Fall 2024, Episode 12
November 19, 2024
Host: Jay Cortes
Co-Host: Marina Gonzalez
Transcript:
Welcome, Runners, to your 12th episode of The Runner on Air.
It is November 19th, Tuesday here at CSUB.
I’m your host, Jay Cortes.
And I’m your co-host, Marina Gonzalez.
And today we’re going to jump right into some Runner archives.
And the date is Thursday, November 19th, 1981.
And the headline reads, SEA, Preparing Tomorrow’s Educators to Teach.
And it’s a group that is formed at the Student Education Association at Cal State Bakersfield.
And the purpose of this organization is to interest capable men and women in education as a lifelong career.
And it’s interesting because it shows a picture of the Dorothy Hall.
And it looks exactly the same.
Same tile, same paint, same looking posters on the wall with the railing up top.
So it’s interesting because it’s from 1981.
So not much has changed in the decor.
And we also have the American Smokeout, Quit the Habit.
The fifth annual Great American Smokeout is sponsored by American Cancer Society.
And it’s a nationwide program that challenges smokers to give up their habit for one day, with the ultimate goal of complete freedom from smoking.
And that is from 1980.
November 19th is the start of a 1980 Gallup survey showed that 16.5 million Americans quit on Smokeout Day, and 2.2 million Americans were still not smoking one to 10 days later.
So that’s a quote from the American Cancer Society.
I haven’t heard anything that similar going on now.
And that is from 1981.
I also just quick excerpt with the ads.
So there’s like mini market grocery.
There’s an Italian restaurant.
And I guess now when we don’t accept ads from outside businesses, all of our ads are from within CSUB.
So I thought that was interesting.
Someone had pointed that out to me.
The marketing director here for The Runner this semester mentioned that to me.
I thought that was interesting.
All right.
And we also have a personal section, which I don’t think we currently do anymore either.
And it’s just an interesting little like message to people.
And do you think we should bring back personals, Marina?
Like have people write personal messages in The Runner and then publish it?
Maybe.
I mean, if it’s like we’re trying to send out like positive, encouraging messages to like all of the CSUB students here, then yeah, maybe we can.
Yeah.
Some of the messages are pretty like positive, like this one from Bonnie, Allison, Irving, Heidi, and Jean.
Your friendship and the mealtime chats mean a lot.
Thanks for including me in your corner table, Susan.
So that one’s like pretty nice to have to randomly read that, like pick that up in The Runner if you go to school here and then be like, oh, my friend wrote me a message.
That’d be cool.
And then some of them are like so random.
Like this one just says Kay.
And then it says Frank Hu from Kay.
Maybe it was a message to herself that she could read back later.
And one of them is like, are you lost in a fog?
Right?
Or else?
Ground control to Yao Wei.
I don’t know.
Maybe it’s like an inside joke.
Somebody said, Dear Steve Sullivan, my foot size is seven and a half.
How does that fit you?
Signed, another one who tries before she buys.
Like, I don’t even know what that means.
Yeah, I have no idea.
All right.
So that’ll we have some sports ones as well.
Judo tournament versus College of the Sequoias.
Soccer ends its season.
And then we have volleyball loses to UC Riverside.
So those are from 1981, November 19th.
So moving up to 2008, we have November 19th, 2008.
And it’s funny because the first headline, it says Org Sync MySpace for CSUB.
So it’s talking about I think getting MySpace on campus.
So it’s like not blocked.
Many clubs and organizations can manage their meetings and events through Org Sync users.
So I think that was before Facebook.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Back in the early 2000s at around 2008 or a couple years back, you know, MySpace was definitely one of the most popular social media sites.
But because Facebook wasn’t invented until like 2012.
Yeah.
So it would have been like well, nowadays, if you form a group, you would have do it on Facebook.
But that’s funny that they did it on MySpace.
Yeah.
MySpace and Yahoo were basically like the most popular social media sites.
And it was the only way to like to keep updated on a lot of things as well.
Yeah.
All right.
Let’s see.
We also have CSUB is planning two graduation ceremonies.
I’m not sure why.
It has been a hard four years.
The economy has been on a downslope and efforts to save money decided to cut a lot of funding to state schools.
This caused fees to increase and some teachers to get laid off.
I mean, that sounds like a broken record.
Graduation time is here for many CSUB students.
Four year plans have accumulated walking on the stage commencement.
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt.
But I’m not sure why that means I have to have two ceremonies.
I don’t know.
Maybe I’ll continue on page two.
So we’ll see.
And CSUB is ready to offer the long awaited occupational safety and health program.
So there’s a new program that got added in 2008.
And oh, did you know how old the bicycles are here?
You know, there’s bicycles that you can rent the black ones.
No, you haven’t seen those in front of the SRC.
They have like a bicycles that you can rent.
Oh, no, I didn’t.
Wait, that SRC.
Where is that?
The gym.
Oh, the gym.
Yeah.
So in between the gym and the runner cafe, like the cafeteria, there’s like a bike rack in the middle.
You haven’t seen it?
Oh, maybe I have.
You probably walked past these.
Yeah, I really noticed it.
But that bike rack like you can rent bikes out.
That program started in 2008.
So it says new CSUB bicycle registration program.
So there’s a link on the left hand of the University Police website where you can find a bicycle registration form.
Now I think this is different.
So this is a registration form for bringing your bike to the police department and they’ll put a sticker and the sticker has an identification number and police phone number.
So remember, I don’t know if you remember back the other runner that we read where it said that there was the campus police were etching in, like with a electric pen, your name and number and then putting it in a book if you brought a bike.
So I guess now they would just do a form, like you just put in a form.
So it’s a 90% of the bikes on campus have the wrong locks.
So I guess just protecting the bike.
I thought it was a bike program, but I guess I was wrong.
All right, and the runner on the street asks, What are your plans for Thanksgiving?
So Roxanne Ferranda asks, or says a communication senior says seeing family.
Alma Linda Duran, a music education senior, says she’s going out of town to Riverside and having a family reunion.
Bradley Williams, engineering software, said he is going to eat some food with my family.
Robert Tinker, biochemistry sophomore, said he’s going back home to spend time with my family in Ventura.
So what about you, Marina?
What are you going to do for Thanksgiving?
Since Thanksgiving is next Thursday, and we will all be off from school that day.
So yeah, earlier in the day, I’m going to visit my sister and I are going to go visit my dad and my grandparents, my aunts, uncles, cousins, you know, everyone on that side of the family.
We’re going over there to have like an early lunch or like early dinner with everybody.
And then after that, then we’re going to go meet my mom at my aunt’s house and go have dinner over there.
It seems you’re going to have multiple dinners, multiple plates.
Well, the thing is, see, what I’m going to do is when I go to my grandparents house, I’m only going to eat like one or two items.
And that’s it.
Because last year, I ate so much food to the point where I just felt like, I just felt so stuffed.
I felt like I was going to explode.
Yeah, yeah, I’m not going to do that.
I’m definitely not going to do that again.
Are you coming up with a plan now?
Yes, I need to just watch the portions of food that I eat.
Because yeah, yeah, I can’t stuff myself again, like I did last year.
And I did the same thing on Christmas last year, too.
Yeah, yeah, I think you’re right.
It’s all about portion control.
Yeah, because you could try everything.
But you know, just give a small portion of each.
That is one thing I tend to struggle with.
I do struggle with portion control when it comes to food because the food is just so good.
You just don’t want to stop.
But yeah, I mean, you could try it.
Each food just, you know, pick a few pieces here, a few pieces there.
It doesn’t have to be like your whole plate completely piled up.
Yeah.
So I’m just going to only eat a few items at my grandparents house for lunch.
And I’m going to take some Tupperware containers with me so I can take some food home.
Yeah, because then you have food for the rest of the week.
Yeah.
And then because I need because I seriously need to save room in my stomach for when I have dinner at my aunt’s house.
So then what’s your favorite leftover?
Like when Thanksgiving’s done, like what do you pack in the Tupperware to take home?
Oh, I definitely love the green beans everybody makes.
I love the green beans.
I love the mashed potatoes and the gravy.
Definitely the stuffing.
Yeah, I think stuffing’s my favorite.
Stuffing’s very good.
And then my favorite dessert is either pumpkin pie or apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Nice.
Yeah, pumpkin pie has always been my favorite pie.
For the longest time, it was like the only pie I would eat is pumpkin pie.
Yeah, pumpkin pie is the best.
All right.
So we have another headline.
Have you taken a SOCI yet?
Do you know what that is?
A SOCI, like a sociology class?
No, it’s let’s see if it has the acronym.
It doesn’t say what it stands for, but it’s like the survey that you take at the end of the class to ask like how your professor did.
Oh, yeah, we’ve done.
Oh, yeah, I’ve done those before.
Yeah, those are called SOCIs.
So the article here is why SOCIs matter to students and professors.
Yeah, so we still do the SOCI now where you have to fill out like ways that your professor can improve, ways that your professor like was strong, like their strong suits and ways that, you know, they could obviously maybe do better.
And so there’s an interesting article about the SOCI.
And SOCI, in a nutshell, is a report that students criticize and evaluate to make organized modifications in their courses to better attend students.
Faculty committees and university administrators also use the SOCI as a way of measuring faculty performance in teaching for retention, tenor, and promotion.
For probationary tenure track faculty, for post-tenor review of tenored faculty, and for performance review of a temporary faculty.
So the retention, tenor, and promotion, I think, is the main thing that they’re looking out for, like, does this person deserve to be promoted or retained even?
And then there’s tenor.
But I think you’ll like this next one, Lavinia’s Top 5 Holiday Movies.
So this one I actually kind of agree with for once.
She has number one, Elf.
Number two, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey.
Number three, The Santa Clause.
Number four, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
And number five, The Nightmare Before Christmas.
So out of, like, those five, I think three are, like, one of my favorites.
Elf, The Grinch, and Nightmare Before Christmas.
There are two of those films on the list that I love.
Definitely The Grinch with Jim Carrey in it.
That one is the best.
And The Santa Clause with Tim Allen in it.
And then there’s also two other sequels after that as well.
But yeah, I love those movies.
I watch them all the time for the holidays.
But my other favorites are also The Polar Express and A Christmas Story.
Yeah, honestly, I think I like Polar Express more than Santa Clause.
The Santa Clause.
Oh, yeah.
Polar Express is awesome.
I would probably take out National Lampoon’s and put in A Christmas Story.
Oh, yeah.
And my other favorite, Home Alone.
Oh, yeah.
That is a Christmas movie.
Home Alone.
Best movie ever.
You know what’s funny is every year I swear my dad gets a copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas on Blu-ray or DVD.
We have like five copies of that movie.
He watches it every year.
Oh, yeah.
I watch that movie every year too.
But yeah, we always watch the Home Alone movie because boy, we love just watching the booby trap scenes and everything.
They are just so hilarious.
Getting caught up in the traps.
Yeah, that’s always funny.
And one of my, see, one of our Christmas traditions is we always watch the 24 hour Christmas Story Marathon that they do on TV.
Yeah, they always have it on TV.
Yeah, they play like overnight from Christmas from like the evening of Christmas Eve, all the way to like the afternoon of Christmas Day, because they play it on for 24 hours.
Yeah, we always watch the marathon.
Yeah, we always watch that marathon over and over again.
Because, you know, it is our favorite movie.
We just love to watch, you know, all that, you know, because we always love to like recite like some of the funny lines that they say in the movie.
Yeah, especially Elf.
Like there’s funny ones and then the Grinch, where he’s like, I’m a psycho.
Jim Carrey is like, that’s honestly like the best Jim Carrey movie.
Jim Carrey is the best at everything.
I mean, I love all of his movies.
I love him in Ace Ventura, Liar Liar.
Yeah, Dumb and Dumber.
I like Liar Liar.
That’s probably like top two right there is the Grinch and Liar Liar.
Dumb and Dumber is the best.
That one’s like, I don’t know, sometimes that’s a little too dumb for me.
Like, yeah, the haircuts and the suits.
That one’s funny.
Alright, so we have the next one.
Various boutiques offer a variety of fashionable designer names that are located close to CSUB.
So I think it’s kind of interesting to see like certain fashions from 2008.
Because like one of the pictures is the Ed Hardy shirt.
And I don’t really see too many people wearing Ed Hardy anymore.
And they have like some fur boots and like a Juicy Couture bracelet.
They talk about True Religion, Juicy Couture, Ed Hardy, Dolce & Gabbana.
Some of these are still relevant, like Sephora, the Valley Plaza Mall.
So it’s talking about how the Valley Plaza Mall now is like opening new stores.
So I guess that Sephora has been there since like 2008.
Oh, yeah, Sephora is still there.
Yeah.
And they have Coach, Bebe, but I don’t think those are there anymore.
They have Lucky Brand Jeans and Guess.
And yeah, I think maybe half of those are still there.
You know, the Valley Plaza, they used to have a Dairy Queen in the food court.
But then I think but I think it’s gone.
I think they got rid of it.
Yeah, I don’t think there is.
There’s a Mrs. Fields there in the food court.
And then there’s like a smoothie place.
Jamba Juice, I think.
Yeah.
And then there’s like the pretzels.
But like in the lunch food court, there’s like way more restaurants.
Like because there’s like two food courts.
There’s like a dessert one that’s like has it’s like smaller or like there’s jewelry stores.
And then there’s like the main food court that has like all the restaurants that are there.
I forget what they have in there, though.
They have a lot.
They have like a Habit, I think.
And I think they have like a Philly’s Best.
So I haven’t been there in a while, but.
Oh, yeah, I just saw I just saw a story in the news.
There was actually there was recently a fire at that Target over there.
No way.
Yeah, they do have a Target.
Yeah, there’s a Target over at the Plaza.
But yeah, I saw it in the papers.
Yeah, there was a fire there.
Honestly, the Valley Plaza is always in the news.
Like something’s always happening there.
Like someone’s getting hurt.
Someone’s getting shot.
Oh, yeah.
Didn’t you remember that there was a shooting there years ago?
Yeah, some girl was trying to sell like a French bulldog.
And they like shot her and robbed it from her.
So I had heard of that story, like when I first got.
So yeah, Valley Plaza Mall, they even have a sign outside that says you’re not allowed to bring your gun inside.
Have you seen that sign?
No, I don’t really shop there that that much.
Yeah, I go there every once in a while.
All right, and we got some more sports at the end.
The runners can’t hold on in the home opener.
I think you’re talking they’re referring to the basketball team.
Because basketball season is starting up now.
Since we’re going into spring.
Are you gonna be here?
You’re not gonna be here for spring, right?
No, unfortunately, I will not be here next spring because I am graduating this fall.
And well, we’re gonna miss you here.
All right, so let’s go to 2014.
Let’s see, we got November 19, 2014.
And just a warning, this one is gonna be about reports here of sexual assault.
So it asks the question, how is a safe?
How?
Sorry, CSUB safest in the system.
Zero sexual assaults reported in the last three years.
But it has people questioning the statement because it’s, they’re saying that it’s pretty much impossible for there to not have been assaults in the past three years when we have one person who was actually named in this article, Emily Cole, a sophomore who was on the staff of the runner.
She reported being harassed by a fellow student in spring of 2013, and went into UPD twice.
And the first time she says that this guy is, she tells him that this guy’s bothering us, and that they didn’t get past the front desk.
And then she said that the second time someone interviewed them and took their statement.
But that report would have been in 2013.
But they’re reporting that hasn’t had a sexual assault report in the last three years.
So there was some, I don’t know, weirdness going on in the reporting there.
And so it raises questions among students regarding assault reporting, and why the assault reporting is not being handled correctly.
So it says the vast majority of assaults go unreported.
But I find it impossible that we are a campus without assault.
So that was Katie Aubin, a senior English major.
So yeah, it’s saying that a lot of them go unreported, but even the ones that are being reported are almost being ignored.
So that’s a problem here.
And that was Crime on 2014, November 19th.
Transitioning now to another book review with Marina.
This book, I believe, is an autobiography of an artist, correct?
So the book I am reviewing today is an autobiography that was recently published about last year, two years ago.
And it is The Lives of Brian by Brian Johnson, who some of you may recognize as the lead singer of the legendary rock band ACDC.
Like obviously it’s like a huge, they’re like a huge band now.
But does it talk about like how they started?
No, it only, it only, it doesn’t talk about how the band started because the band started long before Brian joined the band.
And they had, and they had a different lead singer at the time.
So he’s not the original lead singer.
No, the original lead singer of ACDC was Bon Scott.
But he unfortunately died back in 1980.
He was from alcohol poisoning.
He drank himself.
He drank himself to death.
No way.
That’s insane.
Yeah.
What year was that?
Bon Scott died back in 1980.
Damn.
So when Bon Scott passed away, then Brian comes in and takes over?
Yeah, because the band was like looking for a new lead singer after the original singer passed away.
But yeah, but Brian, see, Brian was also in a few other bands and was getting more into music before he joined ACDC.
Yeah, it says he was an Australian, Bon Scott was an Australian singer, who was the second lead vocalist of ACDC.
And he, so they’re from the UK?
Well, it says, it says here on Google that the band is an Australian rock band.
So they originally, they’re originally from Sydney, Australia, but Brian Johnson, he is from the UK.
Okay.
Wow.
Yeah.
So they are originally from Sydney, Australia.
I did not know that.
Yeah, I didn’t.
I didn’t know either.
I thought they were from, from England.
Yeah.
So they, well, they blew up like in England, right?
Like that was like where they, they kind of took off.
Yeah, I think they did take off in England.
But yeah, but they became, they eventually became like a worldwide sensation.
Yeah.
So then the book doesn’t really get into him, like his childhood and starting out.
It just jumps right into him in ACDC.
Oh no, it talks about his early life and everything that he’s done.
Oh, okay.
So how does it start like growing up for him?
So Brian Johnson was born and raised in Dunstan, England.
He was raised by a father who was a British Army Sergeant Major during World War II.
And he grew up in, and also grew up with an Italian mother.
He discovered music when he was a little boy.
And when he was 11 years old, he decided that he wanted to become a singer.
So he eventually formed his own as, so growing up, he eventually formed his own band called Gordy.
And they actually became very popular in England.
They ended up recording their own music and they sold records as well.
So do you go to like a university for music?
No, he didn’t.
No, he failed out of school.
Oh, wow.
But most, cause I mean, most people who want to become rock musicians, they don’t end up going to, they don’t end up going to college or anything.
Yeah.
It’s interesting.
So it’s like, how do they learn the music?
Like just through experience?
I mean, unlike the band members of Queen, because they’re all college educated.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Didn’t they meet in college?
Yeah.
They met the band members of Queen.
They met in college and that’s how they formed the band.
Okay.
So then how does he get offered to be in like ACDC if he’s in another band?
So Brian, so Brian was like going through some very difficult times.
He had a failed marriage and he also became a father of two daughters at a pretty young age as well.
And you know, he also tried to like be on the road with his band to record their own music, but also tried to work to make money to provide for his family as well.
But then after he formed his own band, many years after he had formed his own band, he was eventually discovered by the manager and some of the roadies of ACDC.
They had him auditioned and then he got hired to become the new lead singer.
Okay.
How old would he have been?
It was back in 1980, like, like several months after the original, the other, the original singer had passed away.
So reading the book, like the fact that he’s from England, does like, I don’t know, does he talk differently?
Does it read different?
Like, can you like hear an accent or something?
Yeah, you can definitely hear a little bit of an accent, but you know, if you watch some, if you watch some of Brian’s interviews, then yeah, you’ll understand like his accent and stuff.
Okay.
So what is like, like, is there any slang in there?
Like something that you’re reading or you’re like, Oh, that must be like something from England.
He always says lads and lass, all that, all that thing, what he calls guys and girls and stuff.
That’s just like what the Scottish do as well.
Yeah, that’s funny.
So he’ll be like, me and this, these lads were out drinking one night.
Like, does he, is he like a party animal too?
He did indulge himself in some drinking a bit, but he was never, but he never got like into drugs or too much heavy drinking as well.
Like most rock stars do.
Well, I mean, I would be kind of afraid to drink if the lead singer just died from drinking.
Like I’d be like, all right, let’s get a lead singer that maybe he’s not like an alcoholic.
But Hey, yeah.
I mean, it is pretty rare that most that some rock musicians don’t get involved in, you know, drugs and alcohol at that time.
Cause I mean, like Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons from Kiss, they never drank or took drugs throughout their entire careers.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But then you have other band members that were like wilding out and ODing and stuff.
Yeah, exactly.
All right.
Um, so if he like comes on later, like he didn’t have any hits before ACDC.
Well, his band Gordy, they had some pretty hit songs and they were able to get them published.
They were able to get them recorded and published and they sold records as well.
Gordy.
I typed in Gordy on Google and a pig came up.
That’s not, I would say, I would type Gordy, the rock band or what’s the guy’s name?
Brian, Brian Johnson, Brian Johnson, vocals, Mick, Vic, Malcolm, guitar, Tom Hill, Brian Gibson.
Is that them?
Do they have a song called Goodbye Love?
Um, I think they do.
I think that’s them.
This is him.
And I think this is him in the 1970s.
Oh, yeah.
He had this because yeah, Gordy was his band throughout the 70s.
Yeah.
So I think that’s him.
This is his hair right here.
Oh, yeah.
Look, pre-ACDC Brian Johnson.
Yeah.
So yeah.
Okay.
So that is right.
Yeah.
So that’s them.
This is Gordy right here.
They had some crazy hair.
Oh, yeah.
But that was the 70s.
You know, they always had crazy hair.
So why, why did they pick Brian Johnson?
Like why?
Why Brian Johnson is the lead singer?
Well, he was.
Did they have like tryouts or something?
They found him surprisingly when Brian was like working a new job.
He was out for he went out for lunch.
And that’s where he met one of like the roadies of the of the band.
And then I think like they started talking and stuff.
They started mentioning about how you know, they were still like they’re still like struggling with the loss of their lead singer.
And then I think Brian that’s when Brian like got the idea that he wanted to audition for the band.
Oh, so he did have to audition.
Oh, yeah, they had well, he had to sing for them.
Yeah.
Because they wanted to know what his voice would be like before he became their lead singer.
Right.
So does it talk about what is he still the lead singer?
Yeah, that band is still around.
And they still performing right now?
I don’t know if they’re performing right now.
But yeah, they are still around.
So when did this book when was this book written?
This was but this is like, I bought this book, like, last year, two years ago.
Okay, so it talks about like their recent concerts to them, like stuff that they’re doing now.
Well, it does have some recent events that he did before this book was like published.
Like, what?
Was there anything recently that’s happened?
That’s been like major?
Brian went through some very difficult times.
Like, in 2015, during during when the band was on tour, and when they were performing, he started noticing he was having some hearing problems with his ears.
Yeah, and you like having difficult trying to hear like the instrument tinnitus or something like that.
I don’t know if it was tinnitus.
But said, but when he was realizing how bad his ears were, and how he was having trouble hearing like the instruments from the band members, he had he went to a doctor to get his ears checked.
He found out from the doctor that there was like a lot of fluid building up in his ears.
And that’s why he was having trouble hearing.
So he had an operation done on his ears to see if he would be able to hear better.
His left ear ended up going deaf.
And then his right ear was only like 50% better.
So he could only hear like here about 50%.
So he’s like, he still performs like that was 50% of one ear?
Well, they had to like create some like hearing aids and he had to take like some kind of special medication to treat his ears and stuff.
Okay, so now he just has one ear or did the hearing come back on the other ear?
Well, after many shows, um, his ear, his hearing tended to get a bit worse.
So he had to go to the doctor again to get another operation.
So he had to take some time off.
So yeah.
It’s crazy how many musicians like go deaf or have like problems with hearing.
That’s like the one thing you wouldn’t want to be as a musician, like?
Well, yeah, because see, when you go to a when you go to a rock concert, it’s going to be very loud.
Yeah, because when I saw, yeah, because he just like when I saw, when I saw KISS perform here at Bakersfield, yeah, three, like, it was in 2020.
And it was a week before the COVID lockdown happened.
And when I came when I saw that show, awesome show, but it was so loud in there, because when I was when the show was over, and when I left the arena, my ears, my ears were ringing so bad.
Yeah, I’ve been to shows like where the venue’s really small.
So the speakers are really close and it’s like, like up the observatory.
And yeah, like you won’t be able to hear for like the next two days.
So I would imagine if that’s like you every day at a concert or something like you got a concert every weekend, like, you’re never gonna give your chance your ears a chance to recover.
Like it takes a while for your ears to recover back to normal.
Yeah, it does.
So he had an operation done.
And he thought that and he, the doctors told him that he would probably never be able to hear again, and he would never perform on stage.
And that was very difficult for him because he became depressed, he started drinking, because he thought his career was over.
But then he while he was like recovering from his operation, he became like, so obsessed with racing cars, because he’s like a very big car enthusiast.
If you watch some of his interviews, then you’ll see why.
Because he likes racing cars, like NASCAR and Formula One and stuff.
I think so.
Yeah.
And then he and then a friend of his actually created him a new hearing aid and Brian was able to hear again.
It was a real miracle.
So now Brian can go back to performing again.
Wow, that’s insane.
So he’s now he’s performing again.
So he had to take some time off to figure out like how he was gonna keep going without hearing.
Yeah.
And then his friend develops a new hearing aid.
Yeah, like an engineer or something.
That’s crazy.
Yeah, because he was showing his friend of his was like showing him like some car parts of like how like, it was creating like sound and stuff and how he was able to use like, like small little car parts to create a new hearing aid for him.
That’s insane.
Whoa.
Wow.
Yeah, I didn’t I never known that about Brian Johnson.
Yeah, but if you if you watch some of his interviews, you can see like he’s a very funny, humble, positive person.
Yeah.
I mean, you would have Yeah, I feel like you’d have to be to kind of sit back and like, have a reality check like that.
Like you’ve been doing music your whole life.
And then all of a sudden, it’s like someone’s telling you that you might never do music again.
That’s definitely like a humbling experience for sure.
Hey, cuz you know, like Paul Stanley, he had a similar experience with, you know, being deaf on one side because he was born with a micro show, which is a malformed ear.
And he was deaf on one side.
Yeah, but that was different because he always dealt with it.
You know, he was born with it.
Yeah, I feel like this caught Brian Johnson off guard.
Like it wasn’t really expect it definitely caught him off guard.
Is there any other like major events that you want to mention that occurred?
Like in the book?
So you have, like his hearing loss, the fact that he’s like super into race cars, and he takes that time period off and then you have the audition going from Gordy to AC DC. Does it talk about the transition to like, does he have any regrets about it?
Or like bandmates that were like salty about it or something?
No.
Yeah, no regrets.
He was like very grateful to become a part become a member of a another band.
And you know, his band members were very welcoming.
He became such close friends with them.
But it was difficult until it was difficult until back in 2014.
One of their band members unfortunately passed away from dementia.
Malcolm Young, who was the rhythm guitarist.
Hold on from dementia.
Yeah, dementia.
I didn’t even know dementia could like I know you lose you like your memory but really kill you like that.
Yeah, dementia just like Alzheimer’s.
Yeah.
Malcolm Young was only 64.
Yeah, Malcolm Young.
Brother Angus said that Malcolm began showing signs of dementia while recording the band’s 2008 album Black Ice.
On tour sometimes, Malcolm seemed to be unaware of his location.
A family Fred said that Malcolm could no longer remember how to play AC DC songs and had lost his short term memory.
That’s crazy.
You forget the songs you’re supposed to perform.
So then you can’t perform anymore.
Oh, yeah, that’s what happened.
That’s what happens.
That’s what causes dementia.
You lose your memory.
You don’t remember a lot of things and then it gets worse.
Yeah, so he was dead at the age of 64.
Wow, that’s really sad.
Like, I didn’t know that AC DC dealt with so much like trauma and stuff.
Like that’s really sad to have a member forget how to play the music.
And then another member gets told that he might not ever hear again.
So he can’t play.
And then you have members dying of alcoholism, like dying of like, overdosing on alcohol.
That’s insane.
Yeah, wow.
AC DC is kind of cursed.
Like, when are we going to start talking about that?
Well, I don’t want to be a member of AC DC. I actually, you know what, I actually met a former band member of AC DC three years ago, and they were still healthy and alive.
Yeah, this one guy that I met, he was he seems very healthy, very healthy and was living a good life.
He’s one of the lucky ones.
Yeah, not everyone had that same fate.
Yeah, the band member that I met three years ago, his name was Simon Wright.
He was the drummer throughout the 80s.
Oh, yeah, drummers are always the coolest.
Oh, yeah.
My mom, my mom does have a thing for drummers as well.
Because like drummers are her favorite are her favorite members of the band.
She has a crush on the drummers.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, she has a thing for drummers.
So yeah, this is the band member that I met three years ago.
Yeah, did you meet him?
He actually came to Bakersfield to make an appearance at the Bakersfield Comic Con three years ago.
Oh, yeah, you’re mentioning is that coming up again?
Oh, yeah.
Bakersfield Comic Con is actually this weekend and I’m going to it.
Who are you most excited to see?
I am most excited to meet some some cast members from the aliens movie from 1986.
And they’re having some four cast members who were the Marines in that movie.
And that’s like one of my favorite movies ever.
They also got a couple of wrestlers appearing.
They have a few other actors.
They have a Walking Dead actor as well.
Okay, seems nice.
Are you going to dress up like cosplay?
Yeah, I’m going to dress up as electron nachos from the Daredevil TV series.
Oh, yeah, she she was in Deadpool.
And Wolverine, right?
Yeah, but no.
It’s a different actress who played Electra.
Because remember, there’s the Daredevil movie with Ben Affleck.
Yeah, there’s also a TV series that they released many years ago.
And Electra was playing.
Yeah, and Electra was played by a different actress.
It wasn’t Jennifer Gardner.
The Daredevil series was on Netflix, but it’s on Disney Plus.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because they had like, yeah, the episode series that came out with like kingpins.
And I think I watched the first season.
And then he had like an appearance in a new Disney Plus series that was like about a girl was like a Native American superhero or something.
She could like tap into like her ancient past.
And she’s like a Native American superhero.
You ever heard about her?
No.
It was on Disney Plus.
I mean, it didn’t really get good reviews because I heard the writing was kind of bad.
But Daredevil came out in it.
And she she fought him.
She fought Daredevil.
But I was saying like, Daredevil would totally beat her up.
Echo.
Yeah, that’s what it was.
Echo is on Disney Plus.
It’s a deaf indigenous Latin American superhero.
Oh, yeah, I think that shows on Disney Plus right now.
I haven’t seen that.
Yeah, the reviews weren’t that great.
They were saying it was kind of like cheesy, I think.
And the acting wasn’t that good.
But it was kind of funny.
And then it was cool to get, you know, obviously, like indigenous people on a spotlight.
Yeah, they definitely need to have more representation of people who are Native American.
Yeah, of course.
And so Echo is like one of the first one.
You have Maya Lopez is the lead character.
And Alacua Cox is the deaf indigenous and an amputee.
She’s proud to represent a platform that lifts indigenous voices.
Yeah, that’s on Disney Plus.
That’s Echo.
But yeah, Daredevil comes out and fights Echo.
So they’re both like deaf on deaf fighting.
And then you have a guy from ACDC.
Like it’s real out here.
Oh, yeah, Bakersfield Comic Con.
They always try to get some really good, some pretty good people to appear at the event every year.
How many times have you gone?
I go every year.
Wow.
This is the 16th annual Comic Con.
So which one’s been your favorite?
Meeting your favorite person?
Oh, two years ago, I got to meet actors from the TV show Little House on the Prairie.
I also got to meet a Lord of the Rings actor.
Little House on the Prairie.
That movie’s kind of old, right?
No, it’s not a movie.
It’s also a show.
Oh, so they’re from the show?
Yeah, it’s a series.
I grew up watching that series because I had a family friend who loves watching that show.
This one right here?
Yeah.
Look at this guy’s hair.
I had a family friend who grew up watching who watched that show all the time.
And I basically watched the reruns, the reruns of the show with her.
So which one did you meet?
This guy?
Um, I met I met the guy who played Almanzo who was, yeah, Dean Butler, who was Almanzo, who was Laura Ingalls, Laura Ingalls husband.
Oh, yeah, I sent Dean Butler.
This guy?
Yes.
What did you dress up as that year?
I wear my white dress.
I dress up as Diana Prince from Wonder Woman 1984.
Oh, yeah.
Nice.
Yeah, I like that 1984 one.
That was a cool one.
So what’s been like your favorite costume for Comic Con that you’ve worn?
Um, well, basically my Star Wars costumes because every time people see me dress up as a Star Wars character, they always tell me, Oh my god, you look fantastic.
Can I get a picture with you and everything?
Yeah.
So you feel like a celebrity?
Because last year, I wore my Princess Leia costume and people said, God, you are fantastic.
Yeah, asking for pictures.
Yes.
You need to start charging people like they do at Comic Con.
No, I’m not gonna charge people for photos.
I don’t need to do that.
You know?
And I’ve also dressed up as Ahsoka, Ahsoka Tano, who’s my favorite.
Yeah, that one’s cool.
Many people have gotten photos of me as well.
Yeah, the Ahsoka one’s cool.
I saw a picture of that one.
All right.
So how does the book end then?
He obviously makes his return back.
He gets a new hearing aid.
Is that kind of like the final like chapters is him coming doing his return?
Yeah, that’s basically how the chapter ends and basically also talks about how it was difficult when they lost Malcolm Young from the band, you know, they were grieving his loss and everything.
But they but after, you know, going through the whole grieving process, they make their return back on stage.
And he’s like very happy and grateful to be back to performing again after getting his hearing fixed.
Yeah.
So no looks at retiring right now.
So when’s the next ACDC show?
I don’t know.
I don’t know when I don’t know what show if they have any upcoming shows yet next ACDC show.
I mean, I grew up listening to a lot of ACDC music like I would always hear it playing on the radio and in my parents car and stuff.
It says 2024 power up tour concluded in Dublin, Ireland on August 17.
So they just went on tour.
Oh, wow.
And rumors suggested the band may announce a North American tour in 2025.
Ooh, if they if they do come here to town, then yeah, we probably should definitely catch that.
You haven’t seen them yet.
I’ve never seen them performing in person.
Yeah.
And it seems like they’re mostly in Europe, you know, because they are like a UK Australian band, I guess.
Yeah.
So it is rare for them to come to North America.
Which is weird, because I don’t know, like, I always thought ACDC was just an American band.
Oh, yeah.
But, you know, last year, I saw Journey in concert.
Oh, wow.
That’s um, is that the Don’t Stop Believing people?
Yeah, Don’t Stop Believing separate ways, any way you want it.
Yeah, that that song took off for a while that Don’t Stop Believing like it came back.
Yeah, my grandfather and I saw Journey because they came here to Bakersfield to perform on their tour to celebrate their 50th anniversary and they had Toto as their opening act.
Nice.
See, this is a details about the 2024 Power Up Tour.
So it wouldn’t have mentioned this tour then right in that book.
No.
So this tour is the ACDC’s first in Europe in eight years.
They haven’t.
So that probably would have been like the last time they’re in Europe is they were talking about a tour in that book.
And the band played in stadiums across Europe.
The tour lineup was Angus Young on lead guitar, Brian Johnson on vocals, Stevie Young on rhythm guitar, Matt Logg on drums, and Chris Cheney on bass.
And then the Pretty Reckless supported the band on the European leg.
I never heard of them.
And then during the tour, ACDC launched five high voltage dive bars in Gelsenkirchen, Munich, London and Paris.
So I guess they have bars that they own.
Hmm.
Interesting.
Does it talk about that in the book?
No.
Oh, that was never mentioned something recent, I guess.
They’re opening up bars now that are ACD themed bars.
And hey, Kiss opened a restaurant all over the all over the place, too.
Yeah.
The Rock and Brews restaurant.
Yeah.
Yeah, you’re right.
The restaurant is actually over in Anaheim.
And it’s like across the street from where Medieval Times is.
So yeah, that’s a restaurant that I want to go eat at some time.
Yeah, I think they have one in Tustin, too.
Tustin or like Newport Beach.
Because I’ve driven by it.
Okay.
So for anyone that’s looking to pick this book up, you said you picked it up at Target?
Yeah, I found it at Target, surprisingly, because I went there to find another book.
So yeah, when I saw that, when I saw this book was over there at Target, I just got it.
Oh, it’s the lives of Brian.
The lives.
Yeah, the lives of Brian, a memoir.
So why is it multiple?
Why does he have multiple lives?
Probably because he probably because he went through a lot of things throughout his life.
You know, yeah, multiple bands coming back.
He went through multiple bands.
He also worked multiple jobs while trying to provide for a family at a young age.
Yeah, interesting.
So the lives of Brian right now is on Amazon for $15.94.
You guys wanted to pick that up?
It’s actually on sale right now.
It’s originally $30.
So and then with a $6.99 delivery fee, I think unless you have Prime.
All right.
And just a look into our final episodes coming up.
You mentioned you have another book to end it to end it off on this final episode that we’re gonna have because we might take a break.
We don’t know and I take a break for Tuesday one for Thanksgiving, but we’re definitely coming back with our final episode on December 3, that Tuesday.
And what book are you going to be reviewing for that final episode?
The final episode, which I’m going to be very sad about because I am going to miss being on this show so much.
All right, but you know, maybe you can get an internship somewhere or maybe like, look into other podcasts, you know?
Oh, yeah, I’m gonna.
Because after I graduate, I’m gonna try to find internships at any of the local news stations here in town or any of the radio stations, because I want to get experience of what it’s like to work for a radio station because I would love to do my own podcast.
Yeah, of course.
I would talk to Robert, our advisor.
He might be able to get you help like on who to talk to for an internship since he works for KGET.
Mm hmm.
I feel like that would be the best route to go through.
All right.
And so what’s the name of that book?
So the final book review that I will be doing for our final episode of the show for this semester, I will be reviewing a book called Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton.
And some of you may recognize Tom Felton.
He is well known for playing Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movie franchise.
OK, so a big chunk of it’s probably going to be about Harry Potter, right?
Oh, yeah.
But this is also about Tom’s life, his career, you know, how he started out as an actor at a young age because he’s been he’s been an acting since he was very young and also how he went through a lot of struggles after Harry Potter was finished and they were not doing it anymore.
Yeah.
So beyond the wand.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
So beyond Harry Potter, he has a life besides being Draco Malfoy.
Yeah.
I mean, he’s done he did other films and shows after Harry Potter was finished.
OK, cool.
So we’ll jump that into that next.
You have any events in particular that you attended that you really enjoyed here at CSUB, Marina?
I’ve had a little difficulty trying to attend events here at school because, you know, I try to because I have to help my mom out with a bunch of things at home and stuff.
You know, I have to live on the other side of town.
So it’s difficult to drive back and forth.
So you just try to get right back home as soon as you’re out of class?
Yeah, because I have to help my mom out with my sister and my grandfather and our dogs as well.
Right.
Oh, they’re they were supposed to have like a puppy.
Have you ever been to the Pups and Cups event over here?
They have like puppies and coffee.
Oh, is it with the Starbucks?
I don’t know.
It’s like through some organization like where they bring a dog and then you get like they serve coffee to.
Oh, no, I’ve never done that event.
I might be coming up next semester.
I don’t know if they did it this semester because I think they might do it in spring because I remember talking to Aaron Pruitt about it last semester.
So, yeah, you might have missed it this semester.
But yeah, that one you might have enjoyed.
You didn’t go to any like international events or anything like that?
Well, I did go to one at the beginning of the semester, but I showed up super late because I had to because I had to leave campus to go pick up my sister from from school.
I had to drop her back off at our house.
And then, yeah, I had to try to like race back here to catch in time.
But I showed up like super late.
Yeah, you know that I’m thinking about it.
I kind of had a lot of fun on the club day, like seeing all the clubs and then getting free food and stuff.
Oh, yeah.
But what but the events I do love doing is the marketing table for the runner.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that’s always fun.
And then coincidentally, right next to other tables from other clubs.
And we basically get to get a free meal.
Yeah, that was yesterday, right?
Yeah.
Mediterranean food is yesterday because we’re kicking off.
Yesterday, like some of the clubs are kicking off International Week.
And yeah, I managed to get some free Mediterranean food.
Yeah, I think that’s my favorite part about club events is like, I’ll be walking around and I’m like, Oh, what do I have to do to get this free food over here?
Like, yeah, free foods like I’m always on the lookout for free and that Mediterranean food look good.
Oh, yeah, it was good.
Nice.
All right, runners and that has been your 12th episode of the runner on air is November 19.
The Tuesday here at CSUB and I’m signing out your host Jay Cortes and your co host Marina Gonzalez.
Take care runners have a good one and we’ll see you next week.
