Interview with Mistress Carrie on Radio, Military Embedded

Hey, it's Mistress Carrie and you are listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Hey, it's Mistress

Carrie and you are listening to Studio 2009.

Wake up, wake up, wake up. Hello and welcome

to Studio 2009 here on the GeekCast Radio Network.

I am, of course, TFG1 Mike. What does the TFG1

stand for? You might ask it is Transformers Generation

1. A fan thought a number of years ago thought,

oh, you're an egotistical idiot and it stands

for the fucking great one. No, no, no, no. It's

Transformers. And for our latest podcast approach,

I've got a person in the studio, or sort of in

the studio, that I've followed her radio career

in Boston for 22 years. She's been in radio for

25 years or more from Boston, Massachusetts.

She also was the first non -news journalist embedded

with US troops in Iraq in 2006 and also in Afghanistan

in 2011. She's a military wife and supporter,

a skydiver, and so much more. It is none other

than my favorite, the baddest bitch in Boston,

Mistress Carrie. Oh, thank you. I hope I can

live up to the intro now. Oh, stop. Yes, I stole

Dennis Leary's line from your podcast intro.

Hello, how are you? I'm really good. Thanks for

having me on. Absolutely. This is a dream come

true for me because, like I said, I've been listening

to you since late 2002, early 2003. This is just

gonna be so fun. So you have been in radio for

over 25 years pretty much in the same city I

don't think you've ever have you ever gone to

a different you've always been in Boston, right?

Yeah, I I did the first 29 years of my career

at WAF I wasn't there all of those the first

half I was an intern and worked in the promotions

department and kind of worked my way up but in

April of 1998 I started full time on the air.

I started doing night and I worked at AAF from

on the air from April of 98 until the station

went off the air in February of 2020. Yeah. So

now I'm on a bunch of stations around the country,

but I'm still based here. Yeah, you're always

going to be based in Boston. I mean, after all,

Boston does rule. So I just don't want to move.

You know, technology made it where you really

don't have to. Yeah, I spent time during COVID

building what I call MCHQ, which is where I am

right now. And so I can basically work anywhere

from my own studio. That's yeah, that's the same

thing I've been doing since 2009. I've ended

up moving various places because of life and

everything else. But but generally my apartment

or wherever I'm living, the living room is generally

the studio because I just this is what I I'm

a podcast machine. That's what you like to do.

Yeah, exactly. Sometimes the editing, it gets

a little long, but other than that, it's okay.

Well, that was definitely one of the skill sets

that I'm glad I mastered in radio because it

made it so much easier for me when I launched

the podcast and stuff because I already knew

how to do all of that stuff. Yeah. So yeah, WAF,

man. That really stung. Rest in peace rest in

peace. So did remind me because I think I remember

the way this went did the station just go off

the air or did they change was it a format change?

No it's not a format change so there's different

entities for a radio station there's the intellectual

property right the brand there's the call letters

which you license from the FCC And then there's

the signal, the actual frequency. Right. So WAAF

as a brand is still owned by Odyssey. OK, the

call letters Odyssey still controls, but they've

been transferred to a different radio. Yeah,

basically just they're parking them. That's what

they call it where where. They don't want the

call letters to be used by anyone else, so they

stuck them on like an AM signal somewhere just

so that no one else can have them. 107 .3 is

what got sold. So it was just the signal that

was just OK. Yeah, so WAF as a brand and the

call letters are still controlled by Odyssey.

They just don't really do much with them. But.

But you know, it's kind of hard to have a radio

station without a signal. So that's very true

sold 107 .3, which you know is now Christian

Rock radio. Yeah, see that's what I like. I thought

it was the whole just format and call letter

change. No, no, no, no. It was way more than

that signal for a bunch of money over Presidents

Day weekend of 2020. And so when we came back

to work on Tuesday after President's Day weekend,

I did my show from 10 to three, did my crossover

break with Mike Shue right before three o 'clock.

And then as we were playing my last set of commercials

for my show and Mike was getting ready to start

his show while the commercials were running,

the bosses pulled us into the office and told

us what was going on. And so we found out at

three o 'clock on Tuesday, the... whatever that

day was whatever that day was he went off the

air on the 20th which was the friday so yeah

yeah that's that's crazy but yeah it was it was

a shit day yeah i know did you always when you

were growing up did you always want to be on

the radio it's really weird i have this conversation

with musicians a lot because i think i think

that anybody that looks back at their childhood

or anybody that's raising kids now. There's little

hints of what that person is going to become.

Right. And while a lot of musicians were handed

little toy guitars and whatever and I had a little

tape recorder and I used to just kind of talk

into it and record into it. And that was like

one of my favorite things. And then I got devious

with it. You know, when, when parents kick kids

out of the house where they come out of the room

and they're like, the adults are talking kind

of thing. I always wanted to know what they were

talking about. So then I took this little toy

tape recorder and I used to hide it in the plants

to record the adults so that I could hear what

they were talking about. And of course I always

got caught because I was a kid and an idiot,

but I distinctly remember this tape recorder,

this little cassette recorder being something

that I loved having and loved going around. So

when I look back, it's obvious, but I always

wanted to be in the music business because music

was something that really drove my life like

in junior high and high school specifically.

And so I went to school for communications. and

they had a radio department at the school. And

after my freshman year of college, I got an internship.

I always thought I was going to I wanted to work

in a recording studio. That was like my dream.

I saw all those videos on MTV of them sitting

behind those giant sound consoles. And I thought

that's what I want to do. And they didn't have

college for that. So I said, I'll go to school

for communications. I'll learn how to edit audio

in the radio department and stuff. And then after

that freshman year, I did an internship at a

recording studio. And I spent the whole summer

recording a mariachi band, like literally helping

the engineers move mics to record like maracas.

And I was like, this is not Motley Crue. This

is not what I signed up for. And so sometimes

in life, it's not about learning what you want,

but it's learning what you don't want. And after

that, couple of months. I had to do so many hours.

It was like 250 hours or something like that.

And as I was getting ready to hit my hour limit

that was required for me to get the credits for

school, I had a girlfriend that I had grown up

with and we were in the same college and she

was going to school for communications and she

had an internship at AAF who at the time was

right around the corner from the recording studio

in Worcester. Yeah. And her and I used to meet

for lunch all the time. And we're poor college

kids, so we'd go up the street and get a sandwich

or whatever. So I went to AAF that I had grown

up listening to and was waiting in the lobby

for her to come out. And the production director,

this guy named Mitch Todd, who still works in

radio, he actually works at Sirius XM now, has

this unbelievable, booming, amazing radio voice.

And he was the guy that was in charge of like

putting all the commercials together and that

kind of stuff. And he saw me waiting and he was

like, who are you? And I was like, oh, I'm Carrie.

I work at Licks around the corner. That was the

name of the recording studio. And from time to

time, the recording studio would would produce

commercials for clients. And then I would have

to deliver those commercials to AAF to air. And,

you know, before email. And and so he was like,

oh, how do you like it over there? And I was

like, well, I kind of like it, but it's not what

I thought it was going to be. And He was like,

what are you going to do for the rest of the

summer? And I said, you know, I don't know. And

he's like, well, why don't you come and intern

for me for the rest of the summer? Wow. And,

you know, because he knew my friends that had

been interning at the radio station. I was like,

really? And he was like, yeah. So I spent the

rest of the summer cleaning the heads of his

recorders, learning how to edit audio tape with

a razor blade and a grease pencil. And just doing

whatever like grunt work, like dubbing commercials,

doing office work, like whatever, but watching

how he made something from nothing. And I was

fascinated by how he could change his voice and

record. And every once in a while, if he needed

a girl voice, he would go, hey, come over here

and record this line for me. And I remember like

the first commercial, I don't remember who the

client was, but I was So amazed that I was on

a commercial that was going to air on the radio

And he dubbed it for me onto a cassette so I

could take it home and play it for my parents

That's awesome because it was like this was the

first time my voice was ever on the radio was

on that commercial and I think Somewhere in some

closet somewhere. I have that cassette and I

know I have to. I have a lot of stuff on cassette

that I need to do. I have pretty extensive archives

from my career that I need to find the time to

dig through. But that cassette, I was like, Oh,

my God. And then I went back to college in the

fall, got my associate's degree in radio, had

really started working on the college radio station,

had done my own show. And then I transferred

for my junior and senior year to Framingham State

who had a broadcast radio station and they were

right down Route 9 in Framingham from where WAF

had moved to in Westboro and I went from interning

for Mitch to interning for the promotions department

and then I started interning for the morning

show and so my my last two years of college I

would get up at like four in the morning I would

drive to AAF, intern for the morning show, they'd

get off the air at 10, by 10, 15, I would leave,

drive down Route 9, find a place to park at Framingham

State, and then go to my classes for the rest

of the day, and then leave, drive back to Lemonster,

where I grew up because my family had a business,

and so I would go back to the bakery, help finish

up the workday at the bakery, help clean up the

bakery, and then go home and do homework, go

to bed and get up the next day at four o 'clock

in the morning and go back to AF and do it all

over again. Cause I was a freaking student. And

the ship I didn't get paid for. So it was really

by accident that I ended up completely shifting

what I thought I wanted to do, which was work

in that recording studio. and then I just kind

of fell into this internship at AAF and then

the April of 1994, right before I graduated from

college, I got offered my first paying job in

radio, which was to be a paid member of the street

team, driving the van, handing out bumper stickers.

And I think the starting pay was like $3 .75

or $4 an hour or something like that. But I was

like, I'm on the payroll. So that was like my

first paying job. My first day of work was the

Boston Marathon in April. I'm still in college

and there I was like trying to get the radio

gear along the marathon route to set up the broadcast

for the DJs that were broadcasting from the finish

line. Then when I started working in radio, I

thought I was going to end up a producer. Like

I never imagined I would be the one behind the

microphone. I thought... I'll end up being the

producer, because interning for the morning show,

I was helping the producer. I wasn't on the air.

I was doing front work behind the scenes and

setting up interviews, helping to record, running

the show on the board, which was kind of what

I thought I was going to do as a producer. And

so it just kind of happened that I recorded a

demo to be Opie and Anthony's producer. And that

demo, I had to use my own voice and it was that

demo, not getting Opie and Anthony's producer

job that ended up opening the door for me to

become a DJ. So it was all kind of by accident,

but that little cassette recorder, it all started

back there. You gotta find it. I don't have it

anymore and I wish I did. Oh, the recorder. Yeah,

I wish that that first radio commercial would

be great. I don't know if I have any of the tapes

that I recorded when I was a little kid, but

I really wish I had that original recorder. It's

like this long black cassette recorder that had

a handle and I wish I still had it because it

really did kind of put me on the path to where

I ended up, you know. Yeah, absolutely. For me,

I grew up in Massachusetts. I was born in Stoughton.

I lived in Kingston for 13 years of my life.

My problem with finding out who I wanted to be

or what I wanted to be or what, you know, is

the whole, like you were saying with the, you

know, trying to figure out who you are. I was

born with cerebral palsy. So I can't exactly,

you know, like I'm not going to go be a, you

know, Ted Williams for the Red Sox or, you know.

Bobby Orr for the Bruins or anything like that.

So I always liked creative writing. I always

liked that kind of stuff. I've been writing for,

it'll be 20 years next year that I have actually

been writing stuff down as far as like poems

and stories and stuff like that. But yeah, I

mean, I just, I say this in every podcast I do

and anytime Boston comes up, Boston is, and I'm

sure other people say this about wherever they

live, but Boston is different. Oh, it 100 % is.

There's research to prove what you're saying.

It's so unique and so different and it's a state

of, not to rob New York of their line, but it's

a state of mind that, you know, once you're in

Boston, you're in Boston. Two things gravitated

me towards you listening to you starting in late

2002 2003 number one your voice because you have

one of the greatest female radio voices I've

ever heard. Thank you and the purple hair because

I am a purple is my purple and black are my two

favorite colors You're the first purple hair

DJ I've ever followed. The second one was in

Louisville. Her name is Laura. She's now doing

stuff in Michigan. So you have done so much.

You've been able to talk to so many bands and

like, is there a moment that like stands out

amongst all the rest of all the people you've

talked to? I think the moment that changed it

for me was the first interview that I did because

I started on the air. in april as the night jock

of af with with no like radio experience i had

done eight weekend shows you know like in the

overnights and whatever after i applied to the

opi and anthony's producer and didn't get the

job they were like did you ever think about being

a dj and i was like no and then opi was like

what are you an idiot and then i said yes and

um Then Opie and Anthony got fired. That's how

the slot opened up. They shifted people around.

The night show became open, and they said, we're

going to throw this girl on and see what happens.

And so that started in April. And that summer,

and I don't remember what the date is, but I'm

sure I could figure it out, down on the South

Shore, Doug Flutie, I think it was called the

Mount Blue Restaurant, Doug Flutie and Steven

Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith partnered

on a restaurant. Wow. And they had called in

the favor with the radio station to help promote

this thing. They wanted it to be a big opening

thing or whatever. And so they had reached out

to AF and my boss had said, Look, there, you

know, They're telling us that if that if we help

them promote it or whatever that that we're gonna

get an interview So we want to send the rock

bus which for anybody that doesn't know what

that is was a big RV That had flames painted

down the side It was our portable broadcast unit

that we took to concerts and whatever and they

were like we want to send the rock bus down we're

gonna make a big deal out of it like the guys

from Aerosmith are gonna be there and They're

saying that if we broadcast from there that you

can interview Steven Tyler and Joe Perry And

I had just started on the air a few months before.

And I grew up listening to Aerosmith. You don't

have to be from Massachusetts to love Aerosmith.

It's Aerosmith, but especially when you grew

up in Massachusetts, so a whole different thing.

So I was like, oh my God, I'm gonna interview

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. And this was right

around the time that Armageddon had come out.

And they had supplied the soundtrack for that.

And so I did a bunch of research. found out that

Joe Perry liked to smoke cigars and my dad had

a friend that owned a cigar shop. So I found

out what kind of cigars he liked. So I brought

a box of cigars with me and Joe Perry and Steven

Tyler came on the rock bus and I'm live on the

air, never done an interview with a rock star

before. Showed him, which was a huge lesson for

me, showed him that I had done my research because

I had his favorite cigars there waiting. And

as, and I gotta find the tape, and I'm sure I

have it somewhere, but I gotta find it, although

it'd be so embarrassing to go back and listen

to it now. But there, I have pictures, and there's

video somewhere, too, of me interviewing these

guys. And there's a song in the movie Armageddon

that never got released as a single that Aerosmith

put on it, but it's in the strip club scene.

Okay, yep. Before they go up on the rocket ship,

they go to the strip club. Yep. And the song's

called What Kind of Love Are You On? And they

never released it as a single because I Don't

Wanna Miss a Thing became like the biggest one.

Yeah, exactly. So as we were talking about the

Armageddon soundtrack, Steven Tyler started singing

What Kind of Love Are You On? but he put my name

in the lyric. Oh, wow. So we're on the air and

I have some of this audio and he goes, Carrie,

so very you say one thing, then you do another.

You got it all wrong, but you blame it on your

brother. You kick in the dog cause you can't

catch the cat. You know, it ain't cool, but you

like it like that. And I just was like, Steven

Tyler is singing his lyrics with my name in it

live on the radio. How did I get here? And that

moment, I remember it so vividly because I was

like, is this really what I do for a living?

And that started it all. But I think they always

say like, you remember your first, you know?

To be able to say Steven Tyler and Joe Perry

from Aerosmith were my first rock star interview

ever is insane. It's insane, but it's also amazing

because you know It's just great. Oh funny here

that I totally fell into Yeah, it's just another

link in this weird chain of like how the hell

did I end up here in the first place? Exactly

before I ask you the next question. I have to

tell you that When I was living in Massachusetts,

my mom was dating this guy for a number of years,

and he owned Plaza Cleaners in Marshfield, Massachusetts.

And Joe Perry was one of his customers. Everybody

on the sell shore has an Aerosmith story because

for so long, those guys, they acted like regular

people when they were home and they went to the

grocery store and went to the cleaners and like

did whatever. And people be like, oh, Yeah, I

used to bag groceries when I was in high school

and Steven Tyler used to come in and buy groceries

all the time. Like it's hard for people that

are fans of Aerosmith to like imagine Steven

Tyler buying groceries. But the longer I'm in

this business, the more I talk to musicians and

artists, the more they just strive to be regular

people when they're home. They just want to do

regular stuff. So it doesn't surprise me at all.

It's like, oh yeah, of course, Steven Tyler and

Joe Perry with our customers. Yeah. So you got

the late night. shift and all that. Where did

the mistress part? Like, what is that story?

So I started. So one of the things when when

I had was asked when I applied to be Opie and

Anthony's producer and made that demo, I needed

a demo. So I used my own voice and just used

Carrie and then got asked if you ever thought

about being on the radio and started nights.

I was a roadie. Like when I was working between

94 and 98 as on the street team part -time in

the promotions department I graduated from college

had debt so I had started building stages and

rigging lights I even drove semis for a while

and was a tech for bands and you know events

and whatever and So when you're a female roadie,

especially in the mid 90s in the sausage fest

of like the new metal era, like you really had

to be able to kind of handle yourself. So I was

always tough. I always spoke my mind like these

are, this is not a character. This is just how

I am. And so when I got asked if I ever wanted

to be on the radio, you know, I was like, well,

no, but I'll give it a shot, whatever. And so

they were like, well, just use your name. So

I just used Carrie. And after the first couple

of months at night and the night show back then

was the show that debuted all the new music that

played the heavier music. And there, there used

to be this thing called safe Harbor, which was

after 10 o 'clock at night until six o 'clock

in the morning. like the FCC rules kind of didn't

apply and you could be a lot more risque because

the mentality was that impressionable children

were in bed. And so you could be a little bit

more risque and whatever. And so because I didn't

have any radio experience and I didn't get a

lot of direction, they kind of just were like,

just put her on the air and see what happens.

I talked like I would talk. at a show with the

roadies and telling dirty jokes and just whatever.

And so I learned when I, rather than them giving

me instructions on what to do, I learned when

I colored outside the lines and got my hand slapped.

Like that's how I learned. So I was constantly

pushing boundaries and it wasn't my intention.

I just didn't know what I was doing. And once

the band started calling and we started having

these crazy drunk parties in the studio at night

because I didn't know I couldn't. You know, the

radio always had that mystique about the voice.

And I don't know what the person looks like until

the Internet kind of pulled the curtain back.

People didn't know what radio people looked like

unless they saw them at a concert or something.

So guys started calling me on the request line.

Saying. I feel like you're the other woman in

my life. Like I spend more time with you than

I spend with my wife. You're the other woman

in my life. It's like I have a mistress and my

wife knows about it. That I spend every day with

my wife and every night with you, you're like

my mistress. And so I started airing this stuff

and putting these calls on the air. And then

it just kind of happened organically again by

accident where it was like, you know somebody

was like yeah you're like my mistress you're

like this little side chick that i spent my nights

with and you know you say all the things and

like whatever and then somebody was like oh okay

mistress carry and then the next caller was like

all right mistress carry and and then it just

kind of stuck and the radio station because i

always looked the way that i looked my hair was

already purple i always wore all black clothes

like that was all me before Mistress Carrie was

a thing. Yeah. And so they were like, well, this

kind of fits. And I realized it was going to

stick because they made bumper stickers and they

were making bumper stickers for every show. And

they were like, What do you want your bumper

sticker to say on it? And so the the joke was

all I wanted my stickers to look like they were

spray paint stenciled like on a road case like

what the bands have and so my bumper sticker

said property of mistress Carrie and whatever

I put those stickers on was mine and So then

I started going to shows and guys would start

putting the stickers on them And then it became

a thing and then they started making t -shirts

that said property of mistress Carrie and it

said slave on the back I started wearing my shirts

that said slave on the back and it turned into

this whole thing and then it just Stuck. Yeah,

so I didn't give myself the name it was been

to me and it just kind of stuck and so The rest

is history now. It's been you know 26 years yeah

i think that that's been my name yeah that's

awesome though so it's either i answer to mistress

carry i answer to carry i answer to mc it just

depends you know mc is the newest one but i kind

of like that too because it's it's double it's

either see the initials or mc behind the microphone

yeah absolutely yeah like you had mentioned i

forget if it was might have been in the I'm behind

on listening to the podcast but I think it might

have been in the most recent Josh I think it

was 156 when you're talking to Josh Todd about

the new album and all that and everything else

and you had said in there about how you know

back then when we were kids growing up you know

You always want to be seen, not heard. I prefer

it the other way around. I'd rather be heard,

not seen. Because again, going to the voice,

like you were saying, the radio voice. Back then,

we didn't know unless we called the station and

said, hey, can I have a printed photo? Because

they used to do the. Have those 8 by 10s that

I autographed. Yeah. Autograph photo, oh man,

those are good old days. So you spend all these

years on the radio. You have all these amazing

experiences. In the middle of it, you learned

to skydive? So in 98, so I started on the air

in April. That summer, the Mistress Carrie thing

kind of showed up. And then in September, I got

a call on the request line. It was a Friday night.

And these guys called. and they were partying

late night, and they were like, Mistress Carrie,

you're always talking about how crazy you are

and whatever. If you're really as crazy as you

say, then you'd let us throw you out of a plane

and come skydiving with us. Now, at this point,

WAF, to just go back a little bit, WAF was way

ahead of its time and always was when it came

to adapting a new technology and creating We

were content creators and had viral content before

that was even a thing. And back in the mid 90s,

before I was on the air, we launched a television

show called Real Rock TV. And nobody would air

it. So the only network that would air it was

Univision. And so on Saturday nights at midnight

on Univision was a half hour show called WAF's

Real Rock TV. And it was basically what a radio

station's YouTube channel is now. It was skits

from the DJs, band interviews, the newer bands

would let us go and set the cameras up and video

some songs of their performances. And it was

hosted by Opie and Anthony. But all of the other

DJs, would go in and do skits and stuff. And

if we went out and did appearances or if we went

out and did events, the cameras always came and

there would be these video montages. So Opie

and Anthony were the hosts. When they got fired

and I started on the air by that summer, the

producer, this guy, Ian Barrett that I'm still

friends with now had said, do you, you know,

cause I love doing the stuff with, with the TV

show. And he was like, do you want to host it

now? And I was like, Absolutely. So by the summer

of 98, I was hosting Real Rock TV and that was

a new episode every Saturday night. So when these

drunk guys called and said, if you're really

as crazy and ballsy as you say, you would let

us take you skydiving. And I was like, well,

could we, could we bring the Real Rock TV cameras?

And they were like, yes. So I said, I'll come.

So I grabbed Ian. So we went to Jump Town in

Orange, Massachusetts. Ian came with the cameras

and they were going to take me on a tandem skydive

and they were gonna send a guy out with a camera

on his head so that we would have the video tape

of me jumping out of the plane so we could put

it on Real Rock TV. And I was like, let's go.

So we did it and that was in September of 98

and it was the greatest thing I had ever done.

And when I landed, I was like, Oh my God, that

was amazing. I want to do it again. I loved it.

And because it's new England, it was almost winter

time. I was like, I'm coming back in the spring.

And a lot of people say that when they make a

tandem skydive, they're like, I'm going to come

back and do it again. And then they just don't

for whatever reason. So in the spring, those

guys called me back and they were like, Hey,

you said you were coming back. Are you coming

back? And I was like, yeah, I'll come back. So

I came out. made another tandem in the spring

of 99, and loved it so much that by Memorial

Day weekend of 99, I started taking the class,

it's called AFF or Accelerated Freefall, to get

my license. So in the summer of 99, I took all

summer to do all the jumps, take all the courses,

and Labor Day weekend of 1999, I got my skydiving

license and I've had it ever since. How often

do you do it now? I mean, in the last, you know,

obviously COVID not. Yeah, COVID and I've been

nursing a shoulder injury for the last 18 months.

So I haven't jumped a lot in the last couple

of years, but my shoulder is pretty much back

to normal. I'm building up the strength now from

it not being able to be used as much over the

last couple of years, but I jump as often as

I can. Love it. It's it's one of the things that

I found that really Relaxes me in a weird way

I think anytime you can find something that forces

you to myopically focus on one thing that blocks

out the noise of everything else and It's different

for everybody. Yeah, but for me I think my personality

is so extreme that I have to literally be plummeting

towards earth near certain death to focus and

to let all the noise shut off. And so skydiving

is really the only thing I've ever found that

for that one minute of free fall, the world gets

really, really quiet. And skydivers are such

a diverse group of people. They're like a cross

section of society that skydiving is the only

thing all those people have in common. and then

they go back to their lives. And a lot of people

that I skydive with that I've known for a long

time, I don't even really know what they do for

a living. Because when we go there, we don't

talk about work. We talk about skydiving. Yeah,

it's just about what you're doing. It's not about,

yeah. So, and especially for me, as my career

really started to take off, 98, 99, 2000, like,

I went from being a truck driving roadie that

was completely anonymous, that had purple hair

and the same voice, to then being someone that

overnight became someone that people knew and

recognized. That was a really hard transition

for me, to become known and recognized and to

kind of learn how to handle any, I don't like

using the word fame, but like to any level of

fame. adjustment and and it was it was really

weird for me especially because I was the only

woman on the air and especially at that time

in music which was super you know that that new

metal era if you've seen those documentaries

about Woodstock 99 like you know yeah about I

was there and because of my personality and because

of the way that I was on the air It was very

easy for me to quit back at people be like get

your hands off me Who do you think you are touching

me and people loved it when I was bitchy because

it was part of my persona Yeah, but that adjustment

was really hard for me. So finding a hobby Where

people didn't want to talk to me about rock stars

and talk to me about being famous and talk to

me about work That they just wanted to welcome

me into this community and teach me a skill And

it being an extreme skill. I loved it. And so

I've been doing it ever since That is so cool.

That's awesome Yeah, I remember I was at some

I forget what it was some school in some neighborhood

in Louisville, Kentucky Back in 95 and the and

this is just so stupid and geeky, but it's who

I am the Power Rangers movie came out And you

see Jason David Frank, may the man rest in peace.

You see him as Tommy Oliver as the character,

the White Ranger at the time. You see him skydiving

or as cheesy as it is. You see Batman and Robin

in Batman and Robin at the beginning of that

movie, you know, sky surfing off the thing. It's

like, I wanna do that, but I know I physically

cannot because of the cerebral palsy and all

that, but I've just - You could. I've seen people

that were quadriplegic do tandem skydives. I've

seen amputees skydive. There are ways to do it.

I mean, there's restrictions and there's things,

you know, there's weight restrictions. There's

definitely accommodations that need to be made

for mobility issues, but there have been people

that are, so that's one of the things I love

about the sport. There is no, it's, It's the

great equalizer. There is no physical benefit

to being a man or a woman as a skydiver. I jump

with people that are 18 years old, which is the

minimum age requirement, and I jump with people

that are in their 80s. Men, women, race doesn't

matter, sexuality doesn't matter. I jump with

people that lost a leg in Afghanistan. You know,

the sport is so Amazing in that way that if you're

a jumper, you're just kind of in but I've seen

people There was one guy that I saw years ago

he was in his early 20s and when he was 18 or

19, he got into a catastrophic motorcycle accident

and he was a quadriplegic and He really wanted

to go skydive and they worked it out with the

drop zone that they were gonna find a way to

accommodate They got him into the harness and

because he didn't have control over his extremities.

They had to kind of Bound them like they basically

had to like duct tape his extremities down because

when you're in freefall, they were gonna move

Yeah, you know and they needed him for his safety

and for the safety of the tandem instructor for

his extremities to be contained but they did

that and they they got him up in the plane and

They sent a video guy with them and they did

the tandem and then they you know were able to

land safely and the kid was in tears and the

family all ran out to the landing area and they

thought he was hurt in some way because he was

crying yeah and they said he said this is the

first time since my accident that i forgot i

was paralyzed because that moment in freefall

he felt so free yeah and it's just in that moment

and That's what the sport does so don't write

yourself off about the cerebral palsy that you

can't do it. Don't don't Never it almost 500

pounds. I don't think it's good That that would

be the tough part because the equipment does

have restrictions by But I just I love watch

I don't watch it all the time but like, you know

obviously stuff like what you filmed and stuff

for your jumps and I know it's fiction but like

the movie Drop Zone, all the stuff they were

doing. Point break. But like, yeah, I know. So

I've always I've always loved that. And I don't

want to get too deep into this because I know

you did a whole podcast on it and I'll link the

episode in the show notes for people. But briefly,

your time embedded with the troops. Like changing

experiences for me. So I went twice. There's

two episodes in my podcast. There's the AAF to

Afghanistan episode, which was my trip to Afghanistan

in 2011. And then there's the Boston to Baghdad

episode, which is about my trip to Iraq, which

was my first trip in 06. And both of those episodes,

I sit down with the producer, the person that

went with me to talk about that. So if you really

are curious, and they're long episodes because

I've listened to them two or three weeks overseas.

but I can tell you that they are the most life

altering experiences I've ever had. When people

say what are like the most proud moments you

had in your career at AAF or your career in radio

or broadcasting, I always cite those. Being the

purple haired rock DJ that gets plopped in the

middle of Iraq in 2006, and embedded with troops

from Massachusetts who had to accept an embedded

reporter and the responsibility of taking care

of a really juicy target for the enemy at that

point. A purple haired female American journalist,

like there's no bigger target for propaganda

purposes than that. And to be able to, I always

said that those trips The mission was twofold.

Number one, it was to deliver messages of well

wishes and support from home. But it was also

to be able to see with my own eyes what our troops

were doing overseas and to be able to tell people

at home who trusted me to tell them the truth.

What was really going on to bypass the propaganda

of you know, our troops are baby killers, or

they're not trained well enough, or all of the

things, especially in the early days of the Iraq

war. And you can debate the war itself, the reasons

why our troops got sent there. That was never

my focus. I wasn't there defending the decision

of the president in Congress to send them there.

My whole thing was these guys all joined the

military before 9 -11, for the most part. and

a lot of people joined after 9 -11 and basically

said, send me where you need me. They filled

out a blank check. We decide when it gets cashed.

And I just wanted to go and see what it is that

they were doing and be able to report back. And

the relationship that I had with my audience

is that they knew I'd tell them the truth. Exactly.

Good, bad, or indifferent. Right, yeah. And so

I was critical of some of the media reports that

I had seen because it wasn't completely factual

where I was in my experiences one way or the

other because I also get really upset when our

military gets politicized. Like one political

party supports the troops and the other one doesn't

like it's all that pisses me off more than more

than anything because our military. And our first

responders are not pieces on a chessboard. They're

not political pawns. These are people that regardless

of who's in office, go to work every day to do

what they think is right. And they trust in us

as the populace and in our politicians as the

leaders to use them properly, efficiently, morally,

whatever. And so I was critical of things when

things were reported. improperly. And I was also

critical of the military and of the government

when it needed to be as well. And seeing how

hard it was for our troops to be away from their

families for a year long deployment, seeing the

kids in these villages, seeing how hard these

battles were seeing how difficult it was for

our troops to make the transition to coming home

to normal life again. There are people that I

met on those trips that that protected me, the

units I was embedded with that have become my

best friends in the world that have helped me

through the hardest personal times that I've

had in my whole life. And I consider them family.

And I think they think the same of me that we

were kind of forged in fire and it completely

altered. You know, when 9 -11 happened, everybody

that was old enough to realize what was going

on remembers where they were. And for me, that

was the day that I realized that just being on

the radio and interviewing rock stars and partying

backstage at shows and telling dick jokes on

the radio that my life had to be more than that.

Yeah. that my platform that I was afforded by

my job needed to be used for something else.

And having grown up in a family of the military

and first responders, it was always pressed upon

me that you needed to do something to be a part,

to give back and to be part of the community.

I wasn't born with cerebral palsy, but I was

born with a birth defect that kept me from being

able to enlist in the military, although I'm

not saying I would have, but it was never an

option for me. And so I saw that job at AAF as

an opportunity to be able to play my part. And

so we did a lot of support the troop stuff. We

did a lot of care package drives. I started getting

really involved with veterans nonprofits. advocating

for veterans, pushing for better reintegration

care, supporting Gold Star families, supporting

the families of deployed military members and

their families. It became my life's passion.

And getting a chance to see them at work, quote

unquote, at work, really gave me a perspective

that most American civilians don't have. We,

you know, we as civilians see what we see on

the news or we see, you know, people in uniform

on Memorial Day in the parades and whatever,

but to be given this very specific opportunity

to see them doing what they do in harm's way

was completely a life -changing experience for

me. Yeah. So in high school in 99, when I graduated,

It's like, oh, what are you going to do now?

What path are you going to take? What are this?

What are that? They did some sort of physical

and then written test for the military. I four

F'd, obviously, which is fine. But like I grew

up, my uncle Keith, who is my dad's brother,

he was a Navy CB and he was in Desert Shield

and Desert Storm. So I grew up like... My first

radio mistress when I was younger was Delilah

after dark. And she would always talk about,

you know, the troops and things like that, or

what's going on because of, hello, the desert

storm and all that. Yeah. And her aunt's is moms.

Yeah. And those moms were home missing their

kids. Kids, yeah. So I would always hear about

it and I would always lay awake sometimes listening

to her show and just thinking about where my

uncle was, if he was okay, et cetera, et cetera,

et cetera. So yeah, absolutely. It changed the

family dynamic, not just for the member of the

military that's gone, but their family at home

has to learn to live without them temporarily.

The kids, you know have to realize their mom

or dad is gonna miss birthdays Christmases holidays

little league games recitals all of those things

that other parents almost see as a nuisance sometime

like oh we gotta go to baseball practice or you

know, whatever and and you know, who's gonna

mow the lawn and who's going to you know handle

a busted pipe or You know all of those little

things and the military spouses go to bed by

themselves at night and they're afraid to watch

the news and heaven forbid, you know, they're

injured or killed in action. It completely changes

the trajectory of that family and leaves a scar

that will never go away. Once that military member

comes home safely, hopefully from deployment,

everybody's different. It's not just the service

member that's different, the family's different

because they had to learn to live without that

person. And our military members, especially

when I was going on these trips, were getting

deployed multiple times. So they'd be gone for

a year and then they'd be home for 18 months

and then they'd be gone for a year. And it's

like, that is going to change a person. Yeah,

it's not only gonna, like you said, it's not

gonna change just the person in the military

going over there because that's a whole other

mental thing. But like you said, it's also gonna

change the family. But like you're saying, going

and being deployed for 18 months, coming home

for three months, that's... It's a hard adjustment.

And it's hard for a military member to come home

because they feel like they're not needed anymore

because they're... family has had to learn to

operate and reallocate responsibilities because

that person's missing. Yeah. And so then it's

like, well, where do I belong in this unit now?

Because you figured out how to live without me

and the family is like, well, we had to figure

out how to live without you. And it's a, it's

reintegration is hard and seeing it first on

my trips. and now being married to an active

duty military person and having been with him

through multiple deployments at this point, I've

seen it on both sides now. And I have a lot more

empathy than I ever had to the families because

now I really understand what it's like because

I've been there to be afraid to watch the news,

to get calls that things are scary, that people

have been killed and like. It's difficult and

to also see my husband adjust to being home again.

It's a lot and the repercussions are felt forever.

Dealing with injuries, even if they're invisible

injuries, post -traumatic stress, traumatic brain

injuries, all of those kinds of things. The biggest

thing that I try to push for is whenever our

government, whenever we as a society are pushing

for any kind of military action, war, whatever,

everybody always thinks that the price of that

is the planes, the guns, the bullets. The price

of that needs to be factored in for the life

of the individuals. because of the care that's

required forever. And, you know, we're seeing

now that the guys that I was embedded with, because

I was embedded with infantry units for the most

part. And so at the time, women weren't allowed

to be in units. But when I say my guys, I mean

the people I was embedded with. Yeah, just counting

the female. No, no, no. Yeah. I also met because

they're friggin badasses. But the guys now are

facing these these burn pit cancers. And you

know, much like the the Agent Orange Vietnam

veterans, much like the Gulf War syndrome that

after every conflict, it's not just the the the

battles, but it's also the environment and the

repercussions and those burn pits. You know that

they were burning all of the waste all of the

trash, everything on these bases, and it was

completely toxic and There's burn pit registration

now and the sign up, the registration for these

benefits is getting ready to expire. So if anybody's

listening to this that's a veteran, you can go

online and get a list of all of the burn pit

locations, all the bases and the times that these

things operated. And you need to go online and

you need to register because you might be totally

fine now. but you could get a cancer or something

10, 15, 20 years from now that could be tied

back to these burn pits. And if you don't register

for these benefits now, they're not gonna be

available to you if and when you ever need them.

Just like the Agent Orange stuff, just like all

of those things. And this burn pit stuff is going

to be the way that the first responders that

were on the pit after 9 -11 and John Stewart

advocating for the treatment for them because

of all these crazy cancers that they got. These

same things are coming up now because of the

burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I looked

at the list and between my two trips I think

I was on like nine of the bases where these burn

pits were and I was only overseas for just shy

of six weeks, three weeks, just shy of three

weeks in Iraq and three weeks in Afghanistan.

Wow. And I remember how forced my voice was and

how long it took me once I got home to stop coughing

all this shit out of my lungs. And I was only

there for a few weeks, being there for a year

or two years or three years. I can't imagine.

So for anybody that's a veteran that was over

there, you got to get involved with this burn

pit registration and get your name in there now

because the taxpayers have paid for these benefits

to be there for you. You need to take these,

these resources. Yeah. You'll have to send me

a link to that so I can put it in the show notes

because please people do what she's saying. That's,

that's just wow. Yeah, this is all factoring

into the price of war. So as we move forward

in this world that continues to be riddled with

conflict, you know, if you're getting an estimate

to build a house, you don't stop counting the

money at the framing. You got to count the drywall

and the furniture. You got to count everything.

You got to count everything. And so as we look

at the price of war, taking care of our troops

when they come home has to be factored in to

that price. And then we need to make a decision

of is it worth it? Is what we're fighting for

worth what it's going to cost both in financial

and in manpower and in all of these other things?

And it was, these were all lessons that I learned

from those trips. It was incredibly educational.

and really gave me a more well -rounded view

of military life, which was also great when I

met my husband because I had a little bit better

of an understanding because of all my military

friends that I had met overseas and the conversations

I had had with their spouses because I wasn't

with my husband at the time that up now when

I went on those trips, yeah. Yeah yeah once you

get the experience and then you you know if you're

single or whatever and you find somebody who

is a service member or is a first responder and

you you've already you know you you go in eyes

open heart open all that stuff it's like whatever

like this is slightly different but I always

tell everybody I will do all the work Always

people have to do to be on the podcast is either

if they want the questions in advance fine I

usually don't but it is what it is do that either.

Yeah, I like surprising people kind of thing.

I Said you either get a you know show up answer

the questions. That's all you got to do is talk

I'll do everything else or you know read the

material watch the TV show watch them, you know

And then come with your notes and opinion and

like I said, we'll just have a fun old time Hi,

I'm Terry Smith, the host of Music Talks, the

podcast where I ask guests a simple but beguiling

question. Choose a song from each decade of your

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News podcast. It's audio justice. No, no, no.

It's audio chaos. These wackos are crazier than

I am. Well, maybe you're both right. Regardless,

you can catch us on every kind of podcast platform.

Apple podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher,

and everywhere you find great podcasts. So, um,

can I go now? Let him go. He did everything you

asked. No. Now back to the show. Do you see how

your patience paid off? Before we get into the

27 questions about podcasting. Sure. Boston Marathon.

Man. Things that I've done to support our veterans.

Exactly. So I listened to that episode. And again,

folks. I've followed her practically almost,

you know, pretty much all her career, you know,

like I said from 2001, 2002 up till now. So it's

like, I have all this certain knowledge because

I've listened to all these episodes and people

should, there's a question later about time length

on a podcast. And for me, anywhere from 30 minutes

to an hour and a half is kind of a sweet spot.

But for me, because I have, this is basically

all I do. This is my quote unquote job. I have

all the time in the world so I like listening

to two, three, four hour shows and it goes back

to listening to five hour morning shows on the

radio in the 80s. When you grow up with that

you're perfectly fine listening to that time

length of thing as long as the show keeps going

and keeps Yeah, like each segment is something

completely different like the first hour is this

and podcasting is on demand So if you want to

listen to an hour of it and come back to it later,

it's right where it's convenient for you exactly

All right, so the marathons a killer for anybody

for anybody that grows up kind of in New England

The marathon is is a thing. I think if you're

in the running community, the Boston Marathon

is the Everest of marathons. But I think until

the marathon bombing, I don't know how much people

in other parts of the country realized how woven

into the fabric of Boston the marathon is. And

so everybody at one point or another that's been

at the finish line or along the route cheering

on the runners, which everybody has done, even

if you don't know somebody that runs. You've

always said drunkenly, I'm going to do that someday,

like whatever. And, you know, we took it obviously

really personal when the marathon got bombed.

And I think the Boston strong thing for people

that aren't from the area, they don't really

understand it. Going back to what you were talking

about, like Boston is the little brother of New

York. The brother that you know people always

pat on the head and but the bigger brother is

there and gets all the attention and Boston is

scrappy Boston's also very territorial. Oh, yeah,

which is why it's been such a famous radio market

for so long Because Bostonians are very tribal

and they don't like change and they don't like

outsiders And that's why people in radio in Boston

have been able to have such longevity of career

because once Bostonians like something, they

never want to give it up. And so for the Boston

Marathon, that's our day. That's our party day.

It's our signature athletic event that puts us

on the map. It's this thing that takes over the

state because the marathon's got to run from

Hopkins and run through the whole state. And

it's this huge thing. And so when the marathon

got bombed, The tough rock which was the military

members that rocked the marathon in uniform with

the heavy rucksacks and stuff Those guys were

on the course that day and then after the but

the bombing they moved the tough rock off the

course because of the Backpacks because you can't

have those near the course anymore Okay, so I

the bombing happened in 2013. So I had come back

from Afghanistan So in 2014, I did my first tough

rock with a bunch of the guys I was in Afghanistan

with and rocked the marathon, took me 10 hours

and 10 minutes, cause I had 50 pounds on my back

and I was wearing combat boots. And I did the

tough rock for four years in a row and raised

money for a veterans charity. And then I had

some friends that were running the marathon in

2019 and the home base program, which is a partnership

between the Boston Red Sox and Mass General Hospital

that helps treat the invisible wounds of war.

So post -traumatic stress and traumatic brain

injuries and veterans was starting a marathon

team and got a bunch of bibs because you either

qualify for the marathon, which is really hard

to do, or you get a charity bib and then you

have to raise a lot of money to get access to

these bibs because the Boston marathon bibs are

really hard to get. Yeah. And it just so happens

that a lot of the people that are now running

the home base program, including the executive

director, is retired general Jack Hammond, who

was the commanding general when I was in Afghanistan.

He's since retired from the army and is now the

executive director of home base. And they were

launching their marathon team and I had talked

to him and I was like, you know what, if I'm

ever going to do it, they're willing to give

me a bib. I know I can raise the money. Screw

it. I'm just going to do it. And I made the announcement

that I was going to run the marathon. And I was

going to document my training on the air and

we were going to do fundraising events. So we

ended up raising, I think just shy of $18 ,000.

And I ran the marathon. It's one of the hardest

things I've ever done. I finished in six hours,

24 minutes and 50 seconds. Not that I was counting.

And it's one of my greatest achievements because

it's incredibly People think it's mental people

think it's physically difficult which it is Yeah

for me the mental side of it Was the bigger hurdle

for me to get over? My body hurt, but you feel

really alone when you're the thing about running

is Your brain is constantly telling you to just

stop And I think anybody that has a challenge

that they're trying to overcome The hardest part

is getting over the doubt in your own mind. Running

whatever the challenge is in your life. There's

that voice in your head that's like, you can't

do it. Why try? You're wasting your time. You're

never going to get there. And overcoming the

doubt in your own mind is the hardest challenge.

And when you're out on that course and you're

physically exhausted, the voice is telling you

to quit. and the crowd convinces you not to.

That and for me, I had a broadcast and a party

live on the radio at the finish line waiting

for me. I had that threat over my head of I can't

quit because... Hey, how am I going to get to

the party? Like, what am I going to take a cab?

And I'm going to be a failure and I'm going to

let down all the people that donated the guys

from shine down, did a fundraising event for

me. I'm going to let my family down all those

months of training. I'm going to let the charity

down and the mental fortitude required to convince

myself that I could finish it was so hard to

muster and so empowering and fulfilling crossing

the finish line. Like it's one of the greatest

things I've ever done because the opponent was

myself. Yeah, that's so cool when you can conquer

fear or conquer doubt or, you know, look at something

and say, okay, I don't want to get around over,

under, whatever. I want to get through this.

How am I going to get through this? And then

you just, like you said, muster up the strength

to just do it. You know, if you're going through

hell, keep going. You just pedal to the metal,

hold on for dear life, white knuckle it, and

just go. And that same life lesson got me through

AAF being gone. That same life lesson has gotten

me through all of the challenges of my life that,

you know, if you're going to go through hell,

just go. Yeah. All right. Well, we're going to

finally transition into these 27 questions. And

you mentioned with AAF being gone. Again, I will

whichever episode you're gonna have to send me

like an email with like 20 different links because

I want to be able to link because I want people

to go back and listen to your episodes because

they're just so amazing AF's gone. Yeah, come

home sit on the couch lay in bed have breakfast

lunch dinner, but what do you you've been in

radio so long What do you do? What what were

you? I know you said earlier that you wanted

to just beat boston is your like he's like you

said you know you roll up in a ball and die yeah

and so we went off the air at midnight on friday

night we all kind of hung around went out drinking

um i woke up the next day and i felt like i had

watched my best friend be taken off a ventilator

and die the night before literally happened basically

And I had already had plans the following week

to go to Vegas to a rock radio convention that

I was going to as the assistant program director

of WAF. Trip was paid for, booked, whatever.

And my boss was like, go. So I had to register

an email address because I didn't have one that

didn't say at WAF .com on the end. I had to make

business cards. And I was like, okay, I'm going

to go to Vegas. and I'm going to find a job.

And I had already started getting calls. In the

week before AAF even went off the air, as soon

as the press release went out at five o 'clock

on that Tuesday, people started calling. And

I was like, okay, well, this is good that people

are calling that I might have opportunity here.

So I went to Vegas. My then boyfriend now husband

was like, I'll fly out to Vegas and meet you

because he's in the military. So He lives in

another state because that's where he's stationed

right now He's like I'll fly out to Vegas and

I'll be there with you I was like great he lands

in Vegas turns his phone on you know when the

planes taxiing and you turn your phone back on

And he got word that he was getting deployed

again that I literally like four days or five

days after a I found out that he Was getting

deployed again, and so I went to the convention

networks, you know, people knew who I was because

of AAF. And so I was and I realized pretty quickly

that there was a lot of doubt that I could do

what I do, not on AAF, that I could do what I

do outside of Boston, because I was so associated

with the city. So associated with the station.

And I came home. And now it's the first week

of March of 2020. And I had some job interviews.

And I thought, okay, there's some really great

opportunities here. Luckily for me, I had a severance

package because of my contract and then COVID

hit. And by the second week of March of 2020,

all hell broke loose. And the world was shutting

down, radio stations were putting hiring freezes

in place and sending all the DJs home to work

from home. And I started to go, okay, wait a

minute. What if these opportunities that I've

been interviewing for go away because it looks

like they're going to, what am I going to do?

And I spent a lot of time trying to figure out

is my radio career over? Should I be putting

energy into what my next thing is going to be

outside of the industry? Meaning that I had a

great career, a longer career than most people,

29 years at the same station. I'm going to move

on. And then I started trying to, I'm a list

maker. I'm a planner. And I started making a

list of like my skill set. And all of my skills

are associated with that. And so then I started

thinking, well, if I'm going to try and continue

my career, I don't have a place to work. And

so I need a studio. I don't have a way to work.

And I thought, Okay, I could get into audio books.

I could get into voice work I could get into

voice acting and do animation stuff. Like what

could I do with this voice? That to me is always

been my voice But when people like you say you

have this distinctive radio voice like there's

a part of me Like I do even though this has been

my job for so long. So it's like what else can

I do with it? My audio editing skills all of

that stuff So I started building my studio, which

I call MCHQ. And in order for me to build it,

I was like, well, if I'm going to build it and

spend all this money because it was expensive.

And that was a really big decision for me to

spend money that I could have used to pay my

mortgage. Like it was a gamble when the world

there was so much uncertainty. So I started a

company because I was like, well, if I need to

have a business so that I can write all of this

off as a business expense, I need to be smart.

So I started a company. and I started building

my studio and I started my video show, Cocktails

in the War Room, and started video streaming.

That started on March 14th of 2020 because I

was home and there was nothing else to do and

people were looking for connection. So I started

my video show by accidents. My career is just

a string of accidents. happy accidents, I call

them. So I started my video show, cocktails in

the war room on March 14th of 2020. I did 80

nights in a row where I would just live stream

on Facebook, on my phone or from a computer,

talking to people, interacting with the people

on my Facebook page. At the time, my Facebook

page was the biggest social media outlet I had.

So I thought streaming there would be the smartest

thing. Right. And people we were talk about The

live streams bands were doing, the concerts that

were getting canceled, the craziness, the development

of the vaccines. It was just a community thing.

And I used that time to build my studio, to build

my website, to get a graphic designer, to make

new logos for me, and to start putting together

what I thought the Mistress Carrie podcast would

become. And then I used Cocktails in the War

Room, the video show. to launch the podcast.

So when the Mistress Carrie podcast launched

in June of 2020, cocktails in the war room went

from being a daily show to a weekly show is now.

And so that's every Tuesday night at 830 Eastern.

It streams live on my Facebook page, and then

uploads to YouTube. After the fact, I think eventually

I'll probably transition to streaming on YouTube.

But right now it still streams on Facebook and

then the podcast launched in June of 2020 and

my first guest was Brent Smith from Shinedown

and when I was getting ready to put the podcast

together I knew I wanted intro music and about

Dennis Leary and I wanted an intro that was super

polished and I knew that even though I had a

podcast at WAF called Mistress Carrie's Sidepiece

I knew that in podcasting that there was going

to be people that discovered the podcast that

didn't know me from WAF. And I needed them to

understand what I was, who I was, what I was

about. And so I wanted to put this whole intro

together with all of these rock stars from all

of my years on the radio, but I wanted it to

have music behind it. So I called Sully from

Godsmack and I said, hey, do you have an instrumental

piece of music you're not using? That you'd be

willing to let me use as a as an intro for my

podcast. He had he knew about the war room And

he also was stuck at home and he's got a recording

studio and so a week later So I get a text message

from him and he was like, what do you think about

this? And he wrote and recorded this like 90

second piece of music that he calls war drums

and he recorded it at 107 .3 beats a minute.

It's a little homage to WAF's frequency. And

that is the intro music to my podcast, to Cocktails

in the War Room, and it's kind of become like

my theme song. And so once the podcast launched,

I was like, okay, let's see what happens and

we'll just ride out the pandemic and see where

this kind of takes me. But it was all just completely

charging into the unknown not only in my own

career But in the world because of kovat. Yeah,

exactly Because everybody was you know, you've

got to stay home You can't interact you can't

this and for me because of the way I am because

the way because I didn't hear the term cerebral

palsy and you think oh it's something to do with

the brain and for me, it's my whole and This

is gonna tie into something else that you do.

It's the whole right side of my body So as you

can see left hand completely normal fine right

hand and no one can actually see this because

no one's gonna But like my right hand is smaller

than mine. So guess what? Leg is fine, but my

foot my right foot is smaller than mine. It's

not normal Exactly, you and I would be so great

in a potato sack race Because all the nerve damage

for me is on the left side and my left foot is

smaller than my right foot. Yeah so for me it's

like you know like mine is like one foot backwards.

When I started my company people in the industry

gave me advice and they said be really careful

about the first thing you do after AAF because

you're only known for your last job. And so anybody

that's known me for years, especially personally

outside of work, has known I have two different

size feet. It's been a thing. I've had operations.

It is what it is. And so anytime I would say,

I really got to put my foot down about this.

Somebody that knows me would say the big one

or the little one. Joke, which foot are you putting

down? My whole thing was whatever step I take

away from WAAF, I'm gonna make with my Bigfoot

first. And that's why the name of my company

is Bigfoot First Productions. Because I'm taking

the step into the unknown, but I'm doing it with

my Bigfoot first, meaning I'm committed. But

I'm not half -assing it. I'm going in Bigfoot

first. For me with the podcasting, I just...

Back in late 2008 because I actually started

15 years ago But the network you cast radio network

has been online since June 9th June 9th No, June

1st of 2009 at the time in 2008 I was working

for a group home because in my teen years I was

just one of the state of Kentucky and group homes

and all that other stuff and whatever So at one

point or another in 2004 or five they're like

would you like to transition out of the HUD permanent

housing program and become a live -in resident

employee kind of thing so basically they're gonna

you know have me live on campus or whatever kind

of thing and work with basically it was when

all the case managers that the normal like you

know social workers whatever when they weren't

there during the day i would take over at night

and make sure everything is fine with the building

obviously the kids that were in the program were

supposed to be asleep all that and everything

else and in 2008 i i had my days free and i didn't

you know because i didn't i worked at night so

i needed something to do and i'm like oh okay

I watched for the upteenth time but I watched

Good Morning Vietnam and I'm like, okay, I don't

want to sound like the guy that was on before.

Today in Saigon, the weather is going to be blah

blah blah blah blah blah blah. No, not, and the

funny thing is my very first episode I kind of

almost sound like that and luckily over the last

15 years I've perfected. How I sound and how

I evolution man absolutely you can be embarrassed

about stuff you did three weeks ago in this business

it just it's a constant evolution absolutely

and you know the intro that I did for you earlier

when I open the show. I wrote. What I knew first

and then I went into your bio on your website

and I picked out several little bits. And I wrote

and created that because that's how I wanted

to sound when I can't stand this AI stuff. Yeah,

it's weird. And it's going to be the death of

radio DJs if we're not careful, because there

are already AI radio stations on the air now.

And it's so creepy because to me, radio and I

think podcasting in a different way, Is all about

connection radio is your connection with the

audience And they're direct I think with podcasting

that the audience is kind of like it's of like

a voyeur kind of thing We're like you're doing

an interview with the people that are listening

to this. We know they're there And it's like

they get to eavesdrop on this conversation and

obviously interact with the social media stuff

and the comments and all of that But it completely

takes the human connection out of it when it's

when it's done with AI It's so weird that people

want that. Yeah. Are you on Instagram? I don't

remember. Yeah. Okay. Yep. I have a couple Instagram

I have one that's for me and another one that's

for the podcast that I just launched recently

Right so on Instagram sometimes they will have

these male or female and I don't know who the

person is that does it and it's no offense to

them but they have these AI sounding voices.

Yeah. They're like one of them is like a British

accent one of them's like and I'm like this is

the worst like I hate I am all about audio I'm

all about listening I fall asleep. to Peter Thomas

on Forensic Files every night, not because of

the murder, but just because of his voice. I

can't believe you can listen to stuff and go

to bed. I can't listen to anything. It has to

be totally quiet. Really? I can't stand out.

I have to, like, if it goes off in the middle

of the night and it ends up quiet, that's fine.

But in order to get to sleep, I need to have

something on. And mainly it's like... Like you

were saying earlier about getting into audiobooks.

I listened to two different audiobooks from Lieutenant

Joe Kenda. He was the homicide hunter on Investigation

Discovery. And just again, the voice of the person,

et cetera. Like if you did audiobooks, I'd probably

listen to those. I would love to. I would love

to get into doing audiobooks. I think it would

be awesome. Yeah, that would be so cool. All

right, so podcasting yeah, you've been in radio

for X number of years When did you discover podcasts

and what was the first one you listened to I

knew about podcasts for a long time You know

at the radio station we we used to do our interviews

and stuff live But we would always record them

and then we would start putting them up on the

website For people that missed it because radio

is immediate. So it's like if you don't tune

in at this time to hear it we started putting

it up online. And like I said, AAF was always

a very early adopter when it came to technology,

social media, having Real Rock TV back then,

YouTube channels, skits, like all of that kind

of stuff. We were always early adopters on that.

And so we started podcasting like just all of

our stuff. And then I launched the Mistress Carrie

side piece when I was still at AAF, which was

basically kind of like, you know, more long form

conversations with the people I had access to,

but I also wanted it to be able to be an arm

for me to do a lot of nonprofit stuff to just

interview interesting people that I had access

to that I couldn't really put on the radio show

for as long as I wanted to. And so I always kind

of knew about podcasting, you know, obviously

there were people that were on Rogan and like

stuff like that, that I had, that I had heard.

But when I was working in radio, I didn't listen

to podcasts a lot because part of my job being

in the programming department of the radio station.

So on top of my responsibilities on the air,

I was the assistant program director and I used

to spend a lot of my time in the car listening

to other radio stations. And then also being

on the phone. with managers and record label

people and that kind of stuff. So I wasn't really

an end user of podcasts because I was so busy

maintaining my career. I worked a lot when I

was at AAF, not just the four or five hours on

the air. Right, yeah. And that's the thing, radio

DJs, you guys end up like you're saying. you

still have the on -air part but you end up getting

promoted or doing this or becoming this or doing

whatever. Taking the playlist, talking to the

band, setting up events like hosting events,

recording commercials like brainstorming ideas,

creating digital content. AAF was very active

on social media with video content and all that

kind of stuff, which obviously I do now myself.

And so I was just always really busy. Now, you

know, I always would listen to like, you know,

like some military podcasts of like, I listen

to Jocko. He would have an author on or be talking

about a specific battle in the wars or whatever,

not if I knew somebody that served in that battle

or whatever. So it was always one of those things

where I would listen to specific episodes, but

I was never really loyal to one or two podcasts

that I listened to every episode, which was a

really great learning experience for me when

I got into podcasting that There are going to

be people that listen every episode because they

like me, but then there's going to be those people

that listen to that episode because of the subject

matter and the guest. Yeah. And hopefully you

can bring people to listen to more of your episodes

if they came to that episode because of the guest

and then ended up liking you. Yeah. And so that's

kind of how I kind of got into podcasting as

a listener, but we had always kind of been doing

it at AAF from you know, the earliest time that

we could post the audio. Yeah. And something

that frustrates me is not that you mentioned

him, but everybody's like, Oh, Rogan. And I'm

like, Pot Rogan like whatever like podcasting

was around 2005 Before Joe even you know, whatever

and like I said, I started 2008 2009. It's like

now in 2023 Nobody remembers anything before

2010 or something with podcasting and it's like

in those early days of learning and of what like

Just everything we do. It's crazy. We're actually

in the middle of starting a new the eighth one,

but We do top 100 countdowns of various, like

we've done animated series, animated characters,

animated films. We've done seven different ones.

The last one was two years ago in 2021 during

the pandemic and during all of that and whatever

else. It was a six -part series. Total recorded

published audio time was just under 12 hours

for six episodes. took me 100 hours. I blogged

this whole thing and whatever else. The point

I'm trying to make is podcasting sometimes on

this side, on the producer side, can be very,

very isolating, just like certain times with

radio when you guys are - Well, that's the thing.

Nobody wants to talk about podcasting before

Rogan, but there is a certain mentality in radio

where podcasters think they invented all these

concepts, and it's like radio is doing this shit

a long time. A long time, yeah. We were just

doing it on the radio. Yeah, and we were producing

audio and and editing it on the fly. Yeah, with

your blade and it needed to be on the air in

45 seconds and we were over there edit like we

didn't have the digital technology in the early

part. So I always I love how every generation

of technology is like bitter about the generation

that comes next. But for all of the podcasting

people that were og podcasters There's radio

people behind you going you didn't invent any

of this, right? No, yeah No, we weren't radio

was there for a really long time Coming up with

a lot of these ideas. No, absolutely, you know

and I give everybody the wrist everybody that

I've listened to ever and Like I said, I lived

in Massachusetts. It's my home state. It's my

home everything up until 1993. I ended up in

Kentucky and I ended up in other places and I

ended up moving. I ended up coming back to Matt.

I was there in 2001, September 11th. I woke up,

turned the TV on. I was talking on the phone

with somebody and I saw one of the news footages

of of like one of the recaps of the exploding

I forget if it was the North Tower or the South

Tower of the plane exploding and I'm like uh

you needed whoever I was talking to at the time

you we need to get off the phone you need to

turn the tv on and we need to figure this out

because this isn't a Tom Cruise movie like I

thought it was some new new film that was coming

out and obviously not it's this this complete

and horrible tragedy and I was in Massachusetts

up until late 2002 again and I haven't I've only

been back one it's been 11 years I went up at

the time in 2012 to get my mom because my mom

wasn't in the greatest of health but and and

all that and whatever else but yeah it's been

about 11 years since I was home and I just I

don't know if I I don't know when I'll end up

getting back but I just knew like financially

because of the disabilities and everything else

I'm like Massachusetts way too expensive for

me I Love it. It's home. It's everything but

it's just way too So, you know starting the but

yeah, no everybody I have ever listened to I

will like yourself You know Hillman and all that

in the morning show and everybody, you know Lorne

and Wally and all like I always give all the

credit in the world to all the people I listen

to on the radio It's when I'm doing the thing

because most people on 9 -eleven when that happened

Because this was in the early stages of the internet

and it's hard for people to imagine nowadays

Not having that connection. So most people turn

the radio on because they needed to know what

was going on and that was That was probably like

the last time that radio was like the preferred

media for something like that because the TV

could only air whatever they had. And so it was

a loop of the old footage of the planes hitting

the buildings. But radio had the ability to open

the phone lines. And that's what we did to let

people call and talk it out. We became the town

square. We became the forum before people could

get on the internet and talk to each other. and

to be a place where people voice their concerns

and their fears and on the other side of it to

galvanize resources and to try and do good. And

that week was exhausting for us. We were in the

studio like 18 hour days. I cried driving home.

you know after midnight every one of those nights

because we didn't play music we weren't playing

commercials we were just live on the air reacting

to whatever was going to come through on the

phones and it was heartbreaking and so many people

in massachusetts were missing loved ones because

the planes left from here yeah there were so

many bostonians on those planes and it radio

really rose to the occasion and then obviously

the internet really found its footing and has

exploded because of the technology's gotten better.

Both the networks and the actual, the phones

and the computers and all of that. So radio,

that was a high point for radio. Being able to

be there on a very low point for the country

in the way that radio was able to do it. But

technology's changed so much now. And to go back

to where we're talking about the AI stuff. It's

amazing to me that that same industry that was

so integral on a day like 9 -11 in the United

States to now where radio stations are willingly

putting bots on the air as the hosts. I just,

I don't understand. The selling point of radio

is the connection to the audience and the regional

connection. Yeah. And I think that's why I obviously

I've still followed you, et cetera, et cetera,

et cetera, whatever you've done. But I think

that's the reason why most of the time I like.

So for me, I from 2003 to 2017, I went back to

Louisville, Kentucky, and I had a nice little

life there. Obviously, started the podcast stuff

there and everything else. Twenty seventeen.

Ended up on OkCupid and ended up finding this,

you know, this person and everything else. And

Karen and I, you know, we just kind of connected.

We were just. You know on the same wavelength

kind of thing. It's amazing for a lot of things

including love Well, you know and my thing was

at the time I was 37 years old yes in a row and

I didn't want to I didn't want to play I just

wanted to be open honest up front all that stuff.

No stupid whatever things and And I said, you

know, I told her about the disability. I told

her about how I don't and can't drive because

of the cerebral palsy. It's just not, because

the other thing is that in addition to cerebral

palsy, optic atrophy with the stigmatism. So

even if I had glasses, it helps, but it's still

not going to help my mobility, my actual mobility

issues, et cetera, et cetera. And she's like,

oh, that's okay, that's fine. She drove down

from Chicago and we had a nice little first weekend

in September of 2017. By October, I was moving

to Chicago because when she was in Louisville

with me in 2017, we... Bonded over watching HGTV

and house hunters and all this other So we liked

just to we weren't gonna buy any of the houses

But they offer free house tours not like we're

going to every single one, but we found this

house in Louisville It was a nice little split

level had a nice You know top floor with like

two or three bedrooms from all hardwood floors

had a nice little Porch atrium thing and everything

else and she's like, oh, you know the porch it

was like all glass and all, you know, whatever

up top and then wood and stuff in the bottom

and She's like, oh I can use this as my space.

I go downstairs and there's like And you know

this coming from us. There was wood paneling

everywhere The paneled basements. Right. The

paneled basements. So we were down there and

I had already gone down there. She was still

upstairs. And I'm looking around. There's like

two or three more rooms. And then there's this

giant living room with a second living room with

a fireplace and all that. We go to turn to walk

upstairs. And keep in mind, when I say we met

on OKCupid, we met, we talked like, I don't know,

the next day after we exchanged online messages.

and we had been talking like if we weren't the

only time we weren't talking is if we were asleep

or if she was at work or if I was recording a

show etc etc etc from August 6th of 2017 to September

9th of 2017 when she came for that first visit

we go to this house we're standing in this basement

we're about to turn to go back upstairs to leave

And all of a sudden, I kid you not, it felt like

a literal bolt of lightning hit me and I saw

the next 50 years of my life. That's how it happens.

And I'm like, okay, I know it's probably not

gonna be this house, but I have seen the next

50 years of our lives. And I'm like, do you wanna

be with anybody else? Because I don't. I love

everything that you do. I love all the stuff.

I love all the connections we've made together.

I love all the things we have in common. I love

all the things we don't have in common. The thing

about couples and marriage and dating and like,

you don't want to date yourself. You don't want

to, you know, you want somebody who was compatible.

Stay away from those people. Exactly. So I said

to her, I said, you know, I don't want to be

with anybody else to you. She goes, no, not really.

And, you know, by October I was living in Chicago

with her. And by December of 2017, we got married.

And by what is it? It's September. By September

17th of 2019, even though we had already gone

through all the things with social security and

everything else and did all the right stuff,

by September of 2019, they're like, yeah, you

need to get divorced or you don't get benefits

anymore. And I'm like, what? That's crazy. That

happened in 2019 right before everything else

that happened. We got vaccinated and everything

else and all that and everything else. We did

what we were supposed to do. and she had a slight,

not always, but a slight little alcohol problem.

It wasn't like, it was bad because obviously

having a problem with alcohol is bad, but it

wasn't, you know, and unfortunately in 2021 her

kidneys and liver gave out and she passed away.

Oh no. I'm so sorry. Thank you so much and I'm

sorry to be telling you all of this story on

this episode that's supposed to be all about

you. Yeah, but So I'm like after you know being

in that like I said back in 2017 being like Okay,

well that that 50 years didn't work out. What's

the next? You know that you can make all the

plans you want but But you're gonna have to adjust

to whatever Hurdle is gonna get put in front

of you It just happens life happens like that

So I'm out in Washington State where I keep cuz

she wanted to be on the Oregon coast and I told

her I said I am more than Willing to support

that dream. However, because of my disabilities

and because of some of your health issues at

the time We need somewhere where it's not going

to take an ambulance 20 30 minutes to get like

the Oregon coast is pretty it's it's coastal

town it's it's you know small it's goonies it's

goonies and you know i said how about either

Portland or Vancouver what Portland Oregon or

Vancouver Washington we ended up settling in

Vancouver and we loved it you know we never because

of the pandemic obviously we never got to the

coast for a second time and and all that and

she passed and Had to figure out where the hell

I was gonna live next and now I'm in the middle

of nowhere, Indiana So this is what it is. I'm

it is what it is Alright getting back to the

thing people actually want to hear about So AF

is gone you're at home What was your plan for

starting the podcast like you say you built?

mchq like which i don't want to get too personal

but like which room in your house was was it

always well the the house like in a lot of places

in the country people don't have basements in

new england we have them right and because i

had enough experience in audio recording and

stuff from the radio station i knew it was going

to be easier to soundproof a room in the basement

And so there's bedrooms in my basement. And so

I gutted a room in my basement and built a studio

out of a bedroom so that I had a closet for equipment,

boxes, all my archives. I had the closet redone

so there's drawers for all the old cassette tapes

that I need to go through and the old CDs and

all of that. And this room already had carpeting.

So that that was gonna help with the soundproofing

where the rooms on the main level of the house

are all hardwood floors and tile and stuff Which

is bad for soundproofing. It only had windows

on one wall So it made it easier to get soundproofing

window treatments to help block the sound reflection

coming off the windows and So it just worked

out that that I just took a bedroom that was

in my basement that wasn't being used It actually

is where my treadmill used to be so when I was

training for the marathon, that's where I used

to run the treadmill has been moved to another

room now, but so MCHQ became the room that was

the easiest for me to soundproof and control

noise from the outside world. But I also wanted

to make sure that I wasn't going to need this

room for something else because it was going

to be hard to undo what I was doing. So once

I built MCHQ and started really putting a plan

in place for the podcast, I wanted to make sure

that mine was going to be different in some way.

And I wanted to be able to build off of what

people knew me for at WAF. But I also didn't

want to be limited by what I used to do at WAF

that I wanted to be able to use the podcast as

a way to expand. And so I know from all of my

time, interviewing bands and my time as a roadie

before I was a DJ, that I wanted to have the

opportunity to be able to talk to not only artists,

but the producers that help make the art with

the artists, the roadies that actually tour with

the artists and make the live shows possible,

the people that make the instruments that help

these artists write the music we all love so

much. And I also wanted to leave enough room

there for me to continue to do my work with veterans.

Always kind of tying it back to the things in

the rock and roll lifestyle, because if you love

rock music the way that I do, there's things

that come along with it, right? There's the motorcycles

and the tattoos and all of those other things,

the live concerts. And so I wanted to have the

flexibility and the freedom to ebb and flow within

that lifestyle. That if you know an artist wanted

to bring on their buddy who was a tattoo artist

that's also tattooed a bunch of other famous

artists that tattoo artist is interesting and

is within that kind of rock umbrella. Right.

So I also wanted because AAF was gone and now

the Boston area doesn't have a radio station

that plays new rock music at all. It's heartbreaking

and one of the things that my show is always

known for and WAF was known for as a radio station

was being a platform to break new artists and

we had a long track record of breaking new artists

and I wanted my podcast to be a place that would

not only keep people in touch with the artists

that they already love but that the audience

would also trust me enough to say listen I know

what you like and I think you're gonna love this

artist or this band. Because that was part of

my job at WAAF was mining through all of the

new bands to find the ones I thought the audience

of AAF would love. As the assistant program director,

that was my job. And so I wanted the podcast

to be able to interview more alternative artists

that may not have gotten played on WAAF to be

able to talk to really... classic artists that

may have been, quote unquote, too old to play

on WAF. But if it fit under that rock umbrella,

I wanted the freedom to be able to do that. But

the other thing with the podcast, because when

you're going to get into podcasting, like you've

got to figure out what makes yours special and

different, is that I had spent so many years

with the artists on the air doing the interviews.

but also off the air in the studio goofing off,

at dinners, at shows, backstage, hanging out,

and had gotten to know the artists as people,

which we hinted to earlier when I was talking

about Joe Perry's cigars. And so it was always

something that I did to prep for interviews was

to really get to know them as a person, the things

that they liked, I always made sure that they're...

the way they like their coffee or what they wanted

to drink or like whatever. And if a band had

a day off in Boston, I would always say, oh,

well, let me take you on the Mistress Carrie

tour of Boston. And I would spend time with them

off the air. And so I wanted to give the audience

of the Mistress Carrie podcast the opportunity

to be able to get to know the artists in a way

that I was able to get to know them. And so for

the podcast to not only be about all the things

that were important, to the record label and

the manager and the band, obviously, they got

a record coming out, a tour, a new song, like

all of those things. But also to be able to talk

about them as people and the things that shaped

them as a person and the artists that inspired

them and what their family life was like and

their upbringing was like and the goofy stories

backstage on tour. and the collaborations with

other artists and the touring stories with other

artists and to really be able to show them so

that if you listen to an episode of my podcast

about an artist whose music you like that after

that episode you feel like you know them as a

person too and so that was really the focus of

how i could make my podcast different yeah 10

years ago when we were i've always been a Cartoon

watcher I've never really been a comic book reader.

I love reading like actual books and things like

that But I was never into like full into comics

and ten years ago I got into my buddy sent me

a comic with The Joker on the on the cover and

I'm like, okay. I'll check this out. We ended

up reviewing all Six seven issues of that story

arc and he's like, all right. Well, we put this

on this main feed But now if we're gonna continue

doing this week, so I created the pull bag and

with the pull bag again like you're saying about

wanting something different I didn't want to

just be oh we're reviewing this comic we're giving

it this grade we're doing this we're reviewing

all these classics or whatever so I created at

the time it was 25 questions it's now 30 questions

what is called the origin series and it's a series

of just like this it's a series of questions

that I ask any guest that is in comics and whatever

like whoever it doesn't just readers not necessarily

in you know artists or writers or anything but

just anybody and that when the pandemic hit I'm

like okay I've been reviewing cartoons and comics

and movies and all this stuff for like you know

10 years at the time or whatever it is and I'm

like I need something different so I expanded

that into cartoons, toy collecting, this one

with podcasting and we've got a few others and

I just love doing this because it at this point

we're almost two hours into this and we haven't

even gotten so deep into the podcast you know

the podcasting questions but it's one of those

things where it's like I get to spend this time

with anyone. I don't care who the person is.

If you have a story to tell and you want to answer

these questions, come on the show. And I just,

I just love doing it. And I don't love, I don't

love doing it more than I liked doing the, I

still do the cartoon reviews, the comic, I still

do all that stuff, but doing this, doing the

interview thing and. I'm like we're saying earlier

about Boston about you know laser focused we

when we like something we like something when

we don't like something don't even don't even

try we've made up our minds already that's right

there's no second chances so yeah so that's that's

kind of how how i have been do you prefer audio

or video podcasting as a fan and as a producer

i like them differently because it's how i use

them I if I'm sitting at a computer or whatever

and I'm interested enough in the interview or

the subject matter Being able to see the people

is great. Like I love doing in -person interviews

For even for the radio just having that person

that you can see, especially through COVID, like

people were, at least on Zoom, you felt like

you were somewhat personally connected. But podcasting

and radio strength is that you can use it while

you're doing something else. And so if I'm out

walking the dog, or if I'm mowing the lawn, or

if I'm driving, the video component's unnecessary.

illegal and dangerous. Yes. But it's but it's

not necessary. So I like that it's available

if I want to watch it. Yeah. But if I just want

to listen to the audio, I'm totally fine with

that, too. Yeah, absolutely. So I you know, people

ask me all the time about the podcast and whether

or not it's ever going to become a video podcast

as well. And I'm open to the idea, but it's a

completely different thing. yeah video is completely

different and the skill set is different yeah

then all of a sudden i mean i designed mchq so

that it could be wired for cameras but i feel

like so much of what i do you know the interviews

that i do or while bands are on tour or i'm going

to interview them at a show setting up the cameras

worried about the lighting like all of that stuff

One of the things that makes audio so great is

that it's lean and mean you could do it anywhere

Yep, and so I'm still a huge fan of audio podcasting

Especially because people use it when they're

driving Exercising anytime if they're working

heavy machinery, they can't be watching a video

but they can listen Exactly. Yeah, I love that

part of it. Yeah, absolutely And the thing is,

like you said, you have the Mr. Scary podcast,

you have Cocktails in the War Room, they are

two completely different, they're not separate,

they're completely different things because Cocktails

in the War Room is you sitting down every Tuesday

night and actually, you know, that's the interaction

with the audience, whereas the podcast is you

having an interaction with the guest, like...

the audience on the video show you have a video

show the podcast doesn't need to be video because

yeah so and I can guess on in the war room sometimes

both in person and like like via stuff yeah so

that especially during COVID now you know I think

I'm gonna start using I've had a lot of success

with some live events with cocktails in the war

room doing stuff with like veterans organizations

and stuff and trying to, the war room audience

calls themselves the war room family. And it's

an excuse for the war room family to get together

in person. There are a lot of people that met

each other through the war room digitally because

of COVID that are now really good friends and

see each other in real life. And so I love the

idea that the war room can be used to help. do

a lot of charity work, do a lot of veterans outreach

stuff, but I love the flexibility that I can

bring somebody on the show live, which I've done

multiple times in person, take the show on the

road. I call it on deployment where we take the

show out to a bar or a club or whatever and do

the show live, but that I can also, you know,

like I had Metallica's whiskey distiller on and

we did a whiskey tasting virtually in the war

room. and I was able to talk to him about the

whiskey and blending whiskies and how that you

know that treatment where they blast it with

Metallica's music changes the barrels and changes

the taste of the whiskey and all that stuff so

I love being able to bring people on the war

room too but they're two completely different

things yeah absolutely absolutely so with all

the radio stuff and everything else did you think

the podcast like you think the podcast you've

been doing it for three three three and a half

years now Did you think you'd be doing this that

long? How's the trajectory for you of how far

you've come since you started it to now? I wasn't

sure because there was so much uncertainty at

the beginning of COVID. Nobody knew what the

world was going to be like getting out of it.

And I wasn't really sure. So I was like, I'm

going to build this thing and I'm going to give

everything I have to it. And I'm going to leave

myself open to whatever opportunity comes my

way. So I committed to a new full length episode

every Wednesday. So those are the numbered episodes.

When I get access to a bonus episode, I release

them whenever I can. If I get access to a interview

last minute or something, I put it up as a bonus

episode. In August of 2020, after the podcast,

We started to find an audience. I wanted to have

a shorter component that did what I used to do

on the radio, which is to keep people up to date

with what was going on in music. And so I launched

the sit rep. I still a lot of my. my terms from

the military. Hey, look, it's it's not really

thievery, it's support. Yeah, I give credit that

it's stolen. So the sit rep comes out every day,

Monday through Friday. And it's around five minutes

long, sometimes a little shorter, sometimes a

little longer. And it basically runs through

all the headlines of the day in music and entertainment,

specifically rock. But if it's a big enough story

talking about Taylor Swift or if talking about

Netflix or talking about TVs or movies or whatever,

if it fits under that kind of umbrella of entertainment

in rock, I put it in there to keep people up

to date, but have it to be really short because

people are willing, like you were saying earlier,

to listen to longer form things. But if you've

got a short commute, if you work from home, if

you don't have a lot of time, but you love kind

of music and pop culture stuff and you want to

kind of be up to date with that, I do all the

work and the research. You can spend five minutes

while you're making your coffee and brushing

your teeth and get caught up with whatever it

is that's going on that day. And then in the

show notes, all the links to the original stories

are there. So not only does that credit the sources

of where I got the information, but make it easier

for people if they want more info to read the

full article, it makes it easy for them to find.

And what I've found out is a lot of radio people

listen to the sit rep because I do a lot of their

show prep for them. Even Mike Shue that I work

with, who I worked with at AAF, he and I work

at the same station in Worcester, the Pike. And

he's like, I listen to the sit rep on my way

to work. He has a five minute commute. He listens

to the sit rep because he knows that I put it

together late at night the night before. So it's

about as up to date as it can be. Yeah. He's

like, you make my show prep really easy. And

so the podcast has a lot of different moving

parts. And rather than have the sit rep be its

own podcast. I just put it all under the same

thing. So if you subscribe to the Mistress Carrie

podcast, you get the full length episodes and

whatever bonus episodes come. If I do an interview

on cocktails in the war room, I'll pull the,

the audio out and put that up as an audio feature

called an after action report. Another stolen

term on the podcast for people that didn't watch

the war room, but would be interested in the

guests. And then there's the sit rep. So there's

a lot of content getting generated on my podcast

feed. yeah and it's it's so good you know the

funny thing is deserve the right to expand it

too absolutely well the funny thing is is that

with the sitrap because i don't i i'm online

all the time uh you know if i'm awake and i'm

sitting here at the computer and i'm you know

either prepping a Written blog or working on

a podcast or doing whatever it's like at some

point I'm going to have to look at various like

entertainment news or geek news or whatever kind

of stuff even even just regular Every day, you

know, oh the weather today is whatever, you know,

and so half the time I'm seeing all this stuff.

I got to say though We're recording this July

10th, 2023. I got to say I think it was July

7th or 9th I forget what it was last week listening

to one of the sit reps, and I'm like, holy shit,

Creed is going to do a reunion? What the hell?

That's the rumor. Yeah, I heard it from you first.

That's the rumor right now. Right. It's a rumor.

Like I said, I cite my sources. So if they end

up being wrong, I'm just calling your attention

to the fact that there's people talking about

it and saying, look, there are hints. that the

pieces could be moving around that this could

be something that's coming and You know for people

that love Creed and they have sold a ton of records

and get played on radio stations around the world

every day That's a huge announcement. Those songs

are beloved Back in the day when they launched

and then when they're the flip side of that coin

launched in you know 96 and then they got super

famous in 2000 and 2001 but when it was like

Creed or Nickelback Creed or Nickelback and Creed

kind of well I don't know Scott went whatever

Scott did and Creed went away and Nickelback's

been here the last 20 plus years and all this

and all that anything else and I gotta say every

time they got really successful both of those

artists got really successful Yep. And sometimes

people like to tear down people that are successful.

And that's just wrong. It's like, you know, Bill

and Ted, be excellent. I hate to always rip that

movie off, but seriously, be excellent. Like

seriously. Anyway, but I remember like when I

was listening to you, like the early episode,

I'm like, oh. Of course, she's going to have

Tyler from Theory on at some point or another,

and I've listened to them. I actually, it's been

21, it's been about 12 years. I got to interview

Dave from Theory. Yeah. And I've always wanted

to interview Tyler and I never have been able

to do so. I just, that band hit at a time when

it was like, oh, like, you know. And they're

such nice guys, and they're so fun, and they're

hilarious. Dave, you're talking about bands being

at shows and things like that. When I interviewed

Dave, he was, I don't think it's still around,

but he was in, I think it's in South, it's in

one of the, Full Throttle Saloon. They were at

full throttle preparing for a shoot. He was like,

OK, I have this much time. And I'm like, OK,

fine. I'll ask you these 15 questions. It's one

of my favorite interviews I've ever done. I'm

like, oh my god. Man, those guys are hilarious.

They've got that quirky Canadian humor. Yep.

And just everything they've done. I first found

them through, obviously, Spider -Man and Josie

and Tyler and Chad with Hero and all this and

everything else. And I'm like, ooh, who's that

guy in the back with the weird -looking goatee?

I'm like, oh, wow, OK. And then the debut album

comes out, and I'm like, oh, my god, these guys

are speaking to my son. And I've followed them

ever since. And it's just so, so great. So all

right, as a listener, let's talk about listening

to podcasts. Yeah. What defines a good podcast

to you? I don't know. I think that's such a subjective

question. I think number one, audio quality.

I think if the quality of the audio sucks, it's

really annoying. And that's something that you

learn in radio, right? That if because AAF was

always notoriously finicky with its signal and

people would say like, I want to listen, but

the static drives me crazy. And so I think that

audio quality is a huge thing. I think that the

guest, you know, and that's what makes podcasting

so great is that you can seek out the guests

and the people that you're interested in. So

obviously I think having a rapport between the

guests and the host is important. And I think

that anybody that agrees to be interviewed for

any reason, The concept of like, we'll submit

your questions and then we'll agree about what

we're gonna talk about. That takes all of the

spontaneity. I understand there being people

that, I understand the concept of say, a guy

like Wolfgang Van Halen. and how he doesn't want

to spend every day being asked about David Lee

Roth. You know, that it's like, I get it, you

know, and for them to say, look, can we just

talk about like, you know, me or like, you know,

putting people don't want to get constantly put

in a position to be bad mouthing somebody else.

And I think that there's so many people that

are just looking for that sound bite because

they want to go viral and they're looking to

piss people off or like whatever. But if you

try to plan it too much, you miss out on the

spontaneity of things, which is usually where

the gold is. So I think I think for anybody to

be like if I were in a bad mood right now. And

I was like, I agree to be on this podcast. I'm

just going to do it and just get over with because

I. It's like you're better off rescheduling Because

you're going on so be open to Whatever and I've

interviewed people that when I started asking

them quirky questions or more personal questions

They've kind of been taken aback by it. I've

never interviewed anybody that was like I don't

want to talk about that like just ask me this

it's like that doesn't make any sense, you know,

so it's like the spontaneity of it. And I think

the chemistry with the guest and people really

being willing to like have fun with it and let

their guard down. But it also kind of depends

on the podcast, right? That you're not looking

for spontaneity and whatever when you're listening

to a true crime podcast. You know what I mean?

So it really depends on that. Like to me, the

true crime stuff, like there's so much negativity

and like evil in the world that like that's not

my jam. I understand why people love them. There's

a lot of people that love that stuff. It's just

not my thing. Although I do love the people that

are trying to solve unsolved mysteries and crimes,

try locate missing people like that kind of stuff.

I love glorifying the murderers and kind of that.

I just I don't understand that. at all and it's

not what i look for as a listener but everybody

has their own what i do there are people that

are like oh her voice is annoying i can't i can't

handle it and those people do say that i see

the comments on you know youtube and on social

media and stuff and i'm like listen just don't

listen then well those people are wrong i appreciate

that but i also understand that not everybody's

gonna love what you do and i'm yeah exactly fine

with that Because people that do love what I

do, I love them and appreciate them. And that's

all that matters. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the

whole true crime thing, I... It's hugely successful,

man. I wish I had more of their paychecks. I

know, right? I mean, I... It was when I was a

kid in the late 80s. A current affair and unsolved

mysteries and like... Forensic like I said before

forensic files all this stuff and I focus on

the ones that are focused on Notice it like I

don't need to heat. I don't like somebody investigation

discovery did a really good version of the Whatever

that the DD case or whatever it was I forget

what and then lifetime comes along Oh, we're

gonna do a movie version of this and I'm like,

but I already watched the actual facts that But

yeah, I like that stuff. So it's like there's

a there's a little bit out there for everybody,

you know, absolutely As a listener to a podcast,

what does it have to have to draw you in? So

if you listen to that first episode, what do

they have to do to get you to come back? I Think

for me It's about the guests Like it's to me.

It's about well if I started listening to the

first episode most likely it's either that I

love the host already or It's I love the guest

and if I listen to the first one for the guest

Then the show's got a Either do such an amazing

job in the first episode for the host for me

to fall in love with them But in all reality,

it's hard to do that in one episode. Then the

next guest or three guests from there has got

to be something that piques my interest. And

I think just like with anything else, the more

you listen, the more that you're then going to

be drawn in by the host, the constant. So I think

for me, it's the interesting topics And there

are those people that listen to every episode

of Rogan because they love Rogan. But then there's

the people that listen to specific episodes of

Rogan because of the gas. They either like hearing

the comedians he has on or they like the scientist

that he has on or like. It just depends. And

I think any podcast is like that, that you're

going to that's the beauty of the medium is that

you can scroll through the episodes and go, oh,

that one sounds interesting. And, you know, hopefully

for the podcast host, it rolls into the next

episode and into the next episode. And then you

got them. But it's the same thing with radio.

It's like you're trying to break people's habit.

You're trying to find room in their life for

you. And that takes repetition and it takes consistency.

Absolutely. Consistency is key. We say it every

episode of this show and all my other shows that

I do. All right, let's talk about time length.

As a listener, do you prefer short 30 to an hour

and 30 minute shows or do you prefer longer podcast

episodes as in two hours or more? Again, I think

it goes to how I'm going to use it. Okay. Like

the longer episodes, I have to be really interested

because most likely I'm not going to listen to

it all in one shot. yeah the first half or third

has got to be good enough for me to go okay well

i'm going to listen to the first third on my

way there the second third on my way back and

then tomorrow the third third while i'm you know

whatever a dog or whatever um but i think the

consensus It's podcasting has been around long

enough that, you know, like you said, the sweet

spot is like 45 minutes to an hour. If there's

a certain level of unfamiliarity that people

are willing to give up 45 minutes to take a chance

on a guest they might not recognize or a new

podcast that they might not have listened to

before. But like with me, I'll do a 20 minute

episode if that's what I can get from the artist.

I ask when I book guests, most times a minimum

of 30 minutes. If I can get 30 to 45, great.

But I've done two and three hour episodes, especially

the trips overseas. It's hard to boil down three

weeks in a war zone into 45 minutes. Yeah, no,

that would. Justice. Yeah. And rather than break

them up into separate episodes, which I thought

about doing, I opted to put them all in one cohesive

unit for organizational purposes so that I can

refer to them under that episode number and refer

to it by the release date and the episode number

to make it easier for people to find. And then

they can listen to it at their leisure. But I've

had episodes where I was talking to people and

I didn't realize we were talking for two hours.

And then I've gotten feedback from the listeners

that have said, I couldn't believe two hours

went by. Then there are other episodes that I

record and they're 45 minutes and I'm like that

Felt long because the person with you they're

having a bad day or they just weren't giving

a lot of Answers or whatever and then you know,

then you have to I really try not to edit content

out of my podcast so It's like recognizing like

okay, and this is gonna need to be tightened

up a little bit or whatever but you know, I I

think if you know that that's That's the beauty

of it is that, you know, especially if you follow

multiple podcasts that if you've got 15 minutes,

you're probably following a podcast that's got

a 15 minute episode for the amount of time you're

willing to give it. And if you're going to be

on a long drive or you're going to be on the

treadmill or whatever it is you're doing, you

can go, Oh, I've wanted to listen to this one.

And now I finally got the time to dedicate to

it. Yeah. But I'm open to it depending on what

I'm doing. The problem for me is that I'm sitting

in a studio so much working on my own stuff that

I don't have the time to listen to as many of

the podcasts as I would like to. Yeah, absolutely.

And I also do love those companion podcasts for

shows that I love. Yeah. The Sopranos one, there's

one about true blood. where would they get the

actors and they talk about the behind the scenes?

If I loved a TV show, like I love True Blood,

like I love The Sopranos, getting to hear the

behind the scenes stories, which is kind of what

I want people to use my podcast for, the behind

the scenes stories with the artists. I love having

that curtain pulled back and hearing, you know,

oh, in this scene, remember it was so cold and

it was this and it was that, and then it went

wrong. Love those companion podcasts, too. Yeah,

absolutely Starting I mean I didn't start like

I said I didn't start at the beginning beginning

of podcasting but I mean 2008 is is pretty much

close enough to the beginning as I can get and

We always called them review shows like if we're

gonna go through and we're gonna watch 98 episodes

of whatever it is we're reviewing that content

and now people these days are like You know,

oh they're rewatch shows and like you were saying

with the companion podcast. It's like I Not because

it's because I've watched the show not because

I'm doing my own review series of the show but

like Pod meets world is Danielle official writer

strong and Will Friedle from boy meets world

Rewatching what they did as actors 30 years ago

Like you're saying, I love listening to that

stuff because it's like you said, I remember

this, I remember that and all that stuff. Yeah,

if you really loved a television show, those

podcasts are great for that. You are a die -hard

fan of whatever. Absolutely. As a listener, how

many hosts are too many on one episode? I think

that that goes back to the radio rule, too, that

there, you know, when you've got a radio show,

like a morning show, and you've got six different

people, it's really hard. And for me, as somebody

that interviews people, sometimes it's really

hard for me to follow and can be annoying when

you've got six different people trying to interview

somebody. Because unless you've really put a

plan together, it's really hard to keep six different

people from talking over each other. And then

interviews like, I really hate it when the guest

is answering a question and the other person,

the co -host derails and takes the person, on

a tangent and they never get back to finishing

answering the question that the first person

answered so I think a couple people is good I've

never had a co -host I had a producer for like

a few months in the early days of my radio career

so I'm used to doing everything myself yeah so

the concept of working with a co -host is hard.

There are people like Mike Shue that I worked

with at AAF and that I work with at the Pike

now that he and I work great together but the

concept of having someone else drive the interview

because I'm so used to driving is really hard

and you've got to get really good at it. I think

the best shows are like two people maybe three

the max. I think anything more than three is

just a disaster unless... Unless you juggle.

Unless you juggle and those podcasts can do something

that I can't. Those podcasts can exist without

a guest. Yeah. That the host can sit around and

talk about something together. I have to have

a guest on my show because I don't have a co

-host. So there's pros and cons to it. But I

think, I think it's really hard to keep track

of more than three voices. Yeah, it is. Especially

for all the same gender. You know because then

you're like there's four guys and they're all

talking and I can't tell If one of them is a

woman and then there's two guy voices. It's a

little bit easier sonically to tell who's who

The only way you can tell who's who is if somebody

starts talking like this, you know That's not

the other guy that was originally talking and

then hi and have it. Yeah, you know you have

if you have It's just hard. Yeah, it's very hard.

When we do the top 100 countdowns, usually because

I'm so used to doing the intros and outros, my

buddy Kevin, who does all the math for us to

get, because we get multiple websites and multiple

people to submit lists, and he then does some

sort of weird math thing and makes it our master

list. Basically, I'll run through the intro like

I did to this, and then I'll hand it over to

him and say, okay. Take it away. What number

you know number 100 number one, so it's like

and then we have so that's him and I but we in

order to have a kind of like balance it's so

weird that I say it like this a balancing act

of opinions we usually have anywhere from Three

to five people on those, but I'm juggling all

of the time He's juggling all of the time, but

we only do those like we did the first one in

2011 We do them like every two years or so kind

of thing, cause they're big projects to produce.

So, so yeah, absolutely. It's just, it's hard

for me. And I, the things that attract me to

shows is like getting to know someone that I

admire in some way. And so, you know, I find

it with myself, you know, while I know that there's

people listening to the podcast because they're

a fan of mine, I know most of the reason why

people are listening to that episode is that

they're a fan of the guest. And so I feel like

I've failed and it's happened on an episode where

when I'm looking at the editing and I look how

much time I spent talking and how much they spent

talking, if I talk more than the guest, that

to me is a failure on my part. Unless it was

because they weren't a great guest and I had

to like draw and like really tug at getting answers

out of them. People that answer in two or three

word answers, it's like that's hard. But for

the most part, it's my job to steer, but it's

their job to give me the direction. Like, it's

their job to kind of talk as little or as much

about the topic and then for me to focus on them.

Yeah, absolutely. That's why I like doing it

myself. Yeah, absolutely. I've worked alone for

so long. It's what I'm doing, how I'm comfortable.

There are people that co -host podcasts are like,

I can't imagine having to do this by myself.

I'm like I can't imagine having to do it with

somebody else. Well, I mean, okay, so we interview

people you interview people but Technically I

see the even though they are the guest That's

still like when you do your sit reps. That's

you Right in the room by yourself. Whatever.

That's Your radio because you've been doing that

for so long. That's fine What I have, what I

always had a problem with doing, like if I'm

reviewing a show, I can't sit here, if I'm just

gonna sit here and read what I wrote about the

show and not sound, like again, like I said with

the guy before Robin Williams and you know all

that. So I like bounces, like we're bouncing

off of each other. I'm asking you, you know all

that. I'm not saying like you are my guest, but

like it's also it's almost like hosting Well,

right. No, I know but I'm but I'm saying like

it's that individuality of somebody doing something

by themselves that I'm just like, oh my god I

could not do that. Yeah, cuz I can't concentrate

on it I'm just so used to the idea of being in

that room by myself It's fine. Yeah, well because

to me the other person is the audience. So the

beauty of radio is you're talking to and the

way they always explained it to me when I got

into it was just imagine one person, one person

in the audience that's listening and just talk

to that person. And then every person in the

audience will feel like you're talking just to

them. That was a really hard concept for me to

get used to. So he's in my studio, he's up there

on the shelf. I bought, and people have heard

me talk about this, I bought a Mr. Potato Head

really early on in the early days of my radio

career. And every night when I went in to start

my show, I would put Mr. Potato Head on the board

in front of me. And I got into the habit of talking

to the audience that I couldn't see by just talking

to Mr. Potato Head as if it were a person. And

I just talked to Mr. Potato Head. The hard thing

is, like having a conversation with Mr. Potato

Head, the audience doesn't reply back in real

time. So when you're doing radio alone, until

you get the calls, or now more likely than not,

the text or the posts on social media, you don't

know if they laughed at the joke, because they're

not there in the room. And that's really hard

to get used to. And a lot of people that do podcasting

with multiple people and an in -person guest,

you know, radio people, sit in a padded room

and talk to themselves all day. The only thing

that doesn't make them crazy is that the microphone's

on. And that's a skill set that really requires

work to get used to and good at. 100%. Yeah,

I've only ever done two in -person recordings.

My buddy Steve, who created the network with

me, came up in 2017 to Chicago at the time. He

was my best man at my wedding. We did a little

podcast before and after the wedding and everything

else and and all that and and then I interviewed

I Don't know how much traveling you're doing.

But if you ever go to Waukegan, Illinois, there's

a place out there Big Ed's barbecue. I interviewed

Big Ed and they have this thing called It's it's

every restaurant and every city in town has one

of these things if they choose to do it they

have one of these burger challenges and it's

Matthew it's the sheriff burger challenge it's

like eight patties it's it's this huge like anything

Adam what's his name does on man versus food

and all that stuff so it's similar so I had him

on I had him over and you know he brought I didn't

I didn't do the burger challenge I couldn't do

that but I interviewed him but generally I've

been doing this remote just like we're doing

this now like I that's all because I just I like

doing it this way it's much easier I'm in my

space you're in your space you're comfortable

to what you asked me before too about the first

thing and it's being able to control the audio

quality and it's hard to control it when you're

on location yep absolutely What podcasts are

you currently listening to if you are listening

to any of them? Hold on. Let me look at my phone.

I Have been really busy balancing a lot of the

new radio station. Yeah that I've been working

on I got sucked into smart lists Just as I love

those guys and they just did a companion docu

series about the smart list tour that they did

But I love Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes and Will

Arnett as comedians and actors So the fact that

the three of them are on together is kind of

hilarious. That companion podcast, True is Blood,

I started listening to because it's all the behind

the scenes stories about true blood, which I

love. I had been listening to Bruce Dickinson's

Psycho Schizo Espresso, which was really kind

of interesting because he Bruce Dickinson from

Iron Maiden such an academic that that was really

cool. I've listened to Conan, you know, I've

listened to Rogan, Jaco. God, there's. There's

so many of them that I don't actively listen

to all of them all the time, but I do follow.

And then then there's, you know, some friends

of mine have podcasts, you know, like like Mike,

she's been on podcasts that I listen to and break

the ice. Yeah. And and. You know, then there's

then there's some like like bands like Flea from

the Red Hot Chili Peppers has a really interesting

one called This Little Light. The Offspring just

launched one called Time to Relax with the Offspring.

Johnny Christ from Revenge Sevenfold has a video

podcast called Drinks with Johnny that's. Kind

of like cocktails in the war room except he does

it with guests at his bar. Whereas me I'm talking

to the audience more So that one's pretty good.

I like it when the bands even do like Like short

series when they've got a record coming out and

they do a short episode each song like that kind

of stuff I like but yeah, like right now those

are the ones that I kind of dabble in a little

bit But I haven't been listening to as many as

I have saved in my phone It's like my your podcast

list on Spotify has like 50 plus episodes that

I've been meaning to listen to but For me I usually

most of the time if I find a new podcast that

I haven't listened to before I always try to

find that first episode so because usually in

the first episode as you said earlier and as

we've been talking about That first episode the

host and the people that are on the show That's

where you get to know them first then you follow

them through there. So I've got one podcast that

I need to do that with currently I loved it when

Blackstone cherry and monster truck got together

during the pandemic and did cherry chats because

Blackstone cherry Nickelback used to be my number

one. It was Nickelback then Creed Love Creed

don't get me wrong, but I've been following NB

for Their whole pretty much their whole career

black I find somehow some way I don't know how

it was I Ended up finding white trash millionaire

on YouTube and I'm like who are these guys? And

I looked into it and I'm like, oh Okay, and then

I think I heard them on some interviews somewhere.

I forget back in 2011 And I've been following

them ever since I love those guys Yeah, they're

so cool. I would love to interview out there.

I stick forever with me. Absolutely alright.

And then by the way, just in case you love music

podcasts like the Mistress Carrie podcast is

part of the Pantheon podcast network and all

of the podcasts that are in the network are music

related in one way shape or form. So I go through

and I'm always kind of thumbing through all the

podcasts in the network because there's a lot

of great ones in there too. So I was wondering

when Pantheon was going to come up because my

buddy Jesse Jackson He's had his Bruce Springsteen

podcast for like 10 15. Yeah He started in 2015.

So whenever long ago that was eight years seven

years, whatever it is He started a podcast called

set lusting Bruce because he was a big Bruce

Springsteen fan he has people on just like I

have people on and they talk about music and

they talk about Bruce Springsteen and they talk

about you, you know listening to me and then

So he is now on pay he brought the Pantheon came

to him more so he's on there But he also started

a John Hyatt podcast where he and Silva his friend

Sylvan Groth They are reviewing every John Hyatt

song from A to Z. So both of those are on Pantheon

as well I have yeah, I absolutely love some of

the stuff that Pantheon does the Shout it out

loud cast like they had me on Which by the way,

I owe them an email about a project that they're

working on so And then i've been on film crickets

Which is guys talking about bad movies and they've

had me on the show a few times which has been

fun So there's definitely like some really cool

concepts that are out there And right now, you

know podcasting had such a huge surge during

the pandemic because everybody and their grandmother

thought oh I'm gonna start one while they were

at home and laid off and then a lot of podcasts

have dropped off because people just can't keep

up they don't realize how much work it is to

feed it so I think now we're seeing a time in

podcasting where like the cream has had to rise

to the top because there were so many podcasts

that came out that it's like the best of the

best ones are gonna be the ones that survive

just like in anything else yeah you know There's

a lot of ones out there. Yeah when you start

a show you have to have a plan you can't then

just Throw things at the mic to see what sticks

and please don't throw things at me You got to

know how to feed it Yeah, you got to be able

to feed it and you have to your concept has to

be broad enough That you're gonna be able to

generate the content required to keep the audience

which is why for me, you know, there were no

tours when I started mine because of the pandemic,

but I was fortunate enough to be coming out of

this very long, successful radio career where

I knew that I could start the podcast and be

able to feed it with interviews. And I've done,

I think this week will be 162 numbered episodes

and I've never missed a week. And that's on top

of all the bonus episodes, the after action reports,

and obviously the hundreds of sit reps that I've

released in the last three years as well. There

are times when I'm traveling that I can't do

the sit rep because it's hard to do it on the

fly. But the weekly episodes, the long form interview

episodes, I always find a way to get those up

there. Because like you said earlier, the consistency

is so key. Yeah, Des Rocks was 161, which was

a week ago. So This is most likely going up on

Tuesday or Wednesday, the 11th or the 12th or

whatever the hell that is. Can we get a preview

of who's gonna be on 162? Yes, I will tell you

who's gonna be on 162. Nita Strauss is coming

on again to talk about working with Demi Lovato

and then going back to Alice Cooper about all

the collaborations on her new album, The Call

of the Void that just came out this past Friday.

So she's got everybody from David Draman from

Disturbed, Chris Motionless from Motionless in

White, Lizzy Hale, Dorothy. She's got some amazing.

Alice Cooper sings one of the songs on a record.

What bums me out is that I recorded the episode

a couple of days before the record came out and

she got engaged. at the album release party a

couple days after I recorded the episode so I

couldn't congratulate her on the episode that

she got engaged so I had to edit something in.

I had to congratulate her into the intro because

obviously she didn't know she was gonna be getting

proposed to so congratulations Nita but she's

amazing so she's been on the podcast before.

She's coming back on the podcast. So episode

162 is Nita Strauss and she's a badass. That's

so cool and so awesome. Yeah, that's the That's

the magic of editing is if something if you record

something and then something else happens As

long as you haven't edited that episode it you

can throw in some sort of hey So just before

this episode starts I want to be able to thank

or I want to be able to congrats You know, you

can always throw something in it happened to

me the worst case of that was I was literally

interviewing Kevin Martin from Candlebox, who

I've known for decades. And we talked for like

over an hour, this was at the height of the pandemic.

And as soon as we said goodbye, I swiveled in

my chair and opened up my computer and saw the

news that Eddie Van Halen had just been announced

that he died. And I knew that this Kevin Martin

episode wasn't gonna come out for like another

week and that it would just be ridiculous that

I didn't address that. So I called Kevin back

and said, and he had just seen the news and I

was like, I tried to figure out how to address

it. And the way that I came up with was just

being honest about it. And so I said at the beginning,

Kevin and I had this conversation and then we

said goodbye and then we saw the news about Eddie

Van Halen and I called him right back and that's

how I put or in the segment after, because it's

exactly what happened. I didn't want to try and

fake it. It was just disingenuous to do it that

way. But Kevin then, he and I talked for another

20 minutes about Eddie Van Halen, about his experiences

with Eddie Van Halen as a person, about the influence

of his music and his guitar playing. And so that,

I was like, oh man, which by the way is a radio

experience. and a thing that radio learned about

pre -recording stuff because nationally there

were a lot of morning shows that were pre -recorded

the morning of 9 -11 that the companies then

had to scramble to pull the audio down and regionally

the DJ that was killed in the station nightclub

fire in Rhode Island had pre -recorded his radio

show for later that night. And so there is always

a danger both in radio and in podcasting of the

pre -recording too far in advance because you

could get caught. Radio it's a lot harder with

the podcasting it's like you can kind of release

it whenever you want but I did get caught on

that Kevin Martin episode because Eddie Van Halen

passed away and that is a defining moment in

music and something that needed to be addressed.

And Kevin was great about it. I like doing this

kind of stuff I don't like really doing evergreen

content because I already put enough pressure

on myself when it comes to editing shows and

things like that and we'll talk about editing

here in a moment, but like that evergreen the

the sit reps you do and just Keeping up with

like it fries my brain more than it already is

I don't need to Friday cuz I already have one

Well, I do a lot of show prep for the radio shows

that I do. Mm -hmm. So I'm doing the prep anyway

Right. No. Yeah, I mean so it's just keeping

up with it all but that's the kind of prep you

have to do if you're gonna work in radio Yeah,

so it that prep That was a muscle that was already

strong for me that was already in my workflow

every day is is just You know if I'm just screwing

around on the internet if I'm on my phone, I'll

email the link to myself and put sit rep in the

subject so that I remember to put that in the

sit rep for tomorrow or whatever. But then I

have, you know, anybody that's ever seen me work

or looked over my shoulder on my computer, I've

got tabs and windows open. It drives me crazy.

But then at the end of the day, the last thing

I do at the end of my day and I do it late at

night is do the sit rep for the next morning.

And I've got all those stories open. I'm ready

to go. So I'm constantly doing that sit rep.

It's not like I sit down and go Okay, I need

to prep for the sit rep now. Oh, you're already

prepped. Yeah Yeah, you're already prepped you

gotta yeah and again But it's that evergreen

cut like you were talking about like an interview

like this or an interview with whomever your

inner like some if it needs to be delayed or

if something happens or like you said if you're

traveling that's fine to be able to delay an

episode with a subject or with a, you know, whatever

kind of review thing, but those evergreen, like,

this is the daily dose of Mistress Carrie kind

of things, sit rep, all that, like, you can't

just like, oh, something happened, then I have

to delay this until you can't do that with it.

It's hard to do. I have been asked by artists

when they agree to come on the podcast, hey,

can you Can you delay this a week or can you

release it this week to sync up with the release

of the record? Or you know something like that

or or we can talk about this tour announcement

when we record But it's not getting announced

till next week So can you release it the week

of the end and I'm willing to do that stuff.

Yeah, no, absolutely Yeah, but like, you know

I used to do a show with a completely different

networks that I don't do anything with anymore

But it was like find us your three favorite news

stories or three favorite news stories you want

to talk about and it was basically a Weekly evergreen

whatever was going on that week. Whatever whatever

it's just I like the more interviewee style the

more you know Talking about a movie or whatever

then then the if I want news I'll just read an

article on the internet. Yeah, I get my news

Obviously I listen to the sit rep and everything

else, but in general if I'm just needing to get

a dose of news I'll go to a website more than

I will Well that that's that goes back to how

you're gonna use it Like there's a lot of people

that listen to me that don't sit in front of

a computer all day Yeah, sure driving that are

trades people that are you know building things

fixing things You know first responders there

are a lot even though more and more people have

more and more access to computers, there are

a lot of people that don't spend all day in front

of it, which is good for podcasters because those

people are listening to podcasting. But I also

have lived in a world for so long where I am

just getting bombarded with information because

that's my job, but that's not everybody's job.

So there are those people that kind of need someone

to kind of curate for them, which is why the

sit rep has been successful, because they're

like, look, there's just too much. Fill it down

to what I need to know and move on for me. And

that's where the sit rep kind of fills a gap

for that part of my audience. Yeah, absolutely.

So we've kind of talked about it and we've obviously

talked about your radio career and everything

else and we've talked about the various, some

of the various differences, but going from the

radio to podcasting, what do you see as the main

differences? podcasting versus being on the radio.

I think live radio is a high that you get that

there's no other way to get it. Like you're literally

out there with your ass hanging out. you've gotta

worry about saying something stupid, saying something

controversial, you've gotta keep it moving. When

you're doing live radio, especially if you're

interviewing a guest, like a band, if I was in

the studio, I'm watching the clock, because in

my head I'm like, I gotta get into commercials

by this time. These guys need to get to the venue

to do sound check. What's the listener thinking?

I've got 30 questions and only time for six,

which of the six am I gonna answer? You have

no idea what's coming out of the mouth of the

guest. And you've got to be willing at any given

time to be able to completely derail your plan

based on what's going on in the world. So when

you're doing live radio, you are literally juggling

fireballs. And you don't have that necessarily

when you're doing a podcast because you're pre

-recording it and you can always go back in and

fix it. You've got, whether or not you do, that

safety net is there for you. And when you're

operating under with a safety net under you You

operate differently than when you're live and

if you screw up you got to own it and move on

and and Those muscles are very different. And

when I got back on the radio It was almost a

year after I had been laid off and I had to get

my brain back into radio mode into radio mode

and juggling the two simultaneously, when I'm

on the radio, I have to remind myself that I

can't swear. And in the reverse, when I started

doing podcasting, I had to tell myself and get

used to the fact that I could relax a little

bit more, that I could sit back and let the guest

go on and on and on in an answer because I had

the time. that if we wanted to go off on a tangent,

that we could talk about something that would

not be acceptable on the public airwaves, that

if the audience, if a band member swore on the

air live, my brain is now instantly looking for

the dump button and trying to make sure that

it didn't get on the air, whereas on the podcast,

I had so many people when I launched the podcast

reach out to me on social media and be like,

it's so weird to hear you swear. Because they

listen to me for decades. For decades on the

radio, yeah. So I think It's just two completely

different skill sets, but there is a lot of overlap

too. But it took a lot of getting used to to

get used to the idea of podcast and where I could

relax a little more. Radio requires you to be

a little bit more on the edge of your seat. Yeah,

it's very much so. All right, we're gonna talk

about one of the thing and then we get like two

more questions and then we'll kind of wrap up

So we mentioned earlier about editing podcasts.

How much time do you put into the editing of

your shows as much as it takes? He to me it's

it's Whatever is required to make the episode

good and when I'm doing an interview I can keep

track in my head of like, oh yeah, I gotta go

in and you know, if their phone rings in the

interview, if they didn't mute it, I gotta, okay,

I gotta go in and fix that. And the way that

I produce my podcast, because I release a corresponding

playlist with every episode that's filled with

all the music that my guest has made and then

all the music we reference in the interview.

So after I do the interview, I save it raw, archive

it raw. Mm -hmm, then I go in and I start editing

the interview from the beginning and I like to

edit in a linear fashion Absolutely. So I start

at the beginning and I edit as I go so I know

what's already been looked at is ready to be

released and As I'm listening to the episode

I'm generating the playlist based on the references

of the music that we're talking about and then

I edit as I go and then once I've got the actual

interview done then I'll go in and record the

intro and the outro and put it together as a

final piece and so you know if it's a two and

a half hour interview it's going to take me at

a minimum of two and a half hours because I'm

going to listen to the whole thing because sometimes

I catch something that the person said that I

that could have whizzed by me as I was getting

my next question ready or whatever and and and

I need to Propagate that playlist too So it's

two and a half hour interview. I'm a pretty quick

audio editor So the audio the the audio editing

part of it goes really quick for me It's just

a matter of having to listen to it in real time.

Yeah, I listen to every second I Will I don't

like filler words at all. I can sit here and

talk to you about Transformers for 10 minutes,

not that I'm gonna do that, but I can sit here

and talk to you and talk like I'm talking and

say everything that I'm saying without, and this

is not directed at anybody, this is just in general.

Usually when people get in front of a microphone,

they're like, oh, well, I like this because of,

and I'm like, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. Well,

that's different. Luckily for me, the people

that are usually on my show are used to doing

interviews, so they don't do that as much. Yeah.

And again, I don't ever direct that at anybody,

but I just want everybody to know, especially

in the sound of my voice, if you say, I'm on

my podcast, and it's like, we're talking, we're

talking, we're talking, we're talking. Oh, yeah.

No, you got to tighten that up, because that's

annoying for the audience. And it goes to the

audio quality that we were talking about that's

going to drive people away from the show. I catch

myself doing it sometimes. If I get too relaxed,

if I'm interviewing somebody I'm really good

friends with, I notice little audio ticks that

I do, you know, and I'm like, well, this like

that and like that and like, and I'm like, oh,

Carrie, like I'm my own. I just did it again.

I'm my own worst critic. Yeah, so am I. I put

so much pressure on myself to make sure I put

out the best thing that I possibly can put out.

The two biggest things I always catch from myself

and from others is either um or like that tongue.

Oh, yeah. That noise. Don't even realize they

do it. Right. Yeah. No one realizes they do the

tongue. You don't realize it until you're editing

it and you're like, that person just did it.

for the 700th time, but most times, podcast guests

are not people that are used to being interviewed

all the time. And what's also really funny, and

I learned this too in radio, just because a rock

star is comfortable on stage in front of 50 ,000

people doesn't mean they're comfortable in a

one -on -one situation with a microphone in their

face. A lot of artists have a really hard time

being interviewed, which is why I always put

so much effort into making them comfortable.

Absolutely. It's their guard down. Like yourself

and any other anyone we've interviewed a lot

of people and I've interviewed a lot of people

in 15 years I've been very very lucky to be able

to do so every time I go to request an interview

through email or through whatever I will say

whatever you need I can cater if you only like

we were saying earlier about the time thing if

you only have 45 minutes fine if you want like

generally I will say to them as like an introduction

like hey normally the interviews are an hour

or an hour and 15 minutes or whatever however

I will and can cater to the time that you have

available and that's more than fine because like

you said you want them to be as comfortable as

they can be on your show and you want back you

want them to come back you want them to have

a good experience the first time and you want

them to come back i've been able to interview

musician stan bush over 10 times in 15 years

because every time he does, when we first interviewed

him on the Transformers podcast for the original

80s cartoon, it was about the soundtrack that

he did, it was about the music, it was about

all that, but everything else since then, it's

like, oh, Stan has a new album coming out. Let's

do the, you know, hey, do you want to do, you

want to talk about the new album? Tell us about

this, tell us, and you just make them comfortable.

And like you said, making everybody feel comfortable

as long as... Everyone I record with walks away

like when we stop when we hit the stop button

on the recorder And we do a little you know final

prep before we say goodbye always that did you

have fun? And if they say yes, then my job's

done and the editing is the editing yet That's

all separate from the guest nothing all right,

so you have done a lot of interviews yeah, and

I know it would be like picking children you

don't have but Was there All right. The question

is, which one was your favorite? I'm not going

to do that to you. Give me your top five favorites.

Well, I got to put the Aerosmith one on that

we talked about earlier because it was my first.

Right. I think the Shinedown interview from 2004

where they did Simple Man is one that needs to

be there. There's an interview that I did, I

think back in 2014 with Chris Cornell that's

haunting to listen to now because he was there

with his wife and he was very open and honest

about his struggles with mental health. And when

you go back and listen to that now, it's heartbreaking.

And he did an acoustic performance that day,

just him. So the only people that were in the

studio were me and his wife and Chris Cornell.

And he was just playing acoustic and singing.

And it was a private Chris Cornell concert for

me. But the fact that he was so open and honest

about his mental health struggles that day, sadly,

he talked about how he had felt like he had...

moved past a lot of those, which we all know

now that he hadn't. That when I look back on

it, I'm like, wow, that was a really powerful

day. I mean, some of the interviews that I did

overseas to go back to my trips overseas, I think

were really important, even though they weren't

necessarily rockstar interviews. There was one

that I did on the fifth anniversary of 9 -11

at Camp Cropper, which was the prison that we

had moved all the high -level insurgents to after

Abu Ghraib had been closed. And there were two

brothers that were both in the military, but

stationed in different parts of the country.

And they both ended up at Camp Cropper that day.

And we put them on the radio together and connect

them with their family back home. That's so awesome.

Which was really, really emotional and powerful.

And that one stands out to me as well. I mean,

the bands... Anytime you interview them. So many.

Yeah. It's harder for me to interview my friends

because a lot of time I know more about them

than they want to share. And I forget sometimes

what I'm allowed and not allowed to bring up

because I know them so well. But I have been

so fortunate. I mean, there were there was one

time that Damage Plan was getting ready to release

their first record. And Vinnie Paul and Dimebag

Darryl and the band came up and took over the

show. And it was as insane as you would imagine

it to be. And that was really fun. A lot of the

interviews that I do around acoustic performances

are huge favorites of mine because like in Zach

Wild's case, we were talking about specific songs

and how he wrote the riffs and he was able to

talk me through it because he had the guitar

in his hand. So I love doing stuff like that.

But like you said, like there's so many. And

there's interviews that I have with people like

Scott Weiland who's one of the only people that

ever gave me a hard time. I have this really

famous interview where he and I kind of got into

a fight when he was touring with Velgrit Revolver.

There's interviews with Chester Bennington and

Mike Shinoda that I did at Royale or it used

to be called the Roxy and then became Royale

like when hybrid theory first came out. Yeah.

They were just these two kids. Yep. And I went

and sat between them and we did this interview

that I've got somewhere that I need to find because

it's on cassette. Oh man. So there are those

interviews with people that aren't here anymore.

Yeah. Oh man. Yeah. Hybrid theory. When did hybrid

theory come out? It was 2000. No. Maybe you're.

99 2000 somewhere. I know Meteora was 2003. So

it was somewhere before that. Okay, man. That's

such a long time ago Yeah, anytime you do hyper

theory was released October 24th of 2000. Oh,

wow boarding to the interwebs. Yeah interwebs

Yeah, it's so weird like When my late wife and

I were in the house that she owned back in Illinois

a couple years ago writer, producer, guy from

animation, Larry DiTillio. He did the He -Man

cartoons back in the day, the old filmation He

-Man cartoons. We had interviewed him back in

2010, 2011 and I heard, somehow I read it on

my phone or something happened where I saw the

news that he had died and I just like... I didn't

fall over in the kitchen but it's a good thing

the counter was there because I was about ready

to fall backwards just because of sheer emotion

of realizing oh my god I have talked to this

person that now is no longer he and that's just

like a snapshot in time and it's crazy and that

my my archives are riddled with those interviews

and it's it's my goal to eventually start going

through them again because I've done so many

interviews over the years that I've forgotten

some of the things I've done Just since I launched

the podcast I've done 200 interviews again Never

mind what I did in 22 years on the radio the

radio Yeah, I think I don't remember if I was

listening to AAF in 2001 I probably was but I

I Don't know. I I wasn't more of or less of but

I think I was listening to BCN too much back

then sadly, but 2001 is a other than 9 -Eleven,

it's a landmark year for two of the biggest rock

bands because we had Silver Side Up and we had

Animosity, Nickelback and Seven Dust. When are

they gonna get together and do it? They need

to do a collaboration or do a tour together.

That would be interesting. That would be amazing.

Best concert ever. That would be a lot of fire.

Oh yeah. Yeah, they both like using pyro a lot

don't they at their shows? I've had Let's see

three of the five members of seven dust have

been on the podcast Lejeune hasn't been on the

podcast yet, but he came on cocktails in the

war room So he's been put up as an after -action

report. He was one of my guests during the height

of the pandemic and the He came on via Skype

in the war room Right. I swear you did one with

him. Maybe it was just that after accident report.

He hasn't come on the podcast yet. Yeah, because

I've heard you talk to Morgan several times.

There's that a couple of times with Clint and

then freaking Connelly. Man, that guy. He's a

machine. He's a machine. He's a machine. That's

the Boston Marathon episode. Yeah, absolutely.

And I told him I just want to talk about the

marathon. I'll have you back on and we could

talk about music and stuff later, but I want

to get super nerdy about the marathon because

he's a serious athlete. Yeah, he's a serious

athlete. As you can tell by the interview. Yeah,

absolutely. All right, we're going to wrap it

up here, folks. It's been, once again, eventually

gets edited. It'll probably be under three hours,

but like I said at the beginning of this, I've

listened to you for 20 years or so. This has

just been a dream come true to be able to talk

to you pick your brain talk to you about stuff

and I've tried my best I appreciate it. I've

tried my best to not like tell the stories but

don't like You know what I mean? Like I don't

you always have those interviews where the rock

stars or the movie celebrity like you ask him

the normal question They're gonna give you the

same normal kind of that's that's the art of

it. Yep is asking a question that has been asked

before in a way that doesn't make it boring,

that doesn't make it something that they don't

want to talk about again. That's the hard part.

Absolutely, absolutely. All right, so last two

questions. What advice do you have for new and

or veteran podcasters in the art of podcasting?

I think it's all the stuff we talked about. I

think figuring out what your lane is and how

you're different. And then figuring out before

you start that you're going to be able to keep

it going. You know, that you're not just going

to get three or four episodes in, try to find

an audience and then realize I don't have anywhere

else to go. I pigeonholed myself into a concept

that was too small. and then have nowhere to

go and have it die on the vine. There's a lot

of dead podcasts out there that are just sitting

there because people just left them to die. So

I think if you can come up with a concept that

you think you can continually feed and pursue

and move forward with, make sure that you can

do it in a predictable, way Reliability and and

that it's going to be there every week or every

two weeks or every month or every quarter Whatever

it is that you tell your audience that it's gonna

be there and that it sounds really good All right,

so I know the answer to this but in case people

that are listening to this don't know where can

the people find your shows So the mistress Carrie

podcast is basically available anywhere that

you listen to podcast including the newest edition

Which is the audio is now up on YouTube, which

I was a little bit late getting it up there Because

it creates separate You know You got to go in

and get the metrics from YouTube on how many

people are listening and then get it from all

the other outlets But all of the podcast outlets

you can think of wherever you get your podcast

you can find the mistress Carrie podcast You

can go to mistress Carrie calm and all the episodes

are there. So if you don't understand how to

navigate podcasts, which if you're listening

to this, you obviously do, there's embedded players

and you can literally just hit play off my website,

but then all the links to all of the other podcast

outlets are on the website. You can find Cocktails

in the War Room, live every Tuesday night at

8 .30 Eastern on my official Facebook page. and

those videos are there, and then they get uploaded

to YouTube after the fact. So those are there

as well. The sit rep, the after action reports,

all of that is on the Mistress Carrie podcast

feed. And if you go to mistresscarry .com, you'll

also find the radio stations that you can find

me on. The website has everything. But I'm also

on... Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. So in the

show notes, folks, other than the specific episodes

that I've said that I want Carrie to email me

the links to so I can put in the specific episodes,

I've put in the link to her website and the link

to her link. I love Linktree. Linktree is amazing.

Yeah, absolutely amazing. Linktree has got everything

up there too. So that makes it super easy to

just find all my social links. There's a way

to email me there the links to the online store

the concert calendar All of its on the link tree

and and everything is also at mistress Carrie

calm Absolutely. Absolutely. Alright folks. We

are gonna go to a quick break and we'll be back

to close the show out after this Hello Geeks

and Geekettes! Looking for a podcast that covers

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will cover that. No, they won't. No, they probably

won't. Alright, we are back here on GeekCast

Radio and Studio 2009 with Mistress Carrie from

the Mistress Carrie podcast, Cocktails in the

War Room, and everything she does. Thank you

so much. As I said before the break, just amazing.

Thank you. This is dream come true. Thanks for

having me on. I appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely,

absolutely. Alright folks, that's gonna do it

for us. Thank you for joining us here inside

studio. If you'd like to get in contact with

us, leave feedback for the show. There are several

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right? Are you at Mr. Shkerry? W -A -F on Twitter.

Just at mistress Carrie on Twitter. Okay, that's

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go to facebook .com slash geek cast radio network

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I am TFG on Mike with mistress Carrie. Thank

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