The Not So Late Show - Episode Eight

Welcome to the latest episode of The Not So Late Show, where we bring you the best in entertainment and culture. In this episode, we have two very special guests -

Mark Black is a well-known name in the world of sneaker reselling, having built a successful business that caters to the needs of sneaker enthusiasts.

Our second guest is ALYSS has been making waves in the music scene with her distinctive sound, and we are excited to have her on the show to talk about her creative process, her inspirations, and what fans can expect from her in the future.

So sit back, relax, and join us for another exciting episode of The Not So Late Show!

John Byrnes: [00:00:00]

Good evening and welcome to The Not So Late Show!

Tonight’s show is going to be a great one, with special guest Mark Black of @sneakerresellx

And later, your ears are in for a treat, with the brand new single The Talking Palm Tree from ALYSS.

But first, fasten your chinstrap,

And please welcome your host,

Crypto Kyle!"

Kyle: All right welcome yet again to The Not So Late Show, thanks for being here, episode eight, John. Wow. Hard to believe. I feel like we've been doing this for 50 years, . Yeah, it feels good. But I also feel like we just started, yeah. It's feeling,

John Byrnes: you know, that weird middle place that, uh, we're, I feel like we're kind of familiar with at this point of a date feels like a year and a year Feels like a week.

Kyle: That is, that is a hundred percent accurate. I think it also probably is confusing a little bit for us because we did do. To some sort of extent at one point before, so twice a week, place together twice a week. Can you imagine that? No, I didn't. What were we thinking,

That was crazy. But yeah, so [00:02:00] we're here now and it's a it's a big blur. But no, it's been a blast. Crazy amount of events happening around the. But the main thing that keeps me, I don't wanna say going, that sounds sad. main thing that keeps me, kinda primed and excited for a marker in the week.

Cuz without this marker I forget what day it is. Is always the not so late show Thursday night. So always good to be here, juan.

John Byrnes: It's our North star,

Kyle: it's our North Star for sure Juan. Sounding good as always. We got a good show. I'm real excited about the guests we have on tonight Let's keep it rolling. Absolutely. We all saw last weekend Donald Trump . Yeah. Putting out, he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, but it came and went without an arrest turns out they were looking for Don Cheadle oh, for stealing the role of War machine from Terrence Howard. Oh man. For Ironman.

John Byrnes: That was quite a caper, but me, [00:03:00] I actually heard it was just Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence prank calling old Donny boy. I don't know. Take it what you want. . Speaking of breaking news topics, nobody can ignore these AI chatbots. This week we had a big release with Google, put out their chatbot called Bard. And before you ask, yes, I am in on the closed beta, so don't worry, I'm chatting with Google.

It's gone great so far. We got open AI with chat G P T. They just released G P T four, which is pretty incredible. Facebook, Amazon, all these other companies talking about their own AI chatbots this year. It's crazy, I just heard that even Arnold Schwarzenegger's getting in on the action, releasing his own chatbot, he's calling it the Chat a Nator, it's primary function. Two chats back in time and the correcto pass typos.

Kyle: John coming in with the impressions.

I'm here all week guys.

John Byrnes: Oh my gosh.

Kyle: So I don't know you've seen this, John, but some real bizarre, disturbing news coming from Australia, [00:04:00] small town of Victoria, has been taken over by a bunch of mysterious giant minion sculptures.

John Byrnes: Where are these things coming from?

Kyle: nobody knows. But seriously, these sculptures. Have become a local attraction, drawing people from all over. If it's like the town has suddenly turned into the Banana Republic of Australia, ,

John Byrnes: man, I bet kangaroos are punching them down right now. I know they can't tell the difference between a Despicable meme and a despicable me. Ooh,

Kyle: ooh. Yeah. That's right. That's right.

So here's a strange one for you. Customs agents at the Detroit. Recently intercepted more than 1000 live giants, African snails, and a shipment from Nigeria. Wow.

John Byrnes: A thousand giant African snails. Talk about a slow moving crime wave, huh?

Kyle: I mean, it's not every day you see snails trying to pull off a great S cargo.

Oh, you must have had a [00:05:00] really slow getaway driver.

John Byrnes: Seriously though, man, these African snails are invasive. They cause a lot of damage on the environment, you know?

Kyle: Absolutely. They're known to chomp on more than 500 types of plants. Oof. And even munch on the stucco of houses. Who needs a lawnmower? When you have a snail army?

John Byrnes: Oh man. I've heard of a goat lawnmowers. But this is a whole new, a whole new ballgame we're talking about. Right? They can even trim your stucco and I guess you could call that an eco-friendly solution to landscaping, but, uh, custom agents definitely helped us out on this one.

Yeah,

Kyle: definitely. I mean, the craziest part about these things, uh, these snails can actually grow up to eight inches long,

John Byrnes: eight inches long. That's no snail. That's a slimy sedan.

Kyle: Just remember next time you're at the airport, keep an eye out for any suspicious snail. You never know when they might try to make a, uh, speedy getaway.

I don't know if you've been keeping up with March Madness. The N NCAA a men's basketball tournament is in full swing, and it's been a [00:06:00] rollercoaster ride of upsets, Cinderella stories and nail biting finishes.

John Byrnes: Oh yeah, man, it's been crazy. Uh, I haven't seen this many brackets busted since I tried to assemble that IKEA bookshelf last summer.

It was a mess. Trust me.

Kyle: The one that's still in pieces in your, in your closet..

John Byrnes: yeah, it's a, it's a bookshelf, uh, keyword there on the singular shelf. Cause only one of those shelves will hold books.

Kyle: Seriously, this tournament's been a real showcase of talent and determination always incredible to see these young athletes leaving it all on the court.

John Byrnes: A hundred percent Kyle and, don't forget those crazy fans out there day in and day out, painting their faces, sticking those big foam fingers up in the air. Listen, you know me, uh, I just think March Madness is incredible. I love it.

Every year, uh, I'm not the biggest faithful fan of college basketball, but when it comes March, you'll catch me right there in front of the TV with a tray of wings.

Kyle: Hey, any excuse to eat some wings? I'm down. You're right, John. It's the perfect mix of [00:07:00] competition, camaraderie, and the thrill of victory. Or of course, the pain and sorrow of defeat.

Oof. But that's what makes it so exciting. That's why people love the Patriot. But how's your bracket doing, john?

John Byrnes: Man, it's, uh, I'd rather not, it's, let's put it this way. It's not as good as my Oscar bracket. Okay. How's your, uh, how's your bracket doing?

Kyle: You know how much I love sports, so, uh, , it's pretty much non-existent.

John Byrnes: Oh.

Kyle: But we did cause some waves last week. I don't know if you've noticed this. I'm sure you have actually, cuz everybody has, we got bot attacked on this dang bracket that we put out last week.

John Byrnes: Really?

Kyle: People are really upset about some of the pairings and who's fighting who, so much so that somebody, some kind of troll out there. I'm not sure who it was copied the response of somebody, uh, who was expressing their discontent with one of the one of the head versus. [00:08:00] Competitions. So much so, and they copied it, that exact response, and went through and had like 20 bots, retweeted, tagging everybody. Oh man. Like our listeners, us Zim, , Carl, everybody everybody was tagged. I've blocked more accounts. I've removed myself from conversations more than ever . It's really kind of crazy, you know? It's a good, so talking about gonna move yourself from the conversation, man, that's always a tough one again, sometimes you just gotta step away.

John Byrnes: Gotta step out. Take care of yourself.

Kyle: Especially when the comment's not even like part of the thread it's just like a random tweet by 20 counts . Super weird, but hey I guess we're gonna make it. talking about that bracket, let's go ahead and jump into that. Now.

John Byrnes: Let's go. And I think we do have, uh, Fred Anderson in this studio with us for this one.

So we're really excited.

Kyle: I guess we'll let 'em sit in the big boy chair. Yeah, this. [00:09:00]

Just this time, , don't get used to it. Fred.

John Byrnes: So this is a bracket of the top grossing fast food restaurants, and we seated them one through 16 based on how much Americans spend there every year.

Kyle: This is season one and first year of March munchies,

John Byrnes: there's gonna be some people that aren't getting their way. That's the way March munchies goes. All right, so let's start it off the top.

We have McDonald's number one, first, little Caesars, number 16. I'll make the first point here guys. I don't think there's any competition, but go ahead and make your arguments here.

Kyle: Even if you have a favorite McDonald's you just know is gonna win. Do you see Little Caesars and [00:10:00] they're not even trying to sell you a pizza and breadstick, they're splitting it right down the middle, trying to give you both for that same, the same dollar.

They're getting a little shifty. Fred, you spend a lot of

John Byrnes: time out there on the road. What do you think? I think Little

Fred Anderson: Caesars is pizza for poor. Okay. And in in that capacity, it serves a public. It serves a public need. So I'll be the eyeball out on this one, and I'll say that McDonald's is a greedy corporation full of flat earth deniers.

But Little Caesars, oh God, is a public service that believes the Earth is as flat as its tasteless crust.

John Byrnes: So we're pushing McDonald's through Little Caesars, a public good, a public service, but doesn't have enough finesse to get past the big dog. We have a Dunking Donuts seated number eight going up against Domino is seated. Number nine. Fred, why don't you lead on this one.

Fred Anderson: Okay, there's a clear winter here. Dunking Donuts fuels [00:11:00] the world. Every morning. Any Dunking Donut should go. There's a line of cars outside. People are giving in their morning calorie intake and their morning caffeine. Dunking Donuts coffee is the, uh, the closest legal thing, the cocaine and for that reason, I'm gonna have to go with Dunking Donuts.

Kyle: I do have to say Dominos has made some improvements twenty-something years ago. Their sauce was garbage. Their sauce is actually pretty good, and they do offer some tasty dishes for a budget. So do love dominoes, but I gotta. We all, the three of us, we live in America and oh, America's run on Dunking Donuts, so

John Byrnes: I can't just have this country shut down.

I agree. Yeah. Dunking Donuts definitely up moves forward. All right, the next matchup. This is a tough one. Taco Bell, seat number four. They make a ton of money. We got Sonic Burger coming in for 13. But I think this is a tough one. Kyle, I know you got, [00:12:00] you're passionate about this. Me and Kyle, we love to talk about Taco Bell.

One

Kyle: thing I have to say about Sonic, this is a tough one because Sonic is one of those places where they're up there with some of the best in the options category. You can get a tots covered in Chile, Frito Burrito, which is exactly what it sounds like. They have really low dollar items as well as the to the market and more popular option for shakes, the $7 shake option. So Sonics definitely bring in the value,.

John Byrnes: The sweet drink selection they got over there. It's incredible. But for me, I'm a passionate Taco Bell guy. Okay. And. Sonic. It's incredible. There's a lot of variety, but for me it's just, it's Taco Bell all day.

So I guess this one's going to Fred. Look.

Fred Anderson: Taco Bell. Okay. Taco Bell. As in, you gotta look at his total impact on the American economy. Okay. And Taco Bell has driven innovation. [00:13:00] In the plumbing and toilet sector of America keeps people employed. Plumbers, pipe fitters, porcelain benders at Taco Bell is economic impact. It's immeasurable.

John Byrnes: It's a job builder.

Fred Anderson: Sonic is the cheesecake factory of fast food Sonic. They used to come out on the skates and bring the food to you. If you had hot young girls on skates, bringing you your hot. With Slush on it then fine. Right? It's 2023, throw that away. Taco Bell's a clear winner for the economic impact.

John Byrnes: Taco bell moves forward moving on Chick-fil-A open six days a week serving incredible chicken. The line is backed up to the next county. We got Chipotle number 12 coming in with the fresh ingredients, delicious burritos. Kyle, why don't you lead on this one. This is, I think this is a really tough.

Kyle: Yeah, this is super tough. Chick-fil-A is definitely everybody's favorite. They came up from being [00:14:00] underdog in the industry to. A, uh, brand standard leader. You know where my heart's at. I love Mexican food. Even when it's not genuine, put it in a tortilla and I'll lead it, wrap it up. But Chipotle has got some great menu offerings and they offer pretty decent value as well.

But I have to say, even though Chipotle has my votes, I do think I gotta go with my gut. I gotta say, because of Chick-fil-A. Celebrity status, even though their chicken sandwich is mediocre. Oh. Versus people that aren't even on this list. Chick-fil-A's gonna take the win.

Fred Anderson: Chipotle is, is upper class Taco Bell.

It's, Hey, I'm eating Chipotle. I'm hip. I'm cool. Okay.

Kyle: It's the pf It's the PF chang to Pei Wei

Fred Anderson: yeah. It's the PF Changs, the Pei Wei. I, I haven't looked at the calories, but my point is this, you go to Chick-fil-A, you fill up on burgers and shakes, and I mean on chicken burgers and shakes and lemonade, and you feel good.

Leaving Chick-fil-A, you [00:15:00] don't feel like you just ate 3000 calories. You felt like you made a healthy decision. And in America where we're overweight and obese and we struggle, the last thing we need is depression. And Chick-fil-A makes us feel good, and they also remind us on Sundays that, Hey, there's someone up above that needs the chicken sandwich more than us today.

So that's so true. That's true. With that said, I'm going with the American Staple, the Bible Belt, chick-Fil-A.

John Byrnes: Yeah, the chosen chicken or some call it, I love Chipotle. It gives me, it's tough, a great, great joy to have a Chipotle bowl with tortillas on the side. I love that. Wrap my own burritos. Get two for one, basically.

Love it. But Chick-fil-A. I think the chicken sandwiches are top-notch. We could have a whole different bracket on the chicken sandwiches. Maybe we should clean eating maybe spiritually, but I'm pretty sure they butter the buns there before they put your fried chicken on it. But men the fries, I go in there, I get a Chick-fil-A sandwich, I get the [00:16:00] fries, I get, as I say, gimme as much Chick-fil-A sauce as your legally allowed to.

and yeah, I feel great about it.

Kyle: I wasn't even thinking about the sauces at the, the sauces. It's a, it's a dead win anyway.

John Byrnes: The sauces are out of control, so I think this is a unanimous. All right, guys. Here's a another high seed matchup. We got the two verse, the 15 here, Starbucks, number two, Arbys number 15 kyle, what's your take on this one? Man,

Kyle: it's the holy grail of coffee and most non coffee connoisseurs eyes a lot. Starbucks people get grouped in with the Apple camp. It's like Starbucks are bust, but Arby's. Yeah. There's not a whole lot of roast beef options out there, and I know that's true that Starbucks has them beat in volume, but what Arby's brings to the table definitely tastes better. Then what Starbucks can bring to the table you might have to go with Arby's.

John Byrnes: You're going with Arby's. I think it makes sense that Starbucks here, number two, [00:17:00] obviously they make a lot of money. They're everywhere but fast dining. Let's talk about the food. They have amazing drinks. I'm a big fan of the pink drink. Okay. All you haters out there can say whatever you want, but I think the food there, it's not my first choice to eat. Yeah. I think I'm going Arbys to here. I don't know. Let me see. Fred can, if Fred has a different opinion, maybe he can.

Fred Anderson: How does Arby stay in business? . The only time I seen an Arbys full of people was in a commercial. There's a theory out there that Arby's is a drug front and that's how they remain in business. So Starbucks is for middle class Americans trying to make their way up in the world and feel good about going to work at their middle class jobs and their white collars and slaving the way.

Right. I'm gonna take Starbucks. If I

John Byrnes: don't go Starbucks here, I might be in the dog ass. So we're moving Starbucks. Let's go pink. Drink baby. Okay, now let's move on to another tight matchup by the numbers. We have a seven verse A 10. It's number seven. Burger King, the king [00:18:00] going up against number 10, St.

Louis's own Panera Bread. Let me start this one guys. I used to work at Panera Bread. I don't like going in there as an adult because it does make me remember being 18 and working in fast food, which is terrible. They got good pick twos. You get a sandwich, you get a soup, you get a piece of that fresh baguette.

Burger King, let's just say, in my opinion, . They fell off a while ago. Fred, what do you think? What this is?

Fred Anderson: This is a challenge. Burger King is a staple of every truck stop, rest stop on the highway. What is a Panera Bread? Essentially things you could get a Subway, maybe. Listen, the clucking is a pretty good chicken and I've had, when they first came out, I had one and

John Byrnes: it was, it was pretty good.

Fred Anderson: Probably the best chicken sandwich I ever had

John Byrnes: in the chicken sandwich wars. I do agree with you there, Fred, that it is probably. The most unsung hero

Fred Anderson: for sure. So Panera, I am sorry. I will have [00:19:00] a double whopper. Make it extra, extra large and throw in some onion rings and uh, 500 nuggets for a dollar something like that.

Kyle: This is a tough one. There's a lot of burger places. Where else can you go get a bagel for breakfast, grab some lunch and grab bagels for the next day and go home with a loaf of. You just can't do it anywhere else. Burger King, the grill marks, they're there and they're real.

I know this cuz I used to make 'em and people love chicken fries. Who doesn't love fries? Let's make them with chicken. Why not? That's genius.

John Byrnes: You guys are leaving the uh, St. Louis fans out there. Little sour I think. Get it cuz The sourdough .

Fred Anderson: Fun fact about that In St. Louis, Panera Bread is not called Panera Bread.

It is called St. Louis Bread Company!

John Byrnes: Yeah. That's where it was founded. All right, let's move on. We mentioned this in the last match. Here we go, the Titan Subway. Number three. Facing off Fan favorite KFC. Kyle, why don't you take this one? You can argue

Kyle: that Subway's got the branding. Subway's got the 3 billion [00:20:00] locations per block and uh, some of these locations are so small they make a janitor's closet look roomy.

But the real thing here is kfc, man. They bring what Americans love, potatoes, corn gravy with some chicken buried in there for a meal. Not to mention the counterpart from the other side with Taco pll. Dual location with KFCs in many cities across the usa. I'm gonna have to say KFC for the win on this one.

In my opinion, I

John Byrnes: love Subway. All right? I just recently learned that they had discontinued the Italian urban cheese. I had taken a 10-year hiatus from Subway, so I never had to live through this tragedy. When I came back the subway, it was better than ever. They got the best spokesmen and women out there.

They got delicious sandwiches. . This is a non-greasy, fast food option. That's just everywhere. And for that, I'm a big fan of Subway. I love kfc. No shade. You go ahead and be the decision maker here, Fred.

Fred Anderson: My first job was at Subway.

Kyle: Of course it was.

Fred Anderson: I enjoyed [00:21:00] every moment of it. In fact, if they would pay me more, I would go back and work at Subway.

Cool people, cool culture, cool sandwiches. Hey, and it's not even the sandwiches that's on the menu, it's the sandwiches that we made off the menu. So they're making some changes after Jared had to do an image change, so they got really like the things the kids like, like honey and cheese. But listen, subway is a staple.

If I'm unsure, I know I'm gonna be able to get. At Subway. That

John Byrnes: is delicious. All right, let's move on guys. But we're definitely gonna have something to talk about. But backstage, now you got a new best friend, John . Don't get jealous here. We'll always have the Oscars. Don't, don't

Kyle: bring Subway to our Oscar party.

John Byrnes: I'm bringing a catering pack next year. Alright, let's move on. We got Wendy's number six going up against Pizza Hut. Number 11, no one how Pizza's the hut. I think everybody

Kyle: got Pizza's. The Hut . I got strong

John Byrnes: opinions about Wendy's here because I, in theory, I feel like I love [00:22:00] Wendy's. In practice, I feel like nine outta 10 Wendy's are trash and they're just, the people in there are just savages that they don't care whether or not anything is good.

They redid the fries, which I really love. and I always want a baconator, but I feel like I get one and then I get sick. So I tend to stay away from Wendy's. How about you

Fred Anderson: Fred? Man, this is tough and I really do agree with everything John says, but when they see the Pizza Hut, I can't help but get nostalgic and remember a time when Pizza Hut was a place where you come in, you sit down, you get a salad, they had great wings.

Pizza Hut is a, has been, they've seen better days. I just wanna say about Wendy's is you're gonna get a square burger, never frozen. Never frozen, always fresh. Maybe sometimes refrigerated. I'm not sure , but

John Byrnes: they [00:23:00] got a cow in the back. I think

Fred Anderson: they got a square cookie cutter. Wendy's is, Okay, Wendy is susceptible after 10:30 PM ,

John Byrnes: but the quality's even worse.

Late

Kyle: at night, Pizza Hut, they've gone the way of leaps and bounds and discover zone and should have closed a long time ago. They lost their mark and they lost their heat. And the heart of America when they quit doing the buffets in 99% of their locations. And I gotta say, every time I've had Pizza Hut, I've just felt like a greasy piece of trash afterwards.

So not a fan of Pizza Hut. I think Wendy. Takes it in my eyes. It's a win for the pig tailed red-haired favorite

John Byrnes: Wendy's. We're moving Wendy's forward, isn't it? For the record. I'm not

Kyle: happy. Well, let's welcome our first guest of the evening, Mark

Music: Black.[00:24:00]

Kyle: All right. Welcome to the show. Thank you for taking time outta your day, covering it out for us. Absolutely. Really appreciate it. You've been killing the sneaker game across the board. Thank you. Instagram. You been smoke in it. Totally crazy. Could you just introduce yourself a little bit and just tell everyone here what you're looking to accomplish as a service to sneakerheads?

Mark Black (@sneakerresellx): Absolutely. Som Mark and I founded my sneaker business, which is called Sneaker Resell. And it is a social media-based peer-to-peer sneaker business, where essentially I am. A shoe plug that operates online at the end of the day, I'm no different than your neighborhood shoe plug, except I feel like I'm operating on a much bigger scale than that.

I wanna supply everyone, and I wanna sell thousands of sneakers without taking the. 30 minutes to do a [00:25:00] sneaker meetup and all that. I think we can accomplish a lot more in the day than we think. So we're just trying to scale it up as as big and as fast as possible and have a good service

Kyle: for everybody.

One thing that I really like about your approach is specifically there's no extra mess to go through. There's no website, there's no login. Leave your email address. It's just real cut and dry. How did you even think? Using highlights as your store, that takes a lot of effort and careful attention to make sure you got the right sneakers up at the right time.

I'm just, I'm impressed that you're having that one-on-one conversation with everybody that you encounter and comes across to your page and wants to purchase some sneakers. .

Mark Black (@sneakerresellx): Yeah, absolutely. I think that one-on-one interaction is what makes my business successful, and I think that is one huge reason why I don't have a website.

Having that conversation, having just a human talk with someone as they're making the purchase ensures they're gonna come back and view me as, like I [00:26:00] said, that neighborhood shoe plug who just happens to live in another state. And at the end of the day, having these highlights ensure that my pr, my prices are as cheap as possible.

I don't have to charge any crazy fees or anything like that. And, you know, on, on both ends, if I had a website, the buyer would be paying fees and me, the seller, I, I would be paying fees as well. So, They would have to spend a lot more on the sneakers. And I think part of the reason why I've done what I've done is because of my competitive pricing, and I've kept my prices very under market and better than anyone else.

And with a website, I might not be able to do

Kyle: that. I know we talked before in the back channels about the difference between well high turn rate. Versus just trying to put out top dollar. Could you just expound on that a little bit on, on your theory on why a higher turn rate of shoes versus a higher markup of shoes and why you like that balance better?

So there's

Mark Black (@sneakerresellx): many ways to look at it. I could be prioritizing making more on each [00:27:00] shoe. Versus moving a lot of shoes and trying to sell fewer shoes, just making a higher profit margin. That's one option. Then another option is just moving quantity for smaller profit margins, and both of them are viable business structures depending on how they're set up.

But in my opinion, the reason I like the quantity approach better is because that allows me to sell to more people. That means more customers. That means more customers talking about me to their friends, which ultimately leads to more customers. That allows for a wider spread of word of mouth. And if I'm constantly pushing out sneakers at a smaller profit margin, then my brand continues to get bigger and bigger and building on itself like a butterfly effect versus if I was making a a higher profit margin, but moving less sneakers, that does not allow as much room for growth in my.

Kyle: I like that approach because instead of there being a longer [00:28:00] window of time in between, especially starting off a longer amount of time in between purchases and where you're having to go grab a pair of shoes and put 'em in the box and ship 'em out, you're right because it's more accessible to more people.

You, you just keep that action going. Keep your day busy, keep your day going fast. Like you said, the overall result is. Sneakers that have passed through your hands to somebody else and more people that can spread the word about their sneaker plug that they found on Instagram. Exactly, exactly. Yes, sir.

One thing I, I'd love to highlight too, talking about fairly priced sneakers, I love the variety that you have. I like how you break it up by sizes, and it's real simple. I mean, folks, you just go to his Instagram page, you message him, and he responds within an. Now once you respond, could you walk us through the process that somebody has to go through just to purchase a pair of shoes?

Yeah, it

Mark Black (@sneakerresellx): could not possibly be simpler. All transactions are made with peer-to-peer payments. They'll receive a sheet of frequently asked [00:29:00] questions. They'll receive the payment information is sent a transfer over, can send an instant payment within, you know, two minutes transactions done. And typically I'm shipping out sneakers once a day, so they buy a shoe on Monday.

before my shipping time. Then that sneaker will literally get shipped out on Monday. For example, my shipping time's around 3:00 PM every day. So if anybody buys a shoe for me at like 10 in the morning and someone buys a shoe for me, they're gonna get that sneaker shipped out the same day. So it is very simple.

Peer-to-peer focused in every aspect.

Kyle: Could you talk a little bit about just how you've been able to plug in, pardon the pun, with people online and find other sneakerheads via TikTok and Instagram and how you've used the tool?

Mark Black (@sneakerresellx): Yeah, absolutely. Any business that isn't utilizing organic growth on social media is not doing it right.

So, you know, I've, I've focused my business over the years, although I've had varying [00:30:00] strategies. It all comes down to short form content. Talks, YouTube shorts, Instagram reels, et cetera. That's what has been the driving factor in my business and separated me from other shoe plugs because you can post a video that's, you know, if it has a good hook and it keeps people entertained, it can reach a million people without spending a dime on ads that I have.

Videos that have surpassed six point. I think my most viewed video on TikTok is almo, almost 7 million views. and I was just having fun with it, trying to make content that was sneaker related and you know, can you imagine how many buyers that brought me? Or customers .

Kyle: Yeah, that's insane. Just the opportunity that's out there for those.

I mean, TikTok, you know, there's some hacks here and there as far as what time of day you post or whatever. I'm not gonna get into all that cuz there's a science to a lot of it, but, but the other part of it is just getting in front of the right eyes. There's that little bit of luck factor as well.

Absolutely. And I think your genuine. and just being yourself [00:31:00] and not overhyping it. You don't got these glitzy videos going wild with like, uh, we got this new shoe , you know, John Cena, whatever. You know, some crazy soundtrack. Sure. You're just like, Hey, we got these shoes. Check 'em out. Hit me up. I'll get you, I'll hit you back within an hour.

Let's talk. And I think that's been been pretty incredible, honestly, and inspiring just to see somebody turn something that they like to do and something that they're interested in, into a business. Work it out the way that you have. Thank you. I know while your time is limited, cause you got shoes, buddy.

You got shoes to hand up. Yeah, exactly. Any advice you could give anybody who's looking to give up their nine to five or start a side hustle before they, they get crazy and start making big decision.

Mark Black (@sneakerresellx): I think there's a lot to say about that, but I will keep it focused on two things. The number one thing is be your own person.

If you want to get into a business that is very widespread and you know that a lot of people are doing it, then the only way you're gonna be successful in that [00:32:00] business is by doing it in a unique. Adding your own small niche within that much bigger niche. That's the first thing. And the second thing is you have not failed until you give up.

It's gonna take a lot of failure. It's gonna take a lot of fallen down and having to brush yourself off and get back up, you have not failed until you've finished. So if you keep going, then you're just, you still

ALYSS: just started. That's good advice. It's work. And I know we've talked about it before on this show, and you and I have talked about it as well.

You gotta work to make money. And it's just a different way to do it. And be your own boss. I appreciate your grind. I love what you're doing. Check out his socials. We got 'em posted up top and we got 'em posted in the podcast notes. If you need a sneaker plug or even if you don't still check it out cause you might find a better one.

Mark, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you. Have a good one. Here is Alice with her latest single, just released on sound, xyz y. The talking palm tree.[00:33:00]

Kyle: That was an awesome track from Alice. Beautiful song. So excited to have you here with us. We met just a few short weeks ago and you're killing it. I'm so excited to see what you're doing here with this fusion of beautiful music pulling from all different genres. Uh, I don't like status quo, and that's something that you definitely don't fall into.

So welcome Alice for being. Could you tell us a little bit about that track?

ALYSS: Well, firstly, [00:37:00] you're speaking my language. I certainly try not to follow the status quo or try to, I just naturally never seem to fit into that. So , you're speaking my language, . Um, so yeah, that song is called The Talking Palm Tree, and it was actually the first song I ever produced fully for myself.

So everything you heard there was created by my voice, my hands, my beat making. That was my genesis into just music production in general. Also my genesis into Web three as well. So it's a lot of firsts with this song.

Kyle: I just love the way your music is put together. It's got things that are reminiscent. I know I, I share this before f k a twigs, uh, some electro pop styles.

Not that you're being influenced by these people specifically, but in, in my mind's framework, greats like London Grammar and across some various. Quite differing genres, to be honest. And the way that you've been able [00:38:00] to pull these together is something that is polished, futuristic, and also seemingly really grounded and natural is such a feat for one to accomplish.

So congratulations. But also, it's such a pleasing experience to listen to something like this. Could you talk to me about how. How you're influenced and what inspires you and how you're able to scope these sounds and create this atmospheric collection. Mm-hmm. of sounds that creates this soundscape.

Well, firstly, thank you for

ALYSS: that amazing, that amazing combination of words to describe my music.

That's really, really kind. And yeah, I guess, you know, as the, as the creator and bringing all these sounds together, I, it's not a very kind of thought out process, as in, I'm not ever really thinking to myself, okay, what soundscape do I wanna create? What vibe do I wanna bring? What vibes do I [00:39:00] wanna b bring together?

It's this very natural. Energy, I suppose that flows through me when it comes to that. When I think of my growing up and where my influences come from, just on a musical level, my parents, it's always where we begin is what did our parents listen to? And my parents between them had such a wide scope. Of music.

My mom would listen to u b 40 Shaggy, uh, , like some cheesy stuff, but then also the big Motown classics, lot of jazz or opera. Um, and my dad is a, is a classical violinist for the Voil Opera House in Common Gardens, and he's also a composer. But instead of composing classical music, he composes very kind of abstract modern string music, which doesn't really fit in the, the status quo of classical, but kind of does, but kind of doesn't.

So he's got that very, just his, a very unique approach to it. So all of that combined lives within my D n A in terms of when I come to create music, it's this [00:40:00] very, from all I'm pulling from lots of different creative. Expressions. I'm also massively a perfectionist in what I do, which perhaps is what helps me ground all those crazy ideas sometimes that I have or that flow through into a more palatable thing for people to hear.

Sometimes I wonder, if it's easy for people to hear, but what you said is really amazing to know that it translates, you know, in such a way. So, yeah, I hope that answers your question. In terms of my, yeah, definitely influences cuz it's, I guess it's quite a schizophrenic way of creating, one day it's very sad piano music and the next is sort of tribal upbeat house music.

So I will continue bouncing around the walls. , when you're a creator you almost have to be a little bit crazy cause like you said, one day you. even for maybe even the same thing you're creating, and maybe at the time you don't know what's all going into one thing, but one day you're recording hand claps.

One day you're recording vocal sounds, and then the next day [00:41:00] you're playing a traditional instrument. And absolutely, who knows, the next day you're recording waves . It's just exactly, there's so many different elements you can incorporate exactly that. And every day when I walk around, I always just take some sort of voice memo recording.

Where I'm walking around, I've just moved near a forest and it's been so incredible walking through the forest and just recording just those sounds. And I always try and include those in the music even just as a very low level layer in the background because I like to think that's, that really captures the essence of that day that those ideas are coming or, so I'm very, I guess I very much intertwine myself with my environment in whatever happens and as, as the human experience, we are changing day by day.

I would say, I guess reflects itself of my music, which is always changing and all different sound is always coming out because I'm always changing and my emotions are like the waves. , . Yeah. I've talked to a few people on this show, but [00:42:00] also just across my time on this earth, however you wanna put it.

Mm-hmm. .

Kyle: People find a lot of inspiration from water and just the movement. I am a fish. I love to be in the water or on the water. Either one.

ALYSS: Are you a Pisces?

Kyle: I'm so bad with signs. I could never remember. I'm , I'm the, the, the book end of August, so I'm not what most of August is .

ALYSS: Okay. My, my dad is the 28th of August.

Okay. I'm 31st. Ah, you're the 31st. Okay. Yeah. Well, you're not a Pisces, but maybe you have, you're fish in a past life. Guess,

Kyle: I guess. Yeah. It's, it is crazy. I literally, I used to live in Hawaii and every single day after work, I would just go swim in the water for hours and hours and hours. It's, it doesn't make any sense.

Everybody else just be like, what are you doing, ? No, no. I just had to be there.

ALYSS: Water is very healing. It's actually made of negative ions, and because we're made of positive ions, we actually need water to [00:43:00] keep ourselves balanced. That's why when you have a shower, we feel so cleansed. Even just from emotions, we reset because literally the physics of the water is.

The perfect balance to keep our ionic, I don't even know if that's a word, but balance. So there is, there's a lot of wisdom to sitting in water after work every day.

Kyle: We're starting to talk some cool things that I love to talk about. , , nothing. Yes. Have nothing and everything to do with music. You know that Absolutely.

Oh, we'll have to talk about it. I'm not gonna go down that rabbit hole, but . Yeah, you just definitely made me think about all some of my favorite things to talk about cuz it, it is all scientific and it was all really very simple at the same time because it's all in nature definitely with everything that exists.

So, but exactly. Also a topic I could go on for hours. Yes, yes. . But you also are artistic outside of the musical realm. I've been drawing artwork for at least a few years publicly. Could you talk a little bit about the artwork that you're [00:44:00] creating and how that has maybe crafted or evolved with your music?

ALYSS: Really good question. So, yeah, I began drawing the artwork I'd say in around 2014. It was just sort of came out of nowhere. I was just drawing these very trippy, psychedelic shapes that one day I thought, oh, I can start doing this on black and gold with gold pen on black paper. That could look cool. So I took it to that medium and it just sort of blossomed from them.

It, it actually just became kind of a meditative break in between making music and. Just became more like a relaxation process for me. It's very much centered on sacred geometry and repeating patterns and shapes that I guess you'd see in, I don't even know, I don't know if you know of Alex Gray, but just that sort of trippy, psychedelic art artwork are just really am drawn to that.

Because I also am very interested in astrology and [00:45:00] esoteric kind of subjects. The symbology found in there. I began incorporating a lot of that into the artwork, which then at the same time where I was learning about these esoteric subjects, you know, informing myself about our chemical things and just where the symbology comes from and relates to the human experience naturally, that then informed the way I was writing lyrics, concepts for songs.

uh, became very intertwined within that because while I was drawing on my sort of breaks in between music, I was listening to podcasts by people like Terrence McKenna. Mm-hmm. , um, Alan Watts, just the sort of great thinkers, of a certain time period. And that was really informing how I was thinking about life, which obviously Yeah.

Like I said, went into my lyrics and. Actually just formed, yeah, a lot of my concepts for EPS and albums and still to this day, it just became so in entwined together, the art and [00:46:00] the music. Um, and just on a level of when I was creating the art, I always found myself putting intention into each piece, and that almost taught me.

Be very conscious of the intention that I was putting into each song as well, knowing that whatever intention is going into the song, even if it's just something I know that's gonna translate to the listener, they're definitely, especially now, are just very, very entwined. They definitely informs each other's process when piece of art is created or the music is created, even if the art isn't for music, it's.

influenced by whatever I'm creating. Sure.

Kyle: It's funny that this topic is coming through our conversation when we're talking about music, but how mathematical creatures that we are and how, mm-hmm. , we are constantly equating, subtracting, and crossing things over into one another, whether it's just in our daily life or when it's in creating.

And to see definitely your music wrapped up [00:47:00] in your drawing. As well as your drawings influencing your music is like a perfect marriage of something that that is innately you. And it probably creates, I would imagine, a more raw art because there's less, because it's, you have your own art influencing each other.

They're less influenced by out outward sources, if that makes sense. Kind of creating like a cone of creativity that's, that's. .

ALYSS: Well that's why my Twitter name and my name across social media is Alice Underscore Hertz, because it's the, it's my frequency that is injected in the music in the arch, same as any creator.

It's their own frequency. Hertz obviously stands for whatever vibratory frequency something is resonating at. And by the nature of sacred geometry, I realized and I didn't realize what I was drawing was counted as sacred geometry. Someone pointed it out a year after me doing it, and when I [00:48:00] started studying more of sacred geometry and that side of things, I realized how music is just the audio form of geometry.

Every chord, every resonant frequency is maths. , is a perfect form of maths. I in different equations. I hope that makes sense, but no. Okay. You know, . Yeah. The harmonic flows between each other. That's forming kind of maths and motion

Kyle: it. It's insane too, the, even just like you said, the frequencies of people wonder why certain types of music can cause people to find serenity and fall asleep or why other, other types of music will keep people awake.

And oftentimes it's music, depending on who you art also. But depending on what kind of music it is, oftentimes it's one that you wouldn't expect. , like a lot of people can fall asleep to really heavy. because there's some disconnect cords that force the body to, to try to reconcile what they're consuming.

Mm-hmm. and then you're gonna listen to something really, oh, [00:49:00] what some would consider mild or tame and be completely alert and ready to take on the day. Mm-hmm. , while again for somebody who's not musical, could hear something that maybe they would consider a very similar. and that be something that is actually calming and brings somebody to a sleep state.

So it is a hundred percent amazing how all of this stuff works in the fabric of everything. It really is. It's insanity, but all still calculated. It really is

ALYSS: and like you said before, this stuff gets so complex and the web of how you are and how we affect each other and the web in native. American culture and shamanic belief, they say that every being on the planet affects every other being on the planet.

We're on this giant web that whatever's done on one side of the earth is going to have a ripple effect across the other side. And it just points to that. It just, it's just a beautiful idea that we are all deeply connected without getting to woo about it. It just brings more it, it just creates a bit of magic.

I think There's [00:50:00] such a beautiful thing thinking in these terms because we can. deliberate with our thoughts and our actions and sometimes we're not and that's fine as well, but we're just dancing between so many layers that we can't see. We can't see with our senses or feel, but just to know that there's this kind of wave operating around us all is quite a cool thing in my opinion.

And we can tap into it with things like music and, uh, so like those are the key kind of entry points to feel these other. That maybe our physical senses can't comprehend currently. Who knows where we'll go. But when you're creating music like that, that is grounded, like you said, it's an entry point for somebody to find that frequency.

Kyle: And the more they're able to lock onto frequencies that help them throughout their day or for whatever tasks at hand, the easier that they can find those things without having to meditate, without having to listen to a particular song with me. Absolutely. So it's, I used to spend a lot of time meditating.

I need to spend more time doing [00:51:00] it. , but I found don't through meditating. Definitely. But I found through doing that, that I'm able to bring myself to that state of mind that I was mm-hmm. chasing before, just by wanting to be there as opposed to yes. Spending hours every day trying to get there. Now there's other things I can probably work on, and that's why I, I need to get back to that, but it's, it, it really is, ugh, the human condition, the mind, everything.

It's an amazing thing to. and it's so lovely to meet people like you creating music that is different, original, and all the while new and nostalgic and incredible, and we are in a space that's surrounded by a lot of beautiful, creative people. But to be able to have these conversations and get to hear the minds behind the music and know all that.

Into it, and it's not just I'm writing a pop hook because it's gonna track on the top 50. Yeah. On whatever streaming platform or radio station. It [00:52:00] is such a refreshing thing because it's no longer, it's no longer a. A product, which music wasn't years and years ago. Yeah. It, it's coming back to what it was originally intended to be, which was frequencies and sounds and expression.

And I think you've done so, so beautifully, and I just thank you for being here and sharing this music with us.

ALYSS: Thank you. Yeah, for sure. And it's, it's just all we can do, whether a musician or just being human and living our daily lives is just show. Try and be as authentic as we can and live true to where our excitement is pulling us or where we feel we need to be.

We can only, that's all we can strive for, are flawed, and we have ups and downs. And back to the analogy of water, it's just about flowing. God, it's gone. So I've gone so woowoo in this conversation, but I love it. That's just where my head at. But I really appreciate it. That's where I'm always at. But I feel like I always keep it at bay because, He just [00:53:00] isn't a conversation for everybody, but I like for it to spill out here and there where people can grab on and do with it what they want to.

I think it's becoming more widely accepted now. I feel like that sort of way of viewing life is becoming less uncool and just, we need this stuff because everything else is quite harsh and this reminds us that there is, there's a higher sort of purpose to things and that's a beautiful thing to keep within us.

You. To deal with life's, yeah. Ups and downs. Well, it's been a total pleasure having you here, and thank you so much for your time and look forward to the next release and maybe having you back where we can dive into some of this. Maybe we'll have a bonus episode where we can just talk about all things intense.

I would love that. That would be awesome. Yeah, please. I'm really done for that, . Thank you. Yeah, no, I really appreciate you having me on and it's very exciting to be out in web three now. Finally. So hopefully it's the start of. A long journey that I can experiment and share more cool things with you [00:54:00] guys.

where's the best place for, for everyone to stream? And purchase and everything that you want them to do to interact with this song that you've just released. It is on sound now. It will be on sound open edition for three days, so I believe that will end on Saturday, which will be the 25th. I believe. I should have these things in stone, but , it's open addition for three days, and then later, I believe in April it should be uploaded.

onto Spotify and all those places, people will be able to hear it there. And yeah, that's kind. Where that song will be existing, and as I said, this is just the first track of five songs. So yeah, stay in tune. If you follow me on Twitter and scramble those places, I'll be posting about what's coming up and even more exciting things in the future.

Absolutely. We're so excited to see what you're bringing to the space [00:55:00] and look forward to catching up with you again. Be sure to check out the links. We got 'em all posted in the podcast notes. If you are watching or listening, I should say, to this live, you can see it up in the top, in the billboard, whatever you wanna call it, the jumbotron.

Or you can go to our website and view the transcription and see the links in there as well. So once again, I. All the time, too many times maybe. But thanks again, and we really appreciate you. Thank you, Kyle. You're absolute star. Have a beautiful day. Same to you.

Kyle: Well, John, what a great show. Thank you to Mark for being here. And guys, be sure to check out his information. We got it in the notes also to Alice Killer song. Great conversation. Love diving deep into just the creation process and just the root of. , you know, humanity really, and how music Oh yeah. Ticks within all of us. So very cool.[00:56:00]

Also, John, I can't believe we didn't talk about this last week cause we did talk about it, in the writer's room, but Ted Lasso was back. Guys don't forget to check that out. Oh yeah, there's some, people, some people are saying it's more the same and I have no idea cause I haven't watched it yet, but I definitely plan on it.

Hey, I

John Byrnes: feed, a lot of people loved, uh, what Ted Lasso was doing in season one and season two. I'm personally ready to see, uh, where this story takes our friend Nate, the Great or maybe not so great anymore. ,

Kyle: I'm hearing good things about the stuff you should know, podcast. You probably need to listen to it to know if it's your kind of podcast.

So please do. And if you enjoy it, maybe we'll check it out. Shout out to Juan Zim, Fred, Carl, Jared, and John. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all that you. On audio and behind the scenes. Appreciate you guys just coming to the table and killing it week after week. [00:57:00] Also, shout out to some of our patrons, biscuit, SoCal, ham, ck and Antoine.

We appreciate you all. We will see you next time. Thursdays, 9:05 PM Eastern Standard Time. Look forward to it. One.

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