#130. So, You Get Hit by a Train… | Marty Coelho

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, it's Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt Podcast. Uh, finding movers and shakers and pillars, as my daughter said, pillars in the community of Humboldt, with my new best friend, Marty Coelho.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Marty.

Marty Coelho: Hey, Scott. Thanks for having me.

Scott Hammond: Thanks for being had. How's your day?

Marty Coelho: It's been an interesting day.

Scott Hammond: A lot of interviews, is that what you said?

Marty Coelho: Yeah, interviewing presidents. It's a crazy day.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Marty Coelho: Crazy week.

Scott Hammond: Now, now you get to be interviewed, so you can just kinda-

Marty Coelho: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … kick back.

Marty Coelho: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: This'll be easy.

Marty Coelho: Yeah. No problem.

Scott Hammond: You don't have to think at all, just talk.

Marty Coelho: Right. Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Nice. Tell us, uh, r- name, rank, and serial number. What do you do? Who, what's your, uh, what's your deal?

Marty Coelho: Well, Marty Coelho, and I work at College of the Redwoods. My, my official title is Executive Director of College Advancement in the CR Foundation.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Marty Coelho: So-

Scott Hammond: Two things?

Marty Coelho: Advancement covers a lot of areas. I would say primarily doing special projects for the president-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Marty Coelho: … and being a representative out in the community.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And then through the foundation, garnering resources that will help support our, uh, students, faculty, and staff.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's a lot. So President Flamer's, uh, outgoing? What a great guy.

Marty Coelho: Great guy, and it was great to have that stability for the last 10 plus years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: It really allowed the college to, uh, cement itself back in the community and, and really be a valued member.

Scott Hammond: Super impressed with that guy. Saw him at Rotary. Saw him on my podcast. I interviewed him for an hour.

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: It was great. What a gentleman. So you're interviewing for new presidents?

Marty Coelho: We are. We just wrapped up our last one today. Got to report to the board of trustees tomorrow.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Do you have a s-

Marty Coelho: So it's always an interesting process.

Scott Hammond: Wh- who's it gonna be?

Marty Coelho: Yeah. Who? That's a good question.

Scott Hammond: Or should I say whom? Would that be m- better English?

Marty Coelho: Yeah. Well.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I went to Humboldt, I have no idea. I'm a B student from San Diego, I have no clue. So that, that's cool. So when do, when will you guys announce once you, uh, make your selection?

Marty Coelho: You know, I haven't had time to look at the timeline 'cause we just wrapped up the CR dinner-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … and auction, and I'm still recovering from that large event, so.

Scott Hammond: So this is, uh, PTSD, Marty.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, exactly. You know, you put on a large community event-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Marty Coelho: … um, you know, it takes months, and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … I tell people, the people are like, "You're done," and I'm like, "No, it-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … it's gonna take us six to two, six weeks to two months to wrap."

Scott Hammond: I understand it went well. You guys were profitable?

Marty Coelho: Yeah, I think we're now up to $297,000.

Scott Hammond: We'll call it three.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Feel, feels good at three, right?

Scott Hammond: 300's about right. Maybe I'll just kick down before we're done.

Marty Coelho: Well, if anybody would still like to donate.

Scott Hammond: It's still open.

Marty Coelho: We have a lot of support for CR athletics.

Scott Hammond: I bet.

Marty Coelho: I mean, obviously we have one of the largest athletic programs within the community college system-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Marty Coelho: … in terms of the number of sports we offer. Um, you know, 325 plus athletes.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: Um, you know, and the fact is, you know, a lot of those kids probably wouldn't necessarily be in college without the-

Scott Hammond: Wait

Marty Coelho: … the sports opportunity.

Scott Hammond: Hold on. You have a football team.

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: What's that?

Marty Coelho: Yeah, and they're doing quite well.

Scott Hammond: I heard that. They're-

Marty Coelho: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … they're doing okay.

Marty Coelho: Well-

Scott Hammond: But we'll g- we'll get to all that. I wanna hear about your story. Where were you raised and went to school and did you get-

Marty Coelho: Well-

Scott Hammond: Did you get married and got kids?

Marty Coelho: Who are you?

Scott Hammond: The interrogation goes the other way.

Marty Coelho: Hopefully I can figure that out by the end, who I am.

Marty Coelho: Uh, so I was born in Livermore, raised there s- uh, six years.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: Uh, my only m- uh, I have two memories of Livermore. One was, uh, as a little kid in my diapers throwing snails against the side of the house.

Scott Hammond: Good one.

Marty Coelho: Not, not quite sure if I had an anger issue or what was going on.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And then in kindergarten, some, uh, girl putting a, a oily handprint on my white turtleneck shirt and going home and having my mom-

Scott Hammond: Uh

Marty Coelho: … extraordinarily distressed. That's my whole memory of growing up-

Scott Hammond: That's your, that's your youth

Marty Coelho: … in California. Those two memories.

Scott Hammond: So where'd you go after Livermore?

Marty Coelho: My dad worked for, uh, Sandia Labs and then moved to Los Alamos.

Marty Coelho: So he-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Marty Coelho: … uh, he, as he described it, 'cause he wasn't allowed to tell us exactly what he did, he, um, designed the parts to build the machines that built more parts to build nuclear trigger devices.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: So and that was his whole career. He, so we lived in Los Alamos about eight years, and then eventually-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … ended up in Colorado, which I really kinda consider my home, and he worked for Rockwell International.

Scott Hammond: What part of Colorado?

Marty Coelho: Uh, lived in Golden, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … spent most of the, my time in Colorado up in Boulder. It's where I did my undergrad and graduate degree.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Marty Coelho: I probably would've stayed there forever. It's a great place.

Scott Hammond: I heard it's a great, great town.

Marty Coelho: Yes. And so I came here in, uh, '91 with my fiance, who, Kim Pirate, who was, uh-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … I consider her a local-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … 'cause she was six months old when she came here, so.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Marty Coelho: To me, that's-

Scott Hammond: That's pretty lo-

Marty Coelho: That's-

Scott Hammond: That's pretty local

Marty Coelho: … that's pretty local, I suppose.

Scott Hammond: So you me- you met her there or here?

Marty Coelho: She found me in Colorado and drug me back.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Doggone it.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Kim.

Marty Coelho: Kim.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Kim.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: So we moved to Humboldt, and I'd been here a few times, and then, uh, it rained for four months straight, and I said- …"Where in the hell did you bring me?"

Scott Hammond: Where am I?

Marty Coelho: And she was like, "You've been here before." And I said, "Not for four months of rain."

Scott Hammond: Right. Right.

Marty Coelho: And of course now with climate change, it's not four months of rain, so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: It's a little-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, now it's, it's-

Marty Coelho: … little, little different.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. She brought you in the fall when it was amazing, and then brought you back when it-

Marty Coelho: Exactly. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I remember it, coming up in '79. No, fall of '78 when I came up out of San Diego. Dude, it rained for months.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It was like, "Where am I?" And, and, and, and all the LA, San Diego, S- San Francisco kids are dropping like flies.

Marty Coelho: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Getting the crud or checking out of school, going home.

Marty Coelho: The crud, yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And they, they dropped out. So, uh, Golden, Colorado, home of Coors.

Marty Coelho: Home of Coors, yeah. We used to sneak over there as seniors in high school and pretend we were out-of-town tourists.

Scott Hammond: Sure. Go to the tour.

Marty Coelho: So take the, take the tour.

Scott Hammond: And drink the beer.

Marty Coelho: And the beer was actually good.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Coming right out of the brewery.

Scott Hammond: It's right out of the brewery, but-

Marty Coelho: Everybody has their own opinion about Coors beer, but locals weren't necessarily fans of it. But out of the brewery, it was pretty darn good.

Scott Hammond: It's that, that's the cowboy beer, man. It seems like.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I have some cowboy sons that- They put away a little couple. What do they call them? Bumblebees.

Scott Hammond: Anyway, uh, I digress into coolers.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, yeah.

Marty Coelho: Fond memories

Scott Hammond: You graduated back east. What'd you study in, in Colorado?

Marty Coelho: Uh, I got my MBA eventually.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Marty Coelho: My, my undergrad was in history, Russian history.

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.

Marty Coelho: Studied a lot of Russian, Middle Eastern-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … Chinese history. I was looking at going into the State Department.

Marty Coelho: Um-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … at that time, though, they, uh, the US didn't have really friendly relations with the Soviet Union.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: So I wasn't really interested in going and working to figure out how to kill them.

Scott Hammond: Those guys.

Marty Coelho: I was just like, "Mm, I'll do something else."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Ended up with an MBA and, and, uh, working in Colorado doing marketing research and-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Marty Coelho: … uh, realizing I wasn't loving the dream. So when my wife said, "Hey, I got this volunteer job at HSU coaching- … cross-country. You wanna come to Humboldt with me?"

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Marty Coelho: And I'm like, "Absolutely." Then we got here, and nobody would hire us 'cause we had master's degrees.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Marty Coelho: Local temp agency looked at me and said-

Scott Hammond: What?

Marty Coelho: … "Well, you're, you're not gonna get a job."

Scott Hammond: You're overqualified.

Marty Coelho: And I was like, "What?"

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: He's like, "You're overqualified for everything."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And I said, "Well, I, I, I'm a good worker."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: So my wife ended up being a, a waitress in a smoke-filled diner, Carl's Diner, if you remember Carl's Diner.

Scott Hammond: Where was that?

Marty Coelho: Down by the thrift store on the main drag.

Marty Coelho: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Okay

Marty Coelho: … yeah, it… And so, and of course, her master's degree was in community health-

Scott Hammond: Right

Marty Coelho: … so working in a smoke-filled diner just was totally appropriate.

Scott Hammond: That's, yeah. No, right.

Marty Coelho: And then I literally could not get a job, and one of her friends dropped by and said, "I got a job for you. Uh, you're not gonna like it." And I said, uh, "Well, we're eating broccoli, rice, and refried beans." Like, it's getting-

Scott Hammond: So what do you got?

Marty Coelho: … it's getting bad. And I've done a lot of hard work in my life, so what do you got?

Scott Hammond: I have a, I have a lot of gas.

Marty Coelho: Yeah. And he looks at me and he goes, he goes, "Well, Marty." He goes, "Normally, they just hire guys that are paroled out of Pelican Bay to do this job."

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Marty Coelho: He goes, "But word got back to the Bay that this job really sucks."

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Marty Coelho: "And so they, they need people." I'm like, "They're hiring an MBA, I guess."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: So it was Pacific Seafood-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Marty Coelho: … doing their cleanup crew from, like, 4:00 in the afternoon-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Marty Coelho: … to 2:00 in the morning.

Scott Hammond: Where it stinks down on, on-

Marty Coelho: Oh

Scott Hammond: … on Se- First Street.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, and it was dangerous, and it was dirty.

Scott Hammond: That's right next to Jack Seafood. Is that the same one, or is it over a little way? That… Or is that the Oyster?

Scott Hammond: Anyway.

Marty Coelho: Down there. Couldn't tell you.

Scott Hammond: But it smells, it smells bad on the, it used to smell really bad on the regular.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, and it, it, the job itself was, it was dangerous. It gave me a whole new perspective on, I thought I'd done, I'd done construction work-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … landscaping. I thought I'd done hard work. This was a whole new level.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: And then, uh, leaving one night about 2:00 in the morning, uh, I got hit by a 350,000-pound locomotive.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: When they were still moving down there.

Marty Coelho: Uh, yeah, it carried me down the tracks.

Scott Hammond: No way.

Marty Coelho: Yeah. Well-

Scott Hammond: Tell that story.

Marty Coelho: Uh, well, that could take an hour.

Scott Hammond: Oh, no.

Marty Coelho: I can give you the short version. There's three sets of tracks out there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And no crossing guard and no light.

Scott Hammond: This is, this is, you're crossing on the road.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, trying to go into Eureka, leaving work, leaving-

Scott Hammond: Are you walking or in a car?

Marty Coelho: I'm in my car. In fact, uh, it's in the nicest thing I ever owned in my life. My divorced parents gave me their Saab 900, and it was-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Marty Coelho: … in mint condition.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: Uh, it wasn't after that, by the way.

Scott Hammond: The operative word was.

Marty Coelho: No. So I got to track one, got to track two, and I realize I've rolled down my window. I am listening for a train, looking for a train, 'cause I was so paranoid about doing something to that car, and on track number three, it hit me.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: And there's about four situations within that as it carried me down the tracks. I, I should have died about four times.

Scott Hammond: So are you on the… Is it, did it hit your driver's side?

Marty Coelho: It hit my-

Scott Hammond: Or passenger

Marty Coelho: … passenger side.

Scott Hammond: And carried you.

Marty Coelho: And it, uh, ended up in my backseat, missed my gas tank. That was number one-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … where it should have blown up the car-

Scott Hammond: Right

Marty Coelho: … 'cause literally that was a good situation to do it.

Scott Hammond: As they do on TV.

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And when you're that close to the gas tank and a spark and metal-

Scott Hammond: Oof

Marty Coelho: … it's not unforeseeable that-

Scott Hammond: It's-

Marty Coelho: … it would blow up, right? Number two, it should, uh, catch you in the track and crush you, basically.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: But I was balanced on the track. On either side of the track were my wheels.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Marty Coelho: So it hit me and picked me up and literally carried me down the track.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Marty Coelho: And as it carried me down the track, uh, I realized I'd been hit by a train. Uh, tried to figure out how I was gonna get out of a moving car that was going quite fast down the track.

Scott Hammond: Did the engineer see you?

Marty Coelho: Uh, no. Uh, they were backing up to hook up to other cars.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Marty Coelho: So number three, they should have crushed me there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: But instead, somebody had buried a steel I-beam about, uh, two feet away from the railroad track, and that steel I-beam was gonna go through my driver's side door.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Marty Coelho: And the train stopped a foot and a half away from that steel I-beam.

Scott Hammond: And here you are today.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, and I'd-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … already made my peace with God.

Scott Hammond: I bet you did. Some time to pray in that, that car.

Marty Coelho: Yeah. So that pretty much, uh, impacted probably the rest of my life-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … in some strange way, right?

Scott Hammond: Now, Saab is, is Swedish?

Marty Coelho: Believe so.

Scott Hammond: I believe that's right, yeah. Wow.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good story.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: It's a good story when you can walk away from being hit by… I figure I'm probably .000001% of population that's ever been hit by a train and walked away.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And it wasn't even my fault.

Scott Hammond: So no injuries?

Marty Coelho: Uh, no. Lawyers encouraged me to, uh, fake that I was having psychological problems so I could get some money off the case. I took them to small claims court instead, and local Eureka judge got really upset with the train company.

Scott Hammond: Good.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Enough upset to get you a settlement?

Marty Coelho: No.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Marty Coelho: Not much money.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Marty Coelho: Small claims court. Didn't make anything really.

Scott Hammond: Didn't buy a new Saab?

Marty Coelho: Uh, not even close.

Scott Hammond: Not even close.

Marty Coelho: No, I got a car payment for a Honda Accord after that. That's what I got. But I got the story, right?

Scott Hammond: That's a, but you got the story. It's a good story.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like that story. So, um, you, you met Kim, uh, and you came here.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And you worked at a, in a, in I mean, Sun Valley is, it was a tough job.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then Pacific Seafoods is right in that-

Marty Coelho: It's gotta be in that bucket. No, I graduated up to the mall, worked in the mall a couple of jobs. And then, uh, my-

Scott Hammond: Get out of here. What'd you do at the mall?

Marty Coelho: I sold sunglasses.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Marty Coelho: I told you I've done everything.

Scott Hammond: Sunglasses Hut.

Marty Coelho: Yeah. Sunglasses Hut- Actually some great employees. They, they made the job survivable. My wife came to me one night and said, "Hey, saw an ad in the paper. Humboldt State's looking for some bu- business professors."

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Marty Coelho: "Uh, I think you'd be good." And I said, "Uh, hmm, didn't really see that in my future."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And she said, "I think you should go try that."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: So I went and applied and got the job, and was up there for, like, six and a half years.

Scott Hammond: That's cool. In the business department?

Marty Coelho: Yeah. Taught, taught in the School of Professional Studies.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: So marketing, management-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Marty Coelho: … business communication. Uh, and then they would throw, they threw all sorts of things at me. Uh, through death and dying-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … 'cause I worked at hospice for a year.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Marty Coelho: And so taught that class.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Uh, I think I learned more, uh, probably than my students in teaching that.

Scott Hammond: What a great outfit they are.

Marty Coelho: Uh, it… Yes, yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Very much. I've gone and done additional consulting work with hospices, and think very highly of that organization in general.

Scott Hammond: You never heard them, you never heard them besmirched at any level, ever?

Marty Coelho: No.

Scott Hammond: And this one locally is a great one, right?

Marty Coelho: Yes, it is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: That was the one I worked for for early, early on in my career.

Scott Hammond: And as Joni's dad says from Torrance, Tom Hansen, "No one gets out of here alive."

Marty Coelho: No.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: No.

Scott Hammond: So it's, you know, death has been a really interesting one for me lately 'cause w- Ron and I, we'll talk about Ron Palegi in a minute, lots of friends that we know have died and, and, you know, if you're around local enough, you're gonna, and old enough, like I am at, at 42, um, you're gonna know people, and it's like there, there's a rash. It's like it's in the water, dude.

Scott Hammond: It's weird.

Marty Coelho: It's, uh, it starts to shake your reality.

Marty Coelho: I think, uh, I don't think I ever thought about death in general till maybe I got close to 60.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And then, and then it was like, hmm, there's less time than-

Scott Hammond: You're not 60, aren't you 47, 8?

Marty Coelho: I'm 63, man.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man. You are… I'm, well, I'm a little older. We'll leave it at that. Class of '78.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, class of '81.

Scott Hammond: So in, in Golden?

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Or… Okay.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: '81, okay, cool. So you met your wife. Do you guys have kids?

Marty Coelho: Have four kids.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Grandkids?

Marty Coelho: Uh, we have our first one coming in November at some point.

Scott Hammond: Dude.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, so going back out to Denver where my oldest son lives and, um-

Scott Hammond: That's great

Marty Coelho: … yeah, I, I took off my son to Colorado for all vacations, and he got hooked on the Denver Broncos and Denver Nuggets like his dad and-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Marty Coelho: … so when he decided where would he move in life, he, he went to Denver.

Scott Hammond: He went to Denver, home of Red Rocks.

Marty Coelho: Oh, that's-

Scott Hammond: You ever been, you ever been to that?

Marty Coelho: Uh, you and me share a passion for music.

Scott Hammond: So let's talk about that.

Marty Coelho: So I've, I've been to Red Rocks many times.

Scott Hammond: Like three f- three figures? Or, like a lot?

Marty Coelho: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you've seen all the bands.

Marty Coelho: I've seen, I've seen the, anyone from Stevie Ray Vaughan to David Sandborn to the Talking Heads.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Marty Coelho: And then some.

Scott Hammond: Wow. David Sandborn would be great. Oh, the other two are great.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, it was interesting.

Scott Hammond: Stevie Ray would be-

Marty Coelho: Stevie Ray Vaughan, uh, you know, I thought highly of him, but, um, I don't know. I, when I went to the concert, I wasn't necessarily sold on him for some reason.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And he came back out, and he was wearing his black hat and his black outfit.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And he, I don't know how he did it. He leaned back in his he- on his heels.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Like, he wasn't even standing flat-footed-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … most of the time, and just started to play, and his voice was way better than I'd ever heard on a CD.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Marty Coelho: And his guitar playing-

Scott Hammond: Legend

Marty Coelho: … a- after seeing B.B. King play, uh, they're different types of playing, but those two guys-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … wow.

Scott Hammond: Red Rocks, bucket list.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So Joni and I, we, our Red Rocks is the Britt Festival up in, uh, uh-

Marty Coelho: Very cool

Scott Hammond: … Jacksonville, Oregon, just over the border.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Just drove by there today. Um, who did we see this summer? We saw Alison Krauss.

Marty Coelho: Oh.

Scott Hammond: She was amazing.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, I've, I would love to see her.

Scott Hammond: Like an angel, man. She sings, like, perfectly. I, I'm curious, who else did you see at Red Rocks? Let's, let's go on this. I wanna-

Marty Coelho: Oh, my God

Scott Hammond: … top, top 10, top 50. No.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, trying to remember them all.

Scott Hammond: I, yeah.

Marty Coelho: Uh, 'cause I was younger, folks. Uh, I was having a good-

Scott Hammond: If you can remember it, you weren't there

Marty Coelho: … I was, I was having a good time.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Um, oh, anybody from, like, Ziggy Marley-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … to, um, Midnight Oil-

Scott Hammond: How about The Dead?

Marty Coelho: You know, out of Australia.

Scott Hammond: Did you see The Dead there? The Dead ever play there?

Marty Coelho: Uh, you know, I made some decisions when I was younger.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Uh, I had a, a, a very-

Scott Hammond: So say we all.

Marty Coelho: Gosh darn.

Scott Hammond: You did too? Weird.

Marty Coelho: So I, I had this, I had this conversation with someone the other day. I had a really close girlfriend in high school-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … in college, and I made decisions to go spend time with her-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … instead of going to a lot of other concerts-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … with my friends.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Marty Coelho: And at the, at the time, I think it was a good decision.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Sure.

Marty Coelho: Uh, in retrospect, since she's not my wife-

Scott Hammond: Hear that, Kim?

Marty Coelho: It, d- Kim was definitely the steal of the century.

Marty Coelho: Um-

Scott Hammond: You married up like I did with Joni.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Okay, fair.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, totally. Uh, but it, it, it was the wrong decision.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: I should've, I missed out on The Dead, The Police, The Stones.

Marty Coelho: I know-

Scott Hammond: The Stones, oh, man

Marty Coelho: … uh, people, yeah, people beat me up, folks. I, I, you have every right to.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: I don't agree with those.

Scott Hammond: Don't mean to trump you on this one, but I, I traded my birthright really to… I, I had Pink Floyd tickets-

Marty Coelho: Oh, my goodness

Scott Hammond: … at, at San Diego Sports Arena to see… Or no, at the Civic Center, which is even a better venue. Um, it was probably Wish You Were Here tour.

Marty Coelho: Oh, my goodness.

Scott Hammond: And I traded it. I don't wanna tell you what I traded it for, but it was, uh, but willingly, "Hey, here, t- take two."

Marty Coelho: Right.

Scott Hammond: And, and this was rip-off money. This is $10 a ticket when you could see Led Zeppelin for six. So, so if you had a nickel for all those shows, right?

Marty Coelho: Well, I know. I- I'm thankful I got to see the ones I did. Saw Yes multiple times-

Scott Hammond: Great

Marty Coelho: … was into progressive rock.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Marty Coelho: But I went to an Amnesty International concert, then retrospect, how blessed. It was the Neville Brothers, Lou Reed-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Marty Coelho: … Peter Gabriel, U2-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … Sting. It was incredible.

Marty Coelho: I mean, we-

Scott Hammond: Was that at, was that at Red Rocks?

Marty Coelho: That was actually at McNichols Arena, so not the best place to hear a show.

Scott Hammond: Is that where the Nuggets play?

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Marty Coelho: And, uh, but Peter Gabriel turned, uh, the lights on and it was totally lit up, and everybody sung Biko with him.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Marty Coelho: And it was one of those moments in a concert where you're just like, "Wow."

Scott Hammond: He was in Genesis with Phil Collins, right?

Marty Coelho: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I have one of his records. So funny story, um, uh, confession actually, I got a brand-new, uh, used stereo for my f- Chris- my birthday present.

Marty Coelho: Oh, cool.

Scott Hammond: January 2nd, nine months ago. And I had one record, uh, Matt got me. He put this beautiful stereo together for, uh, um… It- it's not high-end, it's just was used stuff, but, you know, Polk speakers and-

Marty Coelho: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … anyway

Marty Coelho: … Polk's good.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: I have Polk.

Scott Hammond: I have an On- yeah, Polks are great. Um, an Onkyo tuner. Anyway-

Marty Coelho: Oh

Scott Hammond: … I got a, a Bruce Springsteen five record set live. Yeah, I like Bruce.

Marty Coelho: Oh.

Scott Hammond: And so then it was Dark Side, and then it was all The Beatles, and now I have, I have a dedicated room. Hi Joni, thank you for letting me do this. And a hobby, uh, might say an obsession, probably 500 titles, and so I'm curating a collection.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And, and I don't, I, I don't put up with crappy vinyl. If it's snap, crackle, pop, it goes back.

Scott Hammond: So it's, um, it's rather addictive, so a lot of fun.

Marty Coelho: It is.

Scott Hammond: And I just, and I've discovered, I said this last show, there's stuff I don't, that I thought I would really like, and I'll buy it, and I go, "I just don't really care for, um, Foghat or Bachman-Turner Overdrive or the blah blahs anymore. I like what I like." And so I, I've shifted a little bit to more, um, a little bit more Grateful Dead, a little bit more Miles Davis-

Marty Coelho: Yep

Scott Hammond: … a little bit more jazz. Stuff that-

Marty Coelho: Instrumental side.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, we could h- listen to in the background where we're hanging out or having charcuterie or whatever.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, Joni could probably commiserate with my wife 'cause, uh, been collecting music since I was 1978.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: Um-

Scott Hammond: You still have it?

Marty Coelho: I-

Scott Hammond: Like vi- vinyl or CDs?

Marty Coelho: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Marty Coelho: I have way… Well, my wife would say I have way too musi- too much music. As a music collector, uh, there is no, uh, end point.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Marty Coelho: And, you know, she'll be like, "Well, couldn't you l- listen, stream that and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … hear it?" And I say, "Well-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Marty Coelho: … uh, for a lot of these guys, no."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Uh, they put out one album- … and no, they're not streaming it.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Marty Coelho: And, uh, I really enjoy the process of finding the music.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: I mean, that I find therapeutic. That's my therapy is going out and music shopping and hunting and-

Scott Hammond: I knew I'd like you already. Yeah, we just went to some vinyl stores and-

Marty Coelho: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I have a vinyl connection in Medford. I just got back and passed up 165 records.

Marty Coelho: Oh.

Scott Hammond: And I, I just… Ah, you know what? It'll be okay. There'll be another, there'll be another day where I have some cash and can do it. I was gonna… So I get Nick a, uh, you missed the ritual 'cause I forgot the record. He gets a Johnny Cash every time I show up.

Marty Coelho: Oh, I love Johnny Cash.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Name, ye- named, uh, my youngest son middle name is Cash.

Scott Hammond: Is that right?

Marty Coelho: After Johnny.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.

Marty Coelho: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: What a, what a stellar human being he was. And, and the cool stu- the cool part about his life, and we'll get back to yours-

Marty Coelho: No worries

Scott Hammond: … we'll come back to yours eventually, is he came back with Rick Rubin's help, with the-

Marty Coelho: Yes. Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … with Hurt

Marty Coelho: Rick Rubin's fantastic.

Scott Hammond: Hurt, The Hurt al-

Marty Coelho: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … I don't know if it's album. It was called Hurt, but what a great, um, great story, 'cause he was playing crap venues in-

Marty Coelho: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Branson to 2 or 300 people.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, people didn't, had, had lost him as an artist.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And, um, it was cool. And Joni's father knew him in Ojai, California. He had a little ranch.

Marty Coelho: Oh, wow.

Scott Hammond: And Johnny would come in and buy cigarettes or whatever and-

Marty Coelho: Right

Scott Hammond: … bottle of beer or, you know, gum or, you know. And so Ron would see, uh, "Hey, John, how you doing?" "Good. I'm good." You know, Johnny lives down the street.

Scott Hammond: Over by-

Marty Coelho: That's crazy

Scott Hammond: … over by The Bionic Man and The Bionic Woman. They all lived up in-

Marty Coelho: Oh, no joke.

Scott Hammond: Yeah-

Marty Coelho: Wow

Scott Hammond: … little, little village up there.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, if you tell people nowadays, there's, there's, there's a whole generation's kids that are like-

Scott Hammond: Who?

Marty Coelho: …"Bionic? Bionic Man? What are you talking about?"

Scott Hammond: The Lee Majors, that was him.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, Lee.

Marty Coelho: That was a big deal growing up, man.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Those shows.

Scott Hammond: So let's, so we're reversing it back to Red Rocks and to some of the shows and music.

Marty Coelho: Hey-

Scott Hammond: That's-

Marty Coelho: … those were good times.

Scott Hammond: So you got a, so you got into, uh, the business department. That's cool. So I, I'm a rec major, uh, class of s- of '82, Humboldt State.

Marty Coelho: Oh, I talk in th- taught in the rec department too, 'cause my last three years there I was the associate athletic director.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Marty Coelho: So they had me teach the graduate classes for sports management, sports marketing.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Marty Coelho: And so I met many of the rec majors, had them work in my office there.

Scott Hammond: Is that Chip and the other guy?

Marty Coelho: Mm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they-

Marty Coelho: Good people.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they were good guys. They were a little after my time, but um, yeah, they had a, a real department.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: When I started it was one guy, Bob St. Peters. Turns out he, he really didn't have a degree. So interview people really good.

Scott Hammond: Make sure… Do that homework.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Here's a guy, like four years at the university or longer, and love you Bob, I hope you're good. I think he's selling yachts, literally, in Florida last time I saw him.

Marty Coelho: Oh, that's crazy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, funny story. Anyway, um, so k- so you taught there. What's, what's next? What did you, how'd you wind up at Sierra?

Marty Coelho: So my wife, uh, got hired by the American Cancer Society locally.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Marty Coelho: And I was teaching at, uh, Humboldt State, and, uh, someone brought to the Cancer Society an event called Relay For Life.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: It started in 1985 by a guy called Gordy Klatt up in Washington. And, uh, they asked us did we wanna try doing that locally.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And we did. And so she was, uh, our, uh, staff partner. I was lead volunteer and, and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … with other community members, uh, built that event into the one of the top 20 largest in the world.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: And along the way, I got hired by the national office of the American Cancer Society- To oversee their marketing, communications, and branding-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … fundraising strategy-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … uh, for Relay For Life.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Marty Coelho: So I did that for 15 years.

Scott Hammond: So you took it to next levels. You took it to next-

Marty Coelho: I, I was given a fantastic opportunity-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … and the blessing of a lifetime to work with, um, 15 to 25 of the most fantastic people you would ever meet-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Marty Coelho: … that were more concerned about mission and purpose and serving others than, uh, personal gain.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And that was a incredible environment to grow in-

Scott Hammond: That's right

Marty Coelho: … and be able to, to have that type of impact.

Scott Hammond: That's really cool. Who's the Cancer Soci- Society lady director that was here?

Scott Hammond: She's R-

Marty Coelho: Sylvia Judala.

Scott Hammond: Judala. Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Who, uh, cornerstone the community.

Marty Coelho: Uh-

Scott Hammond: Hi, Sylvia

Marty Coelho: … Sylvia was fantastic.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And, um-

Scott Hammond: Her husband was Dr. Judala, right?

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Who passed away not that long ago.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: He was a great guy.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: So that was… We had a great office, local office, great volunteers locally that helped-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … us build that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: The last year we were involved, year 15, uh, the event raised $875,000.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Locally.

Marty Coelho: Uh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's fantastic. I, uh-

Marty Coelho: Those, those were the days before Humboldt started to face its, you know, series of declines.

Scott Hammond: You mean, mean the post, the boom and bust of cannabis?

Marty Coelho: 2000.

Scott Hammond: That, that one?

Marty Coelho: Everything from 2008 on.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Um, you know, there's, uh… I mean, the resiliency of our community, I, I am a big Humboldt County fan.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Um, and I've had the opportunities to speak across the world and try to explain this community and, uh-

Scott Hammond: It's tough. It's tough

Marty Coelho: … it's tough, and people will be like, "Well, all small communities operate that way," when I tell-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … them what we pull off, and I'm like, "Uh, no."

Scott Hammond: I don't think Red Bluff does this.

Marty Coelho: No. No, they don't.

Scott Hammond: Cuz day. I'm sorry.

Marty Coelho: No.

Scott Hammond: Love those guys, but-

Marty Coelho: Uh, people are, uh, the culture here is, uh, taking care of each other.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And everybody pitches in and does what they can.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And at one point, we had over 700 nonprofits in Humboldt County.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: Yeah. And so that's from the big boys and gals-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … to, you know, mom and pop out of the garage, right?

Scott Hammond: Right. Right, right.

Marty Coelho: Um, but I always said the culture here is we've got one $20 bill.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: We pass it around 60 times in a day at Rotary meetings-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … and everybody thinks they made money for their fundraiser.

Scott Hammond: Right. Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Right? We're all supporting each other-

Scott Hammond: I like that

Marty Coelho: … as best as we can.

Scott Hammond: Hey, I'm a Rotarian. We d- we don't, we…

Scott Hammond: Yeah, we do.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Probably. Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, that's great. I- so this year was very successful. Uh, as was the sports auction?

Marty Coelho: Sports auction did great.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Um, we have incredible support here locally for College of the Redwoods, and, uh, when I decided, uh, at, being in an airplane, uh, one night, it was probably 3:00 in the morning on some flight, I decided that, uh, I wasn't real excited about being away from home so much.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: So I came back to Humboldt looking for a job, and within less than two months, a job opened up at CR.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: And, uh, I thought, "Well, you know, if, if their philosophies and mine kind of mesh-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … be a good fit." Went down, talked to Keith.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Meshed great.

Scott Hammond: Sweet.

Marty Coelho: And so I've been there 10-plus years at this point.

Scott Hammond: 10-plus, and you're not riding the airplanes.

Marty Coelho: No. I did nearly two million miles in the United States-

Scott Hammond: Gee whiz

Marty Coelho: … and internationally.

Marty Coelho: I-

Scott Hammond: Ron Pele- Ron Pelegi, who we both know, said he, you did a million miles, and I go, "That's probably an exaggeration."

Marty Coelho: No, I'm very close to two million.

Marty Coelho: I'm hoping-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … it's on my bucket list to get… I'm so close- … to getting to it. I, I flew so much, uh, people think I'm blowing smoke when I said this, but this is God's honest truth. I flew so much that, uh, people at ACV all knew who I was.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Marty Coelho: And they would call me at home-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … at, like, 6:00 in the morning and say, "Uh, Marty, they canceled the flight."

Scott Hammond: Or fogged in.

Marty Coelho: We re, we, yeah, we're fogged in. We're rebooking you. I mean, I got personal care.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Marty Coelho: It's pretty incredible.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Really nice people. I didn't ask for that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Uh, but they knew how much I was traveling, and so they kind of looked out for me.

Scott Hammond: Could help you.

Marty Coelho: So it's pretty funny.

Scott Hammond: Do you know Vir- do you know Virginia Bass, who works up there?

Marty Coelho: Oh, yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: She's great.

Marty Coelho: Virginia's awesome.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Hi, Virginia. She's super-duper. No, they have a great, great crew up there. Uh, we live, incidentally, we live about a quarter mile due east, so I can, I can look across and see if, where the fog bank is.

Marty Coelho: Oh, yeah. We live over in Little Pond.

Scott Hammond: Oh, so you know.

Marty Coelho: Made it really, made it really easy.

Scott Hammond: They fly right over.

Marty Coelho: Yeah. It made it so easy to get up and get to the airport-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … in seconds.

Scott Hammond: So I always, uh, say a prayer when I hear the 10:00 flight come in, and then hear it pull up, and Jodi actually tracks it with a, uh, with an app.

Marty Coelho: Oh, really?

Scott Hammond: And some of them will actually circle around.

Marty Coelho: Yes. Oh, yes.

Scott Hammond: Maybe once. And many of the, uh, I wouldn't say cowards, I would say that lack the discretion to maybe give it another go.

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: They'll just spin it around and go back to LA or-

Marty Coelho: You find out who's the cowboy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And, and they used to, I see, I recall them landing them frequently when there was even less vili- visibility.

Marty Coelho: It was-

Scott Hammond: They say two miles now

Marty Coelho: … yes. Before they put in their upgraded radar systems, they would put somebody out on the tarmac-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … talking to the pilot.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And they would be basically, like, talking him through the fog bank and letting-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … him know how much ground there was and clear.

Scott Hammond: So they could watch to see them with a device or-

Marty Coelho: I don't know how they were doing it-

Scott Hammond: Who knows? Yeah

Marty Coelho: … but they were literally talking them in, and the guys that were, and gals that were brave enough to do that- … would drop through the f- fog bank-

Scott Hammond: And there's the, yeah

Marty Coelho: … trust that there's X amount of feet, and would come in and land, and you are just like, "Wow, these people are-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … top of their game to be able to do that."

Scott Hammond: We've all been on that flight to, got turned around.

Marty Coelho: Oh, yeah. There's nothing worse. Like, you're coming in at-

Scott Hammond: Oh, jeez

Marty Coelho: … at, like, 11:30, 12:00 because it's already l- they already screwed, things were already screwed up, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. You're already two or three hours out.

Marty Coelho: So, so you're c- you're coming in at midnight, and the fog's there, and then you're turning around, and you're going, "Where?" You can end up back in San Francisco, Redding.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Marty Coelho: It was just all a matter of-

Scott Hammond: Oh, I would call from, from SFO, "Hey, Abby, can you go outside real quick?"

Marty Coelho: Right. Check.

Scott Hammond: My daughter would go outside, "Yeah, Dad. What?" I go, "Is, can you see the airport from the house?

Scott Hammond: The lights?"

Marty Coelho: Right.

Scott Hammond: "Yeah, it's totally clear out here."

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: I go, "Thank you, sweetheart. We got, gotta go."

Marty Coelho: We did the same thing.

Scott Hammond: So we went all the way to, um, Barcelona for nine days, backed SFO, wa- walking onto the, to the p- flight, and the lady goes, "Joni, come back here, please. We're canceling the flight." So we're overnight. The next day we're flying in at 11:00 in the morning. We're over Garberville, and I'm, I'm… My map is picking up where we're going.

Scott Hammond: And I go, "We're going the other way now." This, it was so subtle. It did a big swing. And I go, "We're going south. What is going on here?" And it gets over the thing, you know, we're fogged in. And he gave it about three runs, and then we wound up in Medford, which I-

Marty Coelho: Oh, wow.

Scott Hammond: So they-

Marty Coelho: I don't know if I ever ended up that way

Scott Hammond: … I, I, I've never… Yeah, it was cool. So we, we just drove in from Medford. It was, that was a pretty long day.

Marty Coelho: I've been on some pretty interesting car trips with folks from Redding and San Francisco.

Scott Hammond: But you know-

Marty Coelho: Strangers that are-

Scott Hammond: Rent a, rent a car

Marty Coelho: … returning to the… And people hear about that. They're like, "You went with strangers?" I'm like, "They're not strangers. They're all from Humboldt. We're just all headed home."

Scott Hammond: We're friends.

Marty Coelho: It's no, it's no big deal.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So, hey, if you're just joining us, it's Scott Hammond on 100% Humboldt podcast with, uh, pillar of the community, Marty Coelho from CR. Thanks for joining us, by the way.

Marty Coelho: Yeah. Thank you.

Scott Hammond: And we're gonna get to the quiz here in a minute. You get to earn yourself a, uh, Dick Taylor chocolate bar.

Marty Coelho: Great. My wife will like that.

Scott Hammond: If you play your cards right.

Marty Coelho: Well-

Scott Hammond: We'll s-

Marty Coelho: … let's-

Scott Hammond: We'll see how it goes for you. Right? The jury's out.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh, I want, I wanna, I wanna talk about one thing real quick, and it's the paradox that is Humboldt County and its brokenness, um, in so many ways, and its wholeness that's beautiful, the, the giving spirit that you're talking about. Uh, economic brokenness, we might argue. Um, and we, we, you know, we hold all the category leading, uh, indicators for, for drugs, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and all the things, and, you know, and, and some really nasty things statewide, and yet the paradox is that there's that, the love that you're citing and that giving, that giving heart, you know?

Scott Hammond: And-

Marty Coelho: Yes

Scott Hammond: … um, guy would give you his shirt off his back because that's all he's got. Here.

Marty Coelho: Right.

Scott Hammond: And there's, there's that. So I, I find that paradoxical and in talking to, uh, Sarah Dronkers, um, and I learned this on my own with her predecessor, I said, "How about those cannabis guys? They're super givers, right?"

Marty Coelho: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: "They, they're loaded." She goes, "Yeah, no. No." And the guy, the guy said no. Who, uh, her predecessor, uh, not Patrick, but um-

Marty Coelho: Penda Kam?

Scott Hammond: Correct. Peter said, "No, they're, it's awful." And so kind of an interesting dichotomy of, of demographic givers.

Marty Coelho: That's interesting.

Scott Hammond: And non-givers incidentally.

Marty Coelho: Right.

Scott Hammond: So, um, and then my pet peeve before we do your quiz, why don't we do some economic development, man? Come on. You know, DadCo's kinda figured some stuff out. He's created jobs. You know, Amazon is not gonna kill you. It's not nuclear fis- they're not doing nuclear bombs in McKinleyville. We could handle 80 jobs. Throw me a bone, bro. Throw my kids a bone. I know that, you know, you have a Jag and you go to Wildberries, and you own a big mansion on Fickle Hill, but come on, bro. So I'm done with my rant.

Scott Hammond: How was it?

Marty Coelho: I can understand a lot of where you're coming from.

Marty Coelho: I-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. You don't have to weigh in on it. It's fine.

Marty Coelho: No.

Scott Hammond: No, I don't, and I won't.

Marty Coelho: I, I totally hear you on the economic development. I know a lot of folks have tried.

Scott Hammond: We gotta do something, you know? And it's like, um, I have a 22-year-old. Micah goes, um, "Dad, you and Mom own this house outright, and you raised nine kids, and you're amazing. I'll never do that." And I go, and I didn't have an argument. I, I couldn't argue with him 'cause he goes, "I, at 19 bucks an hour, Dad, I'm never going to. Even in the trades, if I make 50 bucks an hour, I'm not gonna ever, uh, you know, have 250 grand for a down payment on something." And I go, "Fair enough, dude.

Scott Hammond: Yeah."

Marty Coelho: I know.

Scott Hammond: My kids live-

Marty Coelho: My kids are facing the same thing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's awful, and I think, you know, we gotta do something, and it's that not in my backyard mojo that mofos … Uh, we gotta get rid of it. So, hey, there's my rant. Uh, thanks for coming on the show. So, uh, let's do the quiz. You ready?

Marty Coelho: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Question number one for all the… Well, there's 27 questions, so-

Marty Coelho: Okay. It's gonna take a while

Scott Hammond: … bear with me. It's like an interview. Are you familiar with those, how-

Marty Coelho: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … those go? It's, it's amazing you have some brain power left after that.

Scott Hammond: I-

Marty Coelho: Oh, I know.

Scott Hammond: I could do two or three interviews and, man, I just gotta-

Marty Coelho: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … watch TV or get in the hot tub or something.

Marty Coelho: Like I said before, they could, you can make a fortune if you ever figured out how to do-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … interviews well.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Question number one. Wait. There it is. Uh, what's life-giving for you, Marty? What gives you the shot in the arm that keeps you going?

Marty Coelho: Outside of, of my wife and children, um, I think it's, it's being part of community.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And so, you know, raised in Colorado, uh, I thought I knew what a community was.

Marty Coelho: I didn't.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Coming here, I think that's why I've stayed.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: You know, lots of people show up, they're gone in two months.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: They just don't get it here.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Um, I really thrive on being involved in the community, trying to help.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: You know, servant leadership type of philosophy.

Scott Hammond: Love it.

Marty Coelho: I just think it's important. The only way the world's gonna get better, uh, I think regardless of anyone's politics, world's crazy.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Uh, it's getting crazier. Um-

Scott Hammond: I, I've noticed that. Is it-

Marty Coelho: Which, which you gotta remember during the '80s-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … uh, my dad, who I told you, uh, worked at Los Alamos-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … so he's making nuclear trigger devices.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Marty Coelho: Leans over dinner during Iran-Contra.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Staunch Republican.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Looks at me and says, "You have a one-way ticket anywhere in the world."

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Marty Coelho: 'Cause they were talking about starting the draft.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And I thought, "Oh, my goodness." And we thought during those times that the world was crazy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Now look where we live.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: So the only way to combat that is locally.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I agree.

Marty Coelho: People gotta work together-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … and do what they can. We all have the same shared interests with family and friends and community-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … and trying to do the most with the little we have.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful.

Marty Coelho: And that's why Humboldt continues to thrive.

Scott Hammond: That's a good word. Yeah, and I think we wanna weigh in on Facebook and tell the world and convince every… It's like, uh, that you're not scaling right.

Marty Coelho: No.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah, you gotta do it with your kids and your wife and maybe your neighbor if you got a good neighbor.

Marty Coelho: Right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I'm usually wearing my Scott Hammond State Farm good neighbor thing here.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, exactly.

Scott Hammond: Sorry to let you down a little bit, but like a-

Marty Coelho: It's okay. I like your vest

Scott Hammond: … like a good neighbor, I'm wearing my green vest today. Anyway, so no, great answer. Number two, what, uh, what sucks the life out of you? What, what is draining besides interviewing all day?

Marty Coelho: So Ross Rally, uh, says that, who's the station manager for Redwood News. We've known each other for years.

Scott Hammond: Known him a long time. Great guy.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Ross.

Marty Coelho: A great guy. And we, we, we crack each other up as old dudes do. And, uh-

Scott Hammond: He's super funny

Marty Coelho: … uh, he, uh, he made a reference that anything around Congress will have Marty rant and rave.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Marty Coelho: I, I am very anti-politics.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Marty Coelho: That's where I've reached in my life.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Marty Coelho: I think that people identifying themselves by politics, by political party, God didn't put us on this earth in red and blue and, uh, to somehow, uh, transfer our, uh-

Scott Hammond: Identity

Marty Coelho: … our purpose-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … and identity in life-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Marty Coelho: … to some random party that believes XYZ-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … is not constructive-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … for this country or the universe as a whole.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And so I'm a staunch, uh, centrist, and it's probably why I get along, try to get along with everybody.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Marty Coelho: 'Cause I see value in all people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And you treat the janitor the way you treat the CEO.

Scott Hammond: Good word.

Marty Coelho: So.

Scott Hammond: Mm, love that. Um, you familiar with Senator Ben Sasse from Nebraska?

Marty Coelho: No.

Scott Hammond: Uh, I'll text, I'll text you when we're done here today.

Scott Hammond: He, um, he, uh, was diagnosed in December with five cancer, four cancers.

Marty Coelho: That's right.

Scott Hammond: And he, uh, he resigned Congress, uh, uh, se- the senatorial seat, well, prior to this became-

Marty Coelho: Yes

Scott Hammond: … president of Florida, Florida State or University of Fl- Anyway, great story. Uh, he's given three months just on 60 Minutes. They gave him like a full show.

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Crazy. And he's got a great end of li- Uh, he's not dying. He's got this prototypical cancer treatments buying him time.

Marty Coelho: For pancreatic cancer, I believe.

Scott Hammond: Everything. Liver, pancreas.

Marty Coelho: Oh, that's right. It spread.

Scott Hammond: Lymph node. It's everywhere.

Marty Coelho: Yes. It's everywhere through his body.

Scott Hammond: And he's, um, S-A-S-S-E, he, Ben Sasse, amazing. Check it out on YouTube or, uh, anywhere that you wanna look him up. ChatGPT has him too. Anyway, so he, um, he said our problem with, with our, our, our system in Washington is the, the, the Congress doesn't do anything. They take no risks.

Marty Coelho: No, no.

Scott Hammond: They cover your butt.

Marty Coelho: Right.

Scott Hammond: Uh, let somebody else-

Marty Coelho: It's all about keeping your job

Scott Hammond: … keep your job. I, I wanna get reelected.

Scott Hammond: And-

Marty Coelho: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and that's not, that was not the, the intent of-

Marty Coelho: That was so not the intent. The founders actually wanted Congress. They say they created three equal branches, but there's a very strong school of thought that actually Congress was set up to be the strongest of the three branches.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: So when that branch, which represents the voice of the people, has abdicated its responsibility to represent people regardless of whether you're red or blue-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … none of them are doing their jobs.

Scott Hammond: Guess who picked it up? Hey, you get one guess. Hey, question number three. Le- let's move on in our quiz.

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: If you have a full day off with your sweetheart to do whatever you wanna do, 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM in Humboldt, money's not the object, what would you do with your day?

Marty Coelho: Wow, after living here 35 years, that's an interesting question.

Scott Hammond: That's a good question, and I need you to answer it for the chocolate bar.

Marty Coelho: I don't know how we d- She's a runner, so she's gonna run all day.

Scott Hammond: My wife's a runner too.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: She's, she's gonna start the money, morning by running. Who knows? She may run an hour, she may run four hours. You never know.

Scott Hammond: She a r- Does she race?

Marty Coelho: Uh, she has her whole life. She's an, she's an ultra athlete, and so-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Marty Coelho: … when usually, when she's doing that, I'm listening to music and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … and dinking around on community comments or, or doing my deals.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Marty Coelho: And, uh, but you know, we're always gonna find ourselves walking the dogs-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … or going on some sort of trail hike.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Marty Coelho: Um-

Scott Hammond: After her run, then she can do another run.

Marty Coelho: Yes. She's got, she's gonna- Yeah. She's gonna ex- she's gonna exercise multiple times a day.

Scott Hammond: Hear that, hear that, Joni?

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah, my wife just did a 100K bike ride-

Marty Coelho: Oh

Scott Hammond: … in Santa Rosa.

Marty Coelho: Wow.

Scott Hammond: 62 miles.

Marty Coelho: Congrats.

Scott Hammond: Her husband did half of that.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: She came in with energy. I, uh, I didn't… It wasn't my day.

Marty Coelho: I, I, I raced my wife once before she was my wife.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Marty Coelho: We, we went on a race together in Boulder, Colorado. Uh, I like to say I, I kicked her ass for the first quarter mile.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And, and then she stomped me in the ground for the rest of the race.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: 'Cause she was, she was gone.

Scott Hammond: Thanks for trying, though. You were there.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, I, I tr- I put up a good fight.

Scott Hammond: You were there.

Marty Coelho: For the first quarter mile.

Scott Hammond: So what, you're going for a walk. You walk some dogs. What else would you do with that day?

Marty Coelho: You know-

Scott Hammond: Would you, would you eat out somewhere?

Marty Coelho: No, we're not big eater outers-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … per se.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: We're gonna cook dinner and, uh, relax and watch some good streaming show and-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Marty Coelho: … then what's gonna happen is every one of our four kids-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … is gonna call their mom.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Marty Coelho: So the evening doesn't become about me and my wife.

Scott Hammond: Love it.

Marty Coelho: Not that I'm resentful-

Scott Hammond: No

Marty Coelho: … of any of this.

Scott Hammond: Hear that, kids?

Marty Coelho: Uh, b- but they are going to call, and, you know, it's a blessing that our kids actually like us. Well, they like their mom.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And-

Scott Hammond: I know

Marty Coelho: … they're willing to call and talk to her.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Marty Coelho: So I, I, I consider that a-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … that's a good day.

Scott Hammond: So when I show up in Medford or in Boise and the grandkids go, "Hey, Grandpa, where's Grandma?"

Scott Hammond: … swear. Common. I go, "She went to the moon, and she's not to be, you won't see her for a long time."

Marty Coelho: Oh.

Scott Hammond: And it's like, "What?" I go, "It's me, Grandpa. I'm here." "But where's Grandma?"

Marty Coelho: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: "Okay, fine. She's-"

Marty Coelho: Heck, if we, if we had ever gotten, like, five cents every time my kids said, "Mom"-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Marty Coelho: … could have retired 20 years ago.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So sounds like you and I married- … way up. Way, way up.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: I think that's a true blessing in life. If you can meet someone who n- is your best friend-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … that you can just be present with and, and, um, experience all of life with, and then because I've worked with my wife, uh, in the Cancer Society-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Marty Coelho: … and then also through Humboldt Walk to End Alzheimer's-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … uh, we have spent probably more time together than 99% of the couples out there.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful.

Marty Coelho: And we still like each other. Not to say there's not points where I probably am driving her crazy.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Uh, but you learn a lot about someone-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Marty Coelho: … if you're not only just married to them, but you're actually spending your spare time-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Marty Coelho: … working together on projects.

Scott Hammond: We're, Joni and I are rediscovering that after nine kids. We're spending some time together. It's been, and it's been great. It's been fun. Yeah, amen to all that. The, um, so famous quote from, uh, Ruth Graham, Billy Graham's wife. She goes, "Never considered divorce. Have considered murder." I go, "Good qu- good quote, Ruth."

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. What a, what a great American. Hey, num- question number whatever this is. Um, what was the, what's your best all-time rock and roll show that you saw, ever? If you had to pick one.

Marty Coelho: You know, it's interesting 'cause I've actually thought about that before. You do when you're into music, right?

Scott Hammond: You wonder, yeah.

Marty Coelho: You try to … So I will remember going to the Rainbow Music Hall in Colorado, in Denver.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Place, I'm probably gonna get it wrong, it was probably 450 seats.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Marty Coelho: Small venue.

Scott Hammond: Good sound.

Marty Coelho: And it, it had pillars in it where there shouldn't be pillars. It was a dumb place to have a concert.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: But I saw the English Beat there.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Marty Coelho: We waited all day to go in.

Scott Hammond: The English Beat.

Marty Coelho: The English Beat. And they put out three albums.

Marty Coelho: Um-

Scott Hammond: Was it, was it punk or?

Marty Coelho: New wave.

Scott Hammond: New wave, okay.

Marty Coelho: New wave ska.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Marty Coelho: Right, reggae type of sound.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And I remember going in, and I've never to this day heard, uh, a rhythm section, bass and drums, so connected in my entire life.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Marty Coelho: And the fact that I actually remember that of all the concerts, I just remember- … they were so tight and in sync.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Not the band.

Marty Coelho: Exactly. No. You know, you s- you, you know, it's funny. You get older and you, you … I'm, I've tried to stay up with modern music-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … and I still am to a large degree.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Marty Coelho: But, uh, there's a certain musicianship of the '60s, '70s, even the '80s as new wave crept in-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … and became kind of, the music became simplistic.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: But there were still groups in the '80s, um, the musicianship was truly extraordinary.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And that's not to say that '90s on there haven't been. There have. Great jam band wave-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Marty Coelho: … Americana music. There's people that really know how to play their instruments.

Scott Hammond: String Cheese.

Marty Coelho: But there's also a lot m- Yeah, String Cheese Incident.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: But there's a larger percentage of people that, uh, their computer plays their music for them.

Scott Hammond: Ah. Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And, you know, more power to you. It's just I, I marvel at the people that can, uh, do that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. All right, I'm gonna tell you my shows since you didn't ask.

Marty Coelho: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Um, couple of Dead shows in San Diego were great. Uh, Mark Bolan and T. Rex.

Marty Coelho: Oh, wow.

Scott Hammond: San Diego Civic Center. I was 15 or 16.

Marty Coelho: Oh, wow.

Scott Hammond: And for his encore, he came out with a bullwhip and started whipping his guitar, his electric guitar. How cool is that when you're that a- … Oh, whoa, dude. How … Oh, this is great.

Marty Coelho: That's very unique.

Scott Hammond: And of late, uh, Judy Collins and Stephen Stills.

Scott Hammond: She sang like a bird at 80. Um, stopped, you know, everybody's sipping wine and-

Marty Coelho: Right

Scott Hammond: … at the d- f- 20, 30,000 people. Really small venue, but it's, she stopped, showstopper. She stopped the show 'cause she hit these notes, and they were just so, uh, heavenly. It, it just like, "What's happening?" And, uh, lastly, String Cheese Incident up there last year. Saw them this year.

Marty Coelho: I could, I-

Scott Hammond: Amazing band

Marty Coelho: … I've always wanted to see them.

Scott Hammond: Oh, my gosh. Uh, musicianship, they play for an hour and a half straight. They don't stop. Take a 20-minute break, and then they do it again. Then they play late, and they're just … They played CannaFest, uh, after this show, and it wasn't, apparently they have people that rank these and travel with them, and guess it wasn't good, as good, but, um-

Marty Coelho: Oh, interesting.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, interesting shows, yeah.

Scott Hammond: But fun.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, I think you're asking me about Red Rocks. I think the very best show I ever saw at Red Rocks was the Talking Heads.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that'd be great.

Marty Coelho: And then was the Burning Down the House Tour.

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.

Marty Coelho: And, um, wow.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Man, those guys knew what they were doing.

Scott Hammond: Well, friend, it turns out that you have won the chocolate bar.

Marty Coelho: Well, thank you. My wife is gonna be-

Scott Hammond: And I was-

Marty Coelho: … extremely happy

Scott Hammond: … and I'll give it to you after the show.

Marty Coelho: That seems fair.

Scott Hammond: T- Dick Taylor, have you heard of them?

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: And, you know, Joni claims this, and I can't verify 'cause I'm not the gender. She said women love chocolate.

Marty Coelho: My wife does. I think if it's a choice, at the end of the day when the-

Scott Hammond: I can't say anything. I can't address-

Marty Coelho: You can, you can o- you can only either take your wife, uh, if she, if they said to her, "You can either take your husband or chocolate to that island."

Scott Hammond: Ooh.

Marty Coelho: At the very end.

Scott Hammond: Ooh.

Marty Coelho: You only get to ch- It, it's the chocolate.

Marty Coelho: I've lost.

Scott Hammond: That could be-

Marty Coelho: I've lost.

Scott Hammond: Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Marty Coelho: No. It's their choice.

Scott Hammond: It could, it could go either way. Hey, if you're just joining us, you're really late, but it's my new best friend, Marty Coelho. And, uh, uh, how do we get ahold of CR? How do we donate? Uh, what are, what are all the websites, the phone numbers? Can we call your cell phone number? What do we do?

Marty Coelho: Best thing to do is just Google College of the Redwoods, and if you're looking to give and support the college-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … just Google College of the Redwoods Foundation.

Scott Hammond: Pretty easy.

Marty Coelho: And you'll find us. You'll find our website.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: You can make a donation there. You can send us a check. Whatever works for you.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: I think the flexibility of being a small- Uh, College Foundation is we can really tailor your gift to where you wanna have an impact.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Can't always do that in organizations.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Marty Coelho: And you're, you're benefiting a student body that is incredibly diverse and really truly, uh, changing people's lives.

Scott Hammond: Love it.

Marty Coelho: Uh, we read our scholarship applications every year.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And I thought I really understood our student profile with, you know, the kids. I've lived here forever, right? Thought I got it. Read the scholarship applications and realized, wow, I don't get it at all 'cause there's a ton of folks going to school at CR every year, grace of God, I don't know how they get out of bed in the morning.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: They've experienced, uh, more hardship-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … than you would ever think is-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … possible.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And yet they're somehow getting themselves to school every day-

Scott Hammond: That's cool

Marty Coelho: … to change their lives. And th- those are students worth supporting.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Right on to that. Yeah. Um, so do you take donations of real estate or m- my Jag or?

Marty Coelho: Well, we just had somebody, uh, donate their home and their will to us out of Fortuna.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Marty Coelho: So that was an, that was a very nice gift for someone-

Scott Hammond: That's a-

Marty Coelho: … to give, so.

Scott Hammond: Those are big foundational gifts.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Yes.

Scott Hammond: So tell us more about sports auction real quick. So you've done how many of them?

Marty Coelho: Well, the college as a whole is up to 22.

Scott Hammond: I mean, Humboldt is, has a history of doing it. Hum- I'm sorry, Cal Poly.

Marty Coelho: Yep. I actually did the sports auction back there in the mid-'90s.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Three of them. Uh, we had, uh, Brent Lott. We had Ronnie Lott-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … uh, Joe Theismann. Um, really good experiences there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: At CR, the, the focus is, is on the athletes.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And, uh, we keep our program pretty short 'cause people are there to have dinner and talk-

Scott Hammond: Right

Marty Coelho: … and have fun.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Marty Coelho: And, uh, Rex, uh, is our auctioneer, Rex Bowen.

Scott Hammond: What a giver, man.

Marty Coelho: The amount of time that guy gives in the community.

Marty Coelho: You know-

Scott Hammond: Pretty amazing

Marty Coelho: … there, I know politically there's folks that like him, folks that don't like him.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Marty Coelho: Like I said before, I don't judge people that way.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: I judge by their actions.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And he's out helping the community.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And to me, that's where his proof point-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … and I, I appreciate him being willing to give his day. Um, you know, he's starting early in the morning and our auction's not done till 9:30 and-

Scott Hammond: He's out all day

Marty Coelho: … he's, he's done it all day and he's doing it all night.

Scott Hammond: And he's no spring chicken. Hear that, Rex? No. Uh, nice man. And one day maybe we'll have him on the podcast.

Scott Hammond: We'll see.

Marty Coelho: Well, you should.

Scott Hammond: If he gets lucky. I, I just, I might ask him. I, we'll see.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, if he plays his cards right.

Scott Hammond: If he plays his card. That's what my dad used to say. So, uh, so the, the auction supplements the, the college's budget.

Marty Coelho: It, it's used to support our sports program specifically.

Scott Hammond: Specifically, yeah.

Marty Coelho: And, and this year, however, the last year has been really problematic because the increasing cost to renting cars-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Marty Coelho: … gas.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Marty Coelho: You know-

Scott Hammond: Getting, getting-

Marty Coelho: … renting, renting the buses, lodging, food.

Scott Hammond: Getting the team there. Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Oh my goodness. I mean, we travel, uh, further than any college in the Ca- California Community College system-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … to get to competitions.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And so, you know, we're, we're s- we're scrambling trying to cover those ever-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … increasing costs.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And, uh, the public is r- incredibly supportive. And our auction, I mean, we have over 200 plus packages, and what's in it is not just a, you know, a cup.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Like, what– People are giving us significance-

Scott Hammond: Trips. Trips and stuff, right?

Marty Coelho: Oh, incredible gifts of trips, and the items that they're donating are far more than-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Marty Coelho: … what you would expect. And, uh, to me, the fact that they're doing that in our economy right now that's really struggling-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … really says a lot-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Marty Coelho: … that they see the value of the college in supporting that.

Scott Hammond: Would it be appropriate to do shout-outs to… I mean, there's probably too many to really recognize their name in terms of businesses or institutions that support in gifts and the auction items.

Marty Coelho: Well, I'd say, uh, just, uh, so our title sponsors this year were Blue Lake Casino Hotel-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … and the McClane Foundation.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Marty Coelho: And, and I think having support like that is, is pretty remarkable.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Marty Coelho: I mean, uh, if, both organizations are incredibly impactful and supportive in our community. Uh, Blue Lake has been supporting CR and our athletics program-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … for, for a good while. And, uh, honestly, B- Blue Lake Casino Hotel a- and the Rancho, they do so mo- so much to economically-

Scott Hammond: They do a lot

Marty Coelho: … support our community.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Their efforts around, uh, getting the community prepared for emergencies.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Uh-

Scott Hammond: Is that Eric? Uh, it's probably the whole team, but, uh, I think, I think of Eric Ramos. I'm sure there's a ton of them anyway.

Marty Coelho: Yeah. It, I couldn't tell you-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … specific names off the top of my head.

Scott Hammond: They cer- they certainly are helpful in the community.

Scott Hammond: No doubt.

Marty Coelho: Well, I think we're very fortunate that the tribes in the area are involved.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: And-

Scott Hammond: And McClane, is that the outfit down in Fortuna?

Marty Coelho: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: They're gonna be putting in, um, a new pool.

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.

Marty Coelho: And they're trying to make it so that they can hold competitions as well, so they're gonna make it a deeper pool.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Incredibly supportive of that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Uh, there's way too many people in Humboldt that are dying in our rivers.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Uh, not to say that-

Scott Hammond: True

Marty Coelho: … uh, there aren't folks that are passing away that, uh, knew how to swim.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Maybe some of them did.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Um, but I would rather see everybody learn to swim. Heck, I was, I grew up as a kid in New Mexico.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: New Mexico.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: There ain't any water in New Mexico. I'm over, I'm over-

Scott Hammond: There ain't any

Marty Coelho: … exaggerating, but you kinda get what I'm saying.

Scott Hammond: There's not much.

Marty Coelho: Yeah. Uh, we had a pool. We all learned to swim.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And there was no river anywhere or lake anywhere near us.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Marty Coelho: Uh, someone saw value in training kids how to swim.

Scott Hammond: Amen. Yeah.

Marty Coelho: So I think that should just, every kid should know that.

Scott Hammond: I th- I totally agree with that. Yeah. I've become a swimmer in the last year and a half.

Marty Coelho: Oh, really?

Scott Hammond: I mean, not just… I, I've lear- I've l- become an athletic swimmer.

Marty Coelho: Oh.

Scott Hammond: I'll leave it at that. I mean, it's hard to s- tell under my vest.

Marty Coelho: No, I can see this felt body there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I just do what I can. You know what I'm saying? Um, no, swimming's really important.

Marty Coelho: Yeah, I swim usually two, three times a week. Try, I got up to, I think, four times, and then I'll go on a vacation-

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy

Marty Coelho: … lose everything in, in a blink of an eye, and then-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … try to rebuild back. I remember my dad was a big swimmer.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Marty Coelho: And if, uh, I've got a super bad back-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … you know-

Scott Hammond: Helps it

Marty Coelho: … it's one of the few exercises I can do that, that works.

Scott Hammond: I discovered it was hardcore when I went to the Rogue X, which is a beau- beautiful athletic, uh, competition pool in Medford yesterday.

Marty Coelho: Oh, wow.

Scott Hammond: And where they're closed for the week, and I'm just like, "Oh, bummer."

Marty Coelho: Right.

Scott Hammond: And the, so is the Y, and so I borrowed the next door neighbor's pool last night at 5:00, not, not my time to work out, and did 50 laps.

Marty Coelho: Oh, good for you.

Scott Hammond: Hey, because it was cold, and you had to k- you had to really kick it. Anyway. Well, okay. We've, we really covered some ground. Hey, uh, any parting shots, anything you wanna talk about before I ask my last questions?

Marty Coelho: Yeah, I was gonna give a shout-out. Tomorrow is, uh, the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow. That's right.

Marty Coelho: And, uh, nearly 3,000 people passed away.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: There's another 8,000 plus that have passed away from complications to-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … the air quality-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … around the Trade Centers.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: There's another 50,000 people that are on the list-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Marty Coelho: … for having health problems identified by that event.

Scott Hammond: Crazy.

Marty Coelho: I remember, uh, being in an American Cancer Society meeting when somebody-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … yelled out, "Oh, my God, a, a plane hit the tower."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Marty Coelho: And first thing I'm going is, "What tower?" And, "Why would a plane hit a tower?" And then I'm-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Marty Coelho: … thinking, "Oh, it's a prop plane."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And then, uh-

Scott Hammond: I remember that

Marty Coelho: … everything spiraled from there. A lot of, uh, younger folks, uh, don't, haven't been impacted by that, don't necessarily remember.

Scott Hammond: Right. Right.

Marty Coelho: And I think that's something we, we need to remember, their loss.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Yeah, 11,000 plus. That's a lot of people.

Marty Coelho: It was 3,000 through the, the four different events that happened, and then-

Scott Hammond: And then 8,000

Marty Coelho: … yes, 8,000-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … then now from the sicknesses.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Marty Coelho: Um, yeah. It, uh, what, what a disturbing series of events-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … that we still, you know, like-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … repercussions of that have impacted us socially, culturally, politically.

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.

Marty Coelho: Um, but I think about the families.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I think of that and COVID being really two markers of great change. You know?

Marty Coelho: I think COVID caused mass, uh, PTSD.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Uh, my proof points for that is just go ask someone about a timeframe during COVID, and nobody can tell you-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … uh, the timeframe within COVID.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: Like, that was lost time-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Marty Coelho: … it caused.

Scott Hammond: It was-

Marty Coelho: And we don't wanna remember.

Scott Hammond: It, it is a vortex of time. You're right.

Marty Coelho: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So real quick, uh, who are you and what do you want? You have, you have a minute, uh, 'cause we're out of time. Who's Marty Coelho, and what do you want? And what, what do you want your legacy to be?

Marty Coelho: Oh, my legacy. Wow, that's a challenging question, Scott. 'Cause I'll tell you, I don't care about my legacy.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Good.

Marty Coelho: My, my point is to live my life to help others-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … and to hopefully folks, uh, uh, that impacts people's lives in a positive way.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Marty Coelho: And if I can enjoy that experience with others who are like-minded, um, I think that's-

Scott Hammond: Love it

Marty Coelho: … a life well lived.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful. I love that. Um, so real quick, uh, thanks for being here. How do we get ahold of you, you guys again, one more time, websites?

Marty Coelho: Just Google College of the Redwoods Foundation and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Marty Coelho: … uh, you will find us.

Scott Hammond: Or ChatGPT now. AI will know who you are.

Marty Coelho: A- AI can track… Yeah. It knows too much about me already.

Scott Hammond: It's, it's pretty weird.

Marty Coelho: It is very weird. It addresses me by my name now, so.

Scott Hammond: Usually I would have an AI spread here, here and tell, tell you what he, she said, it said, but, um-

Marty Coelho: It's crazy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's, it's pretty wild stuff.

Marty Coelho: It's getting too smart.

Scott Hammond: Hey, thanks for being here.

Marty Coelho: Thanks, Scott. I appreciate-

Scott Hammond: Appreciate it

Marty Coelho: … your time.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Hey, and if you're just joining us, you're super late to meet Marty, but, uh, you can watch on YouTube, all the, uh, podcast platforms. Uh, donate, uh, like us, love us, subscribe, and, uh, thanks for being here. Scott Hammond, 100% Humboldt with the Pillars of Humboldt County.