I headed to Pyramid Studios where they had a
drumming competition called Grooves for Good
to raise money for them. Pyramid Studios is a
non -profit organization that trains adults with
developmental disabilities in various forms of
art, various mediums, everything from music to
visual art, acting. And the goal of that is so
that these people can make a living. Doing art
instead of the more traditional nine -to -five
kind of grind job. They do something really unique.
I think it's really, really important. What they
do while I was at this event, I spoke to multiple
drummers that had entered in the competition,
including the winner. The winner also... Check
it out on YouTube. OvereducatedUnderemployed
is the channel. Without further ado, here is
the Pyramid Studios grooves for good. All right,
I'm here with Javi from Pyramid Studios, and
we're here at a drumming competition. Tell me
first a little bit about Pyramid Studios, and
then tell me about this particular event. Yeah,
Pyramid Studios is a nonprofit here in Tallahassee,
Florida. We have other locations in Tampa, Pensacola,
and we serve adults with developmental disabilities.
And it's a very special organization. There's
really no other place like it. I joined here
first in 2019, left because of COVID, then came
back, and it's just an amazing workplace for
the employees and also the population that we
serve. These people never forget you, and you
never forget them. And an organization that's
dear and dear to my heart. I always wanted to
be a helper growing up. I always tell this story
that when I was in third grade, we read a book
about puppies, and it was like firefighter puppy,
police puppy, and then there was helper puppy.
And so for the end of the third grade, we all
dressed up. for what we wanted to be when we
grew up. And I dressed up as a dog. So people
were like, you want to be a dog when you grow
up? But I always wanted to be a helper. And I
have a passion for music. I have a passion for
drums specifically. My dad was a drummer. And
it's just in my blood. Everyone in my family
in Puerto Rico, we got bongos in the cars. Everyone's
drumming something. So I thought, why not put
together the two things I love most, helping
people and music and raising money for a good
cause. So tell me for a minute, just how is this
particular competition organized? How are people
being judged? How is it being ranked? All that
sort of thing. Thankfully, in my career here
as a musician in Tallahassee, I've been able
to make a lot of good friends. And I gathered
all the best drummers that I know and got them
to put up their chops. And I grabbed the three
people that I know have the... finest ear for
drumming to judge them in the most unbiased way.
And I recruited everyone I knew on my friends
list, on my contacts, on my phone numbers. I
advertised and everyone here at Pyramid did the
same thing. This is really a big community event.
And that's really, I think, what's apart from
the money being raised and the fruits of that
labor that the students ultimately are going
to receive at the school. I think it's going
to foster a lot of community, a lot of people
getting together. Who knows what will sprout
from this? Sweet, sweet. Is there anything in
particular that people, if they want to find
out more about your organization or even donate,
is there any place you want to send people? Absolutely.
Look up Pyramid Studios in Tallahassee on Google.
You can look on our website, on our Facebook,
and big donation box. I'll make sure there's
a link to that in the description too. We can
take money. Always take extra clothes, anything.
We have not only a need for clothing on the daily
and school supplies, but also just anything.
Chairs, we can always use chairs. Every year,
the students write a musical, and we put it on
at the moon. Scott Carswell lets us use his beautiful
stage for a discounted price, thanks to his graciousness.
And we always need... We always need costumes.
We have a theater department, a music department,
a lot of performing arts. So we always need a
lot of different things. So if you have something
that you're going to throw out, instead of giving
it to Goodwill or a thrift store, Pyramid always
could use it. And how does this competition directly
relate to the missions of Pyramid? Oh, of course.
Again, it's all people -centered, right? more
help in here. And I think just getting these
fresh people, because every time Pyramid has
an event, we always talk to the same people.
So I thought, why not go out and branch off into
new segments of the community we've never talked
to? I've gotten to know a lot of people that
I've never talked to before just in my communications
here. So opening a part of the community's eyes
to Pyramid and this organization, I think will
help out. with getting more people to help out
in volunteering, maybe getting a job here, and
just keeping Pyramid in mind. Yeah, and I guess
the one thing I really want to hammer home is,
like, while you're helping people with developmental
disabilities with a lot of arts -based mission,
right? You're teaching people. It culminates
in a musical, like you said, but you're teaching
them all kinds of different musical instruments,
vocals. Can you talk a little bit just about
that? Yeah, and we do more than just performing
arts. We do life skills as well. We do a lot
of our departments, too, focus on helping find
motor skills. We have a visual arts department.
You see we have a gallery full of art that a
lot of students have painted, some beautiful,
amazing artwork. Me and my wife have bought a
couple pieces, and we have them hanging up above
our bed because it's just beautiful work that
anyone would be happy to have. So we do a lot
of different. Music, art, life skills, dance,
theater. We have a dance troupe. Some of the
other pyramids, they also put on musicals. I
think Pensacola is putting on Shrek Jr. right
now. Great. Javi, I'm going to let you get back
to soundcheck. Thanks for your time, man. Thank
you, man. Appreciate you. Thanks. I'm here with
Amir. You play in what bands? I mainly play at
church. I also play for Soulful Triage. I was
in the March of 100 when I was in school. Hell
yeah. You're here today competing in the drum
competition. Absolutely. Tell me how you were
approached, what you knew about Pyramid before
coming into this. Okay. So I learned about Pyramid
through Javier. Him and I went to high school
together. He was a jazz drummer as well. And,
yeah, he reached out to me for a couple things.
I was feeling for him for, like, plays or just
events that they would have. He would let me
know and stuff. Met some of the people here.
And ever since, I've had a couple involvements
with Pyramid and stuff like that. They invited
me to this drum thingy. Cool, cool. How badly
do you want to win today? That's a good question.
Because it is for charity, but you also still
want to win, right? Yeah, I absolutely want to
win. I want to win a pretty decent amount. I
wouldn't be too upset if somebody else won. I'd
definitely still be happy for them and stuff.
Yeah, but you're bringing your best. Oh, yeah,
absolutely. I'm definitely bringing. Everything
I can. And what's the setup? Is there like a
house band that you're playing with? Or do you
bring your own band? Are you doing solos? How
does that work? So we have an option to just
do an open solo, no music or anything. Or we
can play along with a song. And there's apps
you can take out the drums or take out the vocals
and stuff like that. We just take out the drums
and whatever song that we want to do, we just
play along with the song. Okay, so it's almost
like playing to a track. You're playing to a
track if you want, or you can do a solo. Yeah.
Do whatever you feel like is going to make you
shine the best. Yeah. What have you chosen to
do today? I'm playing along with the song. What
song are you going to play? Thriller, but it's
an arrangement by Dirty Loops. Oh, interesting.
Yeah, very nice. I love it. Awesome. If you had
anything to say to young drummers out there,
or even people that maybe don't know their drummers
yet, I might be wondering, like, how did you
figure out that you were a drummer? I've always
known. My mom told me that when I was two, I
was being on pots and pans, always banging on
something. Whenever we would be around music
or anything music -related, I would just gravitate
to it, gravitate towards the instruments, towards
the drums. Yeah, stuff like that. So music, my
love for music, my attraction to music has always
been there. I've always known that drums was
for me. Just music in general, but definitely
drums. What's some of the first musicians you
really loved? Who are some of the drummers you
really look up to? That's a good question. So
first musicians I really like to enjoy for real.
When I was younger, I didn't really know that
many musicians. Of course, Michael Jackson, Bruno
Mars, some jazz musicians like Miles Davis, Dizzy
Gillespie, all of them. What else was I listening
to? There were some other musicians at church
that I played with, a guy named Derek Sutton,
great keys player. I mean, phenomenal on the
keys. Jeff Canes on the bass. Some other people
that I've listened to, Dirty Loops, of course,
listening to them, being influenced. Snarky Puppy
is another great one. Snarky Puppy is beautiful.
Bands and groups like that, those are pretty
nice to listen to, what I've been listening to
for a while, too. Yeah, yeah. So what kind of
music do you play if you're writing it or if
you're playing in your element? Because it sounds
like you play a lot of different kinds of music.
in a lot of different settings whether it's like
in church or like sometimes like in a musical
or something like that what what do you feel
if you somebody asks you what kind of drummer
you are what do you think definitely a church
drummer first and foremost that's pretty much
where i've gotten all my gospel music yeah gospel
music just kind of stuff with a nice funk gospel
r &b stuff like that It's been great talking
to you, Amir. Absolutely. Nice talking to you,
too. Is there anything that you want to share
about Pyramid or about your music that you didn't
get a chance to talk about before? Pyramid's
great. Thank you for hosting the drum -a -thon,
the drum -off, or whatever they're calling it.
Thank you for hosting that. I think it's Grooves
for Good. Grooves for Good. Thank you for hosting
Grooves for Good. Yeah, that's pretty much it.
Awesome. Thanks for your time, man. Of course.
Thank you. Appreciate it. Alrighty. Alright.
I'm here with Hayley Hernandez. She... What do
you do here at Pyramid? I'm the paint teacher
here at Pyramid. Awesome. Tell me a little bit
about what that means. Do y 'all have classes?
What are your visual arts programs like? Pyramid
Studios has a day program, and my job is to primarily
make marketable art that the students work on
every day in and day out, and they get the profit,
and also Pyramid Studios gets the profit. It's
really rewarding and super fun. Are the classes
open to the public, or do you teach them primarily
to... People with developmental disabilities.
You do need to be like be developmentally disabled
to attend this program. Gotcha. It would be interesting
to host classes publicly, but that would be more
of like an independent thing that I would do
to help fundraise for Pyramid. And that's what
I wanted to clarify is whether it was like primarily
a fundraising endeavor or if it was. program
specifically this is basically their job so they
they show up they their job is to create marketable
art and that's what we do here awesome yeah thank
you for explaining that um so all the art that
we have on display here that you have on display
here that i and i did a quick walk through before
this interview Is it for sale only in the gallery,
or is there a way that people can buy the art
online? We're currently working on opening an
online store, and then the prints will be available,
most likely jewelry, and whatever we make. It's
not usually always paintings. It's just we get
donated supplies. I know Javi earlier was talking
about how we get donations. we get whatever we
make we get poster boards felt fake flowers and
we just create out of it and make beautiful things
and we do a lot of experimenting too which is
super fun because we get these donated supplies
when you pick up any type of medium whether it's
music or art there's usually an entry fee to
do that but when we get donated things we can
experiment without needing to be concerned about
the cost of things yeah yeah so that's really
fun not only for creating things but for me too
getting to explore with the students so art supplies
is something that y 'all are always looking for
definitely yeah and it's not just marketable
art here we also do therapeutic art as well what
are some of the favorite projects that you've
gotten to do with the students over the years
especially from like donating materials yeah
actually so that we did mosaic glass pieces which
so we got like bins and bins of glass and I'm
not a mosaic artist at all. So I definitely wasn't
doing it like the right way. And we got nicked
a few times for sure. But there was one student
in particular that I really enjoyed working with.
And his name is, actually, I'm not sure if I
can say it. So he's basically, he's got cerebral
palsy. So he's got very limited mobility in a
chair. And he was working on a piece that was
just huge, two years, an impressionistic painting.
And then he got bored of painting it. He can
be a little uppity. We were gluing glass onto
it, and it took him two years to do it. We just
finished it like a month or two ago. So that
was great, and he was so ecstatic. And whenever
a student finishes something, especially when
it takes that long, they just tell the world.
There's this huge feeling of joy. Another student
of mine, he is like up into his 60s or 70s, and
he didn't really have a lot of independence in
the home that he was in. So he comes here, he
gains independence, he gains confidence. And
whenever he finishes a painting, he weeps. And
I love working with him and seeing how moved
he is by that. And then watching a student get
a paycheck as well when most of them haven't
held a job before ever. It's incredible. What
got you into this position here rather than teaching
at a more traditional school or something like
that? You know, I did not know what I was walking
into when I got a job. I came here to Tallahassee.
I was just moving in with my dad at the time
because he was offering me free rent and I was
fresh out of art school. I got a degree as a
BFA with illustration from Ringling and I was
just looking for my first art gig and I found
Pyramid and I was really inspired but mostly
I didn't know what I was getting into. Not only
did I, like, find a super rewarding and amazing
job, I also met my husband here, and we got married
here last year, too. And then we've hosted a
lot of other things. I've made a lot of great
friends through it, a lot of really amazing memories.
Kavi said earlier, it's just, it's the place
that they don't forget you, and you don't forget
either. It's been a recurring theme on this podcast
is to, like, find good people and take care of
them and keep them close. And that's really,
like, the foundation of all these different organizations
that I've talked to. and even musicians that
are trying to build something beyond just playing
on a Saturday night. So I really appreciate you
talking to me. Is there anything you'd like to
share about Pyramid that we didn't get to really
quick before we go? We do host a lot of events,
and we're learning to make more. The summer show
is the largest fundraising opportunity that we
do, and we definitely would love... as many people
in the community come out and support our students
and the work we do. And you do that every summer?
Every summer. Is that the show at the moon, or
is that something different? That's the show
at the moon. The musical at the moon. It's not
just the theater show. It's also a ginormous
gallery exhibit, too. Awesome. I really appreciate
your time, and we'll probably come see that musical,
the big show in the spring, or in the summer.
Yep. All right. Thank you. I'm here with Bucky.
He's the arts director of Pyramid Studios here
in Tallahassee. Can you just tell me a little
bit about what you do here and what your role
in the organization is overall? Sure, yeah. I
work at Pyramid Studios. We serve adults with
developmental and intellectual disabilities.
I know I said that very fast. I'll slow it down.
It's not the first time it's been said. Yeah,
so we all know what we do as far as who we serve.
I serve as arts director, so I'm over our visual
art and our performing arts departments. So our
performing arts department is super diverse.
We have a dance team. We have a rock band that
tours through South Florida, the Electric People.
If you want a chance, you can go buy some merch
from them. Don't miss a chance to sell something.
We also have a big visual arts department. We
have lots of painters and paintings. We're very
proud of our program. Awesome. What brought you
to Pyramid originally? Like a lot of people,
serving this population was not my first thought.
When I came here, I came here to Tallahassee
with really no real job prospects. I just knew
that I had a theater background, and I'd love
to do something that involved theater. Shockingly,
not a lot of those options around. But there
was a performing arts instructor position here.
I checked it out, and I'm like, okay, I can give
this a try. And I just, within a couple weeks,
I fell in love with our guys and just what we
do. How long have you been here now? Eight years.
Awesome, awesome. Maybe I'll give it a year to
eight, and I'm not sure when I'm leaving, if.
What are some of the favorite projects that you've
gotten to do over the years? Oh, so for me, I
get to be head of the summer show. So we do an
original musical every year from scratch to stage.
So within about a six -month period, we put it
all together. It's a really great experience.
And, yeah, as a director, it's very unique how
you just workshop the whole thing. Yeah. What
are some of the most exciting aspects on a day
-to -day? Because I know the day -to -day can
get any job, no matter what it is. That's true.
It can get mundane sometimes. It's a job, right?
Sure, that's not quite here. But what are some
of the most exciting aspects? So here, there
isn't really day -to -day. So I'll interview
people for positions here now because I'm arts
director. I didn't go through that journey. I
was an instructor, now I hire instructors. So
they'll often ask me, what's day -to -day look
like? And I'm like, ah, harder to define than
you. Every day is a little bit different. There's
always something exciting. We have all sorts
of different things we're working through, and
the personalities here are very big. So that's
always fun. What new puzzle? Who knew if you
had a bunch of people that were into art together?
Right, exactly. Yes, naturally. Exactly. Everyone
that's into art. Oh, yeah. It's not reserved
just to students and staff. It's everybody. It's
just a very creative group with very creative
problems and things to solve. What are some of
the things that you think that people don't realize
about the population that you serve? And what
does your organization do to help bring awareness
to some of that? Sure. I'd say how we bring awareness
is through a lot of our events like this. Like
our summer show, things that really feature our
guys and their creativity, things that they do.
We, of course, have our art shows and other things
that really features them. I would say things
that people maybe overlook. First off, it's just
the population itself. Once an adult with intellectual
disabilities hits about 22, they lose a lot of
that support and service. So those adults are
very overlooked. So we are one of those few that
kind of offer something for them to do. Another
thing that we offer is that we're arts -based.
So a lot of people put a lot of emphasis on occupation,
on job training, which is important. There's
nothing wrong with that. Sure. At the same time,
there's other ways. You'll do some life training
skills and things like that. We do life skills
training and other things. Yeah, so we understand
the importance of that, but also there's other
ways to be fulfilled in life than being necessarily
a cognitive machine for some people. Absolutely.
So we offer that, and that's something that's
very important and very cool that we offer. Thank
you for your time, Bucky. I really appreciate
it. Is there anything you'd like to share about
Pyramid? Before we wrap this up? Oh, nothing.
We're just excited for anyone to give us a chance
to take a look at what we have to offer. Awesome.
We really just appreciate your time. We'll have
links for where people can donate in the description
and everything, too. Thanks for your time. Yes,
sir. All right. I'm here with two of the drummers
that just competed in the Rooves for Good. Rooves
for Good, yeah. And if y 'all wouldn't mind introducing
yourselves and talking a little bit about what
you play. Go ahead. I'm Cece. I played a little
medley that I put together. A little dance, a
little metal, a little something this, a little
that. And I improvised. I didn't have time to.
And you had to for a minute there. Yeah, I did.
Oh, the pedal got caught in my pants. Oh. So
when I was trying to do my double kick stuff.
I was in the back of the room. I couldn't quite
figure out what the malfunction was. And what's
your name? My name is Devin Costanza, and I played
a jazz piece called Whodunit by the Gordon Goodwin
Big Fat Band. It's a pretty menacing six -minute
long, like, just, honestly, it's a drum solo
over a jazz tune. It was insane. Whiplash vibes.
Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking of was
whiplash. Classic. Yeah, 100%. I was just not
going to say anything because I didn't know anyone
else had seen that movie. But I guess I'm with
the group of people that would have, right? Absolutely.
We've all seen it. These are the only people
in town that have seen this movie. Oh, yeah.
Whiplash is a great movie. You should definitely
check it out. Have you all been involved with
Pyramid before, or is this the first time you've
worked with them on anything? This is my first
event. Somebody put an ad on Facebook, and I
think I responded to Javier, and then him and
I texted back and forth. Got me the information
for the event, but that was the first time I
heard about this place. And then as I was corresponding
with him leading up to the event, I ended up
looking up Pyramid here in town. I realized the
work that they were doing with the special needs
community. I thought that was pretty cool. I
do come from an education background, but not
necessarily special needs, but parallel. Actually
surprised, pleasantly surprised to hear that
this is the biggest campus in the state and largest
student population. What about UCC? Is this the
first time you've worked with them? I have come
here before to volunteer before to feel out if
I wanted to work here. I didn't end up working
out, but I know Javi from the music scene. I
met him 10 years ago. Oh, wow. Playing in a little
band called Invented Truths, throwback. I remember
that band. Yeah, with Dylan and Cam and everybody.
I remember that band, yeah. Yeah, so you've been
around. I was born here. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah,
right on. I think we probably know a lot of the
same people. Oh, I'm sure. It's a small town.
And Sarah Morrison also, shout out to her. She
works here. Cool. Let me get a little bit about
what brought you. You're obviously music lovers,
but did you gravitate to drums right away, or
was it? That's where you landed eventually. I
actually started with guitar. My dad played guitar,
and there was one laying around. And then I didn't
start playing drums until middle school. I was
lucky enough to get lessons early on, and I think
that really helped. But yeah, I had to do drums
because I couldn't play guitar in school band
at the time. Do you remember the first song that
you learned to play on guitar? Probably like
cat scratch fever. After Ted Nugget. Yeah. That's
what I call him. I've actually had cat scratch
fever before. It's not fun. Yeah, it's bad. What
about you, Cece? So this is an education podcast.
So I talk to all kinds of different people. I
do focus a lot on arts education. I went up and
covered AthFest up in Athens earlier this year,
which all raises money for music education. I
went to the Spirit of the Swanee Kids music camp
a few weeks ago. Cool. But I also talk to musicians,
comedians, actors. I've had members of the Drive
-By Truckers. I've had J. Roddy Walston. I've
had... actors that have been on things like shameless
and it's always sunny in philadelphia and i've
had velor trucks i've had kane stanley is a drummer
you might know about he's the drummer for cosmic
charlie but he also drums in about probably 20
other bands oh okay but cosmic charlie is like
probably the biggest band that he's been a part
of they're a grateful dead tribute band that's
been touring for 25 years yeah they have a big
drum off every night oh wow yeah every night
It's part of a big part. I have Mickey Hart's
book. I still have to read it. So I do a little
bit of everything. I try and I'm really just
trying to talk to artists about what kind of
led them first into loving whatever the art that
they're doing and then the choice to go from
a consumer to a producer. Sure. Sometimes we
get into the... the songwriting or joke writing
or whatever process the creative process but
yeah it's really I really just talking to all
kinds of different people that are into art and
with that comes a lot of art education yeah coverage
as well yeah well I would yeah that whole journey
I've talked to Therese Wachello who's yeah I
love her yeah she's been on the podcast and Elizabeth
Frable has been on the podcast. She's another
music teacher that I've had on. So I've had other
music, but that's not exclusively. Yeah, I've
seen. Yeah. I have been talking to him. I actually
just talked to him last week about it. Cool.
It's in the works for sure. That's my buddy.
For sure. Yeah, he's awesome. But, yeah, I got
started. Yeah, back to that. Back to that. I
just wanted to know, like, what exactly. To be
honest with you, it's. Figuring it out as I go.
Yeah. This will be probably the 30th episode.
But that's good. I'm glad you said all that.
And it's evolved. I didn't really know what I
was doing when I started. I knew I was doing
something, but I didn't know exactly what it
was going to turn into. That's what it's turned
into now. But what was your, like, entry into
music? Do you remember the first song you learned
how to play? Oh, man. Start with drums? It's
funny. I did. There was, like. chorus in elementary
school, right? I got blessed with an awesome
chorus teacher. And I actually got a music award
at the end of fifth grade. And I was disappointed.
A major award! I was just like, no! But I was
really into art. So I was upset I didn't get
the art award and I got the music award. But
it ended up being an omen because I do some art
here and there, like graphic design and whatever.
But music really took over my life. It was a
really interesting thing. Nice. And then, yeah,
my dad's co -worker had a little punk band that
played behind a tattoo shop, and he gave me a
pair of drumsticks, and I would just play on,
like, a couch. And then I was fortunate enough
to have a best friend that her parents had a
professional studio. Like, they had Barry Manilow
in there, and they had The Real Deal, and they
would do these rock star recordings. recording
studio parties where it was like that was like
one of their business models you would come in
so they had the girl scout troop come in she
also ran the girl scout troop and i got to play
the drums and her dad was like you just have
a knack for this and so i just got his blessing
and then it was from there it was just like played
a little bit in church came to fsu did some music
ensembles at fsu i didn't major in music or anything
but met my current bandmates back in 2016 and
have been playing with them ever since and we
built out a studio what's the name of your band
So I've got a couple. My most active one right
now is called Saternal. Actually, I've got our
little flyers here. We're playing Jam BQ, headlined
by The Retrograde, which they blew up. Yeah,
they're kick -ass. Carson is a hell of a drummer.
And yeah, we'll be on there. And it's going to
be a great event of 17 bands, I think. We've
got like a little 30 -minute set. Everybody's
got a little set. It's a hoot. There's a couple
stages. There's one outside, one inside. But
yeah, we've got our own studio and we record
our own music. We do the whole thing from the
ground up. That's awesome. I love it. I produce
as well. I teach music as well. Love it. What
about you? Do you play with any groups around?
I actually moved to Tallahassee in May. I come
from a music background, like I got a music degree
from UCF, and I've lived in Orlando since 2016,
and I've done... Never joined the Blue Man Group,
though. No, those guys stay there until they
retire. Yeah. Yeah. But I actually met one of
them. Yeah. Because they all live locally. Was
he in blue? Are they always blue? No. No. It's
a character for them. I wonder if they have like
skin issues, like... I would imagine... It's
got to look like they've been eating a lot of
colloidal silver or something. They put on a
skin suit and then paint that blue. Oh, it doesn't
go on there. That's right. Interesting. I guess
that makes sense because they all look more similar
than just being blue. Yeah. If you look at them.
Yeah. It's got like a weird kind of texture to
it. That's the makeup artist. Texture is a good
word. I never would have thought about that,
but yeah. That's what it is. It's like a visual
texture. Yeah. Yeah, I was lucky enough to see
him twice. Oh, cool. It was like one of the most
entertaining shows ever. It's definitely a bucket
list for me. Well, it was at Universal. I don't
know if they're still around. They closed that
one down, but they still have a residency in
Chicago and I think New York. I mean, they have
tours and stuff. The organization is still, there's
more than one Blue Man Group. The original is
from Orlando, though? I don't know. The original
one is from Vegas. Oh, okay. That makes sense.
And then they have a syndicate that's around
the country. Yeah. When you say syndicate, it
sounds so... Anyway. It's like copy and paste.
Sounds like an operation. So you're just now
getting into the scene here and looking for people
to play with. But are you primarily a jazz drummer,
would you say? Or do you play other kinds of
music as well? I got started with rock and like
prog rock. Oh. Yeah. I played a lot of Guitar
Hero. Yeah, yeah. I was like into Jeff Beck and
Eric Johnson and like all those kinds of guys.
Yeah, for sure. And then like I did jazz band
in high school. So I guess that's where that
started. And then also did a lot of jazz band
in college. And that's like the inspiration for
why I picked the tune that I picked today. Other
than that, I also taught a lot, and I did K -12
music in Orange County and Osceola. Oh, you worked
for public schools? I did. I worked as a contractor.
How does that work? Yeah, this is a side of the
music. Yeah, I haven't heard anything about this.
I think this is true for Florida, but if you
want to work as like a front ensemble tech or
a drumline tech and you want to get paid through
the school district, you have to go get what's
called an ID. And those are only good for one
year or five years. And then you have to go to
the district office and get fingerprinted. So
then they give your ID and then you can put in
a purchase order for band camp. Gotcha. So a
lot of people just do band camp. So you have
to get all that done before the event actually
starts to get paid on time. Right. So that was
another big issue with doing that job is that
sometimes you would work band camp and then not
get your check until October. But it would show
up and it'd be like two, three grand. Nice. Enough
to sustain you for a couple of months. But you
can see that's already like self -destructive.
three four years and taught private lessons as
well had kindergartners i had students that were
retired i worked with pretty pretty much just
everybody and i played a lot of gigs too I was
lucky enough from my hometown, there was a guy
that moved there to retire. He was from New York,
and he was one of the best blues guitar players
I've ever heard. His name is Dave Scott, and
I got started with him and went to play with
him because he hosted an open jam and did that
for at least a few years, and he really helped
develop my sound and took that with me to Orlando,
just did jazz gigs. rock gigs, did cover bands,
and the most recent project I worked on was a
Steely Dan tribute. Oh, cool. I love Steely Dan.
We worked pretty hard on it. We had practiced
for at least six to eight months before our first
gig. If you want to do music in any city, it's
just chaotic. What have you found to be the biggest
challenge breaking into a new scene? that might
be maybe not specific to tallahassee but just
in general like moving to a new city and trying
to break into a new music scene getting people
to remember you because everybody that's already
in a town like knows the people that they want
to call for something it really takes a lot of
work to break that cycle and be that person the
new guy exactly yeah and For Orlando, it's a
big area. People don't have as much loyalty there
as they do up here, which is like a blessing
and a curse. Because up here, you could have
better job security if you're in it. There's
less gigs here, though, I imagine, than down
in that area. Yeah, it's a smaller area. This
is maybe one -tenth the size of a greater Orlando
area. All that's to say is... Just if you want
to do music as a career, it's just totally volatile.
One week, you couldn't make anything. The next
week, you could make a couple thousand dollars.
Jay Reddy Walston told me when he was on the
podcast was that if you want to make a living
doing art, making music, whatever, don't give
yourself a backup plan. Exactly. Because you're
going to follow that. Yeah. Yeah. That makes
sense. Yeah. Give yourself no other option. Yeah.
Cece, you mentioned being a teacher as well.
Yeah. In what capacity? What age? All ages. Do
you do private lessons? Private lessons. Yep,
yep, yep. What do you find to be the most rewarding
thing about teaching music? Getting people from
point A to point B. And I have a, like... I have
an oddly methodical but completely intuitive
approach. It's just I meet every student where
they're at and I'm just like, what do you want
to do? Because I don't think that there's so
many music teachers and music programs out there.
And even if you just think about like public
school in general, like actually I was just listening
to a history podcast and on. YouTube, but this
guy made it funny. Don't mention the name. I
can't even remember. I can't even think of what
the name was. Chris something. But it was so
funny. I was like, wow, I'm learning history
and I'm laughing. But I realized there were points...
I was trying to learn about Gandhi's life for
some reason and I was listening to a more boring
podcast about it and I kept tuning out and I
realized, oh, school kind of conditioned me to
tune out when I'm learning about history. Not
to make excuses for myself, but it's just...
Like, you have these experiences and then you're
just like, I just, I'm not a history person anymore.
And so many kids and people are like, I'm not
a music person. And so I like to... You're the
star now. Hey, at least you got over your camera
shine. But getting people over that complex where
it's like, I'm not a music person. First of all,
they have to be open to breaking that. So that's
one thing. And I can't necessarily do that. I
would love to find a way. But once they... they
are at least willing to overcome that and they
come to me, it's okay. How do we get you to believe
in yourself? And how do we get you to do something
that you're going to want to keep doing and that
you'll enjoy doing? Yeah, that's such a hard
balance to keep between building that confidence
and not like building like a false sense of confidence
and also being encouraging and also pushing them
to be better. Anyway, I feel like I could talk
to you. all day and we'll probably have you both
back on the podcast in the future. Oh, but I
feel like they're about to go. And so I think
we're going to go do that, but thank y 'all so
much for talking. My name. Oh, I'll tell you.
I'm fed. Yeah. Awesome, man. It's nice to talk
to you. All right. I'm here with Marlon Williams
who just won the grooves for good. And I will
also say you're the only one that played your
own thing. Didn't play along to something else,
which I thought. was smart. I thought that was
the right choice. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Probably the only music I'll be able, only said
I'll be able to use in the episode, too, because
everything else will violate copyright. There
you go. There you go. That makes sense, man.
That makes sense. How long have you been drumming?
I've been playing since I could walk, man. That's
what it seems like. I don't remember not playing.
That's how long it's been, to be honest. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. Yo. What's the first music that you
really felt like an affinity to, an attachment
to? I grew up playing gospel. My dad, he plays
multiple instruments and he used to play drums
back in the day. So at church, I used to just
sit by him and he's the one that started me off
playing in church. And then from church, I just
ventured off to like fusion and funk and soul
and stuff like that. So gospel is where it all
started for me. That's where it starts for a
lot of people. That's where a lot of great music
started, too, just in general. Do you play with
anybody currently? Is there anybody you want
to talk about? Yeah. People about where they
can hear your music? Yeah, I play a lot around
town. I play with several different bands. I
play with a wedding band called Bay Kings. Do
a lot of weddings on the weekends. But I actually
do a lot of solo shows. I go by Drummer on the
Move. So I do a lot of solo shows where I play.
Put live drums over to like your top 40 covers
and stuff like that and play a lot around town.
Nice. Nice. What, what made you, is this, first
of all, is this the first time you've worked
with pyramid on anything? So how did you hear
about it? I got an inbox asking me to be a part
and I was like, okay, yeah, this sounds cool.
And he was telling me that it was a fundraiser
and everything. So I was just like, okay, yeah,
sign me up, sign me up. So. Very happy to be
here. This is my first time here. It's really
nice up in here. It's a nice place, isn't it?
And everything is really nice. So I just received
a message on Facebook. Yeah, man. It feels like
these kind of events, like not only are they
good for fundraising, but it seems like it's
getting a lot of community awareness. Right.
A lot of people that might volunteer to help
with performances or with classes are finding
out about this for the first time. A really great
event on multiple fronts. If you were going to
play one kind of music for the rest of your life,
I don't even know that genre really exists, personally.
But for the sake of argument, let's say it does.
Where is your heart in terms of music at? Because
I think the one thing about you playing a solo
thing, I got to hear you as a drummer. your musicality.
I'm not sure I necessarily could tell you, like,
what you listen to, though. You know what I mean?
Or, like, what kind of music you like to play.
I love fusion. I love, yeah, I love fusion just
because it's a lot of moving parts and it gives
you, it combines, like, pocket playing with the
ability to be free and just go off grid and stuff
like that. I love odd meters and different time
signatures and fusion really enables me. to be
able to get all expressed that. One thing I noticed
was you really have a very keen sense of when
to go all out and when to pull back and relax
and just keep the beat, you know, keep it in
the pocket. Is that something you felt was pretty
innate for you? Or do you think that's something
that you really had to work on developing over
time? To be completely honest, I had to develop
that over time. Just learning how to play with
dynamics. Because drums, you naturally just want
to just go there with the drums. But dynamic,
playing with dynamics allows you and the audience
to get an ear breather. Yeah. You know what I'm
saying? And then you come back. You don't have
to beat the eardrum constantly. Space. I like
to play with space. Silence. And that's really
important. More important. It's not talked about
enough either. No. And I think that it really
is the mark of a really good drummer. Thank you.
And I wasn't in the judge booth, but if I had
to guess, that was one of the reasons you won
today. Wow. But yeah, I think that was something
I caught right away. Your ability to know when
to hold back and not be in front of everything.
that's something a lot of really good drummers,
they want to show off a lot. And you did your
share of that, don't get me wrong. But you were
able to also, you brought it back, you brought
the crowd into it. You were also just very musical
in terms of, some drummers keep a beat, some
drummers play a song. Oh, gotcha. And I felt
like you were playing a song. Man, see, stuff
like that means more to me as a drummer, as a
musician, than, oh. What was that feel you did?
Or what was that chop that you did? It's conversations
like this that I like to have to receive information
and give information because I feel like the
stuff that we're discussing right now isn't talked
about enough. I just learned all of that just
from my mentors growing up. If you're playing
a show, just any random show or anything, maybe
5 to 10 % of the audience are musicians. So you
have to be conscious. of that you know what i'm
saying and see with com with comedy i yeah probably
the same five percent but everybody that's there
thinks they're the funniest person in their friend
group everybody is comedian everybody and so
like you get this room of people that are like
oh i dare you to make me laugh whereas i feel
like the dynamic could have been similar in a
room like today where it was a room you had six
other drummers seven or eight Ten other drummers
count the judges and and it was like yeah impressed
me To be honest, that's the stuff I try to stay
away from you know I'm saying but even what gives
me that that level of freedom because I Started
my brand drum on the move is I used to set up
just all around Tallahassee on the side of the
road on the bridge at cascade under the bridge
just different restaurants just I used to just
set up and just play outside. So that has allowed
me to just be free everywhere. So I carry that,
I carry those experiences with me everywhere.
So I just, I just go for it. It's been a pleasure
talking to you. I'd love to have you back on
the podcast. Like I do long interviews too for
most of the time. When I cover an event like
this, I do quick interviews with multiple people,
but usually the format is I sit down for an hour
with somebody and I hear their whole story. So
I'd love to have you back sometime. I would love
to come back and chop it up with you, man. Awesome.
We'll make sure it happens. for good. Check it
out. Check out their website. I've got a link
to it in the description of this episode. If
you're able, go ahead and toss them a donation.
I'm sure they would really appreciate it. They're
doing a lot of really cool work. It's nice to
see people doing such great work even though
the world is burning around us. Go out there
and make something, y 'all. Go out there and
do something. It's really easy to complain about
everything, but just go do something. Go create.
I really appreciate y 'all listening. Like I
mentioned earlier, we got a YouTube channel.
It's just called Overeducated Underemployed.
Check it out. You can watch this whole season.
I've also got the first season up there, so you
can listen there as well. Next week, we've got
Taylor Hollingsworth. He came by my place and
we did an interview before his show at the Blue
Tavern, which was great. Awesome conversation.
Really, really enjoyed it. And I enjoyed his
music and his conversation so much that I went
and saw him two more times last week. So look
forward to that interview. Thanks for tuning
in, y 'all.