It appears I’m an infinite font of stories featuring our local radio DJ, JoJo Lopez. What up JoJo?
Ugh, lesson learned. Never google radio hosts. The mismatch of voice to face is purely avoidable self-torture.
So for a couple of weeks the boys and I have wanted to call into Talk-About-It-Tuesday. This is where you can call in and talk about anything that’s on your mind. I’m realizing this morning show is new for me because James was on drop-off and I was on pick-up. While I was busy managing product teams in India via Zoom, they’ve been enjoying each day’s theme:
Monday: Angel Readings with Bonnie (Ohhh the stories I could write on what the boys think about this…)
Tuesday: Talk About It Tuesday
Wednesday: Woman Crush Wednesday
Thursday: Kids These Days
Friday: Joke of the Week
I program the number into my phone and then last Tuesday, as we’re driving to school, I call in over the speakerphone and say something to the effect of the following on the recorded line:
What up JoJo? This is Jaimie, Jacob, and Nate. For weeks we’ve been dying to know if it’s really Morgan Freeman doing the voiceover for the local lawyer commercial, or is it a deep fake? We have to know, please tell us!
As soon as I hang up, Jacob and Nate have melted through the backseat and are a puddle of pure teenage embarrassment seeping into the asphalt of Los Osos Valley Road behind my Volvo.
“Mom! Why did you say our names?? Now someone’s going to come and kill us!” (My internet security lectures appear to be working… maybe too well.)
“I can’t belieeeeve you Mom. Now everyone will know it was us. Why did you do that?”
What started out as a fun family fone call has flamed out fast. Whatevs. Just be glad I didn’t roll up to your school in my red Mercedes convertible with huge rollers in my hair, covered by a scarf. And then when you yell at me through gritted teeth, pull around the corner to let you out in front of the crowd of middle schoolers applying more eyeliner with one hand as they smoke cigarettes with the other.
We drop off Jake in all his cringe. Nate and I continue on. This sparks a conversation about deep fakes and the legality of impersonating someone as famous as Morgan Freeman for commercial voiceover work.
And I say, “Oh, there’s this guy. He’s so good. He sounds exactly like Trump. He’s way better than the guy on Saturday Night Live who plays Trump.” (I leave out the part where Alec Baldwin also somehow shot and killed someone while on a movie set…)
And Nate says, “If he’s so good, did they put that guy on the show?”
And I’m like, “No… it’s probably one of the hardest shows to get on. It’s basically impossible.”
And Nate says, “But there are other people on the show?…”
And I respond, “Well yeah…”
“Then it’s not impossible Mom. It’s totally possible.”
I just love how he thinks. And our Talk-About-It-Tuesdays.