Author: Jeff Brown

Truck Driving is Easy …

and Other Ignorant Myths

Trouble on the The Big Road: The Kind You Find and the Kind that Finds You 

by Miles Moore, CDL

By the time we’re old enough to toilet ourselves, most of us already know the basic differences between right and wrong. However, just in case you were raised by (insert some lunatic here), and are intent upon creating your own misery,   here are the basics:

1. If you think it’s wrong, it probably is, so don’t do it.

2. If it’s going to make someone else cry, it’s probably bad, so don’t do it.

3. If there’s a chance that it’s going to make you feel unusually good now, but unusually bad later, it’s probably actually REALLY bad for you or somebody else, so don’t do it.

5. If it puts anyone’s general well-being in danger, then it’s probably bad, so don’t do it. This applies to you, or anyone who looks another oxygen breathing human being.

4. If it costs a lot of money right now and isn’t something that you can talk about in church, at Thanksgiving dinner, or in front of someone you respect, it’s probably not something that will benefit you down the road, therefore it’s probably bad, so don’t do it.

6. If it SEEMS bad, then there’s a good chance that it’s either against the law, SHOULD be against the law, or will make another reasonable person feel bad, then it’s probably bad, so don’t do it.

And finally…

7. Don’t do anything to anyone you wouldn’t want them pulling on you. (*Google “The Golden Rule”. It used to be a common thing, but began to fade into obscurity about the same time morons began running everything. And actually, if you skipped to number 7, then you’ll be fine.)

You may be able to see a pattern developing here. These are rules for everyday life, and being out on The Big Road underscores their validity. Unless you’re a team driver, you’re always going to be out here on your own. You make mistakes, and you have to answer for them. Even if you’re a team driver, any mistakes that you make against the law will have to be your own. It’s your CDL on the line, and therefore your way of providing for the ones you love will be in jeopardy.

If you’ve never been out on the road but still are over age 30, then you’ve probably realized that the world can be a pretty mean place, even if you’re minding your own business. Sure enough, there are a lot of good folks out there on The Big Road, but surer still, there will be times that trouble seeks you out. Yup, ‘caca happens’, and the caca which will FIND YOU, will be unavoidable and unimaginable. 

As a trucker you’ll deal with a variety of people who will spin an unending and unpredictable series of events the variety of which cannot be imagined. Mechanical difficulties alone could fill an encyclopedia.  Even with a new truck, things will break, blow out, wear out, fall out, split, chip, crack and mangle under the torturing demands of The Big Road. And that’s on a good day, when you haven’t hit anyone and no one has hit you. Murphy’s Law applies here. In spades. 

Add to this every kind of weather, personal health problem, family issue, law enforcement bully and roving lunatic you will encounter, and … well, you can see where this is going as well.

Stories abound about the Outlaw Truckers of the 60s and 70s, when drugs and alcohol were an accepted part of the industry. Many old time drivers were often EXPECTED to take amphetamines of every stripe in order to drive as long as possible without a break. Their livelihoods “depended” upon it, they’d insist. Trucking companies truly did expect them to drive as long as they possibly could. Log books were a wink and a joke, if they even kept them at all. Some claimed it was just easier to throw the whole paper chase out the window and gamble on getting caught. It’s more cost effective, they’d argue, to pay the fine and keep driving.

This is not the memoir of a person who lived that lifestyle, therefore my narrative of such times ends here. Not having ever been a part of that culture, I am unable to address these claims. Any stories I could pass on would merely be secondhand or hearsay, so I will not pass them along. All I may offer is the general observation that most widely related tales often contain at least a grain of truth, and too many people who DID live that life lived long enough afterward to make those claims.  The tales are fun hear sometimes; sometimes not even that. This book is not the venue for such wild claims, folk stories or tall tales. Truck stops are good places for that. Nursing homes are not, because most truck drivers don’t live long enough to get old. Sad but true. One thing you’ll never see online is a URL for an old trucker’s home. They ain’t no old truckers, folksies. Just as sure as there ain’t no cash if the wheels don’t roll. 

At least you’ll have your… pay?

If you’re a basically healthy person, have no fear because driving a truck will take care of that soon enough. An independent study recently showed that driving a truck shortens one’s life expectancy an average of 15 years over the long haul, as it were. So If you were planning on living to be 80, then cut it back to 65. If you’re shooting for the Biblical ‘three score and ten’ then plan on 55. Etc.

I personally believe that this is very optimistic. I say that trucker timelines would more properly be measured in Dog Years.  It’s just too rough on you, folks. You’ll never get another real night’s sleep on the road. Your body will never adjust. There’s just no way to dial-in to the erratic sleep, traffic, break downs, poor food quality, CRAZY hours, rapid and frequent weather changes and STRESS in general. You’ll age faster than an alleged Muslim President. If you want to live to be 100 –  or perhaps 60 –  then don’t do it. Sure, you may live a long time, but the quality of life is probably going to be severely lacking.

BUT, if you must pound the pavement now, and chances are you’re going to, then take the following bits of friendly advice to help you save your health.

1. Don’t go out if you’re sick.  That is to say if you have a weak heart, severe diabetes, kidney problems or any other serious health issue, then find another way to make a living. You’re going to be very uncomfortable on any given GOOD day, and compounding that with health issues will make you miserable; okay MORE miserable. Don’t do it.

2.  SuperTruckers get sick too. Don’t be a Tough Guy.  If you fall seriously ill out on the road, best thing to do is find a safe  truck stop with plenty of adequate parking. If you’re well enough to do so, then call either a taxi to take you to the doctor, or an ambulance depending on the severity of your condition. If you’re NOT well enough, tell somebody at the truck stop that you’re sick and you need help. Other truckers will help you (see, The Brotherhood), and so will the good folks that run the truck stops. They’ve seen it all. Trust me, anyone who has witnessed the whale-like carcass of  a dead trucker being scooped out of his sleeper after a week in the August sun… well, they will want to make sure they don’t see any more of them.

Again, get a ride somehow. Don’t do it yourself. Sure, you can drop your trailer and ‘bobtail’ (drive without a trailer) into the given health facility, but it’s not advisable for a number of reasons. One being that an unhooked trailer is an easily recognizable target for thieves. They stand out like a sore thumb. Another is that most truck stops won’t allow your trailers to remain there unhooked at all, and almost certainly not without a dropped trailer fee. Everybody needs their cut and you’re taking up valuable real estate in their parking lot, so you gotta pay. Don’t chance it. By and large, the management at truck stops really are good people, but also good business people, and you’re taking up valuable sleeping space for the next guy who’s just spent 14 hours out there. Truck stop management knows this, so they’re not afraid to have your trailer towed by a wrecker service to a convenient impound lot (that they might also own) just down the street. Don’t leave your trailer unhooked, unlocked and preferably not unattended. If you have to go because you’re unwell, leave your tractor hooked to the trailer, call a cab or ambulance and take care of business. Truck drivers make a good living, so don’t skimp on yourself. Pay the fee, go see the doctor.  The good folks at the truck stop will help you find what you need.

3. Good medicine is Good Medicine. Plenty of people out on The Big Road have to take medicine.

• Remember that you have to have your prescription bottles with you in the truck at all times. They have to be the original prescription bottles issued by the pharmacy. A snitty cop can make your life miserable if you have different kinds of drugs in one bottle, or even bottles with your wife’s name on them. In any case, really about the best thing you can do is hide your medicine in the truck, even though you could probably drive for an entire career and never hit a snag. In the unlikely event that you’re going to be searched, it’s going to take a real asshole to want to throw you under the wheels for having your blood pressure medicine in the same bottle as your FloMax. However, make no mistake, there are plenty of assholes out there. Hide the meds. It’s just easier.
• DO NOT take unprescribed meds with you. If you need them that bad you can get your own script. If you’re just partying with them, then sober up or stay home and party with your worthless friends. The Big Road is no place for you and you’re giving the rest of us a bad name.
• DO NOT take pain meds with you. If you’re in that kind of pain, you should retire, find another way to make a living, or at least stay home ‘til you get straightened out. Pain meds make you dull, sleepy, cranky and inept. Don’t even drive to the pharmacy if you’re on them because you can lose your CDL if you’re found to be impaired.
• DO NOT take over the counter medicines that will make you drowsy like cold meds, allergy meds, etc. Don’t even keep them in the truck with you.  If SuperTrooper finds them on the dash or wherever, she can ground you immediately, and so can your company. They take this stuff seriously.
• DO NOT bring illegal drugs on The Big Road.  If by this point in your reading you’re even CONSIDERING bringing illegal drugs out on your truck, you’re a freakin’ idiot and you should be shot right now. So put down the book, go home, stick your head in the oven and do us all a favor. *HINT* It really needs to be a gas oven. Either natural gas or propane gas will work nicely. An electric oven will just bake your head, and that will take too long. Illegal drugs are stupid. Don’t do them under any circumstances.
• Be sure to check with your company about their policies for prescription medications as well as OTC drugs. Every reputable company is basically the same, but there can be subtle differences. If you’re considering buying your own truck without driving for someone else first, see above hint about gas ovens.

Miles Moore is the pen name for an internationally recognized novelist, screenwriter and erstwhile lifestyle raconteur. He currently is semi-retired and concentrating on his developing an artificial heart for the third world market. Hear him and friend Matt “MadMan” Mayo on their weekly podcast at www.drjeffreyandthemadman.com.

“Why are we here?”

The Existential Trucker

by Miles Moore

Humans have been asking this question since we figured out that there are other places TO be. Other planets. Other galaxies far, far away, other dimensions and so forth. According to the lovely woman who serves as my love interest, that’s called “existentialism”. That’s a mighty long word for something that means “why am I here?”. But I have to brag on my future wife a little. You see, she went all the way through a big city junior college right here in Oklahoma, so she’s a high intellectual. I can’t compete with that.

So, I guess what I’m going to concentrate on here is the lingering question of why I am here. Me personally, that is.

Why am I writing this book, in this period of my life when a lot of people are thinking about retiring? And why am I doing it with a paltry 600,000 miles ? That few ticks of the odo would be considered something akin to apprentice level in a respectable career full of tough professionals.

Why, indeed …

Well, I reckon it’s because of what Garth Brooks might call, a chain of events. I myself had the great opportunity to go to a very fine school. With a LOT of help from my wonderful parents, I worked my way through as a waiter, a pizza parlor worker, an auto parts counter man and a beer delivery driver. Got myself an education in journalism, and that afforded me a living as a new graduate with a beginning salary of just under $13,000. A year. Yeah, it was nothing those decades ago either. So I continued my career as a freelance writer, working many “Joe Jobs”, doing the tour through retail, food service, servicing cars, mopping bars and doing whatever I could find until my ship came in. Unfortunately, few “ships” came to port for the middle class during Reagan-omics. Even if / when mine did, I was probably hanging out at the bus station.

So, in the words of the great Ernest T. Bass, ” First one thing, then another happened,” and life kept on a’goin’.

For awhile I continued wandering through the service industry, then landed in a job teaching high school English to the Hillbilly masses. It was a wonderful, horrible, thankless job that I will never forget. I could never return to it, but I wouldn’t trade it for another career with half the heartache. But after several years and a heart attack at age 45, I decided it might be time to get away from people for awhile. Where could I work where I wouldn’t have to deal with people much? Where could I put in my dozen hours a day, at once working hard, but also not having to work with those who would drive me crazy… ?

After several weeks of doing what you’ve been doing, (we’ll come back to that again later), Trucking seemed the best answer. So I took my remaining summer pay and enrolled in a truck driving school well known for its asshole instructors and their coarse-but-effective courses. This locus of higher lernin’ was located on an abandoned WWII air base, surrounded by a sprawling inland ocean of ancient Arkansas bayous. Local commerce depended upon welfare and controlled dangerous substances, but since before Abolition, it had been gerrymandered with vast expanses of top grade river bottom land. The great slave drivers of the day turned that black dirt into cotton fields, and meandering rice paddies situated cleverly among the never-dry backwaters. It’s big there today as well. Well, they get a lot of good from the recreation it brings there too. When the smooth-mouthed locals get bored with hunting, fishing and tattooing NRA slogans on each other’s faces, they take to the wetlands for date nights with Thelma Lou. A classy night time activity consists of a mass wade-out among the ancient Goliath cypresses. The ones who don’t get too drunk or drown stick around to chastise the coach whip sized cotton mouths and cook meth. I’ll spare you the real name of that gleaming burg.

Glen Campbell and Mary Steenburgen are claimed to admitting to it being home for some reason. But those good country folk ain’t the area’s most impressive natural product. This caca hole should be red marked on the map for having the biggest skeeters this side of the Mekong Delta. Seriously. The local city handlers had hired contractors who drove around every evening fogging the air for the gigantic bloodsucking bastards, but it seemed to do little good. I think the really tough ones snorted the bug tonic before eating the littler ones. Late at night when traffic died down you can hear them droning all over the bayou; plotting and scheming to overthrow humanity. Monsters.

Anyway…

It should be said that no one needs to consider a career with a CDL unless you’ve been through a reputable trucking school. You’re going to learn a great deal about the industry into which you’ve thrown yourself, and the people who are taking a chance on hiring you. Those very folks are going to insist that you pass a trucking school because they probably can no longer insure you without it. Some of the better companies will send you to school themselves if you sign a contract of indenturement. This means you agree to work for them for a period of a year or two after you’ve graduated in exchange for them paying for your schooling. That helps to make sure that they get drivers who will stick with them for at least until they burn out and quit, or decide that this life is for them forever. It’s really a good deal for both sides, but you need to shop around. The Captain and Tenille were right. Before your time, eh? I could have said Neil Sedaka.

Anyhow… go to trucking school. Don’t Eeeven try to get a driving job without it. They won’t even talk to you and you’ll just wind up embarassing yourself. It’s well worth your time, and it’s a month that you’ll never forget.

I’ll get to a more detailed account of my own experiences as a student trucker later down the road. Pun intended. But right now, it’s back to the “why am I here” part.

How does anyone come to be a trucker? I suppose its within us all to want to be in one of the big rigs, booming across the nation in the biggest thing on the highway. What we see is a gleaming land train full of potential, and the freedom to do what we want. Why are we so fascinated with trucks anyway? It’s my guess that it’s a further extension of man’s relationship with the great beasts. Thousands of years before machinery, it was oxen, asses and horses of every imaginable type. Hannibal crossed the Alps on elephants. And when Christ came to town, He rode on a donkey colt. Once Hank Ford came on the scene, he made cars affordable, then trucks of every needed size right behind them. Two world wars perfected the engineering of our petroleum fed work hosses , then a legion of geniuses from Cummins, Caterpillar and Detroit honed the diesel engine into the work horses of our day. The love we hold for our steel beasts of burden is the stuff of legend and lore. We each have our favorites, but we worship them all, whether they are our pocket sized Toyotas, Grampa’s rattle trap 59 Chevy, or the titanically lifted four wheel drive monstrosities that the 1980s brought us. We groom them, wash them, feed and water them well. We keep them shod with the finest rubber, covered in expensive stable-like garages and put only the highest grade fuels in their tanks to enhance their performances. The greatest difference between our mechanical beasts today and those of our forebears is that we don’t have to feed ours every day if we don’t use them, and they’ll last basically until the end of time if we just keep them greased, oiled and in the barn.

Hell, chances are good that they’ll even out last the barn.

We are here at least in part due to that love for the great beasts that is somehow part of our human DNA; a symbiosis of purpose since pre-prehistoric times. But this time we’ve come back to this partnership through need; not because we have to have one of them in our lives – no.

This time we’re doing it mostly… because Truck Driving is Easy.

Miles Moore is a second generation trucker whose grandfathers never had a driver’s license. Neither of them. He is addicted to diesel smoke, fried foods and the smell of new rubber truck tires on a waxed showroom floor.

So… You want to be a long haul truck driver? 
Over the Road. 
Coast to Coast. 
Whatever you care to label it, you want it, and you’re obsessed with it. You’ve been thinking, pining, DREAMING of this, for months or maybe even years. Obsession really falls short as a description, considering the time time you’ve been studying it in your own self-styled way. 
You surf the internet endlessly in your spare time, clinging to bits of whatever trucking trivia that catches your fancy. There’s probably a whole folder on your laptop crammed with it all. You have tons of stories, pictures, links and other bits of trucker-dom that you’ve accumulated like some sort of dreamy pack rat. 
You’ve researched it all (you think), and now you’re heart-bound for the wondrously stress free life to be lived and loved on the open highways. And why shouldn’t you believe all of that? It all seems so easy. 
No office politics. No cut throat co-workers. No incompetent boss breathing down your neck. Incompetent board of directors? Forget about it ! Angry strangers railing at you over nothing? Perish the thought. 
Every cell in your body vibrates with the desire to do it. Your reeling brain is hopelessly fogged with the idealistic notions you’ve packed inside it. Your very insides scream, ” “I want to be a truck driver !” 
Why? Because it’s rife with adventure, and big money. 
So nice. So peaceful. 
So … EASY. 
Despite perhaps your own better judgement, you’re convinced that you’ll quickly be serving America and swerving through her great cities and endless welcoming thoroughfares. Sure, you’ve thought it all through. No question about it. Everywhere you go, you see the drivers in their glinting machines, wheel in hand, aimed toward the scenic Vacationland for which you ache. 
Maybe you’ve even shopped for rigs to buy. Few people know tractors and trailers as well as you do right now, at least on paper. At the very least, you’ve already picked out the ones you like best, right down to the make, style and color. When you’re on the road headed anywhere at all yourself, you crane your neck to watch every gigantic rig as it comes whooshing by; a shiny fire-breathing Colossus, howling and whistling; thrumming, pounding the earth; headed for a mysterious destination with a load of even more mysterious cargo. (See the chapter titled: “OH, the Things You’ll Haul !). A new brand of blissful freedom from insulting morons and their mind numbing 9 to 5 grind is for YOU ! 
Nobody, but NOBODY can talk you out of it now. 
You’re sold that the most wonderful place to find this new Nirvana it is in the driver’s seat of a big rig on The Big Road. Floating the gears. Cruising along at 75. Waving at the pretty people. It’s clear and embedded in your pipe dream of it all; a favorite Sirius offering wafting from a perfect sound system as you blow along between the ditches. In your self induced hypnosis, you can count on numerous scantily clad body models standing on the side of the road with their short-shorts on. Maybe their toddler sons are there, pumping their arms madly for you to blow the air horns – which you do with tremendous child-like satisfaction. 
Well the good news is that you’re right about a great deal of the good stuff. It’s all out there. Make no mistake. You’ll have some fun while you’re trucking. Quite a bit actually. It will happen. You’ll also enjoy unbridled, unequaled independence Out There. Veteran truckers call it The Real World. But it’s not to be confused with the MTV series of the same name where a group of moronic, beautiful kids shack up together. Their Real World allows them to fornicate and laze around in a free party pad in the next easy chapter of their entitled lives. 
This is THE Real World, and trust me folks, it don’t get no more “real-er” than being a trucker. 
Right now, you believe in all the romantic notions of operating the biggest thing on the road. Much of it is true, but most of your perceptions are terribly, tragically wrong. Your forest is invisible behind the trees, but trust me, the rotten snags are there; titanic mountains and sprawling valleys of them. 
What IS true and good is what keeps the trucking world – and the world in general – going: MONEY. Because so many of the old guys are disappearing and the young ones aren’t showing up, we are coming into the Golden Age of money for truckers. As a successful driver, it’s true that you’ll have money in every pocket. There will be wads of cash, probably better money than you’ve ever made being a desk drone in Nowhere, America. The money IS good, but you’ll work for it all, and lose a lot on things you’ve never imagined. 
You’ll visit multiple states in one week, probably at least a few in even one day. You’ll see LOTS of open stretches of beautiful landscapes. You’ll experience the purple mountains and their majesty and the amber waves of grain. You’ll come to appreciate the remarkable night beauty of big cities from a distance … and learn to dread the realistic in-your-face squalor of those very same places. You will lose count of the number of times you’ve crossed the Mississippi, Ohio, Allegheny and Snake Rivers along with an endless list of others. That’s not to mention all the bays, lakes, puddles and trickles whose un-marked names you will never know. 
You will roll past some of the greatest, most historic, most legendary and most desirable tourist destinations in the country, but never get even more than a glimpse of an interstate sign pointing to more than 99.99 percent of them. You’ll never get to see inside of them . Ever. Not once. I’m giving you that hundredth of a percent because, well… S— happens, right? Even if you plan unbelievably well, that number probably optimistic.
You’ll sleep in the back – the sleeper – of a big truck, and in all reality, it’s very comfortable. You’ll be plenty warm in the winter and plenty cool in the summer. There will be many days when you’ll run your heater and a/c during the same 24 hour period. You’ll eat garbage mostly, unless you’re a great planner, which you also will be, but most likely not about your food. 
If you smoke a half pack a day, you’ll up that to a whole pack. Smoke one pack, then you’ll do two. If you’re overweight, that will increase with every mile you drive. If you’re skinny and have never had a weight problem, then you’re a lucky bastard and I never want to meet you. Your eyesight will dim. Family situations and relationships will erode beginning immediately. Men: you’ll pee in bottles and consider an emergency poop on the side of the road. Women, it will be worse for you in some ways, especially toiletry speaking. For all, fast food napkins and plastic grocery bags will become treasured save-ables instead of throw-aways. 
No one will need to remind you to be grateful for an ON-ramp (NOT an off-ramp) or gracious business with parking for you to sleep. Haircuts will be as rare as the change of seasons. Showers will be a treat, as will clean toilets. The overpowering stank of someone else’s bathroom odors will become as common as the acrid tang of diesel smoke, the fishy air of bug guts on the windshield and your own onion-like b.o.

The glamour… it’s overwhelming.
It’s a different Real World all right. It’s an invisible reality existing in plain sight of everyone, every day. We simply can’t live without trucks and the tough, nasty cusses who run them on every spit of road in every nasty forgotten corner of the world. 
And you want to be a trucker. 

” Driving a big truck? It’s either the worst job you’ll ever love, or the best job you’ll ever hate. Maybe both at the same time. Nobody bitches about trucking more than an old trucker, even as they love every minute of it.”

Miles Moore, Million Mile MENSA Trucker

Do you have any new experiences with your Djembe? If so, please let us know at www.drjeffreyandthemadman.com. We’ll publish them, and probably call you ! Maybe we can DJAMM on the DJembe?! – Doc

An exciting, fresh faced group of gifted young artists are scheduled to chat with Doc and MadMan tomorrow night as part of the next step of their burgeoning career.

The Kingdom, a Southern / Christian Rock band hailing from our corner of Oklahoma will interview and perform for Dr. Jeffrey and the MadMan as part of the regularly scheduled show tomorrow (June 23) night.

Firm and proudly entrenched in their Christian Rock foundation, (some of the members actually met at an Oklahoma church camp), the music which The Kingdom has created transcends that which comes from most other existing brands of spiritual contemporary music.

In other words, these kids ain’t your average church rock cover group. They definitely have their own, ROCKIN’ sound !

“We’re SUPER excited to have a chance to share the music this extremely talented group of young people have,” said Matt “MadMan” Mayo. “Their YouTube performances ‘sing’ for themselves.” he said. “They’re quite a unique blend of young people, with a wisdom beyond their years. It’s honest, sweet and sincere, but with a little edge,” added Jeff “Dr. Jeffrey” Brown, also of the podcast.

Truer words have ever been spoken about any musical group. Yeah, they’re young. The oldest members are a seasoned 21 years, while the female lead is 17 and still a Senior in High School. Though young in years, theirs is a precocious mix of original soft rock and some masterfully restyled covers of old favorites such as You Are My Sunshine. Like many groups, the old favorites are welcomed by the crowds who love them. Unlike other groups, their original stuff is what the crowds love most.

The group consists of Trever McBan, primary lead vocalist; Kelsie Shelton, lead and harmony vocals; Kyle Shelton, guitar, trumpet, lead and harmony vocals; Josh Sexton, mandolin, guitar, bass, banjo, and harmony vocals; Levi Mason, cello, violin, and keyboard and Ty Thompson on drums and other percussion.

Dr. Jeffrey and the MadMan is recorded live at DJMM Studios on South Broadway in Stigler, Oklahoma. Tomorrow night’s broadcast will be available for download at approximately 10 a.m. the morning of June 24.

Don’t miss this great young group !

“What’s up, Doc?” Well, let’s just see, not much… except a ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAMER is coming on the podcast !

You read it right, veteran guitarist and rock ICON, Tony Thomas of the George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic family is guest starring on Hollywood rocker Katya’s new single, If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em. He’s excited to come to DJAMM and tell us what’s new and share his story with us.

Oh, and did we mention… Katya is coming on tomorrow too, cuz she’s DROPPING this single right here on DJAMM this summer ! How cool is that !?

We’re honored to have Tony join us. A seasoned recording artist, Thomas has shared both the stage and studio with Sly Stone, Ike Turner, Rick James, The Dramatics, Ron Banks, L.J. Reynolds, Don Davis, Robin Trower, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kid Rock, Sebastian Bach, Skid Row, Steve Marriott-Humble Pie, Quincy Jones, Wayne Shorter, Glenn Goins, Ron Ford, Treylewd, Cameo, The Dazz Band, Parlet, Gabe Gonzalez, Mike “Clip” Payne, P-Nut Johnson, Lige Curry, Blackbyrd, Dennis Chambers, Rodney Skeet Curtis, The Ali Brothers (Jerome and Jimi), Mudbone, Razor Sharp, Donnie Sterling, Kiddo, My Baby Belita Woods, The Brides of Funkenstein, Malia Franklin, Leslie “Blonda” Vocino, Jocaine and many more!

Tony is currently working on his new CD as well as writing and producing Funk and Rock Music. Marley Beverage’s marketing team also chose Thomas to play at many of their sponsored events throughout the midwest.

So, YEAH folks, big things are afoot at DJAMM Studios, and you can’t afford to miss this one !

Keep an eye peeled on this website for tomorrow night’s post, and we’ll see you online ! -Doc and MadMan

1. Your spirit animal is Angus Young.
2. A holiday meal must include Diet Coke, brand name ice cream and Nexium.
3. You never listen to rock and roll before noon, unless it’s after midnight.
4. You say ” I quit smoking five years ago,” as you’re bumming a cig and digging for your lighter.
5. The first song you knew as a child was “Jesus Loves me”. Second song is a cafeteria choice; Either You Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog, Purple Haze,  La Grange, Nikki Grind, or Big Poppa.
6.  The only other song you know all the words to is “Long Haired Country Boy” by Charlie Daniels.
7. You think being a Yankee is a genetic flaw.
8. Any outdoor event includes a plan to find a place to pee in the bushes.
9. Your spiritual leader, healthcare provider and fishing consultant all know your personal phone number.
10. … and are the same person.
11. Your friends have given you at least three nicknames; none of which you will explain to a stranger.
12. The only pronoun you ever use is “y’all.”
13.  The last time you voted for President and were happy with your choice was in 8th Grade 4-H.
14. You are a parent, or perhaps grandparent yourself, but you still say “Momma”, “Daddy”, “Gramaw” and “Ma’am.”
15. You can afford anything you want for the house, but are most excited about your flea market finds, auction bargains and hand-me-down furniture from Gramaw.

 

 

 

 

Hi. Dr. Jeffrey here ! Madman and I just want to say thanks for coming to the Official Online Headquarters for the Dr. Jeffrey and the Madman Podcast Hour. If this is your first trip to OUR trip, let me give you a little background on just what this is, and how it got started. Let’s begin with a handful of frequently asked questions

1) Q: What the heck is a podcast anyway??

A: A podcast is basically a radio broadcast without a radio station. It’s all available online and ONLY online, but it follows the same type of pattern or format as a radio talk show, with music, guests and discussion of topics. You can click on the links available online, or in our case, this website or on the DJMM Facebook page and listen to it right then, or download it for later. That’s one BIG difference. Podcasts are available forever, and once you download them into your computer, or fish them out of the cloud, they’re yours to keep and look back on from now on. With radio, you might never hear the same thing again.

The themes of the individual podcasts are pretty much left up to the imaginations of the creators, or the needs of the advertisers who make it all feasible. The difference with our podcast is that we aren’t bound by financial need to any advertisers, so we do what we want. As such, WE decide who advertises with us, and in that way we dont’ compromise our morals for the sake of keeping the lights burning. This is fun to us and we feel like we’re trying to entertain ourselves and everyone else while maybe making a difference.

2) Q: ARE you making any money at it?

A: We have an advertising schedule that’s flexible according to the advertisers and their specific needs. If you’d like to advertise, we’d certainly like to hear from you. We’d be silly to turn down revenue for something that we like to do so much. Since day one, we’ve never lost money and aren’t a dime in the hole. Gotta say, that feels pretty darn good. 😉

3) Q: Are you a real doctor?

A: To borrow a phrase from the great Hunter S. Thompson, I’m a Doctor of Journalism, and we all know that’s a pretty un-well field right now, so I’m on call 24/7 at my own clinic. It’s my calling, this attempt to heal the potentially terminal malaise that’s killed so many newspapers and continues to erode the healthy body of real writing. Dang… that sounds good doesn’t it? I should write that down.

Honestly speaking, I have no doctoral degrees. The “Dr.” comes from the movie Back to the Future, in which Christopher Lloyd’s character was something or a scatterbrained mad scientest, named “Doc Brown.” My friends in grad school hung that on me back when, and it stuck.

4) Q: Is the MadMan really “mad” ?

A: Oh HELL yes ! Next question… ?

7)   Q: So who the heck ARE you guys anyhow?!

A:  My earthly name is Jeff Brown, and although I’ve done many things since graduating from Journalism school… ummm… a ‘few’ years ago, { 😛 }, at heart, I’m truly a writer, so for our purposes that’s what we’re going with here. I’m a native Oklahoman five generations deep, with roots further back than our state has actually BEEN a state. My family arrived here during the lawless Indian Territory days in the late 1800s, with backgrounds as sharecroppers, cattlemen (and women) and even an M.D. in our lineage, we’re a curious mix of genteel grassroots storytellers and hard working country folks. Ours is an appreciation for people who hit the ground running every day, just trying to be honest folks who want to make more than a difference. That’s who I am in a nutshell. Were you to label me, I’d say first that I’m just a regular guy, more specifically, a proud Okie American who tries hard to be a good writer, friend, son, brother and Uncle Fuff.

My colleague, Matt Mayo, aka “The MadMan”, is a career creative sort who is educated in the graphic arts and high tech applications of a broad variety. He’s our tech guru, and I don’t even want to THINK about approaching a podcast without him. He’s a Kansas boy originally, but we claim him as an Okie now. He’s a hard working family man with a wife and daughter, a cabin in the mountains and a great personality. MadMan is a musician, a creative genius, thoughtful manager and a man of broad intellect. He’s a great guy and a good fit for a podcast partner. I’ll stop gushing now, lest Mrs. MadMan become a little crowded. 😉

About a year ago, I came to work as a reporter for the Stigler News-Sentinel, heretofore referred to as simply SNS; a one hundred year old weekly newspaper that tastefully and professionally publishes all things and happenings in the areas which surround Stigler, Oklahoma; the city in which it is situated. MadMan works in another arm of the company mostly, but his crossover expertise is essential to keeping the paper going. They couldn’t do it without him either. NO one would disagree with that.

Okay, so, about a year ago, MadMan and I became acquainted through our affiliations with the paper. Along with a mutual friend who I like to call Rupert, we frequently share meals and shoot the breeze during break times, and it was during these sessions that Rupert and MadMan allowed me to join their workplace luncheons that often feature tamales bought from the car trunk of a lovely lady named Graciela. We all hit it off very well, and it’s an affiliation which I hope continues until my last breath. Love those dudes.

After a few months, I’d pretty much settled into my own niche at the paper, and was kind of looking to do something different. I’d seen / heard a few episodes of Mark Maron’s podcast, during which he expands and expounds upon his musings as a stand up comedian turned sitcom actor. “What a cool thing to do,” I thought of his podcasts. So I looked into doing my own, although I wasn’t sure what exactly I would focus upon myself. After a passing fancy with that, I moved on. Until a few weeks later when during a regular “Tamale Day” pow-wow, I asked MadMan if he’d ever done a podcast. “Nope,” he said. “Have you?” “Nope,” I replied, “Wanna give it a shot?” “Sure!” was MadMan’s reply, even before he was officially known as The Madman. “Let’s get it going.”

We weren’t certain which direction we were headed with it at first. In fact the only thing we were truly sure of was that we wanted to do one, even though explaining it was sort of tough for our friends who weren’t / aren’t as tech savvy as the average …. tech savvy person. Hence the need for the FAQs into which we are now all entangled. 😉

So, in somewhat short order we got together a few things that are needed for putting out a podcast, and in another week or two we put our our first one, and The Dr. Jeffrey and the MadMan Podcast Hour was born. That was late September of 2015, and even though I no longer work for SNS, since that time, we’ve had a blast doing this gig.

It’s evolved from its most humble beginnings of two guys just sitting in an attic studio and talking about whatever came to mind. As fun as it was, we started slowly incorporating guests onto the ‘cast. Most of them were musical in nature, but others were just folks like us with an interest in the community or at least in saying something that they wanted heard over the pod waves.

So here we are, seven months in, and getting stronger with each segment. It’s a continually evolving beast, and we’re convinced that if you guys have the tiniest fraction of the amount of fun in listening to us as we do in doing DJMM Show, then we’ll soon sweep the globe and become kings of all media.

5) Q:  What are you trying to accomplish?

A: DJMM pretty much started out as a vehicle to let far flung friends know what we’re up to, and allow them to take part in our weekly bull sessions, and that mission continues today. But as it has taken shape, the podcast is increasingly focused on giving a glimpse into the rich fabric that IS the rural way of life, particularly SouthEastern Oklahoma. We love to give new musicians a chance to play classic covers and their original stuff, perhaps for the first time on an online media gig. This is a growing effort for us, and all silliness aside, we do take the music very seriously, but no more so than the other things that happen here which we try to help promote. MadMan, myself and our families treasure the “country cosmopolitan” lifestyle, and think everyone will enjoy our take on what comprises it. We’re giving the unfortunate few who are unable to live here, an unadulterated glimpse into what it is that makes people want to stay in the heartland of America for a lifetime.

So there you have it: a not-so-brief “how we got here” statement about this show. In short, we’re glad you decided to join us. And now YOU’RE part of us. Stick around. This is going to only get better.

Cheers to you and yours !

– Doc