Greg and Rory welcome long time listener, first time caller Rob Antonucci to the show. Rob is a regular behind the scenes collaborator with Common Thread, and today he joins us on the mic for what will be a two part episode.

The trio share updates related to the podcast and life. Rory discusses the recent tenth anniversary of Ugly Duck Coffee and some of the festivities they coordinated in recognition of the milestone including a magician for the kids, and (real) tattoos for the adults applied by tattoo artist Benton Sillick from Lucky Folk Tattoo. Rory reflects on the early years of the coffee shop, the work that went into building the business, and efforts by everyone on the UDC team to develop the shop into what it is today.

Greg announces an upcoming author visit, reading, and book signing he is coordinating at the Irondequoit Public Library featuring our guests from episode 4 of Common Thread. On Saturday, August 30th the authors of The Unraveling (Karl Buechner, Jeremy Mueller, and Keith Ward) will be in town for an after hours event that will feature food from Red Fern, drinks from Ugly Duck Coffee, and (temporary) tattoos for the kids applied by tattoo artist Adrien Clark from Axe of Kindness. The evening will conclude with a live set by Rochester's own Coming Down.

Rob discusses his other Disney themed podcast, The Dis-List Podcast, and insights and experiences from his career as a teacher including the delicate art of providing feedback on creative projects. Rob shares how he came to be an art teacher after considering a career in art, and expounds on how incorporating elements of performance art helps facilitate teaching teenagers.

The three also share recent releases they have enjoyed from across the spectrum of hardcore punk sub-genres and beyond.

Mentioned in this episode:

Joe Bean Roasters

Use promo code Lunchador for 15% off your order! https://shop.joebeanroasters.com

Mind of Magnus

Check out Mind of Magnus at magnusapollo.com, and leave him factoids at 585-310-2473! https://mind-of-magnus.captivate.fm

Lunchador Podcast Network

Check out all the shows on the Lunchador Podcast Network at Lunchador.org

All right, I guess I can.

I guess I can cut an intro then, if.

If you want.

Well, I mean, we could just say, you know, we mentioned Rob Antonucci all the time in the.

In the notes, and today we have him on as part of.

Part of our episode.

So.

Welcome, Rob.

Thank you.

What do they say on radio shows?

Longtime listener, first time caller.

That's me today.

I was actually going to make a joke about that because you never get to hear people say that on podcasts.

Feel free.

Make the joke.

Let's drive it home.

Like any true dad joke, you drive it into the ground whether it gets laughs or not.

Oh, my good.

I made a good dad joke today.

Leaving the family party that we went to, and there was a beaver, like, in the woods on the way in.

We were in.

Oh, geez.

This is a family show.

Yeah, we were.

It was at Par Mills park, actually.

So it was really funny.

We went.

We, the fam family rented out a lodge.

We went there.

There was a beaver going up.

We're like, oh, cool.

Beaver in the woods.

Turns out it was a lodge that we.

I had played.

Okay.

It was good.

That was my next question.

Was that the lodge that Stefano Fest took place at?

Which one was.

Was.

It's very.

Was that the one with the two different lodges right next to each other?

I don't think so.

My recollection was Stefano Fest was one on.

Was the one that's like kind of right on that main road.

You can see it.

Right.

This one was set back.

This one, there was a chillin and grillin there.

And then how we are played another show.

This was with Ruiner.

They have since upgraded this facility to have, like, air conditioning.

It's super nice.

It's like, you people want to have weddings there.

Now this, you know, obviously, what, 20 plus years ago it was, you know.

Go to a wedding.

Oh, yeah.

But my band played here 20 years ago.

So funny.

So this.

So this is wild.

But.

And then so leaving, I made the joke.

The family's like, oh, the Bieber's still here.

I was like.

I was like, oh, Justin Bieber.

So bad.

So bad.

But it got everyone.

I was sort of laughing, so.

Oh, my God.

I went to high school.

The guy whose last name is Bieber, and obviously there wasn't a pop star with that name.

I feel bad for him every time I hear that name.

I'm like, the rest of his life, everyone is going to be calling him Justin Bieber.

Oh, man.

Poor guy.

Poor guy.

Shout out to him.

I love going to places Where I've been to shows where it's, it's like a legit thing.

Like I've been to.

I think it was a graduation party that was at the lodge with the infamous I hate you show.

Took place at.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

And nobody that I like had to tell someone and I'm like, you don't understand.

And then I also went to like a dance recital maybe that was at what probably was like the first bonafide hardcore show in Rochester.

So obviously I wasn't at that one because I was, I was only like 4 years old.

But it was cool to see the stage, I guess.

Yeah, I was at the I hate you on the Riverton Community Center.

Yeah, that was wild.

Yeah.

But yeah.

Rob, welcome to the episode, man.

Stoked to have you here and thanks for all the feedback that you've given to us directly and helped us, you know, find out the rougher parts around the edges.

And it's been super helpful and doing the logo and everything.

So we're stoked to have you a part about the.

Well, part of this, I think good thing too with any kind of collaboration is that people are open minded and know that when someone comes in and gives you a suggestion, it's, it's from the right place and the two of you are always receptive and you're like, oh, that's cool.

This or that or, or you throw a different idea.

And I always say the same thing when I text you guys up, like, look, not trying to take over, but I just have a suggestion because it's A, it's your podcast and B, it's, it's kind of how I, I'm a teacher.

So when I, when I have to deliver not, not bad news, but give a suggestion to a kid on their, on their art project, you just have to be careful how you deliver information.

So anyway, I mean it, I love it.

You know, a lot of my friends, I get positive feedback from them, they love the show.

And one of my friends, I do a, another podcast.

I do a Disney World podcast.

Yes, you heard that right?

I love Disney World.

I do my own podcast where I do that.

Plug it, man, plug it.

It's called the dis list.

If you like Disney World or you want to travel, check out our podcast.

But my co host, Nick, we were talking about the show the other day and he was listening to the episode with.

I'm trying to remember the name of the graphic novel already helped me out.

The unraveling.

The unraveling.

And he said, oh, I listen the episode the other day.

I said, oh, you listen to the podcast?

He goes, well, yeah, man, why wouldn't I?

He goes, And I thought it sounded really good.

And I thought, my daughter, who's just turning 10, it might be something she would really like.

And I go, that's great.

That's the entire point of this, is exposing this to different people.

He knows who Earth Crisis is.

He comes from, like, he's.

He's kind of from the north country and he, you know, he likes Tragically Hip and.

And those kind of bands, but he's really getting into hardcore recently and he knows who Earth Crisis is.

And that's kind of a really good audience.

Where, of course, all the Earth Crisis fans are going to want to check it out and they'll hear about it.

But, like, Nick is the kind of guy that you want to bring in because he has a younger kid and Nick would read it himself.

He could read it with his daughter.

Like, after listening to your episodes, I feel like that's what their goal is.

Do you agree?

Yeah.

And, like, not to kiss, like, an adolescent hero of mine's ass.

It's actually like a good book.

Like, it' just like a fold and staple thing that they.

They made at, like, the FedEx Kinkos.

Like, it's.

It's legitimately good.

Will definitely appeal to, like, fans of high fantasy.

And like, I saw recently, and I think I mentioned on a previous episode that they got a very favorable review in this trade magazine called Kirkus, which is like, yeah, every library in the country uses that to make decisions on what they're going to buy.

And the fact that they got a positive review is, like, that's going to sell it more than, than any advert, advertising, or any social media post could.

That's great.

Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that too, Rob, because I had a conversation with somebody yesterday and they said the same thing.

They're like, you know, hearing that interview was just.

It was awesome that this is.

This book exists.

And they're like, I'm gonna go buy it.

And it sounds like it'd be a great gift just, you know, to give people as far as a story and especially with folks with younger kids.

So it's, It's.

It's cool that it exists and I'm excited for them.

Yeah, I think.

I think I'm like, far enough and I have enough confirmed that I, I'm, like, not going to jinx it by mentioning this, but the, the authors have done a couple of in store events in, in Syracuse and one in Buffalo and I thought we need to complete the Route 90 trifecta.

And I just also happen to have primo access to a book related venue that would be a good place to host a sort of like author reading and book signing and Q and A session.

So on August 30, the three authors of the Unraveling will be at the Orondequoit Public Library for like a late afternoon early evening event.

They'll be reading a chapter of the book Is My Understanding or an excerpt from the book, answering questions from people who attend, signing autographs from people who have the book or who want to buy a copy of the book there.

We're also going to have redfern food available for people for free.

I'm going to hit up Rory for some coffee if I haven't done that already, then this is me committing you to bring coffee for the adults or for the prize or for the adventurous children.

And then I'll probably get like another like vegan or vegan adjacent restaurant to provide, you know, to cater some kind of food for the attendees.

And then I'm going to get to do the thing I've wanted to do for so long, which is after the Q and A and people have, have some food, we'll have, we'll have one of Rochester's own perform at the library.

So that'll be like after we close so we can make some, some noise and it won't disturb the people who expect libraries to be quiet, which increasingly we're not so quiet anymore.

But I think it'll be a really cool event.

August 30th, it'll probably start roughly around 5 o' clock and we'll have publicity on, on the Instagram obviously when we get all the, the final details finished up.

Yeah, that's exciting, Greg.

I went in to see our school librarian at the school.

I work, I work at Geneseo High School.

And I went in and talked to our librarian because she will bring in visiting authors from time to time.

And I said how does that work?

So said I listen to a podcast and there's, there's an author.

Authors, plural.

Like how does that work?

How do you bring in authors?

And I don't even know if that was something that, that they would do.

I obviously wasn't trying to make any plans.

I was just putting feelers out there.

But then when you said they were going to be doing a book talk Already, I mean that, that might be something that would be a good move for them to contact middle school librarians.

And, and yeah, I saw they did go to a school recently and I forget where it was.

I didn't look it up, but I assume it was prob.

New York State.

And they had like a whole, they look like the whole school came to the auditorium to see them speak and super cool for those kids, but also, also for the authors too.

It's, it's awesome because like, you know, sometimes you've got to pay, you know, if it's like a well established author, you've got to pay, you know, their speaking fee.

Other times like the publisher will cover, you know, the, the, the travel and lodging.

If they're like on a book tour and they are doing like a short book tour in June, probably right around now maybe even.

But we didn't unfortunately have the availability to have them hop a date on in Rochester.

But yeah, it's really.

All the stars are aligning and I think it's going to be a really cool event for aging millennials and maybe younger Gen Xers who want to share in, you know, this book with their, their kids who are probably, you know, maybe like 8 to 14 years old.

You know, there's a lot of, a lot of kind of crossover with you know, the fan base for like hardcore and punk, obviously with Carl's involvement.

But it's also just like a decent book that, you know, an adult could share with a child.

Well, and you were right in a previous episode too, Greg.

You were talking about those books, the Warriors.

I know you had mentioned that.

And being a middle school teacher, I teach grades six through 12.

Those books have been out on kids desks for as long as I can remember.

So I mean it's such a big time in the life for kids to start reading and discover those different worlds.

So I just wanted to say you nailed that one and that's been a very, very popular one in that, in that age range.

So maybe this one can, can join the ranks.

Maybe it does.

Well, hopefully it does.

Maybe they make more.

So fingers crossed, you know, seems like they got a good thing going.

Yeah, I mean I, you know, something that I really love seeing now is the embracing of graphic novels in general as an actual reading legitimacy.

Because like when I was in school, and maybe this for you guys too, like that wasn't looked upon as like a book where I feel like now those stories are just part of reading culture and it's important.

Which is, which is awesome.

Yeah, Go ahead, Rob.

In the English rooms at.

I know I keep going back to my job in my high school, but there was English teachers.

You walk in, you look in the bookshelf and they got six copies of Watchmen on the, in the bookshelf.

Isn't that incredible?

That's amazing.

Yeah, I've been working in libraries long enough that when I started was kind of when the like sea change was beginning to happen where graphic novels were, you know, gaining more acceptance as like bona fide works of literature as opposed to just like something fun and frivolous for kids to look at.

But now like every library in the Rochester area will have an extensive collection for children, teens and adults.

And it seems to like, it's a really good tool.

You know, as I've mentioned many times, you know, parenting a neurodivergent kid, there's a lot of kids out there that their learning style, the way that they, you know, absorb information, you hand them a typical book and you know, they might be able to like force themselves through it, but if you give them a graphic novel, it'll connect with them way better.

And in fact I've like even seen it in my own kid.

Like he's probably not ready to like read a full on book about like Anne Frank and, and some of the like civilian horrors of World War II.

But he's, he's read a graphic novel about her and I think it like put it in, you know, like the perfect way for you know, a kid who's 8 years old.

Oh yeah, absolutely.

I mean my 10 year old Ren.

I mean I asked him why he prefers graphic novels and he says he can actually concentrate and visualize the story better, you know, and someone, you know, he has adhd, you know, so he struggles with focusing and that allows him to just see the story along with the words.

And he's more involved into it than just pictures or not pictures, just words on a page.

Which is amazing.

It's a great, great tool.

I love it.

Well, to continue that too.

I have a son who's 16 now.

Can you believe that?

That's crazy.

His main read.

And me too.

I mean I do a lot of audiobooks because Mowing the lawn, I'll put on an audiobook.

And his main source is he loves these graphic novels.

He, Batman is like his number one.

Court of Owls is like our favorite book together.

Like we talk about it all the time and.

But Even as a 16 year old he has to read the books in Ela and some of them are really good he's into them.

Some of them not so much.

But he always goes back to just great graphic novels, and we have a whole wall of them at our house.

And.

Yeah, so love it here.

And it just keeps going.

I still read them and, you know, I'm close to 50 at this point, so I'm still doing it.

So what we wanted to do with this episode is, you know, field some questions that any folks wanted to throw at us.

I know Greg threw out on the Instagram.

If people wanted us to tackle any topics or whatever questions, we can just.

If they wanted our opinion, they asked a question.

And then, you know, we were going to talk about also some.

Some new.

Not even new, but, like, newish to us.

Maybe records and.

And songs or anything that we're excited about coming out.

And before we even get into questions, the record's not even out yet, but I happen to listen to the new End it single and that.

I don't know if any of you guys caught that single that came out, but it sounds awesome.

It's so fun.

And the video, if you haven't seen the video, is.

Is so fun.

It's like them and then almost like a younger version of themselves as kids playing their instruments and, like, doing the same things they would do.

It was just so fun and, like, not them not taking themselves too seriously.

But is it animated?

How do they do it?

No, it's like, person.

They got, like, kids.

Just like kids that kind of like, represented the people in the band.

And it was amazing.

It was.

They were on, like, mini ramp, and it was.

It was awesome.

It was cool.

I love it.

That's cool.

Yeah.

So I guess, I don't know.

You want to start with the music portion then and go to the.

The question, because we got.

We got one from.

From Derek Dole, who's, you know, do Crime and, you know, Nickel City podcast.

So he knows, you know, he knows what it's like to.

To do a podcast.

But get into the questions.

Let's get in the question.

All right.

All right.

Yeah, so he.

We threw it out there.

Hey, you have any questions for us?

We'll answer questions on the podcast.

And he threw out a good one that really gets with the theme of the podcast, which is what sort of lessons have you learned through hardcore that you've applied elsewhere that aren't necessarily related to hardcore?

And, you know, that's kind of the whole.

The whole backbone, I would say, of this podcast.

And I've been thinking about that, you know, all day, basically.

And I think for Me, you know, the fact that, like, hardcore is, is a truly grassroots, organic community where there's not necessarily like any formal leadership positions or formal positions of authority.

It's self policing, self governing.

People make decisions based on consensus and not through, like an established process.

And I like that.

I think there's a lot of people who probably don't, you know, they want, you know, they want to know who's in charge so that when things go off the rail, they can go complain to someone or recruit someone for help.

If I'm not being, you know, judgmental.

Let me talk to your manager.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

But, you know, the key, I think that I've learned through hardcore that I don't know, that I would have learned, probably not in my family, probably not, you know, it at, at, at other places I was involved in, in the community.

The key to making that all work is, is, you know, I guess more or less treating people the way that they state that they want to be treated without reservation, without, you know, judging the legitimacy of, of what it is that they say they need from you or how it is that they want to be treated.

I found that, you know, in hardcore, you know, a lot of people are cut from the same cloth.

They're similar cloth, similar background, similar values, maybe similar politics, but that's not always the case.

And I've really found that you can have fairly diverse backgrounds, diverse opinions, but as long as you're willing to extend the respect to other people, they're going to be inclined more often than not to extend the respect to you.

And I don't, I don't find that in the workplace.

I don't always find that in, you know, like, my larger extended family or, you know, the different types of communities that I, I see, you know, my kids participating in.

A lot of times it's more, you know, how do I treat you in, in a way that communicates to you, you know, my value judgment of your lifestyle or my value judgment of your politics or your beliefs or some decision you've made maybe that I agree with or don't agree with.

And I just find that so refreshing.

It's, it's so much better than, you know, going on, going to work or, or going to like, a complicated family dynamic where, you know that getting treated the way you want to be treated is like a reward that's kind of dangled in front of you just far enough away that you can't quite grasp it.

I mean, yeah, I think what you're even speaking to is, is something I Think there's a journey with hardcore and punk within those in the rooms that we.

We step into that folks can speak about, you know, and are.

It's open to speak about those interpretations and those feelings and those.

A lot of rooms that you step into, you're not allowed to or you're not.

You don't feel safe to.

And I'm not saying everyone feels safe in the rooms to do that, but I think that's the first one of the first places I've seen that happen.

And that's.

That's really unique to hardcore and punk.

Yeah.

And I don't mean to sound all like, oh, we just like, sing Kumbaya and get along.

Obviously there's conflict and there's, you know, there could be, you know, the implied threat of violence even, you know, but of all the places and rooms I've been to in life, it offers the greatest hope of if you're, especially if you're like, not a, you know, if you're a non traditional, non conformist kind of person, you know, that can be kind of scary to go places, but when you go to a place where, you know, the prevailing kind of background is one of non conformity, then it feels a little bit safer.

Now, I know there's.

There's folks, you know, they don't.

They don't feel safe, you know, being their authentic self at hardcore shows, you know, and I want to acknowledge that.

But I also want to acknowledge that at least in the time I've been involved, you know, I see the crowds have become more diverse, the people in the bands have become more diverse.

There's more women involved, there's more people of color, there's more people, you know, from the LGBTQ community involved than there were, you know, like 25, 30 years ago.

So it's at least, you know, I think, improving or on the right track more so than, you know, I don't know that, like, the average workplace maybe has necessarily gotten as diverse as quickly as hardcore over that same time frame.

Cheers to that.

I hear you.

I mean, that's huge to even step back and think about those things.

It's really cool to witness that and be a part of that in the time that we've been involved with it.

I would say that's a big question because there's so many answers that are part of my life that have come through hardcore and punk to.

What I do now is operating a business and taking care of people.

And so for me, a big one right now.

Ugly duck just turned 10.

Congratulations.

Thanks, thanks.

I, you know, and we celebrated that yesterday with like an event.

But you know, that was going to be my question.

We'll come back to that.

My under.

The underlying thing that always I bring back to is or come back to is not always.

It's, it's not financially driven, it's driven from people.

It's like, how can I make this job easier and more supportive for the folks that are, are I'm working alongside or that are working for us and truly understanding that this is a choice for them.

They're choosing to work with us to, to, you know, to see me as a boss.

Like, I, I hate that aspect, but yeah, I'm a boss, I'm an owner.

But they're choosing to show up every day and be a part of this business.

And it's my job to support them any way I can and try to make things more efficient and comfortable for them and add value to their lives.

And I think allowing them to show up authentically and be themselves and support that and defend that as well, you know, in a hospitality service, work space is valuable and comes from hardcore and punk completely.

Yeah, I want to second that too.

In kind of my role at work, I feel like I'm able to be accommodating of and respectful towards a more diverse range of types of people than, you know, maybe someone who, you know, lived a status quo, stereotypical lifestyle.

And I think that comes from punk rock embracing non conformity.

Something you said too earlier, Rob, kind of made me think along those lines about giving feedback to students.

You know, I, I think I know through hardcore that, you know, because it's a place where people feel a little bit more comfortable kind of speaking their truth and giving folks the unvarnished version of their life or whatever struggles they're finding themselves in at the moment or have overcome in the past, you get a much better sense that like basically everyone out there is carrying some kind of weight on their back that is hidden from everyone else that they interact with.

And it could be, you know, a dysfunctional family, it could be addiction, it could be mental illness, it could be psychological trauma or even just living with poverty or, or something like that.

And because so many bands, you know, speak to the challenges of life frankly and matter of factly, I feel like when I'm interacting with people at work who I'm in charge of supervising or managing or even people that are, you know, you know, partners that I don't necessarily have some kind of supervisory authority over, I can see that human element in their Life a little bit easier because I know like, I know people are struggling.

I know people, you know, can keep it together long enough to go to work, but then they go home and it falls out apart.

And I feel like I'm able to give folks a little bit more grace, a little bit more patience.

I'm able to not be as judgmental as maybe I would have been in the past or, or you know, if I had not ever gotten involved kind of in this type of music, in this type of community.

Yeah.

Empathy.

If I can jump in real quick, I want to just kind of analyze kind of all three of our situations in our jobs and, and how our interactions with people on a daily basis are very different depending on time.

So if you look at Rory, your interactions with people are much shorter, but you can make a really big impact in that short period of time.

Greg, you can work with a person one on one for a slightly longer period of time.

Come here, ma' am.

Come here, sir.

Come on over here.

Let's, let's research this topic.

Whereas I have a full year to develop that.

It's, it's everything that you both just said about being open minded and accepting.

If you look at it from all three of us, we have such a diverse range of how we are going to approach that on a day to day basis as our jobs.

It's really interesting to think about that, the time piece that, that goes with that communication for us.

Yeah.

And teacher, teachers are definitely like community leaders too.

That, and I don't think people often think of them that way unless they know someone who's a teacher.

Like my father was a teacher.

Many of my friends, obviously you are, Rob.

And, but you know, you think of teachers as like instructors and educators and they're imparting knowledge.

But so many people I know grew up and like their most positive like role model was someone at school because they didn't have that in their family or in their neighborhood.

Yeah.

So it's, it's very much like probably one of the most important leadership roles in the community and there's just so many, so many of them in any given community.

It's, it's a really nice thing.

And I know I, you know, Rob, I've said this to you personally, but the work that teachers do and you as well, it's so valuable and important and I know it doesn't often feel that way.

And you know, personally, I just want to thank you for, for signing up to do that work.

It's, it's not lost on someone with young kids that are going through that and the amount of time and energy you put in to that work.

Well, I see, too, now there's, like, so much burnout in education and even just in, like, government, public sector, and, like, getting easier.

No, I know.

And so I just want to echo what Rory says, but also, you know, contextualize it by saying, like, it does not seem like it's gotten easier over the last 20 years.

And, and, and.

But the value is still there.

The.

The need is still there.

In fact, it's probably even more important now than it was, you know, 15 years ago.

Absolutely.

I had a parent.

I was at a track meet recently.

My kids both run track, and this parent came up to me, and I have a great relationship with her daughter.

And she started complaining and saying my kid can't get along with any teacher at that school, which I know is not true.

It's a exaggeration.

And she goes, but she loves you and she loves your class.

And I just said, look, the bottom line is I.

I take time for these kids and I sit down and I get to know them, you know, whether you like a kid or not.

And I like most kids, but even if it's a kid that's causing you some problems, if you just sit down and talk to them and get to know, ask them a couple questions, they're going to work a whole lot harder for you.

They're going to care.

And then everything, that whole dynamic changes.

Then all of a sudden you're like, oh, yeah, I really like that kid because you gave them a chance and you just listened to.

Sometimes it's that simple.

So.

Well, I appreciate the compliment, guys, and.

You know, I know this is what wasn't.

Isn't going to be like, a total Rob interview, but the question I have for you, Rob, is similarly to Derek's, but, like, do you have a through line of, like, what inspired you to become a teacher?

Well, I've had this separate conversation with Greg.

Both my parents are librarians, and Greg is a librarian, and Greg's parent is a teacher.

So.

Are you both your parents teachers, Greg?

Well, at one point they were, but my mom was a librarian from the point in time I was born until she retired.

So.

But yeah, no, my.

My trajectory in, like, the world of work was.

And I'm almost ashamed to say this because, you know, I am a thoughtful person, or at least I'd like to think I am.

But, like, when it was, like, time to decide what to do with my life, I, like, I was like, okay, so there's teachers and librarians, because that's what my parents did.

And I, like, saw how much extra work my dad had to do, like grading papers and preparing lessons.

And I was like, I don't see my mom grading any papers.

So I'm going to gravitate a little bit more towards that.

I was actually the opposite.

So I was.

I didn't want to be a teacher, so I went to art school.

I went to University of Buffalo, and I didn't want to do it.

I went for illustration, and my goal was to move to Orlando and work for Disney.

And, well, maybe someday I will, but not right now.

I wanted to work for Disney.

And my senior year, I'm about to graduate.

My professor.

I don't even.

Do you know the story, Rory?

No, keep going.

Okay.

So my professor at the time, her name was Elka, she said.

She pulled me aside and she says, rob, I'm going.

I'm gonna go back to Poland, and I'm gonna take.

I'm gonna take a leave for a year.

And I'm like, oh, that's too bad.

You know, everyone's really gonna miss you.

She goes, no, you're gonna teach my classes.

It wasn't.

It was like, this is just the way she was.

You're gonna teach my class.

And I'm like, okay.

And.

And I'm like, really?

And I thought about it and asked her a couple questions, and she says, you're gonna laugh.

She goes, rob, you're already running this class.

Because we would do critiques and things, and, like, just naturally, when there's silence, I'll be like, okay, so.

And so it's your turn.

Hop up.

You're gonna talk about your piece now.

Not that I had any reason to want to do that or want to be a teacher.

That's.

That's just natural leadership.

And so I took over, and I taught at University of Buffalo for a short while and then moved back to Rochester, and my mom convinced me to go to RIT to get my teaching degree.

So that.

That's the.

The short answer of that's funny how I ended up doing it, because I realized, oh, wow, I guess.

I guess I can do this.

You know, the money's not good, but, you know, the hours are great, and, you know, kids are fun most of the time.

So, yeah, that's funny.

I mean, you know, I think maybe that aspect in that comfort to actually direct people and be in front of people comes from playing in those rooms and being able to do that, you.

Know, translate you were answering the question earlier.

I'm like, I don't want to make this about me, but you.

It's a totally different take than either of you.

I have six performances a day, so getting up from the performance aspect, I get up, and this may sound funny, but this is literally what I do.

The kids come in, I stand up, I clap my hands.

All right, everybody, here we go.

Today we're going to be.

I got to move back from the mic because I'm yelling.

All right, today we're going to be doing this.

We're going to be working with Clay.

I need everybody get your portfolios out.

It's kind of like I'm Scott Vogel getting up in front of the crowd.

Everybody move up.

Every.

What I have to do is these kids are sitting.

No offense to math.

I know Nick is listening.

No offense to math teachers.

It's a different vibe, you know?

But when they come in, I gotta wake them up.

Okay, here we go.

Here we go.

Come on, let's go.

I know Nick's gonna say something about that.

No offense, Nick.

Math is important, okay?

But that.

That's another aspect, is the performance aspect.

Six.

Six shows a day for the last 22 years.

My dad.

My dad had that same take, though, because he, like.

And there's actually quite a few people I know through hardcore who had him as a teacher, like Adam Whistler, and I think Ryan Borsi had him too.

And.

And I.

But he.

He would tell me, like, oh, yeah, you know, like, instructing is second to entertaining.

Like, I'm a children's entertainer, and I have to do it right, and I have to, like, compete with, you know, all of the media that, like, middle schoolers, because he was an 8th grade American history teacher are.

Are consuming.

And so he would, like, do funny voices and, you know, like, rip off stuff that was, like, popular on, you know, Saturday Night Live or whatever, you know, at the time.

So, like, I love that.

That kind of your take.

Your take, too.

I have to.

You know, it's.

It's part of what you have to do to keep kids engaged.

All right, next question.

That was the only question I got from the.

From the Instagram, so then I got one.

Then I'm moving on.

Do it, do it.

All right, so I'm gonna type.

Wait.

You gotta be like, hey, long time listener, first time caller.

Okay, Long time caller, first time you've picked up.

All right, all right, this question is for Rory.

Rory, you've been doing ugly duck for 10 years.

Congratulations.

I wish I lived closer And I would be in there getting coffee every single day.

But for now I go and see my daughter at Dunkin Donuts, but it's a, it's a way distant second to ugly duck coffee.

But I would love to know some of the details from your, your 10 year anniversary and just some general thoughts about, you know, the business.

And I know you talked about it a lot in the first couple episodes, but I want to hear about how the big ten went and.

Congratulations.

Thanks.

Yeah, so yesterday we had like a little celebration and to be totally honest, I feel very uncomfortable taking up space and celebrating and throwing a big thing.

But, you know, I.

Doing something for 10 years, what had, you know, you start to reflect on so much that you realize that the day in and day out has gotten you there.

But so the 10 year, we just, I, I asked some folks that a, we've worked with in the past or the regulars at the shop to join us.

We gave away free cold brew, which, you know, that's low hanging fruit for us, but that gets people to come in and celebrate with us.

So we ended up, didn't run out of cold brew, giving it away, which is amazing, but we ended up giving away, I think 100 and about 170 cups of cold brew, which is pretty wild.

And then we had Benton Sillic, who is a Fairport graduate, former light bulbs member, and he's a tattoo artist now at Lucky Folk Tattoo with Adam Francie, and he came in and did live tattoos and I think he ended up doing about 9, 10 tattoos, which is pretty wild.

Really?

Yeah, yeah.

So that was cool.

So we had, Benton was there, and then we had Joel.

He's Joel Greenwich.

He's a magician and he's been.

So he was someone that would come into Joe Bean when I worked there years ago and just developed a relationship over time, you know, through coffee.

And so he comes, him and his family come in to shop all the time.

And I was like, hey, would you be interested in like showing up on our 10 year anniversary and doing some of your magic tricks and card sleight of hand stuff?

He's like, I would love to.

That'd be amazing.

That's awesome.

I was like, what do you need for me?

He's like, nothing.

I'm just gonna walk around and chat with people and do it.

And it was amazing.

Great.

You know, just seeing people's faces just light up.

Like he, he came over to Ren and, and sat down next to Ren.

He's like, okay, Ren, like, what?

You know, I'm Gonna do this.

What do you, you know, pick a number.

And you know, it was just so cool to see and see people's just minds kind of like bend and like, how are you doing this?

That was really neat.

And then a portrait artist, Ray Ray, who we had at the five year celebration, he was doing just like kind of 15 minute quick sketches and portraits of folks that wanted to sit down, which was a lot of fun and, and really neat.

It's just bringing people together, community, you know.

And then I kind of a last minute thing, I threw out a table and had folks just draw a duck or leave a memory and throw it in a box.

We're gonna raffle off some gift cards and stuff and reach out to those people later.

But that was really neat.

Honestly, it was cool to of the day and just see people and just connect with people and.

And it's neat to see, as much as you don't realize it in the day to day, the impact that the shop has on folks.

And you sometimes take that for granted in the big picture, you know, but you start to see family show up that you've started to serve when they weren't families and they weren't a couple and you're just like, wow, that, that ripple and that fabric, like you have a seven year old and you know, you've been bringing them to the shop for seven years and before that, you know, you all were coming into.

It's just wild to like kids.

Kids are a time stamp in a lot of ways and time moves so differently.

And Ren being 10 and you're like, the shop's 10.

I'm just like, holy cow.

This is just crazy to think that I've been doing this for as long as I have been and you know, built it up with just like you would a band.

You know, there's, there was.

There's never been an outside investor.

You know, it's been very bootstrapped.

You know, the first five years I was there from open to close.

And you know, if people want to do something, I'm not going to say successfully, but if they want to do something completely, you got to go all in into it and put yourself in there and, and show up and be consistent.

And I feel that I've done that not only for the shop, but for the team, the folks that also continue to show up and they see that.

And so it's not just like someone like, hey, you got to do this.

It's more like, oh, this person that owns the place is also doing it.

So you have to do you.

I should do it because I want to do it because they're alongside me.

So I.

I hope I bring that to the table.

And that's the kind of space that we are.

And.

And we want.

We want to treat people how they show up authentically at the shop.

You know, you don't know what you don't know.

We're not gonna look down on folks for ordering sweet coffees with syrups and stuff.

You know, I mean, that was like a.

A tag for a long time that, like, the coffee industry that we're a part of was snobby, you know, and.

And we just wanted to.

I wanted to push back on that.

Just wanted a.

Let's just serve good coffee and be a space where people can do that.

And I think we're doing it.

That's awesome.

I think, Greg, I think you would agree, too, that part of the reason people love it so much is they.

You use the sword.

Rory, you said you want people to come in authentic, and I think they see your authenticity.

Right.

Greg, your personality shows up in a lot of it in a way that, like.

Because I know you and I, you know, I can tell this has got, like, Rory's fingerprints all over it.

But I think people who didn't know you before Ugly Duck or only know you through Ugly Duck as your customers, like, I think once they get to know you, they can see all of.

All of your different aspects of your personality show up.

And I think you're right.

Like, when you alluded to, like, Ugly Duck kind of being more like a DIY band than, you know, something where you went and got investors and punk and hardcore show up in a lot of different ways, you know, in their graphic design, in the merch, and kind of the Persona and attitude that you have on social media, you know, it's pretty business oriented, but you also, like, will get into posting things that are, you know, like, adjacent to activism or speak to, you know, kind of fair treatment of people in the coffee industry, from, you know, the folks growing the plant to the.

The folks serving the food.

Yeah, and that's what I think I like about, you know, Ugly Duck is that it really encapsulates you as a person.

But there's also, like, just so many things.

Little Easter eggs, I guess I'll call them, you know, for, like, hardcore and punk, you know, for those of us who are initiated and love it.

Yeah, I mean, that's all intentional.

You know, I don't think I would love where I'm at within the industry as much if the focus wasn't not only, like, as a shop, I can do better by treating the people that show up to work to do better, to do better for them.

And the product that we're serving, our industry as a whole is trying to do better for the folks growing it.

Right?

So, like, that transparency and that food chain is so important to me as well.

That.

And that comes from the rooms that we are part of.

You know, like, treating people fairly and.

And doing that across the board is important, and that's something I continually strive to.

To do.

I have one last comment.

A lot of people in business are really known as being a salesman.

You know what I mean?

Not necessarily authentic.

And maybe like, feeding you a line and this and that, and knowing Rory and playing in a band with Rory for 20 years.

Rory rarely ever lies.

He rarely ever sugarcoats anything.

I'll be like, hey, Rory, let's, let's.

Let's play dialed in.

He'll look at me and be like, no, he's not like, well, let's talk about it.

Maybe.

He's like, nope.

And that.

That's one of the great things about you.

And I feel like that's another thing people really like about you is like, you're never feeding anybody a line.

And I'm sure when you're in the shop, you're authentic.

Hey, thank you for coming in.

And you make eye contact, and they.

And you see them, they see you, and they know that you care about them being in the shop because you're just.

You're an honest guy, and you always have been.

So that's a positive.

Don't.

Don't start laughing.

No, I appreciate that about you.

Like, if I ask you something and, you know, we're playing a show where we're on the road, and I know you're gonna give me the answer, and I don't have to, like, ask you 50 times because you give me the correct answer the first time.

Well, you know people.

I mean, especially my close friends and folks that know me, like, I'm not.

There's ways to be honest without being a jerk.

No.

And you're not.

Well, sometimes, but sometimes I deserve it.

We all do it.

I know.

Well, when you're in a band with somebody, you're.

You're a band of brothers and.

Is what it is.

So that's a compliment.

I appreciate your honesty and authenticity.

And I.

And, like, speaking of Achilles and our Achilles group chat, which we literally.

We're so close.

We talk every day.

There is an argument in the Achilles group chat of who is the biggest Ugly Duck fan that doesn't live in Rochester right now.

It's currently a tie.

You know, I, I, you know, no shade on Josh, but I think Chris does win, all right, Based on the, the level of coffee that he does consume at home and how he does brew at home.

I can't speak to Josh because he doesn't, he doesn't bring me into that conversation, but, you know, and there isn't a Chris's house.

He's got a good setup there for coffee.

He hooks it up and he continually wants to improve that and, and continually, like, getting different coffees and roasters, you know, at home, which is awesome.

You know, like, we have him, Oliver and I have a chat, and so, like, he, he's.

We talk about coffee a ton.

So, yeah, those guys are awesome and obviously love Chris and Josh.

Common Thread is co hosted by Greg Benoit and Rory Ventures Grohl, with creative support from Rob Antonucci.

Follow us on Instagram @commonthread.hxcpodcast.

for news and updates, contact us at commonthreadhxcpodcastmail.com CommonThread is a part of the Lunchadore Podcast Network.

Visit lunchadore.org for more information on other great podcasts.

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