Life’s Crazy

AT THE SPEED OF NEWS What's it like to wade through a viper filled swamp, oozing with aviation fuel, dead bodies, and trigger happy deputies? I've done it. What's it like chasing a sex offender through a business, making him say he's sorry to his victims while his coworkers watch in utter disbelief? Guilty as charged! My Name is Andy Cordan. I'm an Emmy award winning TV reporter. I've been shot at and spit on. I've chased corrupt officials and maniacal felons. I have argued with producers, fought with news directors and outwitted fellow reporters on the front lines. Sausage tastes good, but do you really want to know what it is made of? From fake news to celebrity news; I've covered it all. At the Speed of News takes you behind the crime tape where you'll hear the wails of a momma. It takes you to the editorial meetings where one man can dictate what a million people will see on TV.  At the Speed of News peels back the broadcasting onion. It entertains, educates and gives news viewers a greater appreciation for the news product they watch and think they know. Click on the link below, or look for it at the Amazon Book Store by searching Andy Cordan and At the Speed of News. AT THE SPEED OF NEWS https://www.amazon.com/At-Speed-News-Andy-Cordan-ebook/dp/B08YX3WX3M --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

With the cold weather moving in, and the days growing shorter and darker, I remember a recent trip to paradise. KEY WEST. I landed in Fort Lauderdale, rented a convertible and drove down to the southernmost point of the United States. As I was driving I though about the magnificence of this engineering success. A beautiful highway surrounded by aqua marine waves. It's 113 miles long, built in 1938. It rises high over the Atlantic ocean at points, affording me a vista that stretches to that place where the sky and the ocean meet in a single filament of time and space on the horizon. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

A ROCK GOD IS DEAD. He was timeless fury. He was finger plucking magic. EVH was a revolutionary music man who made the guitar his bitch and slayed a generation with power chords and signature solos. Van Halen signified a time in my life when everything was plausible. Now Eddie Van Halen has passed away, and a rock nation mourns. Like millions, I have memories that will live forever. Rest In Eruption EVH --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

SHOPPING WHILE IMPAIRED (S.W.I) we've all done. it. You stop in the local super market to get one item. But you make the mistake of grabbing a cart, and the next thing you know, you're buying a riding mower and a side of beef. I remember just such an SWI moment after an NCAA basketball upset. I should have gone home. Instead I found my self reading cheese packages in aisle 9 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Remember a time before COVID 19 when we use to go to the theater and see a film. Remember the lights fading down and the music fading up and the chill that went down your spine as you munched on your pop corn and sipped your big gulp. Well back in the day, I saw the 9th film by Quentin Tarantino, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD.  I wrote about the film after viewing it. As per usual, I found the story a little self indulgent.  See what you think.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

America is angry. America is polarized. America is agitated and unwilling to listen to the other side. It's like a divorce where nobody will get divorced. Instead of going our separate ways and moving on, we stay in our secured camp of race, religion, politics and even covid mask persuasion. We have to learn to tolerate each other and live with one another, but everyone is crazy. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

When you are young and dumb and college student broke, camping in the woods in a tent near the ski hill sounds like a great idea. That is until, everyone else goes home to their ski chalet to clean up for a night of fun, and you retire to the woods like a racoon in a frozen dumpster. This is the story of 2 dumb guy's will to ski on the cheap. Instead of sleeping with a snow bunny, we bedded down with a frozen pound of burger thatt would never thaw. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

WHEN A PET STORE OWNER PLEDGED TO EAT DOG FOOD FOR A MONTH, VIEWERS OF YOU TUBE AND VARIOUS NEWS OUTLETS COLLECTIVELY GAGGED --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

NATHAN'S HOT DOG EATING CONTEST IS A 4TH OF JULY TRADITION AND JOEY CHESTNUT IS ONCE AGAIN THE GREATEST EATER IN THE WORLD IT IS NAUSEATING AND DISGUSTING. IT'S A SOGGY, SLURPY, SLOW MOTION DIGESTIVE TRAIN WRECK --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

MOON UNIT. BRONKS MOWGLI. JER MAJESTY. These are just a handful of the insipid names given to tiny babies by stupid parents. Gone are the days of John and Jill. Why name your child Bob or Barbara when you can name them a scientific formula like Elon Musk. And God Forbid you name your kid Karen. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

The day I moved my son to College brought back a ton of memories. It reminded me of my first day at the University of Southern California. That was in the early 80's. What a difference 4 decades can make. I moved in an era of no cell phones, no internet or digital footprint. He moved into a preordained existence of shangrila. He and his roomate had facetimed and picked out shower curtains and towels. What? I moved into a smog ridden war zone of crime and hobos begging for money. This is a story of two generations moving to college. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

When I was young, we didn't have the internet. We had something better than the internet. We had a ball. A ball we could throw. A ball we could bounce. A ball we could shoot through a hoop. Today's kids need an invitation to play catch. This new generation, lathered in internet connectivity and video brain lock, don't know what they are missing. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

JULY 20, 1969. It marks the date of the singularly most amazing thing humankind has ever accomplished. Man Lands on the Moon! Many of us watched it live. Everyone of us has seen Neil Armstrong jump off the lunar lander and proclaim "One small step for man..." Well, it seems that NASA knows how to land a rocket on the moon, but not save video. You heard me correctly. After all these years, NASA admits they have lost the original moon landings from 1969. Taped over the originals they say. Are you kidding? What did they record over the moon landing with? LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY! LIFE'S CRAZY™ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Have you ever pondered existence? What happens in the end? Do we go to heaven? Do we spiral down a celestial worm hole or enigma? When I lost an hour during daylight savings time, I wondered what does it all mean? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Remember the movie the Breakfast Club? The vice principal in that film, monitoring detention for Molly Ringwold and Judd Nelson was an actor by the name of Paul Gleason, aka V.P. Richard Vernon. Once at the crap table, I got hot with the bones, and principal Vernon spotted me chips to keep me throwing the dice. It was the movie the hangover before the movie was even written. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Masks work great in a surgical suite. Masks are a great idea if you know what the hell you are doing while wearing a mask. But for the rest of us morons, masks are just a reason to touch your face with a contaminated hand. I say if you can protest without a mask, then you can do anything else without a mask. Open Up America. Breathe long hard and free! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Machine Gun Scotty had a profound drinking problem. When he drank, his brain shut down. When he drank, he did stupid things like get into fights and swim in the fountain at Caesars Palace, in old Las Vegas. This is one story of a man with a single brain cell in his head. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

A Kid's shoe lace comes undone on the soccer field. The 10-year-old doesn't know how to tie his shoe because parents now-a-days coddle their kids. The mother races onto the field and ties her son's shoe while the action races around her. The crowd snickers. The Ref is anxious. All of us realize you Gotta Blame It On Velcro! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

The Corona Virus. Enough all Ready. So much talk, so much data, so much we think we know. I don't think anyone knows anything. The country is shut down and nobody even knows how to wear a mask. People are acting like sheep listening to people who proclaim to have the answers. Are you sick of the Corona Virus all ready? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Remember the 1st time you drove the family car with your dad hovering over you? Remember the anxiousness? The white knuckles? The indecision of the brake and the accelerator? Oh My God. Which is which. This is a recount of the 1st time my 15 year old daughter drove our SUV through the city. It was a Linda Blair Exorcist, pea soup spitting adventure. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

What was the Earth like in 1909? life expectancy was only 47 years. What would I do if I only had 47 years? And only 14% of homes had bathtubs. What a stinky bunch of bastards we must have been. This podcast is a tongue and cheek look at how things have changed. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

The Foul Mouthed Bar Wench is a story about a woman whose mouth was a dumpster fire of cuss words. She sat in a crowded bar and screamed the C word, the N word and everything in between. Her words were so harsh, members of a motorcycle gang were wincing. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Flying is disgusting and exhausting and dangerous. Now it's Covid 19 air particles of mutation. But even in the past, it was Ebola and Swine Flu and rudeness and unexplainable delays. Now add sitting next to the Southwest Lavatory and you've got yourself a flying Petri Dish of disgust. This story documents a trip I took across the country with my family of 5. All I can say is, Ugh! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

"What are you chicken?," the fat slob in the crowd screams at me. I hate being called a chicken. So I climb the 150 foot tower and prepare to swan dive to my death, secured to life by nothing more than an untested rubber band. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Jail House Interviews are unpredictable. They can be mono-syllabic exercises in lies. They can be cathartic vomit sessions of ugly truth. This interview was an exclusive. It was conducted with a 20 year old baby-thug who was street hardened, but also very intelligent. He was charged in connection with a brutal armed robbery, high speed chase, and manhunt. He told me his truth, and through it all, I wondered if a guiding hand might have steered him to the light instead of the darkness. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

FACEBOOK has a bad reputation of stealing my information and then selling it to the highest bidder. The social networking giant has been linked to stolen elections and Russian disinformation campaigns. The company says it is working hard to protect its customers, but many people have divorced themselves from FACEBOOK, turned off their site, and gone to a more analog existence when it comes to sharing information with friends and family. This is a rant about that distrust and public perception. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

The NFL draft was supposed to be in Las Vegas this year but because of the coronavirus it was canceled. but the draft went on as usual. It was unprecedented - virtual - unique and above all else's, necessary. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

When a truck driver smashes into a Nashville overpass, the internet explodes at the reporter who asked him; "What Happened?" The Truck Driver vacuously stated, "The bridge is too low." To which the reporter, honestly responded, "Do you think your truck is too high?" The internet erupted in anger. This is the story you've never heard about a simple question that generated a million angry comments. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

It's been 41 days covering the corona virus on the front lines with first responders. Cops, Nurses, Dispatchers, Fire fighters, drug agents. While many people work from home, we work from wherever the job takes us. It's a constant battle to get the story, but stay safe and socially distance. This is the 3rd installment in a quickie debrief between a photographer and his reporter in Nashville Tennessee. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

70 Years after a Chinese soldier stuck him in the gut with a bayonet, a soldier receives his purple heart. The life threatening injury happened when the soldier was but 16-years-old. He was too young to even be in that fox hole, in that battle, but there he was, fighting for his life. What happened? Why didn't he get recognized in 1950 when he was wounded? This is the story of the old soldier getting his purple heart. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Bella the Lab steals a $30 filet and we spend the night hunting for the lost piece of beef. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

I took a DNA test and what it revealed was a primordial kick in the ass. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Covid 19 is killing many, but terrorizing all. People are afraid to shop, afraid to go to church, afraid to walk their dogs. People are unclear whether to wear a mask? Last week it wasn't necessary. This week it's a CDC recommendation. And the 6 foot rule? is that even a safe distance? Who decided that? How many times can a person wash their hands without losing feeling in their extremities? It's perception versus reality. The perception is the pandemic is everywhere, all the time, lurking in the shadows ready to make us sick. The Pandemic Pirates on the Covid 19 Ghost Ship are sailing across the globe terrorizing us with invisible threats of contamination. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Det. Sgt. Christopher Gagnon works for the Henderonsville, TN, Police Department. Today he spoke about the crime trends over the last month and he spoke about criminals who are putting themselves and first responders at great risk from exposure to the virus. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

My photographer and I are tasked with leaving the bubble of self-isolation and ground hog day feeling of boredom, and tell the stories of the men and women on the front line of this pandemic. We talk to cops and fire fighters and nurses and ask them why they do what they do? How's it going? Is it scary? What are you seeing out there? To get the story, you need to put a little skin in the game. Never in my career has it felt more dangerous to simply leave the building and do something that I've done sine the late 80's. Now covering first responders could make you sick, maybe even kill you. Still it's what we do, and this episode is just a slice of that pie. Enjoy. And if you like it, tell it a friend. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Imagine being infiltrated by a swarm of army ants while driving down the interstate at 75 mph. Now, imagine that the driver of that car has an ant phobia, and has no problem letting go of the wheel and screaming like a little girl. Pray for us, Jesus. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Imagine traveling on an early morning flight with an old blues legend who has a bad case of gas. That's Muddy Waters. A Blues Man with 3 chords of stank! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Is there a better place to watch people than the airport? Tall and short and fat and skinny and loud and clueless. If there is a type of human, you will find that human at the airport wearing lycra stretch pants or a fur hat. These observations are made at the Denver International Airport while waiting for a flight back to Nashville. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Hendersonville First Responders had a Serv Pro crew clean their fire trucks and fire hall today. The cleaning crews wore respirators and masks and gloves and Tyvex suits. They sprayed CDC approved cleaning material that has shown to be successful in destroying germs like those in the Corona Virus. We spoke to firefighters about what it's like to get a call now-a-days. What's it like to sit right next to another fire fighter, or respond to someone exhibiting signs of the Corona Virus. We talk about what it's like to do our jobs while we cover them doing their important jobs. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

What's it like to cover first responders in the age of Corona Virus? Where have they been? Who have they come into contact with? How safe is this? Are we going to get sick? All these questions and so many more go through the minds of reporters and photographers who leave the building every day to cover the news. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

The Scent of a thousand dogs is a funny memory of bringing two large Labs to the vets office where urine, hair and who knows what was scratched into the floor and bleeding out of the air vents. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Have you been to the supermarket recently? Did it feel like a gigantic petri dish without toilet paper? This is my take on that --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Do you love Coffee? How do you love your coffee? Are you a Starbucks Coffee Drinker? Do you like it sweet and sassy? Or Black as a lump of coal? I love my coffee adulterated with sugar and creamer. It's prehistoric, but it's what I like. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

This is a podcast about getting dressed in a most splendiferous way. Sometimes, when you are staring at the multitude of options before you, you gotta go big or go home. This is a story about the socks making the man. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

WRITERS WRITE. But when that endeavor becomes a labor of frustration, a process to create wealth, then the love that is writing is lost. In my case, I put the almighty dollar over the joy of writing words. Suddenly the creative process was an abortion of mixed metaphors and worthless sentences. This pod cast is for all you writers out there. Remember to write because it fuels your soul, not because it may fill your pocketbook. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

If you aren't careful, life can get away from you. 10 years can quickly become 20 then 30, then 40. Suddenly, you are staring at your own life, from the outside looking in, and say, what the hell happened? When did I become this guy? After 40 years of doing the same job over and over and over for 40 years, A co-worker realized that he's been on a treadmill at the sausage factory. Be the rainbow is a wake up call for all of us to make sure we seize the day and do what we want to do before 40 years passes us by. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

This episode is really about nothing. - just a rant - staring out my window on a gray Saturday while people shiver under a blanket of corona fear. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

I had a stomach bug recently. The symptoms were like a gastro-intestinal car jacking. With all the talk of Corona Virus, with all the images of idiots stealing toilet paper, I thought I would podcast a topic that would cause most humans to wince. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

I wrote this for New Year's resolutions on January 1 and then I procrastinated and it took me 90 more days to finally publish it. I'm a bad boy but I hope you enjoy it - share with your friends! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Greedy, weird, scared humans do crazy things when they are cornered. And the coronavirus prompted lots of insanity that included rushing to the store and buying every roll of toilet paper that one person could possibly carry. it's obscene and ridiculous and certainly a part of the life's crazy asylum. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support

Pandemic paranoia - it's a look at the perceived end of the world also known as Covid 19. We are acting as if people are dying in the streets but in reality most people aren't even getting sick. But there's a social stigma, a social separation, a social paranoia that is gripping this nation and this world. Some of it is social media fueled some of it is the broadcast medium filling every waking second with News about the contagion. my advice - relax and wash your hands! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andy-cordan/support