Daniel (00:01)
Hey everybody, I hope you're doing wonderful. I have some great news, and I'm gonna share it with you in this episode. I have not been decapitated, and I'll tell you all about it when we start the show!
Okay, well, welcome everybody to There Is No God and We're All Gonna Die. I am your host, Daniel Cartier. I'm a gay liberal atheist living in the Bible Belt, and I have this podcast. I come on here every week and I talk about things that are important to me. If you're new to this podcast, a couple things. One, this is not the I hate religious people podcast, as a matter of fact. Most of my friends are very religious because after all, I do live in the Bible Belt, so
Yeah, I'm glad that people have the faith they have. The problem is that there are other people who share that faith, but they've warped it and they've made it into this thing where they can judge other people and hate people and, you know, tell people they're going to hell and all this other stuff and, compare people like me, you know, a fifty seven year old gay man who's never hurt anybody in his life and,
compare me to like bestiality and I was compared to a necrophiliac this week. I mean, you know, so if you've never been compared to bestiality or necrophilia in a passing conversation, then you might not know what it feels like to have people do that. And yeah, it's a bummer. It is a bummer.
and it always stems from somebody's warped view of what religion is. And you know, meanwhile I have friends who are Christian who are super open minded and they're liberal and they're progressive and they, you know, they support transgender people, gay people, some of them actually are gay and they support a woman's right to choose. like we all share the same values. Anyways, so that's my long winded way of saying this is not the I hate religious
people podcast. It's really just the I hate bigots podcast. And I don't even hate bigots. That's the thing. If you're a bigot and you're here and you're watching this, welcome. I'm glad you're here. Maybe you'll learn something. my whole thing is I just wish that you got better information in life. I I feel like you kind of got fucked over no offense to the people who raised you. I'm sure they had their good points. We all do, but it sounds like they had some really shitty information or maybe the the pastor at your
fire and brimstone church you went to. And so you grew up thinking all this stuff. Well, you know, I'm here to tell you that you know, I hope you get some better information because you're missing out on some really awesome friendships. secondly,
Welcome, welcome, welcome. a big part of this podcast is me me answering your voice messages. I love hearing from you. So if you want to call in and leave me a voice message, it's very easy to do. All you need to do is go to Daniel Cartier. That is my name. Daniel, like Daniel in the Lion's Den. Cartier, like the fancy jewelers.
C A R T I E R. I am not related to them. I wish I was. It would make my life a lot easier. I'd have a lot more money. But Danielcartier.com. You go there, it's my website. And just press this button right on the homepage. It says podcast voicemail. And you click that button and you can talk.
For up to 90 seconds, I think. We had a guy last week call up and tell me that I was a faggot. we had another person call up and say they love the podcast. So, you know, I get all kinds. I get my lovers and I get my haters, but I'm very grateful to hear from all of them because I'm not here to be universally liked. I'm just being myself. And so I know that some people are gonna call up and they're gonna take offense at.
who I am and that's okay. I I I'm still glad to hear from them and I'm glad they're here because, you know, at least they're not being apathetic, I guess. And
yeah, call up, leave your voice message, and I would love to hear from you.
Daniel (04:30)
So we're gonna get to the voicemails in just a second, but first I wanna talk about the fact that I did not get decapitated this week. I recorded this new little musical tag about bigots being bigoted, so I think this would be a great time to play it. Let's check it out.
Wow. Alright, bigots being bigoted. I did deal with a bigot this week, and it was a very dramatic one. So as you know, I I'm very active on my Facebook page.
And so I posted this thing, and it basically said to the homophobes who routinely wish death on my community, because I've, had people come on and say horrible things wishing death on gay people, on transgender people. Just horrible stuff. Anyways, so I said to the homophobes.
Who routinely wish death on my community. If I could be any gayer just to piss you guys off, I would. And it was just some funny, stupid thing. Well, you know, of course, even the funny, stupid things on Facebook, the bigots can't leave well enough alone. So, it got thousands of views and hundreds of reactions and a bunch of comments.
And a lot of the comments were really funny, like, people who are actually supportive of the gay community.
but then this one guy, John Duncan, he said, if I could decapitate you, I would. Okay, so now we're talking about decapitating me. not something I really want to have happen. I'm very happy having this head attached to my neck. but yeah, so he said that. And so my response to him first I wrote this like long-winded response that was like,
way too intelligent for somebody like that. And so then I just erased it all and I said, Girl, please. And so you know, me, I can't leave well enough alone. I took a screenshot of all of it because it was just so bonkers to me that somebody would actually
be like, I want to decapitate you. Like it's just so bonkers and unhinged. And so, yeah, I posted this thing. I basically took a screenshot of my original post and then of his comment and then my response where I said, Girl, please. And this is what I wrote.
Daniel (06:49)
Well, Facebook, I guess John didn't like my post. on a positive note, if I'm ever beheaded, you know who to question. But bless his heart, it's hard being John. Having to deal with all the alphabet letters. John honey, if your response to a gay man existing is I would like to decapitate you, I think the problem might not be my sexuality.
I think it might be you. Secondly, as I've said to thousands of homophobic keyboard warriors who came before you, I've been called worse. I've survived worse. And I'm still here. Still gay. Still ridiculously happy. And I'm still gonna speak my mind. If anything, you make me more determined to keep talking because here's the thing about intimidation.
It only works if we let it.
as for me, I'm not gonna live my life frightened of people who are angry that I exist. I'm gonna keep being exactly who I am, loudly, joyfully, and gayer than a friggin' liberace estate sale. You wanna hate me? Knock yourself out, sweetheart, but you're gonna have to find a different way to deal with your feelings 'cause I'm busy living my life. Your friend Daniel.
they always talk about gays being drama queens, right? I'm sorry, but I can't think of anything more dramatic than, telling somebody that you wanna behead them. So, kudos to John for taking the theatrics to the next level.
Daniel (08:22)
I mean, I know a bunch of you were worried about me, and I actually did have a lot of people really concerned, rightfully so, because I mean, I am joking around about it, but it is really fucked up. I have to be honest with you though, the drama queen in me, and I do have a drama queen in me, you guys,
I actually did have this fantasy. It's never gonna happen because as I've said many times before, I'm so friggin' busy right now. I'm doing so much fucking stuff.
And so since this is never gonna happen, I can just let this fantasy exist between all of us. I'm gonna share it with you my fantasy that I have about this guy. And John, if you're watching with your machete, don't worry, it's not actually gonna happen. this is just my little fantasy that I had. My fantasy was that I would get a group of people together and we would go to the a town that
John lived in We'd like go to where he works, right? Again, not gonna happen, so you can stay sequestered in your little bigoted bubble with your machete. but I love the idea of going there with like a film crew
and we would show up and we'd be like, Hey, we're filming this reality series, and it's all about making people's dreams come true. is is your employee John here? And of course they'd be like, my god, yeah, he's he's in the back. John, these people are here, like they're filming this reality series, and they want to make your dreams come true. And so I love the idea of this guy coming out
and I'm like, John, you won. Like we have this series where we're trying to make everybody's dreams come true, and recently you wrote to me and said that you wanted, to decapitate me. And so we're here. we we have an axe out in the car, we got this big medieval axe, and you know, we could do it out in the parking lot, we could have like a
Potluck first or something and yeah, we could we could make a big party out of it. and then have everybody like throw confetti and maybe play like celebrate by Kool and The Gang I'm sorry guys. I know a bunch of you are probably horrified that I would even be laughing about this, but you guys
I shared about this last week when the guy called and you know, he called me a faggot. Like, if I can't laugh about this bullshit, then I would literally go fucking crazy. I have to laugh about this stuff because it's so friggin' crazy and it's so f fucking stupid. and honestly, if I had magic days that didn't affect my life, like if I could
live my life, but then I could have bonus days that could happen outside of my existence where other things would happen. Man, I would love to drive up there and get this guy on camera, like film it live and have like people with streamers and have like celebrate good times, come on. And then have me say, Congratulations, you won.
You get to decapitate me first of all, what would his job think? You know, I'm assuming they wouldn't be too thrilled about it. And like secondly, My guess is when somebody like that is cornered and they're confronted with something really ugly that they said, there's gonna be a lot of like, it was just a joke and whatever. I guarantee you there'd be a lot of stuttering
but anyways, if you're watching this, don't worry, it's not gonna happen. It's just this little fantasy that I had.
I had five points I wanted to talk about, but you know what, you guys, I'm gonna split it up. I'm gonna listen to some voicemail.
First. in the middle of listening to some voicemails,
I will take a little break and I will read these five talking points that I'm absolutely fucking sick of that I hear people on the right talk about and you'll recognize a lot of them. It's a lot of the greatest hits, but I think they need to be retired But we'll get to those later. First, let's listen to some voicemails. god, Daniel.
Let let me drink some water first. That was horrible. You guys, I actually am a good singer. Hold on. Mmm. you guys, that was horrible. That was so horrible. my god. Alright, here we go. let's listen to some voicemails. Listen to some voicemails.
baby Voicemails Okay Alright, let's see who called. That was me being completely ridiculous. Alright, here we go. Rob What does Rob have to say?
Caller Robb: "Hey Daniel, you claim to be an atheist, but what if you're wrong? What if everything everybody ever told you about God is actually real and that includes hell and the fact that you could burn in hell for all of eternity? Does that scare you?"
No. Should should I say more than that? Rob, thank you so much for calling. I mean, so yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm assuming it sounds like you do believe in hell and you know, you're taking it seriously and everything. And I'm not gonna take that away from you. I mean, like I said, I'm not here to change your views or make you not believe in hell. okay. I'm gonna talk about heaven and hell right now,
because you were nice enough to call and I'm hounding people to call, so you actually did call. So thank you. I appreciate that. No, I don't believe in hell. it makes no sense to me. and I don't believe in heaven either. I believe that when I die, that's it. You know, I think it's lights out. I think that my body will continue to nourish the world
our molecules have always been here. We are literally created from stardust. the molecules that make us up, changes and morphs into other things. But
when I die, my molecules are just gonna be returned. But my soul is just to me, my soul is just the essence of who I am. Like it's all my memories, it's the lessons I've learned. It's, the qualities that we all bring to the table. Some people have a very happy spirit. Some people have a very miserable spirit. some people are
Very fearful. for a long time my spirit was very self-hating because, you know, I believed all the things people said to me, the bullies and the bigots. I I absorbed all that. And it's taken me decades to get to the point where I fucking love being who I am. I I'm so happy being Daniel, and I have no complaints about it at this point. I I know that I'm a good friend.
and you may be thinking that I'm going to hell, and that's okay, but even if you showed up, or even if John, the decapitator, showed up and needed help, I'd still help him. You know, okay, I would be like, Well, don't decapitate me because if you do, then I won't be able to help you. But I would still help him. That's just who I am. But, anyways, I don't think that God, if there is a God and there is
you know, an afterlife. I don't think God would make somebody who has my qualities and then have me burn in hell for all of eternity. That would make no sense. And the other thing that makes no sense to me is like if God made everybody, right? And God made everything, that means God made me and then God gave me this brain and I've been using this brain.
But now for God to be like, fuck man, you you're using it totally wrong, so you have to burn in hell for all eternity, like that's like, well then give me a brain where I'm not using it wrong. You know, I it just makes no sense to me. It's like, fuck, man, yeah, you didn't get the manual. now some people would be like, Well the manual is the Bible. I mean, that's like an easy cop out. I mean the reality is there's been like what, forty eight hundred different religions?
And they all have some version of the afterlife. And I don't know. I just I appreciate the concern if you are concerned, but I mean I just kinda think that I'm gonna die. And that'll be that. So I don't waste a lot of time with it. Instead I just try to focus on the fact that I think our heaven and hell are right now. So in a way, okay. I'm gonna change my I'm gonna change my my answer. I'm gonna switch it up a little.
yeah, I do believe in heaven and hell, but I think they are happening right now. I think they're happening while we are alive. I think that, you know, somebody like I'm sorry to keep bringing up John the decapitator, but it's not often that I can bring up somebody called the Decapitator and actually they're a real person. So, you know, I think somebody like John the Decapitator,
I think he's living in hell. I think that his life sounds very hellish to me.
And I appreciate the comment. I appreciate the call and please feel free to call back and let me know what you thought of my my answer. Again, if you want to leave a voice message, here is a little advertisement.
To leave voice messages if you wanna leave a voice message for or me, just call Daniel Cartier no, just go to Daniel Cartier dot com and there's a button right there that says podcast voicemail and you can leave a podcast voicemail message. Okay. That was me spontaneously making up a song, yeah. Call the podcast, you guys. Just call it.
Daniel (18:11)
Okay, let's see who else.
Caller DJ: "Hey Daniel, it's BJ again. just wanted to get your input on the event that I'm hosting in October. October twenty fourth, the LGBTQ plus bonfire party that I'm having at at my business Foggy Bottom Canoe Rental in Kingston Springs.
Man, I tell you what, over the past two or three days, from sharing the event post on several groups on Facebook, man, it's actually it's blown up it's really surprised me how many comments I'm getting back and most ninety five percent are
are negative comments coming from the haters, the people that have something against the LGBTQ community and you know, they're saying things like how dare I even have the audacity to hold an event catering to L G B T Q people like
we're something special or we're flaunting it in their faces and that sort of thing. And I've been handling it okay so far I think. I'm not blowing up at people, I'm just kinda casually taking it and
and replying and saying something as witty as I can think of to make them look stupid. But I've actually gotten a few comments that sound kind of threatening really. one guy said that a a barrel full of rattlesnakes should be dropped
at the bonfire party, whatever that's supposed to mean and I said that well that would be awesome 'cause the bonfire location is next to a creek and actually during the summer months I go hunting for cotton MOUTHS in the middle of the night. So I would love to find a a couple of rattlesnakes. So I don't think think he was expecting that reply but
That's kinda how I'm handling these comments, but my best friend who's gay has been trying to persuade me to t take down the posts that I've shared to the non LGBTQ groups on Facebook like Hip Dixon especially. and Hip Bellevue, Hip Nashville, Hip Murfreesboro.
hip gallatin, hip Lebanon, any of those hip groups, that's where all the negativity's coming from. So I guess I'm not planning on sharing the vent flyer again in those groups. I'll just let it go as it is
But I will be continuing to share it to the LGBTQ groups on Facebook. the party's still quite a ways away. It's actually about six or seven weeks away, I think. So we'll see what happens as time goes on. But as of right now it's causing quite a stir. So I just would like to
hear your thoughts on on the matter and I'd appreciate it and I guess that's it buddy. look forward to seeing your video. thanks so much..."
That's the thing again.
well first of all, once again you can call up and talk in that southern drawl all you want because man I could listen to that all the live long day. I friggin' love a nice southern accent. Ugh good lord on a bike with a side of rice. And yeah, people are fucking douchebags. I mean they are. They they're fucking douchebags and when you go and you
first of all, if you're listening, and you're not watching on YouTube, you wouldn't see this, but I was actually holding up he shared this this flyer with me. He's giving a bonfire party, an LGBTQ
plus bonfire party in October yeah October twenty fourth. you know LGBTQ event so he shared it on Facebook and a bunch of different community groups there's
This one called Hip Dixon and then there's one called Hip Lebanon and Hip Nashville. I don't know what hip stands for. But it's it's basically like a community message board for all these different counties in Tennessee. And so you get people going on there being like, my chicken just laid a bunch of eggs and I'm selling farm fresh eggs for three
Three dollars a dozen or whatever. You know, so it's a lot of like local yokel stuff and like if the community theater is putting on a production of West Side Story or, if somebody is selling sock monkeys that they made or whatever it is, you know.
so he was posting a a flyer for his LGBTQ bonfire party I mean as far as I'm concerned as a member of the community I pay taxes here I pay local taxes I want to know that there's an LGBTQ
bonfire party and I might not see it if I only frequent gay pages. Maybe I'm just going to the normal community page. I saw some of the people who responded to some of his his posts. And some of the responses were just so mean and so rude and like, why do you guys have to just
Throw it in people's faces. Like, why do you guys have to flaunt your sexuality this way? It's like, okay,
I'm I actually want to read my response to one of the guys because I think it bears repeating.
Daniel (24:02)
one guy referred to it as an AIDS party. So apparently we're all gonna get AIDS if we go to it. So that happened. another guy said, Alphabet Orgy. Sounds like a great place to release a bunch of rattlesnakes.
my response to him was, Ooh, big tough guy. I guess you think people should be scared of you. Whatever. fucking idiot. then this one guy, Bob. Bob said, These comments are retard gold. Okay, so first of all, you know you're getting a quality comment if the word retard is in the first sentence.
don't want people to comment on your gay party. How about just be gay and have a party and don't make the headline about whether you're a human butt plug or not?
so he's just basically equating gay people to being human butt plugs. and I said to him I said, Bob, the reason why we have huge headlines announcing we're gay, it's so we know right away who will diminish our entire personality to human butt plugs, but I digress. One of the perks of being gay is that drunk straight people we just met without fail
Always feel comfortable sharing their entire sexual history with us in detail. And you guys, this has happened to me so many fucking times. And I don't mind. I'm an open-minded type of guy. So, you know, you want to come up and we just met at a party and you want to tell me you and your boyfriend's entire sexual history. It's usually drunk women who do this, but I digress. as a result, I now know many straight couples who are using strap-ons, and usually it's the lady wearing it.
So maybe rethink your human butt plug analogy. You're welcome.
so he's calling gay people human butt plugs, and meanwhile I've met plenty of fucking straight people who are using butt plugs and the lady's putting on a strap on and mounting the guy and trust me, I've been to so many fucking parties and as soon as somebody gets drunk and they find out that you're gay, for some reason they think like, I can tell him
All about me and my boyfriend's sex life. And trust me, as a drama queen and as somebody who's just fascinated by people and as somebody who's not a prude, I'm here for all of it. You want to tell me you and your boyfriends sexual stuff? Knock yourself out. I find it fascinating. No judgment, you know, if if she's telling me while she's getting drunk on whatever the fuck she's drinking, probably an apple-tini or something.
You know, she wants to tell me I put on a strap on and my boyfriend loves it. It's like, okay, all right, no. Good for you, girl. But anyways, you know, that brings up the point too about like all these people, they always make it about sex. like when they're coming onto my page and they're saying homophobic stuff, like, you know.
They think that it's all about sex for us. this assumption that gay people are just all about sex. Anyways,
DJ, getting back to you and your call. yeah, I think it sucks that, you know, some people have to be fucking idiots, but at the same time, I'm so fucking proud of you for sticking to your guns and organizing these events because you know, this is Tennessee, it's the Bible Belt, and I know that it can be kind of scary to put ourselves out there, but at the same time, my attitude is focus on the love because what I saw when I went to the comments on your posts
I did see the people being fucking idiots, you know, like the guy who said he wanted to unleash rattlesnakes and the other guy, you know, saying it was an AIDS party. Like I saw all that. But what I also saw was a bunch of people sticking up for you and I saw a bunch of people saying they were actually excited about the party. there was that woman who, you know, she couldn't wait to go. She didn't know who you were, but
She couldn't wait to go. And then I started, having a conversation with her. And then she became a Facebook friend of mine. And so I'll probably get to meet her at your bonfire party. And so focus on that type of stuff. Focus on the love. The haters are always gonna be there. And you know, maybe I don't know. Like I think you should be able to post in these, community groups as much as you want. But I mean, if you're feeling nervous, then maybe just post in the gay groups. I don't wanna tell you to censor yourself.
Do what you feel comfortable doing. don't feel compelled to put yourself out there so much that it's making you nervous. So, you know, just ask yourself, how many people do you want to get to this party? And if by just posting to the gay groups where you're not gonna get as much shit, maybe do that. the party is still a ways away. so
you you've got some time to, drum up some business for it. but I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. So yeah. LGBTQIA and Allies Bonfire Party. sounds like a good time to me. I don't know who would ever have a problem with that.
So let's see. Who else?
Caller: Madney "Well, Daniel, I'll try to speak slow. You know, so many so many things are happening, but I still want to go back to and I'm laughing my head off. What is going on with Mitch McConnell?
Since June. Mm-hmm. He's been collecting a paycheck, so they say. Is that true? And having helped What? Where is he? When that no. I I wanna hear your thoughts on that."
On Mitch McConnell? honey. good lord on a bike with a side of rice. well thank you so much for calling. You know I love to hear. I love hearing from you. yeah, Mitch McConnell, well bless his heart. He's a fucking douchebag. My thoughts on Mitch McConnell, I don't know what the fuck's happened to him. I I I don't know what the fuck's happening with Mitch McConnell. I think he's a fucking asshole.
we can thank him for Citizen United, which basically gives corporations the power to elect presidents because I'm never going to be able to compete with Google or Apple or Walmart or Elon Musk or any of these huge multi-billion trillion dollar organizations. you know, yes, we can all
break open our piggy banks and individually donate to these candidates but then if you have some friggin corporation coming in and they're like well we're just gonna sink a bunch of money into this candidate right here how can people compete with that really how can we? I mean it's it's really scary to think about and we have Mitch McConnell to thank for that. So when I hear about Mitch McConnell
that's immediately what I think about is Citizens United and it's and it's fucked up and it's it's it's completely fucked up. I think that there was American politics before Citizens United and there's been American politics after.
So
Yeah, Mitch McConnell, I don't know what the fuck's going on with his health, but you know, I can tell you one thing, I'm not a fan, But anyways, I digress. let's see who else called. Thank you for calling, by the way. You know I love hearing from you.
Caller: Kaighty "Hi Daniel, Kaighty, look at this. I don't know, I guess I haven't looked through all your podcasts, but I think you should do a podcast all about Joey. I have multiple pictures of him in our house and I miss him so much. I know you do too. Yeah, like, he would be great to talk to right
So, yeah, if you're going to do a podcast about Joey, I'd be happy to help you. I have lots of his tips. Love you..."
Mm, love you too. Okay, so you guys aren't gonna know what that was about. So that's Kaighty And Kaighty is the niece of my former fiance, Joe, who was a wonderful person. he passed away from it was a variety of things, but he passed away in two thousand twenty, right when COVID was about to hit.
so I met Joe back when I was really fucked up. I was drinking myself to death. This is like way back in two thousand six, two thousand seven. And at the time I was very troubled. I had lost my record deal and then I kind of had become very fucked up. I was doing drugs and drinking and I was basically drinking every day. And I basically went from like being on MTV
Cut to like about five years later, and I'm like, you know, basically getting in cars with strangers and letting them do whatever the fuck they wanted to me for money, you know, I basically became like a prostitute and did that and was, you know, doing some other stuff to make money. Like yeah, I was really fucked up and I was like going into rehabs and
tried to kill myself a bunch of times and Joe met me during all of this and he it's it's really weird. Like he met me and so who he met was this person really strung out, like drinking. and turning tricks to earn money. I was supporting myself as a sex worker. it is what it is. I'm not going to lie I mean it's well documented. My past is well
documented. And, you know, when I think about my past, I'm just gonna say this, then I'll get back to talking about Joe. I'm sure some of you listening to that it'll solidify in you the fact that I'm just a piece of shit. he's a gay liberal atheist and now we're finding out that he's a former sex worker, and so you're gonna have opinions about that. Well
That's fine. You can have those opinions. I'm not gonna take away your right. I mean I I can't. I I'm not that powerful. You're gonna think whatever you want about me. But I'll tell you what I think about myself. I see somebody who has overcome all that. Like I'm a fucking survivor. Like I you know no offense, but you try being a hooker you know, I've I've been beat up by clients,
went into a hotel once and some guys jumped out of a closet and, you know, attacked you know, like I've been th thrown out of a car by a client, you know, I it's going down the road. You know? I mean I've had all sorts of fucking stuff. It's not a safe life. You know, that's why I'm also for legalizing prostitution because people are gonna do it anyways and so we should make it safe. We should make it safe for the people who find themselves in those situations. I mean
I'm not gonna knock people who are doing it because, you know, that would make me a hypocrite. But I would like to see people, especially women who find themselves doing that. I would like to see them safe. I would like to see them safe. I I really would, 'cause I've known people I know people in that line of work who did get killed. I I I can name a couple. I'm not going to right now, but
my friend Dean, they found him dead in a hotel room in Washington DC under suspicious circumstances and he was a beautiful human being. anyways, I'm getting off track. Joe met me during all of this and
You know, he did not see trash. He saw somebody with a lot of potential. I like to say that he kinda picked me up by the scruff of my neck and shook me off and kinda like shook all the all the the the the shit I was doing off of me and like was like you have potential. And so he helped me get back on my feet. we did we became engaged. we fell in love and
that stuff. He was a little older than me. He was about like, I don't know, I want to say he was like 14 years older than me. he was producing plays on Broadway. he was one of the producers of Spring Awakening and The Drowsy Chaperone and a bunch of other plays and he was an amazing singer himself. he also had founded a bunch of dog show magazines. Like he'd done like a lot of really cool stuff. And so
he's the guy that I moved to Nashville with. And we moved to Nashville and he produced my album Redemption, which to this day is one of my favorite albums. you know, it has Cheryl Crow's drummer, Fred Eltringham, playing on it, Craig Young, this amazing guitarist Pat Buchanan, Peter Keyes, who is in Lynard Skynard did all the keyboards
people from the Nashville Symphony, horn players, live strings, live horns, like we really went all out and we made this album, which to this day has some of the best songs I've ever done, you know, Hovering, Bliss, Glass of Water, redemption, slightly delicate, like just some beautiful songs.
But you know, he he made that possible. our relationship ended up not lasting. I mean, there was a lot of things going on. he had a very complicated life and
I'm not gonna get into the the logistics of our relationship, even though our relationship didn't last,
He remained my best friend. Like he remained my rock. like the most important person in my life for the the the remaining ten years. Like he was my rock. Like I was I would date other people, I'd moved in with people, I had other relationships, but he was like
He was like my touchstone and when he was dying, they called me and they said, you know, he's gonna go any day and it was like a scene in a movie where I literally jumped in my car. and I just drove straight to Florida and I just laid next to him for three days. Like I laid next to him
I sang to him, you know, he was in a coma. but I just you know, I talked to him and then he he he was gone. He died. And it sucks because he's one of those people who if I could if I could believe in heaven, he is definitely somebody I would wanna see you know, he's one of those people who like we had so many private jokes.
You know, do you have friends like that? Like where you you just have private jokes. Like I would I would be able to call him up and I would be able to just like say, social obligations. And he would start laughing. Like on his birthday, I would memorialize him by by just leaving a list of all our private jokes that
they wouldn't mean anything to anybody else, but I would like post a photo of us and then all our private jokes. And the thing that is so beautiful about that is I know that he had that type of relationship with other people too. He had private jokes with everybody. Like he he just he loved to laugh and Kaighty, I wasn't expecting to talk so long about Joey. yeah.
Yeah, I will have to talk more about him. I mean, I don't even know if this is interesting to people listening to this right now, like listening to like this this this saga that I have with like this ex partner of mine. but he was a beautiful person. one thing I'm I I do have to share this story. This is really funny. and then I'll take another voice call. so at Joe's Memorial, everybody got up and they were sharing stories
you know, how they knew him, the relationships they had with him. And then at the very end, Joe's brother, Chuck, was like, Well, Daniel, you need to share something and I wasn't gonna share anything, which is crazy. I don't know why didn't think because I wasn't immediate family.
I just didn't feel comfortable. but then I was like, okay. And so I got up. And I'm so used to going to my anonymous meetings. And so whenever I get up to talk in front of a group of people, I immediately want to say, Hi, I'm Daniel, I'm an alcoholic. Like it's just ingrained in me. And so I stood up and I started to actually say that. I said, Hi, I'm Daniel and and then like I realized what I was about to do and I started
Fucking laughing my ass off. I could not stop. like basically like tears were coming down my face. And I'm sure people thought like, what the fuck is wrong with this guy? Like what? This is a fucking memorial service. Like, what's so fucking funny? And when I finally collected myself, I said, you know, you guys, I'm so sorry, but I'm so used to going to these anonymous meetings that I go to that I almost said, Hello, I'm Daniel, and I'm an alcoholic. And everybody burst out laughing. And I said, And you know, the funny thing about it is, Joe.
would be the person laughing the hardest. Like he would think that was so fucking funny because that was his sense of humor. And so it was it was kind of perfect actually. anyways, love you, Kaighty, and thanks for the call. And yeah, I should maybe I will do a like a a Joe episode at some point. He definitely deserves one. I mean he was a b just such a beautiful person. And I don't even think people realize
how
much cool stuff he had done with his life. he d he did so many so many amazing things. But anyways, definitely changed my life for the better. Okay, let's see, who else?
Caller: "Leviticus 1822 Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is an abomination. Do not have sexual relations with a man as one dealt does with a woman, that is detestable. If a man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. Their blood shall be upon them.
Think the Bible is pretty clear on what that means.
And here you go..."
Whatever. I I d I good. Here I go. Alright. Alright. Cool. Thanks for calling. Okay. He's fucking reading the Bible. Okay. Honey, read the fucking room. This is called There is No God and We're All Gonna Die for a Reason. Because I don't believe in any of that. I think it's a bunch of fucking bullshit. And it's also stuff that's been translated and retranslated and you know
People say it could mean all sorts of things. And what you're reading is actually a translation of a translation of a translation like people have translated it to say what they want it to say. I'm not even gonna get into this. The Bible is a book that's two thousand years old. No offense to anybody who reads it, but that's not the book I subscribe to. There's also, you know, are you their god? It's me, Margaret, and
The Shining by Stephen King. There's all sorts of books that have been written. And to me, that's all the Bible is. No offense. It's just another book. Now, is there stuff in there that I think is good, like Love Thy Neighbor and all that type of stuff? Yeah, sure. Sign me up for that. I mean, the reality is, Jesus, if he were alive today, I mean, I think he'd be marching in the parades with all the marginalized groups that you people hate. He'd be the wokiest woke.
fucking woke person in the fucking world. Because, according to you, he made everybody. using your logic, I mean if he made everybody and he doesn't make any mistakes then I think he made people the way they are. Like, you know, he made gay people gay. He made transgender people transgender. He made, you know,
A black person, a black person, a white person, a white person, a left-handed person, a left-handed person. You know, end of fucking story. I think it's just, you know, all shit that's happening. I think people just come out of the oven being whatever they are. You know, some people come out they're left handed or they're right handed or they have blue eyes or brown eyes, or they're gay, or they're transgender, or
You know, they may have health problems, you know, they may be born with no legs or, you know, no arms or blind or deaf or, whatever, you know? all the different nationalities, So yeah, I mean, it's great that you know how to read. Congrats, but
Like, dude I'm fifty seven. First of all, you sound like you're seventeen. good for you. But
I'm
I'm fifty-seven. I'm a fifty-seven year old card carrying homosexual. I've seen it all, I've done it all, as I've shared earlier, I've lived a life, I've seen some shit, you know, and I'm pretty comfortable being who I am right now. So it's cute that you're reading Leviticus to me, Leviticus, whatever it is, like 1622 or whatever the fuck. But you just keep on reading that. I'm gonna be over here living my best gay life. So thank
you. Thank you for calling. Call back and read some more stuff. You know, read about the talking snake. You know, there you go. Bible has friggin' talking snakes in it. call me crazy, but if a book has a talking snake in it as a character, I'm gonna question whether or not I should be using that book as a tool to judge other people. But that's just me. What do I know? You know, I I just don't believe in talking snakes.
But I guess you do because if you take all the words of the Bible at face value, then yeah, talking snakes,
But yet here you are calling up my podcast and reading stuff out of a book that also has talking snakes. I'm sorry. But yeah, I'm not convinced. And again, I'm I'm not trying to be a douchebag. you know, you're the one who called and started reading this. I'm not gonna take away my friends who are Christian. The difference is they're not calling up and reading all that shit to me.
You know, they can believe in stuff from that book. And again, I I I still realize that they're believing stuff from a book that has talking snakes. But they're not being douchebags about it. But you know, you kind of are. So, you know, it is what it is, but you know. You do you, Boo. You do you.
CALLER:Paul "Hey Daniel, it is Paul from Michigan. I wanted to make a comment from the perspective of someone who is a psychology professor and a psychologist licensed in Michigan. A lot of times you refer to some of the bigots you talk about with the terms homophobia, transphobia, and really I think
Using those terms are giving such people too much grace because it really is not a phobia. When you have a phobia, you avoid what you're afraid of. You don't show up on their webpage and threaten to decapitate them. I think we need to call it what it is and it's prejudice, it's heterosexism, it's homo negativity.
But it's not phobia. Just my two cents. You know I love you. Keep up the good work...."
It's really nice to hear from you. I I hear a critter in the walls of my house.
Ooh, yeah, there's a critter in the walls of my house. Anyways, Paul, I agree. first of all, I for those of you watching right now, it that the sun I was having again, I I need to start filming these earlier because th there was some beautiful natural sunlight coming in, but now the sun is really going down. So i the the room was getting darker, darker, darker. And I have like no lights over here.
So I I turned on this little light that is it's just like this little light I got at Harbor Freight. It's like a little light that, you know, it's like a little handheld like light for doing I don't know, like if you're gonna work on your car engine or something. But I turned it on just so like I wouldn't be in the dark. I'm just gonna put it over here. Yeah, that's that's actually not bad lighting. Only the best for you guys. Only the best. it's making me look a little shiny.
who
cares? Whatever. We're amongst friends. You don't you guys don't mind if my skin's a little shiny. yeah, I agree, Paul. I I think you have a good point. I do use the term homophobia and transphobia a lot. And you know, here's the thing though. I do think, I mean, I do think it is still kind of a phobia because it's like
They may not be scared in a classic sense, like they may not be scared of gay people like on the surface or like transgender people on the surface.
And so they may just just hate us. Like they just like just hate gay people. But I can't help but think that somewhere in their life, somewhere in the layers of the psyche that like makes them who they are, f there's fear embedded, maybe not about gay people per se. Like they're not r like thinking like, I'm scared of gay people or I'm scared of transgender people.
But I do think that they're scared of like like their ego. Like that that that you know, like a lot of these guys who like, you know, I I talk a lot about toxic masculinity and I have that song, your toxic masculinity is so stupid, your toxic masculinity is so dumb. And it's basically like a you can listen to it on Spotify. It's it's there, but you know, basically my song
you know, goes like, you know, you feel threatened when a man loves another man when a transgender woman smiles from a beer can. You think women need to get back in the kitchen, shut up and make you a sandwich. Why is a guy like that? Like a like this like you know, your stereotypical toxically masculine, bigoted douchebag. It you know, I think that on the surface they may not think that they're scared of anything, but I actually think that
There is a lot of fear in that person. It may not be about the things we think So maybe they're not scared of gay people per se or transgender people. And so maybe homophobia and transphobia maybe it it doesn't make any sense. I mean, maybe instead it's kind kind of like Yeah, they're just bigoted, hateful people towards, gay people or transgender people or people who are different from them. But that that hate stems from a fear
That people will find out they are not the manly men, like it's really important for them to like have this image that they project to the world, you know, and that showing any signs of vulnerability they view vulnerability as gay. You know, I mean it's almost like
There's like a whole class of people
There's this personality type, like this right wing conservative, Christian, nationalist, mm, alpha male type of deal,
God forbid
he, you know, evolve and he becomes somebody who can, show vulnerability by being friends with people who are different from him. You know, but to me, the the men that I know that are very gay positive, the straight men, I'm gonna y just use straight men as an example. The straight men I know who are, you know, really down with the gays and down with the transgender people and down with being, you know,
Caring and compassionate and kind and loving towards everybody, those are impressive men to me. And those those men actually are showing true bravery and true strength of character. You know, and and so when I see these guys who are making like AIDS jokes and whatever, I I'm not seeing somebody with strength of character. I'm seeing like a fucking dipshit, really, you know. I think part of it could just be attributed to just.
regular old ignorance and stupidity too, you know. I mean it's like I'd love to say that we're all rocket scientists, but we're not. Some people are smarter than other people, and I and I don't mean that in the mean way, I'm just saying it because it's the truth. You know? Some people are very smart and some people are really dumb. You know, so it's like I hate to put it that way, but you know it is what it is, you know?
and
I think ignorance keeps a lot of people hateful as well. Like I mean, w when I see people talking and they're full of hate and they they have so much misinformation and you know I don't know. But it's lovely to hear from you. I don't know if that answered your question. It was very meandering. I'm always very meandering, so yeah. I'm just gonna listen to one more call and then we're gonna call it a day.
We're gonna call it a day and we're gonna go about our merry way. thanks to everybody who called. Again, if you want to leave a voice message, I'd love to hear from you. I don't care if you love me or you hate me, doesn't matter. Danielcartier.com, D-A-N-I-E-L, C A R T I E R dot com, and just hit that podcast voicemail button. And you can leave one of these podcast voicemails. All right.
Last caller
CALLER: Madney "Well, and Daniel, thanks for making me feel comfortable about my voice. Try to talk slow.
Mm. Yeah. Mm. I never thought in my entire life I would see everything turn around again. It's turned around. Like I feel like I'm living in the 1950s."
Two messages.
Girl
That's my friend Madney He called back twice. That was the second call in one week. Wow, we got two calls from you. You had a lot to say. yeah, it's really fucked up. You know, we should be evolving, not devolving, but you know, I mean that's what we're getting right now.
And I think Trump has like looked over the playbook of some really fucked up people in the past and he's, you know, he's just repeating those things. I talked about it last week, you know, what was one of the first things Trump did when he started getting popular in two thousand fifteen? Like really popular, like seriously popular. You know, he told everybody to not believe any media, like that it was all fake news and to only believe him. Like that's
That
like that's a really old playbook thing. But yeah, you know, trad wives, there's people now who want to be proud trad wives. Like, yeah. We are but at the same time I keep thinking back to my friend Steve called a couple weeks ago and what he said is we may be looking at death throws. we may be looking at like when a monster's dying, that's when it's the loudest.
And that's when it's like lashing out the most. And so even though I think we're seeing a lot of ugliness and when you say like we we're going back to the nineteen fifties, I understand why you would think that. But at the same time, what I think is that we may be looking at like this party and I'm not saying all Republicans are like this. I'm I'm not.
I've known some perfectly lovely Republicans. So I I don't hate all Republicans. I don't hate anybody, as I've said many times. I don't hate anybody. I feel bad that a lot of people have horrible information, but I don't hate everybody. but
Daniel (56:25)
you know, we may be looking at the death of this this monster that I think we've been dealing with for the past ten years, which is this like really
warped version of what it means to be conservative, like this like ultra right, alt right, MAGA Christian nationalist thing,
it just seems like we're watching something in almost like a death spiral, you know, I I mean, for lack of a better term, and and so again, like what happens when an animal is cornered and they're they they feel like their life is being threatened or like they're about to die, that's when they become the most dangerous. They're gonna lash out and do whatever they can. And that's what I see happening.
you know, in the Trump administration right now. I just I I feel like I'm watching an animal that's just lashing out at everything. and you know
I I'm I'm curious to see where we're gonna be in ten years. I think that you know, like we could actually be we could actually be and this is my hope, is that it's almost like you have to, you know, retreat to move forward. And so maybe it's just, you know, like after ten years of all this bullshit, people are gonna finally wake up and be like, Yeah, that this is this sucks, you know, everything's more expensive,
We're not better off, America isn't great again, it's worse. And so, maybe moving forward we need to try something else. And you know
My hope is that in ten years we're a more enlightened society. We have to show up. We need to go out and we need to make it happen, you know? we need to be the change we wanna see in the world, the love we wanna see in the world and
We need to, go out and vote for the people who share our values. That's the only way it's gonna change. And sometimes it means not voting for the perfect person. You know, I I see a lot of political Puritanism
you know, I had people who wouldn't vote for Kamala Harris because she wasn't perfect. She wasn't perfect on all the issues, but then I was like, So you're basically gonna let somebody like Donald Trump win. And trust me, if you don't think she's perfect, Donald Trump is a hundred times less perfect. But you know, that's just my opinion.
Some of you may disagree with that and I respect your right to disagree with that, but I think, you know, waiting for political perfection in order to vote for somebody, you you you end up getting you usually end up getting the worst of the two evils. If you're looking at them both as evil. But I don't know.
It's it's gonna take a lot for us to get out of this. There's there's a lot of work ahead. A lot of work ahead. And we're gonna have to, roll up our sleeves and we're gonna have to really take a lot of stuff seriously. Anyways, sorry I didn't mean to get off on this tangent, you guys. I'm gonna end by just saying I love everybody. Even the the guy who called up and he read the friggin' Leviticus thing and the other guy who was like, aren't you worried about going to hell?
I love you guys too, not in a gay way, because I don't know you, but I mean like just in a human being way because I love everybody. But thanks for calling. again, DanielCartier.com just hit that podcast voicemail button. I'd love to hear from you. And yeah, I will be back next week to go a little bit further into this list of five things that I wanted to talk about, but I didn't get to. And I'll probably have some other stuff to talk about as well.
And yeah, call me. Let me know what's on your mind. I'm here for all of it, as the kids like to say. So alright you guys. Have a good week.