Transcripts
Welcome to Lottery Dreams and
Speaker:Fortune. My name is Timothy Schultz.
Speaker:I'm a YouTuber podcaster and
Speaker:I happen to be a lottery winner,
Speaker:but I'm now combining my experience
Speaker:in broadcast news and journalism to
Speaker:meet and interview other people
Speaker:that have overcome the odds in
Speaker:life. Some of these people happen to
Speaker:be other lottery winners, and this
Speaker:is one of those interviews with
Speaker:$45 million lotto
Speaker:winner Jon Falcon.
Speaker:Now, if you want to watch this
Speaker:interview in its entirety, I will
Speaker:put a link to the YouTube episode
Speaker:in the show notes for this podcast.
Speaker:But without further ado, let's
Speaker:get to the interview.
Speaker:I'm here with Jon
Speaker:Falcon, who won 45 million
Speaker:from the New York Lotto in 1999.
Speaker:He has an incredible, incredible
Speaker:story.
Speaker:I'm so excited to welcome
Speaker:Jon. Welcome to the program today.
Speaker:How are you doing?
Speaker:I'm good.
Speaker:I am well rested and ready
Speaker:for the interview.
Speaker:So excellent.
Speaker:Well, I really, really appreciate
Speaker:your time.
Speaker:So for people, for people that
Speaker:aren't familiar, what did you win
Speaker:and how did it happen?
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Well, okay, I won
Speaker:the New York State lottery, so it
Speaker:wasn't mega ball or I didn't think
Speaker:they had Bag of Lawler or
Speaker:Powerball in 1999.
Speaker:I don't even recall.
Speaker:But I won the New York State
Speaker:lottery. And at the time
Speaker:I was the largest
Speaker:winner ever and
Speaker:it was $45 million.
Speaker:I took the annuity because
Speaker:I figured if I screwed up one year,
Speaker:I still have checks coming in.
Speaker:But when I won,
Speaker:I was 44, so I wasn't really
Speaker:I was mature enough not to go out
Speaker:and buy a $45 million lollipop,
Speaker:you know.
Speaker:And I also knew that I needed
Speaker:and I had friends around me who were
Speaker:wealthy and they they gave
Speaker:me their tax attorneys and they
Speaker:gave me their accountants and they
Speaker:gave me their So
Speaker:I was pretty well taken care of
Speaker:as far as handling the money is
Speaker:concerned.
Speaker:So then it was a
Speaker:yeah, it was a blissful,
Speaker:horrendous, horrible,
Speaker:great, wonderful event.
Speaker:When I first found out
Speaker:that I won,
Speaker:I won actually that Saturday
Speaker:and I was in work
Speaker:I was at work on Monday
Speaker:for a few weeks before winning.
Speaker:I would have these dreams about my
Speaker:grandmother who has
Speaker:passed on, and my grandmother was
Speaker:telling me to check up
Speaker:on the lottery numbers because
Speaker:I had come up with these lottery
Speaker:numbers, which were an amalgamation
Speaker:of addresses where I used to
Speaker:live. And for two and a half years I
Speaker:was playing the same numbers.
Speaker:But what happens is as things become
Speaker:a habit, you forget to
Speaker:check, you buy the ticket, but then
Speaker:you forget to check.
Speaker:And so my grandmother was coming
Speaker:into my dreams and saying, you know,
Speaker:Idiot, check the check the numbers,
Speaker:your check it.
Speaker:She kept on saying this to me.
Speaker:And the day,
Speaker:the Saturday when I won, I had
Speaker:no idea that I had one until
Speaker:Monday and Monday
Speaker:I was at work.
Speaker:I used to work for this textbook
Speaker:company, a company that was in a
Speaker:big, giant office building.
Speaker:And I don't know if you've
Speaker:ever worked in an office building,
Speaker:but I'm sure some of your
Speaker:listeners do
Speaker:or have. And you know that
Speaker:when you get to the
Speaker:to the elevator that
Speaker:it can be quite a way.
Speaker:So I had put it in my elevator
Speaker:time, but my grandmother's voice
Speaker:kept saying to me to go check the
Speaker:lottery. I was just
Speaker:hallucinating.
Speaker:You know, this is without drugs.
Speaker:Know I was.
Speaker:But my grandmother was telling me,
Speaker:you know, go check those.
Speaker:Okay, Go check.
Speaker:And so, I mean, I had already
Speaker:booted down
Speaker:my computer.
Speaker:I mean, I think 1999,
Speaker:you had to put down your computer,
Speaker:your computer.
Speaker:And it was quite a process.
Speaker:And then it was even more of a
Speaker:process to boot up your computer
Speaker:back again.
Speaker:Anyway, so I actually
Speaker:took my security card and
Speaker:walked through my little Dilbert
Speaker:world of, you know,
Speaker:office cubicles, got to my
Speaker:cubicle, booted up my computer,
Speaker:went on to my Yahoo site
Speaker:where I had a like a little
Speaker:Section four lottery and
Speaker:a push that button and,
Speaker:you know, and then looked at that
Speaker:winning numbers and thought they
Speaker:looked awfully familiar, you know,
Speaker:because because they were my
Speaker:old addresses.
Speaker:They were.
Speaker:You know, they were memorized, you
Speaker:know.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Uh, and I, you know, I happened to
Speaker:have I was wearing like a,
Speaker:like a breast fuzzy thing.
Speaker:And it and I had my ticket
Speaker:in behind a zipper and everything
Speaker:was very well-protected.
Speaker:And I took
Speaker:out the numbers and put them up
Speaker:against the thing and said, Holy
Speaker:crap.
Speaker:And at that moment, my boss,
Speaker:who was always
Speaker:carrying manuscripts and
Speaker:always in a state of
Speaker:hurry and flux and agitation,
Speaker:she was walking by and they said,
Speaker:Lori, Lori, come in.
Speaker:You know, she goes, Why would you
Speaker:want leave me alone?
Speaker:You know, it's just come in here.
Speaker:And I said to her, Look at the
Speaker:numbers on the screen, which she
Speaker:did. And then I showed her the
Speaker:ticket and she took the ticket
Speaker:out of my hand and looked at the
Speaker:numbers and
Speaker:she said, John, what are you saying?
Speaker:And I said, Well, I think I won the
Speaker:lottery and
Speaker:I had no idea what to do next.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you know, what do I do? Go to the
Speaker:bodega and ask for my $45
Speaker:million. I know.
Speaker:And of course, she being the boss,
Speaker:said, call up, get
Speaker:the number for the main lottery
Speaker:office downtown, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:You know, which is why she was the
Speaker:boss. And ask them what it
Speaker:is that you should do now
Speaker:is around 530 and you know, lottery
Speaker:offices close at five.
Speaker:So I wasn't expecting anyone to
Speaker:answer, but someone did.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:Well, you know, I was just wondering
Speaker:what do I do if I have a winning
Speaker:ticket?
Speaker:And he actually said, Well, go to
Speaker:the place where you bought it and
Speaker:let them know that, you know,
Speaker:blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:And I said, Well, I think that it's,
Speaker:you know, the big prize,
Speaker:you know, And
Speaker:he asked me where I bought the
Speaker:ticket and
Speaker:I bought the ticket that Saturday,
Speaker:and I had an
Speaker:appointment with my musical director
Speaker:and he lives on seven.
Speaker:I'm in New York City, by the way, in
Speaker:case you're four.
Speaker:For your listeners who don't you
Speaker:know, he lives on 76th
Speaker:and Amsterdam and I
Speaker:could have sworn, well, that must
Speaker:have been where I bought the ticket,
Speaker:you know, did it.
Speaker:But I had forgotten that I was
Speaker:picking up music, sheet music from
Speaker:my instrument.
Speaker:You know, the guy who used to write
Speaker:it out by hand.
Speaker:By the way, this is how 1999
Speaker:we realized, you know, you still
Speaker:had to write things that music out
Speaker:by hand.
Speaker:So I had gone to his apartment
Speaker:to pick up my music, and that was on
Speaker:90th and Broadway, and that's where
Speaker:I bought the ticket, even though
Speaker:I really don't recall
Speaker:it. But yet there
Speaker:the guy who I who I bought the
Speaker:ticket from, you know, had a big
Speaker:picture of me on the window.
Speaker:And I because I told
Speaker:the guy 76 in Amsterdam and he
Speaker:said, well, no, that's not where the
Speaker:ticket was bought.
Speaker:And I said, Well, and yet
Speaker:I have it in my hands.
Speaker:So there's a five digit number.
Speaker:He asked me to read the five digit
Speaker:number. He said, Yes, that was the
Speaker:winning ticket.
Speaker:I said, How many people?
Speaker:One. He said, one.
Speaker:And I said, So I won all $45
Speaker:million. And he says, Bring it to
Speaker:the main office.
Speaker:And he gave me the address
Speaker:tomorrow, the next day, and
Speaker:which is what I did with a whole
Speaker:group of friends.
Speaker:And we all waited on line
Speaker:behind mothers
Speaker:breastfeeding their children and
Speaker:smelly old men and all that.
Speaker:That was that was how I found out.
Speaker:It was that my
Speaker:my textbook job,
Speaker:a computer inputting job.
Speaker:You.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Oh, my gosh. That that
Speaker:is incredible.
Speaker:And I want to ask some
Speaker:more questions about your dream, the
Speaker:dream that you had prior to winning.
Speaker:But before I get to that, when
Speaker:you first saw
Speaker:that you that the numbers did match
Speaker:before you called them on the phone,
Speaker:I mean, how did that feel.
Speaker:That numb
Speaker:it? Everyone asks
Speaker:the question in all of this, you
Speaker:jump up and down to do this.
Speaker:I know it was really just
Speaker:there was still non-belief, you
Speaker:know, like did my parents
Speaker:live at 1539, really?
Speaker:Or was it 1538?
Speaker:There was still something that
Speaker:just it's such
Speaker:an unbelievable
Speaker:position to be put in that I was
Speaker:just numb.
Speaker:I just had really no thoughts
Speaker:in my head.
Speaker:And that evening I was supposed to
Speaker:meet two friends of mine at
Speaker:an off-Broadway theater
Speaker:all the way downtown, and
Speaker:I actually walked to my friend's
Speaker:house who didn't live far
Speaker:from my office and
Speaker:scared her, knew she had had a brand
Speaker:new maid, scared her half to death,
Speaker:you know, or thing.
Speaker:And so then I think, Oh, let me just
Speaker:walk down to East Third.
Speaker:I mean, now I'm on East.
Speaker:I was on East 35th and I was going
Speaker:to walk down to East Third.
Speaker:If you know anything about New York,
Speaker:that's quite a walk.
Speaker:And I did
Speaker:it. I just walked in a daze.
Speaker:Just I knew enough to go into
Speaker:a newsstand or
Speaker:something to get a copy of the.
Speaker:The winning numbers because
Speaker:I knew I would need that to show
Speaker:too, to let my two friends know
Speaker:why we were not going to the
Speaker:theater, because there's no way I
Speaker:was going to be able to sit still
Speaker:for 2 hours.
Speaker:And I think it was a deconstructed
Speaker:like Streetcar Named Desire.
Speaker:No way.
Speaker:No, no, no, no.
Speaker:Maybe if it was Mama's lovely.
Speaker:But, you know, A Deconstructed
Speaker:Streetcar Named Desire, I don't
Speaker:know. And so
Speaker:I got it. I did have
Speaker:the wherewithal to get a
Speaker:ticket with the winning numbers, and
Speaker:I just continued walking and
Speaker:finally got there.
Speaker:And there was my friend,
Speaker:you know, waiting outside with
Speaker:the tickets in her hand.
Speaker:And we were waiting for another
Speaker:friend. And I walked up to her and
Speaker:I said, There, we're not going to
Speaker:the theater. I'm sorry that,
Speaker:you know, luckily I just won the
Speaker:lottery. I will pay for the ticket.
Speaker:You know, for.
Speaker:The ticket, you know.
Speaker:And she goes, What do you mean?
Speaker:Well, you know, I got a
Speaker:this woman used
Speaker:to getting her own way.
Speaker:And I knew that there was a bodega
Speaker:on the corner.
Speaker:So I said, well, come follow me.
Speaker:And you know.
Speaker:And I said, But whatever you do,
Speaker:just be sorry.
Speaker:Watch. I don't.
Speaker:Don't.
Speaker:Don't scream, yell, don't
Speaker:do anything. Because who knows,
Speaker:you know, especially in 1999,
Speaker:who who knows who's hanging around
Speaker:the bodega.
Speaker:So we went to the
Speaker:where where they had of all the
Speaker:numbers, the winning numbers.
Speaker:And I pointed to
Speaker:the winning numbers and I said, look
Speaker:at that. I took out my card
Speaker:thing from the thing.
Speaker:And I went and look at this.
Speaker:And she says again, What are you
Speaker:saying? And I said, I won the
Speaker:lottery.
Speaker:And in.
Speaker:The loudest.
Speaker:Voice possible.
Speaker:You know, she went, You won
Speaker:the lottery.
Speaker:I mean, it was like.
Speaker:You know, I felt like I was in the
Speaker:middle of like West Side Story.
Speaker:The sharks were here.
Speaker:And, you know, we were
Speaker:in the middle.
Speaker:Of you were going to the Jets,
Speaker:you know, they were doing number.
Speaker:They were doing that dance numbers
Speaker:around us, you know.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay, let's get out of here now.
Speaker:Let's just do it, because everyone
Speaker:just everyone's head just perked
Speaker:up and and and
Speaker:we left the bodega and
Speaker:we finally see our second friend who
Speaker:it was arriving, and
Speaker:she says, Let me tell her.
Speaker:And she.
Speaker:Runs over.
Speaker:I go tell.
Speaker:The whole story.
Speaker:And it was so
Speaker:it was so easy.
Speaker:I thought they would put up more of
Speaker:a fight, you know, or, you know,
Speaker:say, Oh, this is not true.
Speaker:And then they
Speaker:it was so easy.
Speaker:We didn't go to the theater.
Speaker:We found a bar,
Speaker:you know, and we went in and we had
Speaker:a drink and they called their
Speaker:husbands and their husbands are all
Speaker:lawyers and accountants and think
Speaker:about. So it was it was all
Speaker:beneficial to me.
Speaker:And we all met
Speaker:my two friends and I met the
Speaker:next morning
Speaker:I met one of my friends at the 86th
Speaker:Street train station.
Speaker:So I just won $45
Speaker:million. Think about this.
Speaker:We took the train, I mean,
Speaker:and then we took
Speaker:the train. And my friend who lives
Speaker:thirties, she she
Speaker:we told her we be at the last car
Speaker:and she went on to the
Speaker:she met us in the 30th
Speaker:Street station and
Speaker:garden and so we all met each other
Speaker:and we went by train
Speaker:to the, to the lottery office,
Speaker:which I find absurd.
Speaker:I just won the lottery thing.
Speaker:So I went to the spring, sprung on a
Speaker:cab, but we
Speaker:took the train.
Speaker:Where where was the ticket
Speaker:when you were on this train ride?
Speaker:Well, you know what?
Speaker:I have this.
Speaker:I had this.
Speaker:It's like a vest, you know, It's
Speaker:like one of the. What? You know,
Speaker:these vests. It's it's a it's a
Speaker:vest, but it's for warmth.
Speaker:And, you know, I used to wear
Speaker:it because
Speaker:I used to wear it.
Speaker:What can I say? I used to wear an
Speaker:underwear jacket over it.
Speaker:And it looked kind of cool and it
Speaker:had a zipper pocket.
Speaker:And so all that time, the
Speaker:ticket was in my separate pocket.
Speaker:Of this best.
Speaker:And we get you know,
Speaker:we get down to the.
Speaker:To the to the main
Speaker:lottery office, which is all
Speaker:the way down to a
Speaker:part of downtown.
Speaker:I have explored,
Speaker:you know, even even today.
Speaker:And
Speaker:we got on the line and and
Speaker:as I said, there was this big long
Speaker:line and I'm standing
Speaker:there with my ticket.
Speaker:And there was a,
Speaker:you know, a family of 15
Speaker:and she's breastfeeding.
Speaker:And behind me was a man
Speaker:who
Speaker:did not have the best cologne on.
Speaker:The cologne had gone a little bit
Speaker:rancid.
Speaker:We'll just call it cologne.
Speaker:And and
Speaker:then when I got to the finally got
Speaker:to the window, you know, I gave
Speaker:there was a a guy sitting
Speaker:there just all gray and
Speaker:like in a shirt that had been
Speaker:laundered too many times, you
Speaker:know.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:I gave him my ticket and he goes,
Speaker:congratulations right here.
Speaker:And he took the ticket to the back.
Speaker:And Judy, Oh, I don't wanna say
Speaker:their names, but my two friends.
Speaker:Just where is he going with that
Speaker:ticket? You know?
Speaker:And then they took me back, and
Speaker:it turns out that the.
Speaker:The head
Speaker:at the time.
Speaker:I don't think she's she's there any
Speaker:longer.
Speaker:But the head of the lottery
Speaker:in New York State was
Speaker:on vacation and
Speaker:they wanted to have a press
Speaker:conference.
Speaker:So they asked me to wait
Speaker:for two weeks until she got back
Speaker:from her vacation before they gave
Speaker:me the check.
Speaker:Now, of course, I'm smart enough
Speaker:to go give me the check and
Speaker:then we'll wait.
Speaker:But. But, but.
Speaker:But. For two weeks, I was the
Speaker:poorest little rich boy in
Speaker:New York because I never went
Speaker:back to work. I just never
Speaker:went back.
Speaker:I told all my friends, divvy up my
Speaker:stuff. I just want my kids, you
Speaker:know?
Speaker:Oh, was that.
Speaker:What did that feel like to wait two
Speaker:weeks before they paid
Speaker:the the lottery winnings?
Speaker:If you ask how it feels like it felt
Speaker:like nothing, because it.
Speaker:It never
Speaker:I was like I couldn't sleep, you
Speaker:know, I couldn't eat.
Speaker:I was so nice that I couldn't
Speaker:eat or sleep.
Speaker:And it was just it was just
Speaker:it was more like a
Speaker:I'm not going to say trauma, because
Speaker:that's too but but it was more
Speaker:internal, you know, That
Speaker:was you know, I didn't tell my
Speaker:parents until the day before
Speaker:the press conference, and that was
Speaker:two weeks away.
Speaker:So I didn't tell.
Speaker:The first person I told
Speaker:was I used to have a shop and
Speaker:I had a bookkeeper.
Speaker:And so the first person I told was
Speaker:my bookkeeper because I knew that
Speaker:I was going to need someone to keep
Speaker:track of this because there was
Speaker:no way that
Speaker:and she was actually the first one
Speaker:and the only that's like, she's not
Speaker:she wasn't the only one because of
Speaker:course, obviously my two friends
Speaker:knew and and I told
Speaker:some other friends and I have
Speaker:a friend who passed away recently
Speaker:who was a jazz,
Speaker:one of the great jazz
Speaker:orchestrator, Sy Johnson.
Speaker:And he he just passed away.
Speaker:But he happened to be walking
Speaker:down my street, walking his dog
Speaker:as I was coming home.
Speaker:And, you know, I told
Speaker:him right there, just like
Speaker:he said, How are you, John?
Speaker:And I won the lottery.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:You know, and so.
Speaker:People don't know, you know.
Speaker:Do they back away and.
Speaker:Stay where you are.
Speaker:But he kind of also just
Speaker:kind of believed me, like right off
Speaker:the bat kind of thing.
Speaker:And he took a picture of me that
Speaker:day and his wife.
Speaker:And look, since he passed away,
Speaker:looking through his things, found
Speaker:the picture and gave it to me
Speaker:that very first encounter
Speaker:with
Speaker:my event.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Did did you have the option of
Speaker:claiming it anonymously or
Speaker:did it have to be public?
Speaker:You know, I have to say, I didn't
Speaker:even think about it.
Speaker:I didn't even it didn't
Speaker:even occur to me of
Speaker:those as you as you asked,
Speaker:you know, what were those two weeks
Speaker:like? I mean, there was one point
Speaker:where I was walking by, it was on
Speaker:Fifth Avenue or something, and I was
Speaker:walking by this, you know, the
Speaker:matter of the shop or whatever.
Speaker:And, you know, all of a sudden I
Speaker:just got dizzy because
Speaker:I thought, Oh my God, I can pay for
Speaker:my nieces and nephews education,
Speaker:you know, that were just so many
Speaker:things I could do with this money
Speaker:that could help my family
Speaker:there. And they were you know,
Speaker:they were in high school, not
Speaker:even high school at the time.
Speaker:They probably and
Speaker:and,
Speaker:you know, that just made me dizzy.
Speaker:I had to find someplace to sit down
Speaker:and have a cup of coffee.
Speaker:So, I mean, I spent that two
Speaker:weeks, you know, sleepless
Speaker:and and befuddled.
Speaker:And I remember and
Speaker:I there was an acquaintance.
Speaker:I met this girl on the street
Speaker:who we both went to the same singing
Speaker:class, and it was like
Speaker:late at night I was coming home.
Speaker:I don't know where I
Speaker:was, but
Speaker:I was coming home and we saw each
Speaker:other and, you know, What are you
Speaker:doing? This neighborhood.
Speaker:And I went, I won the lottery.
Speaker:And she kind of what I.
Speaker:Yeah, I won the.
Speaker:Lottery. And she kind of was like,
Speaker:backing away.
Speaker:Like she was.
Speaker:At any minute. I may get violent.
Speaker:You know, So.
Speaker:So and then a lot of stuff
Speaker:happened like that in that two
Speaker:week period.
Speaker:And then
Speaker:the day came the day came
Speaker:for the
Speaker:for the
Speaker:press conference.
Speaker:But it was at the
Speaker:advertising company and,
Speaker:uh,
Speaker:the people in charge.
Speaker:And I brought a group with me, like
Speaker:my two friends and their husbands
Speaker:came. And then I had other friends
Speaker:who came and all that stuff.
Speaker:So I had a whole little entourage
Speaker:with me just to hold me up because
Speaker:I still wasn't sleeping.
Speaker:And as you can see, I
Speaker:wasn't sleeping then either.
Speaker:You know, so.
Speaker:And the
Speaker:people.
Speaker:In charge at
Speaker:the the advertising agency
Speaker:said to me not to expect too much
Speaker:because they'll probably just put
Speaker:this on page eight,
Speaker:nine, ten, 11, 12, but it probably
Speaker:won't be anything more than that.
Speaker:But they didn't realize, of course,
Speaker:they were speaking to a performer.
Speaker:And so I took over
Speaker:the room and everyone
Speaker:was made, you know,
Speaker:making reporters laugh.
Speaker:It's not easy, but I did it.
Speaker:And I mean, that's on I
Speaker:don't know, I you saw the
Speaker:commercial. And I think that,
Speaker:you know, I do have film of all of
Speaker:that.
Speaker:And the next
Speaker:day after
Speaker:after the the
Speaker:interview, whatever you want to call
Speaker:it, after the press conference
Speaker:and after we ate wherever we ate,
Speaker:I don't know where.
Speaker:The next day
Speaker:I went home, tried to sleep,
Speaker:couldn't sleep, was still
Speaker:bedraggled. As far as sleep is
Speaker:concerned.
Speaker:I went downstairs,
Speaker:Nespresso I went downstairs
Speaker:to my local newsstand
Speaker:and there I was on the cover
Speaker:of the Daily News and the Post
Speaker:surrounding his whole
Speaker:newsstand.
Speaker:On the cover.
Speaker:And on the cover.
Speaker:Yes, I was.
Speaker:I was on I was
Speaker:on the cover of the Post
Speaker:and and the
Speaker:Daily News.
Speaker:But the Post kind of liked
Speaker:me, and they did two stories on me.
Speaker:So I was on the cover of The Post
Speaker:twice.
Speaker:And also there was
Speaker:an article on me and New Yorker
Speaker:magazine, which they
Speaker:then used in a
Speaker:like an anthology book called The
Speaker:Gilded Age, The New Gilded Age.
Speaker:And my story was in there, right,
Speaker:Right. With Martha Stewart and all
Speaker:of that.
Speaker:But that day when I went down just
Speaker:to get a cup of coffee and people
Speaker:were pushing me aside so they could
Speaker:get a thing of the newspaper, not
Speaker:realizing they were brushing aside
Speaker:the person who was on the cover
Speaker:with sort of some sort of
Speaker:surrealist, surrealistic.
Speaker:And that night,
Speaker:my friend were taking me
Speaker:to a steakhouse and
Speaker:it was downtown.
Speaker:And I used to live in the upper
Speaker:eighties. And so I was walking down
Speaker:Park Avenue and Park Avenue at that
Speaker:time, used to have all these
Speaker:newspaper kiosks
Speaker:and in front of all these newspaper
Speaker:kiosks make.
Speaker:My.
Speaker:Face.
Speaker:So that was, you know, and it was
Speaker:it was a it was a part in 1999.
Speaker:I mean, we didn't have
Speaker:the benefit of an iPhone.
Speaker:I mean, you didn't you didn't have
Speaker:this this camera.
Speaker:Right. It, you know, ready.
Speaker:You know, in order to take a
Speaker:picture, you had to go get the
Speaker:disposable Instamatic.
Speaker:You know, and.
Speaker:Take pictures.
Speaker:Or if you had a cute one of those
Speaker:cute Sony Casio things, you
Speaker:know, whatever.
Speaker:I did not had either of those.
Speaker:And so there was no way for me to I
Speaker:would would love to have
Speaker:taken pictures of that experience,
Speaker:you know, walking down Park Avenue
Speaker:and just every other kiosk and
Speaker:not every other kiosk.
Speaker:Every kiosk had my pictures
Speaker:on them for that one day, you know.
Speaker:Wow. That had to been had
Speaker:to have been extremely surreal.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The whole the whole 20 years
Speaker:has been surreal.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Because I've only got three more
Speaker:checks coming.
Speaker:So, you know, I may need a job.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:So in retrospect, do you
Speaker:still approve of the are
Speaker:you happy that you took the annuity
Speaker:rather than the the cash?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Especially
Speaker:since let's not forget that
Speaker:I wanted in in 99
Speaker:and 2001.
Speaker:2003 was the
Speaker:the what do you call the Internet,
Speaker:Pets.com.
Speaker:All those things crashed.
Speaker:What do you call that? The Oh,
Speaker:what was that? What would you call
Speaker:that?
Speaker:All the tech.
Speaker:Y2K or something
Speaker:like.
Speaker:That? Wasn't Y2K.
Speaker:Y2K was was nothing
Speaker:happened.
Speaker:I mean.
Speaker:It's just that the stock market
Speaker:crash, you know, at the beginning
Speaker:of the 2000 and it was because of
Speaker:all of these over
Speaker:priced
Speaker:Internet
Speaker:sites. I mean, Pets.com is like
Speaker:the one that sticks in my head.
Speaker:But there's there was like there was
Speaker:hundreds of them. They just all
Speaker:where they said there was
Speaker:liquidity, but there was no
Speaker:liquidity. And therefore and imagine
Speaker:if I had taken if I had gotten all
Speaker:the money and put it into.
Speaker:You know, stocks, you know,
Speaker:especially and I was I was younger
Speaker:then and I was working on computers
Speaker:and much more of the techie.
Speaker:I probably would have done I would
Speaker:have probably have done tech stocks,
Speaker:but I did.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:And it's an eight happened
Speaker:and I read the story about the guy,
Speaker:the guy that wrote an article they
Speaker:write they made a movie out about
Speaker:him that he was predicting this
Speaker:fall to happen because of the
Speaker:the bad mortgages that were being
Speaker:sold in 2006
Speaker:and 2007.
Speaker:And I had bought a couple of things.
Speaker:I actually had Apple
Speaker:II.
Speaker:And and when he said that,
Speaker:it made perfectly good sense to me.
Speaker:And I sold everything.
Speaker:I sold it all I could equivalently
Speaker:were a.
Speaker:Little bit longer, but.
Speaker:I sold it all.
Speaker:And I was I was relieved
Speaker:when Lever Brothers closed, you.
Speaker:Know, And I was like.
Speaker:Oh, yes, he was right.
Speaker:Thank God. I didn't just
Speaker:and I didn't lose a penny so.
Speaker:Mhm. Well that's,
Speaker:that's wonderful when you so
Speaker:after you won and you received
Speaker:all this publicity
Speaker:initially did, did people
Speaker:come out of the woodwork or.
Speaker:Or how was that for you.
Speaker:What were. They came out of,
Speaker:out of my couch.
Speaker:There are people in my closet.
Speaker:Like what words
Speaker:it was.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But you know.
Speaker:You learn how to say no there's just
Speaker:so many
Speaker:And of course you know
Speaker:people with, you know, deceased
Speaker:children and I have this disease
Speaker:and and
Speaker:which is why I never use
Speaker:I have a website, I have
Speaker:an email address that I never use
Speaker:anymore because of that
Speaker:is every so often I still get
Speaker:something and,
Speaker:you know, one of the most
Speaker:important for future.
Speaker:Lottery winners.
Speaker:One of the most important words
Speaker:you can learn is no
Speaker:and and
Speaker:only say yes to your
Speaker:meeting. Your mommy, daddy, sister,
Speaker:brother. But I mean the aunts
Speaker:and uncles and cousins and this and
Speaker:that. No, no.
Speaker:Just after.
Speaker:Yeah. And charity charities, because
Speaker:charities are another you know,
Speaker:it can be another source of
Speaker:just sucking your income.
Speaker:So, I mean, I'm not saying don't
Speaker:give to charity. I'm just saying
Speaker:pick the charities you want to give
Speaker:to and then know
Speaker:to everyone else you've picked out
Speaker:for charities, because these
Speaker:are who I give to and everyone.
Speaker:Everything else is. No.
Speaker:Mhm.
Speaker:Yeah. I've, I've also dealt with a
Speaker:lot of that over the years and
Speaker:completely empathize.
Speaker:Was that, was that a learning curve
Speaker:to, to say no or did that come.
Speaker:No. I'm a New Yorker so
Speaker:I know if.
Speaker:I'm a New Yorker I know how to say
Speaker:no.
Speaker:That's not.
Speaker:A and plus I
Speaker:was a when I won the
Speaker:I think I don't know if I mentioned
Speaker:I think I did, but when I won,
Speaker:I was 44.
Speaker:So I had a I had
Speaker:there was a certain amount of
Speaker:maturity and
Speaker:instead of, you know, running
Speaker:out and buying that,
Speaker:I don't know, $44 Million Lollipop,
Speaker:I knew enough to just not spend
Speaker:anything until I,
Speaker:you know, I mean, I spent obviously
Speaker:on food, bought some clothes,
Speaker:you know, and actually that's
Speaker:that was the moment
Speaker:where I actually felt that I had won
Speaker:was when I went to Bloomingdales
Speaker:and bought ten pair
Speaker:of Calvin Klein underwear at
Speaker:once.
Speaker:And I just went home and went, Wow,
Speaker:I have wow, this is like
Speaker:money now.
Speaker:Ten pair of Calvin Klein underwear.
Speaker:What was the first what was the
Speaker:first thing that you bought?
Speaker:Well, I always.
Speaker:Ask this and it's and it's this
Speaker:is the true statement.
Speaker:The first thing I bought was milk.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:You know, the necessities
Speaker:are still there, aren't they?
Speaker:And so,
Speaker:you know, the first thing I did was
Speaker:go grocery shopping.
Speaker:That was it is I think
Speaker:you're asking me what what was the
Speaker:largest purchase
Speaker:that I bought.
Speaker:Yeah. What was the the largest
Speaker:or are there is there anything
Speaker:extravagant or anything that.
Speaker:Well if
Speaker:I you have to get.
Speaker:Used to having money, right.
Speaker:Because I
Speaker:did take a few trips
Speaker:but I went coach.
Speaker:And I did take,
Speaker:you know.
Speaker:I did stay at some hotels
Speaker:but they were like the best hotels.
Speaker:And it wasn't until
Speaker:I had just gone to
Speaker:Key West. And then we drove to Miami
Speaker:with a friend of mine, and then I
Speaker:met my sister and my nephew and I
Speaker:put them up in a hotel and all this
Speaker:stuff, and we had this great time
Speaker:there. And as I was going
Speaker:home from that trip,
Speaker:coach, I realized,
Speaker:you know, I could probably afford
Speaker:first class.
Speaker:You know.
Speaker:But it took it took a while for me
Speaker:to it took a little bit
Speaker:for me to get to that.
Speaker:Wait a minute.
Speaker:I could do this a little better.
Speaker:And ever since, you know,
Speaker:that was the moment that the
Speaker:that thought came into my head.
Speaker:But since then, I wish it would
Speaker:leave my head now because I've
Speaker:only got three more times.
Speaker:But that summer.
Speaker:I did take a four month
Speaker:tour of Europe and
Speaker:and I did go first class
Speaker:and I did go to great hotels and I
Speaker:did go there and just had
Speaker:a real blast.
Speaker:Oh, I bet.
Speaker:How did that feel?
Speaker:How did that feel
Speaker:to be able to afford that all
Speaker:of the sudden?
Speaker:I felt great.
Speaker:I mean, by that time I was getting
Speaker:used to having the money and I was
Speaker:getting used to having, you know,
Speaker:this certain amount plop
Speaker:down.
Speaker:I had gotten
Speaker:friends of mine have got me a tax
Speaker:attorney, they got me,
Speaker:I got an accountant
Speaker:who passed away recently
Speaker:and and and my tax attorney
Speaker:also passed away recently because
Speaker:they were old when I met, you know
Speaker:what I mean? And so they passed
Speaker:away. And so they've left me
Speaker:here. Really, I feel like a
Speaker:motherless child.
Speaker:So I because I'm like,
Speaker:now I'm out here, like in a wading
Speaker:through.
Speaker:The.
Speaker:The murk in the mire all by myself.
Speaker:Although I have a new
Speaker:lawyers and I have
Speaker:accountants and all of that.
Speaker:But there was nothing like
Speaker:I mean, his name wasn't burning, but
Speaker:I don't want to say throw it,
Speaker:you know, they just knew,
Speaker:you know, they were old enough to
Speaker:know how to just get around the
Speaker:block.
Speaker:In a quicker manner,
Speaker:if you know what I mean.
Speaker:Whereas my my younger
Speaker:accountants now are very by the
Speaker:book.
Speaker:I shouldn't say that at all.
Speaker:Now I'm going to get audited.
Speaker:Well.
Speaker:Hopefully, hopefully.
Speaker:Well, not.
Speaker:Now, because
Speaker:they've been dead for a years.
Speaker:So I want to I want to ask you about
Speaker:your experience with these
Speaker:dreams. I believe it was to dreams,
Speaker:but it was at least one with
Speaker:your grandmother prior to
Speaker:winning the lottery.
Speaker:With more than one dream.
Speaker:It was a series of dreams
Speaker:that I think,
Speaker:well, you know, depending
Speaker:on what we believe or not believe
Speaker:in. But I think that
Speaker:she was she
Speaker:knew it was going to happen.
Speaker:And, you know, my grandmother
Speaker:sitting. Right, you know, whoever
Speaker:you believe, and she's sitting right
Speaker:next to him, feeding him.
Speaker:You know.
Speaker:At and telling him what
Speaker:it is she needs in
Speaker:heaven, if we believe
Speaker:in that. And
Speaker:but for two weeks before
Speaker:I started to have
Speaker:these dreams, these very vivid
Speaker:dreams about my grandmother and her
Speaker:just yelling at me about
Speaker:how I'm buying the ticket.
Speaker:But, you know, because you get into
Speaker:a habit. I came up with these
Speaker:numbers, as I said before, which was
Speaker:an amalgamation of my
Speaker:old addresses.
Speaker:And so they sounded good
Speaker:to me and I played them for two and
Speaker:a half years and I would only buy
Speaker:two tickets at a time.
Speaker:So I would play those numbers
Speaker:and then then I would make up
Speaker:another thing.
Speaker:So I only only played like
Speaker:two $2 a week,
Speaker:but I had become lax
Speaker:in checking the numbers,
Speaker:you know, making, you know.
Speaker:And so about two
Speaker:weeks before I started to dream
Speaker:up with my grandmother and she was
Speaker:like, look at the numbers.
Speaker:Look at the numbers with with what
Speaker:she was saying,
Speaker:that there was a lot of little stuff
Speaker:that happened beforehand.
Speaker:And I'm not going to claim
Speaker:that there's some sort of
Speaker:clairvoyance or some sort
Speaker:of
Speaker:magic around anything.
Speaker:But it just when I look back at it,
Speaker:you know, because I also went to New
Speaker:Orleans that September
Speaker:and I was staying
Speaker:in in Trauma, which at
Speaker:that time was, you know, it was a
Speaker:a lovely black neighborhood.
Speaker:And they had a hotel and I
Speaker:stayed there and got along
Speaker:with everyone and nothing was
Speaker:wrong with that.
Speaker:But at one one morning I was going
Speaker:to a bayou tour
Speaker:and as I was walking,
Speaker:you know, towards the Mississippi,
Speaker:this old black woman was
Speaker:setting up a table
Speaker:of knickknacks and things.
Speaker:And and
Speaker:one of the things she had was this
Speaker:bone. And, you know, I
Speaker:was fascinated by this bone.
Speaker:And and
Speaker:we were talking and all this stuff.
Speaker:And as you can see,
Speaker:it's hard to shut me up.
Speaker:And and and also,
Speaker:I can make people laugh without them
Speaker:even knowing about the laugh, you
Speaker:know, and all.
Speaker:So she and I laughed and did.
Speaker:And then I said to her, I don't have
Speaker:money for this, but I do love it,
Speaker:but I have to go and I'm going to do
Speaker:that.
Speaker:Well, I went and had my lovely
Speaker:tour of the bayou and whatever
Speaker:and.
Speaker:You know.
Speaker:Did my New Orleans thing.
Speaker:And I was coming home because
Speaker:because I got up early that day to
Speaker:go to on the Bayou tour.
Speaker:So I was like really tired by ten
Speaker:or whatever, even though they were
Speaker:never mind.
Speaker:And so we're.
Speaker:I'm walking home and I see
Speaker:her and she's packing up.
Speaker:And so I went up to her and I said,
Speaker:How did you do today?
Speaker:And she says, Yeah, you know,
Speaker:very Southern accent,
Speaker:just the wrong kind of accent.
Speaker:I'm just going to.
Speaker:She said I was the same as every
Speaker:day. You know, I make a little bit
Speaker:just enough to get by, make
Speaker:it worth it.
Speaker:And she says, she said to me, You
Speaker:were the best thing that happened to
Speaker:me all day, so I'm
Speaker:going to give you this boat.
Speaker:And I said, Oh, no, I don't want you
Speaker:to do that, you know, you know.
Speaker:And I looked in my I had like
Speaker:three or $4 and I
Speaker:tried to give it to her.
Speaker:So now.
Speaker:You keep you.
Speaker:Know, this bone is going to bring
Speaker:you luck.
Speaker:And a month later, I won
Speaker:the lottery between my grandmother
Speaker:and this lovely old
Speaker:woman who I met in New Orleans.
Speaker:There was just these two
Speaker:things that I still have the bone.
Speaker:I don't know. No one knows what kind
Speaker:of bone it is. Someone thinks it's
Speaker:an animal bone and other people
Speaker:think it's this, but
Speaker:it's it's hanging in my bathroom, of
Speaker:all places.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, I'll bring the bone.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. Thanks.
Speaker:So here is.
Speaker:The bone.
Speaker:That? The wonderful.
Speaker:Old lady.
Speaker:Gave to me.
Speaker:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker:Yes, that is huge.
Speaker:Exactly. I didn't know what it was,
Speaker:but she had this phone
Speaker:and I picked it up and,
Speaker:you know, and and she only wanted
Speaker:$10, you know, But
Speaker:this was before the lottery.
Speaker:So $10.
Speaker:Was.
Speaker:Probably what I was going to use to
Speaker:eat, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I couldn't buy for her, but she
Speaker:insisted that that
Speaker:that I take it.
Speaker:And she said it's going to bring me
Speaker:good luck.
Speaker:And I think that it probably has in
Speaker:many ways than just the lottery.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:I just don't know.
Speaker:And did you ever see the lady again?
Speaker:Well, I mean, I.
Speaker:Was visiting New Orleans.
Speaker:I do I do
Speaker:have friends there now.
Speaker:And so and I spent New Year's there
Speaker:last year, I think, or maybe the
Speaker:year before. Who knows?
Speaker:So it all runs into.
Speaker:I was just I was curious if
Speaker:you if you had met her again after
Speaker:you after the lottery win.
Speaker:Well.
Speaker:I did
Speaker:throughout my travels that
Speaker:I was worth doing.
Speaker:I did meet some people who were
Speaker:based in New Orleans,
Speaker:as well as a friend of mine, who
Speaker:I knew in New York when I was
Speaker:working at a museum store here.
Speaker:And she moved back to her hometown
Speaker:of New Orleans.
Speaker:So I have had reason
Speaker:to go to New Orleans.
Speaker:And I did try to
Speaker:I did walk up that street, but there
Speaker:was there was no one
Speaker:there.
Speaker:What about the the voice
Speaker:that you heard on the when you were
Speaker:waiting for the elevator?
Speaker:You you.
Speaker:Well, that was my grandmother.
Speaker:So was that.
Speaker:That was it.
Speaker:Did you hear it like like we're
Speaker:hearing each other right now.
Speaker:And was it
Speaker:like, what was that like?
Speaker:It was more like imagination,
Speaker:you know, like right now, if you
Speaker:wanted to, you know,
Speaker:I don't know what your family
Speaker:situation is, but if you if you
Speaker:wanted to hear a voice
Speaker:in your head, it would just come
Speaker:into your head.
Speaker:And that's what it was like.
Speaker:It was just just
Speaker:it was more a compelling.
Speaker:Compelling me to go back
Speaker:to my to
Speaker:my desk and turn and boot
Speaker:up my computer, which I
Speaker:find so funny
Speaker:because and that was like a big
Speaker:deal.
Speaker:Don't forget to vote down your.
Speaker:Computer, as they used to say, Put
Speaker:them in or whatever.
Speaker:We were going to lose all, all the
Speaker:textbooks in America.
Speaker:And I was actually working for
Speaker:the literature department, English.
Speaker:And so it was it was fascinating
Speaker:because I read all these
Speaker:books, you know, by
Speaker:osmosis, not not because
Speaker:I was reading this book, but because
Speaker:I was I was the liaison between the
Speaker:editors and the art department,
Speaker:so.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:That's. Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker:Had had anything like that ever?
Speaker:I mean, not winning the lottery, but
Speaker:any dreams or
Speaker:voices or anything that then came
Speaker:to be had anything like that
Speaker:happened before?
Speaker:Well, I mean,
Speaker:interesting question.
Speaker:I mean, I, I would say yes,
Speaker:there there were
Speaker:times when
Speaker:yes and no.
Speaker:I mean, it's hard to
Speaker:you know, you can always a
Speaker:hindsight is is
Speaker:is 2020.
Speaker:So they say. But it also
Speaker:is
Speaker:you make it how you want it to be.
Speaker:You know, now, now that you
Speaker:are looking back at things, you can
Speaker:say, oh, wow, that
Speaker:was you know,
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:I would say that I've been lucky
Speaker:in a few ways and
Speaker:I can attribute that to
Speaker:to I don't know who's ever looking
Speaker:out for me or whatever you believe
Speaker:in.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And have you had luck in your life
Speaker:beyond.
Speaker:Beyond the lottery?
Speaker:Well, that's pretty damn.
Speaker:Right. I mean.
Speaker:Yeah, well, I'll let
Speaker:you know. In three years on my left,
Speaker:my last check comes
Speaker:only now, though.
Speaker:COVID.
Speaker:You know, everyone asks about my
Speaker:singing and what did I do after?
Speaker:I won the money, you know.
Speaker:Did you do a show?
Speaker:Did you do this?
Speaker:There was a young gentleman from
Speaker:Philadelphia who wanted to do
Speaker:a documentary of me based on
Speaker:the article that was written
Speaker:in The New Yorker magazine.
Speaker:And so he came
Speaker:and he got he says he has
Speaker:funding and he had all this money
Speaker:and all that.
Speaker:And, you know, he had like $3.50.
Speaker:So I want to
Speaker:putting it, you know, once you put
Speaker:all that time in and, you know,
Speaker:it's hard not to see
Speaker:it through. So
Speaker:they made a documentary and we got
Speaker:into quite a few, don't I suppose
Speaker:the the biggest one was the
Speaker:Melbourne Film Festival, and they
Speaker:flew us to Melbourne
Speaker:to do a Q&A.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Yeah. The name of the documentary.
Speaker:Well, you're not going to find it
Speaker:because no one bought it and I'll
Speaker:tell you why.
Speaker:But the name of the documentary is
Speaker:One Man Show,
Speaker:and I have a copy of it here,
Speaker:and I had to figure out how to put
Speaker:it on the computer. I don't I don't
Speaker:know how to do that, but
Speaker:I'm sure it's easier than.
Speaker:But we did
Speaker:we did send a quest, which
Speaker:is a film festival
Speaker:on the West Coast.
Speaker:We did Melbourne,
Speaker:we did the Berlin Gay and Lesbian
Speaker:Festival.
Speaker:Philadelphia. Gay and Lesbian.
Speaker:New York, Gay and lesbian.
Speaker:There was a miami thing that
Speaker:was a Latino thing because I'm
Speaker:Latino as well.
Speaker:I mean, we get about, you
Speaker:know, anywhere from 12 to 14 film
Speaker:festivals
Speaker:and HBO had it for
Speaker:the longest time.
Speaker:They were interested, but they
Speaker:turned it down because
Speaker:I sing and I and the songs
Speaker:that I sang in
Speaker:the movie, they
Speaker:would have to pay so much money to
Speaker:use in
Speaker:a commercial way
Speaker:that they didn't want
Speaker:to spend that money on
Speaker:the thing. And
Speaker:the movie sold out and all of the
Speaker:film festivals, but no one
Speaker:wanted to take on the expense
Speaker:of of the music
Speaker:was there.
Speaker:Too.
Speaker:We were almost there and
Speaker:we recut the film
Speaker:to try to take out opera.
Speaker:But you know, the show,
Speaker:the show that I did,
Speaker:we they had me do a show,
Speaker:by the way, which was a four day
Speaker:show, and we did it at Theater
Speaker:three, which is on 43rd Street.
Speaker:And they had just had a
Speaker:big play in there with a
Speaker:relatively well-known
Speaker:Broadway actress who's on Broadway
Speaker:right now.
Speaker:And her dressing room
Speaker:was a mess.
Speaker:There was stuff in there that I
Speaker:didn't even want to know existed,
Speaker:and we
Speaker:were out of the show after we were
Speaker:there for four nights and again sold
Speaker:out and sold out and charge
Speaker:thing.
Speaker:And and that
Speaker:was all for the movie.
Speaker:So we had, I think, five cameras
Speaker:or something that were.
Speaker:Filming the performance.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Yes. I've got four now.
Speaker:Oh, that was.
Speaker:That was just the first few years.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:And you're also a musician,
Speaker:and I want to ask about that.
Speaker:But I'm curious, how
Speaker:did the winning the lottery,
Speaker:did that pave
Speaker:the way for allow
Speaker:more freedom to pursue your dreams
Speaker:and or how did that affect you?
Speaker:Well, there you go.
Speaker:There's the question that I was
Speaker:going to answer.
Speaker:What you know, you have to think,
Speaker:you know, if here I
Speaker:am now
Speaker:with
Speaker:more money than most,
Speaker:and I was.
Speaker:Nicely traveled before,
Speaker:but not well traveled,
Speaker:you know.
Speaker:And so
Speaker:that first trip I told you about
Speaker:for four months, that
Speaker:that just wet
Speaker:my appetite to travel more.
Speaker:And so you have
Speaker:to do
Speaker:I stay at home
Speaker:and exercise and
Speaker:work with my musical director
Speaker:and and get
Speaker:the voice, you know, to
Speaker:recording strength and then it it
Speaker:and.
Speaker:Or do I go to Rome and buy shoes?
Speaker:And I'm sorry, but
Speaker:shoes one every
Speaker:time.
Speaker:And the the interesting thing is
Speaker:that COVID,
Speaker:where I was I was
Speaker:I had an apartment in Miami.
Speaker:I just sold it.
Speaker:But I had
Speaker:flown from Miami
Speaker:on March 10th, 2020,
Speaker:because on March 13th I
Speaker:was going to go to Valencia, Spain,
Speaker:to go see a festival qualifiers,
Speaker:which, by the way, if you've never
Speaker:done this, you look like a you would
Speaker:this is a festival out of
Speaker:it's just just nuts, crazy,
Speaker:wonderful, glorious, loud,
Speaker:amazing festival.
Speaker:And it's called Las Vegas.
Speaker:And I was I've already done it three
Speaker:times and I want to do it at least
Speaker:one more time.
Speaker:And so that I was on my way there.
Speaker:And then, of course, the current
Speaker:president of TIME
Speaker:had announced that he was closing
Speaker:the borders of Europe,
Speaker:not to American, but
Speaker:it was so fluid, I figured I didn't
Speaker:want to get stuck, you know, in
Speaker:Europe, I'd rather be stuck, you
Speaker:know, in my home, you know, if I'm
Speaker:going to, which is exactly what
Speaker:happened.
Speaker:I can't I canceled everything
Speaker:and I didn't get my money
Speaker:back
Speaker:for the for the Airbnb
Speaker:or the.
Speaker:Anyway, different conversation and
Speaker:or that but
Speaker:that started nine
Speaker:months.
Speaker:Of.
Speaker:My self-isolation
Speaker:and the first three weeks
Speaker:were great.
Speaker:All I did was watch,
Speaker:you know, streaming
Speaker:shows and order Chinese food
Speaker:until that got really boring.
Speaker:And then I realized
Speaker:I started to look through my work,
Speaker:through my computer, and I caught
Speaker:upon this song called Better Days,
Speaker:which was written by
Speaker:not even a friend.
Speaker:We were acquaintances, but
Speaker:it was written by this gentleman in
Speaker:the late eighties about
Speaker:the AIDS crisis,
Speaker:and he passed away from AIDS in
Speaker:the early nineties.
Speaker:But the song
Speaker:when I, you know, somehow I just
Speaker:happened to pick that song to listen
Speaker:to with so apropos
Speaker:to what was happening with COVID
Speaker:that I called up my musical
Speaker:director and said, we need to make a
Speaker:music video out of this.
Speaker:And
Speaker:and he was, I guess,
Speaker:as bored as I was.
Speaker:And as long as he wore masks and
Speaker:there was nobody on the streets of
Speaker:New York, let's go film
Speaker:the streets of New York.
Speaker:And that's what we did.
Speaker:And we actually made
Speaker:a music video.
Speaker:And I told a friend in London
Speaker:and he also made
Speaker:a musical, a
Speaker:music video out of better Days,
Speaker:but with London.
Speaker:So that's currently on my TikTok
Speaker:and that's already at
Speaker:23,000 views.
Speaker:So it's like.
Speaker:We'll put a link to it
Speaker:if you want. We could put a link to
Speaker:it below, but it's a.
Speaker:I would.
Speaker:Love I would love that.
Speaker:And also to the YouTube
Speaker:page. And I also did
Speaker:that from the spark
Speaker:of the of that.
Speaker:Of that music video of better days
Speaker:of of his name is Brian Lasser.
Speaker:I mean, this is what his music
Speaker:was destined to be forgotten,
Speaker:though, because he passed away
Speaker:in the nineties and
Speaker:I then listened to my other old
Speaker:recordings. So and I decided
Speaker:to do a vinyl
Speaker:and I did a vinyl
Speaker:all the way.
Speaker:I think the the oldest song
Speaker:is from 1996,
Speaker:and the youngest song is like
Speaker:probably 2013 or something.
Speaker:And I just picked 13 songs
Speaker:because I was born on June 13.
Speaker:And so 13 is the lucky number
Speaker:for me.
Speaker:And so I picked 13 songs
Speaker:and we actually created a
Speaker:vinyl.
Speaker:We did a vinyl album
Speaker:and we're working on a second
Speaker:album now. And all of that
Speaker:sprang from
Speaker:just being creative,
Speaker:being sick of Chinese food, being
Speaker:sick of.
Speaker:Streaming television.
Speaker:And just starting
Speaker:to become creative
Speaker:again.
Speaker:Can I get it? Can I go get my album
Speaker:and show it? Are you going?
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. Please.
Speaker:Please let me go.
Speaker:And this album came four.
Speaker:Decades ago
Speaker:and think, Wow.
Speaker:The music of a lifetime.
Speaker:We can put a link to that below.
Speaker:Is there a place where people can
Speaker:can buy
Speaker:or purchase and listen to that?
Speaker:It's on Spotify.
Speaker:It's on. It's on it.
Speaker:It's on iTunes.
Speaker:It's on.
Speaker:It's on YouTube music.
Speaker:It's on basically all platforms.
Speaker:But you can't buy the vinyl
Speaker:on those things.
Speaker:I'm now working on a a space
Speaker:where I can sell the records
Speaker:like, Oh, look, it's nice and non
Speaker:blurry now for some reason.
Speaker:Yes, but me at like
Speaker:six.
Speaker:Wow. Six year old John
Speaker:Falcon on the cover.
Speaker:Of the 1919.
Speaker:And here's my thirties
Speaker:and here is a few years
Speaker:ago.
Speaker:Wow, This is
Speaker:it. It's not going out of that
Speaker:thing. And then, of course, the back
Speaker:has
Speaker:me
Speaker:escorting my partner to jump
Speaker:out of an airplane. No, I did not
Speaker:jump out of an airplane.
Speaker:But the photograph is cool.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And the back of it.
Speaker:And here's this.
Speaker:I wonder if you're.
Speaker:Oh, well.
Speaker:Well, yeah, that's.
Speaker:Well, we'll put a link to it below
Speaker:the description of this interview.
Speaker:If someone were to
Speaker:win 45
Speaker:million tomorrow.
Speaker:What.
Speaker:What advice do you
Speaker:have for them?
Speaker:Well.
Speaker:Lately, I don't know if you've
Speaker:noticed, and I don't know
Speaker:if you had that option when you
Speaker:won because you won quite a bit of
Speaker:money.
Speaker:Uh, but
Speaker:I haven't noticed
Speaker:the option for annuity.
Speaker:Lately.
Speaker:Because, you know, when when the
Speaker:thing goes to 1 billion, I figure,
Speaker:listen, I could spend $10.
Speaker:You know, so.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I do play and I never see the
Speaker:option. I don't see the option for,
Speaker:you know, an
Speaker:annuity or.
Speaker:Well, in most lotteries
Speaker:in the United States, at least,
Speaker:there is there is the option of
Speaker:annuity or or the cash
Speaker:and the pros that we see like
Speaker:if you see $1,000,000,000
Speaker:and that's the sticker price, then
Speaker:that's that's the annuity.
Speaker:What do you mean that's the annuity?
Speaker:Oh, well, so
Speaker:I mean, if if
Speaker:you see it says 45
Speaker:million, you
Speaker:know, so let's say theoretically the
Speaker:Powerball is up to 45 million and
Speaker:that's what it says.
Speaker:Then if you win that, then
Speaker:you've won 45 million
Speaker:with the annuity, or you
Speaker:could take half of it with cash
Speaker:right away.
Speaker:I mean, before taxes, of course.
Speaker:Yeah, but.
Speaker:They used to have it on the paper
Speaker:bike. I remember there was
Speaker:a choice. I had cash or I had
Speaker:annuity and I purposely put annuity
Speaker:because I think knowing me, I
Speaker:mean, I was going to do something
Speaker:stupid, you know, put all my
Speaker:money into Pets.com.
Speaker:You know, and.
Speaker:And, and so I marked annuity.
Speaker:What I've noticed lately, though, is
Speaker:they they don't give you that
Speaker:option.
Speaker:Are they letting you get that option
Speaker:after you win
Speaker:it.
Speaker:After you redeem the ticket.
Speaker:Then you then you have the option of
Speaker:the annuity and that.
Speaker:That's all.
Speaker:Right. Well, that's that makes me
Speaker:feel better when I win the billion
Speaker:dollars.
Speaker:Can you can When did you win your
Speaker:money.
Speaker:Was 19 1999
Speaker:as well. So really?
Speaker:Yeah. February, February of
Speaker:1999.
Speaker:So what how have you invested
Speaker:your money? Obviously you started a
Speaker:podcast.
Speaker:I yeah.
Speaker:Well I've, I've always had
Speaker:people working with me that
Speaker:knew a lot more than I did.
Speaker:Yeah. You know, had a track record
Speaker:and experience and financial
Speaker:advisors that were
Speaker:had experience doing that sort of
Speaker:thing. I've learned a lot over
Speaker:the years with that, but I'm by no
Speaker:means an especially when I, one
Speaker:aged 21 had had
Speaker:no we were.
Speaker:2121.
Speaker:As a gas station or.
Speaker:A gas station attendant.
Speaker:Is that what you're going to say.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. Gas station clerk.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:So you tell me what was the first
Speaker:thing you bought?
Speaker:Because 21 is much different than
Speaker:44.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, it was, it was the latest
Speaker:greatest video game system
Speaker:because that was where my mindset
Speaker:was.
Speaker:Yeah, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:That's exactly what that's
Speaker:exactly what I meant.
Speaker:I was 44, believe
Speaker:me. Video games.
Speaker:The latest was not it wasn't
Speaker:even into it in my head.
Speaker:You should have called me.
Speaker:I would.
Speaker:So what was the first.
Speaker:Thing you did? You get yourself a
Speaker:good account as a good tax attorney
Speaker:then?
Speaker:Yeah. Before.
Speaker:Before even turning in the ticket,
Speaker:I get sought help
Speaker:with that sort of thing because I
Speaker:had no idea what to do.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:Wow, good for you for that.
Speaker:Because 21 is
Speaker:21 is beautiful, but 21 is
Speaker:stupid.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's that's.
Speaker:That's one of the things that
Speaker:saved me, I think was the fact
Speaker:that I was 44, had
Speaker:already had like three or four
Speaker:businesses and
Speaker:working and all that.
Speaker:So I wasn't in
Speaker:a rush to to buy anything.
Speaker:And I figured the the first thing
Speaker:I would need to buy would be, you
Speaker:know, a place to live.
Speaker:And that's this,
Speaker:I guess this apartment
Speaker:which I bought in 2002
Speaker:was my first
Speaker:giant purchase.
Speaker:The great thing about it is
Speaker:that I bought it at the time.
Speaker:The great thing, I mean, it's,
Speaker:you know, we all try to make
Speaker:lemonade out of lemons and
Speaker:911 had just happened
Speaker:and no one was buying apartments
Speaker:and towers.
Speaker:So I really got an amazing
Speaker:price on this apartment.
Speaker:And it's worth
Speaker:quite a bit,
Speaker:you know, now.
Speaker:And I'm actually thinking, you know,
Speaker:since I only have three years left,
Speaker:that I should I should rent it
Speaker:because apartments rent in this
Speaker:building, this especially this
Speaker:line, because we have
Speaker:it's wall, it's wall to wall
Speaker:windows overlooking the
Speaker:Chrysler building, the
Speaker:US on the East River.
Speaker:You know so it's it's it's quite
Speaker:this line is quite sought after
Speaker:and in
Speaker:asking about how much people
Speaker:are renting in my line
Speaker:it's about 16000 to 18000
Speaker:depending on how high you are.
Speaker:And
Speaker:so I was thinking, well, you
Speaker:know, my monthly not I figured it
Speaker:all out. Actually, it was my partner
Speaker:who figured it all out.
Speaker:Causes a lot.
Speaker:He's studying law
Speaker:and he figured it out.
Speaker:And he said, Well, you know, with
Speaker:that, if you take your you take your
Speaker:your property taxes and amortize
Speaker:them over 12 months,
Speaker:this, that and the other thing in
Speaker:your common charges, it comes out
Speaker:to about $8,000,
Speaker:which means that another eight that
Speaker:I if I rented for six that
Speaker:16,000 that's $8,000
Speaker:a month that's
Speaker:free for me kind of
Speaker:after expenses.
Speaker:So we're thinking of doing
Speaker:that.
Speaker:Well.
Speaker:That's that's yeah, very, very
Speaker:exciting.
Speaker:But I know so we
Speaker:don't have tons of we
Speaker:are running kind of short on time,
Speaker:but I have a couple questions that I
Speaker:do want to try to get in here.
Speaker:One is, in addition to the
Speaker:financial advisors
Speaker:seeking that, is there any other
Speaker:advice that you'd give to someone,
Speaker:generally speaking, that that wins
Speaker:a massive amount of money through a
Speaker:lottery?
Speaker:Well, I think
Speaker:I've already stated
Speaker:that the most important
Speaker:word you can
Speaker:use is no,
Speaker:because everyone.
Speaker:And I think you got to you have to
Speaker:get to know your money.
Speaker:In other words, you have to
Speaker:understand that
Speaker:if you have.
Speaker:First of all, I took the annuity.
Speaker:Yes. So already half
Speaker:of it is gone.
Speaker:If I had taken the
Speaker:lump sum, I would have only got $9
Speaker:million if I taken
Speaker:at the time. And if I if
Speaker:I taking the annuity, I'm getting
Speaker:22 and a half million dollars.
Speaker:Right. The rest is going to taxes.
Speaker:They just take it out and then it's
Speaker:never seems to be enough.
Speaker:I'm breathing too much air.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:But it's
Speaker:always, Oh, even though they take
Speaker:hundreds, you know, hundreds of
Speaker:thousands of dollars.
Speaker:And
Speaker:but you need to just
Speaker:the best thing you can do
Speaker:is to just.
Speaker:Leave it.
Speaker:In a bank somewhere and
Speaker:figure out what it is.
Speaker:Your next
Speaker:huge want is and
Speaker:usually for most people, the next
Speaker:huge want is the place
Speaker:to live.
Speaker:And I think
Speaker:that
Speaker:before buying the latest
Speaker:gaming thing, which
Speaker:I'm sure it didn't, course that must
Speaker:cost that much money for what you
Speaker:want.
Speaker:But instead of doing that, as
Speaker:is to sit on it and
Speaker:just and think, what is
Speaker:it do I need now?
Speaker:Mom needs a new house or,
Speaker:you know, I mean, you know, or I
Speaker:need someplace to live or.
Speaker:And I think that's the biggest
Speaker:expense.
Speaker:And don't go nuts, because
Speaker:houses are going
Speaker:to be your biggest
Speaker:you know, houses, houses and car
Speaker:and jewelry are going to be your
Speaker:biggest.
Speaker:Expense, you know?
Speaker:So go go with the house first,
Speaker:Go with someplace to live
Speaker:and then and then
Speaker:let it sit, because they're going to
Speaker:need a couch. And you're going to
Speaker:need a you're going to need to have
Speaker:an outfit.
Speaker:The the house and
Speaker:and don't go nuts there either.
Speaker:You can buy beautiful things without
Speaker:having to.
Speaker:But I think that the best
Speaker:thing is to just get used to the
Speaker:money first before
Speaker:you start spending
Speaker:humongous amounts of
Speaker:money.
Speaker:I actually lived in the apartment
Speaker:that I in the in the fourth floor
Speaker:walkup.
Speaker:That I was.
Speaker:Living in on 86.
Speaker:On 80 sorry, 82nd between
Speaker:first and second.
Speaker:I lived there for about six months
Speaker:before I finally rented an
Speaker:apartment
Speaker:in a friend's building.
Speaker:He says, You know, John, I
Speaker:guess these three apartments, I'll
Speaker:arrange it, you know.
Speaker:And so I rented this very lovely
Speaker:apartment on 54th of a sudden,
Speaker:and this building was being built.
Speaker:And then when this building
Speaker:after 911,
Speaker:no one was buying in
Speaker:this building because this building's
Speaker:90 storeys.
Speaker:So nobody was buying
Speaker:here. So I got this
Speaker:apartment for,
Speaker:for a song and,
Speaker:and could possibly
Speaker:sell it for an opera.
Speaker:So it was pitch.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Did that answer any questions or did
Speaker:I did I go on a tangent,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:No, no, it did.
Speaker:It did.
Speaker:And so we are running
Speaker:kind of short on time here.
Speaker:I've questions that we could
Speaker:talk talk for hours.
Speaker:It would be really interesting, but.
Speaker:Well, darling, do it.
Speaker:If this if this is a success, do
Speaker:part two.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Let's do let's let's plan for a
Speaker:part two, but four for today.
Speaker:Is there anything else that you
Speaker:wanted to say today that I just
Speaker:don't know enough to ask or that you
Speaker:just wanted to say today?
Speaker:Well, I mean, right now, my biggest.
Speaker:What's taking up my time with taking
Speaker:up my interests is my music.
Speaker:And so also
Speaker:I'm working on a movie short, a
Speaker:movie short
Speaker:because I came up with this idea and
Speaker:so
Speaker:I'm actually following through with
Speaker:it. I mean.
Speaker:It's a short narrative film.
Speaker:No, it's going to be so sort
Speaker:of.
Speaker:I don't want to say too much because
Speaker:it's it's making it out
Speaker:of.
Speaker:It's almost like,
Speaker:wow, like a collage of other.
Speaker:Images.
Speaker:And so I don't want to say too much
Speaker:about what it's about, but it does
Speaker:use my music.
Speaker:It does use my music from
Speaker:my album Decade,
Speaker:A Lifetime of Music.
Speaker:Which we will put a link to that
Speaker:below.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean.
Speaker:I have a I can send
Speaker:you my what
Speaker:is it, YouTube page and
Speaker:my TikTok address.
Speaker:Is that what.
Speaker:You. Yeah. Yeah, we'd love to love
Speaker:to link to that link to that below.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:And I am working on a second album
Speaker:and so there's the
Speaker:finishing this album and I designed
Speaker:the cover by the way, and, and
Speaker:the next the
Speaker:next album will also have a CD.
Speaker:People thought I should have at
Speaker:least a CD because how many people
Speaker:have turntables?
Speaker:But vinyl's been very popular, so.
Speaker:Yeah, that's that's the way to do it
Speaker:through vinyl. That's.
Speaker:Yeah, I wanted a vinyl because I'm a
Speaker:child of the vinyl.
Speaker:You're, you're not, you're, you're.
Speaker:But I remember going into Tower
Speaker:Records in 4 hours just looking
Speaker:through, you know, vinyl
Speaker:records, reading the back, you
Speaker:know, of it was,
Speaker:it was the thing to do that's
Speaker:not there any longer.
Speaker:Buying vinyl is a romance.
Speaker:It's the same thing with books,
Speaker:isn't it? That's romanticism to the
Speaker:to the to
Speaker:to having to holding a book.
Speaker:And there's a romanticism to,
Speaker:you know, reading an album
Speaker:cover, you know that.
Speaker:Oh, look, there's a face.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's actually putting the needle on
Speaker:the record.
Speaker:On the record is is,
Speaker:is yes and positive much.
Speaker:It's true what they say.
Speaker:It's a much warmer, deeper
Speaker:fuller sound than a CD
Speaker:is CD has it.
Speaker:And it's only for people who
Speaker:are in the music biz, most people
Speaker:don't even notice.
Speaker:But I mean, there is a tin
Speaker:ear,
Speaker:little artificial sound
Speaker:to a CD.
Speaker:And there you go.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Well, I love the I
Speaker:love this. I love speaking
Speaker:of sounds. I love everything you've
Speaker:had to say today.
Speaker:And I really, really appreciate it.
Speaker:Really appreciate your time.
Speaker:Your story is very inspiring
Speaker:and positive.
Speaker:And and I really appreciate
Speaker:you speaking
Speaker:with me today.
Speaker:So thank you.
Speaker:For your.
Speaker:Great fun.
Speaker:And it's
Speaker:interesting that because I you know,
Speaker:I was just interviewed by
Speaker:The Sun in London
Speaker:and she just wanted
Speaker:you know, she just wanted, you know,
Speaker:blood and guts. She just wanted it.
Speaker:To be perfect.
Speaker:And she said to.
Speaker:Me, was it did everything that
Speaker:happened to you something did
Speaker:something awful?
Speaker:Tell us about that.
Speaker:You know, and I you know, and I
Speaker:said, well, you.
Speaker:Know, my parents passed away at
Speaker:different times, you know, within
Speaker:the last 20 somewhat years.
Speaker:But it would have been much more
Speaker:difficult for me without money.
Speaker:So it's it's
Speaker:there is no the money has
Speaker:cost me and caused me no stress.
Speaker:And that's because I just let
Speaker:it lay there until
Speaker:I decided what my next move had.
Speaker:Did a lot of travel and that's
Speaker:never a waste of money, right?
Speaker:So travel is
Speaker:just you're just opening up your
Speaker:mind and discovering
Speaker:new things. I'm wearing kimonos, you
Speaker:know, It's just.
Speaker:Yes, and that's
Speaker:about it.
Speaker:I'll I'll also send you
Speaker:via your text because
Speaker:you've been texting. Oh, yeah,
Speaker:your text. I sent you some of my
Speaker:songs.
Speaker:Yes, please do.
Speaker:I'd love to. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. Thank you very much.
Speaker:I'll do that. Like.
Speaker:Like now.
Speaker:Before I go.
Speaker:Because, you know, one thing I have.
Speaker:I'm having a dinner thing tonight,
Speaker:too. What time.
Speaker:Is it?
Speaker:Yeah, it's.
Speaker:Yeah, four, 430.
Speaker:That's good.
Speaker:Yeah. I have to be there at six
Speaker:by.
Speaker:Okay, Well, I
Speaker:really, really appreciate your time.
Speaker:I wish I had longer today.
Speaker:Yes. Well, I would like to ask
Speaker:you about your experience.
Speaker:That would be interesting as well.
Speaker:Yeah, because as
Speaker:someone who won at 21,
Speaker:that's where the word the total
Speaker:opposite.
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:Of. Of winning the lottery.
Speaker:I mean, at 21,
Speaker:you know. What did you do at 20?
Speaker:You know what I mean? What was your
Speaker:first departure?
Speaker:I would love to hear all of that,
Speaker:too. One day we should do that.
Speaker:Winning. Winning.
Speaker:Winning at an older age
Speaker:and winning at a younger age.
Speaker:Yeah, that would be.
Speaker:That would be very interesting, too.
Speaker:I think so.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And just one more question for you,
Speaker:Jessica. Just because I can never
Speaker:know when to stop talking.
Speaker:Um, do you have
Speaker:have you had a lot of people who
Speaker:have had bad experiences?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:No, I haven't.
Speaker:Oh, I mean, everyone.
Speaker:Everyone is different ov.
Speaker:I mean, it could be that.
Speaker:Well, first of all, I don't think
Speaker:that almost everyone
Speaker:that wins the lottery has a bad
Speaker:experience.
Speaker:I don't think it's black and white.
Speaker:It's somewhere in the gray area
Speaker:for a lot of people.
Speaker:And I think you see
Speaker:the horror stories in media.
Speaker:But I also I
Speaker:know a lot of mostly
Speaker:the people I've met.
Speaker:It's been very positive in different
Speaker:ways and everyone's different.
Speaker:But we do have to get going
Speaker:in a second. But one thing that
Speaker:I just wanted to ask you about real
Speaker:quickly is I found that
Speaker:with a lot of lottery winners, not
Speaker:everyone, but with a lot of people,
Speaker:it tends to magnify their
Speaker:personalities where whatever
Speaker:they're into, they could perhaps be
Speaker:into that in a larger level.
Speaker:Would you find that has been the
Speaker:case with you?
Speaker:Well, yeah.
Speaker:I have a beautiful apartment and
Speaker:I have two.
Speaker:I have one in Orlando.
Speaker:That's where my family lives.
Speaker:And so the one
Speaker:in my area and I have a ton
Speaker:of art, all of which I
Speaker:bought as an investment.
Speaker:I didn't know much about Wall
Speaker:Street, but I knew a lot
Speaker:about art because I was an art
Speaker:major.
Speaker:So the apartment
Speaker:is full of art,
Speaker:and in another
Speaker:year I am going to auction it
Speaker:off.
Speaker:I bought it just for that.
Speaker:When? When it comes time for the
Speaker:end, just.
Speaker:AUCTIONEER And
Speaker:there are two
Speaker:collections. I have a vintage
Speaker:costume jewelry collection,
Speaker:and I also have an antique
Speaker:fan collection.
Speaker:And that I've decided to donate to
Speaker:a museum, you know, under the John
Speaker:Falcon collection thing.
Speaker:For some reason, I don't want to
Speaker:split that up.
Speaker:But the art I have no problem with
Speaker:because I bought all the art.
Speaker:Not only because I loved it, but
Speaker:because I knew it was going to be a
Speaker:good investment.
Speaker:I mean, this thing has got to be
Speaker:worth about 70,000
Speaker:bucks.
Speaker:And I paid.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:No, I love it's I mean,
Speaker:it's slightly, slightly blurry, but
Speaker:I can see enough to
Speaker:really.
Speaker:Make it incredible.
Speaker:Well, I would give you a tour of my
Speaker:art collection as well, but.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, I think that.
Speaker:It'll be a seven hour show.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay. Well.
Speaker:Next time.
Speaker:Next. Well.
Speaker:Well, John.
Speaker:John Falken, thank you
Speaker:so much for your time.
Speaker:Thanks for joining today.
Speaker:Okay. Yeah, it was great fun.
Speaker:Yeah. Have a nice dinner tonight.
Speaker:Yeah, I will.
Speaker:Okay. Okay.
Speaker:Thank you so much for listening.
Speaker:I hope that you enjoyed today's
Speaker:episode comments with your thoughts
Speaker:on the YouTube page for
Speaker:this episode.
Speaker:I will put a link to it in the show
Speaker:notes and description of this
Speaker:podcast.
Speaker:Make sure to check out the show
Speaker:notes for a full rundown of
Speaker:today's show with all the important
Speaker:links. Remember, anything
Speaker:and everything is
Speaker:possible.
Speaker:Thank you so much for listening
