Sunday • April 2, 2023 12:34 AM • 32:08
SPEAKERS
The Writer – The Musician
Musician 00:05
Hey, Everybody. Welcome to Stream of Coffeeness. This is our first podcast.
Writer 00:11
I’m The Writer.
Musician 00:13
And I’m The Musician. And today we’re going to talk about nothing.
Writer 00:18
Oh, that’s it? Are we done?
Musician 00:20
Heh heh. We might talk about something. We might even talk about everything. But listening to it, it might seem like nothing. I’ve heard it said that the nothing in your art defines something. It’s the negative space that is important.
Writer 00:45
It’s like a contrast, you know, it like, outlines it. Wait. What?
Musician 00:50
Are you trying to go around the mic?
Writer 00:51
Oh? (Laughter)
Musician 00:57
(Laughter)
Writer 00:57
I have the first podcast giggles happening.
Musician 01:00
The mic is definitely in the way.
Writer 01:02
Yeah.
Stream of Coffeeness 01:06
(Laughter)
Musician 01:06
That’s something.
Writer 01:07
But we have our coffee. And we have our cheers.
Musician 01:10
Oh, we do have coffee. And…
Writer 01:12
That right there is everything.
Musician 01:13
Cheers, everyone.
Writer 01:15
That’s how we start. You know, that’s how we start and roll with the day and everything and nothing. Cheers to everything and nothing.
Musician 01:25
When you have nothing. That’s a very empty space. And when you put something in that empty space, that something becomes everything. That’s the simplicity of life is, if you have everything all at once, like say you put everything in the whole world into a picture. That picture would be far too crowded. You wouldn’t be able to focus on anything. And you need to be able to focus on something. So you take a lot of things out. And now you just have something in the middle of a field of nothing. “Nothing” can be something in and of itself. Like in the Beatles, Yellow Submarine, they find the Sea Of Holes. And Ringo is actually able to pick up a hole and put it in his pocket. And he says, “Now I have a hole in me pocket.” Have you seen Yellow Submarine?
Writer 02:31
I’ve actually never seen that.
Musician 02:33
Oh, no.
Writer 02:34
We got to put that on our list of things to watch.
Musician 02:36
It’s not even the Beatles. Those were some other voices.
Writer 02:41
Oh, is it an animation?
Musician 02:43
It’s an animation. It’s not even The Beatles real voices, just their music and some fun fantasy.
Writer 02:50
What you said, like that example. It, um…I mean, that opens so many doors. That’s the thing is “nothing” actually opens so many doors to new things.
Musician 03:03
It’s a good place to start, like meditation. Trying to get your mind to focus on nothing.
Writer 03:09
It’s almost like the power or the energy becomes stronger in that space.
Musician 03:16
Oh, yes.
Writer 03:17
Which can make your art more stronger.
Musician 03:20
In the blank, uncluttered mind, when you suddenly have a thought you can really focus on that thought. Because it’s the only one. Versus like a chattering mind. The monkey mind. Overthinking. Over analyzing too many thoughts, too much conversation, a din, then suddenly, you can focus.
Writer 03:45
Is that why when say for example, I go to the art room. And I’m just sitting there I haven’t even yet started on my writing. But I’m just sitting there. And I’m actually doing nothing at all. But then I start to feel really big and spacious inside of myself and like something about what’s happening, growth.
Musician 04:10
Yes.
Writer 04:11
And so that nothing, there’s really something to that nothing.
Musician 04:15
But you said you weren’t doing anything.
Writer 04:17
And I was. Yeah.
Musician 04:18
And you were doing something you were sitting.
Writer 04:20
Yeah.
Musician 04:21
So sitting was the thing you were doing not doing nothing. And if you lay down laying is the thing you’re doing.
Writer 04:27
Like Winnie the Pooh, he was like up in the tree. He’s all, “Doing nothing is doing something.”
Musician 04:33
Yes. Until you’re in sensory deprivation. In a sensory deprivation tank you are floating, which I guess is still something, but it tricks your brain into feeling like you’re in zero gravity. You’re in space; you’re just floating.
Writer 04:52
Oh. I’ve always wanted to go there.
Musician 04:53
You’re just not connected to the ground. You’re just there without any input from your eyes you’re in darkness. There’s no smells, there’s no, no feeling.
Writer 05:05
I wonder how long I would last there or you would last there?
Musician 05:08
You start to hallucinate. Your brain starts to play tricks on you.
Writer 05:14
Such a trickster. Brain.
Musician 05:16
Like Altered States. In Altered States, he would go into the sensory deprivation tanks and then flip out.
Writer 05:24
I like altered states. I think Speckoi is in an altered state. She’s on my lap and she’s purring. Everybody, my cat’s name, our cat’s name is Speckoi.
Musician 05:38
I guarantee. Try as you might, nobody will ever spell it correctly. The other cat’s name is Oreo, a black and white kitty.
Writer 05:50
Yes. And Speckoi, I actually have to make her a dictionary because she knows so many words that I’m gonna make her a dictionary. She knows the word snuggle everybody. Okay, so when you yell in the house, you’re in bed. All of a sudden you yell, snuggle. And then she’ll actually come sometimes Not all, not every single time, but she’ll come at times. So yeah, she knows other words like bird. She knows flowers because she likes to smell flowers. She is cute. She knows the word avocado. (Laughter)
Musician 06:36
My joke is that she doesn’t know any of the words. She just knows the tone of the voice and responds to it. So snuggle means avocado. Avocado means bird. Bird means flower. And all of them are the same word. But, maybe.
Writer 06:56
Right now she’s doing nothing.
Musician 07:00
She perked up.
Writer 07:02
Oh.
Musician 07:03
She’s like, nothing? Are you kidding? This is everything?
Writer 07:05
Oh. I tell you. We have to do nothing more often.
Musician 07:13
Oh, what would you do? If you had a million dollars? And in Office Space, he jokes, “Nothing.”
Writer 07:22
You know, yesterday, like I never buy lottery tickets. But my sister and my nephew when we go on walks. You know, we talk a lot about all the things. And the last walk that we took. We talked about if we won the lottery, what kind of things would you buy? So we ended up talking about all these things we would buy. And I bought a lottery ticket yesterday. This is something that never happens. Like I never do that. But I ended up winning $4 Oh, and I told them I said I’m going to share with you whatever I win. I’m sharing it.
Musician 08:02
Where is it?
Writer 08:03
The next walk that we go on with Sis and my nephew, Beckett. I’m gonna bring them each a dollar.
Musician 08:14
Where’s that four bucks?
Writer 08:15
Yes!
Musician 08:16
I want to make it rain. You’re rich.
Writer 08:17
We just won last night. But you got to start somewhere. And so I’m like hell yeah! I won four dollars. Next time it could be $10,000. Let’s check it out.
Musician 08:28
And then we could buy 10,000 lottery tickets.
Writer 08:31
No, I’m just gonna get my sis a hot tub in her backyard. And Beckett, you want some like, thing for his game that he’s creating. He’s like a little genius. He you know, creates all the characters in a game and draws them and everything like that. So he wants some imaginary thing going on. So I’m like, Okay, I don’t know how I’m gonna get that for you. But I’ll try.
Musician 08:57
Oh, wow. To be spending money on the intangible.
Writer 09:01
Yeah, yeah.
Musician 09:02
Maybe we could get him some bitcoin.
Writer 09:05
Oh, that’s a good idea.
Musician 09:06
Fake money for his fake world.
Writer 09:09
Oh, Eric.
Musician 09:10
Or virtual, I shouldn’t say fake. That’s that’s condescending, or…
Writer 09:16
To him it’s so real. That’s another…
Musician 09:18
Big time.
Writer 09:19
…way to expand this conversation because the imagination. People say, Oh, it’s not real. You know, it’s fantasy. But the imagination is so real.
Musician 09:34
Oh, yeah. For some people too real. The imaginary…
Writer 09:39
Yeah.
Musician 09:39
…is more real than the actual world. They have a hard time living in the real world because their imagination is so rich.
Writer 09:49
And it’s so much better than the real. Sometimes.
Musician 09:53
That’s too judgmental.
Writer 09:55
Well.
Musician 09:56
Better?
Writer 09:56
I think if you’re an artist, you know there’s something to it, there’s a lot of joy there, there’s a lot of freedom. Because, you know, you’re not controlled or in constraints or in these shackles that sometimes you feel in the world. And then you go to your imagination and it’s so free.
Musician 10:17
Well, there again, there’s that, that rub, the money. If you had a million dollars, what would you do? And the answer for so many people is whatever I want. Hunter Thompson had a group of buddies and they used to prove that if you had enough money, you could do anything. They would wander into some building and break something or steal something or do what’s unthinkable. Then just hand somebody like $10,000 and say, Are we cool?
Writer 10:50
Like Oprah.
Musician 10:51
And most people would say…
Writer 10:52
Oh, she’s so wonderful.
Musician 10:55
$10,000? We’re cool.
Writer 10:59
Yeah.
Musician 11:00
As if money cures everything. So there’s a freedom in society, the more money you have, but once you don’t have enough money to cover your actions, then there are limitations. There’s things you can’t do. And there’s that pesky morality thing like trying to be moral trying to be good to others. There’s a …
Writer 11:21
Why do you say pesky?
Musician 11:23
It’s a joke.
Writer 11:25
Uh.
Musician 11:25
It’s a joke about you know, you’re saying what can you do? You can do anything. Well, you definitely would want to not hurt others or do some really horrible things.
Writer 11:37
Yeah.
Musician 11:37
There’s morality that gets in the way of…
Writer 11:39
Yeah, you wanna like push the edge because the pushing the edge is fun. But you know when you start to like, hurt others or betray others then it’s not fun anymore.
Musician 11:51
No, no, I mean, you joke you know, “not for them” but once you have a really loving heart, anything you did to someone else, you’d be doing to yourself and you would feel it. You’d be all connected.
Writer 12:04
Yeah, like Speckoi does that.
Musician 12:07
I think there is, so that’s the where the joke of pesky morality, like, there is the, the truth to that, is then morality is a filter trying to connect you more to life, nature, the world, and humanity by saying that “treat others as you would treat yourself” so that we can feel that connection. There can be peace.
Writer 12:33
Cheers to that.
Musician 12:37
Cheers to that. As Jimi Hendrix said.
Writer 12:45
I’m gulping to that one.
Musician 12:49
Pouring the coffee on my face and letting it just drip down my body.
Writer 12:54
Dripping down my chin.
Musician 12:55
Everybody check out all my drip.
Writer 12:57
My nipples. My kneecaps.
Musician 13:01
There we go.
Writer 13:01
My toes.
Musician 13:01
Oh, wow, we just got a lot more listeners.
Writer 13:05
Speckoi!
Musician 13:05
The moment you said nipples I saw a spike in our listenership. Wow.
Writer 13:14
Speckoi is all “I’m out of here. You’re dripping coffee on me.”
Musician 13:17
So anyway, Jimi Hendrix had said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, there will be peace.”
Writer 13:25
Oh. Yes. That’s what makes me go like, What the heck? Terry, on America’s Got Talent was like “Power! Is my word.” Because I really like Terry. Terry’s cool. I like his clothes. I like his shoes, his everything his jumping like pecs.
Musician 13:48
Power in his nipples.
Writer 13:50
Power. And it creeps, simultaneously creeps me out and fascinates me at the same time. I’m like, How do you do that?
Musician 14:02
He’s got talented nipples.
Writer 14:04
Dancing nipples too. Salsa dancing nipples.
Musician 14:07
And that’s his power.
Writer 14:09
So powerful.
Musician 14:12
We can actually get back to talking about nothing. Because for a while now we’ve been talking about something. We haven’t talked about everything yet. Yeah, that’s for later in the podcast. Eventually. If you put all our podcasts together we would have talked about everything. Oh yeah. Until then we’ll just keep…
Writer 14:32
We have plans.
Musician 14:34
Finding something to talk about. And hopefully at some point, you know, we don’t find ourselves with nothing to talk about at all.
Writer 14:41
We’ll be like the characters on anime. The Enlightened characters like.
Musician 14:47
Hm.
Writer 14:48
Hm.
Musician 14:50
And that’s the reaction to everything.
Writer 14:52
Os! I love Hunter x Hunter.
Musician 14:59
You know the, There is that theory that the nothingness is what connects us or the darkness it’s what connects us. Like, everyone would say that they’re looking for the light, we’d all find this glowing light that would connect us all in peace. But truly, there’s another connection that when you’re asleep, there’s an unconsciousness. And we’re all connected by that. We look for things that that connect people. And that’s one thing that does connect us everybody when they go to sleep, goes to unconscious, a darkness where they’re unaware of, you know, besides like, say dreams or something like that. But there’s definitely a place where you’re not seeing any light and you’re not hearing any sounds and you’re you’re just in you’re asleep, in darkness.
Writer 15:46
So restful, so peaceful. How did it ever come about that darkness is scary. It’s so peaceful.
Musician 15:54
Well, it’s not inherently scary. We give it meaning. Some people are very afraid of the dark and some feel very comfortable. Like if I’m wandering around at night. I’m more comfortable without, say a flashlight or a headlamp. I just like my eyes adjusting to the dark and walking by moonlight. But I used to be afraid of the dark. Did you when I was a kid? I think it kind of happened to me once my brother scared me really bad. He was hiding under the bed.
Writer 16:30
What did he do?
Musician 16:32
I kept calling for him because I thought he was there in the room somewhere. And he wouldn’t make any noise for a long time. And then when I got up to go to turn the light on. He grabbed me quick and said, “Hah!”
Writer 16:50
Did he grab like your ankles?
Musician 16:52
I don’t remember. He probably. I just remember, yeah, just suddenly being like terrified. Screaming. Crying.
Writer 17:00
Oh, that’s so wild.
Musician 17:02
And then I needed a nightlight for a long time. I needed like light.
Writer 17:08
I do like a weird thing when I’m really scared if someone scares me like that. I do some weird little twitch thing. Where like, I’m actually I don’t scream. I’m actually incredibly quiet. And still. But then I do this involuntary like “Ehh!” in my whole body. And…(Laughter)
Musician 17:34
Well, that’s how you survive a bear attack. It’s very still. Play dead.
Writer 17:38
So I’m like a possum?
Musician 17:45
Smart move.
Writer 17:46
To do nothing. Smart.
Musician 17:48
Maybe? What if the scream of terror is what freaks the monster into attacking you?
Writer 17:55
Into more like violent frenzy.
Musician 17:57
Your violent scream is like what what provokes the monster? If you had just been more calm?
Writer 18:03
Kill me because I’m screaming so loud and annoyingly, they’re like, you know, “get rid of the sound as fast as possible.”
Stream of Coffeeness 18:12
(Silence)
Musician 18:18
Comfortable silence or uncomfortable silence?
Writer 18:22
So comfortable.
Musician 18:24
Not for the listener. They’d be on the edge of their seat. What on earth they going to talk about next? Nothing? Something?
Writer 18:34
Yeah, what about nothing are they going to talk about next?
Musician 18:39
Nothing. There’s nothing to say. Words can’t describe than nothing. Only silence could describe the nothing.
Writer 18:48
To me personally, I feel a really strong creative impulse within the nothing almost similar actually, that I would think is like the Big Bang for example, when that happened. That creative impulse that just vibrated like wild.
Musician 19:06
Oh, like it had to happen?
Writer 19:07
Yes.
Musician 19:08
There was nothing there. And creation had to happen in that space.
Writer 19:15
Yes.
Musician 19:16
Interesting. But theoretically, everything was there. No matter can be created nor destroyed. Like the singularity. Everything was there. And it burst and spread out to become the universe in that field of nothingness.
Writer 19:35
And to gorgeousness.
Musician 19:37
I had heard an interesting theory that that’s the one thing that in the singularity was unknown was loneliness. There’s no loneliness when everything is connected and everything is there. So the universe had to become separate pieces and spread out. And as it’s theoretically growing, there’s a there’s supposed to be a movement. In the universe that is growing and spreading, and you know, birth of more stars. And as everything expands…
Writer 20:07
Expansion.
Musician 20:09
The universe is learning more and more about loneliness that it never knew in the singularity about a separateness.
Writer 20:17
There must be some purpose to that, of what you say about connection being alongside aloneness. For me, when I know my aloneness, I feel more connected in life, because I’ve been there, and I’m not sure if it has something to do maybe with the yin and the yang, like once you know, your darkness, and you know your light.
Musician 20:40
And vice versa. That even the more you know about connection, the more you feel loneliness. And the more you know about loneliness, the more you feel connection when it’s there.
Writer 20:52
And why does it bounce back and forth? Sometimes there’s movement.
Musician 20:58
Only because they can’t happen simultaneously? Or can you? I’ve, I’ve been inside of a huge gathering and felt completely alone. And maybe, maybe we feel a bounce back and forth when they’re both happening at the same time.
Writer 21:20
I wonder if for me, the center, it does have that quality of connection and aloneness, actually swirling kind of like it’s a Nebula or something like it’s got this.
Musician 21:34
Which would say we choose, our choice to be lonely or our choice to feel connection. That’s powerful.
Writer 21:43
That’s like Terry’s nipples.
Musician 21:51
I think every time you say nipples, we get like 10 more listeners. Maybe 100 more listeners.
Writer 21:58
We won the listener lottery, we have 5 million more listeners.
Musician 22:03
Nipples.
Writer 22:04
Nipples.
Musician 22:07
Is that the scientific term?
Writer 22:08
Coffee dripping from my nipples. What?
Musician 22:11
Is that the scientific term?
Writer 22:13
What?
Musician 22:13
Nipple? Or is that just slang?
Writer 22:16
For what?
Musician 22:17
For a nipple?
Writer 22:19
Oh.
Musician 22:19
That part of your body? Does it have a name? Like the weenus? Is the scientific term for the end of your elbow?
Writer 22:28
Yes, yes, we have to be able to identify the nipples. It’s very important.
Musician 22:34
Well, no, I just want to make sure if it’s scientific, we could say the word if it’s slang, we might actually be cursing in our first podcast over and over and over again. Pandering just for listeners.
Writer 22:46
The long name for nipples is nippleoneous.
Musician 22:53
Call in if you have the answer and tell us. The phone number is…
Writer 22:58
1-800 nipples.
Musician 23:03
I wish actually knew the number to provide I would I would give this fake number. And when people call it it would say “I am Groot.” And it’s for girls when they want to give a phone number to someone. That’s not their number. But it seems like they’re giving someone a number. There’s a rejection hotline and it says, you know when you call, you know, thank you for calling. The person that you’ve asked for their phone number did not want to give you the phone number but they really wanted to be nice to you. Nice enough to give you this message to tell you that.
Writer 23:40
I am Groot.
Musician 23:41
This is not their number. Now then the other one you call all it says is “I am Groot. I am Groot.”
Writer 23:49
Oh, that person would be like, I hope we get to go on a date.
Musician 23:53
Yeah, I’m calling me to call them. I’m gonna call them and then they call and it’s “I am Groot.” And you want to feel sad, but then you might laugh,
Writer 24:01
You might laugh and you might be like, “okay.”
Musician 24:02
Get a giggle and think oh, now I even want to date him more because they’re hilarious.
Writer 24:07
Aww.
Stream of Coffeeness 24:07
(Laughter)
Musician 24:09
I hope I run into that person again.
Writer 24:11
Or you just say “No, I don’t want to give my number to you.”
Musician 24:15
Which is better, to say nothing? Or to say something?
Writer 24:19
In that case.
Musician 24:19
Or to gonna give them everything.
Writer 24:20
In that case. Give them the phone number to Groot. I am Groot.
Musician 24:25
You want to let people down gently. It’s just such a quick way out. Like, “Hey, girl, give me them digits.” And hopefully you’ve memorized that Groot number. I’ve got to memorize it. That’s squad goals.
Writer 24:39
Is that what you said when you met me? Hey, girl, give me those digits.
Musician 24:44
You didn’t call?
Writer 24:45
Actually I said something to him. I said “You have beautiful eyes.” And then he perked up. Like…
Musician 24:55
Who wouldn’t?
Writer 24:56
Like a cat with the ears you know like he turned his head like, “What?”
Musician 25:01
The eyes being the window to the soul?
Writer 25:04
And actually, that’s the thing is because he turned his head so, I actually said it to him when he wasn’t looking at me because I was watching him talking to someone at the party. And I was staring at him, just staring and like, in this euphoric space in myself while watching him talk to this person. And just…mmm.
Musician 25:29
I turned my head and I coughed.
Writer 25:31
And then he sneezed all over me.
Stream of Coffeeness 25:33
(Laughter)
Musician 25:40
Best day of my life.
Writer 25:46
Yeah, that was fun. That was a really wonderful night. And we went out dancing. Although I danced. He didn’t dance at all. (Laughter) It was with a group of people.
Musician 25:57
As a musician, you would think I’d be more into dancing, but somehow I’m listening so intently to the music.
Writer 26:05
Yeah, you were dancing on the inside.
Musician 26:07
That yeah, I don’t I my body doesn’t I don’t think about like dancing. I, I’m thinking about the complexity of the music or thinking about the beats and the melodies and harmonies and that’s all going through me. I experience music in a different way. But I know how important dance is like the more people dancing, it amplifies the music. Dancing is actually connected. So connected to the music that the more people you have in a crowd dancing to the music, it actually raises the vibration. Brings everyone to a higher level. I get it.
Writer 26:42
Movement.
Musician 26:42
Power of dance. Like even hip hop, true hip hop. You can’t have true Hip Hop without dancing without break dancers. You need the MC, the DJ, the break dancer, and the graffiti artists. You need all four elements to have true hip hop.
Writer 26:58
I love the krumping. The krumping that deep just so deep, like, I’m just wanna.. Unh.
Musician 27:10
I like the power of the crimp.
Writer 27:12
Yeah. And that too.
Musician 27:14
For any Mighty Boosh fans out there, that have gone beyond Old Gregg and seeing more episodes than simply Old Gregg.
Writer 27:24
Old Gregg.
Musician 27:26
50 Shades of Gregg.
Writer 27:31
Do you want some Bailey’s in a shoe?
Musician 27:33
I saw George Clinton pouring Bailey’s into a shoe.
Writer 27:38
Did you really? What year was that?
Musician 27:39
He’s a fan of The Boosh.
Writer 27:41
Actually, it’s probably the other way around.
Musician 27:43
But of course.
Writer 27:44
Boosh is a fan of George Clinton.
Musician 27:46
Of course they are. But of course because Bootsy Collins is mentioned in the episode. Yeah, they would. Somebody would get to George Clinton be like, Oh my God. Have you heard? Have you heard what The Boosh said about the funk? taken out of context? That just sounds like nonsense. Have you heard what The Boosh said about the funk?
Writer 28:11
Sounds so funky.
Musician 28:12
It just sounds silly. Like, completely made up words. Nonsense. overheard at a party. While drinking Bailey’s from a shoe.
Writer 28:23
Cheers.
Musician 28:25
Cheers. This maybe even could be a good place to wish our listeners well. End our first podcast.
Writer 28:41
Oh, yes! We wish you well. We wish you coffee today and tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day. Until we meet again.
Musician 28:56
Cheers.
Writer 28:57
Love you.
