WEBVTT 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:58.960 I headed to Pyramid Studios where they had a 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:01.140 drumming competition called Grooves for Good 00:01:01.140 --> 00:01:05.500 to raise money for them. Pyramid Studios is a 00:01:05.500 --> 00:01:07.760 non -profit organization that trains adults with 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:10.400 developmental disabilities in various forms of 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:13.959 art, various mediums, everything from music to 00:01:13.959 --> 00:01:19.560 visual art, acting. And the goal of that is so 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:22.950 that these people can make a living. Doing art 00:01:22.950 --> 00:01:25.810 instead of the more traditional nine -to -five 00:01:25.810 --> 00:01:34.870 kind of grind job. They do something really unique. 00:01:34.890 --> 00:01:42.189 I think it's really, really important. What they 00:01:42.189 --> 00:01:45.590 do while I was at this event, I spoke to multiple 00:01:45.590 --> 00:01:48.090 drummers that had entered in the competition, 00:01:48.450 --> 00:02:24.090 including the winner. The winner also... Check 00:02:24.090 --> 00:02:27.129 it out on YouTube. OvereducatedUnderemployed 00:02:27.129 --> 00:02:33.250 is the channel. Without further ado, here is 00:02:33.250 --> 00:02:38.370 the Pyramid Studios grooves for good. All right, 00:02:38.409 --> 00:02:41.150 I'm here with Javi from Pyramid Studios, and 00:02:41.150 --> 00:02:45.009 we're here at a drumming competition. Tell me 00:02:45.009 --> 00:02:46.770 first a little bit about Pyramid Studios, and 00:02:46.770 --> 00:02:49.770 then tell me about this particular event. Yeah, 00:02:49.810 --> 00:02:52.990 Pyramid Studios is a nonprofit here in Tallahassee, 00:02:53.009 --> 00:02:56.689 Florida. We have other locations in Tampa, Pensacola, 00:02:56.789 --> 00:03:00.590 and we serve adults with developmental disabilities. 00:03:01.009 --> 00:03:03.969 And it's a very special organization. There's 00:03:03.969 --> 00:03:07.099 really no other place like it. I joined here 00:03:07.099 --> 00:03:09.379 first in 2019, left because of COVID, then came 00:03:09.379 --> 00:03:12.979 back, and it's just an amazing workplace for 00:03:12.979 --> 00:03:14.919 the employees and also the population that we 00:03:14.919 --> 00:03:17.819 serve. These people never forget you, and you 00:03:17.819 --> 00:03:20.539 never forget them. And an organization that's 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:22.060 dear and dear to my heart. I always wanted to 00:03:22.060 --> 00:03:24.340 be a helper growing up. I always tell this story 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:26.099 that when I was in third grade, we read a book 00:03:26.099 --> 00:03:29.060 about puppies, and it was like firefighter puppy, 00:03:29.300 --> 00:03:31.400 police puppy, and then there was helper puppy. 00:03:31.659 --> 00:03:34.039 And so for the end of the third grade, we all 00:03:34.039 --> 00:03:35.990 dressed up. for what we wanted to be when we 00:03:35.990 --> 00:03:38.689 grew up. And I dressed up as a dog. So people 00:03:38.689 --> 00:03:39.870 were like, you want to be a dog when you grow 00:03:39.870 --> 00:03:43.150 up? But I always wanted to be a helper. And I 00:03:43.150 --> 00:03:45.050 have a passion for music. I have a passion for 00:03:45.050 --> 00:03:48.050 drums specifically. My dad was a drummer. And 00:03:48.050 --> 00:03:50.889 it's just in my blood. Everyone in my family 00:03:50.889 --> 00:03:54.590 in Puerto Rico, we got bongos in the cars. Everyone's 00:03:54.590 --> 00:03:57.430 drumming something. So I thought, why not put 00:03:57.430 --> 00:03:59.370 together the two things I love most, helping 00:03:59.370 --> 00:04:02.789 people and music and raising money for a good 00:04:02.789 --> 00:04:06.189 cause. So tell me for a minute, just how is this 00:04:06.189 --> 00:04:10.250 particular competition organized? How are people 00:04:10.250 --> 00:04:12.830 being judged? How is it being ranked? All that 00:04:12.830 --> 00:04:16.310 sort of thing. Thankfully, in my career here 00:04:16.310 --> 00:04:18.189 as a musician in Tallahassee, I've been able 00:04:18.189 --> 00:04:22.250 to make a lot of good friends. And I gathered 00:04:22.250 --> 00:04:25.990 all the best drummers that I know and got them 00:04:25.990 --> 00:04:30.990 to put up their chops. And I grabbed the three 00:04:30.990 --> 00:04:34.449 people that I know have the... finest ear for 00:04:34.449 --> 00:04:37.290 drumming to judge them in the most unbiased way. 00:04:37.670 --> 00:04:42.610 And I recruited everyone I knew on my friends 00:04:42.610 --> 00:04:45.189 list, on my contacts, on my phone numbers. I 00:04:45.189 --> 00:04:49.050 advertised and everyone here at Pyramid did the 00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:52.269 same thing. This is really a big community event. 00:04:52.569 --> 00:04:55.389 And that's really, I think, what's apart from 00:04:55.389 --> 00:04:58.730 the money being raised and the fruits of that 00:04:58.730 --> 00:05:01.089 labor that the students ultimately are going 00:05:01.089 --> 00:05:04.250 to receive at the school. I think it's going 00:05:04.250 --> 00:05:06.730 to foster a lot of community, a lot of people 00:05:06.730 --> 00:05:07.990 getting together. Who knows what will sprout 00:05:07.990 --> 00:05:11.829 from this? Sweet, sweet. Is there anything in 00:05:11.829 --> 00:05:14.069 particular that people, if they want to find 00:05:14.069 --> 00:05:16.550 out more about your organization or even donate, 00:05:16.769 --> 00:05:19.529 is there any place you want to send people? Absolutely. 00:05:19.889 --> 00:05:23.149 Look up Pyramid Studios in Tallahassee on Google. 00:05:23.230 --> 00:05:25.370 You can look on our website, on our Facebook, 00:05:25.589 --> 00:05:29.149 and big donation box. I'll make sure there's 00:05:29.149 --> 00:05:30.910 a link to that in the description too. We can 00:05:30.910 --> 00:05:35.259 take money. Always take extra clothes, anything. 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:40.420 We have not only a need for clothing on the daily 00:05:40.420 --> 00:05:43.800 and school supplies, but also just anything. 00:05:43.939 --> 00:05:47.920 Chairs, we can always use chairs. Every year, 00:05:48.019 --> 00:05:50.279 the students write a musical, and we put it on 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:54.279 at the moon. Scott Carswell lets us use his beautiful 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:58.079 stage for a discounted price, thanks to his graciousness. 00:05:58.100 --> 00:06:02.160 And we always need... We always need costumes. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:04.839 We have a theater department, a music department, 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:08.079 a lot of performing arts. So we always need a 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:09.620 lot of different things. So if you have something 00:06:09.620 --> 00:06:10.860 that you're going to throw out, instead of giving 00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:15.079 it to Goodwill or a thrift store, Pyramid always 00:06:15.079 --> 00:06:19.680 could use it. And how does this competition directly 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:22.759 relate to the missions of Pyramid? Oh, of course. 00:06:23.480 --> 00:06:30.620 Again, it's all people -centered, right? more 00:06:30.620 --> 00:06:33.920 help in here. And I think just getting these 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:35.920 fresh people, because every time Pyramid has 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:38.079 an event, we always talk to the same people. 00:06:38.220 --> 00:06:41.360 So I thought, why not go out and branch off into 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:43.620 new segments of the community we've never talked 00:06:43.620 --> 00:06:46.680 to? I've gotten to know a lot of people that 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:49.060 I've never talked to before just in my communications 00:06:49.060 --> 00:06:52.819 here. So opening a part of the community's eyes 00:06:52.819 --> 00:06:55.540 to Pyramid and this organization, I think will 00:06:55.540 --> 00:06:58.509 help out. with getting more people to help out 00:06:58.509 --> 00:07:01.550 in volunteering, maybe getting a job here, and 00:07:01.550 --> 00:07:05.629 just keeping Pyramid in mind. Yeah, and I guess 00:07:05.629 --> 00:07:07.569 the one thing I really want to hammer home is, 00:07:07.629 --> 00:07:12.930 like, while you're helping people with developmental 00:07:12.930 --> 00:07:16.970 disabilities with a lot of arts -based mission, 00:07:17.149 --> 00:07:21.290 right? You're teaching people. It culminates 00:07:21.290 --> 00:07:22.930 in a musical, like you said, but you're teaching 00:07:22.930 --> 00:07:25.269 them all kinds of different musical instruments, 00:07:25.490 --> 00:07:27.540 vocals. Can you talk a little bit just about 00:07:27.540 --> 00:07:29.180 that? Yeah, and we do more than just performing 00:07:29.180 --> 00:07:32.279 arts. We do life skills as well. We do a lot 00:07:32.279 --> 00:07:36.040 of our departments, too, focus on helping find 00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:38.019 motor skills. We have a visual arts department. 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:41.459 You see we have a gallery full of art that a 00:07:41.459 --> 00:07:42.939 lot of students have painted, some beautiful, 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:45.420 amazing artwork. Me and my wife have bought a 00:07:45.420 --> 00:07:46.980 couple pieces, and we have them hanging up above 00:07:46.980 --> 00:07:49.759 our bed because it's just beautiful work that 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:52.459 anyone would be happy to have. So we do a lot 00:07:52.459 --> 00:07:56.819 of different. Music, art, life skills, dance, 00:07:57.060 --> 00:07:59.959 theater. We have a dance troupe. Some of the 00:07:59.959 --> 00:08:03.040 other pyramids, they also put on musicals. I 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:04.939 think Pensacola is putting on Shrek Jr. right 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:08.180 now. Great. Javi, I'm going to let you get back 00:08:08.180 --> 00:08:09.920 to soundcheck. Thanks for your time, man. Thank 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:12.579 you, man. Appreciate you. Thanks. I'm here with 00:08:12.579 --> 00:08:16.579 Amir. You play in what bands? I mainly play at 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:19.519 church. I also play for Soulful Triage. I was 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:21.699 in the March of 100 when I was in school. Hell 00:08:21.699 --> 00:08:24.910 yeah. You're here today competing in the drum 00:08:24.910 --> 00:08:28.730 competition. Absolutely. Tell me how you were 00:08:28.730 --> 00:08:31.610 approached, what you knew about Pyramid before 00:08:31.610 --> 00:08:36.149 coming into this. Okay. So I learned about Pyramid 00:08:36.149 --> 00:08:38.370 through Javier. Him and I went to high school 00:08:38.370 --> 00:08:41.730 together. He was a jazz drummer as well. And, 00:08:41.850 --> 00:08:44.850 yeah, he reached out to me for a couple things. 00:08:45.190 --> 00:08:49.090 I was feeling for him for, like, plays or just 00:08:49.090 --> 00:08:50.710 events that they would have. He would let me 00:08:50.710 --> 00:08:53.190 know and stuff. Met some of the people here. 00:08:54.070 --> 00:08:58.090 And ever since, I've had a couple involvements 00:08:58.090 --> 00:09:00.370 with Pyramid and stuff like that. They invited 00:09:00.370 --> 00:09:03.970 me to this drum thingy. Cool, cool. How badly 00:09:03.970 --> 00:09:06.269 do you want to win today? That's a good question. 00:09:07.169 --> 00:09:10.090 Because it is for charity, but you also still 00:09:10.090 --> 00:09:11.710 want to win, right? Yeah, I absolutely want to 00:09:11.710 --> 00:09:14.090 win. I want to win a pretty decent amount. I 00:09:14.090 --> 00:09:15.610 wouldn't be too upset if somebody else won. I'd 00:09:15.610 --> 00:09:16.730 definitely still be happy for them and stuff. 00:09:16.990 --> 00:09:18.950 Yeah, but you're bringing your best. Oh, yeah, 00:09:18.990 --> 00:09:21.809 absolutely. I'm definitely bringing. Everything 00:09:21.809 --> 00:09:24.389 I can. And what's the setup? Is there like a 00:09:24.389 --> 00:09:26.049 house band that you're playing with? Or do you 00:09:26.049 --> 00:09:28.610 bring your own band? Are you doing solos? How 00:09:28.610 --> 00:09:30.789 does that work? So we have an option to just 00:09:30.789 --> 00:09:34.090 do an open solo, no music or anything. Or we 00:09:34.090 --> 00:09:37.990 can play along with a song. And there's apps 00:09:37.990 --> 00:09:40.009 you can take out the drums or take out the vocals 00:09:40.009 --> 00:09:42.470 and stuff like that. We just take out the drums 00:09:42.470 --> 00:09:45.370 and whatever song that we want to do, we just 00:09:45.370 --> 00:09:47.269 play along with the song. Okay, so it's almost 00:09:47.269 --> 00:09:50.789 like playing to a track. You're playing to a 00:09:50.789 --> 00:09:53.649 track if you want, or you can do a solo. Yeah. 00:09:54.210 --> 00:09:57.210 Do whatever you feel like is going to make you 00:09:57.210 --> 00:09:59.509 shine the best. Yeah. What have you chosen to 00:09:59.509 --> 00:10:01.169 do today? I'm playing along with the song. What 00:10:01.169 --> 00:10:04.129 song are you going to play? Thriller, but it's 00:10:04.129 --> 00:10:06.970 an arrangement by Dirty Loops. Oh, interesting. 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:11.129 Yeah, very nice. I love it. Awesome. If you had 00:10:11.129 --> 00:10:13.710 anything to say to young drummers out there, 00:10:13.830 --> 00:10:17.669 or even people that maybe don't know their drummers 00:10:17.669 --> 00:10:20.289 yet, I might be wondering, like, how did you 00:10:20.289 --> 00:10:23.070 figure out that you were a drummer? I've always 00:10:23.070 --> 00:10:25.429 known. My mom told me that when I was two, I 00:10:25.429 --> 00:10:27.610 was being on pots and pans, always banging on 00:10:27.610 --> 00:10:30.789 something. Whenever we would be around music 00:10:30.789 --> 00:10:32.649 or anything music -related, I would just gravitate 00:10:32.649 --> 00:10:34.769 to it, gravitate towards the instruments, towards 00:10:34.769 --> 00:10:37.769 the drums. Yeah, stuff like that. So music, my 00:10:37.769 --> 00:10:39.450 love for music, my attraction to music has always 00:10:39.450 --> 00:10:42.009 been there. I've always known that drums was 00:10:42.009 --> 00:10:43.649 for me. Just music in general, but definitely 00:10:43.649 --> 00:10:46.590 drums. What's some of the first musicians you 00:10:46.590 --> 00:10:49.059 really loved? Who are some of the drummers you 00:10:49.059 --> 00:10:51.620 really look up to? That's a good question. So 00:10:51.620 --> 00:10:53.639 first musicians I really like to enjoy for real. 00:10:54.299 --> 00:10:55.899 When I was younger, I didn't really know that 00:10:55.899 --> 00:10:58.559 many musicians. Of course, Michael Jackson, Bruno 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:03.279 Mars, some jazz musicians like Miles Davis, Dizzy 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:06.740 Gillespie, all of them. What else was I listening 00:11:06.740 --> 00:11:09.139 to? There were some other musicians at church 00:11:09.139 --> 00:11:11.519 that I played with, a guy named Derek Sutton, 00:11:11.620 --> 00:11:14.279 great keys player. I mean, phenomenal on the 00:11:14.279 --> 00:11:18.379 keys. Jeff Canes on the bass. Some other people 00:11:18.379 --> 00:11:22.840 that I've listened to, Dirty Loops, of course, 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:25.019 listening to them, being influenced. Snarky Puppy 00:11:25.019 --> 00:11:27.340 is another great one. Snarky Puppy is beautiful. 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:31.340 Bands and groups like that, those are pretty 00:11:31.340 --> 00:11:33.779 nice to listen to, what I've been listening to 00:11:33.779 --> 00:11:38.659 for a while, too. Yeah, yeah. So what kind of 00:11:38.659 --> 00:11:42.000 music do you play if you're writing it or if 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:45.159 you're playing in your element? Because it sounds 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:46.620 like you play a lot of different kinds of music. 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:49.440 in a lot of different settings whether it's like 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:52.019 in church or like sometimes like in a musical 00:11:52.019 --> 00:11:55.559 or something like that what what do you feel 00:11:55.559 --> 00:11:58.019 if you somebody asks you what kind of drummer 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:01.159 you are what do you think definitely a church 00:12:01.159 --> 00:12:03.759 drummer first and foremost that's pretty much 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.679 where i've gotten all my gospel music yeah gospel 00:12:06.679 --> 00:12:11.179 music just kind of stuff with a nice funk gospel 00:12:11.179 --> 00:12:16.240 r &b stuff like that It's been great talking 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:17.779 to you, Amir. Absolutely. Nice talking to you, 00:12:17.799 --> 00:12:20.000 too. Is there anything that you want to share 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.279 about Pyramid or about your music that you didn't 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:25.539 get a chance to talk about before? Pyramid's 00:12:25.539 --> 00:12:28.019 great. Thank you for hosting the drum -a -thon, 00:12:28.139 --> 00:12:30.299 the drum -off, or whatever they're calling it. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:32.419 Thank you for hosting that. I think it's Grooves 00:12:32.419 --> 00:12:35.059 for Good. Grooves for Good. Thank you for hosting 00:12:35.059 --> 00:12:37.399 Grooves for Good. Yeah, that's pretty much it. 00:12:37.500 --> 00:12:39.240 Awesome. Thanks for your time, man. Of course. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:41.919 Thank you. Appreciate it. Alrighty. Alright. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:44.799 I'm here with Hayley Hernandez. She... What do 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:46.299 you do here at Pyramid? I'm the paint teacher 00:12:46.299 --> 00:12:48.940 here at Pyramid. Awesome. Tell me a little bit 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:52.600 about what that means. Do y 'all have classes? 00:12:52.899 --> 00:12:56.720 What are your visual arts programs like? Pyramid 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:59.539 Studios has a day program, and my job is to primarily 00:12:59.539 --> 00:13:01.960 make marketable art that the students work on 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:04.940 every day in and day out, and they get the profit, 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:07.039 and also Pyramid Studios gets the profit. It's 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:09.899 really rewarding and super fun. Are the classes 00:13:09.899 --> 00:13:12.500 open to the public, or do you teach them primarily 00:13:12.500 --> 00:13:16.120 to... People with developmental disabilities. 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:18.840 You do need to be like be developmentally disabled 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:23.299 to attend this program. Gotcha. It would be interesting 00:13:23.299 --> 00:13:25.679 to host classes publicly, but that would be more 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:27.500 of like an independent thing that I would do 00:13:27.500 --> 00:13:30.480 to help fundraise for Pyramid. And that's what 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:32.980 I wanted to clarify is whether it was like primarily 00:13:32.980 --> 00:13:37.120 a fundraising endeavor or if it was. program 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:40.259 specifically this is basically their job so they 00:13:40.259 --> 00:13:43.000 they show up they their job is to create marketable 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:45.840 art and that's what we do here awesome yeah thank 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:49.039 you for explaining that um so all the art that 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:50.919 we have on display here that you have on display 00:13:50.919 --> 00:13:54.019 here that i and i did a quick walk through before 00:13:54.019 --> 00:13:58.220 this interview Is it for sale only in the gallery, 00:13:58.340 --> 00:13:59.980 or is there a way that people can buy the art 00:13:59.980 --> 00:14:02.399 online? We're currently working on opening an 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:05.019 online store, and then the prints will be available, 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:08.179 most likely jewelry, and whatever we make. It's 00:14:08.179 --> 00:14:12.220 not usually always paintings. It's just we get 00:14:12.220 --> 00:14:15.480 donated supplies. I know Javi earlier was talking 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:18.440 about how we get donations. we get whatever we 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:21.919 make we get poster boards felt fake flowers and 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:25.100 we just create out of it and make beautiful things 00:14:25.100 --> 00:14:27.259 and we do a lot of experimenting too which is 00:14:27.259 --> 00:14:29.120 super fun because we get these donated supplies 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:31.879 when you pick up any type of medium whether it's 00:14:31.879 --> 00:14:34.840 music or art there's usually an entry fee to 00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:37.340 do that but when we get donated things we can 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:39.840 experiment without needing to be concerned about 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:42.200 the cost of things yeah yeah so that's really 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:45.230 fun not only for creating things but for me too 00:14:45.230 --> 00:14:47.809 getting to explore with the students so art supplies 00:14:47.809 --> 00:14:49.629 is something that y 'all are always looking for 00:14:49.629 --> 00:14:53.029 definitely yeah and it's not just marketable 00:14:53.029 --> 00:14:56.629 art here we also do therapeutic art as well what 00:14:56.629 --> 00:15:00.110 are some of the favorite projects that you've 00:15:00.110 --> 00:15:02.070 gotten to do with the students over the years 00:15:02.070 --> 00:15:04.370 especially from like donating materials yeah 00:15:04.370 --> 00:15:09.450 actually so that we did mosaic glass pieces which 00:15:09.450 --> 00:15:14.279 so we got like bins and bins of glass and I'm 00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:17.179 not a mosaic artist at all. So I definitely wasn't 00:15:17.179 --> 00:15:19.700 doing it like the right way. And we got nicked 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.100 a few times for sure. But there was one student 00:15:22.100 --> 00:15:23.899 in particular that I really enjoyed working with. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.460 And his name is, actually, I'm not sure if I 00:15:26.460 --> 00:15:29.840 can say it. So he's basically, he's got cerebral 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:32.960 palsy. So he's got very limited mobility in a 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:35.120 chair. And he was working on a piece that was 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:39.000 just huge, two years, an impressionistic painting. 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:41.279 And then he got bored of painting it. He can 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:45.200 be a little uppity. We were gluing glass onto 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:47.019 it, and it took him two years to do it. We just 00:15:47.019 --> 00:15:49.980 finished it like a month or two ago. So that 00:15:49.980 --> 00:15:52.360 was great, and he was so ecstatic. And whenever 00:15:52.360 --> 00:15:54.179 a student finishes something, especially when 00:15:54.179 --> 00:15:56.559 it takes that long, they just tell the world. 00:15:56.740 --> 00:16:00.299 There's this huge feeling of joy. Another student 00:16:00.299 --> 00:16:04.460 of mine, he is like up into his 60s or 70s, and 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:06.700 he didn't really have a lot of independence in 00:16:06.700 --> 00:16:09.539 the home that he was in. So he comes here, he 00:16:09.539 --> 00:16:12.120 gains independence, he gains confidence. And 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:14.679 whenever he finishes a painting, he weeps. And 00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:16.700 I love working with him and seeing how moved 00:16:16.700 --> 00:16:18.899 he is by that. And then watching a student get 00:16:18.899 --> 00:16:21.460 a paycheck as well when most of them haven't 00:16:21.460 --> 00:16:25.200 held a job before ever. It's incredible. What 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:29.779 got you into this position here rather than teaching 00:16:29.779 --> 00:16:32.519 at a more traditional school or something like 00:16:32.519 --> 00:16:35.019 that? You know, I did not know what I was walking 00:16:35.019 --> 00:16:39.450 into when I got a job. I came here to Tallahassee. 00:16:39.450 --> 00:16:41.250 I was just moving in with my dad at the time 00:16:41.250 --> 00:16:43.169 because he was offering me free rent and I was 00:16:43.169 --> 00:16:46.350 fresh out of art school. I got a degree as a 00:16:46.350 --> 00:16:48.809 BFA with illustration from Ringling and I was 00:16:48.809 --> 00:16:51.009 just looking for my first art gig and I found 00:16:51.009 --> 00:16:54.210 Pyramid and I was really inspired but mostly 00:16:54.210 --> 00:16:57.080 I didn't know what I was getting into. Not only 00:16:57.080 --> 00:17:00.019 did I, like, find a super rewarding and amazing 00:17:00.019 --> 00:17:02.919 job, I also met my husband here, and we got married 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:05.359 here last year, too. And then we've hosted a 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:06.819 lot of other things. I've made a lot of great 00:17:06.819 --> 00:17:08.740 friends through it, a lot of really amazing memories. 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:11.000 Kavi said earlier, it's just, it's the place 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:13.339 that they don't forget you, and you don't forget 00:17:13.339 --> 00:17:16.240 either. It's been a recurring theme on this podcast 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:20.279 is to, like, find good people and take care of 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:22.039 them and keep them close. And that's really, 00:17:22.099 --> 00:17:24.900 like, the foundation of all these different organizations 00:17:24.900 --> 00:17:28.400 that I've talked to. and even musicians that 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:32.339 are trying to build something beyond just playing 00:17:32.339 --> 00:17:34.819 on a Saturday night. So I really appreciate you 00:17:34.819 --> 00:17:37.440 talking to me. Is there anything you'd like to 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:40.200 share about Pyramid that we didn't get to really 00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:43.299 quick before we go? We do host a lot of events, 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:46.740 and we're learning to make more. The summer show 00:17:46.740 --> 00:17:49.240 is the largest fundraising opportunity that we 00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:51.619 do, and we definitely would love... as many people 00:17:51.619 --> 00:17:53.980 in the community come out and support our students 00:17:53.980 --> 00:17:56.099 and the work we do. And you do that every summer? 00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:58.420 Every summer. Is that the show at the moon, or 00:17:58.420 --> 00:17:59.500 is that something different? That's the show 00:17:59.500 --> 00:18:01.079 at the moon. The musical at the moon. It's not 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:03.920 just the theater show. It's also a ginormous 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:07.220 gallery exhibit, too. Awesome. I really appreciate 00:18:07.220 --> 00:18:11.819 your time, and we'll probably come see that musical, 00:18:11.940 --> 00:18:15.119 the big show in the spring, or in the summer. 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:18.089 Yep. All right. Thank you. I'm here with Bucky. 00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:20.809 He's the arts director of Pyramid Studios here 00:18:20.809 --> 00:18:22.930 in Tallahassee. Can you just tell me a little 00:18:22.930 --> 00:18:27.089 bit about what you do here and what your role 00:18:27.089 --> 00:18:29.430 in the organization is overall? Sure, yeah. I 00:18:29.430 --> 00:18:31.490 work at Pyramid Studios. We serve adults with 00:18:31.490 --> 00:18:32.829 developmental and intellectual disabilities. 00:18:33.289 --> 00:18:35.690 I know I said that very fast. I'll slow it down. 00:18:35.690 --> 00:18:37.250 It's not the first time it's been said. Yeah, 00:18:37.250 --> 00:18:40.369 so we all know what we do as far as who we serve. 00:18:40.609 --> 00:18:43.309 I serve as arts director, so I'm over our visual 00:18:43.309 --> 00:18:45.630 art and our performing arts departments. So our 00:18:45.630 --> 00:18:47.349 performing arts department is super diverse. 00:18:47.630 --> 00:18:49.569 We have a dance team. We have a rock band that 00:18:49.569 --> 00:18:51.269 tours through South Florida, the Electric People. 00:18:51.730 --> 00:18:53.890 If you want a chance, you can go buy some merch 00:18:53.890 --> 00:18:55.970 from them. Don't miss a chance to sell something. 00:18:56.509 --> 00:18:58.589 We also have a big visual arts department. We 00:18:58.589 --> 00:19:01.349 have lots of painters and paintings. We're very 00:19:01.349 --> 00:19:05.789 proud of our program. Awesome. What brought you 00:19:05.789 --> 00:19:10.589 to Pyramid originally? Like a lot of people, 00:19:10.890 --> 00:19:14.730 serving this population was not my first thought. 00:19:15.099 --> 00:19:17.259 When I came here, I came here to Tallahassee 00:19:17.259 --> 00:19:20.960 with really no real job prospects. I just knew 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:23.180 that I had a theater background, and I'd love 00:19:23.180 --> 00:19:25.500 to do something that involved theater. Shockingly, 00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:28.700 not a lot of those options around. But there 00:19:28.700 --> 00:19:30.759 was a performing arts instructor position here. 00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:34.059 I checked it out, and I'm like, okay, I can give 00:19:34.059 --> 00:19:37.420 this a try. And I just, within a couple weeks, 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:39.940 I fell in love with our guys and just what we 00:19:39.940 --> 00:19:42.420 do. How long have you been here now? Eight years. 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:46.180 Awesome, awesome. Maybe I'll give it a year to 00:19:46.180 --> 00:19:49.400 eight, and I'm not sure when I'm leaving, if. 00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:52.759 What are some of the favorite projects that you've 00:19:52.759 --> 00:19:55.039 gotten to do over the years? Oh, so for me, I 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:57.799 get to be head of the summer show. So we do an 00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:00.579 original musical every year from scratch to stage. 00:20:00.740 --> 00:20:03.900 So within about a six -month period, we put it 00:20:03.900 --> 00:20:05.960 all together. It's a really great experience. 00:20:05.980 --> 00:20:09.160 And, yeah, as a director, it's very unique how 00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:14.329 you just workshop the whole thing. Yeah. What 00:20:14.329 --> 00:20:19.049 are some of the most exciting aspects on a day 00:20:19.049 --> 00:20:23.789 -to -day? Because I know the day -to -day can 00:20:23.789 --> 00:20:27.529 get any job, no matter what it is. That's true. 00:20:27.710 --> 00:20:31.269 It can get mundane sometimes. It's a job, right? 00:20:31.750 --> 00:20:33.410 Sure, that's not quite here. But what are some 00:20:33.410 --> 00:20:35.529 of the most exciting aspects? So here, there 00:20:35.529 --> 00:20:37.509 isn't really day -to -day. So I'll interview 00:20:37.509 --> 00:20:40.450 people for positions here now because I'm arts 00:20:40.450 --> 00:20:42.730 director. I didn't go through that journey. I 00:20:42.730 --> 00:20:45.109 was an instructor, now I hire instructors. So 00:20:45.109 --> 00:20:46.690 they'll often ask me, what's day -to -day look 00:20:46.690 --> 00:20:49.670 like? And I'm like, ah, harder to define than 00:20:49.670 --> 00:20:52.910 you. Every day is a little bit different. There's 00:20:52.910 --> 00:20:55.349 always something exciting. We have all sorts 00:20:55.349 --> 00:20:56.470 of different things we're working through, and 00:20:56.470 --> 00:20:59.490 the personalities here are very big. So that's 00:20:59.490 --> 00:21:02.970 always fun. What new puzzle? Who knew if you 00:21:02.970 --> 00:21:05.529 had a bunch of people that were into art together? 00:21:05.529 --> 00:21:08.859 Right, exactly. Yes, naturally. Exactly. Everyone 00:21:08.859 --> 00:21:10.839 that's into art. Oh, yeah. It's not reserved 00:21:10.839 --> 00:21:12.640 just to students and staff. It's everybody. It's 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:15.160 just a very creative group with very creative 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:18.900 problems and things to solve. What are some of 00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:22.640 the things that you think that people don't realize 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:26.799 about the population that you serve? And what 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:30.700 does your organization do to help bring awareness 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:33.799 to some of that? Sure. I'd say how we bring awareness 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:37.920 is through a lot of our events like this. Like 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:39.799 our summer show, things that really feature our 00:21:39.799 --> 00:21:41.859 guys and their creativity, things that they do. 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:43.740 We, of course, have our art shows and other things 00:21:43.740 --> 00:21:46.200 that really features them. I would say things 00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:50.480 that people maybe overlook. First off, it's just 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:54.839 the population itself. Once an adult with intellectual 00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:57.319 disabilities hits about 22, they lose a lot of 00:21:57.319 --> 00:21:59.539 that support and service. So those adults are 00:21:59.539 --> 00:22:01.759 very overlooked. So we are one of those few that 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:04.599 kind of offer something for them to do. Another 00:22:04.599 --> 00:22:06.079 thing that we offer is that we're arts -based. 00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:10.099 So a lot of people put a lot of emphasis on occupation, 00:22:10.180 --> 00:22:12.059 on job training, which is important. There's 00:22:12.059 --> 00:22:14.019 nothing wrong with that. Sure. At the same time, 00:22:14.019 --> 00:22:15.380 there's other ways. You'll do some life training 00:22:15.380 --> 00:22:16.539 skills and things like that. We do life skills 00:22:16.539 --> 00:22:18.460 training and other things. Yeah, so we understand 00:22:18.460 --> 00:22:20.279 the importance of that, but also there's other 00:22:20.279 --> 00:22:23.619 ways to be fulfilled in life than being necessarily 00:22:23.619 --> 00:22:25.480 a cognitive machine for some people. Absolutely. 00:22:25.779 --> 00:22:27.839 So we offer that, and that's something that's 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:31.200 very important and very cool that we offer. Thank 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:32.819 you for your time, Bucky. I really appreciate 00:22:32.819 --> 00:22:35.299 it. Is there anything you'd like to share about 00:22:35.299 --> 00:22:38.220 Pyramid? Before we wrap this up? Oh, nothing. 00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:42.819 We're just excited for anyone to give us a chance 00:22:42.819 --> 00:22:45.579 to take a look at what we have to offer. Awesome. 00:22:45.619 --> 00:22:47.819 We really just appreciate your time. We'll have 00:22:47.819 --> 00:22:50.579 links for where people can donate in the description 00:22:50.579 --> 00:22:52.960 and everything, too. Thanks for your time. Yes, 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:55.420 sir. All right. I'm here with two of the drummers 00:22:55.420 --> 00:22:59.019 that just competed in the Rooves for Good. Rooves 00:22:59.019 --> 00:23:02.000 for Good, yeah. And if y 'all wouldn't mind introducing 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.480 yourselves and talking a little bit about what 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:08.059 you play. Go ahead. I'm Cece. I played a little 00:23:08.059 --> 00:23:11.079 medley that I put together. A little dance, a 00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:13.400 little metal, a little something this, a little 00:23:13.400 --> 00:23:15.740 that. And I improvised. I didn't have time to. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:17.940 And you had to for a minute there. Yeah, I did. 00:23:18.339 --> 00:23:23.640 Oh, the pedal got caught in my pants. Oh. So 00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:25.019 when I was trying to do my double kick stuff. 00:23:25.019 --> 00:23:26.400 I was in the back of the room. I couldn't quite 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:29.920 figure out what the malfunction was. And what's 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:32.960 your name? My name is Devin Costanza, and I played 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:35.940 a jazz piece called Whodunit by the Gordon Goodwin 00:23:35.940 --> 00:23:40.200 Big Fat Band. It's a pretty menacing six -minute 00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:43.099 long, like, just, honestly, it's a drum solo 00:23:43.099 --> 00:23:47.440 over a jazz tune. It was insane. Whiplash vibes. 00:23:47.799 --> 00:23:50.759 Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking of was 00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:54.769 whiplash. Classic. Yeah, 100%. I was just not 00:23:54.769 --> 00:23:56.369 going to say anything because I didn't know anyone 00:23:56.369 --> 00:23:58.349 else had seen that movie. But I guess I'm with 00:23:58.349 --> 00:24:00.250 the group of people that would have, right? Absolutely. 00:24:00.650 --> 00:24:02.609 We've all seen it. These are the only people 00:24:02.609 --> 00:24:04.329 in town that have seen this movie. Oh, yeah. 00:24:05.069 --> 00:24:06.869 Whiplash is a great movie. You should definitely 00:24:06.869 --> 00:24:09.109 check it out. Have you all been involved with 00:24:09.109 --> 00:24:11.349 Pyramid before, or is this the first time you've 00:24:11.349 --> 00:24:13.710 worked with them on anything? This is my first 00:24:13.710 --> 00:24:16.670 event. Somebody put an ad on Facebook, and I 00:24:16.670 --> 00:24:19.170 think I responded to Javier, and then him and 00:24:19.170 --> 00:24:21.910 I texted back and forth. Got me the information 00:24:21.910 --> 00:24:24.529 for the event, but that was the first time I 00:24:24.529 --> 00:24:28.650 heard about this place. And then as I was corresponding 00:24:28.650 --> 00:24:31.950 with him leading up to the event, I ended up 00:24:31.950 --> 00:24:35.109 looking up Pyramid here in town. I realized the 00:24:35.109 --> 00:24:38.369 work that they were doing with the special needs 00:24:38.369 --> 00:24:40.890 community. I thought that was pretty cool. I 00:24:40.890 --> 00:24:43.809 do come from an education background, but not 00:24:43.809 --> 00:24:51.380 necessarily special needs, but parallel. Actually 00:24:51.380 --> 00:24:53.539 surprised, pleasantly surprised to hear that 00:24:53.539 --> 00:24:57.359 this is the biggest campus in the state and largest 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:00.980 student population. What about UCC? Is this the 00:25:00.980 --> 00:25:03.579 first time you've worked with them? I have come 00:25:03.579 --> 00:25:06.839 here before to volunteer before to feel out if 00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:08.880 I wanted to work here. I didn't end up working 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.099 out, but I know Javi from the music scene. I 00:25:11.099 --> 00:25:14.500 met him 10 years ago. Oh, wow. Playing in a little 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:17.859 band called Invented Truths, throwback. I remember 00:25:17.859 --> 00:25:21.380 that band. Yeah, with Dylan and Cam and everybody. 00:25:21.700 --> 00:25:23.980 I remember that band, yeah. Yeah, so you've been 00:25:23.980 --> 00:25:27.319 around. I was born here. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, 00:25:27.380 --> 00:25:29.539 right on. I think we probably know a lot of the 00:25:29.539 --> 00:25:31.420 same people. Oh, I'm sure. It's a small town. 00:25:31.539 --> 00:25:34.160 And Sarah Morrison also, shout out to her. She 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:38.119 works here. Cool. Let me get a little bit about 00:25:38.119 --> 00:25:41.819 what brought you. You're obviously music lovers, 00:25:41.940 --> 00:25:44.960 but did you gravitate to drums right away, or 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:48.509 was it? That's where you landed eventually. I 00:25:48.509 --> 00:25:51.470 actually started with guitar. My dad played guitar, 00:25:51.609 --> 00:25:55.750 and there was one laying around. And then I didn't 00:25:55.750 --> 00:25:58.210 start playing drums until middle school. I was 00:25:58.210 --> 00:26:00.690 lucky enough to get lessons early on, and I think 00:26:00.690 --> 00:26:03.609 that really helped. But yeah, I had to do drums 00:26:03.609 --> 00:26:05.150 because I couldn't play guitar in school band 00:26:05.150 --> 00:26:09.609 at the time. Do you remember the first song that 00:26:09.609 --> 00:26:12.980 you learned to play on guitar? Probably like 00:26:12.980 --> 00:26:17.720 cat scratch fever. After Ted Nugget. Yeah. That's 00:26:17.720 --> 00:26:19.700 what I call him. I've actually had cat scratch 00:26:19.700 --> 00:26:23.380 fever before. It's not fun. Yeah, it's bad. What 00:26:23.380 --> 00:26:26.880 about you, Cece? So this is an education podcast. 00:26:27.579 --> 00:26:32.420 So I talk to all kinds of different people. I 00:26:32.420 --> 00:26:35.619 do focus a lot on arts education. I went up and 00:26:35.619 --> 00:26:38.839 covered AthFest up in Athens earlier this year, 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:42.039 which all raises money for music education. I 00:26:42.039 --> 00:26:43.900 went to the Spirit of the Swanee Kids music camp 00:26:43.900 --> 00:26:48.839 a few weeks ago. Cool. But I also talk to musicians, 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:52.099 comedians, actors. I've had members of the Drive 00:26:52.099 --> 00:26:54.779 -By Truckers. I've had J. Roddy Walston. I've 00:26:54.779 --> 00:26:58.309 had... actors that have been on things like shameless 00:26:58.309 --> 00:27:02.650 and it's always sunny in philadelphia and i've 00:27:02.650 --> 00:27:05.730 had velor trucks i've had kane stanley is a drummer 00:27:05.730 --> 00:27:08.170 you might know about he's the drummer for cosmic 00:27:08.170 --> 00:27:11.369 charlie but he also drums in about probably 20 00:27:11.369 --> 00:27:14.190 other bands oh okay but cosmic charlie is like 00:27:14.190 --> 00:27:16.349 probably the biggest band that he's been a part 00:27:16.349 --> 00:27:18.930 of they're a grateful dead tribute band that's 00:27:18.930 --> 00:27:21.769 been touring for 25 years yeah they have a big 00:27:21.769 --> 00:27:24.930 drum off every night oh wow yeah every night 00:27:25.390 --> 00:27:27.950 It's part of a big part. I have Mickey Hart's 00:27:27.950 --> 00:27:31.309 book. I still have to read it. So I do a little 00:27:31.309 --> 00:27:35.509 bit of everything. I try and I'm really just 00:27:35.509 --> 00:27:39.250 trying to talk to artists about what kind of 00:27:39.250 --> 00:27:43.470 led them first into loving whatever the art that 00:27:43.470 --> 00:27:48.349 they're doing and then the choice to go from 00:27:48.349 --> 00:27:52.250 a consumer to a producer. Sure. Sometimes we 00:27:52.250 --> 00:27:54.160 get into the... the songwriting or joke writing 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:56.819 or whatever process the creative process but 00:27:56.819 --> 00:28:01.460 yeah it's really I really just talking to all 00:28:01.460 --> 00:28:04.160 kinds of different people that are into art and 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:06.980 with that comes a lot of art education yeah coverage 00:28:06.980 --> 00:28:10.059 as well yeah well I would yeah that whole journey 00:28:10.059 --> 00:28:12.400 I've talked to Therese Wachello who's yeah I 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:15.829 love her yeah she's been on the podcast and Elizabeth 00:28:15.829 --> 00:28:17.509 Frable has been on the podcast. She's another 00:28:17.509 --> 00:28:19.950 music teacher that I've had on. So I've had other 00:28:19.950 --> 00:28:22.109 music, but that's not exclusively. Yeah, I've 00:28:22.109 --> 00:28:24.710 seen. Yeah. I have been talking to him. I actually 00:28:24.710 --> 00:28:26.630 just talked to him last week about it. Cool. 00:28:27.329 --> 00:28:29.750 It's in the works for sure. That's my buddy. 00:28:29.750 --> 00:28:32.289 For sure. Yeah, he's awesome. But, yeah, I got 00:28:32.289 --> 00:28:35.609 started. Yeah, back to that. Back to that. I 00:28:35.609 --> 00:28:38.609 just wanted to know, like, what exactly. To be 00:28:38.609 --> 00:28:42.420 honest with you, it's. Figuring it out as I go. 00:28:42.519 --> 00:28:44.220 Yeah. This will be probably the 30th episode. 00:28:44.220 --> 00:28:45.400 But that's good. I'm glad you said all that. 00:28:45.579 --> 00:28:48.619 And it's evolved. I didn't really know what I 00:28:48.619 --> 00:28:50.900 was doing when I started. I knew I was doing 00:28:50.900 --> 00:28:52.480 something, but I didn't know exactly what it 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:54.740 was going to turn into. That's what it's turned 00:28:54.740 --> 00:28:58.960 into now. But what was your, like, entry into 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:01.940 music? Do you remember the first song you learned 00:29:01.940 --> 00:29:05.380 how to play? Oh, man. Start with drums? It's 00:29:05.380 --> 00:29:09.819 funny. I did. There was, like. chorus in elementary 00:29:09.819 --> 00:29:11.599 school, right? I got blessed with an awesome 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:16.079 chorus teacher. And I actually got a music award 00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:18.279 at the end of fifth grade. And I was disappointed. 00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:23.539 A major award! I was just like, no! But I was 00:29:23.539 --> 00:29:26.740 really into art. So I was upset I didn't get 00:29:26.740 --> 00:29:28.339 the art award and I got the music award. But 00:29:28.339 --> 00:29:31.039 it ended up being an omen because I do some art 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:32.839 here and there, like graphic design and whatever. 00:29:33.059 --> 00:29:36.390 But music really took over my life. It was a 00:29:36.390 --> 00:29:39.569 really interesting thing. Nice. And then, yeah, 00:29:39.630 --> 00:29:42.029 my dad's co -worker had a little punk band that 00:29:42.029 --> 00:29:43.950 played behind a tattoo shop, and he gave me a 00:29:43.950 --> 00:29:45.769 pair of drumsticks, and I would just play on, 00:29:45.849 --> 00:29:49.349 like, a couch. And then I was fortunate enough 00:29:49.349 --> 00:29:51.950 to have a best friend that her parents had a 00:29:51.950 --> 00:29:54.230 professional studio. Like, they had Barry Manilow 00:29:54.230 --> 00:29:57.529 in there, and they had The Real Deal, and they 00:29:57.529 --> 00:30:00.430 would do these rock star recordings. recording 00:30:00.430 --> 00:30:03.529 studio parties where it was like that was like 00:30:03.529 --> 00:30:05.349 one of their business models you would come in 00:30:05.349 --> 00:30:07.190 so they had the girl scout troop come in she 00:30:07.190 --> 00:30:08.930 also ran the girl scout troop and i got to play 00:30:08.930 --> 00:30:10.750 the drums and her dad was like you just have 00:30:10.750 --> 00:30:13.230 a knack for this and so i just got his blessing 00:30:13.230 --> 00:30:15.769 and then it was from there it was just like played 00:30:15.769 --> 00:30:18.230 a little bit in church came to fsu did some music 00:30:18.230 --> 00:30:21.329 ensembles at fsu i didn't major in music or anything 00:30:21.329 --> 00:30:25.490 but met my current bandmates back in 2016 and 00:30:25.490 --> 00:30:27.049 have been playing with them ever since and we 00:30:27.049 --> 00:30:29.049 built out a studio what's the name of your band 00:30:29.470 --> 00:30:32.269 So I've got a couple. My most active one right 00:30:32.269 --> 00:30:34.569 now is called Saternal. Actually, I've got our 00:30:34.569 --> 00:30:41.470 little flyers here. We're playing Jam BQ, headlined 00:30:41.470 --> 00:30:45.089 by The Retrograde, which they blew up. Yeah, 00:30:45.609 --> 00:30:47.750 they're kick -ass. Carson is a hell of a drummer. 00:30:48.190 --> 00:30:51.750 And yeah, we'll be on there. And it's going to 00:30:51.750 --> 00:30:54.970 be a great event of 17 bands, I think. We've 00:30:54.970 --> 00:30:56.730 got like a little 30 -minute set. Everybody's 00:30:56.730 --> 00:30:59.839 got a little set. It's a hoot. There's a couple 00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:02.039 stages. There's one outside, one inside. But 00:31:02.039 --> 00:31:04.720 yeah, we've got our own studio and we record 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:06.640 our own music. We do the whole thing from the 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:09.440 ground up. That's awesome. I love it. I produce 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:13.019 as well. I teach music as well. Love it. What 00:31:13.019 --> 00:31:15.380 about you? Do you play with any groups around? 00:31:15.980 --> 00:31:20.529 I actually moved to Tallahassee in May. I come 00:31:20.529 --> 00:31:23.789 from a music background, like I got a music degree 00:31:23.789 --> 00:31:27.269 from UCF, and I've lived in Orlando since 2016, 00:31:27.690 --> 00:31:31.130 and I've done... Never joined the Blue Man Group, 00:31:31.210 --> 00:31:34.130 though. No, those guys stay there until they 00:31:34.130 --> 00:31:37.009 retire. Yeah. Yeah. But I actually met one of 00:31:37.009 --> 00:31:40.210 them. Yeah. Because they all live locally. Was 00:31:40.210 --> 00:31:43.609 he in blue? Are they always blue? No. No. It's 00:31:43.609 --> 00:31:45.390 a character for them. I wonder if they have like 00:31:45.390 --> 00:31:48.019 skin issues, like... I would imagine... It's 00:31:48.019 --> 00:31:50.019 got to look like they've been eating a lot of 00:31:50.019 --> 00:31:53.500 colloidal silver or something. They put on a 00:31:53.500 --> 00:31:58.039 skin suit and then paint that blue. Oh, it doesn't 00:31:58.039 --> 00:32:01.160 go on there. That's right. Interesting. I guess 00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:04.940 that makes sense because they all look more similar 00:32:04.940 --> 00:32:07.799 than just being blue. Yeah. If you look at them. 00:32:07.980 --> 00:32:11.220 Yeah. It's got like a weird kind of texture to 00:32:11.220 --> 00:32:13.339 it. That's the makeup artist. Texture is a good 00:32:13.339 --> 00:32:15.160 word. I never would have thought about that, 00:32:15.160 --> 00:32:17.410 but yeah. That's what it is. It's like a visual 00:32:17.410 --> 00:32:20.269 texture. Yeah. Yeah, I was lucky enough to see 00:32:20.269 --> 00:32:23.069 him twice. Oh, cool. It was like one of the most 00:32:23.069 --> 00:32:26.130 entertaining shows ever. It's definitely a bucket 00:32:26.130 --> 00:32:28.369 list for me. Well, it was at Universal. I don't 00:32:28.369 --> 00:32:30.569 know if they're still around. They closed that 00:32:30.569 --> 00:32:32.549 one down, but they still have a residency in 00:32:32.549 --> 00:32:37.230 Chicago and I think New York. I mean, they have 00:32:37.230 --> 00:32:40.890 tours and stuff. The organization is still, there's 00:32:40.890 --> 00:32:43.410 more than one Blue Man Group. The original is 00:32:43.410 --> 00:32:45.269 from Orlando, though? I don't know. The original 00:32:45.269 --> 00:32:47.390 one is from Vegas. Oh, okay. That makes sense. 00:32:47.589 --> 00:32:49.529 And then they have a syndicate that's around 00:32:49.529 --> 00:32:52.789 the country. Yeah. When you say syndicate, it 00:32:52.789 --> 00:32:55.529 sounds so... Anyway. It's like copy and paste. 00:32:55.549 --> 00:32:58.609 Sounds like an operation. So you're just now 00:32:58.609 --> 00:33:01.930 getting into the scene here and looking for people 00:33:01.930 --> 00:33:04.890 to play with. But are you primarily a jazz drummer, 00:33:05.049 --> 00:33:06.769 would you say? Or do you play other kinds of 00:33:06.769 --> 00:33:09.839 music as well? I got started with rock and like 00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:13.759 prog rock. Oh. Yeah. I played a lot of Guitar 00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:17.000 Hero. Yeah, yeah. I was like into Jeff Beck and 00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:19.480 Eric Johnson and like all those kinds of guys. 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:23.519 Yeah, for sure. And then like I did jazz band 00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:25.640 in high school. So I guess that's where that 00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:28.900 started. And then also did a lot of jazz band 00:33:28.900 --> 00:33:33.519 in college. And that's like the inspiration for 00:33:33.519 --> 00:33:37.819 why I picked the tune that I picked today. Other 00:33:37.819 --> 00:33:42.220 than that, I also taught a lot, and I did K -12 00:33:42.220 --> 00:33:46.099 music in Orange County and Osceola. Oh, you worked 00:33:46.099 --> 00:33:48.559 for public schools? I did. I worked as a contractor. 00:33:49.059 --> 00:33:52.440 How does that work? Yeah, this is a side of the 00:33:52.440 --> 00:33:55.259 music. Yeah, I haven't heard anything about this. 00:33:57.740 --> 00:34:00.039 I think this is true for Florida, but if you 00:34:00.039 --> 00:34:02.400 want to work as like a front ensemble tech or 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:04.880 a drumline tech and you want to get paid through 00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:06.880 the school district, you have to go get what's 00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:09.579 called an ID. And those are only good for one 00:34:09.579 --> 00:34:12.079 year or five years. And then you have to go to 00:34:12.079 --> 00:34:16.199 the district office and get fingerprinted. So 00:34:16.199 --> 00:34:19.159 then they give your ID and then you can put in 00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:23.630 a purchase order for band camp. Gotcha. So a 00:34:23.630 --> 00:34:25.789 lot of people just do band camp. So you have 00:34:25.789 --> 00:34:28.610 to get all that done before the event actually 00:34:28.610 --> 00:34:31.690 starts to get paid on time. Right. So that was 00:34:31.690 --> 00:34:34.469 another big issue with doing that job is that 00:34:34.469 --> 00:34:36.969 sometimes you would work band camp and then not 00:34:36.969 --> 00:34:39.730 get your check until October. But it would show 00:34:39.730 --> 00:34:43.170 up and it'd be like two, three grand. Nice. Enough 00:34:43.170 --> 00:34:46.429 to sustain you for a couple of months. But you 00:34:46.429 --> 00:34:49.030 can see that's already like self -destructive. 00:34:52.639 --> 00:34:55.480 three four years and taught private lessons as 00:34:55.480 --> 00:34:59.159 well had kindergartners i had students that were 00:34:59.159 --> 00:35:02.760 retired i worked with pretty pretty much just 00:35:02.760 --> 00:35:07.619 everybody and i played a lot of gigs too I was 00:35:07.619 --> 00:35:10.880 lucky enough from my hometown, there was a guy 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:14.460 that moved there to retire. He was from New York, 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:16.920 and he was one of the best blues guitar players 00:35:16.920 --> 00:35:19.679 I've ever heard. His name is Dave Scott, and 00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:23.440 I got started with him and went to play with 00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:26.099 him because he hosted an open jam and did that 00:35:26.099 --> 00:35:28.539 for at least a few years, and he really helped 00:35:28.539 --> 00:35:31.159 develop my sound and took that with me to Orlando, 00:35:31.179 --> 00:35:36.280 just did jazz gigs. rock gigs, did cover bands, 00:35:36.579 --> 00:35:39.800 and the most recent project I worked on was a 00:35:39.800 --> 00:35:43.360 Steely Dan tribute. Oh, cool. I love Steely Dan. 00:35:43.400 --> 00:35:46.239 We worked pretty hard on it. We had practiced 00:35:46.239 --> 00:35:48.780 for at least six to eight months before our first 00:35:48.780 --> 00:35:53.980 gig. If you want to do music in any city, it's 00:35:53.980 --> 00:35:59.199 just chaotic. What have you found to be the biggest 00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:03.239 challenge breaking into a new scene? that might 00:36:03.239 --> 00:36:05.940 be maybe not specific to tallahassee but just 00:36:05.940 --> 00:36:08.699 in general like moving to a new city and trying 00:36:08.699 --> 00:36:11.039 to break into a new music scene getting people 00:36:11.039 --> 00:36:14.840 to remember you because everybody that's already 00:36:14.840 --> 00:36:17.559 in a town like knows the people that they want 00:36:17.559 --> 00:36:20.760 to call for something it really takes a lot of 00:36:20.760 --> 00:36:24.420 work to break that cycle and be that person the 00:36:24.420 --> 00:36:28.500 new guy exactly yeah and For Orlando, it's a 00:36:28.500 --> 00:36:31.599 big area. People don't have as much loyalty there 00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:33.940 as they do up here, which is like a blessing 00:36:33.940 --> 00:36:37.159 and a curse. Because up here, you could have 00:36:37.159 --> 00:36:42.599 better job security if you're in it. There's 00:36:42.599 --> 00:36:44.800 less gigs here, though, I imagine, than down 00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:48.619 in that area. Yeah, it's a smaller area. This 00:36:48.619 --> 00:36:52.860 is maybe one -tenth the size of a greater Orlando 00:36:52.860 --> 00:36:57.960 area. All that's to say is... Just if you want 00:36:57.960 --> 00:37:01.219 to do music as a career, it's just totally volatile. 00:37:01.500 --> 00:37:04.960 One week, you couldn't make anything. The next 00:37:04.960 --> 00:37:07.219 week, you could make a couple thousand dollars. 00:37:07.719 --> 00:37:10.159 Jay Reddy Walston told me when he was on the 00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:15.059 podcast was that if you want to make a living 00:37:15.059 --> 00:37:19.199 doing art, making music, whatever, don't give 00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:21.559 yourself a backup plan. Exactly. Because you're 00:37:21.559 --> 00:37:25.619 going to follow that. Yeah. Yeah. That makes 00:37:25.619 --> 00:37:29.380 sense. Yeah. Give yourself no other option. Yeah. 00:37:29.639 --> 00:37:32.079 Cece, you mentioned being a teacher as well. 00:37:32.280 --> 00:37:36.800 Yeah. In what capacity? What age? All ages. Do 00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:39.079 you do private lessons? Private lessons. Yep, 00:37:39.119 --> 00:37:43.059 yep, yep. What do you find to be the most rewarding 00:37:43.059 --> 00:37:47.280 thing about teaching music? Getting people from 00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:51.460 point A to point B. And I have a, like... I have 00:37:51.460 --> 00:37:53.840 an oddly methodical but completely intuitive 00:37:53.840 --> 00:37:56.039 approach. It's just I meet every student where 00:37:56.039 --> 00:37:57.840 they're at and I'm just like, what do you want 00:37:57.840 --> 00:38:00.400 to do? Because I don't think that there's so 00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:03.219 many music teachers and music programs out there. 00:38:03.360 --> 00:38:05.559 And even if you just think about like public 00:38:05.559 --> 00:38:08.059 school in general, like actually I was just listening 00:38:08.059 --> 00:38:11.539 to a history podcast and on. YouTube, but this 00:38:11.539 --> 00:38:13.940 guy made it funny. Don't mention the name. I 00:38:13.940 --> 00:38:16.280 can't even remember. I can't even think of what 00:38:16.280 --> 00:38:19.500 the name was. Chris something. But it was so 00:38:19.500 --> 00:38:20.960 funny. I was like, wow, I'm learning history 00:38:20.960 --> 00:38:24.400 and I'm laughing. But I realized there were points... 00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:26.780 I was trying to learn about Gandhi's life for 00:38:26.780 --> 00:38:29.179 some reason and I was listening to a more boring 00:38:29.179 --> 00:38:31.440 podcast about it and I kept tuning out and I 00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:33.659 realized, oh, school kind of conditioned me to 00:38:33.659 --> 00:38:37.079 tune out when I'm learning about history. Not 00:38:37.079 --> 00:38:38.980 to make excuses for myself, but it's just... 00:38:39.079 --> 00:38:41.420 Like, you have these experiences and then you're 00:38:41.420 --> 00:38:44.139 just like, I just, I'm not a history person anymore. 00:38:44.300 --> 00:38:46.679 And so many kids and people are like, I'm not 00:38:46.679 --> 00:38:52.099 a music person. And so I like to... You're the 00:38:52.099 --> 00:38:55.039 star now. Hey, at least you got over your camera 00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:57.440 shine. But getting people over that complex where 00:38:57.440 --> 00:38:59.420 it's like, I'm not a music person. First of all, 00:38:59.420 --> 00:39:01.920 they have to be open to breaking that. So that's 00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:05.000 one thing. And I can't necessarily do that. I 00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:07.969 would love to find a way. But once they... they 00:39:07.969 --> 00:39:09.690 are at least willing to overcome that and they 00:39:09.690 --> 00:39:12.590 come to me, it's okay. How do we get you to believe 00:39:12.590 --> 00:39:15.030 in yourself? And how do we get you to do something 00:39:15.030 --> 00:39:17.730 that you're going to want to keep doing and that 00:39:17.730 --> 00:39:21.889 you'll enjoy doing? Yeah, that's such a hard 00:39:21.889 --> 00:39:25.429 balance to keep between building that confidence 00:39:25.429 --> 00:39:27.869 and not like building like a false sense of confidence 00:39:27.869 --> 00:39:31.909 and also being encouraging and also pushing them 00:39:31.909 --> 00:39:36.250 to be better. Anyway, I feel like I could talk 00:39:36.250 --> 00:39:39.059 to you. all day and we'll probably have you both 00:39:39.059 --> 00:39:41.079 back on the podcast in the future. Oh, but I 00:39:41.079 --> 00:39:45.360 feel like they're about to go. And so I think 00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:47.639 we're going to go do that, but thank y 'all so 00:39:47.639 --> 00:39:50.320 much for talking. My name. Oh, I'll tell you. 00:39:50.360 --> 00:39:53.900 I'm fed. Yeah. Awesome, man. It's nice to talk 00:39:53.900 --> 00:39:56.280 to you. All right. I'm here with Marlon Williams 00:39:56.280 --> 00:40:00.619 who just won the grooves for good. And I will 00:40:00.619 --> 00:40:02.559 also say you're the only one that played your 00:40:02.559 --> 00:40:04.599 own thing. Didn't play along to something else, 00:40:04.619 --> 00:40:07.489 which I thought. was smart. I thought that was 00:40:07.489 --> 00:40:09.750 the right choice. I appreciate that. Thank you. 00:40:09.829 --> 00:40:11.469 Probably the only music I'll be able, only said 00:40:11.469 --> 00:40:13.269 I'll be able to use in the episode, too, because 00:40:13.269 --> 00:40:15.409 everything else will violate copyright. There 00:40:15.409 --> 00:40:17.590 you go. There you go. That makes sense, man. 00:40:17.650 --> 00:40:19.449 That makes sense. How long have you been drumming? 00:40:19.989 --> 00:40:23.010 I've been playing since I could walk, man. That's 00:40:23.010 --> 00:40:24.750 what it seems like. I don't remember not playing. 00:40:24.849 --> 00:40:27.050 That's how long it's been, to be honest. Yeah. 00:40:27.110 --> 00:40:30.550 Oh, yeah. Yo. What's the first music that you 00:40:30.550 --> 00:40:34.230 really felt like an affinity to, an attachment 00:40:34.230 --> 00:40:38.500 to? I grew up playing gospel. My dad, he plays 00:40:38.500 --> 00:40:41.159 multiple instruments and he used to play drums 00:40:41.159 --> 00:40:45.500 back in the day. So at church, I used to just 00:40:45.500 --> 00:40:49.219 sit by him and he's the one that started me off 00:40:49.219 --> 00:40:53.260 playing in church. And then from church, I just 00:40:53.260 --> 00:40:56.900 ventured off to like fusion and funk and soul 00:40:56.900 --> 00:40:59.639 and stuff like that. So gospel is where it all 00:40:59.639 --> 00:41:01.760 started for me. That's where it starts for a 00:41:01.760 --> 00:41:05.639 lot of people. That's where a lot of great music 00:41:05.639 --> 00:41:10.039 started, too, just in general. Do you play with 00:41:10.039 --> 00:41:11.840 anybody currently? Is there anybody you want 00:41:11.840 --> 00:41:14.119 to talk about? Yeah. People about where they 00:41:14.119 --> 00:41:16.699 can hear your music? Yeah, I play a lot around 00:41:16.699 --> 00:41:21.059 town. I play with several different bands. I 00:41:21.059 --> 00:41:23.460 play with a wedding band called Bay Kings. Do 00:41:23.460 --> 00:41:26.820 a lot of weddings on the weekends. But I actually 00:41:26.820 --> 00:41:29.619 do a lot of solo shows. I go by Drummer on the 00:41:29.619 --> 00:41:32.239 Move. So I do a lot of solo shows where I play. 00:41:33.029 --> 00:41:36.429 Put live drums over to like your top 40 covers 00:41:36.429 --> 00:41:38.190 and stuff like that and play a lot around town. 00:41:38.530 --> 00:41:42.670 Nice. Nice. What, what made you, is this, first 00:41:42.670 --> 00:41:44.250 of all, is this the first time you've worked 00:41:44.250 --> 00:41:47.449 with pyramid on anything? So how did you hear 00:41:47.449 --> 00:41:51.230 about it? I got an inbox asking me to be a part 00:41:51.230 --> 00:41:54.269 and I was like, okay, yeah, this sounds cool. 00:41:54.369 --> 00:41:57.230 And he was telling me that it was a fundraiser 00:41:57.230 --> 00:41:58.889 and everything. So I was just like, okay, yeah, 00:41:58.969 --> 00:42:02.500 sign me up, sign me up. So. Very happy to be 00:42:02.500 --> 00:42:04.519 here. This is my first time here. It's really 00:42:04.519 --> 00:42:06.360 nice up in here. It's a nice place, isn't it? 00:42:06.420 --> 00:42:09.900 And everything is really nice. So I just received 00:42:09.900 --> 00:42:13.679 a message on Facebook. Yeah, man. It feels like 00:42:13.679 --> 00:42:16.059 these kind of events, like not only are they 00:42:16.059 --> 00:42:18.400 good for fundraising, but it seems like it's 00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:21.039 getting a lot of community awareness. Right. 00:42:21.159 --> 00:42:25.940 A lot of people that might volunteer to help 00:42:25.940 --> 00:42:28.760 with performances or with classes are finding 00:42:28.760 --> 00:42:32.480 out about this for the first time. A really great 00:42:32.480 --> 00:42:39.619 event on multiple fronts. If you were going to 00:42:39.619 --> 00:42:43.900 play one kind of music for the rest of your life, 00:42:44.039 --> 00:42:46.579 I don't even know that genre really exists, personally. 00:42:46.760 --> 00:42:49.539 But for the sake of argument, let's say it does. 00:42:50.280 --> 00:42:55.099 Where is your heart in terms of music at? Because 00:42:55.099 --> 00:42:57.420 I think the one thing about you playing a solo 00:42:57.420 --> 00:43:02.599 thing, I got to hear you as a drummer. your musicality. 00:43:02.820 --> 00:43:05.500 I'm not sure I necessarily could tell you, like, 00:43:05.519 --> 00:43:07.139 what you listen to, though. You know what I mean? 00:43:07.159 --> 00:43:09.260 Or, like, what kind of music you like to play. 00:43:09.380 --> 00:43:13.760 I love fusion. I love, yeah, I love fusion just 00:43:13.760 --> 00:43:16.820 because it's a lot of moving parts and it gives 00:43:16.820 --> 00:43:19.860 you, it combines, like, pocket playing with the 00:43:19.860 --> 00:43:22.699 ability to be free and just go off grid and stuff 00:43:22.699 --> 00:43:26.079 like that. I love odd meters and different time 00:43:26.079 --> 00:43:31.090 signatures and fusion really enables me. to be 00:43:31.090 --> 00:43:34.710 able to get all expressed that. One thing I noticed 00:43:34.710 --> 00:43:39.349 was you really have a very keen sense of when 00:43:39.349 --> 00:43:44.530 to go all out and when to pull back and relax 00:43:44.530 --> 00:43:47.250 and just keep the beat, you know, keep it in 00:43:47.250 --> 00:43:50.530 the pocket. Is that something you felt was pretty 00:43:50.530 --> 00:43:52.389 innate for you? Or do you think that's something 00:43:52.389 --> 00:43:54.210 that you really had to work on developing over 00:43:54.210 --> 00:43:57.699 time? To be completely honest, I had to develop 00:43:57.699 --> 00:43:59.760 that over time. Just learning how to play with 00:43:59.760 --> 00:44:03.940 dynamics. Because drums, you naturally just want 00:44:03.940 --> 00:44:07.239 to just go there with the drums. But dynamic, 00:44:07.480 --> 00:44:10.000 playing with dynamics allows you and the audience 00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:13.400 to get an ear breather. Yeah. You know what I'm 00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:15.239 saying? And then you come back. You don't have 00:44:15.239 --> 00:44:19.900 to beat the eardrum constantly. Space. I like 00:44:19.900 --> 00:44:22.219 to play with space. Silence. And that's really 00:44:22.219 --> 00:44:24.789 important. More important. It's not talked about 00:44:24.789 --> 00:44:28.150 enough either. No. And I think that it really 00:44:28.150 --> 00:44:30.550 is the mark of a really good drummer. Thank you. 00:44:30.650 --> 00:44:34.949 And I wasn't in the judge booth, but if I had 00:44:34.949 --> 00:44:36.610 to guess, that was one of the reasons you won 00:44:36.610 --> 00:44:40.550 today. Wow. But yeah, I think that was something 00:44:40.550 --> 00:44:43.769 I caught right away. Your ability to know when 00:44:43.769 --> 00:44:48.670 to hold back and not be in front of everything. 00:44:50.239 --> 00:44:51.920 that's something a lot of really good drummers, 00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:55.099 they want to show off a lot. And you did your 00:44:55.099 --> 00:44:57.179 share of that, don't get me wrong. But you were 00:44:57.179 --> 00:44:59.900 able to also, you brought it back, you brought 00:44:59.900 --> 00:45:03.199 the crowd into it. You were also just very musical 00:45:03.199 --> 00:45:07.219 in terms of, some drummers keep a beat, some 00:45:07.219 --> 00:45:10.099 drummers play a song. Oh, gotcha. And I felt 00:45:10.099 --> 00:45:12.679 like you were playing a song. Man, see, stuff 00:45:12.679 --> 00:45:16.400 like that means more to me as a drummer, as a 00:45:16.400 --> 00:45:19.840 musician, than, oh. What was that feel you did? 00:45:19.960 --> 00:45:23.159 Or what was that chop that you did? It's conversations 00:45:23.159 --> 00:45:26.440 like this that I like to have to receive information 00:45:26.440 --> 00:45:28.380 and give information because I feel like the 00:45:28.380 --> 00:45:30.820 stuff that we're discussing right now isn't talked 00:45:30.820 --> 00:45:33.659 about enough. I just learned all of that just 00:45:33.659 --> 00:45:36.900 from my mentors growing up. If you're playing 00:45:36.900 --> 00:45:40.699 a show, just any random show or anything, maybe 00:45:40.699 --> 00:45:44.500 5 to 10 % of the audience are musicians. So you 00:45:44.500 --> 00:45:47.360 have to be conscious. of that you know what i'm 00:45:47.360 --> 00:45:51.579 saying and see with com with comedy i yeah probably 00:45:51.579 --> 00:45:56.699 the same five percent but everybody that's there 00:45:56.699 --> 00:45:59.260 thinks they're the funniest person in their friend 00:45:59.260 --> 00:46:03.599 group everybody is comedian everybody and so 00:46:03.599 --> 00:46:06.380 like you get this room of people that are like 00:46:06.380 --> 00:46:09.900 oh i dare you to make me laugh whereas i feel 00:46:09.900 --> 00:46:12.079 like the dynamic could have been similar in a 00:46:12.079 --> 00:46:14.099 room like today where it was a room you had six 00:46:14.099 --> 00:46:17.119 other drummers seven or eight Ten other drummers 00:46:17.119 --> 00:46:20.699 count the judges and and it was like yeah impressed 00:46:20.699 --> 00:46:25.960 me To be honest, that's the stuff I try to stay 00:46:25.960 --> 00:46:28.820 away from you know I'm saying but even what gives 00:46:28.820 --> 00:46:32.460 me that that level of freedom because I Started 00:46:32.460 --> 00:46:35.300 my brand drum on the move is I used to set up 00:46:35.300 --> 00:46:37.960 just all around Tallahassee on the side of the 00:46:37.960 --> 00:46:40.800 road on the bridge at cascade under the bridge 00:46:40.800 --> 00:46:44.280 just different restaurants just I used to just 00:46:44.280 --> 00:46:49.179 set up and just play outside. So that has allowed 00:46:49.179 --> 00:46:53.579 me to just be free everywhere. So I carry that, 00:46:53.719 --> 00:46:55.980 I carry those experiences with me everywhere. 00:46:56.019 --> 00:46:59.900 So I just, I just go for it. It's been a pleasure 00:46:59.900 --> 00:47:01.460 talking to you. I'd love to have you back on 00:47:01.460 --> 00:47:03.960 the podcast. Like I do long interviews too for 00:47:03.960 --> 00:47:06.420 most of the time. When I cover an event like 00:47:06.420 --> 00:47:08.480 this, I do quick interviews with multiple people, 00:47:08.500 --> 00:47:11.400 but usually the format is I sit down for an hour 00:47:11.400 --> 00:47:13.519 with somebody and I hear their whole story. So 00:47:13.519 --> 00:47:15.159 I'd love to have you back sometime. I would love 00:47:15.159 --> 00:47:17.420 to come back and chop it up with you, man. Awesome. 00:47:17.519 --> 00:49:00.730 We'll make sure it happens. for good. Check it 00:49:00.730 --> 00:49:03.750 out. Check out their website. I've got a link 00:49:03.750 --> 00:49:07.550 to it in the description of this episode. If 00:49:07.550 --> 00:49:09.889 you're able, go ahead and toss them a donation. 00:49:09.969 --> 00:49:12.869 I'm sure they would really appreciate it. They're 00:49:12.869 --> 00:49:16.349 doing a lot of really cool work. It's nice to 00:49:16.349 --> 00:49:23.110 see people doing such great work even though 00:49:23.110 --> 00:49:27.030 the world is burning around us. Go out there 00:49:27.030 --> 00:49:28.769 and make something, y 'all. Go out there and 00:49:28.769 --> 00:49:33.750 do something. It's really easy to complain about 00:49:33.750 --> 00:49:37.949 everything, but just go do something. Go create. 00:49:39.829 --> 00:49:43.349 I really appreciate y 'all listening. Like I 00:49:43.349 --> 00:49:45.170 mentioned earlier, we got a YouTube channel. 00:49:45.969 --> 00:49:48.570 It's just called Overeducated Underemployed. 00:49:48.610 --> 00:49:51.550 Check it out. You can watch this whole season. 00:49:51.889 --> 00:49:53.929 I've also got the first season up there, so you 00:49:53.929 --> 00:50:02.630 can listen there as well. Next week, we've got 00:50:02.630 --> 00:50:08.190 Taylor Hollingsworth. He came by my place and 00:50:08.190 --> 00:50:10.090 we did an interview before his show at the Blue 00:50:10.090 --> 00:50:15.349 Tavern, which was great. Awesome conversation. 00:50:15.989 --> 00:50:18.949 Really, really enjoyed it. And I enjoyed his 00:50:18.949 --> 00:50:21.210 music and his conversation so much that I went 00:50:21.210 --> 00:50:25.329 and saw him two more times last week. So look 00:50:25.329 --> 00:50:29.449 forward to that interview. Thanks for tuning 00:50:29.449 --> 00:50:29.789 in, y 'all.