Joe Rogan Experience #2041 - Steve Strope

Joe Rogan 0:00 (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

Narrator 0:04 The Joe Rogan Experience. (drumbeats)

Joe Rogan 0:06 Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (rock music plays)

Steve Strope 0:12 Just had a set of these on at band rehearsal-

Joe Rogan 0:16 Uh-oh.

Steve Strope 0:16 ... on Sunday. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:17 You look, you look like you just had band rehearsal.

Steve Strope 0:19 That's right. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:20 (laughs) I hate to make you feel old-

Steve Strope 0:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 0:23 ... but we've known each other for 20 years.

Steve Strope 0:26 Okay.

Joe Rogan 0:26 Dude.

Steve Strope 0:27 Thanks. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:27 How wild is that? How... Does time fly or what?

Steve Strope 0:31 Yeah, that's-

Joe Rogan 0:32 We've been friends for 20 years.

Steve Strope 0:33 That's pretty ter... Really?

Joe Rogan 0:35 20 years.

Steve Strope 0:35 I've been... Uh, you know what I did? I, I also experienced the odd time continuum to brief myself for this. I'm like, "I should probably look back when I did this, this, and this, and this, that, and the other thing I'm going." I'm like, "Crap, I forgot all..." (laughs) Then now that was like 2004. Are you kidding me?

Joe Rogan 0:54 2004 seems so long ago.

Steve Strope 0:57 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 0:57 That was the Fear Factor days.

Steve Strope 0:59 Yeah. And that's-

Joe Rogan 1:00 That's, that's like right around when I met you, when, uh, when I brought the, the Barracuda to you.

Steve Strope 1:06 Fish.

Joe Rogan 1:06 Yeah.

Steve Strope 1:07 Yeah. It, it, like... 'Cause you... Yeah, 'cause it was... Well, I have my handy cheat sheet here (laughs) because there's-

Joe Rogan 1:16 You, you actually made a cheat sheet to prepare for this?

Steve Strope 1:18 Well, there's, there's... Uh, dude, I got pa-

Joe Rogan 1:19 Dude, by the way, the shirt, it's, it's exquisite.

Steve Strope 1:22 Oh, I got, I got, I got it-

Joe Rogan 1:22 I know, but I mean this-

Steve Strope 1:23 Can I officially gift you in front of the camera?

Joe Rogan 1:25 Sure, please. Please do.

Steve Strope 1:26 All right, so...

Joe Rogan 1:26 So, this is a shirt with the Nova that Steve built for me.

Steve Strope 1:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:30 Steve built the greatest Nova the world has ever seen, a 1969 Nova with-

Steve Strope 1:35 Camaro-

Joe Rogan 1:36 Yeah, yeah, you have to see.

Steve Strope 1:37 ... shite sheet metal. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:37 We could, you really, we could talk about it all day, but people have to actually see it online.

Steve Strope 1:41 But lots of fun, I wanted to do the kind of-

Joe Rogan 1:43 That's a dope fucking shirt.

Steve Strope 1:44 So, there's a mixture of stuff, like those clouds and stuff are taken from those crazy Chrysler ads in the '70s, like the, the Road Runner stuff with the smoke billowing out behind it.

Joe Rogan 1:53 Oh, wow.

Steve Strope 1:54 We copied that, and then the, the sun thing was just in like every other '70s artwork I could find, you know. And then, of course, the prerequisite small UFO, and I wasn't gonna take your Joe Rogan experience, so... And being that I... my other life was in rock and roll, of course I leaned towards the Hendrix of REO experience, so it came out pretty cool.

Joe Rogan 2:14 There it is. There's the car. The, the T-shirt's-

Steve Strope 2:16 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:16 ... very cool.

Steve Strope 2:16 Yeah, there it is.

Joe Rogan 2:17 There's the car, the, the coolest Nova of all time.

Steve Strope 2:19 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 2:19 I love that thing, man.

Steve Strope 2:20 Thank you.

Joe Rogan 2:21 It drives-

Steve Strope 2:22 I love that thing.

Joe Rogan 2:22 ... so well.

Steve Strope 2:23 It does.

Joe Rogan 2:24 I mean, it's not just so cool looking, like it drives so well. The independent suspension, the way you set it up, was it Art Morrison? Art Morrison's-

Steve Strope 2:33 Yeah, Morrison stuff, uh, I went a little s- uh, softer on the spring in the front and believe it or not, a little stiffer on the rear, um, and played with it quite a few times before-

Joe Rogan 2:46 It's magnificent.

Steve Strope 2:46 ... I delivered it to you that-

Joe Rogan 2:48 It's magnificent.

Steve Strope 2:49 Yeah, I, I was very... Uh, 'cause I set it up, I didn't set it up for track attack, 'cause that's not what you're gonna do with it.

Joe Rogan 2:54 Right. No, I'm just gonna cruise around in it.

Steve Strope 2:55 Right, so I set it up, so when you go over those little joints in the road, uh, going onto a bridge, it doesn't-

Joe Rogan 3:02 Just leave that up in the background, Jamie.

Steve Strope 3:03 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 3:04 It's really simple. Just leave that there.

Steve Strope 3:05 That was the amazing, uh-

Joe Rogan 3:07 Look at that.

Steve Strope 3:07 ... photography of Wes Allison.

Joe Rogan 3:09 Wes Allison, you're the shit.

Steve Strope 3:11 He is the shit.

Joe Rogan 3:12 That's a, that's a great picture.

Steve Strope 3:12 Yep, beautiful.

Joe Rogan 3:13 Uh, I think I need, uh, get, uh, one of, a steel version of that picture, put it up on our... Yeah, let's do that.

Narrator 3:18 How big do you want it? (laughs)

Steve Strope 3:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:19 I don't know, pretty big. It's, it-

Steve Strope 3:21 It's, it-

Joe Rogan 3:21 We need a big one, right, just to see the details?

Steve Strope 3:22 It's, uh, it came out real nice, and the, the funny thing is, or the... I don't know about funny, but the, uh, point of it was, is there's so much done and none of it looks like anything was done.

Joe Rogan 3:32 Yeah, it really does look like just a really cool 1969 car if you don't know the manipulation that you guys did to the sheet metal.

Steve Strope 3:40 Uh, well then not only that, the, the grille is changed.

Joe Rogan 3:43 Yeah.

Steve Strope 3:43 The, the, the, the little headlight doors on the side, those are changed. I'd, I used to, uh, I would joke with different Nova people and go, "I'll give you 100 bucks if you can tell me what I changed in the front." And they're like-

Joe Rogan 3:53 Oh, wow.

Steve Strope 3:54 And they're like, "Uh, uh, we added bars." The grille is actually taller, the, the n- those bars-

Joe Rogan 4:00 What does it look like in real life? Do they just have black spaces?

Steve Strope 4:02 What, what, what they had, it was a piece of plastic that came from underneath the bumper and it went underneath the, that, that headlight and then came up. So you see on the very outer edge how there's like... I can't count from here. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, like eight or... Yeah, those bars-

Joe Rogan 4:18 Mm-hmm.

Steve Strope 4:18 ... right there. The bottom three are added.

Joe Rogan 4:21 Oh. Wait, can, Jamie, can you pull up a 1969-

Steve Strope 4:24 Just the stock '69 Nova.

Joe Rogan 4:26 ... Nova grille?

Steve Strope 4:27 Yeah, or, or a Nova front end.

Joe Rogan 4:29 Nova front end.

Steve Strope 4:30 Yeah. But it, um, there's lots of little changes. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 4:35 Let's see what it looks like.

Steve Strope 4:37 Yeah, uh, well, yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:38 Kinda can't, can't kinda see it in that.

Steve Strope 4:39 There you go, you can, you can see how there's just a piece of plastic under it and it-

Joe Rogan 4:42 Mm-hmm.

Steve Strope 4:42 ... comes up, the silver plastic comes up so those ribs aren't... It's not the greatest photograph.

Joe Rogan 4:47 That's a better photo.

Narrator 4:48 There you go.

Joe Rogan 4:49 That looks custom.

Steve Strope 4:51 No, he's got the plastic coming up.

Joe Rogan 4:53 Yeah, he's got something else though.

Steve Strope 4:53 You can see that piece of plastic come up.

Joe Rogan 4:55 That's a beautiful Nova too.

Steve Strope 4:57 So we-

Joe Rogan 4:57 Boy.

Steve Strope 4:57 Mm-hmm. So we extended the grille and extended those outer things to just fill up the space. It just looks better.

Joe Rogan 5:03 It's such a unique looking car.

Steve Strope 5:04 There you go.

Joe Rogan 5:05 Yeah, there it is.

Steve Strope 5:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:06 That car is just so unique. It's such a, uh, you know, it's... And I think it's one of those muscle cars that have really never got its due because it kinda started out as more of an economy kind of a car.

Steve Strope 5:16 Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 5:17 Yeah.

Steve Strope 5:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:18 And Nova-

Steve Strope 5:18 It was-

Joe Rogan 5:19 Yeah, Nova wasn't like... You know, if you had a Barracuda, you were the fucking man.

Steve Strope 5:22 (laughs) Right?

Joe Rogan 5:23 But if you had a Nova, it's like, "Oh, you couldn't afford a Barracuda."

Steve Strope 5:25 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 5:25 Like, if you had a Duster-

Steve Strope 5:26 Unless you had the Nova SS with the 396, but those were few and far between. There weren't a lot of people that ordered that.

Joe Rogan 5:32 When I was a kid, this kid, uh, in our high school had a Duster. What was the other one? There was a Duster, there's a Do-

Steve Strope 5:39 Dart.

Joe Rogan 5:40 A Dart, yeah. He had a Duster.

Steve Strope 5:41 Or a Valiant.

Joe Rogan 5:42 Yeah, and nobody gave it any respect.

Steve Strope 5:44 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 5:45 I was like, "That's a cool car."

Steve Strope 5:46 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 5:46 Like, "What's wrong with you people?" But there was like this thing where like some of those older cars were less desirable. So I'm in high school in... So I graduated in '85, so we're talking about, I think, I think my friend had this car in like '84.So, you know, it really was only 14 years old.

Steve Strope 6:06 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 6:07 Which is kind of crazy.

Steve Strope 6:08 Yes, it is.

Joe Rogan 6:09 That's super crazy.

Steve Strope 6:11 (laughs) Like, '86-

Joe Rogan 6:12 'Cause-

Steve Strope 6:12 ... when we were driving around, a, uh, '68 was only, what, 17, 18, no, 18 years old.

Joe Rogan 6:18 Right.

Steve Strope 6:18 Wasn't an old car, not-

Joe Rogan 6:20 Yeah.

Steve Strope 6:21 ... super old.

Joe Rogan 6:21 18 years old ain't shit.

Steve Strope 6:23 Right.

Joe Rogan 6:23 That's like 2000 what? Five?

Steve Strope 6:26 (laughs) We're, you and I are about to do math. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 6:28 Right?

Steve Strope 6:30 23-

Joe Rogan 6:30 That's bonkers.

Steve Strope 6:31 ... minus 18, yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:31 That's bonkers.

Steve Strope 6:31 That's a 2005.

Joe Rogan 6:33 Which is, like, kind of a new car.

Steve Strope 6:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:36 Like, if you have a 2005 car, the, you can't differentiate them at all from a 2020.

Steve Strope 6:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:41 Unless you're, like, a car connoisseur.

Steve Strope 6:42 Ma- yeah, sure.

Joe Rogan 6:43 You know, if you have a 2005 Camry, it looks like a 2020 Camry, right?

Steve Strope 6:48 And it's interesting how time marches on, how perception-

Joe Rogan 6:51 Yeah.

Steve Strope 6:51 ... of length of time-

Joe Rogan 6:53 It's true.

Steve Strope 6:54 ... like you were saying when we sat down, with our friendship-

Joe Rogan 6:56 Time.

Steve Strope 6:56 ... let alone everything else. It's like-

Joe Rogan 6:57 It's gone.

Steve Strope 6:57 ... "How is that 20 minutes?" Oh, it's going-

Joe Rogan 6:59 Very fast.

Steve Strope 7:00 That's the one thing the, uh, our older generation, when we were growing up, told us that was the one truth. It goes so fast.

Joe Rogan 7:07 Yeah.

Steve Strope 7:08 Enjoy it, because (snaps fingers) it's gone. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 7:10 It's also because when you were a child, one year was literally, like, 1/10 of your life. It was so long.

Steve Strope 7:18 It was an eternity.

Joe Rogan 7:19 'Cause you'd only been ar- you had so few points of reference. But then as you get older and you have more points of reference and more experience and more life, then you realize, like, "Oh, my God, time is full o-" I don't have much time at all. No one does.

Steve Strope 7:33 Yes. It's, it's, it's amazing how-

Joe Rogan 7:37 It goes quick.

Steve Strope 7:38 ... how the boost kicks in and all of a sudden 40, 50, 60- (laughs)

Joe Rogan 7:42 Yeah.

Steve Strope 7:42 And you're like, "What the hell just happened?"

Joe Rogan 7:43 And you're just like, "Let's hang in there as long as I can."

Steve Strope 7:46 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 7:47 I got some stem cells today.

Steve Strope 7:49 I did?

Joe Rogan 7:49 But, yeah. I was r- I was reading this thing, th- this here. I'll send it to you, Jamie. But, uh, they believe now that through stem cell technology, they're going to be able to, uh, extend lifespan far greater. And the article said something about, like, having people work until they're 120, which is, like, not a good selling point.

Steve Strope 8:10 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 8:12 Later, I'll send it to you, Jamie.

Steve Strope 8:12 Hey, you could suffer longer.

Joe Rogan 8:14 Yeah.

Steve Strope 8:15 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 8:15 "Hey, you can hate what you do longer." You got it already? Oh, there it is. "Will be living and working to 120, and it will start within a decade," says doctor to The Star. So it doesn't, they're not necessarily saying you'll be working until you're 120, but living and working.

Steve Strope 8:28 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 8:29 So this guy is, uh, using stem cells, uh, "I believe we can c- create prolongation of life," von Schwarz says. That sounds like-

Steve Strope 8:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 8:38 ... the beginning-

Steve Strope 8:38 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 8:38 ... of every horror movie. "We believe we can have prolonging of life."

Steve Strope 8:43 "We can do it."

Joe Rogan 8:44 Dun, dun, dun.

Steve Strope 8:46 Oh, goody.

Joe Rogan 8:46 "Probably within a couple years, people can live to be 120, 150 years old, if not longer than that. It's not just bed-bound, non-communicating individuals, but really active individuals who participate in social life, professional life, and have a quality of life."

Steve Strope 9:01 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 9:01 'Cause that's the goal.

Steve Strope 9:02 Mm.

Joe Rogan 9:02 Yeah. I'm in. Let's go.

Steve Strope 9:04 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 9:04 I'm, I'm enjoying life. You know, I'm enjoying, uh, doing stuff. And, uh, my friends that are, um, older, that are having, like, health problems, it really makes me realize, like, man, you gotta stay on top of everything. 'Cause if you don't, if it slides off and then you have to try to bring it back up, it's way harder than maintaining.

Steve Strope 9:24 I, yeah, I'm, yeah, yeah. You know, the stem cell thing, uh, if he could, if, if Von Doom there could get on, uh...

Joe Rogan 9:31 On the eyeball stuff.

Steve Strope 9:32 ... fixing the eyeball-

Joe Rogan 9:32 Yeah.

Steve Strope 9:32 ... I'd be very appreciative. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 9:34 Th- what hav- do they, let's tell everybody what happened to you, because this is a crazy thing. Um-

Steve Strope 9:39 Oh.

Joe Rogan 9:40 ... yeah. It's a real bummer, right? You-

Steve Strope 9:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 9:42 ... uh, just out of nowhere, started seeing dark spots, right?

Steve Strope 9:46 No. Wha- what happened was, well, little background. I had already, um, (laughs) stage one was going in to your local doctor eye guy because you have metal in your eye.

Joe Rogan 9:57 Oh, wow.

Steve Strope 9:58 'Cause that's some of the fun that happens. Even when you're wearing safety glasses. All the haters, calm down. We wear safety glasses in the shop.

Joe Rogan 10:06 How does it get in? It just-

Steve Strope 10:06 Oh, it just bounces around. You know, you're working with a carbide bit spinning at, you know, 15,000 RPM, stuff bounces around. But since then, I ha- I ve- I've been using (laughs) I found this place in France that makes these mot- antique motorcycle World War I aircraft goggles-

Joe Rogan 10:23 Like the Nazis used-

Steve Strope 10:24 ... that seal-

Joe Rogan 10:24 ... to use for duels?

Steve Strope 10:25 (laughs) I, I don't know that one.

Joe Rogan 10:28 You don't know that one?

Steve Strope 10:28 But it, but it seals to your eyes, and it's got little vents in it so they don't fog up.

Joe Rogan 10:33 Oh.

Steve Strope 10:33 So, but anyway, I got metal in my eye, which is, uh, uh, for those of you who haven't done it, it's lots of fun. Um, you hold still. You're wide awake, and they come at you with a Dremel drill bit, and they drill it out.

Joe Rogan 10:45 Oh, Jesus.

Steve Strope 10:46 And so, and you, and the, and the instructions are hold still.

Joe Rogan 10:49 Don't move.

Steve Strope 10:50 Right.

Joe Rogan 10:50 Oh, my God.

Steve Strope 10:51 I mean, they put a numbing drop in, but-

Joe Rogan 10:53 So what?

Steve Strope 10:53 ... you still see the drill bit coming.

Joe Rogan 10:55 Oh, my God.

Steve Strope 10:55 And you, easy, easy. You can handle... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 10:58 Oh, my God.

Steve Strope 10:59 The stuff you've been th- through, I'm sure you could handle it.

Joe Rogan 11:01 Yeah, that's wild, though.

Steve Strope 11:02 But, so, so I've been drilled a couple of times. That sounds wrong. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 11:07 You!

Steve Strope 11:08 And it, i- if they came up with a photo of my eye, it'd look like a golf ball.

Joe Rogan 11:12 Oh.

Steve Strope 11:12 Little dimples-

Joe Rogan 11:13 God.

Steve Strope 11:13 ... from the drill comes in. So anyway, that guy is like, you know when they're in there, they're, if they're experienced cats, they're, they just happen to look around, right?

Joe Rogan 11:21 Yeah.

Steve Strope 11:22 And he goes, "Hey, um, I think you should come back and talk to our other doctor so-and-so and have him do some tests, because I saw some stuff, don't know, but I think it'd be wise if you blah, blah, blah." So I go in, we do the test, then the guy goes, and this is, wow, this was a while ago. Uh, 14, 15 years ago. Here we are again with that time portal.

Joe Rogan 11:44 Right.

Steve Strope 11:45 Um, he goes, "You have advanced glaucoma." And I go, "What the hell's that?" And he goes, "It's like creeping death. It slowly takes your peripheral, and most adults don't know that they're going blind til they're 80, and it moves so slow."... that you don't, you don't notice the change, right? Well, mine's trucking along, and so we start with, um, medication that lowers, in your eye, you basically got a faucet and a drain. And if the drain's plugged up or if the faucet's on overload, it's, uh, acting not like a water balloon, but pressure builds. That pressure is, uh, think of your optic nerve, right? Your brain is the, um, cable TV company, your eye is the expensive flat screen TV, and the cable connecting the two of them, right? That pressure building up is like somebody with the heel of his boot digging on that cable, and sooner or later, psst-

Joe Rogan 12:51 Oh.

Steve Strope 12:51 ... nothing, right? So, you take medicine to reduce the pressure so it doesn't eat away at the optic nerve. Okay, great. We got that under control. We're killer. So then, um, oh, probably eight, nine years ago, I have cataract surgery in my right eye. And, um, put the cataract lens in and it's like, oh my gosh. It's like crystal clear and beautiful and incredible, you know? Stoked on it. About a year passes and I'm at PRI, which is the race, real serious race version of SEMA. It's in Indianapolis. So, there's no fuzzy dice there. It's all race car parts and stuff like that. And I'm walking around and I just... I don't know how to describe it, but, uh, it actually moved in stages, like a curtain coming down, it was just gray. And then you just saw gray. And it was my retina falling off.

Joe Rogan 13:50 Oof.

Steve Strope 13:50 Detaching. So I'm in Indy and I fly back and get together with the doctors and they're like, "We gotta put that shit up." And, um, instead of doing the long version, I'll give you the short version. Seven surgeries later, and every time you have the surgery, there's stitches in my eye.

Joe Rogan 14:10 Oof.

Steve Strope 14:10 I'm... And that's fun. That's way more fun than the drilling.

Joe Rogan 14:13 Oof.

Steve Strope 14:14 And you're laying face down for a week.

Joe Rogan 14:16 Oh, boy.

Steve Strope 14:17 Can't move. And it just kept falling off. They couldn't, they couldn't go up, so I went to another surgeon. I also have a buckle permanently sewn into my eye to... They tried to change the shape of the eye to promote the retina staying up better.

Joe Rogan 14:32 Oh, boy.

Steve Strope 14:33 So anyway, um, got to new doctor, great guy, Dr. Osmali back home in, in Cali. And he's like, "I got this, man. Those other guys, they were losers. We're gonna get it up there and we're gonna stick it up." That was surgery six, and, um, it didn't hold, and he (laughs) was more... I think he was more depressed than I was. And, uh, so we scheduled seven, and he sat down with me. I remember before we went into, uh, into the operating room, he goes, "Look (laughs) ... I, I, I don't think I can... I'm gonna go try to save your eye."

Joe Rogan 15:13 Oof.

Steve Strope 15:13 "I'm not gonna save your sight."

Joe Rogan 15:15 Wow.

Steve Strope 15:15 Because... And he, he, he did it this way, which I thought was cool. He went and did a little research to speak in my language. And he goes, "When you're trying to weld metal, if, uh, both the pieces are kinda rusty and beat up or whatever, that it won't weld very good, right?" I'm like, I go, "True." He goes, "So you gotta have clean metal to clean metal to weld." And I go, "Yes, that's true." He goes, "Well, all the attempts have just-"

Joe Rogan 15:41 Taken away the clean-

Steve Strope 15:42 "... frayed the living-"

Joe Rogan 15:43 Oh, Jesus.

Steve Strope 15:43 "... shit out of the, um, retina, so I'm gonna cut away the yucky stuff."

Joe Rogan 15:51 Ugh.

Steve Strope 15:51 "And I'm gonna have a new edge to..." They, they use a laser. They basically, the only thing they know how to do is tack weld it up.

Joe Rogan 16:00 Oof.

Steve Strope 16:00 That's what they do, right? So he goes, "I'm gonna make new clean edges."

Joe Rogan 16:05 Ooh.

Steve Strope 16:05 "I'm gonna weld it up. You're gonna lose some sight at least, 'cause I'm taking away part of the retina. But I'm gonna save your eye, 'cause if the eye... If we can't get something going on in there, then your body will kill off your eye, it shrinks back, it's painful. Pop it out, put a glass eye in." I go, "Yeah, let's... Yeah, let's not." So, he did that. And, uh, he goes, "I cut away about a third of the retina," and I had a visual, like a vertical rectangle of sight, right? Not all the way over to here to here. Here to here. But, uh, fast forwarding, scar tissue moved over and pretty much just eliminated. And they're like, "We can go in and sc-" I'm like, "No, no, no."

Joe Rogan 16:45 Oh, Jesus.

Steve Strope 16:46 "No. We're not gonna go in and do (laughs) anything."

Joe Rogan 16:48 Oh, Jesus.

Steve Strope 16:49 Um, so this one's basically gone. You know? That's that, for now. Uh, we'll see if science-

Joe Rogan 16:55 Do you know-

Steve Strope 16:55 ... checks in.

Joe Rogan 16:55 Do you know who Michael Bisping is?

Steve Strope 16:57 No, sir.

Joe Rogan 16:58 Michael Bisping is one of the toughest human beings that's ever walked the face of the earth.

Steve Strope 17:02 Fair enough.

Joe Rogan 17:02 This is what I s- And not just because he was a UFC middleweight champion, but because Michael Bisping fought the last 10 fights of his UFC career, including winning the title, blind in one eye, and he didn't tell them. He hid it.

Steve Strope 17:16 Oh, I heard about that.

Joe Rogan 17:17 Yeah. He hid it.

Steve Strope 17:18 He didn't tell anybody.

Joe Rogan 17:20 So, do you know how gangster you have to be to wanna be fighting the best fighters in the world? Dan Henderson.

Steve Strope 17:25 And, and not being able to see over here.

Joe Rogan 17:26 Anderson Silva. And you can't see outta one eye. Like his, his one eye is gone, man.

Steve Strope 17:32 Yeah. I understand.

Joe Rogan 17:33 Which is fighting world class fighters, that you can see his right eye is completely missing. It's like, it's just foggy.

Steve Strope 17:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 17:41 He wears like a little thing that goes over it like a lens, so it looks normal. But, uh, he's a fucking-

Steve Strope 17:47 Ooh.

Joe Rogan 17:47 ... stud. That guy fought 10 fights with one eye. I mean, just to think of fighting with two eyes is fucking terrifying.

Steve Strope 17:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 17:54 And fighting against the best guys in the world. And he wins the title, knocks out Luke Rockhold with one eye.

Steve Strope 18:00 Yeah. Well, it, it took a lot. I, I would sit there and practice, like...... basketball into, uh, garbage cans just to try to retain the, um-

Joe Rogan 18:10 Depth perception, right?

Steve Strope 18:10 ... depth perception and-

Joe Rogan 18:11 That's the real issue, right?

Steve Strope 18:12 Yeah. It's, it's difficult. And then also, it's, it's frustrating when your, uh... So, so, uh, well, anyway, the, the fun... I'll, I'll interrupt myself to continue with the fun. (clears throat) So, now I'm where I'm at, right? And they're like, "Your other eye is gonna need cataract surgery."

Joe Rogan 18:30 Oh, Jesus Christ.

Steve Strope 18:31 And I'm like... So I did ask when the retina fell off, "Hey, did the cataract surgery have anything to do with that? Possibly?" You know? And every doctor and every specialist and everybody I talked to all said the same thing. I'm paraphrasing. "Well, any procedure on your eye may, could, might, possibly have the possibility of-"

Joe Rogan 18:55 Like one of them commercials for like a pharmaceutical drug.

Steve Strope 18:57 Oh, how ... You know, so it's like, "Did the operation on your eye cause the retina fall off? Uh, anything could. Maybe." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 19:08 Anything. Anything could maybe.

Steve Strope 19:09 So, anyway, so now I've gotta have cataract surgery on this one. I got a great guy, he's one of the best in the West Coast, uh, et cetera, et cetera. We do the surgery, and there is a mistake in... 'Cause they account for my pressures. They try to keep the pressures low 'cause of my glaucoma. Well, they went a little too far and my pressures were down to... Your normal eyes run, like your eyes probably run at like 20, 22, you know, maybe even a little bit higher, but right around there for pressure inside. We'll call it, we'll call it air pressure, you know. It's not the right term, but... So, mine, with medication, we keep it down at like 13 and 12, right?

Joe Rogan 19:54 Okay.

Steve Strope 19:55 So, um, when... After the second cataract surgery, the one on the one working eye, they had dropped the pressures so low, I coughed and it blew out blood vessels inside my eye, which when you wake up and you look, it looks like it's snowing inside your... It looks like it's snowing. And I'm like, "What the hell is going on?" And at the same time, we did a special little, uh, surgery to like drill out the drain tube. Because in my eyes, the faucet's wide open and the drain tube's plugged.

Joe Rogan 20:28 Oh, boy.

Steve Strope 20:28 That builds the pressure. So the medicine turns the faucet down and clears away the drain tube, right?

Joe Rogan 20:33 I-

Steve Strope 20:33 So, we drill out the drain tube. I'm over... I'm making this we- I'm sure there's eye guys listening, "Well, that's not technically..." Look, they drilled the dam-

Joe Rogan 20:40 Like me describing mechanic work.

Steve Strope 20:41 Y- right. They drilled the dam tube open-

Joe Rogan 20:43 Right.

Steve Strope 20:44 ... so all the blood goes down and clogs that.

Joe Rogan 20:46 Okay.

Steve Strope 20:46 So that ruined that. Yay. And so, they rush me and they basically take a needle and insert fluid into my eye. I'm wide awake, mind you. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:00 (laughs)

Steve Strope 21:00 Just two little... You ever been where the two handle's under the table?

Joe Rogan 21:03 Oh, yeah. You grip on 'em?

Steve Strope 21:04 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:05 Oh, my God.

Steve Strope 21:05 Mother- motherfucker. And-

Joe Rogan 21:06 Do they have your head secured or anything?

Steve Strope 21:08 No, you just put it in the little foamy brace.

Joe Rogan 21:10 Oh, boy.

Steve Strope 21:11 (laughs) So they do that, and that was miscalculated, and the pressures went to like 62. And I, I was, I was, um, what's the word?

Joe Rogan 21:21 Terrified?

Steve Strope 21:22 No. I, I was throwing up. I, I couldn't stand up. I was so disoriented because it was-

Joe Rogan 21:27 Oh, wow.

Steve Strope 21:27 I mean, it was screwing with the, the deal. And so the doc who... Again, great guy. I'm still... I'm not slamming him. And he actually met me at his office at like... I don't even know when it was. 3:00 in the morning or... And, and I'm throwing up in his bushes out front. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:47 Oh, my God.

Steve Strope 21:48 Right? And he did this th- three times. Head in the thing, hands on the handle, took a blade, lifted my eye, and let the, let the pressure out. Let the, the fluid out. (exhales) So, I'm like digging that, right? So, now we get the... Mm-mm. Pressure's under control, right? And so, that was, uh, uh, two to three years ago. And believe me, every day when I wake up and I can see, I'm like, "Is this the day this retina falls off? Am I gonna have a repeat of the last one?"

Joe Rogan 22:25 Oh, my God. I'll have clammy hands.

Steve Strope 22:27 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 22:28 I really do have clammy hands.

Steve Strope 22:29 I'm the one living through it, you don't have to worry about it. You're good.

Joe Rogan 22:32 Yeah. But still, it's-

Steve Strope 22:33 It's-

Joe Rogan 22:33 ... for you.

Steve Strope 22:33 Yeah. It's, you know, but it's like anything else. When someone has something they, uh... When something is always over your shoulder, you can either focus on it and worry about it or just go to the shop and build some cool cars, you know?

Joe Rogan 22:51 Well, I'm glad you chose the latter.

Steve Strope 22:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:53 I guess that's the only choice to make.

Steve Strope 22:54 Yeah. You know, I can't... So, I do go like every four to six weeks. I have a, a, a lady I love, um, Dr. Torr, I go at her, her office. Luckily, it's like a mile and a half from my house. So, I go down and we check my pressures, though I don't have to. She's like, "You're fine. Come in six months." I'm like, "No, no, no." I'm coming in once a week, you know. But I, I come in at-

Joe Rogan 23:16 Yeah.

Steve Strope 23:16 ... like four to six week, we check the pressures, we look at the retinas, we... You know, so we're da- we're, we're, w-

Joe Rogan 23:21 Have you looked into stem cells? Is there anything with stem cells?

Steve Strope 23:23 There's nothing as of now. I have a meeting with the Dr. Asmali. I'm getting together with him next month. And, j- he's down at, uh, I think it's UCLA. He's real hip with that stuff. And I'm gonna go-

Joe Rogan 23:35 They're still hip? People are still hip?

Steve Strope 23:37 Yeah, he's hip.

Joe Rogan 23:38 (laughs)

Steve Strope 23:39 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:39 ... that T-shirt you're wearing-

Steve Strope 23:41 Still hip, man.

Joe Rogan 23:41 ... for the 69 Nova with your fucking band hair.

Steve Strope 23:44 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:44 Yep.

Steve Strope 23:45 Still hip, man. Uh, so-

Joe Rogan 23:47 So he's hip to all the new information.

Steve Strope 23:48 Oh, yeah. I'm gonna grill him again and I'm interested, I'm gonna talk with him 'cause I don't know, I was so... When they were saying, "We'll go in and clean the, the scar tissue." I'm like-

Joe Rogan 23:56 Mm-hmm.

Steve Strope 23:56 ... "Absolutely."

Joe Rogan 23:57 Let me, um, connect you to, uh, my friend Brigham. Uh, he owns Ways to Well-

Steve Strope 24:02 Mm.

Joe Rogan 24:02 ... which is a stem cell c- clinic in Austin and he is-

Steve Strope 24:06 Mm.

Joe Rogan 24:06 He was one of the most amazing guests I ever had on the podcast, where he explained how these things work and... But one of the things that he does, is he's, he's always up on the latest research in terms of like, what... He's the one who sent me that thing.

Steve Strope 24:17 Oh.

Joe Rogan 24:17 This, this latest article about people who are gonna be-

Steve Strope 24:18 Oh, the thing that was up on your screen-

Joe Rogan 24:19 ... 120 years old.

Steve Strope 24:20 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 24:20 The, the beginning of the horror movie.

Steve Strope 24:21 (laughs) We shall make you forever soldiers, ja.

Joe Rogan 24:25 Forever you will be connected-

Steve Strope 24:27 (laughs) Oh, God.

Joe Rogan 24:27 ... to the big machine.

Steve Strope 24:28 Oh, terrific. I'm in.

Joe Rogan 24:30 Um, he- but let me connect you to him and-

Steve Strope 24:32 All right.

Joe Rogan 24:32 ... he'll, he'll know what's going on in terms of like, if there's anything going on with eyeballs. There's a lot of really good stuff with, uh, neurodegenerative issues. Um, people that have, uh, all sorts of, uh, neurological issues have gone down... I know Dr. Reardon from Panama was talking about that. He's the first guy I ever had come on and talk about stem cells. He, he's, uh, the guy that came on with Mel Gibson. I don't know if you ever saw that one, like-

Steve Strope 24:55 Oh, yeah. Oh, that guy. Okay.

Joe Rogan 24:56 He was face to face with him. Yeah.

Steve Strope 24:57 I, I, um... How it was described to me was... Again, they were, they were... At least he was being honest, he was like, "The retina is like brain tissue. We know what it is and that's," um-

Joe Rogan 25:10 Yeah.

Steve Strope 25:11 ... "that's about it. We can't reproduce it, we can't copy it, we can't make it, we can't..." Well, I, my, my hope-

Joe Rogan 25:17 But again, all they do is tack weld it up with lasers at the end.

Steve Strope 25:20 (laughs) My hope is they're gonna be able to make new ones.

Joe Rogan 25:22 It-

Steve Strope 25:22 Because one of the things they've been able to do with stem cells, if they... They've actually made a woman's, uh, bladder, I believe. I believe they reconstructed a, an actual bladder with stem cells, with her, her tissue, and then put it in her body. Find out if that's true. I think that's true.

Joe Rogan 25:40 Hm.

Steve Strope 25:40 Which is, I... Obviously, it seems like that would be a less complicated thing than, you know, than an eyeball that has to, like, take a-

Joe Rogan 25:48 Yeah.

Steve Strope 25:48 ... bit of time. And I've heard of them trying to... Or somebody doing an eyeball. Really? Because it's easier to make the whole thing than try to replicate. Right. That's what I was thinking.

Joe Rogan 25:58 But I'm like, I'm like, "How are you gonna connect it to all those optic nerves? How are you gonna want that?"

Steve Strope 26:01 I don't know. What are you gonna do there? And what does that do to the... Like, what if that goes south?

Joe Rogan 26:06 (laughs)

Steve Strope 26:06 And then all of a sudden you forget your childhood? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:09 You know what I mean? Like, what's, what's connected back there?

Steve Strope 26:11 Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how they're gonna do it. What are your weird dreams about- (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:14 ... hanging out with your brother that are gonna be just gone forever? Like... You know what I mean?

Steve Strope 26:18 Yeah, I, I don't know. I, I, I, I'll be interested to talk with Esmaili again when I'm... When I'm back in-

Joe Rogan 26:26 Yeah.

Steve Strope 26:26 ... and just see if there's any new... 'Cause I'm down for it.

Joe Rogan 26:30 Jamie, did you find anything about them making eyeballs?

Guest 26:33 I thought I was looking up a bladder.

Joe Rogan 26:35 Yeah, you were looking up the bladder. Did you find that? Is that real?

Guest 26:37 No.

Joe Rogan 26:38 Making... (laughs)

Guest 26:39 Um, I've found-

Steve Strope 26:40 Is that real? (laughs)

Guest 26:41 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:41 I think it's real, but I never know. I mean, I say things sometimes then I go, "Okay, let me check."

Steve Strope 26:46 Fair enough.

Joe Rogan 26:46 'Cause like, a lot... You know, I don't expect to be talking about people making bladders. It just, you know-

Steve Strope 26:51 Oh.

Joe Rogan 26:52 This wasn't part of the plan today.

Steve Strope 26:53 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:54 It just, it's just how it goes.

Steve Strope 26:56 Oh, I'm the benefit now. (laughs)

Guest 26:57 I was going to find out, like, uh-

Joe Rogan 26:57 No, we all, we all, we all have a benefit. It's just a real conversation. You know?

Guest 27:00 Yeah, the Google search shows that there's definitely studies on bladder regeneration, but there's a difference between them like getting the... A functional urinary tract, kind of like functional bladder.

Steve Strope 27:10 I see.

Guest 27:11 So I think it does-

Joe Rogan 27:12 It d-

Guest 27:12 ... from what I've looked at, they have found-

Steve Strope 27:13 I partially see.

Guest 27:14 ... in an animal?

Steve Strope 27:15 (laughs)

Guest 27:16 In a small animal, I think, is what it said.

Joe Rogan 27:18 Hm.

Steve Strope 27:18 Oh, so they, they didn't do it to a woman?

Guest 27:20 No, because now I'm like looking for... That's why, I was just looking into it and then you kind of cut me off.

Joe Rogan 27:22 Okay, go ahead. Try, try to find it for a woman, 'cause I'm pretty sure I read that.

Steve Strope 27:25 Hm.

Joe Rogan 27:26 I was very impressed. They coulda got me, though. They coulda got me some clickbait bullshit.

Steve Strope 27:30 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:30 They get me. So many times they get me, these motherfuckers.

Steve Strope 27:33 Ooh, look at that.

Joe Rogan 27:34 But hey-

Steve Strope 27:34 Woman's bladder. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:35 ... that's their job. You got me. It's fair and square, that's the job.

Steve Strope 27:39 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:39 Their job is to fucking make some shit that you're gonna click on.

Steve Strope 27:42 Right. Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 27:42 So if they can make the most outrageous version of what is kind of true...

Steve Strope 27:46 Right.

Guest 27:48 Uh, kind of true.

Steve Strope 27:48 (laughs) It's iffy at best.

Guest 27:50 It's a little iffy, but it's kind of true.

Steve Strope 27:52 (laughs)

Guest 27:52 Um, "A new bladder made from my cells gave me my life back. Bioprinting human tissue, a special..." Ah, it's the same thing.

Joe Rogan 27:59 Is that it?

Guest 28:00 No, this is from 2018. It's not the same thing.

Joe Rogan 28:01 Yeah, that's it.

Guest 28:02 This was a little kid, though.

Joe Rogan 28:04 Is it a girl?

Guest 28:06 Luke Masella. He's, um-

Joe Rogan 28:07 Does he identify as a girl? (laughs)

Guest 28:09 (laughs) I don't know.

Steve Strope 28:09 Oh, what a way to push-

Joe Rogan 28:10 Sorry, Luke.

Steve Strope 28:11 ... push that to the edge.

Joe Rogan 28:12 Trying to push gender ideology on Luke.

Steve Strope 28:14 (laughs)

Guest 28:14 I don't... I don't think that's how it is.

Joe Rogan 28:14 Does he identify as a girl? Sure. Why not?

Guest 28:16 Uh...

Joe Rogan 28:16 I'm just trying to be right.

Steve Strope 28:17 Maybe on Wednesday.

Joe Rogan 28:19 I'm just trying to be right, Jamie.

Guest 28:19 I mean, it's... There are stories that are showing. I don't know if I can... I might have to find something specific to find the one you're talking about, but...

Joe Rogan 28:25 Oh, that, find the eyeball.

Guest 28:26 Yeah, let's find the eyeball.

Steve Strope 28:27 (laughs)

Guest 28:27 The eyeball's more important to Steve.

Steve Strope 28:29 Ye- uh, yeah.

Guest 28:29 Well, to all of us.

Steve Strope 28:30 Yeah, a little closer for me. There. So anyway, I'm gonna revisit-

Guest 28:35 Now I've grown eyesores.

Steve Strope 28:36 ... and ask him if we have to go in like they did before, to, to, to scrape off the scar tissue. Because I did have a vertical slot of sight, because this eye has new-

Joe Rogan 28:48 Yeah.

Steve Strope 28:48 ... cataract lens, which is still in there.

Joe Rogan 28:50 Right.

Steve Strope 28:51 And I remember when I, when I could-

Joe Rogan 28:53 But the scar tissue's covered over it.

Steve Strope 28:54 Yeah, when I could walk around again and I was walking outside, you know, I'd cover this eye and there would be a... Instead of this, it'd be like that. A vertical, full height, but just not as wide, but clear sight. And I'm like, "Well, hm." You know, it's been a while now. If they can clear that off and I can get that, that'd be aw- that'd be awesome. Like-

Joe Rogan 29:16 Yeah, that would be amazing.

Steve Strope 29:17 I mean... Oh, and yes, uh...

Joe Rogan 29:18 So they think they can do that?

Steve Strope 29:19 Uh, he suggested it back then, so... I was not ready to do it. I was sick and tired of being on the table.

Joe Rogan 29:26 Right, right, right.

Steve Strope 29:27 I literally knew how to put the IV. I, I prepped myself (laughs) for freaking surgery.

Joe Rogan 29:31 Did you give yourself an IV?

Steve Strope 29:32 No, I'm just saying-

Joe Rogan 29:33 Oh.

Steve Strope 29:33 ... I could.

Joe Rogan 29:33 Oh, okay.

Steve Strope 29:33 I was, I was so freaking... When you go in the surgery center and they go, "Hi, Mr. Strope."

Joe Rogan 29:38 ... you know? (laughs) They recognize you. Giving yourself an IV is next level, right?

Steve Strope 29:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:43 It's like giving yourself a tattoo.

Steve Strope 29:45 Yeah, I'm not doing that.

Joe Rogan 29:46 Guys who tattoo the inside of their own thighs, like, whoa.

Steve Strope 29:49 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 29:50 (laughs)

Steve Strope 29:50 Who the hell's doing that?

Joe Rogan 29:51 A lot of folks.

Steve Strope 29:52 Okay. I'm glad I'm not-

Joe Rogan 29:53 Guys practicing themselves.

Steve Strope 29:55 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 29:56 Yeah.

Steve Strope 29:57 I'm gonna, I'm gonna say no for that one.

Joe Rogan 29:59 Well, tattooists do it to themselves all the time. If they want something and they maybe wanna draw it and they're very skilled.

Steve Strope 30:04 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 30:05 You know, maybe they want, like, a specific kind of flower somewhere.

Steve Strope 30:08 Fair enough.

Joe Rogan 30:08 And they can reach it. Okay.

Steve Strope 30:10 Stem cells from-

Joe Rogan 30:10 Stem cells from one eye show promise in healing injuries in the other. Interesting.

Guest 30:16 There's another story too, where a kid had a v- he had a very specific eye injury that was covered by stem cells.

Steve Strope 30:20 See, my, my problem... It's not my problem. Well, it is my problem, but my situation is, there's stuff they do on the outside, like cadaver stuff. But the inside, like the retina, as lo- what I've been told is, like, no man's land. It's like, "Well, good luck." You know?

Joe Rogan 30:35 Mm-hmm.

Steve Strope 30:36 It's like, "Well, you can get that from a dead body." No, no, you can't.

Joe Rogan 30:39 Oh.

Steve Strope 30:39 They can't replace a retina. Uh, uh, and if I'm wrong, great, bring it on.

Joe Rogan 30:44 Maybe they just can't do it now.

Steve Strope 30:46 Well, yeah, that's the thing.

Joe Rogan 30:46 But then, it's also someone else's organ, so you're gonna have to take all these drugs to keep your body from rejecting it.

Steve Strope 30:52 (inhales deeply) Yeah, I'm sure there's no...

Joe Rogan 30:54 My friend, uh, CT Fletcher had a heart transplant a few years back. He's a amazing person.

Steve Strope 31:00 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 31:00 Like he's a super, super inspirational person. And, uh, had a heart transplant, and now he has to... He has someone else's heart inside of him. Now he has to take medication.

Steve Strope 31:10 That's so trippy.

Joe Rogan 31:11 It's crazy. See, your body... When you have someone else's organ in your body, your body knows it's not yours.

Steve Strope 31:17 Sure.

Joe Rogan 31:17 So your body tries to reject it.

Steve Strope 31:19 Right.

Joe Rogan 31:19 So I imagine that does wreck havoc with your immune system, but it's keeping him alive, and it's amazing, man. This guy's so full of love. He was like this crazy wild, like, powerlifter dude, who was like real, like... Uh, like, just real motivational, aggressive, you know. And now he's like this, like real peaceful, interesting, like, wise person, who's enjoying his last moments alive, you know. But it's, it's heavy. It's heavy. I mean, the heart is obviously the big one, right?

Steve Strope 31:52 Ta- yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:52 That's the big one.

Steve Strope 31:53 Probably really important.

Joe Rogan 31:54 We're, we're fucking 10 years, 20 years away, max, from them being able to suck your brain out of your head and put it in a robot.

Steve Strope 32:00 Oh, good. That'd be great.

Joe Rogan 32:02 They're gonna give you a Steve Strope robot.

Steve Strope 32:04 That'll be terrific.

Joe Rogan 32:05 It'll be like Ken from the Barbie movie.

Steve Strope 32:07 (laughs) I hope not.

Joe Rogan 32:10 Yeah, and the new... The first ones won't be able to feel real pleasure, and so you have to sign off on that. But then the- the next ones, the better ones will.

Steve Strope 32:16 But that's where this is going?

Joe Rogan 32:17 So you have to decide whether or not you're gonna get another surgery. You're gonna get your... They've never removed a brain from one robot and put it in another robot, you know that right? Yeah, but they pretty much... They know how to do it. They know... They're pretty good at it.

Steve Strope 32:28 Uh, uh, who's they? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 32:30 These new people in the future, the- the robot-

Steve Strope 32:32 Oh.

Joe Rogan 32:32 ... brain scientists.

Steve Strope 32:33 Oh, good. Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 32:34 Would you opt in for that, or would you rather just, for- say, "Let's see what's next?"

Steve Strope 32:37 (sighs) .

Joe Rogan 32:38 Let's let the lights go dim and see what's next.

Steve Strope 32:42 All right. Good question.

Joe Rogan 32:43 It's a good question.

Steve Strope 32:44 I don't know. I don't know.

Joe Rogan 32:46 It's hard to say, 'cause everybody's scared to die, but no one's scared of sleep.

Steve Strope 32:52 Hmm, that's a good statement.

Joe Rogan 32:53 Yeah, it's weird.

Steve Strope 32:55 Well, 'cause you're expecting, the odds are you're waking up.

Joe Rogan 32:57 You should be expecting the other one, too.

Steve Strope 32:59 Hm.

Joe Rogan 33:00 You know?

Steve Strope 33:01 True.

Joe Rogan 33:01 It comes for all of us.

Steve Strope 33:03 Yeah, that's the, uh, great equalizer, is it not?

Joe Rogan 33:05 I wonder if that's like, you know... If Satan was real, that would be the ultimate temptation, to trick you into transferring your consciousness into something immortal so that you can never experience heaven. Wouldn't that be wild if that's what's going on? (laughs)

Steve Strope 33:23 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 33:23 'Cause everybody wants to think that... Even people that believe in God, they don't necessarily talk too much about Satan. It's very rare.

Steve Strope 33:30 My... I, I have a, I have a very... Your good old standard issue religious background with my parents and my gr- and my gr-

Joe Rogan 33:38 How- What'd you start off with?

Steve Strope 33:39 Uh, well, uh, uh... In... I'm from a- (laughs) We're gonna get into Appalakin in a little while where I'm from.

Joe Rogan 33:46 Appalakin? Appalachia?

Steve Strope 33:47 Appalakin.

Joe Rogan 33:48 What's that? What's it do?

Steve Strope 33:49 Appalachian Mountains, the yee-haw stuff down south.

Joe Rogan 33:52 What kind of stuff did you guys do?

Steve Strope 33:55 Appa- (laughs)

Joe Rogan 33:55 (laughs)

Steve Strope 33:56 What kind of stuff didn't you guys do?

Joe Rogan 33:59 If you didn't do the yee-haw stuff, what did you guys do?

Steve Strope 34:00 Appalakin, New York is a very s-

Joe Rogan 34:02 Oh, New York. Okay.

Steve Strope 34:02 Very small farm town in Upstate New York, still has a red light at the end of it where it meets 434.

Joe Rogan 34:08 Okay.

Steve Strope 34:08 Has a post office and a fire station.

Joe Rogan 34:12 Okay.

Steve Strope 34:13 And known for a very important large mafia bus in 1957. There's also-

Joe Rogan 34:18 A mafia bus.

Steve Strope 34:19 There's actually a paperback and a movie about Appalakin.

Joe Rogan 34:23 W- what's the, what's the movie or paperback? W-

Steve Strope 34:25 Appalakin.

Joe Rogan 34:26 It's just called Appalakin?

Steve Strope 34:27 Mm. Yes.

Joe Rogan 34:27 Yeah.

Steve Strope 34:28 Yes, sir.

Joe Rogan 34:28 And it's all about the mob?

Steve Strope 34:29 It's a huge bust.

Joe Rogan 34:32 Look at that. On this day in 1957, the FBI finally had to admit that the mafia existed.

Steve Strope 34:37 They were all gathered in a farmhouse, the, the leaders of the main mob families, and they were basically working out, um, j- jurisdictions, properties.

Guest 34:49 A fun... I think... I was researching some stuff one time and I stumbled across this meeting happened after a failed meeting in Cleveland-

Steve Strope 34:57 Hm.

Guest 34:57 ... 'cause the F- the Cleveland family fucked up the meeting and they got mad, said, like, "Fuck it, we're doing it in New York."

Steve Strope 35:01 Yep. They did it, and so the, the two sheriffs just saw these black Cadillacs and Lincolns going up to this farmhouse. And I think i- if, uh, memory serves me right, they kind of fucked up and all panicked and ran into the woods, in fact, that day.

Joe Rogan 35:15 (laughs)

Steve Strope 35:15 No, they did do that. But if they would- just would have said, "Hey, we're just hanging out."

Joe Rogan 35:19 Right.

Steve Strope 35:20 Tha- what are you gonna prove? But they all bailed and they r- ran into the, the... If I remember right, they're coming out of the woods near where my dad, where my grandma's house was. That was a dirt road back then. And I could take you there. The house is on top of a little hill behind the area where we have our Fireman's Field Days every, (laughs) every year. Now-

Joe Rogan 35:37 ... state troopers noticed all the fancy cars parked in Barbara's driveway and started taking down license plate numbers. Some have suggested that, how hard, uh, back then, in the '50s, to have- you get a license plate number, what is it, like a week-

Steve Strope 35:49 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 35:49 ... until you find out who's fucking car it is? You know what I mean? Uh, it suggests that one of the Genovese rivals tipped the cops in hopes of spoiling Genovese's crown ceremony. Oh, God. The assembled mafioso noticed this and began to panic. Some fled into the woods, some hid in- in the basement. Others ran to their cars and tried to drive away. The troopers caught about 60 of them. (laughs) When questioned, many insisted they were there for a barbecue.

Steve Strope 36:12 Yes.

Joe Rogan 36:13 Or they had just come to visit their good friend, Joe Barbara, who was recovering from a heart attack. When all was said and done, the troopers had apprehended mafia leaders from New York, New Jersey, Tampa, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Dallas, Pittsburgh-

Steve Strope 36:23 Man, that was a big meeting.

Joe Rogan 36:23 ... and other locations.

Steve Strope 36:25 Wow.

Joe Rogan 36:25 But isn't that funny? Like, what did they bust them for? Just being there?

Steve Strope 36:29 I don't know.

Joe Rogan 36:29 What they all wanted already, they just-

Steve Strope 36:31 Well, I think this, the paperwork laying on the inside was showing, uh, dividing up territories, and-

Joe Rogan 36:38 Oh, boy.

Steve Strope 36:39 And it was, it was one of the first times that the-

Joe Rogan 36:41 (laughs)

Steve Strope 36:41 ... FBI had proof-

Joe Rogan 36:42 Hold up, hold up, uh, look at this.

Narrator 36:43 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 36:43 The whole thing made national news, and finally forced the FBI to acknowledge that organized crime is a matter worthy of notice. Some believe that J. Edgar Hoover's reluctance to acknowledge the mob's existence can be ascribed to the mafia somehow acquiring photographs of Hoover in drag-

Steve Strope 36:58 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 36:58 ... and using those to blackmail him into leaving the mafia alone. There is no evidence to suggest that this is true. That was always the rumor, that he dra-... But that would be the rumor if there was a guy that ran the FBI, like, what dark secrets does he have? You know, if he's like holding the secrets of everyone.

Steve Strope 37:14 What's his secret?

Joe Rogan 37:14 What's his secret?

Steve Strope 37:15 Right?

Joe Rogan 37:15 Probably, you, you'd have to have secrets. You'd probably go crazy if you didn't.

Steve Strope 37:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:19 You know, like, you're the one who keeps the secrets. You'd probably do the weirdest shit. So, the-

Steve Strope 37:23 Possible. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 37:24 So almost automatically, you would think that he would wear drag. Right?

Steve Strope 37:28 Yeah, that's where my brain goes. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 37:30 That's where my brain would go. Like, oh, he's doing some freak shit.

Steve Strope 37:33 (laughs) He's doing some, quote, "freak shit."

Joe Rogan 37:35 Freak shit.

Steve Strope 37:35 Freak shit.

Joe Rogan 37:35 And if, you know, if you're, you are more, you know, uh, dark minded, you would think even horrible things. He's doi- they're doing horrible things.

Steve Strope 37:41 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 37:42 That's always the, uh, the worry, that people have about, like, uh, the elites. Like, what are they doing? Like, the skull and bones, and the f- like, what kind of fucking rituals-

Steve Strope 37:50 What kind of-

Joe Rogan 37:50 ... of bohemian groves.

Steve Strope 37:51 ... freak ass shit are they doing?

Joe Rogan 37:52 What freak shit are you doing?

Steve Strope 37:53 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 37:54 You know?

Steve Strope 37:54 (clears throat) And getting away with.

Joe Rogan 37:56 Yeah, when you're on a $500 million yacht every weekend, and you're just fucking balling all over the world-

Steve Strope 38:01 Yep.

Joe Rogan 38:01 ... hanging out with your other balling-all-over-the-world buddies, doing freak shit.

Steve Strope 38:05 Yep.

Joe Rogan 38:06 Staying in the club together.

Steve Strope 38:07 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 38:08 Hunting people.

Steve Strope 38:09 Okay.

Joe Rogan 38:10 You know what I'm saying?

Steve Strope 38:11 Yeah. Freaky.

Joe Rogan 38:12 Freaky.

Steve Strope 38:13 Freaky.

Joe Rogan 38:14 Yeah.

Steve Strope 38:14 So, anyway, background. Small, South African Baptist church. My dad's a deacon at the church. My sister is, uh, married, uh, somebody that, who's a pastor, and she moved to France, uh, Montpelier, and she's a, a missionary there. So, all the basic, uh, Christian education, I got it.

Joe Rogan 38:32 Mm.

Steve Strope 38:32 Um-

Joe Rogan 38:33 But no one you know has had conversations with the devil, right?

Steve Strope 38:36 Uh, no, not really.

Joe Rogan 38:37 No. But people, I bet you've talked to people that said God has talked to them.

Steve Strope 38:44 Not, I don't know, my dad would never say God talked with me directly. He said, you know, he-

Joe Rogan 38:48 Some people would though.

Steve Strope 38:48 ... he reads the Bible and-

Joe Rogan 38:49 It's not an uncommon thing, though, right?

Steve Strope 38:50 No. But my, my, my background or, or the, the church I grew up in, and my mom and dad are, are pretty str-... Like, Pastor Walter, growing up, that guy was, um, a logger. You know-

Joe Rogan 39:02 Hm.

Steve Strope 39:02 ... this was, this was a small, little town.

Joe Rogan 39:05 That's a cool story.

Steve Strope 39:06 And, and, and, oh, he, he had a, I'm not kidding, he had a scar from here down through his jaw to here. A chainsaw jumped back and went-

Joe Rogan 39:14 Oh.

Steve Strope 39:15 ... crack, cut him right through the face.

Joe Rogan 39:16 What a-

Steve Strope 39:16 That's a man, that's a manly man right there.

Joe Rogan 39:19 That's a, that's like a Teddy Atlas scar.

Steve Strope 39:20 Took himself to the hospital-

Joe Rogan 39:22 Fuck yeah, he did.

Steve Strope 39:22 ... with a tile in, with a towel on the side, or a shirt on the side of his face.

Joe Rogan 39:26 Of course he did.

Steve Strope 39:26 Yes, he did.

Joe Rogan 39:27 Probably would've fucking stapled it shut-

Steve Strope 39:28 And I, I was-

Joe Rogan 39:29 ... if he had a stapler in the car.

Steve Strope 39:29 And I was, and he was the nicest, pleasant, like, "Hi. Good afternoon." You know, he wasn't like-

Joe Rogan 39:33 Yeah, that guy's seen some shit.

Steve Strope 39:34 Oh my goodness.

Joe Rogan 39:35 He doesn't have to convince you.

Steve Strope 39:36 So, so everything, it was real simple. Here's a good book, read it. If it says yes, do it. If it says no, don't. It-

Joe Rogan 39:41 Right.

Steve Strope 39:41 That's all. There's no pomp and circumstance.

Joe Rogan 39:43 Right. That's your, your childhood.

Steve Strope 39:43 There's no robes, there's no... Real simple, real straightforward.

Joe Rogan 39:46 Um-

Steve Strope 39:47 So, but my dad would be interested, and he'll be listening to this. So, he would be interested in your, in your thing of if, if, if the end times doesn't come, and, and Satan can say, "Hey, guess what I can do?"

Joe Rogan 40:00 But here's the thought.

Steve Strope 40:01 Would somebody take that?

Joe Rogan 40:02 If Satan really was clever-

Steve Strope 40:04 Oh, he, if he's real-

Joe Rogan 40:06 If he's real-

Steve Strope 40:07 ... he is the prince and power of the air.

Joe Rogan 40:09 Right.

Steve Strope 40:09 He is the great deceiver. He is, he's very clever. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 40:12 Right. But if Satan is a real thing-

Steve Strope 40:14 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 40:15 ... what a genius thing to make it ridiculous to believe in him. What a genius thing to make it so that even saying you're, you've communicated with Satan, or saying that Satan-

Steve Strope 40:28 You sound like a loon.

Joe Rogan 40:28 You sound like a loon.

Steve Strope 40:30 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 40:31 Like, I was just, we were just-

Steve Strope 40:32 'Cause if you negate him-

Joe Rogan 40:32 ... talking about this the other night. I said that if the president said, "God is with our troops," we would say, "Awesome." But if the president said, "We've located the devil. He's in Afghanistan, and we're beginning bombing."

Steve Strope 40:44 He'd be in nutshack.

Joe Rogan 40:44 You'd be like, "What, what the fuck did you just say?"

Steve Strope 40:47 And you're right about genius, because if, if you're ridiculed or look like a loon for believing in Satan, then by default, you're a loon for believing in God. So, he's done his job by negating everything.

Joe Rogan 40:58 Well, sort of.

Steve Strope 40:59 Well, to a point.

Joe Rogan 41:00 Because a lot of people that believe in God-

Steve Strope 41:01 Because they're both in the same book, they're both in the same book.

Joe Rogan 41:03 They believe in Satan as a concept, I think.

Steve Strope 41:05 Hm.

Joe Rogan 41:06 I think it's like a, there's like a graph-

Steve Strope 41:08 True.

Joe Rogan 41:08 ... of people that... Like, if you had a pie chart of all the people that believe in God, right?

Steve Strope 41:11 Sure.

Joe Rogan 41:12 It's, uh-

Steve Strope 41:12 Or the entity of God.

Joe Rogan 41:13 The ones that think that this, that Satan's a real thing-

Steve Strope 41:16 Right.

Joe Rogan 41:16 ... is probably like a quarter of the pie.

Steve Strope 41:18 And if they read, again, not some weird, crazy, but just the plain Jane Bible-

Joe Rogan 41:22 Right.

Steve Strope 41:23 ... Satan was the number one angel.

Joe Rogan 41:24 Yeah.

Steve Strope 41:24 He was number two in charge. He was the big cheese, and said, "I wanna have everything," and God was like, "Mm, not gonna happen."

Narrator 41:31 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 41:32 Yeah. But isn't that always, like, even in the mob?

Narrator 41:35 Yes.

Joe Rogan 41:35 Doesn't that kind of thing happen?

Narrator 41:36 Number two tries harder, doesn't he?

Joe Rogan 41:38 Number two tries to kill number one.

Narrator 41:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:39 When they killed, uh, Paul Castellano in front of Spark's Steak House in New York City.

Narrator 41:43 Is that the shot you have right there, in the hall?

Joe Rogan 41:45 No. What do we have in the hall?

Narrator 41:46 What shot is that?

Joe Rogan 41:46 Oh, that's, uh, Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald.

Narrator 41:49 Oh. That's right. That's it.

Joe Rogan 41:51 Yeah. That's it. Yeah, that's a different one.

Narrator 41:52 Yup. Yeah. I, uh ... So in my area, around me, there's a lot of Italian, growing up, lots of Italian. Lots of Italian.

Joe Rogan 41:59 Right.

Narrator 42:00 (laughs) So I got good food.

Joe Rogan 42:02 There you go.

Narrator 42:02 Really good food. But, so a- a- and then-

Joe Rogan 42:04 They know how to eat, I'll tell you that.

Narrator 42:06 Oh. Goddamn.

Joe Rogan 42:06 You want to eat for pleasure?

Narrator 42:07 Mm.

Joe Rogan 42:08 The Italians got it nailed.

Narrator 42:09 Yeah, they do.

Joe Rogan 42:10 They do.

Narrator 42:11 (laughs) Yum-

Joe Rogan 42:11 What's crazy is the difference between their food here and their food in Italy. It's like-

Narrator 42:15 It's, it's, it's, it's gone on its own, um, shoot.

Joe Rogan 42:18 Yeah, but that's not what I mean. I mean, in terms of like what it does to your body.

Narrator 42:21 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 42:21 Like, I would really like (laughs) some fucking science to be done on it.

Narrator 42:25 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 42:25 Like, what is happening? You go to Italy, you eat their pasta, you don't feel bad at all. You come to America, you feel like you ate a bowl of glue.

Narrator 42:33 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 42:33 It's just, I'm like, "Oh my God, I can't move."

Narrator 42:36 A bowl of glue, sir.

Joe Rogan 42:37 I can't move. There's something about their bread-

Narrator 42:39 (clears throat)

Joe Rogan 42:39 ... is different. Th- Apparently, they have heirloom wheat, they have different wheat before we started fucking with it. We should unfuck the wheat, kids.

Narrator 42:46 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 42:46 Because (laughs) I know it's like higher yield, but-

Narrator 42:49 Joe Rogan's new Unfuck the Wheat program.

Joe Rogan 42:51 This is what I think. But, uh, you know, there's also some people that believe that one of the things that we're experiencing when people have, like, gluten intolerance, is an intolerance to, to wheat, is actually ... You might be getting glyphosate from it. Th- th- this is a j- highly speculative theory, but they've tested people, and they found out that ... What was it, Jamie, like 94% of people? 94% of people have, uh, glyphosate in their body, and glyphosate is toxic. It's a, it's a, an herbicide? Yeah, it's an herbicide. And-

Narrator 43:20 Is it 'cause what we do to plant and grow wheat?

Joe Rogan 43:22 Yes.

Narrator 43:23 Okay.

Joe Rogan 43:23 Well, we grow corn. You know, Monsanto created it, and they created a, a corn that, that is, uh, immune to it. So you eat, like, this Monsanto corn, and they can spray glyphosate on it, and it kills everything else. It kills all the bad weeds, and you just get the nice corn.

Narrator 43:40 Okay.

Joe Rogan 43:41 The problem is, that stuff gets in everyone's body in some small amount, and the question is, like, is your body able to filter out the amount that it has in it? Like, what's the to- what's the toxic level? Are we below the fear? Is it fearmongering? Because, like, there's a certain amount of tox- metals that you're gonna get just from eating sushi. If you get s- some salmon or some tuna, rather, from the Pacific Ocean, there's real high possibility that you could get mercury in it, some amount.

Narrator 44:08 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 44:08 Right? Isn't it like-

Narrator 44:10 Sure.

Joe Rogan 44:10 What's the prevalence of, uh, toxic metals in tuna? Let's just guess. 'Cause I think ... I have a friend, I don't want to mention his name, but he's brilliant, and he won't eat fish from the Pacific anymore. And I said, "Why?" And he said, "Fukushima." He said they're, they're literally dumping this n- nuclear water into the ocean, and we don't know what's gonna happen. We don't know what effect this is gonna have. We don't know the, the ocean's just gonna easily absorb it or whether it's gonna kill fish. We don't know if it's gonna contaminate them, if they're gonna have levels of radiation. He was freaking me out.

Narrator 44:50 Oh, no, boy.

Joe Rogan 44:51 And he's a lot smarter than me.

Narrator 44:52 (clears throat) Oh, well. That's all right. You're an honest man.

Joe Rogan 44:54 And he doesn't fucking eat-

Narrator 44:56 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 44:56 ... fish from the Pacific anymore. I'm like, "Whoa, is that valid?" So what does, what's the ... First of all, let's look at ... First one is tuna. Are there levels, high levels of mercury in tuna?

Guest 45:07 Yeah, so you could get, uh, mercury poisoning from one serving. There's ... Uh, sorry, let me re- rephrase that. The amount of mercury you're allowed to have in a week, you could get in one serving of tuna.

Joe Rogan 45:18 Jesus.

Guest 45:19 Mercury levels.

Joe Rogan 45:19 So if you're eating sushi every day ... 'Cause I've heard of people actually getting sick from eating sushi every day. Like, they literally get mercury poisoning. Yeah.

Narrator 45:31 Oh. Not, not good.

Joe Rogan 45:34 No. Um. What is that shit that I had?

Guest 45:38 Arsenic?

Joe Rogan 45:39 Yes. I ... Wh- I was eating, um, sardines, like, every day.

Narrator 45:44 Good.

Joe Rogan 45:44 I love sardines.

Narrator 45:45 Okay.

Joe Rogan 45:45 I love them. So I would eat, like, three cans of sardines a day. And I go to my doctor, I get my blood work done. He goes, "Um ..."

Narrator 45:51 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 45:52 He goes, "You have arsenic in your body."

Narrator 45:54 Arsenic?

Joe Rogan 45:55 Arsenic. Yeah, trace levels of arsenic. And I said, "How much? Like someone's trying to poison me?" He goes, "I don't think so." He goes, "Are you eating a lot of seafood?" I go, "I eat three cans of sardines a day." He goes, "Don't do that."

Narrator 46:04 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 46:05 "Don't do that."

Guest 46:05 Don't do that.

Joe Rogan 46:06 And he explains to me that these are bottom-feeders, and that they live, a lot of times, in areas that are polluted by humans. So we've fucking polluted the ocean to the point where if you eat too much fish, you get sick.

Narrator 46:19 Right.

Joe Rogan 46:19 You know all these people that are worried about the weather warming up and climate change? What are we doing-

Narrator 46:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 46:25 ... to the ocean? What are we doing? I mean-

Narrator 46:28 Well-

Joe Rogan 46:28 ... how many ... What's the number, uh, in terms of depopulation? How much fish are missing from the ocean than, than 50 years ago?

Narrator 46:35 I, I'm thinking large amount.

Joe Rogan 46:37 Let's ask: The population, the, the fish population in the ocean now versus 50 years ago. Let's find that out. Let's guess.

Guest 46:46 Uh.

Joe Rogan 46:46 Let's guess. Before we, before you give me the answer.

Guest 46:48 Oh, no.

Joe Rogan 46:49 Let's guess.

Narrator 46:50 Mm.

Joe Rogan 46:51 How much of the ocean's fish has been depleted in the last 50 years? I'm gonna say 50%. No, I'm gonna say 70%. 70%.

Narrator 47:01 Really?

Joe Rogan 47:02 Yeah, I'm gonna say 70%.

Narrator 47:04 Hm. I was at like 45, maybe 50.

Joe Rogan 47:07 That's probably reasonable. I might be fearmongering. Let's find out.

Narrator 47:10 Fearmongering?

Joe Rogan 47:11 Yeah, I've done that before.

Narrator 47:12 Oh, good. Okay. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 47:14 (laughs) Well, not, not a lot. You know, like, you know ...

Narrator 47:17 You're not massively mongering, just-

Joe Rogan 47:18 No, you know, like you play cornhole at the beach? I'm not like a cornhole player.

Narrator 47:21 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 47:22 Right? (laughs) I played a few times at the beach-

Narrator 47:24 Good, good.

Joe Rogan 47:25 ... with my kids.

Narrator 47:25 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 47:25 You know what I mean? It's on ESPN now. I guess it's a legit sport.

Narrator 47:29 Oh, dear.

Joe Rogan 47:29 So Jamie, what was your guess?

Narrator 47:31 Help us all.

Guest 47:32 I was try- I... There's too many questions I have before I could give you a good guess, 'cause it's already a strange... Like, how are they gonna measure that in 1950, and-

Joe Rogan 47:40 Good question.

Guest 47:41 ... even now, how would you know how many fucking fish there are?

Joe Rogan 47:42 Very good question. Very good question. Especially when you- More than, more than six.

Guest 47:46 Yeah. Especially when you-

Steve Strope 47:47 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 47:47 There's more than six fish.

Steve Strope 47:48 Yes.

Joe Rogan 47:49 Um, especially when you account for the fact that we haven't really explored most of the ocean.

Steve Strope 47:53 Right.

Guest 47:53 So, how they measure it-

Steve Strope 47:54 And we don't know anything. No.

Guest 47:55 ... is based off of how much they're pulling out.

Steve Strope 47:57 Right.

Guest 47:57 So they measure how much they've taken in for the year.

Joe Rogan 47:59 How much they've murdered. (laughs)

Guest 48:01 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 48:01 So what's the-

Steve Strope 48:02 Yay!

Joe Rogan 48:02 ... what's the estimates in terms of-

Steve Strope 48:03 The man's murdered.

Joe Rogan 48:04 ... the mass that's down?

Guest 48:05 It says that in 1950, total catch of fish in the ocean was an estimated 18.5 million metric tons. Now, a half century later, it says 73.5 million-

Joe Rogan 48:17 Wow.

Guest 48:17 ... metric tons.

Steve Strope 48:17 That's an improve. That's a-

Guest 48:19 So a 400% increase.

Steve Strope 48:19 That's an increase.

Guest 48:21 But another guy says that 90% of all large fish have been removed since, from the ocean since 1950. And I don't... Like, how would we know that?

Steve Strope 48:29 How would he know? Yeah.

Joe Rogan 48:30 Click on his. Put it up there, let's see what he says.

Guest 48:33 Yeah, I will.

Joe Rogan 48:34 That sounds interesting, 'cause that sounds crazy. 90%? "Clover populizes the work of fishery scientists such as Daniel Pauly, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, who have pieced together a picture of imminent catastrophe in the global ocean. Among the first to recognize that fisheries' catch rates were in decline worldwide, Pauly discovered in 2001 that the phenomenon had previously gone unnoticed owing to systematic distortions in catch trends that were skewed by incorrect reports from countries with big fisheries. In 2003, Boris Worm and Ransom Myers of Dalh- " how do you say that? Dalhoise? Dalhousie?

Steve Strope 49:13 Sure.

Joe Rogan 49:14 ... uh, University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, reported that 90% of all large fish, including tuna, swordfish, and marlin and cod had been removed from the ocean since 1950." Holy shit.

Steve Strope 49:31 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 49:34 The la-

Steve Strope 49:35 Hm.

Joe Rogan 49:35 "The End of the Line" is informative. Clo- is that a book he wrote? "The End of the Line"?

Steve Strope 49:38 Probably.

Joe Rogan 49:39 "Clover's reporting reveals that bluefin tuna, the endangered species with perhap- perhaps the most alarming plight in the ocean, is allegedly being bought and frozen in bulk by major corporations. Once ocean supplies run dry, the frozen fish can be sold at sky-high prices." So they're freezing tuna in bulk 'cause they anticipate they're gonna run dry? That's wild. They're stockpiling it like they do diamonds.

Steve Strope 50:05 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 50:06 "Clover's portrayal of the global fisheries problem falls down on two counts: oversimplification and polarization. Although current fisheries policy is inadequate, much of it's based on science." Hmm, okay.

Steve Strope 50:18 (snorts)

Joe Rogan 50:18 "Clover suggests..." Yeah, where have we heard that before?

Steve Strope 50:20 Right.

Joe Rogan 50:20 "Clover suggests, for example, that the practice of discarding, by which some seven million tons of caught fish are thrown back into the sea each year, has arisen because fishermen simply do not want the species they have caught, but wasteful discarding is more often the consequence of a fisheries policy that is designed to prevent fishermen targeting juveniles and species outside of their allotted quota." Oh, that makes sense, 'cause they kill fish and then they have to throw some of them back in the water, because they killed fish that were too small. But, but that's 'cause it's indiscriminate. They're still killing 'em, if that's what they're saying.

Steve Strope 50:53 Hm.

Joe Rogan 50:53 "Clover is quick to point out the culprits of the fisheries crisis, slippery politicians, greedy fishermen, and thoughtless consumers in big businesses, while making activists and scientists the stars of the show. But in adopting a tone of advocacy, with its inherent moralism, Clover isolates viewers and misses an opportunity to place this problem in context." Huh. That's, it still seems like it's, there's a problem. They're just kinda, like, making it look pretty. "Over-exploitation of fisheries is one part of the huge dilemma that humans face in an increasingly resource-limited world. We can seek sustainability, but we will not be able to diversify our consumption indefinitely, and climate change will decrease marine resources further." (laughs) They always have to bring it back to climate change. If you don't, people won't take you seriously.

Steve Strope 51:36 Oh.

Joe Rogan 51:36 "Those most affected will be the fisherfolk of developing countries who..." (laughs) Fisherfolk?

Steve Strope 51:41 Fisherfolk.

Joe Rogan 51:42 Why do I hate that term?

Steve Strope 51:43 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 51:44 "Who make up 98% of people who are directly dependent on fisheries for their livelihood."

Steve Strope 51:49 'Cause it's not fishermen.

Joe Rogan 51:51 Yeah, it's fisherfolk, bro.

Steve Strope 51:52 It's fisher-

Joe Rogan 51:52 Some of our-

Steve Strope 51:53 It's fisherfolk.

Joe Rogan 51:53 How many non-binary fishermen are there out there? That's what I wanna know.

Steve Strope 51:57 I think I can go back to six.

Joe Rogan 51:57 That might be the lowest population of non-binary humans in, in, in groups on Earth. Fishermen. (laughs)

Steve Strope 52:04 No, fisherfolk.

Joe Rogan 52:05 Fisherfolk. They don't wanna fucking hear any of that.

Steve Strope 52:08 Fisherfolk.

Joe Rogan 52:09 All those people that are risking their lives to get you crab.

Steve Strope 52:12 Doesn't even sound like a real word. Sounds like something out of a cartoon.

Joe Rogan 52:16 Yeah.

Steve Strope 52:16 Fisherfolk. Hmm.

Joe Rogan 52:18 It sounds like something they say on The Hobbit.

Steve Strope 52:20 Sure.

Joe Rogan 52:20 You know?

Steve Strope 52:21 Fisherfolk.

Joe Rogan 52:21 We're going to visit the fisherfolk.

Steve Strope 52:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 52:24 Yeah.

Steve Strope 52:24 Oh, good.

Joe Rogan 52:25 That's what it is.

Steve Strope 52:26 Oh.

Joe Rogan 52:27 Those guys that fucking risk their lives to get you the crabs, you ever watch that show?

Steve Strope 52:31 Oh, The Deadliest Catch?

Joe Rogan 52:32 Deadliest Catch? I mean, the crabs are great, but Jesus Christ, boys.

Steve Strope 52:35 That's a lot of work.

Joe Rogan 52:36 Fucking scary job, but it must be thrilling as fuck.

Steve Strope 52:40 Yeah, I, you know, I'm not into getting grabbed by a wave and thrown over the side in Arctic waters. (clears throat)

Joe Rogan 52:46 My friend Clay Guida did it for a little while.

Steve Strope 52:48 Hm.

Joe Rogan 52:48 I think he did it for the adventure too. But he's crazy. He's a UFC fighter.

Steve Strope 52:51 (laughs) But-

Joe Rogan 52:52 He's out of his mind.

Steve Strope 52:52 But he's crazy, so.

Joe Rogan 52:54 Yeah, he's a wild man. But, you know, that's the kinda guy who would, you know, take a ride on one of them boats and go get some crabs.

Steve Strope 53:01 Yeah, I'm, I'm-

Joe Rogan 53:01 They pay you a lot of money though.

Steve Strope 53:02 And they probably should.

Joe Rogan 53:04 I think they have to, 'cause people die.

Steve Strope 53:05 'Cause it's crazy.

Joe Rogan 53:06 You fall in that water, you're Fucksville.

Steve Strope 53:08 Yep.

Joe Rogan 53:08 That's not good.

Steve Strope 53:09 Yep.

Joe Rogan 53:10 And that thing's sloshing all over the place.

Steve Strope 53:12 I c- I don't think I could handle that.

Joe Rogan 53:13 And you have to sleep in that fucking thing.

Steve Strope 53:15 Nope.

Joe Rogan 53:17 Whew. And they go out for a long time.

Steve Strope 53:18 It's above my pay grade.

Joe Rogan 53:20 Yeah.

Steve Strope 53:20 Not doing it.

Joe Rogan 53:21 Well, thank God you can fucking turn a wrench, sir.

Steve Strope 53:23 (laughs)

Guest 53:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 53:24 (laughs)

Steve Strope 53:24 So, I was, I was going to springboard (clears throat) off of Apalachin, 'cause that's from whence I came.

Joe Rogan 53:30 Dude, you know how to stay on track. I love it.

Steve Strope 53:32 I- (laughs) So, how I came...... to be here with you, backtracking to shop, backtracking for, from California, starting in New York, in our pre-mentioned Apalachin. Um, by the way, Apalachin, weird, stupid, uh, background. Apalachin and Apalachin, the only difference is the amount of Ps in the name.

Joe Rogan 53:59 Oh, really?

Steve Strope 54:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:00 Which one has more Ps?

Steve Strope 54:02 Apalachin.

Joe Rogan 54:04 Hmm. Okay.

Steve Strope 54:05 They're bo- mine is A-P-A-L-A-C-H-I-N.

Joe Rogan 54:08 People, that must be annoying that people confuse those two with you, and you have to explain it every goddamn time.

Steve Strope 54:12 I try to stay away from it. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 54:13 Yeah. Just say small town New York.

Steve Strope 54:15 Yeah, right. It's easier. Right. So, um, I'm tinkering on cars in Apalachin. I'm spending most of my time, uh, onstage playing. Um, cars were my drop-dead hobby, loved it. Um, a- a- at night backstage, I'd be reading my new issue of Hot Rod with my little glass of ice water. (laughs) You know, couldn't wait for my new issue, and I'd go to as many car shows as I could go to, uh, during the summer. And, um, the quick version is a real good friend of mine, Shawn Davis from Canada, said, "Hey, we're gonna go to this sh- show up in, um, in Rhinebeck, New York, and there's gonna be a guy there we're gonna meet. I met him at a big show in Indy, and he's gonna make me a billet steering wheel to match my Boyd wheels." This is where all the car guys can pay attention. And so, um, we went to the said show, met this guy, Jim. Um, wound up going to dinner with him, and the guy's like, "You know, I'm a machinist. I got a place in Riverside, California. I should be back there making parts. I need somebody to, like, go around the country and sell this stuff." (laughs) And Shawn goes, slaps me on the back, goes, "Greatest salesman right here." And I'm like going, "Uh, uh, uh, what?" And that turned into a conversation, and it turned into me, like, not letting go of it. Sold everything I had, moved, got out here to Riverside, got there, guy had already been ev- in- ev- evicted out of his apartment. So, I've got nowhere to live, I'm now living, uh, at one of his employee's houses.

Joe Rogan 55:45 Oh, boy.

Steve Strope 55:46 And, um, we're working along, been there about a month or so. And, um, the federal marshals show up. They're not in a good mood at all.

Joe Rogan 55:59 What are they looking for?

Steve Strope 56:00 I don't know, but I'm like, "Here's my driver's license. I just got here. I don't-"

Joe Rogan 56:04 What, what kind of questions are they asking you?

Steve Strope 56:05 They are not asking me shit. They're walking around with clipboards and looking at what I thought, because I stayed away from it, I thought they were checking serial numbers on the CNC machines.

Joe Rogan 56:15 Oh.

Steve Strope 56:16 That's what I thought. I have no pro- uh-

Joe Rogan 56:18 Okay, I, I understand.

Steve Strope 56:19 So, what I know-

Joe Rogan 56:20 So, they thought maybe there was some stolen machine parts.

Steve Strope 56:21 Or something-

Joe Rogan 56:22 Right.

Steve Strope 56:22 ... 'cause federal marshals don't come out for-

Joe Rogan 56:24 Got it.

Steve Strope 56:25 ... for a party. So anyway, um-

Joe Rogan 56:27 How's that turn out?

Steve Strope 56:28 Uh, well, uh, I'm like, "Oh, God. Now I'm not gonna have any job. I don't know anybody out here." And this is not a car shop. They're just machining billet street rod parts. They do have one car there, a '40 Ford, which is owned by one of the guys that own TCI, Total Cost Involved, street rod place. And, um, the g- the, one of the workers for TCI comes down once a week to check on the car, 'cause we're one off in parts for him, right? So, I know that guy. So, we're getting our parts ready, we're gonna, b- going to the LA Roadster Show, Father's Day show, in Pomona. We're gonna sell our stuff. So, I'm, I'm setting up on Thursday, and this guy, the only guy I know, besides the two other machinists, goes, "Hey man, you gonna come to our, our annual open house tonight?" And I'm like, "Well, I got no money. Um, I live way down in Riverside, or Oceanside actually. Um, but I'd love to go. I've read about it every year in Street Rodder Magazine." So I go to the party, and I'm like, "Hey man, you, uh, know anybody hiring?" And he goes, "Hmm. Kinda hard, man. You gotta, somebody's gotta know you or have some background, some history, something," you know? I'm like, "Well, just throwing it out there." So I drive all the way to Oceanside, get a couple hours sleep, drive all the way back to Pomona. And, uh, the next morning he goes, (fingers snapping) "Hey." (whistles) "Come here." You know, "What?" He goes like, "Ten minutes after you left last night, guy named Gary Daigle said he, he was looking for someone to work in his shop. He's in Orange County." (clears throat) And I go, "I actually know the name from our list. He sells our stuff." And he goes, "Well he's two aisles down. Take a right, go up there, you'll see a sign, Daigle's." So I went and talked with Gary Daigle, and he goes, "Well, you're on Jim's dime right now, lunchtime. Meet me outside and we'll talk." So, we talked, set up for a job, uh, talked about having a job on Monday. So Sunday night, we're back at, show's over with, I'm putting parts back on the shelf, and I still remember, 'cause the place had, like, half the lights working, dimly lit, I see Jim come around the corner going, "Uh, you might," (clears throat) "start looking for some work." So now I don't have to ass off for Monday. Went and had the meeting with Gary, got hired, and, uh, so I timed it. I flew home, got my '67 El Camino that I had built in my dad's barn and my aunt's garage, and timed it that I stopped at the Hot Rod Magazine Supernationals in Ohio. And editor Jeff Smith and Rob Kanann approached me and said, "We'd like to feature your car in Hot Rod Magazine." And I went, (laughs) "Oh, okay. But I gotta go unload everything, 'cause every earthly possession I have is in it." (laughs) So I drove it back to the hotel, unloaded everything, and brought it back to-

Joe Rogan 59:07 Do you have a picture of that car?

Steve Strope 59:08 Yeah. I, I actually gave him, uh, th- I came with a thumb drive of a whole bunch of stuff just in case-

Joe Rogan 59:12 Oh.

Steve Strope 59:13 ... we talked about it.

Joe Rogan 59:13 You prepared.

Steve Strope 59:14 I, I did prepare some.

Joe Rogan 59:15 Let me see the '67.

Steve Strope 59:16 It's a, the bright orange El Camino. Um, so when I got, uh, here to California, then Custom Classic Truck and Custom Rodder featured it also.

Joe Rogan 59:25 There it is.

Steve Strope 59:26 There it is. Yeah, new street.

Joe Rogan 59:27 Oh, that's pretty.

Steve Strope 59:27 Yeah. So I built that-

Joe Rogan 59:28 So, what year is this we're looking at?

Steve Strope 59:30 1995.

Joe Rogan 59:31 Wow. That's a beautiful car, man.

Steve Strope 59:33 Yeah. Built it at home. And so, um-

Joe Rogan 59:36 And then you drove it across the country?

Steve Strope 59:37 Yeah, I drove it across country.

Joe Rogan 59:38 Wow. What was in that thing?

Steve Strope 59:40 Uh, Stroker, uh, 355. It's a Stroker small block, but it, it, it, it'd get going just fine.

Joe Rogan 59:47 It's beautiful, man.

Steve Strope 59:48 Thank you.

Joe Rogan 59:48 I usually don't like El Caminos.

Steve Strope 59:50 Yeah. I, I, I, I, I-I like them, for some-

Joe Rogan 59:53 They're so weird.

Steve Strope 59:54 Yeah. (laughs) They're so weird.

Joe Rogan 59:54 It's so weird. It's like, why is there, like, this open spot in the back that just-

Steve Strope 59:57 That, those El-

Joe Rogan 59:57 ... catches air?

Steve Strope 59:58 Those El Caminos are station wagons with the top pulled off.

Joe Rogan 1:00:01 Mm.

Steve Strope 1:00:02 The, the floor pan, but on the, if, under, in the bed-

Joe Rogan 1:00:06 So it's the same frame?

Steve Strope 1:00:06 ... at the very front of the bed where it kisses the back of the cab-

Joe Rogan 1:00:09 Mm-hmm.

Steve Strope 1:00:10 ... they have a bolt-in piece of metal. When you take that out, that's the floor pan for the rear seat in, in the station wagon.

Joe Rogan 1:00:16 Ah, wow.

Steve Strope 1:00:17 So it's a station wagon with the back taken off and a bed put in.

Joe Rogan 1:00:20 It's just like, who was like, "I want a car, but I also want a pickup truck"?

Steve Strope 1:00:22 "I want a Tar."

Joe Rogan 1:00:24 That kind of stopped happening. They gave up on that.

Steve Strope 1:00:26 Yeah. They did. By the, by the-

Joe Rogan 1:00:27 Like, if they tried to bring back the El Camino today, people would be like, "What the fuck are you doing with it?"

Steve Strope 1:00:31 The GM still had one for a while down in Australia.

Joe Rogan 1:00:34 They did?

Steve Strope 1:00:34 Yeah, they had, like, they called it a-

Joe Rogan 1:00:36 Up until when?

Steve Strope 1:00:36 ... Ute. Um, they, they, you base it off, uh, the Mondeo, which was like their GTO of the Chevelle. They had it for a while.

Joe Rogan 1:00:42 Really?

Steve Strope 1:00:42 Yeah. And they-

Joe Rogan 1:00:43 They like different stuff down there, though.

Steve Strope 1:00:45 They do. They do.

Joe Rogan 1:00:46 Australia has different tastes. They love, uh, they like a lot of utility vehicles.

Steve Strope 1:00:50 Yeah, there you go.

Joe Rogan 1:00:51 Oh, God.

Steve Strope 1:00:52 What? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:00:52 That looks really recent.

Steve Strope 1:00:53 I love his reaction. "Oh, God."

Joe Rogan 1:00:55 Well, a lot of those folks, they like to fucking Crocodile Dundee it up and go out in the backwoods.

Steve Strope 1:01:00 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:01:00 You know, they need something to throw a fucking tent in.

Steve Strope 1:01:02 Oh, those things are built though. The, the motor and the drivetrain are basically-

Joe Rogan 1:01:06 That's crazy.

Steve Strope 1:01:06 ... Camaro-

Joe Rogan 1:01:08 That's crazy. Actually, now I'm changing my mind. That might've made it in America.

Steve Strope 1:01:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:01:12 People would have bought that. There were some knuckleheads that would have bought that.

Steve Strope 1:01:15 (laughs) Some knuckle-

Joe Rogan 1:01:17 Yeah.

Steve Strope 1:01:17 That's nice.

Joe Rogan 1:01:18 I'm being honest.

Steve Strope 1:01:19 So-

Joe Rogan 1:01:19 You have to be a knucklehead to choose that.

Steve Strope 1:01:21 So I get out of here-

Joe Rogan 1:01:22 And I don't think that's a bad thing. Some of my favorite people are knuckleheads.

Steve Strope 1:01:26 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:01:26 Yeah, but if you have, like, if you have to choose that, between that or a new Mustang, like, the fuck are you doing?

Steve Strope 1:01:30 Mm-hmm. Well, you can throw stuff in the back.

Joe Rogan 1:01:32 So what?

Steve Strope 1:01:33 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:01:34 Get a U-Haul. Get the Mustang. Shut the fuck up.

Steve Strope 1:01:37 I don't know.

Joe Rogan 1:01:38 There's no if, ands, or buts.

Steve Strope 1:01:40 We're bringing it back.

Joe Rogan 1:01:41 There's no if, ands, or buts. Mustang's one of the few cars that kept it together. Like, they lost it for a long time, but they got it back, and now they're better than ever. Like, these new Mustangs they're putting out today, they're fucking amazing.

Steve Strope 1:01:53 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:01:53 They're great cars.

Steve Strope 1:01:54 Brutal.

Joe Rogan 1:01:54 That new one, the Dark Horse, that's a fucking great car.

Steve Strope 1:01:58 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:01:59 Right from the factory, six-speed, 500 horsepower, reasonably priced.

Steve Strope 1:02:03 Yep.

Joe Rogan 1:02:04 Looks fucking great.

Steve Strope 1:02:05 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:06 They're m- they're making, like, real muscle cars, but, like, modern muscle cars today.

Steve Strope 1:02:09 Oh, heck yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:10 It's nice that that's still going on.

Steve Strope 1:02:11 Yes, I agree. I mean, I s- I seem to be a proponent for that, you know? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:02:15 Yeah, it's just, like, people forgot, the American muscle car is one of the most fun things to drive ever.

Steve Strope 1:02:21 Sure.

Joe Rogan 1:02:22 It might not handle the best, might not be the fastest, it might not this, it might not that, but it's what it does to you, like how it makes you feel when you drive it.

Steve Strope 1:02:30 They're very visceral.

Joe Rogan 1:02:31 Yes.

Steve Strope 1:02:32 It's very visceral.

Joe Rogan 1:02:32 It's very exciting.

Steve Strope 1:02:34 Yes, it is.

Joe Rogan 1:02:34 It's, like, it stimulates you. It's vroom.

Steve Strope 1:02:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:37 It's alive.

Steve Strope 1:02:37 That's why I like driving them cross-country.

Joe Rogan 1:02:39 Yeah.

Steve Strope 1:02:40 It's fun. Window down, arm out.

Joe Rogan 1:02:41 Yeah.

Steve Strope 1:02:42 Vroom.

Joe Rogan 1:02:42 They're alive.

Steve Strope 1:02:43 Yeah, they're alive.

Joe Rogan 1:02:43 You're in a goddamn Matthew McConaughey movie.

Steve Strope 1:02:45 Yep.

Joe Rogan 1:02:45 You're alive.

Steve Strope 1:02:46 So I get here, and I wind up staying, working for Gary Daigle, and the mag- the car gets in a bunch of magazines. I wind up moving from, uh, the Orange County area up to Studio City, join a new band, start recording an album, and I sell my El Camino to a kid in Japan. And I'm like, "I gotta do a cool car." So I went down, it's still there on the corner of Ventura Boulevard and-

Joe Rogan 1:03:13 Someone in Japan bought it?

Steve Strope 1:03:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:15 That's awesome.

Steve Strope 1:03:16 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:03:17 So now it's over in Tokyo?

Steve Strope 1:03:18 I don't know.

Joe Rogan 1:03:18 Do you know? Do you ever keep an eye on it?

Steve Strope 1:03:19 Uh, no, I don't know where it went. That was a while ago.

Joe Rogan 1:03:21 Maybe someone will reach out.

Steve Strope 1:03:22 Uh, maybe. So, um, on the corner of Laurel Canyon and Ventura Boulevard, down in Studio City, there, right now, it's still a FedEx office, but it was a Kinko's. The Kinko's was where Pure Vision begat.

Joe Rogan 1:03:37 Mm.

Steve Strope 1:03:38 I was there photocopying my magazine features, and I had my friend, Matt Willoughby, in Ohio draw this idea of this '66 Charger that was called Scully, um, 'cause that's what the pros do. They add artwork first.

Joe Rogan 1:03:50 Right.

Steve Strope 1:03:50 And I went to Hot Rod and said, "Hey, uh, you guys thought I was cool before, and I built the car that you featured, and I'm gonna build this thing, and I'm gonna show up on your Power Tour, right? And I'm gonna use these parts, all these people that sponsor your Power Tour."

Joe Rogan 1:04:04 Is that you as a young man? Is that this voice that you're doing?

Steve Strope 1:04:07 Yeah, yeah, who knows? Or an idiot, whatever I am.

Joe Rogan 1:04:09 Okay.

Steve Strope 1:04:09 So I go over to all the potential sponsors. All right, I'll sound more official.

Joe Rogan 1:04:12 No, just, uh, yourself.

Steve Strope 1:04:13 I go, go over all the sponsor potential guys and go, "Hey..." I, I had to mail. There was no email, so I mailed these packets of color photocopies (laughs) of my, my El Camino that's been in the prior magazines proving, like, "Hey, I've done it once."

Joe Rogan 1:04:28 Mm-hmm.

Steve Strope 1:04:29 And going, "Hey, my proposal is I'm going to build this car, and I'm going to take it on the Power Tour that you're sponsoring." So basically, they sponsored me with some parts, and they ran the artwork of my car, and I built it in my shared p- tandem parking garage, underground parking garage at my apartment on Whitsett Avenue, which is where Whitsett crosses into, crashes into Ventura Boulevard, built it there.

Joe Rogan 1:04:54 So you built it in a, in a garage-

Steve Strope 1:04:55 Parking garage. A lot of it.

Joe Rogan 1:04:56 ... you shared with other people?

Steve Strope 1:04:57 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:04:58 Wow.

Steve Strope 1:04:58 Yeah, I, I would go to the junkyard, get the parts, like, example...

Joe Rogan 1:05:01 How big? This is a two-car garage?

Steve Strope 1:05:03 No, it's an underground parking garage.

Joe Rogan 1:05:05 Like, how many people are parked in that garage?

Steve Strope 1:05:07 Well, it's tandem. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20-

Joe Rogan 1:05:11 And you have just one spot?

Steve Strope 1:05:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:13 And in that one spot, you're building a car.

Steve Strope 1:05:15 P- pretty much.

Joe Rogan 1:05:16 And so there's a car right next to you-

Steve Strope 1:05:17 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:05:17 ... while you're building this car?

Steve Strope 1:05:18 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:05:19 So you're pulling fenders off and shit.

Steve Strope 1:05:20 I'm doing, well-

Joe Rogan 1:05:21 There's a car right there?

Steve Strope 1:05:21 ... a lot of, a lot of stuff was done (laughs) in that garage, yes. I also, I also got the-

Joe Rogan 1:05:24 That's crazy. I would never park next to you.

Steve Strope 1:05:27 Right. Well, I'm, I am wonderfully respectful.

Joe Rogan 1:05:29 I'm sure, but who the fuck is gonna park next to the guy who's building a car?

Steve Strope 1:05:33 They don't know.

Joe Rogan 1:05:34 They don't know?

Steve Strope 1:05:34 It's covered all day. I work at night. So I'll give you an example of what I did.

Joe Rogan 1:05:38 Oh, okay.

Steve Strope 1:05:38 Went to the junkyard for the front end swap pieces to convert it to disc brakes, right? 'Cause I, I know the swaps and all that stuff. So I get all those parts, and out the back of the apartment building, there's a concrete slab, and that's it. There was, like, a really bad table and a chair. Nobody ever sits there. So I found the one outside the building-... electric outlet, bought two extension cords to go over, 'cause it's all the way on the other side of the building, wrap it around the building. And I got a drill and a wire wheel on it, and a screwdriver, and I scraped all the old muck and then wire wheeled them to bare metal, all the parts. And then I went to the, um-

Joe Rogan 1:06:17 Did you have goggles on back then?

Steve Strope 1:06:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:19 So you're in the garage?

Steve Strope 1:06:20 Probably. I'm not in the garage, I'm out back of the building now.

Joe Rogan 1:06:23 Okay. Oh, okay.

Steve Strope 1:06:23 Grinding everything clean.

Joe Rogan 1:06:25 Right.

Steve Strope 1:06:25 And then wiped everything with acetone, and then at night, about 2:00 in the morning, I, I went to the, to the, um, like Home Depot. And you know those pieces of plastic you can buy, they're for when you paint a room, it's like 12-foot by 15-foot, whatever?

Joe Rogan 1:06:38 Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Steve Strope 1:06:38 Covered everybody's cars.

Joe Rogan 1:06:39 Oh, Jesus Christ. (laughs)

Steve Strope 1:06:40 And then I hung, I hung all the parts on the water pipes-

Joe Rogan 1:06:43 Imagine coming out, like you go-

Steve Strope 1:06:44 (laughs) Yeah, I know.

Joe Rogan 1:06:45 ... go to your friend's house 3:00 in the morning.

Steve Strope 1:06:48 (laughs) I hung-

Joe Rogan 1:06:48 You go downstairs, your car's covered with plastic from this fucking lunatic.

Steve Strope 1:06:52 (laughs) I covered all the cars so no one would get any paint on it, and epoxy painted all the suspension parts. I hung them from the water pipes.

Joe Rogan 1:06:59 Oh, my God.

Steve Strope 1:06:59 (laughs) And then I'd assemble the car. (laughs) Now, I-

Joe Rogan 1:07:02 And so when did you get done? When did you-

Steve Strope 1:07:04 I got it, I got it-

Joe Rogan 1:07:04 When did you like stop, like 6:30 in the morning? Like when did you-

Steve Strope 1:07:07 Yeah, whenever. Yeah, just when, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:07:08 Did anybody ever come out and see their car covered in plastic?

Steve Strope 1:07:10 No, I always removed all the evidence. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:07:13 Jesus.

Steve Strope 1:07:13 No one ever knew nothing.

Joe Rogan 1:07:13 How many nights a week did you have people's cars-

Steve Strope 1:07:14 I did.

Joe Rogan 1:07:15 ... covered in plastic?

Steve Strope 1:07:15 All the time.

Joe Rogan 1:07:16 That is so wild.

Steve Strope 1:07:18 The all the time.

Joe Rogan 1:07:19 That's so wild.

Steve Strope 1:07:19 And, and so I had another friend that I did exchange work. He painted it for me and let me use his place for reassembly. And I rebuilt the suspension and the tr- and the s- and the, uh, engine in his '67 pickup truck for an exchange, right?

Joe Rogan 1:07:32 Yeah.

Steve Strope 1:07:33 So I get the car ready, take it to the, um, the kickoff party for the Power Tour. We're gonna drive from California to, um, Michigan, and, uh, I haven't even changed the, the cam braking oil yet. This car is fresh. Fresh. And I'm gonna drive it to ... which I did, by the way. So kickoff party, uh, what we got from that is Hot Rod Magazine featured it, Mopar Muscle featured it and put it on the cover. Daytona Magazine in Japan featured it.

Joe Rogan 1:08:01 There it is.

Steve Strope 1:08:02 And at the end of the year ... Yeah, there's Skully.

Joe Rogan 1:08:04 That's beautiful.

Steve Strope 1:08:04 That's a ph- photo sh- that's a, it's a, uh, kind of an odd black and white, but it's a jaguar color called topaz. Um-

Joe Rogan 1:08:11 Yeah, it's like a blue, right?

Steve Strope 1:08:13 No, no, it's a light silvery gold.

Joe Rogan 1:08:15 Oh, topaz is something like a gold?

Steve Strope 1:08:15 It's on, it's on that thumb drive I gave you.

Joe Rogan 1:08:17 Oh, there it is right there.

Steve Strope 1:08:18 Yeah, there it is.

Joe Rogan 1:08:18 Oh, why'd I think top- oh, I'm thinking of-

Steve Strope 1:08:20 So that's the car I built in the underground parking garage.

Joe Rogan 1:08:22 God, that's beautiful, man.

Steve Strope 1:08:23 Yeah, it came out nice. And so-

Joe Rogan 1:08:24 Oh, my God, that's gorgeous.

Steve Strope 1:08:25 At the end of the year, it also got top 10 car of the year.

Joe Rogan 1:08:29 And you built it-

Steve Strope 1:08:29 With Hot Rod.

Joe Rogan 1:08:29 ... in a fucking garage with-

Steve Strope 1:08:31 Yep.

Joe Rogan 1:08:31 ... a bunch of cars covered in plastic.

Steve Strope 1:08:32 You know, you know what?

Joe Rogan 1:08:33 Dude, that's beautiful.

Steve Strope 1:08:33 It's when you want to bad enough.

Joe Rogan 1:08:35 Yeah.

Steve Strope 1:08:36 You know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 1:08:37 Look how beautiful that car is.

Steve Strope 1:08:38 Yep, pretty car.

Joe Rogan 1:08:39 God, that's so nice.

Steve Strope 1:08:41 And so that started the ball. Well, the El Camino technically did, but-

Joe Rogan 1:08:44 What a beautiful car that is, man.

Steve Strope 1:08:46 So-

Joe Rogan 1:08:46 You got other pictures of that?

Steve Strope 1:08:47 Yeah, there's, there's some other stuff up over there.

Joe Rogan 1:08:49 Click on that, uh, link that says Pure Vision Skully right under the big picture. Right there. It was-

Steve Strope 1:08:54 Um, oh, that's the, the graphic I designed.

Joe Rogan 1:08:56 Yeah.

Steve Strope 1:08:56 Now that whole th- that, that stupid skull right there has a story. So I designed this pin stripe. I wanted bone, red, bone, and then at the very front, obviously, the bone turns into the skull with wraparound gl- glasses, and every-

Joe Rogan 1:09:08 With a cigarette in his mouth.

Steve Strope 1:09:09 Every one of those dang stitches are hand drawn. I did ... In fact, that side's me.

Joe Rogan 1:09:14 You did that?

Steve Strope 1:09:14 I did the driver's side. No, my friend Matt Willby. (clears throat) Here's the back story.

Joe Rogan 1:09:18 Okay.

Steve Strope 1:09:18 So I told him, I go, "Here's the idea." I gave this really horrible sketch of this skull with its wraparound sunglasses. And he did this piece of artwork for me with the car and the skull. And when he'd sent the artwork, I'm like, "That's, that's not the s- skull." Well, he, he faxed it to me, the idea. Like, his version of what I was telling him.

Joe Rogan 1:09:38 Okay.

Steve Strope 1:09:38 And the fax was like, that was, uh, it's that. Stretched and cool as shit, right?

Joe Rogan 1:09:43 Oh.

Steve Strope 1:09:43 Thin and pulped. So anyway.

Joe Rogan 1:09:45 Oh. So the fax fucked it up better.

Steve Strope 1:09:47 The fax pulled it.

Joe Rogan 1:09:49 That's amazing.

Steve Strope 1:09:50 So when he flew out to put it on, I showed him the fax and he went, "Oh my God, the fax must have dragged." So-

Joe Rogan 1:09:56 'Cause that looks almost like a wolf.

Steve Strope 1:09:59 Yeah, kind of. It, it, it was a mistake.

Joe Rogan 1:10:01 Yeah. Like, if that was a dude, I'd be terrified of him.

Steve Strope 1:10:03 Right. It was, it was a mistake. And I said, "Well, that's what we're using."

Joe Rogan 1:10:06 Yeah.

Steve Strope 1:10:06 And he's like, "Oh, hell yeah, we are."

Joe Rogan 1:10:08 Hell yeah, that's awesome.

Steve Strope 1:10:08 So we, we did that graphic-

Joe Rogan 1:10:10 Can you show me a photograph of what that looks like in perspective with the rest of the car?

Steve Strope 1:10:15 Um, well, if you-

Joe Rogan 1:10:16 Click on that link where you're at?

Steve Strope 1:10:17 Yeah, the, just the front three quarter. Not that one, just th- the one right next to it on the ... Nope, other. To the right.

Joe Rogan 1:10:25 To the right.

Steve Strope 1:10:26 Yep, that.

Joe Rogan 1:10:26 Right there. Yeah.

Steve Strope 1:10:27 You'll see it, it's up at the very front of the front fender. It's right in the front corner.

Joe Rogan 1:10:31 Oh.

Steve Strope 1:10:31 It's right there.

Joe Rogan 1:10:31 Oh, right there. Show me the closeup on it, Jamie, 'cause there's a closeup in one of those other photos. That right there. Oh, that's so sick.

Steve Strope 1:10:39 So all the way down the car, it's just a bone, red, bone pin stripe with all those hand stitches. So that's matte stitches. We had to bo- we only had so long, we were doing that, the graphic overnight at a borrowed paint booth.

Joe Rogan 1:10:51 That car is so rock and roll.

Steve Strope 1:10:52 So, yeah, just carbureted 360 out of a Cordoba.

Joe Rogan 1:10:55 That is-

Steve Strope 1:10:56 With a warmed up cam and stuff, but straightforward.

Joe Rogan 1:10:58 That car is like a 1974 AC/DC song.

Steve Strope 1:11:00 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:11:01 You know what I'm saying? Like, look at that thing. Goddamn, that's pretty.

Steve Strope 1:11:04 Yeah, they're neat. And the a-

Joe Rogan 1:11:04 Look how pretty that is.

Steve Strope 1:11:05 And the interior's all four bucket seats and a console that goes all the way from the beginning to the end.

Joe Rogan 1:11:09 Go back, go back to the rear end view of it. Look at that.

Steve Strope 1:11:12 Yeah, cool car. They only made them two years, '66 and '67.

Joe Rogan 1:11:15 God, it's fucking gorgeous.

Steve Strope 1:11:16 Yeah, it's neat. Big car.

Joe Rogan 1:11:18 It's gorgeous. I don't think I've seen one. I've definitely not seen one done like this.

Steve Strope 1:11:21 Very few and far