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12-22-25 Jason Schwartz planned a Christmas music show, but an offscreen/then onscreen guest Allison Barrera, past & KAKU future radio host, sat in. She’s a successful Maui business owner and a thoughtful life contributor, a welcome guest in The Zone.
Mostly Jason reflects on 25 and projects about 2026 and his plans for DreamMakers show plans.
Summary & Transcript Below…
- Introduction and Reflections on Time and Holiday Traditions
Jason Schwartz opens the show on December 22, 2025, expressing amazement at how quickly time has passed since the year 2000. He notes the nostalgia tied to Christmas songs, specifically “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole, explaining its origins and how it references snowy Yuletide scenes—something not seen in Maui’s climate. He reflects on the passage of 25 years since the millennium, recalling the Y2K fears and contrasting them with the current state of the world. This segment sets a contemplative tone, blending the festive atmosphere with a reflection on time and change. - [02:19 → 05:20] Political Commentary Centered on Donald Trump
Jason transitions into a critical commentary on Donald Trump, expressing disapproval of his actions and rhetoric. He dismisses Trump’s behavior as criminal and dishonest, noting the persistent loyalty of his followers despite controversies. Jason humorously speculates about Trump’s longevity and influence, questioning why he would engage in illegal activities such as tearing down the White House East Wing without permits. The segment uses satire to critique Trump’s ostentatious lifestyle and political conduct, emphasizing the divisive impact on society. Jason also touches on the emotional toll of consuming news, recommending that people avoid it if it depresses them, though he himself continues to speak out. - [05:20 → 09:38] Guest Introduction and Life Updates with Alison Barrera
Alison Barrera, a familiar figure to some viewers, is introduced as Jason’s observer for the episode. Alison shares updates about her life, including running two businesses—most notably the Green Coffee Bar at South Maui Gardens—and preparing to start a new radio show in January 2026 focused on lifestyle topics. She reveals a personal milestone: becoming a grandmother. The conversation details Alison’s plans for her show, which will cover pop culture, women’s issues, Rotary Club activities, and sports, particularly from the perspective of parents involved in youth sports. The segment highlights Alison’s community engagement and the excitement around her upcoming broadcast. - [09:38 → 14:43] Experience Playing Santa and Reflections on Joy and Gratitude
Jason recounts his recent experience playing Santa Claus at a children’s event in Kihei, describing the joy and innocence of the kids and the positive community response. This leads him to share a personal “wish list” for the community, emphasizing the importance of joy and gratitude as tools to improve life amidst challenges. He references a pastor’s message from Unity Church about focusing on joy and suggests that gratitude can help alleviate worries and promote healing. The segment also touches on health concerns for loved ones, underscoring the value of appreciating life’s moments regardless of uncertainty about the future. - [14:43 → 16:31] Community Challenges and the Role of Dialogue
Jason discusses the widespread social and political divisions, noting the difficulty in finding common ground. He observes that while many problems are known, the lack of cooperation is a major barrier to solutions. He highlights the importance of providing a space for people to talk and listen to each other, as represented by his show. He also briefly mentions the phenomenon of people enjoying conflict, contrasting it with the need for unity. - [16:31 → 18:08] Boxing Match Commentary and Economic Inequality
Jason comments on a recent high-profile boxing match between Jake Paul and a stronger opponent, noting that despite the loss, Jake Paul earned twice as much as the winner. He expresses dismay at the enormous sums paid for entertainment amid economic hardship faced by many Americans. This segment highlights the stark contrast between celebrity earnings and the financial struggles of ordinary people, implicitly critiquing societal values. - [18:08 → 22:44] Political Critique, Personal History, and Upcoming Radio Plans
Jason shares his critical views on Donald Trump’s long-standing public persona, recalling his early days in New York and Trump’s brash behavior. He questions the appropriateness of Trump’s name being attached to landmarks like the Kennedy Center. Alison discusses her radio show’s focus on lifestyle and community topics, including her desire to interview sports parents and her mother-in-law’s influence, who was a Spanish-language broadcaster for the New York Yankees. There is also mention of Alison’s previous parenting show and her interest in addressing island-specific issues. The segment reflects on personal history, media, and community connection. - [22:44 → 25:48] Green Coffee Bar: Community Hub and Healthy Options
Alison describes the Green Coffee Bar as a vibrant community space in South Maui Gardens where people from diverse backgrounds connect, akin to a “Cheers” environment. She mentions the availability of gluten-free and vegan options, catering to health-conscious customers. Jason shares a humorous reflection on aging and vitality, comparing their ages and emphasizing active lifestyles. The segment celebrates the café’s role as a social nexus and highlights the importance of health and community bonds. - [25:48 → 30:26] Family and Business Updates; Car Electrical Troubles
Alison shares updates about her family, including her daughter’s pregnancy and her husband’s ongoing air conditioning business, Dakine Air Conditioning and Heating. Jason shifts to a discussion about car electrical issues, expressing frustration with complex fuse arrangements in his Toyota Scion that complicate troubleshooting. He calls out for automotive electrical experts to help solve such problems and offers a sponsorship opportunity for assistance. This segment blends personal anecdotes with a technical challenge, inviting community support. - [30:26 → 33:33] Leveraging AI and Archiving Shows for Community Insight
Jason highlights the use of AI to transcribe and summarize over 500 episodes of the Neutral Zone shows, creating a searchable archive that helps track topics like affordable housing and political discussions over decades. He praises the power of technology to preserve community dialogue and to expose long-standing issues, such as escalating rents and housing crises. This segment underscores the value of accessible information and historical context in addressing persistent community challenges. - [33:33 → 38:06] Housing Crisis and Political Frustration
Jason elaborates on the housing crisis in Maui, illustrating how rental prices have skyrocketed over the years, pricing out many residents. He criticizes political short-termism and the cyclical nature of problem avoidance, with elected officials unable or unwilling to enact meaningful solutions due to term limits and fundraising pressures. He recalls conversations with local leaders like Tasha Kama, acknowledging good intentions but lamenting the lack of effective outcomes. The segment conveys frustration with systemic inertia and the need for new approaches. - [38:06 → 42:29] Community Investment and Real Estate as a Funding Source
Jason reveals that he reactivated his real estate license and plans to dedicate 60% of his commissions to a nonprofit supporting arts, music, and environmental programs on Maui. He envisions reinvesting real estate profits into community revitalization, making the local culture and environment a thriving hub. He encourages others, including realtors and buyers, to participate in this model to benefit Maui’s future. This section offers a practical solution linking commerce and community support. - [42:29 → 46:41] Challenges in Organizing Community Events on Persistent Issues
Jason recounts past effort to create community event on first New Year’s celebration at the MACC. He reflects on how political resistance and vested interests have hindered positive community initiatives over the years. Despite these setbacks, he maintains optimism that solutions remain valid and timely, calling attention to the need for renewed focus and collaboration as Maui approaches 2026. - [46:41 → 51:22] Vision for 2026: Collaboration, Cultural Preservation, and Community Support
Jason outlines a hopeful vision for 2026 where Maui becomes a model for cooperation and community-driven progress. He invites individuals and groups to support Hawaiian culture and nonprofits, emphasizing transparency and community benefit in fundraising and programming. He stresses that public access media—radio and television—plays a critical role in amplifying diverse voices and fostering inclusivity. Jason advocates for generosity and stewardship to ensure a thriving future for the island and its residents. - [51:22 → 53:55] Upcoming Musical Tributes and the Power of Shared Success
Jason announces plans to produce tribute music shows honoring renowned artists, aiming to leverage their success to elevate Maui’s cultural scene and inspire global audiences. He references recent movies and concerts, sharing personal music industry connections from his past. His goal is to create a rising tide that lifts all community members, nurturing local talent and fostering a supportive environment. This segment expresses hope through cultural celebration and artistic collaboration. - [53:55 → 55:41] Empowerment Through Daily Actions and Maui’s Unique Spirit
Jason reminds listeners that true power lies not just in voting but in everyday actions that foster connection, kindness, and community. He invokes “Maui styling,” a local ethos of embracing the island’s special character through care, peace, and joy. He encourages openness to visitors while emphasizing the importance of shared responsibility for Maui’s well-being. The segment underscores the collective role in creating a vibrant, loving community. - [55:41 → 56:30] Closing Remarks and Christmas Message
As the show concludes, Jason thanks Allison Barrera for joining and invites her to share a final message. Alison emphasizes kindness, living in the moment, and thinking beyond oneself during the holiday season. Jason encourages listeners to visit MauiNeutralZone.com to stay connected and informed. He announces the next show for New Year’s Eve, signing off with aloha and well wishes for the season.
Overall Summary:
This episode of the Neutral Zone blends personal reflections, community updates, political critique, and hopeful visions for Maui’s future. Jason Schwartz uses the holiday setting to contemplate time, societal challenges, and the power of gratitude and joy. He and guest Alison Barrera share insights into their personal lives and upcoming projects, highlighting the importance of local businesses and media in fostering community connection. The show touches on significant issues such as political dysfunction, housing crises, economic inequality, and cultural preservation, advocating for cooperative solutions and reinvestment in Maui’s arts and environment. Leveraging AI technology and community engagement, Jason envisions 2026 as a year of renewal where shared success and kindness can transform the island into a global example of harmony and progress.
00:02
Wow, it is the 22nd of December, 2025. Can you believe that? Wow, I can hardly hear in these headphones. It must be me because all the levels are high. Aloha, everyone. It’s the Neutral Zone, MauiNeutralZone.com.
00:25
I’m Jason Schwartz, your host. We have been on here since June of 2018. Man, that’s a long time. But it’s a short time in the big scoop of things. I have a guest sitting here who’s observing. And all of those of you that are old may not know her. But if you’ve been watching Akaku for a number of years now, you would know Alison Barrera. And she’s got a new show coming up. How are you, Alison?
00:55
Well, thank you for coming and watching. Are you watching to see how we pros do it? Is that what this is? Yeah, that’s what we’re doing. Wow. I got to learn from the best. Well, that’s good. Well, I have notes, which is odd. I don’t often have notes. But I know that it’s before Christmas and…
01:17
I thought, well, I want to remember about Santa’s list and what my wish list is and all that kind of stuff. And then I’m going to tell you what our plans are for next year. And that’ll be good. So Allison, as I am seeing here, is not on camera. She’s just really observing. So…
01:37
I guess I’m still going to be pretty much doing it alone, right? Okay. Well, I was going to start by playing you the Christmas song by Nat King Cole. Everyone says, Jason, you got to play Chestnuts, Chestnuts. It’s called The Christmas Song. It was written by Robert Wells and Mel Torme. Up until yesterday, we all thought it was just Mel Torme, but he wrote the music and Robert Wells wrote the words.
02:06
You know, and here we are in 2025 on Maui, all those references to things like Yuletide carols and sitting in the snow and all that stuff.
02:19
Fortunately, we haven’t seen snow here in Maui, at least not down here, in a long time. And I can hardly believe it’s 2025. I remember when 2000 was coming and everyone thought the world was going to, the computers going to shut down and the whole world was going to explode. Remember those days?
02:41
But now we’re 25 years later, the world may still explode, but I don’t think it’s from that. I think, well, you know, what’s that expression? I used to play bridge, but I don’t like the word Trump anymore, so I don’t play. Because that is one of my things. On this list, if Santa wants to know who are the good boys and girls and who are the bad boys and girls…
03:09
And I guess it depends who you listen to, but no matter how you listen, when you see Trump talk, you say, I am a lying, thieving criminal. I can say anything I want, and I have all these people that will lick my boots. And…
03:31
I hope that can change. Santa does not want you to continue with your present course. He’s thinking maybe one of the reindeer might start nipping at your nose.
03:46
I really wonder what you’re, you know, you’re 70 something. Are you almost 80? Almost 80. How long do you think you’re going to be around? How long do you think you’re going to be able to hold down this? You’re going to put a surrogate in, maybe a robotic Trump-like creature. Creature is the key word here. You are a creature.
04:09
Why would you break down the White House, East Wing, before you have your permits, jump over anything that’s legal, start destroying the symbol of American, I want to say of freedom. The White House has been there a long time, has all kinds of history, but you just take it down and put in your little gold stuff.
04:34
everything’s that maybe it’s real but I don’t think it’s real it’s probably gold plated except your toilet that’s probably solid gold it has to be really solid to take your shit you are something I’m not allowed to say that word more than when it’s a reference in a real you know we have seven words we can’t say um
04:58
Other than that, when I think about good and bad and how our year has been, we could name names, but I think most of you know the names. And if you don’t know the names, you’re the ones that said, I don’t want to watch the news. Watching the news just depresses me. Okay.
05:20
Well, then don’t watch the news. But I can tell you, you know, yesterday I had this conversation with a friend and he said to me, Jason, you talk like a diatribe. I said, what’s a diatribe? I just keep talking and talking.
05:37
I figured all these years being on radio, no one likes the dead silence on the radio. So I’ve learned to fill in all the spacers and somehow I’ve carried it out into my world. Allison, what’s the name of your business?
05:57
The Green Coffee Bar. If you’ve gone to South Maui Gardens and you go to the Green Coffee Bar, you will say, this place is great. It was Allison’s doing and her husband, right? I’ll give him some credit, but it’s you. It’s mostly you. What is giving you time to create a radio show? You’ve got it going like a system already, huh? Yeah, you know what? Two businesses are going, moving on
06:26
Wow. And I feel like, you know, things that you’re most passionate about, I can now focus again on. That’s wonderful. I’m going to be a grandma. Grandma? Yes, I’m going to be a grandmother. You’re so young. How can that even possibly be, your grandma? Oh, my goodness. Do you want her to be on screen? She’s fine, unless you can put her on screen if you want. All right, okay, we’ll give her a microphone.
06:54
Okay, she’s getting a microphone. Not bad. I may talk to you only a little bit. You don’t mind? Yeah, I don’t mind. Anyway, Allison is coming back with a show. Do you know when it’s going to be on, Allison? January, second week of January. What kind of day or time? Thursdays, hopefully, around 3 o’clock. Oh, yeah? Yeah. 3 o’clock. Is that drive time? Maui drive time. I sure hope it is.
07:22
Well, it’s going to be an interesting new year, and I look forward to hearing your show. Thank you. We’ll have you on, and maybe you’ll have me on. Well, we’re related, so. Oh, yeah. Everyone tells me Schwartz, Schwartz. We spell it different, but we got the same. That’s right. That’s right. Are you Polish?
07:42
I have a, my grandmother was Polish, my grandfather was Hungarian, and the other side, my grandfather was Latvian, before that became part of Russia, and my grandmother was Austrian. Austrian.
08:02
Oh, wow. But they were one generation. My two grandmothers were born in America and my two grandfathers were born foreign and came over on boats. You know, all these stories about coming to Ellis Island and all that stuff. That’s probably where they changed all our names into different spelling. That’s correct. Yeah. Same for my family, too.
08:22
yeah yeah but um the schwarzes the schwarzes i actually got to play santa schwartz this weekend really i was walking with my lady ariel around and and this gal we know came out and said can you play santa claus tomorrow
08:42
Tomorrow? Is there much to it? I don’t know if I have the big stuff. She said, don’t worry, it’s perfect. Her Santa was in the hospital. So there were these little kids and we went over to the room at Powerhouse Gym in Kihei. And she had prepared all kinds of treats for them and toys for them.
09:06
And I got to be Santa, and being Santa is fun. I was never Santa before, but I liked doing the ho, ho, ho. Did the kids ask you for anything?
09:17
No. They were just happy to see you. These kids were just so, they were, I’m probably the oldest kid was maybe five. Oh, how cute. So they were really small. And somehow they really, I think they either thought I was Santa or I just had that, you know, big fat look. I love it. And so it was a real fun experience for me.
09:38
That’s wonderful. And the parents loved it. I even gave them presents. Little beanie baby stuffed toys. It was a lot of fun. And that’s what made me think about this list of good and bad and a wish list. So I thought today I would come up with my wish list.
10:00
what I would like number one this is number one to me if you’re out there and you know people that haven’t seen the neutral zone Maui neutral zone calm we have like 500 shows up there with full transcripts and summaries of each show
10:23
And even before the search engine optimization has been in place, I guess the search engines are already liking us because we have so much content. So any of you out there, go to mauineutralzone.com and see us. Akaku, because we have a website, you won’t see us up on the Akaku website.
10:46
But if you’re in the current rotation, you’ll see our show mentioned. But go to MauiNeutralZone.com. We’re sitting here in the beautiful studio of KAKU 88.5 FM, the voice of Maui. Not to be confused with Akamai Broadcasting, who bought eight stations.
11:09
can you imagine radio used to be valuable now eight stations for eight hundred thousand dollars that was a really good deal and now they have eight stations into their giant collection of stations and they use djs
11:28
I don’t know. I don’t think that Mad Dog Radio Show, this is not Maui kind of radio, or another guy that’s on later in the day, and I wouldn’t say he’s bigoted. Let’s just say the kind of stuff that they do are, maybe they’re mainland jokes, but they’re not jokes. They’re out of a can somewhere. This is somehow, maybe they’ve been looking at the MAGA files and figuring out,
11:58
what people that have removed most of their brains. That’s really not fair. I just don’t really understand
12:09
Why people would pick a guy that alleges he’s a scrillionaire. We find out he’s a little less. He’s revalued his properties low for his tax purposes, but high for his claims. It’s such a… I was going to say he’s a tramp. He’s not even…
12:32
You guys out there who love Donald Trump, you are welcome to sit here on our show. And in fact, and it isn’t to even argue with me. I really would just like to understand when we go through items and issues, what are you thinking? What do you think is going to get better with this guy? Do you listen to what he says? Do you actually fact check?
13:01
check what he’s saying or doing likely not anyway maybe uh out with the old and in with the new for the year uh we’ll have some change but the people that are standing at his side i don’t particularly want them to be anywhere close to a position of power either you know so
13:25
We’ll see what happens. You know, I’ve heard people say we’re going to have civil war. We’re going to have this. We have all the fascists here. This is the identical pattern of the Nazis. And we see what’s going on with Putin. And we keep talking about the Second World War and all the things that how history is repeating itself. Well, it’s going to take all of us realizing that the others that we’re considering fighting
13:55
They’re not our enemies. Just let down your guard and let some love in. And appreciate and just focus on the joy in your life, you know? Gratitude for what you have really is a great, great tool. You know, I’ve learned from my partner to focus on the joy. If things are happening and you focus on the joy, the rest of the stuff…
14:22
really goes away. I was listening to a pastor actually over at Unity Church talking on Sunday, and they’re talking about joy and how to have joy in your life. And the secret is you just focus on it, and you find gratitude in your life, and things get better.
14:43
Speaking of getting better, we have people close to us in different stages of illness, and we’re praying for all of them to be getting better. May their health and their lives be filled with richness and joy, no matter how long. You know, we all know we have an expiration date. We just don’t know what it is. We can’t read the bottom of the can, or whatever we are. But while we’re here, we can do it each day.
15:13
to appreciate each other and look for the good and see what we can agree on. Because if we agree on enough stuff, the stuff we don’t agree on will start to seem less important and we’ll try to find answers that serve everyone.
15:29
Anyway, you hear me talking on these themes. I asked AI, okay, what were the top ten topics we’ve spoken about in all these shows, and what do you think of them? Do you have any recommendations? And it gave me a nice laundry list. You can go up to the website, you’ll see it or hear it. And what I realized is we are…
15:59
holding the space for people to talk. It’s nothing new, but it seems new in this age that we’re in, where people are fighting and don’t seem to want to cooperate or work together. We know what the problems are, but there’s just this separation that is just
16:25
It is not a good thing, in my opinion. Some people like to fight.
16:31
I don’t know. By the way, you saw Jake Paul, the boxing guy. He thought he was a big winner. And then he ran against the guy who was taller, super stronger. And I don’t want to say demolished him. Let’s just say Jake Paul was knocked out in the sixth round. And when I looked at the other guy, even before they started fighting, I thought, this little guy is going to get creamed by this other guy.
17:00
And there we go. And I’m sure the little guy will be back, but he got enough on this fight. Did you see how much they made? Some ungodly amount? No. How much? $120 million Jake Paul made, and Joshua Anthony made $60 million. The winner made $60, and the loser made $120? Yeah.
17:28
Wow, those numbers are unbelievable. I know. Who is, you know, you wonder, that money comes from somewhere. So if there were that much money, obviously, and more…
17:43
Yeah, it’s disappointing to think about where we are as a country, where people are financially, and then people like Jake Paul get paid astronomical amounts of money to fight. Right, and the money that these people make in just one bout could, you know, give food to America for the next zillion. I don’t know why the phone’s ringing.
18:08
It says, Ann Blando. Well, I don’t know who that is, but I’m really glad that they’re ringing this phone. Let me see if I can hit this button and stop it.
18:23
Oh, that could have been me. Could have been ran out of rings. I don’t know. You know, normally we have guests and we do our little dialogue. And I have a few people who like to come on. I have a co-host named Scott R. Bushnell. And I thought, he’s Republican.
18:42
I don’t know what he is, you know. But he always likes to prod me because, boy, I can get on, you can hear it today. I get on these things and I start talking about stuff that’s, oh, it’s not that wild. Here in Hawaii, a lot of people don’t like Donald Trump. So I’m not that unusual here. But I like to talk about it and rub it in a little bit.
19:08
Because I you know, I’m from New York and I must say I remember Donald Trump I left New York in 1973 so that’s 50 years ago right a little bit more and I
19:25
even then there was this braggadocio guy his father had all these apartment buildings and he was just this sort of out of control kind of playboy thought he was the greatest thing since ice cream i remember when he bought the um
19:45
The Plaza Hotel, which was really a landmark by itself forever. And now they call it the Trump Tower. I don’t know. How do you take the Kennedy Center and have a board decide to add the name Trump in front of Kennedy at the Kennedy Center? What the heck is that? He didn’t even have to die and he gets his name on a building.
20:14
What the heck? Allison, you know these things. It’s so astronomical. It’s just like, you know, McDonald’s is going to be like the Golden Arches and the Golden Trump Towers. Oh, that’s an idea. Have him buy McDonald’s. He can be, we can call it Trump McDonald’s. What do you think, huh? I wouldn’t eat those burgers, but God. So bad. Yeah.
20:44
So what kind of, Allison’s here. Allison, do you have any plan or what your show’s going to be? Well, yeah. I mean, I have plans for several shows, to be honest with you. My show that I’m currently working on right now is a life and style show. So it’s a lot more pop culture, celebrity news, current events, women’s topics. I’m also a part of the Maui Rotary Club.
21:09
So things that we’re doing in Rotary. I’d like to move into sports. My mother-in-law has finally retired. And she’s been pressuring me to move into foreign radio. But she’s like, as much as she pressures me, she pulls back as soon as I’m ready. What is a foreign radio? She’s foreign radio. She was the broadcaster for the New York Yankees in Spanish.
21:31
for almost 50 years she just retired three years ago wow so i’d like to do something where i can interview professional sports athletes that are raising kids in the sport industry and kind of get their perspective as a parent now opposed to being a kid in sports and having their parents push them what they do differently or the same as how their parents were
21:55
I think that would be interesting. So a few different projects I want to work on. I’d really like to start working on that. But as soon as she warmed me up to the idea and I warmed up to her idea, she backed up a little bit. Oh, really? She doesn’t want to quite give it up yet. So yeah, life and style, all the things that I’m currently involved in and doing. My old show was a parenting radio program. And I’m not…
22:23
You’re going to get Sarah to come back from Oahu? Oh, I wish I could. I think that she’s doing really well over there. And so her career is taking off. So unfortunately, probably not. But I do have a lot of people that want to come in and interview. And I want to talk about things that are important to our island and our community.
22:44
That’s really good. I look forward to seeing you and listening to your show. Thank you. That’s going to be great. And I must say, the Green Coffee Company. Yeah. You should definitely go to South Maui Gardens and check it out. It’s going to be an experience you’re going to love. And you’re going to say, boy, this is such a nice place. I think I want to come back here again. They have just a beautiful experience. Yeah.
23:13
Every time I go in, I see these things to eat, and I’m trying to lose weight. I don’t want to be like Santa, but you have good stuff. We got some gluten-free options now and some vegan options. Oh. So if you’re watching your little curves, you can still come in and enjoy something with me.
23:32
I would look forward to it. We have a good community of people that come in. I like to serve a good product. And it’s a place where you can meet anybody from anywhere in the world, really. It’s been a wonderful experience. You can probably do some recordings there and bring them in. I would love to. The thing is, is the loudness of South Maui Gardens. It’s not a great place for sound.
23:58
Oh, you mean because of the outside? Yeah. You know, it’s so much going on.
24:03
But yeah, there’s a lot of people that I’ve met through the coffee bar that are incredible. And it’s really become like the cheers of South Kihei. You know, people come in, they meet, they have relationships and they meet friends that they start working with or roommateing with or just being friends with, you know, a big group of people that just show up every day to have coffee with each other. It’s not like a coffee shop where you go and see individual tables. Mostly everybody’s there to see each other. So it’s kind of wonderful. Yeah.
24:33
I’m enjoying it. Wow. Can you imagine this? I was going to say this little girl. When you’re old, everyone is young. Well, I turned 46 this month. No. Yes, I’m 46. That scares me. 30 years, 29 years. As you get older, at least as far as me, I forget that I’m this old. Well, that’s good. I’m 75 in April.
25:02
You’re a baby. Well, you know, and I think I’m still active and I still have visions of the future. 100%. And I have no expectation. I told you, I don’t know when my expiration date is. So I still think I’m a fresh commodity.
25:20
Well, if it makes you feel any better, my oldest client at Kalama Heights just passed away at 103 years old. And at 103 years old, she could still walk. She was still cognitive. She still had a sharp wit about her. So age is really what you make it, right? As long as you’re moving and you’re thinking and you’re doing things and you’re happy, you can be alive as long as even longer than that.
25:48
Yeah. When you said 102 in Kalama Heights. 103. 103. We don’t want to tell everyone her name, I imagine, but I can only imagine. She was your client. Yeah, she was a client. She would come out to the coffee place. This is a different kind of place.
26:05
Her daughter came to the coffee shop a lot, but towards the end, she wasn’t venturing out quite as much. But yeah, she was really famous. A lot of people knew her. She’s a wonderful person. I’m not scared to say her name, Emily. And Emily was a wonderful client. And I told her when she was 103 on her birthday, I says, Emily, how did you make it to 103? She says, well, when I was 100, I gave up eating vegetables. She says, when I was 102, I gave up wearing a bra.
26:35
She says, now I’m 100. Oh, no, I’m sorry. She says, I gave up having sex at 102. So she says, at 103, I’m taking that one back. So she had a good sense of humor. That’s the way. That is probably it, right? Yeah, so you’re a baby. Right. And being grateful. I’m sure she had to say that. Absolutely. And her daughter was always so grateful.
26:59
Great daughter. She had three beautiful daughters and they were all really wonderful to her. And she lived and had a lot of friends and had a lot of activities and did all the things that we want to do as we age, you know, gracefully.
27:11
And she was here in Maui. And being in Maui is a blessing. When I go out and I see people of my age on the mainland, it is noticeable. Not the same. It is noticeable. They are older. So, 46, that’s just amazing. You’re really a child person. I say I’m 446.
27:35
And your husband’s still doing air conditioning? Still doing air conditioning, yeah. He’s on the job today. My daughter, I just found out that she’s having a baby. Oh. She’s going to have a baby in July. Congratulations. But she’s been our head installer in the air conditioning company for the last five years. Wow. So she’s currently at home.
27:56
Resting. But yeah, he’s still working. He’s still busy. He’s still racing. Remember he got the race car this last year? Wow. What’s the company name? Dakine Air Conditioning and Heating. Dakine Air Conditioning and Heating. Yeah. Wow. Does that earn me a free air conditioner? Can you do air conditioning on cars? I sure can. I bet I could. If you could fix car air conditioning, I’m sure you don’t go there. No, we don’t do that, unfortunately. I wish we could.
28:26
Speaking of cars, if there’s any electricians out there or super spy electrical people, I have had one fuse. It took me a while to figure out. I had mechanics looking that that fuse was the one. There was something going on. And you say, well, that’s a Toyota Scion. Let’s see. Let’s read this thing.
28:51
Well, that fuse controls the windows, the dashboard lights, getting the car in gear, the traffic, the turn signals. Why is all this on one fuse? You got all these spots. You could separate them so we people of the world can actually maybe…
29:12
figure out what’s wrong without having to spend, you know, the month’s rent or mortgage payment trying to run down an electrical problem. So if you’re a wizard, we’d love to speak to you and we’d love you. We’ll actually put you on this show and we’ll make you a sponsor and put you on the website. And not only that,
29:35
We will love you forever. Forever. I know I have… Some people get new cars. My father used to get a new car virtually every year. Every year when I was young. He was… I guess that means he had the ability to do that. That’s nice. I haven’t had a new car in years. Well, he didn’t like having to fix his cars. So he would…
30:01
Find the easiest way get rid of that one get a new one get rid of that one get a new one So well, you can get that thing on Amazon that you plug into your car and it does a little Diagnostics. Oh, I have one of them one of those it lives in the space It’s called fixed right It tells me everything’s right
30:26
So now if everything’s right, what’s this thing about? Anyway, so if you’re an automobile electrical genius, you’ve got a job in front of you here. Can you imagine we’re almost halfway through the show and I haven’t really said anything, right?
30:46
Well, you know, as I’m going and I’m doing all the heavy lifting as far as putting my shows up on the net and putting them into the tool that gives us a full transcript and creates this summary. And it just is amazing to me. I spoke to someone, a guy named, his name is Leon Matthews. And way back…
31:13
when tom waits and ricky lee jones and bob dylan and all those guys were living in the chelsea hotel he was down the road way there you know and so and then he was neon leon
31:31
And now he’s King Lion, and he’s been in Europe for at least 20 years. And he’s an extraordinary artist. Well, when I interviewed him, we maybe did 30 minutes, but the text of it, and then the summary, AI, I guess it must have listened to what we said, but also pulled from what it knew. And just amazing, these tools that we have now with AI,
31:59
We know that we can use them for good and bad. When we use a tool, we say, is this something that’s going to wipe out jobs? I don’t know anybody that would listen to all my shows and do a full transcript and then make a summary.
32:20
And then look at all the shows and give judgments based on 500 and growing. Like this show will be on all the shows and all the comments made. Like I was using an example. Imagine you go to the website. There’s a search engine at the top. It’s for the website. And so you say, let’s see. Did Jason ever talk to Hannibal Tavares?
32:44
Did they ever talk about affordable housing? So you put it in the search engine. Everywhere they say Hannibal Tavares or affordable housing, the search engine comes back and says 173 shows. And it tells you when it was. It’s a time stamp transcript. So we can see on anything that we want.
33:09
what people have been saying over the years, and in our case, Maui-based, so we can see through all that smoke that comes from politicians talking about solutions or talking about affordable housing. When they’re making affordable housing an issue in 2008 and 2010 and 1997,
33:33
Like, wait a minute. It’s 40 years later. How could we not have handled this problem? And we could now be in this crisis with absurd rents. Never mind FEMA came in and really destroyed. If there was any kind of…
33:52
what do we say, a path towards solutions that we were on. When FEMA came in and paying people $3,500, $5,000 for their one bedroom per month to get in fire survivors, the people in these properties
34:11
were thrown out so they could bring in new people. Then they made a law. No, no, no, you can’t do that. Then after that time is over, it’s still happening. You know, I spoke to a place. Ariel was living upcountry. She paid $1,800 for a cottage in Pukulani at the time. And that was…
34:31
Well, more than 12, 15 years ago. Now I saw the owner. I know him. He has two studios available and the cottage. He has three rentals on his property. The studios are $1,800 and $1,900. And the one-bedroom cottage is $3,500. If there are people out there with mortgages, even if you were paying those kind of mortgages…
35:01
What are you doing? You’re going to have renters paying those kind of numbers? So take a look into the homeless and you will see. Or take a look into places where you have multiple families in these small spaces. We did it to ourselves. We have been put in this position.
35:23
Anyway, see, I can try to talk about things, but I just come back to the… I don’t know if the word stupidity is fair. Let’s just say, with two-year terms on politicians, and you’ve got to raise money every two years to be in your seat, and if you don’t get done what you need to get done, maybe you won’t even be here for when it has to be addressed. So we’ve seen someone’s kicking the…
35:52
ball down the street. I don’t know, kicking the tire? They’re kicking the can. There we go. They’re kicking the can down the street. And here we are stuck with that problem. It’s time we did it differently. We’ve had guests on our show that talk about taking the clay from the soil
36:13
and straw or simple things. These are not new ideas, but they work. We could have everyone housed. We could do things, and we’ve been able to do so many things on so many of our problems for so long. Oh, but it’s not been approved by the XYZ agency, and this agency hasn’t given its stamp of approval, and it must be approved by this one and go through that.
36:41
Meanwhile, that’s the problems we create through what? We have just too many people. We couldn’t see what was coming up. I don’t want to call it. It was definitely, definitely people choosing not to make these issues important because it wasn’t important to them.
37:05
Tasha Kama. Tasha Kama was a friend. After she got into council role, I only saw her a handful of times, and boy did I bring her problems. And you know, she really had
37:20
No solution. She had tremendously beautiful heart. But then, you know, everyone says, oh, someone’s pulling her strings. Something’s happening. People that love Tasha that after a while didn’t know what was going on with the voting.
37:35
But solutions have been here. I spoke with her when solutions were here. I remember when she called me to do a television show about ICE people that were doing raids in Lahaina on the Mexican-American community, trying to bust people. And that was 20 years ago. And here we are still dealing with these same things now. Isn’t that crazy? Don’t you think that’s crazy? I think it’s crazy. Yeah.
38:06
What do we do? I don’t know. How do we get people to see these ideas here and implement them? Well, one way is we have to do demonstration projects. And where do you get the money? We get the money from you. Well, maybe from me. I mean, actually, I reactivated my real estate license. Maui Coast Property. I’m working for a beautiful guy who’s the broker who…
38:34
said to me, well, you can do anything you want, just don’t put me in jail or lose my license. So I have it. But what we do is when we make real estate sales, 60% of the commission that I make, I put into the nonprofit to set up music and art
38:52
and environmental shows with that money reinvesting into our own own community so that we can be the phoenix rising all the money that comes from other places when people are buying houses here wouldn’t it be nice if some of the monies went toward rejuvenating maui and having people that aren’t here thinking
39:16
Wow, look at all these things going on in Maui and how they’re helping themselves. We’d like to be part of that. Well, you can. Take a look at the website. You’ll see. If you go to Maui Coast Property, you know, see, if you’re a realtor, you might be saying, wait a minute. But we also love referral. We like referring things. Some people say, well, my cousin is a realtor. My brother’s sister’s cousin’s aunt.
39:44
Well, if you come to us and we refer it to them, then you’ve got…
39:50
I want to say kill two birds. You don’t want to kill birds. But you’ve been able to help us help Maui and help your cousins, brothers, sister. And we’re all going to see our community pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. And the people that come here and buy big, fat, wealthy, big, huge houses…
40:16
If they could realize that by doing it through us, even if, like I say, if you want to work with this agent or that agent, great, we’d love to have it. But we are raising money to promote and get music and art and culture and environmental solutions happening here on Maui. So…
40:37
When you enjoy, I used to have a, I remember I had a letter to the editor years ago. It said, what do we want to build a playground? And we’re trying to raise money. And boy, is it hard to raise money for all these projects. But we have a music show. And at the music show, we announced to the audience,
40:57
Through you guys coming here and enjoying this show, we’ve raised the money to fix that playground. What a great thing we’re doing here. Let’s make sure you come to the next show and the next show and buy these things because it’s all going to be contributing money.
41:17
Well, that’s what we’re doing. We’re looking to change the course of mighty rivers. Be the superman and superwoman by doing things that are absolutely easy and available.
41:32
Just choosing to do it differently. Choosing to do it differently. When we ask the politicians to solve our problems, oh please, you’re the ones to solve our problems. When I say that, I hear people saying, oh, you’re sounding like a Republican.
41:52
I’m not a Republican. I just believe that we can do it. And if we have the will, we can solve anything we want. We’re on a little island, and we are an incredible island. And our Hawaiian community that has been here all this time…
42:12
And I’ve said, well, what about the Hawaiian culture? It’s getting lost. Well, part of what we’re doing, we’re going to be inviting other, we are, we are inviting. If you’re listening, you’re invited. If you’re a group or an individual and you want to support Hawaiiana,
42:29
come be part of us nonprofits linking together and then we can give money and all the things that we do are being passed through and forward to help our community and serve all the nonprofits at the same time when we get rolling we’re going to be pledging a good portion
42:51
To me, 20, 25% is a good portion of the money coming into public access, radio and television. Access so that you can put your words out and know that it is being supported. And again, it’s being supported by you.
43:11
We didn’t trick you. We decided we’re going to get money in that normally could go in our pocket and my children and my grandchildren. They’re all going to be…
43:22
These rich playboys, wait a minute, what if we don’t save for a day that may never come if we don’t handle what’s going on now? And so that’s my deal. It’s called, why don’t we deal with the majority of the monies to help what’s going on now and the future will be better.
43:45
Doesn’t that make sense? Especially when you get to go to that music concert or buy that piece of art or support anything you want because that’s what we do. It’s just a different way of going about things. And I don’t think I over-talk it because I’m still talking it.
44:09
You don’t know that in 1990, I don’t know if it was three or four, I forget after a while, that there was a feeding frenzy at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center when they finally had it built, and they opened the doors to book events. And I was going to be doing music shows one a month,
44:28
there and then once a year do an annual show and come out with a product and promote our tourism and our culture and our art and our music. And when I started, it was cassettes. And then it was CDs. And then it was DVDs. And now you don’t even have to put out a product. You go online, you download it. So the world has shifted. But the idea is an old one.
44:54
We booked the Maui Arts and Cultural Center for the first New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Wow. And we were gathering, and that was our intention, to gather hotels and airlines and large sponsors and small sponsors, people that wanted to be promoting what we’re doing here for these great intentions.
45:14
But there was a problem. Someone went out to the hotels. They wanted to do an alcohol free event called First Light. It started in Boston years ago. Alcohol free event so we could bring kids and have a beautiful event without alcohol.
45:32
And I would have been happy to be part of that, but they were out talking to the hotel. When I went to see the general manager at the time of the Westin, he said, well, the only reason I met you is because I wanted to see what kind of scam you were running.
45:47
Someone was in here last week that had the blessing of the mayor. How did that happen? I paid the money for the deposit on the MAC, right? And as it turned out, it’s like, do I want to destroy a beautiful event, even though these people didn’t allow me to pursue something that I believe would have been a shot in the arm to everything? We could have done a lot of things before now. Mm-hmm.
46:12
And here we are all these years later because our, I want to say our politicians kicked the can down the road, we still have these same problems. That means our good ideas are still good ideas to do it our different way. So consider 2026. It was going to be 2020, you know, 2020 vision in 2020.
46:39
and then we had covid and so it our 2020 vision became 2026 vision but that doesn’t mean it isn’t the right time it is the right time we see around us solutions that still need our input so i’m here thinking that you will listen to this again listen to the summary and say
47:04
Wow, that really makes sense. We should check in here. We should become supporters here. We should become part of this, whether an individual, a business, whether we want to buy art, we want to buy real estate. Wow, we can help Maui get on the map again, not only as a travel destination, but as an example to the world of how cooperation exists.
47:28
is going to create results that you can’t create when you get selfish. You can’t do it when you put it only in your pocket, you know. When I watch the big, very wealthy people, they seem to, you know, they give away stock. They give away money when you look, you ask their accountant, well, that’s the amount that they needed to be giving. They need to give this money away.
47:57
And we hear about things, you know, Jeff Bezos gives to Agency A or B. And that’s good. That’s good. Hey, Jeff, check in with us, would you? You know, and Larry Ellison. Someone said to me the other day, we saw this plane flying an unusual route. It was Larry Ellison’s plane. I don’t know how they knew that. But there are people that have so much money.
48:24
If you haven’t seen Blacklist, have you seen Blacklist? I haven’t seen it.
48:29
Blacklist is a show that was 10 seasons long, and it’s now on Netflix, 10 seasons, and at 22 shows a season. I’m up to season nine, and I’m starting to get bleary-eyed. But Blacklist was a show that talked about things that were under the radar, that the criminals had all kinds of different networks and things going on.
48:55
We’re seeing it in our lives now. We keep seeing these things and realizing they can be really real. I think that they could be really real more in the past than they can now, though. Because it’s like when I was a kid or when you were younger, we just, if we didn’t answer the phone, we didn’t know who called. And now there’s like a digital footprint on everything. So it’s like all the things that happened in the past
49:21
a young person could drag up right now, right? If they’re given access. Isn’t that amazing? Yeah. We’re more woke. You’re right. I remember putting a show on here, put it on Facebook, and within the hour, within the hour,
49:40
they took it down. I had interviewed someone who was a pilot. His name was Dan Hanley. And we did our show because he was in Pakistan, hiding. 911pilots.org. He was showing that the planes, he’s a pilot, that the planes that were driven into the trade center couldn’t
50:08
have been driven by these terrorists that we all been given a story all this time and they were controlled remotely that one got taken down you know before the before the got on there and now it’s on rumble or some kind of other platform that you know people
50:29
Again, who goes to those kind of platforms? People that are searching for conspiracy things. But then do they give it credibility? They do, but who’s listening? We’re all told what you’re told. Oh, in this day and age, that stuff can’t happen. Yeah, that’s true. And I know it sounds funny, but the greatest intentions of mice and men, you know, I mean, thank you, John Steinbeck.
50:59
Anyway, boy, I’m just rambling today. Some of the things, let’s see, here’s my request. When you see us doing music shows, we’re going to be doing tributes to stars. That’s our plan. So again, are you wondering what we need money for? Because we want to put deposits on places so we can continue doing tributes. We have musicians here on Maui.
51:22
Lots of musicians who are really super, super duper talented. Some are currently playing here, some aren’t, but we have talent. Well, what if we could do tributes to some of the people that are already stars? Some of them already love Maui. We’ll bring them here. Well, some aren’t. We’ll bring them here, have them buy a house, use their house. No, no.
51:47
I’m just saying, what we want to do is celebrate people that already have
51:54
success in the world and hang on their success to bring and elevate these ideas so the whole world can understand a different way of doing things. So we’re going to have all kinds of tribute music shows. Did you see the new movie yet, Song Sung Blue, with Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson? No, I haven’t. I haven’t seen anything lately. I haven’t gone to the movies in a long time. The last concert I went to was Aldi.
52:24
Aldi… Aldi Miola. Aldi Miola was in the front row. I got to meet him. He wasn’t impressed by me. He was. He should have been.
52:36
You know, years ago, I was involved for a little while, mid, early 70s, at the Church of Scientology. Wow. And through there, I met a guy named David Campbell, and I worked for him when we were working in the studio. Strings and horns and the sweetening and some basic sessions way back when. And why did I bring that up? Because there are people that are in the music business, they hope when they remember, oh, you are that guy.
53:05
They remember. Everyone was asking me when was going to be my music deal. When were you going to get your deal? I’m still waiting. Could be soon. But I would like to think that we’re going to, a rising tide raises all ships. We’re at that point where I recognize what is a success of one if when they look around them, there’s no success around them. Boy, am I talking too much?
53:35
I want to rise all ships, raise all ships. That’s this whole idea. How can we be that example to the world of what we can do when we just do things differently? So, Mally, just know that’s my plan for next year, and hopefully it’ll be your plan.
53:55
And I want you to keep remembering that we have all the solutions. We just need to hold that vision. Sometimes it’s hard to keep your principles and holding that vision when the world just keeps looking like it’s looking.
54:14
But we are the power. We are the power. Never mind the voting. It’s what we do every day. It’s that little thing. It’s that someone that has a coffee place and creates an atmosphere where people talk to each other and where people care about each other. And we share in a way that…
54:38
You know, Lono wrote a song years ago, Maui styling. If you’re not Maui styling, you’re just living on an island. We are a special, special place. So if you’re out there in the different parts of the world, we still want you to come. Don’t believe that thing about we don’t want you. We want you to come. But we want to create solutions partly with you helping us and partly with us helping us.
55:06
Because that’s what it’s going to be. We’re going to be that example for the world of how sharing a little bit of love
55:15
Sharing a little bit of joy and peace and focusing on that. And enjoying the beauty around us and realizing just how fortunate we are. We could be in Ukraine. We could be… You can name all the places that are currently trouble spots. Because somehow people are deciding that lack is the winner, not abundance. Well, we don’t want that.
55:41
Allison, I’ve been sort of avoiding you in rapping here. Allison Barrera, I am just thankful that you came and visited sitting in on my show. Absolutely. Are you kidding? I enjoy you too. Well, we’ve got a few minutes. We’ve got 40 seconds left, so my goodness.
56:00
Anything you want to be sure to say or anyone you want to give a Christmas message to? No, just be kind to others, you know. I think it’s the time of the year where we can just think about other people besides ourselves and live in the moment. I like Christmas for those type of reasons. Good reason. Well, thank you all for joining us. MauiNeutralZone.com. Go up there and listen to us next week at 11 on Monday and all the good things that can happen. Thank you for joining us.
56:30
We will see you next week for our New Year’s Eve show. Aloha. Thanks, Allison. Take care, everyone.
