Refer A Friend

Almost everything is worse than it used to be.

If 'bang for your buck' was plotted on a graph [ I can tell you from my time in Mr. Thronson’s AP statistics class] that that motherfucker is going down and to the left. Not only is the value of a dollar down, but the value of the product that it buys is going down with it. The flavor meters just aren’t getting cranked anymore. Late-stage capitalism is a race to the bottom.

Take the apps on my phone, for example. Every last one, paid or not, has gotten substantially worse with each update. Instagram is a hollow e-mall shell of itself. Twitter (the only name we acknowledge) is a endless hellscape of man-made horrors for robots to argue about. And Stitcher, the app that Rim and I first discussed in podcasting’s infancy, blew a 28-3 lead and is no longer even operational, despite having a five year head-start on any other podcast app. It’s confounding.

It doesn’t stop there, of course. New houses are built like the Arrested Development model. Cars have replaced perfectly good buttons with bound-to-fail touchscreens. Coffee makers have firmware updates. The list of products and goods that they ‘just don’t make like they used to’ seemingly grows by the hour.

The NFL, watered down to third-string quarterbacks, is limping to its playoffs. The NBA has half of its stars out on any given night. Baseball is paying guys half a trillion dollars and we still really only care one month a year (although the pitch clock has been a positive).

It wasn’t always like this. The seasons were shorter. The players played. The money sounded like real numbers. It’s not nostalgia. America was really rockin.

Things really did used to be better.

With one exception: The ROSECAST.

Well two exceptions: The Rosecast and More Rim & AB. After over a decade of podcasting, they are better than ever.

It’s such a stark contrast from almost EVERYTHING else in life. The bang for you buck is louder than ever. The flavor meter is fucking cranked up every episode. The inflation meter is not only steady, but it’s going the other way.

It can be summed up with one word. Comfortable. These guys are comfortable with who they are and what they’re doing. You might argue it’s chemistry. Nope. They’ve had that since the first episode [well, long before that actually] but that’s not why it’s still getting better. It’s the foundation of the show of course, the chemistry, but it’s how comfortable they’ve gotten on the mic, and now, in the spotlight that makes it continue to thrive.

Being comfortable with who you are requires vulnerability. It’s laughing at yourself. It’s soft self-deprecation with a smile, served with a healthy side of ‘capable’. It means knowing the other guy, yourself, and the audience, and just stretching out in the studio armed with that knowledge. These guys are great at this, and whether they know it or not, they look comfortable with that.

It’s where they are supposed to be.

That, in turn, makes the listener feel comfortable. Comfort listening. I’m sure if you surveyed their audience, for either show, a very high percentage would refer to them as such.

People who have never met them, probably didn’t even know what they looked like pre-video pod, feel like they have two old friends in their pocket every Tuesday and Friday (or whatever the current schedule is). Reliable, warm, funny, genuine. Comfortable.

And lucky for me, in my case, I actually do. I’ve known both Rim and AB since the turn of the (W)illennium. I used to share a bus seat with AB on road games. I used to chop jerseys up with Rim. I had my graduation party with AB. I’m 99% sure Rim is the first person to call me Stoo Kid. We built a fort in the woods, long before Kings of Summer, and made that journey through the storm drain underneath Bever Park together. We go way back, and deep as that tunnel.

I say that to say this: I am so fuckin proud of those guys.

The things they say, the opinions they give, the views on the world that they share to the world. I feel pride when I listen.

I am so proud to be from where they’re from, to call them friends.

And not that I have to tell you, but I wear it on my sleeve… or better yet, my chest. I sport Rosecast hoodies in airports, all over the world, and then I give them away. I ‘follow’ or subscribe on peoples phones. I randomly ask people if they watch the Bachelor, even though I do not. Every month is refer-a-friend month.

I listen loudly anywhere it can be done. Because I am so proud of them.

I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time traveling in my adult life. I’ve moved away from home, away from most of my friends and family. It’s not a short jaunt to get back to them, but I do it regularly. Between that, my insatiable need to feed my camera with new sights, and the couple adventures that my aunt has taken me on, I have some real miles under my belt.

My secret weapon? A couple Rim & AB podcasts in the ‘downloaded’ episodes. (I really only need one but multiple is usually the move.) Comfort listening. In some really, really uncomfortable settings. One time I drove from Omaha to CR on the coldest night in 100 years. Rosecast on repeat. One time I flew hungover from St. Pete, Florida to CR with what can only be described as a profoundly obese man taking up half of my seat. More Rim & AB until it’s over. Just this past summer, I restarted and fell asleep to Episode 245 “Slow Down” about eight times in a row to get through a 7.5 flight from Philadelphia to Milan, ‘cross the pond as they say. Of course, the homies were there for me. Just a few examples of the countless times they have saved me, with comfort.

This isn’t an essay on the Rosecast, it’s an olive branch. This is so they know if they ever need a favor, big or small, all they have to do is ask. It would bring me real joy to somehow re-pay them for all the times they didn’t know they were there for me.

Need help moving across the country? Want to bring the fam to the beach? Need an organ? JUST ASK.

I’m being so serious. I hope someday I can return the favor, no matter how big or small.

You guys have made me feel at HOME, every time I’m not, and that means the world to me.

Thank you so much. I am so proud of you both.

Yours Truly,

Andrew S. aka Stoo Kid aka 2015 LOTY <3