1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,360 Well, hello, hey, howdy, and however I greet you when I meet you and welcome to Get in 2 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:37,360 Tune, a musical talk show. I'm your host, Cainan Grier, and joining me for the very first episode 3 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:44,240 is my best friend of over 2,000 years and the co-author of that wonderful theme song you just 4 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:50,000 heard. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Amanda Pelay. Amanda, how are you doing today? 5 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:57,280 I'm wonderful, and I am coming from the gorgeous Miami where Cainan and I were 6 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:04,160 born. Well, he was born, I was born in Hollywood, however we were raised. I was born in Kendall. 7 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:11,520 Oh, wow. Well, that's still part of Miami Dade, so technically, but we were both raised, 8 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:19,280 and we did meet down here, and we can share a lot of stories when that time comes about being raised 9 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:30,560 here in the beautiful Miami, Florida. But yes, that beautiful meeting was now almost 15 years ago. 10 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:37,520 What a memory that was, let me tell you. Should I be really sweet to you? I think so, right? Yeah. 11 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:42,720 Or do you want to tell the real story? Because I can put an explicit sticker on this if you really 12 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:47,600 want to tell the real story. No, I asked you if I should be sweet because I think it is sweet. 13 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:53,520 No, I think the real story is sweet. I mean, you did come in like a bat out of hell, but I really 14 00:01:53,520 --> 00:02:02,800 like, but I really did like look at this new kid to our class, because Kaynen did come in like halfway 15 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:12,000 through our first year in middle school, and I just saw this kid, and he had big old hair and a 16 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:17,120 rolling backpack, which I thought were prohibited at the time, and they probably were, but not that 17 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:23,600 that matters to you. Would you have a school note? No, sorry, a doctor's note for scoliosis. I did 18 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:31,200 have a doctor's note. Yeah. Anyways, I saw this big haired kid with a rolling backpack walk in 19 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,240 to our class, and I just remember you came in like a bat out of hell. I don't remember what you said 20 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:43,040 or the energy, but I just looked at you, and I was like, I like him. He's different, and I think 21 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:49,280 we're going to be friends, and that was that. Yeah, that was the end of it. I walked in with an ego 22 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:54,240 the size of Texas. I thought I was all that in a bag of chips. I had an Afro that was almost twice 23 00:02:54,240 --> 00:03:00,960 the size of my head. I was wearing a Nesquik racer jacket, and not a racer jacket. It's called a 24 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:06,960 bomber jacket. Is that what it is? It was a race car jacket, because they still sell them. Yeah, 25 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:12,320 it was a race car driver jacket that was Nesquik, and I had a rolling backpack, because if you didn't 26 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:18,240 know, I had had surgery like a year or two before that, and they still didn't want me carrying 27 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:27,440 anything on my back, just in case I may tear the wound asunder. And this was all surprisingly 28 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:34,000 pre-my musical journey. Like, I had zero intention of being a musician at this point. I actually 29 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:39,520 thought I was going to be a scientist, but I was going to a magnet school before I went to the 30 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:45,360 school that me and Amanda went to, and I was so overwhelmed with all the information that was 31 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,280 coming my way. We had like 60 problems of math homework a night, and that was one class, and then 32 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:53,760 we had like two science fair projects due every week. We had a computer class, we had an agriculture 33 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:58,960 class, and I was just like, this shit is for the birds. I am going to have a mental breakdown 34 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:04,320 if I keep doing all this work. I barely understand what it means to be a person in sixth grade. So, 35 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:08,960 I left that school and went to what I thought was going to be a more normal program, and it was 36 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:14,880 more calm than that, but it definitely wasn't more normal, because we definitely went to school with 37 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:20,640 some very interesting people, and we had some very interesting teachers. And it was around- 38 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:21,440 Very colorful people. 39 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:27,360 Very colorful, very colorful. Love those people. The teachers, I mean. 40 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,840 Oh, absolutely. Definitely not the people. 41 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:40,720 Right. And so, it was around that time Oprah retired. Oprah retired from her talk show around 42 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:47,040 the time we were in sixth grade or seventh grade, somewhere in those two years. And I only know this 43 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:54,320 because I was sitting in my bedroom, and Kristin Chenoweth was singing with the Morehouse Men 44 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:59,200 for Good on Oprah's retirement special. And I was in the midst of searching for what I was going to 45 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:04,000 do now that I wasn't doing science anymore, because I just couldn't handle the workload in my mind. 46 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:12,000 And she came out and started singing for good, and I saw how moved everyone in the audience was, 47 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,640 and I said, oh, I think this moment is changing these people's lives. I think this is healing 48 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:22,000 them a little bit. I think this is doing something for them spiritually and emotionally. And I'm like, 49 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:29,120 this is similar to the effect I would have wanted to have working in STEM. And so, I think I'm going 50 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:35,520 to be a singer. And I just told myself I was going to be a singer. And not a few months after that, 51 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:41,040 my mom took me to see Wicked. I say see Wicked, but I'm putting air quotes up see Wicked because 52 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:46,080 we were in the balcony seats. So, I saw the set, but I couldn't tell you what any of those people 53 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:52,320 look like from those nosebleed seats. I saw the Wicked costumes and the Wicked set and heard the 54 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:58,560 Wicked voices, and they were fantastic. And then a few months after that, I auditioned for my first 55 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:05,680 musical, which is highly inappropriate for a seventh grader going into eighth grade. It was Sweeney Todd 56 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:11,760 by Stephen Sondheim. How do you feel about middle schoolers doing Sweeney Todd knowing what you know 57 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:18,240 about it now, Amanda? Honestly, I knew nothing about it then. And I thought it was really cool. 58 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:22,160 I mean, it wasn't just you at the time. It was like a bunch of our friends at the time doing it. 59 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:27,680 And I really thought it was a cool experience. Honestly, I kind of wanted to do it myself, but 60 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:33,440 I was like, I mean, I'm an artist. That's not the type of art I do. So, I was like, I'll just, you 61 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:38,880 know, see how it goes from afar. But I did not know then what I know now. And being what I know 62 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:48,880 now, it's, I really don't understand how they can do that show with anyone under the age of 18, 63 00:06:48,880 --> 00:07:03,520 maybe even 20. And you guys were 12? 13? Six to 12th grade. Right. Yes. So, yeah, knowing what I know 64 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:15,200 now, looking back, I mean, I really wish I did see it so I could understand how they managed to 65 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:21,200 do it with you guys. Like, did they alter the script any? Like, I actually, yeah, actually don't. 66 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:27,200 I've never told you. And we've never watched that nightmarish thing because I don't know what the 67 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:33,280 DVD is. But apparently my mom still has a DVD. I got to find it somewhere so I can archive it. 68 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:40,720 But so basically this is how it went down. So, this was my first musical. And I knew, I just knew 69 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:47,280 with the two minutes of practice I did that I was the best thing there. A fallacy, truly. But you 70 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:52,800 couldn't tell me anything. My ego was the size of Texas. So, I remember, I'll walk you through the 71 00:07:52,800 --> 00:08:00,640 process. My audition song was Santa Fe by Rent from Rent. Santa Fe from Rent, not Newsies. I 72 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:09,200 wasn't that bold. I wasn't belted high A's. But let me tell you how stupid this is. He's a baritone. 73 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:17,280 And my voice was higher than. I'm thwarted by a metaphysic puzzle. Is where the song starts. 74 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:18,480 Well, you haven't said who you played. 75 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:25,360 Oh, I'll get there. So, I sang this song for the audition. Sounded a hot mess. Got three callbacks. 76 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:31,440 I got a callback for the main character. I got a callback for the villain. And I got a callback for 77 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:38,560 the villain's assistant. And I just knew I was going to be the titular character. I just knew 78 00:08:38,560 --> 00:08:44,640 I was going to be Sweeney Todd because I was that guy, right? And the director pulls me to the side 79 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:53,760 and he goes, so, you're fantastic. That's why you're up for three roles. But we have other 80 00:08:53,760 --> 00:09:00,880 people we're considering for the main character and the assistant. And we think those other people 81 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:07,040 could pull off those roles. But we don't think those other people could pull off the villain. 82 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:13,600 So, you're going to play Judge Turpin. When I tell you, I didn't want to hear anything that man said. 83 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:20,640 I was so mad. I was like, in my head, it's not my problem that they can't flip-flop into this other 84 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:27,760 role. I don't want this role. I didn't want the role because he was only on stage for a total of 85 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:34,720 like five minutes of the whole show scattered throughout. Now, as an adult segue, if you call 86 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:41,120 me for a role that's a name role and I'm only on stage five minutes, I'll sign that contract 87 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:47,520 tomorrow. You're telling me I'm getting paid. That's been your truth since the last show you did, 88 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:54,000 which I'm sure we'll get into that, not in this podcast, eventually. But that is now 89 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:04,080 Kayden's truth for at least the last eight to 10 years. Yeah. It's a lead role and I'm on and then 90 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:10,160 I'm off and then I'm back on again later and then I'm off. Oh, you can't tell me to not sign that 91 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:16,080 contract tomorrow. But at the time I was mad. I was so mad that I went out of my way to learn 92 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:22,080 everybody's lines in the whole show just in case anybody got sick and couldn't do it and I could 93 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:29,520 take their role. That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. That's a child's brain if I've ever 94 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:36,960 heard anything. Imagine now, are you serious? I barely learn my lines now. I barely remember 95 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:42,720 my address when I'm trying to order from a website. I swear I live at Northeast and I told someone 96 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:48,960 North the other day and didn't even think about it twice. And then they sent it back to me and I was 97 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:55,360 like, there's something off. What is it? And it took me like a minute to realize it's Northeast. 98 00:10:55,360 --> 00:11:04,160 And I've lived here 25 years. So yeah, that's child's brain for you. Also a gifted child's 99 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:09,440 brain. Let's not forget that. Yeah, I learned the whole show, learned everybody's cues. So I feel 100 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:16,720 like I should explain the plot of the show for the listeners that are not musical buffs or had not 101 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:22,160 seen the Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter movie. So you could understand why Amanda and I 102 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:27,360 think that there was no reason why any of us should have been doing this show. So Sweetie Todd is about 103 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:34,240 a wrongfully accused ex-convict who escapes from prison in Australia, hops on a boat, goes on that 104 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:41,040 boat from Australia to London to go to his old home, assume a new identity, partner up with the 105 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:48,000 lady who owns a bakery under his former home to kill the person that wrongfully convicted him, 106 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:55,600 the judge played by moi. And when he fails his first attempt, he decides that he will take out 107 00:11:55,600 --> 00:12:02,880 his rage by murdering the unsuspecting people of London and the woman will cook them into pies 108 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:09,200 and feed those pies to the other unsuspecting people of London. And it's a very lucrative business. 109 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:19,680 And in the end, everyone dies. I think that's the long and short of it. Yeah. So as you can see, 110 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:25,840 this is a perfect musical for middle and high school students to jump right in for, especially 111 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:37,760 their first musical like me. And I loved and hated every minute of it. I hated it because I hated my 112 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:44,080 part, but I loved being a part of a musical coming together. Like it definitely didn't kill my, 113 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:50,480 it didn't kill my want to do it at all. If anything, it made me go home and start doing a 114 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:58,320 deep dive into other musicals yet. And I really was listening a lot to Wicked and I was listening 115 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:04,720 a lot to Rent and I got into this movie called Repo, the Genetic Opera, which I felt like was 116 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:10,880 in a similar vein to Sweeney Todd. And then I just sort of, I think I went from there and I end up 117 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:18,240 going to a much, much better Children's Educational Theatre program the following year, 118 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:29,440 because our friends were going to this place. You went, you knew about JCAT before I knew about 119 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:42,000 JCAT, right? Yeah, probably. If not right before, but yes. I mean, we had a very similar circle of 120 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:51,200 friends at the time and I was invited to see a show there when we were in seventh grade. So yeah, 121 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:57,120 I went a few months definitely before you had heard of it. And honestly, I was really blown away. 122 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:03,280 Like I had really no expectations. I mean, we were talking about our friends in middle school, 123 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:10,400 and they did a show called My Favorite Shorts, where like the same actors are doing multiple, 124 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:16,800 like really short plays, and they're playing different characters. And I just thought it was 125 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:27,200 wildly impressive for children to just switch up like that. And that's really where that started, 126 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:33,360 like for me. And then when you got into it, it was just really exciting after that. It just really 127 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:40,400 snowballed for us throughout our late middle school and high school period. So to introduce 128 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:44,720 this establishment and the whole point really of this episode, if you've been following so far, 129 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:50,800 if I didn't clearly announce it in the beginning, I'm really setting up this episode so you can get 130 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:57,840 to know me and why I feel so strongly about doing this podcast. And I thought it would be perfect to 131 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:06,240 bring on my best friend of 2000 years to sort of walk back through this journey, because I forget 132 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:12,000 things and she forgets things. And so the two of us together will be the complete scrapbook to 133 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:20,880 inform you as to how I got to the point of making this podcast for you all. So I would say going to 134 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:27,200 this theater, and I'm going to name the theater because I love it. It was called JCAT, the Jays 135 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:34,080 Cultural Arts Theater, the J, meaning the Jewish Community Center in our neighborhood. And it was 136 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:41,120 run by a couple of amazing individuals who I'd love to, you know, shout out, shout out to Michael 137 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:49,760 and Lillian Andron and the music director Marlena Tuchinsky and the whole staff that made it work 138 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:58,640 together. Joanne Don, Rosanne Gibel, Roberta who put together our props, David Zabel who would do 139 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:05,360 our recordings and our sound engineering. Oh my God, naming all those names, I really felt like 140 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:11,120 I was on an entertainment interview. You ever listen to people on Broadway give interviews and 141 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:18,080 it's like, and I have to give special props to Bernie Strickland and Rosanne Feldstein and it 142 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:24,080 just, they go down the list. I feel like that being at the J was like a rite of passage into 143 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,960 that kind of community. And I love that so much. I love being part of this theater community. 144 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:35,520 And I just have to take a second and also mention the amazing costume, you know, designer that worked 145 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:41,200 so little and made something really amazing out of it every time. Her name is Carole. We love you. 146 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:45,840 Carole Barou-Mootu. I just remember the first and last name. Yes. Come on. 147 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:52,240 No, I love you Carole. We cannot forget Carole. And the hair and the makeup teams, the various 148 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:55,280 teams that moved through there. Special shout out to the Battat family. 149 00:16:55,280 --> 00:17:03,600 It was all the donors, anything I've ever seen in children's theater, even now as an adult that 150 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:13,200 works in the children's arts educational sector, there is nothing I've ever seen short of a private 151 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:20,400 school, but a private school with a crazy budget that produced work like what we were doing at JCAT. 152 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:27,760 It was truly, I think, lightning in a bottle there. No, it was. And I'll never forget. So I got into 153 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:34,640 it. One of my friends had invited me to see Little Shop of Horrors. And I being me told her, no, 154 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:40,880 I have zero interest in going to see you all try and recreate that. Because I loved the movie 155 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:46,080 Little Shop of Horrors. And I just wasn't interested in seeing anybody stage version. No, no hate to 156 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:52,000 them. I just really loved the movie. And then a few months after that, she was like, Hey, we need 157 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:58,000 tech people. So what the hell's tech? She goes, we just, you know, you get volunteer hours for 158 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:02,640 coming in and you move the furniture on and on stage between the scenes. And we're doing the 159 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:07,360 musical guys and dolls, which I had heard of vaguely wasn't super familiar with it. Again, 160 00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:14,080 I'm just now endeavoring into musical theater. So I show up and I'm like, Oh, I'm going to do 161 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:20,320 this. So I show up and I meet the director, Michael Andron, and he's super nice. And he's 162 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:28,960 super cool. He just gives off major grandpa vibes. He's super chill. And he shows us, you know, 163 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:33,440 we sit and watch the play what they've got so far. And he shows us how to lift things on and off 164 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:40,320 stage. And I had a couple of friends that were doing it too. And I'll never forget, I stayed for 165 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:47,280 notes. And this is my first day ever at this theater. And he goes, I want to thank the leads 166 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:58,160 for saving that scene. And he points over at a third grader after Jane Doe single-handedly 167 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:05,920 ruined the entire show by standing there waving her gun around like it was her ponytail. 168 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:15,280 Needless to say, I was floored. This was not the man that I had just met. This nice grandpa type 169 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:22,960 who seems like an artsy grandpa. Like he lit into her, like she was getting paid a salary for this. 170 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:31,520 And so she came highly recommended with an extensive resume. Oh my God. And me, 171 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:37,200 segue leading up to this, I was obsessed with standup comedy as a child. 172 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:48,800 And in my opinion, the old New York vaudeville Broadway Jewish school of humor is hysterical, 173 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:53,600 especially old Jewish people losing their shit is one of the funniest things on the planet to me. 174 00:19:53,600 --> 00:20:03,840 And that was basically my experience at this theater, but he was so, it was direct, 175 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:09,920 but it wasn't malicious. Like he was working towards the vision. Like he didn't just single 176 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:15,520 out one person. He'd come for everybody. He'd come for himself sometimes. Like nobody was safe. 177 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:23,200 And so I stayed and I worked tech for this production. And then I worked tech for the next 178 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:31,280 production, the importance of being earnest. And he asked me if I would stand in for a role 179 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:39,760 because my friend David was out of town and David was playing the reverend. I think he was playing 180 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:44,880 the reverend. And I walked on with a script and just jumped right in the scene because I'd been 181 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:53,280 watching. And from that point on, I was pretty much on stage all the time at JCAT. Michael had 182 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:59,440 me try out for my first play, which was called Harvey. And if you're not familiar with Harvey, 183 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:07,680 it was an old movie with a couple of people who were in the same room. And they were all 184 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:15,360 with, oh, I can't remember the actor. I think he was a pilot. Jimmy Stewart, Jimmy Stewart, 185 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:19,920 Jimmy Stewart was in the original Harvey. Me and Amanda both looked at each other and she's like, 186 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:26,080 don't look at me. I was so hoping he wasn't relying on me there. No, no. She looked at me like, 187 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:31,440 please God, don't ask me who he was. I barely remember who was even in your production that I 188 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:37,200 saw. So it was a movie with Jimmy Stewart where, and don't quote me on this if I'm wrong, 189 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:42,480 but I'm 90% sure it's Jimmy Stewart, where he plays a man, Elwood Dowd, 190 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:50,480 who has a best friend named Harvey, who is a puka, a spirit that looks like a 191 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:58,160 six or seven foot tall bunny that talks to him. And his family tries to have him committed. 192 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,880 And it's a farce. So there's a lot of doors opening and closing and mistakes. 193 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:08,240 His sister who's trying to commit him ends up getting committed. Then the doctor that they're 194 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:16,640 trying to commit him to, who I happened to play, Dr. William Chumley, the psychiatrist. I had to 195 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:22,400 remember his first name. I remember it was Dr. Chumley, but I was like, this is Dr. William 196 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:27,360 Chumley, the psychiatrist. I had to remember because I had it set up in my mind. You had to 197 00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:35,680 just jump into his body for a second. He ends up seeing this rabbit and now he has basically a 198 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:40,640 nervous breakdown throughout the course of the show. When I tell you, I think this is the worst 199 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:48,480 job I've ever done on anything I've applied myself to because I didn't get off book until opening night. 200 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:57,360 I thought it was iconic. It was iconic because I spent the two or three week run of the play 201 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:02,240 using the play as rehearsal to figure out how I was going to characterize this character. 202 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:10,880 And to me as a professional now, that's a flop. Like you should not be rehearsing as the show's 203 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:23,760 going on. I mean, I think as a fellow 13 year old at the time, 13, 14, yeah, I just thought it was 204 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:28,800 historical. I thought you were so good. I thought the whole show was good, but you were obviously 205 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:36,480 just stand out in that one. But now obviously looking back and seeing the professionalism side 206 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:42,960 of what we did, I mean, because we did witness the adult shows and now carrying this through to 207 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:52,000 adulthood. Obviously that was the wrong move, but I just, I loved that show. That was like one of my 208 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:58,240 favorite memories at JCat was going to see Harvey. I think I sat front row. I mean, I was 209 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:07,120 floored by how funny you were. And a big, big, big, big, big, big shout out to my double, 210 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:12,560 my double cast, Harry John, because there were a couple of bits that I definitely got from him. 211 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:19,120 And he really helped me decide how loony I was able to make this character. Like I got a bit 212 00:24:19,120 --> 00:24:26,000 for him where I'm writing on a legal pad information that confirms that we've made a goof. And then you 213 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:30,720 rip the paper off the legal pad, crumple it up while you're still on the phone and throw it into 214 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:36,240 the face of your co-star who made the goof. I got that one from him and it just landed really well 215 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:43,200 every time. But after that point, Michael, Michael sat me down after berating me throughout rehearsal 216 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:52,560 for not being on book. And he gave me the, you know, like mano y mano kind of conversation where 217 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:59,120 he explained to me, like, you cheated yourself by not memorizing this play sooner. Because the quicker 218 00:24:59,120 --> 00:25:06,640 you get off book, the more time you have during the rehearsal process to really make the character 219 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:15,520 your own. And I carry that into my, into my musical life now too. Like I really love to have all my 220 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:21,520 music like really mastered early on into the process so I can spend the majority of my rehearsal 221 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:31,760 time developing the characterization of a song, no matter the genre. So from there, I was supposed 222 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:37,600 to do a couple of plays but my grades flopped. And mom was like, no, you're not going to spend 223 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:43,920 hours at this theater after school and you can't get your grades together. Now, I don't know if I've 224 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:49,520 told you this, but she and I have had the conversation that if I were to parent, I don't 225 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:54,080 think I would pull you out of the production just because I understand the value of an actor in the 226 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:58,000 production. Now what I am going to do, I'm going to force you to get tutoring and still do the 227 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:03,040 production. And now you have to learn now at this early age how to balance the two. But you know, 228 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,560 everybody's just figuring it out when they're parenting. They don't know. And it was a rational 229 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:13,760 decision for her to take me out. Absolutely. We actually did have that conversation. Actually, 230 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:20,640 I remember that surprisingly. I remember something. But we did have that conversation. And I do agree. 231 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:27,360 I think, I mean, obviously, her decision making was, you know, great for the time, 232 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:34,320 you know, with the experience that she had. But yeah, I think it's so important to teach 233 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:42,640 kids responsibility and commitment. Like you make a commitment, you adhere to it by like come hell 234 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:48,160 or high water. So yes, we did have that conversation. And I completely agree. I think it's so important 235 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:54,640 because especially at that age, that's a formative age, like what were we like 13, 14, like your 236 00:26:54,640 --> 00:27:01,760 commitments become so big all of a sudden, as soon as you hit high school. And yeah, I really think 237 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:08,880 that kids can benefit from that. But that's just my opinion. I try and impress that upon the parents 238 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:14,720 of the students that I had taught. They're like, Oh, well, he didn't practice this week, 239 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:22,800 because he had homework. And he had this play. And he had, I said, when I finally got that hang of it, 240 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:28,000 I was doing a play after school, I was student conducting three different choirs, I was taking 241 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:34,480 an AP class, I was helping out at the JCC, not in school, and still running in school, 242 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:42,320 school and still graduated with like a 3.85 or 3.87 GPA. So you have to learn how to balance that. 243 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:47,920 And I told my kids earlier, I'm like, y'all, it doesn't get easier when the homework disappears. 244 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:54,240 Because now I got a lot of parents to do. I have so much stuff to do in a day that requires me to 245 00:27:54,240 --> 00:28:01,280 not be at home. And I was really like, all done tight. Yeah, really tight deadlines. Some of them 246 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:10,320 are like legal deadlines. Real for real. And like Michael really instilled that into me at an early 247 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:16,720 age, that understanding that really, for lack of a better term, you need to know your shit going 248 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:22,080 into the building, not learn it when you get there. You have to go in knowing what you're supposed to 249 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:26,800 do. And like the example I gave my students is that I told you I got a call one time that somebody 250 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:31,600 may need me to come fill in and sing background in a couple of days, in like two or three days. 251 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:38,560 And they sent me a song list of 19 songs, of which I think I knew one. And I was expected to, if 252 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:45,840 picking up this gig, take those 19 songs and have them at performance level, memorized in three days. 253 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:54,800 And that is the real world in performing. And that's the real world in general. 254 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:58,960 If they can't do it, they'll find someone who can. They will hire the next person that can. 255 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:07,760 So I think the next show I did was an improv children's theater show, Jack and the Beanstalk. 256 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:14,720 And then nothing else that year. And then I did another improv and I did the theater camp 257 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:20,560 as one of the counselors, where I started working in music direction and I started teaching the 258 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:25,920 music to children. At the same time I was in school, I think I was the tenor section leader. 259 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:33,680 And then I became a student conductor. And so I really was getting into my teaching bag, 260 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:40,800 not just my, Cainan is the divo of the building. Like Kanan is also the one that's going to sit 261 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:44,560 everybody down and go, hey, this part isn't right. You're not singing this right. It's supposed to 262 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:50,000 go like this. Yeah. This was a really, actually really important transitional time. If we're 263 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:56,400 talking about like your musical journey, because what we didn't mention yet was that you changed 264 00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:04,880 high schools for a better musical opportunity. We went to an amazing high school that's very 265 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:13,760 reputable, but the program that you were in wasn't serving you in the way that you wanted anymore. 266 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:20,160 So you moved to a charter school and that was really important during this time. So at that 267 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:28,960 point you had really taken this journey extremely serious and so much so that you're moving school, 268 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:33,440 you're leaving all your friends because it was the same group of friends that came with you 269 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:40,160 from middle school. So I don't think we should overlook this part because it was extremely 270 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:48,000 it was extremely transitional. So while you're doing J-Cat still, your personal life is changing 271 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:55,440 so much to aid you in this musical journey. And I thought that was really important to mention 272 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:02,400 because without that you wouldn't really have ended up where you ended up now. 273 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:07,360 See I told you it's two pieces of the scrapbook. It's her half and it's my half and we put it 274 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:17,680 together and we get the whole story. So yeah, it was like the workload at our high school. 275 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:27,520 The workload was big and then the chorus workload was big, but they were separate. 276 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:36,320 Like in our school that we both went to, the magnet for the arts was its own thing and don't 277 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:43,360 let that thing interfere with this thing over here that is your core curriculum of academics. 278 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:50,560 And as I told you at this point it was getting hard for me mentally to handle a gigantic academic 279 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:58,480 course load plus the large choral curriculum. And I had a great teacher, shout out Dr. Keating, 280 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:05,760 who really like got me into the idea of being a section leader and a teacher and trusting me 281 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:12,800 with the things. But I think if I remember correctly, right, I left because 282 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:18,480 I was teaching and I think Dr. Keating had gotten sick at the time and he wasn't at school 283 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:23,760 for a while. We had a rotating group of subs and we had choral concerts coming up. 284 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:31,680 And I was a freshman or was I a sophomore? No, I was a sophomore. You were a sophomore. I was a 285 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:36,000 sophomore in the middle of the year. Yep. And it was just really hard. Again, in the middle of the year. 286 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:43,040 Yeah. It was really hard trying to teach people in a real high school environment, like the seniors 287 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:47,280 are seniors. Like they're not going to listen to a freshman or a sophomore who hasn't been doing this 288 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:52,560 as long as them teach parts and try and guide a rehearsal. And they just didn't care en masse. 289 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:58,880 So when I left and went to the magnet school or the charter school, 290 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:03,200 where that was literally a part of the curriculum, one of the classes was you became a student 291 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:12,240 conductor and it was your job to lead, learn to lead a classroom and lead a choir. That really 292 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:16,880 helped. And then it was the kind of program where we took a week off from school in the beginning 293 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:23,040 to go to an arts retreat for a week to like hunker down on our, get a head start on our years. 294 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:28,240 And we didn't miss anything because the academic teachers came as chaperones. Like you see, this is 295 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:32,880 like a conservatory minded environment and I learned a lot there. And that's also where I 296 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:40,000 really got introduced to jazz. All of this is happening consecutively. Right. All of this is 297 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:44,400 happening at the same time that I'm doing the musical theater stuff. And there were times where 298 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:49,120 I would miss one concert because I had a show that night or I'd miss a show because I had a concert 299 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:55,120 and we had to work out the schedule because I was living a full-time music student life. 300 00:33:55,120 --> 00:34:00,400 And I was also living what feels like a full-time drama student life. Like I was learning both sides. 301 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:07,440 And while I was at the theater, mind you, around my 11th grade year, which if anyone tell you is 302 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:16,080 the hardest year, I was assisting the music director. Like I was sitting in with her. I did 303 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:20,720 the auditions because she was out of town. I ran the auditions for that musical, Annie Get Your Gun. 304 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:26,640 I put all the sound cues in the system. I made sure the keys were right for the two cast. I brought 305 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:34,240 in any sound effects that needed to be brought in for every show that year. Except Handel was here. 306 00:34:34,240 --> 00:34:41,920 Yeah, this was really your like, let me dip my toes in every pond like time of your life. 307 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:46,240 Because like we just said, you were part of this. You're part of that. Like you're part of so many 308 00:34:46,240 --> 00:34:53,680 things and you had so many beautiful opportunities at this really important age right before you 309 00:34:53,680 --> 00:35:00,000 decide what you're going to do with the rest of your life basically. So, you know, I think it's 310 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:06,800 beautiful and so rare, but you did figure out what you wanted to do, you know, in sixth grade. 311 00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:15,040 And then by the time you got to a 10th, 11th grade, you made all the optimal decisions 312 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:21,040 and nothing like as small as learning how to put cues into the system really should be overlooked. 313 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:26,560 Because now to this day, I feel like you can do anything. I really do. You know? 314 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:34,720 Well, I can, I think, I don't think as I can do anything, but what I will do is I think doing that 315 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:38,480 a policia, now that I can hear. 316 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:40,880 Welcome to Miami. 317 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:52,480 But I think what it taught me to do is to try to learn to do whatever needs to be done. 318 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:57,040 Like I'm not intimidated by stepping into something that I don't know how to do. 319 00:35:57,040 --> 00:36:02,720 Like I'm always willing to learn and put my best foot forward in the learning process. 320 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:08,640 Like one of the shows that year I wrote music for. I had never written music for anything. 321 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:11,600 I wrote a little bit of that music for Around the World with Cinderella. 322 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:19,360 And I didn't know if I could do it. Honestly, I said yes and challenged myself to do it anyway. 323 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:23,360 And I wrote a few cues and I borrowed some stuff from other things. 324 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:27,360 But I think I did good sound engineering for that show because that's exactly what I did. 325 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:39,360 I did the sound design for that show. I was in Annie Get Your Gun as the lead while also putting cues in the system for that. 326 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:47,360 And kind of understudying, shadowing is the word, the music director to see how her process went. 327 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,360 See how she taught parts. See how she made adjustments. 328 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:55,360 See how she rearranged things to fit the voices of the children that were there. 329 00:36:55,360 --> 00:37:05,360 Saw how the director ran rehearsal. I was learning all these things while also being at school being a student conductor. 330 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,360 Full-time student. 331 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,360 Right. And a full-time student. Right. 332 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:19,360 And so that journey led me to what I thought was my dream college where I auditioned for Berkeley College of Music. 333 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:21,360 Shout out Berkeley. 334 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:37,360 I mean, but you know, although it didn't end up being your dream experience, I don't think we should, you know, make light of the fact that you went to Berkeley. 335 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:45,360 I mean, at the time that was really like such an incredible thing that you put your mind to and was able to accomplish. 336 00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:49,360 So I don't want to make a lot of trouble. 337 00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,360 Don't knock it. Don't tell them how I really feel. 338 00:37:52,360 --> 00:38:01,360 No, we can talk about your actual time there. But at the time, that was a huge deal. 339 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:08,360 And honestly, like listening to us talk about it in retrospect, it's like, of course you went to Berkeley College of Music. 340 00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:14,360 Like it makes so much sense. But at the time, it was really like, oh, shit, you're going to Berkeley College of Music. 341 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:21,360 Like living it, it really didn't seem like it was obvious, you know? 342 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:33,360 So, yeah, I mean, like I said, although it wasn't the absolute dream come true at the end of the day, we were so proud of you. 343 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,360 That was a huge accomplishment. 344 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:40,360 Well, thank you. I was excited. 345 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:45,360 Now, I'm going to tell the whole truth in that I absolutely thought I was getting in. 346 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:52,360 I felt every minute of what I was doing. And I was like, don't you see all this work I'm doing? 347 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:57,360 Of course they're going to let me in, was my mindset. Not realizing that life really is a lottery. 348 00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:03,360 And there are a lot of people that are as talented and if not significantly more talented than you, 349 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:07,360 that are also auditioning for literally everything you're auditioning for. 350 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:19,360 So we thank God for that opportunity. And Berkeley was enlightening is what I'm that's the term I'm going to use. 351 00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:25,360 And I'll tell you why it was enlightening. It was enlightening for a number of reasons. 352 00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:35,360 It gave me imposter syndrome and killed my imposter syndrome at the same time from two different spaces. 353 00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:41,360 And what I mean by that is one of my teachers and we're not going to name names, 354 00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:46,360 but one of my teachers in high school told me that when I got to Berkeley, 355 00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:52,360 I was going to realize that I was a small fish in a big pond and that it wasn't for me. 356 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:58,360 I wasn't going to make it basically. Old dream killing heifer. 357 00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:03,360 And of course, at the time I was like, oh, well, she's a hater, you know. 358 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:07,360 But of course, when someone says something to you that's obvious, hateration, 359 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:14,360 thank you Mary J. Blige for that word. 360 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:19,360 But when somebody says something to you that's like hatery, you don't believe it. 361 00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:23,360 But the part of your mind that's negative is going to hold on to that. 362 00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:32,360 And whenever something goes wrong, that hater comment is going to peep out of its closet and come tap you on your shoulder. 363 00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:40,360 And so I got there and there were so many, so many terrible musicians. 364 00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:46,360 I'm going to be honest. I went to one of the freshman jams and went, this is it. 365 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:51,360 This is what I'm paying all this money for until I found my friend group. 366 00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:58,360 And then as I started to find my friends, I was like, oh, yes, these are the aliens I paid to come study with. 367 00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:03,360 These are the movers and the shakers. These are the players. OK, got it. 368 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:08,360 OK, I'm at the right place. 369 00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:16,360 And so that affirmed me. And the fact that they wanted to hang out with me and they wanted to make music with me was affirming. 370 00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:22,360 And my harmony class, I go to freshman harmony and the teacher explains a concept. 371 00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:27,360 And I'm like, I know that concept. I can play you a song with that concept right now on the piano. 372 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:34,360 And I glazed over this. Right. So in freshman year, I started teaching myself how to play piano, 373 00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:39,360 not because I wanted to play piano, but because we were taking a vocal technique class 374 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:45,360 and all the YouTube keys were terrible for my changing pubescent voice. 375 00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:49,360 And so I said, well, if I'm going to stop embarrassing myself in class, 376 00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:54,360 I better figure out how to play these songs myself so I can change the keys. 377 00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:59,360 And I went to the chorus room every day at lunch and practiced and stayed after school and practiced. 378 00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:02,360 And I had a keyboard at home and I practiced on that. 379 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:09,360 My mom paid twenty five dollars to a friend of hers for an old piano and she basically gifted to me. 380 00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:14,360 And I've had I had that piano from 2018 to 2023. 381 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:19,360 I finally disassembled it and turned it into a piece of furniture in 2023 because I never had it tuned. 382 00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:24,360 And it sounded godawful. Rest in peace. 383 00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:30,360 But I learned to play piano because I thought it was something that I was supposed to do. 384 00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:35,360 I thought it was a necessary tool for my journey, but it wasn't a passion of mine, though. 385 00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:40,360 I would say it's become like one of my favorite things now. 386 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:47,360 Like I love sitting at a piano and playing. I could do it for hours. I like it more than I like singing, actually. 387 00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:55,360 It comes so naturally to you to not be like what you originally like signed up for. Set out. Yeah. Yeah. 388 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:59,360 I feel like that's how life goes, though. You know. 389 00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:11,360 So at the time, back in that harmony class, I told the teacher I could play you a song that has this chord progression that you're explaining in it. 390 00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:17,360 He said, if you can play me three songs correctly, they have this chord progression in it. You can leave. 391 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:23,360 So I got my happy behind up and walked over to that upright and played him three songs. 392 00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:26,360 And he said, well, I'll see you next week. 393 00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:34,360 When I tell you I never turn in a single homework assignment for that class and yet I had an A and I was so confused. 394 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:37,360 And then midterms came around and he pulled up the gradebook. 395 00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:43,360 He said, you see how Canaan hasn't turned in a single assignment this semester? 396 00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:46,360 College professors for you. 397 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:50,360 Canaan can play every tune I call in this class. 398 00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:58,360 So I don't care if he didn't do the 27 workbook problems to help you understand this concept, 399 00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:03,360 because he's going to get called when I need a sub for the gig because he can play the chart. 400 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:07,360 Now, that's terrible to any young people listening. Do your homework. 401 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:10,360 Because Berkeley definitely kicked my ass out. 402 00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:17,360 But he understood the way my brain worked because my brain at the time was like, 403 00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:27,360 I'm not going to stand here and do 90 problems of homework when I can prove to you in three practical applications that I understand this concept. 404 00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:29,360 And he really got that. 405 00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:37,360 It affirmed my mentally ill brain, my neurodivergent madness, if you will. 406 00:44:37,360 --> 00:44:43,360 And the imposter syndrome came from in my private lessons. 407 00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:48,360 And my teachers were lovely. They really were like they really treated me with care. 408 00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:56,360 Their only thing was they discouraged me from playing piano and singing. 409 00:44:56,360 --> 00:45:00,360 Because they were like they told me my technique suffered when I did it. 410 00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:11,360 And as a teacher, I agree with them. My technique did need mending in order in order to properly execute that to artist level quality. 411 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:16,360 However, I don't think the direction should have been so don't play piano. 412 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:24,360 The direction should have been I wonder if I have a colleague that can advise me who plays and sings on how you could improve your technique. 413 00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:35,360 But because of the pace, and I'm going to give them grace and say, I think it's because of the speed of the curriculum. 414 00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:51,360 Because they had a midterm and a final for their class and they had a limited amount of time where they had to make sure that I knew three or four tunes to mastery level for my proficiency exam at the end of the semester. 415 00:45:51,360 --> 00:46:01,360 And I think that's the problem with these like big classes where you have to get somewhere quickly with people that have various learning styles. 416 00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:07,360 Because how is it going to benefit you to stop playing? 417 00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:10,360 Which was half of my artistry by this point. Exactly. 418 00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:12,360 And you're going to need this going forward. 419 00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:22,360 You know, you're going to get 100 gigs where you need to play and sing. So why in college are we going to stifle this just because we have to meet a deadline of a midterm or final? 420 00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:25,360 I mean, I understand that that's how it is. But it's like, why? 421 00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:29,360 Now, let me throw a little light. You know, somewhere one day where that's not the case. 422 00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:35,360 Let me throw a little light shade. You know, Berkeley discourages you from doing both as an institution. 423 00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:40,360 Like they discourage you from double majoring in piano and voice. 424 00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:43,360 Like it doesn't. But we're going to let it ride. 425 00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:49,360 We're not going to do too much on Berkeley because I am proud to be an alumnus. 426 00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:54,360 But that doesn't stop me from being critical of things I feel can be changed. 427 00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:59,360 And I want to point out to my listeners that a key point that I'm going to carry through this. 428 00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:09,360 And I'm really glad I started this with Amanda because she kind of gets my mind and she's been there the whole time is that I want to approach all my interviews and all my. 429 00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:15,360 Sort of podcast essays from a point of critique, not judgment. 430 00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:22,360 And I tell my students this. You can be critical of something without being judgmental about that thing. 431 00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:29,360 Because to move forward as people and to grow, we have to be critical thinkers that. 432 00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:32,360 But that doesn't mean it's a criticism. 433 00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:39,360 We can have a critical thought about how something could be fixed without saying, well, that's why the whole thing's garbage anyway. 434 00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:44,360 That's a judgment. You know, the criticism is over generalization. 435 00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:47,360 Yeah, we don't want to do that. Yeah. 436 00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:52,360 And I'm not trying to judge the people working within the institution either. 437 00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:58,360 I'm just leveling a criticism of the concept as a whole at anything that I talk about. 438 00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:03,360 Because I really liked most of my teachers at Berkeley. 439 00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:09,360 One or two. I have judgments for so we won't talk about them on this podcast. 440 00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:13,360 But the rest, I'm sort of just critical of how the program works as a whole. 441 00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:18,360 Shout out to Cassandra McKinley. She's lovely. 442 00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:29,360 She really helped me embrace my style as a singer like she's the one that told me to learn that Luther Vandross song Superstar. 443 00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:33,360 Don't you remember you told me you love me, baby. 444 00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:38,360 She told me to learn memory. She was extremely talented herself. Right. 445 00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:41,360 Oh, yeah. She sings down album saved in my album. 446 00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:44,360 Yeah, she she's a swaggy jazz singer. I like her, too. 447 00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:51,360 So shout out to her. And another special shout out to I don't think I ever told him this. 448 00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:54,360 And if he listens to this podcast, I hope he finds out this way. 449 00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:59,360 So when I was going to Berkeley, I looked at the faculty to see if it was someplace I wanted to be. 450 00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:05,360 And I stumbled upon the gospel choir professor, Dennis, Dennis Montgomery, the third. 451 00:49:05,360 --> 00:49:09,360 And he was playing and singing Total Praise, which was one of my favorite songs. 452 00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:13,360 And he was reharming it to the gods like he turned that song upside down. 453 00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:17,360 And I was like, oh, I hope I get to meet this man. 454 00:49:17,360 --> 00:49:24,360 And lucky for me, the entire time I was there, whether I went to class or didn't, I went to gospel choir and participated. 455 00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:28,360 And he saw that I could play one day because he was singing. 456 00:49:28,360 --> 00:49:33,360 And I sat down because the piano player went to the bathroom and they were doing for every mountain. 457 00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:35,360 And I knew how to play that one. So I sat down and played it. 458 00:49:35,360 --> 00:49:40,360 And he was like, oh, you play. Do you play and sing? I say, yeah. 459 00:49:40,360 --> 00:49:45,360 He said, don't ever lose that. Right. 460 00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:51,360 Affirmed and gave me imposter syndrome at the same thing, because to me, I felt like I was doing something wrong and I should be at my best. 461 00:49:51,360 --> 00:49:54,360 And there are other people that play and sing well while they're sitting down. 462 00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:57,360 And so if I'm not in that number, then maybe I shouldn't. 463 00:49:57,360 --> 00:50:04,360 Like it was a whole stream of thoughts that have influenced the way I've decided to become a teacher today. 464 00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:11,360 Like all of this is building me into the educator I'm trying to turn myself into. 465 00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:16,360 But I learned so much good music in Reverend's Gospel Choir under Dennis Montgomery, the third. 466 00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:24,360 And I would just sit in class and all of him. And I'm sure I got on his nerves a little bit because I was the class clown. 467 00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:30,360 But he was really nice to me. He was so nice to me and so helpful and so friendly. 468 00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:36,360 And I met amazing artists there that some of whom I'll interview throughout this podcast series. 469 00:50:36,360 --> 00:50:43,360 I definitely have a list of people I want to reach out to and talk to because they're also doing great and wonderful things. 470 00:50:43,360 --> 00:50:48,360 But I eventually decided that Berkeley wasn't for me and Berkeley decided that I wasn't for them. 471 00:50:48,360 --> 00:50:54,360 And we parted ways. Good old fashioned divorce. 472 00:50:54,360 --> 00:51:04,360 Though I am a member of the Alumni Society because I did my time. I spent the allotted amount of time there to qualify me as an alumni. 473 00:51:04,360 --> 00:51:11,360 And I wear Berkeley with a badge of honor because it does have a great legacy behind it. 474 00:51:11,360 --> 00:51:18,360 And I think with some changes, it'll continue to have a great legacy in front of it. 475 00:51:18,360 --> 00:51:26,360 If not just for me having gone there, if not just for the friends that I've made that have gone there that are making names for themselves. 476 00:51:26,360 --> 00:51:35,360 It is an institution. You know, when you say Berkeley College of Music somewhere, the people that know are like, oh, yeah, you know your stuff. 477 00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:43,360 You know, a lot of people know. Yeah. And a lot of people recognize that. And I've made great connections because of it. 478 00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:54,360 I left Berkeley, came home, and I didn't shut down. I actually like locked in and I couldn't find a job for a couple of years. 479 00:51:54,360 --> 00:52:02,360 So I spent that couple of years. Baby, I learned logic inside and out. I learned how to make tracks. I learned how to produce. 480 00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:09,360 I learned a flurry of repertoire. I got more into my piano. I got more into my playing and singing. 481 00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:19,360 I studied more music. I watched other artists perform live and studied them. 482 00:52:19,360 --> 00:52:25,360 And I think I think these last I want to say. 483 00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:30,360 I started my musical journey in musicals at 13 or 12. 484 00:52:30,360 --> 00:52:39,360 I want to say I started taking music seriously at like 14 and I'm 26 now. So I'll give it the last 12 years. 485 00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:45,360 So I have spent these last 12 years. 486 00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:57,360 Feel like I've been doing like a speed run on this thing called music to really figure it out and understand it. 487 00:52:57,360 --> 00:53:05,360 And I'm trying to get into the magic of it all because for me, music is something music is otherworldly. 488 00:53:05,360 --> 00:53:11,360 Music is magical. And I believe that of all art. 489 00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:22,360 I believe the ability to create art is magic. It is otherworldly. It is a gift from what we don't understand. 490 00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:29,360 I think talent is a gift from powers beyond us. For me as God, for somebody else, it might be the universe. 491 00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:36,360 You know, I just think it's a gift. What is not a gift is skill. 492 00:53:36,360 --> 00:53:46,360 Skill comes from craft work. Talent comes from God. But skill comes from doing the work. 493 00:53:46,360 --> 00:53:54,360 Absolutely. Because you may have potential. That's the God given gift. 494 00:53:54,360 --> 00:54:00,360 But you can only get so far in potential. 495 00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:06,360 Potential is not going to keep you in the room. Potential might get you in the room, but it's not going to keep you in there. 496 00:54:06,360 --> 00:54:14,360 Because at some point somebody is going to show up with more skill than your potential has and get you out of the gig. 497 00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:20,360 After like adolescence, it really doesn't do anything for you. 498 00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:27,360 And so this all rounds out to the purpose of this podcast. 499 00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:38,360 I made this episode because to be perfectly frank, I jumped the gun on the podcast and didn't have topics lined up to talk about. 500 00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:45,360 Though I have a lot to talk about as I learned from my 100 days of practice that I failed at horribly. 501 00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:54,360 I got to 72% completion. That's a C. So that's not bad. You know, a little pat on the back. I made it 72 days. 502 00:54:54,360 --> 00:55:00,360 But what I realized on that journey is I didn't want to share with you all how I practiced because I'm transparent, but I'm not that transparent. 503 00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:09,360 Only certain people get to hear me crack. But I did want to share. I wanted to share the magic. 504 00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:14,360 And this was the tagline I thought about on my mission for this show. 505 00:55:14,360 --> 00:55:21,360 I want to share the magic with you all while demystifying the craft work of it all. 506 00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:26,360 Because the talent and the art that gets made is the magic. 507 00:55:26,360 --> 00:55:39,360 But how you get to the point of making the art, how you develop your skills, how you book your gigs, how you learn to maneuver the industry as a whole, the arts community as a whole. 508 00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:44,360 That's craft work. That's skill. That's demystifying the craft work. 509 00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:59,360 And I've had all these people that I've mentioned up to this point have both amplified the magic of being in the arts for me while simultaneously demystifying the craft of it all. 510 00:55:59,360 --> 00:56:05,360 And so I feel as though most of those people are now retired that I've named. 511 00:56:05,360 --> 00:56:14,360 And so I feel like the torch is being passed to me. 512 00:56:14,360 --> 00:56:22,360 I feel like it's my turn now in my educational and artistic journey to start doing that. 513 00:56:22,360 --> 00:56:27,360 To start demystifying the craft while amplifying the magic. 514 00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:33,360 And that's what getting in tune means. I want you to get in tune with yourself. 515 00:56:33,360 --> 00:56:50,360 I want you to get in tune with what it takes to be a performer, what it takes to be a writer, what it takes to call, what it's going to take to be able to call yourself an artist in every sense of the word. 516 00:56:50,360 --> 00:56:54,360 And I think that's, I think that's everything. I think that's my journey until now. 517 00:56:54,360 --> 00:56:59,360 I'm currently teaching now. If I didn't, I didn't share that. I didn't share where we are now. 518 00:56:59,360 --> 00:57:05,360 We did the whole where I came from. I moved to Georgia. 519 00:57:05,360 --> 00:57:14,360 And I've spent the last three years of my life teaching and endeavoring into something I will touch upon this before I leave. 520 00:57:14,360 --> 00:57:19,360 I will touch upon the fact that in those three, two of the three years I've been here. 521 00:57:19,360 --> 00:57:25,360 I spent learning a skill that I hadn't learned in all those other things. 522 00:57:25,360 --> 00:57:41,360 And that was learning how to be a background singer, learning what it takes to be part of that support team because I've played for other people before I've taught the people and I've led, but learning how to be a background singer was unlike anything else I'd ever 523 00:57:41,360 --> 00:57:48,360 experienced because in choir, you have your sheet music and you can go home and learn your part on your own, and you're not the only person singing your part. 524 00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:49,360 Right. 525 00:57:49,360 --> 00:58:02,360 When I did musicals with Mrs to Chinsky. She recorded our parts for us we had rehearsals, and she would give you your part and you'd learn to sing it and sometimes you wouldn't be the only person on your part. 526 00:58:02,360 --> 00:58:13,360 But I never had the skill of go home listen to this record pull your part out of this record, and they show up and you'll be the only person singing it so if you sing it wrong the parts invisible. 527 00:58:13,360 --> 00:58:15,360 The parts gone. 528 00:58:15,360 --> 00:58:33,360 I had a couple of people who I was able to really sit under and learn this skill from and that's been my good friend Gigi that's my good friend Tasha Renee, that's been Ray Evans, and they kind of have all had successful careers as a background as background 529 00:58:33,360 --> 00:58:38,360 vocalist, and have kind of taken me under the wing to teach me everything I know. 530 00:58:38,360 --> 00:58:52,360 And so, I've sort of had to me. I've had a privileged experience in music, like this is not everybody's journey I feel like a lot of people take this journey alone. 531 00:58:52,360 --> 00:59:10,360 And I always thought I was cheated because my, my family doesn't do music, and I have friends whose parents are singers but just listening to this out loud like what a team of exposure, I've been gifted with to sort of train up under. 532 00:59:10,360 --> 00:59:12,360 To get funny. 533 00:59:12,360 --> 00:59:20,360 Do you remember being younger and having the conversation over and over about wanting a mentor. 534 00:59:20,360 --> 00:59:28,360 Like I said, I'm like, no, I'm not saying that I'm not like, he just wanted like one mentor, and like, listening to his back I'm like you've had. 535 00:59:28,360 --> 00:59:30,360 Nine. 536 00:59:30,360 --> 00:59:42,360 Having so many. I know. And I'm like, it's so funny when you're in it. You're like yeah just I just want like one like master ugui you know like I really want just like one person, like Mr Miyagi. 537 00:59:42,360 --> 00:59:47,940 so many amazing mentors that were really good at what they did. 538 00:59:47,940 --> 00:59:49,440 And I'm like, is that better? 539 00:59:49,440 --> 00:59:51,720 I mean, there's probably an argument to be had there. 540 00:59:51,720 --> 00:59:57,720 Like, is that better than having one person that's good at what you want to do, you know, 541 00:59:57,720 --> 01:00:02,200 versus a team of people that are really amazing at what they do? 542 01:00:02,200 --> 01:00:04,800 And then you can learn from all of them. 543 01:00:04,800 --> 01:00:08,680 So in hindsight, and now mind you, I'm still young. 544 01:00:08,680 --> 01:00:09,680 I'm 26. 545 01:00:09,680 --> 01:00:15,720 I've got a whole, God bless, maybe three quarters of a century left on me if God wants to bless 546 01:00:15,720 --> 01:00:20,800 me to 101 of endeavoring this life and this creative journey. 547 01:00:20,800 --> 01:00:30,560 But to this point, I really think I've been blessed with all this mentorship. 548 01:00:30,560 --> 01:00:35,640 And yes, I think having all those people from all those different backgrounds has informed 549 01:00:35,640 --> 01:00:40,920 me better than any one singular person could have. 550 01:00:40,920 --> 01:00:43,080 Because I only know what I know. 551 01:00:43,080 --> 01:00:45,160 You only know what you know. 552 01:00:45,160 --> 01:00:49,280 But if we together come together and inform somebody and then they have somebody else 553 01:00:49,280 --> 01:00:55,760 that knows what they know, it's like, it really takes a village. 554 01:00:55,760 --> 01:01:01,280 And so I want to invite some of that village right here on to get in tune. 555 01:01:01,280 --> 01:01:02,520 I want to reach out to people. 556 01:01:02,520 --> 01:01:06,520 I want to talk to them here. 557 01:01:06,520 --> 01:01:08,000 I guess we're wrapping it up. 558 01:01:08,000 --> 01:01:10,520 Before I leave, thank you all for listening so much. 559 01:01:10,520 --> 01:01:14,520 Thank you, Amanda, for coming on last minute and really fleshing out this first episode 560 01:01:14,520 --> 01:01:15,520 with me. 561 01:01:15,520 --> 01:01:17,280 I think I really enjoyed this episode. 562 01:01:17,280 --> 01:01:18,480 I think this was a good episode. 563 01:01:18,480 --> 01:01:23,040 I think this is a good start into getting to know your host. 564 01:01:23,040 --> 01:01:27,520 And now I can get into the good business of hosting. 565 01:01:27,520 --> 01:01:33,880 And I want to tell you all that there are some segments that I'm going to add to this 566 01:01:33,880 --> 01:01:35,080 show as we go on. 567 01:01:35,080 --> 01:01:38,280 And you can kind of lean into them now. 568 01:01:38,280 --> 01:01:46,120 Part of this educational journey would be unfulfilled if you couldn't ask me questions. 569 01:01:46,120 --> 01:01:48,360 And obviously we're not live. 570 01:01:48,360 --> 01:01:54,560 So on my website, if you go to my Instagram bio and click on the link in my bio, on my 571 01:01:54,560 --> 01:01:59,840 website at the bottom, there is a couple of forms. 572 01:01:59,840 --> 01:02:01,720 One says ask Asher. 573 01:02:01,720 --> 01:02:07,400 Now my middle name is Asher and it means blessed and happy in Hebrew or share. 574 01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:09,160 And I want to help you find your happy. 575 01:02:09,160 --> 01:02:13,000 That's actually what I wrote in the little bio for the thing. 576 01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:18,160 So I want you to ask me any questions you have that you think I could answer. 577 01:02:18,160 --> 01:02:20,280 Don't come on here asking me about your man troubles. 578 01:02:20,280 --> 01:02:24,480 Like I'm not going to get on my podcast and play Delilah. 579 01:02:24,480 --> 01:02:27,720 You want Delilah, you call into Delilah's show and she'll help you much better than 580 01:02:27,720 --> 01:02:29,200 I can. 581 01:02:29,200 --> 01:02:33,480 But ask me anything that you feel that you will want me or literally any of the guests 582 01:02:33,480 --> 01:02:39,060 I have on the show to answer and I'll do my best to help you out. 583 01:02:39,060 --> 01:02:40,060 And it's anonymous. 584 01:02:40,060 --> 01:02:41,160 I don't see your email. 585 01:02:41,160 --> 01:02:42,520 I don't see your name. 586 01:02:42,520 --> 01:02:44,200 It's an anonymous form. 587 01:02:44,200 --> 01:02:49,620 Just come up with an alias so you know it's your question and write in and ask me. 588 01:02:49,620 --> 01:02:54,200 The other feature I have loaded up says, put me on. 589 01:02:54,200 --> 01:02:56,180 Now Amanda knows this. 590 01:02:56,180 --> 01:02:59,720 Any of my friends that have ever been in a car with me or anywhere where there's a speaker, 591 01:02:59,720 --> 01:03:05,720 if my friends have good music, if they have songs I like, I'm going to play them. 592 01:03:05,720 --> 01:03:09,880 If an acquaintance I've met three times has good music, I'm going to show everybody I 593 01:03:09,880 --> 01:03:11,960 know. 594 01:03:11,960 --> 01:03:17,960 If a stranger who opens up for a celebrity that I've gone to go see has good music, I'm 595 01:03:17,960 --> 01:03:22,340 going to leave that concert and show everybody I can this music. 596 01:03:22,340 --> 01:03:25,200 And I figured that make a great segment for this podcast. 597 01:03:25,200 --> 01:03:31,920 So I made a form for you to submit music to me, whether it's your own, whether it's an 598 01:03:31,920 --> 01:03:36,600 artist you really like that you feel like doesn't get enough attention, whether it's 599 01:03:36,600 --> 01:03:40,000 a friend of yours, whether it's a family member, put me on. 600 01:03:40,000 --> 01:03:44,400 Fill out the information, fill out the form, send me their music. 601 01:03:44,400 --> 01:03:47,480 Tell me if you want me to talk about it on air or not. 602 01:03:47,480 --> 01:03:54,760 I'm going to make an Apple music playlist, a Spotify playlist, a YouTube playlist, and 603 01:03:54,760 --> 01:04:02,380 maybe a Google music playlist of all this music and conglomerate it. 604 01:04:02,380 --> 01:04:05,880 Is that a word conglomerate? 605 01:04:05,880 --> 01:04:07,480 I might not be using it right. 606 01:04:07,480 --> 01:04:10,760 So we're going to just sign another word. 607 01:04:10,760 --> 01:04:18,480 I'm going to assemble the playlist of all the songs that you all send in plus things 608 01:04:18,480 --> 01:04:21,000 that I want to put you onto. 609 01:04:21,000 --> 01:04:24,600 And I really just want to turn get in tune into that village. 610 01:04:24,600 --> 01:04:29,360 I want this to be your one stop shop for something inspirational, for something informative, 611 01:04:29,360 --> 01:04:32,360 for something humorous. 612 01:04:32,360 --> 01:04:34,660 And I want to help you all get in tune. 613 01:04:34,660 --> 01:04:37,240 And with that, thank you all for listening. 614 01:04:37,240 --> 01:04:38,240 Have a wonderful day. 615 01:04:38,240 --> 01:04:39,240 Have a good night. 616 01:04:39,240 --> 01:04:41,240 Have a good night.