Episode #121: Feeney Talks with Joey Batts

Show Notes

#BeAGoodFriend and check out episode #121 of #FeeneyTalksWithFriends featuring Joey Batts. 

It was great to talk with my good #friend, Joey! 

Joey is a teacher and the founder of the nonprofit organization, Hip Hop for the Homeless.  

We talked about:

Joey Batts is my Best Friend (minute 1)

Hip Hop for the Homeless - Year 11 (minute 3)

HH4H Board of Directors (minute 7)

Joey has been a teacher for 17 years  (minute 9)

Jose from Local Goods  (minute 11)

Upcoming HH4H Concert Dates (minute 14)

Feeney Talks with Friends Podcast Sponsors (minute 15)

Rappers who inspired Joey (minute 17

Songs: First, Last, Best, Worst  (minute 19)

Thanksgiving (minute 21)

HH4H Sponsors (minute 25)

The “Joey Batts” Sticker (minute 31)

FTWF Podcast Sponsors (minute 33)

3 Keys (sponsored by West Hartford Lock) to being a Teacher & a Nonprofit President (minute 39)

Joseph William Valentin Battaglia is Italian (minute 43)

Joey’s buttons (minute 45)

Joey’s wild story about getting his first tattoo (minute 47)

True Penny Tattoo does Joey’s tattoos (minute 50)

Joey’s favorite restaurant and 4 dinner guests (minute 52)

Joey raps (minute 59)

Recommendations (minute 1.02)

The book, “Who Moved My Cheese?” (minute 1.04)

Closing remarks (minute 1.07)

Podcast Sponsors: 

Donut Crazy - www.donutcrazy.com

The Fix IV - www.thefixivtherapy.com

West Hartford Lock - www.westhartfordlock.com

Keating Agency Insurance - www.keatingagency.com

Goff Law Group - www.gofflawgroup.net

Parkville Management - www.parkvillemanagement.com

Luna Pizza - www.lunapizzawh.com/lunas-menu

PeoplesBank - www.bankatpeoples.com

Float 41 - www.float41.com

Creators and Guests

Host

Eric Feeney

After teaching for nearly a decade at his alma mater in Waterbury, in 2014, Eric Feeney began teaching at Wolcott Elementary in West Hartford. Shortly following, Sam Sohn, the father of one of his students, passed away suddenly from a heart attack. He left behind four beautiful children and a loving wife, Nancy Wallace-Sohn. Eric saw first-hand the toll this took on the family as they navigated their way through this unthinkable tragedy. The following year, Rashad Collier Sr., another father of a student in Eric’s class, passed away in Hartford as a result of gun violence. Rashad left behind two fantastic children and a loving wife, Denise Villegas. The impact of these tragedies weighed on Eric and motivated him to build an organization that could provide assistance for similar situations. With that, Friends of Feeney was born. In 2019, Friends of Feeney Inc. became an official 501©(3) nonprofit organization, allowing more funds to be raised and expanding the range of services provided to children and families in need. Today, over a decade since Eric’s idea to build a community organization dedicated to supporting our friends in need, Friends of Feeney has burgeoned into a reputable and recognized organization capable of providing financial and resource support to numerous families and individuals across greater Hartford and beyond. Through this work, an incredible community of children and families has been recognized, who care for and appreciate each other’s kindness.

Producer

David Chmielewski

David started his video career in the early 1990s working on video crews as an independent contractor for such companies as Martha Stewart Living, IBM and Xerox. After graduating Southern Connecticut State University with the degree in Corporate Communications, David continued his video production career and accepted a position at WFSB in Hartford, CT. Within a few years the news and production studios became his charge and David designed, installed and maintained the televisions sets for the various programs at the station. At the end of 2013 David founded DirectLine Media, a video production company that specializes in creating memorable and compelling video content for businesses.

Editor

Stefania Sassano

Stefania's acting journey began as early as the fourth grade, where she took on the role of Scarlett O'Hara in a stage production of Gone With the Wind. This early experience sparked a lifelong passion for the arts. With a background in musical theater fueled by her love of music and singing, Stefania stepped into larger roles, such as Fraulein Kost in Cabaret during her sophomore year at the University of New Haven. This performance earned her a nomination for the prestigious Irene Ryan Acting Award at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival—an honor she would receive again in her junior year.

What is Feeney Talks With Friends?

Eric Feeney talks with #friends! Eric is the founder of the nonprofit organization Friends of Feeney. Their mission is to help children and families who need assistance after heartbreak and tragedy. www.friendsoffeeney.com

All right, all right.

Feeney talks with friends.

Episode 121 Where Joey Bats.

Joey Bats is my best friend, right?

This is Feeney. Talks with friends.

My name is Eric Feeney, founder
and president of Friends of Feeney.

Our mission is to help

children and families that need assistance
after heartbreak or tragedy.

And I use this podcast
to talk to wonderful friends

that are doing great things.
What's up Joey?

What is good buddy?

Yo, thank you so much for having me, man.

With the man,
the myth, the legend. Right here.

There it.

Is. There it is.

He's on a sticker.
Get the stickers, people.

Best thing I ever did, bro.

Best thing I ever did
was put my face on a sticker.

Man. A lot stop signs.

West Hartford, Hartford.

And then we got another cool sticker.

We're going to talk about the hip hop
for homeless.

Hip hop for the homeless.

Absolutely. We're in year 11.

Your lives. Is exciting.

I'm so excited to talk with you.

This is a long time coming.

I want to thank you,

our common friend Matt Conway,
for putting us together to connection.

I knew I wanted to talk to you
just when I saw your nonprofit,

like, launch, and I was like, I'm
everybody's best friend.

This is friends with Feeney.

Like this makes. Sense. Yup.

Like the stars aligned.

Like we'd be idiots
to not be in the same room.

You know what I'm saying?

So it's a long time coming.

I love it. I'm excited.

I hope that we could continue
to collaborate for years to come in.

This is. This is a great start.
Yeah. Very excited yet?

This is a long time coming.

It is meant to be your best friend.

Friends of Feeney.

You said it.

Hip hop for the homeless, year 11. Yeah.

How are we doing?

We excited.

Yo, we're we're super excited.

We're super excited.

We're in some markets
that we've been in before.

We're in some new markets.

I have some amazing artists performing,
and I got some new people coming out.

It's just.

It's just going to be incredible,
man. I'm excited.

Every year I get geeked. Every.

It never gets old,
you know what I mean? Every year.

Where does idea come from?

What was the inspiration?

I had been like playing
and I, you know, I've been gigging out

with my band Joey Bats and them and we,
you know, we were we were crushing it.

We were killing it,
you know, and and I getting gigs

was was no hard thing, you know,
but I just was like,

year round, I'm playing,
I'm making music, I'm making money.

And it's just it was very like,
selfish or like, self-involved.

But I always wanted to do more.

And, you know, we've always heard
the concept of like, benefit concerts.

I was like, you know,
I want to do. That, right?

Let me put a beacon out there.

I didn't know what it was, but

when I threw the beacon out there,
everybody came out the woodworks.

Yo, I got you.

What do you need?

The venue owners. The bar managers.

The bartenders, people who wanted
to sponsor, people who wanted to perform.

People who were just willing to, like,
volunteer themselves in any way possible.

So the second part of that plan was,

what do I want to benefit?

And, at the time, this was this was 2014.

At the time, I was having conversations
with with students and,

you know, in passing, a student was like,

oh, yeah, you know, I've been couch
surfing for, you know, a month now.

And like, dude, I'm like.

In high school, right?

Like, you know what
I'm saying to my buddies, how's this week?

And I'm doing this this weekend.

But then I was like,
when are you going to go home?

It was like, home.
There's there's no home.

So it wasn't like that was the first time,
like the archetype

of like the homeless person was like

shattered my mind and like, caused me
to, like, reboot, you know what I mean?

Where I was just like, yo, homelessness.

Houselessness
being displaced affects so many, you know?

And much like yourself, like,
I spend such a such a big part of my day,

a big part of my life with, with,
with younger people, with students.

And that's when I was like,
if these people really are being affected

by something and impacted by something,
I could use my reach

and my fame, my local fame
for for something really good.

And, that was like
the second piece of the puzzle.

And then we just kind
of hit the ground running.

That's an awesome, awesome story.

And you never know why and how.

Some things just come naturally, you know,
and then or or organically.

Yeah. And, this is cool. Yeah.

A lot in common.

I'm a teacher. You're a teacher? Yeah.

Both started nonprofits. Yeah.

I was yours.

Congratulations. November
15th. Manchester.

Yeah. Happened?

Yeah. Yeah.

We had our.

Big ribbon cutting ceremony.
It was awesome.

So even though we've been doing this
for ten years,

it has been officially grassroots.

Both due to my this inability
to to understand the inner

workings of a nonprofit and both because,
like, that big packet of paperwork.

Was just so ominous.

I was like, I'm not messing with that.

You know what I mean?

But I had some people who helped me out.

You mentioned Matt Conway.

He was just like, hey,
I know some people who help me.

Why don't you talk to my lawyer?

Shout out to my lawyer.

My guy Bernie. He's awesome.

He was like, yo, I got you.

I'll help you with whatever you need.
We'll make this happen.

Because I knew Feeney.

I knew, I knew after last year, I was
like, we're going to stay right here.

We're going to vibrate here like,
this is our ceiling.

And it was a good thing, right?

But we want. More.

And you need to be legitimate, right?

You need to be on paper.

You need people to know.

Even if they trust the hell out of you.

They need to know where the money's going.

And a lot of people want to see paper
trails, and a lot of people want,

you know, if you're applying

for grants and stuff like that,
you need that legitimacy of a nonprofit.

So I stopped dragging my, my tail and
and we got it going.

And, this will be our first official tour
as an official incorporated nonprofit.

Yeah.

So I expect huge, huge, tremendous things.

But I'm also staying in my stratosphere
and and remaining realistic, you know.

Congratulations.
Thank you bro. Thank you. This feels good.

Yeah.

2019 we went official
but we started 2014 families.

But then when official 2019.

Yeah again with some advice from friends.

And Johnny's job kind of helped us dope.

Fellow nonprofit in West Hartford.

So you're doing great things.

Thank you. Man.

And a lot of people told me
that's the way to do it.

Instead of just, like,
having nothing, having no foundation

and just being like, I'm a nonprofit,
this is what I do.

So, like, I've had a decade,
you had a half a decade to realize, like.

Oh, this is what.

It looks like, or this is what we do,
or this is where I want our energy to go

to, in our power to go to, in our strength
they go to.

So we got that all figured out.

So I feel like I mean, it's perfect.

You know,
I don't have to rewrite anything.

And what's your official mission?

Just to benefit,

to benefit the homeless and the houses
and the people displaced,

with a series of hip hop concerts
and also change the,

the view of the homeless folks,
as well as the view of, hip hop.

It's great. Yeah.

What about your board of directors?

Who do you got? Who we shout out?
Yeah, these are the good. These are.

These are my bros. These are awesome guys.

A lot of them are dudes

that have been been riding with me
for that ten years, 11 years now.

So, a lot of the board
members are guys who were integral in

helping me plan things
because we got so many shows, right.

So shout out to sketch.

He's the guy who always helps him with the
New Haven shows or the Bridgeport shows.

He's down there in the 203.

We got my guy, Mugsy,

a New Britain native who always helps me
with the New Britain shows.

We got strife. He's on the board.

He helps him with the Norwich
and the new London shows.

Greg Rivers is on the board.

That's my guy Rudy.

He helps me with, like,
the Hartford shows.

And he's been performing for ten years.

We have Dave Greco,
who's, who's a local guy,

not a performer,
but just someone who's been around

since the jump who has, like,
every single shirt.

Every single one. He's been great.

Mark Irvine's part of the board,
and Frank Rivera part of the board.

And those are both guys
that I've known for a really long time

that are just, like,
really solid and help me out.

Yeah, it's very important
that you have a good teams.

Yeah. Yeah.
Sounds like a good team there. Yeah.

They're good dudes for sure.
For sure sure.

I had a podcast guest
who was experiencing homelessness. Oh,

let me see.

Chris.

Chris, Chris.

Episode 77.

Okay.

Experiencing homelessness
ad on the podcast.

You know, lives in a tent.

Panhandles.

I guess that's.

Yeah.

Is that inappropriate? No.

So it was very good episode, and it got

kind of learned.

Why the how's the who's it was?

It was a very educational podcast.

So, Chris, episode 77
and our guy Matt Conway.

Yeah. So 71. Good friend. Rise ups.

I saw Rise Up Arts,
I saw he's, Yeah, he's a sponsor.

He's been a sponsor
for the last seven years.

Absolutely. Yep.

So in addition to that, you're a teacher?

Yeah. Long you been a teacher?
Where? You've been a teacher.

What subject?

Yeah,
I've been a teacher for 17 years, bro. 17.

Kind of 21.

So. Yeah, you get it, you get it.

I did my first 12
in the Hartford public school system

with, Opportunity High
and with Hartford High.

Then I spent the last, three
and a half years at Manchester High.

And recently this year,

I came back to Hartford,
and now I'm at Breakthrough Magnet South.

Is that, middle school. Middle school?

Yeah. Kate. Kate. Two eight.

So I got I got middle schoolers.

Oh, you're. It's K-8. Yeah, yeah.

You teach history or English?

I teach English, sorry.

Yeah, I teach English language arts. Ela.

I've been doing that.
That's the only thing I got.

My, got my undergrad in secondary
ed and creative writing.

I got my master's in philosophy
and literature, and I got my own nine two

recently. So. Really?

Yeah. Maybe I'll get into Ed leadership.

I'm not sure yet.

I still have a lot of fun in the classroom
and I still really like it.

You know, that's awesome.
I have my own nine too.

Yeah, same with you.

I like the classroom.

And still looking.

It's nice to have the option. Right?
We got options.

I got options now. That's pretty cool.

Very cool, very cool.

I love the shirt.

I'm rocking the number nine edition.

Yeah.

Hip hop for the homeless.

I loved that I was one of I look at.

That font, that print
that's like a. Little volt yellow.

Really, really popular in the yellow.

That looked really good
with the black lights.

And then we had our classic year
ten shirt, which was a white anniversary.

And this is this year's.

We got a safety orange
with the tiger camo for 11 local.

Good shout out to my guy Jose.

We can finally print patterns.

So you're going to start
seeing a lot of crazy patterns coming out.

Oh what do we call that
a camel Tiger camel.

Oh I like that for Memorial Day.

Maybe I'll have to hit up the guy.

Oh good. Do it man. He's he's awesome.

And he and he's, you know, he's
I've been with him a long way.

He used to go, with the DNA shop,
but now he rebranded and it's called local

goods and,

real solid dude out of Hartford.

Who did it?

Who designed the,
the print hip hop for the homeless?

Yeah, man.

That's, that's all Jose right there, baby.

That's local goods right there.

Okay,

that's not what you said earlier, but.

Okay, we'll leave that there.

We got some dates here.

Yeah. So what we do.

For the for the for the listeners

and for the watchers every year we,
we create a new shirt.

This is primarily
where the funds that we collect come from.

So what we do is
we always ask sponsors to come out,

help us offset the cost
and the production of the t shirts.

So we're able to print 4 or 5, 600 shirts,
and then we sell those at each show.

And that's how we make money that we can
give and donate to those nonprofits.

So every different shirt
has all of our sponsors for that year,

as well as all the shows
and all the dates that we do

now. First show New Haven.

Yeah, yeah, the first. Week. Is the.

Fifth is New Haven, Hartford and Norwich.

Those are all three venues

that we've played before,
all three cities that we've played for.

The New Haven Show benefits the downtown
soup kitchen in New Haven.

The Hartford show
benefits hands on Hartford.

They've been awesome with us.

They've been with us this whole journey.

And the Norwich show goes
to the TVA shelter,

down there in, like,
Norwich, New London, Seward City.

You have. Yeah. Town. Hartford.
Yeah. Yeah.

You can pay what you want.

Absolutely.
That's that's their restaurant.

55 get yeah. Other 55.

So hands on Hartford
also even has a food pantry

behind there, like a little grocery store
that you could go shopping.

They've, they've they've done
so many things, but their recent, most,

popular thing is gather 55,
exactly where you pay what you want.

They always bring in some guest chefs.

Yeah. Very cool.
But they're great. They're great.

And we're in Middletown.

We haven't played Middletown in a while,
so I love that we're back there.

This is our first year
playing a show in Northampton.

Our second year
doing something outside of CT.

So who knows man, in the future
we might be all over the place, right?

And might not longer.

Might no. Longer be a Connecticut thing.

And then. Like,
this is the first time going to mass.

Our second second, we had one last year,
but it was in Holyoke.

Nice. So I'm pumped to be in Northampton.

Amazing venue,
the Iron Horse classic, classic venue.

I've seen a bunch of bands
there, bunch of rappers there.

So I'm really happy to be there.

And then year, week
two ends with New Britain

and New London and those are both,
amazing, amazing shows.

And great, great venues.

So I'm really excited.

And then we've been doing three weeks
for the last three years.

It gets kind of crazy, bro.

I'm gonna be honest.
It gets it gets a little bit crazy.

Especially with teaching and,
you know, keeping the hours that I keep.

But we're playing a second show
in Hartford at Parkville Market, which is

part of my third Thursday throw downs
that I've been doing over there.

And then we're in Simsbury, and
then it closes in Manchester on the 21st.

Hoops and hops.

I've been there.

Yeah, I will market. I'm
going to try to make that one. Yeah, man.

You should come in. Black eye sallies.

Which one are you performing.

Oh okay. Good form.

Good question.

I'll probably end up exclusive. Exclusive?

This is exclusive, folks.

You've heard it here first.

I'll probably end up
getting on a mic on Manchester.

I'll probably get on a mic in Hartford,

probably get on the mic in New London,
probably get on the mic in Norwich.

They'll probably make me get on the mic
and new and I don't get to chill on these.

Unfortunately. People are just like.

Yo, I came out,
I'm here for you, you better rap bro.

King some bars.

Yeah, yeah, for real.

For real lyrics for days. Yeah.

You want to hear me
my flow. Let's hear it bro.

Let's hear.

My name is Mr.

Feeney I teach grade three and walk
it elementary.

Can't see me. Well.

In the place to be, That's it.

Oh my God, bro. Oh my God, let's go.

Do do do do do do do

doo doo doo doo doo.

You're a big hip hop hip hop guy, right?

Yeah, I know you're live.

So that very excited to talk with you.

Yeah.

What? Yeah.

Who? Let's let's talk
rapped. And who? What?

Who? Some rappers that inspired you.

Oh, man. All right.

So I've been I've been rapping
for a really, really long time.

Like really really long time.

Grew up in New York, strong island.

So that was right around the time where,

where those guys were like,
we're talking like 92, 93.

So I was really big on, like,
not even like early Wu-Tang.

First it was Grave Diggers.

I was really big on, like, grave diggers.

And then obviously like when, like,
Cash Rules came out

and like, protecting that came out,
it was all woo!

That was really major for me.

Like, Method Man.

I remember like coming up with a rap
using the Method Man flow.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, I thought it was the best.

Like bust of Busta Rhymes,
Busta, Busta Rhymes.

So, like, leaders at a new school,
you know what I mean?

That that was major. That was major.

And then a little bit, a little bit down
the line, like pun dropped in like 95.

So like that was really cool

to see someone rapping like
he was a lot of lyrical dudes.

And then a little bit later, when it
when I started really getting out there

and honing my craft, it was a lot
more underground, like MF doom, ASAP Rock.

A lot of those guys.

Are you, LP.

Can you do write it down
or do you go freestyle or prefer.

Both?

Or how any song that I've ever dropped
has been like a written down thing

that I've sat with and like,

written down bars and written down
a chorus and written down lyrics.

But if anybody, everybody who knows
has seen me live like I incorporate many,

many freestyles because I grew up just
doing like, ciphers, you know what I mean?

So I can definitely do both.

I definitely like freestyle in more,

but I do.

I definitely do both.

Yeah.

But I've never I've never been like
they say, like,

Jay-Z doesn't write it down,
little Wayne doesn't write it down.

I've never been able to do.
How many songs do you have?

Do you have albums and stuff?

Yeah, of course I got albums, man.

I of course I got Spotify. Yeah.

Which is Spotify name? Tell everyone.

Joey. Bats. That's it.

Instagram is rap me.

Rap Joey Bats,
but iTunes, Joey Hibberd, BTS.

That's on Spotify. That's on iTunes.

I did the seven Deadly Sins manifesto,
so I dropped the album for each

one of the seven Deadly Sins
I've done, the Elements Manifesto.

So I've dropped like Earth and Air,
and I'm working on Water and Fire.

I have the Joey Bats in them albums,
I got albums.

Are you zoo?

Yeah, man,
my discography is very, very long.

I love it. Yeah.

If you were to do

I'm going to play this game a lot,
but this is a good game.

So your songs that you dropped
your first one, your last one.

Your best one in your worst one?

First last best worst.

My first was Joey Best.

My first was best friend.

At first is best friend.

That's where the sticker comes from.

And we can be the best of friends.

And if you know me, then you love me.
I'm your bestest friends.

Rich ones, poor ones and all the ends.

Put your money on you.

I'm your bestest friend.

So that's. That was best friend.

That was probably my first one.

Under like that, Joey bats Monica.

My most recent one was a song

that I did called, God Box.

Reggie Blue.

I was like,
technically, it's a Reggie Blue song,

but I really like my verse
on it. That's a lot of fun.

My best.

Song.

Oh my gosh. Man,

It's like picking your favorite kid.

I it's. Tough, it's tough, it's tough.

I did, I did an.

Album with Greg Rivers, who I mentioned.

Before,

Called Roy G.

Biv, where we, where we would like,
we talked a lot about,

like, synesthesia and, like,
being able to, like, see colors.

And we got, like,
really hyper focused on that.

And he did an amazing production
and he and he like

he's all over the track,
you know, singing,

doing production, rapping,
doing some weird things with sounds and,

and a lot of those verses
I really, really liked.

So those are, those are
some of my favorites like favorites,

favorites, favorites.

That was my,

my least favorite, my least favorite.

I wrote a sellout song, bro.

Sellout sellout calls called bestie.

You missed you was the dumbest.

It was the.

Dumbest song, but I made the most money
off of it like it was on ESPN.

They played it at the SBS.

It was just like I made a.

Bag off of that song, and it was just like
we would play it live and.

I would take my phone out.

And just run around the audience
and taking selfies with people,

oh man.

How's it go?

I was like,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, yo, my bestie.

So let's, let's, let's,
let's take a selfie.

Yo. So commercial bro.

And so against.

Like the rap and rapping that I really be.

Doing.
You know what I'm saying? Like it's not.

Grimy at all, but like, it was accessible
and like people loved it.

You know times you. Got to do that.
And like it was.

Very tongue in cheek
when you saw. It live.

But like, if you didn't know me and
you just discovered me, you'd be like, yo.

Who's this cornball with this song?

Like, what the hell?

So I would say that
that's one of the ones.

That I don't regret it.

But it's definitely one of those
one of my.

Best with myself. Yeah.

Let's do a selfie. Actually,
now that you. Brought that up.

Boom.

Selfie.

Let's take a selfie. Yeah.

No. Great.

Wait, so you did best worst first.

Less. Yeah. No. You played the game,
right? Yeah. Right. Perfect.

All right.
I got to check out the Spotify list now.

I didn't do my research there. Yeah,
we saw drop the ball.

No you didn't.
Bro. Could have you didn't. Should have.

You did up some bars from.

Your like I got some tracks that
make their way in your running playlist.

I got some tracks. Absolutely, bro.

I know you'd be out here. Right?

What'd you go,
you little. You little marathon. Bitch?

You know.

I was we were going to ask how we did over
the what we did over the Thanksgiving.

I ran the gobble wobble.

Is this the one that this isn't
the one in Manchester, right?

No, this was actually Glenn
Falls. Oh, okay.

Ten inches of snow.

Yo, you're lying for real. Still ran a 27.

Come on. Bro, my nephew beat me. Touch me.

This is good stuff.

13 year old nephew Nick ran like a 26,
but this is our third year in a row.

That's a full or a half.

It's just three miles.

Okay, five K, three.

Miles, 5.2. I'm proud of you, bro.

Just stay active. That's dope.

I love it, I love it.

How was your how was your Thanksgiving?

Yeah, my Thanksgiving was cool, man.

We we played it.

We played a really low, really low key.

I don't have any family in CT.

So my mom came up

and my girl's mom came through,
and it was just the four of us.

Man, I'm really happy just watching.

Football. And relaxing.

And like, my year has been, like,
a little bit tumultuous.

Just like change in schools and mid year

instead of,
like at the beginning of a year.

So like I've just wanted to like,
just really chill and relax

and like the tour itself
is just like a storm

of energy and like,
sometimes you just need to reset.

So like, I was like, yo, I'm really okay
just doing this.

I usually cook
Christmas Eve and Christmas.

So my girl was like,
I got Thanksgiving, I'm cool with it.

And she just let me chill and vibe.

And it was peaceful. Man, I loved it.

Sometimes you need that reset.

Oh man, it was the best reset. My girl.

My girl's all about the Thanksgiving
sandwiches with the leftovers.

She's a big fan of that.

Okay, brand bread.

We do like the the sesame seeds for Melina

okay.

Really really nice key berry.

So keep it. Classy.

She does a turkey.

I do the mac and cheese.

Oh, then I do the turkey
with some hot sauce.

Then I do this stuffing.

What kind of hot sauce?

I'm a Frank's red hot guy.

But I'll do Tallulah.

I'm okay with that.

You know?

So ratchet
doesn't really fit the flavor profile.

But yeah, I have scratch right now
in my class.

Yeah,
I just went through a Frank's already.

Okay. In your classroom. Whoa. For lunch.

Okay. Gets it, I love it.

I love it down a bottle.

Franks. Dill pickle.
You ever try that? No.

For real? Really good. Okay.

Dill pickle hint of. I love,
I love pickle.

I'm all about. It. And hot sauce,
too. My favorite.

I was going to say, sign me up.

It's like they've been reading my.

Diary of that.

That's amazing.

Yeah I love Pickles and Brett.

Dear diary, one day please invent.

A hot sauce
that incorporates dill pickles.

It sounds like a wrap. You should draft.

Pickles.

So I'm going to shout out
my sponsors of the podcast.

But before we do that,
would you like to shout out some

and thank some sponsors of yours?

Yeah man. Absolutely.

So this is. A fire. Shirt.

Thank you bro. Thank you I love it man.

It's the coolest thing
about being like the president

and being the guy who gets to run it
like I sometimes.

Fini. I'll be real with you.

I'm already thinking about next year.

Yeah, and it stinks that I gotta make it
a whole calendar year.

You know what I mean?

But, like,

I've been wanting to do something
with the camo and the orange

and the hunting season vibe,
so I'm really excited about it.

That's the best thing
about having a nonprofit. Yeah, yeah.

Create a t shirt.

Yeah. So I mean we got we it's I don't I.

Can't just run through all of these.

I apologize ahead of time
for the people that I'm going to slate.

But like Hartford Health
Care came through in a major way.

They're a major sponsor this year.

I've been I've been talking
to the Yard Goats for a while.

I did we had a really good year with them
and they, they

we established
a really lovely relationship.

So shout out to them Lou.

It audio has been great.

They're they make microphones
like the microphone company.

Hearts of Hartford pizza garden is great.

El Pollo Guapo
been down since the jump Adams

World blog has been down to
since the jump through Penny tattoo.

That's where I get all of my work done.

Philly cheesesteak is great in New Haven
and Norwich location.

Hartford, Police Athletic League,
Hartford Fire Department.

They're great.

Gold burgers has been down since the jump.

Bears has been around for the longest.

You mentioned rise up
a couple of big sponsors

this year, the Kent O'Hara Agency
and Edge City Public Radio came through.

So going back to the whole nonprofit
thing, the more legitimate we've become,

the more people sponsors specifically
are willing to attach their name to. It.

Because you get it.

It's not just a business thing

some people are worried about,
like the stigma of hip hop.

So like but us being official,

they understand that,
like we're not playing around and

they're allowed to take this chance on us
because the shows are going to be safe.

We're going to get great press.

We're going to have people
talking about us,

and it's just going to be an all around
good idea

for them to kind of attach themselves
to, to our vehicle.

It's great to, you can write the donation
receipt.

Yeah. Tax deductible. Absolutely.

Yeah. Taxes.

Oh, I want to

where is it? Where is it.

Oh yeah. No
yard. Goats are great game day. Connor.

Yeah, he's been a guest.

Yeah. Connor's awesome.

Their announcer. Okay. Nice.

And then.

Yeah. Tim and Mike are amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah, I tried out for that gig.

I tried out for the announcer gig. Really?

I was ready to quit at all.
I was ready to quit it all, bro.

I did it again. I did it a daily.

I missed the,

ten years. These guys are amazing.

Yeah, yeah.

My wife's, my daughter's favorite.

Yeah.

Zephyrs.

Zephyrs is a new one of our sponsors.

Shout out to Chef Dante. He's amazing.

They're right down the street in West
Hartford, in the center.

Be a podcast guest soon. Oh, I love that.

I love that.

Philly.

I think Stephen King Jr is in on that.

Okay, King was running for something
in South Windsor.

He was a guest. Yeah. Jamie,
I want him to be a guest.

Jamie's dope.

Yeah, they're dealing with a lot of stuff
happening in Asheville,

so they've been kind of,
like, above their heads.

Yeah, they got a Bears in Asheville.

So they've been above
their head with some stuff.

Very cool shirt.

Thank you for your sponsorship.

Yeah, for being good friends. Yeah.

Everybody. Seriously,
thank you so much, man.

My best friend. Yeah.

Of course.

That's got to be gotta.

Be, gotta be I love it.

Yeah.

And dead center, Coliseum media,
they're doing,

they actually were awarded a grant,
so we're going to have a documentary

crew following us
during our all of our shows.

So hopefully we'll have, like, a sizzle
reel documentary

coming in January 2025 that hopefully.

Yeah,
that hopefully gets us more sponsorship.

That's a new sponsor.

Rochester coach and a consultant.

Shout out to Drake. My guy.

Gardens that. Pizza garden.

That's where you met me.
Yeah that's that's.

Troy style with this spicy honey.
That was. Really good.

Yeah, yeah.
No one else making a Detroit around here.

So shout out to Pep Man. Shout out to pep.

Let's see.

Yeah. Good dudes.

Kent O'Hara agency in Manchester.

Don't ship recordings.

That's my guy, Nick Rose.

He'll be performing in Hartford.

He'll be performing in Northampton.

He's great. Blue earth compost.

They do a bunch of recycling stuff
in Hartford County.

Oh. Public access.

How'd you get that one?

That was a good. Yeah, yeah.

They.

Were sponsors back
in, year four, year four and.

Five.

And then we kind of like,

just lost.

Lost contact

and I just reached out on a whim

and just was like,
I still was very cordial and real friendly

and connected with social media
with one of the people there.

And I reached out and I was like, hey,
I love to talk to you a little bit more.

Same thing now that we're legitimate.

And now that you could actually have
a receipt for all you're doing

instead of just like, because in the past,
all of my sponsors

like, seriously shout out to them
because they just believed in me.

Like the man like Joey Bats.

Like they were writing
checks to me and hopes that I wasn't like

buying a plane ticket.

Getting some more sneakers.
You know what I mean?

Like they really believed in me,
before any of this stuff was legit.

So shout out to them.

And and that's being being able
to do the tax write off

and being able to send receipts
that like firmed up my backbone

a little bit more where I was just like,
I could really just cold call some people

and go after some big dogs who I know
would support something like this,

but who didn't want to write me
a personal check.

Nice.

Yeah, yeah, that means a lot
that they trusted you that much.

Yeah.

Yeah, I started off the same way.

I remember getting checks.

Yeah, my guy Jason Ryan would just write
whatever you need.

Feeney. Yeah, you. Know what I mean?

And that's one of those things where like.

And I'm thankful for that as a musician,
as a rapper, as a businessman.

Like, people believed in me as a person
and they knew that I didn't do

bad business, you know?

And I'm sure you and all the people
on that long list of podcasters

all the 120 people before
me, like they believed in you.

And that says so much about us.

Like that's
that is the code that I know you

teach your kids both your own kids
and your and your class kids.

And same with me.
Like every student I've ever had.

That's numero uno, you know what I mean?

Like,
I don't care if you can't write an essay.

I don't care if you struggle
reading and writing, you know what I mean?

Like,
we got to develop good humans, right?

We got to create a society, and we need
to be pillars of our community first.

Yeah.

And I think people recognize that in me.

And I think that has helped me,

where I am now.

And that's why I'm able
not only to sit here with you,

but to do everything that I'm doing so far
with no bumps in the road.

That's great. Yeah. Well said, I like it.

Honored to be speaking with you.

You're my best friend.

Yeah, man. Hell yeah, bro,
let me know, man.

You go, you get a flat tire.
You know what I'm saying?

You need a wingman.
Like I'm here, bro. I'm here.

Hit the sticker up.

With the sticker with that.

Oh, we got this one, two.

There are some I used to.

So what I would do

the way that it started is
I got these stickers made,

and people would come to a live show,
and they would either buy a shirt

and I give them a sticker or they would
just, you know, throw me a buck.

I'd be like,
here's a sticker, here's one for you.

And the other one I need you
to put up somewhere in the public.

I don't care where you put it.
Put it out in the public.

Yeah, right.

Because I was always scared

that I would be putting a sticker
with my own face on it.

And I catch me and I. Go to jail, right?

I would. Lose everything.

I think there's on the corner of South
Main in New Brighton Ave, Doro,

Dunkin Donuts.

I walk every day with my dog
across the street to Main Road and I wait,

hit the button, I wait
and there's a sticker right there.

I swear every. Day I've. Never put one up.

And that's before.

This was years. Ago.

I've never killed one guy.

I've never put one up.

That is.

That has been my campaign for the longest.

Come to a show.

Here's a sticker you put on your laptop.

The other one
put it on the street sign to put.

Them up to. You know what I mean?

Maybe you'll start seeing these up.

Do it
because you see these magnets on cars.

I've seen him, I love them.

Good friends. Rule. Yeah.

Why did you go with the Kelly Green?

Talk to me a little bit about that.

Just being Irish.

I think that had something to do with it.

Yeah, a good question.

I don't know why I went Kelly Green. It's
clean, man. I like it a lot.

It's real. Nice.

It stands out.

Stickers.
Stickers need to have an identity.

So so you can see. It.

From 50ft away even if it's not.

Legible.

And you still know what it is.

Okay. You know what I mean? I'm
not teaching you.

You already know.

Like this. This stands alone.

You see this on a car.

You know it's not going to be
something different when you walk closer

or when you drive closer to it.

That's the cool thing about this logo.

I like that. I like that.

We got some sponsors again,
this is Feeney talks with friends.

This is all possible
because a direct line media.

Stefania and Dave what's up Stefania

she's here.

We got Luna pizza 9.99 Farmington Ave.

Come check it out.
We're going to get in some wings.

This is my favorite.
This is my favorite. This is my favorite.

Go on my favorite one
I live in Wethersfield now.

So sometimes I go to Luna's
in Glastonbury. Yep.

End of sentence.

Read between the lines.

End of sentence.

But I love coming to this.

Luna's right here, man.
I came here the other day.

I get a white pie.

That's my favorite.

I get a white pie. They make the best.

They make the best white pie.

I'm sorry, Frank.

Sorry, Mr.

Pepe, they make the best white pie. Man.

I love it here.

You got to give me their information, man.

I want them to be a sponsor.

I've been eating Luna's up to my.

Up to my eyes.

Alex is tatted up.

Yeah, he's got to sleep.

Yeah. But.

But these are my people, man, I love it.

All the pizza shops who pop up.

Man, I still am
faithful as heck to Luna's man.

And then we got float 41.

You ever float in a a dark?

No, but I've heard of this.

Of 10,000 pounds of salt.

Heard of this perfect boy. Yeah.

It's supposed to be, like, help center
you spiritually and mentally, right?

Yeah.

Dan Hurley does it once a month
if you can't tell he needs it.

So, yeah, you should try Sierra over there
in Bishop's Corner.

Okay. Newest sponsor.
She's a great friend.

Podcast guest.

You've done it. Float.

Oh, I love it. Yeah, you can do.

Do you lose track of time?
Do you fall. Asleep?

So here's the thing.

You could do

60 minutes or 90 minutes and you're like,
oh, 90 minutes is way too long.

By the time you finally,
because your mind's racing,

got a million things going throughout
the day, you finally find your relaxation.

The lights go on. It's crazy how.

Well, toss and turn. Yeah.

And you finally find it
and the lights go on, so I.

I tried 90 minutes.

I've tried it with my wife.

You can go in the couples.
Okay. Really cool too.

You kind of like do you like,
hold hands like otters.

Float around you? Yup. Yeah. Yep.

We, interlock arms like otters.

I love that, definitely.

Then they do a salt cave, and then now
they have something in Cromwell.

Contrast therapy, cold plunge.

Well, sauna. Okay. Cold plunge. Sauna.

Yeah. You times.

They like ripping open your cells and
and healing them back.

Right. I'm nervous.

Like your bones feel young.

You want to run a marathon?

You're young, you're rejuvenated.

Like you said,
you just want to sit and reset.

Yeah.

Maybe after this tour,
you should go hook up with the firewood.

Man, I definitely want to float. That's.

That's amazing. Bro. I'll connect you.
That sounds great.

And then the fix ivy across the street.
Okay.

You get an IV or a B12 shot or the rocket.

They'll fix you right up with an Ivy.

Can anybody get that?

Or do they recommend it for everybody?

Or do you have to have, like, a vitamin
deficiency?

Anyone? Any time? Yep.

So B12 is, a lot of people lack B12.

I take B12 love B12.

You can just get the shot.
They go right into you.

Yeah, bang.

And then you just dunk.
That's pretty dope.

And you're just running.

I was going to.

Say I was going to say,
then you're ready for the NBA.

That should be their logo.

Don't get B12 and try out for the Lakers.

Yes. That is in theory.

Yeah. Popeye's spinach right.

My name and my.

Golf lore group. Brook Golf is a sponsor.

Great sponsor.

You know I've seen their commercials.

Are they really related to Jared Goff.
No relation.

What a dope dope commercial that is.

That was pretty dope to them.

It was brilliant.
Brilliant marketing her name.

I love to see brilliant. Mark her new one.

She's got the whole cast
of the Christmas vacation Chevy

Chase, Randy Quaid and the wife.

She's got flavor. Flavor.

I saw him on a billboard.

Yeah, Jared Goff

she's she knows what she's doing.

That's great sponsor. Great friend.

Christmas party is coming up.

Can't wait. Dope.
Did you know them before?

They were a law firm.

No TV agency. Insurance is a sponsor.

Great people.

Let's see.

Keating agency.

Think I hit them all.

Kidding. Agency.

We got.

We're hitting them
up, talking to each one.

So we got to make sure.

What do they do?

Kidding.

Agency insurance to fix. I v

they do.

Our directors in officer insurance.

You probably need that as a nonprofit
to hook you up.

People's bank is great.
People's bank. Okay.

And Parkville management.

Carlos Carlos Carlos Mota.

Yes, Muto was a great podcast guest.

Got a lot of views to his popular guy.

He's a real popular guy, man.

I go way back with Carlos, man. He's
awesome.

Golf with 62 year interested.

Alex from Luna was 70.

Yeah, this.

Let's see when Carlos was your 121.

How do you feel about that?

I like that man.

It was a good numbers.
I traditionally hate.

Numbers.

I'm not.

I'm not a whole. I'm not a big fan.

But I don't think it's a prime number.

I don't I don't think it is.

73 was,

Carlos Muto got you?

That's prime, isn't it? 70.

Yeah, 73 is prime.

How about Doctor Miguel Cardona?

You know who that is?

Yeah. Podcast guess. Yeah.
I was like great.

It was a zoom.

Yeah.

He's our he's our boss's boss's.

Boss's boss. Okay.

I believe that the secretary of education.

Yeah. He's
the man right there. One man, one away.

I knew you would know who that was.

Yeah. So.

Oh, and West Hartford, Locke, West
Hartford.

Locke is a sponsor. Okay.

Can you agree?

With that being said, what are three keys
that make you great at being

the president of the nonprofit Hip
hop for homeless slash being a teacher?

Yeah. Three keys that are keys. Yeah.

I think
I touched upon one of them already.

I do good business,
and I hold relationships

very firm and very seriously.

Loyal to a fault.

So people know that
they could count on me.

People know that I'm reliable.

People know that, like,
my word is my bond.

And that's how I was raised.

Old school Italian.

That that's
how I've always lived my whole life.

So that has benefited me
the most in any business that I ever do,

both with peers, both with supervisors,
both with people

above me,
below me on the same level as me.

I think, recently

I've been called unflappable.

That's a good one.

Which I thought that was a really good
adjective.

Yeah.

One of the district coaches of Hartford
met me for the first time,

and they were talking about,
like, the challenges of middle school

and the challenges of, of of,
you know, being in this realm

after teaching high school for so long
and they were just like, you know.

I get the vibe.

That you're like pretty unflappable.

And I was just like, yeah, I mean,
I guess I am, you know, I, I learned to,

I studied a lot of eastern philosophy
and a lot of, eastern medicine.

And, like, I've learned to just let go
of this stuff that we can't control.

And a lot of times we get so angry
and we get so anxious and we get so tense,

and we get so overwhelmed

and we get so stressed over things
that we cannot control.

But as soon as you realize
that you have no control, it's just Husar

and you send it and you part it
and you move it and it's just, it's

it's clarity, you know,
it's air and it's energy and it's clear.

Right.

But in reality it's not that clear.

Right?

It's opaque and it's translucent
and it fogs your mind

and it fogs your eyesight.

So you move that to the left and you move
that to the right, and you part it.

And I just,
I just sometimes I just sit in class

and I'll just yeah, I'll fold my arms
and I'll just stare at people.

For minutes on end and Mr..

What are you looking at?

And I'll just be like nothing, man.

I'm vibing, I'm chillin, you know.

Yeah.

And I think the third one is,

I believe in people.

I believe in what people can do.

And as much as I've been doing everything,
and as egotistical

as it is to put my ugly mug on a sticker,
I believe in the people that

that I believe
in, and everybody that meets me

has a chance with me, and everybody
that meets me has an opportunity with me.

And I think that

we lose sight with the technology, with
the social media, with the digital world.

We lose sight of how important this is
and the capital that people possess

in, in community and in communication
and in language and in conversation.

But I, I hold that to the utmost.

And I think that people feel that
and I think that on a very subconscious,

even lower than that,
on a very animalistic Ed level,

I think people become empowered by that.

And it's almost like,
you know, when you're activating someone's

psyche for them and alongside them.

And a lot of times I, I'm able to
to tap into some talent or some skill

or some abilities that they weren't
even confident with and comfortable with.

Yeah.

And and same goes for.

Students quality of a good.

Teacher, you know.

Have a good night.

Feeney talks with friends.

All right on my watch.

Take care folks.

So that's that's one of those things,
you know?

Great answer.

Three keys. Yeah, it was really good.

Lock it up.

But the key in it, lock it up.

All right, so next question fit.

Well, speaking of which.

So you're Italian. Yes.

What's your is bats
short for your last name but Talia.

But Talia. Yeah the g silent.

So b b a a g.

La. La.

Yeah it's Italian
for battalion and battle.

That's where we get like the term
for battalions in the army.

We get that from battalion,

Yeah.

Interesting. Yep.

And Joseph.

Joseph. Joseph
William Valentine battalion.

Forget them.

Yes. Forget about. It.

I got five fingers and Alex tree.

Yeah, I know you treat him.

Yeah it's.

Cool man. It's cool.

My my father. Rest in peace Salvatore.

Salvatore battalion.

That was his that when he was in Rikers
Island everybody called him Sally Beth.

So I knew when I went up when I, you know

in middle school
I had coaches they'll call me Joey Bats.

And I was like, oh, this is a no brainer.

I don't need a rap name. Yeah.

You know, I don't need a right.

Hey, man, I want you to call me this.

Now, man. You just go by
what's you're called.

You know what I mean?

So it made sense.

It's like,
oh, betray us. Real name, no gimmicks.

Oh, we tried.

Love.

And then you mentioned something else.

Italian. Oh, bear season.

How's my bear look? It's almost.

Yeah. Was looking good.
Be like you. It's looking. Good.

When I grow up, I want to be like you.

That's a that's a nice beard.
How long? The beard.

How long have I had the beard?

Like, forever.

I mean, stickers beard.

Not as long.

Stickers. Beard.

I can't shave it, bro, I look crazy.

I look, I look crazy.

I look like a chubby John Stamos.

I can't do it.

I can't do. It, uncle Jesse.

Uncle Jesse, I can't do it.

So yeah, the beard has been something that

that that I've just kept for a long time.

I don't like being clean shaven.

I don't really like shaving that much.

You know what I mean?

I don't I don't that the razor
kind of irritates me.

So I just, you know, shaved down here,
you know what I mean?

So I could put the button up on, But,
yeah, I just kind of rock the beard.

Sometimes it gets a little
bit long and out of control,

but I don't.

Want to do first and next
first, last, best.

But how about some tats to show off
a favorite tat or these buttons?

What's with the buttons?

Little show and tell.

Oh my buttons. Are you verified? Check.

This is when you sit back
and you're chillin.

Everything's fine.
I just just. When I sit back.

This is my little dog.

When the dumpster. Fire.

This is fun.

Yeah,
it's a joke between me and my sister.

She's also a school teacher.

Okay.

And we'll be like, man,
some days you're just like, yeah.

This is fine.

This is fun.

I like whether it's the kids.

Whether it's the admin,
you're just like, okay.

Here I am, I'm alive.

Let me sit this coffee and figure it out.

Black lives matter.

That's obvious.

I have different pins on all of my vests.

It was 20 degrees when I left for school
today, so I got the heavy vest on.

But I like it, man.

It's a it's a nice way of being able to,
to celebrate the things that I care about.

And, I like that flash,

tattoos.

My first.

My first tattoo, I.

Waited, I didn't get any in high school.

I waited till my 21st.

But this is a wild story.
There's a wild story.

We had time for. A wild story. One.

Yeah, yeah, we got time for a while.

Right?

We love wild stories.

I had just turned

21 in May, and it was, it was.

It was the next week I had left.

I was coming home from college
a sophomore year.

College? Yes.

Senior year of college.

At 21. Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Because graduation was my 21st birthday.

That can't be true.

I don't know, I'm 21.

It's kind of early. Did you start at 17?
Yeah.

November. December birthday. You're young.

You're 22.

So this was my junior year.

Gotcha. My junior year. Right.

I had
my I had to get my wisdom teeth pulled.

But I had been reading
this is my first time reading.

Like the hot Vegeta.

It was my first time really getting
into like, Hinduism and Buddhism, and.

I was like, all about it.

And like Siddartha teaches us

like, emotions are not real, right?

Like pain is the only reality
that that you can really feel right.

Because your happiness is your happiness.

Your happiness is my happiness, right?

Emotions are subjective, right?
But pain is not.

Pain is pain.

And I was like, yo,
get in my wisdom teeth pull with no drugs.

Okay, that's wild.

Wild? You're not kidding.

I had to sign a waiver

the whole night that I wouldn't
like punch the dentist right?

I got three wisdom teeth

extracted, sewn up nothing.

And I and I left there and walked

to a tattoo shop

and got and got pain tattooed on me,

bro. And I looked so crazy
because I got the guy's.

I gotta go.

I got tacos in my mouth
until contract night.

And I got the blood like dripping.

It's on my shirt. And they were like,
what the hell?

Whatever, bro.

Sign a waiver
because I had two waivers that day.

And that was cool.

So, like,

these are the four noble
Truths of Buddhism,

but they teach you that you can't you
don't.

You get them over time.

No one has true wisdom.

No one really, you know, manifest truth.

And until you have gotten
to that point in life.

So I waited and at the time
when I felt like I hit all of those.

So for a while, I just had pain on me.

Yeah.

Until I mastered karma.

Yeah.

So what is. It? Pain. Karma?

What's the other one?
Truth and wisdom. Truth and wisdom.

All right.

And then.

And. Yeah.

And then that's like

the four Noble Truths,
which eventually leads you turn nirvana.

And that's no longer
when you need to be reincarnated

because you've mastered your life.

Okay?

So you don't
your soul can finally be at rest.

Pain.

Karma. Truth. Wisdom.

Nirvana.

Then you don't need. To be reincarnated.

Then you're done.

What teachings is this?

That's Buddhism. Buddhism? Yeah, right.

Because they teach that,
you know God is in us.

But God is a light.

So it's up to us to keep that light
really bright.

Sometimes it's very dim, but you keep
coming back if you keep getting it wrong.

Oh, man, I was really mean
to this kind of person, man.

I was really mean to animals.

Let me come back and really figure it out.
Let me get it right.

Let me get it right.

And then when you get it right, you know,

and then I just, I went,

I went Saturday, I got some,
I got some little Keith

Haring guys wear on my legs.

And I went, yeah, on my leg.
I'll show you.

Give Shin. I'm pretty flexible.

With shin tats
because shin tats look like they hurt.

Oh, you got Papa Smurf?

Yeah.

Oh, we just got some new Keith
Haring little blinkers in there.

Got the boombox, got the little robot.

Oh, keep that up. Let's see.
We got Brutus.

Luigi, Bluto, Luigi or Coco from here.

Let's go. Is that. Zelda? Yeah, yeah.

Link, Barney,
Wade, Barney and the Flintstones.

Yeah.

Going from the Flintstones published
Franken berries on the other side.

Is that the Lorax, Scrooge McDuck,
the Lorax?

Yeah, yeah.

That was my. That was my my right legs.

My old to the 80s.

My my left legs are old to the 90s.

That's pretty.

Cool. Yeah. So that's my recent one man.

My buddy doc.

Two penny tattoo. Shout out to them.

They did them all. Yeah.

No no no no they did not.

They did the last 4 or 5 years.

This guy do you like
I want to shout him out.

Podcast. Guess most views.

He's he's in a band. Okay.

What band.

It's called Higgins in a general.

Okay.

So we got Higgins
and the general tatted up dope,

and he says, you know, most people
treat their body like a church.

Me, I treat my body like an amusement
park.

He's tatted up, so. I like that.

You got any?

You don't go.

Whoa, I know I want.

That's more rare, right.
Shout out to. You.

But that's more rare I. Do you want any.

Yeah,
I want the Notre Dame. Fine Irish guy.

Casper the friendly ghost.

Okay. Map of Ireland.

My girls nicknames somewhere.

You know, why would you do the Fighting
Irish?

Just maybe that one right there.

Joey Best, my best friend. Ha!

I love that. On a heart.

Fighting Irish always like Notre Dame.

Did you go there? No. Have you been?

Yes. Okay.

I want my girls.

One of my kids
got to go. Oh, man, that's so dope.

So dope. Did you go into the church?
Did you worship there?

Did you pray there? Oh, no.

No, I touched down Jesus, the grotto,
the Joy center.

Nice. And a game.

I saw him play back.

I saw him play Stanford.

And I saw him

play Navy,
a giant stadium army at Yankee Stadium.

Okay, I remember that. The Pinstripe Bowl.

Yeah, I remember that. Yeah,
that was a good one.

And then that's it.

That's dope man. Where did you go? You.

Southern. Southern.

Southern Connecticut.

New Haven or New Haven show

cafe nine.

Yeah. Where is that cafe nine?

It's right there on Crown Street.

Crown. Right.

I think it's Crown State Street.

Line.

Oh, State Street.

Yeah, that's right

next to Christopher Martin's in Modern
Pizza's on State Street.

Yeah.

Yeah, a little bit down the further down
the road from like barcade.

Oh yeah. Yeah.

We got a follow up question, but
the first question is favorite restaurant.

Which favorite restaurant?

Oh, bro, you're killing me, man.

I told you like I got my sponsors.
Everyone says that.

Why does it have to be in West Hartford?

Doesn't have to be in Hartford.

You can name a few

favorite restaurants.

My girl, my girl's big on sushi.

My girl's big on sushi.

So? So we do Ginza. Okay.

We do Ginza.

They have a couple different restaurants.

We do the Ginza bar house
on the southwest.

Dean. Amazing food class one.

In Hartford, okay.

Street? No, no, no.

Parallel to Pabst, Pratt street.

Yeah.
I don't know what you're talking about.

Fang. Yeah. You said. Yeah,
I used to go there to.

Yeah. No, it's the same.
I think it's the same business world.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

So that that's that's major for me.

I'm also a big fan of Indian,

and I've been going to Bombay
Olive for, like, maybe 25 years now.

Yeah, yeah.
They're bringing back the buffet.

That's my guy bro. Yeah. Shout out to him.

Got to go around the corner.

My guy Rinku brings me over there. Okay.

My students dad is the chef,
so I got the Bombay out.

Yeah. Let's go make. That's fire.

That's my next interview. Mimosas.

Oh, no.

Some of Moses.

My bad.

Some. No, it's all good. Yeah.
So Moses with the.

Oh my God, with the mango.

Oh, and the rice with, the spinach.

Yeah. Okay. So you do the spinach.

Was that the korma?

Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah.

You do the. Korma.

Lamb.

Yeah, I like this, I like.

This, he the Saheed paneer.

We'll do shahi paneer like a spicy.

Yeah.

Got to get the sweats
going, man. Uncomfortable.

I live right there too.

Yeah I could oh, yeah.

You told me that's where you walk
your dog. Yeah, yeah.

Oh yeah. Right there. That's.

Yeah. Dora was great,
man. Dora reached out to me.

Dora is actually a sponsor.

They're just not like they just sponsored
our raffle, which is awesome.

I think they're waiting to see, like,
how well this year goes, and

and maybe we'll be able

to continue that conversation
and they'll be, like, a shirt sponsor, so.

Oh, yeah, I'm happy for them.
They do great stuff.

Dora is phenomenal.

Yeah.

Scott Miller, owner okay.

Podcast guess word.

Yeah. They sponsor our golf tournament.

They price
150 egg sandwiches in the coffee.

Oh that's. So they go like this.
The egg sandwiches, they're gone.

They're right here
I believe it. Brioche bread.

Oh. Mint buttery. Just. Yeah.

I might have to come out for that, man.

I'm a. Scratch.
I'm a scratch golfer. Okay,

well, wait, wait.

Hold on. What a timeout.
What a scratch golfer for me.

I mean, it's like you're good.

You're really okay. I'm not.

I'm not, I'm not, I'm not.

But I'm also not.

Putting up sevens and eights. Every hole.
Okay.

We can use you.

Maybe you want to wrap out a hole.

I'll. Hey. Wrap all their
their golf. I'll do it.

Yeah. And I could just, like,
make fun of them.

I got heckle them.

I got I'll do that.

We had Connor game day. Connor. Yeah.

Does the heckle hole. Oh.

Maybe you could split the day.

I mean, we can't do it. You do it,
I love it.

Yeah. Just tap. Yeah.

So we can go. In shorts
and look at this guy. Sponsor. Oh.

Rosita's. Nike.

You know. Oh. Roast him.
Okay. Yeah. You're right.

And then they pay you to be quiet,

or they pay you extra to get on their
board to get on that. Most

game day, Connery is like 400 bucks.

That's cool.

That's awesome. Oh. You're in. We got you.

Perfect for that. I would love that.

That's so much fun.

Yeah. So you're again. So.

Yeah.

Ginza Bombay

I love I think I like top like when I talk
about, like, sushi and Indian, but.

Like, I'm on the out of. Great.

Yeah, actually, I did a podcast,
I did, I did it taste of India,

but I, I did a podcast in there
bit laugh love.

He is a Nepali

world famous judo international champion.

That's fine. I'm on the podcast.
That's great.

You got a proclamation?

Proclamation from the mayor
that day. Okay.

And he came on the podcast.
Oh, I love this.

Really cool. I should check that one out.

Have you gotten one yet?

As a man, what's hard for giving you
anything they gotta give you, you know?

Come on.

What's up with that?
What's up with I got a day.

They gave me a day. Star. Yeah, we're.

Yeah. Little ronin,

the brony.

Give me. That today. Absolutely.

No, that's what I'm saying.

You got it.
You got to put in a put in a call.

We got to give me a day
and what's. I was on the podcast.

All right?

I got a, honoree of the.

Yeah, West Hartford committees,
Saint Patrick's Day parade.

So I got the honoree.
I got something for that. That's cool.

But I want to come. Hop on the float.

They put you on a float? Yeah.

Nice wave.

I got to get to be a good friend.

Dude. What?

That's that's that's it right there.

All right, so you're at Bombay Olive?

Yeah. For guests that are alive.

Who you and what.

Do these are? Great.

These are great.

And we'll do recommendations.

Closing remarks.

For. Guests. For guests that are live.

Oh, my. Even with.

What time are we?

Stefania. Yeah.

How are we doing?

I'm going to hate my I'm going to I'm.

No I'm going to hate my answer.

This is going to be I'm going to.

90. Yeah.

Between 90. 690.

Wow. Hour and a half.

We talking that much 56.

Oh okay. I was like an hour and a half.

All right.

No, I like this guy.
My phone is getting cold.

Let's go.

Socrates.

Okay.

Because you're a philosophy guy.

Let's go, Malcolm X.

Let's go.

Reza.

Bobby. Digital. Bobby.

Do do do do do do do do do.

What was his grave digger? Same.

The resurrected.

That's where it came from.

No, no. Grave diggers was first. Yeah.

You sure? Positive.

I don't know about that 100%, bro.

What are you talking about? You don't know
about that? I'll flip this table.

Yeah, I love the game.

Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that was me. Yeah. The resurrected.

Absolutely.

Six feet deep came out
maybe like 11 months

before into the 36 chambers.

I'm my fourth,

right?

Oh, man.

Maybe like Mother Teresa.

Okay. I would love to.

I would love.

To just give her an audience
and lay her at the table.

You know, she's very soft spoken.

And sometimes she could get steamrolled
by the other people that she was alive

with in the time of her, really her
heaviest left in, like, her peaceful life.

But I want to make sure there's some
good women representation at that table.

Risa,

Mother Teresa.

Malcolm X, Malcolm X Socrates.

Interesting. Yeah, I like it. Yeah.

We need a translator. Yes.

What language is Italian
for Mother Teresa?

Yeah. Greek?

Yeah. Greek are a dead language. Yeah.

No reason.

Whatever. He speaks not to,

you gotta diversify your bomb.

Yo. Facts.

Do you want to kick some bar?

Speaking of bars, get a little something.

Say something about the Friends
of Fini podcast.

Being a good friend.

I got nothing.

Nothing. Okay, fine. I had a gift for you.

If I rap.

If you rap.

Okay,

I got I got to keep it clean. No,

we'll put a parental advisory sticker
right here.

Doom.

Joey Bass with hip hop for the homeless.

You know, I'm on this channel
with my boy Feeney.

You know we hopeless.

Just a couple of guys. Podcast.

And in the pizza shop
about to make the pizzas drop.

We got the stickers.

We got the blister, the names.

Everybody. No, we're not playing games.

Joey Bats talking about the tour
that's coming up.

Three weeks in Connecticut, man.

That's what's up.

I'll be your best friend.

You could be a good friend.
We could drink some water.

We could have some seltzer to the end
is ginger ale wings and some meatballs.

Homie on the stage rocking with Vinny.

That's why we only. Only a.

Couple of cats looking for sponsors,
trying to do what we can. Man.

You can go to Barney's

with the bricks, with the shows,
with the raps, with the beats.

Everybody knows that we do good feet.

Be a good friend,
be a good human to the human being.

Connecticut. We looking at you?

Let's go. Yeah.

Be good friend, be a friend.

Told you I got something for you.

You just came in today.

Yo, come on.

Be a good friend. Beanies.

These are cleaned up.

These are real clean.

You did.

You did the the the words
and you did the embroidery.

Yeah. See how it looks on you

fancy.

Yeah,

I'm a look. Good. Looking good.

You never look better,
actually. Looking proper.

Looking proper.

I love this, brother. Thank you so much.

Thank you for being a good friend.

Thank you for coming on the podcast.

Episode 121 Joey Bats Big Tour coming up.

Please go out and support.

We have all these different dates.

We'll share the link.

I got to be your number one
interview on here. What?

What kind of. Numbers I gotta break.

Number one.

No speed it 1200. Okay. 600.

Number two.

All right, so 1200 was at Dylan Lock.

Okay. Higgins in the General Herd.

He had a concert after the rally.

Fox played at Connor. He's at Yale now.

All right?

He's number two.

Dope.

Got to either top them or right around.

What's it going to be on YouTube.

YouTube, Spotify, Apple?

Anywhere
you could get your podcast. Oh, God.

Feeney talks with friends.

Please subscribe. Download.
We're going to beat that.

Beat it. Yeah.

Got any recommendations before we go out?

Podcasts, books,

shows, hip hop concerts.

Any personal. Recommended?

I mean, I'm going to recommend myself,
man. I'm going to be honest with you, man.

I mean, the only recommendations I can
are try your hardest to come to a show.

We try to hit every market in Connecticut.

We're all over this whole little state.

But please do what you can.

I know it's tough
if you got to find a babysitter,

if you gotta find some time,
if you gotta find a pet sitter, a dogs

that are cats
and do what you can't come out.

You don't even have to stay
the whole night.

Come with an open mind.

Come with an open heart.

Buy a shirt, donate to a good cause.

It sounds so cliche
and it sounds like I'm trying to sell

you guys on this so much,
but you will feel so much better.

It's so funny how it works.

I'm telling you, at first I didn't
even believe it, but you just feel.

So different.

Now. Is it like a typical show?
You have a couple acts.

Guys go up
there, does three songs. The next person.

Goes,
yeah, a little bit longer. I'm trying to.

I'm also trying to change
the stigma of hip hop as well.

So everybody, every performer
will have 20 to 25 minutes.

They get a full chance to
to really develop their brand

and to really let people know

what kind of artist they are
and what kind of performer they are.

So every show has about 7 or 8 performers.

And then, you know, we got a DJ
keep the vibe going.

But it's just it's amazing, man.

Every show is just so positive.

And people love it, man.
So that's my recommendation.

I like to do a friggin show.

I'll be there.

Can't wait. I'm looking forward to it.

Got my shirt, got my sticker.

Don't be stylin. I'm a recommend.

Did you have you read this?
Who? Move my cheese.

Yeah. You read this? Yeah.

We talked a lot about that
in my own little program.

You see.

So are you.

What are you, a ham or.

Ha, a sniff or a scurry?

I'm a scary. Scurry.

What makes you a scary?

When when people.

When when people feel unsettled.

Man, I find the best thing to do
is just kind of, like, frantically

move around and try to shake it.

Shake something, make it happen.

You know what I mean?

So yeah, you got to

understand that change cheese is like
something you're trying to achieve.

You know, change happens.

Anticipate change, monitor change, adapt
quickly to change, enjoy the change

and be ready to change quickly
and enjoy it again and again.

Oh yeah, it's on page 71.
They always leave notes.

This guy scary.

Oh he's leaving
positive messages on the wall. Yep.

I was going to give this to you.

You want to read it?

You want to share with a. Friend I was.

I would love to share it with a friend.

I mean, like I said, I got a copy
because we had to buy it at Wksu

in my own not two program,
but I would love to share the wealth.

Quick read.

There's someone.

There's someone at my school
who's in and on on two program,

so I would definitely give that to them.

That'll be
you just did my Secret Santa for me.

Oh good idea.

I want to share this with Joey Bats
who move my cheese.

Jonah Francis
recommended it on the podcast.

Okay. Took me ten episodes.

I finally read it. So thank you. Jonah.

But I highly suggested
they have a who move like cheese for kids.

Who who move my cheese for teens.

There's another book item, the maze.

Unfortunately, this doctor's doctor,
Spencer Johnson, passed away.

Just found that out.

All right, that's for you.

There's a dope one. I got a book for you.

The book of the samurai.

By. Haggar. Kiri.

Check it out.
All right, book of the samurai.

I'm gonna write that down
now. Blowing your mind.

Hagar. Q Ari.

Book of the samurai.

Right down the Hagar.

Carry the Hagar Q Ari.

Hagar.

Carry. Yeah.

Blow your mind, bro.

Well.

It's crazy because it's just a bunch of
excerpts about how to be like a samurai.

It's outdated. AF, but.

Just reading. It.

It puts you in a wild perspective.

It'll just it'll just say same thing,
really short, really easy to read

because it doesn't. It's
not a cover to cover book.

It's like the daodejing
just little excerpts.

Okay. Right.

But it's like a

don't run in a rainstorm.

But it means move.

Move slowly
and you will get equally as wet.

You just think about it.

You just like, throw what?

But it's so profound, man.

It's so profound.
Check it out. You'll dig it even if.

You don't read the whole thing.
Yuri! Papa! Papa!

Papa!

Book of the samurai.

Yeah. Rules for a night
was pretty good too.

But I like this.

I had to carry. Yeah. Books.

Book. Take it out.
Put it on your Christmas list, man.

Maybe a lady will get it for you.

Well, thanks for being a good.

Friend, dude. I got a hat.

I got a book. It's a good day.
We get to break bread.

This is amazing.

Joey.

Thank you so much, brother.

Closing remarks Joey bats.

No, man.

Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
I love what you do.

I think it's really important for us to,

to help out the people who sometimes know
they need help.

But a lot of times
the people who need help

don't even recognize that they need help.

And sometimes we just do it quietly
and we do silently,

and we do a lot behind the scenes.

And because I do so much behind
the scenes, I know you do as well.

So it's nice to be seen
from someone who operates just like me.

I appreciate that.

I think we both vibrate
on similar wavelength,

and it's just really cool
to just chop it up with you.

Yeah. No,
it was a great, great conversation.

Like, you could have been 90 minutes.
Could have been two hours.

I had a great time talking with you,
Joey Bats.

Ladies and gentlemen, hip
hop for the homeless teacher, rapper

extraordinaire, MC.

Great person, good friend.
He's your best friend.

Oh yeah.

On three will say be a good friend.

The only 1 to 3. Be a good friend.