Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Stan.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: And I'm Shen.
[00:00:04] Speaker A: And each week we bring you the Stan and Shen show. And each week we talk about fun things through our travels throughout the capital region. We touch on food, we touch on news, try to touch heavily on good news. And Shen's always available with hot takes.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: Yeah. So if you could follow along and listen to us every week on DailyGazette.com or on all major streaming platforms, we'd love to have you join us.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: If it was hard, I'd quit tomorrow.
So good morning, good afternoon, good day, and good evening from the Stan and Shen Show. I am without the primary co host. Shen has been called out of town, but very excited to have first time co host. Co host in waiting.
Eden Stratton with me.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Hi.
[00:01:01] Speaker A: Staffer. And covering the western portions of our coverage area publications. What do you think? What do we call it?
[00:01:12] Speaker B: I'd say western areas. Fulton County.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Fulton County. Yep. And then dipping in when needed.
So again, another staffer we've dragged in here on a guest basis, but today, happy to be on a co host basis. So for people that don't know you, how did you get to lovely Schenectady and this big family that we call the Daily Gazette?
[00:01:40] Speaker B: Oh, gosh. How much time do you have?
[00:01:43] Speaker A: We're not on time limits. We're good.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: So I grew up in a teeny, tiny farm town in southern Illinois, Waterloo, if any of your listeners would like to Google it.
Grew up there and then decided that I wanted to study journalism and political science at Syracuse University. Just, you know, try to get, you know, better lay of the land, meet new people that aren't from Monroe County, Illinois. Completed my four years there and then moved out here to get my first big kid job. And I've been loving it ever since.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: So I think we need the email for your guidance counselor because when you said journalism and poli sci, I mean.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: I mean, I mean, listen, listen, I know a lot of journalism and poli sci majors and we all have a certain personality.
Yes, yes.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: So we. So you've been here now how long? When did you join?
[00:02:45] Speaker B: I joined in November of last year. So we're going on six months, I think. So I'm still pretty freshly minted.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Gotcha. And you done a lot out in Fulton County. And then you are the Saturday go to.
What have you liked best so far?
[00:03:05] Speaker B: Oh, gosh, I mean, anything. Breaking news where I kind of have to speed out to a scene or something like that, you know, that always gets me going. Right. I've been enjoying Covering local politics out there. There's lots of development projects in the works out in Fulton county in regards to wind and solar, and I know that they're pretty controversial, but it also makes them very fun to report on. So, yeah, I've been enjoying that so far. I've been enjoying being the go to Saturday reporter. Means I get to cover things that I don't normally get to cover out in Schenectady and other areas. So, yeah.
[00:03:43] Speaker C: Cool.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: And then, you know, heading into the podcast, up until two hours ago, we thought you and I'd be tag teaming wingfest out in Amsterdam because I know you had fun at Soup Fest.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: Oh, I loved Soup Fest.
I quite selfishly did try a few samples, but it was such a fun event to cover anything that Amsterdam's tourism department does. I think that they put it on really well. Gets the residents to come out and have a good time. So it's always very, very fun to cover stuff like that.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: So this weekend is Wingfest in Amsterdam and you're not going to be there.
[00:04:29] Speaker B: I am not, because I'm the breaking news reporter on Saturdays. Again, I love it. But it's a give and go to.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: Wingfest, so I will catch up with you. Yes, because we have news duty and I did say duty early before. Well, you know, we're out there before noon. Wing Fest kicks off at 1. You could do a drive by, come over the hill, maybe.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: I might be able to swing it.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: All right, so while Eden will not be able to make wingfest officially, possibly a drive by, I had the opportunity earlier today to talk to two people that are very involved not only in Montgomery county politics past and present, but also in wingfest and also Earth Day coming up that Montgomery county and the city of Amsterdam will be celebrating. So I had a great sit down and a blast once again with Michelle Pollock with tourism marketing and rec.
And then also the former Montgomery county executive Bob Purtel, who is now lovingly referred to. And I handed it to him in the moniker of Citizen Purtell, who was wonderful talking about Earth Day in the city of Amsterdam. So here is that dynamic duo.
All right, so we have just not recorded probably the best 30 minutes of audio that will never be heard of outside of the Amsterdam City council chambers. So hopefully we did talk about FBI files. So hopefully somebody won't find out about this. But we're in the middle of a good week. So far. We have the lovely Michelle Pollock with us once again from Amsterdam.
Tourism Marketing. Marketing. Tourism.
[00:06:24] Speaker D: Tourism marketing and rec. You can just say tmr.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:29] Speaker D: City tmr.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: Okay. And we are also fortunately joined by our new celebrity who has a new moniker given to him by me, Citizen Bob. Our citizen Pertel, Bob Purtel, who we've known and seen everywhere throughout Montgomery county through his time in politics for decades.
[00:06:56] Speaker C: A little over a decade.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: Okay. A little over a decade. Okay. We're gray. So that's why we automatically go with the decades. So we're here once again to talk fun. I'm here in Amsterdam. Shun got called out of town. So she'll be in Syracuse this week, but hopefully back with us next week, but back again with Michelle to talk about another fest in Amsterdam. And this weekend is the Amsterdam. Awesome.
Mouth watering, mouth burning. Last year for me, Wingfest.
[00:07:28] Speaker D: Wingfest, yeah.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: So how excited are you for Wingfest? Anything new, anything fun?
What do you do on Wingfest?
[00:07:36] Speaker D: What do I. I am very excited for Wingfest. This is probably one of my, and I always say they're all my favorite events because I have to say that, right? But this has to be one of my all time favorite events because it was a new event that was brought up to the city. We've grown it immensely. We started with maybe eight businesses and now we're up to past 20 with over 30 different wings to try and sample and cry because they're so hot.
We have added new restaurants, new bars. Legendary temple down on East Main street has two wings that they're going to be offering. And you know what is so great is when you walk in, you're like, I didn't even know this was here. It is a beautiful bar. There's pool tables in there. They have activities, they are going to do wing themes, they have games that you can go and try out. The place is amazing and I suggest to everybody to please stop down there because. And the food is delicious, so you can't go wrong. And then also we have, you know, the brewery is going to be open. Definitely stop by the Rockton area because like we always say, Rockton is rockin'you. Know, we have the Rockton House, who is our major title sponsor. He will be doing his medium wings and he actually won the first few years. And then last year was the first year that Shorty's came in and took, took the gold from him. So he's, he's, he's coming in hot this year to get that back, that's for sure.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: So where are you on wings? Are you a mild? Are you a medium? Are you a hot?
[00:09:12] Speaker D: I'm a medium. I can't do hot. I can't. I won't sign any waivers. You will not see me trying any hot wings. I will cry the second I take a bite. I mean, I can't even do medium wings, to be completely honest with you. So I am. I, I. But I like the flavor. Right. So I am super excited to try, like, the pickleback wings from Rug City. The Bloody Mary wings from Anthony's. Yes, Anthony's. I had to double check, make sure that was right.
And I'm super excited for, like, the sticky wing, too. I'm all about the honey hats and stuff like that, so I do like that.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: I.
[00:09:51] Speaker D: But wavers. No, you will not see me signing any of those.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Yeah, my. I. I was on the fence if I was one and done, and my wife said, no, you're done after last year with Dan and Line Street.
[00:10:05] Speaker D: Well, even when you walked in and Dan is. He, you know, he's going back for that honey hat. Or not the honey hat. I'm sorry. The ferocity. Did I say that right?
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Yeah, the ferocity. It's.
[00:10:15] Speaker D: And when you walked into his restaurant, your eyes, literally, you would cry because it was so. Just a smell got to you.
[00:10:23] Speaker A: It's a nuclear wing. It really is.
I mean, as much pain as I was in so quickly, the only thing that got me through that may have kept me alive was the amount of laughter from Dan and his hearty laugh of just watching me turn purple.
[00:10:43] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: And then that was a test. And then I come back on Saturday, and then you got people plowing through 10 in a contest, and I'm like, you're absolutely kidding me right now.
[00:10:54] Speaker D: And that contest was awesome. How amazing was that contest?
[00:10:58] Speaker A: That was hilarious. So great.
[00:11:00] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: So great. So is this, like, happy coincidence that we have Saturday as Earth Day? And again, this should fall under, like, Mother's Day. Every day should be Earth Day. Every day should be Mother's Day.
But you can actually earn your way to Wingfest by participating in Earth Day and raking and cleaning and painting and making Amsterdam continuously beautiful. Not beautiful again.
And that's where Citizen Pertel, who has participated in. I've been doing this. Now, this will be my fifth year, so I've probably seen you at least four Earth days out and about. And so what's your connection to Earth Day and what do you have planned?
[00:11:51] Speaker C: Well, Earth Day in Amsterdam started about 20 years ago with Mayor Ann Thain. She was looking for a way to improve the vision of Amsterdam. You know, what people saw from 30,000ft I helped her out. She next year, made me the chairman of the spring cleanup. And we used to have it here at city Hall. People would come and we'd have a good time, and they'd go out, pick up garbage, drop it off in a big pile. We would take a picture. Great. It was great.
But then we noticed there's a change in Amsterdam. We noticed that our streets were clean.
We noticed that our streams were clean, and our parks were clean.
So, unfortunately, Anthain lost the next election.
Similar to me, she became Citizen Thane.
Not to be confused with Citizen Kane.
And so, you know, no one was there to keep it going. So I think Joe Emanuel was the mayor at that time. And I approached him and I said, look, we need to continue this. It's not a political event. This is. This is our community. We want to make it better.
So, you know, it's been 20 years, and we've picked up probably 40 tons of trash.
You know, when we started, we were picking up tires and car fenders and couches. And now we're picking up cigarette butts, newspapers, and of course, political science.
And so it's come a long way, and, you know, it's just a good, good feeling. And we make it a party. We. We have food, we have drinks, we have entertainment.
This year, we.
We're gonna have popcorn. By chance. Can you believe it?
[00:13:49] Speaker A: Now, that's just for. This is the first time, right? It's the first time.
[00:13:53] Speaker C: We're having the first event of Big Red.
Big Red Popcorn company.
[00:13:59] Speaker D: We're so excited to be the first two.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:02] Speaker D: That's awesome. I'm gonna eat so much popcorn.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: And that's what we said.
[00:14:07] Speaker D: I'm Save room for the wings, but I'm a lot of popcorn.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: Well, that's just. It's. It's. You know, is popcorn a palate cleanser? I mean, is this. Do we need to have that along the route? You know, throwing it out there as a palate cleanser? It's as you've gone to this new endeavor.
As we kid in the office say, things are popping for Purtel.
So just real quick, just. How'd the popcorn thing come about? I know you talked to Tyler A. McNeil about it, but.
[00:14:33] Speaker C: Well, the popcorn cart started in 1985 when I worked for a company in Canajoharie. We had five factories, and I was the director of facilities.
And my boss was an old Irish guy from Boston, and he just liked doing crazy things to make money. So he bought his son a $26,000 popcorn cart. It was a replica. And they would go to Faneuil hall and sell popcorn. And, you know, the profit margin was good. It was fun. You got to see people. And my job, of course, was transporting the popcorn cart from. From Canjoharie to Boston to Syracuse to wherever.
And it's just a very romantic thing. And when everybody thinks of popcorn and I tell them about it, they say, you know, when I was a kid, my parents used to bring us up to Northville and there was a popcorn wagon up there. It was this red thing.
So it's a love affair. Is it a business?
That's not my main thing. My main thing is to enjoy life and enjoy people and, you know, do good things. So it's going to be fun.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: All right, so the first big red event coincides with Earth Day appearance. Thank you. Earth Day and Wing Fest. And what else, Michelle, do we have after this? Because your dance card, as they say, is full. Yeah. So we're going to roll out. So what? So we have Earth Day. Our time for earth day is 8:30am.
[00:16:18] Speaker D: To 1:00pm and you can get come right to Veterans park, lower parking lot.
We will have a list for you of places where you need to go if you don't know where to go. Kind of our high population of where we see lure around the city.
Come and have breakfast. Like Bob said, there's breakfast sausage. Then come back, bring your trash. Or you can contact us and we can pick up the trash. Whatever is easiest for you. We want to make it as easy as possible for everybody. Then come back, have some free hamburgers and hot dogs and goodies. There'll be face painting, there'll be popcorn and it's just going to be a great day. And Earth Day cleanup is also one of my favorite events. Not just Cubs, Bob's here. But it really makes a difference and you see it. And I think like Bob has stated before, we were picking up beds, couches. People actually take a lot of pride in doing this and it's just a great day to get everybody out and enjoying the beautiful weather. You know, it's going to be a nice day. Hopefully the rain stays away. But don't let that deter you either, right? Come there's. There's stuff for everybody to do. We have, we have to thank, you know, all of the businesses who are pitching in. People are going to be. The sentinel is going to be there. They're going to be cleaning up in their area. St. Mary's is going to be down there cleaning up in their area. MVP Healthcare is coming out to help us clean up.
Sticker Mule will be out helping cleaning up. We're having everybody come out and just to take pride in your property, clean up around your property if you don't want, you know, and we see up to it, on top of it, they will do it the entire week. So. And we're out picking stuff up. So if you can't do it on Saturday and need to do it on Monday or throughout the week, we'll still come get our garbage.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: And then as soon as you burned off all those calories and you have that calorie deficit, then we're traveling time to hit the streets.
[00:18:22] Speaker D: Hit the streets in that aspect. In that aspect. And we're going to have live music. You know, there's live music at Sharpshooters, live music at Rockton. Not Rockton, I'm sorry, Lion Street, Creekside.
And also, if you don't, if you're tired of the wings, there's also, you can go to Tumen's for chicken wing soup. You can go to Second Experts for buffalo chicken dip with their amazing cocktail specials that they have up there.
And also the PAV is gonna do chicken soup as well. But on top of that, they're gonna have other goodies. And so it's going to be a great day, and it's a great way to, like I said, support our businesses. That's why we do it. We want them.
We want to show people what we have here. You don't have to travel far to enjoy great food. Come right to the city of Amsterdam, do you?
[00:19:15] Speaker A: And do you like just throwing out late? But do you like. We always think wings and beer and things like that in the fall and things like that. Do you like having Wingfest early, like this time of year is. It just. Does it kind of like help kick off and we have spring, Spring fling and everything like that.
[00:19:31] Speaker D: But yeah, because it gets people outside. I think people have been inside for so long, you know, it's been a long, long winter. Luckily, St. Patrick's Day Fest was a beautiful day where everybody came out. But Wing Fest is to get everybody outside, to get everybody. And that's like, with cleanup day, I would say, too, right. It's getting everybody in that mood to get out there, clean up your property, and then go and enjoy a beautiful day at our city restaurants. And then next up is our Spring Fling, first big outdoor vendor event.
And I think that just gets people, you know, excited. Excited for what's to come.
[00:20:08] Speaker A: All right, so it hasn't been announced, but have you been officially nominated as Queen of Fest City?
Because that was the conversation for.
Last time we got together was Amsterdam being known as Fest City. So, I mean, it does kind of need a face and things like that. So I didn't know if that was something. A different campaign you may look to run.
[00:20:34] Speaker D: Maybe. Maybe I should nominate Rob Spagnola to be the king of Fest City. Right?
[00:20:40] Speaker A: So, I mean, you know, it would work. The King and Queen. You look great on posters.
[00:20:44] Speaker D: Thank you. I appreciate that.
[00:20:46] Speaker A: So we will have to ask, do.
[00:20:48] Speaker D: You want to know what that I would say? We are Fest City Queen and Kings are all of our sponsors. This is true, because they are the reason, like Bob and Rockton House, we could not do these events without them and their support.
Bob has. You know, Bob makes my life easy for spring cleanup because I don't have to do much. He does it all. He is a rock star.
What are we calling him? What's your name?
[00:21:15] Speaker A: Citizen Pertel.
[00:21:16] Speaker D: Citizen Pertel. He. He does cleanup day. You know, I just do all the marketing. We do all the marketing aspects of it. Same with Wingfest. You know, Rackton House, they have helped us out so much. He has done so much to make this event what it is today.
So I would say that our sponsors are the ones that should be the kings and queens.
[00:21:40] Speaker C: Well, with that said, we can't forget, like, with the spring cleanup. We have a lot of great contributors to that.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:47] Speaker C: You know, faya yogurt donates. 35 cases of. Of yogurt, which we give out to people in the morning. We give out sausage sandwiches. Amen. Soup kitchen has been fantastic. They're always involved.
They help us out. They have volunteers. They donate some stuff.
We use their truck. They're just a wonderful group of people.
Bimbo Bakeries always hooks us up with donuts and cookies and. And Stewart's or Dunkin Donuts always helps out. So it's great bringing a community together.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: All right, so we're gonna ask you a hard question and then an easy question. Okay.
First one's the hard one. What are your top four albums for the Stan and Shen show? What are the top four albums for you?
[00:22:39] Speaker C: Music.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: Music albums. Show tunes. Bob, you know what you want When.
[00:22:43] Speaker C: Houses of the Holy.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:22:48] Speaker C: Toys in the Attic with Aerosmith.
[00:22:51] Speaker A: It's my favorite citizen right now.
[00:22:54] Speaker C: Cheap Trick.
Buddha Khan.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: Yes.
And the.
[00:22:59] Speaker C: The Beatles. A White Album.
[00:23:01] Speaker D: All right, let me think about this. All right, so this.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Okay, Your top. Your top four. Your top four.
[00:23:11] Speaker D: Journey.
[00:23:12] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:23:13] Speaker D: Oh, my God. I Can't think of the song.
[00:23:15] Speaker A: That's okay.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: All right.
[00:23:16] Speaker D: I'm just gonna.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: Yeah. C4. Top flipping journey. Yep.
[00:23:18] Speaker D: Because Love all their songs.
You gotta do some in sync, man.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:23:26] Speaker D: Gotta bring back those 90s.
Every fan, girl. You gotta do it.
[00:23:32] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:23:32] Speaker D: Okay. NSync for sure. And let's see who else.
Bon. Oh, my God. I can't say. Bon Jovi.
[00:23:41] Speaker A: Yep. Yes.
[00:23:42] Speaker D: Thank you. Thank you.
[00:23:43] Speaker C: All right.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: You're both hitting my list.
[00:23:45] Speaker D: And number four would be.
I gotta think.
Stevie Miller Band.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: All right. Here's the easy one. But it's still hard.
[00:23:56] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:23:57] Speaker A: We're still debating this in the office. And with Chen, it changes almost on every stop that we do together. Stewart's now has flights of ice cream. Three scoops in a flight. $4.99. What's your three flavors?
[00:24:11] Speaker D: Peanut butter. Pandemonium, for sure.
Oh, that new. It's really good. The brownie sundae.
But it has like.
Oh, my God. What is it called? It has.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: It's like the Mudslide.
[00:24:27] Speaker D: Yes. It's like. It is so good.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:24:30] Speaker D: And last but not least, cotton candy ice cream.
[00:24:34] Speaker A: Really? Cotton candy. All right. Citizen Purtel.
That's.
[00:24:40] Speaker C: That's a tough question for someone that. Open heart surgery.
[00:24:45] Speaker A: I'm the diabetic. I'm the one asking. I have my three. I can't partake, but Rocky Road.
[00:24:50] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:24:52] Speaker C: Chocolate chip.
[00:24:53] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:24:54] Speaker C: And coffee. The coffee ice cream they had, it's fantastic.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: All right.
[00:24:59] Speaker D: It was really good.
[00:25:00] Speaker A: As soon as we sign as a sponsor, we'll be back.
All right, guys, thank you so much again. And we will see you on Saturday, and we'll talk to you soon on the podcast.
[00:25:12] Speaker D: Awesome. Thank you. See you soon.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: All right. They were, as you can tell, a blast.
It was fun because you have Michelle Pollack, who is now part of the Montgomery county administrative political scene, but still with Amsterdam Tourism. And then you had Bob Purtel, who was very involved in Montgomery county parks and was the former Montgomery county executive. And now he again, Citizen Purtel. So it was kind of interesting, that dynamic. They've known each other for a long period of time. They have great chemistry together.
Bob has time. He could be doing a podcast next week, I'm sure.
Cause he wants to. But one of the reasons, again, why I reached out to you, Eden, is you. You know, Shen and I did the four album. Stole it from Sports. Mount Rushmore. What's your four? Blah, blah, blah. So your. And I mentioned this on the podcast. When we had. It was your.
Your four was Eclectic. Interesting. And my wife Rita went bananas for the bottom three. The first one, we all. Everybody scratched their head. But I'm gonna give the three common things that really got Rita excited. So Rolling Stone, some girls, Motley Crue shouted the devil. Rita fell off her chair. So, oh, my God, I love Eden. And then the Police Synchronicity. And I was almost remiss, like, oh, my God, I can't believe I didn't have it. So those are the three oldie but goodies which were in our jam as young people. And then you came up with Jungle and their album Volcano, and you kind of explained to me Jungle and what it brought.
So knowing I was gonna see you today at FMCC and have you on the podcast, I was playing Jungle on the way out to Montgomery county today.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: How did you like it?
[00:27:19] Speaker A: I was like, I gotta tell you. So I just did the YouTube thing. And, yes, I did watch kind of the videos out of my eye as I was driving. So the candle just was awesome.
74 was awesome.
The music was cool. And it's one of those old guy SNL skits where it's like the head bop shaking. And I'm in the car and somebody's looking at me going, seizure or music. You decide.
But it was like, I hate. Oh, I'm gonna be so old. It was like toe tapping. It was like.
[00:28:00] Speaker B: It's groovy. Yes, it's really groovy.
[00:28:04] Speaker A: It was so groovy. I was actually playing it while I was doing your photos. That took me forever to do. I was playing that just to get back into it. And I love the videos.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:28:14] Speaker A: The dance videos, the choreography. Oh, it. So again, you just gotta, you know, YouTube jungle and see those. All those people dance. The group looks so good.
It's. And it's got. It has rap in it, but it's, again, 100 years old. It's rap you can understand, you know, but it was fun. So how do you have Jungle and then you have, like, the 80s anthem Motley Crue, bringing the devil into our lives and keeping hairspray in supply, how do you get that? How do you. How does that range become you?
[00:29:01] Speaker B: I mean, it's a good question.
So, I mean, when people ask, like, what's my taste in music? And I know I give the classic response, I don't have a taste of music, but I really don't. Right. So with the 80s, like, classic rock stuff, you know, like, my dad would be playing, you know, stuff like that in the car. You know, my Uncles were, you know, into, like, the hair metal and things like that. So it was something I naturally sort of grew up with.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: Raised correctly.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: Yes. I was raised right.
Yeah. No. So I think that was kind of like, my foundation. Right. And, you know, I did band in high school. I played the sax. So, like, I got really into jazz and ended up playing bari sax, which is just a really, really big saxophone.
So that kind of like, expanded my taste in jazz a little bit more.
Started getting into, like, funk and things like that and. Yeah, no, I literally just stumbled upon the album Volcano one day. I think I was, like, mindlessly scrolling on TikTok, and I saw the music video, which I feel like music videos are kind of like a lost art nowadays. Like, they were super big in the 80s and 90s, like, you know, but they're just not. People don't pull up music videos necessarily anymore. But I saw the choreography, the dancing, and it's, like, mesmerizing. And, I mean, I don't know. I was just hooked on the album. I think I played it straight through, like, 15 times in a week. It was so good.
And there's this. There's this saying us Youngin say it makes your brain go burr. Like, it's a feeling.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: Brain go burr.
[00:30:43] Speaker B: Brain go burr. And that album just, like, it's. You never get sick of it. It sounds so good. Like, it's like chocolate for your ears. Like, you just keep eating it.
I don't know. But it's just fur for your ear. Yes.
[00:31:00] Speaker A: That is because I had a gala last Tuesday, Overdressed to Impress in Saratoga. And that was a great event. And we did a huge gallery, and it's got a lot of traction. Everybody looked wonderful. And I said to Shen, I'm like, okay, so if I do this red carpet thing, you know, I've got to say, like, okay, you look fabulous. You look wonderful. I said, obviously there's, you know, words as a male I'm not gonna use and get in trouble. I'm like, what else? Like, what else is out there? Like, fabulous, fantastic. And then Chen's like, oh, you just gotta say, oh, you ate. And I'm like, what? Oh, yeah, you ate. And I'm like, I'm not gonna say that.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: No. Like, she ate that up, you know?
[00:31:40] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:31:41] Speaker B: Yeah, it's like. It's like, you know, she looks stunning down a red carpet. And it's like, oh, her outfit ate.
[00:31:47] Speaker A: Okay, all right. I think they need the context on that one.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: We gotta put you into some scenarios, and that makes sense. Okay.
[00:31:54] Speaker A: All right, then. It rol old. And it did work out because we had our own family gala on Saturday for the Johanna Foundation. My. My godson Kyle and his wife Amy. And celebrating the. The Ohana foundation, everything they've done regarding families and their support of other families that have suffered infant loss. And Noah would have. Is now would have been 11 this year, but it was the 10th that they were celebrating. And we sent photos to Shen because this was like this wardrobe thing had been going on for months for myself and Rita and just Rita's hair. God bless Bonnie up in Saratoga, her hairstylist, and send it to Shen. And then, like, Shen is like, she ate. I'm like, okay, now I get it. Shen said, you ate. The hair looks great.
And at the gala, Funk Evolution played. I don't know if you've ever seen them or heard them familiar.
They ate, they ate, they ate. And you talk about it, you know, two saxophones, trumpet player, bass guitar, lead, two singers, drum kit, and they were all over Hangar 745. It was absolutely a show, and it was a ton of music. And I danced. And I swear, every time you go, I'm not gonna dance. I can't dance. You know, I shouldn't dance. And I'm out there, like, for, like, almost the whole night. It was absolutely fantastic. And I think they're playing Frog Alley coming up pretty soon, because I said to him, I said, you guys got some big gigs going. I'd love to have you on the podcast and things like that. And they were formed down here in the Skekady area, so I'm looking to. To get in touch with them. But you talk about the berry sacks. I mean, they're out there with the sax. Everybody's mic'd up, so they got the sacks out on the dance floor.
They absolutely crushed it. So, you know, seeing them and then watching those videos, I'm like. I'm like, yeah. This was like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So we gotta play that for the bride. And then we talked about the other question we have. Very important to the podcast. Stuart's now offering flights.
[00:34:05] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: What's your three. What's, you know, three ice cream scoops, I believe. 4.99 still.
What's your flight at Stuart's?
[00:34:15] Speaker B: Oh, goodness.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: And now how new is Stewart's? You? Cause how you've been out. Did you come out in November or were you out here before?
[00:34:21] Speaker B: I was out here in November. I had been living in Albany for probably five or six months.
[00:34:27] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:34:28] Speaker B: So, you know, Stewart, I like Knew of Stewarts. Right. There aren't. At least to my knowledge, there aren't a lot in Albany. Gotcha. So when it was one of my first days here at the office, Shen was like, do you want to go to Stuart's with me? And I was like, who's Stuart, and why are we going to his house?
So Shen did have to explain to me that this is a gas station. This is not a man's home.
So my three. If I would probably be strawberry.
[00:35:06] Speaker A: Really? Okay.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: Yes. I love a good strawberry. All right. And then probably cookies and cream, and then mint chocolate chip for diversity's sake.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: Okay. The mint chocolate chip that's in the wheelhouse, that's a specific flavor. I mean, you really gotta like it.
[00:35:25] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: To say I want a scoop of that.
[00:35:28] Speaker B: Is mint chocolate chip controversial?
[00:35:30] Speaker A: I just don't think maybe it doesn't get the props it deserves.
[00:35:34] Speaker B: Okay, I could see that.
[00:35:36] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[00:35:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:36] Speaker A: It's kind of like, you know, mint chocolate chip. You're like, all right, how were you raised? So you had to be. You had to have, like, a breadth of ability to taste different ice cream to be exposed to mint chocolate chip.
[00:35:55] Speaker B: That's true.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: You know what I mean? Cause it's like, you think the old Neapolitan. Neapolitan, you know, the strawberry, the. The vanilla and the chocolate, and we all had that, and that was readily available. You had one or the other. But mint chocolate chip's kind of like a tough one. It's kind of like a. I think that's a ice cream. Like, when you're out. Ooh.
[00:36:11] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:36:11] Speaker A: When you're at the stand, you're at the ice cream stand, and then you see it, you're like, ooh, I want that.
[00:36:16] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. Because, I mean, listen, right? If you told me to go to Stewart's, like, right now, and, like, I'd probably get cookies and cream, and I wouldn't think twice about it. But if, like, I physically see it and it's like, oh, yeah, that sounds like a really, really good idea. It's got that it factor. It's like. It's like. It makes you feel special. Right. It's not everybody's favorite ice cream.
[00:36:42] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:36:43] Speaker B: It's very unique.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: Yes. That's. I like that Mint chocolate chip. That's kind of like one of those flyer type of. You got that. So last week, we missed the podcast because we had a little bit of good news and then a ton of breaking news. Oh, my goodness. For Shen and myself. So everything Kind of went crazy and then she was called out of town. So we always like to talk about good news. So last week, obviously, you know, Gin Blossoms, which, you know, you got to go back and now watch YouTube to figure out who that, who's going to play on Broadway for that. The what's kind of been, what's made you smile. Do you have any good news so far this week?
[00:37:23] Speaker B: Oh, gosh. I mean, even today, right when we went to fmcc, you know, they're getting a lot of new grant money from the state that's going to, you know, focus on, you know, improving students mental health and supporting their healthcare program that they've got. Because we do have a nurses shortage and it seems like their nursing program is becoming really, really robust. So we always need more nurses. And you know, they've got an excellent simulation lab with mannequins that can walk. Well, not walk, but they can, they can talk, they can blink, you know, they have vitals. It's pretty, pretty high tech stuff. So I mean, that's the first thing that comes to mind.
[00:38:06] Speaker A: And that's wicked cool.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: It is really cool.
[00:38:08] Speaker A: It is because I've been there to take photos. I think we had somebody else there from the department of Ed and I think I've done that kind of tour with those photos, talking to students and then going through them down through on campus. But yeah, when they talked about a nursing lab, I'm like thinking the old earth science, black counter and beakers and some things. And I'm like, nursing lab. And then you see this. And that time I was there, they had a couple nursing students that talked about really that FMCC's program.
Almost cutting edge.
[00:38:45] Speaker B: Yeah. No, and I think that's something that people don't talk about enough with community colleges. Right. Is that, you know, community college, you know, can have the same resources as like a four year college or anything like that. So getting to see like these cutting edge technologies is really fascinating. And in speaking with the nursing students there who are set to graduate in May. So congratulations to them. You know, they seem like incredibly well spoken, competent individuals that if I ever was hospitalized, I would trust them with my life. But no, these guys, they're incredibly bright young people. So getting to talk with them I think was a privilege.
[00:39:31] Speaker C: Very good.
[00:39:32] Speaker A: So we're gonna get you out of here on two more questions.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: All right?
[00:39:36] Speaker A: Okay.
One is something I just learned that I had a conversation with Andrew Puglis about it.
You can get at people's FBI files.
[00:39:47] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:39:48] Speaker A: Once they've passed oh, whose file would you want? Who do you want to foil?
[00:39:54] Speaker B: Ooh, who do I want to foil?
[00:39:56] Speaker A: Once passed.
[00:40:00] Speaker B: Let me think. I mean, I feel like the, you know, most obvious one would probably be jfk, okay.
[00:40:08] Speaker A: Which is kind of like we have pretty much couple thousand pages of black hat.
[00:40:11] Speaker B: Either JFK or. Hear me out, okay? I don't know if any of these guys have passed yet, okay? But the Secret Service guys who are behind jfk on the detail. On the detail. Because there is this conspiracy theory, and legally, I'm not saying that this happened for legal purposes. I'm not saying that this.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: But he went down the Reddit hole.
[00:40:38] Speaker B: Well, all I'm gonna say is that there is this documentary called the Smoking Gun, okay? And basically it alleges, with a capital A, is that Lee Harvey Oswald did try to kill jfk. They're not disputing that, okay. They're saying that the shot that killed him came accidentally from the Secret Service detail when they accelerated the detail car, so it kind of like got kicked back the rifles they had, and that's what did them in. And it explains why the Secret Service acted so weird after he was assassinated.
[00:41:22] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:41:23] Speaker B: All right, so I want to. I'd want to foil those guys. I want to see the incident reports. I want photographs. I want it all.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: All right, Eden Stratton Goes Deep podcast coming to you soon. Remember those questions you had?
They're here to answer them. Okay, who's your get interview? And there's a couple.
[00:41:45] Speaker B: I mean, that's such a hard question. Like my go to interview. Like, I could interview anybody, right?
I have a couple of controversial ones for sure.
Let me think.
[00:42:00] Speaker A: And who's been the highlight so far? Who have you met? Who's that touch? Greatness.
[00:42:05] Speaker B: I mean, I met Chuck Schumer, right? Big wig out in Congress, which I got to shake his hand and ask him some questions.
Yeah. So that was pretty cool. And my dad was pretty stoked about that. And ever since he calls Senator Schumer Chuck. He thinks they're on a first name basis now. Now that I've met him.
No, I think, like, if I could. I mean, could it be, like, from.
[00:42:36] Speaker A: The past, we can do the dinner. You know, three people live or dead for dinner. Three people to interview. Live or dead?
[00:42:43] Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. I mean, I think I would probably want to do oh, goodness. Probably Cleopatra, because I'm a history nerd.
[00:42:53] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:42:53] Speaker B: And I would be interested to ask her about her political philosophy. Okay, Right.
Obviously, JFK swinging back to that.
[00:43:04] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:43:05] Speaker B: Just because I Have questions about the Bay of Pigs.
[00:43:08] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: And. Oh, goodness, I'll do someone now.
Uh, how controversial can I be?
[00:43:18] Speaker A: I. I mean, I mean, Amira had like, had Kanye on her.
[00:43:24] Speaker B: Oh, I would like to interview Kanye. She's so right. I mean, it's, it's such low hanging fruit. But I have, I have to say Trump. I just like, he's such a character.
[00:43:37] Speaker A: So, so just so you know, full disclosure that we have submitted the Stan and Chen show to the White House.
[00:43:44] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: To be, you know, one of the podcasts available in the White House press corps. So, you know, we're pending.
[00:43:51] Speaker B: Pending.
[00:43:52] Speaker A: We're pending.
So we're pending.
My Chuck Schumer story is. And I carry this. This came from the Gazette is Chuck Schumer was here locally, Schenectady Station, fire station, regarding some funding and things like that. And it was that time of year and he had, you know, being close to the Capitol, there was some of his Albany, you know, staffers there and several interns. And I was lined up next to his interns and he was being introduced and you know, so and so the intern, so and so the intern, so and so the intern. And he comes up to me and I'm wearing my press pass and he goes, not the Internet.
So for a time on X, my, you know, Stan hoodie was like, hashtag, not the intern.
Chuck Schumer. So that was so good. So my wife's a huge fan of Chuck Schumer and things like that. And every, you know, again, my interactions doing this for a long period of time, athletes, coaches, politicians.
You know, I've always had the adage that I'm everyone's favorite professor. You start with an A and you could just go down.
[00:45:08] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:45:08] Speaker A: But you're an A until proven otherwise. And for the most part, you know, Chuck Schumer's, you know, still an AMI book.
[00:45:16] Speaker B: Oh, he's still an AMI book too, you know.
[00:45:18] Speaker A: Yeah, it's been really good. So I. So my big one. I don't know if there's anyone that kind of really, you know, is outstanding and stands out. I mean, I do have a funny story that, that myself and, you know, Jon Bon Jovi are, you know, best friends. Oh, my God.
My wife loves to tell that story that I had to turn down tickets to, to. To New Jersey, to Rutherford. I had a wedding to go to, but he invited me down and with Rita and he was very happy with, with something that came through on him for him and for us at the old place. And then My wife met Hillary Clinton, which is.
[00:45:57] Speaker B: Wow, that's impressive.
[00:45:59] Speaker A: And you've met Reed, like, once or twice, but it was at a chamber event many years ago. And I was just standing there petrified. I'm like, this is when my wife's gonna get tackled by Secret Service because she's gonna hug Hillary Clinton. I go, this is gonna be it.
This is how everything's gonna come down. But she had a great interaction with Hillary Clinton and.
And things like that.
All right, so you've been in the hot seat as a co host. Are you ready?
In the event that the current co host cannot fulfill their duties, are you able to step in, do you think?
[00:46:37] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. Put me in, coach. I'm ready.
[00:46:41] Speaker A: Fantastic. All right, so it's Stan and Shen when she's here, which is most of the time. She'll be back next week. We are gonna cover Belmont on Broadway. We're gonna have some guests on for there that are actually waiting to talk about Belmont on Broadway and those great things. And then if we can, at any time, for any reason at all, we're gonna have you back.
[00:47:02] Speaker B: Amazing. I look forward to it.
[00:47:04] Speaker A: And is there any food things that we should. You wanna like. You wanna pitch that we can. Like, this came from Eden, so we really gotta do this. Is there like a. Is there a Chick Fil a controversy in your life, or are you like, yay, I mean, Caesar, are you thumbs up, thumbs down on Chick Fil A or.
[00:47:19] Speaker B: I. I gotta say, due to certain political aspects that Chick Fil a has. I'm.
Morally, I. I'm a. I'm a pass.
[00:47:30] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:47:30] Speaker B: However, you cannot deny that they make a really good chicken sandwich. All right, so. But, hey, that's just me.
[00:47:37] Speaker A: All right, so we're just. It's out there. Chick Fil A. If you want to sponsor Stan and Shen show, we're still looking for stewards to come on board. We're talking about your ice cream an awful lot.
And Chen will take payment in ice cream. So we can just take some gallon coupons and she'll consider that payment in full. So for Shen, she'll be back next week. And for me, good day, good evening. Have a great week. And now for Eden Stratton. Say bye.
