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Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 6 Andrew Rook continues to grow his family. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.   Chapter 17 The morning after any good party is generally a challenge to get up and out of bed, but thankfully, they hadn't gone too late into the evening, and so, everyone had gotten to bed at a reasonable hour. And the wonderful smell of a good, late brunch was the clincher to get everyone out of the bed. Jenny had prepared an excellent morning feast for them, but timed it so that it was just before noon when she had it ready, drawing everyone downstairs, although most of the girls were in pajamas still, and Andy stuck to sweats himself. Over a combination of huevos rancheros and breakfast burritos, Niko and Andy explained to the rest of the girls about Andy's upcoming day at poker. Their reactions were much like Andy's initial impressions. Shock at first, followed by concern for the women who were supposed to be showing up on Andy's doorstep tomorrow. "I mean," Andy said, in between bites of his burrito, "it's never come up before, but I technically do have the right to refuse any woman who shows up on my doorstep. Like, for example, if had been too much of a hassle for Lauren, I could've just sent Taylor away." "Which reminds me," Lauren said, bringing a mimosa to her lips, "you need to imprint her today, especially if you're going to be coming home tomorrow night with a whole stable of new women." "I think you girls have a lot more faith in my poker skills than I do," Andy sighed. "And I think you're just being modest to set expectations," Niko said. "I watched you confidently take apart those poor boys last night." "I've known those guys for over a decade, Niko. They've got tells and I've had time to learn them, but you're talking about cold reading a room worth of men, most of whom I've never met." "If Rachel's to be believed, most of them are crap, Andy, so the only person you've really got to worry about is Covington himself." "You mean, I've only got to worry about the one guy I have to beat. Sure, no problem." "Do your best, baby," Niko said to him, squeezing his hand. "That's all I'm asking." That hung in the air for a couple of minutes before Lauren started giggling, and Andy turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "What's all that about?" "I was just thinking about you saying you had the right to refuse a woman delivered to you, and was trying to imagine you refusing Niko when she showed up." "You know, I still don't remember showing up at all?" Niko said. "I'm serious. The first thing I remember is waking up in the morning sucking your cock. I mean, I remember picking your picture out, and I sort of remember the start of the drive over to the old condo, but showing up on your doorstep? Me fucking myself on top of him in the goddamn dining room? I know you told me I did all that, but I don't remember any of it." "You were pretty out of it," Aisling said. "But it was kinda hot, watching you just pin him down and fucking use him. He wanted to take you upstairs first, but you were too wound up to let him do that, so he had to carry you naked upstairs after he'd filled you up with your first load." "I feel a little robbed that I don't get to remember that first super intense orgasm, though." "If you really want to get something equivalent," Lauren said, "you just need to fast from his cum for a couple of weeks. Right around the point you're starting to break, you'll get that high again, but the pain of waiting that long isn't worth if you ask me." "I agree," Aisling said, "but it's probably worth trying at least once, just so you can know." Niko shook her head. "I remember you telling me about how it felt waiting that long, Lauren, and I don't think I have any need to inflict that much need on myself." "You wait any longer to imprint Taylor," Aisling said, "and she's going to be there herself. She's already having trouble keeping her head clear enough to follow the rules." Niko nodded over at Lauren. "I get that you want to punish her, but she needs to get imprinted, otherwise she's not even going to remember the punishment." Lauren giggled a little. "I know, I know. Let's sic Andy on her after we finish brunch." "I like how much my opinion is being consulted on this," Andy grumbled. "Oh you know you're itching to have a go at her," Lauren smirked, waggling a fork in his direction. "Just remember, one of the three holes is off limits until she's passed the month, and frankly, I don't want you firing that sex bomb of yours down her throat for her first time either." "You've made it pretty clear what you want out of this, Lauren," Andy said. "I won't forget." After they finished brunch, the foursome headed upstairs. Taylor had been given brunch in a bowl while they'd been eating, and she had finished all of it. When they entered the room, she looked up, but didn't move over, as she was trying to take all of her cues from them and not initiate anything on her own. "Alright Taylor," Lauren said, "it's time. Andy's going to imprint you now, so I hope you've internalized all the lessons you've witnessed over the last several days." "Yes Mistress," Taylor said. "May I go and make a few small preparations? Not for myself, but for the Master." Lauren seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded. "Five minutes in the bathroom. We'll be out here waiting." Taylor moved to head into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. "Wonder what she's doing in there," Aisling said, as she moved to sit in one of the big plush chairs scattered around the room. Niko grinned impishly, as she moved to recline on the couch against the wall. "Oh, she told me she's been trying to plan as best as she can to make both Andy and Lauren happy." "I'm not sure I even want to know what that means," Andy said, moving to sit down on the edge of the massive bed. "I'm not sure I'd let her tell you, even if she wanted to," Lauren said. "Oh, you want to try and tell me what to do, Lauren," Niko said, a playful smile on her lips, "and we can see which one of us paid more attention in hand to hand combat classes." "That sounds like fighting words," Lauren giggled, miming rolling up her sleeves. Andy narrowed his eyes at them. "Don't make me bend you both over my knee and paddle your asses red." "Promises promises," Lauren said, blowing him a kiss. Just then, Taylor opened the door and walked in from the bathroom before moving to get down on her knees in front of Andy. She had put on dark, heavy mascara and pulled her platinum blonde hair back into a solid ponytail, held with a scrunchy that looked like it could handle a bit of force. She'd also put on thigh high white stockings that looked like extra long sport socks with red rings around her thighs. It made her look sportier, and also a little bit younger. "Your slut is ready for you to use her, Master, if you are ready." Andy slid from the bed and crouched down, brushing a hand along her face. "This is your last chance to back out, Taylor." Taylor leaned in and whispered into his ear. "I want this, Andy. I want to be part of your family. But my safeword is 'yeti,' if you're really worried." She'd said it quietly enough that he was certain none of the other girls had heard any of it. "I like the mascara," Lauren said, reaching to brush a fingertip along Taylor's cheek. "It's going to run nicely when he's skullfucking your face." "Yes Mistress. I thought you might enjoy seeing that, proof that he's making me cry." "Tears of joy, I hope." Taylor nodded. "Joy, yes. But also from being unable to breathe. I want Master to really use his slut, to make her gag and choke and gasp for air." "Good," Lauren said. "I want you to get him so wound up that he can't think straight, Taylor. I want to see him actively fucking use you, until you're a quivering, brainless heap of well used flesh, lying there in a goddamn puddle on the floor. You think you can handle that?" "For you, Mistress? I can handle anything." Her chin was lifted proudly, displaying that leather collar she'd been forced to wear since her arrival. "Please, Master, may your worthless slut finally taste your cock?" Lauren put her hand on Andy's shoulder, leaning in to whisper into her mouth. "Remember, I don't want you cumming in her mouth. Just in her ass, okay?" There was a tiny amount of trepidation to her voice, as if she wanted to be sure she wasn't overstepping her boundaries, so Andy simply nodded. He felt hands on his waist, and it was clear Taylor had taken the nod to be to her and not to Lauren, but Andy didn't feel the need to correct her. Taylor pulled his sweatpants and boxers down to his ankles, lifting one of his feet for him and then the other, to help him step out of them, before she finally looked at his thick cock before her bright blue eyes. "Your little whore has been thinking about this nonstop since she got here, Master. About how she watches your girls when their eyes roll back in their heads, when their legs twitch and spasm when you fill them up. And even though she knows it's unbecoming of her," she said, looking down as one of her hands stroked his thick cock, "she's been getting more and more jealous of them, of those intense feelings you evoke in them. She knows she needs to be patient and wait her turn, but sometimes, even thinking about it gets her cunt all wet, Master. May she at long last have a taste and begin her process of officially becoming yours? Please, Master? This worthless slut aspires to be better, to be more, to be, yours." They'd been particularly careful not to let her taste any precum of his because even so much as a droplet would prime the imprinting process. It wouldn't fully start until she got her first full load of his jism, but the amount in precum was enough to get the process ready to burst. Taylor had gotten particularly close to the girls when they were playing with Andy, usually at Lauren's insistence, but in her eagerness to rub Taylor's face in it, she'd come dangerously near starting the process early. Andy was about to say that she could when Lauren reached her hand along the back of Taylor's head, grabbing the ponytail, shoving Taylor's face down onto his cock until he could feel the head of it pressing against the back of her throat, forcing its way in, even as her eyes looked up at him with adoration in them, her body literally vibrating at it, as the precum oozed from his mushroom tip into her mouth. Her eyes were fluttering, almost like they were threatening to roll back into her skull, and while she was doing her best to maintain control of herself, he could feel a bit of drool dripping down onto his balls. After what felt like an eternity of keeping his cock buried inside of her mouth, Lauren finally pulled Taylor back, and she gasped hungrily for air, slobbering even as her eyes were starting to water, her chest rising and falling quickly. "Are you  " Before Andy could even continue the sentence, Taylor grabbed onto his hips with both hands and pulled her face back onto his cock until her nose was buried in the thatch of brown hairs at the base of his cock. "Don't just leave her on, Andy," Lauren hissed at him. "Give the little whore what she wants. Fuck that little cheating face of hers until she's a sloppy mess." Andy's hands grabbed onto the side of Taylor's head and pulled her face back, but just when the head of his cock was at the ring of her lips and she was inhaling another lungful of air, he shoved his cock back into her face, pushing it back against her throat once more, evoking a gurgling cough from her, as those eyes started to water hard, a single black tear running down her right cheek. He pulled her back back and off his cock, letting her drink in another swallow of air, a wide smile on her messy lips, precum and spit dangling from them, as her tongue lashed out to try and lap it up before Andy shoved her face down once more. Taylor was doing her best to lean into Andy, but Lauren was mostly controlling the depth she could reach, using her ponytail as a leash, although Lauren seemed to be letting Andy do most of the driving for the moment, partially because Andy had been told not to cum in Taylor's mouth, and it was starting to take some effort to keep himself cooled off. She had a talented tongue, and there was something primal and carnal about seeing his precum smeared all over the blonde's chin, drooling on herself when she had half a moment without Andy's cock in her throat. "Whose whore are you?" Lauren said, reaching forward to slap Taylor across the face, making that mascara run even more. "Yours, Mistress." "Wrong answer!" Lauren shouted, slapping Taylor's other cheek, hard enough to make Andy a little nervous. "Try again. Whose whore are you?" Taylor swallowed a breath of air, looking up with those heavily watered icy blue eyes of hers, realizing her mistake immediately. "His whore, Mistress. The Master's whore." "That's right, you cuntrag," Lauren sneered. "I'm your Mistress, but this man fucking owns you, if you want to live under this roof. You will deny him nothing. You will do whatever he asks of you, and you will do it gladly." "Yes Mistress. Sorry Mistress." "Don't apologize to me, you dumb bimbo! Apologize to him." "Your worthless slut is sorry, Master. She belongs to you, and only you, and will never forget that again." "You know what I think?" Lauren said, her face a wicked angry snarl. "I think you ought to spit into that bitch's mouth, so she knows who fucking owns her." Taylor visibly flinched, but leaned her head back, opening her mouth wide. "That's it, Andy," Lauren goaded. "Get a big mouthful of spit and give it to that vapid cunt." Spitting had never much turned Andy on, and if he was honest, he found it excessive and unneeded, but all of this was about giving Lauren some closure, so he pursed his lips together and started to summon a big mouthful of spit. Just as he was about to spit into Taylor's mouth, she turned her head suddenly and said, "Yeti! God, I'm sorry, yeti!" Andy turned his head and spit onto the floor, as his mind raced, trying to figure out a way to disarm the situation he knew he was about to be in. The imprinting process was already primed, so it was too late to pass Taylor off to someone else, or to send her away, but he suspected the explosion of temper that was about to erupt from Lauren was going to make all their lives living hell for a time. He turned to look at her as he started to speak, "Now look Lauren, there's limits, to,” The look on Lauren's face wasn't one of anger. It was one of, amusement? He frowned and she started to giggle, and pretty soon, all the girls in the room were giggling, including Taylor at his feet. "Sorry, Andy," Lauren finally said, through fits of laughter. "I told you he'd stop if she said to," Aisling said. "No matter how wronged you felt, Lauren, he wasn't gonna lose control." "Damn," Lauren said, "and here I figured I could get him worked up enough to push past it. Guess I owe you twenty." "Excuse me, were, were you gambling over whether or not I'd take a woman against her will?" Now Andy felt like he was the one starting to get angry. "It was just a game, love," Lauren said. Andy stepped away from Taylor and over to Lauren and picked her up, no easy feat considering her height compared to his, moving over to the bed, putting her down and bending her over it before yanking down her pajama bottoms. "What are you going to do, spank me?" Andy welled up his rage into his right hand and brought it down onto Lauren's ass with the hardest spank he could muster. "Ow! Jesus, Andy, that rightly stung!" Wham! His hand clapped down again, just as hard, and he heard her groan, a weird blend of pain and excitement, her whole body shaking. "Strewth, that hurts!" Wham! His hand spanked down once more, the cheek of her ass starting to redden quickly under the power of his slaps. "Fuck Andy!" Wham! "I'm sorry!" Wham! "Bugger, Master, I'm fucking sorry, awlright?" At that, Andy held his hand in the air, not slapping again, but brought his hand down softly to slowly press his fingernails against the edge of the reddened flesh, and then dragged them firmly across that handprint he'd left there, making Lauren quiver, lost somewhere between lust and fear. "You're right you're right, okay, it was a shitty thing to do, and I'm sorry, I'm very fucking sorry. I shouldn't have made her do it." Andy looked back at Taylor. "And you. I ought to just leave you like this." Taylor's face reddened as much as Lauren's ass. "I'm sorry, Master. She told me to do it, and I didn't want to upset her. I do have an actual safeword, but it isn't yeti. I told Lauren what it was, though, and how I didn't think she would need to use it." "And if you're punishing Lauren, Daddy, you probably need to punish all of us," Aisling sighed. "I mean, I took her bet." "Speak for yourself, Red," Niko said. "I told you I thought it was a bad idea." "Well, now we know, I guess," Aisling said. "You okay, Lauren?" Lauren lifted her head up, and there was a strange look on her face. After a moment, it registered to Andy that she was more turned on that he'd ever seen her before in his life, and that included the moment when she'd been in a complete fuck daze after her sex fasting. "That was the hottest thing that's ever happened to me," she moaned, struggling to not drool on herself. "I've been trying to get you to lay into me for months, Andy, and I don't think it's much of a punishment." She grinned, all crazy eyed and wild. "I'm a bad girl." "Well then, you know how I'm going to punish you, Lauren?" Andy sighed. "I'm gonna put you away wet. You can go without a dose until the end of the week now that you're all wound up." "Oh god, that's cruel, you delicious bastard," she purred. "I fucking love it. But that's okay, I've earned this. And now that you're all wound up, it's time you take it out on Taylor." Andy looked from Lauren over to Taylor, who nodded enthusiastically. "This is what I want, Andy. I want my first time to be hard, rough, fucking brutal. I don't want to be treated like 'one of the girls,' because I haven't earned that, not yet." She started crawling over on all fours towards him, doing her best to keep her head raised, so she could see her face while she talked. "After the month, we can do the soft stuff. We can cuddle and lay together gently in bed and I can fall asleep in your arms, or in Lauren's. But I need to pay for my misdeeds." Niko and Aisling both sat up a little bit, although Andy could see that Niko had her hand down the front of her pajama bottoms, clearly rubbing her own cunt. "This time, I'm not one of your girls, not a partner or a girlfriend or a wife or whatever you're calling them, because I'm not there yet." Lauren was looking over her shoulder at Taylor, not moving from her spot bend over the edge of the bed. "You're already doing me a favor by imprinting me, when you don't know if you should yet. But I love Lauren. I love her so much it hurts to know how badly I fucked everything up. So until I can make that right, I'm a worthless fuckhole, a filthy bitch you should batter and plow and fuck within an inch of her life. I want you to drill me so hard that I can't sit down for a week." Taylor turned around and waggled her ass in his direction, leaning her shoulders down to make sure it was upturned, so he could get a good look at her asshole, as well as her cunt that was drenched with fuck cream. "It's yours, Master. I'm yours. Your fuckdoll, your bitch, your worthless whore to pump full of spunk and leave, sore and drenched. I know you aren't going to have my cunt until after my month's punishment, but just look at that tight little asshole I have just for you." "Just for you now," Lauren corrected. "That's true, Master. You won't be my first, but you will absolutely be my last. I will be a good slut for you, loyal in every possible way. You own all of me, from my toes to my head, and you may do whatever you want with any of it." "She talks a big game, doesn't she?" Niko said with a smile. "Whatever you want, Master, I will do. If you'd wanted to parade me naked in front of all your guests last night, I would've gladly done it. I'm not ashamed of how I screwed up before; I'm proud you're letting me make it right. You've had every chance this last week to treat me horribly, and you've never done it. So now I'm asking you, no, I'm begging you. Punish me. Fuck me. Claim me. Mark your territory. Make me your property. Own me. Use me, harder than you have any of your girls, because I need to learn to be better, to be worth better. But you have to accept me first." Taylor placed her face and shoulders down on the floor, and reached behind her to grab the well toned cheeks of her ass, pulling them apart. "I'm all yours, sir, but you need to imprint me. Fucking take me already." "You'll do anything I say, Taylor? Anything?" "Speak and it will be done, Master." Andy finally felt like he was actually in control for the first time today. "Stand up." "Sir?" "Don't make me say it twice," he growled, mostly for effect, but he could've sworn he heard Aisling moan wantonly in response to it. "Yes sir," she said, placing her hands on the ground, moving onto all fours before standing up. "Sorry sir." She kept her hands folded together in front of her, her eyes lowered to the floor. "Here's what's going to happen." Andy saw Lauren was starting to try and shift, so he slapped her ass once more, and her hips shoved forward into the bed once more, groaning, making it clear she now understood she wasn't to move without his say so. "Words are great and all, and I'm glad to hear you've learned how I'm turned on by dirty talk, but I'm going to give you a harder challenge. You need to convince me that you belong to me with a kiss, just one kiss." Taylor started to move towards him, but he raised his hand and she immediately stopped in her place. "Is there more, sir?" "There is. After you convince me with a kiss, you're going to convince Lauren as well, in the same way. But you're going to put all of that sadness, all of that embarrassment, all of that shame, all of that is going to go into your kiss with her, to convince her that you understand how badly you hurt her, and how much you want to make it up to her." "Now Andy  " Lauren started to say, but as soon as he turned to look at her, the expression on his face cowed her into silence. "After that, I'm going to fulfill my promise to Lauren, and I am going to fuck your ass so hard, it'll be sore for a week. I am going to sodomize you so hard, you'll think you've gone to prison, and you're going to have to come to terms with the fact that as soon as I cum in your ass, you are going to feel your mind being blown into a billion fragments, and every single fucking one of them will have my name stamped onto it." Taylor was shivering now, but Andy was almost certain it was with pure excitement. "You are going to wake up tomorrow and feel like a completely new woman. Ash?" "Every single sense you have is going to be on overload tomorrow," Aisling said to Taylor. "It'll be like the volume on your life is turned up to 11. Smells, sights, sounds, tastes, and touches, they'll all be in full overdrive, which means your ass is going to hurt like you didn't even believe is possible. I'm talking the kind of pain that feels like it goes down to your very soul." "And you won't be able to take any drugs for it to mute the pain," Niko said. "No aspirin, no ibuprofen, not even a stiff drink. That pain'll linger for a full day, and there's not a goddamn thing anyone can do to make it go away before it's ready." "By Tuesday, it'll be sore, but it won't feel like it's threatening to overwhelm your body. But for all of tomorrow, you are going to fucking hurt in a way that you can't even begin to imagine. And this is your last chance to walk away from it." Andy knew he was actually lying at this point. Sure, he had to imprint Taylor, but he didn't have to listen to Lauren and go at her as roughly as she wanted. If he didn't, though, there would always be a rift between the two women, and that was something he didn't want either of them to suffer through, so he was doing his best to navigate down this narrow street the two women had built for him together. "So what's your decision?" he said to her. Taylor looked up, a steely resolve to her face, one he'd seen mirrored in Lauren's face more than once before. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down so that she could press her lips against his, and in the kiss that followed, he could feel all of those conflicting emotions battling inside of her. It was the first time they'd kissed, but it was almost like it was a new first kiss for him, like he was a young man again in his parents' basement, kissing some girl in the dark while a scary movie played on the tv. She held the kiss for a long moment, the heat of the kiss turning up in the middle before backing down a little, so at the end he felt like she was trying to convey her shame at having cheated on Lauren. "Was, Is that good enough, sir?" Andy smiled a little. "And now the other half." Taylor mouthed the words "thank you" to him, out of sight of all the others, before she turned to the bed. Lauren was starting to try and turn around again, but Andy took the palm of his hand and pushed it hard on the small of her back, keeping her pinned there, and Taylor immediately understood what he was doing. She crawled up onto the bed, her pose mimicking Lauren's, bent over the edge of the bed, although to get in line with Lauren, she had to be much further up the bed. She looked painfully nervous, but reached and turned Lauren's face to look at her. Lauren's eyes were still pinched in anger at Taylor, up until their lips met, and Taylor kissed Lauren with everything she'd wanted to say to her for months now, holding onto her, even as Lauren tried to remain impassive and stonefaced at first, but melted shortly to the intensity of desperation that Taylor was giving to her. As the kiss continued, Andy started to position the players the way he wanted to, pushing Taylor as he pulled on Lauren, making Lauren roll onto her back on the bed, and bringing Taylor to straddle her, the two a tangled mess of lips and tongues, Lauren's hand against the back of Taylor's head now, keeping her face mashed against her own. Aisling could see he was maneuvering them, and hopped up, grabbing a couple of pillows, sliding them beneath Lauren's head, propping her up a bit, so that when Andy pulled Taylor down some to get her in position, she could still continue making out with her. Once he had her in place, Andy sawed his cock back and forth across Taylor's feverishly dripping snatch, feeling her ooze cream onto his thick shaft, even as she was trying to shift her hips, making it clear she still wanted to follow Lauren's rules, even now, her mind a dizzying chaos of fucknoise and lust. She reached one of her hands behind her to pull on her asscheek, forcing that pink pucker to expose itself even further. Andy lined the head of his cock up against her asshole, but then paused for a moment. That pause made Taylor break from the kiss long enough to plead with him once more. "Please, oh god please do it, Master. I've always been yours, your wanton fucking whore, I just didn't know it. Show me. Teach me. Fuck my ass and claim what's always been yours. Fucking take your bitch. Claim her. Own me!" That was good enough for him. He pushed his hips forward, feeling her asshole give a little more easily than his other girls had on their first time with him, and he suspected it wasn't Taylor's first time taking a man's cock in her ass. He felt no particular need to be exploring virgin territory, so it didn't bother him. As soon as he was most of the way inside of her ass, he could feel Taylor tense up, both of her hands clutching to Lauren's face, moaning into the other woman's mouth in a loud, muffled shriek, as her body clenched up, and suddenly Andy could feel liquid splashing back off Lauren's thighs up against his balls, as Taylor began to squirt all over the Aussie. He was tempted to ease off a bit, but Lauren had made it quite clear that the one thing he absolutely positively wasn't to do was to go easy on her, so he pushed forward until he was as deep as he could get, then pulled back only to punch forward again with a rough slam. Lauren broke from the kiss this time so that Andy could get an earful of Taylor's whorish moans, her body covered in goosebumps. "I think I'm fucking blind!" Taylor whimpered. "I've never cum so fucking hard in my fucking life oh my fucking god what the fuuuuuuck!" The Australain slapped Taylor across the face again, certainly less hard than before. "What do you say, you useless fuckhole?" "Oh god," Taylor said, as Andy drew back. "Thank you, Master! Fuck me! Fuck your needy bitch in her tight young ass until it's fucking carved in the shape of your cock! You're so fucking thick, it hurts, but your bitch loves how it hurts, so fucking rail her! Plow this bitch, your bitch, until she's cumming her brains out her fucking ears!" Lauren kissed her again, as Andy started to really rail her, shoving his cock hilt deep each and every time, making his balls slap against Lauren's sloppy twat that was still dripping girljizz onto his nuts. But Andy decided if they wanted him to get rough, he would oblige them. His hand grabbed onto Taylor's ponytail and yanked her head back hard, making her spine curve back, a strangled howl of pleasure shredding the air. He couldn't see it, but he was certain each time he drilled into Taylor, her tits were making Lauren's jiggle with them. "What are you?" he shouted at Taylor. "Ohgod," she whimpered, "I'm yours, Master. Your bitch, your whore, your slut, your worthless fuckhole to dump cum into and leave a sodden mess on the fucking floor if you want. I'm whatever you fucking tell me I am, because that's what I fucking what to be, sir." Her words were mostly squealed in between brutally hard shoves of his cock into her asshole, which continued to spasm and clench around his shaft. "Please, Daddy, let me be worthy of your cum. Your bad little bitch needs it, more than she's needed anything in her wasted life. Let her ass receive you. Oh god, your bitch wants your cum so bad it's fucking eating her away from inside! Please, Master, please, give your bitch your cum. Claim what's yours. You own this ass, this cunt, this mouth, these tits,” "I require more," Andy said, as he picked up the pace. He wasn't sure how many times Taylor had cum, but he was fairly certain it had been at least three or four. "Name it, Master, and it's yours." "I want to own that mind and that heart. Prove they belong to me. Confess." "Fuck," Taylor whined, her mascara having smeared all across her face, turning her a hideous mess, before she kissed Lauren once more, hard and fierce, before pulling her face back, looking down into the Aussie's eyes. "I love you, Lauren." Lauren's eyes instantly welled up and she kissed Taylor again before pushing her back, a look of satisfaction on her face, as she kept Taylor looking at her, saying only a single word. "And?" "And,” Taylor said, trying to trail off, a wild spike of nervousness running through her veins, before she muscled up the courage to speak again. "And I love you, Andy. Mind, body and soul, you own it all. I fucking love you, you bastard. Now please, let me, for the love of fucking god, have my fucking cum!" On that last word, one which Taylor was nearly shouting, Andy slotted his cock in nice and deep and finally let loose, a monster of an orgasm blasting a hot sticky load of spunk into her ass, and it was as though Taylor had just touched the face of God, a rapturous moan erupting from her until she forcibly locked lips with Lauren, the sound not stopping, only muffling some, as Taylor's sweat stained body quivered like it was having its own personal earthquake before slumping, almost deathly still, atop Lauren's form, the Aussie wrapping her arms around Taylor, stroking her hair, as the pint sized creature began to burble the word "imprinting" over and over again. Andy's cock had softened and slipped from her ass, as he pulled away from them, pushing them up onto the bed, grabbing a sheet, slowly pulling it up and over the two of them. "I don't have to stay here, Andy," Lauren started to say, before he waggled a finger at her. "You're exactly where you need to be right now, Lauren. Keep our newest family member safe, while the process runs its course." Lauren smiled at him, as if she was seeing him in a new light for the first time. "Yes Master." Chapter 18 The next morning, Andy woke up before anyone else. Taylor had been allowed to remain on the bed, in Lauren's arms, all night, and the two were still intertwined when Andy awoke. He suspected Niko would be up shortly, Lauren not long after that, although she might sleep a bit longer what with Taylor pressed up against her. Aisling wouldn't be up for hours. Andy had gotten decent at extracting himself from the bed, but this morning, it didn't take almost any effort at all. He grabbed some sweatpants and a t shirt, pulled them on and then moved out of the bedroom and onto the balcony, looking out onto his driveway, just as the morning sprinklers turned on, down below him. He sighed, leaning against the railing, shaking his head. "You're still worried," Niko said as she moved out onto the balcony with him. "Worrying's not going to change anything." She leaned her head against his shoulder. "Anything I can do to lighten the load?" "Nah," Andy said. "By this time tomorrow, it'll all be done one way or another. So I'm trying not to think about it." They stood together quietly for a moment, before she laughed. "Not working, is it?" "Nah," he said, joining in the laugh with her. "But I'll make it work." Niko decided to take a couple of personal days, and called in to the base, telling them she needed a few days to deal with some private matters. She didn't know when the dropoff was going to be arriving, but she figured that Andy might need some help, and wanted to be around to help him through any chaos. A few hours later, Taylor awoke and was truly in agony, her ass hurting like she'd ripped it open, so Lauren also decided to take the day off and tend to her. She wasn't actually wounded in any serious way, but as predicted, the high sensitivity of her nerves post imprinting process had all the sensations cranked up to a hundred. Andy could even see a little hint of regret in Lauren's expression before she steeled herself back up, to not let Taylor see even a moment of weakness. Aisling offered to help Lauren, but Lauren insisted that Aisling just go about her normal day, so the redhead had gone down into one of the living rooms to work for the day, although she told Andy that she'd come help once the women arrived. All the girls seemed to think Andy was walking on pins and needles, but at this point, Andy was less worried about the women arriving and more worried about the upcoming card game. He spent most of the morning watching poker videos with the hole cards covered, practicing trying to read people's expressions. He hoped it would keep his mind off things, and it mostly worked. It was just after two o'clock in the afternoon when the military truck rolled up his driveway. "Here they come," he said, watching from the balcony as they started to help the two women from the back of the truck. "Oh fuck. Shit. Shit shit shit shitshitshit!" "What's the problem?" Niko asked him. She'd come to join him on the balcony when the truck had been buzzed in at the gate. The first woman to get out of the back was the blonde Nico had described to him earlier, Sheridan, a lithe woman dressed in yoga pants and a sports bra. She stretched as she got out, folding one of her arms behind her blonde mane of hair, bending like he'd never seen before. She looked to be in her mid thirties, and certainly she was a very attractive woman. But she wasn't the problem. No, it was the woman who got out right after her that had sent him into a tizzy. "Shit, I thought you said the other one's name was Teri." "It is," Niko said. "At least that's what she told everyone. Why?" "Back when I dated her, she was going by Erin," he sighed. Sure enough, the second woman looked much like she had when Andy had dated her nearly a decade ago, with a handful of notable changes. She looked older, certainly, but she'd also dyed her hair a dark chestnut brown, hiding those golden locks of hers. She also had a large tattoo on her right shoulder, which he could see through the sleeveless dress she was wearing. It was a stylized bird of paradise, and it appeared that the wings curved back under the dress along her skin. She was a little curvy, but a bit less curvy than she'd been when they'd been together. "You dated her?" Niko blanched visibly. "I'm sorry, Andy, if I'd have known,” "No, I know you didn't know, Niko. But let's just say I won't feel bad at all about passing her on to one of the other men." They walked into the bedroom and headed out into the hallway, starting to head downstairs. "I hadn't been out here long when Erin and I started dating, and we were together for a little over two years, while I was just getting started out here, working in corporate communications for eBay while I was writing the first few Druid Gunslinger novels. She hated them so much, constantly told me I was wasting my time, and that I should just focus on climbing the corporate ladder at eBay." "You're fucking kidding." "I wish," Andy said, as they walked down the stairwell. "After that she started telling me she didn't like the way my friends treated her, which is to say they wouldn't do everything she said without question. I finally got to the point where I was so sick of her bitching at me about how I wasn't living up to her expectations that I broke up with her a week before Valentine's Day. Packed up all her shit for her and threw her out of the apartment." "That's uncharacteristically cold of you, Andy." "Oh yeah?" he said, stopping walking. "She had it coming. The place was entirely in my name, and I'd spent the better part of half a year trying to convince her to put her name down as a co renter on the lease, and she wouldn't do it. I moved out of that apartment at the end of next month and didn't leave a forwarding address, just so the bitch couldn't find me, because she kept harassing me. I didn't just move apartments,  I moved cities. Hell, I moved whole regions of the goddamn Bay. Back when I was dating her, I was living up in El Cerrito, so I moved fifty miles south and hoped I was fucking done with her." "What do you mean by harassing?" The doorbell rang, and it made Andy wince. "She showed up drunk at least a dozen times. Broke into my car a few times. Broke into the old apartment once. Tried threatening my friends to find out from them where I moved to. After that failed, she tried tailing me home from work for a while, until after about a year or so, she finally left me alone." "What a hot mess." "That's an understatement," he said as they headed down the stairs. "Yeah, let me tell you, Erin Teresa Donegal and I are over and done with, and there is no way in hell I am letting that deranged terror into this family." "Ah Andy, love! There you are!" Erin said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "I see you've moved up in the world since the last time we talked. I'm so excited to be joining this little family you've been given." "Don't unpack, Erin," Andy said. "You aren't staying." "The hell I'm not!" she said, her voice level raising to an uncomfortable volume. "I was given the option of what man I wanted as a partner, and I chose you, so it's a done deal. No more running away from your problems anymore." "I don't have to accept anyone sent to me, Erin, and I'm certainly not going to bring someone into my family who hates my friends and trashed my car." "Oh my god, are you still upset about that? It happened in the past. When are you going to let it go?" "Considering you never paid me back for the car window or the car stereo you destroyed, I wouldn't hold your breath any time soon." "Uh, are you sending me back too?" Sheridan asked, a confused look on her face, as if she realized she was caught in the midst of a deep historical squabble. "We haven't even met." At this point, Andy remembered what he'd been told to do in the instructions from Covington, and went into the rehearsed speech. "Look, there's a meeting in a few hours, and I can go and see what's going on. Maybe there was some kind of mixup about who was sent to who, so you can stay here for the night, but please don't unpack, at least until tomorrow when we get all this figured out. I should be back before midnight with some kind of clarity over all of this." While he was talking to the two women, Aisling had been using his cellphone to photograph the two for the sake of the poker game. Covington had made it clear that all the players needed to know what the "prizes" were, and so each woman was to be photographed in advance. "There's no mistake, Andrew," Erin said. "I'm exactly where I want to be." "Erin, I'm not the same guy you dated a decade ago," he said, as Aisling handed him his phone back. "You would not be happy here, and I certainly don't think the rest of my family would take to you very kindly." "No kidding," Aisling said as she scowled at the woman, shaking her head. "How could you not like his writing?" Erin sniffed in contempt at the Irish redhead. "They're juvenile, childlike stories, and nobody's ever going to want to read them." "Funny how I've sold half a million books across the series, Erin." "Children have disposable income, Andrew, and while I'm sure your little stories are fleeting distractions for them, nobody remembers them after they're done with them. They don't affect anyone. They're not literature. They don't mean anything." "Jesus," Niko growled, "I'm glad he's not letting you in, otherwise I'd probably have to beat your ass until you were begging me to stop." "I would like to see you try, young lady," Erin sneered back. She was about a decade older than Niko, but Andy would've bet on his partner over his ex."I've been taking self defense classes since I was a child." Aisling smirked and shrugged. "Niko's in the Air Force. My money's on her." Erin shook her head. "I have so much work to do here, Andrew, in teaching these girls respect and  " "Shut up! For fuck's sake, will you shut up and listen for one minute in your goddamn life, you vacuous socialite? This is my house! These are my partners, and they belong here, which is more than I can say for you!" "Andrew! How dare you  " "Stop talking! Oh my god, do you ever shut up, or are you so enthralled with the sound of your own voice that the words have lost all fucking meaning? You never wanted me, you wanted what you thought you could make me into, but whatever docile, kowtowing toady that is, that's not me, and it's never going to be me! I'm done getting pushed around by you. So don't get fucking comfortable!" At that, Andy stormed off, leaving Aisling and Niko to apologize to Sheridan and/or deal with Erin. Andy headed downstairs and into his office, closing the door behind him, moving to settle down at his desk, as his two cats, both of whom had been in his office, moved to claim his lap, demonstrating their affection, trying to soothe the temper of their angered master. As it usually did, the cats cleared his head and cooled him off. He wanted to not think about it, so for the next few hours, he just focused on his writing, getting a few chapters into the next Druid Gunslinger novel, that he was currently calling "The Dryad Always Sings Twice," although he wasn't in love with the title. Some time later, there was a knock at his door, and he sighed. "It's unlocked," he said, hoping it wouldn't be Erin. Niko moved to enter the room, closing the door behind her as she moved in. "You weren't kidding about that girl being a piece of work," she said. "How'd you two even hook up in the first place?" "I mean, she's attractive, and she took an interest in me at a time when I didn't have a whole lot of self confidence. And she wasn't entirely like this back then. The longer we were together, the more her intense desire to have complete and total control in our relationship came out." "Yeah, but pretty girls make graves," Niko said to him, moving to wrap her arms around him from behind. "None of you three have killed me yet. Maybe I've just gotten lucky." "Or maybe you've gotten more refined in your taste since your mishap." She kissed him tenderly. "Anyway, I thought I'd let you stew a bit, but it's getting time for you to head over to Covington's for the poker game. Are you ready?" He chuckled a little. "Not really, but there's no time like the present." He saved his file and shut down his computer. "Is she still being a pain in the ass?" "Nah, Ash basically quarantined them in the pool house out back after Erin demanded to see where the master bedroom was, so she could get unpacked." "Like you said, quite a piece of work." He helped the cats off of his lap and moved to stand up before giving Niko another kiss. "Thanks for keeping her away from me. You can imagine the hard memories seeing her brought up." "No kidding. I mean, the fucking gumption on that bitch." She pet Muninn for a second before Andy opened the door, and she moved to walk with him. "Anyway, I'm coming with you." "Are your sure you want to? There's a chance I won't come back with your friend." She nodded, as they headed down the hall, heading towards the garage. "If you don't, I want to be with you so you know that I'm not mad at you." Niko pushed one of the buttons and the garage door in front of the Tesla roadster. "Hop in, I'll drive." The drive over to Covington's mansion was only about ten minutes, and at least a couple of those minutes were spent waiting at the gate for Covington's security team to let them in. There was a full checkpoint, with a couple of women in military fatigues, each of whom had a M16 at the ready. Covington's mansion was far more decadent than Andy's, and as they drove up the driveway, Andy suspected that Covington might even be the founder of the enclave that preceded New Eden, when it was just a bunch of rich fat cats living in a gated community of their own devising. The house itself was some weird hybrid of European colonial tradition and hyper post modern industrialism, with a statue of Covington himself in the center of the circular driveway in front of the home. The statue portrayed him as a pioneer, with a child on one shoulder, and a dozen women laying around him, each reaching up to him like he was their savior. "Oh. My. God." Niko muttered. "This is extra extra." "Even if I have to cheat," Andy mumbled, "I am going to run this asshole into the ground." Niko immediately turned and shook her head at him. "Don't cheat. Don't. He's caught cheaters before, and they get thrown out and lose everything." "Relax," Andy said, "I don't even know how I could cheat here, even if I wanted to, which I don't. We'll play a nice, fair game of poker. Any tips from your friend?" "The only thing she could tell me is that he has a hard time getting untilted if things start going against him." Andy nodded. "That's good to know. Let's go meet the competition." The two exited the car and headed up the stairs, where a blonde in a French maid's outfit opened the door for them. It was similar to the outfit Nicolette chose to wear, except here the blonde's tits were completely exposed, and the skirt was significantly shorter. Andy was certain the girl wasn't allowed to wear panties either. "You are here for the game?" the woman asked him, her voice accented in heavy French tones. "I am. Andrew Rook." The woman nodded. "Staff and colleagues need to remain away from the card room, so I will escort your woman to join the rest of the chauffeurs." She snapped her finger and another woman, this one in a butler's outfit, except that she wore no shirt beneath the black overcoat, which left most of her tits exposed. "Amber will take you to meet up with the other players." Andy could feel Niko tense up next to him, and took her hand in his. "I'll see you in a bit, okay?" Niko sighed, exhaling the breath, then nodded. "I'm just sad I won't get a chance to see your face when you see all the other stakes in play tonight," a sly smile on her face. "That's a shame, but let me tell ya, I think you're gonna play your absolute best when you see what's up for grabs." She winked as she started to stroll away with the butler. "This way, sir?" the butler said to him and led him down a series of stairs. It felt a little like walking into a lair. The hallways were lined with expensive art, but there was no rhyme or reason to it, no sense of what was important or what had personal meaning. It all felt, well, dumped. Like someone was showing off what they'd acquired, but didn't really care for. In fact, the whole home felt like that. Like the owner didn't enjoy any of what he'd acquired if he wasn't rubbing it in everybody's faces. It made Andy hate him even more. Eventually, the butler brought him to a lounge room with a massive LCD wall filling one entire side of the lounge. But Andy didn't look at it for more than a second, because it was time to size up the competition. "Ah, Andrew!" Covington said. "There you are. I was starting to wonder when you were going to show up. I was afraid that you had chickened out." Andy scrunched his eyes. "You don't know me very well, Mr. Covington  " "Please, Andrew, call me Artie!" he laughed. "Arthur then," Andy started. "You don't know me very well, Arthur, but one thing you should learn early on about me is that I don't spook easily, and I certainly don't back away from a challenge if there's a reason to try and win." "Well, there's definitely prizes worth winning in tonight's pool. Here, Airdrop me the pictures of your stakes and we'll look over all the possible winnings together." Andy paused for a moment, then pulled up his phone, sending the images over to Covington's phone. A few seconds later, the images of Sheridan and Erin joined the others on the wall, like trophies on a wall. The very presentation of it all made him sick, but he needed to look at the faces, to establish some sort of foundation to the stakes in play. He immediately saw why Niko had been teasing him. The wall of faces was full of beautiful women, twelve in total, and both Doctor Charlotte Varma and her daughter Asha Varma were up there, although they didn't look at all how he'd imagined them. Charlotte looked European, and Asha's features were an interesting blend of European and Indian. Asha thankfully looked a little older than the 18 Andy knew she was. Both women were stunning. But they weren't the ones who caught his attention at the onset. There were two faces on the board that he recognized immediately. One of them was Emily Stevens, a British actress who'd co starred in a series of films as a teenager before becoming an L A celebrity in a bunch of well received indie

In Rising Voices of  El Cerrito's Young Poets, a Message About Resilience As our series about Californians and resilience continues, we hear from El Cerrito's poet laureate, Tess Taylor, and students at Harding Elementary School. They wrote about what resilience means to them for a recently published anthology called “Gardening in the Public Flowerfest.” For One Vietnamese Family in LA, This Broth Is Rich With Memories of Life Before and After War  Last month marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Hong Pham was only 6 years old when his family was separated as they fled Vietnam. When they were reunited in a refugee camp in Thailand, they celebrated with a special dish. For our series on resilience, KQED's Daisy Nguyen visited Pham at his home in South Pasadena where he shared memories of his family's journey, and the recipe for the dish that gave them hope. How Poetry Helps Dementia Caregivers Find Shelter from the Storm Frances Kakugawa is a firm believer that the act of caring for another human being can inspire poetry. She knows this from experience, having cared for her mother, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in the 1990s. She says poetry was a way to take control of her mom's disease and transform the challenging and sometimes lonely experience of caregiving into something positive. For some 20 years, she's been helping other caregivers in Sacramento to find resilience through poetry. Reporter Holly J. McDede brings us this story.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three California poet laureates, Fresno's Joseph Rios, El Cerrito's Tess Taylor and San Francisco's former poet laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin, received $50,000 from the Academy of American Poetry to fund literary projects in their cities. Their projects include new poetry curriculums, multi-generational workshops, and creating local anthologies. In addition to finding the next generation of poets, the laureates see their mission as creating spaces for people to reflect, connect and build empathy. We talk with them about why we need poetry now and how the artform serves civic life. Guests: Tongo Eisen-Martin, former San Francisco Poet Laureate Tess Taylor, El Cerrito Poet Laureate, edited the poetry anthology, "Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens and; the Hands that Tend Them" Joseph Rios, Fresno Poet Laureate, author, "Shadowboxing: poems and impersonations" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Birthday Erin! Our feminasty celebrated another trip around the sun with a French dinner and an encounter with the VPD. Bryan educates us on polyamorous gay quad sleeping arrangements and shares an interesting expeience at Julius' in NYC. Erin briefs us on the pro-reproductive rights bills that look like they're headed to pass in New Jersey, plus the story of a midwife being charged by Texas' Attorney General for performing abortions. Bryan shares how El Cerrito, California (with a majority LGBTQ+ city council) is creating a plan to become a haven for queer families and businesses. For this week's bonus This New Thing We're Doing! visit www.patreon.com/attitudesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tess Taylor is a self-described Poet Gardener – and if there is ever a season to feel the poetry of life in the garden and with the plants in every cell of your body, it's springtime! An award-winning poet with many collection titles to her name and editor of the life-supporting anthology Leaning Toward Light Poems for Gardens and the Hands that Tend Them, Tess is also the Poet Laureate of El Cerrito, California. In honor of Women's History Month AND the vernal equinox arriving next week on March 20th,  I thought we could all use some poetic focus. I am so pleased to share this conversation with Tess forward. Enjoy! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you so much for listening over the years and we hope you'll support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow even more of these types of conversations. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

Meet Dr Michelle Peticolas:Dr. Michelle Peticolas is an international best-selling author of Step Into Your Brilliance, as well as several other books.She is the award-winning filmmaker of Secrets of Life and Death, a professional speaker and life transformation coach. Dr. Michelle helps high-achieving, mid-life women who have been thrown off track by a major loss to release their complex grief and transmute it into fuel for their achieving their soul's purpose. Using her unique framework SERVE, she guides her clients through their grief healing, mind reset, and reconnection to their authentic brilliance.FREE Resource: The Complex Grief Assessment: 10 Signs of Complex Grief and How to Recognize ThemTake this simple quiz and in under ten minutes, you'll discover if you are experiencing complex grief, plus receive guidance on how to heal your complex grief so you can start thriving.Link: https://secretsoflifeanddeath.com/l/complex-grief-checklist/Connect with Dr Michelle Peticolas:Facebook https://facebook.com/mpeticolasLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellepeticolas/Instagram https://instagram.com/michellepeticolasYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@releaseyourlossandthriveContact Info:Phone: 510-989-5237Email drmichelle@secretsoflifeanddeath.com, griefandlossguide@gmail.comAddress: 217 Ramona Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530Connect with Host Terry Lohrbeer:If you are a Boomer and feel you would make a great guest please email Terry with your bio and any other info you would like to share at: terry@kickassboomers.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2658545911065461/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrylohrbeer/Instagram: kickassboomersTwitter: @kickassboomersWebsite: kickassboomers.comTerry's editing company:Connect to Premiere Podcast Pros for podcast editing:premierepodcastpros@gmail.comLEAVE A REVIEW and join me on my journey to become and stay a Kickass Boomer!Visit http://kickassboomers.com/ to listen to the previous episodes. Email terry@kickassboomers.com

San Diego County supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer says they are seeking financial damages for the money the county is spending to respond to the youth mental health crisis. Lawson-Remer said social media addiction is fueling that crisis. Then, a new law cracks down on emergency room attacks. Plus, St. Katharine Drexel Academy in El Cerrito is closing down despite community efforts to raise funding and maintain operations.

A message delivered in our El Cerrito campus by Pastor Benjamin Robinson.

Roger Rapoport - Searching for Patty Hearst: A True Crime Novel Nov 20, 2023Roger Rapoport joins Ed Opperman to discuss one of the most controversial kidnapping cases of the twentieth century; Patty Hearst.On the night that Patty Hearst  was kidnapped in 1974, journalist Roger D. Rapoport, was a short drive  away in his El Cerrito home. He quickly became one of the primary  reporters covering the saga as it unfolded in real time. His reporting  gave local and national readers a window into one of the most bizarre  and polarizing crimes in U.S. history. Now, fifty years later, he has  written a novel, Searching for Patty Hearst,  that draws heavily from that time. In this compelling new book, he  explores alternative theories of the crime and delves into the complex  psychology of many of the key actors in a drama that kept the country  riveted. Using the techniques of fiction, Rapoport gives voice to much  of the story that fell outside of the bounds of journalistic coverage.  "I wrote this novel because I believed the American public deserved  nothing but the truth," he says. With a wry sensibility and insider  knowledge that Rapoport is one of the few people to possess, Searching for Patty Hearst,  goes beyond the tabloid headlines to tell the story in all its depth.  Rapoport takes on such questions as: Why did Patty participate in the  kidnapping of a high school student hours before six of the SLA  kidnappers were killed in a firefight with the Los Angeles police  department? Did celebrity coroner Thomas Noguchi, whom Rapoport  interviewed, mishandle the autopsies of six SLA victims? Why did Patty's  lawyers dump her fiancée Steve Weed as a key witness at her trial at  the last minute? It's often said that fiction can offer insights into  the truth that reporting can't. If that is the case, the story of Patty  Hearst, the SLA, and the kidnapping that carved them into the American  psyche just may be told for the first time with Searching for Patty Hearst.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

After months of failed contract negotiations, Scripps Health has been removed from the Anthem Blue Cross insurance networks of 125,000 San Diegans. Reporter Melissa Mae shares what could happen next. Then, a Catholic school in El Cerrito is fighting to keep its doors open after the diocese of San Diego said it could no longer cover its budget deficit. Plus, reporter Amita Sharma shares how people are navigating dating in a deeply divided time.

A newer, safer Harborside Park is ready to reopen in Chula Vista after two years of closure following numerous problems with crime and ongoing security issues. NBC 7 viewers sent in photos of several drones flying above San Diego's El Cerrito neighborhood. The Parade of Lights is returning today, as dozens of boats decked out in holiday decorations and lights will ride along the San Diego Bay.   What You Need To Know To Start Your Sunday. 

This is an UNLOCKED episode. For access to premium episodes, upcoming installments of DEMON FORCES, live call-in specials, and the Grotto of Truth Discord, become a subscriber at patreon.com/subliminaljihad. In Part 4 of CONTRA VII, Dimitri and Khalid begin exploring the musical origins and Shakespearean career arc of the East San Francisco Bay's most legendary quirked up white boys (and eventual Castle Bank victims) Creedence Clearwater Revival, including: the murky and arguably Islamic roots of blues music in the Mississippi Delta, growing up in the sleepy post-war SF suburb of El Cerrito, Tom and John Fogerty getting blues-pilled by the local black radio stations in Oakland, John getting constantly hit on by Christian Brothers at Catholic school, joining forces with schoolmates Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, becoming Tommy Fogerty and the Blue Velvets, signing with the offbeat dirtbag cawmedy jazz label Fantasy Records in 1963, being forcibly named “The Golliwogs” to ride the Bri'ish Invasion wave, John's unfortunate stint in the US Army Reserves from 1966-68, rebooting as Creedence Clearwater Revival during San Francisco's Summer of Love, John's deep hatred of the MK Silk Topper Grateful Dead scene, his even deeper hatred of LSD, Timothy Leary, and stoner culture, his insistence that they always play sober despite CCR's tactical appeal to the psychedelic crowd on “Suzie Q” and “I Put a Spell on You”, John's assumption of full Stalinist leadership over the band, his growing anxiety that there's “somethin' missing” in Doug's shuffle beat, and the construction of Fogerty's mythical bayou from the violent fever dream swamp of the Vietnam War, the political assassinations of 1968, San Francisco MK culture, and President Richard Nixon.

Legendary Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz transversed the United States and Mexico for decades recording traditional roots music and unknown artists. The El Cerrito-based producer, who died last year, was known for his ear for music, but he also had an eye for capturing images. More than 150 of those photos documenting his travels and recording sessions are collected in a new book, “Arhoolie Records Down Home Music: The Stories and Photographs of Chris Strachwitz.” Co-author and veteran music journalist Joel Selvin joins us to talk about Strachwitz's art and legacy. Guest: Joel Selvin, San Francisco-based music journalist and author. His latest book is "Arhoolie Records: Down Home Music."

Roger Rapoport - Searching for Patty Hearst: A True Crime NovelNovember 27Roger Rapoport joins Ed Opperman to discuss one of the most controversial kidnapping cases of the twentieth century; Patty Hearst.On the night that Patty Hearst was kidnapped in 1974, journalist Roger D. Rapoport, was a short drive away in his El Cerrito home. He quickly became one of the primary reporters covering the saga as it unfolded in real time. His reporting gave local and national readers a window into one of the most bizarre and polarizing crimes in U.S. history. Now, fifty years later, he has written a novel, Searching for Patty Hearst, that draws heavily from that time. In this compelling new book, he explores alternative theories of the crime and delves into the complex psychology of many of the key actors in a drama that kept the country riveted. Using the techniques of fiction, Rapoport gives voice to much of the story that fell outside of the bounds of journalistic coverage. "I wrote this novel because I believed the American public deserved nothing but the truth," he says. With a wry sensibility and insider knowledge that Rapoport is one of the few people to possess, Searching for Patty Hearst, goes beyond the tabloid headlines to tell the story in all its depth. Rapoport takes on such questions as: Why did Patty participate in the kidnapping of a high school student hours before six of the SLA kidnappers were killed in a firefight with the Los Angeles police department? Did celebrity coroner Thomas Noguchi, whom Rapoport interviewed, mishandle the autopsies of six SLA victims? Why did Patty's lawyers dump her fiancée Steve Weed as a key witness at her trial at the last minute? It's often said that fiction can offer insights into the truth that reporting can't. If that is the case, the story of Patty Hearst, the SLA, and the kidnapping that carved them into the American psyche just may be told for the first time with Searching for Patty Hearst.BookBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Amigos seguimos en La Villa de Guadalupe y queremos llevarlos al Templo del Pocito, subir El Cerrito y ver el barco o la vela del barco que ahí se encuentra, para platicarles de todas estas historias ¿nos acompañan?

In today's episode, we hear how one studio is working to make glass blowing more approachable. Then, an update from Superintendent Matt Wayne on San Francisco's Unified School District. And, El Cerrito author Maya Ealey reads from her new book.

The week of February 28, 2024 on The Metallica Report… If you've seen a photo of Metallica, chances are you've seen one of Ross Halfin's shots.  Steffan and Renée chat with the man who's been behind the camera, capturing Metallica and pretty much every other big name in rock for decades. Ross shares stories spanning his first shoot with the guys in El Cerrito in the early '80s through today. He emphasizes the importance of trust and having the right people to work with in creative relationships. The Metallica Report - your official, weekly guide for all things Metallica, straight from the source. New episode every Wednesday. Ross Halfin Photography: https://www.rosshalfin.com  Enter to win merch pack: https://pantheonpodcasts.com/metallica Wanna be featured on a future episode? Submit your questions or comments: http://metallica.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The week of February 28, 2024 on The Metallica Report… If you've seen a photo of Metallica, chances are you've seen one of Ross Halfin's shots.  Steffan and Renée chat with the man who's been behind the camera, capturing Metallica and pretty much every other big name in rock for decades. Ross shares stories spanning his first shoot with the guys in El Cerrito in the early '80s through today. He emphasizes the importance of trust and having the right people to work with in creative relationships. The Metallica Report - your official, weekly guide for all things Metallica, straight from the source. New episode every Wednesday. Ross Halfin Photography: https://www.rosshalfin.com  Enter to win merch pack: https://pantheonpodcasts.com/metallica Wanna be featured on a future episode? Submit your questions or comments: http://metallica.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You don't want to miss this powerful message, delivered by Pastor Benjamin on Sunday, February 11th in El Cerrito, California.

A message delivered in our El Cerrito campus by Pastor Benjamin Robinson.

Searching for Patty Hearst: A True Crime Novel by Roger D. Rapoport https://amzn.to/4b5jRq8 On the night that Patty Hearst was kidnapped in 1974, journalist Roger D. Rapoport, was a short drive away in his El Cerrito home. He quickly became one of the primary reporters covering the saga as it unfolded in real time. His reporting gave local and national readers a window into one of the most bizarre and polarizing crimes in U.S. history. Now, fifty years later, he has written a novel, Searching for Patty Hearst, that draws heavily from that time. In this compelling new book, he explores alternative theories of the crime and delves into the complex psychology of many of the key actors in a drama that kept the country riveted. Using the techniques of fiction, Rapoport gives voice to much of the story that fell outside of the bounds of journalistic coverage. “I wrote this novel because I believed the American public deserved nothing but the truth,” he says. With a wry sensibility and insider knowledge that Rapoport is one of the few people to possess, Searching for Patty Hearst, goes beyond the tabloid headlines to tell the story in all its depth. Rapoport takes on such questions as: Why did Patty participate in the kidnapping of a high school student hours before six of the SLA kidnappers were killed in a firefight with the Los Angeles police department? Did celebrity coroner Thomas Noguchi, whom Rapoport interviewed, mishandle the autopsies of six SLA victims? Why did Patty's lawyers dump her fiancée Steve Weed as a key witness at her trial at the last minute? It's often said that fiction can offer insights into the truth that reporting can't. If that is the case, the story of Patty Hearst, the SLA, and the kidnapping that carved them into the American psyche just may be told for the first time with Searching for Patty Hearst.

Roger Rapoport - Searching for Patty Hearst: A True Crime NovelNovember 27Roger Rapoport joins Ed Opperman to discuss one of the most controversial kidnapping cases of the twentieth century; Patty Hearst.On the night that Patty Hearst was kidnapped in 1974, journalist Roger D. Rapoport, was a short drive away in his El Cerrito home. He quickly became one of the primary reporters covering the saga as it unfolded in real time. His reporting gave local and national readers a window into one of the most bizarre and polarizing crimes in U.S. history. Now, fifty years later, he has written a novel, Searching for Patty Hearst, that draws heavily from that time. In this compelling new book, he explores alternative theories of the crime and delves into the complex psychology of many of the key actors in a drama that kept the country riveted. Using the techniques of fiction, Rapoport gives voice to much of the story that fell outside of the bounds of journalistic coverage. "I wrote this novel because I believed the American public deserved nothing but the truth," he says. With a wry sensibility and insider knowledge that Rapoport is one of the few people to possess, Searching for Patty Hearst, goes beyond the tabloid headlines to tell the story in all its depth. Rapoport takes on such questions as: Why did Patty participate in the kidnapping of a high school student hours before six of the SLA kidnappers were killed in a firefight with the Los Angeles police department? Did celebrity coroner Thomas Noguchi, whom Rapoport interviewed, mishandle the autopsies of six SLA victims? Why did Patty's lawyers dump her fiancée Steve Weed as a key witness at her trial at the last minute? It's often said that fiction can offer insights into the truth that reporting can't. If that is the case, the story of Patty Hearst, the SLA, and the kidnapping that carved them into the American psyche just may be told for the first time with Searching for Patty Hearst.BookThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/1198501/advertisement

Tess Taylor shares the fascinating story behind her latest anthology, "Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens and the Hands That Tend Them." Tess's work serves as a beacon, urging humanity towards diversity, unity, and restorative hope. In this episode, we delve into gardening from the perspective of food justice and community building.  Whether you're a gardening enthusiast, a fan of poetry, or someone seeking to make a difference in the world, this episode will inspire you to get your hands in the soil.The anthology is available anywhere books are sold  BUT If you'd like a signed copy, contact Pegasus Books in Berkeley,  California (on Solano Street). Tess has generously offered to come into the store to personalize your copy. About Tess Taylor:Tess Taylor lives in El Cerrito, California, where she raises artichokes on the sidewalk median strip, has four chickens in the backyard, and is working to restore a community orchard. Her work as a writer deals with place, ecology, memory, and cultural reckoning.  She published five celebrated poetry collections: The Misremembered World, The Forage House,  Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange, Work & Days, and Rift Zone.  She has also been the on-air poetry reviewer for NPR's All Things Considered for over a decade. Her work as a cultural critic appears in Harpers Magazine, The Atlantic, The Kenyon Review, Poetry, Tin House, The Times Literary Supplement, CNN, and The New York Times.  She is currently at work on two plays, one of which is a stage adaptation of her book of poems about American photographer Dorothea Lange, and later this fall, she'll release a podcast called Intimate Addresses, about six extraordinary twentieth-century artists letters, with Anna Deveare Smith, and Getty. Her latest work, Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens and the Hands that Tend Them, is a collection of contemporary gardening poems, for an era of climate crisis, which includes poems by some of the most luminary poets writing today. The word anthology means “bouquet or gathering of flowers,” and this bouquet does gather many incredible offerings of poetry. www.tesstaylor.comClick here for the free How to Eat Less Water CONDIMENT STORAGE TABLE. It is a printable list of popular condiments that belong in the pantry and those in the refrigerator that can be hung in your kitchen for easy reference.Download the TEN TIPS to EAT LESS WATER SUMMER PARTY PLANNING GUIDE for all the tips, steps, and info on celebrating like a kitchen activist with your friends and family. Find gifts designed to serve well-being at the Eat Less Water Shop. Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.Reach me at info@eatlesswater.com

Legendary Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz transversed the United States and Mexico for decades recording traditional roots music and unknown artists. The El Cerrito-based producer, who died last year, was known for his ear for music, but he also had an eye for capturing images. More than 150 of those photos documenting his travels and recording sessions are collected in a new book, “Arhoolie Records Down Home Music: The Stories and Photographs of Chris Strachwitz.” Co-author and veteran music journalist Joel Selvin joins us to talk about Strachwitz's art and legacy. Guests: Joel Selvin, San Francisco-based music journalist and author. His latest book is "Arhoolie Records: Down Home Music"

The entire 7 Friday Night team opens the show on a somber note as they gather to share some thoughts on the passing of De La Salle assistant coach Steve Jacoby. After, Chace and Ben begin dissecting the loads of good football happening throughout NorCal. Ben recounts attending the Metro League classic between Grant-Sacramento and Monterey Trail-Elk Grove. They also look ahead to the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs which are just a week away before turning their attention to the Bay Area and welcoming Acalanes-Lafayette receiver Trevor Rogers. Rogers shares about the Dons' big game at Las Lomas-Walnut Creek this week, the keys to his team's turnaround after an 0-3 start, and his serendipitous middle initial. Finally, Coach Eidson returns for his own regularly scheduled segment and brings praise for El Cerrito. All three eventually make a number of picks for the week, and they don't feel great about any of them.

Tess Taylor lives in El Cerrito. The book she edited, "Leaning Towards Light: Poems for Gardens and the Hands that Tend Them" is about how to be in touch and in love with the earth around us.

EPISODE 1777: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to John J. Berger, author of SOLVING THE CLIMATE CRISIS, about the three essential dimensions to saving the earthJOHN J. BERGER Ph.D. is an environmental science and policy specialist, prize-winning author, and journalist. A graduate of Stanford and the University of California, he has written and edited 11 books, including three previous books on climate change, and written over 100 articles on climate change and transitioning to clean energy. His journalism has appeared in Scientific American, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and others. He has been a consultant to the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, corporations, utilities, and the U.S. Congress, as well as a newspaperman, editor, and a professor at the University of Maryland. John co-founded the Nuclear Information and Resource Service to assist citizen safe-energy groups and founded Restoring the Earth, to bring environmental restoration to national attention. He lives in El Cerrito, CA.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Today on KPFA Radio's Women's Magazine I will talk to Queer filmmaker Grace Anna Walcott, whose new documentary RIVER OF LIFE LGBTQI+ follows a 10-week drama therapy workshop, with 13 multigenerational queer participants, coming together to unpack internalized queerphobia and the evolution of the LGBTQ+ community and this will be shown locally at the Rialto Cinema in El Cerrito on October 15th as part of the Albany Film Fest . But first Preeti Shekar will talk to Kimberly Alvarenga, the executive director of the California Domestic Workers Coalition or the CDWC about a new domestic workers bill that the CDWC is trying to get passed in California The post Grace Anna Walcott- River of Life LGBTQI+ film, Kimberly Alvarenga from California Domestic Workers Coalition appeared first on KPFA.

Ben Schwartz lives in El Cerrito. His book, The Way It Went. It is a story of how capricious and surprising love can be and how that plays out through three generations of a farm family in the great American heartland.

Produced by KSQD 89.5, 89.7 & 90.7FM and KSQT Prunedale “Be Bold America!” Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 5:00pm (PDT) “We don't need to rely just on climate scientists anymore to warn us that we are in a Code Red emergency.” - John J. Berger The news is undeniably grim. Raging wildfires, record-breaking temperatures, monster storms, and any number of other climate-related disasters … warn us regularly that we are barreling toward environmental ruin. Yet, Dr. Berger also insists that rescue is possible. In his new book, “Solving the Climate Crisis: Frontline Reports from the Race to Save the Earth” he introduces us to the bold, practical, proven solutions that are ready to scale right now, and he profiles the scientists, ranchers, business leaders, community organizers, activists, engineers, farmers, and (yes) politicians who are implementing them. Interview Guest:  JOHN J. BERGER Ph.D. is an environmental science and policy specialist, prize-winning author, and journalist. A graduate of Stanford and the University of California, he has written and edited 11 books, including three previous books on climate change, and written over 100 articles on climate change and transitioning to clean energy. His journalism has appeared in Scientific American, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and others.    He has been a consultant to the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, corporations, utilities, and the U.S. Congress, as well as a newspaperman, editor, and a professor at the University of Maryland. John co-founded the Nuclear Information and Resource Service to assist citizen safe-energy groups and founded Restoring the Earth, to bring environmental restoration to national attention. He lives in El Cerrito, CA.   Guest Cohost: Mike Clancy is the current Chair of the Monterey County Chapter of the Citizens' Climate Lobby and serves on the Question Review Team for the Annual Leon Panetta Lecture Series.  He has authored over 100 publications and is the recipient of the Navy's highest civilian award, the Distinguished Civilian Service Award.  

Nestled into a neighborhood shopping center in El Cerrito, CA, are Jenny K. Gift Shop and Well Grounded Tea & Coffee, both owned by Jen Komaromi and her husband.I got the chance to chat with Jen in person at the Las Vegas Market, and having been in business for 20 years, she has some great tips to share.Retailing with your family is a full commitment, but Jen wouldn't have it any other way. When it comes to ordering products, creating training, menu development, running the books, and all the roles in between, Jen and her husband are sure to have a clear division of labor. Jen even shares some fun stories about her children being a part of the day to day as babies.In addition to family, Jenny K. and Well Grounded are all about Community. Jen shares how they've utilized their small neighborhood location to develop relationships, support the schools, and strengthen their business.If you haven't had the pleasure of visiting Jenny K. Gift Shop in person, you can see for yourself online the incredible eye she has for the product. Which speaks for just one of Jen's great tips in this episode: Buy for your customer, NOT yourself.Whether it's advice on digitalization and starting with a POS or a surprising way to manage stress, whether you're a brand new retailer or have tons of experience under your belt... Jen shares some great stories and tips you don't want to miss.I'm rooting for your success.What's Inside:Owning a business with your spouse and family.The value of Involvement and connection in community.Sourcing inventory: Quality and value.Great advice for new and experienced retailers.Mentioned In This Episode:Jenny K - El CerritoJenny K. Gift Shop - FacebookJenny K. Gift Shop (@jennykgiftshop) • Instagram photos and videosWell Grounded Tea & Coffee BarLincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough TimesCommerce SyncBig CommerceEVOLVE 2024 in Denver, CO - Crystal MediaSocial Media Hooks and Hacks - Crystal MediaCrystal Media InsidersCrystal MediaCrystal on InstagramCrystal Media on InstagramCrystal Media Co - YouTube

Hailing from Sonoma County, and better known in the East Bay and especially in El Cerrito as 'The Little Hill', Rachel Melby is an East Bay aficionado, and self-proclaimed ‘cool mom.' After a dozen-odd years in the tech industry, Rachel finally made her dream of working within her local El Cerrito community a reality. Rachel is a tech and marketing veteran turned Realtor who discovered her passion for helping people find their next home while serving as an undercover real estate matchmaker through her El Cerrito-based instagram community page @thelittlehill.Rachel has years of experience building strategic partnerships, leveraging data, and developing content for companies like Google and YouTube. After too much time helping big tech get bigger, Rachel dreamed of nothing more than working alongside folks in her own East Bay community.In this conversation we talk a great deal about Rachel's entry into the local real estate community as a social media expert with an already established and thriving community page on instagram, and how she managed with great care and integrity to use her community page as a launching pad into her real estate career @littlehillrealestate Rachel Melby is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE#02179456

Comprehensive coverage of the day's news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says an already warming Earth reached its hottest June on record. First over-the-counter birth control pill gets FDA approval. US climate envoy John Kerry sparred with House Republicans in heated exchanges ahead of his scheduled Beijing trip. President Joe Biden visited Finland on Thursday for a meeting of the U.S. Nordic Leaders' Summit and a celebration of NATO unity. Following the upbeat two-day NATO Summit in Lithuania, Biden criticized the Russian invasion of NATO, praised NATO's strength and shared values, and reaffirmed America's commitment to NATO, despite what Biden referred to as “extreme elements” in Congress. Actors will join screenwriters in a combined strike following collapsed contract talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, who represent the studios. California State Senate unanimously passes state constitution amendment that would repeal Prop 8. A California bill that would raise taxes on firearms and ammunition to fund school safety programs passed a key vote Wednesday. Environmental justice advocates and California residents rallied today in El Cerrito before a monthly Environmental Safety meeting to urge the state to address the pressing issues of pollution, contamination and environmental injustice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 13, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

Comprehensive coverage of the day's news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says an already warming Earth reached its hottest June on record. First over-the-counter birth control pill gets FDA approval. US climate envoy John Kerry sparred with House Republicans in heated exchanges ahead of his scheduled Beijing trip. President Joe Biden visited Finland on Thursday for a meeting of the U.S. Nordic Leaders' Summit and a celebration of NATO unity. Following the upbeat two-day NATO Summit in Lithuania, Biden criticized the Russian invasion of NATO, praised NATO's strength and shared values, and reaffirmed America's commitment to NATO, despite what Biden referred to as “extreme elements” in Congress. Actors will join screenwriters in a combined strike following collapsed contract talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, who represent the studios. California State Senate unanimously passes state constitution amendment that would repeal Prop 8. A California bill that would raise taxes on firearms and ammunition to fund school safety programs passed a key vote Wednesday. Environmental justice advocates and California residents rallied today in El Cerrito before a monthly Environmental Safety meeting to urge the state to address the pressing issues of pollution, contamination and environmental injustice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 13, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

Arquitecta por la UCV, con estudios en Diseño Urbano por la Universidad de Columbia, Nueva York. Fundadora del Instituto de Arquitectura Urbana (IAU). Directora de la Fundación Centro de la Ciudad. Presidente de la Fundación de la Memoria Urbana. Fundadora y actual presidente del capítulo venezolano de DOCOMOMO, institución que se encarga de la documentación y conservación internacional de edificios, sitios y barrios del Movimiento Moderno. Su trabajo ha aparecido en prestigiosas publicaciones especializadas nacionales e internacionales, y ha trabajado en varios libros de gran proyección como Walter J. Alcock Obras y Proyectos (1992), Gego, Arquitecto (2007) y El Cerrito, la obra maestra de Gio Ponti (2009). Un Minuto con las Artes, la Academia en tu Radio, con Susana Benko, Álvaro Mata, Humberto Ortiz y Rafael Castillo Zapata. Al aire por Radio Capital 710 AM el miércoles 17 de mayo de 2023. ----------------- Sigue nuestro contenido a través de: ▸ Instagram → ⁠https://acortar.link/67DKb7⁠ ▸ Google Podcast → ⁠https://acortar.link/8ugV9Q⁠  ▸ Apple Podcast → ⁠https://acortar.link/nEcfJN⁠ ¿Qué te pareció esta entrevista? ¡Déjanos tu comentario!

"The Bible is how the authority of Jesus is mediated to His apprentices." John Mark examines Jesus's teachings on the Scriptures in Matthew chapter five. He argues that Jesus not only views the Bible as trustworthy, authoritative, and good, but also sees Himself as the climax of the biblical narrative. Key Scripture Passage: Matthew 5v17-20 Resources from this teaching:This podcast and its episodes are paid for by The Circle, our community of monthly givers. Special thanks for today's episode goes to Brett from Waco, Texas; Sonya from Stilwell, Kansas; Samuel from Clinton, Illinois; Luke from Leland Grove, Illinois; and Joshua from El Cerrito, California. Thank you all so much!If you'd like to pay it forward and contribute toward future resources, you can learn more at practicingtheway.org/give.

Today we travel to some haunted California hot spots!   Vote For Your Favorite Paranormal Podcast: Dead Rabbit Radio! https://paranormalitymag.com/vote25/ Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/user?u=18482113 PayPal Donation Link https://tinyurl.com/mrxe36ph MERCH STORE!!! https://tinyurl.com/y8zam4o2 Amazon Wish List https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/28CIOGSFRUXAD?ref_=wl_share Dead Rabbit Radio Wiki https://deadrabbitradio.pods.monster/doku.php?id=Welcome   Help Promote Dead Rabbit! Dual Flyer https://i.imgur.com/OhuoI2v.jpg "As Above" Flyer https://i.imgur.com/yobMtUp.jpg “Alien Flyer” By TVP VT U https://imgur.com/gallery/aPN1Fnw “QR Code Flyer” by Finn https://imgur.com/a/aYYUMAh   Links: Sundiver's Debut Album “Orion”  on Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/album/7Cf75kTvlvIzFZiPYpLHUY?si=vwG7J7G9SwG0EwjvmJiX9Q   True Horror: Beware Angry Spirits At This Richmond Swimming Pool https://backpackerverse.com/true-horror-beware-angry-spirits-richmond-swimming-pool/   El Cerrito, California Ghost Sightings http://www.ghostsofamerica.com/9/California_El_Cerrito_ghost_sightings.html   SUTTER CREEK INN https://www.allstays.com/Haunted/ca_suttercreek_suttercreekinn.htm   Ghosts make Sutter Creek Inn a spirited getaway https://www.recordnet.com/article/20041031/a_life/310319984   Sinister Ghost at the Sutter Creek Inn, or Just a Lost Soul? https://backpackerverse.com/sinister-ghost-at-the-sutter-creek-inn-or-just-a-lost-soul/   10 Sonoma County Hiking Trails with Insane Paranormal Activity https://backpackerverse.com/10-sonoma-county-hiking-trails-with-insane-paranormal-activity/   ------------------------------------------------ Logo Art By Ash Black Opening Song: "Atlantis Attacks" Closing Song: "Bella Royale" Music By Simple Rabbitron 3000 created by Eerbud Thanks to Chris K, Founder Of The Golden Rabbit Brigade Dead Rabbit Archivist Some Weirdo On Twitter AKA Jack YouTube Champ Stewart Meatball The Haunted Mic Arm provided by Chyme Chili The Golden Rabbit Army: Fabio N, Chyme Chili, Greg Gourley, Vixen Wiki created by Germ http://www.DeadRabbit.com Email: DeadRabbitRadio@gmail.com Twitter: @DeadRabbitRadio Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DeadRabbitRadio TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@deadrabbitradio   PO Box Jason Carpenter PO Box 1363 Hood River, OR 97031   Paranormal, Conspiracy, and True Crime news as it happens! Jason Carpenter breaks the stories they'll be talking about tomorrow, assuming the world doesn't end today. All Contents Of This Podcast Copyright Jason Carpenter 2018 - 2023

Vahé Alaverdian of Falcon Force, along with his Harris's Hawk named PacMan, have partnered with the San Francisco Municipal Railway to deter pigeons from El Cerrito del Norte Station, where the situation had gotten dire. This form of pest management involves having a trained bird of prey fly around the area to frighten, not trap or kill.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening and other perks. BirdNote is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift makes these shows possible.

Hailing from the East Bay, Oddity is a sonic storyteller seeking refuge in the intersections of jazz, hip-hop, and neo-soul. With influences ranging from Billy Strayhorn to D'angelo, Oddity can be found wherever inspiration strikes - be it a tender touch on a warm Rhodes, a heavy dilla-style backbeat, or a bluesy trombone melody. Oddity's story is one of resiliency and rebirth, of toeing the precipice of the abyss and returning with an open heart and a present mind. Her experience as a transgender woman of color is inextricably woven into the music: at once an affirmation of life, a tear-streaked lament, a desperate call to action. Join Oddity as she discovers the beauty and cultivates peace by centering love, against all odds. Joey Escobar is a pianist, teacher, composer, and arranger with a degree in music from UC Berkeley. Growing up with 10 siblings, Joey's upbringing gave him a strong appreciation for both community and diversity. His earliest influences were the music of JRPG composers like Nobuo Uematsu, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Masashi Hamauzu, and the 90s hip-hop sounds, 70s rock, and jazz played in the house by his older siblings and parents. His latest inspirations are the classical music of Bach, Maurice Ravel, and Frederic Chopin, as well as modern geniuses such as Kendrick Lamar, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Esperanza Spalding. He currently lives in El Cerrito and is most known for being the co-composer and pianist with Oddity. If you enjoyed this episode please make sure to subscribe, follow, rate, and/or review this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, ect. Connect with us on all social media platforms and at www.improvexchange.com

On today's episode of All in the Industry®, Shari Bayer has a special “On the Road” show from the Culinary Institute of America's Worlds of Flavor conference, which took place November 2-4 at The CIA at Copia in Napa, CA, with the theme 'Africa and the World: Reclaiming the Past, Crafting the Future'. Worlds of Flavor is a 3-day International Conference and Festival that includes culinary demonstrations, presentations, panels, and workshops, plus, its famed world marketplace tastings and live fire and teaching kitchens at its beautiful campus. Today's show includes two guest interviews from the conference: first, Pierre Thiam, Chef and Owner of Teranga and Yolélé with locations of NY and El Cerrito, CA, who is a celebrated chef, restaurateur, award-winning cookbook author, entrepreneur, and environmental activist. Born and raised in Senegal, Pierre is known for his innovative cooking style; at once modern and eclectic yet rooted in the rich culinary traditions of West Africa. Pierre is the founder of Yolélé, which distributes African food products around the world, including fonio, a climate-friendly and nutritious ancient grain from the Sahel region of West Africa. His critically acclaimed restaurant Teranga, located in Harlem, NY, serves fast-casual West African fare directly sourced from farmers in the region. Pierre is the author of three cookbooks including, The Fonio Cookbook, released in October 2019 and will add a fourth with the release of Simply West African (Penguin Random House; 2023). Shari's second guest is Zoe Adjonyoh, a chef, writer, entrepreneur, and founder of Zoe's Ghana Kitchen Ltd. Zoe has been pioneering modern West African food in the form of supper clubs (London, Berlin, New York, Accra, Wales, Russia), her own restaurant in Brixton, pop-ups, street food, and events since 2010. In 2017 she released her debut cookbook Zoe's Ghana Kitchen, which was republished and released nationwide in the US in 2021 and landed her a spot on the New York Times Best Cookbooks of 2021 List. Zoe's mission has always been to bring the great flavors of West Africa to a wider audience, and her work has been acknowledged through positive press and publicity including being named one of London's hottest chefs by Time Out and one of “The 44 Best Female Chefs” by Hachette Cuisine France. Today's show also features Shari's PR tip to tell your story; two Speed Round games, and Shari's Solo Dining experience at Chef Christopher Kostow and Martina Kostow's Jew-ish Deli, Loveski, at the Oxbow Public Market in Napa, CA. Photo Courtesy of Pierre Thiam and Zoe Adjonyoh.Listen at Heritage Radio Network; subscribe/rate/review our show at iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify. Follow us @allindustry. Thanks for being a part of All in the Industry®. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support All in the Industry by becoming a member!All in the Industry is Powered by Simplecast.

歡迎留言告訴我們你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/cl81kivnk00dn01wffhwxdg2s/comments 每日英語跟讀 Ep.K488: About San Francisco - San Francisco Considers Allowing Use of Deadly Robots by Police The San Francisco police could use robots to deploy lethal force under a policy advanced by city supervisors on Tuesday that thrust the city into the forefront of a national debate about the use of weaponized robots in American cities. 根據舊金山市監事會週二提出的一項政策，舊金山警方可以使用機器人來部署致命武力，一舉把舊金山推向關於在美國城市使用武器化機器人的全國性辯論的風口浪尖。 In 2016, the Dallas Police Department ended a standoff with a gunman suspected of killing five officers by blowing him up with a bomb attached to a robot in what was believed to be the first lethal use of the technology by an American law enforcement agency. 在2016年，達拉斯警察局結束了與一名涉嫌殺害5名警察的槍手的對峙，就是利用一具綁上炸彈的機器人將其炸死，咸認這是美國執法機關對該技術的首次致命使用。 Supporters of the policy, advanced by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors by an 8-to-3 vote, said it would allow the police to deploy a robot with deadly force in extraordinary circumstances, such as when a mass shooter or a terrorist is threatening the lives of officers or civilians. 由舊金山市監事會以8比3的投票通過的該政策的支持者說，這將允許警方在極端情況下部署致命武力機器人，例如當一名大規模濫射槍手或是一名恐怖份子正在威脅警察或平民的生命時。 To become law, the policy must be approved again by the board — which is slated to consider it on Dec. 6 — and be signed by Mayor London Breed, a Democrat who has expressed support for the proposal. 要成為法律，這項政策必須再次獲得監事會通過，預定在12月6日審議，然後由市長倫敦．布里德簽署。他是民主黨人，曾表示支持該提案。 Next Article San Francisco metro system hires bird of prey to scare pigeons away舊金山捷運系統雇用鳥類天敵嚇跑鴿子 Metro system riders in California's San Francisco Bay Area may have noticed a new station guard in recent months. 加州舊金山灣區捷運系統乘客近幾個月可能已經注意到一位新的車站守衛。 A 5-year-old Harris's hawk named Pac-Man has taken up the perch at El Cerrito del Norte station, where he's on the look out - not for fare evaders, but pigeons. 一隻名叫小精靈的5歲栗翅鷹佔據北艾爾賽里托車站的棲木，牠在那裡正搜尋著－不是逃票者，而是鴿子。 Ricky Ortiz, a falconer, began patrolling with the bird at the station this summer, contracting with the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, or BART, to keep the pigeons at bay and protect commuters from pigeon poop. 獵鷹訓練師瑞奇．歐提茲，今年夏天開始帶著這隻鳥在車站巡邏，他和舊金山灣區捷運系統（BART）簽約，來阻止鴿子並保護通勤者免受鴿糞波及。 The team patrols three days a week, starting their day at the bottom level entrance before scoping out the platforms, scaring away any pigeons who are resting on a ledge or on the interior scaffolding of the station. 這組團隊一週巡邏3次，每天從最底層的入口開始，然後再仔細查看月台，嚇跑停留在窗台或是車站室內鷹架的任何一隻鴿子。 "There was probably less than half of the pigeons here after the week of us flying," so far Ortiz has noticed a big difference and said. 目前為止，歐提茲注意到一個很大的差別並說，「小精靈在這裡巡邏一週之後，鴿子數量可能已不到一半」。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1555023 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1553771 Powered by Firstory Hosting

This week we have a golf course review of Bay Area favorite, Berkeley Country Club! Located in the Berkeley Hills above the community of El Cerrito, California, BCC is the first private course we've reviewed on this podcast and folks, it's awesome! Nowhere else can you get such a spectacular view of the San Francisco Bay and its surroundings for a really good price. The crew chats about their latest round, the course conditions, facility, cost, and much much more. Most importantly, check out our sponsor, Robin Golf! For a limited time, they're offering 15% off with the code: TOSSINGCLUBS. Head to this link (you won't be disappointed!): https://tossingclubs.robingolf.com/

Buddy Akacic is a superior senior serving society with a scintillating sense of silly seriousness. He has been a mental health counselor and also managed Blues and Soul musicians in the 70's and 80's. Buddy is a senior activist in the Bay Area, supporting the mental, physical and spiritual health of seniors at the Albany Senior Center, North Berkeley Senior Center and St. John's Community Center in El Cerrito. Every Sunday, people in the community receive his weekly grassroots local news blog that keeps everyone up to date on city hall and commission/committee happenings, community offerings, and interesting ideas. Send email to buddyakacic@gmail.com if you want to be added to Buddy's Senior Summary https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/12/23/in-brief-east-bay-senior-of-the-year-to-be-awarded-in-el-cerrito/  

This interview features Zach Blume, Co-Founder and President of Portal A.  We discuss how he built a 360 monetization strategy for an early Internet video series, launching one of the first branded content studios with his childhood friends, creating one of the most well-known and longest-running digital formats in YouTube Rewind, how Portal A ended up selling a minority stake to Brett Montgomery's Wheelhouse, why feeling like outsiders is central to their identity, and what's up next for the Portal A team.Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow us on LinkedIn: RockWater LinkedInEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.comInterview TranscriptThe interview was lightly edited for clarity.Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to the Come Up, a podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders.Zach Blume:We built a business model around it that included merchandise, ad revenue share, ticketed events, and sponsorships. And so we actually ran that show at a profit, even though it was early internet video web series. And the idea was to build an entertainment property on the web that could become multi-season, could eventually travel to TV, which it did. It later became a TV series called White Collar Brawlers. It was super experimental, and I would say, looking back on a fairly innovative for three guys who had really no idea what we were doing and had no training in any of this, we built an entertainment property on the internet that was profitable.Chris Erwin:This week's episode featured Zach Blume, Co-Founder and President of Portal A. So Zach grew up in Berkeley and had a self-described normal suburban life of sports and friends. Zach then went to University of Oregon to study political science and pursued an early career running local political campaigns in California. But an opportune moment reunited Zach, with his two childhood friends to create one of the internet's earliest digital series White Collar Brawlers.After some unexpected success, the friend trio then became the founding team for Portal A, an award-winning digital and branded content company. Some highlights of our chat include his 360 monetization strategy for one of the earliest internet video brands, what it takes to co-found a successful company with your friends, how they landed a strategic investment from Wheelhouse, why feeling like an outsider is central to their identity, and how they're building towards the next massive creator opportunity. All right, let's get to it. Zach, thanks for being on the Come Up podcast.Zach Blume:It's a pleasure to be here.Chris Erwin:From our conversation yesterday, amazingly, I believe this is your first podcast interview ever. Is that right?Zach Blume:It's true. A lot of interviews over the years. Some predating the podcast era, some during the podcast era, but I'm honored to be invited onto yours. I've listened to a bunch of episodes, and we'll see how it goes.Chris Erwin:Awesome. All right, so as is typical, let's rewind a bit before we get into the whole Portal A story, although it actually starts pretty early on. So why don't you tell us about where you grew up and what your childhood was like?Zach Blume:Yeah, I grew up in Berkeley, California, the son of two die-hard New Yorkers who had moved out to California. My dad was born in the Bronx. My mom was from Manhattan. They were part of the New York exodus to California, and I was the first kid in my family who grew up in California and, of all places, Berkeley, childhood filled with lots of sports and playing in the street and all that good stuff. And the really interesting tie to the Portal A story, obviously, is that I met my two co-founders when we were somewhere between four and five years old. The stories differ, but we met in kindergarten, and we're close friends basically since we were little kids and played a lot of basketball together growing up. And the court that we played basketball in was called Portal A, which eventually became the name of our company 25 years later. The founder story of Portal A is very tied up in the childhood story of all for all three of us. I live in Oakland now, so I didn't stray too far from home.Chris Erwin:Got it. I remember in doing a little bit of research for this episode, I was trying to look up Portal A parks around the US, and I kept finding some in Orange County, so I thought you were an NorC kid, but No, you're a NorCal kid.Zach Blume:I mean, I think if there's an opposite of Orange County, it would probably be Berkeley.Chris Erwin:That's probably right.Zach Blume:But the court was actually an El Cerrito, which is an adjacent town to Berkeley, and it still exists. It's still around, and we should probably go play some hoops over there, but we haven't for years.Chris Erwin:Yeah, that'd be fun. So I have to ask, what did your parents do?Zach Blume:My dad has a business background. He runs and, up until actually six months ago, ran an investment advisory firm helping individuals manage their investments. It was a small company, five to six employees, just a great business, really community based, all about relationships and helping people manage their life and their money. And yeah, it's taught me a lot about business growing up, for sure.My mom was a therapist. She's retired now. She was a private practice in Berkeley. They've known each other since they were 20. They actually both went to the Wright Institute, which was a psychology graduate school in Berkeley. My dad was a psychologist briefly for about six months before he went back into business. And my mom was a therapist for 25 years. It was an interesting mix of business and psychology growing up, for sure.Chris Erwin:Got it. And were there any siblings?Zach Blume:No siblings? I'm the only one and-Chris Erwin:Oh, only child. Okay.Zach Blume:Yeah, interestingly, five of my closest friends, all groomsmen at my wedding, were from that same kindergarten class where I met Nate and Kai, my two co-founders. So there's definitely been a brotherly nature of those relationships. And at this point, I kind of consider Nate and Kai almost like brothers. We've known each other for 35 years, and we've been in business together for over 12 years, so it's pretty deep. Those relationships run pretty deep.Chris Erwin:Was there a part of you early on where you thought you might go into business and finance or become an investment manager like your father?Zach Blume:So there was also a lot of political kind of conversation and learning in my house. I remember from a very early age, my dad, when I was like eight, he would try to sit me down and read the Sunday Weekend Review in the New York Times. And it was like torture for me. But I think it got in there somewhere.In college, I actually studied political science and, for years, worked in the political world after I graduated from school. And I really thought that was my path, and it was for many years. I worked on campaigns. I started managing campaigns. I worked for political communication shop in San Francisco for years. I kind of burned out on the world of politics. I've since been re-engaged in a lot of different ways. But when I burned out on politics, that's when I thought I was going to go into business.I left the political world, was studying to go to business school, doing all the GMAT prep, and that's when Nate and Kai came to me and said, "We should make a web series together." Because I had a three-month gap, and it sounded so fun. We had made some stuff together just for fun earlier on. And so, while I was studying for the GMAT, I joined Nate and Kai to make this web series in the early days of internet video. And that's kind of the origin story of where we are today is that that web series, it was called White Collar Brawler. It was totally weird and crazy and awesome, and it started us on our journey to where we are today.Chris Erwin:Got it. So going back even a bit further, I'm just curious because you met your co-founders, Nate and Kai, back when you were in kindergarten, as you said, four to five years old, when you were in middle school, or when you in high school, were you guys part of the theater club? Were you creating any types of videos for your classes? There's something about meeting people early in your childhood, particularly in digital media, that I think blossoms into different relationships. So was there any kind of through line early on where you were interested in media entertainment before getting into PoliSci, which as part of your early career?Zach Blume:Yeah, I think there definitely was for Nate and Kai. There was less so for me. So Nate and Kai started making, maybe not in high school, but in their college years, they both went to school on the East Coast. This is like 2003, 2004, 2005. They started making internet, video, and web series when they were in college. And Kai was a film major, so he had some training, and they started just playing a lot of comedic stuff earliest day pre-YouTube, so quick time player-type stuff.So yeah, high school, I'm not so sure college for sure for them, at least it started building. And then, right after college, the three of us, plus another friend, grabbed a flight to Hanoi, bought motorcycles in Vietnam, and traveled across the country, and we made a web series called Huge In Asia.So it was like a 30-episode comedy travel web series, kind of just chronicling our journey across Vietnam. And then, they went on, I had to come back to the States for some work, but they went on to Mongolia, China, Laos, all sorts of different countries across Asia. That's where it really started for us the idea that you could not be in the formal, either entertainment industry or advertising industry. You could buy a pretty shitty camera, have an idea, start producing content and build an audience. And that was 2006. So the interest in internet video as a medium really started there.Then we all went our separate ways, and all did kind of normal early career professional stuff, but that Huge in Asia as an idea and an adventure was really the starting point for us. So yeah, so I would say the interest in video and film and just the distribution of it online started college years, and then the year after, we went to Asia.Chris Erwin:Got it. So just to add some context here, because I think YouTube was founded around 2004, and then it was bought by Google around '05, '06 pretty shortly after founding. So when you're coming out of college, I think this is around a 2006 timeframe, as you noted, when you guys decided to go to Asia and to do this motorcycle tour, was there a goal of, "Hey, there's an explosion in internet video, we have a chance to build an audience and make money off of this?" Or was it just, "Hey, this seems like a really fun thing to do. We're just coming out of college, we're kind of this in this exploratory phase, we like spending time with one another, let's go do this and see what happens." When you were thinking from the beginning, what was the end goal of that project?Zach Blume:Much more the latter. I mean, it was purely experimental. It was all about the adventure. I think there was a sense that we were at the dawn of something new, and I think that YouTube, Vimeo, I mean all the other platforms in the investment of history at this point, but there was an explosion of internet video technology that was enabling people like us to start making stuff. So I think there was like a sense that something was happening. It definitely was not a money-making endeavor. In fact, it was the opposite. And it was really just to experiment and play and see where it took us.Looking back on it, 15 years later, 18 years later, whatever it is, I think it's 100% served its purpose. We got our feet wet. We started experimenting. We started learning what worked, what didn't work, what audiences responded to, what made us happy. It kind of gelled our relationship as young adults versus as kids. And we never would've known at the time, but it did 100% lead to Portal A, and that's to where we are now.Chris Erwin:Okay, yeah, I hear you. I think, looking back in retrospect, it was definitely a catalyst to the forming of Portal A and where you got to where you are today, but it wasn't because when you came back from that trip, it wasn't like, "Oh, let's found Portal A and let's get going." You actually entered into the political realm for two to three years before founding Portal A, right?Zach Blume:Yep. That was always my plan, and that was the career I was going to pursue for sure.Chris Erwin:So, but the seed had been planted, but yeah, in '06, for the next two years, you become a political campaign manager. What campaigns were you working on?Zach Blume:First campaign was a Congressional campaign in Southern California. That was actually my first job out of college. We got trounced by 22 points in a very heavily Republican district by Mary Bono, who was Sonny Bono's widow. We had a candidate that we really liked, and it was the 2006 election, so it was kind of the midway point or the later stages of, I guess, Bush's first term. And there was a ground swell of just whenever there's a presidential election, two years later, the other party is the one that's like kind of getting their grassroots organizing on.So it was definitely an exciting time. It was an exciting election year. I happened to work on a campaign that was in a... It was Palm Springs. It was like that area, heavily Republican area, but I learned so much, and I was running a third of the district, and I loved it. I loved organizing. I felt like I was on the right side of history and doing the right thing.That then led to this fellowship that I did called The Coro Fellowship. I met one of my best friends on the campaign who had done the Coro Fellowship, and it was a year-long fellowship in political and public affairs. Everybody listening to this podcast will never have heard of Coro, but in the political and policy world, it's well-known and well-regarded, and that was a great experience. I got exposure across a bunch of different sectors, including government, labor unions, business, nonprofits, et cetera.Out of that, I started managing a campaign for the California State Assembly in Richmond, California, with a candidate, Tony Thurmond, who is now the Superintendent of Public Education in California. So he's gone on to do pretty big things. He's an amazing guy.And that led me to work at Storefront Political Media, which was a political media and communication shop in San Francisco that, at the time, ran all of Gavin Newsom's campaigns. He was then the mayor of San Francisco, obviously, is now the governor of California.I ran the mayor's race in Houston, of all places, elected Annise Parker, who was the first lesbian mayor of a major American city. And she was a fantastic executive out in Houston and then had a bunch of different clients, including firefighters unions, individual candidates. Ultimately, I was working for a client that was leading initiatives that didn't necessarily align with my own political values. And that was part of what led me to say I was ready to move on from the world of politics. So it was a fantastic experience, I learned so much, but that's what kind of prompted me to want to go to business school, which is what I was going to do until Nate and Kai came along and said, "Let's make a web series."Chris Erwin:Yeah. When you were working on these political campaigns and also working with Storefront Political Media, which is a national communication media and PR firm, were you bringing some of your grassroots internet video tactics to help build community, to help build influence and sway some of these elections? Was that part of kind of some of the unique flavor that you brought to these teams?Zach Blume:For sure, I was definitely the internet guy at that shop. I mean, there were a couple of us, there was a couple of coworkers who were of my generation. This was just when kind of Facebook was becoming a powerful tool for communications pre-Instagram, pre all those other platforms we're familiar with now. I definitely brought my expertise in video and the distribution of content online to that work. It was an interesting time politically. It was just at the advent of the internet as a powerful communications tool for campaigns.Chris Erwin:So then you're considering going to business school, you take the GMAT.Zach Blume:I got halfway through the class, and White Collar Brawler, that series, came calling. It was all-consuming. It was so fun. And we produced the hell out of that show, and it got a lot of notoriety. We got a big write-up in the New York Times, like big-Chris Erwin:Give us the context for White Collar Brawler again. What exactly was that project, and what were you supporting?Zach Blume:The log line was basically what happens when you take office workers whose muscles have become dilapidated by sitting in front of a computer all day long and train them to become amateur boxers. It just so happened that the two White Collar workers that were the stars of the show were Nate and Kai. So it was very, kind of like meta, we were the creators, and Nate and Kai were also the stars.The experimental part of it was shooting and producing the series in real-time. So there was an experiential element to the show, meaning as Nate and Kai were training to become boxers, fans of the show could actually come out and train with them, run on the beach in San Francisco or go to a training session with a boxing coach. We had events happening throughout the course of the show. It eventually culminated in an actual fight, a licensed fight in Berkeley between Nate and Kai for the Crown. And we had, I think, 1500 people showed up to that site and paid tickets-Chris Erwin:Was it boxing, mixed martial arts? What was the actual thoughts?Zach Blume:No, just old-school boxing.Chris Erwin:Okay.Zach Blume:It was the real deal. And-Chris Erwin:I may have missed this in the beginning. Who funded this? What was the purpose of it?Zach Blume:It was partially self-funded. It was partially funded by a friend of ours who had sold, in the early internet days, had sold his tech company to Google in one of the early Google acquisitions. So he just privately financed, I mean, we're not talking about big dollars here, and we built a business model around it that included merchandise, ad revenue share, events, ticketed events, and sponsorships, which I was in charge of in addition to other things.And so we actually ran that show at a profit, even though it was just an early internet video web series. It was actually a profitable property, and the idea was to build an entertainment property on the web that could become multi-season, could eventually travel to TV, which it did. It later became a TV series called White Collar Brawlers. And so it was actually super experimental, and I would say, looking back on it, fairly innovative in terms of for three guys who had really no idea what we were doing and had no training in any of this, we built an entertainment property on the internet that was profitable.Back to the question, I mean, that's what distracted me from going to business school because I felt like, first of all, I was learning so much, I was having so much fun creating content with two friends, and you just had a feeling that we were onto something and we didn't know what that thing was. We thought we were going to be an original entertainment company that would just make shows like White Collar Brawler, but we knew there was something. We knew there was a lot of activity and interest in this space. And so that took up all my attention and then took up my attention for the next 12 years.Chris Erwin:I will say from personal experience it saved you a couple of hundred thousand dollars and a lot of agony of actually taking that test.Zach Blume:Right, exactly.Chris Erwin:And being two years out of the workforce, speaking from personal experience.Zach Blume:Right. I know, I know.Chris Erwin:So, okay. And look, this is interesting to think about how you guys, as a founding team, were gelling and coming together. When you guys started talking, "Let's do this White Collar Brawler show as a team," what was your specific role, Zach? What was it like? What are you going to focus on?Zach Blume:Yeah, I mean, it actually reflects the role that I now play and ended up playing when we turned White Collar Brawler into a business. So Nate and Kai are more on the creative side, the creative and production side, both had experience. They had both actually before me had left their kind of "normal jobs," moved to LA, and started making internet video with a vision for again, "We don't know what it is, but there's something going on here, and we want to be a part of it."They had background as almost as creators themselves and also some training, actually with the physical act of production. So Nate and Kai were always much more on the creative side and the production side. And then my role was kind of capital B business. I was responsible for sponsorships. I was responsible for the operations of the show. I was responsible for where we were going to have office space, all that type of stuff. Basically the business side of creativity, and that's the same today. I mean, it's kind of like, it was just a foreshadow of the roles that we ended up playing as we were growing Portal A. And we've always had a super clear and complementary division of labor.I would say when looking for business partners, I think that might be, I mean, your rapport and your ability to communicate is lots of things are really important, but making sure that each person, each principal has a clear role and that they actually like that role and can succeed in that role is I think one of the keys to business success. So we've always had very clear roles. We've always liked our roles and felt like we belonged where we were. That's how it started with White Collar Brawler.Chris Erwin:That's awesome. Yeah, I have to give you some real kudos because you take very early on in your career, and in the digital entertainment ecosystem, you take an IP concept, and you create a diversified, sustainable business model around it where you have revenue coming in from advertising, sponsorships, merch, ticket sales, that's what many different IP properties want to figure out today. And many struggle to do that.Zach Blume:The only we could've described it back then as well as you described it now, but yes, that's basically what it was.Chris Erwin:Yeah, you look around at one another, you have this culmination in a ticketed event where there's over 1500 people pay to see the fight between Nate and Kai. And so you guys look around at one another and say, "Hey, we got something here." Is the next step? Let's found a business, call it Portal A and start doing this at scale. Or did it kind of just naturally happen, saying, "All right, let's find the next project and see where it goes from there."Zach Blume:It was much more, again, the latter. I mean, we did know that there was something brewing; I gave ourselves, at the very least credit for that. Did not have a business model. We did not have a plan. We had a kind of a concept and an idea and a good partnership. And I think that was really important too, is just how well we worked together.When we came out of White Collar Brawler, we had this idea credit to Kai. I believe we really wanted to do a show about whiskey, that that was going to be our next piece of IP that we wanted to develop and the concept behind the show, again because we didn't want, we were just going to be doing original series built for internet video was basically a distillery tour type show, but with a twist where there would be a membership model involved. And for anybody who was in a... 99% of viewers would just watch the show for the entertainment value, any type of good travel show that built that type of audience. But 1% of viewers would subscribe to the show and get a drum of whiskey. For each distillery that we were visiting as part of the show, they would actually get samples in the mail, and it would be kind of a whiskey of the month model married to an entertainment property.And we were coming out of White Collar Brawlers, we were visiting distilleries, getting drunk, trying to figure out this model. And we were super hyped on it. We thought it was a really interesting way to monetize internet video through subscriptions. And we even got into the logistics of shipping, and we were really going down that path, and in the meantime, we were broke, we were like 25 years old and-Chris Erwin:That was my next question. How are you funding all of this?Zach Blume:Well, we paid ourselves an extremely nominal salary. I would call it a stipend when we were making White Collar Brawler enough to survive. And then, coming out of that, we were trying to do our whiskey show, but that stipend went away. So we were without income, really. I mean, I remember going to Bank of America at some point, and there was so little... This is one of our funny stories that we tell each other. I remember this parking lot moment where the three of us had gone to Bank of America, where we had this White Collar Brawler account, or maybe it's a Portal A account. I'm not sure. And there was, I think, less than $1000 in there, and it was one of those like, oh, shit-type moments, and I remember going out to the parking lot and being like to Nate and Kai because I was always kind of the rah-rah guy of the three of us. And just, I remember basically having to give a motivational speech about that we were going to be okay, that this is going to be okay, despite the fact that we had absolutely zero money in the bank.That was where we were at that point. We were trying to figure out this whiskey idea, and then all of a sudden, because of the popularity of White Collar Brawler and some big YouTube videos we had made to promote the series, we started getting some inbound interest from brands. And that was never in the plan. We would think about sponsorships on our original series from brands, but never creative service worked directly to brands, and our first phone call was-Chris Erwin:Explain that difference for the listeners. I think that's a good nuance.Zach Blume:Yeah, I mean, if there was a business model, the business model we were considering was building properties like White Collar Brawler that could be sponsored by, in the best-case scenario, Nike or by Everlast, the boxing company, or by Gatorade or that's who we were pursuing for what-Chris Erwin:So think of title cards and brought to you by et cetera.Zach Blume:Exactly. Or like sponsoring events or merchandise or all that type of stuff. And we had some success, not from the big brands, but we had some success on White Collar Brawler with sponsorships from more regional brands, or like there were some beer companies and some smaller merchandising startups that were part of the sponsorship mix.I will say that we sent out about 500 to 1000 sponsorship emails and got about five sponsors. So we worked hard at it. And so that was the model we were going to pursue even for something like the whiskey show. We were going to look for sponsors and brand sponsors in that way. We never thought we were going to build a creative services company, meaning brands, an advertising company effectively, like brands hiring us as a service provider to create content. That was never, ever something we thought about.We started getting these phone calls. I remember being in a car one time, and I got this random call from a number I did not know, and it turned out to be a marketing manager at the Gap. Her name was Sue Kwon. Shout out, Sue Kwon, if you're out there. She was our first real client after White Collar Brawler. And we started making videos for the Gap, as kind of like a little agency production company.Then we got some more calls. There was a Tequila company that wanted us to make a web series called Tres Agaves Tequila. They wanted us to make a web series shot in Mexico about the origins of Tequila. Then we got a call from Jawbone, which was a hot Bluetooth speaker company at the time-based in the Bay Area. They wanted us to make a music video featuring a bunch of early YouTube influencers or creators.So we started getting these, we called them gigs at the time because literally all we were trying to do is pay our rent and so we could make the whiskey shows. We were just trying to get a little bit of income coming in so we could actually go out and make our dream whiskey show. And there were fun projects, and we weren't making advertising. We were making content, and that was a big difference for us. We weren't making pre-roll ads or 30-second ads. We were making web series for brands and music videos for brands and all that type of stuff. And without knowing it, we kind of stumbled across an area that was in high demand, which was brands trying to figure out what to do on platforms like YouTube and social media with video. We had established ourselves as understanding that world.So that's the origin of our branded content business which became the core of our business for many, many years was just one-off phone calls, unexpected phone calls, taking projects as gigs to pay the bills, and just kind of doing our best and seeing where it led.Chris Erwin:Hey listeners, this is Chris Erwin, your host of the Come Up. I have a quick ask for you if you dig what we're putting down. If you like the show, if you like our guests, it would really mean a lot if you can give us a rating wherever you listen to our show, it helps other people discover our work, and it also really supports what we do here. All right, that's it, everybody. Let's get back to the interview.What was the moment where you felt it evolved from, "Hey, it's the three of us rotating between gigs, hiring freelancers as need be, to what became a business, which is called a systematized and efficient way to deliver consistent quality around a good or service."Zach Blume:I think the first year was the gig model. It was just a patchwork of projects in order to generate some form of income. The second year it started to feel real. There started to be a fairly steady flow of inbound interests, and then a kind of something we be started to become known for a type of content. It was kind of humorous, entertaining, felt like it was native to the internet and to YouTube.I think in that second year was when it started to feel like a business, and then some light clicked for me that we actually needed to do some business planning and thinking, and I had no idea what I was doing. I mean zero, negative. Negative idea what I was doing. But I had grown up where my dad was a small business owner, so I had some exposure, but I just remember being it was just like a vast sea of unknown principles and requirements that I had to navigate.Chris Erwin:How did you figure that out? Did you put together an advisory board? Did you call your dad? Were you calling some other friends in business?Zach Blume:One of our earliest advisors was not a business advisor. He was our sensei in some forms in the earliest days. And this is another shout-out to Steve Wolf, who you may know, who was on the executive team of Blip, which was one of those many early internet video platforms. He really helped us understand the space.We did not have a formal advisory board. We did not have a board. And it was truly trial and error. That's the best way I can describe it. It was just using our brains and figuring things out through mistakes and successes. It is a total blur looking back on it, but I think we were a good partnership. We had our heads screwed on straight, and we kind of learned how to operate.Chris Erwin:Another important part, too, is, like you said, when you all looked at your bank account, and everyone's face went white, but you were the rah-rah guy, which is like, "Hey, guys, we're going to figure this out. Where there's a will, there's a way." And I think that's a very important role. Shout to Steve Wolf. He was one of the execs that oversaw the AwesomenessTV network when I was there in 2014, 2015 timeframe. Super sharp guy, OG in the digital space. So not surprised to hear that he was a valuable advisor to you.All right, so then I think there's another pretty big moment where your business takes an even bigger step up. And I think this has to do with becoming the official partner for the YouTube Rewind project. The moment where you felt, "Okay, we're really onto something here."Zach Blume:Yeah, it was coincidental. We were introduced to somebody at YouTube in 2011 as a three-person team that was making internet video content and mostly on YouTube. And Rewind was just a twinkle of an idea. I mean, it was like there was a minor budget. It was basically a countdown of the top videos of the year. The budget was, I think, $20,000 in the first year to make Rewind. And we shot it in a small studio location. It was one of our earliest projects, and it was before Rewind became Rewind, the big thing that many of us are familiar with. It was a major validator for us to start working with YouTube directly as a client. And Rewind eventually became a project that defined our growth for many, many years to come. But it started very, very small.Chris Erwin:From that project. You've been around for now for 12 years, being founded around 2010. What did the growth in scaling part of your business looks like? With YouTube Rewind and other marquee projects, you're starting to get a sense of what are we actually building towards. Was there a point of view there or like, "Hey, we have inbound interests, we're working with brands and advertisers," all of a sudden we're working with publishers, and were you just kind of being more reactive or was it a mix of being reactive and proactive?Zach Blume:The best analogy I can draw is to kind of riding a wave. This may resonate with you, but I don't think we knew what was around the next corner or what the next thing was going to look like. We were just building momentum in those early years and taking each project as it came. We knew we had something. We knew we had a good partnership. We knew we were starting to bring some really interesting, smart people to the team, clients that were really willing to push some boundaries. And I was learning as I went along how to run a business, and Kai was learning, and Nate was learning how to create amazing content, and there was not a lot of foresight. It was mostly about riding a wave and seeing where the wave took us. Then doing a really good job. That was really important because every project, the success or not success for the project kind of dictated what the next chapter was going to look like.So we just focused on trying to build some good fundamentals for the business, trying to make sure we were profitable because we had to be and just making work that we were proud of. That's the extent of our planning, I think, was just what did the next three months look like and how do we keep riding this wave?Chris Erwin:Yeah, and that's something I think worth emphasizing for the listeners where it's, so often people will say you have to be super strategic in planning every single move and where is their white space and how are you going to beat out your competitors to get it? But I think when you are building a small business, and this is something that I reeducate myself on consistently with RockWater, it's really about the basics, which is know your core service offering and nail it and delight clients, from there, that's really the core foundation from where you grow and where other things can emerge. And I think that's a testament to really what you guys have done for well over a decade is you know your lane, and you operate so effectively within it that is now, over the past few years, created some other really exciting opportunities for you, your success in your lane led to the investment by Wheelhouse a couple of years back. So how did that come to be? Because I think that's a pretty big moment for the company.Zach Blume:That fast-forward a bit over years of misery and happiness and everything in between. We threw ourselves entirely into growing Portal A for the bulk of our 20s. It was all-encompassing, tons of sacrifices that were made to other parts of our lives, which I'm okay with looking back. I do think that 20s are a good time to throw yourself and just be completely focused and passionate about something like this. And we built that branded business. We diversified the type of clients we were working with. Projects got bigger and bigger, Rewind got bigger, and all the rest of our projects got bigger.Starting around 2016, we wanted very badly to return to the original thesis of Portal A, which was creating an original entertainment properties for the web. That's where it all started. And we had spent so many years working with brands, and it was fantastic, and it was a good business, and we got to make really cool stuff. But we had this hunger to return to the kind of to our entertainment roots in some ways. And we're not talking at that point about TV shows on broadcast, but about entertainment that was built for internet consumption.So we started taking steps back in that direction. As we were continuing to grow the branded business and expand in that area, we were committing ourselves to the original entertainment dream and started making shows horribly oversimplified what it took to actually start doing that again. But we started making shows again. We kept the branded business running and growing. And-Chris Erwin:When you started making shows, were you deficit-financing these yourself? So you were developing them internally and then taking them out as a slate to pitch and sell? Or were these being funded by other digital and streaming platforms that were going to put this content on their channels?Zach Blume:We were developing them internally, as a kind of a traditional development arm, and then taking them out to streaming and digital buyers. We were not doing the White Collar Brawler model, where we were building properties completely independently. So we did kind of slot in a little bit more into back into the entertainment ecosystem versus building our own properties, which that could be a whole separate conversation about the drawbacks and the benefits of that.So we were finding our way to making original series, again, we hired ahead of originals a guy named Evan Bregman, who's now at Rooster Teeth who's a good friend. And we started kind of trying to build that business again, and eventually, we started to feel like the branded business was running really well and growing year over year. We felt in order to take the next step forward on the entertainment side of our business. We needed a partner.So we had been a completely independent entire course of our trajectory. We were running a really good business at the time. It was very profitable, and the growth trajectory was really attractive, I think to outsiders. And so we started taking meetings with potential partners with the idea of strategically aligning ourselves to somebody who could level us up. We weren't looking for a sale. We were looking for truly a strategic partner.Chris Erwin:Were you running a formal process here where there was a mandate of, "We seek a strategic partner, we're going to take meetings over the next two months?" Or was it, "Hey, these relationships that we create in the industry, we got some inbounds, let's take these meetings with perhaps a little bit more intent than we would've a couple of years ago."Zach Blume:It was not a formal process in the sense that we had a banker or some advisor who was guiding us through it. But it was a process in that it was fairly intentional. Remember sitting down with Nate and Kai and listing out the players in the original entertainment world, whether that was individuals or production companies, mostly who we think would be good partners for us, and starting to navigate through our network to see who would be interested in talking. And the thing that I've found, especially in that period, which was 2017, '18 was when we were starting to have those conversations, it was a pretty hot period for digital media. I think there was a lot of consolidation going on. Our experience was once we started having a couple of those conversations, and people started to see our numbers and see the fact that we were running an actually profitable business that was growing year over year.It just like word got out, and it was a little bit of a domino. And so I just remember over the course of 2017, 2018, we took like 15 or 20 strategic meetings with potential strategic partners. Again, not running it through a banker or anything like that, but just kind of word of mouth. And it was a really interesting experience, and learned a lot about ourselves and about the space. And we just really clicked with Brent Montgomery and Ed Simpson, who were, at the time they, had sold their TV production company to ITV and they were working at ITV at the time but starting to think about what their post-ITV move was going to be, which would eventually become Wheelhouse and just to immediate connection with both of them on a personal and kind of business level.To them, we looked like a really smart partner. They felt like a really smart partner to us. And that's how that started. And there were other conversations going on at the time, but Brent and Ed and eventually Wheelhouse always felt like the right fit for us.Chris Erwin:From that first meeting with Wheelhouse, did they indicate in the room, "Hey, we want to do a deal, we're going to make an offer," or did it take a while to get there?Zach Blume:Well, this story I always tell about Ed, who everybody should know, Ed Simpson, he's an amazing guy, is that within five minutes of our first meeting he asked us, "Are you Butellas?" And I was floored. I was like-Chris Erwin:Gets right to the point.Zach Blume:I was like, we just shook hands. We were just getting to know each other, but I think honestly it's a testament to directness, and I think that actually really helped was kind of just getting our cards on the table from early days. And I think from the beginning. It was clear that Ed and Brent were looking for their first partners. Brent is also like no BS. He knows what he wants, he goes out and gets it, and the intent for an investment, a partnership of some sort, was clear from the very beginning. The eventual process took very long.Chris Erwin:How long was that process?Zach Blume:I think the timeframe from offer letter or LOI to signed paperwork was about a year. But I think there was a six-month or eight-month, even maybe even a full-year courtship before that. So the whole process from first meeting with Ed, where he asked us what our EBITDA was after shaking his hand, to signing paperwork and then collapsing on the floor because we were so exhausted was maybe year and a half, two years.Chris Erwin:Yeah. It always takes longer than people expect.Zach Blume:Yeah. It's incredible. And there were multiple points where that deal almost fell completely apart. In fact, I was sure it was done. It was toast. And what I've learned from other founders that I've talked to that have done deals, whether it's a sale or a minority investment or some sort of strategic partnership like this, is every time there's a deal, it almost fails twice or three times or more.It's just in the nature of things when there's two negotiators that there's going to be some moments of staring into the abyss. And I actually haven't heard of a deal that hasn't had that. So I learned that, in retrospect, at the time, they were hugely existential moments because we had put so much time and energy, and money into making this happen and having the deal almost fell apart multiple times was, it was really intense.Chris Erwin:Yeah. After having been a part of many M&A and capital raising processes throughout my career before RockWater when I was a banker, and then also at Big Frame, where I hired my old investment bank to represent us in a sale to Awesomeness backed by DreamWorks. And then at RockWater now, there's so many variables. You have different business models, you have different team cultures, you have leadership, you have investors, and to align on, are we working towards the same mission? Do we want the same thing in the future? Do we want the same thing now when we integrate? Where are we complementary? Will we actually succeed combined, or there alternative ways to do this? And I think it really is a special thing. We read a lot of deal headlines in the trade, so everyone thinks like, "Oh, deals get done all the time, it's easy."For all those headlines of the success, there's many, many more instances where deals have fallen apart that we don't hear about. I think the best thing that you guys had, Zach, was your BATNA, your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement, but also your leverage. You had a profitable independent business. It was you, Zach, and Kai as the founders. You were growing, and you were profitable, and you could sustain with a partner or without a partner. And essentially, that led to a great deal for you guys. So it's awesome to say.Zach Blume:Yeah, it's true. I mean, we were not trying to parachute at our business in any stretch. We weren't trying to sell to then do an arm out to then leave. We were trying to level up, and I agree it was our ability to walk was good leverage for us, but we really wanted to do it because we really had committed ourselves to making this type of strategic move. I think it's very different when you're trying to capitalize on a moment in exit versus when you're trying to make an actual partnership to take the next step up in a business. And we just weren't ready to, and we still aren't ready to sunset Portal A.This is becoming our life's work. We are committed. We are always kind of doubling down on our commitment. Sometimes I can't believe I've been doing this for 12 years. It's unbelievable. And I hope that we do it for many, many, many, many, many more years.Chris Erwin:You found your magnum opus in the first company that you founded pretty rare and pretty incredible, right?Zach Blume:Yeah. I mean it's amazing, but it also puts a lot of pressure on that to fulfill a lot of parts of your being and or your professional desires. When you're focused on one thing for so long, as opposed to a lot of entrepreneurs who kind of jump or leapfrog from one thing to the next. We've had to come to grips with the fact that this is our baby, and it's continuing to be our baby. And it's a long play. It's a long run.Chris Erwin:This is actually a good segue to think about how this business is fulfilling to you, kind of over the past couple of years, some key changes that you've made of, how you're rewarding some of your most prominent team members, elevating them to partner and then thinking about what you want to grow into. So let's get into that. I look at your business. In your 20s, it was kind of the freshman segment of Portal A really starting to become into a real business. Then in your 30s, it's kind of like the sophomore years where you're starting to scale up and start to realize some pretty incredible success. And now you've got this incredible foundation.So not to aid you in front of everyone, but I think you and the founding team are entering your 40s over the next year or two years or so, entering the junior and senior years of your business. And for you guys to continue to be excited and fulfilled, tell us about some of the recent moves that you've made at the company and then where you want to go. What does that look like?Zach Blume:It's a great question. I wonder what happens after the junior and senior year sets. We're definitely at a different life stage, just on a personal level, then we were when we were on the treadmill moving 100 miles per hour in our 20s and in the kind of like the first half of Portal A and the deal with Wheelhouse was definitely like a marker, or maybe it was the dividing line between the freshman and sophomore era as you put it.First of all, I mean the last couple of years have been crazy, the pandemic, the election in 2020, there's been a lot of volatility in the world over the last few years, but what we're trying to do in the face of that volatility and kind of coming out of the Wheelhouse partnership, which again marked a new chapter for us is, create A on the business side sustainability and kind of consistency. And we've been able to do that. I mean, we've been profitable, consistent from a numbers perspective for many years, but it definitely felt for many years, we were running on a treadmill trying to keep up.And over the last several years, we've been trying to do as we enter into new periods of our lives personally, as we bring other people into the business as partners is create a business that doesn't feel like you're about to gasp for air and collapse at the end of every year, but actually create something that's sustainable and supports other parts of our lives that are really important to us. Family, having kids, all that type of stuff.I think on the business side, it's like, and I think we've done this over the last several years, but how do we move from sprinting to running at a good pace and building something that feels sustainable over the course of the next chapter of our lives as our lives change. And that's been really important, and you mentioned this, but bringing, we brought four new partners into the business. Our head of production, our head of business operations, our managing director, and our head of talent partnerships all had been with us for five to seven years each. And we made them partners a couple of years ago.We've invested in our team in a way that we always try to take care of people, but we truly doubled down on that over the last several years so that people feel like they're working at a place that they can work at for many years and feel very taken care of and part of a community, et cetera.Chris Erwin:Quick question on partnership front. So when you elevate these individuals to partners, does that mean there's a compensation bump but is also a bigger voice at the table for bigger strategic decisions for the company? What is the value exchange for that?Zach Blume:They went from kind of executives to partners. I mean, they're always executives, and I think what a partnership means is they participate in the profitability of the company. They participate in an exit. If there is a future, another deal on the horizon, they would have a stake in that. And then they have visibility into all aspects of the business and a seat at the table for really important business decisions around the type of work we take on, the type of things we invest in, the vision that we lay out for the company, the priorities for the year or for the next few years, et cetera.So it's been incredible, and I think it was a big moment. It was always Nate, Kai, and I sitting in a room, staring at each other's faces and trying to figure things out. And to bring in Robyn, Emma, Elyse, and Brittani, they're all so incredibly smart and powerful in their own ways, and it's just made our decision-making much more thoughtful, multifaceted, strategic, and I think intelligent, that group of three became a group of seven. That's been a major milestone and moment for us.So that was a big part of things. And investing in our team and doubling down on the team's wellness and creating a pace of work that was sustainable, not working over Thanksgiving, all that type, taking long breaks, giving days, all sorts of steps we've taken over the last several years to make Portal A sustainable business entity over many years.So that's number one in terms of what this chapter looks like. And I think number two is we just want to make good shit. At the end of the day, when we put ourselves in the future and try to look back on what will feel most valuable about this whole experience, what we make because we are a creative company is at the top of the list. So investing in the quality of the work that we do, investing in projects that may not be the most profitable or they may even not be profitable at all, but that are important to us creatively experimenting in new content formats, longer form, feature-length type stuff, short film, all sorts of getting back to kind of our roots in some ways as experimental content producers and investing in the quality of the work that we're making either on the original side of the business or on the brand side of the business that has become kind of central to our whole vision and identity is just this relentless commitment to quality.Chris Erwin:I want to touch on that because when we were preparing for this interview, something that we spoke about was, yeah, your commitment to creative quality and craft. Sometimes that is undervalued, sometimes that feels like it's going against the grain, and like you said, Zach, maybe there's a near-term impact where these new IP concepts, they're not profitable immediately, but there's actually long-term value to it where adherence to that mission keeps the leadership and founding team galvanized and fulfilled. It also keeps your business exciting for new team members that you want to recruit, building towards future opportunity where there can be much more meaningful revenues to generate in the future.So that's hard to do when you face kind of the near-term headwinds of those decisions, but you got to be steadfast in that it's clearly worked for you guys for over 12 years, and I think that that's just an important reminder that this is a founding value of our company and that's what's going to continue to drive long term success for the next 10, 20 plus years.Zach Blume:Everything you just said, I would like you to come speak to our company, and we can all talk about it together. I mean, that's exactly where we are at. What we'll define the next five, 10, however many years of this adventure will be the quality of the work that we're making. I don't want to speak too soon, and I'm going to knock on wood, but I feel like we've cracked the code on how to run this business well and how to find good people, take care of our people, take care of ourselves, find our lane and operate really well in our lane. And what's going to define the next chapter is how good is the stuff we're making. Is it something we're proud of? And that's both from a kind of, almost like, a spiritual or existential level, but it does layer back to business because we believe what will differentiate us is the quality of the work that we're creating. And so it will lead to new opportunity and new horizons when we're making really good stuff.Chris Erwin:Last one or two questions before we get into rapid fire and we close out here is, are there any current projects that you're working on or things that you're thinking about that maybe are good signals to the listeners of the type of things that you're going to be doing more of going forward?Zach Blume:One really interesting one is completely different from a lot of the work that people may know us for, but my partner Nate is developing a feature documentary. We've done one feature-length documentary, we did it with YouTube original called State of Pride, all about the origins and the genesis of Pride festivals across the country. And it's a beautiful film called State of Pride. It's on YouTube. Nate did a really cool, together with Portal A, did a really cool 30-minute documentary in 2020 about the response from the Trump administration to the first year of COVID.So we've definitely played with longer-form documentary projects. This project is called Fault Lines, and it is a longer-formed feature documentary about housing in America and about the shortage of housing in America, which is driving up housing costs for everybody. Kind of like the deep backstory on where that all comes from.No brands associated with that project. It's going to be financed by foundations and private funders, but we're really excited about it, and it's that kind of getting back to telling interesting stories, experimenting with new formats. It's not going to be the core of our business for the next several years, but we are going to be investing in those types of projects where we can kind of make a name for ourselves in new spaces.And then, of course, we're doing all sorts of cool stuff with our brand partners like big, splashy campaigns that are coming out later this year that I shouldn't talk about yet, but doing a lot of work with Target and Google and we have long-standing partners at Lenovo, the computer maker and all sorts of cool branded stuff. We have original shows in the pipeline.So I think the business mix for us is branded content. Again, nothing that we make should ever feel like a commercial, and if it does, we've failed ourselves and our partners. So content that is made in partnership with brands feels like something you'd actually want to watch. That's one pillar. The second pillar is original series. We just released Level Up, which is a show on Snapchat starting Stephen Curry mentoring a new generation of athletes. So there's all sorts of series like that that we're working on.Then this new area, which is short films, documentary feature films that we're investing in as a loss leader, like truly a loss leader, but as a way to diversify the type of content we're making and invest in quality like I was just talking about.Chris Erwin:That's great. You guys are doing a lot. Last quick question before rapid fire, how would you succinctly describe how your leadership philosophy has evolved now, being, call it 12 years into the Portal A business?Zach Blume:When you're building something, especially for us, we started from zero. We didn't come from the space. We didn't have any relationships. It was completely homegrown and organic. When you're building something, it's like you're captaining a tiny little ship in very rocky waters, and it is survival in some ways. I mean, it's both like I'm just picturing someone on the deck of a little dinghy in the middle of the ocean, just like yelling and surviving and getting thrown all over the place, and you're just trying to survive and make it through the first few years. And I think that was in many ways what leadership, just getting through the choppy waters and trying to grow and survive, was what it looked like for many years in the early days of growing our company.I think now that we've made it through those choppy waters and kind of established ourselves and built something that has a foundation underneath it. I really focus on sustainability and vision. And so that means creating an environment where people can be fulfilled creatively in terms of the people that they work with in terms of the pace of the work, both for the team that works with us and also for us, for ourselves. So creating that kind of a rhythm that feels not like you're like a tiny boat in a gigantic ocean and just trying to survive, but that feels steady and sustainable and solid. So creating that kind of consistency and strength, and that's one side of it. And then, for many years, it was just eat what you killed. And that was so many years of growing the company.Now it's like, "Okay, who do we want to be and who are we and who do we want to be?" And I think I spend so much time thinking about that and then communicating that back to the team and then repeating it over and over and over and over again and giving people something that they can understand and hold onto and feel like they're working toward a common cause has become so much more important now than it was when we were just basically in survival mode. So I think, yeah, sustainability and vision have become the most important pieces.Chris Erwin:I love that. Very well said, Zach. All right, so last segment from me giving you a bit of kudos at the end of this interview. Look, a lot of the people that I interview on the show, I've known for years, if not decades or more. I've actually interviewed people that I've known for over 30 years on this show. I've really only gotten to know you over the past. I think like two to three months through a handful of conversations. But I will say some of the kudos is it feels like I've known you a lot longer than that. I think we have a really shared sensibility, and I think that that's a testament to in this space.What I really like about being at the intersection of digital and entertainment is that there's just some really good people in it. And I think that's not the same from a lot of other industries that I've worked in. And I think you really embody that spirit. I think you really care about your people. I think you really care about your clients and your team and your partners, and that's really valuable. And I can even sense that in what the audience isn't hearing in between these segments is I really just love that note, how you are like the rah-rah spirit for your team. You've even been that for me, talking me up about me as a podcast host and supporting our content work where I'm going through a bit of my own existential crisis with RockWater on, I can feel that very positive energy from you, and I think that makes you a very, very, very compelling leader.Lastly, just to reiterate one of the points I made earlier, you have this extreme focus on your core service and product and on your team and doing right by your client partners. And I think that is actually shows incredible strategic focus and vision versus some really complex framework for how Portal A is going to take over the entire digital entertainment ecosystem with 10 different business models. You guys have nailed your core, and it's given you so much opportunity for what I define as the very exciting junior and senior years that are going to come for you. So massive kudos to you and the team for what you've built exemplary, and I look forward to many more conversations in the future.Zach Blume:Thank you. It feels like you understand us, and I really appreciate that. So thank you for that.Chris Erwin:For sure. Easy to do. All right, so to the rapid-fire, I'm going to ask six questions and the rules or as follows, you'll provide short answers. Maybe just one sentence, maybe just one to two words. Do you understand the rules, Zach?Zach Blume:Yes, I do.Chris Erwin:Okay, cool. All right, first one, proudest life moment.Zach Blume:Birth of my daughter.Chris Erwin:What do you want to do less of in 2022?Zach Blume:Worrying about the state of our union?Chris Erwin:Okay, what do you want to do more of?Zach Blume:Making work that we are proud of and stands the test of time.Chris Erwin:One to two things drive your success?Zach Blume:Focus and commitment, and loyalty.Chris Erwin:Okay, last three here. Advice for media execs going into the second half of this year and 2023.Zach Blume:Brace yourselves. I mean, I don't want to fear monger or create an atmosphere of angst or anxiety, but I definitely can see that there are headwinds ahead and many of us have been through these periods before, and we can make it through, but it's definitely a time to focus on fundamentals and be aware of your costs and brace yourselves for what could be a choppy period.Chris Erwin:Yeah, well said. Any future startup ambitions?Zach Blume:Not beyond what we're doing. I mean, if there's ever sunset to Portal A, I would love to get involved again in the political world. And we've done a lot of political work over the years through Portal A but at the moment, continuing to double down on what we're building.Chris Erwin:Got it. The easy final one for you. How can people get in contact with you?Zach Blume:I don't know, old school email, I mean, really old school, I guess, would be a landline, but email Zach, Z-A-C-H@portal-a.com, or you can find me on LinkedIn, but that sounds really lame, so just send me an email.Chris Erwin:Okay. I think LinkedIn is great.Zach Blume:No, I love Linkedin, but I just don't want to be the guy hawking his LinkedIn profile.Chris Erwin:Got it. All right, Zach, that's it. Thanks for being on the Come Up podcast.Zach Blume:It's been a pleasure, Chris. It's a great service to the digital media, community and world and really appreciated being here.Chris Erwin:All right, quick heads up that our company has a new service offering. We just introduced RockWater Plus, which is for companies who want an ongoing consulting partner at a low monthly retainer, yet also need a partner who can flex up for bigger projects when they arise. So who is this for? Well, three main stakeholders. One, operators who seek growth and better run operations. Two, investors who need help with custom industry research and diligence. And three, leadership who wants a bolt-on strategy team and thought partner.So what is included with RockWater Plus? We do weekly calls to review KPIs or any ad hoc operational needs. We create KPI dashboards to do monthly performanc

Many California lawmakers agree that the lack of unaffordable housing is a huge challenge, but for years they have not agreed on how to fix the problem. This year, the Legislature passed more than 40 laws that promise to boost housing construction. One law allows developers to turn empty strip malls and office buildings into housing. Other laws reduce parking requirements for new housing developments and make it easier for school districts to build teacher housing. Advocates say that though the laws are mostly incremental tweaks to existing policies, they could add up to big changes in the long run. We'll take a look at this year's new housing laws and what they could mean for you. Guests: David Garcia, policy director, Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley Buffy Wicks, member, California State Assembly - She represents California's 15th Assembly District, which includes all or portions of the cities of Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley, Emeryville, Albany, El Cerrito, San Pablo, Pinole, El Sobrante, Hercules, Kensington, and Piedmont. Alfred Twu, architect; housing activist; commissioner, Berkeley Planning and Landmarks commissions

For access to full-length premium episodes and the SJ Grotto of Truth Discord, subscribe to the Al-Wara' Frequency at patreon.com/subliminaljihad. In Part 4 of CONTRA VII, Dimitri and Khalid begin exploring the musical origins and Shakespearean career arc of the East San Francisco Bay's most legendary quirked up white boys (and eventual Castle Bank victims) Creedence Clearwater Revival, including: the murky and arguably Islamic roots of blues music in the Mississippi Delta, growing up in the sleepy post-war SF suburb of El Cerrito, Tom and John Fogerty getting blues-pilled by the local black radio stations in Oakland, John getting constantly hit on by Christian Brothers at Catholic school, joining forces with schoolmates Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, becoming Tommy Fogerty and the Blue Velvets, signing with the offbeat dirtbag cawmedy jazz label Fantasy Records in 1963, being forcibly named “The Golliwogs” to ride the Bri'ish Invasion wave, John's unfortunate stint in the US Army Reserves from 1966-68, rebooting as Creedence Clearwater Revival during San Francisco's Summer of Love, John's deep hatred of the MK Silk Topper Grateful Dead scene, his even deeper hatred of LSD, Timothy Leary, and stoner culture, his insistence that they always play sober despite CCR's tactical appeal to the psychedelic crowd on “Suzie Q” and “I Put a Spell on You”, John's assumption of full Stalinist leadership over the band, his growing anxiety that there's “somethin' missing” in Doug's shuffle beat, and the construction of Fogerty's mythical bayou from the violent fever dream swamp of the Vietnam War, the political assassinations of 1968, San Francisco MK culture, and President Richard Nixon.

Andrew Butt is a candidate for City Council for District 2 in Richmond, California. He's managing principal at Interactive Resources, his family's architecture firm in Pt. Richmond.   Andrew lives with his family in Point Richmond and has served as planning commissioner for the cities of El Cerrito and Richmond, and chaired the Richmond Design Review Board and El Cerrito Planning Commission. Andrew is also very involved in the local community through his volunteer work as board president of Point Richmond Music, which he co-founded, and serves on boards of several local non-profits, including the Early Childhood Mental Health Program, and the Mt. Diablo Silverado Council of the Boy Scouts of America.Andrew is an old friend of mine so I thought this was a good opportunity to chat with someone I know and trust about local politics in the city I choose to call home. We talk about how Andrew and I met; his father, Mayor of Richmond, Tom Butt, in whose footsteps Andrew is clearly following in many ways; we talk about growing up in Richmond; City of Richmond history from about the second world war to the present and Andrew's recollection of racial tension as he was growing up; the collapse of industry in the middle of the last century and its impact on the population; we touch on redlining; we talk about Andrew's family's history of public service; his studying for architecture in Arkansas and eventual return home to work at his family's architecture firm in Pt. Richmond; we talk about Andrew's start in community service in Richmond, the Point Richmond Music Summer Concert Series, his work as an appointee to the Planning Commission, and participation with the Design Review Board; we talk about NIMBYism and its contribution to the housing shortage; we talk about Andrew's reasons for getting into local politics; we talk a good deal about the Point Molate and opposition to Andrew's preferred vision for Point Molate from the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA, the political group currently holding power at City Council level; we talk about the Rosie The Riveter National Historic Park and other preservation efforts; the challenges of getting good information and unbiased reporting; we talk about Andrew's influences (there's some mention of former Mayor of Richmond, David Pierce) and his vision for the City of Richmond and how it might look if there were a revitalization of Richmond's downtown main streets; we go on in rapid fashion to talk about many aspects of City leadership that concern Andrew and are the reasons he has created a 10 point plan and sees now as being an important time for him to run for office; we talked about the challenges of social media and the false narratives prevalent in social media that Andrew feels he needs to address.

Formed in London in 1969, Uriah Heep released their fourth and (to this point) most successful album, Demons and Wizards in May 1972.  This album would also see the debut of what is considered the classic lineup of Uriah Heep as bassist Gary Thain and drummer Lee Kerslake joined vocalist David Byron, guitarist Mick Box, and keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter Ken Hensley to form the group for this album.  While the album cover and title suggest medieval fantasy, Hensley has stated that it was just a collection of songs, not a concept album.  It is hard to deny the prog rock feel, however.Uriah Heep is considered a forerunner of hard rock, heay metal, and progressive rock.  They have developed quite the cult following over the years, having released 24 studio albums, 20 live albums, and 41 compilation albums.Roger Dean created the cover art, as he did for a number of prog rock groups including Yes and Asia.The name Uriah Heep comes from a character from Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield"Brian is featuring this album.  Friend of the show Bill Cook joins us in Bruce's place for this episode. The Wizard Former bassist Mark Clarke and Ken Hensley wrote this song, the opening track to the album and the first single released from the album.  The lyrics are about a wanderer who meets "the Wizard for a thousand kings."  It would be the first Uriah Heep song to be made into a video.Easy Livin'The second single off the album would be the only one to chart in the United States, making it to number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Surprisingly it did not chart in the UK.  This is a common cover for party bands, though it was intended to be taken ironically.Circle of HandsThis is a deeper cut from the album, starting strong with the Hammond Organ.  With lyrics like "Circle of hands, cold spirits' plan, searching the land for an enemy,"  it is hard to not see a thread of fantasy running through the track.Rainbow DemonThis track leads off side 2 of the album.  "There rides the rainbow demon on his horse of crimson fire.  Black shadows are following closely on the heels of his desire."  This slow anthem continues with the strong organ work and combines it with a fuzzy guitar sound. ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Sitting Pretty (from the motion picture "Cabaret")  Liza Minnelli and Michael York starred in this movie based on the Broadway show. STAFF PICKS:I Saw the Light by Todd RundgrenRob's staff pick was the lead-off track from Rundgren's third album, "Something/Anything?" and was placed there via inspiration from Motown's history of putting the hit songs first.  Multi-instrumentalist Rundgren wrote the track in 20 minutes and credits the use of stimulants like Ritalin for his prolific songwriting at the time.  Run Run Run  by JoJo GunneBill Cook brings us a shuffle beat number by Los Angeles based JoJo Gunne, a band formed by Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes after they left the band Spirit.  "We're all just papers in the wind."  Sweet Hitch-Hiker by Creedence Clearwater Revival Wayne presents an underplayed swamp rock song from CCR.  This is off their last album with John Fogerty.  A restaurant called the Greasy King is referenced in the song, and that restaurant is in El Cerrito, the home town of the band members.Baby Blue by BadfingerBrian finishes off the staff picks with a song from an album produced by Todd Rundgren.  Badfinger was the first group signed to The Beatles' Apple Records.  This is the last top 40 hit in the US for the group.     COMEDY TRACK:Troglodyte (Cave Man) by The Jimmy Castor BunchThis is a funk novelty song hit number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.  The song is the introduction of a character called Bertha Butt, who would recur in other songs from the Jimmy Castor Bunch.

Thanks for joining us on this episode so we can give you some advice on your musical tastes that you didn't ask for when we become the best podcast about Metallica and the 96th greatest album of all time, Master of Puppets. And for you listeners who listen on 1.5X speed, we're still the best heavy metal podcast even though you listened faster, faster!   But before we get to the album we needed to give you a secondary plug for a 50-point shot when we take a call about holiday music. We also talk about carnivorous plants, making friends with strangers on vacation, and whether the hockey playoffs are better than the basketball playoffs. We also become the best Formula 1 podcast, when the main host gets an F-1-inspired haircut.   Then at (35:00) we treat you to a sonata of sorts when we recapitulate the theme of this podcast by talking about Metallica's third studio album, Master of Puppets. We discuss the classical music influence on this album, how Metallica interpolated David Bowie, and the greatest songs ever from artists or bands from El Cerrito, or at least from someone who ordered a piece of pizza near El Cerrito once.   Call or text 802 277 BECK.  Don't be a brat! You can email us at beckdiditbetter@gmail.com follow us on our Twitter and Instagram @beckdiditbetter and feel free to leave a review on your favorite podcast app. Please mention feet if you do review the show. If we can get "ROSIE LOVES FEET" to be something that is searchable online, I feel like this will all be worth it.    Next week we decided that we don't want you listeners anymore because you took our joy, but regardless we'll still become the best Lucinda Williams podcast when we talk about her country blues album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.

'Like You're on a Different Planet': Visiting the Mysterious Farallon Islands If you look west from San Francisco, when the fog is clear and the light is just right, you might be able to see a cluster of islands jutting out of the ocean like sharp, misshapen teeth. The Farallon Islands sit 27 miles west of San Francisco. They get their name from the Spanish word farallón, which means “sea cliff.” For our series Hidden Gems, The California Report's Izzy Bloom braved the rough waters to get up close with wildlife a lot of Californians have only ever imagined. Women Share Their Experience of Getting an Abortion Before Roe Made It Legal With abortion rights in jeopardy, many women are sharing their personal stories. For those who terminated pregnancies before it was legal in 1973, the memories can be especially painful. KQED health correspondent Lesley McClurg has the story of three women.   Blues Singer Marina Crouse Celebrates a Language She Had to Fight to Learn Fourth-generation Californian Marina Crouse is well known for her powerful voice singing the blues. Now she's got a new album out in Spanish, and it features songs originally sung by Eydie Gorme. Marina Crouse, who's based in the Bay Area city of El Cerrito, has reimagined and re-interpreted Eydie Gorme's music with her new album, “Canto de mi Corazon.” Crouse talks to host Sasha Khokha about why she decided to honor Eydie Gorme in this way.