Oh, guess what, guys.
I think it's showtime.
All righty.
Hey, hey.
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Hey, everybody.
Welcome to What's Good with John and Joyce and I want to make sure
I get this right, so I'm going to read it right off of here.
Now, everyone, welcome to another episode of What's Good with John and Joyce.
Today we're talking about something that really could change your life.
Having a really good friend, not just someone to hang out with,
but the kind of friend who sees you, support you.
Laughs with you.
We've been doing a lot of laughing before the taping today.
Cries with you sticks around no matter what
and whether you've got a long time best friend like my buddy here, JC
or recently found someone you feel very connected with,
or you're still searching for that someone, it's
hard to believe that some people are still searching for that.
One dear friend will be your friend, right?
But we're talking about what really matters, and that's friendship.
When you really break it down in life, it's all about friendship.
You can have all the stuff out there, Joyce.
We talk about that all the time,
but when it's all said and done, it's about friends and and you know, I know
you have a dear friend here, Sharon, who we go back pretty, pretty far as well.
My bestie.
Hey, we share a friend.
Yeah we do share a friend.
And now you have a new friend with my buddy James.
Jim James.
Talk about who owns the great Jkm and Gilford.
The place to go if you want to look all nice and beautiful.
And, he's just a great guy, but we'll hear more about him in a bit.
But Joyce, we're a big believer in chivalry.
You know that women go first, so why don't you go first?
Joyce? I'm with my bestie, Sharon Hunt.
We met and
in 1983, you guys were born then?
Yes. Really?
The babes in the wood.
That's good.
I like this episode already.
Work it out. So.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sharon.
And, you know something?
We actually met before we were friends.
I was, a business school,
and Sharon, which is the same business school
and she came in to give a talk
about what she was doing and what she was doing
is that she was working in radio and WPA for her.
And then a year later,
I interviewed for a job there. Yes.
And, I was actually so taken with you and what you had to say.
I don't know if I ever said that to you, come to think of it.
Oh, that as I was sitting.
In the
classroom and listening to you speak, I thought,
I like a job like that, you know, I thought, she's.
I thought you were just the coolest person.
So little did I know that a year later, because I did get a job someplace else,
that someone said, hey, there's this job opening and maybe you should apply for it.
And then once I met you, it was like, oh my God, I know you.
And we've been talking ever since.
Wow, that is special.
Yeah, special.
Where are you?
And she was in my one day.
Oh, aloha wedding.
And we've done a few things together.
When you have two boys, I have two boys.
Yeah. And, we had a coming up.
We were really young when we had our children.
Yeah, we were young moms.
We were doing this work.
So we had that bond right away.
And Sharon has a way of kidding me that makes me laugh at myself.
Two things so serious.
And that's such a great gift.
When somebody get you to laugh at yourself. Gives me so much.
Right.
I love hanging right.
It's like a softball over the plate.
Right?
And baseball.
It's a mistake.
That's funny, but tell me how you met Jake.
You know, we go back to 1982, don't we, brother?
And, What?
Yeah. Well, like, was it right? Early 80s.
Early 80s. Yeah.
And, we met at your salon, I think, for the first time, you know.
And why don't you share that story a little bit?
Well, I met your wife first.
She was my client, and she came in one Saturday morning
and, with a couple of her lady friends, they were all getting their hair
done, and,
she said, I went out with this guy last night.
He's.
He's just so big.
You know,
are we going to do the edited version of this podcast?
Right. And,
a short time later that, we actually met,
invited you to over to my house soon afterwards.
And, we've been many parties
together, and, I remember probably one of the best things.
And I think that really touched us off was when I had my high school reunion,
I was my 25th high school reunion, and I hired him to be the DJ for it
and brought the house down and was all the way out in Danbury.
And we had such a party. Ethan Allen did right.
I remember, I remember and, it was fabulous.
Yeah. Everybody showed up and, enjoyed
the entertainment more than you can imagine. So.
And he's always done that since, I mean, after every party we've been together,
whether or not he's, the deejay or
just the dance party or something like that.
It's always been great. Always terrific.
I, especially love lately the,
groups at Amarante on, the in the summer nights,
watching the sunset and listen to some great tunes.
He's always been that close.
And, lately we've been having a lot of quality dinners together.
He's introduced me to some friends.
I've introduced him to some of my friends, and it's like one big, happy family.
You know, it really is one another.
Quite a quite a bit amazing.
His wife and my fiancé are like buddies.
They keep in touch pretty regularly, and, it's a great thing.
And a thing I love so much about James is I feel totally at ease with him.
I don't feel like I'm being judged.
I mean, I can be myself with Jake and we can.
We've laughed. We've cried together.
You know, we just had so much fun over the years.
It continues to be that way.
But whenever Patty and I say, let's get together,
we always think James and Nikki, James and Nikki, so many times
we've we've gone on some trips together and we just really enjoy that time.
But just to be with somebody where you can be totally yourself
and that's so freeing, so empowering and that and James has been a real gift to me.
And so many years, so many ways.
I mean, to North Carolina, hahaha. Yes.
Yeah, I think I,
we're going to leave that out too as well.
Oh my goodness.
Showing up at 530 in the morning.
Come on. We're going to get on the floor and do some exercise.
I saw I don't know. Yeah. Push ups, sit ups.
Forget about first thing in the morning. Yeah.
And 6:00 in the morning.
Then he's.
And he's still friends.
That's right.
Yeah.
We've been through a lot of stuff together, and it's always been good.
I've never had a problem where I want to say,
what the hell is wrong with John?
Man, he's, He's my buddies, my friend.
And, we've had a lot of highs and lows together.
You know, we want more highs, that's for sure.
Without question.
Situations with, our families
and, our also, I said our friends already.
So, it's always been positive.
Always been good. Thank you. JC now, what about you, Sharon?
I mean, you think about it, and, we never had and,
you know, I.
Yeah. You know.
Yeah, there's and that's
it's unusual.
Yeah. So.
And, yeah, I know, it's,
sometimes I hate to say women,
if you watch, like, Real Housewives of catty, catty times,
my mother used to say, no, two's company, three's a crowd.
And sometimes, like, someone you know
about the other night out there, we never met.
I. I'm just. Someone might not be.
Whoa.
This is this is getting fun.
No. Yeah.
No. Well,
we've had ways.
Well, little ones, little ones.
Yeah.
Look, I know they're working for to sort it out.
Yeah, but I want to tell you something that Sharon did when I knew
that she was truly, like, one of my best friends.
And I don't know if you remember that. That's.
At a party at my house.
Oh, okay.
So it was, it was my Michael Bolton and and friends of his.
But it was 1985,
so it was before the world knew that he won the Grammy and everything.
Sure.
90 day back in the days of Michael Bolton.
Yes, yes.
Michael Bolton is, the blackjack.
You know, it just came out as, this stand alone Michael.
Right, right.
And he had just left blackjack and then hit on their TV, fools game.
Right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yes.
He's there.
And and other friends are there, and I have been, like, cooking all day.
I was getting ill,
and I could feel it like,
I have asthma, but if I get a cold, it's that I can feel
I was getting a little feverish and just thinking.
You not feeling well?
And I have all these people there now.
And I was having difficulty breathing, and I went
and I sat in a room and I was struggling with breath.
And I remember you came in and sat
and you said,
none of these people here are your friends
because they see you struggling and you keep asking you for things.
I would get up into, but, I mean, I don't think you were paying attention.
I'm never drinking.
Go like that. Yeah.
Going on and I, I was in a bad way.
And you asked me if you, you kids wanted to take me to the hospital,
and I said, like, I can't go to hospital with everybody here.
But the next day, I did go to my doctor.
He said, you should have gone right to the hospital.
And then I had to have, you know, a nebulizer.
Yeah, all of that.
But I remember out of all those people there, there were not.
You knew I wasn't doing well.
And I remember you saying that to me, like, stop
here.
And you sat with me on my little bed.
Yeah. And just let me catch my breath.
And you even said, take your medicine, take the inhaler and all of that.
Well, what a true friend who's going to tell you
maybe some things you don't want to hear.
Yeah,
yeah, but I mean, you could tell
by the people they would come in and out
and and keep going and dancing and hanging out.
And the person who invited you into their home
isn't.
Well, but it doesn't matter if you're not leaving.
I didn't get it.
That person who cared about you wouldn't,
you know, they were there to have a good time. So.
But if you're not having a good time now have a good time in the house.
No brainer.
Yep. Yep.
You did.
Yeah.
And that's why you guys are best friends.
And you're exactly right again because so many people out there
I mean you know it's human nature many ways they want to be around you.
Maybe because of your title or who you are or what maybe you can do for them.
But a true friend is there when they know there's nothing they can really get
from you.
In a way, it's just it's unconditional
and they will tell you the hard things at times that you don't want to hear.
JC has done that with me in the past and I'm sure sharing you, Joyce,
have done that with each other.
And that's what that's what I'm unconditional friendship
is about, and most relationships are based on being conditional.
Very few are unconditional.
Yours is unconditional.
James of mine unconditional.
Yeah.
You know, there are a lot of friendships that are based on what I can do for.
Yeah.
And what it does for your health
when you're with somebody who makes you feel good and you laugh,
the endorphins, the serotonin, the dopamine, the good feeling chemicals,
it's like when I think about JC, I smile right away.
Right away.
I could be at the gym. I could be having a tough day around.
I think about James, my friend, and then we're getting together for dinner
real soon.
I get to see him over at Amarante House or an event.
I feel good.
Should I start laughing?
That can go either way. Here.
Yeah. Right.
We've had some real positive times together.
No complaints ever.
No, no.
Been to his home many times.
He shares his home.
It's a lovely thing.
I feel very comfortable in his house.
His kids, the, the cats, calling Ed.
Ed. Yeah, yeah, my boys
never had kids of my own.
So my kitty cats, you know,
I have a beautiful stepdaughter, but I've never had kids of my own, per se.
But my kitty cats and my animals have always been my kids.
My babies.
We. You know, we were talking about our dogs.
Yeah.
We have had a small dog thing going on, right?
Right. Yeah.
It's short change. I'll see you then. Yeah.
I wish
I know what next time.
Yeah.
So, Sharon, tell us a little bit about you.
Let's hear about a little about your story.
Like the like kind of the Reader's Digest version.
Right?
My three years at Yale, you know.
Yeah.
I retired from there about nine years ago.
Did some traveling with some friends, retired.
She took an early. Yeah, I can't wait. Yeah.
Yeah, I've
I've actually been I have not worked in
just about nine years.
You okay with that.
I never wanted to work a day in my life.
Real, honest.
I never wanted a job, but I had kids and, you know,
like, most likely I had
you also like jointly bought the house.
So you're, I mean, you know, you check the smaller quarters.
Yeah.
You got a lovely daughter in law a lot.
I love your son.
He's incredible.
And child, which you love.
And he loves you.
I mean, you got a full life there.
I do, yes, but it's not work.
I don't want to project. No. Right. Oh, yeah.
Do that and come to work with you.
And a radio station was. Yeah.
Not only a radio station, but my own business.
You came away with me.
Oh my God. Yes.
Because.
Because I had a business called Phantom for you for 21 years.
I worked with, you know, Mariah Carey, a lot of different people.
And it was, it was really interesting,
but it was work that we did it what we called hanging out with them.
We were prostitutes.
We were talking to the fans.
We were, you know, if any fan wrote that had cancer or anything,
we would never just sell them anything.
We would pick them up, you know, with the celebrity.
Yeah. So, first assignment
was she first thing she made me do,
I had to go get my hair done.
Get ready. I told you, I'm going to.
Oh. Is the best ever voice to me.
Yeah, man. Yeah,
I know a good buddy of mine is up there.
Good buddy of mine as a Montana.
Seeing that they're they're they're still back together.
Got touring with New kids in the block.
So they're, they're teaming up together. So.
But now it's men's the men now boys.
Well, what a great what a great, great group were they fabulous.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean wow.
You know, and Jason, I'm so excited because who was the opening.
Oh yeah.
And and we were sitting of course front row.
That's what.
Right, right.
We had you best.
Oh good. That was my first.
It was all of them.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Yeah.
The problem was working with Sharon Sheridan.
She would come into my office and we just would laugh and we wouldn't talk.
And it was just how Sharon liked it.
I don't want to work. Right? Yeah, yeah.
Yes it is.
It was more of that relationship.
And then I think we both agreed this wasn't.
This was. It wasn't.
This was your wasn't one of our better, right.
Yeah. Right. Back to you.
What do you did. Yeah.
I had not been to.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Well, it's good that you went to Yale because they treat you right with tension.
I mean, they set you up.
You up?
Yeah. Yeah, I do that. Yeah, yeah.
Now JC a little bit about, you know, your background.
You have your own salon in Guilford, Connecticut,
and you've been in the beauty industry for a long, long time.
And what kind of led you from A to B?
Oh, I got out of the Navy as a kid, and my father
had me a job at the New Haven Register as a printer's apprentice.
And I thought, great.
You know, it's good future in the printing business.
Well, the following year, we got our first computer,
and this was this big thing in a isolated, air conditioned room.
And I thought, this is so cool.
You know, computer and computers renewed.
It was 1980 and they were humongous back then.
Many of them that were huge. Yeah, yeah.
And it had to be a,
an air conditioned, isolated room because it just had its air conditioned.
Yeah.
So and short time later they started talking about lasers
and scanners and I thought, what the heck is that?
I said, well, probably ten, 15 years from now, you may not have a job.
Now here.
I just got out of my time as an apprentice.
I had a journeyman, card to work, but I'm still low.
Man on the pole.
So I had a brother in law
that had, given up his job in the post office,
and he went to hairdressing school, and he seemed to be doing okay.
And I thought, heck, I could do that.
I like girls,
really?
No idea. Yeah.
I went to hairdressing school in 1987,
86 or 87, 86, I think it was.
And I was the only male in the class of 41.
Oh, really? Yeah.
And he said he liked girls. There you go.
That part of it was cool, but, I was married.
I was newly married, and, we had a child
and actually one on the way.
So, I was working nights
and going to school days and consumed me, pretty much.
But, I enjoyed the, learning about the,
hairdressing business, but I was the worst one in the class of 41.
I was the worst one. I didn't know what gender called.
Well, that's because you were distracted being the only guy in that class.
That's probably what it was.
Yes, but I enjoyed it. And,
my first, position
after that was, working with my brother in law,
we started our own business, Grand Avenue, new Haven.
And, I was there for about a year, but the place kept on
getting burglarized, and, I didn't like that very much.
So I went to another salon, in Hamden,
one of the more sought after salons, in, the New Haven area.
And, Vincent Farrell, Sally beauty studio.
Legendary was my hair. Wow.
And, I was with him for about eight years.
I was his manager when I left.
So, it was.
We were very involved.
We did a lot of traveling.
We did a lot of,
platform work and educational programs to other salons and other hairdressers.
And so, it was consuming my time.
It was, taking a lot from my marriage, my relationship.
So it was either move closer to work or move work closer at home.
So I opted to move work closer to home.
I moved to Gilford and, we lived in Clinton at the time, and,
I, started working
with a, a friend, on in Gilford.
And I was there about a year before I started my business in 1980.
We started JC and me hair salon, and, we rented a spot,
on the Boston Post Road there, and it was good.
All my customers that I had in Hamden followed me to Gilford.
I says a lot.
Some of them are still with me today.
And,
five years later, we found a building,
and, we were attracted to it, and we bought it.
The former owner was the owner of, Guilford Beauty Shop, actually.
And, she called me and knew that I was looking
for a new location because, where we were,
was Anthony's, restaurant building was, expanding,
and we weren't in his expansion plans. Oh.
We started looking from Brantford all the way up to Madison
for a new location.
And, when this young lady called me,
we looked into it, and, it was a good, good thing for us.
They wanted us to lease with an option to buy.
But my wife was pretty smart.
She said, no, I want to buy it.
I looked at her and I said,
But back in the mid 80s.
Yeah.
The good Lord provides not only that, but the banks were very,
very lenient with financing.
So one of the banks, Bradford Savings Bank,
which is no longer in existence, but not because of me, but
had to clarify that. Yes.
They gave us so long and the former owners held us
the, papers on the second part, second loan.
So, we bought the building, where we are today.
Wow. We got it.
It out to the bare walls. We,
completely empty the place would close it down for six months.
All new insulation, plumbing, electrical, everything.
We bought all new furniture, and,
we invested a lot in it, and,
my, my wife was the, manager.
She ran the business, and I stand behind the chair and,
we had my first employee came a couple of years later.
And believe it or not, that young lady is still with me.
Wow. Karen?
Yes, is,
has been a, an asset to my life.
And,
we, worked closely together all these years, and it's been wonderful.
Unfortunately, my wife didn't
last a long time.
She died from cancer back in oh nine,
and, we had to,
move on to, a new lifestyle.
And so, we had moved at that point to, to Guilford from Clinton,
and, things were going well, but, after
she passed away, I was really kind of lost for a few years.
And, but the business has thrived, and it's, still going strong.
And I love what I do. It's not work for me.
I enjoy what I do, and I enjoy people for the most part.
No plans and no plans for retirement. Right?
Just like I saw Paul, like, about two weeks ago at the casino,
and somebody asked him when he was going to retire,
and he said, why should I retire?
I love what I do, I enjoy people, he says.
This is fun for me and people pay me.
And I said, those are the same words I use.
All right.
Yeah. So here we are.
I have no plans for retirement. Right. Yeah.
Yeah I but I love hearing the story.
I love hearing success stories about how businesses, you know, how
you've been able to go through the twists and turns and still make it resolve.
It's all about resolve and belief.
You know what?
I know we have to wrap up this show, but we do.
We're going to come. Come back with you.
Oh we are To talk more about friendship and really more on a,
a wellness
and well-being.
Why we need friends.
Yes, that's that's a real good point as well.
So thank you.
So much for watching another episode of What's Good with John and Joyce.
Sharon, really, really wonderful seeing you again as well.
We worked at WPLG in New Haven back in the day to all three of us and
Jake, so good to see you as well.
But there will be it's going to be continued.
But make sure you check us out on all the streaming platforms.
You can catch us on YouTube, subscribe for free iHeart Radio Podcast Network
I'm proudly wearing my radio shirt since I work at the River 159 and country
92 five and all the other platforms.
So until next time you know we we pray for you, bless you and your family
and continued health and well-being and lots of love for you and your friends.
Friends are so important.
Catch you again. All the best.
Bye. Hi, I'm John Cadillac Seville from the podcast What's Good with John
and Joyce and your day with a smile, a happy thought and a grateful heart.