Full Transcript for Going to Joshua tree, Using a typewriter, Trying a bloomin onion

That's my concern. I'm just afraid it's going to spread. I am taking a little time off in January. Every January, I know you get to a certain age and it's kind of cringe to do something for your birthday. Very cringe. I think we need to remove that cringe because it's your day. Is your birthday in January? My birthday's in January. And what I love about my birthday, Chris, is that it is the 23rd, if you want to write that down. I will. Yeah. And that's a solid three plus weeks after New Year's and Christmas. And I think it's the perfect time for people to be back in the mood to celebrate something. Why not me? Isn't that fair? I have too many birthdays in January. I don't care. Can you move it? No, I can't. And it's on a Saturday this year, so we're going to boogie-oogie. You've seen me boogie. You know, I'm a party guy. That's the thing. I'm so boring that I don't, you know, uh, I don't really do anything, but I do go to Palm Springs. I've done this the past two years. This will be the third year. And we never quite make it to Joshua tree every year. I say, I want to say, I want to go out and I want to see, you know, we're already out here. Let's, let's drive a little farther and just go. We don't need to do anything weird. I don't need to sit and take a trip. We don't need to, you know, not like a drug trip. You know what I mean? We don't need to sit in a circle and, How does one consume peyote? Jesse, you would know. Jesse, is it in a circle? Is peyote something people do in a circle in Joshua Tree? 00:04:18 Speaker 3: Yeah, usually clothes are optional. 00:04:20 Speaker 1: With peyote? Is that right? What is it? Is it a plant? Here. Okay. Okay. I just would like to see it, you know, and then drive back to the resort. But Joshua Tree looks so lovely in photos, and we were so close to it even at this moment. It's a drive. It's a short drive if you get a good traffic day. But there's a yacht club coming. To Joshua Tree? Now, you're familiar with the terrain. I'm trying to figure out where you park your yacht. It's a little desert-y. Okay. Right? There are some developers who are trying to build Compass Yacht Club. This would be a 58-room nautical-themed hotel near the national park where guests would sleep in their yachts and their boathouses. In a desert? Right on the desert floor is the idea. Now, they're still going through the approval process, so they're probably seven or eight years away. That's an ironic idea, then? I don't know. Let's do a yacht club in the desert? Some residents say spaceships would make more sense. Kind of. Get that? I mean, I can't disagree if you were serious about that. A spaceship-themed little hotel near Joshua Tree? Sure. The yachts would be constructed... I'm looking at your story now. Yeah, this was the LA Times that reported on this. A sandlocked yacht club. Yachts are constructed off-site and placed on the property by crane. That reduces the impact to the desert. Yeah. And this is very close to the park. 23-acre site, five minutes from the entrance to Joshua Tree. So I can imagine... That this would be a destination. If you're offering a place or rest that close to the national park, people are going to use it. It maybe is not the worst idea because a portion of the property is in the FEMA flood zone. So imagine if a flood does come through, you're perfectly set. What a good idea. But one resident called this, and I think this is one of those words that gets thrown around with no meaning anymore, but they called it gentrification at its finest. What is the neighborhood like out there? I don't know. Jesse? You've been to Joshua Tree. What's the neighborhood like? Does it need to be gentrified? 00:06:33 Speaker 3: No, there is a strong. 00:06:34 Speaker 1: Is there a town? 00:06:35 Speaker 3: There's a strong artist community from people that moved from LA, but it's very deserty, very. 00:06:40 Speaker 1: But there's not like a main street with houses on it, is there? 00:06:43 Speaker 3: There is a main street with some coffee shops and stores, local stores and local artists. 00:06:46 Speaker 1: Okay. But there's not... Is there a town called Joshua Tree? 00:06:49 Speaker 3: Yeah, Joshua Tree. 00:06:50 Speaker 1: There's a... There's a town called Joshua Tree? 00:06:52 Speaker 3: 6,200 residents. 00:06:53 Speaker 1: Joshua Tree. Really? 00:06:54 Speaker 3: And then there's right next to Yucca Valley and 29 Palms with... See, I know 29 Palms. 00:06:57 Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. I got to get there. It's young. I want to see. Yeah, it's young. And they do sound like the type that would hate gentrification. But I mean, hold on. They hate gentrification. It's 62% white, 24% Hispanic, 2% black, one just shy of 2%. Gentrification doesn't always mean white people coming in and buying everything. Sometimes it means people with money. Oh, making it homogenized. 00:07:22 Speaker 2: I don't know. 00:07:22 Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know what the problem with gentrification is. I guess if you're displaced, that's a problem. I can agree with that. Okay. I get that. Are they tearing something down to build this? I guess the desert. Oh, my God. It's so dumb. Honestly, if I ever do make it to Joshua Tree, Jesse, can you get me some peyote? 00:07:41 Speaker 3: On it. 00:07:42 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank goodness we hired a dealer to be our tech director. I still don't know what peyote is, but it just sounds fun to say. These are 30, 3-0, two-level luxury yachts, and $ 28. boat houses will be arranged in a circle around a central clubhouse with a restaurant, a bar, a swimming pool. That's according to the LA Times. It sounds interesting. This sounds like the kind of thing we're going to look back on in 50 years and be like, remember when they tried to do a yacht club in the desert? I think that's right, but also isn't this a This seems to capture the spirit of some of that old novelty Southern California architecture. A Route 66 tech vibe. Absolutely.

Okay. But it's gentrification, bro. Forget about old school. How about new school? It sounds like the tech companies are holding kids hostage. One company is making the rules for your kid's education, whether you like it or not. 00:08:35 Speaker 2: You're listening to Monks and Meryl on Demand from KFI AM640. 00:08:41 Speaker 1: More stimulating talk. More Monks and Meryl right here on KFI AM 640. We're also live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. This is our special weekend show where we present to you an hour of fresh Saturday stuff followed by another hour of some of the best stuff we did during the week. Jesse Blackburn has to sift through all of the riffraff and figure out what's worth repeating. Which is fine because he's on peyote while he's doing it. Yeah. Which we learned in the last segment. It's crazy what kind of stuff he gets up to. Desert flower. He's a desert scrub. Is that it? I kind of like that. Like, I don't want to be mean to Jesse all the time, but he's mean to me. Let's be clear. Is it a hallucinogen? Is that the deal? Yeah, it is. Okay. Oh, it's like mescaline. Oh, that's another one. I think I've heard peyote and mescaline referenced. I've read and seen fear and loathing in Las Vegas. The Hunter S. Thompson. 00:09:37 Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. 00:09:37 Speaker 1: Look, and then his portrayal by Johnny Depp. Right. Great. I love that. But I don't know what either of them really are. Just sounds cool to say. Mescaline. And I think we're too old to try them, unfortunately. You're a Google fella, right? We have this conversation because I'm fully committed to Google. All my devices are Google. I feel like Google knows everything about me. There's nothing I can hide. So I'm just locked in with Google. want to log in with google sure i'm i'm not so crazy about this new move from google what google is saying look you got a lot of k-12 schools that are concerned about ai yeah and so they want to ban ai in school okay google says okay you can ban ai but if you do you can't use our Search engine. Yikes. Okay. You can't use Google anymore. Google, their AI is called Gemini. Yeah. And Gemini is what I typically use. Now, you're a serious AI guy, so you have a paid subscription. 00:10:30 Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. 00:10:31 Speaker 1: I do pay for extra space in my Gmail, but I don't know if that gives me any benefits with Gemini. I don't know. They've got a few packages. Yeah. I might look into that. Yeah. But Gemini are besties. 00:10:40 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:10:41 Speaker 1: So what Google is doing here is they're saying, if you're going to block Gemini... You can't use Google search in your building. Yeah. And you and I've had this conversation. Google search is the superior search online. You are a Bing guy. Bing that. And I've never seen Mescaline. I've never seen Peyote. And I've never seen a guy use Bing. I'm a binger. And you literally use it. Bing is the default browser on our work laptops. Yeah. And I've never changed it because I don't want

to get my own personal stuff caught up on it. You Bing it. You don't like to binging. Binging sucks. 00:11:17 Speaker 3: Wow. 00:11:18 Speaker 1: And I get used to it. I would like to say there's not much of a difference, but there absolutely is a difference. And Google is superior. No offense to the fine people at Microsoft. I love many of their products. Bing ain't it. So you've got to have Google search. The problem is that what Google is saying now is that they have integrated their AI, their Gemini into the Google search so heavily that if you try to opt out of using Gemini, You're opting out of using the search as well. That's the hang up here. Gemini, Gemini notebook and search will be turned off by default. Schools can choose to turn one or all of them back on. However, the company's post, and this is from CNBC, the company's post didn't explicitly respond to the claim that access to search requires the use of AI. However, Chris Phillips, the vice president of education at Google, said to the New York Times that search and AI are deeply integrated. So if you don't want AI, you don't get to use the internet. You know, it's true that the search and the AI are deeply integrated because when you search for anything, including on Bing, right? Don't you get, what is it? Copilot? Yeah. That's what I got when I searched for peyote. That's a real problem. I mean, because you don't need to look any further sometimes, right? No, and it's decreasing web traffic. Exactly. And I think ultimately that will hurt the companies that provide the searches because why would I need to advertise with Google if... People who are searching for my things are getting a general answer, and there's no reason to click on the link, which is how I would get revenue. That's, I think, one of the obstacles they're going to have to overcome here in the not-too-distant future. Google says about 150 million students and teachers worldwide use Google Classroom, and Chromebooks are deeply embedded in American schools. They are. And that runs on a Google platform, right? Yeah. You've got to be connected to the internet. You can't get away from it. Yeah. Uh, there was criticism that they caught earlier this year because they enabled Gemini for a lot of the K through 12 students. Gemini had generally been restricted to students 18 and older. However, they said, we're going to have to enable this because it's integrated in everything that we have. So then they caught, they caught grief for that. So what is the, um, what is the motivation by the educators to turn off the AI component? Is it fear of cheating and not doing the research, that type of thing that we've talked about several times? I think so. Yeah, I think so. It's great to use AI, but I think you have to learn how to think for yourself first. It's the old calculator in the math class. That's it. That's it. You got to learn the basics. Yeah. And then you can... You're going to have a calculator in life. Absolutely. It's going to do the math for you. Right. But there is benefit to your brain, your growth, your intellect if you learn how to do this. If you're going to be a mathematician, you have to understand the fundamentals. Have you ever met a mathematician? My mother was a mathematician. A mathematician? She has a degree in mathematics. Okay. And did she... but professionally like bookkeeping fair yeah i've met bookkeepers yeah i've never met a mathematician i know they exist yeah she could do stats and stuff sure i couldn't do it great there are people out there who are great at math and their job involves mathematics mathematics yeah but who are these mathematicians chris uh i think in many cases what happens is the math gets integrated into the other professions my dad is an electrician i may mention this many times electricians have to do so much calculation on site measurements beyond just measurements. Like you have to, you have to do some of your calculations to understand the rate of attenuation over a span of so much distance. You know, how much does that energy attenuate through the wire of this size over this distance? Really? That kind of stuff. Yeah. Your dad does that. Like did he's old now. Good for him. Yeah. So that said, there is something when it comes to research, when it comes to writing, you do have to know your fundamentals. Yes. I wish more people would use AI, though, online. Because one thing that social media revealed to us is just how dumb everyone is. Really? They have a complete lack of understanding of the English language. Then and van drive me nuts. And it kind of hurts when it's somebody you have respect for. Yes. And it's a repeated mistake. It's not just like a typo. I wasn't thinking as I was writing this. We've all made those mistakes. We all do that. But you really don't know the difference. You don't have a clue. And I know you. I've interacted with you. There, there, and there. Your, and your. I mean, these things drive me bonkers. But also, what are we supposed to think about? Somebody who is of our peerage, our age group, and they're poor spellers. Are we supposed to think less of them? I do. I don't. I mean, I'm annoyed by it, certainly, but. I wish people would use it before they. Ultimately, what is the goal of communication, Chris? It's to communicate. And if you speak differently, if you write differently, have you communicated to me? Do I understand what you mean, Michigan? Aha. But also there's the nonverbal communication, the cues that we pick up. Some of those cues are how much credibility do you carry? That's fair. And if you don't have a level of education that covers the basics. That's fair. I doubt your credibility. You do. You are able to speak with a certain authority and you have a command of the language. Indeed. No doubt about that. What about people's just general behavior online? I would like AI to clean that up too. I would like AI to start shocking people if they get out of line. What if... I

would like the overlords to start training us Pavlovian style. Let's say you had a crazy cousin. Okay. A cousin that you've had in your life as kids primarily, but now you're connected on, let's say, Facebook. And let's say it's a woman and she's gone through various terrible breakups where she talks a lot of smack very publicly on her Facebook. Oh, yeah. I got some news like this. In public posts. Yeah. What should she be doing? Spelling it correctly. Go to AI and say, Here's what I want to say. How do I trash talk my ex? And then instead, Jim and I could come back and say, don't do this. That would be a great idea. Wouldn't that be best? A nice layer. Don't post this. You can ask AI to write you a poem in seconds. Isn't that nice? Or you can sit down at LAX. You can tell a stranger everything about your life because Lord knows you want to. And then that stranger will hammer out a poem on a 1940s typewriter. Which one do you think has more heart? The AI poem or the one written by a person? 00:17:31 Speaker 2: You're listening to Monks and Merrill. 00:17:33 Speaker 1: On Demand. from KFI AM640. Available anywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Monks and Merrill, I'm Chris Merrill. He's Michael Monks. You can find us anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app. And shout out to everyone who's listening on the app as we speak right now. We just spoke in the last segment, Michael Monks. For those who missed it, you can grab the podcast on the app. We just talked about Jim and I basically holding schools hostage. You have to allow our AI or we're going to shut off all access to Google things. So some people are concerned about the tech overlords having too much power. There is a push though. And you've seen this before. I think we did a segment about, uh, the kids these days going back to dumb phones. I saw rich on tech was doing a story. Uh, I think last weekend about, uh, landlines making a comeback. Did you see that landline landline phones? Yes. I wonder why. I think parents like it because it gets back to using the phone as communication family number. And I don't have to give the kid a phone? Well, and my kid isn't staring at that screen all day long. So if you want to use a phone, you want to communicate like we did when we were kids, then you can do that. I think it's really parents saying, my childhood is better than yours, and get off the screen. I'm okay with it. But get this, there's another push. This time, it's at LAX. Have you ever wanted a poem written about your life? Well, you can have one written by a real human at LAX. LA's poet laureate. Yeah, it's not just any human. You know the poet laureate very well, obviously. Brian Sonja Wallace? Yeah. I see it in the notes here, yeah. 00:19:09 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:19:09 Speaker 1: I thought you knew that off the top of your head. He's sitting at LAX. You think I'm a lot cooler than I am, and I appreciate that. He's sitting at LAX with an old typewriter, and he's writing personalized poems for travelers. And what they do is they have a short conversation with him, and then he signs it called the Retro Chat GPT. It's another human being actually listening and then responding with bespoke poetry. This is your kind of crap right here. Is this why we don't have the PeopleMover? This is exactly what it is. Is this where all the money's gone? The poet laureate and his typewriter? Yes, that's exactly right. I think there's something romantic about it, sure. Analog technology, especially vintage analog. I mean, typewriter's been obsolete for our entire lives. It's a classic Underwood, too. Have you ever needed a typewriter? Have you ever used one because you had to use one? In your life? Yeah, I mean, when I was younger. What the hell were you typing? What were you typing? Probably apology notes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've never... Just mass produce them and print them on the... I've never touched a typewriter. I don't know how I would load the paper. I don't know what you're supposed to do after the ding. You haven't? This seems like your kind of thing. I agree. I have looked online for vintage keyboards that give the typewriter effect. I would like to use that with my Microsoft Surface. See, I do like Microsoft products. It's just not their... No, we used to... We had one that was in its own little suitcase. Yeah. And we'd have to get out the typewriter and it came in his own little briefcase. When? 00:20:39 Speaker 3: When I was a kid. 00:20:40 Speaker 1: We're almost the same age. You talk like you grew up during, what did you work on the Dewey for president campaign? While we were over here trying to drum up some support in Southeast Massachusetts for Tom Dewey. We had that. We really thought we had it that night. We did. I've still got the paper from Chicago says so. It was red. Red. It was red, I tell you. I think maybe I've tapped on a typewriter. You know, we got the feel for what it looks like. But you're telling me you sat down because you had to use the typewriter? I think when I started high school, I took typing my senior year. But I think my freshman year, they were still using typewriters. By the time I got there, we had Windows 3.1. I mean, yeah, computers weren't great. 35 years ago. I don't think they put Windows 95 in the system yet. But there was word processing, you know, even before we were using the big computers. But the school didn't have it. It was expensive. What school did you go to? It was a small school. Northern Michigan. We didn't have a whole lot of money. It was a one-room cabin. The outskirts of the Great Lakes. I tell you. We got to know each other really well. Couldn't go every day. Had to shovel. It was nice. Shovel some of the coal in. Clean up the outhouse. LAX has an arts program director. Did you know that? Of course they do. This is why we don't have a people mover. She said the goal is to bring humanity into a space that can otherwise feel transactional and logistical. And I think everyone who gets to

LAX, they're thinking, wow, this isn't overwhelming and terrible at all. Let me go find the city's poet laureate and his magic effing typewriter and get a poem commission. Where's he going to work? They created a job for him. That was nice. I don't mind it. I don't mind having a poet laureate. I don't mind the poet laureate sitting at a city property such as LAX and, and doing his thing there. And yes, I'm sure there is some romance to this, that you could sit down and get a poem crafted just for you. When else have you seen the poet laureate out in public doing anything? Would you recognize him? No, no. Brian, Sonya Wallace, the poet laureate says he owns so many typewriters. There are 10 in the trunk of his car and he's got another typewriter in his bathroom. So while I'm sitting there on my phone, In the bathroom, like a normal human being. He's out there just clack, clack, clack, clack, clack. How often? Do they say in the article in the Times? I don't think so. I saw the article in the Times, but I didn't really read all of it. I don't think so. Did you? You still haven't gotten on the Metro train, right? No, I haven't. You just haven't. You live next to a Metro station and you won't get on it. I have to next weekend. You have to? 00:23:07 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:23:08 Speaker 1: I'm flying out of LAX and I'm going to try to. You're going to take the flyaway? But I have to go at like 4.30 in the morning. I'm going to get stabbed. Here's what you'll do. You'll take the train line that runs through your town. Right. I'll go to Union Station. Right to Union Station. And you can take the bus from there. That'll be easier for you. Yes. Yeah. That's my plan. Yeah. The flyway. Now that I've done the train from the airport the whole way. I'm very nervous about it. You and I have had conversations. I actually went to the Google Maps and I did it like if I'm going from here to here and then I zoomed in and I started looking at all the pictures of Union Station. Okay. Where do I need to go? It's so easy. My flyway. There's signs everywhere that says bus. Right. And the only reason I bring it up. Is there somebody there? Do I have to go to like a ticket counter? No, you will buy the ticket at that hour. I don't think the little ticket booth will be open for the flyaway. So you'll just buy it on the bus. Yeah. And you'll just tap your credit card against the machine and get on. Okay. It costs $ 12. I can handle that. It's a fine ride. Okay. No, you'll like it. But while you're there, because this is the reason I bring it up is because it's similar to the typewriter poet laureate experience at LAX. You mean public transit? Yeah. It's very, well, I'm while you're there, There is an installation called the A train, and that's the train you're going to take. It is. It's by artist Bill Bell, and it's right next to the escalators that incidentally take you down to the B and the D line stations. You'll be on a different platform when you get off the A line, but if

you walk towards the B and D line station, there is a little tiny microphone that's built into some of the artwork, and all you have to do is speak a name into it. Duke Ellington. Take the A train. Marilyn Monroe. Well, Duke Ellington would take the A train. Yeah. Yeah. You could say Ren-ten-ten. You could say freight train. That was the most Kentucky pronunciation I've ever heard. Yeah. You said Ren-ten-ten? Ren-ten-ten. Not Rin-tin-tin? What did you say? Rin-tin-tin. Ren-ten-ten. Not Ren-ten-ten. Is it the cadence that's bothering you or the pronunciation? It's the pronunciation. It's got I's in it, not E's. I've been over this with you. You can do it. Like ink pen and hair pen rhyme. They don't. They do. And the songs will play, the music will play, or some dialogue will play, and the lights will go off, and it's really, really cool. Okay. It's another opportunity to be in a weird place, a busy place. That's Los Angeles. And to have a little romantic experience out of it. Mm-hmm. Let me thank Jim and I for giving me all that information because I just asked it. Like, I know there's something there and I don't know what it's called, but Jim and I gave me the answer. Thanks again, Google. And Jiminy gave you the answer. He did indeed. Rin-tan-tan. Rin-tan-tan. Rin-tan-tan. Get your lazy ass back in here right now. Rin-tan. The Democratic Socialist. Oh, wait, I'm on the wrong. Lay my head down on a pillow. I think we do say pillow. I know you do. My wife does that, too. I mock her incessantly. Oh, God. Oh, my God. People have different accents. Yeah. I'm Bruce Merrill, man of the world. We know that restaurant prices have gotten pretty. Restaurant. Restaurant. Y'all heading up that restaurant? Because Rin Tin Tin was just up that way. If you see his sorry ass, you tell him to call me because he owes me ten dollars. Ten dollars. prices have gone up you'll need all the ten dollars you can find ten dollars and now there's a major southern california restaurant in bankruptcy court no nearly half a billion dollars in death the operator says it's the state's fault uh-oh should we blame javier becerra already. 00:26:51 Speaker 2: Thanks javier javier you're listening to monks and merrill on demand from kfi am 640. 00:27:01 Speaker 1: Have you ever gotten a Bloomin' Onion at the Outback? Of course I have. Isn't that delicious? Yes. And whatever that tangy sauce is. I know. I don't know what it's called either, but my mouth started to water when you were doing that dipping thing with your hand. Dipping motion. Don't want you to make that gesture again. But yes, that is absolutely delicious. Love a Bloomin' Onion. You know, they're not really like an Australian company. It's all fake. It's cultural appropriation. And absolutely. Is there not Australian? I think it's based in like San Diego. What? Yeah. Oh, my God. Well, anyway, this franchise is called Circa Trova Restaurant Group. They're based in San Diego. Let me bring their headquarters. Well, I'll Gemini it. They have 61 outback steakhouses all across the western U.S. Tampa. They're based in Tampa. Headquarters is in Tampa. Yeah. The parent company is called Blumen Brands. All right. Roll with it. Okay, so what's going on with the San Diego franchise? Yeah, so they are in bankruptcy court. They filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Imagine owning 61 Outback Steakhouses. Oh, I dream about it. They have good bread, too, if I'm not mistaken. They do? Yeah, they do have underrated bread because everyone thinks, oh, Longhorn Steakhouse, Texas Roadhouse. So good. Those types. Outback has some good bread. Outback does have. Yeah. Yeah. We should get a Bloomin' Onion. Do you want to hang out later? Um, I didn't, but now I kind of want the Bloomin' Onion. I would spend more time with you just for that. Jesse, would you split a Bloomin' Onion with us? 00:28:28 Speaker 3: No, thank you. 00:28:29 Speaker 1: Really? I bet after. We're inviting you out for a Bloomin' Onion and you say, no, thank you. But when I say, do you want to get some peyote? You're all over it. He's all over it. 00:28:36 Speaker 3: I might have other plans with the Bloomin' Onion and another group. 00:28:40 Speaker 1: Whoa, we just got ditched. Second fiddles. Got cooler friends. We are. 00:28:46 Speaker 3: All right. 00:28:46 Speaker 1: So what's the problem you ask? Michael, what is the problem? We get paid for this. I know. I'm sorry. The LA Times reported about this situation involving Circa Trova Restaurant Group, 61 Outback Steakhouses, mostly here in California. They say they've not been the same since the pandemic. And that's true for some restaurants. They've just not recovered. Didn't rebound. Yeah, they didn't rebound at all because they took such a big hit. This is a place that you go to eat. You don't do a lot of takeout from there. I mean, you probably do more than you used to now, but you go to Outback Steakhouse and And they're in bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware, of course, seeking relief on hundreds of millions of dollars. Everybody does bankruptcy in Wilmington, Delaware. I wonder why. It's a friendly bankruptcy court. Delaware's so shady. Such a tiny state. First state. People have been saying that since the beginning. First state. They said, Delaware's shady. Yeah, it's shady. So their debt rose from about $ 269 million to... in late 2020, the height of the pandemic, to roughly $ 449 million. Okay, but they had debt going into the pandemic. They did, but they say our statewide minimum wage of $ 16. 00:29:48 Speaker 3: 90 is a problem. 00:29:53 Speaker 1: And I thought minimum wage is $ 20 for food workers. Well, they are not covered by the state's $ 20 fast food minimum wage. Well, it could be worse than Outback. The franchisee says California labor costs are still especially burdensome. The beef costs, by the way, which has nothing to do with California. That's, I believe, a Trump issue. The cost of beef. Isn't there like some trade? Part of it is the

trade, yes. And then part of it has to do with- We don't have enough beef growing here? We don't have enough beef growing here as part of it. And then we were trying to import beef from Brazil. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's when the tariffs got involved. Yes. So it's a double whammy on that one. Beef costs have risen by as much as 5% each year since 2022, they say. And they also know- Oh, that's true. Look, guest traffic is down because consumers are- cautious with their money right now. The inflation is affecting the pricing at these restaurants, and so folks aren't eating out as much. By the way, this company used to have 99 restaurants just six years ago. Now they only have 61. So my question is, if the angle is California is a problem place to do business in, and two of the three things you cite are directly linked to the federal policy, either agricultural concerns or trade policy, What's that got to do with California? I think it's popular. When you're a business that's not succeeding in California, you blame the state. 00:31:18 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:31:19 Speaker 1: Right? You don't want to blame the president for some reason? I think they don't. Where did you say that? Well, Tampa, Florida. Yeah. Next door. Yeah. So I think there's a political play here, but I also think when you're a business person and many business people, I don't think I'm stepping out of line by saying this, many business people are more conservative. There are different branches of conservatism. I've sort of identified some of these. You've got your older group, right? Tend to be conservative. Yeah. They're concerned about social security and things like that. You've got your evangelical conservatives, right? And you've got your, where my parents live, redneck conservatives. And then you've got your business conservatives. Yeah. Your chamber of commerce conservatives. If that's the case, you're going to find the boogeyman who is not part of your group. You wouldn't ever blame yourself for failure. You wouldn't do any introspection. No! And sometimes it's right to find causes for your demise. Of course. How do we grow and get better? Look, you know, they raised this tax and it became very burdensome. That can be true. Absolutely. But how did you pay yourself too much? Well, how come we're not getting these stories about Texas Roadhouse? How come we don't have this story about Longhorn? Probably will. I think, yeah, we might. But I think that it's a different California story here. Follow me on this. I don't think it's about policy. I think it's about options. Restaurants are very popular in Southern California, but chain restaurants don't have the same draw that so many independent restaurants do. I mean, if you take a look at the LA Times, it's got food articles all the time. It's never about man, that McDonald's burger just knocked it out of the park. 00:33:03 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. 00:33:03 Speaker 1: It's always about some foo-foo joy. But those places are even

more expensive. Of course they are, but you're going for the experience. That's true. What experience are you getting at some of these places that have been around for a while? What are they doing to mix things up to keep it fresh? Yeah, that's fair. I live in a place that's surrounded by them. You live in a place that's surrounded by these fancy restaurants. Yeah, a fusion. I know. It's a fusion. And we occasionally make it out to one, but some of the chains we hit routinely. You've heard my affection for Habit Burger, for example. Yeah. In-N-Out's popular, too. I'll give you that. Yeah, if there were an Outback near me, I'd hit it a couple of times, I think. I asked Jim and I to help me out with that. But I have so many steakhouses within walking distance of me. Yeah. I got Fleming's. I got Ruth's Chris. I got Houston's. We went to Fogo de Chao. We walked down to Fogo de Chao. We have one close to us. I think, do you have one in Pasadena? I haven't seen it. That doesn't mean it's not there. It was quite expensive, though. We'll never go back. Yeah. It was an experience. I don't know why you speak of expensive. I was out walking last night. You know I don't like to do that. 00:34:00 Speaker 3: No. 00:34:00 Speaker 1: But I'm out walking, and I go past a cheesesteak place. Love me a good cheesesteak. And I thought, I don't eat out very often. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought, I'm going to have a cheesesteak. It's $ 28. For one sandwich? For one sandwich. Did you get a drink? No. French fries? No. Chips? No. Pickles? Sandwich. Sandwich. Was it good? Oh, so good. $ 28 good? No. Yeah. No. What the F? I mean- I could see $ 15, $ 16 good. Did you eat there? 00:34:29 Speaker 3: No, I didn't. 00:34:30 Speaker 1: This was takeout? It was takeout. Why was it $ 28? It was foo-foo. What made it that? I had artisan bread. Oh, shut up. And grilled sirloin. 00:34:43 Speaker 3: Okay. 00:34:43 Speaker 1: It was delish. Grilled sirloin is not bad. It was delicious. Yeah, well, okay. For $ 28. Really? Yeah. Throw some steakums on there and a hoagie bun, I'm good. By the way, that bread at the Outback Steakhouse is called Honey Wheat Bushman Bread. Oh, warm, soft bread. I bet I could go to Outback, slice up a sirloin on some of that bread and have it for a lot less than $ 28. Oh, sweet honey butter. Look, Jim and I even gives me tips. A few quick tips. Like many casual steakhouses, your server will bring out free refills of warm loaves during your meal if you ask. Hello, I would like a warm loaf, please. And if you're ordering takeout, they usually tuck a fresh loaf and butter into your bag for free. You can also ask to buy additional uncooked or baked loaves. Hi, Assistant Manager Derek. If you see Brooke back there, could you send her over? We'd like some more warm loaves. I think you and Jesse and me should start a band, and our name could be Tuck-A-Loaf. This is KFI On Demand. You've been listening to Monks and Meryl. Hear the show live weekdays from noon to 3 on KFI AM 640 and anytime On Demand on the iHeartRadio app.