Scott Trotta – Creativity Combustion Interview #1

Summary Of Creativity Combustion Interview #1

In this episode, we interview Scott Trotta. He gives us a brief history of living coast to coast, Hosoi hammerhead skateboards, talk about hitting on the same girl as Harvey Weinstein at a Miramax party, and describes the perfect cup of coffee.

Notable Sections From The Conversation

In the VIP room, I was fortunate enough to hang out and drink beer with Harvey Keitel and meet Marissa until May. But I'll finish with this one story. So. So here I am. You know, I'm like my early twenties, got myself in a tuxedo I borrowed from a friend. I'm wearing my Chuck Taylor, you know, Converse sneakers. And so we're in there and I'm heading to the bathroom and it's just, like, stunning blond, right?
...
I'm like, I don't know. I thought things were going well with this blond. And now she's talking to this guy. And I don't know what's going on, man. It's like, you know, what's the deal? They're like, Do you know whom you're dancing with? I'm like, Yeah, the guy that she's more interested in than me. And they're like, No, that's Harvey Weinstein and this is his party because he owns Miramax.

So I worked on many graduate student films, you know, with the genre of just kind of feminism and lesbian lifestyle. So that was a great eye-opening thing and I was cool with it and learned a lot from the filmmakers, mostly ladies and the film school itself was cool. The dean at the time was this guy Auguste Coppola, who was Francis Ford Coppola's brother, Nick Cage's dad.

And so he was a very famous composer there. So a lot of his fingers were on that in the film department. And so I got there. It was great, man. There's a guy named Larry Clark, a black filmmaker, who did a lot of really cool films in the seventies. He was one of the men on Richard Pryor's Live on the Sunset Strip.

And, you know, so I was exposed to a lot of really diverse film school experiences.

My first skipper was Christian Hosoi, a toy hammerhead skateboarder, which I didn't know anything about, but it was super cool. And I hung out with this kid named Trevor Hoffman, who I'm pretty sure became like a pro skater. And we'd be in this garage rocking out and smoking Newport menthols fucking around with our skateboards.

The perfect cup of coffee. I would say I have memories of a perfect cup of coffee. Italy, for sure. Florence is a very, very famous cafe. If you saw there's a famous black and white photograph called An American Girl in Italy, and she's coming off of the curb and she's kind of clutching herself. And you can see in her face that she's just like, you know, basically like, oh, my God, I've got to get out of here.
...
She's engulfed by all these Italians. This is like, black and white, right after World War Two. You know, Vespa dressed up, Italians, old guys, young guys. And you could see that they're back home. This lady right out took the picture. But it's very famous and beautiful. But they're standing in front of this cafe, the most famous coffee shop in Italy, which has been around forever.

And that's where I've had the best espresso of my life.

My dad was a cop. So like we would go to these keg parties, house parties at my brother's friend's house, and at he would have to leave and I'd still be there, like, see you later, have a good night, you know? And then spend the rest of the night, you know, a party with those guys. Until one night, in particular, my brother had to go home.

And I think you probably did that for me, telling him, you know, see you later. So then flash forward to like an hour or two later and my dad shows up in the car with my mom and they come rifling through the house looking for me. And the only place I could hide was in the bathtub. No water, but I'm in the bathtub.

So they come to get me and I squirrel out of it. And now I, my dad, and my mom also my dad chasing me. I had a scooter at the time, which I wasn't able to turn on, so I had a book at home. And then when I got home, I knew my mom was going to wait for me.
So I spent the night in the bushes. She took all my clothes and threw it on the front lawn and shit and she's like, You're out of here. Did you make it back to the house? Eventually? And that was kind of like a long-standing joke about my older brother and my parents of like, you know, you little son of a bitch, you're the bathtub and run it away from us.

I was on the basketball team, which ended up we ended up going to the state championship game, and actually, we were still are the best interest of our high city basketball team ever in the city's history.

We're the only team that went undefeated and went on to play the state championship game. We lost, but it was cool.

When I get out to the West Coast, my first year out there, I was offered to study abroad, which is in Florence, Italy, which I did when I was. And now I'm over there and, you know, totally engulfed with the beauty and the history of Florence, Renaissance Italy. And that just really spurred me to really get into that more.

I took an Italian film history class and, you know, Fellini's La Dolce Vita and Rossellini's Rome Open City, you know, it's like all these new things really were like, Wow, this is really cool.

Creativity Combustion Interview #1

Rich

Where did you grow up?

Scott Trotta

Cool. So I’m born and raised in Worcester. I grew up on Purchase Street, which is in the Greendale neighborhood. So like Northwestern Purchase Street to be specific. And yeah, one of four kids. I have an older brother myself, a younger sister, and a younger brother and I went to Greendale Elementary School on Fell’s Fairhaven Road, and kind of a funny story with that.

So my older brother was in kindergarten and my mom is the oldest of seven and every single one of her siblings went there. Greendale Elementary School. So when my older brother was in kindergarten, my mom’s youngest brother was in sixth grade. And then I went, my sister and my brother went. So there was like a span of Preston Trotters and my younger brother, who was a bit of a knucklehead when he left, I think the door hit him on the ass on his way out.

But it was a trap because I had the same second-grade teacher that my aunt had and she’s like, I don’t know, She’s older than me. And, um, and then my son Gabriel went to Head Start there for a couple of years. So was a super trip. Being back in that school after all those years, back in some of the same classrooms, his head start class was my second-grade classroom.

So we’re just like, You fucking kidding me, man?

Rich

What about after high school?

Scott Trotta

Well, yeah, back up. Just a touch. So, like,  went to Greendale and then my parents divorced, so my mom and I moved to Southern California. Well, it’s a junior high school. So that was in Dana Point and Laguna Beach, which is, I don’t know, like an hour and a half South L.A., but an hour and change north of San Diego.

And so, you know, I went from Worcester to Southern California, and it was a total shift, man. And there was like, you know, from going to the hayfield off of court upon exit, you know, burning fires and doing crazy shit to slash war dorm and, you know, the mecca of surf and skateboarding. And so I had to make that transition, which was hard but cool.

And so I really get acclimated to that whole lifestyle and took up skateboarding. My first skipper was Christian Hosoi, a toy hammerhead skateboarder, which I didn’t know anything about, but it was super cool. And I hung out with this kid named Trevor Hoffman, who I’m pretty sure became like a pro skater. And we’d be in this garage rocking out and smoking Newport menthols fucking around with our skateboards.

And, you know, they would build half pipes and like really into it. And I was kind of like the outsider kid who kind of worked his way in. We used to surf every day, and would take the bus to the beach, and after school was like a routine, and had to be home when the sun went down. And so I did that for a couple of junior high schools.

And then my mom moved back. So I moved back and ended up going to Berkeley High School, right back in the Brooklyn neighborhood. So now I come back as a freshman and it was like all my friends from sixth grade, what, the junior high school and they blended in with all the other kids who came from around the city or the different elementary schools.

And now I’m like a new kid back home again. And so I get to like me. And, you know, I came back and I was kind of bleached blond out and tanned up, and I was like, you know, the surfer dude, you know? So that was a little bit of a challenge kind of to get back into the flow.

And so I did that, you know, and ended up being, you know, captain of the freshman basketball team. And my older brother at this time was a senior and I was a freshman. And so I became friends with a lot of his friends. And the way it kind of worked out was when my parents split, my mom was a lot more liberal and looser.

So I spent the night in the bushes. She took all my clothes and threw it on the front lawn and shit and she’s like, You’re out of here. Did you make it back to the house? Eventually? And that was kind of like a long-standing joke about my older brother and my parents of like, you know, you little son of a bitch, you’re the bathtub and run it away from us.

So on the rotation, it would have never gone back to the garden, which we were all hoping for. It ended up being a home game for us because it was at the Centrum. So we’re talking somewhere from to people watching us, and it was a great experience besides the fact that we got our asses kicked pretty well and so that was cool.

And I was the senior class president. They had a pretty gal who was a junior and did the whole thing and then a week after actually and here’s just kind of a funny story. So I become senior class president, right? And once again, my mom was pretty loosey-goosey and all these absences, all these parties, and stuff. So the principal, Mr. O’Malley, calls me and at the end of the junior is like, listen, you’re going to be the president, but you got to, you know, ship up or ship out, you know, with your attendance and stuff.

No problem. So the school year starts the same shit late all the time and he pulls me into the office. He’s like, Mr. Trotter. He goes, This is the deal. He’s like, every class president from the four inner highs will go to go to the city council meeting to represent the school, and it’ll be televised. We’ve decided that we’re going to have your vice principal and vice president represent the school, and you’re not going to do it.

And I was like, all right, no big deal. I’m cool with that. So this guy, Mr. O’Malley, didn’t really like me too much. So now flash forward to the graduate giving a speech at the old Worcester Auditorium in front of a couple of thousand people kind of watching it. And then two days later, I’m on a plane at Worcester Airport to fly back out to California, where I was about to start junior high school.

I’m walking on the plane at that time, you know, my Walkman set on. I’m listening to Led Zeppelin, going to California myself, hopped up who’s sitting on the airplane? But Mr. O’Malley, I want my like, how’s it going? Mr. O’Malley is like he’s like Scott. Mr. Charter, you know, I didn’t think Oh. Mr.. But he’s like Charter. And then so I’m sitting like five feet back from him and you know, then flash week, we land in L.A..

Get off the plane. Where is the luggage? My aunts were there with a big sign. Welcome to California. And I’m like the letter, Mr. O’Malley? And he’s like, that son of a bitch. So that was a pretty auspicious start to junior high school out on the West Coast.

Rich

Wow. So I, you know, didn’t really picture you as someone who had been so involved in sports. It’s so talented at sports because, you know, every conversation we talk about, it was always like involving film, creativity, making like a project or, you know, stories, talking about past jobs and stuff. So did you have like a creative outlet as well as athletics when you were younger?

Scott Trotta

I did, yeah. You know, in high school, I also had I’ve always been interested in the arts. I always like to draw was actually think a really good plus drawback in grammar school was part of the thing called a peak program and you know like I went to the art museum and made pencil cameras and worked with clay and drawing.

So I always liked that that was a thorough line for me for sure. And even back in high school, I found myself gravitating towards, you know, maybe not such mainstream films. There was, you know, our house movie theater in the city. I’d go to some art house films and you know, I always kind of had that part of me that was just kind of starting to take all that sort of stuff in.

When I get out to the West Coast, my first year out there, I was offered to study abroad, which is in Florence, Italy, which I did when I was. And now I’m over there and, you know, totally engulfed with the beauty and the history of Florence, Renaissance Italy. And that just really spurred me to really get into that more.

I took an Italian film history class and, you know, Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Rossellini’s Rome Open City, you know, it’s like all these new things really were like, Wow, this is really cool. And so that really got me going in junior high school and junior college. And then I had to make a decision for when I transferred, you know, where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do.

And at that point, I was really getting into film video holography at the time. We’d like to hire cassettes and decided to apply for film school and got into San Francisco State sight unseen. You know, I applied to a couple of other schools, but I was like, you know, I got in San Francisco, sounds great. I’m going to go there for sure.

And then I got there and they had a really good film program, both graduate and undergraduate. The graduate film program was kind of heavily driven by a feminist lesbian film because San Francisco was a pretty open, diverse town and, you know, open to the beach, you know, a lot of the gay community. So that just happened to be the emphasis.

So I worked on many graduate student films, you know, with the genre of just kind of feminism and lesbian lifestyle. So that was a great eye-opening thing and I was cool with it and learned a lot from the filmmakers, mostly ladies and the film school itself was cool. The dean at the time was this guy Auguste Coppola, who was Francis Ford Coppola’s brother, Nick Cage’s dad.

And so he was a very famous composer there. So a lot of his fingers were on that in the film department. And so I got there. It was great, man. There’s a guy named Larry Clark, a black filmmaker, who did a lot of really cool films in the seventies. He was one of the men on Richard Pryor’s Live on the Sunset Strip.

And, you know, so I was exposed to a lot of really diverse film school experiences. And, you know, that was back when it was like you shot a real film, Super millimeter, you know, upbeat movie oldies. You’re you couldn’t film with fucking, you know, razor blades and gluing them together. I mean, like old-school analog-type stuff, which was cool, but it was right on the cusp of when like nonlinear avid editing systems were coming in.

So it was like I was learning kind of old school, which then became obsolete, which then became kind of hip, you know, overnight I kind of like getting lost in that transition, but, you know, did the film school thing. I lived in the city, which was great, you know, live that really awesome kind of European style lifestyle after coming from living in Europe on my own a bunch of times and you know, love San Francisco, you know, but you know, Europe was great, too.

You know, I backpacked through by myself, you know, did meet a lot of people, did some crazy shit, you know, running with the bulls and Pamplona, sneaking into the Vatican Museum in Rome. You know, this one kid that I hung out with from San Francisco, we went to a Dali exhibit in Florence and he stole the piece of artwork, you know, and we’re running through the city with this little bronze statue and stuff.

And, you know, it was great, man. It was definitely a great experience. It carried over to kind of a really kind of open-minded, sort of risky lifestyle in San Francisco, as far as, you know, not really given a fuck. And just, you know, if there was an open door cracking open more and see where it would lead and stuff.

So, you know, I’m really grateful for my experience in junior college and in undergraduate college, you know, coming from Branco Street, which had its own experience to next thing you know, I’m, you know, in North Beach, hanging out in the same bars that Kerouac did in Lawrence Ferran Getty and, you know, inspired by the beats and all that sort of stuff, which I would have probably never been exposed to if I didn’t get the heck out of Worcester, you know?

So I’m super grateful for that. And, you know, that was college. And I got into film and television in San Francisco, which led me to Los Angeles, worked a lot in L.A. I was in a bunch of films, worked out a bunch of films, and music videos were huge at the time. And then I got into reality TV, which is also really big, so kind of got my fingers in a lot of different, different things and but never really like specialized, didn’t really get too high up the ladder but you know, work in a whole different by genres.

But I needed to feed myself and pay the rent. So it was like I was kind of stuck at a little bit of a lower level, but I loved it. You know, being single, being in L.A., you know, working on rap music videos in East L.A. too, you know, a couple of gay films in West Hollywood, too, you know, reality TV shows and the high-rise hotels.

It was cool, man. It was a really great experience that I’m so glad that I had. And once again, you know, coming from Worcester to see the world and Europe and then, you know, San Francisco, Los Angeles was great, man. So really, really look back fondly to my college, my twenties and thirties for sure.

Rich

Yeah. Thanks for sharing. That’s like imagine if you had Instagram back then.

Scott Trotta

Yeah. You know, and that’s the thing. We didn’t I didn’t have that back then. It was like it was regular phones and then beepers came out and, you know, it was a whole different way to communicate with people. Postcards, you know, when I met people in Europe, you know, I, when I came back to San Francisco, you’d send them a postcard, you know, maybe.

Maybe if you had enough money, you’d call them on the phone. But it was like this in comparison, a delayed communication system. But it works, you know, it’s like when I traveled, I have a  millimeter camera and shot real film, you know what I mean? And at the time bought a hi video camera, which is like the coolest thing ever, you know, and, and trying to get the right sort of adapters to plug into European plugs, you know, with, you know, stuff like that, you know, now it’s like.

Rich

You know, you could order that on Amazon before you go, but back then you got to go to a specialty store and get the hookup.

Scott Trotta

Oh, for sure. Makes you have enough batteries and the right battery charger and you know, so it’s like but part of that also to I think help with the hustle you know it was like that was the way it was, but you had to figure out how to do it that way. You know, always like we would take your real trains and we had a ticket that you’d hand right the dates on, right?

So we would travel on the fourth so we could send it to the eighth or the ninth, you know, so we could squeeze out more days. And, you know, now it’s all electronic. So it’s like, you know, the ability to buck the system for that specific thing probably is impossible anymore, you know. But then again, maybe you could take a screenshot of a ticket to a concert and talk your way into getting in because here’s my ticket.

You know, it’s on my phone. Take a quick look sort of thing so.

Rich

We could Photoshop anything.

Scott Trotta

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, I had one experience. I was at the Cannes Film Festival and I met this reporter who had a ticket to go to the Miramax party. Miramax was there with From Dusk Till Dawn, Usual suspects. So, you know, we photocopy the ticket, folded it up a few times, and I was able to sneak in and get into the VIP room.

In the VIP room, I was fortunate enough to hang out and drink beer with Harvey Keitel and meet Marissa until May. But I’ll finish with this one story. So. So here I am. You know, I’m like my early twenties, got myself in a tuxedo I borrowed from a friend. I’m wearing my Chuck Taylor, you know, Converse sneakers. And so we’re in there and I’m heading to the bathroom and it’s just, like, stunning blond, right?

It kind of catches the eye. Both of the restrooms come out at the same time. Hey, how’s it going? Do you want to dance? Yeah, let’s dance now. We’re on the dance floor. I feel pretty good about myself. Everything’s going great. And then we kind of had this whole circle of people kind of come up and start dancing around us.

This girl suddenly, like, just peels off of me like I’m chopped liver, and she’s dancing with this guy, right? And I’m going, What the fuck? You know, I’m looking at this guy kind of heavy, sad. Not really, I don’t think a good-looking dude, but she is, like, enthralled with this guy. So now I come over and I, like, try to, like, get back to deal with this girl.

So now I’m talking to her a little bit. He’s talking to me. There are a few other people, and all of a sudden this conversation starts getting a little weird, good but weird, and the topic becomes edible underwear, right? So it’s like edible. And where have you tried it? I asked the blond. She’s like, No. And then the guy goes, Have you tried it?

I go, No, but I’d like to. I’m like, Have you tried it? He’s like, No, I have a child yet. So now this is like, you know, a few drinks in IKEA. This is great. Once again, this gal doesn’t want to dance with me. So I was like, All right, I go back to my table. Some of my friends are there and they’re like, you know, you were just dancing with.

I’m like, I don’t know. I thought things were going well with this blonde. And now she’s talking to this guy. And I don’t know what’s going on, man. It’s like, you know, what’s the deal? They’re like, Do you know whom you’re dancing with? I’m like, Yeah, the guy that she’s more interested in than me. And they’re like, No, that’s Harvey Weinstein and this is his party because he owns Miramax.

And I’m like, Well, you know, God bless him, but you just basically cock block me and we’re talking about edible underwear, right? And then, you know, flash forward to all these years later, you know, who would have known that he was the creep that he was and he was pulling some crazy shit even back then?

Rich

It all makes sense.

Scott Trotta

It all makes sense. So, you know, I could say that I, among other things, shared it better with Harvey Keitel and Dance with Harvey Weinstein, Doug Watt, edible underwear, and basically a cock like by so, you know, one of many crazy travel experiences which were great. So that’s my Harvey Weinstein story.

Rich

Amazing. What’s the perfect cup of coffee for you?

Scott Trotta

The perfect cup of coffee. I would say I have memories of a perfect cup of coffee. Italy, for sure. Florence is a very, very famous cafe. If you saw there’s a famous black and white photograph called An American Girl in Italy, and she’s coming off of the curb and she’s kind of clutching herself. And you can see in her face that she’s just like, you know, basically like, oh, my God, I’ve got to get out of here.

She’s engulfed by all these Italians. This is like, black and white, right after World War Two. You know, Vespa dressed up, Italians, old guys, young guys. And you could see that they’re back home. This lady right out took the picture. But it’s very famous and beautiful. But they’re standing in front of this cafe, the most famous coffee shop in Italy, which has been around forever.

And that’s where I’ve had the best espresso of my life. And you go in and the baristas are dressed in suits and it’s super formal and ornate, and you go up there and you order you’re your espresso and you wait for them to do the whole razzle-dazzle and they give it to you. And I was told that if it’s a really good espresso, right, you take a little demi spoon and you swirl it like two or three times, and then you take the corner of the diameter spoon onto the ceramic espresso cup and you hit it once and a drip of the coffee comes off.

You go the second time, and a second drip of the coffee comes off the third time. And all the coffee, the spoon, or the foam layer should come all off on those three hits. And if they don’t, that means they didn’t put the right amount of coffee into the machine or pressed it long enough. And every time I’ve done it seems to be right on.

But it was just like the sense memory of the smell of the taste and the whole experience was the best coffee that I remember ever having for sure. Nowadays, some of the best coffee is I really, you know, I really like to find a really good French press, you know, really good grounds that I like it. Certain flavor.

I like things a little better, a little smoky, and then just trying to find that perfect water-to-ground ratio and take a good amount of time to, you know, plunge in and stuff and let it steep long enough and then just rock it out, man. I like sugar in the raw, like in a ceramic, and I like just to take my time with the man.

Rich

So any milk or cream or just black with a bit of sugar?

Scott Trotta

No. Do you know what I like? I like whole milk. I like a little bit of whole milk just to kind of cut that edge a little bit.

Rich

Yes. Yes.

Scott Trotta

It is. Cut to the touch, you know, but you still kind of get that bite, and doesn’t kill the aroma. And then I like the sugar in the raw. I like it to dissolve. And that’s you know, that would make me that will make me a happy camper, man. That’s a good Saturday, Sunday morning. You know, take my time and just, you know, maybe get your newspaper Iraq, Roxy Music.

You know, that’s my ideal these days.

Rich

Nice. And I asked that because I created a post about my top three favorite coffees and kind of like, kind of like giving a little elbow jab to the people who are getting these fancy sugary coffees.

And that made me discover my next post, which about does coffee fuel creativity and doing a bit of research about it. It actually isn’t good for creativity because it’s actually better for having an A project already in place because you get focused on those tasks and you actually can help complete the project quicker if you’re sitting down to have coffee and be creative, it’s actually hindering because you want to be focused on something that’s already in place.

Scott Trotta

I see. Okay.

Rich

I know I’m not explaining it great. But, you know, I wrote the post and I’ll send it to you.

Scott Trotta

Yeah, for sure.

Rich

But then on this, like coffee cake and like doing research on coffee and creativity. So yeah, that’s why I asked you that question.

Scott Trotta

Definitely. I mean, I think it absolutely does foster or spark creativity. But I can also see from that lens where if like something is rocking and rolling ideas like, you know, like if I’ve written something right and then get into like the editing process, you know, fueled by coffee, I think that’s when I can really get cranking as opposed to maybe like, however, the coffee and sitting down like, okay, I’ve got to, I want to come up with something.

Where is there something there? It’s kind of like if it organically comes to me in a dream or somewhere else, I can start the process. But maybe if it’s doled out, yeah, a good, good French press or espresso man will definitely get me going for sure. Do you know what I mean? That’s I can definitely I can see it from that lens.

Rich

That was the science of it. But I actually debated, I say, you know, me personally, I can make my mind go blank, make a, you know, plan to be blank, make a coffee, and see what happens. So like it does help me creatively.

Scott Trotta

Yeah. I mean, you know, I think that’s, it’s the beauty of individual creativity and choice and really what works for you, you know, I mean, if you find that’s you’re your, you know, your lecture, your mix of creativity, coffee, you know, maybe a space that also fosters that, you know, could be, you know, wherever in your house or a coffee shop and stuff.

I think all those elements definitely can come together for sure. And also the media, the beauty of it is you can always try different stuff or go back to the old faithful and ride that wave.

Rich

Yeah. Like, you know, a good ounce beer, some crack cocaine, and just get in the basement with all the lights and candles and then just create, you know, for the next two weeks, forget about your job and yeah, head out that way.

Scott Trotta

Yeah. You know, that was cool for me, which was day, about.

Rich

I’ve always been a water and coffee guy like that is, my drug. Like I don’t smoke cigarettes or any of that. It’s always been like, get me a strong cup of coffee and almost got like a wobble to me, like I was doing cocaine or something. Not that I know what it’s like doing that, but sure.

Scott Trotta

Well, I’ll finish this one. The last thing I did when I was in Italy was to Zooper, I mean super Italian and Zoopla Americano is what the Italians call American coffee. They call it the soup. They basically think is way too much water to the coffee ratio. So if you ask for like, you know, basically a drip-pour coffee, American style, that’s what they call it.

So if you want a cup of soup in Italy, that’s where you ask for the American soup as opposed to the classic espresso or, you know, cappuccino, what have you and stuff.

Rich

Americano times for meaning what to espresso shots and for things. Water for me, please.

Scott Trotta

Yeah, basically. Absolutely. Yeah.

Rich

Cool. Well, much appreciated. You taking the time out to talk about your first creativity combustion interview. I knew it would be amazing.

Scott Trotta

Nice. Well, I really appreciate it. Rich, if you ever want to revisit, you know, I’d love to continue with whatever you got going on. I’m open to it. And, you know, I definitely want to give you kudos, man. I mean, you’re super creative, dude. And I’m really pleased you included me in this. And I can’t wait to hear all the other interviews you have.

I’m sure there are a lot of really cool folks out there, and I’d like to hear their take on creativity in coffee and beyond, for sure.

Rich

Truly doing this for myself because I miss my friends and like with all the responsibilities of the world, I don’t have the time to just, you know, go get coffee and do nothing all day. And I want to talk to my friends. I want to talk to people I don’t know and shop and like, learn, you know like you learn new things about people every time you talk to them.

It’s like I’ve known you for, you know, probably ten years now, but I didn’t know any of those things that you said.

Scott Trotta

That’s so cool, man. And, you know, a lot of them were locked away. And it’s really it’s great to share for sure. And, you know, now I’m in a good groove to going to kind of be in that memory zone at bars and stuff. So I appreciate you and I get a lot more TV. So, you know, hey, and I want to know more about you too, man.

I mean, you’ve done a lot of cool stuff. You shared a lot of cool stuff here. You know, the I think I remember was like that snow igloo video from off of Winfield Street or whatever that one time. Yep. You know all that in the Hollywood Avenue movie or stream.

Rich

Hollywood Street movie?

Scott Trotta

Yeah, man, I remember that stuff. So, yeah, there’s.

Rich

Just a cult classic.

Scott Trotta

Yeah. Yeah. So definitely you want to hear more about that? You do.

Rich

So with each creativity combustion episode. I actually that’s part of it. I share a personal story, I make a playlist. I do like a bit of a research project on creativity. I do an interview and then I release a project, and that first project is Cannibal Cafeteria. It’s kind of a weird one. It’s really experimental. It’s about zombies who fly to earth.

They flash-freeze humans because that’s what they eat and they bring them back and they do really nice fine dining. They have a beautiful restaurant, and they have elegant meals, but they’re serving humans nice to the love of zombies. And the zombies were humans. But when they colonize Mars, it’s like this weird disease happened where unfortunately the brains got bigger.

They grew intelligent, actually, but their hygiene got gross and they really developed a taste for human flesh. And it’s like a new genome or whatever you want to call it, of humans, but they actually eat humans and they’re actually kind of smarter than us. So it’s like a real debacle for us. Humans were like, well, what?

Yeah, these, they’re gross and they’re weird, but they’re like super smart. And they figured out how to get us and they’re like feeding us to other zombies on Mars. And it’s like we made this happen, so we got to deal with it. But they’re smart.

Scott Trotta

Yeah. Wow. That’s pretty interesting shit, man. I’d like to check that out for sure, man. It’s like I think we talked about that Twilight Zone episode where it’s, you know, the cookbook episode where they’re kind of similar deal with the Martians that come and pull off humans, bring it back, and they’ve got that book, and it turns out they’re able to translate it at the last or too late moment where they’re like, Holy shit, that they’ve taken us back to eat us.

Rich

So nailed it on the head. I never saw that episode. I never even heard of it. And then when I looked it up after you mentioned that, I was like, Wow, this is like I actually forgot. I want to embed that video into the page just so like, you know, it’s such cool. Yeah, cool, cool. Right.

Scott Trotta

The cool part. Yeah. I mean, Rod Serling, those guys came up with that in like the fifties, you know? So that energy, that idea was out there, you know, you never heard of it before. But it’s cool that, you know, you had your own creative take on it and it’s similar content which speaks to, you know, that creativity has jumped from generations, you know, with the fascination of Mars and the mystery of it and kind of the fear of humans of like, what the fuck would aliens do?

And, you know, here we are and that’s fresh for you. And that was, you know, groundbreaking back in the fifties, you know, and with no connections, except maybe, you know, on your subconscious level, which is a huge part of creativity. And then poses the question of like, you know, as all that creativity and information out there in the universe of the ether.

And it’s just a matter of if you can just walk into whatever that kind of parallel, you know, doo.

Rich

Doo doo doo doo doo.

Scott Trotta

Yeah, yeah. Do you know what I mean? It’s like, you know what really was it purely, you know, and, you know, your unadulterated original creative idea or there sparked that somewhere out there that got into your subconscious through, you know, maybe your dad was watching that episode when you’re, you know, Miles’s age and it and it stayed with you.

And that manifested itself all these years later, you know, or you just manifested it all by yourself. And it just happens to be super similar content, you know? I mean, that’s, that’s really interesting shit, too.

Rich

Yeah. And I honestly don’t know where sometimes where my ideas come from. So it’s not like, yeah, perfect. You nailed it on the head.

Scott Trotta

Yeah.

Rich

All right. Well, enjoy your night.

Scott Trotta

Yeah, you too. Enjoy me last. Enjoy the kids and, you know, reach out, whatever. And we should just go get actually get a cup of coffee together in real life.

Interview #2 -> Richard Marczewski Sr. – Creativity Combustion Interview #2