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GenX Gon Give It To Ya is ultimately about spreading love and bridging generations. I’m broadening connections while scoopin up some old friends along the way. We’ll reminisce on tv, movies, music, entertainment and events that helped form our culture cause the bond is deep!
Come Play!
Deshanta (00:00.078)
So Steve, thank you so much for joining me today. Welcome to GenX Gon Give It To Ya I am so excited that you are here. We have a lot to talk about, so let's get right into it.
Steve Barnes (00:10.471)
Yeah. Great. Thank yeah, thank you very much for having me. I love all your questions you sent me.
Deshanta (00:15.918)
I know it was a slew of questions and we probably won't get through all of but just to give you a gist of how this show is done, I just wanted to be as how do you say, just prepared as much for you. I know that you live in Richmond. Is that where you're originally from?
Steve Barnes (00:32.167)
Sure.
Mm. That's right. I've always been Richmond. That's correct. And have you always been Virginia Beach?
Deshanta (00:43.776)
No, originally I'm from the Bronx. grew up in upstate. psh upstate, that's where I just came from, sorry, so I'm gonna have to edit that out. but Co-op City is where I will say that I was raised and proud to be from, as I've mentioned in other episodes. Can you tell us a little about Richmond? Like what was it like growing up during that time?
Steve Barnes (00:46.609)
Okay.
Steve Barnes (01:12.259)
i I had a ball. I there was always we always lived in communities where there were lots of other kids. it's always been a real a real diverse mix and yeah, don't just use that word lightly. Like literally, like I grew up in Henraiko County and there's just like a huge population, especially in the high school that I went to, which is Tucker High School, but there's huge populations of like Filipino.
Laotian Greeks, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Germans, of course black, just a huge mix of people. So it was and even so that there was everybody had different ethnicities. Everybody was always into kind of the same stuff, you know, like action movies and MTV and the same fashions.
Deshanta (02:05.408)
Right, right. what type of fashions?
Steve Barnes (02:08.993)
I guess I would say like 'cause we're talking eighties, early eighties, and myself, I had one of those British flag muscle shirts like the guy from Def Leopard had. really audacious. I don't it's really funny looking back that I had that. a lot of denim, I suppose, denim jean jackets with patches were the thing back then.
And not always like heavy metal, you know, 'cause like I remember girls having jean jackets that were bleached with like Duran Duran and Madonna patches and stuff on them.
Deshanta (02:44.361)
Deshanta (02:47.808)
Right, the acid wash. and what type of jeans like we were wearing like Sasson and Gloria Vanderbilt's and were y'all wearing similar brands?
Steve Barnes (02:49.785)
Acid wash, that's right. Yes.
Steve Barnes (03:01.977)
th those names don't ring a bell with me at all. I was I didn't I'd never dressed in those fashions and I remember people wearing a lot of not Calvin Klein but the one that's like a step below Calvin Benetton or Benetton or whatever it is. Benetton, that was like a big fashion. and the Coca Cola, like they had a jeans line as well if you remember that.
Deshanta (03:19.467)
No, Benettine, yeah.
Deshanta (03:30.816)
Yeah. And
Steve Barnes (03:31.185)
That was really big when I was in middle school.
Deshanta (03:34.004)
Nice. speaking of school, were there any teachers that made an impact on your life?
Steve Barnes (03:41.359)
Yeah, I s when I saw that question, I I I thought of like pretty much every English teacher that introduced cool books to us, which is pretty much every English teacher from like eighth grade on, it always seemed to be the English teachers that I liked the most and
Deshanta (03:57.939)
He
Steve Barnes (04:04.635)
It's it's sad. I can't really shout out anybody individual except for like I remember Mrs. Huffman's name, but I don't remember any of my other English teachers' names. But the great books that we read is I was really into those book discussions when we did that.
Deshanta (04:13.688)
That's fair.
Deshanta (04:19.8)
What book stands out for you?
Steve Barnes (04:22.313)
Lord of the Flies. we had like a I remember that was like a big heated discussion where like it seemed like half the class was against the other about different types of symbolism. And the great Gatsby, you know, that was one they made us read. And sometimes the books they made us read weren't nineteen eighty four, for example. what books did it make you read in and like up up in your way?
Deshanta (04:44.182)
Is that George Orwell? Okay.
Deshanta (04:52.97)
I believe nineteen eighty four. I don't recall Lord of the Flies until later. And that was I'm I'm probably thinking of the movie. I don't think I even read The Lord of the Flies. what were we reading? I don't know 'cause I remember like getting little commendations for Deshante read blah blah blah amount of books this week. But I can't sp specify what books they were. But I was a reader back in the day. Like I still am.
Steve Barnes (05:14.234)
Mm-hmm.
Deshanta (05:22.222)
So I shouldn't even throw that out there. But to narrow down a book, I don't recall for school anyway. but I grew up like reading Yes, S. E. Hinton. But I can't even say I read it. I I just know the movie. I'm such a movie head. Horrible. I swear I read. I read. Reading is fundamental.
Steve Barnes (05:30.573)
The Outsiders, that was a really popular one they made us read.
Yes.
Right.
Steve Barnes (05:46.425)
Yep.
Deshanta (05:49.11)
I knew this episode was gonna be good because I watched or rather listened to your Little Prouse Little House on the Prairie episode, which we'll talk about later, but I was like, He gets it. This is gonna be fun and engaging, so I appreciate you definitely. let's transition a little bit. Can you remember some of your favorite T V shows growing up that you really enjoyed?
Steve Barnes (05:57.989)
Uh-huh.
Steve Barnes (06:04.18)
huh.
Steve Barnes (06:14.149)
yeah. well, the aforementioned Little House on the Prairie, that was always a fun one. beyond that, we liked the A team a lot with Mr. T. Fantasy Island was a was a really interesting one that we liked to watch. Family ties was probably the the most what do you call those? Like sit commish ones, sit comish ones, sit comish.
Deshanta (06:18.112)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (06:41.885)
family ties. Let me go there.
Deshanta (06:46.38)
What would Thursday be without the Keatons?
Steve Barnes (06:49.893)
R yep. And then you know, of course the Cosby's were either before or after them too, yes.
Deshanta (06:55.34)
Yes. I think yeah. They were Thursdays too.
Steve Barnes (07:00.247)
And speaking of Cosby's, like, you know, we didn't know anything about Bill Cosby back then, but what I did know is that when I spent the night at my grandma's house, like I would wake up like at six or six thirty because Fat Albert came on like so early in the morning. And so I would have to w wake up really early just to watch it.
Deshanta (07:06.455)
Right.
Deshanta (07:16.844)
Yep.
Deshanta (07:22.978)
And I think it was like Saturday too. I recall. Hey, hey, hey. what about favorite movies?
Steve Barnes (07:26.179)
Mm. Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (07:32.535)
back then, I'd say like the Terminator, we went and saw that in the theaters quite a few times and like the for whatever reason, like this is a very eighties Gen X kind of thing, but they really featured like like Nikes Nikes. and they had like the the Velcro Air Jordans that they featured that Reese put on and like they had a nice slow pan shot.
Deshanta (07:33.998)
Yeah.
Deshanta (07:40.566)
Nice.
Steve Barnes (08:02.071)
I can't think of anything more eighties than that is like him in that department store running from the Terminator, getting dressed in the latest fashion.
Deshanta (08:11.576)
That's one of the best movies. Well, probably on my top ten, but Kyle Reese is everything. And just he what was it? Michael Biehn I think his name is? Terminator is great. I'm a fan.
Steve Barnes (08:17.661)
Ha ha ha.
Steve Barnes (08:23.237)
Yeah, that sounds about right. Yes. And then E. T. E. T. was another really another one that I saw in theaters multiple times. once with my sister and my mom. the i again, like just the pinnacle of like eight eighties culture to me is represented in that movie. The way those kids interact with each other and with their parents. It was a good representation, I think. That's kind of how
Deshanta (08:48.183)
Yes.
Steve Barnes (08:51.695)
We interacted, it seemed like it seemed like that's that was familiar to me.
Deshanta (08:58.274)
Favourite cartoons?
Steve Barnes (09:00.591)
Well, the fat Albert. and I always liked the Smurfs. I liked the music of the Smurfs a lot, like Gargamel's tune and the Cat Azriel. and Scooby Doo, like I I would always pay attention when that was on. And I liked all the guest stars that were on Sco and I was a real like T V kid.
Deshanta (09:13.27)
Mm.
Steve Barnes (09:24.799)
so I knew who all the guest stars were, like when Don Knotz showed up or like Mama Cass showed up
Deshanta (09:29.194)
I remember Don Knotts I know exactly what his cartoon looked like. Mama Cass, I'm not sure. Whish the mama did the papa. I know who she is. I just didn't remember her on Scooby Doo.
Steve Barnes (09:39.789)
She's one of like the mamas and the papas. Sh there was an episode where she it was almost like a Rapunzel type episode where she was like up in a castle and she was trapped up there and she used her hair to lure somebody to get her. And it was you know, of course it was like a ghost, aka like old man Smithers that had like trapped her up there in that room and the gang had to rescue her.
Deshanta (10:09.01)
Awesome. And that's why I appreciate the streaming services that show all the retro shows because they're so many and I'm always ending up with the big smile on my face and just all these memories and that's part of the reason why I wanted to do something like this to share that to share that with people. what about cereals? What type of cereals were you eating?
Steve Barnes (10:10.119)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (10:21.191)
Yep.
Steve Barnes (10:28.7)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (10:35.587)
boy. Yeah, I was that's what they gave us. Like they considered that like a nutritious breakfast. Like, hey, eat your cereal before you go to school. And they're really giving us like a bowl of sugar and like the milk. Milk is not really a great thing to give a kid, honestly. Like we know this now. So it's really funny to me. That's what but yeah, apple jacks, fruity pebbles, cookie crisp, those were my favorites because they were like, of course, sweet, but
Deshanta (10:52.844)
Right.
Deshanta (11:02.851)
Right.
Steve Barnes (11:03.857)
Then as I got a little older and I guess, you know, a little more sophisticated, I would eat corn flakes or raisin bran, but I would put a bunch of sugar on top of them. And so that was just as good as like any other kind of sweet cereal.
Deshanta (11:14.89)
Ha.
Deshanta (11:18.926)
That would be a Gen X move. Right. favorite candies?
Steve Barnes (11:23.003)
Yeah. And then drink all the milk afterwards. Yes. I mean it's wonderful. I haven't done that in a long time.
Steve Barnes (11:34.211)
I was really into the when you asked me these questions I almost wanna like answer like what I'm into now. But of course our angle is like Gen X and what we were
Deshanta (11:42.496)
We can talk about both 'cause you segued to this awesome graphics that we have now opposed to back in the day. So I'm open to hearing both. And you might you know, give some advice to somebody out there that might be shopping for a new game system. Like it's all love over here. So just keep flowing.
Steve Barnes (11:54.672)
Okay.
Steve Barnes (12:00.541)
Right on. candies when I was a kid and now, like 'cause they still have them in like drugstores now is like the caramels. Like even if they're like the really hard caramels, I I really like those 'cause they lasted for a long time. Yeah. Big League Two. that was when I was a kid, of course. Yeah.
Deshanta (12:16.349)
Mm-hmm.
That's valid.
Deshanta (12:25.812)
that gum.
Steve Barnes (12:28.965)
It you would act all cool while you had it like you were chewing tobacco. and the way that it was packaged in that cool pouch thing. you know, thrifty kids like me knew that you could reuse that pouch for, you know, other stuff. but that was the that was a super sweet gum that seemed to last longer than most gums somehow.
Deshanta (12:31.47)
Right.
Deshanta (12:52.93)
I remember it.
Steve Barnes (12:54.991)
And then I'm a s I'm a chocolate guy. I'm really like I said, the caramels. So I like Snickers bars and any kind of chocolate with caramel. I I don't do it much I try to avoid that stuff, of course, now I'm almost fifty four. But I there was a time in my life when I would eat a Snicker bar every day, every single day.
Deshanta (13:17.422)
I feel like this is the moment that I should say I really like Snickers and I've been bad lately and then I see this news report and they're like Snickers causes cancer. I'm like no So to everyone out there stop stop with the Snickers. I'm just saying.
Steve Barnes (13:30.561)
Steve Barnes (13:34.653)
W what is the ingredient that causes cancer?
Deshanta (13:39.104)
I can look it up right now. I don't remember. There was a list of and I'm like, Okay, I'm good. Okay, I'm good. No So let me see what AI is gonna say.
Steve Barnes (13:50.855)
Okay.
Deshanta (14:04.748)
And my grandmother loved her some Snickers too.
Steve Barnes (14:08.253)
Yeah. I kinda stand alone with that. I got all of them. Like Halloween, like I got all of them.
Deshanta (14:10.304)
Okay, here it comes.
Deshanta (14:17.736)
It says recent studies have raised concerns about the presence of arsenic in various popular candy s candies including Snickers. So arsenic. Additionally, ingredients well we know about high fructose corn syrup. But yeah. Arsenic. Yeah. I we're doomed. Yeah, but and it's funny because
Steve Barnes (14:29.883)
Ik's
Steve Barnes (14:34.247)
That's everything. High fructose corn syrup?
Deshanta (14:44.192)
We go to the supermarket knowing mo anyway, why is the health food section so small in a supermarket where we're supposed to have sustainable food? But th here we are. Okay.
Steve Barnes (14:53.318)
Right.
Steve Barnes (14:59.417)
And the prices are jacked up too because it's like a small company that they have to like have the prices, you know, pay them back for their work. So they're higher, of course. And then you have these larger companies that can cut their prices in half. So yeah, like that that health food section you're talking about is usually expensive stuff that people bypass.
Deshanta (15:21.002)
Exactly. 'Cause they have to. That's what they've had us coming down to, unfortunately. And I'm not trying to become a drag, so let's keep it moving. Let's talk about video games for a little while, 'cause I love video games. I'm not a fanatic of anything, but I do enjoy some good games. What were you playing back in the day?
Steve Barnes (15:23.153)
Yeah. Yeah.
Steve Barnes (15:36.39)
Okay.
Steve Barnes (15:40.733)
This classic classic nineteen eighties stuff. Like we had a a movie theater and a grocery store that were about like fifteen minutes, a fifteen minute walk, maybe like like a ten minute bike ride because it was all uphill. And there was a Super Mario or like a Mario Brothers, there was a Dig Dug, and there was Galaga.
And then of course in the movie theater they had all the pinball machines and stuff. So those other games though were the ones that we played all the time. And because it's it was a relatively small community, you know. I grew up in this neighborhood in Henrico that probably in that area was like five hundred, six hundred homes, along with this movie theater and grocery store and then other stuff nearby.
So relatively small community and there was this certain initials that were always on like the leaderboard of the games, D A B, Dab. And we never knew who that was. He was always on he or she was always at the top. Probably an employee that worked there is what I'm thinking.
Deshanta (16:48.51)
Ha ha ha.
Deshanta (16:55.758)
Probably.
It's like fucking dab again, damn it.
Steve Barnes (17:01.639)
But yeah, the leaderboard was a was like a big thing. I mean, of course they talk about that now in current like eighties nostalgia movies and I think in Stranger Things that was like a a plot point was like getting your initials on a leaderboard, but that was like a real thing. and then when somebody like unplugged the machine like over the weekend or something, the store like would unplug the machine, that would be like a real big bummer.
Deshanta (17:26.542)
man I didn't know that. That sucks.
Steve Barnes (17:29.581)
That yeah. And then another thing is the the original Nintendo games, like Super Mario Bros. and Final Fantasy One, they didn't have a a save feature on the earliest models. So if you wanted to save the game, you would have to just leave it on overnight, like put your guy somewhere safe and then just leave it on all night and then come back to it.
Deshanta (17:52.554)
yeah, my friend.
Steve Barnes (17:57.957)
Otherwise you would lose your gabe if you turned it off.
Deshanta (18:01.346)
That's crazy. What was the first home system video game that you got?
Steve Barnes (18:07.843)
when I was eleven, my mom got remarried and so we moved in with my with my new dad, stepdad, and he already had a ColecoVision like like football game. And the only game he had was football, and it really was not a great game. It was but he had that original game and now a lot of people talk about it nostalgically, and I don't remember it.
being fun. I just remember it being like, And then when we got the Atari when that became available, that was a big hit. But that lived over at my grandparents' house. I think that was like a strategic move from my mom, maybe. but when I would spend the weekends at my grandparents' house, that's when I would get to like play the Atari and watch the cable TV. And that early Atari was like,
I mean, I remember Pitfall being like the funnest game to play and but it was really frustrating.
Deshanta (19:06.592)
Yeah. I still have it like Pitfall was great. It was the graphics were cheesy, not that we knew that, but it was just a really fun game.
Steve Barnes (19:20.253)
Yeah, he would make that little noise when I ran over the crocodiles.
Deshanta (19:22.894)
Yep. and we're talking about twenty Atari twenty six hundred, right? Or fifty two hundred.
Steve Barnes (19:30.921)
I guess twenty six hundred, the earliest one with like the the just the one stick and I think it came with like Space Invaders and like you know Pong of course, which for whatever reason, Pong was like one of the games I liked playing the most with like somebody else. Yeah, so simple but yet so like satisfying too and engaging.
Deshanta (19:35.596)
Okay.
Deshanta (19:50.711)
It was fun.
Deshanta (19:56.384)
Right. Right. 'Cause it's on you. You it's one on one, you know? It's you and you better win. my family didn't get we didn't have twenty six hundred, I don't we got the fifty two hundred, so I kinda missed out. But I definitely knew about pitfall. I love Pitfall to this day 'cause, you know, they came out with the later ones. So that was a lot of fun.
Steve Barnes (20:02.045)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (20:18.589)
Sure.
Steve Barnes (20:23.737)
And yeah, but like living with with my parents, you know, I moved out in eighty nine is when I moved out. So I think the Atari maybe I had a Nintendo at that time, but I remember playing the original Nintendo at like my first apartment, like with one of my first girlfriends, and the situation like what we were playing Mario Brothers and I had to leave the Atari I mean the Nintendo one overnight at that time. So I think that was about nineteen ninety or so.
Deshanta (20:52.974)
Nintendo was great. Duck hunt.
Steve Barnes (20:56.603)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I didn't like that one as much, but I did like the the the feel of that gun was like a it was a cool, you know, cool feature on that on that machine.
Deshanta (21:10.144)
I wish they had it now. I mean I know that they have accessories, but like the duck hunt and gun and it just brings back memories for me. Did you ever beat a game?
Steve Barnes (21:23.309)
sh yes. I I beat almost all those Mario games. I beat Final Fantasy One and Final Fantasy Three. And then a little bit later on when my son was born, he was born in ninety six. So, you know, I was a Gen X early Gen X dad, and at that time they had PlayStations. And we played together Tomb Raider and
Tony Hawk Pro Skater one and two, and those are games that I beat on that system. But then after that, like I handed off the mantle to Caleb, my son. I after beating the Tony Hawk 2, I think when Tony Hawk three came out, I like half heartedly played it, but I never really played any video games past that point. but my son is like a
Deshanta (21:57.134)
wow.
Deshanta (22:02.424)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (22:18.659)
Massive gamer. That's like his favorite thing to do is online gaming. There you go.
Deshanta (22:21.398)
Hi Caleb. Shout out to Caleb. okay, let's shift gears. Do you watch superhero movies? Are you into comics? That type of thing?
Steve Barnes (22:29.33)
Okay.
Steve Barnes (22:35.473)
You know, when I was a kid, I was. I I thought the X Men were cool. I was a you know a casual fan of like Superman and like the TV show The Greatest American Hero. but
Deshanta (22:49.858)
Don't get me bussing out the song. Believe it or not, I'm walking on there. I could I'm crazy. Go ahead.
Steve Barnes (22:58.349)
And that nice curly mop of hair that guy's got too. yeah, that was that was that's about as far as my superhero fandom went. And as I got a little older I started reading the X-Men comic books. And so my son, it was all Caleb, same guy, was also into the X Men and Marvel. And I had some of the some of the older Marvel stuff.
Deshanta (23:01.23)
Hehehehehe
Steve Barnes (23:25.083)
But his stepdad, you know, me and his mo his mom are separated or divorced, I should say. And his stepdad is a real comic guy and is really into like any superhero you can think of. He's like really well versed in it. So he introduced Caleb to a lot of superheroes and stuff. So my son is very much into all the superhero stuff lore. Myself, I pretty much stopped at like when the X-Men
did like their first movie, like with Wolverine like in the black leather suit. that's where I stopped with my superhero love. I d I don't really wasn't a huge fan when I was a kid. I was more, I don't know. I just not not so much into superheroes as much as my other friends were. One kid, I'm I I'll give him a shout out even though we're not really friends or anything, but we we were kind of friends back then in in middle school.
Deshanta (24:05.549)
Mm-hmm.
Deshanta (24:13.28)
No judgment.
Steve Barnes (24:24.567)
and his name was Glenn. And, you know, n he and I and another guy, Sean, were h friends by default because we didn't really have any other friends at the time, sixth grade kind of stuff. And Glenn was super into comic books to the point where like he couldn't talk to people because he was reading comic books all the time. And to this day he owns the comic shop that's right next door to the
grocery store that we played video games at. He he runs the comic shop over there now. So he's continued on with what he loves.
Deshanta (25:01.058)
That's dope Shout out.
Steve Barnes (25:02.843)
Yeah, totally. Stories comics, by the way. I should shout that out.
Deshanta (25:07.31)
And that's very thoughtful you. That's very thoughtful. are you into sports? Or were you into sports?
Steve Barnes (25:10.34)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (25:14.405)
No, n no, never, not at all. Skateboarder. I'm a skateboarder now. And I've always loved that. Even when I was a kid, we would with like the oldest model skateboards that came out in the early eighties and we would build really sketchy ramps to skate on. but that's the only sport that I was ever really into.
Deshanta (25:35.574)
I had a thing. I do have a thing for skateboards as well. When I was little, my mom got me a pink skateboard. I had to be about I'ma say five or six living in the Bronx and I would she got me a pink one. Anyway, I was excited and loved it. And I don't e little silly me living like I knew better, so I don't know what I was thinking, but
Steve Barnes (25:40.353)
yeah?
Steve Barnes (25:52.476)
Yeah.
Course.
Deshanta (26:00.246)
I ran upstairs to get something. the skateboard will be fine here. I came back down. No, it was gone and it should have been gone because what was I thinking? But I eventually got a royal blue one. But I love skateboarding too. I didn't stole it back from you. Yeah. I was I was relating to loving skateboards too. But yeah, man, I had a dope pink one. and actually
Steve Barnes (26:12.839)
That pigment got stolen, that's what you're saying? Like you left we're talking like within like a minute? That's awful.
Steve Barnes (26:25.573)
Yeah. Yeah. I had so many. I couldn't even begin.
Deshanta (26:30.346)
I wanna s I wanna sponsor this is me envisioning sick my company blowing up GenX Gon Give It To Ya or Sick Like Mines 'cause I a T shirt company. But I wanna sponsor a skateboard team or I like bikes too. But a bike team and have GenX Gon Give It To Ya on the back of it or Sick Like Mines on the back of it, but I love th those type of sports.
Steve Barnes (26:40.201)
cool.
Steve Barnes (26:55.621)
Right on. Like well, I was gonna shout out at the very end because one of your last questions, I'm gonna move things around on you 'cause I love messing things up. Cause you were you said wanna shout out anybody in the community making a change and I was gonna say Love Seat Unlimited, which is run by my friend Bernie. And it's it's a gay skateboarding brand focused on allyship among skaters, musicians and the gay community by making like products
Deshanta (27:02.89)
Yeah, yeah. Let's Let's go.
Deshanta (27:23.224)
See?
Steve Barnes (27:25.409)
geared towards like straight, like work shirts, bomb bomber jackets, like cargo pants. he he's got like a bunch of tie-dyes and stuff like that with like his, you know, gay friendly logo on it. And so you know, Love Seat Unlimited is what he's got. So if you want to look that up yourself on Instagram, that's what it is, Love Seat Unlimited.
Deshanta (27:32.44)
That's what I'm talking about.
Deshanta (27:39.828)
I love it.
Deshanta (27:45.718)
I'm Love Seat Unlimited. I appreciate you for that. And mad love to you for sharing. You know what I mean? P some people want to come on and just talk about themselves, blah blah blah ba. No. Okay, no shame in your game. I love that. What old school shows do you still watch, if any?
Steve Barnes (27:54.748)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (27:58.407)
I'll do that too.
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (28:11.673)
Only one, you know, is is the little house on the prairie. Because I my wife and I are the exact same way. We're we don't really re-watch stuff very often unless we're rewatching something that we're currently watching, like you know, rewatching the most recent episode of Widow's Bay or whatever. Like we like to watch n newer shows that are coming out as opposed to re-watching stuff. So that really hampers your question here. So the only
w answer I have is Little House on the Prairie. That's the only show that I still watch from that era.
Deshanta (28:48.34)
No hamper at all. I this is my moment to tell you that I really appreciated listening to your episode. I caught on to Little House late, like probably three years in already. So listening to the detail you and your co-host assessed on so many episodes that you watched and listened to and
Steve Barnes (28:49.981)
Okay.
Steve Barnes (29:04.573)
Mm-hmm.
Deshanta (29:13.386)
you left me I was just your passion for it just really impressed me and that's why I knew that this episode was gonna be so good because you immersion you immerse yourself in things and you take the time to listen and understand and show perspective and it was just a really enjoyable episode to listen to. So thank you again for being on here. And yes, I was gonna say all that later on, but here we are and that's just how it is sometimes. You're just gonna roll with it.
Steve Barnes (29:17.073)
Ha ha.
Steve Barnes (29:22.022)
huh.
Steve Barnes (29:39.901)
Yeah.
Deshanta (29:43.566)
what type of music did you really enjoy? I know you mentioned a couple of artists earlier, but what was your jam?
Steve Barnes (29:52.965)
It was always either like hard rock, like Van Halen, Quiet Riot, A C D C Black Sabbath, stuff like that. Or it was like hip hop or rap. Like the early stuff like Roxanne, Roxanne and like Nucleus Jam on it. 'cause that's one thing that we like to do is rollers we had a roller skating rink.
Deshanta (30:12.92)
Yeah.
Jam only.
Steve Barnes (30:21.137)
That was also like kind of in our area. So they would play, you know, like Jam on It and Roxanne, Roxanne. And I remember when the real Roxanne came out. That was like one of the first songs that like to me was like a mystery because she was like, I'm the real Roxanne. And I was like, Well what was that other song? Was that not her? Was there like an imposter Roxanne?
Deshanta (30:37.838)
Right, Roxanne Shantae and then the real Roxanne and U T F O with the Roxanne Roxanne. So Roxanne Roxanne. I love it. Can't you understand? Okay. I'm okay, let me
Steve Barnes (30:52.721)
I wanna be your man.
Steve Barnes (31:00.753)
Yeah, and I still like that same stu I still like y you know, Led Zeppelin and Van Halen and stuff a lot. And I don't listen to the old school rap. I've like moved on to like I think a lot of Gen X guys listen to the same type of like hip hop that I do, which is like Kendrick Lamar and like Tyler the Creator and like Kanye and guys who are like forty, fifty years old, kid cuddy. I like that kind of stuff now.
Deshanta (31:22.23)
Mm.
Steve Barnes (31:29.563)
So I don't really listen to the older stuff anymore. I know some people like to listen to it like the, you know, LL Cool J run DMC for nostalgia. I never really put on yeah. I never put on nostalgia stuff. I'll I'd rather much rather put on current stuff. I don't know. I'm I'm not one to look back, which is why I was really eager to like come on your podcast and talk about this stuff because this is something I don't don't normally do.
Deshanta (31:37.682)
All day.
Deshanta (31:55.98)
And I appreciate that. Thank you. And so tell me about I know A C D C but I can't say that I would know a s like, they sing this, so do you have any popular songs that might come to mind?
Steve Barnes (32:02.502)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (32:06.471)
Okay.
Steve Barnes (32:10.493)
back in black. it if you heard the guitar riff, it's back in black. I hit the sack. Does does that ring a bell? That's one of theirs.
Deshanta (32:17.71)
Yes. Yeah. Okay. For everyone out there, he did great. You did great on that. So tell me about do you listen to any type of old school stuff? Nothing at all?
Steve Barnes (32:27.289)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (32:41.719)
Yeah, I know. 'cause most of the metal I listen to now too is is all current stuff. I get really excited when like newer bands come out. I'm in a cover band and w let's see. A lot of the stuff we play is like eighties stuff, as a matter of fact. We play stuff like the cult and the kinks, the sex pistols.
Deshanta (33:04.876)
Rockin' the Caspaw.
Steve Barnes (33:08.119)
There you go. Not not quite the clash, but yeah, you g that's that idea, like that type of upbeat kind of punk metal stuff.
Deshanta (33:17.164)
I think I got the cult in the class mixed up, my bad.
Steve Barnes (33:20.497)
yeah, yeah, that's okay. The cult did the the love removal machine. I'm not gonna try to sing 'cause he's very high pitched in that song. But yeah. Mm-hmm. I do sing a couple of the songs. I sing one of the Black Sabbath songs, Electric Funeral, which of course is a song from the sixties, even before my time. And so
Deshanta (33:32.118)
You play an instrument or you sing or you do both?
Steve Barnes (33:46.757)
I s yeah, I guess I still do like stuff like Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, 'cause that's my daughter's first concert was with me to go see Iron Maiden, who's decidedly a early eighties metal band. And I still love them. They put out current stuff. and of course I favor listening to their newer stuff as opposed to looking back. But yeah, those are my bands right there, I guess.
Deshanta (34:12.312)
How long have you been in a band?
Steve Barnes (34:15.129)
as long as I can remember really. I started at with trombone only by default because one of my mom's friends had a trombone and like so when they were in third grade when you were allowed to join band, you needed an instrument, of course, or you needed a rent one. And we didn't have the money to do that, but we had this trombone. So that's what I played.
And my granddad played guitar in Oregon. So I followed in his footsteps and he gave me a guitar, like a a cheap acoustic guitar, I think when I was like eleven for Christmas. And then later on an electric guitar when I was like fourteen or so. And I grew up in the neighborhood, the same neighborhood I grew up where we played those video games and we rode bikes around. A lot of guys were in bands, in metal bands.
Deshanta (35:06.731)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (35:11.975)
playing like yeah, A C D C and Motorhead and Iron Maiden Riffs. And I was one of those guys.
Deshanta (35:19.916)
And you felt supported by your family? You know how parents are like rock and roll fast and drunk but they were cool with it?
Steve Barnes (35:25.597)
not really. I because my mom w liked the house to be completely silent when she went to bed. Like if you went to the bathroom, you would get in trouble. one of those kind of deals. So I can't say that she was a hundred percent supportive because I didn't get to play guitar as much as I wanted. I always had to go take my guitar to my friends' houses to play with them.
Deshanta (35:35.166)
Yeah.
Deshanta (35:39.126)
He
Steve Barnes (35:53.185)
But yeah, I mean supportive, they they bought me instruments. they listened to me clumsily play guitar for them when I would, you know, show them what I was working on. So yeah, I mean I I don't want to discount them at all. They were supportive. but you know, some of my friends were their parents were like, Yeah, y'all can play in here as loud as you want, twenty four seven. I don't care and I'm like, Yeah, that's like that's where we're gonna hang out
Deshanta (36:18.126)
Right right. so what would you say would be like one of your best moments growing up? Do you have anything that stands out for you?
Steve Barnes (36:36.349)
Sure, yeah. Like we spent a lot of time, especially like before I learned to drive, 'cause that's like, you know, when you're kind of stuck in that neighborhood with those kids, you can't really go anywhere. we had this it's really developed a lot now, of course, but at the time it wasn't as developed. So there's a lot of woods and there was also some early development happening. So places that we could go lift lumber and like
wood to go make those skateboard ramps and forts in the woods. So there was a lot of fun memories of like building forts in the woods and like starting not starting fires like campfires, like around like our fort and like hanging out in there. at one point we were reminiscing about this just a few months ago when I was hanging with some of the some of the guys from the neighborhood. He reminded me that we we dug this gigantic hole in the woods
And then we put a skateboard ramp in the hole. Cause like our theory was like if we had like a ramp and we fell off of we'd get hurt. But if we dug at a hole, you know, you're already down in there. So I mean, it it worked. I mean, we had a lot of fun skating that thing. I'm sure it wasn't in great condition, but it was good enough for us to have fun for a few weeks.
Deshanta (37:57.998)
For sure. And you know, it's like it was an adventure.
Steve Barnes (38:02.909)
Absolutely, yeah. And it was, you know, you were within earshot of home too, 'cause like the way this neighborhood was situated by these woods and like we lived on the last house of the cul de sac and then there was a bunch of woods that now there's a bunch of apartments and a bunch of houses there. But at the time it was woods, so if like one of our moms yelled for us, we could definitely hear them. So it was, you know, it was like we were
let loose to be wild, but we were also pretty safe as well, not too far away. But
Deshanta (38:37.932)
Right. And they that was always the intention. Like we were so free, but we weren't. You know, and that was okay. Like it worked because we all looked out for each other. And I feel like that's what's so different about today versus childhood when we grew up. Like everybody was looking out for everybody. It might have been annoying for us back then, but really people just had the best intentions because they wanted all of our kids to be okay.
Steve Barnes (38:43.473)
Ha ha.
Steve Barnes (39:06.247)
Yeah. There was stuff that was I mean, in in my case, and I'm pretty sure it's the same with my friends too. our parents didn't know that we were smoking cigarettes, that we were drinking, that we were smoking pot, that we were spending our paper route money on pot. Some ti some of the kids on worse stuff than that.
Deshanta (39:24.685)
Right.
Steve Barnes (39:28.859)
We it w we were never caught. Like, I think all you had to do was like take a whiff of us as we walk past and you would know. so I don't know, we w we weren't as monitored and guided as much, I think, as a lot of kids are. Like like me as a parent, you know, I I'm I noticed things about my kid. I I I I
I know that I'm paying probably like a hundred percent more attention to my kids than my mom was paying to me. And it's not like she was doing a bad job, but I think I learned to like w what I should be doing from what she was not doing.
Deshanta (40:11.574)
I appreciate I think that we have a
different experience and I feel yours I align with yours but I don't see the alignment where I am. Do you know what I mean? Like I love your perspective and again going back to just hearing your podcast you made the eighteen hundreds feel like it was dope. Like it was just the greatest time ever
Steve Barnes (40:18.8)
Okay.
Steve Barnes (40:31.901)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (40:42.332)
Ha ha.
Uh-huh.
Deshanta (40:45.548)
Your atten your attentiveness to the episode reflects how you are as a person. So it really impressed me. Parents don't pay enough attention is what I'm saying. So you hearing that you do and others do, and I'm not saying, you know, this is a issue. You know, it's just something that I'm observing regarding you.
Steve Barnes (40:53.501)
Hmm.
Steve Barnes (41:04.541)
Mm.
Steve Barnes (41:11.9)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Deshanta (41:15.546)
and what I see and it's just different. No. In my opinion, more parents need to be paying attention and caring and nurturing. And that stood out for me too, the nurturing. And it was just impressive and it was nice. So that's why I looked forward to this interview. Yeah. It's like I hope I don't sound c
Steve Barnes (41:23.303)
Uh-huh.
Steve Barnes (41:34.267)
Yeah, great. Thank you. And and shout out to my mom too. If she if my mom if my mom's watching, you know, of course I I love you, Ma, you know. Like I'm not I'm not trying to like put put anything down on that, but you know, that's i looking back, there were I feel like there were like obvious signs that she like in her generation of parents just weren't adept at recognizing because it just wasn't a
Deshanta (41:44.012)
Ha ha ha.
Steve Barnes (42:03.825)
thing that they're even looking out for, you know? Which I'm talking about like mental I'm talking about like, you know, mental health and like kids that, you know, are struggling internally, but they're made to just kind of go along as if everything is okay. And those things can compound compound upon themselves. And yeah. I'm over explaining.
Deshanta (42:06.026)
Or new to look out for.
Deshanta (42:27.316)
I acknowledge that. I th I th I feel like I'm overexplaining, but I think it's 'cause we're trying to relate to each other a little more. And I hope I didn't give the impression that somebody didn't do something right back in the day. I wasn't saying that. I was just saying, hey, we made it, we're great, we're here and look, n not all the kids are fucked up.
Steve Barnes (42:36.925)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (42:43.503)
yeah.
Deshanta (42:50.958)
That's where I was going with it. This part will probably get edited out, but I'm relating to you on that. And with that I do have a question ca and I think I want to know this from everybody because it's just the answers that we get just intrigue me. But when when you were little, was there something that you absolutely had to have that you didn't get?
Steve Barnes (42:52.005)
Yeah.
sure, that's fine.
Steve Barnes (43:18.269)
Yeah, talking about like hanging out in those woods that were by the cul-de-sac. my next door neighbor, Kurt, and then another kid down the block had dirt bikes, like motorized dirt bikes. Mm-hmm. Yep. Well, yeah, that I would, you know, I would be able to ride like doubles behind him and a couple of times he let me ride it.
Deshanta (43:34.195)
I wanted one so bad. I wanted one so bad. Go ahead.
Steve Barnes (43:46.447)
a little bit, but you know, it's like it's his bike. He's not gonna let a buddy ride it. And, you know, it's a it was a blessing that he let us, you know, ride on the back with him whenever, you know, up and down the trails. I always wanted one too, and that was something that my mom was not willing to give us. And I'm I'm happy with that because I'm I never grew up to be a motorcycle guy. that phase when Kurt had that motorcycle was probably a phase of about six months or so.
that we were really into that thing and then it was like, you know, back to school or whatever or wintertime or whatever. And, you know, things phase out. so I never got into that again. But yes, I begged my parents for it. And they gave me like a really nice BMX bike for Christmas that year, but not a motorbike.
Deshanta (44:31.034)
He
Deshanta (44:38.84)
I would have been happy with the BMX too. I don't know I was a little tomboy 'cause I like I said, skateboards. I wanted a BMX bike. Like that was just what it was for me. What were you thinking about in childhood that you thought you were gonna be? Like a doctor, a lawyer, a marine biologist?
Steve Barnes (44:41.136)
I was, I was.
Steve Barnes (44:46.172)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (45:01.319)
I mean I either thought I was gonna be a writer of some sort, like an author. I was really into Stephen King and really into like horror books at a early age. Or I wanted to be a rock star, of course, you know, with my guitar and listening to Van Halen and some of the older guys in the neighborhood like actually played shows around the Richmond clubs and stuff and I wanted to be like them. so yeah, I always wanted to be like an entertainer or some kind of creative.
is always what I've wanted to be. Or another direction when pushed. I think when s when school pushes you, the like, you want to be a rock star, huh? Can you can you give us a realistic answer here, kid? I always turned to animals and I was always said I would go into veterinarian medicine. And that's a path I obviously did not take. That would require college, which I didn't go to. but
Yeah, either either creative or working with animals. And what I'm doing now is I'm working in the water utility t water utility industry and I've been doing that since two thousand. And I don't dislike my job. I get to drive around a lot, work work with water, help customers with issues. so it's not terrible, but I'm not a rock star or anything. I do podcast and I do play in two different bands.
Deshanta (46:29.206)
Hmm.
Steve Barnes (46:31.163)
And I do release music and all that kind of stuff, but that's something like a younger me looking at me now probably wouldn't understand. They would be like, So you've you've released you, me, Steve Barnes, you've released six EPs, like one album, you've been in a TV show and you don't make any money doing you have a podcast, 170 episodes, you've interviewed like famous actors, you
You don't make any money doing that? That's you do that all for free? It's like, yeah, that's correct.
Deshanta (47:07.214)
Do you intend to monetize at some point?
Steve Barnes (47:10.811)
I mean I do a little bit. I try to, 'cause Zencaster is my sponsor and that's about thirty dollars a month. And then my music intravoid. I got lucky. I started doing music around twenty twenty, twenty twenty one. This is before the bots and the AI really got big. And so I've been able to get into like some organic playlists that I'm still part of. So I I do make money off of Intravoid. Just a very small amount though. Like we're
talking like way less than a hundred dollars a month. and it'd be great if it was more. I don't ever expect it to go viral just because of my age and my enthusiasm level. I just kind of put stuff out when I feel like it. I have a few hundred like followers and I think on Spotify it's thousands of followers, but it's nobody knocking down my door, nobody really pushing me to like do more. And all I want to do is just play music with my friends.
Deshanta (47:59.862)
Mm.
Steve Barnes (48:09.029)
So it's I think I'm just gonna be on the same keel probably, you know, as long as I keep doing it.
Deshanta (48:15.842)
Well until you met me. But anyway what's I hey, a it's all about the Gen X over here, so I will spread your message 'cause it's a dope message. You mentioned that you had two bands. What what are their names?
Steve Barnes (48:18.811)
Yeah? yeah? You're gonna boost me. I could use the boost.
Steve Barnes (48:25.693)
Ha ha ha.
Steve Barnes (48:32.093)
Mm-hmm. well, me and my pals, it's I guess you would call us Electric Fist. That's the one where we play like Judas Priest and Motorhead and stuff. And it's funny because the guys in this band, there's five of us, it's the exact same band that I was at the very first band I was in that we played shows back in '91, '92, is the exact same guys.
That's in this band now. We used to be called Dead at Birth back then, which is a terrible name. but we played a few shows under that name together. Now we're together as Electric Fist. And also Intravoid is my band, and that's the band that I've released, the EPs and the album. And a couple of guys from Electric Fist are with me in Intravoid. And that's where I release you original music. And I have a friend.
James, who goes by the rap handle Marshland Monster, and he has a contact with another rapper, a probably a a couple levels above us, Dragon Boy Suede. And I've been able to remix some of their music. So it you know, it's like so it's like hip hop, like drony kind of trip hop, kind of a couple of it's kind of jazzy.
couple of metal remixes, but all my stuff is either my metal stuff or it's it's this hip hop remixes I do with them.
Deshanta (49:58.806)
And do you receive producer credits on this? Did you organize everything? nice. That's very cool. regarding Sweet Child of Time, your podcast, it focuses on stories where time itself is almost a character. What was it? Yes. What is it about time travel, alternate timeline, and generational storytelling that inspired you to build an entire series around that concept?
Steve Barnes (50:02.159)
Mm-hmm. Yes. Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (50:11.633)
Mm-hmm. Thank you.
Steve Barnes (50:17.148)
Yes.
Steve Barnes (50:30.021)
I think the main reason is well I mean of course I love time travel movies just on its face, you know, it's not like I have like a strong connection to them or it doesn't there's not like really big a link big linking story I can tell you other than I've always found it's best to rein myself self in and give myself boundaries to work within.
And that way it's a lot easier to like produce something in that. So if I put out a podcast like, just stuff that I like and just open drain, then I don't know, it's good it's good to limit myself. And I figured that the concept of time comes up in some of my favorite shows. So I thought that would be a good thing to l to limit it to. And then of course I cheat a little bit, like with something like Little House on the Prairie, it's like
That's not time displacement. That's not time travel. It's like, no, but it's like going back in time more than a hundred years, like a hundred and thirty, a hundred and forty years is a different time frame. So that's kind of how I cheat with some certain things I do, but otherwise most of the stuff is involving time travel, like time bandits and eighteen ninety-nine and dark, which are definitely time travel shows, which
I guess just because it kind of blows my mind, like time travel itself and the thought of meeting another alternate version of myself. here's something interesting that that kind of ties in with this. And this is before I'd started doing the podcast as well, is I was I was working for the utility company, I was reading meters, and it was a walking job.
Deshanta (52:15.48)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (52:21.393)
I would walk from meter to meter physically and like, you know, read the meters physically that way. And I would come down street one way and then come down up the other way. And I'd be going down the same cross street, you know, multiple times. One time I was just thinking crazy, because I'm a crazy thinker. And as I came to a hill on one of the cross streets, I saw somebody.
Deshanta (52:40.174)
Mm.
Steve Barnes (52:48.913)
Like just like the glimpse of them and I th could have swore it was like me. And I was like, Is that me from like two hours ago? And like 'cause I just came up this street just this way. And like, what if I could like talk to myself from that time and take some kind of message? And of course, you know, this is all just goofy thoughts because I immediately realized that the person that I saw was like a woman walking her dog, but like the way the sun was shining, it was just a figure.
that kinda had my build. so just like that thought kind of st always stuck with me. And like anytime I came to a cross street, I would always go back to that thought of like how would I meet myself? And when I started watching shows and doing podcasts about them, especially Dark, there's a show on Netflix called Dark that's a three season time travel show where exactly that happens.
like characters like meet themselves and guide themselves. so yeah, it's just it's just a neat concept that I thought would be a way that I could rein myself in.
Deshanta (54:00.384)
Which brings me to my next question coincidentally. You've covered everything from dark to time bandits to Wheel of Time. Why do you think audiences, especially Gen X, continue to be drawn to stories that challenge our understanding of time and memory?
Steve Barnes (54:17.511)
Hmm. I don't know. I think we maybe don't like as like the present as much as we think about the past. Like we think about the past as like a a better place. Like we think about it as better than it actually was. So like if there's I don't know. I th I th I think it's that yearning for going back to something that you thought was better than it is now.
Deshanta (54:48.034)
Fair enough. You've mentioned two things that made me think of Twilight Zone episodes. going back in the past, stop at Bardleby when you just spoke about the past. That popped into my head. And the one I think it's called Mirror Image. I hope I'm right about that. But I think the character's name is Alison Barnes, and I could be wrong about that too. So but anyway, she's in a bus station and
Steve Barnes (54:56.009)
yeah.
Steve Barnes (55:13.467)
Deshanta (55:17.402)
And she it turns out that she has a doppledanger and everywhere she goes, she asks a question and they're like, What do you what are you talking about? You just asked me that two minutes ago and she's like, What are you talking about? Anyway, very good episodes. I'm a big Star Wars fan, so I mean Twilight Zone, sorry. Twilight Zone fan, so that's what made me think of that when you said that. And I get it. Like time how as easy as you can understand time, you can't.
Steve Barnes (55:28.381)
Steve Barnes (55:34.813)
Twilight zone. Yeah.
Deshanta (55:46.158)
For me. That's in my interpretation. So I'm always trying to grasp new things to understand about it. And it's so fascinating. But time is relative or non existent. It depends on who you talk to.
Steve Barnes (55:50.236)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (56:01.775)
Right. Like somebody says like, is this now? And it's like, Nope, it's not now. That was then. There is no now. As soon as you recognize that it's now, now is then.
Deshanta (56:09.403)
Right.
Deshanta (56:14.902)
Right. one thing we do as GenX Gon Give It To Ya is revisit movies and television from our youth through the eyes of adults. Has there ever been a series you loved years ago that completely changed meaning after revisiting it in your podcast? And I'm gonna guess that you're gonna say Little House on the Prairie, but I could be wrong.
Steve Barnes (56:32.466)
Hmm.
Steve Barnes (56:38.253)
I guess Star Wars, you know, like I was huge fan of like the original trilogy, grew up with that, and also really excited for my son when, you know, The Phantom Menace came out in ninety nine. He was three years old. We went to the midnight showing, my buddy James, myself, and Caleb, little three year old Caleb. He fell asleep of course because the movie's like two and a half hours long.
Deshanta (57:06.826)
It's in his spirit though. Yes.
Steve Barnes (57:08.573)
That's right. I mean he's he's still a big Star Wars fan. I and like I didn't have the same enthusiasm for like the next set of Star Wars stuff that came out. And it made me realize like how loosey goosey the original Star Wars trilogy really was. Like he didn't really have a great plan. Like he did have a plan.
of what he wanted to do, but he didn't exactly set out a hundred percent with all the chess pieces in place. So he expand he and like others expanded the Star Wars universe, I think, in a lot of weird and unnecessary ways.
Deshanta (57:54.86)
Like what?
Steve Barnes (57:56.615)
I I guess the whole this the sequels, which is like the the Force Awakened, which is pretty good, and then the two that followed that, which I didn't feel were good. I felt they were more a just a spectacle of action and production as opposed to like story. And they kind of just kind of muddied the story up more than they needed to.
You know?
Deshanta (58:30.658)
Were you frustrated by the fact that they basically decimated the Jedi's and they made Luke into this little punk ass? Like I I don't understand. Am I bitter about it? Can you hear it in my voice? Like what happened? I don't Anyway
Steve Barnes (58:40.209)
Ha ha ha.
Steve Barnes (58:44.409)
Ha ha
Steve Barnes (58:48.751)
And the introduction of Metaclorians, like that's like that was another thing that like watching the Phantom Menace and they're talking about Midaclorean counts and that's how you're a Jedi. I'm like, really? Okay. You know, I kind of went along with it at the time, but like looking at that through the lens now, it's like, yeah, that really d not really a good concept they should have jumped on.
Deshanta (59:13.152)
It was a cop out. I can't even believe we Jedi's excuse me 'cause I consider myself a Jedi. I can't even believe we went out like this. I'm very upset. But that's for another episode. Maybe I'll invite you back on and have others that have issues because we weren't supposed to go out like this. I didn't and
Steve Barnes (59:19.53)
Steve Barnes (59:27.11)
Okay, okay.
Deshanta (59:35.816)
I have a nineteen seventy seven episode 'cause that was my favorite year. So I briefly discuss Star Wars and just how this is not the way, do you understand? Like no. You led you led us astray and then you left less the you dropped the you dropped us off. You like left us and now I'm here battling Jediism by myself. Like Okay, sorry, I'm just a little bitter.
Steve Barnes (59:40.401)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (01:00:05.167)
All right. I mean I mean the the Mandalorian kinda did the right thing for a while and I really did like Andor a lot. And even though like despite everything else, like Baby Yoda, Grogu, he's really cute. He really is cute. I mean it's hard to I think it's hard to discount his cuteness.
Deshanta (01:00:26.082)
He is totally cute and I appreciate it. But there's like a huge gap here. Like we started so strong. What happened? Who hates Star Wars? Who hates Jedi's? What's going on? This is what led the franchise. And now what do we have? Just people running amok doing whatever they want. There's a reason.
Steve Barnes (01:00:37.169)
Right.
Steve Barnes (01:00:48.487)
Yeah.
Deshanta (01:00:49.504)
And the timing for everything and they just took our time away. So that's how I feel about it. your discussions Nope. I appreciate you accepting me to have a moment to just vent about Star Wars. So thank you for that. Your podcast focuses on stories where time itself is almost a character.
Steve Barnes (01:00:58.353)
Touched a nerve here. Yeah, I'm sorry. I brought that up.
Steve Barnes (01:01:06.769)
Yes. Sure.
Deshanta (01:01:15.916)
What was it about time travel, alternate timelines, and generational storytelling that inspired you to build an entire series around that concept?
Steve Barnes (01:01:26.795)
I think kind of the same answer as before. Cause I I wanted to first off I was I knew I was gonna be recapping the show Wheel of Time and just the fact that that show has like a your time theme to it, I wanted to have the title of my show not be necessarily tied in to Wheel of Time in order to
recap other shows besides it. And I know now what I should have done. And this is advice I can give anybody doing like a podcast or a YouTube channel like this. Is what I should have done is had Sweet Child of Time is like the umbrella or umbrella podcast organization. And then I release like one podcast that only covers Little House on the Prairie. And then in another feed a podcast that only covers
Wheel of Time. That's really how I should have structured it. Instead I have like a hundred and seventy episodes like under one feed. So you can just kind of scroll through the feed and get everything like there. When I really should have made like a bunch of separate shows that had like their own seasons.
Deshanta (01:02:44.6)
Thank you for that and I apologize because I realized that I asked that already. So I'll probably mesh those two answers together. Your discussions go far beyond simple episode recaps. What's your preparation process like before recording? Are there hidden details, themes, or Easter eggs you're always looking for that casual viewers might miss?
Steve Barnes (01:02:51.995)
Yeah, there you go.
Steve Barnes (01:03:07.439)
Absolutely. usually first I'll watch this the episode just as a watcher. And if I have like any really strong thoughts or notice something like, you know, that I want to take note of right away, I will. But generally the f I'll I'll watch the episode just as anybody else would watch the episode. And yeah, keeping a keen eye out and a hundred percent of my focus. The second time I'll watch it, I'll watch it with my
notepad open and I'll be pausing the episode a lot. So it's not really fun to be with me in the room when I'm doing that because I'll I'll summarize each scene. And usually most shows have between 20 to 25 scenes. And if I can kind of mesh a couple scenes together to simplify things, I'll do that. But for the most part, those twenty scenes are going to be the beats of our episode. So for example, like if the opening scene
like we did the show The Highlander, myself and my friend James. Okay, yeah. And we discussed like the pilot episode and like the opening scene. you know, there's like a burglary attempt and and this kid like said this funny line. So, you know, that's gonna be the first thing we talk about, and what me or my co host might
Deshanta (01:04:11.769)
I'll have to look for that.
Steve Barnes (01:04:34.747)
have a riff that's off of something that they said. Like for example, this kid said this funny line. And so we're gonna we're gonna recount that line and then add our own tags on top of it. And then continue this continue the flow like that. And for example, with a little house on the prairie, there's an episode that I'm getting ready to do with someone and Laura has an accident with one of her dolls and it breaks. But she's like really like
leaning into like the fact that this doll is alive and that this doll like has feelings and like she's being like really kind to it and that's gonna be one of the topics of discussion in that episode is like did did you have that feeling with any of your stuffed animals or with any of your toys where like you know you thought you were hurting their feelings if you didn't play with them enough or, you know, you pr did you personify any of your toys and which ones?
so there'll be like discussion points that come up from the show, unique discussions that wouldn't normali I would normally wouldn't ask somebody that, but because we're watching this particular episode, it's a it's an interesting topic.
Deshanta (01:05:42.786)
Yeah.
Deshanta (01:05:47.682)
Thank you for that, I appreciate the clarification. If you could recommend just one time related let me back up. If you could recommend just one time related movie or television series that every member of Gen X should experience or revisit, what would it be and why?
Steve Barnes (01:06:06.557)
I don't rem I don't remember you asking me this one. This is this was this one is like off the cuff. you say you're saying that's you're saying that's repres something that's representative of Gen X?
Deshanta (01:06:13.046)
Yeah.
Deshanta (01:06:18.178)
Yes.
Steve Barnes (01:06:20.985)
Uh-huh.
Deshanta (01:06:23.02)
I didn't want you to know all the questions.
Steve Barnes (01:06:25.381)
Of course, yeah. Two of come two shows like come to mind immediately, like for me. And one of would be the A team. there was always a lesson and you know, Mr. T was always funny in that episode and Murdoch always had some, you know, quip. but they were always in these weird like eighties situations, like they had to go rescue somebody from like a concert, like, you know, Duran Duran or something and
Or they were like on the beach of like Miami, like in a lot of I don't know, it was it was just eighties to the T. And what's happening, that always reminds me of like just seventies culture, eighties dress, and just the way like people just talk to each other. And you know, th that again with that show, there was like always like a lesson, more so with what's happening than the A team.
Deshanta (01:07:08.686)
Steve Barnes (01:07:22.351)
is it was always like a wrap-up lesson that like one of the siblings would come to some realization about something or you know, like cool shows with a lot of style, featuring cool music, and it always has a lesson. And I think that that's a good representation of it.
Deshanta (01:07:41.976)
Thank you for that. And what's happening and A Team were classics, so that was a throwback and hopefully it will s inspire other people to go back and watch those shows. If you had the ability to travel back to any pop culture moment from the Gen X era, not to change history, just to witness it, which event would you choose and why?
Steve Barnes (01:07:56.061)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (01:08:03.645)
Okay.
Steve Barnes (01:08:10.459)
it would be when Freddie Mercury had like his big moment when he was doing his crowd chanting. I think that was at the at the Us Festival in like nineteen eighty four. I would definitely go wouldn't wanna be in the would wanna be in the crowd for that because I just like just watching that footage of Freddie Mercury like commanding that huge crowd is just gives you chills and just being there would be even better.
Deshanta (01:08:40.544)
I've seen photos of it but I don't think I've actually seen a re a video. Can you recap? What do you remember?
Steve Barnes (01:08:49.197)
you know, of course the band's jamming, but there's a time that
They're very theatrical. And he has like just the top half of his microphone. Like, you know, he had he had the microphone stand. It's supposed to come to the ground, but he pulls just the top half at, top half, top half out. So that's kind of like a a a visual in itself, because people don't normally do that the way he has his microphone. He's got all white on, his hair's like slick back, he's all like sweaty and stuff.
And he's doing like this call and response with the crowd where like it's just the drum going like with with the bass in the background. They're not playing like any particular song, but it's just like the crowd clapping. And he's like, he sings a verse, the crowd repeats, and it's just really it's really well done. And it's I I would r recommend looking it up on YouTube. It's right here on YouTube.
Right where you are.
Deshanta (01:09:57.1)
Yeah, I'm definitely gonna look it up. I just didn't really realize the impact. what would your child self tell your adult self?
Steve Barnes (01:10:08.953)
to
To not be afraid to travel and step more outside and lean into the creative more because I I had an opportunity to like move out west with some friends. I didn't. I stayed here because I had like a solid job and an apartment that I liked. But I was like 19 and just, you know, Richmond, Virginia, just living just not even a great job, just enough to pay this rent at this little apartment.
you know, I should have gone and explored. I should have gone and been in more bands, perhaps, because I stopped doing that a lot when I became a parent and I'm picking them more on that up now that my children are older. But that's that's what I would tell myself is to like, you know, don't give up being creative and keep writing and keep doing creative stuff. more so than you did.
Deshanta (01:11:08.994)
Facts, what are you most amazed by regarding technology?
Steve Barnes (01:11:17.467)
Well, like you can look at a engine, like I'm I'm kinda mechanically inclined. And like an older car you can pull the hood up and you can look at the engine and you can see how it works and like when somebody turns the key, you see the spark and you see like the gears moving and the belts and stuff and you understand that. But then like you look at a phone and you're like, How does this thing work? It's like little tiny little chips
Like millions of little wires going into millions of little tiny ports that are so small you can't even see them. Like how does that work? Like it it doesn't make sense to me because it doesn't seem mechanically like it should work. So that kind of blows my mind, like just computation and microchips.
Deshanta (01:12:02.316)
Yeah.
Deshanta (01:12:10.178)
Thank you for that. What creative artist or group do you think is slept on?
And that could be somebody now.
Steve Barnes (01:12:17.476)
I put
Yeah, I this is like a a recency bias thing because my band we we decided to introduce three new songs to our repertoire and we picked out like a Hendrix song. we picked out a song from the Offspring, which is more of a nineties band, and then Okay, yeah, we're doing the kids aren't all right. That's and I'm doing the guitar and I'm singing that. I'll be singing that one as a matter of fact.
Deshanta (01:12:39.458)
That's my band. I love the offspring.
Steve Barnes (01:12:50.273)
but the song that I picked is a song by this band called Death. And if you s hear the name Death, there's an a popular speed metal band or death metal band called Death. And this is not the death that I'm talking about. this band, Death, is like a band from Detroit, early 70s, maybe even late 60s, and it's like three black brothers.
in Detroit and the whole scene was like Motown, R and B. that's what like, you know, that's what was selling them, but they were punk and they were like, you know, rock and roll. And listening to it now, it's very listenable, very like you know, pop rock, punk rock style, upbeat metal music. And they just went against the grain, like in this town that they could have played funk music.
They were proficient, they were good musicians. They could have played funk and like made a lot of money, but instead they just wanted to you know, I guess smoke weed and and play rock music. And they never really succeeded until they were discovered about maybe three or four years ago. Somebody picked up on their demo tape, because it was never r widely released. It was only like you know, underground, maybe like a thousand copies sold.
And I think it was the guy from the Smash and Pumpkins, Billy Corgan, that rediscovered Death. And they were still around and living in the same house that they practice in way back then. And they did a documentary about these guys. And it's a documentary called A Band Called Death. And even though the documentary was put out, it still didn't get like a huge wide release. And their music is like kind of like Thin Lizzie, kind of A C D C.
you know, very listenable rock and roll music and I think more people should check them out.
Deshanta (01:14:50.132)
I appreciate that. And if you could this is a personal request, but if you could send me a couple of links because I'd like to hear the songs, especially the offspring song. I'm just a sucker with no self-esteem. yeah. Those my people. Those are my people. where is I going? I'm sorry. Give me a second. I lost my spot.
Steve Barnes (01:14:59.153)
Mm-hmm. Okay.
Steve Barnes (01:15:04.573)
Heck yeah. Dexter, there you go.
Deshanta (01:15:18.444)
How did you end up in a podcast, actually? What made you get into that?
Steve Barnes (01:15:24.633)
I guess just knowing that I had the ability to do it. and that gave me the wherewithal to do it. 'Cause I understood editing from like always being in bands and I'm pretty good at you know, physical media editing, like cassette tapes, VCR tapes, you know, I I enjoy doing video and audio editing like the old school way. So
when I saw like how podcasts were done, it's basically audio files and you, you know, mix a few files in there and you can make your tweaks and do your edits. that just seemed like second nature to me. And I was in a vehicle a lot working water utilities, or I had my headphones on a lot and I like to listen to recap podcasts. a real fun thing for me to do is like, you know, 'cause like I said, I was working out by myself.
either reading water meters or working with water lines in some sort of way and working by myself all day. And I used to listen to music, then I picked up on listening to podcasts, and it was really fun to like watch Game of Thrones on Sunday night and then listen to like a Game of Thrones recap podcast on Tuesday, or like listening to like a podcast where people write in letters to a podcast about Game of Thrones. So you kind of like relive watching that while you're driving your truck.
From point A to point B. And I was like, I can do this. This is something that I have the ability to do. And I like having hobbies involving audio and editing. So it just kind of seemed like a perfect mix for me. Like just a way to like have a hobby and spend my spare time, like having a product to put out there instead of just being a consumer of other people's products.
Deshanta (01:16:50.294)
Right. Right.
Deshanta (01:17:16.502)
And how did you link up with Lindsay Dunn, your co host?
Steve Barnes (01:17:21.121)
because when the show eighteen ninety nine first started airing on Netflix, she independently of me, has been a librarian and a a film critic for like the North Carolina Film Critics Association and like also like the larger Southeast Film Critics Association. So she was also covering eighteen ninety nine and
So when you're covering a show such as 1899, you watch the show as you asked me before. You watch the show, you take your notes, you watch the episode multiple times. Then you'll go online and see if you can find some like inside information, something interesting to like start your episode with, your podcast episode, like a fun fact or like a fact about an actor or something. And in doing so, you look at other people's podcasts.
Deshanta (01:18:10.307)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (01:18:17.605)
So, you know, Lindsay was checking out our podcast and I was checking out her written recaps that she was doing for 1899. And she was also doing like a YouTube channel at the time. So yeah, do we were both just fans and podcasters of covering the same thing? And I think she started reaching out to us. She started writing letters to us and she just wrote them like as Lindsay. She didn't say like
I'm Lindsay Dunn and I'm the person on YouTube or anything like that. She was like, you know, would just write us in letters about what we said the last episode. And it just gotten to a point where we were reading a letter from Lindsay like every week. So eventually we invited her on the podcast and just hit it off really well.
Deshanta (01:18:58.766)
Mm-hmm.
Deshanta (01:19:04.736)
you do work well together. So shout out to Lindsay. I enjoyed listening to you both. You both have a passion. And it's so apparent and it's a reminder of how much research really goes into podcasting. Like we really well, legitimate people like myself and you, take the time to really research and understand
Steve Barnes (01:19:27.533)
Mm.
Deshanta (01:19:30.784)
And then get on a show with somebody else and listen to their perspective and critique it in a fashionable way and it just worked for you guys. I really enjoyed listening to you both. So thank you for that. And I wanted to acknowledge your co host, 'cause I don't think I did in the beginning, so I apologize. can you tell me about a time you realized that life wasn't so easy?
Steve Barnes (01:19:41.148)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (01:19:55.294)
I mean, that immediat what immediately comes to mind is when me and my son's mom, my first wife, we were divorced by then and I was I had Caleb by myself. at the time I was, you know, raising most he was mostly with me and money was not doing too well and all my utilities got cut off.
And I w it was just a d a destitute time where like I didn't know how I was gonna move forward with like this life of like just been divorced, having like a baby, 'cause he was less than one year old, and then having all my utilities cut off. Who do I turn to for money? What do I do in this situation? yeah, that was that was a pretty low moment. And that that was when he was like really young. So I would say that was nineteen ninety seven. So that's
Deshanta (01:20:42.072)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (01:20:49.969)
You know, a little older Gen X time. That's when a Gen X is getting into adulthood and facing harsh reality of Bills.
Deshanta (01:20:55.639)
Right.
And that's why I like asking that question, just to show perspective on where you are now. And look at you. You know, we grow. People have to realize people grow and there has to be acknowledgement in that because I feel like sometimes people
Steve Barnes (01:21:05.499)
Yeah. I
Deshanta (01:21:17.442)
Forget to forgive. Like that was so long ago. Like look where they are now. In any situation that you're in. Just look where you are now. Or even when you're rough on yourself, look where you are now and where you've come.
Steve Barnes (01:21:27.174)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (01:21:31.879)
There is I do have like another I just thought of this while listening to you. this very second. I think as a kid there was cause I alluded to you because we we've been communicating back and forth before now and I alluded like fist fights and the at the bus stop and I got into about three of those, three fights and they were always with friends, you know how that goes. But I remember or I don't remember, I know so well
Deshanta (01:21:37.229)
Yeah.
Deshanta (01:21:46.957)
Yes.
Deshanta (01:21:50.606)
He
Steve Barnes (01:22:02.129)
That feeling of knowing that I'm about to get in a fight with somebody and like walking to the bus stop and seeing them like many houses up and knowing that when I get to them we're gonna start fighting. So like just having that feeling in your stomach of like heightened awareness and almost wanting to throw up. I you know
Deshanta (01:22:17.399)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (01:22:27.653)
The few times that I've had that feeling and I remember having that feeling when I got busted one time, like stealing alcohol, and I had that same feeling in my stomach of like wanting to throw up, like I think I the my the room is swimming kind of situation. those are pretty rough moments.
Deshanta (01:22:46.29)
Heh. Who were and who are some of your inspirations?
Steve Barnes (01:22:53.059)
around here in Richmond, there's guys that have stuck with it like I told you that I wish I had done and have always consistently been like in bands and you know, l living the band lifestyle, touring, releasing records and having like legit fans and maybe not ha maybe not having like music pay all their bills. They still have to have part time jobs, but
there's a a local band here, Gore that's pretty popular. But these are just regular guys that are like just slightly older than me. And many of them work jobs here in Richmond as well. Like normal guys, they have part time jobs. And I look up to guys like that. There's another fellow Ed Trask who's like a local artist around here who's been like an old punk rock bands and now he paints all the murals around Richmond.
And he's again just a guy a little bit older than me. His lifestyle is completely similar to mine, where he has like a house very similar to mine and raises his kids very similar to mine as well. And one of my oldest bandmates, an acquaintance really, but we were in bands way back when and we were also in a band a couple of years ago. This fellow Paul Burnett, he's been in lots of different bands and always been consistent with it.
And so these three examples I'm giving you are like local guys that are kind of like on my level, I suppose. They're not like huge stars like Axel Rose from Guns N' Roses or anything like that. They're just normal people and I appreciate that. And yeah, I think it's cool that they can kind of make it creatively in that way and they can put their stuff out and, you know, kids in Germany and kids in like England.
Like are hearing their music.
Deshanta (01:24:53.902)
Because originally that's part of the reason why I wanted this show because there's so many of us like that that has all this talent, that has this big bright light that can do amazing things. And I wanna just put a put a spotlight on that, especially Gen X. so I agree we gotta shout out everybody that surrounds us if they got something to show. So I get it.
Steve Barnes (01:25:19.709)
Mm-hmm.
Deshanta (01:25:23.244)
What are some of your favorite moments in life?
Steve Barnes (01:25:28.301)
yeah, I think I I think that jumped the gun on this one. That was that's where I had my category of building forts back in the woods. and making that skateboard ramp I talked about. yeah, smoking a lot of cigarettes and weed back in the woods. And I have a really strong memory of this is definitely a favorite moment too. me and a really old friend Billy. This is one of the very first times we smoked pot and we actually
Deshanta (01:25:47.294)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (01:25:55.358)
'Cause you know, w as a kid, sometimes you'll smoke pot, but nothing happens. That all you're doing is like blowing smoke out your mouth, but you're not actually like feeling anything. You're just in the act of smoking a thing. But we were actually high for the first time. And like I said, they were buildings with now it's all apartments and houses. So at the time they had these landmarkers on the trees, like denoting what's gonna get cut down and what's not. And
Deshanta (01:26:04.864)
Yeah. Yeah.
Ha ha
Steve Barnes (01:26:23.441)
Me and Billy all high. We were like, we don't want them to cut these trees down. so we took the markers off the trees, like these these orange strips. and that would totally annoy me, like the adult me, like working in water utilities. If I put up a bunch of like markers and then some kid tore them down, I'd be so mad. But that's that's what we did. And we tied them around our head like headbands. And around this time, like our buddy Kurt with his motorbike.
pulled up on us and he emerged like in this big like cloud of like dust and it seemed like it happened in slow motion and the way like he greeted us with the motorbike, we had the headbands on. We told Kurt that that that we're landmarkers and we're not gonna let them take our land. It was such a big moment in our lives. Even though we were just goofy kids being stupid.
Deshanta (01:27:16.462)
You were starting a revolution. What do you mean? What is something common back in the day that you rarely see today?
Steve Barnes (01:27:23.901)
Yup.
Steve Barnes (01:27:32.12)
pop ins, like people just stopping by your house for no reason. They can't call you ahead of time 'cause you may or may not have a phone. so yeah, people just stopping in. something that we did here in Richmond was like cru and in Virginia Beach too, like cruising the strip was a big thing. Like everybody would just drive in big circles around like certain areas of town. And that's something that like
they that's they've cut back on that doesn't happen quite so much anymore. And then a couple big things here in Richmond that used to be great were like midnight movies and like drive in movies where there was like no rules. Like I remember going to midnight movies and people would smoke in the theater and smoke pot. And I remember on one occasion these frat guys brought in like
Deshanta (01:28:12.596)
Ooh yes.
Steve Barnes (01:28:26.545)
beer like a like a cooler of beer and nobody said anything to them and they were like popping the cans like you you know, it's it's obvious what they're doing and nobody cared. We were watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show kind of thing.
Deshanta (01:28:40.503)
Nice. What's some of your favorite quotes?
Steve Barnes (01:28:45.751)
you know the quotes, I think that kind of ties in with a question that that I think we skipped past, which is the the commercial jingles. for example, one of them there was like a Haynes Jeep Eagle commercial here in Richmond, and the catchphrase was nobody in this town. And it's like, Who has you know, who can beat Haines Eagle prices?
Nobody in this town. And I think that sometimes. you know, v it it's very appropriate in a lot of situations to say nobody in this town. one quote me and my wife say a lot, and this is from the movie Eating Gilbert Grape, which I think is I think qualifies it's a Johnny Depp movie. That qualifies as a Gen X movie. Yeah, Leo there's a scene in it.
Deshanta (01:29:16.668)
Yeah.
Deshanta (01:29:23.086)
Ha ha
Love that.
Deshanta (01:29:33.611)
Mm-hmm. Johnny Depp?
Deshanta (01:29:40.024)
Definitely.
Steve Barnes (01:29:43.622)
when Leonardo DiCaprio is you know, he plays like a a kid with special needs. And Gilbert, who's played by Johnny Depp, is talking about how he's gonna leave, but he knows he can't leave because he's gotta take care of his brother and his mom. And he's walking out of the house all angrily and Leonardo DiCaprio says to him, You're not going anywhere, Gilbert
Like meaning like you're not going anywhere in life, you're stuck here. And that's what me and my wife constantly like joke at and say, like it j it also comes up in a lot of situations. You're not going anywhere, Gilbert. Like like you wanna you wanna get off work? You're not going anywhere, Gilbert. You're stuck.
Deshanta (01:30:30.766)
What's your wife's name? Heather. Heather. What up, Heather? I hope you enjoy this episode.
Steve Barnes (01:30:35.751)
Heather?
Steve Barnes (01:30:39.213)
yeah. She I forwarded her all of your questions so that tomorrow we can discuss with her because she's more of a millennial. She's considered Gen X because she was born in nineteen eighty, but she leans more millennial. So she wants to answer all these questions with me and her just you know, just hanging out and see what her her answer to these same questions are.
Deshanta (01:30:55.18)
Mm-hmm.
Deshanta (01:31:02.654)
I love that and that's another motivation to spark conversation. I love this. Thank you, Heather. Thank you for that. What is something from your childhood you keep on your radar? That could be people, social movement, whatever.
Steve Barnes (01:31:07.644)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (01:31:19.729)
everything, you know. I'm still doing the same thing. I'm still skateboarding. I'm still playing music. My f playing with the same guys I played with back then. my buddy Bernie that I skate with, you know, does the Love Seat Unlimited that we talked about earlier. That that skateboard community that you're gonna you're gonna check out. he was my one of my oldest friends, so like
Deshanta (01:31:41.73)
Yep.
Steve Barnes (01:31:47.762)
That is what I'm keeping on my radar. My friends, my music, skateboarding and just doing the same thing. And that's why I like doing a podcast is because you don't I don't really get an opportunity to talk for an hour and a half about a T V show that I love. Usually when you're hanging out with your friends, you can like, Yeah, I like that show. It was cool. Remember that one part? Yeah, that was cool. But that's pretty much all it goes to. So like I like having an outlet where I can do the whole thing and
Deshanta (01:32:11.82)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (01:32:17.541)
Yeah, my friends are on my podcast too, and they allow me to do that with them.
Deshanta (01:32:22.444)
Wanna shout out anyone in the community making a change? You might have mentioned someone already, but just in case.
Steve Barnes (01:32:29.575)
Sure, yeah, of course, Love Seed Unlimited. You should definitely check them out. And a a community that really helped me out a lot was the Marshland Media community. And this is spearheaded by Marshland Monster, the rapper from Chicago. he really helped me get started in podcasting, helping me get first get set up with publishing and, you know, how to be my own producer and how to like obtain the rights to stuff. So yeah, definitely wanna wanna shout out Marshland Media.
for helping me with that. And you know, his wife also is a creative and she has an organization called Darlin Homebody. And she does I'm I'm looking at my desk right now and can I turn my camera on and I can show you some of the stuff that she does?
Deshanta (01:33:18.188)
We can try. I never use the camera okay, yay. Hi.
Steve Barnes (01:33:23.601)
So she does like little little cute little animals like this. Like this this one says disobey and it's got an a a kitty cat knocking over a glass of water. she does like little figurines like this little guy, a little another little kitty cat, a little skeleton kitty cat. And if you're a member like I am, I'm like one of the Darlin Homebody members. I can't pull these up because I stuck actually stuck these stickers. she's done a sticker of my dog and of my cat.
Deshanta (01:33:33.634)
Nice.
Steve Barnes (01:33:54.04)
so yeah, she'll do that and she'll send them out to all of her all of her other subscribers and yeah, she again, just a creative person that likes to put her creative stuff out there and is, you know, trying to support herself by being creative.
Deshanta (01:34:10.808)
So many creatives out there and shout out...shout out! because there's many of us and if you're Gen X and you're listening and you think you would be great on this show then you're more than welcome just throwing that out there. Steve, where can people connect with you and get your content?
Steve Barnes (01:34:25.149)
Mm-hmm.
Steve Barnes (01:34:31.037)
Sure. I betcha people are watching this on YouTube. So that's a good place to start. I'm also on YouTube. Sweet Child of Time, just exactly like that, is my YouTube channel, and that's where all my podcasts end up. And I have lots of videos and lots of music on there. So so much stuff on my YouTube channel. More than you care to see. but I also sub
Deshanta (01:34:54.382)
Steve Barnes (01:34:57.229)
put out everything on Spotify, Apple, anywhere you find music and podcasts, I have my podcast Sweet Child of Time. So you would just find look up Sweet Shot of Time on Apple or Spotify and I'll be there. or on Instagram. That's where I'd I like to do my social media perusing mostly and that's Sweet Child of Time Pod. And then I also have a Instagram for introvoid, which is the music stuff.
Deshanta (01:35:05.303)
Yeah.
Steve Barnes (01:35:26.683)
So yeah, I'm pretty much everywhere under Sweetshot of Time and Introvoid. and I got a website. I should mention that, sweetshotoftime dot com. That always has my most current episodes on that.
Deshanta (01:35:38.284)
Your website is expansive. There's so many resources on there and content and it was really cool and it inspired me. I appreciate you being here with me tonight. It has been a sincere pleasure as I knew it would be. I look forward to continuing because I want to follow y'all with this little house on the prairie because I really enjoyed it and such nostalgia and it was just great. I appreciate you again and shout out to you.
Steve Barnes (01:35:43.857)
Ha ha ha.
Steve Barnes (01:35:53.799)
Thanks.
Steve Barnes (01:36:04.487)
Yeah.
Deshanta (01:36:07.572)
I will keep in touch and just keep people in the loop on what you're doing as my thank you. Again, I appreciate you and you've been awesome. So you take care and we'll talk soon, hopefully. and your episode will be this Tuesday, by the way. So tell everybody. Okay, you take care. Thank you so much. Good night. Bye.
Steve Barnes (01:36:13.341)
Thank you.
Steve Barnes (01:36:21.041)
And you've been awesome too.
Steve Barnes (01:36:28.325)
All right, sounds good.
You as well. Thank you. Bye.