2J3BD live!

Guess who's bizzack?

As we mentioned in last week’s newsletter, one of the biggest requests we get in regards to our show is, “Can I sit in with you guys?” We’ve got some big news: we are taking our first step in that direction, as we do our first live show* next month:

WHERE: Bronx Brewery 856 E. 136th St, Bronx NY 10454

WHEN: Fri. October 10th. (Doors at 7, show at 8)

WHO: 2J3BD.

And as if that’s not enough — is there a BIG reason for you to be there, something you can only get if you show up? Yes!

We’ll have more information next week, but we wanted to get the flyer out as soon as possible. You guys know first — I told them to subscribe to this!

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In Defense Of: Cameron, from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

We introduced a new format last week, where we did a tournament-style bracket, pitting the characters of Ferris Bueller against one another to see who was most G of them all. Eric barely introduced Cameron to the convo, only for Styles to dismiss him as many do: Cameron’s a bed-ridden wimp, overcome by the weight of the world; he’s a follower, a mess and a puddle of a human being who attempts suicide and doesn’t even have the conviction to stay by the drain. On top of that, he ruins a perfectly good Ferrari.

Well.

I have an argument to make for why Cameron is more gangster than we give him credit for! And on the car ride back to the city after recording, I was like, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK, I should’ve said this on the mic. So, here goes:

I just finished Mark Kriegel’s new biography, Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson, and I see a lot of Cameron Frye in the all-time heavyweight from Brownsville. Not an obvious connection to make, sure, but Mike Tyson is (in the book) often described as the most insecure person ever, by people who knew him on the block and later by his trainers, who - when Tyson was in his prime, at 17, 18 - ran out of bodies to throw his way in the ring.

This is Mike’s therapist:

“One of the things that I teach is that every person is the person they were created to be, which I call your original child. And Mike has a really big original child. That’s a part that comes out and he’s really funny and silly and all those things. But then everybody has a pool of pain of some degree and intensity. And Mike’s…his pool of pain is just huge. He had a kind of high-pitched voice and a lisp. He said, at school, in the neighborhood, he was really bullied and teased a lot. He said to me, I never had a safe space.”

Cameron’s trauma is killing him! He’s overmedicated, drowning in a Yuppie life of indifference and ignored by the student body; he has no confidence, maybe because he’s competing for his father’s love with a car that doesn’t even venture out of the garage. Is his impression of Mr. Peterson - meant to be funny, because we see both sides of the prank - based on his own dad?!!! Of course his safe space is bed, of course his anxiety is leaking out his nose.

And yes, he’s forced out of his comfort zone against his will, but the point is that he gets up and out. When he’s around Ferris, he feels confident — being around the coolest kid on Earth can do that. He pays the favor back by being essential to Ferris’ day(s) off, which gives him purpose.

Meanwhile, Tyson survived. Just like Cam? Maybe! Here’s him talking about what it meant to discover the pigeons that would - in many ways - save his life:

“On the roof, none of my insecurities mattered. As I watched the birds soar above me, in that moment I was free just like them…I didn’t have to worry. about the other kids trying to bully me or make fun of me. [The birds] were totally dependent on me for food and shelter, and I felt honored to be needed.

Of course, other demons had to be taken care of in other ways:

Mike began salvaging his reputation by hurting the kids who had picked on him. The intent wasn’t physical pain so much as shame. The kid who put his glasses in a gas tank for instance? “I beat him in the streets like a fucking dog for humiliating me.”

There are moments in Cameron’s day off where he feels that same freedom or even usefulness Tyson describes. He may need Ferris to kick him into gear, but the gear exists! And in different circumstances, Cameron could’ve been Iron Cam, smashing Ed Rooney’s face in with the phone receiver and curb stomping the Maitre’D before nibbling on coq au vin at Chez Quis.

What’s gangster about Ferris? He makes plays happen, I guess. He can sit in the sandbox but if it came down to it, Cameron is one missed dose away from snapping and getting real dirty.

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On our old podcast, A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, there was a time when I’d take the time in our intro to recommend three old episodes for people to catch up on. (And, with over 300 uploads, there were a lot of those.) So, with Styles choosing next week’s episode — F1 (the Brad Pitt/Damson Idris vehicle where they’re on the same team but at odds, available to rent on Apple) — I thought I’d point everyone to a couple from our archives:

• The Verzuz episode, recorded in the days after The LOX put on a clinic in dismantling Dipset, proving that live vocals and loyalty will win every time. After the long year and a half after COVID first hit, this made for a really nice on-air reunion. While not a movie, Verzuz was a movie.

• Wildcats, from 1986, is one of Jada’s favorite movies. Against all odds and with many goofball hijinks, Goldie Hawn (who went to school with our mom) becomes the head coach of an inner-city football team. What will win out: Jada’s bright-eyed nostalgia or Jeff and Eric’s cynicism? Hard to say!

• And, in advance of this live show, we actually did a live show in 2017 - where we watched Jurassic Park at the old Highline Ballroom, here in NYC. It was a pretty fun night — insane that that was only our 7th episode. 8 years later, our chemistry is on a whole different level. I think Jadakiss fell asleep on the couch.

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If you haven’t, make sure you check out this week’s Inception episode, available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and wherever else people get their 2J3BD!

Also, feel free to suggest movies for us to review here! We’ve been doing a better job at shouting out the people making suggestions!

See you next week!