Circling The Drain

Nashville legend, attorney, former councilman and stand-up comic Adam Dred joins Johnny B and J. Harper from Nantucket to talk about everything from politics and scooters to sharks, data centers, cab laws and comedy wars.

Adam walks through his infamous “English-speaking cab drivers” bill, his near-fatal stroke and brain bleed, why he splits time between Nashville and Nantucket, and how he went from radio and stand-up to law and animal advocacy. He also dishes on Trace Adkins, Ralphie May, Steve Harvey, Joe Rogan, Bob Saget, bad Californians in Nashville, and why wind farms and data centers make him crazy.

If you love Nashville, comedy, behind-the-scenes radio stories and unfiltered political takes, this episode is packed.

Timed Highlights (for chapters/clips)

02:13 Life in Nantucket and buying manfromnantucket.com from Russians
03:27 Man From Nantucket merch and fundraising for animal charities
03:49 Bonnie Dred, the toilet-trained cat and viral TV coverage
04:19 Splitting life and law practice between Nantucket and Tennessee
05:09 “Hate months,” gossip season and Nashville heat
05:16 Asking if he can swear on the podcast and political correctness
06:15 Fourth of July “water fight” becomes “water game” and cultural wimpification
06:43 Growing up without helmets, seatbelts and safety culture
07:11 The satirical “prenuptial weight agreement” from law school
07:37 History with Trace Adkins and the “Giant Painters – Ladders Are For Fags” story
09:37 Getting fired for on-air drinking and Lightning 100 “music for angry lesbians”
11:18 How Adam fed the entire TV crew via ad deals and earned loyalty
12:25 Doing good deeds, karma and his Nantucket country radio show “Cohog Wild”
13:05 Declaration of Independence reading controversy and moving it to St. Paul’s
14:30 Making outdoor church services pet friendly and doubling attendance
15:39 From scooters to taxes: why Adam fought Nashville scooters and the economics
16:48 Property tax shock on Lower Broadway and Layla’s honky tonk
19:02 Historic entertainment zoning, Zanies, Douglas Corner and losing venues
19:44 Fighting Eighth Avenue bike lanes and Nashville’s climate reality
20:47 Why free buses beat bike lanes and how Nantucket does transit
21:10 Term limits, “community tithing” and what he did on Metro Council
22:21 Stroke story: blacking out, the crash and coding twice
24:21 Citywide prayer on the air and waking up telling jokes
25:13 Second brain bleed, Coumadin, misdiagnosis and changing genetic markers
28:08 Allergies changing, bee stings and new ticks that can make you allergic to meat
29:07 Great whites, bull sharks, tiger sharks and hammerheads vs humans
31:11 Overfishing, baby sharks at New Smyrna and blaming sport fishing
33:30 Nantucket vs Martha’s Vineyard culture and politics
34:26 Mr. Rogers on Nantucket and the Fred Rogers Award
34:58 Nantucket Clean Team and making kids care about trash
35:21 Nashville’s “ladders on the interstate” vs Nantucket’s paper bags
36:10 Wind farms, broken blades, beach closures and unseen environmental costs
38:30 Data centers by the zoo, water use, contamination and eminent domain problems
40:33 How Nashville bungled the data center permits and legal exposure
41:48 Megan Barry, mayors’ affairs and why Adam still defends her as a person
43:01 Losing children, grief and why some people get a lifelong “hall pass”
43:38 Missing old Nashville: Phasins, the Trace, Maud’s Courtyard and Hillsboro Village
45:15 “Bad Californians,” fake service dogs and a dog-bite lawsuit story
48:38 Payment plans for Bel Meade Californians and serving people by publication
48:50 Jim’s severe dander allergy and workplace pets putting him in the hospital
49:49 Emotional support animals vs real service dogs in law and travel
50:47 Chinese poison pet food case, Phil Valentine’s cat and suing for the owners
52:23 Remembering Bart Durham and what people don’t know about him
53:23 How contingency-fee firms really pick cases
56:16 Abortion question at a forum and Adam’s 16-year “abort your kid” joke
57:51 Musica statue complaints, “I posed for it” and renaming the Christmas tree
58:14 Holiday tree vs Christmas tree, menorah and being born Jewish in that fight
58:52 Circling the Drain as a brand and “circling and stirring”
59:32 When Adam is back in Nashville: Vandy tailgate, tents 1 and 2 and open bar
1:00:09 Pavia, Heisman, image problems and Pacman Jones comparisons
1:01:10 Cheetah 3 strip club in Atlanta and hosting the Battle of the Cheetah Girls
1:02:21 Ralphie May, the divorce, TMZ allegations and the stress that killed him
1:03:56 How Ralphie was treated, money issues and the banned ex-wife
1:04:42 Ralphie’s last phone call and the Vegas shooting
1:05:18 Getting into comedy at Vanderbilt, Rights of Spring and Henry Cho
1:06:10 First road work, a blown radiator and Steve Harvey saving his hand
1:07:06 Co-headlining with Dennis Leary and learning to follow dirty comics
1:07:51 Joe Rogan as his opener and Bob Saget’s filthy sets
1:08:54 Nantucket comedy festivals and his local Nantucket books
1:09:26 Island Cup: Nantucket vs Martha’s Vineyard, whaling roots and big kids
1:10:26 Tuna, sharks, Block Island and fall “shoulder season” on Nantucket
1:11:07 Restaurant Week, chamber duties and being “a man of leisure”
1:11:45 Faith, obligation to give back and leaving the world better
1:12:07 Johnny B calls Adam a hero and they tease live shows from Vandy and the boat
1:12:36 Adam’s legal plug: no-charge consults and 888-DUI-ADAM
1:13:04 Wrap-up, invitation to future episodes and Circling The Drain plugs


Follow Johnny B:
https://www.facebook.com/john.e.bozeman
Follow Jay Harper:
https://www.facebook.com/harperjeff
Follow Jim:
www.jmvos.com

Circling The Drain is produced by It's Your Show dot Co
www.itsyourshow.co

What is Circling The Drain ?

Circling The Drain is a show about the current state of the music and radio businesses as well as culture in general!

Hosted by John E. Bozeman and Jay Harper along with Jim McCarthy as Co-Host/Executive Producer.

John has had a storied career in music and talk radio, most notably as the Executive Producer for the late and legendary Phil Valentine.

Jay also has has a long career in radio as Announcer, Play-by-Play, Voice and On-Camera Actor. He was also an Artist Rep for MCA records.

Jim McCarthy ALSO has had a tremendous career in radio since 1996 and has since brought his consulting/producing skillset to the podcast world.

Circling the Drain is produced by ItsYourShow.co

Unknown: I wrote a law saying
all cab drivers must speak

English. It was basically the
taxi passenger bill of rights.

Yeah.

And the reason I did that was
when I had a stroke, I couldn't

drive for six months, so I was
forced to take taxis. I didn't

realize 70% of the cab drivers
were Somali, and the reason is

they got here as refugees. They
didn't need citizenship. They

all speak perfect English, but
they're rude and they don't like

Americans. And they pretended
they didn't speak English to

take people on longer routes. So
I passed that law, and then also

that the passenger controls the
music or no music, heat and air,

and also the route. And it's
posted. It was posted in

everyone. So when they see my
number, when I call Yellow Cap,

they won't even answer.

Wow! I wonder why. Yeah.

Welcome to a podcast about music
and entertainment before it all

goes down the disposal. This is
circling the drain.

Hey, welcome back to Circling
the Drain. You know me, Johnny

Bozeman, Johnny B, along with
mr. J. Harper. Hey

there, Johnny B. Suber. Hey,
good to see you. And of course,

as always, running the show is
mr. McCarthy, Jimmy Mac.

And guys, we've got a treat for
you. I don't know how to

introduce this guy because he's
done everything. He's been on

the radio. He he he has been a
comedian. He has done so much in

his life. He's even a lawyer.

Yeah, he's been in government. I
mean,

yeah, and he's tried to stop
scooters in Nashville. What? But

I've got to introduce, and he's
been a great friend of of ours

for a long time. He's not in
Nashville usually; he is, but

right now he's in beautiful
Nantucket. Please welcome to

Circling the Drain, Adam Dred.

Always circling the drain,
longtime watcher, first time

guest. This is awesome.

Well, I wish

I didn't. I missed

you on the radio, brother, too.

Oh, I appreciate that. I
appreciate that. I wish I'd

asked you to be here with us
when you were in town. That's on

me. But it's kind of cool to see
you up in Nantucket.

It's good to be here with the
gray shingles behind me. And

these are, by the way, all the
houses are gray shingle by law

in Nantucket. Are

they really?

They're all Grace Cedar shingle.
Every single house. So there was

a man in Nantucket. Well, that's
the. I was just reading more

shingles. The funny story about
man from Nantucket is I years

ago wanted to buy the domain
manfromantucket.com and it was

already owned. And about 10
years ago, I got a call from

some Russians saying, "You own
man from Nantucket.org. We own

that.com. We sell to you for
80,000 US. And I said, "I'll

give you 70 bucks. And they go,
"Okay. I bought the once was

made from Nantucket is the most
famous limerick in the world.

Yes, it literally is yes, best
known, and so I now own it, and

I have manfromantucket.com hats.
These are make Nantucket

Nantucket again, and from my
merch site, all the proceeds go

to my animal charities. I don't
keep a penny. Oh wow! Just for

yeah. So a Nashville cat rescue
and Nantucket Island safe harbor

for animals. Yeah,

yeah. You're a cat owner, aren't
you? Or a cat?

I'm a crazy cat lady. Yeah. Yes,
I am. Hey, if I can train it, if

I can train a cat, I can train a
jury.

Like a true attorney. So, so
you,

my cat.

Go ahead.

My cat Bonnie Dred actually has
a Facebook page, but she was on

Fox News locally and nationally
because Bonnie is toilet

trained. He is a human toilet.
So, if you go to the YouTubes,

you can look up Bonnie Dred the
toilet trained cat, and here she

is in all her porn, doing what
you think she's going

to

do. So if you ever want to waste
three minutes of your life and

never get it back, have at

it. So how how many times a year
do you go to Nantucket?

Well, I live here almost five
months a year. I actually

practice law up here as well as
in Tennessee.

Oh, okay. So

I commute basically.

Yeah,

but I do avoid the you know the
the they're called hate months.

They're called January,
February, March are literally

called hate months because
that's when the worst gossip is

spread on the island because
everyone hates each other

because no one's here. So yeah,
but I avoid I avoid the I avoid

the most clustery nor'easter
time of year. But otherwise, I'm

probably here every month,
couple days.

And you and you avoid the hate
months in Nashville too.

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, which
is now. Down there today, guys.

Oh man, it's been brutal. We hit
100 yesterday.

I believe it's 96 at the moment.

Wow. Yeah.

Wait. Hey, since this is a
podcast, am I allowed to swear

or use kind of politically
incorrect terms, or should I

stay away from that?

Well, I'll leave that up to my
cohorts. What do you think? I

just saw the answer in your
eyes, buddy. But I

am very offended by such things.
Well, no,

we we invite our guests to speak
freely. Yeah, go ahead, Adam.

Yep.

No, no, no. In hindsight, this
will be recorded. Invite me in

the ass later. Some bulldog from
the scene, or write some hate

piece about me. So anyway, I'll
leave that alone. Oh, did I say

bold light? Anyway, we're not
even. We can't even say lesbian

anymore. That's politically
incorrect. I know. We have to

say vegetarian. Hey, speaking of
that, so we have our Nantucket

is the best place for Fourth of
July, and we used to have a

water fight on Main Street. The
firefighters in the ladders

shooting hoses, and kids with
squirt guns shooting each other.

This year, it's called it's
called the water game. They're

not allowed to use fight.

Oh no! Not

making this up.

Oh, we have wimpified this
country.

You know, it breaks my heart. I
really think these kids today

would not be sickly if they
drank water from a hose in the

summer and had hose water in
their systems and played

dodgeball. They wouldn't keep
all these little pussy, wimpy,

allergic, peanut scared kids
around this country. Enough

preaching. All right. Seriously,
rolling in the dirt and hose

water. Oh, I agree. Toughing up
a kid. I

well, in fact, we we we didn't
even have seat belts back in the

day. You know, we we and we

sat backwards in the way way
back.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And the
cars didn't have jumping

big wheels. How many helmets did
you have when you were jumping

your big wheel?

None. Yeah, I didn't even have
one when I was riding a

motorcycle.

God, I only wear them at my
weddings.

I wear them in my divorce
divorce court.

Oh yeah, you know I got in
trouble in law school. I wrote a

paper once called a prenuptial
weight agreement, and if your

wife gains more than 10 pounds
and it's not due to being

impregnated by you. She's out
with nothing. But to make it

fair, if the husband gains more
than 50 pounds and it's not due

to being impregnated, same deal.
Yeah, you walk with nothing.

Yeah. So I made it fair. You
did.

Sounds fair to me.

Absolutely. So man, I got. So
I'm really honored because I

don't know. Do these run in
order? Because the last one I

saw had a friend of mine on on
the show, Trace Adkins.

Oh yes.

And I've got I've got a long
history with Trace, and I warn I

warn you there may be a little
bit of an inappropriate phrase

here, but it is kind of funny.
Well, so Trace and I met years

ago when he was still Tracy
Adkins, and he was dating Rhonda

Forlaw, who worked at Arista,
and he was playing bars out by

the airport and stuff, and he
told us about getting shot in

the heart by his first wife and
stuff like that. And anyway, I

had just gotten back from L.A. I
left during the riots. That's a

whole other story. And another
buddy of mine, Dave Daniel, who

was in the movie Starman, and I
was doing stand-up comedy, and

Dave was painting houses, so I
started painting houses with

him. And he said, "Trace was
looking for something to do. And

I said, "Trace, why don't you
paint houses with us? I said,

"The wildest part is we were all
over six foot four. And I said,

"This is going to be the best
advertising ever. The company's

called Giant Painters, and our
slogan is 'Ladders are for fags.

Anyway, I

thought it

was funny. Anyway, he then
signed a deal quickly. Lucky for

him. But I used to have business
cards that had the F word on it.

They said Adam F and Dread on my
card, and then whatever was my

title. And anyway, Trace came on
Prime Time Country when I was

feature producer and warm up,
and when you when you're doing

the rehearsal for the TV show
out at TNN, they would broadcast

the rehearsal through the entire
hotel on all the TVs in every

hotel room. So I walk out there.
Trace is on stage, and sure as

heck, turning that microphone,
Adam Effendre in every hotel

room in Alberta, but neither of
us got fired for that. Got the

only time I wait. Oh, the only
time I was really got fired, I

guess, was from WTN. Do you
remember? Oh, you probably

don't. When when Phil went to
Philadelphia,

yes, they brought me

into to fill in for Phil until
they hired a permanent host. So

for some reason, I decided to be
fun to do breakfast on the air

with Chef Freddy Brooker from
the Trace and Absolute Vodka

coming in to do the Bloody
Marys. Apparently, it wasn't

legal to make and drink alcohol
on the radio back then. Oh,

that's right.

I I found that out. Well, you
took one for the team.

Well, you've been on the radio
quite a bit, actually. You, you

were on Lightning 100 at one
time.

Oh, I got myself, I got myself
kicked off of there on purpose.

The way that started was I was
at Thunder 94 which was like

hard rockin' morning show with
like the Ramones, and they let

me do my playlist, and it was a
low wadded station, so there was

lightning and thunder, and
thunder was more like Tori Amos,

and you know that just crap. And
anyway, I took their mail demo

over to '94, and the ads were
like eight bucks a pop, as

opposed to you know 35 at
lightning back in the 90s. So

they told me they were gonna
simulcast us together because I

didn't want to lose my show, A
Man of Leisure Mornings. They

moved me to 100 and took away
94. Oh no, you're just doing

this one now, and they'd hand me
this playlist, and it was like

Sarah McLachlan, you know, the
stuff with dogs dying and stuff,

and I was just so I would just
get on there and go, Adam Dred,

Lightning 100, Lightning 100,
music for angry lesbians. They

go, you can't say that. I'm
like, fire me, and they did.

They just didn't renew my
contract. I actually had, I was

pretty smart back then. I
actually owned 55 ad units a

week as part of my deal.

Wow, that I

could sell and keep 100% of,
which I think they start didn't

like that either when they
realized I was making more money

than the general manager. That
does

tend to make them mad. But I did

the same thing over TNN. Part of
my deal as warm up was I owned

the billboard ads, so the
catering provided by and you'd

have you know Wild Horse. But
what I did is part of it. Not

only would the caterers have to
pay me to be the caterer and

cater. They had to feed the crew
as well as just the guests. Now

in TV shows, most most times
they only feed the guests, not

not the people that work on the
show.

Right. So

I fed 100% of the crew every day
for the three years I was there,

and no one had ever done that
before. And I was like, guys,

this makes no sense. That you
know they're union guys. They

get off work for an hour to go
drive somewhere to buy a meal to

come back and shoot. It's
between the rehearsal and the

taping, and I was like, guys,
it's three bucks, and the

loyalty is amazing. I still get
clients from that, and I wasn't

even a lawyer then. But people
go, you know, we remember what

you did for us, and it's those,
you know, it's those little

gestures that that come back,
it's a lovely. That's my lesson

for today.

Well, you've always been real.
Speaking of, you've always been

real good to me, man. You've
always been real good to me.

Ever since, well, ever since I
met you, I mean, you were you

were at the I think the city
paper when I when I got to meet

you, and man, you were so kind
to me, and I've never forgotten

that.

You guys, let's see. That's what
it's really all about, though.

Everybody's got to. We got to
take care of each other. So I

have a radio. I had a radio show
up here. I haven't rebooted it

for this summer. Called Cohog
Wild. We have a country station

called Cohog Country, and the
Cohog is a Nantucket clam. It's

a very large clam. Yeah.

So, and Country Music's big up
here. Really, that is an amazing

thing. Yeah, yeah. But hey,
speaking back to the doing good

deeds and karma stuff, we're
very excited about you know the

Unitarian Church here has hosted
the the reading of the

Declaration of Independence for
the last 27 years at 9 a.m.

Everybody goes to the UU Church,
gets in the pews, and they read

the Declaration, which folks
actually only takes like 11

minutes, honest, from start to
finish. So if you're thinking of

avoiding it, don't, because it's
only 11 minutes. Anyway, the UU

decided not to do it this year
because the country's too

divisive. I'm like that is the
most retarded statement I've

ever heard, honestly. Because
talk about being divisive, not

reading the Declaration of
Independence on the 250th

anniversary of our birth. I
mean, so my church, St. Paul's

Episcopal, said we'll take it.
So we'll be there tomorrow at

nine a.m. If anyone's around
Nantucket and listening to the

show or watching the show, come
on out. They may miss. We may

not be up by then, but anyway,
it's it's a great thing. We're

going to do it every year. But
the neat thing about St. Paul's,

I met Father Max Wolf, who's the
pastor there. And by the way,

Episcopals have priests and
nuns. The difference is with the

Catholic Church, Episcopal
priests and nuns can get married

and have kids. It's uh, it's
kind of like Catholic light.

Wow!

So Father Max is one of my best
friends, and I noticed. So we do

an 8:00 a.m. outdoor service and
then a 9:30 indoors. I love the

outdoor service. It's in a
memorial garden. It's gorgeous,

and I go at 6:30 every morning
on Sundays, and I set it up. I

bring 75 chairs from out inside
out, and set it up in this

beautiful pastoral setting. But
what I noticed was a couple

years ago that the kids, if if
kids come to church, they've got

a. Headsets for tablets-they're
not paying attention at all. So

I notice the kids come to church
and are somewhat paying

attention on St. Francis Day
when the blessing of the

animals. So I talked Father Max
into making the early service

outdoors pet friendly, and the
nice article in the paper: we

double the attendance at church
on Sundays at eight a.m. because

people are bringing dogs and
cats, and a little kid can pet a

dog or a cat. You know what?
Probably won't hear the whole

sermon, but maybe he'll hear 20%
of it, which is more more than

having on headsets and stuff. So
that's my youth outreach I'm

doing up here, basically. Adam's

still doing great work, no
matter where he's at.

We're trying. We're trying,

but we couldn't stop the
scooters. Man, you

know, and and the worst part.
Well, the worst part is they're

dangerous. But the worst part
for Nashville is these companies

aren't even from Nashville that
own them and rent them out. They

pay $30 a year fee to Metro to
have a scooter here per scooter

license. Every time somebody
falls and gets hurt on one,

they're they're taken ER'd to
our hospital ER triage there,

and then they fly back home to
whatever town they're from to

have their surgery. So it's
probably cost us as taxpayers

1000s of dollars per triage run,
and then no money stays in

Nashville or or gets spent in
Nashville at all. So from a

business standpoint alone,
that's a bad idea.

Insanity. I

mean, that's like putting a data
center next to a zoo. It's just

dumb.

Yeah. What do you think of
Freddie O'Connell and and his?

So I used to be a guest on his
show, and he and Mary Mancini

had something called Liber
Radio, liberal radio show, and I

was the token conservative right
wing guest that would come on

there and fight with him, and so
we developed a friendship

through that. I don't care for
his politics at all. Yeah, he's

a nice enough guy, you know, but
but he's just he's wrong, and

he's not a businessman. And I
honestly think you have to be a

business leader to be a mayor or
a governor. I think to be

president, you have to have
served in the military and/or be

a grandfather personally. That's
me. You know, I

actually have an opportunity to
interview him on my podcast.

Really?

Yeah. You think I should?

What happened?

I'm just. Oh no, he's he might
be coming on. I mean, we're

still kind of working it out.

Oh, that would happen. Give him
a kiss

for me. I'll

let him know. But you're right.
He's not a businessman,

especially with all the. You
know, it's like 350 percent

increases in property taxes on
these businesses. It's like

either you're that dumb, yeah,
or it's you're you're just

trying to drive these businesses
out. I mean that's the only

other reason I can think that.

Johnny B is probably aware of
this, but when I was a city

councilman, I built the first
music stage in the airport to

immerse people in music when
they got here, and that was 2003

when I had my stroke, and they
waited for me to get out of the

hospital. And big and rich and
Mayor Purcell, we christened it

in the bag claim, and now we
have over 30 stages. People are

coming to Nashville to spend
money because of music and

because of Lower Broadway, to be
honest with you, and putting

these people out of business.
Case in point, Layla's. I don't

know if you know Layla's Honky
Tonk. It's the only woman-owned

honky tonk next to Jack's
Barbecue,

yeah,

it's one story. They have a
little balcony, you know, up

there, but they have no roof
bar, no nothing. Her taxes went

from 30,000 to $117,000

Good in one year.

Good, yeah, and

and again, she's a single woman
owned business. She can't afford

it. They're driving her out. The
problem is they're basing this

on on real estate comps on
prices. Jack Coffin sold Jack's

Barbecue, the the budding bling,
for $15 million So everybody in

the neighborhood's taxes went
up. Anytime something sells

there for millions and millions,
everybody else takes the hit.

Oh yeah. Well, it's happening in
our neighborhoods. I think

the, but I think the answer is
is to do some sort of a special

zoning, an entertainment,
historic quasi entertainment

historical zoning. For example,
that's going to hurt Zany's in

the eighth room in that whole
area on Eighth Avenue South as

well. Zanies, we've been there
for over 40 years. I'm I'm their

general counsel since I got out
of law school and started there

as a comic, believe it or not,
but I mean their taxes through

the roof. The eighth room, we
lost we lost Douglas Corner

because of COVID and the taxes.
They couldn't afford to stay

open, so we're driving away the
things that are bringing people

to Nashville to spend money.

Yeah, and you're giving the 12th
Avenue businesses are also

taking it in the teeth.

Oh yeah, oh yeah, and gosh, and
I, you know, so speaking of

Eighth Avenue, Mayor, was it was
it Megan that wanted to put bike

lanes on Eighth Avenue? Yes,
take out a lane of traffic, and

and so they hired me to stop
that, and it was grown. Guitars

and stuff, and think about this:
bike lanes, bike lanes. First of

all, you're going to
inconvenience 10s of 1000s of

cars for 10s of bicycles.
Literally, 10s of bicycles. 200

days a year in Nashville, the
temperature is over 83 degrees

or under 35 degrees, which means
those are days you're not going

to be on a bicycle, but let me
riddle me this. Let's say you

have a bank, and one of your
tellers wants to ride a bike to

work and be nice and green and
everything. Okay, they come in

and they're going to be with
people. So on an 85 degree day,

when they come in, do you now
have to provide a shower for

those employees? And while
they're showering, is that on

your time or their time?

Good point. Yeah, no

bikes. Period. Yeah. Get on a
bus, Nantucket. What we do now

is our busses are free. They're
just free, and we we get grants

from the state, and it's called
the Wave, and they go

everywhere, and you can call one
if you can't get to one, or

you're handicapped, and that's
free. And it's make all the

busses free. Yeah, it's it's
it's the feds will pay for it.

Well, see that see that's why we
need you. We need dread more

than more than ever, man.

Well, I I appreciate that, and I
did my time. And again, I I

really think one of our big
problems is no term limits in

Congress or government period. I
call it community tithing when I

did my two terms. I did my
ideas. I you know I made all cab

drivers speak English. I still
can't get a cab by the way,

Nashville, as you guys know. But
I wrote a law saying all cab

drivers must speak English. It
was basically the taxi passenger

bill of rights. Yeah, and the
reason I did that was when I had

a stroke, I couldn't drive for
six months, so I was forced to

take taxis. I didn't realize 70%
of the cab drivers were Somali,

and the reason is they got here
as refugees. They didn't need

citizenship. They all speak
perfect English, but they're

rude and they don't like
Americans, and they pretended

they didn't speak English to
take people on longer routes. So

I passed that law, and then also
that the passenger controls the

music or no music, heat and air,
and also the route. And it's

posted was posted in everyone.
So when they see my number when

I call yellow cab, they won't
even answer.

Wow! I wonder why. Yeah. You
talked about God

for Uber.

Well, you talked about your
stroke, and I would love for

because you know I I remember
when that happened. Can you kind

of tell folks what like what
happened that day and how it all

transpired?

You got it. So on it happened on
May 30th, 2003. May 29th, I had

a headache, and I'm not the kind
of guy that gets headaches. I

just never really did. But I had
it was in the back of my neck,

and it felt like it was like
going up my neck. So I went to

CVS, bought aspirin, went home,
went to bed. Didn't really hurt

that much. The next day, I go to
Green Hills Post Office, pick up

my mail. It's and I feel kind of
hot, so I get my Jeep Cherokee,

crank up the AC, and I'm sitting
there on Hillsboro Road.

Basically, next thing you know,
I'm out cold, and I drove four

miles Franklin Road, drove no
recollection, four miles off a

cliff through a slave-built wall
into a tree, tearing down the

walls of slavery, but and was
found non-responsive. I coded.

They brought me back. I coded
again in the ambulance, and woke

up 12 hours later with Reverend
Enoch Fuzz laying hands on me.

Actually, when I popped out of
my coma, wow! And he said my

first words were, "Please tell
me I didn't hurt anybody,

because I knew it. I'd been
driving.

Yeah.

But I won't say the name of the
news channels. Channel Four. Oh,

drinking or alcohol involved?
Nancy Amos? No, Nancy Amos. This

happened at noon on a Friday.
You know I don't start drinking

till two.

So anyway,

but I mean they did. There's a
full blood and alcohol. My

firefighter buddy's like, we
have to do this. And by the way,

there's nothing in your system,
but we just want to verify it

for all of them. I mean, the
attack piece is on me. I was

running for office at the time.
Bread crash hoax, bread

publicity stunt to get elected.
Oh, I mean, the vicious fancy

came out. Meanwhile, you guys
have a prayer circle on 997 WTN.

We do seriously. You guys had
prayer groups going out and it

worked.

Well, in fact, we we were on
WLAC at that time. Actually,

that's right. Yeah, Phil Phil
and I had got because I'd gotten

the word from I think yeah it
was it was my wife at the time.

She was a nurse at Vanderbilt,
and we got she called me and let

me know, and so Phil and I went
on the air and asked for a

citywide prayer, and that was my
first work,

brother. Oh, it did work

because my when I went home that
night, she goes, "It doesn't

look good, and I'm I'm beside
myself. And the next day, she

went into work and she called me
and she said, "You're not going

to believe." But Adam is sitting
up and he's talking to people. I

said, "Can he take a call? And
she said, "Oh yeah, I called you

up, and man, you're telling me
jokes. And I said, "I can't

believe this, man. Only Adam.

You know, my my line about that,
since I had another one last,

you know, last July, a brain
bleed, but I'll tell you about

that. Was you know God still has
more work for me to do, and the

devil still scared of me, and
because it breaks my seriously,

it breaks my heart. All these
really good people die all the

time. It's like wait, I'm still
here, and it's like I'm here for

tribulation, aren't I? I'm going
to be here for the tribulation.

So I think that's that's
probably the plan. Yeah. But so

you know they said I had the
lupus coagulant gene, which

meant my blood. If you have
lupus, it causes your blood to

thicken. I don't have lupus, but
they said I had the marker for

the gene, so I went on coumadin
for 22 years of coumadin, rat

poison. Every month, I'd go into
Vanderbilt Hospital, get a blood

draw, see what my level was, my
INR, and so I couldn't have

lettuce or broccoli or spinach.
All I could have was pizza and

beer. You know, no. But but fast
forward, I felt going to court

last May. I was walking across
the street, James Robertson

Parkway, and a heel fell off my
loafer, and I did a banana peel

split. I didn't know my heel
was. I got up and I did it

again. I ripped my my hamstrings
really badly, so went to

Vanderbilt Hospital and was
there for five days. It hurt so

bad I had no idea I'd hit my
head. So fast forward July 22nd,

I had a little teeny crack there
that I didn't know about. We

never checked for because I said
I didn't hit my head, and I've

got a brain bleed, and they
found me non-responsive and

life-flighted me to Brigham and
Women's in Boston. When I got

there, they said, "Why are you
taking cuminin? You don't have

the lupus coagulant gene. I'm
like, "Wait, wait, what? I've

been taking this for 22 years.
I've gone to the hospital every

month for 22 years to get
checked, and they're like, "Oh,

you got to sue, blah blah blah.
And I said, "You know what?

First of all, doctors are humans
and they make mistakes. I'm

alive. That's all I care about.
But I did further research, and

genetic markers can change. So I
believe at the time I did have

that marker. I tested positive
for it, and now it's it's gone,

and I could say that personally
because if I go get a blood draw

right now, I will test positive
for Lyme's disease. I don't have

it right now active, but I've
had it in the past, and it's

always going to be in my system,
in some level, and then but it

could go away eventually. It's
very strange because I went in

for something else years ago,
and they said you got Lyme

disease as well as what you know
dehydration, sunstroke, and and

that wild how those things can
markers can change and go on

you. Yeah.

Well, your aller your allergies
change every seven years. Oh

yeah. Allergies change, and I
used to be immune to bee stings.

Not anymore. Not anymore. I used
to pick them up, and I was stung

all the time and build up an
immunity. Now my arm swells up

like a deer tick.

So yeah, well that happened to
me too. Yellow jacket stung me a

couple years ago, man. And I
used to I would get stung by

them and nothing. Boy, my hand
got as big as a catcher's mitt.

I mean, same thing,

man. Those are, man. If one
animal, if you can just kill,

rid the world of one animal,
that would be it. Not sharks,

yellow jackets, yellow jackets
and mice. Oh yeah. Hey, by the

way, couple a couple things on
the deer tick thing. We now have

this new longhorn tick, a lone
star tick. I'm not sure if

you've heard about it. I have
one that makes you allergic to

meat. Yeah, there's a new one
out there, guys. Watch out for

it. It's a fast little tick.
It's not in Tennessee yet, but

it's on the way. Google that
when you get a few minutes.

They're brutal out here.
Speaking of, so it is shark

season, and my beach up here. I
have two summers ago. I had 16

white sharks that lived off that
beach that we we would ping, you

know, with a tracker.

Yeah.

And you know what? Peter
Benchley said once. I thought

that he wished he never wrote
Jaws because more sharks were

killed because of that book,
Jaws. And a great white has it's

almost has never eaten a human
unless they found a dead

decomposing human. Great white
sharks eat seals. That's all

they want. Big blubbery seals.
The only time a human gets hit,

great whites hunt up. So they're
looking up. If they see a guy in

a wetsuit on a boogie board with
flippers, and they see a seal,

and they go and they hit it and
they bite you, and then they let

you go because you're not a
seal. Now you're still gonna die

because that bite, but they're
not gonna eat you. Yeah, has

nothing to do. Is that only

the great white species?

That the great what the great
the only shark to really be

scared of. Well, two really, and
and I I work with O search. C E

A R C H. If you want to look
them up, we tag great whites and

stuff, and they're amazing
people. The the bull shark is is

the one to really be scared of
because it's territorial. So if

you go into its territory, it's
going to hit you. Tiger sharks,

they're just kind of strange.
You just don't know what they're

going to do. They're not going
to stop and keep eating you.

None of them are. But
hammerheads are bad too. So I

had a hammerhead two summers
ago. A hammerhead hit a striped

bass right right off of Fat
Lady's Beach. I swear to God,

that's its name, Fat Lady. Fat
Lady's, and people are screaming

and stuff, and it bit it in
half. So I just walked out in

the water and I grabbed the
other half of the striper and

pulled it out because, like, you
don't want blood in the water,

you can attract more sharks.
Hammerheads rarely, rarely

attack anything except
crustaceans. Their their heads

are actually shaped so they can
look for crabs and stuff down on

the bottom, kind of like a nurse
shark,

scavengers.

I'm an amateur ichthyologist, if
you can't tell.

Because I mean, the reason why I
ask is that there? There was

like an attack maybe a week ago
off Florida. No, I can't

remember what kind of shark it
was. But the guy, you know, the

the shark went after him and and
pulled him down. And it would

have been

a tug, probably a tug or a bull.
Yeah. Now you do hear about a

lot about like New Smyrna Beach
and all people getting bit. And

what's happened there is
tourists have fished the waters

out. There is nothing for baby
sharks to eat, so they see an

ankle or something. They they
hit anything moving. They don't

care. They're not trying to eat
you. They're just hungry for

Christ's sakes, and and that's
the salt. That's the fault of

the commercial sport fishing
industry down there. They've

fished out the water.

Yeah. Well, you know, Adam

coming for me.

Adam, you you mentioned you know
Jaws, you know, and of course

the story of that movie, you
know they, you know, closing

down the beach on the Fourth of
July, you know, and they're

yeah, there's Freddie O'Connell
that did that, but you know, but

he taxed the he double taxed the
shark, you know,

as we record this, I mean, it's
july 3. As we record this, and

there is an air, there's a beach
up in the northeast that is

going to be closed for july 4
because of bull sharks. And

yeah,

that's

not us, but yeah,

yeah, we we

we yeah we shut down for a finn
sighting. The lifeguards will

blow the whistle, and you've got
a two-hour shutdown just to make

sure you know it's not a bull
shark, or you know. But normally

they're not, and normally when
people think they see sharks are

actually sunfish. They have
these big dorsal fins that come

out of the water. They're big,
giant, fat fish, but it's not

even a shark. I got to say, I
was actually

on Martha's Vineyard during
Fourth of July one year. Oh wow!

That's where they film jaws.
Yes.

Wow. That is where they filmed
jaws. Were there at the Obamas'

house or the Clintons? Neither.
Yeah, I wasn't. I wasn't that

famous at that point. Some
things never change.

So we call Martha's Vineyard the
other island. So you got you got

Massachusetts, Cape Cod, then
you have okay, but is the

other island? Do you look down
on Martha's Vineyard, or do they

look up to you? Yeah, we do. We

look at it. We look at it like
Nashville looks on Memphica. It

is. It's day trippers. There's
no zoning laws. It's very very

rich Hamptons kind of people. So
and it's only five five miles

off offshore. We're 30 miles out
at sea. It's a commitment to

come out here.

The

people that come out and stay on
Nantucket are the Friss, the

Alexanders, Fred Thompson, the
Corkers. It's this is Republican

country, Vineyards Democrats,
James Taylor. That crowd. So it

really is. They're not. It's
almost like Memphis and

Knoxville. The difference
between Martha's Vineyard and

Nantucket. So you guys are more
kid

rock, Ted Nugent.

Oh yeah, we're we're more kid
rock. But you know, Kenny

Chesney's been up here a couple
times actually. But yeah, but

the thing is here. It's like
Nashville, like old Nashville,

where where people don't bother
celebrities and paparazzi, and

and they just kind of fit into
the thing. I mean, just into the

whole groove of it. I mean, I
was out, you know, with Ben

Stiller. You know, but I don't
know if you saw that picture. I

did. His parents lived here.
Jerry Stiller lived lived here.

mr. Rogers lived here. Oh, mr.
Rogers is a member of my church

of St. Paul's. It was his summer
church, but what people don't

realize is mr. Rogers was a
Methodist minister.

Yeah, yeah.

And we do the Fred Rogers Award
every year for the best citizen

for the kindest citizen. Haven't
gotten that yet. I got Volunteer

of the Year 2022 by the chamber,
but which ties into something

else. If people are around, we
do something I'd love to see in

Nashville. We do something
called the Nantucket Clean Team,

where myself and a group, armed
with grabbers and bags, and we

hit a different beach or roadway
every Saturday from eight to

nine and just clean it up. And
it's amazing the amount of trash

that's not really intentionally
tossed. It's stuff. Blows out of

people's trucks and cars, yeah,
and that's something I, you

know, landscaping trucks
especially, just kind of people

be on the alert about that
because you know it's neat

seeing little kids do it because
people honk and say thank you

when they're driving by on the
roads and seeing the little kids

just light up when that happens
may leave may leave the world a

little better for everybody.

Well, see the whole difference
between Nantucket and Nashville

is that up there you're getting
you know paper bags flying out

and everything. Here it's
ladders, things like that you

find in the interstate. Yeah,
aliens. Yeah, I'm saying

undocumented.

And well, we do have we do have
a park here where we actually

won't clean the state park, and
it is state property because

there's a group of homeless
junkies that live out there, and

there's needles thrown on the
ground. And I won't let any of

my team out there. I'll blame
it. What I did clean up was

these damn vineyard winds. You
know these wind farms, this

whole green wind farm. Oh yeah,
don't restart. I'm sorry, BS.

Those things. All right. First
of all, the amount of energy

they take to construct a one of
those big wind blade wind farm

pieces-they only last for 20
years. Yeah. And when they die,

they die. They break off and
fall in the water. And it's not

the responsibility of the
company that owns it to clean it

up. It's ours, and we had one
break, and start, and the and

they didn't let us know either.
I could have had boats out there

with nets. We could have cleaned
it up fast. It was about 15

miles out, and again, I got an
army ready to go on boats to

clean up any mess that happens
up here. They didn't tell us

until it started washing up on
the beaches, and these are

broken pieces of fiberglass,
naugahyde, whatever. I stepped

on one man, cut me bad. It's
sharper than glass. It's

breaking up and getting into
fish and and other crustaceans

and mollusks. We shut down our
beaches. We shut down our

beaches not because of sharks,
but because of a broken wind

farm blade. And my buddies have
a surf shop out on the beach and

surf lessons. Couldn't do it.
Beaches were all shut down. It

cost us millions of dollars on
this island.

Oh my God! Have you

seen that scene from Landman?
Yes, Billy Bob. Yeah, he

educates that lawyer. Yeah, like
a seven-minute you know monolog

about you know how bad wind the
the actual wind. It's

ridiculous. It's

it's it's almost like battery
powered cars. Well, they kill

birds.

I mean, the number of birds it
kills.

Oh, birds, fish, whales. Those
things vibrate, and they've got

huge engines underneath filled
with oil. By the way, they don't

tell you that word. No,

they don't. That leaks

out. Yeah. Speaking of that, but
in Nashville, the whole thing

with data centers ties into
this, you know. And again, I

wouldn't call myself a huge
environmentalist, but I do my

part. You know, I'm I'm a gas
car guy. You know, I'm I'm you

know. Anyway, my problem with
data data centers is the amount

of water they take to cool them.
Not only does it the amount it's

like 5 million gallons a day for
a data center. Not only does it

take that much water, it burns
up about half of it. It's

literally evaporated, but a good
chunk of it is contaminated, and

just rolls under into the water
table underneath. So if you use

well water or you have an
aquifer. That water is coming

back up, contaminated. Putting
one of those next to the zoo

might be the dumbest idea I've
ever heard. Well, that's

the thing: is that even Pamela
Fur, our friend, she pointed out

the the rub is the fact that the
the the people who own the data

center are saying, well, hey,
we've got all the permits and

basically flipping everybody
off. And now Freddie's coming in

and saying, well, that's okay.
I'm just going to claim eminent

domain. And you know, it's like,
well, okay, now this is a head

scratcher. Yeah, you know what I
mean. Yeah,

who do you back on this

one? Well, actually, here's the
problem. There, definition of

eminent domain is the government
seizing of private property for

public use.

Right,

unless it's turned into a park
or given to the zoo that all the

public has free access to, you
can't just take something like

that. The permit side too is
kind of interesting in in that

how was that pre permitted
before the owners could apply

for it because it's still owned
by that property has not sold

yet. The original owners still
own it. The data center people

people do not own the property
yet. So in eminent domain

eminent eminent domain, he would
have to pay the people that

currently own it. I don't know
what their side deal is with

Blocks BLOXX, the company
building the data centers, but

my suggestion would be this:
Freddy, find a big piece of land

way the hell away from
everybody, and we've got plenty

of land in Davidson County.

Oh yeah,

and trade swap it. Just do a
straight land swap, and pay them

for that land. But you know. The
the other problem is going to be

not just the lawsuit for the
price of the land, but the

detrimental reliance. That's a
little legal term of the blocks

company put all this money into
surveying and whatever else they

did to get ready to build the
data center. They're going to

sue for that money back from
Nashville, and that's going to

be a big penny.

Oh yeah,

because they were given some
permits, so they did rely

detrimentally to them on the
fact that they were going to be

able to build there. So this is
this whole thing was just

screwed up by Nashville, just
beyond belief.

Why is? And I'm

glad I'm not in government.

Well, Nashville has always been
really. I don't know what's

wrong with Nashville government,
but it it just seems like it is

poorly run, right? And has been
for a long time.

I'll tell you what. In in my my
years there, and I was a

councilman 2002 through 2007
because of a split term with uh

with uh the Ronnie Stein debacle
and Howard I filled Howard

Gentry's seat on the council.
What I have found is the person

who took the best care of Metro
employees out of all the mayors

we've had was Megan Barry. No,
don't do the joke. I know what

you're thinking, but honestly,
the police, the fire department,

the police, any any you know
codes, especially the police,

care the the workers prepare the
workers. Yeah. Now the guy

involved in that was a friend is
is a friend of mine, and so is

Megan. I talked Megan out of
running against me when I won in

2002 because she would have
beaten me, and I said I'll back

it later on down the line. Yo,
what is what she did is nothing

no other mayor has not done.
Every single mayor has had a

concert tube bond in the history
of Nashville. She happened to be

a female. She happened to miss
spend some funds on this guy

that the other guys didn't get
caught spending on their

mistresses, right? And she paid
her. She did her. You know, she

did her time.

Yeah.

You know, I don't agree with her
politically, but she is a dear,

dear friend of mine, and I'd do
anything for her except probably

vote for. But, but you know, and
honestly, here's another reason

she gets a pass. I actually hope
she's not watching this. But

anybody in this life, if you're
if you lose a kid, if you're a

parent and you lose a kid, you
get a hall pass from me for life

because there's nothing that
changes, and I can't can't even

imagine the heartbreak that
woman has every day. So, you

know, people want to. I've I've
made jokes about her, but she's

a good woman, and you know she
she does what she thinks is

right, and she did take care of
the metro employees, and I'll

always applaud her for that.

Oh, you're not kidding! And I
also, when when she lost her

son, I I even sent her, which I
I don't even know if she read it

or not, but I sent her a note of
condolence, and yeah, I felt for

on that one. If you lose a
child, man, it's that's you know

it happens to everybody. Kids

aren't supposed to go. They're

not, but it does happen, and it
happens more than it should. But

yeah, that was awful.

Yeah, yeah. So, gosh, but it it
is yeah, it is wild. It's just

wild, wild world we're in, guys.

Yes, it is. So

that's why you're wilder.

I wrote some notes down actually
for you guys.

Well, go ahead. What do you
think I want

to tell you guys about? I had
something kind of important. No,

I guess it wasn't that
important, mr. Rogers. Oh,

here's the problems. Here's
Nashville, and again, I hate to

sound so old. I'm only 743, but
man, don't you miss Phasins and

the Trace, oh yeah, places like
that. Hillsboro Pancake Pantry

is everything's changed hands.
It's it's just Hillsboro Village

is now. I'm having trouble
because it's gotten dangerous at

night. We have a new element
there that are not the people

going to the bars, but people
hanging out in the streets that

can't get into these new bars,
drinking in their cars, smoking,

just being on people's
buildings. Hillsboro Village,

ladies and gentlemen,

unbelievable. Who

would have thought it? Because
that, if Randy Rayburn were

still here, that would not be
going. That would not happen.

And I miss Maud's courtyard.
What stuff like that? yeah.

Hey, you can still get Mods. You
can still get Mods Chicken at

Sperry's.

Oh, really?

They do Mods Chicken at
Sperry's, Bellmead, and Cool

Springs. Oh, by the way, so
Sperry's, Sperry's was the

original salad bar of Nashville,
and they still have a salad bar.

They were the first ones, 1974,
to have Green Goddess dressing.

You know what that means? They
are now on their second bottle

of Green Goddess. No, it's made
fresh daily. And what brought

Sam's family? They're all
they're all related. What

brought you to

Nashville? Because I know you
you were originally from

Pennsylvania. Did you? Was it
Vanderbilt going to Vanderbilt?

Vanderbilt brought me to
Nashville, and I'm I'm a damn

Yankee. I stayed.

Yeah, you did. I

just loved it. Well, I'm glad
you

did, because yeah, I mean, yeah,
that that's the thing I love

about Nashville, and I think
we're losing it, is that we we

have we've had so many great,
colorful characters like you,

you know, John. Hooker. I mean,
you name off all kinds of people

that that you wouldn't find them
in any other town. This town's

unique. We

did we did take care of our own
crazies. We definitely did.

Yeah, we did. But now we've got.
I I loved your thing on bad

Californians. Have I got a story
for you?

All right.

A woman from California brought
her what she told the hostess

service dog with her into a
restaurant, and a waitress walks

up. She goes, "Oh, he's sweet.
You can pet him. The waitress

reached down, dog bit her in the
face.

Oh my gosh! First,

first of all, she's she's
Californian. Second of all, you

can't pet a service dog by law,
by definition of service dog.

Strangers are not too pet. A
service dog is there for sight

or hearing or you know PTSD, but
they are not to be pet. Now an

emotional support dog that is
not a service dog. So this

woman, we got her name and
address and stuff, and the the

young waitress went and she had
she had stitches and she went to

the hospital, and she missed
work. So I, I called her, and I,

I, I reached first. I sent her
demand letter, basically, it's a

legal thing, saying, "Here's the
bills. We're not trying to break

you over the coals, but this
girl lost some money. She's

paying student loans, you know,
and this is what it costs. So

they didn't respond, so I called
her, and and she's like, "Well,

our house is being renovated
right now, so I didn't get the

letter. I said, "Well, ma'am,
here's what happened. She goes,

"Oh yeah, well, she shouldn't
have pet the dog. And I said,

"Well, ma'am, you should have
brought that dog into a

restaurant. So she goes, "Well,
in California, oh,

I could bring my

dog in. She actually said that,
"Well, in California, it was

almost like you're not my real
father. No, it was like a step

kid thing. I was like, well,
ma'am, you're not in California,

and can you? And she goes, well,
my lawyer said just sue us. I

go, okay. So I served her. I
went and filed in court, served

her certified mail. They didn't
pick it up. I called her. I

said, "Ma'am, well, we're not.
Our house is being renovated in

Belmead. We're not staying
there. Okay. Well, where can I

serve you? So she knew she was
being sued. She hung up on me.

So I go, "Okay. Now, if you
can't serve somebody by

publication or personal service
in Tennessee, you can serve

somebody what's called
publication, meaning I can put

it in the Tennessee Inn or the
Ledger for three days, and the

the thought is you have served
them if they're not going to be

served, and they have public
notice that they are being sued.

Yeah.

So anyway, yeah. So of course
she didn't show up to court, and

then meet and I got my judgment
for a lot more money than I

would have charged her just to
pay the hospital bills, because

of her attitude and and it cost
you know an attorney, doctors

missed work even more, so she
literally that day goes and

files a set aside. So she knew
about it clearly. She no, I

wasn't notified. We went to
court, and the judge just

literally did one of these.
Like, ma'am, you knew you were

going to be you're being sued,
right? Oh yeah, I knew, but they

didn't serve me properly. Goes,
well, you know, you should have

appealed it, and oh look, you
missed the 10 days. She follows

me. She follows me out of the
courtroom, going, we're on

social security. Can we set up a
payment plan? You just sold your

billion-dollar house in San
Diego to move to a ranch in

Belmead for probably a 10th of
the cost of your house, and you

now want a payment plan. You
want a favor for me because you

brought your dog in and bit this
poor girl, and then you wouldn't

come to court. That's California
in Nashville right now.

Boy, you're not kidding.

They should not be allowed to. I
really I hate it violates the

Constitution, but I really think
you should not be allowed to

vote in a new city until you've
lived there for five years.

I agree. If

you move,

I agree.

Yeah,

I would agree with that.

But

I also have to thank you too
because you you came to my

rescue when I I won't I won't
say what where I was working,

but I have a horrible allergy to
animal dander, and this place of

employment was letting people
bring their pets in, especially

on bring weasels,

raccoons, weasel, all kinds of
crap. Everything

was like bring your dog to work
day, and it put me basically put

me in the hospital. You were,

yeah, man. You got really sick.
I

got really sick, and they
wouldn't take it seriously, so I

had to get you involved. And I
appreciate that because you you

really helped me out because I
thought

the Hebrew hammer.

And I love animals, but I think
people are getting a little

crazy with, you know, like like
the emotionally support animal.

I mean, come on. Yeah,

no, no, and you know, and those
certificates you can buy online,

or they don't work, and they
don't have to honor them

anymore. So be forewarned if
you're going to the airport.

Just be prepared to pay for it.
They'll let you bring a dog or

cat on, but not a python or
chicken, and you know it's it's

just ridiculous. Oh,

it is.

And honestly, a lot of people do
have, and it's really funny when

people say they're allergic to
cats. I always say, get a cat

because you actually will build
up an immunity to the cat.

Yeah.

Now dander's different. All
animals dander. That's from

somebody who's just not cleaned,
and the dander's coming off. It

could be from a human too, man.
Yeah, that's true. Yeah,

that's me. I'm allergic to the
dander.

That's it, dander. Hell, I
married her. Tanya Tucker, no,

but you can tis her anyway. So
speaking of that, you know, I

was the lawyer on that poison
pet food case from China. That's

kind of carbon bread.

Well, in fact, Phil Valentine's
six. Yeah, Phil Valentine

claimed that that China cat food
killed his cat. It it

did. Yeah. What they did was
they put plastic to save money.

Menu foods in China use plastic
instead of food, and it would

not. It wouldn't. It killed
smaller animals, and bigger,

bigger animals could digest it.
And and that is now why I have

two cats because I met more
people. Honestly, a lot of them

widows or widowers, and that
cat, they have a six cents. They

were almost like they were, you
know, spouse at that point, and

that was a human to them. And
when that greedy company saving

four cents a pound on food
killed all these, I was I went

for blood. We had over 100
plaintiffs. Blair and I didn't

keep a penny of that, by the
way. We it actually cost us

money to sue those folks. We're
like, no, all the money is going

to these people, we can make
money other ways. And by the

way, Blair Durham. Hey, Bart
Durham, by the way, who we lost

last year. Oh yeah. People don't
realize this about Bart, and

they kid about his commercials.
Bart Durham won the Supreme

Court case that first allowed
lawyers to advertise on

television. Bart Durham is the
reason lawyers advertise on

television. And you know what?
Great damn lawyer, I'm not

kidding. Yeah, you know, you if
you went if you still if you go

to his son Blair, you're gonna
get more money than you'd get

probably with any other lawyer
or by yourself. So there's a

method to the madness there. But
again, people talk about them

because of something kind of
goofy. The commercials were kind

of funny. Oh yeah, and and but
good lawyers, and we miss you,

Bart. That's another great one
we lost.

Oh, you're not kidding.

Just

in fact, my dad, when my dad
first moved to town, and you

know his radio station. I think
Bart Durham was one of the first

clients that he had as far as a
sponsor. Yeah.

Oh yeah, man. It's he's they're
good at what they do, and you

know there's now. Let me tell
you this though: when you see

all these advertisers for law
firms saying we don't get paid

unless you get paid, that's
true. But they're not going to

take your case unless both sides
have insurance. Number one, and

they feel they have a 90% chance
of winning. So, yeah, you're

going to get paid because they
are going to get paid. But if

they don't think they're going
to, you're going to get paid.

They're not taking your case,
and they don't have to.

Yeah,

you know the same thing with Med
Mau. I get I've never taken a

Med Mau case, but people will
call all the time, and I'll

listen to them. But when you
break it down, it's not about

the medicine. It's it's it's you
know, when you break it down,

they'll go. He was rude to my
grandmother. That's why they

want to sue in a bedside manner.

Yeah,

that's like with my with my law
practice. I return every call

within four to eight hours max.
People that you know, doctors

that don't respond, lawyers
don't return calls in 24 hours.

They're they're the ones getting
sued for malpractice.

Yeah,

nothing to do with the medicine.
Medicine is not an exact

science.

No. There's

my other tip for teams today.

Adam Dred's tips. Hey, I stole

tip for teams from. I stole that
from Web Wilder. You know, my

favorite Web Wilder and the
Beatniks. Oh, I remember that

Wilder

bucket list. Track 17. Web
Wilder came from Nashville,

1985. His Adam Dred intro on
iTunes. It's just me at the exit

in introduce him. They put me on
their record, and I was like,

now I can die. But always liked
his line.

Always liked his line on stage
too. When he would he would say,

"Here's a song we wrote. He
said, "But the good lyric fairy

didn't visit me and Bobby on
this one.

Bobby, heck yeah! I I always
thought if God was really a rock

and roll God, the biggest rock
stars in the world, top three,

would be wet would be Warren
Zevon, John Hyatt, and Webb

Wilder.

Oh yeah, definitely.

I was called I called Warren
Zevon the dark Jimmy Buffett.

He was. You're right. That's.
I've never heard that before. I

mean,

cheeseburger in paradise is
basically rolling the headless

Thompson gunner. But yeah, the
dark side.

Hey, did you ever? Did you ever
have any dealings with Steve

Earle?

I did. He's. Not a fan. Oh, is
he not a fan of Adam Brad? So my

buddy John Dotson managed them
years ago. Oh, he went to L.A.

to do some stuff, and Steve
disappeared on a little binge

for a few days. Oh, that's what
he was doing, honey.

Don't for the Beverly
Hillbillies soundtrack with Joe

Walsh.

I don't, I don't, I don't know
what he was doing, but I know

he's doing a lot of smack, and
he would. So anyway, I was on

the radio then, and John was
bummed. I mean, he's a friend of

mine. He's working hard. He
can't find his act. He's

managing.

Yeah.

And so I said something on the
air about. I said, I said, oh, I

does going, hey, pretty baby,
ready for me? It's a smooth

talking junkie back from cell
block B. They go, hey, Steve. I

go, Steve Earle's back shooting
up the charts. Oh

man!

But then he was this big
anti-death penalty guy, and I

forget I was at some event, and
he's you know, you know, and I'm

pro-death penalty. I mean, I'm
pro death penalty pretty much

for everyone. But so he. He was
not. Oh, that reminds me. This

is a great true story, guys.
Running for office, when you run

for council at large, there's
five spots, and there's there

were 20 of us running, and we go
to all these forums, all of us,

and the audience could ask any
question.

Yeah,

and sure enough, somebody stands
up and says, "What is your

stance on abortion? And all
these guys-it's me, Tandy Rice,

Howard Gentry, David Briley-all
looking around like like this

and that. And I go, I got this
one. And I stood up and I go,

ma'am, first of all, that's not
a city council issue. But since

you asked, I believe every
parent has the right to abort

any child till that child's 16
years old, because you because

you really don't know if you got
a dud till they're a teenager.

Here you go, son. Drink this
warm milk, Daddy. It smells like

almonds. Oh, another great
council story. So I was on the

city council, and they put up
that musica statue of naked men

and women. Yeah, which first of
all, it's it's private money. I

don't think it's appropriate for
that spot, but I had nothing. I

had no saying it. 7 a.m.
Saturday morning. I'm maybe a

little. I might have had a
little bit of the cocktail flu

that morning. This woman wakes
me up from from Donald's castman

dread. Castleman Dred, you gotta
take down that statue, them

naked people. I'm like, ma'am, I
got a conflict of interest. It's

a conflict of interest. I go,
yeah, I posed for it, and it was

and it was cold out. Might have
lost the vote. Don't care. Yeah,

that. So I had some fun on the
council too. I know. I passed

the law that I got the I got the
holiday tree renamed the

Christmas tree.

Thank you. Because

I go, guys, it's a Christmas
tree. It was me and Eric

Crafton. I go, we have a hot. We
have a menorah. You know, why

can't we have a Christmas tree?
Yeah. Oh, you know that's and

all of a sudden and I'm born
Jewish and I'm the bad guy here.

Yeah, guys,

go figure.

You know, yeah, yeah. That's
just kind of story of my life.

You know, stirring the pot.

Yeah, I'm circling the drain and
stirring. We may have. We may.

may, we already have a spinoff,
guys. Yes, we do. Jeffersons

from all of the family.

There you go, man. So when when
do you head back to Nashville?

So I'll be in and out, but I'll
I'll come back for football

season to Vanderbilt. Oh, we
have, you know, I'm in

Vandyville. If you guys remember
coming through those tailgate

tents?

Yeah,

there's 150 tents starting at
Wedgewood, coming up to the

stadium. I'm tents number one
and two. You'll see a sign

saying the Nantucket Nashville
Law Office of Adam Dred. Come by

any time. Be my guest. Open bar.
Some of your fans could come

too, because you're gonna have
to clear it with Johnny B. But

I'd be down for that. They they
would too.

They they they doubled the rates
to rent the tents because of

Pavia.

Yeah. Oh

man. I got that. Yeah, they got
a lot of woes in them now. Yeah.

And

Pavia's mom used Pavia's mom
used to come to ours. That was

fun. I got the call. I'm in
Nantucket when his brother got

arrested last year at the Vandy
game, do you remember that? And

they're like, "Can you come? You
know, take care of the kid. He's

public drunk and stuff. I go,
"Probably not, because he was he

was at my tailgate tent. A
little bit of a conflict of

interest, I think. But but no,
we weren't. We've been going.

It's me and all my class in
1985. We've all been tailgating

together since then, and we've
moved up from like 10 150 Now

we're tent number one and two.
Oh wow! Chronologically, it's

pretty big honor to be up there.
So come by and say hi, please.

Definitely.

Well, the Vanderbilt football
team now is something to be

fearful of. Heck yeah!

Who knew? Yeah. Who knew?

Well, and what really helped, I.
Think was the Nick Saban video.

I think that's what. I think
that's what. What. Oh yeah. It

gave him a little fire right
there. Put a little gasoline on

the fire. You

gotta love it. My only problem
with Vanderbilt on that, and I

don't know who to yell at, but
but Pavia should have had a

handler at the Heisman. Somebody
should have kept him from doing

what he did.

Yeah,

because that that killed his
career, in my opinion.

Yeah, I would agree. That's how
we learned the hard work.

Nobody. Yeah, that's right.
Nobody wants

a Pac-Man Jones on their roster.
Oh boy,

don't kill that.

Pac-Man Jones. I forgot about
Pac-Man. Me too.

Oh

God.

But you know, I mean, once he
left the Titans, other teams,

you know, the everybody kept
signing this guy.

Who knew?

Yeah,

it's it's a DEI hire, and the I
stands for idiocy. Oh man, he

was there. There was not a there
was not a there was not a strip

club that didn't know his name.

Oh my goodness! Do you know that
was the best gig I ever had in

my life? When I was doing
stand-up, I played. I got. I was

Father Guido Sarducci's opening
act, Don Novello. Yeah, remember

him from Saturday Night Live?
Yes, I am. The punch punchline

in Atlanta, and I was making as
an opener. I was making $150 a

day. Now this is 1988 89 That
was not bad money then, but not

great money. And these guys came
up to me after the show and

said, "Hey, would you like to do
a show at our club? They what

club? They said, "Well, it's
called the Cheetah Three in

Atlanta, and it's the top strip
club in the South. I go, "What

kind of show? And they said, "We
want you to host the Battle of

the Cheetah Girls, which is the
competition for the top stripper

in the South, 20-$5,000 prize,
and I did, and I tuxedo ran it

like Burt Parks. I mean, a
regular pageant with swimsuit

talent, everything, and and the
funniest part is so the five

finalists are up there. By that
point, they're all completely

naked, and I'm about to announce
the first runner-up. And I say,

before I announce first
runner-up, let me just say how

important this this position is.
Because let's say the winner's

in some sort of scandal, then
you'll be Miss Cheetah. And they

all looked they all looked at me
like manga lords in a magic

show. No idea what I should say.

Hey man, you were real good
friends with Ralphie May. What

can you tell us about Ralph?
That

bitch of a wife of his. That
movie is crap. It's a lot of

lies. Lana Turner's killed him.
His wife killed him literally

from the stress of that divorce.

Wow, the

stuff she did to that guy. I've
I have I've seen the texts. I I

know way too much about it. She
went to TMZ and literally said

that he he had sex with her in a
very inappropriate way, and

basically had taken advantage of
her. Okay, not only did that not

happen, I have the text from her
to him, telling him how much she

likes that position. Position,
yeah. And I mean, and he was six

states away at the time. She
said that happened.

Wow.

And and she put it on TMZ. The
stress that, of course, he was

way overweight. But the added
stress to that guy's heart with

that kind of stuff during a
money divorce thing, he was so

broke. He, somebody had to lend
him money to pay his taxes the

year he died because she had
spent all his money, and now her

spitting on his grave with this
BS movie. Don't see it because

it's all lies. Yeah, all lies.
And there will there will be a

lawsuit. Unfortunately, there's
nothing to get from her, and I

don't want to hurt her kids.
Frankly, those poor kids having

that gold digging witch. Really,
she married him because she

thought he was cute because she
loved him. No, it was about

money. Yeah, and wanting to be a
comedian. By the way, she's

banded almost every comedy club
in the country.

Really,

for performing. Yeah, Lana
Turner.

What? That's an

original name.

He seemed. He seemed. He seemed
like a good guy to me,

nicest nicest guy in the world.
He took care of everybody, and

gosh, and and again, I was so I
got a call from a reporter

during the the shoot, the sniper
shooting in Vegas. Yeah, and I

was actually about to head out
there to go stay with Ralphie

for a week the next week, and
he's like, Adam, do you have

anybody out there we can
interview it for a Nashville

perspective on the shooting at
the country show. I go, yeah,

let me call Ralphie, and I
called Ralphie, and I said, Hey,

Ralphie, he goes, Adam, I just
don't really feel good. I go,

man, what's what's going on?
Anything I can do? No, man. I

go, no, man, I'll be out there
tomorrow. Can I? What can we do?

What can we do to help you? He
goes, No, I just don't feel

right. And then next day,

wow, gosh, man, that's sad. And

that was when she opened fire on
him, and all the papers she

served him with. She went
through more money, I mean, and

just embarrassed him publicly,
privately, screaming at him. I

mean, she there's a special
place in hell for that woman.

Yeah,

honestly,

we've been hearing a lot of
stories about women like. Yeah,

I was

married to most of them.

You too, eh? Every boy needs a
hobby. Well, what what got you

into comedy? Doing comedy, how
did how did you break through

doing that?

So I was at Vanderbilt, and we
had something called Rights of

Spring, and I used to I just
started emceeing that, and

somebody said to enter this
comedy contest. I was doing a 91

rock as well. I had a one-hour
show called Adam Dred's Happy

Camper Show, but anyway, so I I
sent in this tape to WLAC

actually and made the top 10,
and then I got beat by some

no-name name Henry Cho beat me
on that one. Oh wow! And then,

but on my first five minutes,
and I kind of got the bug and

started doing open mic nights.
But I had some fun times on the

road. My first time on the road
was Creative Entertainment out

of Charlotte, and I had a
Florida tour, and it was three

one nighters, and then the
weekend in Tallahassee was that

yeah? And I was I was opening
for this guy from Ohio, and

we're driving you know our
separate cars, and I'm in a '72

BMW 2002 beater that I bought
for 700 bucks from Jimmy Lester

from Web Wilder's band late one
night, and he's in some big

Cadillac, and I'm in front, and
and all of a sudden my radiator

just blew, and he and I and he
comes up behind me and I'm

reaching to grab the thing and
grabs my hand like I would have

burned my hand off, and anyway
we're having dinner later that

night. He goes, you know I'm
gonna be famous someday, man. I

go, I bet you are, and I go,
yeah now now he is Steve Harvey.

That was Steve Harvey with my
first guy towards it. Yeah, but

he he saved me from burning my
hand off a radiator. Our first

experience. I'll tell you the
one of the dirtiest guys I ever

worked with. They I got booked
at Nick's Comedy Stop in Boston.

My first time ever being booked
as a headliner, and I was

co-headlining with this guy
named Dennis Leary. Oh, from

there. All right, I'm a pretty
new comic, but just comedy's

political as well. That's why I
got the gig. Yeah,

and I had to follow Dennis Leary
in Boston. Uh-uh. They threw me

up there as this Southern guy
just to crucify. So we switched

the orders the next night. But
there's another kid there who's

kind of open micing and doing
some stuff. And there's a lot of

one-nighter rooms around Boston
and Cape Cod that these agents

will book out. So they'll book
you for three nights for a long

weekend, but then they'll book
you in Salem or Norwich or

little towns around
Massachusetts. So this guy was

coming, driving with me, and
we're talking. I go, buddy, I

do. I did kind of like a
Seinfeld TV clean Martin Mall

kind of show back then. I said,
"Man, just just don't take me.

Just don't be really dirty at
the end. There's no problem, and

he's doing his show, and he is
dirty. And at the end of it,

he's talking about being in bed
with a girl, and just just the

foulest stuff ever came out of
this guy's mouth. He goes, "So

you ready for your headliner?
Here's Adam Dred, and like

following following following
dirty comedy. Clean comedy is

tough. That guy's doing okay
now, Joe Rogan. Oh, what? Nobody

would work with Joe. Joe was my
opener, and we're still friends.

It was funny, man, but it made
me work. You know, as a clean

comic, following a dirty comic
is not easy to do. No, it really

makes you learn. No, the
dirtiest guy ever was Bob Saget

was just oh yeah filthy. Yeah,

he was notorious for filthy.

Yeah, and that kind of surprised
people. Definitely.

Yep.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Absolutely.
Yeah. But gosh. So we have

comedy festivals coming up here
next week. I'm a little bit

involved with that. I have five
books about Nantucket, and the

fifth one's coming out this
year. That are kind of you might

be a redneck gift, but the
Nantucket version. Yeah. So it

would mean nothing to 99.5% of
your audience, probably in

Nashville. But okay, we talked

about Nantucket and the
hierarchy of Martha's Vineyard.

Where does Block Island fall in
that hierarchy,

so that that's New York. That's
near the Hampsteins. Yeah,

Montauk as well.

Yep. Well, I mean, it's it's a
different world. It's it's

almost comparing California. I
mean, California, you know, San

Diego to you know you know San
Francisco. We really there's

there's no crossover with Block
Island. I mean, so we have

something called the Island Cup,
which is Nantucket versus

Martha's Vineyard in football
every year.

Right,

and we always win because most
of the kids here, the locals,

they're descendants of whalers.
They're Portuguese and keep

they're Cape Verdean and
Portuguese, so these are big

boys, and you know, and the and
the guys on the vineyard are you

know, they think they're past.
You know, Peter Pan people. Have

you guys? Have you guys ever
been up there? Never, Neverland.

Martz has been here. No, I am
not. Have you? No,

not not no. Technically, so

Nantucket, Nantucket is where
Moby Dick took place.

Yeah, yeah.

This was the largest. It was. We
say the dictionary definitely.

Dictionary definition number
one: Nantucket, formerly largest

whaling port in the world.
Definition number two:

traditional mating ground for
upper class white children. We

used to-that's where

a lot of where we used to do a
lot of fishing was Block Island

area. Yeah, that whole area. Oh
yeah. So I grew up all around

tuna. I mean, we caught
whatever. I mean, a lot of

bluefish, tuna. We came out of
Charlestown Breachway and Point

Judith most of the time.

Nice.

Yeah.

I had I was tuna fishing last
year, and this blue shark would

not leave about a 10 footer
would not leave us alone because

we're using live bait. And as
soon as you threw something in,

it would just pull it. So we
finally caught the shark.

I would love. I mean, everything
you're talking about brings back

so much nostalgia. I mean, if
you guys ever get a chance to go

up there, go probably towards
the end of the summer, going

into the fall. Beautiful. It is
the weather is like that's

actually the best time, right?
We call that the shoulder.

That's the shoulder season.
Yeah, shoulder season. You want

to come up in the fall? The
water's still warm. The kids are

back in school. The day trippers
are gone, and if I could just be

here two months a year, it would
be September and October.

Yeah, and I

actually I host. I'm the I chair
Restaurant Week up here the

second week, the week after
Columbus Day. I'm sorry, the

week before Columbus Day in
October every year.

Wow, as part

of my chamber of commerce
duties. Yeah, the

many things you do. I

keep busy up there.

What you do, don't you? You're a
busy guy. You're you call

yourself a man of leisure, but I
see you more. I mean, you're

doing so much.

I spend more time trying to look
like I'm not working than

anyone. Adam Adam Dread Adam
Dread is a brand. You know, not

a human, but but I really enjoy
it, and and I honestly think I

think it's a God thing. If you
know you have the power to give

back,

yeah,

you have to. Yeah, don't sit
there. Yeah, and so while I'm

still healthy this month, I'll
I'll keep doing what I can.

Well, leave the world a little
better for everybody.

Well, you do, man. A lot of
people don't realize that, but

you do a lot of great work, and
I've and I've always looked up

to you. You know, you're you're
you're you're one of my heroes,

and I hope you know that. Thank
you,

brother. Reciprocal. Well, I
appreciate fun. Thanks for

having me, guys.

Oh, it's been our pleasure, man.
And anytime you want to invite.

In fact, if you ever want us to
do a live, we we could do a live

show. Yeah, we could do a live
show at the Vandy 10. Yeah,

we'll do a live stream.

Yeah,

we can, or we can do it at my
Vandy tent, or we can do it on

my boat up here.

Hell to hell! Let's do a boat.

Yeah, let's do both. Let's do
both. Yeah, let's get a sponsor

doing.

Here's my shameless self
promotion. If anybody does need

any, I don't charge to consult
somebody legally. I'm easy to

find. If you can remember this,
my number is triple 8d U I Adam.

If you can spell my number,
you're not drunk,

dude. Great way to end it.
Pleasure meeting you. Well,

dude, it's been have fun having
you on. And we're gonna have you

back on when you're in town,
man. Definitely,

I'm I'm on it. This has been my
pleasure, guys. Thank you. God

bless you, brother, and thanks
for joining us on Circling the

Drain. Where can people check us
out, brother Jay?

Well, of course, there's always
the website

circlingthedrain.net, and if you
also want to keep looking at us,

you can go to our Facebook page,
as well as our YouTube channel,

and of course the audios on all
of the podcast platforms: Apple

Podcast and Spotify. Everybody
knows where they can go. Yeah,

there too. So, and of course,
get that merchandise at

CirclingTheDrain.net,

and be sure and join us next
time right here on Circling the

Drain. Thank you.