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Lori Fetrick (Chillin' with ICE)
1.7k Plays1 year ago
Let's go Hollywood!
Something (rather than nothing) Podcast is pleased to present Lori Fetrick who is also known as ICE from American Gladiators!
She stars in the Netflix Documentary 'Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators.'
Lori does a great podcast called "Chillin' with Ice" so you can go on a Gladiator nostalgia stroll but also learn so much from Lori in ways of living, eating, being yourself, entertaining, loving art and dealing with your shit.
Fan-boy-host-Ken was in his glory. Sparkles of ICE.
You rock Lori!
Could write forever.
But
just
listen
to
ICE
ICE
Baby
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Appearance
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to Something Rather Than Nothing, creator and host Ken Vellante, editor and producer Peter Bauer. This is Ken Vellante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast and I am most excited to have a Lori Fettrick lice.
00:00:27
Speaker
from the American Gladiators on the show.
Pets and Podcast Enthusiasm
00:00:30
Speaker
And your dog, who I've become acquainted with- I know, I apologize. No, let's bring the dog into it. I've become acquainted with your dog, because that's what podcasts are. You become acquainted with your life, April, and your dog. I got dogza, plural. Dogza. I've got four of them.
00:00:53
Speaker
missed the fact that you had you had four but uh yeah i've got i've got four and so i'm gonna try to i'm gonna try to keep them like at a bay as far as like you know being a little quiet normally the cats invade this podcast i don't know what you know it's just it's normally cats so um but but but dogs most welcome but uh
American Gladiators: Nostalgia and Impact
00:01:18
Speaker
Laurie, like I said, excited to be able to chat with you and for folks, the great classic show American Gladiators has received some more recent attention, ESPN documentary, the Netflix, Muscles and Mayhem on an authorized story of American gladiators.
00:01:41
Speaker
Watch that, finished watching that for the second time last night. That was the type of Netflix content that's basically like that perfect meal that's served right in front of you and being like, you want another one? So. Yep, I agree. Before I go on too much, there's plenty to chat about you, but about the doc and about the spike of energy around that and maybe
00:02:05
Speaker
digging into the stories of what went down on American gladiators in your experience. What's what's been the recent journey and impact for you on having that Netflix documentary go out and going back to the gladiators? Having that Netflix documentary come out has really sparked, like you said, the the nostalgia of the American gladiators, you know,
00:02:33
Speaker
Everybody's trying to it seems like nowadays people are more and more trying to reach back and kind of get that comfortable Nostalgic feel of when times are a little bit simpler, you know and and it wasn't so everything was so Everybody was looking over right now It's like everything's looking over everybody's shoulder and you can't say this you can't say that I mean but that's what everybody loves about going back into the 90s in the nostalgic period is because
Female Empowerment and Camaraderie
00:03:00
Speaker
I
00:03:00
Speaker
It was like this big, huge free-for-all. And it was a lot of fun. And so what I'm getting right now is I'm getting a lot of, I would say, I don't know, support is a good word.
00:03:18
Speaker
As far as when it comes to the fans and everything in the American Gladiators, they're all reaching out, whether it be my social media email, my podcast website, just how much that the American Gladiators impacted their life back then. And so that's one thing to where I like to go back and talk to people about this and how it affected their life. And I get a lot of things like
00:03:48
Speaker
It made me feel like I could, I could be stronger and I could be this. And it was, it was just a, it's a great, it was a great time, you know, back then, you know, we were being, especially the females, because if you think about it, we were, you know, we were bodybuilders. We were ahead of the time we were, you know, into that fitness realm and it wasn't super, it wasn't super accessible, you know, acceptable back then, you know, being that female, big bodybuilder. And so.
00:04:17
Speaker
You know, but it did, it gave a lot of females the permission I think is what I'm getting and what I'm gathering to be strong females and to be authentic, be themselves. So that's one thing that I'm getting from this documentary to where people are reaching out, you know, 25, 30 years later of how much we impacted it and helped change some lives.
00:04:42
Speaker
So that's pretty damn cool. Yeah. There's, there's, there's the, there's that, that, that power there to it. And I found in watching the documentary, which involved, you know, recollection of like different things, how it was, it just felt different as a show. And the, when you were talking about, you know, the camaraderie, which is visible in a lot of the video between the men and the women was that,
00:05:08
Speaker
You know, there was a good vibe around. I mean, it wasn't my experience, but like that that type of dynamic isn't always isn't always the case and
00:05:20
Speaker
Yeah, we gelled pretty good as a team. There was a few people, a little drama here and there. But as an actual team, we really kind of came together. I didn't have a big family. I had just one sister older than me, three years older. So to have like, we talk about the brothers and the sisters of the team. I didn't have a big family growing up. So this was something that was extremely super cool for me.
00:05:50
Speaker
You know, I mean, even staying together and in communication 30 years later, I mean, Lazer and myself are, I mean, he's like my big brother. You know, I love that man and Nitro, same thing. And, you know, there are just certain personalities and certain gladiators that we really stayed in contact with. I mean, Dallas, she's one of my best friends. And it just made for an amazing journey through that time to have a family with you doing it.
00:06:20
Speaker
which was amazingly cool. Yeah, I'm a completionist on the original run of American Gladiators, which I think most people who watched it or were into it ended up being like no matter what.
Persona and Competitive Spirit
00:06:35
Speaker
And I was, I did, and this is for listeners too, I typed what I did before coming on, I typed ice, you know, best of real, holy shit.
00:06:46
Speaker
I saw a woman run at you. It was like the Crash Test Dummies commercials, right? Exactly. And I'm like, I might remember that, but folks, if you want to get a little bit of the taste, some folks have done some editing for the
00:07:01
Speaker
best of ice on YouTube. I wanted to ask you a unique question, you know, Lori Fettrick and ice. How much, you know, I know you kind of got that persona and such, you know, related to the show, but how much, how much a Lori is ice? How much, how much, how much Lori is in ice? Um, a lot.
00:07:29
Speaker
Actually to be honest with you I'm extremely competitive I've got that fire in my stomach that you know, I'm constantly competing I'm competing in everyday life to be quite honest with you, you know, it seems like I'm such a hustler to where it's like it's that's just me but I would say I would honestly say a lot I think what happened is I just took the ice character and like
00:07:59
Speaker
just made her bigger and better, you know, and more competitive and more fierce. That's really all I did, you know, so therefore, yeah, there's a lot of, there's a lot of Lori inside of ice, no doubt.
Creative Expression through Podcasting
00:08:15
Speaker
And I just, you know, I like to have a lot of fun. I'm still a child at heart. I've, I always like laugh. And one of my favorite movies is Hook. It's like just, I never wanted to grow up.
00:08:29
Speaker
And so therefore it's like when I became ice on the American Glideyers, that was like my playground. And so I enjoyed every single moment of that, every single hit, every single just in the girl's face. I love that. I love that. And it's funny, I mean, I usually, some of my friends would say something different, but a lot of people don't like the confrontations in life. And sometimes I enjoy them.
00:08:59
Speaker
You know, and I'll hit them head on. And other times it just depends on what the competition is, of course. But, you know, other than that, I do. I enjoy that. I like that.
00:09:31
Speaker
the artist persona, right? So the creator within that too. So like I would see within that too, like you have this character and this is you and this isn't you. And I mean, you just hit it and it's clear that you're an entertainer. And I know you've talked about like,
00:09:36
Speaker
I like everything about it.
00:09:47
Speaker
When you talk about things that you think of yourself doing in the episodes I heard, it's in front. It is the spectacle. And that's just a really cool piece. Because with the artist persona, sometimes I think of where it's the absolute counter. So my life is so oppressive. I'm stuck in a box, all this type of thing.
00:10:11
Speaker
But on Saturday and Sunday night, the complete opposite of that, you know, is up there on stage. It's interesting, you're right. I mean, I've met quite a few actors that, I mean, there's one actor in particular that I'm, you know, in my mind, it's like,
00:10:28
Speaker
When I met him, I mean huge actor, but when I met him, I was just like, oh my God, you're exactly the same way you are in person as you are on screen and with all your movies. Maybe the scenario changed to where it's like now you're back in cowboy and Indian times and you're saving the day, but overall your entire personality and how you are is exactly the same.
00:10:54
Speaker
You know, it's really interesting. And I've met quite a few actors just like that. So it's just the environment and the scenarios have changed. Yeah, yeah. I wanted to talk about your creativity as well with the podcast and the work you do there. And just talk about podcasts. And I've done this show for four years. And throughout it, just kind of learning about
00:11:25
Speaker
what podcasting is and it's growing.
00:11:28
Speaker
Heck, if you don't know folks, everybody's listening to podcasts now. It is like the radio for folks to listen to. It's just growing. It's your own personal radio station. Isn't it? Isn't it? Yeah. Well, tell us about that. You're newer to going in with it. I've listened to all the shows and chillin' with all you say. I mean, it seems to me, listening on the other side of things, it's a natural thing for you. But what's been your experience all of a sudden being like, all right,
00:11:57
Speaker
Podcast time. What's that mean for you? Podcast time means go time means I'm on you know, it's like turn the switch on And and Podcasting like you said it is it's like your own private radio station and when I first started podcasting I was I was nervous. Oh my god. I was so nervous. I
00:12:19
Speaker
You know, my first two, three, four episodes. And I had to keep in my mind that, oh my God, I can go out and I can edit this. You know, I can take out what I want. I can edit this, but I've actually never, I mean, I have, I have a producer, but yet she has barely touched any of my podcasts. It's like, you know, let's kind of keep them raw. Let's keep them
00:12:43
Speaker
you know, very authentic and out there. And I just, I want to watch the process of me growing, you know, throughout, you know, all of my, um, my shows. I'm up to, I think I looked yesterday and I had like 30 shows on the books right now on chilling with ice. Um, that was quick. Yeah. But I mean, I started my, the very first one came out on my birthday, March 28th, and I've pretty much put one out every week.
Artistic Authenticity vs. Formal Training
00:13:09
Speaker
And I think the, I mean, as far as actually podcasting, I am becoming, you become more comfortable, you know, obviously with your guests, researching them, finding out what's, you know, really cool, what your audience wants to hear. But at the same time, it's kind of like what I want to hear. You know, it's the questions that I want to ask that I think that everybody else out there might be, I mean, we're pretty much so similar as far as like the questions we want to ask people.
00:13:37
Speaker
So I ask the questions that I want to ask and having my audience, obviously in the back of my mind what they want to hear, but it's the fascination of the stories that I love to hear. And yet at the same time, I'm getting some feedback from my audience and my fans that
00:13:58
Speaker
They want to hear more of me, you know, as far as a podcaster. So, you know, I think what we're going to be doing is probably like once every other month, I'll have somebody come on and interview me. Yeah. And on my podcast and talk about my past guests and what are the favorite ones I had and what stuck out, things like that.
00:14:16
Speaker
But, um, I never really had any formal broadcast training, um, which I think would have probably helped a lot, but yet at the same time, I don't know, it's kind of like learning golf sometimes, you know, it's like, uh, I'm a golf, I'm a golfer. So, um, I started with golf lessons the minute I picked up a club, you know, I wanted to learn how to swing and I wanted to swing, you know, as professionally as I could at that point in time.
00:14:44
Speaker
But it's like there's a lot of people out there and I can compare it to this, which is really interesting.
00:14:48
Speaker
But if you have a golfer that's been on the course for two, three years, and they've developed all these bad habits, and then all of a sudden you come in and you have some professional training, they have to undo all those bad habits and restart again. And sometimes it's harder to undo those bad habits. So I don't know, maybe I should have gotten a little professional broadcast training in the very beginning. I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, I do the show. I don't have training. But I tell you, I tell you,
00:15:18
Speaker
For me, it was finding out about hone skills that you didn't know you had honed in other ways. So my day job, I'm a union rep, right? So I get thrown, so first of all, most of my membership, two out of three are women, right? So I'm involved in a lot of conversation, probably far more than most people would imagine of women, but not only that,
00:15:42
Speaker
There's this, um, when I meet people, there's a stress, there's a something going on and I have to establish a rapport with folks and an honest rapport as, as, as a rep. So I had done this, Lori, I've done this thousands of times. And so when I got on the show, I was like, well,
00:16:01
Speaker
The early interviews sound much different. That's not my point. I wasn't a well oil machine going in, but I didn't know what I had learned until I was like on the mic and people were like, how long you been doing this? What are you doing training? I'm like, did my training amongst the members, like they're coming to me with their life situations and you know, I think you're right. It's, it's, it's, you're absolutely right. You hit on a point. It's like, how quickly can you build that rapport?
00:16:29
Speaker
know, and if you could build that report, you can have that conversation. And that's one of the things that on my podcast, I wanted to have conversations I didn't want to just do an interview, like I know, question one, question two, question three, you know, I wanted to listen to the guest, I wanted to have the conversation. And maybe some of those questions that I had all written down, which by the way, I do every single podcast, you know, like the night before,
00:16:52
Speaker
I kind of go back over my notes. There you go. Exactly. You pull up your notes and you go, OK, these are all the questions. But let's be honest, nine out of 10 times, you never ever hit all those questions because you're just into a conversation and you just let it flow. And I think that's the other thing that people are starting, they're really enjoying on my podcast, is just the flow of the podcast. I think so.
00:17:23
Speaker
What I what I like that's underneath your show. Yeah, and heck folks go there for the great stories American gladiator stories like all that's like all that's all that's there, but the piece we're
00:17:35
Speaker
is why I keep listening quite honestly is what you said about how you go in and that I hear you going into the larger things about life and not just those stories. But like, who was it that you wanted to be, right? And are you that now? Or you had this experience, it was super intense. Would you like to change a lot of that with what you know? These questions that really get people being like,
00:18:04
Speaker
Man, how am I living? And also connected to that, Lori, the health, wellness, people looking at you, how do you have the million dollar smile and still look as great as you do right now, right? So like, here's what I know about these things. God, if I could just make a million dollars on that million dollar smile everybody tells me I have.
00:18:28
Speaker
I'll be your agent. I'll be your agent. I'm jumping in. There we go. You're on, Ken. I didn't even know it was going to go 20 minutes in. 20 minutes in. And there we are. Look at that. You're already my agent. I love it.
Creativity in Youth and Adulthood
00:18:40
Speaker
But the piece I do love about the show is what's underneath and what drives it is the stories, is about life, is about the why the fuck we doing this or why we're doing that and who we want to be.
00:18:55
Speaker
and um that that exploration for me is expansionist and that's why well keep going all there i mean think about it we're all so curious about everybody else's life you know because it's like my sister it's it blows my mind my sister is um super my sister's very smart very intelligent and you would never in a million years think that
00:19:21
Speaker
She loves the Housewives of New York or let's say one of those shows and it just cracks me up because her personality, it's like, are you kidding me? You watch this? And she tells me, she tells me, she goes, I just find it fascinating about their lives.
00:19:37
Speaker
And sometimes when I see their lives, actually, I'm not saying that this is how I bring people on my podcast, but yet she goes, sometimes the more just screwed up that they are, it makes me feel like my life is more normal. I just laugh. And I'm like, wow, that's so interesting you say that.
00:20:01
Speaker
Well, it's like that kind of live date. And also, like on the other flip side of it, I talked to, I had a guest on her name, Sisia Frampson, and she's in a princess punk band from Sweden. She also does this incredible stop motion photography, not photography, puppetry, and like the kind of claymation and all this. But she, and she's in her 20s, and she would just drop down. She's like, I set out,
00:20:30
Speaker
in my life to create as much time for the flow state in my day. Like she's, she's like a young artist and she's like, I want to have my life set up the way where I can have the most opportunities to be in the flow state and to be myself and to be right there. And I was like, holy shit. Like, yeah. Right. Like right there. Yeah. Like, yeah. And she's so young. Yeah. She's so young thinking this too. I mean, that's amazing. But think about it.
00:21:01
Speaker
I remember when I was in my teenage years and going into my twenties, I was so creative and open and
00:21:12
Speaker
I was just welcoming in life and every aspect of it. What were you doing? How was that being expressed at the time? What were you up to around that time, like open and creative? It's just, think about it. I wasn't jaded. It wasn't so much what I was thinking. It was just life in general. I wasn't jaded yet.
00:21:35
Speaker
I'm not jaded now. I'm just saying that you're so young and you're molding yourself.
00:21:45
Speaker
And you're just growing and all these things are coming in. And they're so, I mean, for me anyway, it was exciting and it was new. And the more that came at me, the more creative I got. And I mean, I was into sports and I was, you know, as an athlete and everything, but yet at the same time I was drawing, I was writing. I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young. I, you know, I love cartoons. And when,
00:22:12
Speaker
that kind of changed. I want to go into architecture. I wanted to design buildings and do all that. So it's like my life has completely, I mean, it's like changed and molded. But yet when you're in that state and when you're growing, you're not, the world hasn't, and I'll say it again, the world hasn't come out you and jaded you and had thrown all these things at you to where it's like you start becoming, and it's sad, but as adults, you do, you start becoming numb, you start becoming
00:22:40
Speaker
Um you have your defense mechanisms and you put walls up But when you're young and you're growing and you're at that stage going into your 20s You're so open still most people are unless they had some traumatic experience, you know They're so open and and and just they're accepting of everything and so they could be more and more creative It's just too bad that we can't Stay there, you know, I mean some people can which is beautiful. Yeah um, but it's it's
00:23:09
Speaker
trying to keep that balance as we grow older and go through life. You like that? I'm going to say I'm in my late 50s.
00:23:21
Speaker
Yeah, fuck you. You're not I never did the math before coming on the show I prep I prep for this interview, but I need bother I don't even bother around the age because and now you're lying to me Now you're lying to me like you're so comfortable you're lying to me already. You know how old I am but it's it's fighting off it's fighting off the
00:23:46
Speaker
for lack of better words, demons. It's fighting those off and staying in the life and the joy and the beauty of it and not letting things get to you. So when did you see yourself as artist creator? When did you see yourself as creator? Oh, at a very young age. I was a very young age when I saw myself as an artist and creator. I mean, I was like probably 14, 15 years old.
00:24:16
Speaker
So I had a good, you know, all the way up into my early twenties. I was still drawing. I was still being super creative and still writing. And I mean, you know, you know, again, it's like the world is my oyster. It's just like it was everything was open to me. And I was extremely excited to go through doors. I mean, to that day, to this day, I'm still excited to that. I was. Yeah, yeah.
00:24:41
Speaker
You know, it's kind of like, um, just staying in the positivity of life and, and manifesting what you want, you know, and never ever losing that, you know, you never want to lose that, that edge, that, that young at heart feeling, cause that's what keeps you alive and it keeps you young for me anyway, it does. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's that drive. Um, yeah, it's the drive and the creativity of that.
00:25:06
Speaker
So I know you're in a few spots and just recently, like I saw on TikTok, I was like, whoa, my goodness, I didn't know you're that big on TikTok. And you were, and I had seen some of them. I'm like, okay, well, she's big over there. And it's really cool. I'm a listener, I'm a patron of- Yes, you are. Thank you very much for being one of my patrons. Yeah, and the nice, the wonderful platform Patreon. And do you want to talk a little bit about that, maybe in connection to the show?
00:25:36
Speaker
Yeah, my Patreon page is a lot of fun, basically. If anybody doesn't know about Patreon, Patreon is a platform to where you can help creators and artists and things like that help
00:25:49
Speaker
Because most of our stuff that we do out there, we are all self-funded. Like we were talking about before your show, I self-fund my podcast and everything. So it's a way for people to get behind artists and creators to actually just help support. So sometimes it could be like different levels on your Patreon. You have a $5 level, a $10, $20, $30 level.
00:26:09
Speaker
and so on. And so, you know, and you get to have fun with creating these levels for your Patreons, you know, they get like access to my podcast, you know, like, let's say a week before they get the rapid fire questions where
00:26:22
Speaker
They're only on my Patreon that I do a rapid fire with every guest, you know, but it's not out anywhere else. So that's another little bonus, you know, autograph photos. You know, I have a private Facebook page, you know, behind the scenes as far as gladiator photos. So it's a lot of fun, you know, and that's really what it is, is it's just keeping people, you know, kind of like I can I can talk
Reflections on American Gladiators and Documentaries
00:26:46
Speaker
to them.
00:26:46
Speaker
Like you and I have talked, you know, messaged back and forth. And so it's a way to keep me connected to the fans, which is really a lot of fun. And that's what's nice about Patreon so they can, a lot of people can actually help support their creators.
00:27:02
Speaker
Yeah, and there's one of the things, great, great platform, and I love your content. One of the things in this episode here is American Gladiators. And we got a lot of the brain stuff going on. I know there's some listeners going to want some of that muscle stuff. I used to watch American Gladiators. So I'm your demographic. I'm your demographic. There we go.
00:27:29
Speaker
I'm at the University of Rhode Island by the ocean studying philosophy, you know, studying philosophy, and in syndication, of course, every, every night, right? And so we were, we were partiers in general, and we didn't party every day. Many times in American gladiators, we were on
00:27:53
Speaker
And it was on. And of course, as you might imagine or thought as you're competing, unfortunately there may be many college males or anybody out there competing in these events in front of the TV because of what they're seeing.
00:28:12
Speaker
Big and incredible, incredible show. I was, and then watching the Muscles and Mayhem, I watched the ESPN documentary, which I enjoyed in a particular way. It was almost for me, like a bit of like an absurdist piece on Ferraro. But the Netflix one, and one of the things in watching it,
00:28:40
Speaker
was, first of all, it's deeply enjoyable to see that.
00:28:46
Speaker
But even after watching it, and I think it's five parts in the miniseries, I was like, holy shit, this must just be scratching the surface. I'm thinking about the safety issues or all the stories of the competitors and things like that. So I felt it was great to have that, but I'm like, there's a mountain of stories here. How did the Netflix documentary feel for you of like,
00:29:15
Speaker
if you're gonna watch something, getting what the gladiators were in that amount of time? A lot hit the floor, meaning that all of the gladiators, we were interviewed for about six, maybe eight hours. And if you think about all the stories that we had and told within that six to eight hour period interview, and I was interviewed twice, so 16 hours basically,
00:29:45
Speaker
And what they're doing is they're splicing together a story, but you're absolutely right. It left the audience wanting more. It left the audience thinking there's more stories here. Absolutely.
00:30:00
Speaker
And there was a shit ton of stories that hit the floor that they didn't even like bring out because it just didn't fit the storyline, which was unfortunate. However, who knows? Maybe it left an opening for something else, you know, as far as. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, exactly.
00:30:19
Speaker
And, you know, I think with that said, there's a possibility, and I like mentioning this because of the fact that starting, I'm hoping that it's going to happen. But there's a possibility that there may be a small little American gladiator tour, and it'll be basically the Muscles and Mayhem tour.
00:30:40
Speaker
Possibly now possibly that's possibly everybody possibly exactly possibility. It's a high Absolutely, and that's where the manifest a the manifestation comes into play towards like if everybody starts manifesting this It'll happen, but this is we already did it. We're good
00:30:57
Speaker
There we go, exactly. Threw it out into the universe. But there'll be, let's say, four or five of us out there, and we'll have a Comic-Con type Q&A. And we'll get to tell more stories. And we'll get to actually meet our fans. And it'll be in venues, cool little smaller venues. And it'll have the meet and greets. And so this is something that we're actually right now in the talks with and discussing the details.
00:31:23
Speaker
But I think that would be kind of cool because if you think about it, you're right, Muscles of Mayhem, the documentary, it left a lot to the imagination. It left a lot of questions. You know, there's more here. There's more stories.
Creative Freedom and Contractual Challenges
00:31:36
Speaker
All right. So what's cool about that is now we can take the Muscles of Mayhem tour and we can tell those stories on the road. We can have the meet and greet and meet the fans.
00:31:45
Speaker
I have the questions and answers. That to me excites me and that sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. That will also answer a lot of the fans' questions that they have.
00:31:58
Speaker
You're right, it did. Even though it's a five-part series, they still have to have that format, that story they had to tell. The ESPN documentary, it only touched on Johnny Ferraro's story, which is the creation of the American Gladiators.
00:32:16
Speaker
And I mean, he thinks that I mean, I heard him do an interview and he's like, you know, well, they they, you know, the gladiators, they're they're trying to play gladiators right now. And, you know, the muscles of mayhem, they would have never it would have never taken off if they didn't use the American gladiator name.
00:32:34
Speaker
Um, he's got such a hard on for any of us doing anything, you know, without his permission or without some kind of fee, you know, it's like Johnny's all about the greed. He's all about the money. He's all about how much am I going to get? If you want to use my logo to do anything, it's just like, come on.
00:32:52
Speaker
Well, let me ask you about in talking about creativity and art, right? So, you know, like in watching that story, and of course, I'm watching as a labor union rep and all that type of stuff and like that, that horse shit.
00:33:05
Speaker
It look like any situation. It's the workers who fucking make the thing. Thank you. It's it's it's it's it's it's not the half baked idea that was developed behind it. I'm sorry. It is. It is the workers. It is. It is the performers. And I see within the story there of what for me is, you know, early reality TV like the worst, the worst setup, the worst abuse as it's set up because it's a clear like playing field almost at that time.
00:33:35
Speaker
You had that real adverse experience, you as a creator, you as a talent, the arrangement, you're seeing figures of yourself all over and all over the place. You have to hustle to get your ass paid and other type of ways to make a go of what should be something. And I'm asking now, with you moving to the creativity and podcast and maybe a more thorough re-engaging,
00:34:04
Speaker
Is that adverse experience, how is that inform you right now of making sure you get what you need? I see what you're saying. Yeah, exactly. It's just making sure, I mean, like the contracts that we signed back then and the, God, it was just, it was so, you're right. It was so unheard of. I mean, we signed contracts for in perpetuity, which means for a life.
00:34:30
Speaker
And I can't even believe that these contracts really even exist nowadays. They should just be thrown out. MGM owns our characters for life. There should be something along the lines towards like, OK, after 30 years, whatever kind of thing. But it's not. I mean, they don't have these types of contracts any longer whatsoever. So moving forward in my life and the creativity process and being
00:35:00
Speaker
being the actor, the character, the however you want to see me, creator podcasting. It's it's now just making sure that everything is fair across the board. We're still jumping through. Hope so. Don't get me wrong. Yeah, because anything and everything that I do, I have to be very careful on, you know, can I use my character ice? Well, I can use my character ice if it's within
00:35:28
Speaker
a sentence or something. That's why it's called chilling with ice. They can't do anything really about that. It's just constantly looking for angles and ways around that stupid ass, absolutely terrible contract that we signed back in the day. So even like with my podcasting and doing different things and moving into different venues and realms and everything,
00:35:58
Speaker
I've learned a lot. I mean, we knew back then, but here's the problem, Ken. We knew how bad those contracts were, to be quite honest with you. But if we didn't sign them, we didn't play. They'd just go out and get somebody else.
00:36:13
Speaker
Yeah, so it's like, yeah, what do you do in a route in a route, right? Exactly. Well, am I going to be on TV? There's the setup or somebody else can be on TV and not me. That's really what it came down to. Yeah. And it's the unfortunate side of the companies and the
00:36:29
Speaker
the big, huge companies that overtake shit, and it's just like they don't give a shit about their people. And that's why, for instance, in your position, you're a union rep. You're taking care of your people. But there was no union rep to take care of us. And even if they did, I mean, we had little agents here and there. But even if they did come to bat and they tried to do something for us, the big company, the ginormous MGM, was like, nope, here's a contract. They either want it or they don't.
00:36:59
Speaker
They had business practices from like the 1800s there. Samuel Goldwyn never negotiated contracts. So Samuel Goldwyn Jr. followed in his father's footsteps, never negotiated contracts. So it just kind of, it kept going down the hill. But now it's just about trying to make sure that it's fair across the board for everyone and everyone who's involved in whatever scenarios it is.
00:37:28
Speaker
You deserve, you deserve, and I know I can see how hard you work.
Defining Art and Future Aspirations
00:37:36
Speaker
All right, let's hit you with a not so easy question that is part of the show. What is art? What is art?
00:37:42
Speaker
What is art? Yeah. Tell me. Is that what you're asking? Yeah. As an artist? Oh, creativity. Imagination. Creativity. What's, yeah, what is, tell me what it is. Imagination. I mean, well, now you're going to get into the, you know, the philosophy side of things. That's right. It's muscles, muscles, brain, Laurie. I have you on for a reason. Don't back out of it.
00:38:05
Speaker
You said you were an artist when you were a little kid, so don't back off the question. It's allowing yourself to be vulnerable and to be artistic and to be creative and to take whatever it is that you're into and make something of it. To me, it just keeps coming back down to the creativity.
00:38:29
Speaker
and being authentic and vulnerable and being able to create without feeling any type of judgment whatsoever. Yeah, yeah. Doing it. Just being you, doing you. Do people, I know you've mentioned, I adore film and sometimes like in a creator mind, I see like,
00:38:59
Speaker
Uh, like somebody in film. So you mentioned like you as a lead. Uh, I don't know if people go up to you and say like, this is the role you should be, but I've seen for a long time. It's the, uh, lead, uh, on a spaceship science fiction.
00:39:16
Speaker
costume, I think in like black and silver. And basically, I'm seeing Star Trek as you're as you're describing it, which is hysterical. No, no, no, no, no, no, worry. I mean, not Star Trek costume. I mean, like future it like down and like you're the you're the commander in the scene in the in the lights. Is that the character you see?
00:39:43
Speaker
are yourself on film or did you want to... No, if I were to... It wasn't to Ellen's show exactly, I'd imagine. If I had my absolute perfect scenario to where somebody came up and said, what type of lead role would you want to play? It would be the Laura Croft character.
00:40:04
Speaker
I mean, she was such a badass. She was such a badass and she just, you know, that character would be absolutely so much fun to play. So that's the type, I would say that, that would be the type of lead character that I would love to absolutely go after.
00:40:27
Speaker
It's, I mean, it's the acting industry has changed right now. It's really changed. It's especially since COVID everything is online. All auditions are on zoom. It really sucks. They don't get to meet you in person. They don't get to see that personality. Now all they see is these little tiny little, you know, zoom character squares that come through and they just get, you know, hundreds of them as far as, you know, um, when it comes to auditions.
00:40:53
Speaker
It's changed and so I'm not even sure if I don't see, I really don't see my career going in that direction any longer. I mean, at first I did. I really wanted to continue acting. I wanted to really explore that area. But the more I'm podcasting, the more I'm realizing that I would love to be a host of maybe some of these really cool documentaries or discovery shows that I'm watching. That would be fun. Yeah.
00:41:22
Speaker
I could be myself, I could travel the United States, whatever it may be. There's so many different shows out there that I would love to do. But yeah, the whole acting thing, it just seems like it's changed so much that it's getting further and further away from me. Let's put it that way.
00:41:40
Speaker
I don't think so. It is for you. It is for you. For me, I'm the viewer, so no, no, no, but you, of course. You know, the podcasting thing is leading you right in and then you reappear as Lara Croft-like character in a place you never expected. There you go. There you go. It's all in the matter of what we're going to
00:42:02
Speaker
you know, envision and manifest and what we're going to go for. But you know, if it happens, it'd be great.
Storytelling and Podcast Evolution
00:42:09
Speaker
And I would absolutely embrace every single second of that.
00:42:13
Speaker
I got a couple more questions just on the podcast. Your curiosity and the curiosities behind the show. Just wondering if you could point to a couple things you'd wish you'd like to find out or discover or explore through using your podcast, areas you'd like to go into. I mean, I really want to get more into
00:42:41
Speaker
interviewing some of these really amazing female athletes. I love to find out what drove them. I love to find out as far as where their life pivoted. And not just female athletes, to be honest with you. It's just people in general. I love to hear the pivotal moments.
00:43:02
Speaker
Yeah. So I love to get into those stories of, hey, OK, so your life didn't necessarily turn out, let's say, the way you planned. Or maybe it did. And yet now you're not doing it. Are you comfortable with who you are and not doing that particular, let's say, career that you were in? I love to hear those stories.
00:43:28
Speaker
Because I think what it is is my life has pivoted so many times. And it's like you got to be a quick pivot. And so I like to hear other people's stories of what they did, how they went down that road, how they dealt with certain situations.
00:43:47
Speaker
Um, I don't know, maybe they had a career that was just like on fire and all of a sudden something happened and it's just like changed. I mean, like all those one hit wonders out there, if you think about it.
00:43:59
Speaker
whether it be music, whether it be film, television, just everyday life, I guess. I like to hear those kinds of stories. And so that's why it's like, with my podcast, I want to bring more of those people in and really get to what happened. But yet I like to keep it light, to be honest with you too. I don't like to go down too deep and too dark, not even dark, but too deep. I want to keep it more.
00:44:26
Speaker
Yeah, I want to keep it more a little on the lighter side, more entertaining to where people can laugh. I love to make people laugh, and so it's fun.
00:44:36
Speaker
So that's where, you know, this discovery and I know the podcast and I'm not stressing too much about it. It's like, I know it's starting to take on its own is what's starting to happen. And it's going to, it's going to like, like with you, I mean, I'm sure your podcast, maybe you started out and it's like, okay, this is where it's going to be. It's a long ass road. It's a long ass road. Is it exactly where you started out?
00:45:01
Speaker
Well, you know what? One thing I want to say about the show, which is kind of like the energy of the burst behind it, which is I was talking about your show as well, is like intense curiosity towards driving in. So when there's that energy behind it,
00:45:17
Speaker
It's the fuel. It's the fuel. I don't know where it's going to go and everything, but it's the fuel. Well, and on that, so let me say that. So I start the podcast four years ago. My mind is filled with wonder of who I might talk to. You mentioned, you know, female athletes. How did I get in the position where I talked to the first
00:45:39
Speaker
a female manager in the major leagues, the single A, Rachel Balkavit. How did I get to talk to Soroya Tinker, African American pro hockey player in Toronto? How do I get to do these type of things? And it's like,
00:45:58
Speaker
You ask. You ask. You say, like, all right, I'm super curious, a little strange, whatever. I'm going to ask and go. So that's where I don't know where I'm going. And I'm talking to you. And I'm talking to you. Yeah, but think about how exciting that is, though, not knowing really where you're going. I mean, that's kind of the excitement of life.
00:46:24
Speaker
You know, it's like every day you wake up is a new day. Every day you wake up, you get to decide what type of day you're going to have and who you're going to meet, who you're going to talk to, whose podcast you're going to be on. Yeah. Maybe somebody, you know, who's going to be on your path. And to me, that's what's so fun about life. And you've got to keep that light heartedness childlike. OK, what's the day going to bring?
00:46:49
Speaker
And so that's why I'm so excited about my podcast and where it's going because of the fact that I got to be honest with you. It's like, I don't know the certain guests I'm going to have on in the next six months. And that's the fun of it. I'm excited about that. I'm excited about getting to know people and what their journey was and what drove them.
00:47:11
Speaker
You know, and maybe what some obstacles they hit and how they overcame those obstacles. Because at the end of the day, if you think about it, we're all learning from each other. So if I can have something and I can have a guest on my show and it's going to touch the heart or it's going to trigger something in someone else to go, I never thought of it that way. That I've done my job.
The Big Philosophical Question
00:47:36
Speaker
I love it. I love it. I
00:47:39
Speaker
I'm going to say one particular thing with the big question of the show. And for listening to the show, I've listened over four years. I've never given this opportunity, but I'm giving Lori Fetrick this opportunity, and she's listening patiently here.
00:47:56
Speaker
The big question I ask of this show, I'll tell you the whole rules. The big question to show is why is there something rather than nothing? However, I've always just asked that question of every guest. I have given you the ability to answer, which is A, or B to say, fuck off, Ken. I'm not answering that.
00:48:20
Speaker
I've never done that. It's been over four years, Lori. I've held that gift in my pocket. Anyway, so wait a minute. The question is, is why is there something rather than nothing? Or you can do both. Why is there something rather than? Why is there something rather than nothing? I mean, you got to think of that question kind of like, why is there something rather than nothing? Because if there was nothing, then it would be boring. If it was nothing,
00:48:45
Speaker
Would we exist? Why is there something? I mean, I would rather have something rather than nothing. It's kind of a fun question.
00:48:59
Speaker
And you could get really deep with the question, or you could just keep it super lighthearted with the question. Or yeah, I could just say, fuck off, Ken. That's kind of a stupid question. You did both. You took option C. Lori, if there was one thing I knew about giving you two options was that what is the option that includes
00:49:19
Speaker
That includes both option, that was option C. Great chat with you. Laurie, tell listeners where to find all your stuff. We've been talking about your stuff, but t-shirts.
00:49:34
Speaker
Chillin' with ice, drop it off. Here we go. Yeah. All right. You got it. So you can find my Chillin' with Ice podcast pretty much on every channel where you listen to your podcasts. I do have a YouTube channel to where all my podcasts are videotaped. So if you want to watch me and the guests, they're all on my YouTube channel, which is Chillin' with Ice as well.
00:49:55
Speaker
Um, I do have a Patreon account and it's chilling with ice at, um, Patreon. I do have my merch store, which is ice t-shirts.com. A lot of fun doing that kind of fun stuff. I do have American gladiator stuff on there for a short time, limited. Um, all my social medias are Lori.ice.fetric. Fetric is F as in Frank E T R I C K.
00:50:21
Speaker
I've got my TikTok, my Instagram, my Facebook. Ken, did you ever think that, I mean, back in the day, we just had a website, right? I have my website, lauriefetrick.com. I tell you, I would be lying to you if in 1992, in Kingston, Rhode Island, in front of the TV watching American Gladiators, that the
00:50:44
Speaker
Young young scholar me said, you know what someday there's gonna be this podcast technology where humans are gonna talk radio like back and forth to each other and now he steps on the screen that that poor woman just ran a hundred miles an hour into and fell back like a Piece of crumple paper. I'm gonna talk to her So Ken, let me ask you something. Yeah, let me ask you something. Yeah Why something rather than nothing?
00:51:16
Speaker
So, thank you. Thank you for asking. And my answer is very informed by Buddhism. Okay.
00:51:32
Speaker
It's a clanky question that I ask. Why is there something rather than nothing? Because whenever you ask it, the person has to form whatever the ideas of those two things are right off the bat. What is nothing? Like what is it to think about nothing or what is something? So within Buddhism, there's a piece for me that I think is pretty beautiful that kind of where the nothing is beautiful and this is what
Perception, Reality, and Mindfulness
00:51:57
Speaker
it is. So within a Buddhist thinking, it's that,
00:52:03
Speaker
There's no they're there behind everything that we use names and there's phenomena around it. And we're describing these type of things. But when we try to grasp the thinginess ultimately and we're grasping and grasping, we can't. There's no thing like right there. And the word isn't exactly the best because in Buddhist philosophy, it's like,
00:52:31
Speaker
word shunetan, it means emptiness or not having inherent existence. It's not that we don't have the experiences that we do, it's just we get so grippy on the thinginess of things and we grasp and attach and that's kind of for me the basis of the
00:52:55
Speaker
Buddhist psychology that we're gonna suffer as humans because we're made of bits and parts and we feel and we hurt. But ultimately what we don't wanna do is to be grasping at all the things and thinginess all the time because we're gonna suffer more or we're gonna add on to our suffering. So for me, the nothingness is that
00:53:26
Speaker
There's no ultimate thinginess in the thing, and that's okay, and to try to not grasp for something that might not be there.
00:53:36
Speaker
How'd I do, Lori, on the answer to? That was good. That was good. I liked that. Oh, my God. I was right there with you. I went down that deep, dark rabbit hole with you for a moment. I actually enjoyed it. I did. And that's a whole other conversation as you get into that. It's like, as humans, we put meaning to everything, everything we put meaning to, when actually something
00:54:05
Speaker
doesn't really mean anything i'll tell you the one the one uh... experience everything i sound sets you know can get way out there but i'll tell you the one thing when i talk about that is finally the experiential piece of this is what you can find out is a lot of folks do mindfulness meditation but one of the things that i found uh... and i don't do it enough so i'm not you know if you are but
00:54:32
Speaker
In meditating, what you'll find is if you take an object and you're meditating and looking at the object, and it can be whatever object, maybe one to kind of bring more peace to you, what you'll find out as you look, because you're looking at it and meditating and minding your breath, is that it's contours in its thinginess, in its solidity,
00:54:54
Speaker
it'll start to shift and move. And if you look at it, you don't have to think about it, but you could just observe it. And all the edges, they're not as solid. And I'm talking about over minutes and time. And it's kind of the experience of like, at the very least,
00:55:12
Speaker
It isn't as thingy as I thought that there's a fraying at the edges. And for me, that's where the mystery is. So it's the physical experience of that as well. You digging on that, Lori, too? I'm going to go there with you just for a moment, and that is right as you're describing this. And I'm not quite sure where this comes from and how my brain really works. And since you're in psychology, maybe you can tell me this.
00:55:38
Speaker
But as you're describing what you were just talking about, it's like, OK, so you're meditating. This is how how my brain works. You're going to laugh. OK, so you're describing this and you're like, OK, so you're meditating on an object and you're looking at an object. And over time.
00:55:54
Speaker
as you're looking at this object and just trying to meditate on this and the edges become blurry automatically, right? You said that I'm like, yeah, because your eyes are getting blurry and your eyes are just getting tired and your brain starts playing like tricks on you kind of thing. It's like if you look at yourself in the mirror long enough, there used to be a thing when what we would do with kids is
00:56:17
Speaker
You'd light a candle and you'd stare at yourself in the mirror for so long to where your face would start to kind of morph and change a little bit. And you kind of wonder, you're like, OK, are these the tricks that your eyes are starting to play on yours? This is part of the brain process of actually what's happening when you stare at something for so long. So as you were describing that, it was like the edges become blurry and the edges become kind of like not so sharp and so crystal clear.
00:56:46
Speaker
Automatically I go to the physiological of I mean the physicalness of how the brain and how the how the the body works No, but but Laurie what's so cool about it in this conversation? That's the powerful counter argument to what I was just saying I was describing it in a particular way But when you say it's true when you say you could say okay Ken from the physiological point it ain't the thing that's the
00:57:14
Speaker
The thing is there it's that these process, you know in a very like in in that particular way It's like you the viewer that is kind of spacing out and that's completely legitimate like as well so I see the instinct in you to kind of create the
00:57:30
Speaker
counter argument on this point and that's why I say it's interesting because that's just the way that my brain works. It's very physical, it's very factual, it's very, yeah, but
00:57:46
Speaker
kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. OK. OK. You finished. All right. But what about this? Which is like an amazing fun conversation to have. You know, I just I love doing that and kind of going back and forth and listening to other people's views. And because that's how I learn as well. You know, so that's the beauty of it. And that's how we all learn from one another. And I can only imagine like
00:58:15
Speaker
the fun conversation that you and I could get into. You know, you go down that deep road for a moment, it'd be a great time. Hey, you know, tell you what, Lord, you don't have to, as far as my content, no requirement to be a completionist because that'll take you seven and a half days of
00:58:36
Speaker
Of all of this and I care about myself and love myself. I do not wish to foist all of that upon Anybody but uh now it's there's some you know III really you know as a big fan that that that you know and For the record and on the the audio tape what have you ice is indeed my favorite claddier. There's never been anybody
00:59:03
Speaker
close. So it's super exciting in that way. But really, I tell you, it's been really nice to talk to you in the creative elements too, because
00:59:17
Speaker
Um, there's something about the intimacy of listening to a podcast, right? Where like you hearing, you're, you're seeing the brain and hearing, hearing the brain and being like, Oh, that's, it's, it's cool to kick around this type of stuff.
Connectivity and Closing Remarks
00:59:33
Speaker
And the, I get excited for you on the podcast to be going, okay. Like all of a sudden you realize in creating podcasts, it's like you look around like I look around right now. Right. And I'm like.
00:59:46
Speaker
Holy shit, like I'm the guy that's going to go ask for the entry. Anybody else fucking around here? So yeah, yeah, it is me. And you know that I think that can be so fun going into that and being like, you know what? I really want to learn from the brain in the words of this person and just let them.
01:00:04
Speaker
And it's fun. It's a lot of fun. And this technology, even though it's in the social media age where everything is moving super fast and it's instant gratification and everybody is like, okay, next move on, move on, move on.
01:00:21
Speaker
other elements like podcasting, which has opened up in the world, and it has just allowed everyone to connect with each other and learn from each other even more so than it was back in the day. So that's also a very exciting part. There are good and bads, especially as we get a little older, I find myself saying things like, oh my God, that's something my mom would say.
01:00:47
Speaker
Or my dad or something. But yeah, with technology and how it's moving in so quickly. But podcasting has definitely opened the door for more connection. And it's just exciting. It's fun.
01:01:03
Speaker
Yeah, Rocket, everybody make sure to check out, make sure to spend your time chilling with ice. Thank you. And like I said, if you want the quick highlight reel, best of ice, American gladiators. Just a real thrill.
01:01:24
Speaker
Thank you, Ken. I so appreciate it. Great chat with you. Yeah, love to chat with you, and we'll chat soon. This is Something Rather Than Nothing. And listeners, to stay connected with us and our guests, visit somethingratherthannothing.com.
01:01:54
Speaker
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01:02:08
Speaker
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01:02:36
Speaker
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