It's another week and another brand new episode on the Granny Panty Podcast.I am your host, Ruby Lynn.Don't forget, please hit the like button, subscribe.You can also follow us on Instagram at thegrannypantypodcast.
If you want to follow me, you can do that too, at rubylynnofficial on Instagram. This week's guest, I had the pleasure of being on his podcast.It was one of the very first podcasts I was on, especially in person.
Don't get much opportunity to do in person.And what I remember most is the theme of his podcast is about some adult beverages being consumed while you're being interviewed.
And I definitely consumed those beverages and probably just verbally spilled all the tea.But it's my turn to put him in the hot seat.So help me welcome Matt Slayer of And Now We Drink podcast.
Matt Slayer is in the house this week on the Granny Panty Podcast.I'm so excited to have you on my show.
I know, it's weird being a guest, like what?I don't have to do, oh my God, I just have to show up, yay.
You don't have to think about any questions or, you know, is everything set up right?
Yep, I just have to be here, be present, and somewhat awake.
Somewhat awake.That's awesome.You were actually like, I think you were the first podcast I ever did in person.Oh, I know.That was December of, uh, 22.
Jesus has it been that long already?
Yes.Yeah.I was on your show.Well, almost, I would say two years ago, a year and a half maybe.
Yeah. And I just remember drinking a lot of whiskey and just like talking about all this stuff.And then afterwards I'm like, no, you got to cut that out.
These things happen.This is why I don't do my show live.
Right.Yeah.And, um, things have changed since then.So probably everything I wanted cut out would be perfectly fine.
These things also happen.Like I could not do not take that personally.Like when someone wants something cut, it's just like, okay, no problem.
Yep, exactly.So I didn't realize till recently how much I do not know about you.So I'm actually kind of excited to sit down today because you mentioned something when we were messaging back and forth that you said your experience in music.
And so I want to know, how did you get into this adult industry?Where did you start and how long has this been?
Oh, so. Late 2010, early 2011 is when I really got in.So at that point I was working armed security in Chicago for a living.That was my primary income.And one of the bars I hung out at just happened to have a Burning Angel night.
Like there were seven, six or seven performers that worked for Burning Angel that lived in Chicago at the time.
Excuse me, I'm a little gassy this morning.Afternoon.
It is somewhere, right?Do we have to be technical about it?
Australia.Morning in Australia.
There we go.It's Tuesday also.Shit.Um, so between them, like I just met people I networked and I ended up starting to go out on the road and do feature work and roadie work with performers because of my security background.
And through them, I just met more and more people, uh, eventually I ended up meeting a contract star for Adam and Eve and her husband, who was a director.And I wanted to get the hell out of Chicago anyways.
And he's just like, I'm starting production in Vegas.I'll have work for you.Come West.And I did.
That is cool.And that was 2010, 2011.Yeah.
August of 11, I moved to Vegas.
And then I was, Oh yeah.I've been around for a very long time.
So security to what, editor?Is that what you were doing in Vegas?
Actually, that production never started.
So I was still doing security.I was doing PA work.It was just, you know, whatever I can get my hands on.Because for me, adult has always been about my film ambitions.I'm a giant film nerd. And I never met anyone who did mainstream.
And then when I started meeting people who do adult, I'm like, well, this might be a way to actually make something.So I, I wrote some scenes for people.I, you know, did a bunch of just odd jobs on top of the security work.
Like I was just like trying to be here to make something.And I think that was part of my success getting into the industries from day one.I'm like, I don't want to be male talent.
Okay.That was my next question.Were you ever male talent?
Nope.Nope. My dick has stayed in my pants on camera this whole time.Not that a bunch of people haven't asked me, especially in recent years.
And I'm just like, no, no, still not doing it.At the point where I got in, there was only really studio work and I'm very confident I would fail in a studio setting.
I've had public sex before and unless I'm real drunk, it doesn't go great.
A little performance anxiety.
Yeah.Just especially like every time it's been public sex, it's been some random hookup.
It's just like, it took a little while to not be pushing rope.
Eventually got there, but nobody wants to know.
No one wants to.So Matt, are you comfortable yet?You good? Buddy.
And, you know, studio porn is rough.I mean, like I you know, I you probably don't get it, but us ladies get it in our DMs all the time of dudes like, oh, I want to shoot for you.Let's shoot for your studio.
It's like you have no idea the pressure that is on the male talent.
Oh, you do from lady or man?
No, no, no.From dudes, from dudes trying to figure out how to break in.Like I get the bro, bro, bro, bro.I want to shoot with X guests on a now we drink.Oh, bro.I want to be male talent, bro, bro, bro, bro, bro.
It's like my, my tip to every dude who wants to break into the industry as talent, star, no F start just jerking off on camera.
Right.Right.And know that most of your fans are going to be gay male.
Yeah.I mean, what I tell people all the time is like, are you attracted to everyone who consumes your content?Probably not.So why is it any different for you?If it's not someone you in real life, you're putting on a performance.
Right.Right.Right.Okay.Wait, we gotta, we gotta rewind. This is what I love about you, because even when I see you in person at events, like we chat and we just go down these rabbit holes.OK, you're in Vegas.The production never happened.
You're kind of just making it.And then how did you get out to Cali?
So I was coming out to Cali for work, um, quite a bit.Um, well, the one nice thing about what I was doing in Chicago was I was working for a national company, so I transferred my job out to Vegas.
So I was, I wasn't like, Oh, I'm going to just take this director.I barely know a blind faith to, you know, throw my life.So I still had my day job till 2014.And I really did not like working for that company, but I made the best of it.
Like, and they had me traveling full time. as well.So it was a lot of like, I would travel to a city for the day job.And then on weekends, meet up with a feature at a club and then fly back to wherever I was going.
Like I flew 149,000 miles in just 2014.
Holy moly.So your security job, was that for strippers?Was it for adult or mainstream like actors?
Like mainstream performers doing like feature gigs at strip clubs and shit like that.
Okay.I didn't even know there was a company that just provided that kind of stuff.
Oh no, I was doing that on my own.That I was doing on my own.I worked for an armored car company as like my day job. Yeah, so I spent over a decade being on bank trucks delivering money for a living.
Yep, yep.Uniform and everything.
Wow.And you know, we like a man in uniform.
Yeah, well, I wouldn't fit into it these days.I was much, much leaner.Amazing, lifting hundreds of pounds of coin every day, you know, put you in pretty decent shape.
Yeah, I bet.Okay.So you still doing that and you come out to LA.
Yeah, man.So at the tail end of 14, I'm completely burnt out from being on the road from that job.I'm just completely over it.I have some money in the bank and I'm just like, fuck it.I give my notice at that job moved LA and I'm just like, fuck it.
I'll figure it out.I know a lot of people.Mm-hmm. I should be able to get enough production work or just hustle random jobs to get by.And I have, uh, been hustling random jobs ever since.
Like I, when I first got to LA, in addition to any stuff I was doing an adult, like PA and doing roadie work, I started working, you know, like physical security here.And then about a year in, I got hired on as a private investigator.
I was working as a PI for between 2015 and 2018, in addition to all the adult work.
Was that for a company or were you doing that independently?
Oh, interesting.Did they have a specialty?Like who was the client?
Oh, I think that's kind of fun.
It's the most boring and exciting job at the same time.
You know, I think the more exciting one would be, you know, catching cheating husbands and wives, but.
I mean, that's definitely the more dangerous one because that's the one where people really don't want to get caught.
That's right.Oh, wow.Insurance fraud, right?So Bill's saying I can't work cause my back is messed up, but then you're watching him on his jet ski over at the, at the lake.
Yep.Or going to the gym or just, you know, mundane stuff like lifting heavy things around his house.
But the, the PI work is actually directly where the podcast came from.
So because I, when you're doing surveillance, you're sitting, sitting on people's houses for sometimes eight, 10 hours in a day, just in the back of your car. And when I first started on the gig, I was listening to audio books.
But the problem is when shit happens, you've got to actually, you know, do your job, film people, do mobile surveillance, shit like that.So I would lose places in my audio books all the time.Just like, what the fuck just happened to that chapter?
Fuck.So I really started getting into podcasts.Because, you know, most comedy podcasts, you know, you miss a couple minutes, whatever.No big deal.Except now we drink.Listen to every fucking second.Every second.Every second.
Um, and you know, a couple months into the job, I'm like, I know a lot of people.I know how to do audio work.Why the I do this.And it's 2016 before the, you know, the big podcasting boom.
I went to a party at Joanna Angel's place, ran into my original cohost and went, Hey, want to start a podcast?And I don't know if she thought I was just doing like a typical LA thing of like, let's start a project.
And then 48 hours later, the gear showed up in my house.
All weird steps to get to where I am.
Yeah, but I think we all do that.I mean, there's very few people, I think, in this day and age that just literally start out an adult.I mean, it's more common now than it was back, is what I guess I'm trying to say, too.
100% like it's only performers.I meet in their late teens, early twenties who are just like, oh yeah, this is my actual goal.This was my, what I wanted to do.Everyone from what I got in fell into this.
A lot of them were failed actresses, models, like mainstream wise strippers.Yeah.One of the girls I used to roadie for all the time was like, I started off as a house girl.I hated the hustle of it.So I got into doing adult.
Mm hmm.Yeah.Yeah.And and now you'll see performers at 18.I just shot with a 20 year old when I was down in L.A.the last time.You know, it's like.They they're starting earlier now, I feel like maybe going straight into it.
Yeah, it's a career path now.
Mm hmm.Yeah.Yeah.So now then you just start doing the podcast. Probably not full time because don't you still do things you do editing and things like that?
Oh yeah.I know.I'm don't start a podcast.People, they don't make money.
Oh yeah.I, Oh yeah.I get nothing.I've zero sponsors.I've tried.I just got tired of asking.It's a passion project.
Oh, it has to be.Uh, when I take on new clients for editing, cause I do, as you said, still edit other people's podcasts.I still produce other people's podcasts.
And I have a very canned speech to new clients.It's like, no matter what you think of Joe Rogan and his content, you have to admit the Joe Rogan experience is a massive show, right?
You also have to look at Joe was on two national sitcoms.He's a nationally turned comic already.He is the voice of the UFC.He was the host of Fear Factor.And it still took that show eight years to be a big show.Mm-hmm.
Please understand that your anonymous ass may never make money.
Not you as an anonymous ass, but in general, the anonymous asses out there.
Well, but you know, really you're, I mean, you're not saying anything.I don't know.You know, when I started my podcast, I wanted to have something that was different than just getting naked on the internet.
You know, it's like, I want to actually have an outlet to provide information, entertainment.That's not my, you know, other areas.And so.
I knew I wasn't gonna make any money off of it, but what it is, it's a hell of a lot of fun, and I have met the coolest people.I mean, a couple have turned out to be like some of my best friends.
Christy Canyon, for one, you know, she was my second guest ever, and we just hit it off, and we have been close friends ever since.I would've never met her in any other way, I don't think, but You're probably the same though.
You've probably had guests that you just end up being really good friends with.
Oh yeah.Um, my current roommate, you know, I met because of the show.
Yeah.It's a lot of, a lot of relationships have developed because of the podcast.I do not regret doing my podcast in any way, shape or form.I continue to do it.
Mine does make some money, but obviously not enough to just purely live on.
No, but you, and you've been doing it a long time.I mean, what is this year?
Oh, it'll be your nine in May.
I was going to say nine.I was thinking nine and you still come up with guests.I mean, you never run out of guests.
Oh, I have so much a pro tip to anyone who's especially an adult starting to do podcasts, bank episodes.I have so much, I have so much in the can because just this week alone, I had two guests canceled.
I mean, this happens.Yeah.My thought process on it always is like, as long as you give me a heads up, it's cool.Yeah.No call will show me you're dead to me.I will not read with you.
Yeah.Yeah, I hear you.I you know, so in that along that theory, I did have a lot of podcasts banked up.At one point, I had six months worth pretty much, I'd say five, five to six months worth of podcasts scheduled out.
But what I found for myself is the things that I would talk about with my guest by the time that I, you know, put the episode out, like it wasn't relevant anymore.So I actually flipped it.
And now I don't, I mean, I have podcasts scheduled, let's say scheduled out till October, but I like to try to put them out fairly quickly.
Oh, I totally get that.And I hate, I hate that.I can't be as topical as I want, or sometimes the topics, you know, are just like months old by the time.
Right.But because I, I'm expecting people to show up in person.
That's where yours is different.Yes.Yeah.
That's where the flaking happens.Like, oh, I got to show up to Hollywood.Oh, I was on set too long.You know, a hundred different reasons.
Exactly.That's a good point.You do yours in person.I do it all online, so.
Right?I'm not even wearing pants right now.
Crazy.Oh, and you know, I want to mention to my viewers, Beans is how you do host the And Now We Drink.I did make a drink, you know, to honor you, even though it's, you know, in the early afternoon.
Well, if I had woken up a little earlier, I would have probably made myself a drink too, but I need to be caffeinated for this more than booze.
You could have thrown some vodka in there, vodka monster, I guess.
I'm not 12.That's what the kids drink, right?
So tell me what else you have going.So now we know how you got to Hollywood. and what you were doing, but what else do you do now besides editing and your podcast?Do you have any big projects you're working on?
I do actually, I do.So this is, I've talked about this briefly on my own show, but I don't know how much crossover we have between audiences, hopefully.
I hope we have a lot, yeah.
I definitely hope some of my drinking buddies find your show and are here and you know, maybe I can invert. What do you call, I know we're just completely tensioned.What do you call your, uh, your audience?
Oh, I, I haven't really given them a name.I guess the, the granny panty crew or something.
Definitely got to give them a name.They got to be able to self-identify.
What's your audience called?
Drinking buddies.I love it.Maybe they're my panty sniffers.
That's awesome.Hell yeah. Hell yeah.Cause I also personally dislike the name fan.Like it's short for fanatic.Like I don't want you, I want you to enjoy my content.I want you to be entertained by it.I don't want you to be a fanatic about it.
Yeah, that's true.Okay.What's your project?
Oh yeah.Sorry.Tangents do happen in my brain.
Hey, that's my job.See, you don't have to be the one to keep me on task.I got to keep you on task.
Yay. So I've, because of my various hats in this industry, uh, I identified probably about a year ago, a very big need that the industry needs.
The very big need the industry needs.Good sentences, Matt, you do this for a living.I promise.
I bet it's something that was on my list to ask you about.So I'm excited.
Maybe, maybe, maybe so. realize that there is not reliable cloud storage for the industry, for content creators and ask you about there's it's un insecure national Dropbox drive, et cetera.Do not want adult content.
Nope.I cloud doesn't want us.Google drive doesn't want us.
So partnered up with some mainstream folks.I didn't know.Well, I guess they're not mainstream.They're tech.They're tech people. I mean, it's just like anything else on the industry mainstream, none of the tech people.
And we've been developing scene locker, which is a content creator first cloud storage solution.And down the road, it's going to be very much more content creator friendly than just cloud storage.
Like we have a bunch of ideas because I've been working as an editor for years.It's just like, we want to build good collaboration tools. good workflow tools.So it's like, Oh, you upload this scene that you just did.
It's good to go for your editor almost immediately.
And then, you know, they can start working on it and possibly before you even get offset.
Wow.So it's called team lockers at team.com scene locker scene.Oh, scene.I thought you said team.
No, no scene locker.com locker.
Ooh, I'm going to write that down.
We should be in beta hopefully the next couple of weeks.So originally we were planning to be live for expo is Miami.Oh yeah.
And that's where I had seen that you were a sponsor and different things.And I was like, Ooh, I got to remember to ask him about this.
And like any tech product, there's been a little bit of development hell for what was supposed to be. Very easy was supposed to be easy.It turns out it's not, which is honestly on a business end of us sucks that we are not to market yet.
Why did we buy already?But it's also better for us that this is not as easy as we thought it was going to be.So someone else can't just swoop in and be like, we're doing this too.
Right.Right.What a cool, um, resource.
It's going to be groundbreaking.It's. going to change how everyone does this because how much is your raw footage really fucking worth?
Yeah.And if you're not careful, you upload to the cloud, it gets nuked by whatever company you're using.And then hopefully you have it backed up on a hard drive somewhere.
Hopefully.Right.And you've got to go find that hard drive.
is it going to be good for sharing content between collaborators or would they have to have a paid scene locker account in order to because you know like on d you know db um you can get a free account that's or you know that's got minimal uh megabytes or you know whatever and and be able to grab that
Tell me more about how that, how yours is going to be.
So there's going to be two different ways.You can freely share for people that do not have seen locker accounts, but it is a one-time use link.
So you send that file, they get one chance.So it can't be used for piracy.That link can never be used on a discord server to pirate your content.
Just one time use now.And then there's much freer sharing between two scene locker accounts.
In addition to being able to make team accounts.So like say me as an editor, I'm on your team, I'm on X performers team.So my account will have access to the shared lockers from multiple teams that I'm on.
Cool.That's very cool.I like that.Yeah.I like it that it, I mean, I like it that it's a one-time link.So say for instance, uh, I'm sending it to my scene partner. And I send them the link and they open it, but then didn't download it or something.
And I need to go back.They've lost access.Do I just create a new link and send it to them?
And there'll be a, there'll be an audit log also on your end to show when they opened it and got it.
Oh, that is cool.Because on the old DB. You know, I have to make a file, bring all those files in, share that file, because of course I don't want to share my file in case it gets, you know, somebody takes the scene out, right, or something.
And then I find out, I've had this happen twice lately, where my Collaborator didn't go in and download those files for themselves, and I just leave it up there, usually for about a month after I shoot with them.
I expect that they're going to go grab that content and put it where it needs to be, and they didn't.And so then I had to rebuild that file again.It was a pain in the butt.
Yeah.This way you'll know when they've grabbed it, what time.So if they're ever like, Oh, I didn't grab it.And you're like, nah, the audit log says you really did.
Yeah.Yeah.That is awesome.So when do you think it'll be totally live?I know in the tech world, things never happen when you want them to, but.
At time of recording, my devs are very, very optimistic that we're going to be launching a beta for internal beta.Well, I guess it's alpha at that point, the internal alpha on Friday for us to try to break.
And then, you know, hopefully, hopefully as long as everything's not too broken, we're going to be opening up beta to some select, you know, performers, you know, within a week or two after that.
Cause we also really want feedback from our other performers.Like I've been an editor forever.I have my own mindset about workflow, but your workflow may still differ from mine.
We're totally open to suggestions on things that will improve people's workflows.You may have something like, why isn't this here?And I'm like, that's a brilliant idea.Let's implement it.
And that's the other thing that we bring to the table besides Dropbox drive, et cetera, is.I'm part of this industry.I'm part of this community.If you reach out to me with a good idea, I'm going to try to implement it.
I'm not just some corporate entity.
That's just like my way or the highway.
I'm going to give you what I think you need.
Exactly.I'm going to definitely give you some things I think you need.There's definitely some functionality that I think the industry definitely needs that I want to implement.
I don't want to talk about it just yet because they're down the road a little.
Trade secrets.A little bit.
I have some ideas that I think will really help people's workflow, but until we're able to implement them, I just, I can't talk about it.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.I've been a beta tester on a couple of things lately, big product projects that, and that was fun.Um, Melrose Michael's GPTs, which is GPT for the adult industry.
I beta tested that for her and man, yeah, that was fun to be able to kind of. give feedback about what's missing or what could be better.But yeah, I love that.
I love when people in the industry come up with solutions because who understands what you're doing more than those people doing it.
Oh, 100%.This actually came about because people kept asking me and like tweeting at me, like for storage solution questions.
I'm just like, Oh, okay.There, there needs to be a good one because right now, honestly, the best storage solution is having a NAS and storing stuff locally.
Yeah.Yeah.Which I do.I have the external hard drive and I just feel like I have my stuff in three different places.So having it in one place would be nice.
Well, ideally you want to have it in at least two just for redundancy. But a NAS is a expensive investment.
I mean, I think it's a worthwhile investment, but you're still looking at a couple thousand dollars to get a good setup going with a lot of space.
Okay.My $200 external drive is probably not great.
Well, do you know what a NAS is?
I'm not technical at all.
So it's a network attached storage.It's a separate device that basically just houses multiple hard drives and has its own operating system.
And I have for myself, I have a five bay one that, so it has five, 10 terabyte hard drives in it.
And the fifth hard drive is redundancy.So it kind of covers the cloud storage of one of the drive fails.Wow. Wow.And the mass itself, like it's not a huge one.You know, the device is five, $600.
And then you're looking at, depending on current market prices, at least, you know, for a 10 terabyte drive, like two to $300 a drive.
Holy moly.Okay.Yeah.I have an eight gig external drive.
Well, I also generate a lot of content.
Multiple of the two tabs.
Well, how are you, what's your labeling system for it?Like, how do you keep track of what drives what?
That's what I'm saying.Everything is everywhere.What I do try to do is, uh, so my Dropbox is just normally for sharing files between someone who may be working for me or, you know, helping me or a collaborator.That's all I use Dropbox for.
Um, but then everything of mine is in iCloud.
So then what I try to do is I try to periodically take the files that mean the most to me, like boy girl collabs, girl, you know, collaborator videos, and then I will copy them, make a copy and send it in, save it on my external.So that's my system.
Well, hopefully once we're launched, you can avoid all those companies that don't want you.
Yeah, that's what's scary. is that I'm like, I, you know, I'm nervous because I could wake up and my iCloud could be gone.
Yeah.That would be an absolute nightmare.And Apple definitely doesn't want adult content on their site.
Right.Right.So yeah, that's, that's my thing.
Don't worry.We'll be the market soon.I promise.I promise.
Cool.Well, I'm excited.I'm excited. Uh, you can and then so you'll probably do some trade or some of the events then like exotic exotic is and the X business and stuff.
Oh, definitely.Definitely.The X business.Uh, because it's not so fan facing and this is really for performers.
We haven't decided if we're going to do the exotica circuit.
Because it'll be some decent networking, but I've worked exoticas for years.I mean, that, that was a lot of my bread and butter back in the day was going to all the exoticas.
And I fully know that 90% of the time performers are tied up with their fans, with their autograph line.So like, am I really going to have time to be like, Hey, come upload your content here.
Right.So exp is the sessions though, and that stuff, the actual, um, You know, in just the, uh, what am I trying to say?Peer events would be.
Yeah.The B2B the actual industry inside events.Yeah.
Definitely going to do expo's, uh, possibly ABN this coming year.Cause like ABN is still a B2B show.
Though it was very fan forward.It is still definitely a B2B show.
Yeah.Well, cool.That is awesome.
I'm excited for it.It. This has been a lot of work.This has been a lot of work.
I can imagine.Um, just coordinating a team is a lot of work.
Coordinating a team.Just a lot of coding went into this, not by me, but and just revisions and getting things work and having to navigate all the things that take starting an adult business from scratch, because
Banking is still a nightmare even for an adult adjacent site like this.
And how did you tackle that?What were your challenges?
Oh, a lot of calls.A whole lot of calls.And hell, one of our vendors, it really took meeting with them in Miami at Expos for them to really take us seriously.Really? Emails would be slow back and forth.
And then one of my partners on it went to one of the speed networking events and ended up across the table from our rep.And they're like, she's like, oh, I know you.He's like, you owe me an email.
We ended up having a meeting with the president of that bank or that finance payment processor.
They're like, oh yeah, we'd love to have you.So it's just been chugging along.
Yeah. Well, good.It sounds like you just been in the right places at the right time.
Yeah.And there's definitely been some ups and downs over the years.Like I would be lying to your audience.So I said, Oh, it's been all roses and pussy this whole time.
Wow.Yeah.I mean, this year has been something crazy.I'm just looking forward to November being over and hopefully our, our fans and viewers will, you know, be able to have more confidence or not.I don't know.Maybe the whole world's going to implode.
I don't know.Where do you want to live in Europe?
I know.I know.Um, I've always wanted to be an expat actually.
I was featured in an article at my university, um, because I'd went to Nicaragua for a project with the university and I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm going to move here to such a simpler life and so much cheaper. Well, cool.I'm so happy.Congratulations.
Scene locker.And, uh, yeah.Speaking of expo is Miami.I didn't want to ask you.I saw that you went to Cuba.I did tell me about that trip.I've wanted to go there for years.It's been on my bucket list.
Oh, Havana is amazing.When you were like, when you were like expo is Miami.I was like, did I do something?Yeah.Yeah.What'd you do?
I mean, I think I, any who, uh, I did not yell at that girl at the pool.Maybe it was old.
Yeah.A lot of chlorine needs is needed a lot back.
Uh, what is it called?Uh, there, I don't know.There's one called like Bactricide or something.It's like, I need it.
by the gallon, just, you know, industrial barrel just rolled in.
But Havana, Havana, I know.
What made you decide to go there?
It was actually my second time there.My, my decision to go there this time was I'm in Miami and that's most of the travel to get there.
And especially since they're only direct flights from the States these days is from, from Miami international.So fuck it.Might as well go.And yeah. Havana is a wild place.
Though it's technically a communist country, it is hyper-capitalism at street level.
I can imagine, because everyone's broke.
Well, everyone's broke.The big difference between this trip and when I went in 2017 was, for over 20 years, the Cuban government had two national currencies.
They had the Cuban peso, which is the actual trade, you know, commodity fluctuates on the markets.And then they had a Cuban convertible peso, which was always one-to-one with USD, kind of.
The reason I say kind of is the Cuban government charges 3% exchange rate to exchange any currency into Cuban money.
Except for dollars, which they charge an additional 10%.So confusing. And when I was there in 2017, you had like, if you were in any tourist area, you had to pay in convertible pesos.
But when you're out in the neighborhoods, you had to pay in real pesos.
Gotcha.And it's not like that anymore?Do they just have one currency?
They went back to just the peso.Okay.Like, I think in 21 or 22.But everywhere takes dollars.Everywhere just directly takes dollars.
They do.At varying exchange rates.
So you don't quite know what you're going to pay?
Oh, you ask.So you ask, what is your exchange rate in dollars before you start the transaction?
And Googling it, it said there is 24 pesos to the dollar.
Actually in country, it was 240 pesos to the dollar, up to 400 pesos to the dollar.Oh my.
Depends on where you were.
Yeah.Like, and this is in restaurants, markets, cabs, everywhere.
It's like going to a convenience store and be like, do you take dollars?Like, yeah.What's the rate?Oh, a 400.Cool.It was just wild because it's such an impoverished country.You'd walk out of a store.
I think we walked out of like some basically convenience store with a six pack of beer and four energy drinks for under $5 US.Oh, wow.
It's so cheap when you're in country.We rented a really nice house.I think it was 400 for the whole weekend.
And we could have definitely housed more people than just the two of us that were there.
Yeah, yeah.What was the highlight of your trip?
Pretty usual, just hitting a Cuban jazz club.
It's always so much fun.We did it on Monday night this time.So like the club was kind of dead, but the performance was amazing.
And you can't beat a $2 cover that comes with a free drink.
Oh my gosh.Yeah.Well, someday I'll get there.I, um, when I was at Portland state, one of my friends there, she was from Cuba.And so I learned a lot about Cuba from her.
But it's a, it's a very interesting place and the women are beautiful.They're fucking beautiful.
And the beaches I hear are amazing.
I didn't get to hit the beach this time when I went in 2017, had a great time at the beach.Just so the one thing that you have to get accustomed to there is the internet's not really a thing.
Yeah, they, well, they, cause they, um, what do you call it?Censor it.Correct.
Well, it's not even that they censor it.It's just the infrastructure.It's better now, but. It did not exist in 2017 when I was there.So like your Airbnb host really acts like a host.Like our Airbnb host arranged all our cars.
And stuff like that.So we didn't really try to arrange a beach trip, but when we went in 2017, yeah, we had to like arrange car service to get out to the beach and then arrange what time they were picking this up.
But in 2017, like it was great.They brought. just on the beach, they brought lobsters out to the beach and set up a table for us on the beach for like $13.
Oh, that's overpriced.Cause it was a tourist area.
Yeah.Yeah. Very cool.Very cool.I love it.
It's a beautiful place.It's I would kill to see what it was like in this heyday in the fifties.Yeah.It's it's beautiful.But there's a lot of urban decay.There's just a lot of like it's an impoverished country.
And it's just you can tell it's like, oh, this was amazing when it was built.And I still love it there.I still love it there.I love the people.I love the hustle.Like everyone's really cool.
Yeah. That's so neat.Oh, and I hear there's a lot of classic cars still driving around.
Oh yeah.I mean, they're, they're held together by Russian steel and bailing wire in a lot of cases.If you go to my Instagram, I have a bunch of pictures of classic cars from the trip, like on my IG.
A lot of what I did this trip was just take a lot of pictures.It was just rolling around with my camera.
Yeah. That's good.That is amazing.Ah, well, I'll get there someday.
You got to go though.You legally cannot go for tourism.
Right.You got to go there for something else, right?
Yeah.I was there for journalism.
So maybe one day they'll open it up for tourism, but just tell the state department, you know, you're there for a legal reason.It's cool.
Yeah.Oh, but you're right.Uh, get into Miami's half the battle.
More than half, it's a 45 minute flight from Miami.
Yeah.Well, and you know, just getting to Miami from, for, from Portland is kind of a nightmare.Like there's no direct flights.We're an international airport, but we're really not.
Like if you want to go to Asia, Portland works.If you want to go somewhere else in the States, not so much.
Yeah.It's rough.It's rough.But, uh, I don't know after this year's exvis, I'm not sure I'm going back.
Uh, you know, it's just not the same.Been there quite a, you know, a number of years and this was a very disappointing year, but.
Yeah.Yeah.We'll see.Maybe things will change with the, with 2025.We'll see.
I certainly hope so.Like, cause no shade to the expeditious group.There were definitely some problems with the show this year.
Yeah.Yeah, there was, but. Well, cool.Um, so just looking ahead, the big scene locker launch, um, anything else, where can people find you if they want information?What should they do?
Um, read a book.Oh, no.Sorry.That that's not the right information.Soon locker.com for the site.Just, you know, we are having beta signups on the site.Mm-hmm.
For me personally, you can get me at Matt underscore Slayer on Twitter, Matt Slayer on Instagram.You can get, and now we drink at, and now we drink on Twitter.And now we drink underscore on Instagram.
If you're curious about the pods and now we drink.com recently relaunched.So I have an updated website where you can watch and listen to the episodes from directly from the site.
Yeah.And, um, I love your podcast because You know, when you do get people a little liquored up, it gets really interesting.
No, not at all.We're all saints here.No one has ever done anything scandalous.Never.Never.
It is fun.I just remember thinking, I'm going to someone's house.Like, I need to.Yeah, I was like, I'm all alone in Hollywood.
Well, and that's why I never question when people are like, Hey, I want to bring someone with, especially if it's someone I don't know.It's like, yeah, bring someone with it's fine.
Like as long as they don't talk off mic, that's the only, my only ever complaint.
Yeah.But we had a great time.
Oh, it was absolutely a blast.And we got to do it again.I can't, I can't believe it's been almost two years.Like, don't let me do this.Like I lose track of time.I do a lot of these and I forget.
I've come a long way since I was on your podcast.
I know.Absolutely killing it.But yeah, do not let me do this.Like it was for you.It goes for any other, you know, past guests that may be watching this.Yell at me.Just be like, Hey Matt, I want to do the show.I'm not going to say no.
Yeah, that's kind of how I am too.I get booked out, you know, like I have episodes booked, but yeah, it's fun.I love it.Well, thank you for being on the show.
My absolute pleasure.Thank you for having me.
We can call it Granny Panty Podcast X and now we drink or, you know, that's how I always label my scenes, you know, Ruby Lynn X, da da da. That's right.That's right.Well, thank you again.Uh, I'm looking forward to seeing you.I'm in LA.
Like I think about every six weeks I'm down there doing something, but ping me and we will get you back on it.
Now we drink.We'll get you drunk again.We'll get tell the world like what you've been up to.
Yeah, for sure.Well, thanks again.And I'm sure we will chat soon.
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