851. - Mark Ronson

All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Stateside with Kai and Carter, a new podcast from The Guardian. And they are using this podcast to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions that we all have about what's happening in the world. And they do it three times a week, Jason. Does that sound familiar to you? We don't really talk about, you know, a lot of international global news items and climates and cultures and sports and things like that. We do talk about fashion and wellness, but for everything else, Kai and Carter are a great place. All right, so who couldn't use more news? Listen wherever you get your podcast. or watch on YouTube. How long gone? Recording in progress. That's Chris Black. I'm coming to you from a supply closet at a photo studio in Pasadena. It is 8.45 in the morning. This is how we get it done here at How Long Gone. We do it all. Them jeans, you're just down the street, but I'm sure you've had a different morning than I have maybe. Oh, yeah, definitely. The acoustics in your room are odd, I will say. I don't know. Hopefully that's just the Zoom talking, but I think we'll clean it up in post. Yeah, I've had a rough. Since I got home from Austin, I've had a rough go, but we're getting there. I don't want to bring up anything too sensitive, but just so the listeners know where you're at, is the water heater repaired? Are we good? We're good. We're good. Yeah, I got home Sunday night after a weekend of Tex-Mex and watching guys rip the filters off their cigarettes and drinking. Matthew McConaughey, hazy IPAs just to get enough water in the system so you're not dehydrated. And then I got home Sunday night. Carolyn was nice enough to pick me up from the airport. And we went and got a little bite to eat at Barsaniski.

I had some delicious tomato toast. How many places are there called bar something? We got to stop. Let's get more creative. I agree. If you're a restaurant, I'm going to assume you have a bar. I'm just putting that out there. I think the problem is people are like, okay, we don't make any money selling food, only selling alcohol because the margins are shite. We need to lead with the fact that we're a bar that also serves food. Alcohol is over, too, though. This is a whole other issue. But, yeah, that does. I see your point. I don't know if that's going to help, but I see your point. I mean, I'm not saying that's why they're doing that. That's just one theory I just came up with off the down. But went home, and then there was a leak in the primary bathroom that was coming down and dripping through the AC vent. Had a little bucket there, so Carolyn kind of had a little Chinese water torture going for the whole weekend while I was gone. And then I went up into the attic, scooped out some, you know, moldy water that was pooling up in a water heater drain basin. You know, get up into the attic with the roaches and get a little insulation. fiberglass you know kind of underneath the surface of my skin that's nice yeah that's nice so you know that's good that's good and then you know eventually went to bed and then guys came over in the morning and then from 9 a.m to 9 p.m just hung out with no water and no power while two guys installed a new uh water heater why is the they have to turn the i didn't i didn't realize they had to turn the power off for that kind of thing but not not for the whole time but for some Some moments. Okay, sure. No, no. Well, I'm sorry. Because they had to, like, unwire the old one. Oh, I see. So there could be some. And there's other complications, of course, with pressure. And, you know, we bought more stuff, more tubes and more pipes. Thank God. regulators and stuff so thank god you know we got to spend a nice little bag yesterday this is the dark side of homeownership that that people don't want to acknowledge that it sucks i would say 50 of the time no um when things like it's five percent of the time where you're like like everything is beautiful and hunky-dory and you own your own property and life is good and blah blah blah and then you know obviously things come around and you're like oh today i had to spend nine thousand dollars to get a new water heater installed you know

I guess you're right. If it was half the time, you couldn't pay your mortgage. So based on these figures, I see. I mean, I think it's more like when like the property tax, like that shit hits. I think that one hurts the most. That is actually, you're absolutely right. That's a really great point. Thank you so much. And I try not to think about that, but then I have someone in my life who likes to remind me. So that's special for all of us. Shout out to you, Shorty. And then, yeah, this morning, as I had to hurry up and pick up the dog shits in the backyard before Frank, our gardener, came, you know, get a nice and presentable form, then the old HVAC filter, I had to throw that away, folding it up into the trash can, and then a little piece of metal kind of sliced my middle finger open. So then I had to dress a wound. Oh, God. You're not going to be able to play guitar for a while. Dog shit and garbage cans. So, you know, we're getting there. You're not making a good case. All right, but tonight we're going to have some delicious pizza together. You're going to have a couple cold brewskis. It's going to come back around. This day is looking up. We have a great guest today, a friend of the show. It'll be an easy one. You know, it's going to be fine. The weather's not too hot. It'll be great. We're going to finish this. It's not too hot. I've got a nice cowboy colostrum powder whipped into my cold brew. It's going down. It's going to give me the energy I need. As soon as we finish this, then I'll get to go to Home Depot and rent a dehumidifier, which I will then install in the attic. I don't. And then buy other things at Home Depot. At least you can do this stuff. When I go into Home Depot, they basically call me the F-slur and tell me to get out. Like, they don't even let me. They don't even let me look around. They say garden sections in the back. They don't even let me look around. They're like, I'm sorry, sir. It's a private party tonight. Let me guess. We have lighting, but not a lot of ring lights. I don't know what you're looking for here, young man. That's more of a target thing, sir. Are you lost? While we're here and we have a few more minutes, I just want to shout out to all the Lucy Dacus fans who are...

scandalized by our chat with her which i thought was like pretty straightforward and fun like i didn't i i know who her fans are and i know that boy genius fans are absolute fucking psycho blue hair everything hurts vibe but i did not i really felt like we had a really nice normal conversation with her that was interesting and fun and i can't believe that these she-days could find a problem with it. The blue-haired barista said, you thought, bitch. I honestly, I was shocked. You thought you had a nice conversation, but what you did was trigger me to hell and back. It was several microaggressions, I guess, that I wasn't aware of, and I guess we made fun of stuff too much and also laughed too much. um which is a funny oh i didn't read that i didn't read we laughed too much no no but the vibe was like they make fun of everything she says which is just not what happened it's not what happened like i don't i don't i just i feel like i really had a different experience than what they heard i mean in in the through through their blue tinted lenses and blue tinted hair uh you know we were it was basically like she was having a convo with you know, Pete Hegseth or something like that. You know what I mean? She was on Monday Night Football giving some commentary. Yeah, she was on Monday Night Football and we were talking about what we're going to do about the border. But instead, we're like, whoa, it's crazy. We both went to the same, you know, house show in Richmond. And yeah, I really like this peanut butter at Erewhon. I just don't. I just these fandoms are so crazy. I mean, those people particularly. And like, I feel like. it's it's just i can't imagine those being the audience and i think she obviously is a very sensitive and like kind of emotional person like she's very in touch with that but i she's also from our hour with her she was very normal and cool and i don't under i couldn't deal with that like i couldn't so if you somehow i'm yeah she's she's a cool normal person and

You know, the music that she makes is emotional. It attracts a certain type of person. If you saw that your fan base was starting to go into that direction where you really sort of had to walk on eggshells and, you know, you could not make a joke about anything. You have to talk about land back programs and indigenous peoples and housing income equality and pet adoption or whatever. Would you be like, damn, I'm getting a little bag right now. I'm going to. I'm going to throw on my Greta Thunberg hat and get this party train rocking, or would you crash the plane because you couldn't handle it? I would crash the plane. That would be the time where I could finally step into my quote, cool, unquote, religious leader role. I would go the opposite. I would be like, all right, that's it. We're starting a church. I got to start a church. Lucy Dacus, she comes out. on the on the cam with uh who's the country music singer that brings somebody out and doing the little hallway walk oh no that's not that you're morgan wallen oh yeah morgan wallen does the stage the drake song morgan wallen brings out we got we got the my pillow guy and lucy dacus coming down the hallway oh god dude that is that is so funny that i heard a great story actually uh, from someone that will remain anonymous about Morgan Wallen. He has a festival and he offered this person, uh, an insane amount of money to play. And they said, no, like the number got bigger over like a four month period to the point where I was like, you have to do, I would have, if you would have called me, I would have told you, you had no choice but to do this. And, and, and they were like, nah, I can't, you know, this person. Yeah. Yeah. I know this person. Yes. And I was like, you next time don't call me bleep it. Huh? I was like, don't call your manager. Like call me because you fucked up. Like that, that is not like, cause at a certain point you're getting one over on him. He needs you more than you need him. And that kind of bread, like bleep this out too.

I was just like, bro, you got to come on now. But I get it. Some people are principled. Fuck the down payment. That's the whole house. But at a certain point, I think that when things like that happen, you're actually taking advantage. You're winning. You know what I mean? Donate half the money if you want, if that makes you feel good, and keep it. And you won. That's a victory for the resistance to me. But I get it. That's a good way to spin it. Yeah, I think easier said than done when you're totally, totally, totally. You know, but I could I could I see both sides. Yes. I see. No, I see both sides, too. I think I wish I had principles of that level, but I don't. All right. We got it. We got a guest today for the show. Superstar DJ Mark Ronson. He's been on the program before. He's got a new book out that's great called Night People. I'm sure you've seen him. I'm out promoting it for the last couple months. Yeah, the book is pink. I read it while I was on holiday in Europe. It's a real page turner, obviously, for somebody like me. It's a little bit more compelling information as I am an elder millennial DJ as well. Not as old as him, of course, but yeah, what a great book. What a fun read. Less successful. Much, much, much. But yeah, he's a great guy. We're going to have a fun chat. We're not going to talk about bullshit with this guy. We're going to really get into it. We're going to get into it. I can't wait to get a lesson. What's your favorite song to play in the club? So what happens? Yeah, I want to get into needle stuff. Not that kind. I mean like record needle stuff. There is a chapter about needles. I know. I know. It was educational. It really was. All right. Let's give Mark a call. Oh, and don't forget to finish the Barneys book by Thursday. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by a new podcast from The Guardian stateside with Kai and Carter. This is covering a lot of our bases, Jason. It's trying to slow down. The news and wrestle with the questions we all have about what's happening in the world. And I know you particularly have quite a lot of questions. A lot of questions. But how often? Because we do this podcast three times a week and that's a sweet spot. How many times do they do? Three times a week. And I have a feeling just based on the platform and these talking points that they're maybe going to be covering different stuff than we do. That's just a guess. The Guardian is not some billionaire owned.

They're not afraid to say what they want to say, brother. Yeah, Rupert ain't sniffing around in what journalists Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are up to over there at Stateside. But yeah, listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can watch it on YouTube. It's three times a week. And who couldn't use more news? Especially when it's not from here, let's say. Give it a listen. Give it a listen. Oh, this is huge for me personally. This episode of How I'm Gone. It was brought to you by TaskRabbit. Oh, baby, let me tell you something. This is not a joke. I use TaskRabbit a lot because I can't do anything. You need some art hung? TaskRabbit. You need something put together? A cabinet? Got to reach that cheese grater on the top shelf? TaskRabbit. Anything you need, TaskRabbit can take care of it for you. How it works, TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area. They can help you move. They can assemble furniture, repairs, yard work, mounting, and more. You can search for a tasker based on cost, skill set, availability, and past client reviews so you know exactly who's showing up and can have confidence that they know what they're doing because taskers have assembled over 3.4 million pieces of furniture, completed 700,000 home repairs. handled 1.5 million moves, and the numbers are just going up, Jason. Yeah, throw a little money at the problem. It's not so expensive, and that job that you really don't want to do is something that another person out in the world is very good at doing and would gladly do it in exchange for a little bit of money. So when life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get $15 off your first task at TaskRabbit.com or grab the TaskRabbit app using promo code How long taskers book up faster, especially for same-day tasks. So book trusted home help today. That is $15 off your first task using promo code howlong with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Quince. Jason, the temps are warming up. It's getting hot out there. Summer always changes how I get dressed. I need pieces that feel lighter, more breathable.

And they're just easy, but, you know, still put together. I don't want to look like a slob. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. You know, they focus on high-quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Breathable linen and soft organic cottons. Well-made basics, but without the luxury markups. That rare balance where everything feels elevated. but still effortless. Yeah, Chris, linen season is here. I wore a linen blazer to dinner a few nights ago in the warm California sun. But, you know, you got that Italy trip coming up this summer and quality European linen pants and shirts. Upgrade that look starting at just $34. You know, if you get a nice linen suit, a little t-shirt underneath it, some chill shoes, you're looking good, but you're staying cool. The inside of your special areas are nice and dry as you turn up with your besties. So elevate that summer wardrobe, go to quince.com slash how long for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns, even on a nice holiday now available in Canada. That is Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash how long. That'll get you free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince punto com slash how long. Mark, can you hear us? I can. Yeah. Can you hear me? Yeah, you're sounding good. Great. Yeah. Yeah. It's not too live as well. Oh, there's issues. But, you know, what are we going to do, Mark? This is what you give us. I can move. It sounds fine. I can move rooms. No, no, no. This is fine. This is fine. This is fine. I have AI technology that will clean it all up. I love the idea of you calling down to the front desk at the Chateau Marmont saying you need to change rooms for an hour just to kind of... Can I get the podcaster suite, please? No, I meant... Is there one of the... I could move from, like, this room to, like, my bedroom. But, yeah. No, I know what you meant. Like, I can move from my dining room to my bedroom or the closet if we really need it. I think the study has a big couch, so maybe it'll sound a little better in there. Trap some of that bass. You know it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. Mark said, look at my little suite. Suck it. Okay, does your room at the Chateau smell like cigarettes, or is it feeling clean and crisp? It actually doesn't, but I saw the little ashtray next to the...

to the bed with the matches in it it made me a little wistful i was like oh god i remember when i used to really enjoy that ashtray you've smoked you're saying you've smoked in bed in several hotels throughout your life i smoked in bed i've probably like stubbed a cigarette out and fallen asleep you know the other way around like yeah in fact when i was probably 15. I fell asleep smoking a cigarette and I woke up and my comforter was on fire. I mean, that wasn't like decadent. That's just being like a shitty teenager. Sure, but it has its own charms to it. Thank God that you were awoken by the flames and smoke. And I even remember what song I was listening to when I came to. I was listening to the Juice soundtrack and I fell asleep during whatever, some song, and I woke up during Son of Berserk's What Could Be Better Bitch. I just will never forget that. What a tune. I'm going to insert it into the episode right now. I'm not super familiar with that. No, nobody is. It's funny to go to sleep during something iconic and just wake up on fire during an album track. The Juice soundtrack wasn't full of platinum singles. You know, there were a couple of lesser known jams in there. For the heads? It's for the heads. On the D side of the double gatefold LP that I'm sure you had doubles of as well. I always thought that whenever you go to the chateau and the hotel room has the ashtray in it, I always was like, are they going the extra mile, like the five-star service where they find out if the guest? Like each individual guest is a smoker or not, and only those people who are smokers get the ashtray, and those who are clearly not don't. Right. But I guess you pop that balloon for me. Well, maybe not, but I guess they still associate me. Like I've probably been staying here for 20 years, so more than half of that time I was. Sure. But I'm sure if they, you know, this nice European family of five check in. Oh, no, then they would definitely. No, they would definitely. No, they have one in every room. I think it's in every room.

It is, it is for sure. I can't believe they closed the liquor store next door. Oh, I didn't think about that. That was an iconic. I had some friends tell me the trick was that you would, basically that place existed in part because you could drink the full mini bar at your leisure and just go refill it. Replace it, wow. Yeah, just replace it there before you left. That's amazing. I didn't even think about that, but I definitely had hit up that liquor store before. I could tell that my reputation started to get more tame in, like, the hotels because sometimes when you check in, they, like, leave you, like, those little, like, Manhattan cocktails or some kind of, like, thing in it. And now I come in the thing and it's just gummy bears. So I'm just, like, also, and also, I'm not sober. I don't want to, like, mislead anybody, but it's definitely my other days. Like, I always think about, like, what's the Denzel Washington movie? Is it called Flight? The one where he's a troubled pilot, and whenever he checks into the hotel, he has to have them clear the minibar before. Yeah, it's called Flight. 2012's Flight. That's the thing. I'm like, just get the milk duds and the Twizzlers out of him, please. Thank you. That's Chris's life. Yeah, I have to clear the dessert and the alcohol. That's how dark it is. These kind of mini bars where it's stuff you actually want, I'm so glad that that is sort of – Chateau has always been like that. But I think other hotels, like a kettle potato chip is exactly what I want. Like that's – I know. That's good. Oh, wait. Oh, you have your own? This is real. No. So this is the one that comes with the small kettle bag, you know, the regular brown sea salt for some reason. When I checked in, there was a party-sized bag of salt and vinegar, Chris. So that's how I know my reputation has proceeded. And I don't mean to break the fourth wall, but it seems like you've opened the salt and vinegar and enjoyed a few of those. I have, but what I do is to make myself feel better. I just put some in a bowl, and then I take that to the bedroom so I know I won't go crazy. You know, that is very triggering for me, Mark, because I... DJ portion control over here. Yeah, my dad used to... So my dad would eat peanut M&Ms every night, and he would walk from the kitchen to the living room with a handful.

and just do that over and over. The process didn't work. That's what I saw. That was the example set for me. So I tried to do that, and I had a similar fate when I tried that. Don't play the blame game, Chris. The amount of times I go when we're in the studio, and it's a long hallway and a fairly long walk to the little kitchenette area, and I grab a... handful of trail mix which is you know m&m's mixed with peanuts or whatever the fuck else and then i walk back and by the time i get back to the studio it is empty and i'll just go back before i've even got like it's exactly pointless but i think the i think the positive spin on this is that at least you're walking to and from you know what i mean you're not in a getting your steps in and you're choosing you're getting you've walked off one eighth of an m&m Every little bit. We're chipping away every little bit. Pissachios. Pissachios, high-calorie item. You already know that, Mark. So you had a party there on Friday. Chris and I were out of town. We were in Austin, and my wife was like, can you email someone so I can go to this party? And she went, and she said it was great. I'd love to hear some more about it, a little FOMO, who's had the best DJ set. who fell and stuff like that yeah it was it was a really lovely party it was a last minute party for to celebrate the release of the book so i had a couple of my favorite djs well my one of my very favorite djs who actually features in the book this dj named mighty my who's this great hip-hop dj from philly and was in new york doing the clubs with me he was part of an underground hip-hop group called the high and the mighty if anybody on their own walkers So he came out from Vegas, played a set. Zane Lowe played a very tasty set. Wait, Zane Lowe can actually DJ? Oh, yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. I thought Zane Lowe was – I didn't realize that. When you say tasty, expand on that, Ronson. Tasty like – john lee hooker into biggie kicking the door and like like well done and just good good like the shit that i think he probably loves it doesn't get to play a lot zane was djing for you and only you as well yeah and i would i would do something similar in his cardigan as well jane and i used to have a dj duo where we'd play like in a beat to like a thousand two thousand like sweaty english university students like a couple times a week like we were we kind of rinsed that for a while it was pretty like

There's a bit of jump around in Darude in there. I'm not going to lie, but it was fun. And then my sister played an amazing set because obviously she was playing in the 90s. She knew the shit. Kevin Parker from Tame Impala played some stuff. I was like, who's playing Kanye? I was like, oh, he's from Australia. He doesn't. You can't be mad at Kevin. And he played a killer set. And I couldn't even tell you, honestly. who was there i saw pictures after i was like oh that's cool because i was just literally in the dj booth the entire time sort of true to form um so it looks like a lot of fun people were saying like whoa there hasn't been a party like this in la for a while which i was surprised because if you look at miles hendrick's instagram you would think there are only parties like that in la Every night is a party. There's one happening right now. Our friend Harley just said, that's why Miles is so talented at what he does because he's like, I've spent some of the deadest parties ever and you look at Miles' pictures and you're just like, it's crunk. You can make it appear more crunk than one would assume so. He's got a gift. I think it was a good time. Did your lady have a good time? She said she had a good time, definitely. She said the same thing. Sometimes when you go to the club there at Bar Marmont, I've been to a lot of parties that are stiff, and they're like, let's have these three models DJ who have never DJed before. And the party just never gets into a groove or never gets going. So I was jealous at the one time this is happening. at this place. It's full of actual professional DJs with vinyl and whatnot. Jason, we were at a great event at a performing arts center in Austin, Texas. I was DJing. I guess I was DJing, so that's nothing better than that. That's true. It's funny because the New York party for the book, which was the previous week, it was really wonderful, but it was...

I wouldn't say aging. I would just say age-appropriate. It looked pretty aged, I would say. It was a little older hip-hop crowd because I wanted to make sure. The only guesses I made was just people that I talked to and invited to thank them for being in the book. So, of course, the age is going to be a certain thing. So it's like New York was aging hip-hoppers, and this one was just like... ageless hipsters i was like who are these people coming for but no it was it was it was very nice you contain multitudes you know you contain well yeah i feel like we're catching you you've really been on a tear bro you've really been you've been out here whoring it out and i'm impressed yeah it's it's i guess if you obviously it's like anything you look at social media just like holy shit i guess i've been i've been working hard i think it would even but that's the fact that People like you who know what the grind is and other people keep telling me like, dude, you've been out there, I guess. Yes, I have been out there and it can also just always look like it's more than it is. But do you think selling a book is the hardest thing you've ever tried to sell? Well, I think that it's because it's the first time and it's new. There's maybe something about it that's a little more exciting than pitching a record. There's also not those, like, you don't have to play live on TV. I mean, I've been DJing two nights a week, so I guess there is some kind of live thing about it. Yeah, but you're not doing K-Rock at 6 a.m. with an acoustic guitar. Yeah, and I guess the only other difference is there's some sensitive subjects in the book that, like, I agonize over how to word them. Whatever, whether it's trauma, anti-semitism, puff, all these things. The big three? Yeah, I don't want to say, like, suddenly you're caught off guard in an interview and you have to answer the same question that you've written as most eloquently and uncancellable as you can. And then you have to fucking just say it off the thing and you're like, ugh. Okay, that's interesting. That stuff is...

A little challenging, but no. Other than that, I've enjoyed it. Well, we're not going to get fresh air on you. Don't worry, bro. We're not going to talk about domestic abuse or, even worse, Kanye West. Yeah. What was the one that you did where the guy asked you all the serious questions in a lightning round? Was that Ari Melberg? Yeah. I had never heard of that. I didn't know what that was. This guy is really getting deep and wants you to give him a one-word answer. I was like, this is hard. Yeah. Are you not familiar with his show on? MSNBC, The Beat. He's quite famous for being a really respected, great journalist. He's written books on the January 6th Report. I think it's the highest rated show on MSNBC, but he is also an unironic, just avid hip-hop fan. So he will have gigs, the Secretary of State, and... mario carbone on the same thing and they'll and they'll analyze like a very provincial english sounding gigs lyric don't have to ask them like do you think you know what this lyric means you know like cool it's just funny like it's that is cool he did a he did a whole episode and i know like this could elicit an eye roll of it but it's it's really not that like on analyzing the lyrics to hove did like that last jay-z verse from the caledain and it was like it was almost like a book and and then jay-z actually sampled it and used it and like i don't know some other shit so like he's just like a super hip hopper who just went into the news and that's fine that's funny that's actually that's pretty and he was he was at the after party just like vibing out to souls of mischief i mean at the new york party for sure and like a suit with a red tie just just banging his head in the corner sounds like a more like a more like if bill maher was a was a listening to Soundbombing 2 instead of whatever he was listening to? Yeah. What the hell do you think he was listening to? I was about to say, I don't think Bill Maher's ever listened to music. You know what I mean? He seems like one of those guys, or he's like, I just love the Eagles. I was just about to say, it would be the Eagles. It would be something that kind of smacks of money and a little cynicism. Yeah, definitely. But the Eagles do get a really bad rap, and I don't know exactly why beyond.

just the sort of blatantly obvious stuff but i feel like they're like the butt of the joke very often well until recently they had the number one selling album of all time so anybody that big sure they're coming for yeah they're coming for you but yeah you're right but i think it was they're the imagined dragons of the 70s many say right 21 pilots of the 70s can you imagine but i think i think that There was so much famous infighting, and they were so rich, and there was the cocaine that just from the outside, we would have started to just be like, come on, maybe. But I love Don Henley's solo records. When I was like 12, it was my shit. I mean, they have hits. That's the thing. But you're right. I guess if you're at the top, somebody's going to come for the crown, no matter what your attitude. Wait, what's number one now? Taylor Swift? I think maybe Michael Jackson overtook it at some point. I think they were always neck and neck, and then it might be ACDC, back and back. It's always like those three or four. No, but nothing from this era. Yeah, it's Michael Jackson thriller. That's surprising to me that nothing from this era, as much as we're forced to hear about numbers now, none of it means anything. I don't think Taylor Swift has even eclipsed back to black. Because of the way, the nature, even if she is just the biggest... ever no one will ever buy records at that thing and the way that because the streaming consumption works it will never equal those pure sales like the math the math won't work the same way there's just no way it had to happen at that certain time frame in in history when James Blunt went diamond I love saying that when James Blunt went diamond everybody was like everyone was like that'll be the last 10 million for sure and then I think I think Amy did 12 somebody else did something but that's a yeah James Blunt has never worked again, right? He just lives in Ibiza and gets made fun of. But it's also just so amazing. He's so fun. Yeah, I don't think he's... He might do shows. Yeah, why not? I mean, that's the thing. Everybody can do shows now. It's like you can just go play and somebody's going to buy the ticket. It's a wild time. Okay, well, speaking of wild times and playing shows, what do you think about...

Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl. I've heard a lot of takes on both sides of the coin. There's the white guy take and then everyone else. What do you think? I think... This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Squarespace. Obviously, Jason, you and I spend a lot of time on the World Wide Web, so do our peers, our listeners, our friends, our colleagues, maybe even your parents if they're freaky. And if you're doing anything in the world... writing, taking pictures. I do topless boxing. You need a website. Exactly, a website that works, that does what it's supposed to do, that allows you to be creative but also business-minded. Jason, there's one place to go for that, Squarespace. Yeah, Chris, I'm over here. I'm modifying calculators and putting Claude inside of them so you could cheat at school. And I just want a place where I could have everything all in one place. I can have the SEO tools. So those future graduates can find me and, you know, I'm able to accept, quote unquote, donations for my services that might be gray area. You know what I mean? And then email campaigns. Hey, I got a new, you know, 2.3 version upgrade. Boom, boom, boom. Get the analytics going. Raise some money. You know, show your investor all of your cool analytics of what's going on. They're going to want to get in early and we can use Blueprint AI to make your website look as professional. as your competition, if not more. So head to squarespace.com slash howlong for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code howlong to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. Hi Talk House Network listeners, it's your old friend Nels Klein from Wilco here. Wilco is touring this summer and we'd love to see you somewhere on the road. We're playing shows this June and July in Rochester Hills, Michigan, Chautauqua, New York, Lafayette, New York, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Vienna, Virginia, Forest Hills, New York, Portland, Maine, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Memphis, Tennessee, LaGrange, Georgia, Charleston,

South Carolina, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Wheeling, West Virginia, and Columbus, Ohio. Plus, there are even more dates, some with Willie Nelson that I didn't even mention here. So please go to wilkoworld.net to see the full list of dates. We'll see you on the road this summer. Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College deal. Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms slash college PC. I think as a DJ. absolutely nobody who's been more important like to and even in the fact that i'm not super in the clubs i am but just for the first five years like nobody has been bigger and then the fact that he just like changed the game by making a salsa record and that's even bigger than the shit before it like he's arguably the most he's the he's the biggest artist in america maybe the world like just by numbers so i think the world probably anything else just sounds like fucking stupid bullshit um don't come for carol g like that my i said don't come for carol g like that mark come on yeah yeah no i think it's i think it's just an interesting choice i i don't understand bad money like i don't i can't listen to music like that like i just don't it's not for me the new album too with the more like classics also no Dude, I've tried, and I'm just like, when would I ever put this on? When would be the appropriate time to listen to this? Chris is a jangly guitar guy at the end of the day. Yeah, I want to hear a guitar. I'm not going to lie. But I do think it's an interesting move for the whitest, most normal sport to do this because it feels like a real we're trying thing, and I wonder if it will work or backfire as far as public perception. Yes, I think it's also the rub of the...

Fox, which is obviously, I mean, the NFL, which is obviously tries to be like nothing, but I'm sure Roger Goodall and everybody, I have a feeling which way they're voting. And then you have this sort of rub with the fact that actually, though, Jay-Z and Rock, whatever the fucking, what are they called? Rock Nation. Rock Nation produced the Super Bowl halftime show. I'm sure also. You know, it was pretty well publicized that Taylor Swift and Adele were also asked. Like, maybe Bad Bunny was not the absolute first choice, but he, I think he's, I don't want to just, like, parrot a Kalei Fasena op-ed piece, but, like, I do think he's the most important artist, like, from my vantage point as fan DJ, someone in it of the past five years. And the fact that he made the Salsa record that is just so... Because he was going to play, I was producing the SNL 50th anniversary concert, and he agreed to play, but his whole camp was like, but we have this new album coming, so we're going to bring the Grand Combo to Puerto Rico as his band, and I was like, oh, this is... It'll be interesting. I wonder if this is going to work. And then you're just like, oh, my God, this dude is just like now Hector Laveau. Anyway. He shows up with 50 guys. Well, I think, Chris, the idea that the NFL and the Super Bowl is the most white shit going right now, it feels a little antiquated. I feel like it's a real multicultural, multi-ethnic thing. It's transcended race. Oh, I don't. Look at the numbers, and I guarantee you that will be proven wrong. Overall, because the NFL is not global in the same way that other things are. Obviously, the brand is global, but I'm saying... People in Europe don't care. They're very few and far between. For all the obvious people that didn't like this, it would align with the people that didn't like Hendrick, not like us. There were giant songs that would have reached even the most sort of red state. I just don't. I mean, that whole production. Because the whole thing is that people lose, the performer and the label lose or spend millions of dollars of their own money to produce the show. Right.

which i feel like i i feel like you get that lick back easily though i don't know if you do i don't know if you do i heard i heard john ham went multiple times to puerto rico like he just loves bad buddy and i remember just reading an article just saying like he i think he likes bad bunny fans but yeah all the all the american like like quote unquote a-listers and like hollywood royalty and people that like went down to see that show i was like fuck i should have I should have gone. I could have got some autographs. No, but I was like, why didn't I go? It looks like a fun show. Have you been before in New York? No. But I really love this. I love this new album. So that would have been more the reason. I'm going to have to give it another shot. I've come around. At first, I was like, I do not understand Bad Bunny. It's the same beat over and over again. And I can't understand all the lyrics because I don't speak the language. But I'm assuming that they're not super dark. all right super deep i love like i'll just occasionally if there's one that i play a lot i will go and like read what the lyrics are but like t team i put a good i won't even try it i never i don't know how to speak spanish my pronunciation is terrible like it's just like he's just telling his auntie about like all these girls that want to get with him but in this very tongue-in-cheek way and i was like i love this song even more now okay i liked it before wait that hold on i'm i'm coming around on that him telling his aunt about how many chicks yeah he's telling his auntie aunt auntie i got this girl and this girl you got to understand about all these like about these girls that are like after me it's like it sounds in a very sweet way i don't know it's a good angle because usually you would hear a hip-hop song you're talking to your friends you know in the barber shop about all the shorties that you're pursuing sexually and he's saying i'm going to have the same talk but with my aunt so everyone's going to be like oh imagine he has a great relationship with his family if tupac had made dear auntie instead of dear mama

We'd be in a different world. We'd be living on a different planet. We can use AI technology to make that happen in about seven minutes, Mark. Yeah, that's true. Shit. I want to talk to you about the SNL 50 thing because it sounds like it took up a lot of time and effort. Oh, yeah. Because you mentioned it to me the other day. You were like, it was a lot. And I went. Like, Will Welch and I went to the concert. And it was such an... there was just the production was just so i don't know how to wrangle that many people like i just don't understand from a scheduling perspective are you making calls is lauren making calls is it like all hands on deck it was it was 18 months i was like when he asked me in like october of 2024 three and i was like it's i was so flattered i was like i know this is going to be a headache but i cannot say no to this man and how big snl is just like lorded you know the over my life since i was a teenager so um i said yes but i was thinking like it is crazy that we're talking about this this far out but then i started to understand and then it it was a it was a lot of work a lot of ranking there was stuff that lord's gonna call paul sideman of course but like then the second call to be like could you tell paul i'd like him to do this i was like he's your best friend do you want to call him but uh so there was a little bit of that there was there was uh people that i called there were people listen there was aaron david all these incredible people of broadway video that were dealing with too but i was waking up like more than any other project i've ever worked on like just in like a cold sweater falling asleep going like we don't have an opener we don't have a closer like i hadn't managed to convince Jack White, do you play Seven Nation Army? He doesn't play that song on TV. All these things. Everybody there is used to working on the show, so everything is 11th hour. I think they just operate under a natural coating of Xanax that keeps them from losing their minds. I don't. Everything's going to be fine.

Yeah, or they're just so like sort of PTSD from it. It's just it doesn't affect. So you're saying you have to, Jack White, who's somebody I'm sure you have met over the years, but you don't have like a relationship with. And you're like, I need you to do Seven Nation Army. And he's saying, I don't really do that. Yeah, I don't know. So we're at it. I don't ever. I would never open a show with that. Right. So then it's like, OK, well, then we restructure the show so you could close. And still, it's like it's he's turned down doing it at every Super Bowl World Cup event ever. You know, you're like, what if you do it with Sabrina Carpenter? Is that sweet? And we got options. And just like, yeah, it was just like convincing these like icons like. you know that you just turn into I'm not above being like a nag or like being a you know I'm not a thorn in anyone's eye but like you know having to be that role for this kind of thing but it just fucking wore on me and also to be honest I sat home watching the 40th anniversary 10 years ago and that's when I first saw Miley Cyrus sing 50 ways to leave your lover and just like just completely became obsessed with her voice and chased her until we did nothing breaks like a heart but i remember seeing all those people in their tuxedos and the thing like wow that would be so cool to be invited to that so when lauren asked me The next thing that flash my mind is, well, at least we'll get invited and me and my lady will get in our tuxes and we'll go to the show thing. You'll probably get good seats if you're producing the entire show. You're like, Lauren, is there any way for me to go without working? Is that possible or are we not? Okay, so I have to do something. And then four months later. My wife becomes pregnant and her due date is literally like the day before the 50th concert. So I'm like, I've done all this thing to go with my lady, this thing. She probably won't be able to go. She did actually come to the Sunday anyway, but yes, she gave birth on Tuesday. And then I was going to like...

i was like i told them i was like i might not be able to come to rehearsals or anything and then the second day my wife was like feeling good she's like just go to rehearsals so so it was like a really it was like i love you she's like i knew who i married this motherfucker going to rehearsals um but there was something about like Sleeping on a hospital couch and going straight to Radio City, which provides some fantasy of who I believe myself as in my brain or something. I mean, that's book number two getting written right there, brother. And also, I guess while all of this is going on, you're on deadline to write this book that you're promoting as well, I'm assuming. That was crazy. Put that on the back burner for a few months. Yeah. I handed in the book in January. but I just didn't have the feeling that it was done. I was like, my publisher was like, yeah, let's go. And I was like, why do I not feel like popping the champagne or whatever the fuck? And then I showed it to my wife's cousin, this brilliant writer, journalist named Abe Streep, who writes for like the New Republic and the New Yorker and ProPublica and all this shit. And he read it and he was like, it's good, but I think it could be a lot better. and do a word search for the word cool because I lost count at 77 times. So he helped me for three months and put me with his features editor for The New Yorker. So I was in the most intense rewriting period of the book as well at the same time doing all this shit. So yeah, I was glad when all this shit was over. Did you come up with any other words to use in place of cool? No, I just realized I was being just lazy. I think it was like... 78 times or something which that's look that that feels i'm sure that i would suffer the same fate i think i think it's there's two types of people people who say like oh you know that's cool and then it's just normal and then there's other people who are like but what does that mean you know like and it really gets in their head like what's that subjective and objective and blah blah blah you know i thought you're about to be like there's two types of people people who are cool

There's people who are cool with saying the word cool. We could get philosophical with it. It's not a problem. It's not a problem. I mean, I think that having that help, did you know you were going to call him or did that sort of come up? I was so lucky. I ran into him at Christmas at my wife's family's place. And he was like, oh, you wrote a book? And I was like, yeah, it's about DJing New York in the 90s and stuff. He's like, I'll read it. And I was like, I can't. First of all, he really is like. he really is like an esteemed like yeah yeah journalist and i was like i don't want him to read my book i don't know i felt beneath him mark what's smith and wesson i don't i'm not familiar with that he was just like he was just like no i'll read it so he texted me like that night like hey i'm i'm into it and i really it's good and i wouldn't tell you if like it wasn't then like Two days go by, three days go by, four days go by, nothing. And then I see my phone, it rings. It says Abe Streep. And I pick up and the first thing he says is, there's a permanence to books. And I was like, oh, God, give it to me. Give it to me straight, Doc. How long do I need? What a great opener. I like that. I'd say six months. And I was like, I called my editor. I was like, I got three. He started to edit it because he's also like a professor. And then he had to go cover the wildfires in California. And so he put me with his features editor, Hannah Wilentz, at The New Yorker. And she just like fucking helps me in this way that just was, I mean, I would have been canceled five times with the old book. It makes me terrified even just to think like that that original version might have seen a lot of day. The power of a good editor. And it's really cool that you have this book that's about, you know, going to the club and and doing drugs and you know obviously a lot of great crazy historical things that happen but you know in your mind it could be concerned considered a little trivial compared to somebody who's writing these crazy essays and he's a professor of whatever he's doing and it's great to have that yeah you know those eyes on this subject matter

It just turns it into something that has never existed before, you know what I mean? Right, yeah. Which is the power of your connections, I guess. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm just super, super grateful for that. Okay, so does that mean we are thinking about book number two already? No, this book took... so much out of me, so much longer than I thought it was going to take to sacrifice. You did a lot in the 2000s, though, Mark. A lot of work. Well, yeah, that would be... You did also, also, you cut it off. Don't play with us. You cut that shit off. You knew exactly what you were doing. You stopped, and you got at least two more phases of your life. Well, I know that if I do write a book, like, another one, I'll have the, like, slightly inbuilt advantage of it being about the shit that anybody knows or cares about when it comes to my career, but... Yeah, I would just like to take a little while to do all this shit. Because it reminded me of Moby's books, which are low-key incredible. He stops before play comes out, and then the second one is post-play. And it really, it felt like an entire book was a cliffhanger and it paid off. Why not tie it all up with a bow? You never know if it's going to get the sequel treatment. You know, that's how I always feel about movies. Yeah, yeah. Well, I did really just think like this was going to be a book about, I know it's going to be about the 90s. Well, I knew I wanted to make it about the life of a gigging DJ and I could only do that in the 90s because after that I was... famous or whatever so you're now you're just you're not living that life um and then i also and it and it has like i guess in some ways it's not just like mark ronson's life up to 1999 it's like a thing that has its own sort of inner linking concept about going out at night and this thing so if i could find something for the second book that wasn't just like and now here's 2000 to 2020 or whatever yeah yeah yeah i like that you i saw you did the thing with nikki where you went through all of he kind of picked out some of your looks from over the years and then made you yeah made you comment on them and i feel like i i as humbling as that might have been for you i feel like that's really

a testament to staying power and how many phases you've been through. And I was like, damn, I remember a lot of this. There were some fucking looks. Yeah, it was funny. I was already a fan of the videos he was doing, but I didn't know much about him. And he DM'd me and was like, you should call my show. And I was sort of like instantly, yes, and went on. and then it was and then just at the end of i was like actually do you want to just style me do you ever do any styling and he was like yeah sure because you know i'm not such an idiot i can't pick out my own clothes but i don't really i'm not in the mix the way i was 10 years ago i'm not at shows i don't know who the cool designers are all that kind of stuff and i just we just got on well so ever since that he's been putting me in thigh high leather ysl boots and just like hanging i was going to ask about that specifically i did that i it feels like you wanted to it didn't even feel like an arm twist in that instance he showed me the outfit and i was like oh that's nice you know the nice curl neck kind of like a wide you know blazer like You have to wear the boots, so I'm not letting you wear it unless you wear the boots. I would never assume that you and Sam Smith were the same size. It's cool that you were able to just interchange those loops. Has Sam worn those same boots, or is it just similar to something Sam's worn? It just seems like something. I hear thigh-high ISL leather boots. I think the only person that I've actually seen wear them off the runway was Alexander Skarsgård wore them on a late-night show. That's right. Or maybe he wore them to the actual show. either way well the thing is you're wearing leather thigh high boots over leather trousers so at some point it's you know it's it's they sort of but they camouflage where does one start and where does the other begin i had never worn leather pants ever like leather trousers in my life before and i've like always just thought they were just only for lenny kravitz and i was like

These actually don't look that bad. Like, I understand everybody's been wearing leather pants, and there's Travis and Rocky and things for the last. But I was like, I don't know if I wear them all the time, but it's interesting, as you know, to try things. How's the comfort level on those leather pants? Incredible. Really? Okay. At that level. At that level. Like aloe jogging pants. Okay, so as breathable as a nice set of aloe leggings. That's good to know. That level of leather pant, I think for that price, they have to be comfortable. They can't be restrictive. We ain't talking about the Amiri's. We're talking about real shit. Yeah, it's real shit. I want to talk about Black Rabbit, if you've seen that, as well as the adaptation of your book. You already sold your shit. Brandon Creed going to work. Yeah, I have seen the first two episodes of Black Rabbit. How does that figure in? Did I miss a step? Basically, I mean, many people say it's sort of like, you know, the spotted pig. Oh, New York is supposed to be a New York thing. Yeah, well, it sounds exactly like the fat radish when I was looking. I was like, oh, is that? It's very clearly based on. spotted pig like there's like an upstairs you know it's like the whole oh right right right yeah there's there's a sexual assault that is covered up by the management and backdoor money deals and all that kind of got it got it so basically you know for your for your book adaptation do you feel like these the you know whoever is going to produce it and put it out they're going to want to add some a little more salacious drama like that to it, more so than normal? Yeah. Because I have to say, and I appreciate your restraint because you're married with children, but there wasn't a lot of mention of women in the book. Right. Did you not have sex in the 90s? And I was like, based on the other stuff here, I feel like maybe... I became great friends with Aaliyah, and we just hung out, and that was all. There's several parts here that I feel like he left out smartly that weren't necessarily part of the story, only would be

fun to read you know but it doesn't it's not necessary but that felt like it that felt like a decision i'll say yeah i i uh yes absolutely and you know i i think it's just going to be up to the filmmaker whether like this is loosely based on it and that's the protagonist is not mark ronson or whoever like i'm down clamby and dd garner and jeremy kleiner who i actually know from growing up in new york and We used to like share custody of a Ferrat Joe Cassette single of Flojo. Like he is from like the era and understands it. So I fully trust him. I'm like, of course, there's something about my weird like hangups and stuff that would be so excited for them to no longer be Mark Ronson, but loosely based the scene. But I absolutely leave it in their hands. I think. I was so excited that they had the reaction related to the book and wanted to option it. And so I was just like, I just leave it in the hands of the grownups. Yeah, I mean, it's really come around to enough nostalgia time has built up to where this era, which, you know, we can think warmly of and negatively of, you know, like a lot of dumb shit was happening back then as well. But, you know, we're old enough now to where young kids are really immortalizing that time as like truly legendary the way. you know we would with you know you would with collecting like 70s records or whatever honest i was at some seder here like when i first moved to la in 2017 or something and this kid just came up to me it was like some young cool actor kid who was from it was from brooklyn and living out here and was just like you were in new york in the night like the way that he asked him wide eyes and all this thing i'm not gonna lie that was like 15 of what like was the driver for writing this book like i i mean it was blue gems and people who had passed away it was wanting to write the thing of the gigging dj and and some other stuff but it was really like that kid's monologue was in my head like a lot of this time so you're right this fascination with it is yeah and it makes sense yeah and we don't we we don't get to really have that anymore with today's like modern dance culture where

you can go and sneak in to the DJ booth and just kind of squat in the corner and watch whoever's playing and listen and look and learn and go get them a drink in exchange for, you know, letting you hang out and sort of observe. Now it's just a giant, you know, football stadium-sized screen with visuals, you know, and you never get within 100 feet. of the dj yeah yeah and you and they're not even djing anyway yeah and there's like so much shit that i also left out like when you said that sneaking in the booth like i remember when no one knew what daft punk looked like and they came to this club that i dj'd on a friday called uh i changed names so many times it's it was called spa or the system or key club or something it was on 13th street they were like hanging in the booth like because they were just like wanted to hang watch and then uh but they were very like you know just like you know just low-key like in the corner and mariah carey just like bursts into the booth and like this very mariah carey sound like the door like comes in and like the door like like kind of like like knocks them to the side and it's just like and i'm sure if she knew that was that fun she would have been like bugged out too but like it was just there they're just there and Yeah, there were. Listen, I'm sure awkward and silly moments like that happen in Diplo's booth all the time. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's what I would call awkward and silly in his booth. Yeah, definitely. That's awkward and silly. I agree. Had a silly time last night. Yeah. But that's how I came up with DJ AM. I would sneak into the Brent Bolthouse clubs. Yeah. And he would let me just kind of chill there in exchange for, you know. giving him a sig or yeah you know cracking some jokes or whatever and i would never expect like you would have parts where you would say you would sit there all night in hopes that somebody would say like hey i gotta take a leak you want to hop on for a couple songs yeah and that would be like holy shit moment i never even considered that when i was reading the book i was like oh yeah thank god he never threw me the cans and said yeah you know drop this led zeppelin into

the fat boys, you know, whatever that was that he was doing because I would have shit myself. Yeah. The best part about that story in the book also was that it, because it was pre-internet, you guys were doing, like you said, you guys were doing something similar, but because it was on different coasts, it was sort of siloed until you like physically saw the other one doing it. And I think that's a crazy thing to wrap your head around. You were probably feeling yourself and it was all good until he got lap band and you're like, Oh hell no. Damn. Whoa. when when when we were all about the same level when he was still like kind of a dragonfly and stuff and then when he got sober and just spent a year practicing in his room went to another level i was like oh god like this is he's just gonna run away with it yeah and he did i mean he was he really was just the top of the top of the top yeah i think that no offense to everyone else i was talking about nightlife the other day with when we were in austin and it was it was um with matt who used to do beatrice n yeah and matt creed no no no matt abram check okay and and i was just like why why it just doesn't exist anymore that sort of mix of people that partly that's in your book but partly was in jason and i's life too where it's like especially in new york it's like a it was it used to be a real hodgepodge of people and there would be celebrities there would be fucking skaters it would be a real mix and now you go anywhere and it's just kind of rich guys yeah yeah the graph kids can't get in through the door person because they didn't buy a 1400 bottle of because we were at this place people's a couple weeks ago which is like it's cool and i went to a great party there after the met and then i went on a regular night and i had a good time but i was like oh there's no like it doesn't feel glamorous. There's no, there's no danger. There's no like, no, I don't know. I can't, it's tough to put, put into words. There's no like, who is that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like you really did that for 20 years, you know, and it's, it, it has changed completely. Yeah. I, yeah, it did, it did change with the valve service stuff. And I'm sure like the weird thing that made those clubs so cool, maybe the graphic is a skateboard. It's like, maybe you got a broken, it's.

Because now it's like fashion designers mixed with da-da-da-da-da. So there's some kind of mix, but I don't know what it is and I haven't seen it. I can't, but yeah, I mean, I just like, it's not, the thing is it used to be like downtown Manhattan. Now you have to go to a warehouse in Ridgewood at 3 a.m. and you can't get there by car. You know, it's just like, it's too hard. It's too difficult. Not that I'm invited or trying to go. It's not weird if you're out of, like, a shitty downtown warehouse rave and there's some graph kids tagging. But if you're, you know, in the middle of Hollywood on the Sunset Strip or, you know, somewhere in Manhattan in the meatpacking and there's that element of danger, that's what keeps it nice and fun as long as nobody's getting, like, seriously hurt, you know? Shang, yeah. As long as there's no Shang. But you're DJing. You said you're back on your vinyl bullshit. You're just, like, doing it? Yeah. A friend of mine, do you know Caius Paulson, who has this label, Young, he manages the XX. When I was starting my last album, Late Night Feelings, he was like... He just says these ideas that just sound like sort of vague and like ridiculous, but they're brilliant. Like he said, I think you should just start DJing a bunch of parties where you only play like breakup songs, DJ for like 15 people. And I was like, okay, because he's just a smart guy. And the first night I DJed it, it was at our old studio in Sunset Sound Factory and played. some a couple songs the next day came inspired and kind of wrote nothing breaks like a heart so like he's always got some cool thing that bears some fruit so he said i he really liked the book he was like but it just really feels like you just missed djing vinyl like go back to playing vinyl for the end of the year and i was like oh god and this was like march but i was like okay it i'm gonna try it so i just like tracked down all the records i lost and you know i saved a lot of records but i didn't save like

yin yang twins the whisper song you know like i saved things that i knew i was going to play at home sure sure sure sure tracking down all those kind of records and then and then i called ellie escobar and i was like hey like if i wanted to play vinyl again like where should where should i go and he was like well you can play at my spot and i'm like like it's like the most like hip sort of connoisseur dance techno sort of slightly ratchet thing i was like really he's like yeah just play on a wednesday i played i was it's you know a little rusty but it was just so i felt so good to actually like yes play a vinyl and it you know i'm not a track of the things but just even kids watching this my chaotic ballet of vinyl throwing records on and off and eight bars speed mixing like people were just like what the and then you know records skipped and the went wrong but It was just such a good hard reset for all of my DJing stuff. So I've been doing it since. Now it's working back in the other shape, like digital, because it's almost untenable. But it was the hard reset that I kind of needed. Yeah, I mean, with leaving the vinyl at home for so many years and bringing the Serato, it really dulls a lot of your reflexes and a lot of muscles go. you play records way too quick because you can, you know, it's just like a click and drag, like a song, like my entire nineties hip hop R&B set had been reduced to pretty much the same 20 minute mega mix most nights. And it's like, Oh wait, I can play four hours of this shit. I have mobbed. You've got it twisted that I forgot about. I have freeway what we do, like all these songs and then songs that would have just, you would have pulled out. and people maybe people might have danced but it's like a three megabyte thing somewhere in a hard drive like the act of like it sounds so fucking over the top but the ceremony of like taking it out you're playing and people subconsciously like this must be important because he carried it from his house like if it just subconsciously goes into the night yeah it's like when you bring a bottle of wine to a restaurant and the sommelier makes a whole presentation of it we're respecting it you really care about this and yeah i think also the feeling of when you're playing on a vinyl record with a needle you know since it is literally a small groove of vibrations like

When you're cueing that first kick drum, you can hear it in your headphones, but you can also feel it in your finger very faintly if it's a big kick drum. You can feel it. This is sick. I can see Jason getting hard right now talking about it. It's very like surfing versus when you catch your first wave. I've never done it, but you would imagine you're like, oh, this is it. You just chase that feeling forever when you first mix two records perfectly, same speed, same key, with vinyl, all with just your ears and your brain and no laptop and no screen and no cue points and no mixed in key. It's like it never gets old. Beautiful psychological things that work. perfectly encapsulated in the 2024 Zac Efron film, We Are Your Friends. It gets to the heart of, no. Well, and the reason why it does that is because I was the DJ consultant on that film, actually, and I taught Zac Efron how to DJ. I was hoping that you knew that. How to look like a DJ, I should say. And you were making a joke. I did. I did know that. No, I did, and I feel terrible now. I'm so sorry. No, I'm not offended. Obviously, that film has been a little bit of a punching bag but now it's become a bit of a cult classic and young people truly love it and enjoy it in the way that we would watch entourage you know yeah yeah i don't even i didn't even mind the movie it's just such a different kind of dj obviously because the whole thing is modern dj so it didn't it wasn't even a good analogy no no it was funny but i think that yeah i had when was the last time that you played Vinyl, have you played it a little bit? I'll mix a couple songs here and there at a record store or if someone's having a party somewhere and there's some vinyl and a rotary mixer, I'll get in there. in front of a crowd like a proper set for a couple hours yeah i mean that's the other so that's the other thing i'm sorry chris we're getting so nerdy but that i'm used to it it's okay chris loves this shit all the places have rotary mixes now too because that's now like the high five shit so that is also there's this like fried chicken restaurant up in the berkshire it's called high's fry that i've been playing sets that i love but it's like

it's like yeah like what happened when did we lose the crossfader that's what i want to know i want to know that well i think when we stopped listening to hip-hop in the club anywhere but yeah i mean i don't like truly like nobody like you can't have a hip-hop party yeah they just don't exist yeah for a multitude of reasons so the idea i mean yeah whenever i'm in the club and they have a rotary mixer i'm like god damn it here we go again Yeah. Especially if you're playing songs that are not, you know, just a drum loop recorded in the 70s by a white guy with Coke and an Afro, and you know that shit's not quantized. And you know you're going to be twisting this needle and riding that knob. I feel like when I first found out what a rotary mixer was and you explained it to me, I was just sort of like, that seems... unnecessarily difficult yeah and and you were kind of like yeah i mean now that i said all that you're absolutely right it is difficult that's kind of the whole point um should we talk about something other than rotary makes this just because i just i can see your just a few more questions about the rotary really quick uh no i've i've always dj'd where i bring the volume up with the the slider yeah The fader? Yeah. But then I grab the trim knob at the top to have more control as I mix the song out. You DJ with the trim knob, but that affects your pre-fader level. Hold on. You guys are going to do this without me letting me... Do not bring up my pre-fader level, Mark. If I can't make a trim knob joke, I think this is all a waste of time. I like the control because when I'm sliding that slider down, it's not buttery. and you could yeah somebody could bump your elbow and it's all up i needed to a smooth fade out what i'm sorry again chris one thing that has definitely happened since i started djing again is that my tinnitus has been so bad like i somehow managed for 30 years to dodge the bullet of that or like it was a little bad or be bad at points but now i it's it's it's just here to stay it's crazy i remember am

having to sleep with a hairdryer next to his bed. I guess that was like before white noise machines were all the rage, but it's kind of scary. So I've actually had to start wearing this crazy ear protection, which also makes you feel like you're in a bubble and it's like you lose the connection to the crowd. If you're mixing in a part of the song where it gets super quiet too, that's terrifying because you start to not be able to hear it. So I'm just trying to figure out that like, did I write this book about DJing that weirdly has now like, Because of DJing since the book came out, I might have to stop DJing altogether. Is there some weird poetry in that? I don't fucking know, but it's been bad. Yeah, and even – I'm sure when you were 19 in the club, you did not have good monitor volume discipline. No. When you're on three – your third 40 and your second bag, you're not making sure to bring the volume down in between mixes. Yeah. And I never did. I also want to give you a – there's a lot of respect for the vodka cranberry in the book, and I think that's important representation because that was my drink of choice during that time period too. like the vodka cranberry has has died a slow yeah and pathetic death and it was a great drink it was good for your urinary tract was getting healthy and you were getting drunk that's it i think we need to bring back more of an artisanal cranberry because i think everyone is i want a skinny margarita this you know sugar-free blah blah yeah even though the cranberry is bitter it had a fuckload of sugar in it and red 40 and all that stuff it was especially in the club because it was just like concentrate like whatever came out of the fucking spray gun just Rikers Island quality only the cranberry juice from a gun into your with a little sky vodka that has pop off poured inside of it you know sometimes I think about like the times where I've like did I really like alcohol or was I just like was it my sucrose addiction like what was it like all those things it's so much fucking sugar tied up in there yeah do you like the Red Bull or do you like the vodka

Yeah. It's tough. It's tough. It's really tough. Well, Mark, thank you for taking the time to chat with us this morning. Congrats on all the success of the book. Thanks so much, guys. I remember the last time we spoke to you, you talked to us about it. Had I just started it? Yeah, you were like, yeah, we're going to write this book about it. And Chris and I were like, well, good luck, buddy. But look at you now. No, I'm just kidding. Look at you now. You did it. Are you in the studio? Are you doing anything musically right now, like production-wise? Are you back at it? Yeah, I was with our guy Andrew Wyatt today. working on some movie stuff. The other reason I wrote this book really was just to justify an album because I was like, this is my sixth album. Who the fuck is going to care? I want to do some stuff like touches on the 90s and I'll write a whole book to go with it and then no one will be able to say anything. Why are you fucking covering Aaliyah? It's like, well, this is chapter, the context, here's our friendship. And then I just never made that album. So, but I do have a lot of music that I love that I just have to find what that place is. Cause I was, you know, there's a lot of shit I was working on while I was doing the book, but I just, the book just took all the time, but yeah. So hopefully that soon too. All right, great. Okay. And also when you said you and Andrew are working on some movie stuff, are you working on some movie stuff or are you doing the score and soundtrack for the biggest film next year? We're just, I got, I'm not allowed to say. Okay. But you guys are the best. Hey, man. Thank you for joining us. We love you, Mark. Thank you so much. Always good to see you, bro. All right. Have a good trip. Thank you, guys. Okay. Bye. Relax and let Fred Meyer Pickup handle your grocery shopping this week. We start with only the freshest items, then choose your favorites. Carefully pack everything up and load it right into your trunk, so you can feel confident it's what you ordered. Fresh groceries, your way, with Fred Meyer Pickup and Delivery. And right now, you can save $20 on your first pickup or delivery order. Fred Meyer, fresh for everyone.