889. - Aaron Levine

8:22Jason Stewart:That was what I was thinking.

8:24Aaron Levine:Maybe I'm getting it wrong. like move to Milwaukee and live a good normal life. But I do think that the, I think that the, the downfall of Los Angeles is probably a little, um, over reported. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like I don't, when I go there, the vibe is totally fine. I think it's like anything. If you want it to be bad for you, then it will be. And if you want it to be good for you, it will be like, I feel like I choose to wake up every day and I choose happiness and not. And I think you have to do that. And obviously, when your industry is crumbling, blah, blah, whatever, but I don't think that has to do with the sort of geographic location.

9:02Aaron Levine:I agree. I agree. That's the only issue. I mean, I think that all of that stuff that happened in LA is very real, but I don't think that, I don't know. I think that some of that, I think the story is interesting. I think there's a lot of truth to it. I agree. It's a real thing that's happening. I just don't know if you can blame LA.

9:20Jason Stewart:Yeah, it feels less geographic, but you know we need to have uh we need to have sticks on heads as they say in la is the perfect punching bag because we're always punching up and everyone there is hot and cool and rich and doesn't matter but yeah i think it's in in the times where you could do any job anywhere with any equipment and the barrier of entry is pretty much nil you know we we have seen this happen in many other creative fields um you know in music and film and etc etc where you can do whatever and now you know the day of reckoning is finally coming to writers like how do you think how do

9:58Aaron Levine:you think when all those session musicians felt when you know memphis cooled off you know what i'm saying they weren't happy when muscle shoals cooled off those guys were not not happy yeah i

10:06Jason Stewart:mean when soldier boy makes five million dollars off of a phone uh you know a beat that he made on his phone and nobody knows nobody you know the same thing as filming you know international news on an iphone with a ring light it's just like oh yeah it doesn't matter none of this matters and now suddenly you can have a great comedy show or you could be a great writer and you could live in rhode island or vancouver or chile and just if you're good you're gonna make it and if you're not good enough you're probably not gonna make it just the same thing with every other creative

10:39Aaron Levine:field now i know that's true that's really true um well we should we should wish a bon voyage to a friend of the show will welch who announced today he's he's leaving gq big willy they call me to go work with skateboard p over in paris um but i'm happy for him i i didn't i didn't realize somehow 19 years is a long time in the trenches to work somewhere that that's really impressive honestly like i haven't done anything for 19 years you know uh so i'm impressed but that's not true i i mean been an asshole i guess but otherwise you know it's pretty light but i was i was i'm

11:15Jason Stewart:happy for him i think it'll be fun damn 19 years ago 2007 that was when youtube started dude first

11:23Aaron Levine:iphone because now without that i wouldn't know how to change my tire or anything so that's pretty big and hurricane katrina not to bring it back well we don't have time to get into that obviously

11:31Jason Stewart:Not to bring it back to Natty Disasties.

11:35Aaron Levine:Natty Disasties.

11:36Jason Stewart:Yeah, but yeah, Will, good luck. And whoever you appoint to run the red carpet correspondence moving forward in 2026, you know, make sure that we get first dibs at that. You can go ahead.

11:49Aaron Levine:Maybe you can go ahead and write that into your exit agreement. You know, I don't want to make it about us, but, you know, it would be a nice, you know, it'd be a nice.

11:56Jason Stewart:It's the right thing to do, William.

11:57Aaron Levine:It'll be fun to see who gets the job. I have my own ideas.

12:03Jason Stewart:It's going to be Sunberg, obviously.

12:05Aaron Levine:But we have a guest today. Old friend Aaron Levine is joining us. He is a designer who has worked for countless brands over the years. He has his own brand now as well as a big Zara collab that's in stores. I tried to find because I was looking for the – he's telling me that Argyle is back and I believe him. So I was trying to come.

12:24Jason Stewart:and he also has the most important job of all Chris dad

12:30Aaron Levine:he's not just a human dad but a dog dad as well

12:33Jason Stewart:I did not know that I cannot wait to go pay some bills and get on the chatterbox with him okay let's give him a call

12:42Aaron Levine:this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by BetterHelp we're in mid-March Jason and the biggest thing for me in March besides obviously the flowers blooming in spring you know showing a little peak of skin. It's International Women's Day was this month, Jason. It's a moment to celebrate women's strength and progress while also recognizing how much they carry every day. They got strong shoulders when they're dealing with people like us. Between caring for others and managing unseen responsibilities, their emotional well-being can easily be overlooked. Over here at BetterHelp and How Long Gone, we want to remind women how much they matter and that therapy offers a space for them to take care of themselves in a way that they deserve.

13:22Jason Stewart:Yeah, that's right. Because fellas out there, we don't want to talk, right? Let me rub your feet a little bit, make you a nice tea before bed, something digestive, maybe do a little gua sha. But what we won't do is talk about your problems because we don't want to hear it. And that's what BetterHelp is for. Take a moment to celebrate the woman in your life by blessing her with some BetterHelp. Her emotional well-being matters. Find support and feel lighter as your lady feels lighter with therapy. Sign up and get 10 % off at BetterHelp.com slash HowLong, that is Better, H-E-L-P, as in please take out the trash.com slash HowLong.

14:05Aaron Levine:How Long Gone is brought to you by Factor Meals. somewhere between the first warm weekend and realizing short season is getting close eating well stops feeling optional factor is how i stopped letting a busy schedule be my excuse fully prepared meals designed by dietitians and crafted by chefs ready in two minutes no planning and no pesky cooking jason it has it all quality functional ingredients including lean proteins colorful veggies whole food ingredients and healthy fats the good kind no refined sugars no artificial sweeteners no refined seed oils meals that fit your goals and schedule healthier eating, calorie management, and you know, Jason, more protein.

14:41Aaron Levine:Yeah. I mean, what else could you want?

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15:23Jason Stewart:And I think you should too.

15:24Aaron Levine:Head to factormeals.com slash howlong50off and use code howlong50off to get 50 % off and free breakfast for a year. Offer only valid for New Factor customers with code and qualifying auto-earning subscription purchase. Make healthier eating easy with Factor. Oh, man. I can't wait to be here. I'm so excited. I can't wait to be here. Yeah, this is going to be good. How are you today, big bro? Are you good? I'm okay, man. Yeah, all good. All good. It's like freezing cold and rainy here in the Rust Belt right now. So, grappling with that.

15:56Jason Stewart:You're in Ohio? Is that right? Yeah, I'm outside of Columbus in a town called Granville. I came here in 2015 for a gig that ended. Put your G's up. Put your G's up. Okay. Put your G's up. Okay. Go ahead, Chris.

16:09Aaron Levine:No, no. I'm just fascinated with this living choice because I feel like it's very, very nice. But how long does it take you to get to the closest airport? Flying commercial, of course. I can't remember the last time I flew commercial, but if I were to, it would be like 30 minutes or so. Okay. 30 minutes.

16:27Jason Stewart:So is it fair to say you are the white Dave Chappelle? Yeah. Taking your wealth and your riches you've accumulated over the last couple decades and then put it all into a barn in Ohio and live like a king? Exactly. That's exactly it. Exactly. And then you're so enigmatic, the world comes to you. Yeah, they come to you. Instead of the other way around. That's how you got to set it up. Exactly. It's the reverse of changing the weather.

16:54Aaron Levine:Yeah, I have to say, as much as I can imagine living outside of Columbus, Ohio, it does look pretty fucking nice. It looks idyllic in many, many ways. It does.

17:05Jason Stewart:I've never heard anyone say that.

17:06Aaron Levine:Well, maybe you don't follow Aaron on Instagram. I'm saying his shit looked good. I'm not saying the neighbors make it look good. I'm saying he makes it look good.

17:15Jason Stewart:No one's ever said, man, I've seen all these photos of Columbus, Ohio, and I gotta say, that shit looks good. so you know it's like we live on like a little farm here and there's a university called denison that's in this town right it's like well off it's liberal arts school um so they take they take good care of the town and there's like a nice intellectual liberal community that's here and uh you know it's like low oh i see it's a low lift as long as you fit the criteria of the of the demographic like i'm sure like will it will i be welcomed in your community if i don't have an ethel cane tattoo you know what i mean exactly exactly you know like it's it's um uh it's mellow it's a good place to be for now it has pros and cons and you know i don't know how much longer we'll be here but it was a good run while we were low-key i mean i think it's i i think it's like

18:14Aaron Levine:You were an early settler because I feel like that's what happened. Once COVID hit, everybody was like, I got to live. I got to get out of these cities, man.

18:24Jason Stewart:I'm thinking Bozeman, dude. Bozeman is lit right now.

18:27Aaron Levine:At least you got in when the getting was good. You know, I came here for Abercrombie. Yeah. Right? I'd never been to Ohio before that. Oh, shit. You went in Raw Dog? 100%. You hit the Zillow link and just went? 100%. 100%. You know, I think the same visit I came in for the interview was the same visit that some realtor was like driving me around. And I was like, what is going on? You were in New York at the time, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We lived in Westchester before this in a town called Croton. And then came here in 2015 and was just like jaw on the ground, kind of frozen in the headlights a little bit for a while.

19:09Aaron Levine:I feel like those are the kind of decisions that you either labor over too much or you just got to pull the trigger and fucking do it. Dude, pull the trigger. Actually, I remember I was offered the job. I was in the hallway at Club when I was working there at Club Monaco. And I took the call from Abercrombie. And I was like, I bought. I said I couldn't do it. I said I didn't want the job.

19:35Jason Stewart:Art of the negotiation, bro. That's nice. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And then I remember getting off the phone and I was like, you know what? I'm just going to call my mom, my spiritual advisor, and just be like, hey, what do you think about this? And she was like, I think you're stupid. What is your problem?

19:52Aaron Levine:You slide the piece of paper over the table to your mom with the salary on it. She's like, you're a fucking idiot, son. I thought I raised you better than this.

19:59Jason Stewart:So to put this in right-wing terms, it's like you're on the Lakers. You're living life in WeHo. you're having dinner at Ketchup every night, and then they're like, we got the offer, $12 million a year, but you got to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves. And you're like, mm-hmm. There you go. Break out like the down puffers to keep the North cold. Or if LeBron went from the Lakers to the Cavs to keep it Ohio-ian.

20:27Aaron Levine:Yeah, to keep it Ohio. Yeah. I love that you balked, because I do think that's... I think it's funny that you... I feel like that's... Because how long did you have to contemplate this,

20:36Jason Stewart:or were they kind of like we need a decision now but also back then abercrombie wasn't as cool and

20:40Aaron Levine:revival as he's the one who he's the one who fucking revived it that's the whole thing i know you know like i think it was really quick right like i had a buddy that worked at club and and i was in paris for pv which is like that fabric buying show yeah yeah and he calls me in the middle of the night and he's like yo i'm i'm leaving he was like my partner there you know and i was like oh man dude if you leave i don't know what i'm gonna do you know and then um can't be in the club solo i was like you're gonna go to one of two places and i was like is this one of them and he was like yeah and i was like well let me know if you need help he's like i need help so it was like real quick real quick transition yeah i think that's the i think that's the only way i think some of this stuff takes so long that it's sort of like what are we doing i was talking about this yesterday with like the way bands get signed i'm like dude if you like it that much and you're an anr guy what are you gonna why are you gonna kick the bucket for six months like just just do it like it's there's no reason i just think if the terms can be agreed upon quickly then i think the deal should be done quickly what was that was it malcolm who was who was it was it malcolm mclaren at creation records who discovered oasis in manchester was that is that completely far off i can't remember i think so it was saw him in a club saw him in a club was like pull the trigger immediately i just think that i just think that like those stories make a lot of like obviously you hear those stories when it's someone like that because everybody wants you to know that they were a genius but i think it can happen i think that can happen on much smaller levels and have a similar effect well thanks thanks for that i appreciate it no i don't mean i don't mean to you i'm talking about the music but i just like what are you guys doing like your job is to put out records so like you got to put out i don't understand what you're doing really

22:25Jason Stewart:quick to correct sorry Aaron um it was Alan McGee the other co-founder of Creation Records who signed to McLaren just thank you I'm mixing up my docs I appreciate you keeping me honest because I was like I felt like McLaren was like a little bit too early for Oasis but like I

22:40Aaron Levine:appreciate that but Oasis at this point Oasis that was a long fucking time ago you know I mean like it does he was too early but it feels like it's it's appropriate timing yeah true true you know And also, man, I was like, look, you know, on paper, the whole New York thing was awesome. It was like, all right, ideally, when I was living in the city, I was like, all right, I want to get out. I want to be like close to work. I want to live in the country-ish. And Croton seemed like that, right? It was like 20 miles outside. It was on the Hudson River. It was like kind of idyllic. It was non-incorporated.

23:09So there were just like funky little restaurants. And, you know, everything was independent there. And in reality, you know, it took me two hours each way to get to and from work. I never saw my house. like I was just like this is this is stupid I'm not seeing my kids I'm like this is fake like on paper it's like check if you talk to someone it's like it all checks out you got it great and I'm like I'm standing there on the train platform at like 7 23 on a Tuesday in February and it's like pissing sleet on me and I'm like looking up and down the traffic with all these people and I'm like I do what I do to like not do that and live like this and like here I am yeah like a schlub doing the same old bullshit as like all these other folks if you're making that if you're

23:51Aaron Levine:making the bread it's like yeah sure we'll live in the fucking west village i'm gonna do this whole thing otherwise otherwise it's you're right what you did is the move it's like all that shit is fake you're absolutely right i don't know and for like how i live right like i'm like a nerd man i'm not i'm not out there i'm i'm i'm okay chilling for a bit and then um we'll see what's next when the girls go to college when did oh so i see you so you're about to the chains are about to be free. Free, but I don't know. Who knows? These are big life decisions. It's a weird time, fellas. You're sniffing 50, and you're just like, all right, cool.

24:25I feel like I'm 18. I act like I think I'm 18. I'm like, what's next?

24:31Jason Stewart:So which peptides are you on then, King? What's going on?

24:38Aaron Levine:Share the stack, bro. Don't be stingy.

24:41Jason Stewart:I fucking fuck like a champion, though. I'm staring at these bulls across like the street right there's like this little little kind of cow farm across the street and it's like whenever they go inject those bulls with whatever they inject them with I'm just like bust out on me.

24:57Aaron Levine:I'm going to mosey on over bend over see what happens. I'm like oh look at that. Give me a taste. I mean where have you ever where have you ever thought about living besides because where are you from originally? I'm from Northern Virginia DMV outside of DC. Okay, so you're an East Coast guy. Have you thought about an L.A. chapter, a London chapter? I have.

25:18Jason Stewart:We just spent some time in L.A. together. Was that a couple weeks ago? A couple weeks ago, yeah. We were over there at Mohawk. Thanks, Kevin, for that. You know, I have. I have thought about that. But again, I feel like I need something to push me over the edge to pull the trigger on something. You need a little bit more of a reason than just I like it. I think so. I don't know. I have no idea, which is also kind of cool. Like, I don't have to know right now. You need the thing, but we don't know what that thing is. And that's super exciting and super scary. Both of those things.

25:49Aaron Levine:Do your daughters think you're cool yet? Have they crossed over? No, no, no, no, no. Like, the temperature drops like 20 degrees when they come down the stairs. It's just like, you know. All right, so they're not having it. They're like, all right, big dog. Zero percent. Zero percent. And if they do, they do an amazing job of making them believe they don't. I didn't know maybe if there had been a crossover where they wanted something that you could provide. Obviously, besides food and shelter. There's constant that. There's constant like, oh, wait a minute. What do you want? If you're nice to me, I'm like, I need to give you money for something.

26:26But I'm like, what do you want?

26:28Jason Stewart:So you're more than happy to buy their love and affection at Brandy Melville. Yeah.

26:33Aaron Levine:Isn't that the way? Isn't that the way? Yeah. I thought that was the only, I mean, that's the only way it works. I guess I've, we've talked to a lot of people on the podcast that have had, that are in the music business or whatever. And it's like they're 13 or 14 year old. Won't give them the time of day until they're like, Oh yeah. Well, you want to see chapel run? All right. Well, well let's take you and all your friends to go see. Totally. You know, and I, and look, I'm not, I'm not trying to bust their balls too hard. Like, you know, I think I think they're both 17 years old. I've got identical twin daughters and I think we get along pretty well.

27:01I do love them like a whole bunch and we got pretty good.

27:04Aaron Levine:But you got, but you can be honest about the situation. Yeah. It's also like, it's only a couple more years till they realize you're cool is the reality. That's what's nice about being older is that I just, I can't give a shit about that anymore. Like I can't care that, that to me, like if they, if we're cool and we can like sit down and like play corkle and like watch a movie in the living room with a fire gone. I'm like, that's cool to me. Like that's cool. I think I think that's sort of what I mean. I don't, I don't mean, I just mean like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I think there's a certain age where everybody thinks their parents are like the worst no matter what.

27:38Aaron Levine:Totally. Regardless of how much you're paying for their life? Yeah. Well, also regardless of what you do for a living, which is so crazy. Right. Okay.

27:45Jason Stewart:Well, so you said twin 17-year-old daughter. So that means they have, have they both been accepted into college? Do they know where they're going yet? Yeah. They've been accepted into a couple colleges or waiting for like a couple more. Are we going to, is this the first time that they're going to be split or are they going to go to the same school? Yes. Wow. They're going to split. They're going to go to different schools. Like you need another thing to deal with right now. Am I right, Aaron? It's all good, dude. It's all good. Because the nest is getting empty and then the empty nest is splitting into two.

28:15Jason Stewart:Because you know Jason's famously a twin. Are you really? Did not know that. That's right, twin. Are you identical twin? We are not identical. We are fraternal and neither of us were super collegiate. So that was not an issue. either they went to separate colleges to Santa Monica community and Orange County community it's all good several prestigious universities in the Orange County area they were competing they were competing for for both to be fair my brother did complete much more call he went to school for architecture and he actually did do a path and he did get a a BA I believe whereas I yeah man I went to school I went to college the year I discovered marijuana so did you you went to college right here same same yes i did i went to but i i had like i didn't have the best relationship with college right i had a problem with authority and like and jason like yeah i had like i found stuff there that definitely like changed my opinion and like thought process on like what i wanted to do and how i wanted to do it and i just didn't know how to get there so i just kept trying to figure myself out more while i was there so you're saying that you finished college even though

29:22Aaron Levine:you left for multiple months to follow the Grateful Dead on tour? I got kicked out multiple times, dude, and I did not. I left with six credits shy because there were a couple semesters where I believe I got like a 0.0 because I didn't withdraw or anything. I just stopped. Withdrawed emotionally and mentally and was too stupid.

29:41Jason Stewart:I'm focusing on trying to see which pills work for me right now, so I'm not really going to. I'm just trying to get all my credits. I'm deep in analysis here. I'm deep in analysis.

29:50Aaron Levine:this you guys don't even understand what i'm on right now this is beyond you so i struggled with it but like like you jason right like i'm i'm add as hell and like i i i think it's thrown around a lot these days but like i you know it's like crippling to me so when i'm in that environment that's like not my environment to succeed you know it wasn't built for people like me you know

30:14Jason Stewart:and like and how my brain works so well did you did we get the um aaron did we get this yet Oh, not yet, dude. But I'm going to. I'm going to. Okay. I'm going to.

30:24Aaron Levine:Jason sold me on it, and it worked.

30:26Jason Stewart:I was talking to him about it. You were having some light phone issues and blah, blah, blah. And the thing to me, I'm not going to complicate anything else by carrying another stupid thing, right? So I think I'm just – not that it's stupid. Respect the people that made it or whatever. But I'm just like, I will subscribe to the brick setup. You already live in a barn in Ohio. We don't need a light phone. Yeah, literally. You got a lighthouse.

30:50Aaron Levine:You live in a light phone. Yeah, you got a light life. I think that the brick is really, I got to say, it's the perfect version. I think all that stuff that you're talking about, it does, it adds a second thing to carry where the brick, and I use it every day, especially when I'm at the gym. What's your program? How does it work? How do you use it? What do you turn off? What do you leave on? I turn off Instagram and Twitter and I brick it before I leave the house to go to the gym so therefore I'm not wasting time on the machine because basically I would get really mad at people for wasting time on machines of course I was doing it this morning at the gym I was watching and then I'm doing the same damn thing exactly and that was my issue I'm like Chris you're part of the problem as usual and the brick solves that and then before bed because you keep it in the other room you tap it before you get into bed you plug your phone in you can't use your there's nothing to look at stop it before bed oh man so i when i get into bed i'll i'll do like i'll do those new york times like puzzles like i'll do crossword puzzles or whatever the whole i'll try and like run through a couple of those things and i love that stuff and i think it helps me go to sleep but then inevitably like i'll just i'll just get on instagram bro that's better than oh yeah i'm i'm looking at kaya gerber you're fucking doing you know it's fine it's but like i think maybe that would help you go to sleep and that might be good for you you know what i

32:09Jason Stewart:yeah yeah that might be better yeah so so there's different i mean you bring up the crossword because once you cut off your main lifelines your instagram your twitter your tiktok whatever the ones that are the big time sucks you start looking at other apps as sources of entertainment and you're like oh maybe i'll you know so like like carolyn my wife for example it's very easy for her to just go straight to real estate listings the real real this you know Her dopamine hit is just fine with that stuff, whereas I don't get that at all. She'll have to restrict other things, but she has it on a timer.

32:46Where do you get an extra dopamine hit if you brick your phone and you are just sitting there staring at a wall? How do you feel? Are you constructive with the way that you fill that space, or are you just finding another dopamine hit someplace else? I'm constructive.

33:00Aaron Levine:He thinks he is. Share with us, Jason. It's called Angry Birds.

33:05Jason Stewart:and it's really no no so no no i use this app called picnic like when you have lunch in a park and it basically gamifies deleting old photos off of your phone oh yeah yeah yeah you just hit a every single day and it'll just be a pick of some food and you swipe left to keep it swipe right to delete it i love it i'm able to just delete you know we all have 50 000 photos on our camera Totally. It's mostly horse shit. Totally. So I remove 200 photos and videos off of my phone every day. I like it.

33:39Aaron Levine:Look, I guess that is technically using the time wisely, but that's a little bit of unnecessary busy work.

33:49Jason Stewart:Well, I mean, if I'm going to be sitting on a chair having a cigarette for 10 minutes, then yeah. I'm not going to be like, well, I'm finally going to reorganize my closet. No, sure, sure, sure. You're right.

34:00Aaron Levine:As far as digital goes, you're right. That's a good use of it. I get a lot of ads.

34:04Jason Stewart:I mean, either that or also it makes texting your friends and calling your friends and staying in touch with people that you are close with, that suddenly becomes more interesting than looking at Twitter where the funniest people in the world live or looking on Instagram where the hottest, coolest people in the world live. Totally. It reminds you that you also have friends in the real world that you enjoy their presence around. They're not as hot, but good enough. You're good enough. Solid sixes. We're talking.

34:35Aaron Levine:I'm not even looking at them, so it's kind of fine. You know what I mean? It doesn't really matter what they look like. It doesn't really matter what they look like. It's funny that you organize your closet or whatever. I'm a compulsive keeper, and I got into that. I tried to gamify that this past weekend. I thought I saw you do a little clean haul. holy shit man it was like i mean i've got stuff from 20 years back in bins and boxes of stuff that i thought i would need the time when i left those jobs to be fair to to be to be fair to you this is your job and it has been guys like you were supposed to have a lot of stuff you know that's the excuse i've used on myself for two decades right it's like i i think the same at the same time i when i was like keeping all this shit i was like oh i might need that thing for this project that I don't know if it even exists 20 years from now, or I'm like, just dump it and figure out a new way to solve a problem.

35:33And that was super liberating. I had 15 bags of trash down at the curb, 20 big cardboard boxes and re-binning shit in my studio. So it's like, okay, cool. I had to force edit all this stuff and then really talk myself off a cliff when I was getting rid of some of this stuff. and I donated like 10 huge 50-gallon garbage bags of clothes.

35:55Aaron Levine:Damn, some of these little liberal arts students are about to look fly. They're about to come up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe they look fly like in 2008. They wouldn't look fly in that shit now. Oh, wow. My barista's wearing skinny suits all of a sudden. They're so weird. A lot of club. A lot of club in there. Oh, yeah. I mean, a lot of hickey. I was like grimacing at this stuff when I was pulling it out. I was just like, oh, my God. You're like, damn, did I make that shit? I guess I did. I'm terrible.

36:17Jason Stewart:but but did you have like uh did you have like a marie condo that's what i was telling myself i was like thank you for your service thank you for your service thank you for your service get out of here get out of my life stop weighing me down like a so do you feel do you feel now do you feel lighter yes today but at the same time like i even just just did the same thing to this bookshelf that's in it's in like this working area that i have here the house where i was like looking at it i was like i have all these like my favorite nikes on the shelf and i'm like you're a grown-ass man get those fucking nikes off the shelf you know like but but there is like something to that nostalgia like where i like drew that initial passion from that i love so much but i'm like get it out of here like you're not a kid anymore you know get it all out of here dude i

37:03Aaron Levine:hear this every fucking day do you know how many times i've heard about my sticker box and how it needs to go i'm like alex every cool guy you've ever met has a sticker box i hate to tell you but it's part of it right like that's cool right like like there's nothing cooler to me than like someone who's like passionate about like something that's could be nerdy to somebody else right and you've got the courage to be fucking nerdy about your sticker box and i've got the courage to be nervous nerdy about like my robo tech or whatever the hell it is then i'm like be passionately nerdy about that stuff at the same time it's like i don't need to look at it all the time you know what i'm saying no that's i i think there's a fight because i did some storage space uh hunting this weekend as well.

37:42Aaron Levine:Did you uncover some gens? Yep. I uncovered stuff. I mean, I think that like I have, I'm trying to consolidate it all into one place because the t-shirt, you know, the John Mayer Tour 04 crew t-shirt, I don't need that in daily rotation, but the Wilco AM shirt, I do. So it's about choosing where things live and then pruning what maybe you don't need. You have your flagship store

38:09Jason Stewart:and then you can kind of piece things out at different locations.

38:11Aaron Levine:Now, did you brun Mayer? Do you donate Mayer? Or do you keep Mayer in a box in a storage unit? No, Mayer stays in a box. I think that at some point, my t-shirts are the only legacy I'm going to have. So I need to kind of maintain. And also some of it is like, at this point it's gotten so niche online that I can't believe other people like what I like. Like I can't believe there's a demand for it the way that there is. Yeah.

38:31Jason Stewart:That's why we have to hold on to everything, guys, because you never know what's going to hit. Exactly. Exactly. But that point of view right there where it's like, I can't believe other people are into what I'm into. That was my first realization when I moved to New York because I was into all that shit and all the stuff I'm into now then when I was a young kid. But I'm like, a lot of these people aren't into what I'm into. And I go to New York and I'm like, wait a minute. A lot of people are into what I'm into. Every single person. This is insane. I thought I was the only guy who liked Pinback, but no.

39:07wait a fucking second hold on like when you when you make something and you're like okay you're out there and you're making something you're like all right chances are if i like this you know maybe maybe five or six other people will like this too hopefully this episode of how long gone is brought

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41:14Jason Stewart:Yeah. Nobody wants to deal with returns, but ShipStation, they make it so easy. And then when you are shipping all that stuff out, you don't have time. Is it going to be cheaper if I FedEx it or if I UPS it or if I this, if I that? Don't worry. ShipStation compares all those rates for you and then bundle some discounted rates. If you're doing some drop shipping of all that stuff, you didn't even know you could negotiate carrier rates, did you? You loser. Add ShipStation's automation and intelligent features to your life. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all of their features.

41:51Jason Stewart:No credit card. Need it. Go to ShipStation.com and use the code HOWLONG for 60 days for free. 60 days gives you plenty of time to see exactly how much time and money you're saving on every shipment. That's ShipStation.com. Code HOWLONG. ShipStation.com. Code HOWLONG. well they i mean that everyone says that all the time and it's a dumb cliche for a reason is like you you have to just make and do stuff that you are into and then hope to god that other people are as well that's the only way to totally actually have success and not hate your life it's totally actually have success doing something creative for a living right like because i think that i think that for sure think about like the wonderfully brilliant creative people that you know that just like struggle with it a little bit right in the real life and trying to like make ends meet but they create these amazing things whether it's music or art or photography whatever it is tv writers whatever it could be whatever it can be yeah i say this all the time

42:54Aaron Levine:aaron i say this all the time that it's it's sort of like there's an audience for everything these days it just depends on how big the audience is is how i feel because there's too much output yep and then but and then also the timing of everything right it's like it's like you could be the best in the world and if the timing is wrong by like a hair that wave is just going to crash right over you and no one's not going to ever know that you existed until someone finds like a bunch of your photographs in a shoebox shoebox in an attic sometime 50 years from now there's nothing worse than being a band's band or a photographer's photographer or you know but that's what the internet wants you to be right this is the perfect example of like when i did that zara thing right i'm like i know that i'm gonna get grief for this a little bit right i'm be challenged by people on this you have your own little line so you waited until 2026 where

43:38Jason Stewart:everyone just says get the bag versus saying sell out yo smart move smart move they approached me in 98 but i kind of held off all i'm saying is like yo they were amazing to work with and we made some awesome stuff and they were super open about it and they're super creative their marketing team's amazing like the design teams are incredible um but then you know it's like the trolls come out man and they're like the things that people dm you are absolutely wild wild what i read in my ds you got a couple you got an example or two i mean i as i was i wanted to talk to you about argyle

44:15Aaron Levine:but you're saying people are coming in a little more aggressive than that maybe oh my god man so so i mean i'll paraphrase for you jason right like i could i i try to delete those things like right away you know because i'm like i don't even want to like clog up my brain with that and if i said that it didn't negatively impact me and like and like yeah you're like ouch man like that would be a lie you know because it's like your work and it's like you're trying to make a living doing what you love to do in order to do that i cobble together like a bunch of different things right

44:42Jason Stewart:ironically you sorry to interrupt you saying ouch right there is often the best response to those things it debases them no i mean i've been doing it for years if somebody says me sends me a mean comment or a message or whatever reply hit him with the ouch 99 of the time they hat in hand start apologizing though you're big yeah you know speak for yourself guys you guys are bigger guys

45:03Aaron Levine:bigger men than i am i got one the other day that was just your collar looks stupid and i just scrolled on the guy's page until i saw a picture of him and screenshot it and just sent him the picture of himself and i didn't get a response and i said i think we i think we're done here chief but you're right that the ouch is is i think the right reaction and the right response i really i actually like that like i i just don't respond to any of them right um i can't help myself but but you know like i get like sell out like you know this you're trash like whatever you're just like this is nuts that and just like a lot of salacious dms from dudes man uh well how many i mean you did post a photo of your bulge on you're saying you're saying you're saying hog inquiries from men or you're saying clothing related?

45:49I'm saying thirsty DMs from dudes. I'm like, there's like zero women in the DMs and all dudes, man.

45:56Aaron Levine:Yeah, welcome to the club, bro. That's when you know you've made it. That's when you know.

46:01Jason Stewart:But also, when you are posting photos of your bulge on the grid, you are asking for it, not to get... There's a bulge or two, buddy, but you can't help that.

46:11Aaron Levine:You're like, bro, the pants fit perfect. It's a you problem.

46:14Jason Stewart:I don't know what the fuck you want to do. I wish there were pants in the frame. I wish there were pants in the frame. It was just nothing but the skims.

46:22Aaron Levine:Yeah.

46:23Jason Stewart:Yeah, I'll take that.

46:25Aaron Levine:Ouch.

46:26Jason Stewart:Well, the next time you get a DM like that, just tell Scott Sternberg that we say hi, okay?

46:32Aaron Levine:Yeah, that's all you got to do. That's all you got to do. Is the, okay, so the Zara thing, I feel like if you've been doing this for as long as you've been doing it, and you seem like a guy from what I see, I mean, we've been friends for a long time, but as an observer, you seem like a guy that takes the bull by the, you're just like, you know what, if I want to do it, I'm going to do it. 100%, dude. And I think, but I think that like that to me is even, even if you're a casual observer, that's what makes the Zara thing sort of make sense. It's like, oh, that's a different challenge. I'll just try it.

47:02Aaron Levine:What's the worst that could happen? 100%, man. And it's like, look, I've done Club Monaco. I worked on Madewell. Worked on Abercrombie. So it's like, those are different puzzles to solve at a different scale, right? So when you are working on a project like that, there's like so many ways that you can go into that environment and it can be bad or it can be incredible and you can learn a ton from these folks. It's like playing music. Like if I could play music, I would assume I can't play music. But like, if you're just like, I'm going to pick up my guitar and I'm going to play with this band for a while and that band shreds you're like this is amazing right like i get to just get on stage and like play live music with these people that's what i that's what it feels like to me so when i'm going there i go to spain and i work with these people i get to like play live music with them and then i'll fly to london and play live music with nick or studio nicholson and then do the same thing with drakes and then come home and like play some solo stuff here you know and just like dick around in the studio i'm actually working on my solo album babe if you could just quiet down out there yeah yeah i see what you mean no i see what you mean though that may i mean i think that really does i i just feel like you've you've how do you think you're able to get away with it all i don't care you don't care i don't care you know like if i were to care about like what everyone thinks and what everyone said not that everyone cares because i went like only like four people talk shit anyway right no one gives a shit like in the whole scheme of things and the broad spectrum of things, it doesn't mean anything.

48:31So I'm going to do whatever feels fulfilling and like inspirational and like purpose-driven, as sad as that sounds, right? Like my purpose is this, like I love it and I can't help it. I wish my purpose was like doing something more philanthropic or like more creative or whatever, but it's not, it's this, like I love it. I love doing it. I love doing it with people who love doing it. So I'm just going to do that, man. And I just don't give this shit.

49:01Aaron Levine:No, I think it's enviable. And I just think that it's rare in this business, I would say, to sort of be able to be like an independent operator that can dip in and out. But I think this is what I like about J.Crew. It's a similar thing where it's like you realize these things are huge. And it's like making any sort of impact with something like that is a different scale than most things. yeah when there's 300 stores or whatever it's like oh this is a whole different ball game and zara's that yes but you know what it's like did you ever read that book ender's game when you were a kid this is also super nerdy this is nerdy yeah everybody read that book right everyone read that book right i think you might have i think you had to maybe maybe maybe i don't know i never had to in high school when i was like a freshman in college like someone gave it to me and i like read it and and i was like that's that's kind of like how i approach like all these these projects at different scales right where you can like you just treat it like practice man like if you're if saying play loose and just play loose and like don't think about the scale or the 300 stores or the global DTC or like the campaign and as soon as you shoot something then you put it up and you put it out in the world and then people are free to interpret it however they want some of them some people love it some people hate it some people critique your work some people say you're copying other people some say you're and you're just like man all I do is like try to go in there and do the best job that I can do.

50:23And of course, you're like a cultural sponge and you soak up all this shit around you because you want it to be relevant to people that are shopping it, you know? So I just treat it like practice, man. I don't, like the scale thing doesn't bother me.

50:35Aaron Levine:The other thing that I think is interesting is that you sort of, more than a lot of people, I think you're selling, I think men are buying the clothes because they want to look like you because you make it look cool. And that's part of the selling point is that you're kind of the guy wearing it. And I think that's powerful.

50:53Jason Stewart:It's like a reverse ASAP Rocky.

50:56Aaron Levine:Yeah, but I think that's powerful and crazy, but I also like that's just not possible. Do you know what I'm saying? There's plenty of swaggy people that I know, and I could buy the exact same clothes that they're wearing and put it on, and it ain't going to look cool on me.

51:11Jason Stewart:A lot of people buy the row to look like Mary-Kate and Ashley

51:15Aaron Levine:in airport fit. No. But I think that you've figured out a way to really sell it in that sort of way. And I think it's really interesting because men, I think, aren't usually – like women are sort of used to that. Like the culture is set up a little bit more for that in some ways. Like as far as like let's say a quote-unquote influencer and their shop my links and that whole game is very set up.

51:39Jason Stewart:Oh, where did you get that? Oh, I like that. That's cute.

51:41Aaron Levine:Men are like, you already have that? I can never have it. I'm never going to buy it. Yeah, it's a different thing. and i think you i don't i just think it's interesting that it's worked you know as far as i can tell for you you know i think it's like um you know i was talking to a friend yesterday and i was talking to ruby yesterday he goes do you guys know ruby um and and i had a great conversation with her i know and and you know she's very smart and and i was inspired by her you know there are a lot of people that are like buzzy right that are cool and that that when they do collections with people they do collections of their own it gets like a lot of love from a press standpoint you know like we didn't do any press from that for that czar thing at all we didn't do any press for that and like i'm not buzzy i'm not cool i'm not hype i'm not all

52:33Jason Stewart:changes after this interview brother that all yeah yeah yeah yeah change your address big dog strap a rocket to your ass but i'm like i'm not cool so but but what i'd like to do is make stuff that's easy for people and i'm like why is that uncool like why why is that um i don't know man i'm like i just like to make nice easy stuff for like so that someone can wear it and like feel

53:00Aaron Levine:good about themselves no i think in theory i think no i think in theory you're right like it's in But in reality, it all makes sense. But in reality, I think that I just find that men, I think men started shopping that way in very recent history. I think that I think that's how like I think I think men would be like that. That sweater is cool. I want it. Whereas women would often be like, that looks good on the model. That'll look good on me. If that makes sense. I think it's a little bit of a different sort of like mental gymnastics to get them to buy. Yeah. But with what's the feedback. So what's the feedback been on your own stuff?

53:32Aaron Levine:Is it just like, I love this, but it's too expensive? because that's what everybody says about everything well no no we're actually doing what we want to do and people are responding to stuff that i actually didn't think they would respond to there's probably like the dressier stuff like when we do like our suits and stuff like that's what really moves and like our pants really move yeah um and i wasn't really anticipating that but that's cool for me like that's more exciting for me the thing about it is right when you start your own thing from scratch we don't take any money from anybody right like we we threw in a little couple bucks to begin with and we're working on cash flow so like that's super inhibitive right like all i can do is cut what i'm paying for and and cut like when we get paid from what stuff we sell that goes to the vendors to pay for the garments that we just cut and that goes to buy more fabric and it's like if you don't love doing that it is the worst way to try to make money man you know like it is just like like there's way easier ways and if i was smart in that way i'd probably do those but i'm not like i just do this because i love it and i can't really do anything else no but i think you i think you know you you're able to make money doing it other places and you can do what you want when you want in other ways i think that's

54:45Jason Stewart:the dream that's the dream yeah you you sell a pair of plain pants that are 400 yes and it doesn't have a luxury brand name attached to it and you're currently sold out of them yes i mean that's exactly like who gives it like that who gives a fuck that you know that's it and i think when you're you know it's so simple and so regular normal here's your very basic high quality clothing some formal some workwear yeah no luxury brand name attached to it no brick and mortar no even though it seems real normal to you and you know to the eyes of the rest of the world it's a a strange concept to grasp you know what i mean yeah totally you know and and you know like when we were making it right like i was like i just want really beautiful work where that's like i can get away with if i have to go to a meeting or go to dinner or something i just want to make like a dressy version of that and i don't want to think too hard about it and i'm not going to try to add something to it to make it look different than something else if it doesn't need it right um and and when i'm developing the fabrics for it it's like we'll we'll make proprietary fabrics in italy it's like cool i wear car hearts all the time but i want to develop like a two-ply canvas out of italy that feels like luxury that feels dressy that i can beat the shit out of and that will like kind of mold to my body and then that i don't get from a lot of other places because you know smaller brands i find that like you buy something and then you can't buy it again right and then i'm like damn i wish i bought three pairs of that thing and when i shop like

56:12Aaron Levine:the bigger brands i'm like that's my that's my fucking issue with nike so let's not let's not leave it to the small brands you know what i mean a hundred percent i think yeah but also aaron you

56:22Jason Stewart:could take that one pair of pants that you'll never be able to buy again but you have the skills to take it apart make a pattern out of it and then steal that design there you go 100 %

56:32Aaron Levine:that's how this whole thing works just to be clear I steal from small brands as much as I can I want to be very upfront what happens is that people will will then like buck out on the fabric or like they'll buck out on the make and like they'll make that same thing they'll rip the pattern and then they'll scrimp and it's like this does not feel the same and it does not look the same and it does not drape the same and it does not wear the same so like a lot of my stuff that i make is like inside baseball for people that give a shit about that stuff right now you know and and you know it's like we buy a little bit more every time and we sell a little bit more every time so i mean that's that's how we're doing it that is a classic model i've sold from everybody that came before me sure literally everybody of course are you kidding me

57:15Jason Stewart:um yeah i was hanging out with my mom um over christmas we went to south coast plaza a shopping mall in orange county and and we were talking about how over the years it's become less and less fun to like christmas shop for people everything is all online and blah blah blah and my mom said quote unquote shopping used to be fun and i was like damn that's kind of a bar you know so yeah what do you think that we can do to make shopping fun again make it fun again man i don't know you know like i think first of all like you got to be someone that likes to do that stuff like i'm a picker and i like to shop at like you know i like to shop with like smaller people and i like to shop you know vintage stores where people like work really hard on their selection and like that's what i like to give to people too are like are those things or support smaller brands or give someone like if i have a couple things in the studio like i'll send them some of my stuff i think i i don't know man i'm i'm all about like you know if you go into this little store and and and there's someone there that like really loves that stuff that to me is the way that that it's fun you know like i get really stressed out about the christmas shopping thing because it's just like hungry hungry hippos isn't it it's just like grab grab grab grab grab grab and i gotta grab this for them i gotta grab that and you're like impulsively buying shit for people without even like really thinking it through like what they want or why would they want it like i'm still i'm still in the camp of like man make me a handmade card like that's the way to my heart you know just like so so that doesn't answer the question about making shopping fun again i think i think i don't know i don't know the answer to that one dude put it on polymarket make it make it bettable that's how it's gonna do it i think it's just changed but i think it's just

59:02Aaron Levine:changed because i don't think people want i don't think people want to interact with each other anymore and i think before you didn't have a choice like if you wanted a pair of jeans you had to go have a conversation with somebody about getting those jeans you know and now you can just take a couple swings online and buy five and send four back that don't fit and you're totally you

59:23Jason Stewart:know you're done to me it feels similar to weddings how weddings used to be more fun and now they're and you would like you used to go christmas shopping you go to the mall it's super busy you grab a pair of isotoner gloves or you know a dumb fragrance and bandarino's on the package it's got to be good gotta be good used to go to a wedding would be at a dumb restaurant the band would suck the food would suck everyone had a great time and now yeah we have to get a destination location and that's the not that's the wrong arborist and you have to get this and this and this and this and no one's having fun no gotta go on the gram man that's when it stays on the

1:00:00Aaron Levine:grid i haven't had fun in 15 years i mean that's just what it is i don't know it's having fun anymore i don't know what that feels what was the catalyst when did you stop having well actually i guess it's been nine years the last time i did cocaine it's the real i mean let's keep it on it

1:00:11Jason Stewart:let's keep it real when's the last time i had fun let me open up my sobriety app and uh yeah

1:00:15Aaron Levine:let me look at the day count here i got the hours no i think that the i think that people are just not focus i think fun just doesn't mean what it used to like i think the actual meaning of the word has changed for people is the reason is is what i think like i think that like fun to us in our generation i think we attach to like socializing in some way and i think fun for a younger generation is like waiting in line for an hour for a matcha and a donut is like fun you know whereas like we would think about like oh we went to this bar and we had the best time or we went to the show and had the best time you know it's like or a trip or whatever i mean i think the trip thing still rings true to an extent yeah um yeah i think it's different and i do have any like i do have an answer like i think like the place where i found shopping fun was tokyo right and you could go into like a little store there find like even if i was just like doing clothing or vintage whatever like the way that they care about your experience when you're in their shop is on a completely different level than like anywhere you go you know like if i go into like a bouton or if i go into like a dior if i go into like which i don't because it's just not my bag but like if i go it's your money out player you're saying you're paying no taxes out there 2026 that's gonna change

1:01:33Jason Stewart:aaron i feel good about you this year if i go into these stores they don't it's like this the experience isn't special you know it sucks it sucks and i'm like wait a minute the product isn't

1:01:43Aaron Levine:really that amazing either so why why i just told you i mean i'm writing about my first time in tokyo literally this morning yeah and the one experience i had there i found the shopping to be overwhelming but i went to this like glasses store it's all all dead stock and they sort of just look at your face and decide what they should bring you and then they cut the lenses on site and you leave with whatever color you want the whole thing and i was like yeah this is as good as it gets like i would have paid whatever it gets like i you don't look at they don't tell you the price it was it was all going to be a surprise but i was so yeah i was so you're cool with that because it's like tailored and made experience for you whereas if you go if you go to prada and you want to buy a six thousand dollar carhartt jacket they follow you around like a crook with an ipad a hundred percent it's not fun it's not fun it's not fun after you're done waiting in the line for an hour yeah yeah yeah it's just i think that the the sort of combination of exclusivity and like everything being for a picture and not for the actual thing.

1:02:45Aaron Levine:It's a real force of evil, I think, when combined.

1:02:50Jason Stewart:I guess maybe signaling wealth used to be more fun before social media. It's weaponized now, isn't it? Now it's just a job.

1:02:59Aaron Levine:That's why I keep all my shit low. I keep the garages in Atlanta. No one can take pictures. It's kind of my thing. The helicopter, I land down the street. I don't land on my own building. You keep that away. You keep that a couple blocks away.

1:03:10Jason Stewart:That's why Drake painted his plane like clouds so you couldn't see it. It was smart. Exactly.

1:03:15Aaron Levine:He was actually super ahead of his time in that way.

1:03:18Jason Stewart:So since we do have an elder fashion king on the pod on Today of Days, how do you feel about Will Welch stepping down from GQ after 19 years? Are you in talks with Conde Nast, et cetera, et cetera? Wow. I think good for him, right? I think 19 years is the long run. That's a good stretch, man. i think it's like time to shake the cage a little bit and get like the cobwebs out of your head and like and like ride some fresh snow on a different part of a mountain you know i think that that

1:03:50Aaron Levine:makes you feel better i was like 19 years i said this on the intro i was like i've never done anything for that long that's unreal to do something real that long that is a long stretch i remember my first job in fashion my dad was like you know okay you know get ready to you know you're gonna be there for about 30 35 years buckle down get your like you know pension going and i'm like pop this is not like that man this is not like that will was one year short of getting the

1:04:15Jason Stewart:rolex so yeah exactly exactly how the rolex the rolex with the the condé nass lock up like the

1:04:22Aaron Levine:dominoes you know what i mean that could be that could be big yeah i think that having a job for that long is impressive no matter what it is it's really crazy but i also think it's like great that he's moving on because i think personally for him you know it's like you gotta just shake it up man and like be nervous again and like be out of your depth again and be uncomfortable again and like all those things are like anxiety inducing but like at the same time that's a rush man and like you gotta you gotta do that you gotta do that um so good for him cobwebs around you know

1:04:57Jason Stewart:it's like when i dj on a rotary mixer i totally get it bro what's your what's your yeah yeah what's your what's your what are your odds who's odds who are you laying odds on right now of who's

1:05:06Aaron Levine:going to replace him? I mean, for me it's got to be Sam. That's what I said. I texted him this morning. He did not text me back. He's in Australia. He's in Australia, to be fair. So the time difference is severe. I texted it, but I was like, amazing for Will. Respect to Will. Is this good for Sam? You know? Yeah. I mean, I think Sam's the... I think... I don't know. I just feel like there's always... I don't know if these places have succession plans like they used to. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because it's just different. People jump around so much, but I think like i mean sam's been there forever yeah sam's been there in sam for sam's age he's been there 19 years exactly in sam but also in sam years it's it's it's fucking 19 years over over the

1:05:48Jason Stewart:last couple of years as you know half of the gq men of the year are sydney sweeney etc is there a chance where we need to move away from a yt man in this position and get you know shake things up at 2026 get maybe a female in there no you know i don't i don't know I agree with you, Chris, man. It's literally gentleman's quarterly. It's literally gentleman's quarterly. It's a fine to be a man in a men's magazine and tell other men, yeah, this is... I'm not necessarily asking your personal opinions on it more so. Do you think it could be a realistic thing that happens? No.

1:06:23Aaron Levine:I mean, realistic doesn't mean anything anymore either. So, you know. Anything's a possibility. Yeah, anything's a possibility if it's... Also, I mean, this stuff gets so political. It's like there's so many moving parts that we could never understand as outsiders. It's beyond...

1:06:39Jason Stewart:But Chris, can we get a comment from you? No one has contacted you about this position.

1:06:43Aaron Levine:Yeah, right. No one contacts me by any jobs. That ain't how it works. I have to make contact myself. You're outbound? It's more of an outbound.

1:06:52Jason Stewart:So did Wintour get the edible arrangements this morning?

1:06:55Aaron Levine:Yeah, definitely. Oh, of course. I sent an orchid over. A living being. A living, breathing plant is more...

1:07:01Jason Stewart:Because I want her to think of me every time she looks over to the window. I just want to let you know I'm here. I'm here if you need anything

1:07:06Aaron Levine:I mean I do think I do think it's so I don't know man I'm just maybe I'm in the minority but I think it's so cool that she's fucking the boss still like I think it's so I think it's great she's the best she's the goat like I just I just be like this is my shit you're gonna have to pry this out in my cold dead hands yeah we need more of that I feel like look at Jerry and Ralph still at the helm of polo you know it's like that's like you know it's you know like I got a lot of friends that i went to college with and it's like they are super smart a lot of them are like very successful and it's like there's this there's this very like like this this consistent trajectory with a lot of them which is like get married have kids have this job you have this job for a long time and it's like your eyes on the prize of retirement right and then you retire and then you get to like have all this fun because you've stashed all these you know like all your your

1:07:59Jason Stewart:wealth or whatever but except you except you decided maybe i'll put the christmas lights up this year then you fall off a ladder and now you're done right yo that's the problem and i don't you know it's like i've been working your whole life to get that retirement fund but then you stick a fork in a socket and whatever or even even if you aren't doing anything dangerous just being 65 yeah exactly you know what are what are you really going to do besides take a nap and watch golf yeah look if i want to go play 18 with the homies you best believe i'm doing that

1:08:28Aaron Levine:whenever the fuck I want. Am I right, fellas?

1:08:30Jason Stewart:Yeah, that's why I don't wait. That's why I don't wait. I'm going to start doing it right now. It's awesome. I watch whatever I want on TV. I don't even care what my wife says. Sookie! But look at Giorgio Armani at the helm of Armani until he's literally died on the throne. I think it's so cool. So why is it cool if the fashion houses do it but not President Trump? How come Joe Biden is too old? How come Nancy Pelosi is too old, guys?

1:08:57Aaron Levine:I think that the stakes are different in those situations.

1:09:02Jason Stewart:But I was the judge on the Maduro trial that's happening around the corner from your house. 92. 92 years old. 92 years old. Oh, my gosh. Now, look, some of that cognitive ability has to be slipping at that stage. Has to be slipping. No, he's going to deliver. He's going to have doo-doo in his diaper while he's. You guys don't know what these guys are. These guys are sharp. Look, I hear you. Say you're 77 years old. My parents are 77 years old. Sharp. Yeah. Sharp. All things considered sharp. All things considered sharp. But I'm like, are they as sharp as they were when they were 60? Are they as sharp as they were when they were 50?

1:09:45Are they as sharp as they were when they were 40? Like, you know, my dad is like way sharper than I ever was still. But I'm like, you know, as you get on.

1:09:54Jason Stewart:Things are happening to him that he's not, you know, when you're that age, you're like, oh, I left the keys in the front door again. A hundred percent.

1:10:02Aaron Levine:You want some 32-year-old they-them judge in there making decisions? You need some life experience. You know what I'm saying?

1:10:07Jason Stewart:There's a wide spectrum between barista and 92-year-old. Exactly.

1:10:12Aaron Levine:No, no, 92. Well, I mean, any government job that you, the only way to get fired is to die is bad. I think that's a pretty, I think everybody can agree.

1:10:20Jason Stewart:If you're too old to drive a car, maybe you shouldn't be making these large crazy decisions. Luckily, our tax dollars, I'm sure, pay for a driver.

1:10:28Aaron Levine:You know what I mean? But yeah, in theory, you're right. I think we need to gamify the judicial system to keep it relevant. Let's have fun with it. There we go. Mix it up. Let's have fun with it. You know, I'd like to see some guys from TV in there. You know, how long, if you played a judge on TV for more than 10 seasons, let's give you a shot at the big leagues. Let's give you a shot at the real world.

1:10:45Jason Stewart:I think that does happen in real life politics, unfortunately.

1:10:49Aaron Levine:I mean, yeah, you're right. Arnold Schwarzenegger is you're right that's true zilinski have you guys ever been to court for anything court oh yeah i've been to court several times not not since i was you know 18 yeah i've been a few times yeah yeah yeah like like that to me right like a gavel banging and sending you someplace after court where you can't wear your own clothes and have to live in a cell that to me is like, I'll have nightmares about that shit. I'm paranoid about someone coming to my house and arresting me for something that I have no idea what I've done. I like that you specified not wearing your own clothes.

1:11:26Aaron Levine:That's what you're worried about. I'm like, I can't. This motherfucker's policing when I pee.

1:11:31Jason Stewart:And my atelier will not be available to me.

1:11:34Aaron Levine:And that is... Judge, do you not understand that these are single pleats? Judge, I don't think you understand.

1:11:40Jason Stewart:That's dry clean only. Okay, so So you have the paranoid conscious going on. When you have this daydream fantasy, is it tax stuff? Is it a DUI, that time you hit a kid and kept going? Is it finally going to catch up to you? What is it? I think to catch up to me, but I'm like, I don't know what I've done that would catch up to me. And yes, the tax stuff. I actually just texted my tax person this morning. And I was like, I need this to happen at this time because I don't want to go to prison. I put that in the email to my accountant.

1:12:13Aaron Levine:You're covering your tracks. Yes. I told him I didn't want to go to jail. You can see it right here on the text message. I told him I didn't want to go to jail. Approve money transfer. Approve money transfer. Don't want to go to prison. No, no. I think that I used to be more paranoid. I think when I was using drugs, I would have that because I would get drugs delivered by UPS. Nice. I would see the guy pull up to my old office on Lafayette Street and I would be like, this is the one. This is the time. he's going to get out they're going to they're going to come in yeah and it's they're going to be like all right mr black come with us and luckily that that did never happen even though i i you know i i did commit because of male fraud the the drugs don't make you more paranoid do they not those drugs at least from what i mean not not those drugs but i think that that it is funny i think it's funny there are a lot of guys in our age and our position that have never thought about this once so it's pretty funny that that all three of us are like yeah i feel you bro why am i thinking about this like why am i thinking about this you're an upstanding citizen you're you're a normal guy you're not breaking the law i mean you know a little speeding in the porsche but that's

1:13:17Jason Stewart:no i mean that's not yeah i used to i used to have some of that paranoia when i was doing more crime stuff but now you know i feel you know you're just you're an adult man maybe that's maybe that's why maybe because i just binge watch horror movies and crime dramas or like crime documentaries you know it's like evading my thoughts i'm like i'm gonna stop watching all that shit and just like

1:13:37Aaron Levine:watch i do i don't know i need input i have a problem with authority in the same way like i have a like i could see myself going to jail for getting into an argument 100 like literally like i'm i've calmed down quite a lot and i'm very proud of myself but like if somebody i i could see myself get into a screaming match on the street and somehow i get arrested yeah i like

1:13:57Jason Stewart:that you said somehow maybe it's because you did something illegal no i'm saying i think it's like

1:14:01Aaron Levine:at this point like you tried to gouge his eyes out on lafayette but that's what i mean i think at this point you can get popped for much less than it used to be like i literally think if you're causing a scene and you do something you can go to jail like you don't have to touch anybody

1:14:13Jason Stewart:anymore whereas i am you know when you would watch a movie in the 80s or 90s and the cops would pull a car over and be an upstanding husband and wife and they say you know did you have any drinks anything to drink tonight oh i had a couple glasses of wine with dinner and you kind of talk down at the police officer as if you're offended that this person would bother you you know an adult upstanding citizen of the world that's my mental state now as i am you know as we are all in our 40s we're we're twice the age of a of a police officer so if i get pulled over i'm talking down to them i'm just like i think that's the play yeah let me know how that guy goes guys i'm gonna be like yes sir well i mean it's not it's not that i'm i'm being respectful and i'm cool and i'm chill but i'm in my mind i'm just kind of like i i have the attitude that i am not a criminal here and there's no way you're ever going to arrest me.

1:15:07Jason Stewart:If you exude that, then it won't happen.

1:15:09Aaron Levine:No, bro. I'm like, officer, officer, it's in the glove compartment. I'm going to get it. I'm going to reach my driver. Look at my hands. I'll take my shirt off. Just let me know, bro. I'll get down to my underwear if I need to. I don't give a fuck. Whatever we got to do here, let me go. Take off the chore coat, sir. I know about the secret pocket. Oh, is that a suede collar?

1:15:31Jason Stewart:Let me see that.

1:15:31Aaron Levine:man oh man yeah so yeah that that i don't know i don't know dude you're not going you're not getting popped you're not getting popped you're not getting robbed yeah you're good you're good bro so that's that's where i'm at like right now i'm trying to like get everything out of the house

1:15:44Jason Stewart:i'm trying to get rid of everything especially those damn kids right i wish you're i wish you were an xl how like do you guys live lean do you guys live lean or like that's what i'm trying to

1:15:57Aaron Levine:be is like i live lean as hell see that's what's up i don't i mean i live lean on like a surface level but that if you go into the crevices of these storage spaces and the hundreds and hundreds of books and t-shirts and magazines yes i do not live lean but my the actual apartment i'm in every day is fine that's fine that's fine leanish i mean i think other people in my life would maybe disagree with that um but you know i think lean means different thing to different people not just a dietitian a hundred percent you know like i saw someone a friend of mine he was his him and his wife they moved to a new place in la and photographed their their place for i don't know some magazine or something and it looks amazing and they've got great taste and he takes beautiful photographs and i was like i mean i can't go like that i'm like i just don't have the discipline i can't be like the guy that has like three pairs of pants and like two shirts in the closet and like that kind of stuff and like i love books my books are like everywhere and like i like a little trinket thing but like you know did you watch strength like the rick rubin shangirla thing and like obviously you know what shangirla looks like in his house looks like in malibu and it's like nothing right you gotta be you gotta keep it quiet no clutter to scam like that you gotta be met you gotta be nothing dude wears like beat up old cargo shorts and that's too far that's that feels

1:17:16Jason Stewart:performative that feels too far he's got his racist hey dude shoes on yeah dude racist dudes he is yeah he's known as the uh the right wing whisper to the hollywood elite i i sort of believe

1:17:30Aaron Levine:it just because it's really fun to believe that but i yeah there's been no real proof yeah that's

1:17:36Jason Stewart:the thing with ruben there's no proof of anything good or bad yeah because it's like not the work isn't created he's like a vessel right here's the vessel what do you mean bro this right wing stuff

1:17:47Aaron Levine:just passing through me man i'm not i don't try it yeah i took a picture of a ghost but it didn't

1:17:51Jason Stewart:show up on the film you know it's matt it's in the ether brother yeah i'm not even saying that i'm not even i'm like working on the music it's just working through me i'm like i'm like dowsing rods the stream's always running man i just tap in you know it's funny like she you know my mom would come to visit me i was like you know i wanted to watch this rick rubin like the shangala documentary you know and she was like i can't watch this this is too it's too good this is

1:18:15Aaron Levine:bullshit you know your mom is like this guy's full of shit 100 and i'm like no listen to how profound he is and like what he's saying and it's like whoa man and she's like you're an idiot so is he like what are you talking about all he's doing is regurgitating like you know other spiritual disciplines from all over the world and then like you know passing them off as like his that's really funny that's really mom sometimes that's what you need somebody's got to keep her real 100 she did if she put me right. I was like, okay. All right, Aaron. Thank you for podcasting with us today. Thanks for having me.

1:18:46Aaron Levine:Appreciate it. It was a pleasure. What's the website? Is it? Aaron Levine, New York, NY. Sorry, AaronLevine, NY.com. Even though it should be AaronLevineOH.com, but it was like an impulsive decision. No, I understand.

1:18:59Jason Stewart:So does that mean you can work as a local in New York? Yeah, exactly. I don't have to pay taxes twice when I go visit for more than 12 days.

1:19:06Aaron Levine:It's all good. All right, good to see you, bro. Thank you for taking the time. Yeah, man. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks for yucking it up. See you fellas. Bye.

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