610 at the in the South Park, right. 0:32:14.570 --> 0:32:16.650 But what I'm saying is that that era when like 0:32:17.050 --> 0:32:19.170 it still seemed like life had potential to go a 0:32:19.170 --> 0:32:22.370 bunch of different ways. Now it seemed less. So it's 0:32:22.410 --> 0:32:24.690 not even squandered potential. It's just like you could have 0:32:24.730 --> 0:32:26.810 been somebody becomes like you didn't. 0:32:28.330 --> 0:32:32.370 Every year you lose a little bit of potential, you know, 0:32:32.450 --> 0:32:36.289 Like at this point, like I'm fifty and I'm like, oh, 0:32:37.170 --> 0:32:38.969 most of my life I thought at some point I 0:32:39.010 --> 0:32:50.529 could be a father. I'm like, well probably not. And 0:32:50.570 --> 0:32:52.850 I have one issue. Yeah, don't really have to peek. 0:32:52.970 --> 0:32:59.930 Go ahead and think, well, movie was conveniently indisposed. I 0:32:59.970 --> 0:33:03.610 took the opportunity to reiterate our mission getting back the 0:33:03.650 --> 0:33:07.010 CDs as much as it behooves you, like, just try 0:33:07.050 --> 0:33:08.610 to keep it toout the CDs. 0:33:09.850 --> 0:33:12.410 I don't think we only have about ten minutes to 0:33:12.410 --> 0:33:14.330 get to it. Do you want me to wrestle onto 0:33:14.330 --> 0:33:17.249 the ground and know you have something, particularly money, you 0:33:17.250 --> 0:33:17.730 want to say. 0:33:18.730 --> 0:33:22.690 Moby emerges from the bathroom, cutting our conversation short, and 0:33:22.730 --> 0:33:26.650 Gregor steps up to the plate and begins in the middle. 0:33:27.209 --> 0:33:30.370 Yeah, I still listen to Sounds of the South on YouTube. 0:33:30.370 --> 0:33:34.170 They have the full set. And as far as that 0:33:34.209 --> 0:33:37.690 actual desset, did you hang. 0:33:37.490 --> 0:33:39.650 On to that or that is the CD? The box, 0:33:39.690 --> 0:33:44.970 that's the actual stuff. Yeah, they're somewhere. Most of it's 0:33:45.010 --> 0:33:52.330 in storage and Queens is like this medium sized storage locker. 0:33:52.410 --> 0:33:55.970 It's just like packed to the rafters with stuff. 0:33:57.570 --> 0:34:01.970 Finally, it's my moment to be the interlocutor. I think 0:34:02.010 --> 0:34:07.050 Gregor sort of wanted those CDs back, if only to 0:34:07.130 --> 0:34:09.529 put them on a mantle, to feel like I was 0:34:09.570 --> 0:34:12.490 a part of something, like I mattered, I existed. 0:34:12.770 --> 0:34:15.049 I mean I view this more like I handed you 0:34:15.090 --> 0:34:16.690 the pen and then you wrote, you know, the great 0:34:16.690 --> 0:34:17.170 book with it. 0:34:17.170 --> 0:34:19.090 It's not that I had some role in. 0:34:19.130 --> 0:34:21.610 But like the guy who introduced Andy Warhol to the 0:34:21.650 --> 0:34:23.610 can of Campbell's soup or whatever. 0:34:23.610 --> 0:34:25.489 I mean, this is not like a legal deposition where 0:34:25.490 --> 0:34:26.290 it's like who said it. 0:34:26.330 --> 0:34:27.890 I mean it was fucking twenty five years ago. 0:34:27.930 --> 0:34:30.450 As Gregor and I Parry. It's almost like we forget 0:34:30.530 --> 0:34:34.290 that Mobe's even there when suddenly he pipes up one thing. 0:34:34.410 --> 0:34:38.290 Just to be super clear from the album play, two 0:34:38.410 --> 0:34:41.850 of the most remarkably iconic songs on the record would 0:34:42.010 --> 0:34:44.570 never have been written or existed had I not been 0:34:44.610 --> 0:34:47.650 given those CDs. Like I didn't know who Alan Lomax was, 0:34:48.170 --> 0:34:52.170 and that the box set called Sounds of the South, 0:34:53.490 --> 0:34:55.890 I didn't know it existed, and I certainly like it 0:34:55.930 --> 0:34:58.410 was an expensive box set. And there's no way I 0:34:58.490 --> 0:35:01.530 was going to walk into Tower Records and spend sixty 0:35:01.530 --> 0:35:04.610 five dollars or however much it was going to be 0:35:05.010 --> 0:35:07.410 on a box set I knew nothing about from an 0:35:07.530 --> 0:35:10.170 archivist I'd never heard of. So like, those are one 0:35:10.250 --> 0:35:13.370 hundred percent the result of me being given those CDs. 0:35:14.250 --> 0:35:16.770 Wait, so we're saying you're not Gregor's not getting the 0:35:16.770 --> 0:35:19.890 CDs back. Okay, here's the story. 0:35:22.090 --> 0:35:27.530 Friend of mine, her mother died in a very very sad, 0:35:27.610 --> 0:35:32.130 tragic way, and she came to me and she started crying, 0:35:32.530 --> 0:35:34.650 and she said that at the funeral they played the 0:35:34.690 --> 0:35:38.210 song Natural Blues and everyone in the church was crying, 0:35:38.850 --> 0:35:40.930 and it was one of the most powerful emotional moments 0:35:40.930 --> 0:35:43.770 of her life that wouldn't have ever existed if you 0:35:43.890 --> 0:35:46.930 hadn't given me those CDs. So to me, that's more 0:35:46.970 --> 0:35:54.010 priceless and precious than any sort of like objective, quantifiable metric. 0:35:56.330 --> 0:35:57.290 How does that make you feel? 0:35:58.690 --> 0:36:01.610 I mean it makes me feel like. 0:36:03.610 --> 0:36:06.970 Thinking about, you know, getting a pair of bolt cutters 0:36:07.010 --> 0:36:09.810 and breaking into a steady storage in Queens is not 0:36:10.210 --> 0:36:10.890 what I'm going to do. 0:36:10.970 --> 0:36:11.770 That was my plan. 0:36:14.370 --> 0:36:16.770 And so Gregor doesn't get what he came for. But 0:36:16.890 --> 0:36:19.650 maybe not getting everything you want in the grander scheme 0:36:20.290 --> 0:36:22.130 isn't so bad. 0:36:30.450 --> 0:36:37.970 One practical issue. So I have two podcast interviews to 0:36:38.010 --> 0:36:40.730 do today. You guys are the first and a second. 0:36:40.890 --> 0:36:44.370 You're in good company. It's with Rue Paul nice crazy. 0:36:45.210 --> 0:36:48.049 I mean, if you wanted to, we could always drive there. 0:36:49.290 --> 0:36:50.489 Like if you guys want to get in the car 0:36:50.570 --> 0:36:53.610 with me, My girlfriend is coming here. She's gonna go 0:36:53.650 --> 0:36:55.489 with me because she's an obsessive Rue Paul fan. 0:36:55.570 --> 0:37:00.569 Oh wow, Moby, his girlfriend, Gregor and I pile into 0:37:00.570 --> 0:37:04.490 Moby's Preas seen from the outside, Gregor seems happy to 0:37:04.530 --> 0:37:07.290 be a part of Moby's life again. He's even feeling 0:37:07.330 --> 0:37:11.330 comfortable enough to favor us with his famous John Travolta imitation. 0:37:11.410 --> 0:37:12.290 I could drink tea? 0:37:12.490 --> 0:37:14.650 What do you think I could drink tea? 0:37:15.690 --> 0:37:18.450 John Travolta When she says, he says, watch your coffee 0:37:18.450 --> 0:37:18.690 with me. 0:37:18.730 --> 0:37:21.570 Sometimes she's like, in Manhattan, we don't drink coffee. 0:37:21.570 --> 0:37:22.050 We drink tea. 0:37:22.090 --> 0:37:23.730 And he's like, so what I could drink tea? 0:37:25.490 --> 0:37:29.009 And then, for whatever reason, Moby takes over my role 0:37:29.170 --> 0:37:33.130 of interlocutor and begins explaining Gregor's style to his girlfriend. 0:37:33.770 --> 0:37:41.850 And Gregor is funny and at times like would maybe 0:37:41.850 --> 0:37:45.250 be here. It comes honest in a way that people 0:37:45.410 --> 0:37:48.810 might be take offense too or. 0:37:48.770 --> 0:37:53.970 At Or, as Moby's learning firsthand, interlocketing for Gregor isn't 0:37:54.010 --> 0:38:01.770 so easy. 0:38:01.850 --> 0:38:06.130 Hi, I'm here for RuPaul's podcast. 0:38:05.890 --> 0:38:08.570 At the hotel. We're shown into a conference room where 0:38:08.690 --> 0:38:15.010 we're green Rue Paul and his co host Michelle As 0:38:15.050 --> 0:38:17.690 I trail behind Moby. For the first time in my life, 0:38:18.050 --> 0:38:21.050 I feel a part of a bona fide Hollywood entourage. 0:38:21.530 --> 0:38:24.170 So we've been doing an interesting podcast because Gregor and 0:38:24.210 --> 0:38:26.330 I have known each other for twenty seven. 0:38:26.170 --> 0:38:31.330 Years at all. Yeah, We watch as RuPaul interviews Moby 0:38:31.690 --> 0:38:35.250 and when Moby says interesting things like my mom was 0:38:35.250 --> 0:38:36.770 born in San Diego. 0:38:36.610 --> 0:38:39.330 Was born in San Diego. 0:38:39.410 --> 0:38:43.650 RuPaul responds with engaged interest. And when Moby off handedly 0:38:43.770 --> 0:38:49.250 mentions a song, RuPaul and Michelle sing it, and as 0:38:49.290 --> 0:38:53.570 they do, I find myself thinking only one thing, now, 0:38:53.610 --> 0:38:55.730 this is how you run a podcast. 0:38:58.690 --> 0:38:58.850 Right. 0:39:01.010 --> 0:39:04.050 When Moby and Gregor say their goodbyes, Moby tells him 0:39:04.050 --> 0:39:06.489 that he'll be coming to San Francisco soon and he'll 0:39:06.490 --> 0:39:08.770 be sure to give Gregor a call, and Gregor says 0:39:08.770 --> 0:39:12.450 he'd like that. But before parting, Gregor can't help giving 0:39:12.490 --> 0:39:13.890 it just one last nudge. 0:39:14.010 --> 0:39:16.010 I have one more question for you. Can you just 0:39:16.010 --> 0:39:18.130 tell me the name of the storage facility where the 0:39:18.170 --> 0:39:20.770 CD is. No, it's for a friend. They need to 0:39:20.810 --> 0:39:23.650 store something in Queens. No, there was one place. I'm 0:39:23.690 --> 0:39:25.010 just saying, Hey, it's the same place. 0:39:27.410 --> 0:39:30.370 Gregor's comfortable enough to joke around about something that had 0:39:30.370 --> 0:39:34.410 once plagued him, and Moby's comfortable enough to uncomfortably laugh 0:39:34.450 --> 0:39:50.170 along with him. All around it feels pretty nice. So 0:39:50.250 --> 0:39:52.290 how did you feel about how that went? I think 0:39:52.330 --> 0:39:56.490 it was cathartic, No, really, seriously. With some time to 0:39:56.570 --> 0:39:59.450 kill before a flight, Gregor and I decide to hike 0:39:59.570 --> 0:40:02.010 up to the observatory. Do you feel like he screwed 0:40:02.010 --> 0:40:03.450 you out of your CDs? Yet? Again? 0:40:04.570 --> 0:40:07.410 The honest truth is he did give me a good 0:40:07.450 --> 0:40:09.010 long song and dance about how we all learned the 0:40:09.290 --> 0:40:10.969 and I didn't get the thing that I set out 0:40:11.010 --> 0:40:14.210 to get. But in seriousness, I honestly feel, in a 0:40:14.250 --> 0:40:16.930 funny sort of way, I got what I came for. 0:40:17.130 --> 0:40:20.370 Which was what you didn't get your CDs. 0:40:21.970 --> 0:40:23.730 You see, you're a petty person. 0:40:24.810 --> 0:40:27.730 What you just saw and apparently were deaf you couldn't 0:40:27.770 --> 0:40:31.810 hear was a reconciliation with two guys after twenty five 0:40:31.890 --> 0:40:33.090 years of slight estrangement. 0:40:33.490 --> 0:40:34.890 So you guys did get to be friends. 0:40:34.970 --> 0:40:38.530 Yeah, I think we just buried the hatchets. This CD thing, Yeah, 0:40:38.610 --> 0:40:40.529 that is a symbol. I mean, who cares about the CD? 0:40:40.650 --> 0:40:42.690 But you one' who cared about the CD. 0:40:43.170 --> 0:40:46.770 Look, it's hard to come together and just hug it out. 0:40:47.010 --> 0:40:49.610 What you just witnessed was a version of hugging it out, 0:40:50.090 --> 0:40:52.810 two men having a good cry. 0:40:53.050 --> 0:40:54.489 That's about the closest that I come. 0:40:56.890 --> 0:40:58.850 Well, then, I think that was great. I think this 0:40:59.010 --> 0:41:04.010 was a success. I agree, still would have been nice 0:41:04.010 --> 0:41:04.890 to get your CDs back. 0:41:04.930 --> 0:41:11.450 Of course, I don't know if the rental car you 0:41:11.690 --> 0:41:14.450 got there had a CD player, but it doesn't. It 0:41:14.490 --> 0:41:16.130 would have been no better ending to this day than 0:41:16.170 --> 0:41:18.610 to drive out of the parking lot cranking that CD. 0:41:18.930 --> 0:41:22.090 Yeah, but the cars don't have Nobody has CD players anymore. 0:41:22.130 --> 0:41:24.250 And let me tell you something, if some of the 0:41:24.250 --> 0:41:26.850 Mobi's song comes on the radio right now, I'd let 0:41:26.890 --> 0:41:27.250 it play. 0:41:28.010 --> 0:41:30.290 I'd even sing along if you I'm going to. 0:41:30.330 --> 0:41:31.410 Find it out my phone and play. 0:41:31.570 --> 0:41:32.050 That's okay? 0:41:32.850 --> 0:41:36.049 You sure? Because I actually downloaded it it specially boys. 0:41:41.290 --> 0:41:44.570 Three days later, and much to his surprise, Gregor received 0:41:44.570 --> 0:41:48.290 an email from MOBI. This might sound odd, the email read, 0:41:48.690 --> 0:41:51.290 but I realized I never said a true, heartfelt thank 0:41:51.330 --> 0:41:54.610 you for giving me those CDs, So, in all sincerity, 0:41:55.090 --> 0:41:57.969 thank you. I'm sorry it's taken so long to say 0:41:58.570 --> 0:42:01.610 thank you. Gregor said he was happier that the thank 0:42:01.690 --> 0:42:04.570 you came three days later. This way, he knew it 0:42:04.610 --> 0:42:07.170 wasn't just out of politeness, that it must have been 0:42:07.290 --> 0:42:11.210 quote boring a hole through his head for days after 0:42:11.250 --> 0:42:14.489 receiving movies thank you, Gregor immediately wrote back a thank 0:42:14.530 --> 0:42:16.810 you of his own in the form of a joke, 0:42:17.330 --> 0:42:20.090 which if you didn't know Gregor, could also be taken 0:42:20.130 --> 0:42:23.490 as an insult. But Moby did know Gregor, and so 0:42:23.610 --> 0:42:26.650 for Gregor, it was back to being a normal friendship. 0:42:59.610 --> 0:43:09.570 Now that the Fernitures returned to its goodwill home, the 0:43:09.810 --> 0:43:14.650 last month's rand is scheming with the damage to Poz. 0:43:15.170 --> 0:43:20.850 Take this moment to do so if we imagine and 0:43:21.090 --> 0:43:25.610 we talk felt around from. 0:43:25.610 --> 0:43:30.170 Far to from things at accident. 0:43:30.530 --> 0:43:37.810 Lee to Heavyweight is hosted and produced by me Jonathan 0:43:37.850 --> 0:43:41.330 Goldstein along with Wendy Dore, Chris Neary, and Khalila Holt. 0:43:41.490 --> 0:43:44.690 Editing by Alex Bloomberg and Peter Clowney. Special thanks to 0:43:44.690 --> 0:43:49.170 Emily Condon, Paul Tuff, Stevie Lane, Michelle Harris, Dimitri Erlik, 0:43:49.450 --> 0:43:53.090 Sean Cole, and Jorgehus and a very special thank you 0:43:53.610 --> 0:43:56.250 to my dear friend Jackie Cohen. The show was mixed 0:43:56.250 --> 0:43:59.330 by Hailey Shaw. Music for this episode by Christine Fellows, 0:43:59.330 --> 0:44:03.530 with additional music by Talk Star, the Eastern Watershed, Klesmer Quartet, 0:44:03.610 --> 0:44:06.050 and Hailey Shaw, who also did our ad music. Our 0:44:06.050 --> 0:44:09.090 theme music is by the Weaker Thands, courtesy of Epitaph Records. 0:44:09.410 --> 0:44:12.290 Follow us on Twitter. At heavyweight or email us at 0:44:12.290 --> 0:44:15.450 heavyweight at gimlimedia dot com. We'll have a new episode 0:44:15.530 --> 0:44:16.050 next week. 0:44:22.130 --> 0:44:23.690 I should go back and ring his doorbell now and 0:44:23.730 --> 0:44:24.890 ask for that Lenaide book. 0:44:25.770 --> 0:44:26.930 It was kind of expensive. 0:44:27.330 --> 0:44:28.650 Doesn't seem like you're gonna drink it. 0:44:29.450 --> 0:44:31.370 Gotta feel thirsty, And you know what, I don't. I 0:44:31.410 --> 0:44:33.170 don't want to show up twenty years from now asking 0:44:33.170 --> 0:44:34.890 for those lemonades because they're gonna tell me it's in 0:44:34.890 --> 0:44:36.130 a storage locker in Queen's. 0:44:36.170 --> 0:44:36.970 Yeah, what'd you do with that? 0:44:37.210 --> 0:44:39.730 Seriously? Like when someone brings you beverages, like you put 0:44:39.770 --> 0:44:41.810 them out on the table. Maybe bring out a glass 0:44:41.810 --> 0:44:42.890 for a person or a straw. 0:44:43.010 --> 0:44:44.170 What kind of a monster is he