Grumpy Jukebox Episode 4 with Francis Leach, Robbie Buck and Costa Zouliou

costa zouliou: G'day folks, it's time for episode 4 of Grumpy Jukebox. What do get if you stick three old mates in a virtual studio, one in Melbourne, one in Sydney and one in Brisbane, with a bit of time on their hands and nothing better to do than sit around and talk shit. Just like they used to, but back in the day we got paid for the privilege. Now we do it for love. Love of music, love of the new and surprising and love of the banal. Please welcome our resident grumpies, Francis Litch in the Grumpy Studio. holding down the fort at the bottom of the garden in our Sydney studio is Grumpy Robbie Buck and I'm Costa Zulio and I'm grumpy for absolutely no reason. Welcome fellow grumpies. Hello. Hello you boys. I'm well, I'm interested to know what Robbie's been up to because he looks like he's been pulled through a hedge backwards. Like literally what's going on? I'm glad we started with this, Francis. Very kind of you. I notice that your charity continues as it always has. Well, I'm out on a little property at the moment. So it's on the mid-North coast of New South Wales. And we have an irrigation system that was put in before we came to this place that was very cheaply done. And hence, I spent a lot of my time trying to find where the leaks are in the irrigation system in my garden. And then getting very, very dirty trying to fix the bloody thing, which I have only just succeeded in doing. And I was knee deep in dirt and crap and all sorts of things. went, shit, look at the time. I'm late for my grumpy conversation. yeah, if I'm unprepared, then nothing new, but that's where I'll See, there's a lot of things I've thought about you, Robbie Buck, but Handyman's never been one of them. You're absolutely right there, Kosta. Well, it's got to be Belgian waffles all around today, doesn't it, Frank? ⁓ double serve, please, Kosta. Double serve of satisfaction after the result in the World Cup with the Belgian beating United States there in Seattle. And the world put to right just a little bit. Probably I'll talk more about the actual issue with Foller and Bellingham and Trump later. But yeah, it was great to watch. And what I love most about it, Kosta, as an Arsenal fan, was that the United States of America were being managed by a Marcia Pochettino, who was also the manager of Tottenham Hotspur for a number of years. And he brought that Spursy magic to the whole thing with a couple of magnificent defensive schoolboy errors that were straight out of the Tottenham Playbook for the whole world to witness and laugh at. so as an Arsenal fan and an Arden Tottenham hater, this was just this was this was a big dollop of Belgian chocolate. on top of my Belgian waffles. It was awesome. You just love it too much. You like to me, you know, see me squirm, don't you? When it comes to Dr. Motspur, I certainly do. ⁓ Well, tell me what's been new in your neck of the woods music wise, Francis. Well, you know, when there's an old friend that you sort of think, you know, we all love Husker do Bob mold. And Sugar, the band that he formed in the 90s, made three spanking albums in quick succession. Then Bob sort of took a detour off and did all sorts of interesting stuff. If you read his bio, he even ended up being a writer, like a script writer for the World Wrestling ⁓ Federation, the whole Kogan world, for a bit of a laugh. And he's been doing solo records and I've seen him a couple of times and they're But we don't say much to him because Husker do his original band from the wonderful city of Minneapolis, which has a great musical tradition. The Replacements Prince Husker do all come from that incredible place, which we did the news all last year for for different reasons when it comes to ⁓ the American ⁓ immigration standoff there. But ⁓ Bob's gone and reformed Sugar ⁓ and they're touring America at the moment. ⁓ and they've just released a brand new single. I thought, you know, often when you hear a new track from an old favorite, you go, ⁓ this is going to be any good. It's just, just all nostalgia. Is it something worth checking out? And lo and behold, to my absolute delight, it's a RIP bus. It's got a new single called Keep Looping, which you can find on all your streaming searches, services. And if you love that stuff that you heard back then with Copper Blue and Beaster and those mid 90s sugar albums, which are sort of really. You amped up power pop. You're going to love this. Punches and Howes like he did, he might have 30 years ago, which is interesting because he does have tinnitus. And I thought that he'd given up playing electric guitar. He's obviously gone to hell with that. And, you know, that they still rumble at a really mean pace. So it's a great track, a great sort of like pop song, you know, that he's pumped up to the max. And I'm loving it. So welcome back, Bob. And welcome back, Sugar. The war on sugar is over. You know how sugar became the thing you can't have anymore? It's back. It's back. Never went away. I caught him live doing a solo thing at the Triffid. I don't know about a year or two ago and he was great. He was fantastic. Did all that, all that stuff. You will be happy to know that I, plugged it into my, I plugged it into Tidal. I put keep looping on there and I listened to it was great. And then because I searched with a song title, the next song that came up was REO Speedwagon and keep on loving you. Was that just an accident? Really? It was, it was. I think that says more about your algorithm. Let's face it. I only missed three hours of power. What was that? Just on that night, Francis, what was the gig that you went to where you realised you had to give up three hours of power? It was funny. You I had in my notes how you do, you know, between these things every now and then I write something down. And I had written down, pass the ceremonial codpiece and pet shop boys, but I don't know what was going through my head at the time. Well, I'm sure the pet shop boys in their spare moments probably do wear a codpiece or two, but for different reasons. What have you been listening to, Robbie? Just going back to Bob Moller for two seconds, because I remember reading the story about how Sugar to an end despite the fact that they were really kind of bursting through, know, it was that era of the grunge bands doing really well, all the big major labels were looking for those bands to try and push them internationally and all that kind of craziness that was going on with those types of bands. But am I right, Francis? Like they did try to record a follow-up to their really big album and what went wrong? was some... they were pushed into doing it too fast or there was something, the wheels fell off. Yeah, think it was. walked away from it. It was always pretty volatile back then, I think anyway. yeah, they released those two albums and they had the Beast EP, which was a real, well, it's a Will and Howe thing. I think it just all got a bit too much. I basically walked away from music for a while, just when I've had enough of this. And yeah, so it was just, yeah, I think they just reached boiling point again and just decided not gonna do it. But they're back together and apparently the show is from. what I've been reading have been really, really good and the track is great too. So ⁓ he's hoping for a really ⁓ fine comeback album. All right. Well, my new contribution is another record that's arrived in the mail in the last couple of weeks. And it's a guy called Dave Lee, who I'm pretty sure is English. ⁓ And he takes a lot of the master recordings of kind of classic hip hop and disco and then throws them into his sort of remixing machine and gives them a bit more sort of bump and a bit more ⁓ heft. And so they're really great fun to DJ with. But the reason I bring him up, so he's got an album which has been floating around for the last few months called Remixed with Love, selected works chosen by Dave Lee. But the reason I bring him up is that there's a lot of people doing this kind of thing. And I think with AI, it's much easier to do those remixes than it that it used to be, but he tries to go back as much as possible to the original master tapes and work from the original stems, what they call stems, which are the original ⁓ individual tracks. But the great thing about him is that he doesn't charge a huge amount of money for the albums that he releases. So he makes them really accessible to folk who want to buy records, which in this day and age is really rare, because everybody's trying to get as much margin as they possibly can on the albums that they're pushing. And he's like, well, you know what, I am reworking other people's music. I don't need to take a big cut in this. I like the idea that these songs get to be played out again. And so there's a lot of kind of ⁓ late seventies, very early eighties kind of style sounds that are hitting the dance floors again in a way that is kind of really fun and joyous. so, yeah, here's my my fine for the moment, which is Dave Lee. Does he put a real strong touch on it? Bucky, does he change the essence of the tunes? Is he sort of reconstructing them or is he just... No, he doesn't. That's what I like about him is that he... it's not like some of the remixes or re-workings that you get where they basically take a really beautiful soul song and then turn it into a techno tune and then just play a little bit of the reprise or the hook from it. He really... he stays true to the originals, but he changes the sonics in them and he certainly fleshes them out and makes them longer. ⁓ But he... He just, the recordings from those eras, a lot of them are still really good, but when you put them on a high fidelity system, on a big system, they tend to sound flat if they haven't been reworked in this way. So it means you can put the OJs and Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Phyllis Hyman. Those sorts of artists and acts who wrote really classic kind of disco songs that would have been played in nightclubs in the late 1970s and the early 1980s and would have sounded fine, but up against a lot of the newer material that is played next to it. If you don't have that kind of reworking, it sounds, it comes through really flat in the sound system. So all power to him. Good on you, Dave. And then there are other records in that series. Is he, or is this sort of like a... Is he doing a whole bunch of these remixes, almost a renovation project in a sense? Well, he's got another series called... Oh, it's in my box over there. think... Oh, is it? We'd love to hang a second. Let me have a good look over here. Yeah. So, produced with love by Dave Lee. And that's his... They're original productions of his or with collaborations. But he's also got a really fantastic and very popular hip-hop reworking. So... yeah so he's a busy boy and again he just makes them when they come up on sale they're not you know for a lot of remix ep's it's like 50 or 60 bucks to buy them and he keeps them down to like 30 bucks for example which is that's pretty cool it's good Dave ⁓ l-double-e or l-e-i-g-a yeah l-double-e yeah l-double-e Dave Lee sounds like something we should all ⁓ try and check out ⁓ my something new. Well, it's not really new. It's new to me anyway. I think that's what's so wonderful about music. You can discover a band that's around for about a decade and this one has and it's new to me. So it is with this they call Khan and I don't know you may have heard of them in Melbourne Francis. They're three piece out of Melbourne. The latest album is a concept album. I know how much you boys both like concept records. Well hang on a second, they can be good. know, The Who's Quadrophenia, for example, is one of my favourite records of all time, which is very much a concept album. Exactly. And yeah, it's only two songs and they both clock in at about 23 minutes. So it's stoner, it's psych rock. ⁓ I put it on and for some mad reason, it calms me down. So what's the concept? I hear you ask. It's to explore the suffering of a man possessed by the spirit of God of death early from there you go. It's not a concept. I love it. So I urge both of you boys to get there and have a listen to Kahn. K-A-K-H-A-N. That fair and warlike form return to dust is the name of the album. So check it out. Do reckon the bucket bong's getting a good workout at the Karn studio? Without a doubt. They've been doing a hell of a lot of festivals and things like that overseas. was about to go and see them. They were playing in Brisbane but they were playing with a tribute band, Tool tribute band. I've only ever seen one tribute band and that was by accident while I was at the East Leagues Club having dinner one night. and it was a Queen tribute band and they were okay but I don't know, I don't do tribute bands. No, I can't really either. can't. Look, I have but it's a bit weird when you do. ⁓ Can you sort of like throw yourself at a tribute band and have a good night out, Robbie? Well, I have to confess that I don't seek them out but I think, I've thought about this a lot in the past and I think there is a real role for tribute bands and I think about, for example, ⁓ from the jam which used to play, which was two of the original members but without Paul Weller because Paul Weller wouldn't play with them. you know I did see that and that was fun. Yeah okay well there you go see. ⁓ But I like the idea people feel very connected to songs that they love and bands that they love and you're never going to see Nirvana play ⁓ and so seeing a band that plays for example Nirvana ⁓ when they're a good band and they do it really well, I understand the attraction of it. They are filling a space that can never, be filled by anybody else. It's not like Kurt Cobain's gonna come back from the dead. I guess we can, we'd be a bit touchy, can't we, about our favourite band. So when there's a band that comes through that's playing songs by The Clash, I would rather cut my ears off than go and hear someone bastardise those. But, that being said, I do like bands that have a twist on it, like Dread Zeppelin. Dread Zeppelin, All the Led Zeppelin tunes as reggae tunes now that I think is great idea so that I can give myself over to because I'm an idiot right so I need a reason to go. you know Craig Bloxham was doing all the spy songs with in a reggae feel for a long in reggae spies so which kind of worked of course for Spy vs Spy that worked but and the other good news is that they're coming back as Spy vs Spy with Bob Spencer on guitar and doing some shows as well. so. How was the Tool Tribute band? Did someone paint themselves all blue like Maynard and had the two microphones and just weaned everybody out at the East Leagues Club? I didn't go. was a mate of mine who actually introduced me to Karn and I said to him, do you want to go? And then we were both looking at it and went, what? They're supporting a Tool Tribute band? And we went, yeah, nah. What were they called? Synchrome? Or something? They're tools from your bed. They should have been, but I don't know what they were called. Robbie, have you got something ⁓ surprising? Has something caught you by surprise over the last couple of weeks? Well, besides the leak in my garden, Kosta, which did take me by surprise, but not in a very pleasant way, ⁓ I have to say. The state of the world continues to take me by surprise, mostly in a negative way. And yet what I find on a completely regular basis is the kind of joyful interactions I have with people on the street. mean, one of the great things about being in a regional area at the moment. ⁓ So I spent about a third of the time in this part of the world and it's a country area. I've got a farmer who's been out the front of the property today and he runs heifers and things like that. ⁓ on our property. And what I do find surprising in a really kind of positive way is that when you withdraw yourself, remove yourself from everything that's going on, Mitch McConnell, is he dead or not in American politics? Donald Trump getting a obviously very corrupt organization like FIFA to change the rules, all those sorts of things that when you tap into social media and tap into the world at large, ⁓ are pretty depressing. mean, the El Nino situation is a really depressing thing to be looking at and we're girding our loins in the country to see what's going to happen with bushfires and things down the track. But to get back to my original point, what I'm constantly pleasantly surprised by is by the nature of interactions with people on the street or in shops or complete strangers, particularly in a kind of ⁓ rural and regional area. just how, and this kind of folds back into the One Nation stuff as well, think. In a face-to-face kind of environment, we are actually very keen to be nice to each other, to be civil to each other. And so what I am sometimes surprised about is how easily it is for us to get sucked into the online poison and the hate and all those sorts of things. So yeah, that's where my surprise is. It's a positive one. It is a positive surprise and that's good. mean, I think when you, when you, a lot of the times when you go out to those rural places, especially in, in say North Queensland or whatever, and the cane growing places, it was the Greeks and the Italians and people like that that came in there and even, you know, people like Bob Cato turn around and say, well, you know, if I start vilifying those people, I'm vilifying most of my, most of my constituents. Isn't that where the black white came from? It wasn't at the cane growers. Yeah, could have. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, it was the Italians, I think, from memory, who created the flat white, who were the Italian cane cutters back in the, what, the 30s or something. Yeah, but the other thing that Robbie raised, which is really important, is being out in your community, actually having those one-on-one interactions, just to remind yourself that you are part of a community. And people talk about online communities. I don't see them as communities as such because that lacks that fundamental human touch of actually looking someone in the eye and talking to them directly. Because then you say things that you mean to say, whereas in those mediated spaces, often it allows the worst of us to express ourselves because it's a risk-free experience for the most part. You can do some of them. You can say things you would never say to somebody directly because you feel in some ways protected from. from the consequences direction. I don't mean that just in terms of it being a way that we need to be mediated by fear, but just that constant contact with others, you will have an overwhelmingly positive experience from most people and it reminds you of that. But the other side of that is also Robbie is that a lot of people don't have access to those sort of ⁓ real life communities anymore, whether it's the loneliness is the great epidemic of our age. are people living more isolated, people living in single dwellings, single person dwellings or living alone. ⁓ We've lost that sense of community, that sense of volunteerism, the ability to get together. We're not a joining society anymore. Like if you look at sports clubs, probably the last great ⁓ hub of people joining an organisation to participate. ⁓ know, Lions clubs and rotaries and those sorts of things that used to be that sort of hub for for people who are a bit older, they're struggling for numbers. So, you know, the way that we try to find ways to come together and commune, ⁓ it's getting tough. And that's why the arts is such an important part of that, isn't it? way that we, know, public art events, public spaces, free events, community events that run by councils, all of those things fold into building that sort of sense of social cohesion. We can't afford to lose that because if we do, there are so many forces, as you both mentioned, to play already, which make it hard. our sense of optimism and community to stay relevant and alive. They could come and help you fix up your garden Robbie, that's one way to start. We could have working bee at Robbie's place. Working bee at Robbie's place. I can tell you not much will get done. We have a nice community though. Exactly and speaking of community, what surprised me is that they have territory day and it's cracker night and they still let people loose. Did you see any of the footage from it? They absolutely loose these territories. It's carnage. It's absolutely carnage. was a Kia on the beach that caught fire because they all, a rogue firework got into the car and let off all the other fireworks. This year only 36 people were injured as opposed to 41. 36? Yeah, as opposed to 41 last year. there were these two dudes. How many of those were fireworks up the bum? Well, I'm getting to that. Not enough. There were two dudes standing up in the back of a Hilux, letting off fireworks for all intents and purposes, looked like a couple of blokes from ISIS. It was insane. I think that's what they were going for. And you know, the fella that turned up at emergency with severe anal injuries because he tried to launch a rocket from his arse. There's always one. Actually, there's more than one because there was this little coalesce of because it was the 250th anniversary of the US 4th of July celebrations and there was even more nut bag ⁓ or nut job, I should say. Americans letting off fireworks as well. it's amazing. So fireworks are basically prohibited for all of the year. can't buy them, but for one day every year, one day of the year, you get the chance to blow your fingers off and you know, go do your best or blow your nuts off. Whatever. Go crazy. you see the Sunday Territorian headline? No. On the back of that. Can I read it to you? You can. So Sunday. So It's ⁓ headlined, Fire in the Hole on Cracker Night. Why I Steamer a Screamer, but my Steamer. ⁓ You can always guarantee that it's something good on the Territorian, can't you? That's my dream job is to be the subby on the Territorian to come up with those headlines. What was it again? Why did I stick screamer up my streamer? Why I stuck a screamer up my streamer. ⁓ beautiful work here at Grumpy Duke Box. We're not too proud to do a bummer of art joke, are we? Never. Never. ⁓ God bless you, Northern Territory. We're on Grumpy Duke Box this afternoon. Or, well, could be any time, couldn't it, really? And we like to work out what's new, what surprised us over the past couple of weeks. And, ⁓ well, what the fuck. So where are we? Who's up for a WTF? I think I've got to my surprises. I've got to my surprises. Oh, haven't I your surprise? That's OK. It's just a quick one. I'm surprised that it took nearly three weeks for Donald Trump to dry hump the World Cup into submission with his decision to intervene with Gianni Infantino and Racine D'Eloquat for following Balogun. Thankfully, the Americans were beaten. was some karmic justice in the football world then. But we are living in the Gilded Age of Gangsters, aren't we? When these two cretins consider it a clue to impact the rules of the game. And what's been an amazing tournament, like the football has just been next level. World Cups can get a bit tired because the players have been playing for so long. They haven't had a break since the start of last season. But it's just been a dream tournament. The quality of football, the stars have risen to the top. that some of the games have been some of the most dramatic in World Cup history. And then we get Trump buffooning around, just doing his flex, letting FIFA know that they're... He's like that dog that has to piss in every corner, just to mark his territory. And it's just the worst. And I'm so glad the Americans were beaten. ⁓ I'd put it past him to try something again before this is all over. And the great irony of all this is that Foller in Ballagon, who is great footballer, I know followed his career, from his early days, because he was at Arsenal as a trainee and played for Arsenal before he was ⁓ sold to Monaco where he currently plays. He is the antithesis of the Trump administration. He is everything that the ICE and the Stephen Miller and the immigration regime in the United States wants to get rid of. And even Trump recently tried to get rid of the 40th Amendment, the Birthright Citizenship Amendment, because Fulham and Bellingham only plays for the United States because his Nigerian parents living in London had gone to visit his mother's sister in New York when she was heavily pregnant. She tried to return to London at seven months pregnant. They wouldn't let her on the flight. They stayed in New York. He was born in the United States, stayed there for a couple of months and then flew home and grew up in the UK. He decided to play for the United States. He probably had a look at the English national team, thought his opportunities with Harry Kane and others were a little bit limited. decided to use his birthright citizenship as a United States citizen to play for the USA. And then we've got Trump, who wants to end the issue of birthright citizenship, advocating on his behalf during the World Cup. It is classic, a nutty America. And I'm so glad that it all went tits up today. You couldn't make it up, could you? Well, no, and it's exactly the same equivalence with Pauline Hanson talking about the monoculture of the Socceroos. I mean, the... The stupidity of it on every case. I did want to ask you this though, Francis, being a huge football fan like you are, the World Cup is, you know, the great circus of football and celebration of football. But we know that FIFA, we've always known that FIFA is so incredibly corrupt. And I guess it's that question about whether you can enjoy the music if you know the singer's a dick, you know, can you enjoy Morrissey's music? he's a jerk. Is it the same watching the World Cup? I mean, Does the corruption that we've seen so flagrantly between Trump and FIFA and what's happened there Does it tarnish the enjoyment of the games and the guess the purity of the games or? Absolutely it does it does it's a mixed thing so look I'll be honest like I stayed a while I was told not to come I was thought I wasn't welcome in Qatar because I campaigned against FIFA and against the Qataris on the basis of their treatment of their ⁓ Nepalese and South Asian workforce who were basically slave labor building stadiums in that country ahead of the World Cup and the number of workplace injuries and deaths on those work sites, which are called slave stadiums. And so, you know, for that reason, you know, didn't attend that World Cup, didn't attend this one for much the same reason. I just didn't feel like I wanted to be in Trump's America ⁓ at this particular time. ⁓ So it does, absolutely it does. And FIFA is an organisation that has, only 15 years ago it was the Americans who helped brought FIFA to account, or 10 years ago, 12 years ago, around that time, after the Brazil World Cup. And it was the American law enforcement, the FBI that laid charges against FIFA officials for their corruption in Brazil around that World Cup. they were the ones doing their best to deal with the racketeering and money laundering that was going on through the sale of those tickets. And it forced FIFA to do to change its ways in some regard. it isn't quite as corrupt as it used to be, I don't think, but he, Gianni Ventino, has just once again reinstated that central power in the one individual and has taken pretty much control of FIFA and builds it in his own image. And as we see with all those cutaway shots at him at every available game, like he's some Roman emperor. And it is, it's very difficult to love, but the players and the nature of the game itself and the universal nature of football that brings people together in a way that nothing else can does outshine the taint of the corruption because I think the game belongs to the fans and the players and at a World Cup and we've seen it at this World Cup when those two things mix at their very best they are what we talked about before the sense of community, the sense of coming together, the sense of bridging culture and language through the communion with this sport. is something really rich and powerful that deserves to be protected, deserves to be treated better, deserves not to be exploited. But because it is so powerful and so strong, and because people do love it, it inevitably attracts the worst kind of people who want to exploit it. it's the dark side of the moon, really, what happens with the game and the money that it attracts, because it is so loved. But I think we're still entitled to love the game because it's our game, and we keep fighting for it to be better. I did actually feel a little bit sorry for the players today for the US players because I thought they didn't look like the same team that I'd seen in the in the past couple of games that they'd played and you just got to wonder whether all this has got into their heads and you know they've come out and they've gone well you know how do you get up after all that I mean the I don't know that's that's just the way it looked to me I don't know how if it looked like that to you yeah they went from being that you're you're not wrong Cosi they went from being you know one of the exciting stories of the time because I were playing well to being the bad boys. You know, they'd suddenly been, you know, they had someone to put the finger thumb on the scale on their behalf and the whole world was was against them. Again. And that can't have been easy. you know, bad luck on your bike, Johnny. Get off and take take your mates with you. See you later. See you later. Have we got a WTF moment? That's my surprise. That's your surprise. Robbie. Have you got a WTF moment? WTF? Well, I guess a WTF for me this week were the comments that were made by our Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in regards to ⁓ one of our elder statesmen singers, Kylie Minogue, and the way that comments like that play out in a political spectrum as well. He was being ⁓ interviewed for a podcast, no less, by one of the presenters from Nova and was asked about who he'd choose to shag. in a bunch of people and Kyle Ibn Og was the answer. ⁓ And he's had to apologize for all of that. But I, it raises, I think, really interesting questions about what modern politics is in the age that we've got and how, ⁓ what that fine line is for politicians and especially for a prime minister. You know, they are constantly courting the populist space and yet, I guess, being held to be to account to be statesman like in some way as well. I I thought the comments were really stupid and he should have been smarter than to have gone along with it. But I do find it interesting, you know, that the age that we're living in where it's kind of wedge politics. the time. Yeah, I think, you know, maybe his people, whatever, not let him on shows like that would be probably the best bet, wouldn't it? But he caught it, obviously. mean, you know, don't forget he was on Carl's show before all the controversy, even though it was pretty obvious Carl was, Stefanovic was going in the direction he was going in. ⁓ know, it's, know, Francis, you know a lot about this because you've worked with politicians in this exact area. But what did you make of it? Well, the desperation to try to connect with audiences that are completely disengaged with politics is something that all politicians and leaders are trying to find a way to do. Traditional media no longer finds those people. And so they will be looking at those sorts of podcasts that reach people that have got what they work called low information voters who don't know much about politics and don't really care to give them some sense of who the prime minister is. ⁓ The idea of going and having that conversation, particularly knowing that the subject matter of that podcast, I thought was not the smartest move. for Anthony Albanese or any leader really. It's just not what is going to, it was always going to end in a car crash. If I'm in that meeting as a media advisor or he's, say, okay, let's play this out. What are you going to do when you asked, having had a listen to a number of these episodes, what are you going to do when said hosts ask you about these issues? And let's talk about the consequences of that. I don't know if that happened, but it should have. You should be able to sort of war game that out or as we call it, red team it. So you run the, you run the sort of, the worst case scenario of what might happen and listen to how you would respond and then go, well, this is the consequence if we get this question, this is the consequence. So do we weigh up and go, do we want to do this? Don't know if that was done. The kind of thing I'm not so surprised about, you know, obviously you can't have 2024 so I can go, well, he's going to become friends with the worst racists in the world. And he should be, you do have to be able to walk into those spaces that aren't comfortable to you or aren't politically, that might be politically hostile to you. and have those conversations and not solo yourself away from an audience that might be hostile to you. So I'm okay with that as long as you you're treated with respect and the conversation allows you to express yourself in a way that you feel satisfied that you at least put your point of view. So I don't have a problem with that. But yeah, it was the same with the Jackie Yeo and Kyle stuff when when prime minister would go on that program once again trying to reach those audiences. But you tiptoeing through a minefield and you also get associated further down the track. with the aberrant behaviour of anyone who you've had a long standing association with or you're seen to have endorsed by going on their podcast or going on their show, knowing that their track record of behaviour might be something that you don't want on your record. So that's difficult. It's really hard. You want to be in touch with that audience. You want to reach those people, but tread very, very warily and they got it wrong this time. But in the end, know, ⁓ as close as we've got to our kind of, what's the word I'm looking for? Our Kylie, our superstar, you know, Jason and Kylie's wedding. I can only find a parallel for my WTF today is Tay Tay's wedding. Now, mainly because it brought up a memory. You didn't get your invite, any shitty, we know. Listen, listen, this is where I'm going with this Frank. There's a memory of a couple of grumpy jukeboxes ago when we spoke of going to a stranger's wedding. And what would it have been like? That's right. Heading off to Madison Square Garden, do you think the happy couple got around to chat with all of their guests? Or a thousand of them. Did they do the chicken dads? Would they have had corn dogs? What would have been on the menu? Cause I'm sure did you see Trump? Did you say Trump trolling them with the, ⁓ with the real, I didn't know if that was AI made up or was it real? Don't forget who your president is or something. it? Yeah. Just haven't, haven't you got better things to worry about? Like seriously, you know, it's unbelievable. Obviously not flip side of that. Francis is, you think Taytay was trolling Donald? or by setting the wedding on the date that she did on the, what was it, the day before the 250th year celebrations, knowing that she was going And maybe also Madison Square Garden too. Yeah. he's always thought that a small place. was, yeah, was, was, you know, being a New Yorker that holding his final rally before the last election at Madison Square Garden was like, you know, his triumph because he, as a New Yorker, he's obsessed with playing Madison Square Garden. So she did that as well. But- Yeah, I mean, look, I had a great time. It was a great wedding. I'm glad I was there. I love your cider, Remus. Totally. What do you reckon, chicken or beef? Do you reckon that was just like... Alternate drop. Who was the wedding band? Who was the wedding band? Did they have a wedding band? That'd have be Adam Sandler, wouldn't it? They must have had a band. I mean who was it? Well Paul McCartney. ⁓ that's right, Paul McCartney. What? Paul McCartney saying I want to your hand the first time he's sung it live in 60 years. you are kidding me. Now that is a flex. That is a flex. Paul, Sir Paul, can you come over and sing us a song please? Yeah. We'll feed ya. Didn't have R.E.S. Speedwagon for you Cosy. Could have been Tool. The cover band. ⁓ all tribute bad at your wedding. ⁓ wow. that's my WTF for today boys. Frank have you got one? Mine relates to, yeah it's relating to what's going on in Clarence in Tasmania now. I don't know if you've been following the travails of Neil the Seal. Have you been following this? How can you have missed Neil the Seal? The poorer one ton sea lion who's been regularly visiting Clarence for the last couple of years but has increasingly attracted huge crowds as he sort of comes ashore ⁓ and from what I can understand it's because it's basically malting season so he's trying to de-husk himself, he's running up against all these signs and posts to try to get all the fur off himself and he's ending up on the streets of Clarence causing a little bit of chaos but once again people are going to ruin it because people are getting too close to him, he's become an international superstar and the authorities are really concerned about ⁓ about someone getting hurt. He's a big elephant and he's only going to get bigger. And so it's what the hell, what are they going to do? How am going to deal with him? And are they going to look after him? And the idea of euthanasia sends me bonkers. The idea that no, I don't think they're going to do that. There's already a petition in Tasmania to make sure they don't. ⁓ But yeah, they've got a problem because he looks very cute, but you would not want to get too close. I've seen the footage of him sort of like, know, just You tried to corral him back on the beach and he just sort of lies on the fence and collapses it and comes back up the street and he falls asleep in someone's front yard and he's an enormous beast of a thing. You wouldn't want to wake up one morning and find him lying in your front garden. Robbie, you'd have to do it all over again. Your garden, you sort of just fixed it up. You just finished it. All the reticulations done. You wake up and there's Neil the seal just like lying across your gardenias or something. Your hydrangeas. I think I'll Neil there. I'm not going to mess with me. Do you need to get your gumboots back on now Robbie and get back outside and be a farmer in your lumber jacket? No, actually fixed it. I don't like to boast. Have you? think time will tell. I'm not ready to accept that just yet. You know, we're in a broken and a broken from where I fixed it the last time. yes, you're right. Well, gentlemen. All right grumpies grumpies. It's wonderful to talk to you boys again. We will get to the bottom of the Ceremony or God piece in the pet shop boys one day And why I wrote it down that's gonna end up in some sort of archive somewhere and Historians in the future are gonna be sort of pouring over like a hieroglyphics going. What the hell was he talking about? ⁓ maybe it was I was listening to the new muse record. That could have been it That would bring cod pieces and Stonehenge to mind, wouldn't it? But why the Pet Shop boys? ⁓ well, cod piece and Pet Shop boys always go to, they're always hand in glove for me, mate, because of you. ⁓ thank you. you go. So proud. So very proud. That's what you bring to me. Grumpy Duke Box is done and dusted for another who knows how long. So thank you very much, Robbie Buck. And thank you very much, Francis Leach for joining us here. We'll try and put something together again in the not too distant future. Thanks, Gozzie. Take care, fellas. Grump on. Stay grumpy.