Episode 654
Bruce Campbell, Sara Schaefer, and Emi Pop
Actor and cult film icon Bruce Campbell delights in playing age-appropriate roles and explains why horses are such high maintenance actors; comedian Sara Schaefer tells us a tale from childhood about losing her best friend (her blankie) during a Christmas vacation; and Puerto Rican pop-punk artist Emi Pop performs her self-released single “Lo Sé."
Bruce Campbell
Actor and Cult Film Icon
Bruce Campbell is a prolific actor, producer, writer, director, and cult film icon. Appearing in over 100 movies and television shows, he is particularly well known for his iconic portrayal of Ash Williams in the Evil Dead franchise. Some of his other notable roles include Sam Axe on the USA Network series Burn Notice, and appearances in the Spider-Man, Ash vs Evil Dead, and Xena: Warrior Princess franchises. His latest role sees him starring in the new Peacock series Hysteria!, where he plays a former paranormal investigator recruited to look into a small town's unexplained phenomena. Website • Instagram
Sara Schaefer
Stand-Up Comedian and Miniaturist
Sara Schaefer is a critically acclaimed stand up comedian, writer, and artist. Her Comedy Central Stand Up Presents half hour special debuted in November 2019 and she was the co-host of MTV’s late night show Nikki & Sara Live. Sara published her first book, Grand, in 2020 and has written for numerous television programs including Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Would I Lie To You, and The History of Swear Words. She won two Emmy awards for her work at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. In recent years, Sara’s satirical sketches have been viral hits, including Comedy Ad, Quarantine Barbie, How To Sell a TV Show in 3 Easy Steps, and MeResearch. The New York Times called her new solo show Going Up “ambitious and nimble” and “a feat of comedy.” Website • Instagram
Emi Pop
Puerto Rican Punk Pop Band
Emi Pop’s musical journey began in her hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico and her style is equally influenced by Spanish Pop as well as power-pop and punk. Starting out as a vocalist and guitarist in Mely Y los Poppers back in Puerto Rico followed by a stint as bassist in Los Pepiniyoz, Emi has now found a home in Seattle’s music scene. From honing her skills as a guitarist for diverse Seattle acts such as Famous Lizards and most recently with horror punks 38 Coffin, Emi Pop lives and breathes straightforward rock 'n roll and weaves beautiful melodies that become deeply embedded earworms prone to sing-alongs! Instagram
Show Notes
Best News
Elena’s story: “Camp helps kids impacted by Los Angeles area wildfires”
Luke’s story: “Colorado woman donates kidney to save Pennsylvania man 35 years after they went to prom together”
Bruce Campbell
Bruce references some of his favorite media growing up, including The Carpenters, Swiss Family Robinson, and The Sound of Music.
Bruce and his wife Ida Campbell recently made a film together, Ernie and Emma
Luke asks Bruce if there is an acting role he’d like to revisit, and Bruce names the 1993 television series The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., in which he played Brisco County Jr.
You can watch Bruce in the new series Hysteria!, now streaming on Peacock.
Live Wire Listener Question
What's your most cherished childhood possession?
Sara Schaefer
Comedian Sara Schaefer performs a stand-up set about returning to her hometown of Richmond, VA.
Emi Pop
Emi Pop and her band play their self-released single, “Lo Sé.”
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Elena Passarello: From PRX. It's Live Wire! This week, actor and filmmaker Bruce Campbell.
Bruce Campbell: Playing an age appropriate role is delightful. I'm not wrestling demons. I'm making phone calls and talking on walkie talkies.
Elena Passarello: Comedian Sara Schaefer.
Sara Schaefer: Cut to my late 20s when I start realizing what parenting is. Lying, right? You're lying to your kids all the time.
Elena Passarello: With music from Emi Pop and our fabulous house band. I'm your announcer, Elena Passarello. And now the host of Live Wire Luke Burbank.
Luke Burbank: Hey, thank you so much, Elena Passarello. Thanks to everyone tuning in to Live Wire this week from all over the country. We have a fabulous show in store for you this week. A whole range of different kinds of folks to hear from. First, though, of course we've got to kick things off like we always do with the best news we heard all week this week. This right here is our little reminder at the top of the show, that despite what you may have heard, there is some good news happening out there and we're finding it for you. It's a service we provide. Elena, what is the best news that you heard all week?
Elena Passarello: I love what I found. I found a nonprofit organization called Project Camp. They've been around for a while, and what they do is they stage these pop up camps for kids who have been impacted by natural disasters. They find an institution, they find volunteers, and then they have these day camps for people ages 6 to 16 where they do arts and crafts, they do Stem activities, they do physical games. They have like special guests, like local sports teams. There's sharing circle, there's socialization. But the thing that's cool is that the people who run this camp are schooled in trauma informed child care. So all of the fun stuff that the kids are doing and all of the relief that they're getting, you know, because in the aftermath of a natural disaster, even if you know, your family's okay or your community is okay, it's just stressful for days, the adults are dealing with the insurance companies and trying to find all this new stuff. And so just having these kinds of spaces where the kids can go away is really important. But they also kind of process through play and through being in community with other kids who are in their situations.
Luke Burbank: Yeah. So much of the attention around these disasters, particularly thinking about the fires in Los Angeles and stuff, is the adults who have maybe lost the home that they bought or are, you know, struggling to figure out their life. And of course, many of them have kids. Kids are resilient. And yet this stuff really affects them as well.
Elena Passarello: Yeah. And you mentioned Southern California. There, there now Project Camp has four camps set up in that area. But before then, they were also in Florida. They went to Maui there in New Mexico. So just seems like a really cool organization that made some really smart choices and is really providing a great service.
Luke Burbank: The closest we got to that when I was a kid, and luckily it wasn't because of trauma, was Vacation Bible School. Yeah, that's really a way for my mom to eliminate the seven children living under her roof during the summertime, which was a lot. In fairness.
Elena Passarello: They sent me to zoo camp, and we got to just kind of, like, prowl around empty animal cages, which I feel like would not be legal now.
Luke Burbank: So much from our childhood. Elena would not be legal now, I think, inflecting on it. Speaking of long ago in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or at least the greater Harrisburg area, about 35 years ago, the DallasTown Area High School was having its prom, and there was a guy named Shawn Moyer. Now he's Dr. Shawn Moyer. But back then he was just regular Shawn Moyer. He was a senior. He was the class president. He also was voted most likely to succeed at the high school. Sounds like, you know, a kid with a lot going for him. And yet his prom date broke it off with him right before the prom because she apparently had better options. Oh, and Shawn Moyer was without a prom date, so he reached out to a junior at the high school, Elena Hershey.
Elena Passarello: Hey, cool name.
Luke Burbank: In those, particularly in that region in those days, if you were a junior, you were not allowed to go to the senior prom unless you were invited by a senior. Elena was excited. Shawn and Elena went to the prom. They had a very nice time together. Sounds like it was really just kind of a friendship thing, a platonic thing. And then they both went off to college and, you know, lived their lives. Cut to nowadays. And Dr. Shawn Moyer was in need of a kidney transplant. In fact, this is something medically that he'd been dealing with throughout his life, and if he'd had a kidney transplant 20 years ago from his wife. But eventually, you know, he was going to need another one, and they were having real trouble finding a match for him and somebody in their kind of, you know, shared friendship, you know, kind of Facebook diaspora from the high school said, did you know that Shawn needs a kidney transplant? And Elena, who by this time was out in Colorado, said, well, that's interesting because I've been considering making an altruistic kidney donation anyway. [Elena: No way.] Yes. So here's what essentially happened. Biologically, they weren't a match for these two one time prom dates. But there's something called a paired exchange that you can do where you agree to donate a kidney, and it will be matched with someone who is the right fit for that. And then someone else will. Who is the right match for your intended recipient? Like in this case, Dr. Shawn Moyer will then receive a kidney. So even if you don't match with someone that you were trying to trying to help out with this, you can do this paired exchange thing, which is exactly what Elena did. And so she donated her kidney. She really wanted people to know that her experience with it was that it was, you know, not an overly invasive thing. She recovered very quickly. She was back riding her bike within a few weeks. She's apparently a fitness nut, which is that's the person you want to get a kidney from, by the way.
Elena Passarello: A good fit Colorado kidney. Absolutely.
Luke Burbank: Nobody wants old burbs is the kidney these days. But some cyclists from Colorado? Sure. Anyway, so she donated the kidney. It went into this paired exchange thing. And just recently, like a week ago, Dr. Shawn Moyer and his family got the news that he now is ready to receive the kidney from someone else. It moved him to the top of this list, whereas otherwise he would have been waiting for months and maybe years. And so they've reconnected over Facebook and everybody seems to be recovering well. And Dr. Moyer is on his way to getting his new kidney. And I guess as as our producer Ashley said, who was finding the story. This is a lesson in not cutting people out of your lives. No, no, because at some point they may need to cut out part of their body to help you. Like, let's not not burn these bridges, folks. Did you go to your prom, Elena?
Elena Passarello: Oh, yeah, I went I went to my senior prom with, like, my BFF Darren, and I got my dress caught in an escalator.
Luke Burbank: What did Darren do? You think Darren would give you a kidney to this day?
Elena Passarello: I do, and you know, he is a really healthy guy. So I think at this point my own kidney, I don't smoke, but I think my kidney does. [Luke: Yeah right.] So I know I don't know exactly.
Luke Burbank: Maybe in need of something. Well yeah. Listen. Lifelong friendships and people doing nice altruistic things for each other. That is the best news that I heard this week. This year. All right, let's welcome our first guest on over to the show. This week, he burst onto the horror comedy scene with the 1981 classic The Evil Dead, immediately establishing himself as a king of cult cinema and eventually earning him legendary status at film festivals and comic cons midnight movie screenings all over the world. 43 years later, he is still battling evil, but this time as the police chief of a small town bedeviled by the Satanic panic in the Peacock series hysteria. We were so excited to have the one and only Bruce Campbell join us at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon to talk about his life and career. Take a listen. Welcome to the show.
Bruce Campbell: Thank you. Welcome back.
Luke Burbank: Yes. I was really I was touched that you agreed to come back to the show, having been on it once.
Bruce Campbell: I am like the salmon spawning. To. To Portland? Yes.
Luke Burbank: Like the swallows returning to Capistrano.
Bruce Campbell: I love this city, I love it. Nice. Yes. Portland. Portland. Where beautiful and horrible collide and co-mingle.
Luke Burbank: I have been really enjoying this new peacock show. Hysteria. I have to say, like for a show about people getting brutally murdered, it is a lot of fun.
Bruce Campbell: Carnage and mayhem can be fun. Spencer, you approach it. This was a good chance to explore something that wasn't really explored before the concept of the Satanic Panic. Yeah, a lot of people went through it. It buzzed through small towns. 80s. Our show is set in like 88 small towns in Michigan. Big stretch for me. Like a Michigan chief of police. Yeah. So a lot of work went into that. But it's it was interesting to see how it could play out if you did it as a story, because it starts out sort of being misinterpreted as is just these kids with a hard rock band. But then weird stuff keeps happening. So the question is, is it real or is it not like Satanic panic? Is it? Was it real?
Luke Burbank: Do you remember that like time in America? Because I do vividly. I was in like fundamentalist Christian middle school at the time. And it was yeah, we like that. Oh, I mean, we were on guard at all times for satanic rituals or signs that people were practicing, you know, witchcraft or Satanism. It was a big thing in our lives.
Bruce Campbell: I mean, okay, I might have this wrong. ACDC, Antichrist, child of the devil, Kiss, Knights in Satan's service. They're kind of asking for it, wouldn't you say? Like, hey, this would be cool. Let's call ourselves this.
Luke Burbank: We would watch this double VHS series every year called Hell's Bells, where this guy, who purported to have once been a rock and roll music engineer who'd now turned his life over to the Lord, would methodically take us through all of the rock songs that had hidden devil messages and 1 or 2 things. Well, first it was like, that's how we heard about good music. And. Then the second thing was they would they would finally uncover, like what, you know, some rock band was doing with this backmasking, like the, you know, reversed messages. It would be like wine. And women. Like, that was like, that was what LED Zeppelin came up with, with all of their programing and back masking was walking in your. It was so underwhelming.
Bruce Campbell: There's more. You haven't heard it? No, not really, but AI can find it.
Elena Passarello: Oh golly.
Luke Burbank: Can write it. It. Has this always been kind of the sweet spot for you? That intersection of things that are kind of horrific, but also things that are comedic, and how these worlds that seem separate actually coexist pretty.
Bruce Campbell: I grew up, I like the carpenters.
Bruce Campbell: I like Swiss Family Robinson. The Sound of Music is the best movie ever made.
Luke Burbank: I would agree with that.
Bruce Campbell: But if you're going to get money from an investor in Detroit in 1979, yeah, we're making a horror movie. So Sam Raimi thought, well, it better be pretty horrible. Otherwise it would just be another horror movie. So let's make the most horrible horror movie. Yeah, so we did at that time. But we're amateurs now compared to what's out there now.
Luke Burbank: Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's it's a whole new ball game.
Bruce Campbell: Yeah. Another buddy of mine who said digital stuff doesn't work as well sometimes because it defies optics. That you have a having monster hooves here, and then a frame later, he's right in front of your face, going, oh really, you little booba? Yeah, they don't move that fast. They can't move that fast. Yeah. No, in my world, in my optic world. Yeah.
Luke Burbank: I want to talk more about your optic world, including the film that you just made right here in the state of Oregon. In a moment. First, though, we got to take a very quick break. This is Live Wire, where we're talking to the legend Bruce Campbell at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon. Don't go anywhere. We will be right back.
Luke Burbank: Welcome back to Live Wire for PRX. We're at Revolution Hall this week. I'm Luke Burbank. That's Elena Passarello. We have the one, the only Bruce Campbell here on stage with us from so many things, including Hysteria, currently streaming on Peacock. What do you think of as the kind of guiding principles of this character that you're playing, chief Dandrige in history. He's the police chief of this Michigan town.
Bruce Campbell: When horror comes across my desk now, I know more questions to ask. You know, I've been in a lot of crappy movies, and there's a really good advantage to that. You know, a crappy script a mile away, two pages in. Oh, no way baby. I can. I just know it. It's a it's like a DNA thing that just it I get twitchy. And so it's the words that get me. And this was kind of a cool premise. And, you know, playing an age appropriate role is delightful. I'm not wrestling demons. I'm making phone calls and talking on walkie talkies. That's for all the younger cast who are its amazing young cast members. They're full of collagen. Is beautiful. They. This actress was like, I had to get in the chair a little longer today. I think she was 23. I went, oh, honey Bunny, stick around. You know, I'm in the crooked politician phase of my career. Yeah. You know, you ain't seen nothing, lady.
Luke Burbank: Yeah. I saw an interview with you, I think, in the New York Times where you said, I'm in my playing chief of police era of my career. How do you feel about it?
Bruce Campbell: It's right. I'm okay with it. Because male actors can get old and craggy and they still work. Yeah. We don't have to get the strings and the glue and the tape and all that. We can just be our saggy ass self. There's an advantage to that.
Luke Burbank: Are people surprised because of your body of work and how much of it has been, you know, around horror and things that are so fantastical to hear that you live a pretty quiet, unassuming life in, like, southern Oregon?
Bruce Campbell: Yeah. You know, I go to conventions because it's fun. It's fun to see what the hell is going on out there and to shake hands and get diseases, you know? It's. It's awesome. The old days, the husband would bring syphilis home. I gave my wife Covid twice, both from conventions.
Elena Passarello: Oh.
Bruce Campbell: Yeah. Those miserable bastards today. So.
Luke Burbank: So people have this perception of you sometimes as being, like, the kind of a gruesome dude. But you seem to be. Not that way. You and your wife, Ida, do you still. Are you still farming lavender?
Bruce Campbell: We had lavender on our property. It was there. We did not plant it. We just figured out how not to kill it.
Luke Burbank: You brought us, like, lavender oils.
Bruce Campbell: Yeah, we were trying to get rid of that crap. Let me tell you. We had eight acres of it, and we we started. I did a TV show called Burn Notice. Yeah, and and hot, sweaty Miami. Right? Everyone's sweating and and a lot of our crew. They were a little on the smelly side. And so we started passing out sachets. You could put it. You could put it in the van in the in the production. Make a grenade. Yeah, but it was a good kind of grenade. It was like a love grenade that went off. His lavender is very soothing. But then these tough teamsters were like, yeah. Hey, Bruce, I'm starting to smell up the joint. Let's have a little more levity here. All right. I'm like, okay. Sorry, man. Sorry. So, yeah. We're out. No more lavender. It's done. Yeah.
Luke Burbank: You and your wife just made an independent film called Ernie and Emma. [Bruce: Yes.] What's the what's the film about?
Bruce Campbell: It's like Hallmark with swearing. There's no blood. It's okay. It's okay. Someone said I don't. You want to make a horror movie? Shouldn't you? If you're going to put your own actual cash into this movie, don't you want to make a horror movie? I said, well, I think maybe I should make a movie that's for, you know, a broader audience. And so I'm actually trying another age appropriate role. I play a guy, Ernie Tyler. He's the he's sort of the Willy Loman of pear sales in the fictitious town of Pear Valley, Oregon.
Luke Burbank: Oh, so he's selling pears?
Bruce Campbell: He's early Ernie to the pear guy. He works for Laurel and Davies pears. He's a regional sales manager, and his wife does. You better feel that way because we're going to feel bad for Ernie. Turns out his wife was an executive secretary at a sawmill for 25 years, and she left a safe deposit key. That leads to a lot of stuff she needs him to do with her ashes. She's very meticulous about this, and each step has a purpose that relates to their life. Not all of it happy. And so it's how it's a guy kind of getting a love letter from his dead wife.
Elena Passarello: And that sends him on a journey.
Bruce Campbell: It's a big journey. Yeah, it's an internal journey. And we have to kind of. She knows him so well. She knows that he's not going to handle this well. And she helps him move on with his life, even finding somebody new. I call it a sunrise story. So by the end of you will be happy. So it was also nice to film in a state which is is brutally under utilized. It has the greatest coastline you've ever seen. Yeah, with my favorite sign at a hiking trail. Danger! High winds may blow you off of steep cliffs into deep water with strong currents. Have a great hike. I'm like, I love this thing. Like you could be killed on this trail. We told you. And then the Cascades. Unbelievable spine of it. And then the Owyhee, the eastern Oregon. There's nobody there. Yeah, there's nobody there. Go, go try and find someone in eastern Oregon. And if you find him, you don't want to find them. Really? Well.
Luke Burbank: What was it like making this movie on on your own dime with your wife, Ida? Was that stressful or liberating? You don't have to answer to anyone.
Bruce Campbell: In my opinion, there are three systems to avoid. To have a long, happy life. The legal system, the health care system, and in my case, the studio system. Because, you know, it's the golden rule. He who has the gold makes the rules. And I don't like the rules that Hollywood makes. I don't like the judgment. They're very, very poor with money. Why are movies costing 2 or $300 million? I'm not a mathematician, but I've played a few. It's lousy math. It's lousy math. And so they're made by committee. And I think it's important if we actually want to keep it pure as an art form, it's. Let's have more movies that are made with a singular vision. So I'm going to go right down the toilet with this movie. If it sucks, it's mine to suck. No one else has contributed to the suck except for a great hard working crew. Yeah, there was no notes on this movie, and if you see it, you may go. There should have been some notes. But I'm willing to take that chance.
Luke Burbank: How do you. So how do you take this movie that's so personal and and is really your vision and how do you get it to the wider world? Is it film festivals? Is it streaming?
Bruce Campbell: Please give me suggestions and write them down. Okay. I will be back here with selling tickets and about six months from now. Yeah, it really is. The idea is I'm. I'm trying to do a closed loop that's without any other outside influence. A studio can distribute the film. Knock yourself out. I just don't want you to make the movie. So I'm going to start and try and sell it to some Acme movie company. And when they go hardy. Ha! Where is Nicolas Cage? Then we'll do the film festival circuit. I see, and you just you work your way right down to for walling where you say to this theater. Hello. How much do you charge for a night for all of your stuff?
Luke Burbank: If we can afford it, not much.
Bruce Campbell: Right. So you say to this theater, here's your nut. I'm paying all of your expenses. I keep everything, but you have to put the nut up and go theater to theater and do that, in our case, to get the money back in 800 theaters. You know, I mean, it would take a year to get the money back if we did it that way. And I will if I have to.
Luke Burbank: Is this the role...
Bruce Campbell: Why not? Why not? Yeah. You know, that's okay. Because, look, I've toured a lot with movies that are 40 years old. It's okay to tour with a movie that's like, you know, six months old, right? We'll do a double bill with the 40 year old movie. Yeah, I'll make you a deal. It's okay. That price.
Luke Burbank: Is there a character or type of a role that you still would like to play that you haven't yet? I mean, you've played a lot of different roles.
Bruce Campbell: I would like to revisit this Western. I did The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. [Luke: Yes. Yeah. I loved that show.] Yeah, you got to. I'd have to kind of get a little training going again. Loosen up the hips again. You know, cowboys are actually bow legged for a reason because horses have big, fat bellies. And over time, your legs actually bend disproportionately. So I'd have to get used to that again. Okay. And working with a real good Wrangler, we had the best Wrangler on the planet who taught. He taught us all how to film horses. Because for my one horse, you had four different horses because they each did specialized things. And the director of each episode would go, okay, you get on the horse, you say, you line, you rear, you say this and you ride out we go, okay, that's four different horses, three different angles. The guy goes, well, what? And we go, and you can't even say the word action. So because you said you call the progression of making a movie roll sound, the guy turns on the sound, roll camera, they roll camera, stand by and action. That's the progression. Horses know what's going on. They hear roll sound. Their ears go. They point up, they circle. Something's going to happen. Something's going to happen. Roll camera. Whoa whoa whoa. Horses like spinning in plays. Go on. Yeah! I can't wait for this. So between takes, you'd have to fool the horse. So take one is. Get on it. Say goodbye to the schoolmarm. Race out of town. Now the worst goes. I got it. Take two. As soon as it gets there. My horse. We're going to race out of town. Between take one and two. You get on him and you walk him in the opposite direction. And the horse goes, oh, crap. Do I walk that way or race that way? And then take two. You race that way, he goes, I knew it, I knew it. And if they want to take three, you're in trouble. Because the horse goes. Not this side, ma'am. So you'd get on it, and I would jog in a circle now, because there's a point where the horse won't remember. He can't remember after about 45 if I keep. And if I went the opposite direction. You got that screw? Yeah. And then you do take three. And he would be impossible for the rest of the day because you fool them three times. So what they would do is on a, on a very cold morning, when you're getting ready for a shot, they'd step on your foot, the horse. And this they they would lean, he'd lean and put the weight and kind of going bullying you. Yeah. How's that working for you? Yeah, that was great. And I, they are. Our wrangler was good. And I got good, good gardening stepping my foot. What do you do? Because. What else? Well, he punches the horse in the shoulder, and the horse is like, hey, whoa! He goes, that's what you do.
Luke Burbank: So let me just let me just make sure I understand this. This is the show that you're dying to get back to. IIf you do. We will absolutely be the first in line to watch it. Bruce Campbell, everybody right here on Live Wire.
Luke Burbank: That was legendary actor and one time lavender enthusiast Bruce Campbell right here on live where, gosh, when you get somebody like Bruce Campbell on stage, Elena and you watch how they operate, you're just like, this is a person who has been in front of a lot of people over the course of their career.
Elena Passarello: He is like a star. Like, I felt like I could, like, plug my iPhone into it and charge it up totally.
Luke Burbank: I feel like I take the next 20 minutes off. Burbank Bruce Campbell has this covered. You can check out Bruce on the Peacock series Hysteria right now. Live Wire is brought to you by Powell's Books, a Portland institution since 1971. Powells offers a selection of new and used books in stores and online at Powells.com. This is Live Wire. I'm Luke Burbank, that's Elena Passarello. Of course, each week we like to ask the live wire audience a question like this to be a a sort of a reciprocal relationship with the audience. And inspired by stand up comedian Sara Schaefer's comedy set, which you're going to hear in just a minute. We asked the audience what question, Elena?
Elena Passarello: We asked them, what was your most cherished childhood possession?
Luke Burbank: Oh, right. Yes. Sara does have a story about this coming up. What did the audience say?
Elena Passarello: Olivia says that hers would be the baby blanket that her mom made from all of her other old baby blankets, all these square scraps. It was on my wall, she says. For a long time in college, whenever I do see it, it's still so nice and in such great condition. That is very sweet, but makes me think of the opposite thing that happened at my house. My mom really didn't want me to have one blanket. I think for hygiene purposes. She's Virgo, so she's kind of a neat freak. So I had a bunch of, I think there were old cloth diapers that I would, I would take one to bed and then she throw it in the wash. And then one day, I guess she decided I was too old for them. They're called Midnight Knights, and they just disappeared. And then, like a couple of years later, she was like, it's time for you to start helping around the house. Here's the dust dusting.
Luke Burbank: No, no, no.
Elena Passarello: Night. Night. Night. You know those my night nights were used as the dusting clothes. And my mother listens to the show. And I would like her to know that I'm sending the therapy bills her way because of that decision.
Luke Burbank: That is a fast track to some childhood issues.
Sara Schaefer: I was like, oh.
Luke Burbank: I didn't have a blankie per se, but I did have a doll. Like a baby doll you did. That was named Jim, by the way. Weird name. Weird name for, like, a two year old to have. And I remember I used to. This tells you that I grew up in a house where there were just constantly babies being born. I mean, literally in the house. My mom gave birth to six of my siblings at home. [Elena: Whoa.] And I would just walk around nursing this baby baby chair all the time.
Elena Passarello: Wow. We're really getting deep into our psyches here with these audience cards.
Luke Burbank: That's right. That's right. That's what it's. It's sort of for the audience, but also sort of us in our processing. What's something else that a listener became attached to when they were a kid?
Elena Passarello: Okay, I totally love this story. Ashley says I had major separation anxiety during preschool, and I had a routine of playing this with this one toy every day at home, a colorful plastic Elmo telephone. I was obsessed with it. Ashley says one day I showed up and another kid appeared to have stolen my Elmo phone. I threw a fit. My mom had to come pick me up early. And then I got home and my tears dried up because my Elmo phone was still right there. What a concept, Ashley says. I think I learned a lot that day.
Luke Burbank: So there were two Elmo phones?
Elena Passarello: Yeah. She learned, I think that like, like, toys are mass produced, basically.
Luke Burbank: Right. Elmo did not make one phone that was going to be shared amongst the children of whatever area Ashley was growing up. And it turns out there was multiple Elmo phones to be had. Yeah. All right. One more thing that one of our listeners became attached to as a child.
Elena Passarello: Libby says, I had a little cropped up t-shirt that I called Ducky, Ducky, Ducky. Why? You may be wondering, because it had three ducks on it. I wore it for probably longer than I should have. It was real small.
Elena Passarello: Ha ha ha ha ha.
Luke Burbank: I had a t-shirt in high school from a place called Chico's Pizza in Seaview, Washington, and it had a cartoon of the pizza chef, and he's smoking a cigarette again. It was a different time. And he says seven days without pizza makes one week. And I loved this shirt. I wore it all the time and then of course lost it or whatever. And a couple of weeks ago, my daughter and I were celebrating her birthday, and we were staying in, of all places, Seaview, Washington. And we walked over to the pizza place and Elena oh.
Elena Passarello: He's reaching behind him, ladies and gentlemen and everyone else. Oh, Chico's pizza t-shirt.
Luke Burbank: I got a replacement.
Elena Passarello: So, you know, it's the same.
Luke Burbank: It's the exact same thing. And I will tell you this. I was far too excited about this. For the people working at the pizza shop, I was like, I was trying to explain to them how important this t-shirt was to me in like 10th grade. And they were nice, but they were like, okay, we get it, sir, please just take the t-shirt and leave. So yeah. All right. Thank you to everyone who sent in your responses for our listener question this week. This is Live Wire Radio. Our next guest is a critically acclaimed standup comedian, writer as well as artist. She's won two Emis. She co-hosted a late night show on MTV and toured the world with her solo show, Going Up. She's also, by the way, a world class crafter who sells things on her Etsy page. And she has a web series now called Crafting Through It. We were so glad to get her back onto the show. This is Sara Schaefer, who joined us at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon. Take a listen.
Sara Schaefer: Hello. I, I recently moved back home to my hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Yeah, this is like the Portland of the South. By the way, you guys have to understand, every city across this land, every mid-sized city says there's a Portland of whatever region now because they're like, we have breweries, we have a coffee shop now we're Portland. Now. It's been very surreal being back in my hometown, like literally five minutes from where I grew up driving around. I never thought I'd be back. There I am. Thank you. Capitalism decimating the housing market. But it's great. I, you know, just being confronted with all these memories and trauma and just, like driving around like, oh, it's my school, it's my church. It's racism. You know? I'm just back, back, baby. I'm back in it. Back in the south now I go by my church every day and I'm like, hey, Jesus, hey, devil. Because you know what? They talked a lot about the devil have you all been to is a Baptist church in the South. They're like, you better keep your eye on the devil. They get like a little half grin. I'm like, what? You better watch him. You better keep him close so you can know what he's up to. You better keep him in a little box next to your bed. So at night, you can wake up and take him out and rub him. I like. What? You talk a little bit too much about the devil. Like you're just a little too into it. Like, you know, one of the one of the big icons in Richmond, Virginia, when you're driving downtown, is this big light up sign that says the John Marshall Hotel. I don't know who John Marshall is, but I assume he was a slave owner of some kind. But John Marshall Hotel holds a lot of memories for me because this is where I experienced my first major trauma. So here's what happened. I was eight years old. Maybe we were like ten. And my mom, we lived out in the suburbs and every Christmas she always wanted to do some things fancy and special. So one year she was like, we're going to go downtown and we're going to stay in the John Marshall Hotel, and then we're going to go see Santa Claus at McLaren roads, which is like a fancy department store. And this was the real Santa Claus. Like he had a beard, you know, that you could, like, rip and it wouldn't come out. And he would. They had him like, like, come down an actual chimney and you could hear him stomping around like, above, and you'll be like, oh, he's coming. He knew your name. It was crazy. And so she make one year we did this whole thing. We went down there and John Marshall Hotel was great because, like, it had had these, like, velvet carpets. And my brother discovered that if you rubbed your feet on the carpet really hard and went up to the brass like fixtures, you could get a lightning bolt about six inches between the brass fixture in your hand. And it was shocking, literally. And so this year I was like, mom, can I bring my best friend? And she was like, sure. And she knew who my best friend was. It was blankie. Right. Who here had a blankie? Yeah, blankie. My blankie. Probably similar to yours. Isn't really a blankie, right? By the time it becomes your blankie, it's more of a tattered snake. You know, of knots. It smells like, you know, drool that's been dried up in, like, cheerio breath. The whole family hates it. They're like, get that thing away from me. And I'm like, this smells better than anything like I now I can assume it's similar to heroin, right? When my mom washed blankie, I would be furious because I'd be like, where's the smell? And I had to, like, re-season it like in a cast iron skillet, like, rub it all over my body and lick it. Let it smoke for a while. Let it cure. So I bring blankie down to the John Marshall Hotel because I got to show blankie the velvet carpets, right. So we go and it was a great time. We had a great time. And it wasn't until like a full day later that I realized, Where's blankie? I left blankie in the John Marshall Hotel, and I'm like, like having a complete nervous breakdown. And my mom is like, okay, let me call him. Let me call him. She's like, hi, I need to speak to housekeeping. And my daughter, she's left her blankie there. Okay. Well, what does it look like? Okay. You probably wouldn't think of a whisper of a blanket, like. Like their nuclear bomb went off, and this is all that's left. Right of the whole world, right? That's it. And you probably aren't going to notice. When you saw it, you probably thought it was a piece of of a pillowcase that got caught up, like in a, in some sort of industrial dryer, right? It's going to be tattered, you know. And they were like, man, we don't see anything like that. It's gone. And I was like, so upset, traumatized. And then cut to my late 20s. And when I start realizing what parenting is lying, right. You're lying to your kids all the time. I'm starting to understand that because friends of mine are starting to have kids and I'm like, maybe. Maybe mom lied to me because it was way overdue to not have a blankie. Like, I was way too old to have a blankie at this point, and she probably lied to me and said blankie got lost and I didn't lose blankie. So I go into her bedroom and I go, mom, I need you to tell me the truth right now. I've never wanted something to be a lie so bad in my life. I was like, did I really lose blankie? In the John Marshall Hotel? And she was like, oh, Sara. Oh baby. Yeah, yeah you did. And I was like, God. Why didn't you lie?
Sara Schaefer: I was so upset. I wish, by the way, if you have kids who have who here? Does anybody have kids that have, like, a little blankie or a baba or something that they can't let go of, right? What you do is you you take it from them, right? Right. Like a little too early. Right. Which was really upsetting to them. Okay, you take it, you tell them that it got lost, that it died. You know, whatever you need to say, it's gone, right? Hide it. Okay. Hide it. Wait until their wedding day. Right. Put it in a shadow box. Pin it up like a butterfly. Right. And then present it to them. I'm getting chills thinking about it. Do it. I'm speaking from experience. I wish that had happened. Maybe first marriage would have worked out if that. Anyway, guys, thank you so much. I'm Sara Schaefer.
Luke Burbank: That was Sara Schaefer right here on Live Wire. You can check out all the stuff that she's up to over at SaraSchaefer.com. This is Live Wire. I'm Luke Burbank. That's Elena Passarello. We have to take a very quick break, but do not go anywhere when we return. Puerto Rican pop and punk artist Emi Pop will perform a song for us. More Live Wire coming your way right after this. Welcome back to Live Wire from PRX. I'm Luke Burbank here with Elena Passarello. All right. It's that time again, my favorite part of the show. I think Elena's second favorite part of the show. It's called "Station Location Identification Examination". I think you like it when we're reading the final credits.
Elena Passarello: Yeah, that's my favorite.
Elena Passarello: This is where.
Luke Burbank: We quiz Elena on a place in the United States where Live Wire is on the radio, and she has to try to guess the place that I am talking about. Elena, are you ready?
Elena Passarello: Yeah.
Luke Burbank: Okay, good, I like that. Enthusiasm. Excitement. Preparedness. This city boasts several world records, including the largest collection of toasters. The most expensive crab cake. Well, three hundred and ten dollars, by the way, is what that went for. And the most bow ties tied simultaneously. Eight hundred and twenty three if you're scoring at home.
Elena Passarello: If it's the most expensive crab cake, it's either very close to an ocean or very far away from an ocean close. It's close to an ocean.
Luke Burbank: Close to an ocean. The city's minor league baseball team, which started in 2016, so fairly recent. The team is named the fireflies. This is because of synchronous fireflies, fireflies that light up all at the same time, and they're found in a nearby national park.
Elena Passarello: Okay.
Luke Burbank: Are you getting it? Are we? Are we narrowing it down for you?
Elena Passarello: It's not super close to the ocean, though, so let me let me get my third clue, okay.
Luke Burbank: People often abbreviate the name of this place as koala, which explains why it's got the nickname Soda City.
Elena Passarello: That'd be Columbia, South Carolina.
Luke Burbank: That is Columbia, South Carolina. Exact a mundo. Okay, so sorry it's not. I feel like I've gotten myself in trouble involving the Carolinas previously, so I want to correct the record. I'm not trying to say it's on the ocean, I just. Yeah, it's not that far from a crab cake.
Elena Passarello: Yeah, it's like couple hours, so really, really closer than most people are.
Luke Burbank: So to city where folks are tuning in on WRJA-FM. So shout out to everybody listening in from South Carolina. This is Live Wire. Before we get to our musical guest this week, a little preview of what we're doing on the show. Next week, we are going to be talking to the poet Roger Reeves about his debut work of nonfiction. It's called Dark Days Fugitive Essays, which explores themes of silence and protest and freedom. Kirkus calls it a cerebral essay collection brimming with insight and vision. We've also got comedy from Sean Jordan. He's going to tell us about the perils of doctors using slang. And then we'll round out the hour with some music from indie folk singer Erin Rae. We recorded this at the epic four day music festival in Oregon that is Pickathon. That was last summer. It was super duper fun. We've got a great show next week. Make sure you're tune in for that. This week, our musical guest is a Seattle based artist who hails from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Originally, her sound has been described by KEXP in Seattle as an irresistible blend of pop and punk. We recorded this session at the Hotel Crocodile in Seattle, Washington. Take a listen to Emi Pop. You're on my way.
Emi Pop: Hi, everyone. Thank you again.
Luke Burbank: Thank you for being here. Did you grow up in San Juan?
Emi Pop: I lived in San Juan, so I actually was born in Puerto Rico, which is the South. I was raised in the East side. My dad was in the military, so the military base was in the east side of the island. So that's where I grew up.
Luke Burbank: What was your kind of musical life like as a kid? What were you like listening to or your parents playing?
Emi Pop: So my parents were not. So I come from a very, like, Christian family. Very.
Luke Burbank: Got some Amy Grant going on.
Emi Pop: I have no idea what that is, I guess. I grew up with salsa and reggaeton. How about that? [Luke:Oh, okay. Okay. And I, Daddy Yankee.] You like? Yeah, I know who that is. Yes, but. Yeah, but then, you know, I like the pop music. I like I became a teenager, just like my son. I became a little rebellious. So I started listening to dabble in punk, you know? And I started playing music around that age in my teenage years.
Luke Burbank: What was the at your time? It was like the sort of punk scene in Puerto Rico, like.
Emi Pop: There is and was an underground scene in Puerto Rico. There used to be so many bands back in the day, but it was pretty much like a bunch of teenage kids. It started like 15, 16, 17 years old playing in San Juan. I don't know, it was a bar, so we would play bars. I don't know how that's legal or not, but you would see the parents waiting outside and like, mean mugging everyone, like, what are you doing? And we would play shows and then be back. But that's how it started.
Luke Burbank: All right, well, let's hear some music from Emi Pop, everyone.
Emi Pop: Thank you. This song is called Lo Sé. It was the first single that was released about a year ago, so I hope you enjoy it. And if it's the first time seeing us, thank you for being here. Welcome.
Emi Pop: [Emi Pop performs "Lo Sé"]
Luke Burbank: That was Emi Pop and her band right here on Live Wire, performing their self-released single Lo Sé, which is out and available now. All right. That's going to do it for this week's episode of Live Wire. A huge thanks to our guests Bruce Campbell, Sara Schaefer, and Emi Pop. Also special thanks this episode to the fine folks at the Hotel Crocodile, including Tonya Zuba.
Elena Passarello: Laura Hadden is our executive producer, Heather de Michele is our executive director and our producer and editor is Melanie Sevcenko. Our technical director is Eben Hoffer. Haziq Bin Ahmad Fareed is our assistant editor and our House Sound is by D. Neil Blake. Ashley Park is our production fellow.
Luke Burbank: Valentine Keck is our operations manager. Andrea Castro-Martinez is our marketing associate. And Ezra Veenstra runs our front of house. Our house band is Sam Pinkerton, Sam Tucker, Ethan Fox Tucker, Ayal Alves, and A. Walker Spring, who also composes our music. This week's episode was mixed by Eben Hoffer and Haziq Bin Ahmad Fareed.
Elena Passarello: Additional funding provided by The Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation Live Wire was created by Robyn Tenenbaum and Kate Sokoloff. This week, we'd like to thank member Danelle Solberg of Portland, Oregon.
Luke Burbank: For more information about the show or how you can listen to our podcast. Head on over to LiveWireRadio.org. I'm Luke Burbank for Elena Passarello and the whole Live Wire team. Thank you for listening and we will see you next week.
PRX.
