WEBVTT

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Hey, welcome to Good News York. I am really excited.

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It's not just me. Matt is here. He's actually

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running, he's doing Danny's job today. Danny's

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home sick. We love you, Danny. So Matt is doing

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host and producer today. So my god, are you ready

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for this task? I wear many hats and sometimes

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headphones. Mostly Syracuse hats. So we've got

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Matt here. I am joined by... a friend, I dare

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say, and an amazing human being, Ulf Osterle,

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who I should call you Mr. Syracuse at this point.

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You're so involved in so many things in Syracuse,

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and when this show started, and Matt was like,

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we wanna start booking guests, you were genuinely

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one of the first three people I thought of, and

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I'm so glad you're here, man. I'm honored, I'm

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glad that you thought of me, because I'm one

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of those people that flies under the radar. A

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lot of people know me, but they don't see me.

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And so that's one of those things, when I have

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a chance to step out and share some of the story

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and the path that I've walked, I'd love to take

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advantage, you know? It's been an amazing path.

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And actually, I know what you mean. Because if

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someone was to look you up, there's a lot to

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see. Your TikTok, all the endeavors you've been

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involved in. So you would think, why, this guy

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doesn't fly under the radar. He's everywhere.

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but there is a way to fly under, to be very present

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on social media, but also fly under the radar.

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It is a, it's a tact. You know, I work a lot,

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and so that means I'm not spending a lot of time

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out socializing, and that's part of it. Same.

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And so, you know, when I'm out, it is because

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it's a concert, or because I'm at a hockey game,

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or something that I'm working in some capacity.

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Sure. And so, you know, there's not a lot of

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that just downtime for me. No, and I don't know

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how there could be because, I mean, that's one

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of the main reasons I had you on was, dare I

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say, just your resume is just outstanding. You've

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done so much for the Syracuse community, but,

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you know, I would say for the music business

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mostly and for education. When you and I met,

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for those of you at home, when I met all... I

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was in a band called the New York Rock, and you

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were the CEO of O Records, AUX. You had some

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amazing bands. It was Merit, Honorbrite, we were

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just talking about. And you had a stage at the

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Taste of Syracuse Festival, and one of my favorite

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shows we ever got booked for, which I still thank

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you for. But on top of that, you've also been

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a professor at Syracuse, teaching music business,

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social media. and now you're involved in marketing.

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We're gonna get to all of it, but I wanted to

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start with when we met and you were doing old

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records. How did that come about? Yeah, so, you

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know, I never planned on staying in Syracuse,

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and that's the precursor to me getting into Taste

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of Syracuse, getting into that stage that we

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had as part of the record label, because I came

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to Syracuse for what I thought was gonna be a

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one -year... master's degree. I went to SUNY

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Cortland for my undergrad and I was a health

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science major. I worked in athletic training

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and it was nothing media related but I was running

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the campus radio station WSUC down in SUNY Cortland

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and my thought was nobody's gonna hire somebody

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to work in the music business who has a health

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science degree so let me go get a master's degree.

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I'll go to Syracuse for one year in and out and

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the plan was go to New York and work for Wind

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Up Records. And at the time, they were just printing

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money. They were just every rock band at the

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time. I was going to say, wasn't that a lot of

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the Vans Warped Tour bands? There were some of

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those, yeah. Or maybe that was Drive Thru. Drive

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Thru was a lot of the bands. But this label was

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just, it was a lot of rock bands, a lot of radio

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rock bands. And they were just making money.

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And we graduated, I say we, because myself and

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my ex -wife were in the same master's class,

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and we were both going to go to New York City.

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we graduated in August of 2001. Three weeks later,

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September 11th happens. And she goes, I'm not

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going to New York. And I was like, okay, I get

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it. Like nobody knew at that point. So I stayed

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in Syracuse and entered the PhD program up at

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Syracuse University, took $6 ,000 of my student

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loan money and started a record label. Because

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I didn't know what to do here and I wanted to

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work in music. And so that was where things started.

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And as things grew, we knew that we had to have

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a presence in the live music community throughout

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central New York. Syracuse was home base, and

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that's where the taste of Syracuse came in, where

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we had this stage that at the time was a bigger

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stage than most of the bands had ever played

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on at that point in their career. And so we took

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up three lanes of a road right down in downtown

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Syracuse, Clinton Square, and in partnership

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with Subcat Recording Studio, we put on this

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stage that was catered to Central New York artists,

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and it was fantastic. I got to play that stage,

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and for those of you who are thinking, a stage

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is a stage, that is not true. Stages come in

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all different sizes and shapes. I mean, there

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were times my band would get booked for a festival,

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and you would show up, and that stage was, remember

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the old trailers? That, you know, the sides would

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come down, and it's just, you know what I mean?

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And that's fine, but your stage at Taste of Syracuse

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was... the quintessential, what you would see

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at, you know, a radio festival. It was huge,

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and you even provided RVs for the band. We had

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the RVs, we had catering, you know, we had sponsors

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for the stage. You know, it was what we wanted

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to do to elevate the experience for everybody.

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And I think that's sort of been a theme of my

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life, is the stepping stone, and being that stepping

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stone for a lot of people, like the bands that

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have come through, some of them have gone on

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to do really big things. And I like to say that

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I was a part of that experience for them where

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they got to level up. And we wanted to give everyone

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that experience with this particular event. Taste

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of Syracuse was bringing in over 100 ,000 people

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for the weekend. And when you would look across

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Clinton Square at that time, it was a sea of

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people. I mean, there was no space. People were

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down there eating and having some beverages and

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enjoying the music and to have Bans from the

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area play to a crowd like that. We haven't seen

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a whole lot of that in the last decade So, you

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know, it's something I would love to get back

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to at some point But there's a huge cost in all

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of this and so when the time is right when the

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money's there You know, we'll certainly get back

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in because taste of Syracuse, you know galaxy

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communications Galaxy media is a part of the

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the taste. They think they own it And that's

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the K -Rock radio station, which I worked for

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K -Rock for a couple years. So, you know, those

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relationships are still there. That's awesome,

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man. Yeah. And I mean, that's just where most

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of this began because now you have old records.

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You sign a couple fans, Merritt and Honorbrite,

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right? Were those your first two? They weren't

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the first two, but they were arguably the biggest

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two that we had. Merritt was the first. And,

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you know, I met Merritt because they were all

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Syracuse University students. And some of them

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had just graduated, some were in graduate school.

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And they came to me when I was working for the

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Syndicate. Syndicate's a marketing company out

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of Weehawken, New Jersey. An agency now, they're

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pretty large. You know, they work with Taco Bell

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and the other big brands. at the intersection

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of music and culture, really. And, you know,

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I was handling all of Central New York for these

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major label artists that would come through.

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And the bassist from Merit saw me at these shows

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and was like, hey, let's talk, let's talk. At

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that point, you know, so many bands had come

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up and said something like that. But I remember

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he wrote his email on a dollar bill because he

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knew that I was not going to throw that dollar

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bill away and said, let's get together. And we

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went out and grabbed some some pizza for lunch

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one day. And he's like, we want to do an EP.

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And at that time, this is 2003. CDs were the

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dominant format. And I explained to him, recording

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an EP to release on CD is not financially worth

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it. You should do a record. Because at that point,

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you're selling a CD for $5 as an EP, or you can

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go 10 or 15 if it's a full length. So ultimately,

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we went and we recorded a record. and that was

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at Subcat when they were in Skinny Atlas, New

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York. Like this was pre their move to Syracuse

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and, you know, tiny little basement studio. But

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this was a record that ended up getting them

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satellite radio airplay, college radio. They

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were number one in New York and top 15 in Los

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Angeles. And they ended up touring East Coast

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and up into Canada and really made a name for

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themselves as this rock band. So that was the

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first one. Then I had a band, For the Horizon,

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that did really great in the MySpace days. Anorexic

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Beauty Queen was another one that came through,

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and Mike Watson is still playing music in Central

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New York today. And the bassist from that band

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went on to do just tremendous video work for

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bands like Manchester Orchestra and so many other

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big bands. So that was where things started.

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Honorbrite was a great experience. We took them

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from playing basement shows in Syracuse to Warped

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Tour, Bamboozle. Ultimately, they played MTV

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when MTV was still playing music. They played

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Total Request Live. TRL? TRL was like what you

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came home to. It was everything. That was the

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early days of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera

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and all the boy bands. The red leather outfit.

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Yeah. To play in Times Square in their studios

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with that band was great. Still working with

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a few of those guys today as they've gone on

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to new bands. It's been a wild ride with them.

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It's amazing. So prior to O Records, though,

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you'd never run a record label, right? No. So

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were you just flying by the seat of your pants?

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You get this record coming, you have these bands,

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and you're like, I'm just going to figure this

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shit out as I go. Where did you start learning

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the ins and outs of how a label should run? It

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was very much flying by the seat of my pants.

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That's awesome. You gotta trust in yourself at

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some point. I knew the business, I knew college

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radio. That was something where I grew up through

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the WSUC era and understood how the college radio

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stations impact the leveling up of bands because

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you'd see bands test at college radio and then

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from there expand to commercial radio. That doesn't

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really happen as much today, but back then, this

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was 25 years ago, 30 years ago. you know, a very

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different era. And so I understood that side

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of the world. I understood the booking side at

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a DIY level, and that's where the band started.

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And then you ultimately will need to level up

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and get yourself a team to surround you. But

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I was always reading about music. I was always

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a huge music fan. And, you know, when you surround

00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:28.899
yourself with those types of experiences, you

00:11:28.899 --> 00:11:31.639
do start to take your own notes and you see what

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works and what doesn't work. And, you know, I

00:11:33.899 --> 00:11:36.580
was very fortunate to have some mentors through

00:11:36.830 --> 00:11:41.549
the early days, Frank Malfatano who is in charge

00:11:41.549 --> 00:11:47.330
of the Syracuse Jazz Fest. I got to spend, oh

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man, it must have been the 2001 Jazz Fest working

00:11:52.149 --> 00:11:56.210
with him and ultimately went on to be his assistant

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as he was the producer of the opening ceremonies

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for the Empire State Games that happened at the

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old Carrier Dome and my job for that particular

00:12:06.179 --> 00:12:09.779
show day was to be the assistant for Ray Charles.

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Oh, wow. So, you know. Hey, bud, here's your

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first gig. First gig. Yes. And no pressure. It

00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:19.399
was like, OK, you're going to meet, you know,

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the limo at this corner of the dome. And I remember

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walking out there and Ray Charles jumps out of

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the back and introduces himself, you know, extends

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an arm and we shake hands and he locks his arm

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within mine. We walked down the stairs. I was

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with him through the day. Had, you know, those

00:12:37.230 --> 00:12:40.070
experiences of, like, Bob Costas was the emcee,

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so I had to escort him from the green room to

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the podium where he was doing the emceeing. And

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so those types of experiences really gave me

00:12:48.129 --> 00:12:51.049
that firsthand look at what a show looks like

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at a larger level. And it was more than just

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a show because these were the athletes as well.

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And sports and music, for me, that's an intersection

00:12:59.769 --> 00:13:02.990
that really has defined my life. And so... I

00:13:02.990 --> 00:13:04.610
was thrilled to be a part of this, and that helped

00:13:04.610 --> 00:13:06.710
set things off. That was pre -O records, but

00:13:06.710 --> 00:13:12.070
certainly an insight to events that most people

00:13:12.070 --> 00:13:14.490
don't get to see unless you're really deep in

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the business. That's outstanding. I can't even

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imagine your first gig. I mean, look, there are

00:13:22.009 --> 00:13:23.909
famous artists out there, and then there are

00:13:23.909 --> 00:13:26.269
just those icons, and Ray Charles is one of those

00:13:26.269 --> 00:13:29.450
icons. I mean, what better way to learn than

00:13:29.450 --> 00:13:32.350
just throwing yourself into it and doing it?

00:13:32.330 --> 00:13:35.149
Now, where did your love for music come from?

00:13:35.350 --> 00:13:37.389
Because I don't think, you're not a musician,

00:13:37.690 --> 00:13:39.710
are you? No, I'm not a musician. And that's okay,

00:13:39.870 --> 00:13:42.509
I'm just asking. I'm not like, you're not a musician,

00:13:42.629 --> 00:13:45.070
are you? No, no, but I get that. And I think

00:13:45.070 --> 00:13:48.610
that perspective is a really important point

00:13:48.610 --> 00:13:51.350
because there are musicians who end up working

00:13:51.350 --> 00:13:53.389
in the business and there are business folks

00:13:53.389 --> 00:13:57.110
who are not musicians who can be the voice of

00:13:57.110 --> 00:13:59.190
that musician when it comes to deals, when it

00:13:59.190 --> 00:14:01.350
comes to monetization, when it comes to promotion.

00:14:01.629 --> 00:14:04.590
and let the artist be the artist, let the business

00:14:04.590 --> 00:14:07.409
folks handle all the business, and that team

00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:10.950
is what makes for a successful career. And you

00:14:10.950 --> 00:14:12.909
don't have to be a musician. Now, I've been on

00:14:12.909 --> 00:14:16.309
stage. I've had a few chances to sing. I'm not

00:14:16.309 --> 00:14:19.169
a singer. That's all right. You can't do it all.

00:14:19.730 --> 00:14:22.870
You know, you can't do it all, and you shouldn't.

00:14:22.929 --> 00:14:25.809
You should focus a little bit on what your strengths

00:14:25.809 --> 00:14:27.590
are. I knew my strength was never gonna be as

00:14:27.590 --> 00:14:31.039
a performer, but... I grew up listening to a

00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:33.539
lot of music. You know, I grew up, actually,

00:14:33.580 --> 00:14:36.379
for the first five years of my life, I was on

00:14:36.379 --> 00:14:38.799
the south campus of Syracuse University while

00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:41.519
my dad was doing graduate school. Oh, wow. And

00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:45.419
one of those early life experiences was some

00:14:45.419 --> 00:14:48.019
of his friends were in a band from Germany, and

00:14:48.019 --> 00:14:50.320
they came to the States, and they were living

00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:52.460
out of our south campus apartment while they

00:14:52.460 --> 00:14:56.059
were doing a Northeast tour. And I just remember

00:14:56.059 --> 00:14:58.059
always having music going. I remember the early

00:14:58.059 --> 00:15:02.259
days of taping songs off of radio and, you know,

00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:06.200
listening to like local music events. And then

00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:07.919
finally getting to the point where I could go

00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:10.539
to some of these larger shows. And I was actually

00:15:10.539 --> 00:15:12.279
just having this conversation with my son a couple

00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:15.299
of days ago about those most influential concerts

00:15:15.299 --> 00:15:17.740
you've been to. And I have to think back to those

00:15:17.740 --> 00:15:20.559
early days when I was in high school, you know,

00:15:20.700 --> 00:15:24.779
going to Lollapalooza in 1994. or seeing nine

00:15:24.779 --> 00:15:26.899
-inch nails where Marilyn Manson's opening up.

00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:28.720
This is back at the Knickerbocker Arena back

00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:30.700
when... Knickerbocker. Yeah, in Albany. Albany,

00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:33.159
yeah, before it was the Pepsi. Absolutely. And

00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:37.379
those experiences really shaped my love for,

00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:40.460
you know, music and those who were creating.

00:15:41.019 --> 00:15:42.740
And I knew that I wanted to be a part of that

00:15:42.740 --> 00:15:44.940
in some capacity. I didn't think it was going

00:15:44.940 --> 00:15:48.139
to be professionally. And that's why I was going

00:15:48.139 --> 00:15:50.759
to school for... athletic training, learn how

00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:53.340
to tape an ankle, fix somebody who gets broken

00:15:53.340 --> 00:15:56.059
on the field. That comes in handy too, we get

00:15:56.059 --> 00:15:57.820
hurt on the road when you're a band. Oh, for

00:15:57.820 --> 00:16:02.580
sure. Everything you can bring in when you're

00:16:02.580 --> 00:16:06.700
on the road, if someone's good, is a doctor,

00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:09.840
awesome. If someone knows how to cook, even better.

00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:14.120
Now, when your dad was... was doing what he was

00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:15.820
doing. Was he involved in music at all or was

00:16:15.820 --> 00:16:18.679
he just? He wasn't in music, but he was on the

00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:22.279
media side of things. So he was doing this doctorate

00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:25.759
in instructional technology, is what it was called

00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.539
back then. And he ended up not finishing the

00:16:28.539 --> 00:16:31.379
graduate degree because of myself and my sister.

00:16:31.539 --> 00:16:34.159
Like he had to put some food on the table and

00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:37.379
he took a job where he moved the whole family

00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:40.639
to the Catskill Mountains. And I went to a school

00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:45.440
that was public school, but 30 people in your

00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:47.600
graduating class. And most of the students that

00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:50.279
were there, it was the same crew from sixth grade

00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:54.120
through your senior year. And at the time, he

00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:57.600
was doing what they call distance learning. You

00:16:57.600 --> 00:16:59.779
know, now it's like, you know, we can jump on

00:16:59.779 --> 00:17:01.539
our iPhone today. It's a Tuesday. Yeah, it's

00:17:01.539 --> 00:17:03.759
like you're looking at somebody who's halfway

00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.700
across the world. We had a distance learning

00:17:05.700 --> 00:17:08.759
classroom in our high school, and that was like...

00:17:08.490 --> 00:17:11.710
Whoa, you know like high -tech shit, you know,

00:17:11.869 --> 00:17:13.609
it was and that's what he was doing. That's cool

00:17:13.609 --> 00:17:15.950
And so it's like you could offer these educational

00:17:15.950 --> 00:17:18.309
experiences for these really rural schools and

00:17:18.309 --> 00:17:19.809
you get one or two students from each of these

00:17:19.809 --> 00:17:21.670
schools and now you're getting something that

00:17:21.670 --> 00:17:24.450
you're never gonna get taught because Just the

00:17:24.450 --> 00:17:26.170
number of people that you have to teach these

00:17:26.170 --> 00:17:29.450
classes isn't there, right? And so it was a really

00:17:29.450 --> 00:17:31.890
cool experience to be around technology early

00:17:31.890 --> 00:17:35.190
early computers, you know, we always were taking

00:17:36.339 --> 00:17:39.200
even like film strips, you know, like these old

00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:43.140
archives of media and getting to work with them,

00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:46.160
reel -to -reel players. And so those types of

00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:50.539
experiences, they were impactful early on. And

00:17:50.539 --> 00:17:54.559
so he was never in bands, but he loved music

00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:57.000
and still loves music. And that was a big part

00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:00.319
of this. And even my mom, she's, I credit her

00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:02.720
with introducing me to the band Korn. Hell yes.

00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:06.940
Oh, you want to talk about... Keep going, sorry.

00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:10.299
Music was always a big part of this and I've

00:18:10.299 --> 00:18:12.500
got a younger sister, a younger brother, they

00:18:12.500 --> 00:18:14.859
were into music as well. It's a family affair.

00:18:15.380 --> 00:18:17.759
I mean, but who isn't into music, right? Well,

00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:19.720
I mean, yeah. It is funny to say, well, you're

00:18:19.720 --> 00:18:21.559
into music. It's like, what? It's like saying,

00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:23.240
are you into air? I mean, how are you not into

00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:26.000
music? But you know what I mean. You're involved.

00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:28.359
You're immersed in it. It's a part of who you

00:18:28.359 --> 00:18:31.299
are and obviously from your family. Real quick

00:18:31.299 --> 00:18:34.880
about Korn though. Korn was, I tell this story,

00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:38.440
See, when I was growing up, my father always

00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:40.240
kept raving about, you don't understand what

00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:42.119
it was like when the Beatles played on the Ed

00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:43.859
Sullivan show and everything changed overnight.

00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:46.519
And I'm like, no, I don't understand that. But

00:18:46.519 --> 00:18:51.079
I get it, right? I didn't realize that my generation

00:18:51.079 --> 00:18:52.920
was going to get to experience a little bit of

00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:56.400
that with the Seattle invasion, right? Because

00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:59.019
I remember I was watching Def Leppard and then

00:18:59.019 --> 00:19:01.240
all of a sudden MTV, there's a guy in a cardigan

00:19:01.240 --> 00:19:03.839
screaming. about, you know, it smells like teen

00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:05.839
spirit. And I'm like, what the fuck is this?

00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:10.079
And that was overnight. But I also didn't realize

00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:12.680
as I was going in the 90s that I was going to

00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:14.619
be hearing things that were going to be changing

00:19:14.619 --> 00:19:19.240
music forever. And Korn, on Fridays in our technology

00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:22.480
class, our teacher would allow us to, I'm going

00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:24.660
to date myself here, would allow us to bring

00:19:24.660 --> 00:19:29.160
in cassettes or CDs and play music. And so my

00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:32.130
buddy John, It was his day to bring in, and he

00:19:32.130 --> 00:19:35.710
pops in this cassette, and it was corn. And I'll

00:19:35.710 --> 00:19:38.109
never forget, I won't repeat what was said, it's

00:19:38.109 --> 00:19:39.750
a term we don't use anymore, but the name of

00:19:39.750 --> 00:19:42.150
the song was a derogatory term, and he's screaming

00:19:42.150 --> 00:19:47.470
it. But I remember I hear the bagpipes. Bagpipes.

00:19:47.769 --> 00:19:50.910
And then, and then, and then, and then, you know,

00:19:51.069 --> 00:19:53.069
Fieldie had that real loose bass with the clicking

00:19:53.069 --> 00:19:55.750
sound, and it's a sound I had never heard before.

00:19:56.210 --> 00:19:59.700
Ever. And to this day, when someone talks about

00:19:59.700 --> 00:20:03.000
corn, I light up because it's one of the few

00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:06.180
bands where I kind of experienced a little bit

00:20:06.180 --> 00:20:07.660
of what my dad, I mean, the Beatles will always

00:20:07.660 --> 00:20:12.079
be the Beatles, but I finally understood what

00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:14.380
he meant when I had heard something I had never

00:20:14.380 --> 00:20:17.140
heard before. And especially nowadays, it's hard

00:20:17.140 --> 00:20:19.220
to come by. But I just never forget thinking,

00:20:19.640 --> 00:20:21.460
yeah, this is heavy metal or new metal, whatever

00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:24.519
they want to call it, but you know it's corn.

00:20:25.690 --> 00:20:27.950
three seconds into the song, by the sound of

00:20:27.950 --> 00:20:29.970
the bass, by the sound of Jonathan Davis' voice.

00:20:30.349 --> 00:20:32.109
And there are other bands that did that for me,

00:20:32.190 --> 00:20:34.069
but that's one that stands out. It's nice to

00:20:34.069 --> 00:20:36.269
have that iconic sound. It really is. You know,

00:20:36.309 --> 00:20:39.690
when you can lay out a career and have that first

00:20:39.690 --> 00:20:41.869
three seconds and you know that it's that band.

00:20:42.470 --> 00:20:46.710
Tool. Oh, Tools. Tool's another one. Dave Matthew's

00:20:46.710 --> 00:20:48.779
band's another one. You know it's them. You know,

00:20:48.779 --> 00:20:51.140
that's something I struggled with as an artist

00:20:51.140 --> 00:20:53.099
and halfway through I realized, you know, if

00:20:53.099 --> 00:20:55.779
I'm trying so hard, then I'm doing it wrong because

00:20:55.779 --> 00:20:58.680
it should come natural. But, you know, with my

00:20:58.680 --> 00:21:01.599
music, it was... I drew from so many influences.

00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:03.960
My albums were very much like a smorgasbord,

00:21:03.980 --> 00:21:07.180
but I never felt like it had a sound. And I always

00:21:07.180 --> 00:21:09.640
respected bands that could have a sound. And

00:21:09.640 --> 00:21:12.599
Korn not only did that, but they blew my lid

00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:18.420
off. Anyway, sorry. So you got old records. But

00:21:18.420 --> 00:21:22.039
now, you were heavily involved in teaching at

00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:23.980
Syracuse University. How did that come about?

00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:27.160
And I know you were teaching, you were a full

00:21:27.160 --> 00:21:29.480
-time professor, you were teaching in the audio

00:21:29.480 --> 00:21:31.640
arts, in the College of Visual and Performing

00:21:31.640 --> 00:21:33.960
Arts for 20 years, and you led the board of directors

00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:36.420
for the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators

00:21:36.420 --> 00:21:38.539
Association. I mean, that's fascinating stuff.

00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:40.920
Yeah, you know, education obviously was a big

00:21:40.920 --> 00:21:43.359
part of my life as a student. You know, I went

00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:45.940
through and did undergrad at Courtland, a master's

00:21:45.940 --> 00:21:47.660
degree at Syracuse, and then stuck around for

00:21:47.660 --> 00:21:51.500
a PhD at Syracuse. And while I was taking the

00:21:51.500 --> 00:21:55.480
graduate classes, I started sitting in on some

00:21:55.480 --> 00:21:58.039
courses that were led by David Resick, who, for

00:21:58.039 --> 00:22:00.759
anyone in central New York, he started DMR booking.

00:22:01.019 --> 00:22:05.140
Oh, GMR. OK. In a funny twist of, you know, how

00:22:05.140 --> 00:22:08.720
stories collide, that band that my dad had staying

00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:11.819
with us as a child on South Campus at Syracuse.

00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:14.180
was being booked by DMR across New York state.

00:22:14.660 --> 00:22:17.640
So, you know, it's incredible to see like where

00:22:17.640 --> 00:22:20.079
these collisions have happened. And so I was

00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:22.220
taking these classes and not even taking the

00:22:22.220 --> 00:22:25.259
classes for credit because as a graduate student,

00:22:25.259 --> 00:22:27.680
I could not take an undergraduate class for credit,

00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:30.039
but I just wanted to soak in the experience.

00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:32.920
I didn't have a chance to really take music business

00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:36.259
classes. And that was something that I knew that

00:22:36.259 --> 00:22:38.279
I needed. And I just wanted to learn. You know,

00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:40.660
there's been a few professors that I've had over

00:22:40.660 --> 00:22:43.279
the years and they've said, you're just like

00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:44.880
a sponge, you're never gonna stop learning. And

00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:47.160
I was like, come on, I'm gonna graduate, I'm

00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:50.660
gonna be done. I don't want another book. They

00:22:50.660 --> 00:22:53.059
were right. I'm still soaking everything in.

00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:57.240
And so teaching came about because I was finishing

00:22:57.240 --> 00:23:00.539
up my graduate work and there was this new music

00:23:00.539 --> 00:23:01.980
business program that was starting called the

00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:05.640
Bandier Program. It's named after Marty Bandier

00:23:05.640 --> 00:23:08.900
and Marty Bandier is arguably the most powerful

00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:13.059
music publisher ever. He had the Beatles catalog

00:23:13.059 --> 00:23:16.740
And Michael Jackson yeah, I was gonna say the

00:23:16.740 --> 00:23:19.160
Michael Jackson yeah in millions of copyrights

00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:21.039
and you know one of the the biggest publishers

00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:23.079
that's out there and so he was funding this program

00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:26.039
and They were searching for a full -time faculty

00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:28.799
member now at this point in my life. I would

00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:32.339
had the experience with o records on the label

00:23:32.339 --> 00:23:35.740
side we had the live side that was was happening

00:23:35.740 --> 00:23:38.200
with some of the taste of Syracuse and I booked

00:23:38.200 --> 00:23:40.299
for the New York State Fair on a smaller stage

00:23:40.299 --> 00:23:42.740
there for a little while. I booked regional tours,

00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:45.900
East Coast tours, Canadian tours. That all was

00:23:45.900 --> 00:23:47.559
sort of the professional experience, and then

00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:51.319
you add in a PhD on top of that. And they had

00:23:51.319 --> 00:23:54.000
a search for the first full -time faculty member,

00:23:54.339 --> 00:23:56.380
and they brought somebody in from the UK, somebody

00:23:56.380 --> 00:23:58.759
from Nashville, and then somebody who was 200

00:23:58.759 --> 00:24:03.000
yards. down the road, and ultimately I was given

00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:05.740
the opportunity to teach with this program. And

00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:08.200
I started there in 2008 and I'd been teaching

00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:10.920
at the Newhouse School prior to that while I

00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:12.940
was finishing my doctorate. And so I was teaching

00:24:12.940 --> 00:24:17.599
general media classes, some media law, and ultimately

00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:21.400
jumped in and got to shape the curriculum for

00:24:21.400 --> 00:24:24.599
what is arguably the number one music business

00:24:24.599 --> 00:24:27.759
program in the world. Absolutely. That's amazing.

00:24:28.039 --> 00:24:30.839
And you were also two National Teacher of the

00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:33.019
Year nominees for two, or was it two years you

00:24:33.019 --> 00:24:35.019
were? My final two years of teaching, yeah. You

00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:38.619
know, the International Entertainment Buyers

00:24:38.619 --> 00:24:42.319
Association, AIBA, they have their annual awards

00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:45.140
in Nashville. And for the final two years I was

00:24:45.140 --> 00:24:46.940
teaching, I was up for Music Business Educator

00:24:46.940 --> 00:24:49.319
of the Year. That's amazing. And yeah, it was

00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:51.880
nice to be honored. And the folks that won it

00:24:51.880 --> 00:24:54.819
are friends. And so, you know, maybe I'll get

00:24:54.819 --> 00:24:58.500
back into teaching. And maybe I'll try to go

00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:01.079
for one of those national awards, but I was just

00:25:01.079 --> 00:25:03.319
happy to be there. I was happy to be recognized.

00:25:04.140 --> 00:25:07.660
And I feel like I put a lot of effort into what

00:25:07.660 --> 00:25:10.099
I was doing with these courses because of the

00:25:10.099 --> 00:25:14.420
fact I didn't have those. And because I didn't

00:25:14.420 --> 00:25:17.440
have those, I knew what I would have wanted when

00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:19.720
I was a student. So whether it was the undergraduate

00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:23.000
side with Bandier or the graduate side, which

00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:27.509
was audio arts. or running a department, or even

00:25:27.509 --> 00:25:32.430
working on the MIA board, you see the experiences

00:25:32.430 --> 00:25:35.170
in the classroom, you see the professional experiences,

00:25:35.269 --> 00:25:37.329
and then you see what you need to do to make

00:25:37.329 --> 00:25:38.750
sure that the students that are paying a lot

00:25:38.750 --> 00:25:41.490
of money to be there are getting what they need

00:25:41.490 --> 00:25:44.809
out of that experience. What a unique perspective

00:25:44.809 --> 00:25:47.269
you had, because you could see it from both sides,

00:25:47.490 --> 00:25:50.730
literally, because you were living both sides.

00:25:50.970 --> 00:25:53.109
And that is so key. That's why I tell people,

00:25:53.660 --> 00:25:56.400
During the pandemic, people were kind of switching

00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:57.779
gears. I had a lot of friends. I'm thinking about

00:25:57.779 --> 00:25:59.319
owning a business. I'm thinking about doing this.

00:25:59.819 --> 00:26:02.799
And, you know, a lot of friends have come to

00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:04.000
me over the years and said, I think I'm going

00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:06.279
to open a bar. And it's like, well, OK, that's

00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:08.920
cool. What do you know about it? Well, I've drank

00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:11.759
in it. You know, I mean, it's you know, I worked

00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:14.819
in as a bartender and server for years. And had

00:26:14.819 --> 00:26:17.819
I had decided for some reason to open a restaurant

00:26:17.819 --> 00:26:21.099
bar, I would have been a leg up on on on some

00:26:21.099 --> 00:26:25.460
people because being on the other side, working

00:26:25.460 --> 00:26:28.700
every position, being immersed in that world

00:26:28.700 --> 00:26:31.559
goes such a long way. And I've been the customer,

00:26:31.700 --> 00:26:33.819
I've been the bartender, I've been having to

00:26:33.819 --> 00:26:36.819
cook in the kitchen. And so I felt like there's

00:26:36.819 --> 00:26:40.700
no better training or experience than doing it

00:26:40.700 --> 00:26:45.019
first. And you were doing that. And I still try

00:26:45.019 --> 00:26:47.559
to do that. And sometimes I struggle, sometimes

00:26:47.559 --> 00:26:50.789
I think about, you know, Do I take on too much?

00:26:51.029 --> 00:26:53.569
Is it better to be really focused and become

00:26:53.569 --> 00:26:56.470
that true expert in one very specific thing?

00:26:56.990 --> 00:26:59.049
Or should I be really good at a lot of different

00:26:59.049 --> 00:27:02.509
things? And I've chose the latter. I've got a

00:27:02.509 --> 00:27:05.029
lot of interests in life, and so I may not be

00:27:05.029 --> 00:27:09.230
the best, but I'm competent. You're very competent,

00:27:09.390 --> 00:27:12.730
and I think that's where you and I are very similar

00:27:12.730 --> 00:27:16.519
in that. I have always had a lot of interests

00:27:16.519 --> 00:27:19.460
and so you know when I was younger actually when

00:27:19.460 --> 00:27:21.960
I had met you it was you know I was bouncing

00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:24.380
between doing stand -up comedy and music and

00:27:24.380 --> 00:27:26.940
but I also had a local radio show I knew that

00:27:26.940 --> 00:27:29.759
I liked to to entertain and I like to create

00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:33.460
but I just couldn't find my place and but but

00:27:33.460 --> 00:27:35.799
the important part was and all I struggled for

00:27:35.799 --> 00:27:38.099
so many years thinking I'm wasting time doing

00:27:38.099 --> 00:27:40.619
this I should be focusing just on this I should

00:27:40.619 --> 00:27:43.299
focus on the acting and comedy and not no I can't

00:27:43.079 --> 00:27:45.900
And it drove me nuts. Whereas what I didn't realize

00:27:45.900 --> 00:27:48.119
is I was doing a little bit of all of it. And

00:27:48.119 --> 00:27:53.180
along the way, it's gotten me, it all works together.

00:27:53.220 --> 00:27:55.299
And I feel like that for you too, like in other

00:27:55.299 --> 00:27:59.740
words, you know, you wanted to do music and management

00:27:59.740 --> 00:28:03.079
and marketing, but you also wanted, you loved

00:28:03.079 --> 00:28:05.259
education. And so you did all these different

00:28:05.259 --> 00:28:07.059
things, but they were all still tied together

00:28:07.059 --> 00:28:11.460
and came back full circle. So I get that. It's

00:28:11.460 --> 00:28:13.680
like building a brick wall. You know, every brick

00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:15.200
gets you a little bit higher, a little bit closer,

00:28:15.259 --> 00:28:17.940
a little bit, you know, further on in the process.

00:28:18.359 --> 00:28:21.059
And, you know, those bricks, if you see a brick

00:28:21.059 --> 00:28:22.960
wall, they're not always the same shade. No,

00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:25.119
they're not. And so, you know, but ultimately

00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:27.480
they help hold that structure together. And I

00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:28.960
think that's what my life has been, whether it's

00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:33.660
been sports, music, education, family, you know,

00:28:33.779 --> 00:28:37.039
all of that's really important to me. And I think

00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:39.579
in every aspect, they all do weave together.

00:28:39.779 --> 00:28:43.740
Yeah. 100%. And... You know, have you ever found,

00:28:44.119 --> 00:28:48.759
I know I have big time, that you had this one

00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:51.700
goal throughout your life and you strive to get

00:28:51.700 --> 00:28:55.539
there and then maybe it doesn't go the way you

00:28:55.539 --> 00:28:59.380
thought, but you end up there and you go, thank

00:28:59.380 --> 00:29:02.299
God this didn't happen 10 years ago when I wanted

00:29:02.299 --> 00:29:04.779
it to. I would have sucked or I would have ruined

00:29:04.779 --> 00:29:06.720
it or it wouldn't have been, I wouldn't have

00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:08.779
been ready, I guess is my, have you ever found?

00:29:09.099 --> 00:29:12.900
Yes, and I think that one goal I can articulate

00:29:12.900 --> 00:29:15.299
that one goal and it goes back to o records,

00:29:15.299 --> 00:29:19.039
you know The logo for o records is based off

00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:22.220
of the periodic symbol for gold. That's right

00:29:22.220 --> 00:29:25.039
That's a you and I always have wanted a gold

00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:27.880
record and every one of the records that I've

00:29:27.880 --> 00:29:30.920
released has not gotten there but I can look

00:29:30.920 --> 00:29:33.819
at my students and I can see what they've done,

00:29:34.420 --> 00:29:37.779
you know, I did the very first music project

00:29:37.950 --> 00:29:41.089
with Drew Taggart of the Chainsmokers. No, shit.

00:29:41.890 --> 00:29:43.910
You know, it was a summer project. It was like,

00:29:44.089 --> 00:29:47.289
let's get a song recorded, mixed, mastered and

00:29:47.289 --> 00:29:51.450
released. And, you know, to see where the Chainsmokers

00:29:51.450 --> 00:29:55.250
have gone is incredible. I saw Claro. She came

00:29:55.250 --> 00:29:58.750
in. I knew her when she was 15, you know, and

00:29:58.750 --> 00:30:00.990
she's gone on to tour the world and sell a ton

00:30:00.990 --> 00:30:04.410
of records. I've got students that were in audio

00:30:04.410 --> 00:30:07.250
arts that have gone on, worked in hip hop and

00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:10.079
been producing and writing for artists like Lil

00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:12.640
Wayne and 2C and NLE Choppa and you know, you

00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:15.500
see those platinum plaques Amazing, you know

00:30:15.500 --> 00:30:19.500
you see there were artists that we've had we

00:30:19.500 --> 00:30:23.559
found in my A &R classes and You know, we were

00:30:23.559 --> 00:30:26.200
pitching them to other labels and the labels

00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:28.339
weren't weren't jumping so one student said I'm

00:30:28.339 --> 00:30:31.160
gonna manage this band, you know this group and

00:30:31.160 --> 00:30:32.880
they've gone on, you know, this was Lewis the

00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:36.700
child and international success there. So, you

00:30:36.700 --> 00:30:39.740
know, it's been fortunate to have that network

00:30:39.740 --> 00:30:44.019
of students that have gone on with wild success

00:30:44.019 --> 00:30:46.740
and I can live through their experiences. And

00:30:46.740 --> 00:30:49.519
so maybe I haven't gotten the gold record, but

00:30:49.519 --> 00:30:52.259
I'm certainly as proud every time I see them

00:30:52.259 --> 00:30:55.119
pop up on my social media feeds with another

00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:57.960
success story. You know, and I, I know you're

00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:01.759
genuine because I explained this to where You

00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:03.720
know, anytime I've been in the studio with a

00:31:03.720 --> 00:31:10.079
producer, obviously my bandmates, when you record

00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:13.720
and tour together, you know, I tell people who

00:31:13.720 --> 00:31:15.900
aren't musicians, like have you ever met somebody

00:31:15.900 --> 00:31:17.859
while you were on a road trip, like you're thrown

00:31:17.859 --> 00:31:19.579
onto a road trip with someone you've never met?

00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:21.519
By the end of that road trip, you'll always be

00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:23.559
a little bit bonded to them because of that trip,

00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:27.460
unless it's horrendous. And I just feel that

00:31:27.460 --> 00:31:30.309
way in music. that when you're involved in a

00:31:30.309 --> 00:31:32.470
project like this, I don't like to use the military

00:31:32.470 --> 00:31:34.930
as an example because out of respect for military,

00:31:35.089 --> 00:31:36.849
you know, it's very much different being on the

00:31:36.849 --> 00:31:39.470
front lines with somebody. But do you know what

00:31:39.470 --> 00:31:41.869
I mean when I say when you experience something

00:31:41.869 --> 00:31:46.170
so intimate and so special to you and you share

00:31:46.170 --> 00:31:48.289
that, whether it's the producer or your manager

00:31:48.289 --> 00:31:50.930
or your booking agent, I feel like you're bonded

00:31:50.930 --> 00:31:52.869
for life. There's just a certain bond you'll

00:31:52.869 --> 00:31:55.809
always have. So I assume that when you see these

00:31:55.809 --> 00:31:58.519
bands and artists you've worked with, you do

00:31:58.519 --> 00:32:01.240
feel a sense of pride, right? Oh, for sure. You're

00:32:01.240 --> 00:32:03.180
like, yeah, and not like, oh, I did that, but

00:32:03.180 --> 00:32:05.740
like a, like you're really like, yeah, man, we

00:32:05.740 --> 00:32:09.039
did it, you know? Yes, because there is that

00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:10.779
sense of a shared experience when you're on the

00:32:10.779 --> 00:32:12.819
road together. And any time that you're spending

00:32:12.819 --> 00:32:16.140
significant time working towards a shared goal,

00:32:16.519 --> 00:32:18.579
that's where the bonds happen. And I see this

00:32:18.579 --> 00:32:20.720
in sports as well. My son is a high -level hockey

00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:22.740
player. Just gonna bring that up. And, you know,

00:32:23.779 --> 00:32:25.720
the last couple days, I mean, Friday I flew to

00:32:25.720 --> 00:32:28.740
Miami. and drove back from Miami with one of

00:32:28.740 --> 00:32:31.079
his teammates. And he's a teammate that lived

00:32:31.079 --> 00:32:33.759
here in Syracuse last year. They both went down

00:32:33.759 --> 00:32:37.200
to Florida to play this year. That shared experience

00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:40.460
of those road trips. They were playing in Utica

00:32:40.460 --> 00:32:43.160
last year, road trips down I -90 to Utica for

00:32:43.160 --> 00:32:46.099
practice or for games, or the experience in Fort

00:32:46.099 --> 00:32:49.039
Myers, a big part of it. All those summer teams

00:32:49.039 --> 00:32:51.319
that he played on, and now you can see. This

00:32:51.319 --> 00:32:54.119
guy was drafted by this team and this one's playing

00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:56.380
D1 hockey somewhere else and these guys are going

00:32:56.380 --> 00:33:02.000
D3. It's amazing to see that. And we have a shared

00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:08.079
purpose, a shared sense of accomplishment for

00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:11.759
being the scaffolding that surround these individuals

00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:14.500
who have unique talents. I'm not gonna be the

00:33:14.500 --> 00:33:18.720
best hockey player, but I know that helping to

00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:21.569
fund That whole experience, helping to drive,

00:33:21.789 --> 00:33:25.750
helping to provide nutrition or additional coaching

00:33:25.750 --> 00:33:29.329
or, you know, additional ice time, every $400

00:33:29.329 --> 00:33:32.470
hockey stick, like those things all add up. And

00:33:32.470 --> 00:33:34.630
if you don't have that support system, it gets

00:33:34.630 --> 00:33:37.029
really tough to get there. Same thing with music.

00:33:37.589 --> 00:33:39.750
You know, you can have the greatest songs, but

00:33:39.750 --> 00:33:41.730
if you can't record them, then you're relying

00:33:41.730 --> 00:33:44.089
only on the road. That's right. You know, or

00:33:44.089 --> 00:33:46.420
you're great on the road, but... you know, maybe

00:33:46.420 --> 00:33:48.420
the merchandise isn't where it needs to be. Well,

00:33:48.420 --> 00:33:50.079
you're missing out on money there. Oh, you don't

00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:52.500
understand music publishing. Your songs, you

00:33:52.500 --> 00:33:54.940
know, the lyrics and the music, there's a revenue

00:33:54.940 --> 00:33:57.640
stream there. We should tap into that. And so

00:33:57.640 --> 00:34:00.539
all these little things add up, and the idea

00:34:00.539 --> 00:34:04.559
of scaffolding surrounding an artist or an athlete

00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:07.339
or an individual is something that I think we

00:34:07.339 --> 00:34:09.800
need to recognize that there needs to be that

00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:11.659
scaffolding, because it's all a team game. You

00:34:11.659 --> 00:34:15.719
are so right, and I didn't know that. I tried

00:34:15.719 --> 00:34:20.639
so hard when I was doing music, as the singer,

00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:22.400
they're like, I see you're the singer guitar

00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:24.980
player. I'm like, well, yeah, but I'm also the

00:34:24.980 --> 00:34:28.619
booking agent. I'm the treasurer. I'm the label.

00:34:29.280 --> 00:34:31.239
And that's fine because I knew it all needed

00:34:31.239 --> 00:34:33.280
to be done. But what I didn't understand at the

00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:35.260
time is that leadership doesn't necessarily mean

00:34:35.260 --> 00:34:38.579
you do everything. Leadership means you know

00:34:38.579 --> 00:34:42.900
when to dole it out. Didn't have other than my

00:34:42.900 --> 00:34:44.519
bandmates. I didn't really have a team around

00:34:44.519 --> 00:34:45.920
me and if I could go back I think that's the

00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:47.880
only thing I would change is really building

00:34:47.880 --> 00:34:49.800
a team around you because you're right. I don't

00:34:49.800 --> 00:34:52.760
care how talented you are Whether it's sports

00:34:52.760 --> 00:34:57.559
or or music or act anything It takes a team.

00:34:57.820 --> 00:35:00.300
We have a team here, you know It's not like we

00:35:00.300 --> 00:35:02.079
shoot this and then we edit it and we put it

00:35:02.079 --> 00:35:04.780
out We could do that, but we're better together

00:35:04.780 --> 00:35:08.750
and we're better together but um but it's true

00:35:08.750 --> 00:35:11.010
it's so true and and i think you know that's

00:35:11.010 --> 00:35:12.670
one of those things that i'm experiencing now

00:35:12.670 --> 00:35:15.389
that i really relish you know i'm working with

00:35:15.389 --> 00:35:17.710
after dark presents they're a concert promoter

00:35:17.710 --> 00:35:20.829
offices in buffalo and syracuse and you know

00:35:20.829 --> 00:35:23.309
what i'm doing now is is digital marketing and

00:35:23.309 --> 00:35:25.929
i'm responsible for the advertising i'm responsible

00:35:25.929 --> 00:35:29.710
for the you know email and sms lists i'm responsible

00:35:29.710 --> 00:35:32.090
for some of the social media i do a lot of video

00:35:32.090 --> 00:35:35.710
production for them uh editing and so When you're

00:35:35.710 --> 00:35:37.690
looking at that, there's a lot that's on my plate,

00:35:38.070 --> 00:35:41.190
but we've got a few incredible buyers. They're

00:35:41.190 --> 00:35:43.050
the ones that are bringing the artist in. We've

00:35:43.050 --> 00:35:46.610
got somebody who's absolutely so detail -oriented

00:35:46.610 --> 00:35:50.130
in laying out the shows in terms of the ticket

00:35:50.130 --> 00:35:52.550
links and making sure everything is billed properly

00:35:52.550 --> 00:35:54.989
and getting the marketing plans back to the teams

00:35:54.989 --> 00:35:56.989
that we're working with. And so there's this

00:35:56.989 --> 00:36:00.349
entire network that we have, and we're not in

00:36:00.349 --> 00:36:03.519
the same office. But we're connected on Slack

00:36:03.519 --> 00:36:08.559
all the time. And everyone is absolutely at the

00:36:08.559 --> 00:36:10.579
highest level that they've been operating at

00:36:10.579 --> 00:36:13.000
ever. And they're continuing to improve. And

00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:15.780
so that team is really nice to be a part of.

00:36:16.239 --> 00:36:18.940
And when we see shows that start to sell really

00:36:18.940 --> 00:36:21.940
well, you know that it's everyone firing on all

00:36:21.940 --> 00:36:25.059
cylinders. The buyers made a great choice. The

00:36:25.059 --> 00:36:27.760
venues are working well with us. And then I get

00:36:27.760 --> 00:36:30.300
to play some ads and really get creative in that

00:36:30.300 --> 00:36:32.539
sense because There's a whole science behind

00:36:32.539 --> 00:36:34.699
that as well. That's amazing. And again, this

00:36:34.699 --> 00:36:36.559
is what I mean by it all comes full circle. Everything

00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:38.460
you did at O Records is applying now. So let's

00:36:38.460 --> 00:36:40.960
talk about that. So you got O Records, you got

00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:43.119
your education, you're teaching at SU. Now you

00:36:43.119 --> 00:36:46.059
step down from teaching and from the board. And

00:36:46.059 --> 00:36:48.460
is this when you start working at After Dark

00:36:48.460 --> 00:36:51.000
Presents? After Dark Presents, by the way, look

00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:54.360
it up on social media. Would you call it the

00:36:54.360 --> 00:36:57.329
music booking and promotion? It's a booking agency.

00:36:58.570 --> 00:37:01.670
We're a concert promoter. We're talent buying,

00:37:02.469 --> 00:37:05.989
we're promoting shows, and we work with the booking

00:37:05.989 --> 00:37:09.530
agencies that represent the artists. Across the

00:37:09.530 --> 00:37:12.070
board, we're looking at shows in Buffalo, Rochester,

00:37:12.269 --> 00:37:15.469
Syracuse, Albany, and they've done some further

00:37:15.469 --> 00:37:17.849
out, but those are the four core markets that

00:37:17.849 --> 00:37:20.329
we've got. We've got something like 75 shows.

00:37:20.570 --> 00:37:23.170
that are on sale right now. As you're talking

00:37:23.170 --> 00:37:25.710
about that, you just listed all those places

00:37:25.710 --> 00:37:28.030
and I realize, geographically, that's gotta be

00:37:28.030 --> 00:37:30.110
a little bit of a dream for you because it's

00:37:30.110 --> 00:37:33.909
probably very easy to route shows just along

00:37:33.909 --> 00:37:37.010
I -90. And those are perfect markets to go Buffalo,

00:37:37.230 --> 00:37:39.929
Syracuse, Utica, Albany, and maybe even in between

00:37:39.929 --> 00:37:41.710
there, right? Yeah, depending on the size of

00:37:41.710 --> 00:37:44.070
the artist, absolutely. We definitely have some

00:37:44.070 --> 00:37:46.329
artists that are playing like an Albany to Buffalo

00:37:46.329 --> 00:37:49.329
show or an Albany to Syracuse show. Or some that

00:37:49.329 --> 00:37:52.519
will play Buffalo, go finish at the leg of their

00:37:52.519 --> 00:37:54.920
tour and then come back and they'll play Rochester

00:37:54.920 --> 00:37:57.000
six months later. You want to have enough space

00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:00.579
in between so that you don't compete against

00:38:00.579 --> 00:38:04.960
yourself. But I think that there's a lot of opportunity

00:38:04.960 --> 00:38:07.219
when you look at these larger markets across

00:38:07.219 --> 00:38:10.539
New York State. And I love the I -90 tours. I

00:38:10.539 --> 00:38:14.199
think it's easy. And every developing artist

00:38:14.199 --> 00:38:17.039
should look at those markets and say, can I draw

00:38:17.039 --> 00:38:19.719
50 people in Buffalo? Can I draw 50 people in

00:38:19.719 --> 00:38:22.380
Rochester and go on down the line? And when you

00:38:22.380 --> 00:38:24.559
do that, you can start to build a sustainable

00:38:24.559 --> 00:38:27.619
way for you to tour because you don't have to

00:38:27.619 --> 00:38:30.059
spend money on hotels. Now you can get back to

00:38:30.059 --> 00:38:34.239
your home and, you know, it's it's easier to

00:38:34.239 --> 00:38:37.019
put money in the bank. You know, when I when

00:38:37.019 --> 00:38:40.000
I was doing the thing, there was a term called

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:41.760
a one off. I don't know if it's still this way

00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:45.380
now. And I want to see if this if it is the case,

00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:49.239
you know. In a market like Ithaca, especially,

00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:54.960
for a long time, we would get artists like Norah

00:38:54.960 --> 00:39:00.400
Jones or big artists, B .B. King, the Goo Goo

00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:02.239
Dolls, right? But they'd be on a Tuesday night

00:39:02.239 --> 00:39:03.840
and I didn't think anything of it. And then what

00:39:03.840 --> 00:39:06.420
I found is I heard there was a thing called a

00:39:06.420 --> 00:39:08.219
one -off and that we were in a market that was

00:39:08.219 --> 00:39:09.820
perfect for it because we're between Buffalo

00:39:09.820 --> 00:39:13.920
and New York City where a band that's, you know,

00:39:14.339 --> 00:39:17.019
pretty big, would play the big markets on a Friday,

00:39:17.059 --> 00:39:19.059
a Saturday, or maybe even a Thursday, right?

00:39:19.119 --> 00:39:22.019
And then in between, it wasn't on their schedule,

00:39:22.099 --> 00:39:24.460
but a booking agency such as yourself might say,

00:39:24.500 --> 00:39:26.619
hey, listen, you guys are in between New York

00:39:26.619 --> 00:39:28.760
and Buffalo. What about coming here Tuesday?

00:39:28.940 --> 00:39:30.900
And they would give you a discounted price because

00:39:30.900 --> 00:39:32.960
they weren't planning to play there on that day

00:39:32.960 --> 00:39:35.880
anyway. And was that how it worked? And does

00:39:35.880 --> 00:39:37.639
it still kind of work now? It still kind of works

00:39:37.639 --> 00:39:41.400
like that, yeah. When you're looking at monetizing

00:39:41.400 --> 00:39:44.880
your your music career. The booking agent is

00:39:44.880 --> 00:39:47.000
the one that's responsible for setting up all

00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:51.039
of the live shows. So if you're on a tour and

00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:52.860
you're traveling the country and you've got a

00:39:52.860 --> 00:39:57.760
show Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, that

00:39:57.760 --> 00:39:59.940
Wednesday is still going to cost you money. You

00:39:59.940 --> 00:40:02.900
still have your touring expenses. And so is there

00:40:02.900 --> 00:40:05.579
a way to get another show even if it's not part

00:40:05.579 --> 00:40:08.780
of this larger package tour? So yes, we see that

00:40:08.780 --> 00:40:11.710
happen all the time. And sometimes there's a

00:40:11.710 --> 00:40:13.909
little conversation that happens on social media

00:40:13.909 --> 00:40:16.110
with fans, and they're like, well, why isn't

00:40:16.110 --> 00:40:18.369
the rest of the tour coming to this market? Why

00:40:18.369 --> 00:40:22.170
is it only this one band? Which, very valid question

00:40:22.170 --> 00:40:24.889
to ask. And typically, that is the case. You've

00:40:24.889 --> 00:40:29.289
got a paused off day for the tour, but the bands

00:40:29.289 --> 00:40:31.349
don't want to have an off day. And so they'll

00:40:31.349 --> 00:40:34.070
book a show. And as concert promoters, we step

00:40:34.070 --> 00:40:38.289
in, and it's not always... Pricing, I think...

00:40:38.280 --> 00:40:41.440
That's market dependent. It's not higher, lower,

00:40:41.840 --> 00:40:44.980
discounted, whatnot. But you work it out based

00:40:44.980 --> 00:40:47.519
on the scenario that you're faced with at that

00:40:47.519 --> 00:40:51.159
time, with size of the room. So those factors

00:40:51.159 --> 00:40:53.960
play into it. But yeah, the idea of doing this

00:40:53.960 --> 00:40:58.360
sort of one -off type show is a way to keep more

00:40:58.360 --> 00:41:00.260
money coming in. Those are some of the best shows

00:41:00.260 --> 00:41:03.000
of the fan to go see because they're usually

00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:05.980
in a more intimate venue that they don't normally

00:41:05.980 --> 00:41:08.920
play in. Or maybe they do, but still. And sometimes

00:41:08.920 --> 00:41:10.980
you can hear it in the bands. They're like, especially

00:41:10.980 --> 00:41:12.480
in Ithaca, you know, they're like, this place

00:41:12.480 --> 00:41:15.400
is fucking awesome, man. Like, we didn't even

00:41:15.400 --> 00:41:19.820
know about this place. One one thing I will say,

00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:22.019
though, since the pandemic, I've noticed like

00:41:22.019 --> 00:41:26.679
I've seen Tom Segura. What's her name there?

00:41:26.900 --> 00:41:29.420
Geez, why am I blanking out? Blonde hair, Nikki,

00:41:29.460 --> 00:41:33.559
Nikki Glaser. comedian -wise, and some bands

00:41:33.559 --> 00:41:35.500
that are really big, and they're starting to

00:41:35.500 --> 00:41:37.579
come to Ithaca on a Friday, and I'm starting

00:41:37.579 --> 00:41:41.500
to think that maybe, since the pandemic, do you

00:41:41.500 --> 00:41:43.900
think artists are more apt to do smaller markets

00:41:43.900 --> 00:41:46.139
on weekends now because they just, they want

00:41:46.139 --> 00:41:47.800
to generate revenue and they'll play anywhere

00:41:47.800 --> 00:41:51.099
they can? Wherever you can sell tickets is a

00:41:51.099 --> 00:41:53.139
great market to play. Yeah. And I think when

00:41:53.139 --> 00:41:55.760
you look at certain markets, especially in the

00:41:55.760 --> 00:41:57.739
comedy world, because that's a whole different

00:41:57.739 --> 00:41:58.619
world. It's a whole different world. People don't

00:41:58.619 --> 00:42:02.829
get that. It is amazing to see where the pandemic

00:42:02.829 --> 00:42:05.769
has really impacted comedy in a positive way.

00:42:06.030 --> 00:42:08.190
Yes, it has. You know, people are sitting and

00:42:08.190 --> 00:42:10.530
scrolling TikTok and all of a sudden you're starting

00:42:10.530 --> 00:42:13.250
to see the Matt Ripes of the world. And, you

00:42:13.250 --> 00:42:16.289
know, then those comedians are playing stadiums

00:42:16.289 --> 00:42:19.469
basically. You know, the Kill Tony podcast. Kill

00:42:19.469 --> 00:42:21.429
Tony. Success there. But then you have others

00:42:21.429 --> 00:42:24.349
like, you know, Gabrielle Rutledge, you know,

00:42:24.510 --> 00:42:28.760
Jordan Jensen's of the world. I think they have

00:42:28.760 --> 00:42:32.219
really embraced social media. And that's leveling

00:42:32.219 --> 00:42:35.480
up what their draw is in these markets. And when

00:42:35.480 --> 00:42:38.300
you look at who's scrolling, college, right?

00:42:38.820 --> 00:42:40.500
College market, you got Cornell, you got Ithaca.

00:42:41.119 --> 00:42:43.599
Gold. Absolutely. Which goes back, again, to

00:42:43.599 --> 00:42:45.880
what you were saying earlier. You knew back in

00:42:45.880 --> 00:42:48.019
03 or whatever it was that the college radio

00:42:48.019 --> 00:42:50.400
market was where it was at. And it's not the

00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:53.079
college radio market anymore, but that college

00:42:53.079 --> 00:42:55.480
market is still... still making and breaking

00:42:55.480 --> 00:42:58.619
people. Absolutely. And finding the right way

00:42:58.619 --> 00:43:01.739
to tap into that is always shifting, but when

00:43:01.739 --> 00:43:04.519
you get it, like, you can lean it. Yeah, I mean,

00:43:04.539 --> 00:43:07.139
we're seeing now, especially on social media,

00:43:07.940 --> 00:43:11.440
you know, major artists leaking their music via

00:43:11.440 --> 00:43:14.019
fans that have larger accounts to test it. You

00:43:14.019 --> 00:43:16.440
know, is this song a hit? Are people using it?

00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:19.579
Are they talking all about it? If so, maybe that's

00:43:19.579 --> 00:43:22.719
gonna, you know, be released sooner. Sure. Yeah,

00:43:22.719 --> 00:43:27.150
I mean... It's crazy what's going on because

00:43:27.150 --> 00:43:31.210
back in the day, when we were growing up, it

00:43:31.210 --> 00:43:33.590
was like you found out what the new hot thing

00:43:33.590 --> 00:43:38.409
was musically or movie -wise. You either saw

00:43:38.409 --> 00:43:41.730
it on TV, in print, like Rolling Stone Magazine,

00:43:42.409 --> 00:43:46.670
or on MTV, maybe on the radio. Now it's like

00:43:46.670 --> 00:43:49.849
the power is in with the people. The fans are

00:43:49.849 --> 00:43:52.800
finding what's hot, what's cool. and sharing

00:43:52.800 --> 00:43:55.659
things and and what it's creating these weird

00:43:55.659 --> 00:43:57.199
pockets of fame. So like you're talking about

00:43:57.199 --> 00:44:01.559
these comedians like a Jordan Jensen or or that

00:44:01.559 --> 00:44:04.500
are super famous, but they can still walk down

00:44:04.500 --> 00:44:06.280
the street in many places and nobody knows who

00:44:06.280 --> 00:44:10.099
they are. But but they have a million fans that

00:44:10.099 --> 00:44:12.699
are that are like hardcore fans. There's no it's

00:44:12.699 --> 00:44:14.420
almost like there's no fringe anymore. It's like

00:44:14.420 --> 00:44:17.219
you're either a follower and a fan or you don't

00:44:17.219 --> 00:44:19.780
even know they exist. It's crazy. And things

00:44:19.780 --> 00:44:22.789
are pivoting so much. for someone who's teaching,

00:44:23.050 --> 00:44:25.050
when you were teaching music business, and for

00:44:25.050 --> 00:44:27.010
someone that's working in the music business,

00:44:27.570 --> 00:44:31.449
how do you stay, I don't wanna say relevant,

00:44:31.469 --> 00:44:33.489
you're always relevant, how do you stay up to

00:44:33.489 --> 00:44:37.489
date on what's going on, and to manage your bands

00:44:37.489 --> 00:44:40.210
in a way to say, like, your artists, like, hey,

00:44:40.329 --> 00:44:42.250
look, we need to do this now because this is

00:44:42.250 --> 00:44:45.710
what's going on. I threw a lot at you, sorry.

00:44:45.769 --> 00:44:49.989
No, no, I breathe deeply because there's a very,

00:44:50.480 --> 00:44:52.539
specific perspective that I have on all of this.

00:44:53.639 --> 00:44:57.679
When I left teaching, I didn't jump right into

00:44:57.679 --> 00:45:01.659
After Dark Presents. I spent a year pretty much

00:45:01.659 --> 00:45:03.539
figuring out what I wanted to do next. And a

00:45:03.539 --> 00:45:05.519
lot of that was consulting. I was talking with

00:45:05.519 --> 00:45:07.659
a lot of artists on how to tell their story on

00:45:07.659 --> 00:45:12.659
social media. And at the time, it was quite literally

00:45:12.659 --> 00:45:15.400
40 hours a week that I was spending on TikTok.

00:45:15.880 --> 00:45:19.500
Jesus. Which is a lot of time to spend on TikTok.

00:45:19.880 --> 00:45:24.199
or any social platform, but I mean, scrolling,

00:45:24.659 --> 00:45:27.840
posting, responding to comments, researching

00:45:27.840 --> 00:45:29.980
the sounds that were starting to trend, getting

00:45:29.980 --> 00:45:34.440
into the analytics end of it, because I had artists,

00:45:35.039 --> 00:45:37.820
primarily, some brands, some sports, but primarily

00:45:37.820 --> 00:45:40.300
musicians, coming to me and saying, you know,

00:45:40.320 --> 00:45:44.480
how do I grow? And there was one individual in

00:45:44.480 --> 00:45:47.360
particular, and I'll name drop him here, Brandon

00:45:47.360 --> 00:45:51.789
Wisham. He is going to be next in the country

00:45:51.789 --> 00:45:54.929
music world at 100 % I will write in it. I'm

00:45:54.929 --> 00:45:56.730
holding you to it I'm writing it down. Absolutely,

00:45:56.769 --> 00:45:59.989
and and I will come back in a year with him and

00:45:59.989 --> 00:46:02.369
we could text him, you know, there you go, but

00:46:02.369 --> 00:46:05.469
he was somebody who He was growing on socials.

00:46:05.469 --> 00:46:07.869
It was growing on tik -tok. It was playing live

00:46:07.869 --> 00:46:10.210
live streaming was huge for him He'd grow his

00:46:10.210 --> 00:46:11.989
account to a hundred thousand a hundred and fifty

00:46:11.989 --> 00:46:14.389
thousand and then bully somebody in the comments

00:46:14.389 --> 00:46:16.389
You know bully somebody on live and tik -tok

00:46:16.389 --> 00:46:18.909
would ban him And then he would grow it again,

00:46:19.309 --> 00:46:22.190
120 ,000, and he'd get banned again. Grow it

00:46:22.190 --> 00:46:24.809
again, get banned again. Finally, we sat down

00:46:24.809 --> 00:46:27.110
and we did a couple of Zoom sessions and I took

00:46:27.110 --> 00:46:29.809
him through how to avoid that, how to do some

00:46:29.809 --> 00:46:32.369
filtering of comments, some moderation, where

00:46:32.369 --> 00:46:34.949
you can push the envelope and where you can't.

00:46:35.909 --> 00:46:41.530
And ultimately, he's in a good spot. I'll just

00:46:41.530 --> 00:46:46.409
put it that way. And he opened the big Bailey

00:46:46.409 --> 00:46:49.559
Zimmerman tour about six months ago and, um,

00:46:49.960 --> 00:46:51.800
you know, he's got his first single that's officially

00:46:51.800 --> 00:46:55.260
out and things are happening there. And so, uh,

00:46:55.260 --> 00:46:57.840
it was really because of the way he could tell

00:46:57.840 --> 00:47:01.019
a story on social media that got him to that

00:47:01.019 --> 00:47:03.619
place. Now, had he not had those first couple

00:47:03.619 --> 00:47:05.079
of accounts banned, where would he be? It would

00:47:05.079 --> 00:47:07.639
be at a million, two million followers. Very

00:47:07.639 --> 00:47:11.440
much could be. And, you know, it's important

00:47:11.440 --> 00:47:14.619
to recognize the power of, of social, the power

00:47:14.619 --> 00:47:17.449
of owning a channel. that you can direct the

00:47:17.449 --> 00:47:20.630
conversation. And we'll put a little asterisk

00:47:20.630 --> 00:47:22.369
there because you don't really own the platform.

00:47:22.670 --> 00:47:24.989
I know what you mean. But you get to control

00:47:24.989 --> 00:47:27.949
what you put out there. And that's important

00:47:27.949 --> 00:47:30.889
for anyone who needs or wants an audience. You

00:47:30.889 --> 00:47:34.590
know, Matt makes a great point. He talks on social

00:47:34.590 --> 00:47:38.510
media about, you know, we hear all the time like,

00:47:38.849 --> 00:47:41.829
oh, social media, every time I turn it on, it's

00:47:41.829 --> 00:47:44.760
just so negative. It's this and that. And then

00:47:44.760 --> 00:47:48.880
Matt always says, you are your algorithm, though.

00:47:49.019 --> 00:47:54.139
When you like videos that are political or are

00:47:54.139 --> 00:47:56.599
depressing, the algorithms are going to feed

00:47:56.599 --> 00:47:59.539
you that stuff. So we are our own algorithms,

00:47:59.659 --> 00:48:00.860
right, Matt? Do you want to add on that? I'm

00:48:00.860 --> 00:48:03.860
sorry. No, you nailed it. I mean, it's what you

00:48:03.860 --> 00:48:05.719
put out in there, what it's trying to feed you

00:48:05.719 --> 00:48:08.820
back by nature of what algorithms do. You know,

00:48:08.820 --> 00:48:10.360
they want to send you more of what they think

00:48:10.360 --> 00:48:13.400
you want. So if they think you want to argue

00:48:13.400 --> 00:48:16.539
with people all day long, they will feed you

00:48:16.539 --> 00:48:18.719
the content that allows you to do that. Yeah.

00:48:19.460 --> 00:48:21.300
That's why I think it's great that you were,

00:48:21.300 --> 00:48:25.440
you know, you were able to kind of mentor this

00:48:25.440 --> 00:48:27.420
artist. I mean, you may have, I don't want to

00:48:27.420 --> 00:48:30.420
say saved his career, but I think you definitely

00:48:30.420 --> 00:48:32.659
stepped in at a time that I think someday he's

00:48:32.659 --> 00:48:35.320
going to go, wow, thank God Ulf kind of mentored

00:48:35.320 --> 00:48:36.860
me in that space because I could have really

00:48:36.860 --> 00:48:39.179
done some damage. You know, it was a short term

00:48:39.179 --> 00:48:42.280
thing and I'm happy to be that stepping stone.

00:48:42.440 --> 00:48:44.539
He definitely has a team around him now, and

00:48:44.539 --> 00:48:47.920
I can't take credit for where he is, but I can

00:48:47.920 --> 00:48:50.059
take pride in the fact that he's doing what he's

00:48:50.059 --> 00:48:55.639
doing. I love that. I had a master's program

00:48:55.639 --> 00:48:58.719
that I brought to Nashville. Syracuse University

00:48:58.719 --> 00:49:00.780
had their online master's degree program, and

00:49:00.780 --> 00:49:03.679
they do these excursions and these four -day

00:49:03.679 --> 00:49:05.460
experiences in markets. They came to me and said,

00:49:05.579 --> 00:49:07.920
can we do a Nashville trip and teach the music

00:49:07.920 --> 00:49:10.590
business of Nashville? I was like, absolutely.

00:49:10.929 --> 00:49:12.929
And so I set that up and I actually brought Brandon

00:49:12.929 --> 00:49:16.630
in as one of the guests at one of our evening

00:49:16.630 --> 00:49:18.630
functions. And I said, he's going to be next.

00:49:19.030 --> 00:49:22.610
And sure enough, all signs are pointing that

00:49:22.610 --> 00:49:25.210
direction. You're just amazing. I want to pivot

00:49:25.210 --> 00:49:28.309
to the hockey with your son and obviously what

00:49:28.309 --> 00:49:30.510
you're doing now with the cycling and your TikTok.

00:49:31.610 --> 00:49:33.610
So I could just talk to you about music all day.

00:49:33.630 --> 00:49:35.969
So I apologize. I keep going. But before we do

00:49:35.969 --> 00:49:38.969
move on, I just want to ask you this. I've had

00:49:38.969 --> 00:49:41.409
this I want your perspective on this one. So

00:49:41.409 --> 00:49:46.150
back again when I had my band we stopped We're

00:49:46.150 --> 00:49:47.989
not we never really broke up. We were just done

00:49:47.989 --> 00:49:51.489
indefinitely in like 2018. I think it was and

00:49:51.489 --> 00:49:53.909
um, but when we were on the road we used to say

00:49:53.909 --> 00:49:57.309
like why is you kept hearing rock is dying or

00:49:57.309 --> 00:50:00.730
rock music is dead or the music business is dead

00:50:00.730 --> 00:50:02.710
and we would sit there and debate it all day

00:50:02.710 --> 00:50:04.750
and then my bass player Darrell and I came up

00:50:04.750 --> 00:50:07.800
with this theory that At least this was at the

00:50:07.800 --> 00:50:10.800
time like when we were growing up our heroes

00:50:10.800 --> 00:50:14.940
were singers and guitar players and and you know

00:50:14.940 --> 00:50:20.500
rock stars and Part of the allure was that they

00:50:20.500 --> 00:50:23.139
were up there they were on TV or they were on

00:50:23.139 --> 00:50:26.300
stage saying or singing about the things that

00:50:26.300 --> 00:50:30.500
we wanted to and we couldn't and I feel like

00:50:30.590 --> 00:50:34.170
Maybe some of that is gone now because everybody

00:50:34.170 --> 00:50:37.710
has a camera and a microphone. Maybe there's

00:50:37.710 --> 00:50:40.630
not there's no demand for that. Like, yeah, you

00:50:40.630 --> 00:50:42.769
know, fuck my parents, you know, fuck the government.

00:50:42.769 --> 00:50:44.869
Right. Like because I can just go and post about

00:50:44.869 --> 00:50:47.389
it or talk about it. And the second part of that

00:50:47.389 --> 00:50:51.889
is we realize like maybe the the American idols

00:50:51.889 --> 00:50:55.409
of the world also played a hand in that. Now

00:50:55.409 --> 00:50:58.110
the idols are, you know, the people that were

00:50:58.110 --> 00:51:01.409
are coming up now or at the time. All their heroes

00:51:01.409 --> 00:51:04.190
didn't play guitar because everybody was coming

00:51:04.190 --> 00:51:06.710
from reality shows. And so maybe that kind of

00:51:06.710 --> 00:51:09.190
made things shift to pop. Does any of that sound

00:51:09.190 --> 00:51:13.630
crazy or relevant? I mean, there's so listen,

00:51:13.670 --> 00:51:17.230
there's space for everybody in this music economy.

00:51:17.809 --> 00:51:22.030
There are more bands today than we ever had 30

00:51:22.030 --> 00:51:24.050
years ago. So if we go back to like those early

00:51:24.050 --> 00:51:28.389
days of corn, there's less competition for the

00:51:28.389 --> 00:51:31.960
radio. You know opportunities, so there's there's

00:51:31.960 --> 00:51:35.280
certainly publications. You know that we're Talking

00:51:35.280 --> 00:51:37.239
and writers that were writing about these bands.

00:51:37.500 --> 00:51:39.599
Yeah, we're spread out a lot more now You know

00:51:39.599 --> 00:51:42.139
even the blog world today is not what it was

00:51:42.139 --> 00:51:44.159
ten years ago You know when we had tumblr and

00:51:44.159 --> 00:51:46.380
people were always posting or go back even further

00:51:46.380 --> 00:51:48.539
to myspace And you could have your top eight

00:51:48.539 --> 00:51:51.179
didn't share you know miss that so you know we've

00:51:51.179 --> 00:51:53.340
lived that You know you and I are of a certain

00:51:53.340 --> 00:51:56.960
age You know the 18 year olds of today completely

00:51:56.960 --> 00:51:59.510
different world And so, you know, everything

00:51:59.510 --> 00:52:01.449
that they have, yes, is with their phone and

00:52:01.449 --> 00:52:03.969
their phone is connected to everything. And now

00:52:03.969 --> 00:52:07.530
as we get into, you know, responding to questions

00:52:07.530 --> 00:52:09.389
that they might have, you can just go to chat

00:52:09.389 --> 00:52:11.789
GPT and get a response real quick. You can go

00:52:11.789 --> 00:52:13.409
to Google and get a response real quick. Everything

00:52:13.409 --> 00:52:16.550
is right at your fingertips. And so it's a little

00:52:16.550 --> 00:52:18.610
bit of a different world in that sense. You know,

00:52:18.610 --> 00:52:21.309
I think at one point, yes, we had the rock stars

00:52:21.309 --> 00:52:23.269
that glorified sex, drugs and rock and roll.

00:52:23.909 --> 00:52:26.449
And they were untouchable. You know, we're not

00:52:26.449 --> 00:52:28.780
going to get there. but then you do have the

00:52:28.780 --> 00:52:31.159
social media stars that also embody that, and

00:52:31.159 --> 00:52:33.179
you can see them on TikTok, and they're doing

00:52:33.179 --> 00:52:36.280
these challenges themselves, and doing things

00:52:36.280 --> 00:52:38.340
that are at a level that also is... The Jake

00:52:38.340 --> 00:52:40.880
Pauls of the world. Sure, or the Mr. Beasts,

00:52:41.139 --> 00:52:43.019
or, you know, like all of these people that are

00:52:43.019 --> 00:52:45.239
doing something at a level, investing in their

00:52:45.239 --> 00:52:48.139
craft, but, you know, you and I are not gonna

00:52:48.139 --> 00:52:50.039
get there. We can still experience it, though,

00:52:50.280 --> 00:52:54.139
via our feed. The guitar side of the world rock

00:52:54.139 --> 00:52:56.860
bands rock is dead I yeah, I mean I've had those

00:52:56.860 --> 00:52:59.920
those conversations and bands get pissed at me

00:52:59.920 --> 00:53:02.039
when I kind of share some of that stuff it's

00:53:02.039 --> 00:53:06.719
like rocks not dead, but Rock benefits from touring.

00:53:07.260 --> 00:53:09.260
That's right. And if you're a rock band and you're

00:53:09.260 --> 00:53:11.420
not touring you're putting yourself at a disadvantage.

00:53:11.500 --> 00:53:14.519
That's right It's just it's how it is right now.

00:53:14.619 --> 00:53:18.559
And so yeah used to be you put an album out and

00:53:18.559 --> 00:53:20.860
then you would go out on the road to promote

00:53:20.860 --> 00:53:23.500
that album. Now it's the reverse, where it's

00:53:23.500 --> 00:53:26.679
like you go out and build that following so that

00:53:26.679 --> 00:53:28.380
you can drop something. You know what I mean?

00:53:29.820 --> 00:53:32.900
There's just so many ways. There's a lot of over

00:53:32.900 --> 00:53:36.159
saturation, but there's also a lot more opportunity.

00:53:36.800 --> 00:53:39.940
And it's just finding that. I could literally

00:53:39.940 --> 00:53:42.800
talk to you about music all day, but I don't

00:53:42.800 --> 00:53:46.639
want to take away from the other amazing things

00:53:46.639 --> 00:53:49.260
you're doing. So we talked about old records,

00:53:49.530 --> 00:53:53.849
You know, you taught at SU, you served on the

00:53:53.849 --> 00:53:55.829
board of Music and Entertainment Industry Educators

00:53:55.829 --> 00:53:59.869
Association, working with legendary producers.

00:54:00.050 --> 00:54:02.349
Now we're talking about you're working at After

00:54:02.349 --> 00:54:07.269
Dark Presents. But also, you kind of started

00:54:07.269 --> 00:54:10.829
this, not on purpose, this van life. Your son

00:54:10.829 --> 00:54:16.170
is playing hockey and it kind of started there.

00:54:16.190 --> 00:54:19.380
And now not only are you Permanently living in

00:54:19.380 --> 00:54:23.019
a in an RV right now, but you've built this incredible

00:54:23.019 --> 00:54:28.139
social media presence on tik -tok and it's it's

00:54:28.139 --> 00:54:30.360
centered around that but also around the cycling

00:54:30.360 --> 00:54:34.840
world which you're involved in and also the triathlon

00:54:34.840 --> 00:54:40.679
everything yeah, so I'm somebody who is Very

00:54:40.679 --> 00:54:43.159
mobile just generally sure, you know, I have

00:54:43.159 --> 00:54:47.250
been racing triathlons since 2010 And I loved

00:54:47.250 --> 00:54:49.889
to travel. Cycling races around the country.

00:54:50.050 --> 00:54:52.929
My son playing ice hockey was basically from

00:54:52.929 --> 00:54:55.849
Florida to Quebec City to Detroit, you know?

00:54:55.989 --> 00:54:59.050
So, like, we were traveling a lot. And I was

00:54:59.050 --> 00:55:02.670
living just outside of Syracuse, and the apartment

00:55:02.670 --> 00:55:07.969
that we were in in 2020 was one that the kids'

00:55:08.170 --> 00:55:10.309
bedrooms had shorter ceilings. It was the upstairs

00:55:10.309 --> 00:55:12.409
of a two -family house. My son grew, like, six

00:55:12.409 --> 00:55:14.570
inches that year. couldn't even stand up in his

00:55:14.570 --> 00:55:15.829
room. I was like, you know, I'm not going to

00:55:15.829 --> 00:55:18.989
renew the lease on this place, but I couldn't

00:55:18.989 --> 00:55:21.889
find a place that I liked. You know, I wanted

00:55:21.889 --> 00:55:24.090
to be sure I was getting the value for what my

00:55:24.090 --> 00:55:26.329
rent money would be because fundamentally I've

00:55:26.329 --> 00:55:28.650
got a hard time paying rent for something like

00:55:28.650 --> 00:55:30.630
you don't own it. You know, I'm paying somebody

00:55:30.630 --> 00:55:33.909
else's bills. Right. And most people need a place

00:55:33.909 --> 00:55:36.929
to stay, but I couldn't find one that I liked.

00:55:36.929 --> 00:55:38.570
So I said, I'm going to put everything in storage.

00:55:38.949 --> 00:55:41.650
I knew that my son at the time had four consecutive

00:55:41.650 --> 00:55:43.969
weekends of hockey. on the road. So I was like,

00:55:44.050 --> 00:55:46.829
we're going to be in hotels. I'm divorced. I

00:55:46.829 --> 00:55:48.849
typically have the kids on the weekends. So I

00:55:48.849 --> 00:55:50.690
was like, they're with their mom Monday through

00:55:50.690 --> 00:55:53.210
Thursday, hockey is Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

00:55:53.230 --> 00:55:55.409
So we're in hotels. I'll take the next month

00:55:55.409 --> 00:55:58.190
and figure out where I want to be. So smart,

00:55:58.250 --> 00:56:00.670
by the way. You know, a small decision, but very

00:56:00.670 --> 00:56:04.570
smart. It's a small decision, but it's an impactful

00:56:04.570 --> 00:56:07.989
decision because I thought at that point, there's

00:56:07.989 --> 00:56:09.469
going to be a couple extra thousand dollars in

00:56:09.469 --> 00:56:11.369
my pocket because I'm not paying rent. I'm not

00:56:11.369 --> 00:56:14.960
paying for electricity, internet, whatever. Yeah,

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:20.880
exactly. And so it was great. I moved everything

00:56:20.880 --> 00:56:23.380
into a storage unit. I had a Nissan Xterra that

00:56:23.380 --> 00:56:26.019
I outfitted with a bed in the back, and I was

00:56:26.019 --> 00:56:28.420
working on a college campus. And if you think

00:56:28.420 --> 00:56:30.159
about it, a college campus has everything that

00:56:30.159 --> 00:56:32.800
you need to survive. Yeah, shower. I was at the

00:56:32.800 --> 00:56:36.000
gym every morning, anyway, showering. My office

00:56:36.000 --> 00:56:38.260
had a full -size refrigerator and a microwave

00:56:38.260 --> 00:56:40.440
and coffee maker, and so I'd make my oatmeal

00:56:40.440 --> 00:56:43.099
in the morning. you know that go to the campus

00:56:43.099 --> 00:56:45.860
dining for lunch and then I could make myself

00:56:45.860 --> 00:56:47.699
something in the office before dinner like it

00:56:47.699 --> 00:56:50.519
was it was perfect like I was happy I was getting

00:56:50.519 --> 00:56:52.300
my job done I was actually spent more time in

00:56:52.300 --> 00:56:55.920
the office sure and I got to travel and not worry

00:56:55.920 --> 00:56:57.880
about having to do work Friday Saturday Sunday

00:56:57.880 --> 00:57:00.760
I could focus on the kids so it worked out really

00:57:00.760 --> 00:57:03.739
well and you know I wanted something a little

00:57:03.739 --> 00:57:06.000
bit larger I was thinking a van like a Mercedes

00:57:06.000 --> 00:57:08.119
Sprinter van or a Ford Transit or something along

00:57:08.119 --> 00:57:10.849
those lines And my dad calls me and he's like,

00:57:10.949 --> 00:57:14.730
Hey, I just saw this RV that's for sale and you

00:57:14.730 --> 00:57:17.530
might want to check it out. And so I drove, uh,

00:57:17.530 --> 00:57:20.710
just outside of only onto New York and walked

00:57:20.710 --> 00:57:23.849
up to this place. It was a classy 29 foot RV,

00:57:24.269 --> 00:57:26.469
12 ,000 miles on it. You know, second owner,

00:57:26.590 --> 00:57:28.710
the first family had it. They were living in

00:57:28.710 --> 00:57:30.809
it, building a house. Uh, the second owner whom

00:57:30.809 --> 00:57:32.809
I bought it from took two trips to Florida. She

00:57:32.809 --> 00:57:34.010
said, it's too big for me. I just want to get

00:57:34.010 --> 00:57:36.769
rid of it. Perfect. So I bought it. I bought

00:57:36.769 --> 00:57:40.360
it cheap. and have been living in that sense.

00:57:41.119 --> 00:57:43.940
And you document a lot of that. You do like the

00:57:43.940 --> 00:57:47.539
day in the life, right? Often, yeah. At 70 .3,

00:57:47.539 --> 00:57:51.239
we'll put it up on the screen, but on TikTok

00:57:51.239 --> 00:57:54.840
and all social media, right, at 70 .3 all together,

00:57:55.079 --> 00:57:58.000
it's S -E -V -E -N -T -Y, you'll see it. Anyway,

00:57:58.460 --> 00:58:02.519
and I just find that fascinating because before

00:58:02.519 --> 00:58:04.949
you and I connected again and talked, Didn't

00:58:04.949 --> 00:58:06.730
understand I didn't know if you'd fallen on hard

00:58:06.730 --> 00:58:08.969
times and I'm you know, and I'm thinking and

00:58:08.969 --> 00:58:10.550
then I was starting to realize Oh, no, he wants

00:58:10.550 --> 00:58:12.809
to do this and he's loving it and he's killing

00:58:12.809 --> 00:58:17.349
it You know, so a day in the life for you is

00:58:17.349 --> 00:58:20.849
just kind of working out of out of the van But

00:58:20.849 --> 00:58:23.409
out of the RV, excuse me But also like you're

00:58:23.409 --> 00:58:25.150
still able to bathe and do all the things you

00:58:25.150 --> 00:58:27.829
would do if you had a home Because of you because

00:58:27.829 --> 00:58:33.789
of your gig. Yeah I ended up doing a TEDx talk

00:58:33.789 --> 00:58:37.190
right when I left Syracuse. They had a TEDx Syracuse

00:58:37.190 --> 00:58:39.710
and the whole theme was like get comfortable

00:58:39.710 --> 00:58:41.690
being uncomfortable. And that's been the theme

00:58:41.690 --> 00:58:44.949
of my life. When I train for Ironman events,

00:58:45.429 --> 00:58:49.869
an Ironman is 140 .6 miles long. It's something

00:58:49.869 --> 00:58:53.489
where you're starting with a 2 .4 mile swim and

00:58:53.489 --> 00:58:58.590
then it's 112 miles on the bike. Wow. 26 .2 miles

00:58:58.590 --> 00:59:02.110
to run and that's a long day. Most of what I

00:59:02.110 --> 00:59:03.730
would do would be half Iron Man events, and that's

00:59:03.730 --> 00:59:05.829
where 70 .3 comes in, because that's the distance

00:59:05.829 --> 00:59:09.449
of a half Iron Man. Oh, that's it. And so I thought

00:59:09.449 --> 00:59:12.250
initially my entire social media presence was

00:59:12.250 --> 00:59:17.489
going to be me sharing triathlon -related experiences.

00:59:17.550 --> 00:59:21.769
Sure. And it grew from there. But yeah, you know,

00:59:22.010 --> 00:59:25.489
it's get comfortable being uncomfortable. I love

00:59:25.489 --> 00:59:27.989
it. Whether you're touring with a band, like

00:59:27.989 --> 00:59:29.550
you said, you know, those bonded experiences.

00:59:29.570 --> 00:59:32.739
Yeah. You're uncomfortable at times. Most of

00:59:32.739 --> 00:59:35.340
the time. You know, when you're training for

00:59:35.340 --> 00:59:37.480
these events, you've got to push yourself beyond

00:59:37.480 --> 00:59:39.840
the limits that you think are possible. That's

00:59:39.840 --> 00:59:42.360
part of it. Teaching wise, I definitely took

00:59:42.360 --> 00:59:46.519
on a whole lot more than most people in my position

00:59:46.519 --> 00:59:49.639
should or would have. I think I taught 33 different

00:59:49.639 --> 00:59:52.320
classes over 19 years. So there's a lot of preps

00:59:52.320 --> 00:59:56.059
there. And it's the idea of maybe investing a

00:59:56.059 --> 00:59:58.610
little bit of time. to get yourself to the point

00:59:58.610 --> 01:00:01.309
where you can teach at a college level. And that's

01:00:01.309 --> 01:00:03.349
hard. It's hard to get yourself to the point

01:00:03.349 --> 01:00:05.449
where you can say, I have mastery of a subject.

01:00:06.170 --> 01:00:08.909
And so that's been the theme of my entire life.

01:00:09.389 --> 01:00:11.889
And I don't know that that's gonna change. I

01:00:11.889 --> 01:00:13.889
often get asked, at what point do you shut it

01:00:13.889 --> 01:00:17.050
down? At what point do you pull back? Just settle

01:00:17.050 --> 01:00:20.269
into a nine to five again. And I don't know that

01:00:20.269 --> 01:00:22.889
I will, yeah. Just do you, man. And if it ends

01:00:22.889 --> 01:00:24.769
up that way, it ends up that way. And I don't

01:00:24.769 --> 01:00:26.719
know that I'll get it back into housing. as well.

01:00:26.920 --> 01:00:31.900
I enjoy life on the road. I enjoy traveling.

01:00:32.159 --> 01:00:36.019
This trip that I had from Miami to Syracuse,

01:00:36.679 --> 01:00:40.739
1 ,500 miles, and we went through and had barbecue

01:00:40.739 --> 01:00:43.219
in South Carolina at this little tiny place.

01:00:43.539 --> 01:00:47.199
It was all the locals there. It's the best. Amazing.

01:00:47.440 --> 01:00:48.940
The cultural experience, it's incredible. You

01:00:48.940 --> 01:00:52.019
would never find that place had you not been

01:00:52.019 --> 01:00:54.280
on the road. No, and I think that's important

01:00:54.280 --> 01:00:57.929
that we see more of that. And, you know, we're

01:00:57.929 --> 01:01:01.750
in a time right now where people dig their heels

01:01:01.750 --> 01:01:06.190
in a little bit to their perspectives. And, you

01:01:06.190 --> 01:01:09.909
know, I've started to push back on some of that

01:01:09.909 --> 01:01:11.510
with some of the social media. So, you know,

01:01:11.590 --> 01:01:14.369
with 70 .3, you know, the account chronicles,

01:01:14.369 --> 01:01:17.170
yes, RV life, van life. It chronicles a little

01:01:17.170 --> 01:01:20.110
bit of music. I was born with one hand and I

01:01:20.110 --> 01:01:22.389
tell jokes about having one hand, which are hilarious.

01:01:22.710 --> 01:01:25.340
They, you know, they're fun. And then I've stepped

01:01:25.340 --> 01:01:27.860
into the world recently where I'm starting to

01:01:27.860 --> 01:01:30.820
advocate a little bit more with regards to DEI.

01:01:30.900 --> 01:01:33.539
And that's a very hot button issue right now.

01:01:33.719 --> 01:01:37.320
And I think, you know, there's a lot of perspective

01:01:37.320 --> 01:01:41.980
that is off in how DEI is being presented across

01:01:41.980 --> 01:01:43.980
the conversation that's happening nationally.

01:01:44.519 --> 01:01:47.199
And one of the early things that I experienced

01:01:47.199 --> 01:01:51.440
when I got into social media was the military

01:01:51.440 --> 01:01:54.210
folks started to reach out to me. I got on social

01:01:54.210 --> 01:01:56.909
media. Um, I had a blog called shit I do with

01:01:56.909 --> 01:02:01.550
one hand. And it was, it was designed because

01:02:01.550 --> 01:02:03.230
a friend of mine in the music business got into

01:02:03.230 --> 01:02:06.449
a skiing accident and injured his thumb, had

01:02:06.449 --> 01:02:08.849
to have surgery. And so it was laid up with one

01:02:08.849 --> 01:02:10.849
of his hands, his dominant hand for like six

01:02:10.849 --> 01:02:13.550
weeks and types an email. He's like, how do you

01:02:13.550 --> 01:02:15.710
do everything? This took me 45 minutes to write.

01:02:16.130 --> 01:02:18.909
And so I started to show off the little things.

01:02:18.949 --> 01:02:21.909
How do you tie your shoes? You know, how do you,

01:02:21.949 --> 01:02:23.690
The things we take for granted. Yeah, you know,

01:02:23.789 --> 01:02:25.289
I often get asked about my watch. You know, like,

01:02:25.369 --> 01:02:27.050
why do you wear your watch on your dominant hand?

01:02:27.090 --> 01:02:28.750
Because typically it's your non -dominant hand.

01:02:28.949 --> 01:02:31.210
Well, right. Well, it's going to fall off, you

01:02:31.210 --> 01:02:34.969
know, like. Right. Hello. But, you know, I'll

01:02:34.969 --> 01:02:36.610
use jokes like that, but then I can take the

01:02:36.610 --> 01:02:39.369
watch and I can take it on, put it on, you know,

01:02:39.449 --> 01:02:42.809
on or off without having someone to help, you

01:02:42.809 --> 01:02:45.230
know? And so those conversations bring visibility

01:02:45.230 --> 01:02:48.769
to individuals with limb differences. And I think

01:02:48.769 --> 01:02:51.000
that's it's an important time to talk about you

01:02:51.000 --> 01:02:53.099
know, experiences that we have as individuals,

01:02:53.780 --> 01:02:56.420
and showcase the fact that, you know, with a

01:02:56.420 --> 01:02:59.559
DEI initiative, it's not about me getting a job

01:02:59.559 --> 01:03:02.619
because I have one hand, but it's simply giving

01:03:02.619 --> 01:03:05.860
me a chance to sit at the table, share my experience,

01:03:05.940 --> 01:03:08.179
and if I'm qualified, cool. If I'm not, hire

01:03:08.179 --> 01:03:11.039
somebody else. But give me that chance. And I

01:03:11.039 --> 01:03:15.360
try to explain that, the DEI perspective, from

01:03:15.360 --> 01:03:18.250
the same mindset, which is this isn't... This

01:03:18.250 --> 01:03:20.769
isn't about giving unqualified people jobs. This

01:03:20.769 --> 01:03:24.710
is about giving qualified people a chance. Give

01:03:24.710 --> 01:03:27.070
them a voice. Give them a voice. That's it. And

01:03:27.070 --> 01:03:30.329
there's just misinformation and disinformation

01:03:30.329 --> 01:03:35.449
is trying to destroy society and it has in some

01:03:35.449 --> 01:03:41.530
ways, it's a big problem and I feel like technology

01:03:41.530 --> 01:03:45.250
and social media is outpacing our sample size,

01:03:45.329 --> 01:03:47.250
because I studied a little bit of this at Ithaca

01:03:47.250 --> 01:03:51.469
College, is outpacing what we know about media

01:03:51.469 --> 01:03:54.230
literacy. And I really want media literacy to

01:03:54.230 --> 01:03:58.309
be a part of the education system. And not for

01:03:58.309 --> 01:04:00.469
boomers, you know, people say that. I mean, for

01:04:00.469 --> 01:04:03.710
all of us, so that, so people can spot basic

01:04:03.710 --> 01:04:07.909
propaganda or just cite their sources better

01:04:07.909 --> 01:04:09.769
and know when something is, and it's getting

01:04:09.769 --> 01:04:13.989
tougher with AI especially, so. Yeah. Back to

01:04:13.989 --> 01:04:15.710
what you were saying about getting comfortable

01:04:15.710 --> 01:04:17.949
being uncomfortable. That's a perfect example.

01:04:18.929 --> 01:04:22.210
Being on social media at 70 .3 is the handle.

01:04:23.110 --> 01:04:26.550
Talking about your cycling and talking about

01:04:26.550 --> 01:04:29.309
the van life, but also talking about just how

01:04:29.309 --> 01:04:31.130
you get through life with one hand and you've

01:04:31.130 --> 01:04:33.369
helped so many people. And I see the way you

01:04:33.369 --> 01:04:35.969
connect with people on there. And I just think

01:04:35.969 --> 01:04:38.289
it's spectacular. And that's a message I've actually

01:04:38.289 --> 01:04:39.849
been teaching my kids. That's why I love when

01:04:39.849 --> 01:04:42.679
you say that. is I have a five -year -old and

01:04:42.679 --> 01:04:44.280
a ten -year -old and I always tell them, I say,

01:04:44.320 --> 01:04:48.260
listen, I can't sit here and tell you that life

01:04:48.260 --> 01:04:50.980
ever gets easier. Life's always going to be hard.

01:04:51.059 --> 01:04:53.599
You're always going to face adversity. I can't

01:04:53.599 --> 01:04:56.239
take that away. But what I can do is to teach

01:04:56.239 --> 01:04:58.539
you how to handle that. You know, how to handle

01:04:58.539 --> 01:05:02.000
that adversity. Handle hard better. A recent,

01:05:02.000 --> 01:05:05.539
I think, WNBA coach was on ESPN kind of quoting

01:05:05.539 --> 01:05:08.719
that same mindset. So I just, I love that not

01:05:08.719 --> 01:05:11.280
only do you live by that, but you preach it.

01:05:12.519 --> 01:05:15.380
So anyway, so you're in the van. I know we gotta

01:05:15.380 --> 01:05:18.860
wrap up so I can talk to you all day. So you

01:05:18.860 --> 01:05:20.940
live in the van life. You have a huge presence

01:05:20.940 --> 01:05:25.780
on TikTok. Now, talk about the cycling a little

01:05:25.780 --> 01:05:27.840
bit. Am I saying that right? Is it cycling? Cycling,

01:05:27.920 --> 01:05:30.440
yeah. Because you don't just cycle, dude. You're

01:05:30.440 --> 01:05:33.119
like in competitions and you're winning competitions.

01:05:34.380 --> 01:05:36.960
How did that come about? I mean, look at you.

01:05:37.119 --> 01:05:40.219
You're teaching, you're managing bands, you're

01:05:40.219 --> 01:05:43.400
marketing bands, you're doing every, and now

01:05:43.400 --> 01:05:45.199
you, how do you fit cycling in there? How did

01:05:45.199 --> 01:05:49.440
it come, I love it. It is hard to balance. And

01:05:49.440 --> 01:05:51.559
I will be the first to say that I wish I had

01:05:51.559 --> 01:05:55.639
more time to spend cycling, but I love to see

01:05:55.639 --> 01:05:59.159
the world, you know, 15 to 25 miles an hour from

01:05:59.159 --> 01:06:02.059
the seat of a bicycle. Hell yeah. And it's a

01:06:02.059 --> 01:06:04.179
different perspective. And David Byrne, shares

01:06:04.179 --> 01:06:07.079
this perspective in his book, Bicycle Diaries.

01:06:07.199 --> 01:06:10.000
He talks about going on tour and always having

01:06:10.000 --> 01:06:11.639
a bike. David Byrne of the Talking Heads, for

01:06:11.639 --> 01:06:14.039
those of you that don't know. Yes, and one of

01:06:14.039 --> 01:06:15.760
the first chapters in this book is about Buffalo.

01:06:16.679 --> 01:06:19.400
Really? Yeah, driving down the streets and you

01:06:19.400 --> 01:06:22.000
see businesses that are no longer there or you

01:06:22.000 --> 01:06:25.420
see the revitalization of a community. These

01:06:25.420 --> 01:06:27.659
perspectives that you don't see when you're going

01:06:27.659 --> 01:06:30.840
55 miles an hour, 65, 70 miles an hour, and you're

01:06:30.840 --> 01:06:33.469
zipping past these cities. And much easier to

01:06:33.469 --> 01:06:37.329
stop. Yes. And so for me, cycling was always

01:06:37.329 --> 01:06:39.190
a part of life. I never thought that I would

01:06:39.190 --> 01:06:42.150
do it in any competitive fashion, but growing

01:06:42.150 --> 01:06:43.809
up in the Catskill mountains, it was always mountain

01:06:43.809 --> 01:06:45.409
biking. And that was a lot of fun. And I would

01:06:45.409 --> 01:06:47.409
do a paper route and I'd take the bike out every

01:06:47.409 --> 01:06:49.849
morning and, you know, toss papers on people's,

01:06:49.849 --> 01:06:51.909
you know, porches and in their mailboxes. And

01:06:51.909 --> 01:06:54.050
it was like, great, I can go cycle five or 10

01:06:54.050 --> 01:06:56.610
miles in the morning before school. Fantastic.

01:06:56.690 --> 01:06:58.949
Loved it. Now, you know, as somebody who's a

01:06:58.949 --> 01:07:02.250
little bit older, I do some of the paracycling

01:07:02.480 --> 01:07:05.039
races. I try to do the national championship

01:07:05.039 --> 01:07:09.119
events. I've not won a national championship

01:07:09.119 --> 01:07:11.619
in cycling yet. That's one of those bucket list

01:07:11.619 --> 01:07:13.280
items. I've won a couple state championships

01:07:13.280 --> 01:07:17.340
for time trial and I've placed fourth nationally

01:07:17.340 --> 01:07:20.199
in the cycling. Triathlon, that's where I've

01:07:20.199 --> 01:07:23.159
had a little bit more success and do Athlon,

01:07:23.199 --> 01:07:25.519
which is the run bike run multi -sport format.

01:07:25.599 --> 01:07:29.400
I won a couple nationals there. Mornings, that's

01:07:29.400 --> 01:07:33.190
where cycling takes place. When you have an office

01:07:33.190 --> 01:07:36.489
location that's near a YMCA. I jump into the

01:07:36.489 --> 01:07:39.369
pool when I can over lunch, go for a run when

01:07:39.369 --> 01:07:42.309
I can. It's one of those things that I had a

01:07:42.309 --> 01:07:44.710
coach who was really high level, a team USA guy,

01:07:44.750 --> 01:07:47.849
a nutritionist, and he really dialed it in. And

01:07:47.849 --> 01:07:49.630
when I was trying to compete at the national

01:07:49.630 --> 01:07:52.170
level, that's when he prescribed everything.

01:07:52.309 --> 01:07:54.110
It's like, this is your breakfast, this is your

01:07:54.110 --> 01:07:56.469
lunch, these are your workouts, and you had to

01:07:56.469 --> 01:08:00.090
approach it like a job. And Ed Ten Eyck was...

01:08:00.039 --> 01:08:02.579
Incredible with all of this and I credit him

01:08:02.579 --> 01:08:07.059
with the The structure to get me to where I was,

01:08:07.079 --> 01:08:10.539
you know for for half Ironman and the Ironman

01:08:10.539 --> 01:08:12.460
ranking system they have the all -world athlete

01:08:12.460 --> 01:08:15.280
program and that's a ranking system for anyone

01:08:15.280 --> 01:08:17.800
that's competing within an Ironman events and

01:08:17.800 --> 01:08:20.199
They take your top three races each race. You

01:08:20.199 --> 01:08:22.439
can earn a certain number of points and the top

01:08:22.439 --> 01:08:25.359
three races Add up your point total and that

01:08:25.359 --> 01:08:30.409
gives you You know the sum then you compare your

01:08:30.409 --> 01:08:34.550
results to others. I was fortunate that in 2017

01:08:34.550 --> 01:08:39.569
and 2019 I finished number one in the all -world

01:08:39.569 --> 01:08:42.090
athlete rankings for the half Ironman distance.

01:08:42.109 --> 01:08:45.210
That's where 70 .3 really comes from. And so,

01:08:45.409 --> 01:08:47.810
you know, I never thought that that was gonna

01:08:47.810 --> 01:08:51.710
be a goal of mine and I was really thrilled to

01:08:51.710 --> 01:08:54.229
have experienced that twice. You know, it's certainly

01:08:54.229 --> 01:08:59.680
I'm not the fastest out there, but endurance

01:08:59.680 --> 01:09:01.720
and stick -to -it -iveness and whatever you want

01:09:01.720 --> 01:09:03.359
to say. I think that's been a part of my life.

01:09:03.359 --> 01:09:05.659
I think that's more impressive than the speed,

01:09:06.180 --> 01:09:08.779
is this sticking to it and having the endurance

01:09:08.779 --> 01:09:11.199
to do it. It takes a lot. What do you do in the

01:09:11.199 --> 01:09:13.960
winter? I mean, because look, we're in Syracuse,

01:09:14.140 --> 01:09:18.640
right? So how do you, do you take a break or

01:09:18.640 --> 01:09:20.659
do you, how do you find ways to cycle in the

01:09:20.659 --> 01:09:24.380
winter? So I did remove my couch from my RV.

01:09:25.039 --> 01:09:27.640
and for a while had my bike on a bike trainer

01:09:27.640 --> 01:09:30.840
where the couch was. So I basically have a gym

01:09:30.840 --> 01:09:34.180
in my RV. This winter in Syracuse was a little

01:09:34.180 --> 01:09:36.739
bit colder than I would have liked. So I made

01:09:36.739 --> 01:09:38.800
a deal with my ex -wife and I put the bike in

01:09:38.800 --> 01:09:41.460
the basement. And so I'd go over, watch the dogs,

01:09:41.479 --> 01:09:43.060
you know, or if she was out of town for anything,

01:09:43.140 --> 01:09:46.260
I could train there. But, you know, also it's

01:09:46.260 --> 01:09:48.680
YMCA and, you know, any other gym that I can

01:09:48.680 --> 01:09:50.619
go to. If the apocalypse happens, I'm coming

01:09:50.619 --> 01:09:53.220
to you because you know how to survive. You just,

01:09:53.220 --> 01:09:58.090
you adapt. to anything and everything. I'm just

01:09:58.090 --> 01:10:02.989
blown away and inspired by you. Before we get

01:10:02.989 --> 01:10:06.289
out of here, I wanted to just ask you a few questions.

01:10:08.050 --> 01:10:11.609
Kind of rapid, not rapid fire. Oh, I'm ready.

01:10:11.869 --> 01:10:14.189
No, but no, no, no, nothing crazy. I just, I

01:10:14.189 --> 01:10:15.750
hate to make you choose this, I'm just curious.

01:10:16.170 --> 01:10:19.369
Someone comes to you today and says, Ulf, sorry,

01:10:19.689 --> 01:10:22.989
but you gotta choose cycling, teaching, or working

01:10:22.989 --> 01:10:27.020
in the music business. Is there one that... I'll

01:10:27.020 --> 01:10:29.340
do cycling. I knew it. That would have been my

01:10:29.340 --> 01:10:32.720
money. So, I've never done anything for the money.

01:10:33.359 --> 01:10:36.279
And, you know, I'm not in a position to say that

01:10:36.279 --> 01:10:39.159
I've got a lot of money, because I don't. But

01:10:39.159 --> 01:10:42.100
I have autonomy. I've got free rein with what

01:10:42.100 --> 01:10:44.060
I want to do with my life and my schedule. And

01:10:44.060 --> 01:10:47.460
I value that more than anything. And the fact

01:10:47.460 --> 01:10:49.859
that this weekend on a whim, my son's like, I

01:10:49.859 --> 01:10:52.180
want to come home, fly to Miami, and take three

01:10:52.180 --> 01:10:54.460
days driving back. I love the fact that I can

01:10:54.460 --> 01:10:57.239
do that without having to answer to a boss. Absolutely.

01:10:57.859 --> 01:11:01.260
If I could jump on my bike tomorrow and say,

01:11:01.319 --> 01:11:03.619
cycle from Syracuse, New York to San Francisco,

01:11:04.279 --> 01:11:07.020
and document the entire process, I would. And

01:11:07.020 --> 01:11:10.340
I probably will do that in a year or two. So

01:11:10.340 --> 01:11:14.920
I'm somebody who fades into people's lives, fades

01:11:14.920 --> 01:11:17.239
out of people's lives, and there's people being

01:11:17.239 --> 01:11:20.600
employers as well. At some point, I'm going to

01:11:20.600 --> 01:11:22.479
have enough in the bank to say I'm going to take

01:11:22.619 --> 01:11:24.960
three or six months and just go ride. Do your

01:11:24.960 --> 01:11:29.060
thing. And I relish the fact that I can do that.

01:11:29.140 --> 01:11:32.439
I like the fact that I'm not tied to sort of

01:11:32.439 --> 01:11:34.460
a corporate position, a nine to five, where you

01:11:34.460 --> 01:11:37.239
get, you know, two weeks of vacation and these

01:11:37.239 --> 01:11:39.619
paid holidays, and that's not the lifestyle that

01:11:39.619 --> 01:11:42.739
I want. And the best part about it is that it

01:11:42.739 --> 01:11:44.819
wasn't like you woke up one day and went, I'm

01:11:44.819 --> 01:11:47.220
gonna do everything I can. So that, like, all

01:11:47.220 --> 01:11:49.399
of this kind... It didn't fall into place, because

01:11:49.399 --> 01:11:52.000
you've worked very hard, clearly. But look at

01:11:52.000 --> 01:11:54.560
what all the time you've been spending doing

01:11:54.560 --> 01:11:57.000
all these different things led you to here. And

01:11:57.000 --> 01:12:00.100
now you're self -sufficient and self -sustainable

01:12:00.100 --> 01:12:02.079
all on your own. And you're like, I don't have

01:12:02.079 --> 01:12:05.399
to answer to a boss. And you did it naturally.

01:12:06.020 --> 01:12:10.739
It just all came along that way. You know, you

01:12:10.739 --> 01:12:12.819
bet on yourself. And I learned this from the

01:12:12.819 --> 01:12:16.779
Dixie Chicks. I want that on a t -shirt. Everything

01:12:16.779 --> 01:12:18.520
I learned, I learned from the Dixie Chicks. You

01:12:18.520 --> 01:12:22.920
know, they had a... a documentary on their post

01:12:22.920 --> 01:12:25.060
George Bush comments. Oh, yeah. Called Shut Up

01:12:25.060 --> 01:12:27.619
and Sing. Yep. And they were talking about their

01:12:27.619 --> 01:12:30.060
touring life and, you know, the offers that they

01:12:30.060 --> 01:12:33.119
were getting, and they bet on themselves. And

01:12:33.119 --> 01:12:34.680
they clearly showed that they were betting on

01:12:34.680 --> 01:12:38.600
themselves. And I feel the same way. It's awesome.

01:12:38.659 --> 01:12:41.359
I will bet on myself every time. If I lose, so

01:12:41.359 --> 01:12:44.000
be it. But I feel like I'm going to win more

01:12:44.000 --> 01:12:47.180
than I lose. And that doesn't... I'd bet on you.

01:12:47.310 --> 01:12:49.909
I'd bet on you every time. You know, I think

01:12:49.909 --> 01:12:51.689
we need to have self -confidence. And I think

01:12:51.689 --> 01:12:54.449
there are ways to show that you are self -confident.

01:12:54.789 --> 01:12:57.069
And for me, if I want to go make a couple bucks

01:12:57.069 --> 01:12:59.470
and need more money, like, I can go drive Uber.

01:12:59.770 --> 01:13:02.590
Yep. I did that, too. Yeah. You know, and it

01:13:02.590 --> 01:13:04.829
pays well. If I need to take on more clients,

01:13:05.289 --> 01:13:07.409
I can do that. I've got the resume to do that.

01:13:08.149 --> 01:13:10.710
But I want to hang out. I want to, you know,

01:13:10.770 --> 01:13:13.420
see my kids. I want to watch some hockey. You

01:13:13.420 --> 01:13:15.460
know, and ride my bike. I want to race some triathlons.

01:13:15.779 --> 01:13:19.699
Um, I want to be that, that voice for younger

01:13:19.699 --> 01:13:22.840
individuals that, you know, need somebody to

01:13:22.840 --> 01:13:24.640
look up to. And that's the best part of social

01:13:24.640 --> 01:13:27.600
meet and sort of, I don't know if they're, they're

01:13:27.600 --> 01:13:29.039
closing thoughts, but they're, they're thoughts

01:13:29.039 --> 01:13:32.039
that, that mean a lot to me. You know, when I

01:13:32.039 --> 01:13:34.939
first got on social, it was sharing for my friend

01:13:34.939 --> 01:13:38.359
who had that injury, but it were, it was former

01:13:38.359 --> 01:13:40.640
military folks who had lost limbs that started

01:13:40.640 --> 01:13:42.720
to reach out via email and said, you know, The

01:13:42.720 --> 01:13:45.039
VA taught me how to hide my arm, but you're out

01:13:45.039 --> 01:13:47.800
here showing it off. Right. And, you know, I'm

01:13:47.800 --> 01:13:50.159
still seeing that today with the limb different

01:13:50.159 --> 01:13:52.840
community via TikTok because I've built a fairly

01:13:52.840 --> 01:13:55.539
good following. At 70 .3, again, we'll put it

01:13:55.539 --> 01:13:58.899
up on the screen. You know, when you can show

01:13:58.899 --> 01:14:02.819
off that you are competent and confident and,

01:14:03.060 --> 01:14:06.340
you know, you find a way to do everything, then,

01:14:06.699 --> 01:14:08.960
you know, that's meaningful. It's so meaningful.

01:14:08.979 --> 01:14:11.439
I share jokes about myself. I don't ever joke

01:14:11.439 --> 01:14:14.659
about others. But I like to show that I can do

01:14:14.659 --> 01:14:18.199
things as well. And that sort of balance makes

01:14:18.199 --> 01:14:20.460
for a fun time when you're creating. And as a

01:14:20.460 --> 01:14:22.479
content creator, I love that I'm not just doing

01:14:22.479 --> 01:14:28.159
one thing. You are so inspiring and hardworking.

01:14:28.800 --> 01:14:31.000
You're just a great guy. I'm so glad you've been

01:14:31.000 --> 01:14:34.720
on here. Before we go, if you could go back in

01:14:34.720 --> 01:14:38.659
time, or maybe even present day, one band that

01:14:38.659 --> 01:14:41.359
you could manage. What would be your dream band

01:14:41.359 --> 01:14:43.920
if you could go up like any band or artist in

01:14:43.920 --> 01:14:46.720
the world? I know that's a tough one. You can

01:14:46.720 --> 01:14:50.560
get back to me. No, I so I There's one person

01:14:50.560 --> 01:14:52.460
that I wish I would have managed and I had the

01:14:52.460 --> 01:14:55.939
opportunity to do that and that was a Jonah Matrango

01:14:55.939 --> 01:14:58.479
who is the frontman of far one -line drawing

01:14:58.479 --> 01:15:00.600
and he and I had conversations at one point and

01:15:00.600 --> 01:15:04.359
I've always loved his perspective on the world

01:15:04.359 --> 01:15:07.199
I love the fact that when he was pricing merchandise,

01:15:07.199 --> 01:15:11.369
it was a sliding scale You know and and I love

01:15:11.369 --> 01:15:13.529
the fact that when he was going on tour He would

01:15:13.529 --> 01:15:15.430
reach out to fans and say where should I play

01:15:15.430 --> 01:15:17.289
you know I can do a venue or I can do a house

01:15:17.289 --> 01:15:21.069
show you know and so he was very adaptable and

01:15:21.069 --> 01:15:24.270
You know I won't go into the the details of our

01:15:24.270 --> 01:15:27.590
conversations, but he was somebody as a college

01:15:27.590 --> 01:15:30.770
radio DJ though the record water and solutions

01:15:30.770 --> 01:15:35.229
by the band far was huge in my life and To have

01:15:35.229 --> 01:15:37.670
sort of progressed to the time where he and I

01:15:37.670 --> 01:15:40.199
were having conversations uh, about, you know,

01:15:40.340 --> 01:15:43.060
potentially doing some stuff together. Uh, that

01:15:43.060 --> 01:15:45.439
was pretty cool. And I, I, it wasn't the right

01:15:45.439 --> 01:15:48.720
time for me. I was still juggling way too many

01:15:48.720 --> 01:15:50.420
responsibilities and wouldn't have had the focus

01:15:50.420 --> 01:15:53.060
that he would have required. Uh, but I, I wish

01:15:53.060 --> 01:15:58.420
I would have managed him, um, sort of a secondary

01:15:58.420 --> 01:16:01.500
response. Uh, early on there was conversations

01:16:01.500 --> 01:16:04.539
of working with Ra Ra Riot. Oh yeah. And so I

01:16:04.539 --> 01:16:07.199
wish I would have jumped in. Um, Josh Roth did

01:16:07.199 --> 01:16:10.020
a He was managing them, but there was some conversations

01:16:10.020 --> 01:16:12.859
of potentially me releasing some of their music

01:16:12.859 --> 01:16:16.500
early on. Very, very early conversations, but

01:16:16.500 --> 01:16:19.039
I wish I would've jumped in with them a little

01:16:19.039 --> 01:16:23.659
bit more. I feel that I gotta get you out. I

01:16:23.659 --> 01:16:25.880
keep asking you questions, but just I'm fascinated.

01:16:26.720 --> 01:16:29.680
Absolute last question. I know it's impossible.

01:16:29.720 --> 01:16:31.579
It'd be ridiculous for me to sit here and say,

01:16:31.699 --> 01:16:35.420
where do you see the music business going? The

01:16:35.420 --> 01:16:37.359
way it's been trending, do you think there'll

01:16:37.359 --> 01:16:40.739
ever be a time when record labels don't even

01:16:40.739 --> 01:16:43.340
exist anymore? And are we getting there to where

01:16:43.340 --> 01:16:45.960
it's just gonna be individual artists and the

01:16:45.960 --> 01:16:47.640
team around them? I mean, it is like that in

01:16:47.640 --> 01:16:49.100
a lot of ways, but you still see there's your

01:16:49.100 --> 01:16:51.420
Sony records and things like that. Do you see

01:16:51.420 --> 01:16:53.460
it going that way? They're not gonna go away.

01:16:53.880 --> 01:16:56.220
But I do think we've seen this trend where it

01:16:56.220 --> 01:16:58.779
went from seven to six to five to four to three.

01:16:59.399 --> 01:17:02.640
Will we get past three? I don't think so. just

01:17:02.640 --> 01:17:06.340
because of antitrust types of rules. But we often

01:17:06.340 --> 01:17:09.880
see that there will be spinoffs. So if an imprint

01:17:09.880 --> 01:17:13.699
from a major label is not really being populated

01:17:13.699 --> 01:17:16.760
with artists, do you sell that as an asset because

01:17:16.760 --> 01:17:19.920
that label and that history has... The subsidiary

01:17:19.920 --> 01:17:22.800
of... But you spin it off completely and say,

01:17:23.199 --> 01:17:25.600
maybe we'll sell Electra Records, we'll sell

01:17:25.600 --> 01:17:27.619
one of the... I think that's going to continue

01:17:27.619 --> 01:17:30.880
to happen. More so what we are seeing are companies

01:17:30.880 --> 01:17:33.359
that aren't siloed in the sense that you're just

01:17:33.359 --> 01:17:36.920
a record label. Now, your rights come. That's

01:17:36.920 --> 01:17:39.020
right. You're going to own the master. You're

01:17:39.020 --> 01:17:40.899
going to own publishing. Maybe you've got some

01:17:40.899 --> 01:17:43.060
touring in place. You've got graphic designers

01:17:43.060 --> 01:17:45.399
there. You've got videographers. You've got photographers.

01:17:45.500 --> 01:17:47.640
You've got everything in house. And so I think

01:17:47.640 --> 01:17:49.880
we're seeing a lot more of that. If I was a band

01:17:49.880 --> 01:17:52.220
starting today, I want to be the center of the

01:17:52.220 --> 01:17:54.439
universe. I want everything to be built around

01:17:54.439 --> 01:17:56.920
me. You know, I don't want to use somebody else's

01:17:56.920 --> 01:18:01.050
money. I want to grow so that I can level up.

01:18:01.130 --> 01:18:03.390
And I'm starting with a videographer. That's

01:18:03.390 --> 01:18:04.930
the first person I'm hiring. Before a manager,

01:18:05.109 --> 01:18:06.569
I'm going to self -manage. I'm going to get somebody

01:18:06.569 --> 01:18:09.050
who's great at content, filming content, chopping

01:18:09.050 --> 01:18:12.029
up content. And then from there, yeah, then it's

01:18:12.029 --> 01:18:15.010
the manager, your agent, own your masters, own

01:18:15.010 --> 01:18:18.630
your publishing. God, that's so brilliant, Ulf,

01:18:18.770 --> 01:18:22.329
because you're right. I mean, today in 2025,

01:18:22.989 --> 01:18:26.170
it's funny, us being at the ages that we are

01:18:26.170 --> 01:18:29.579
to think that It would never be hire a videographer

01:18:29.579 --> 01:18:32.119
before a manager and a booking, but you're right,

01:18:32.380 --> 01:18:36.279
because you can organically grow with just an

01:18:36.279 --> 01:18:41.079
iPhone or a camera and start there and then build

01:18:41.079 --> 01:18:44.520
the rest. It's just, it's amazing. Ulf Osterly,

01:18:44.739 --> 01:18:48.140
Ulf, plugs, hit it up. What are we plugging?

01:18:48.199 --> 01:18:51.800
Let's get your TikTok, your After Dark Presents,

01:18:51.920 --> 01:18:54.180
let's do it. Yeah, so I mean, I think for any

01:18:54.180 --> 01:18:58.569
concert -related shows, go to After Dark Presents.

01:18:58.930 --> 01:19:00.630
We've got some really incredible shows. And for

01:19:00.630 --> 01:19:02.729
me, some full circle moments. I used to play

01:19:02.729 --> 01:19:04.390
Less Than Jake on the radio, and I'm getting

01:19:04.390 --> 01:19:06.310
to promote one of their shows. Oh, that's right.

01:19:06.529 --> 01:19:09.710
You're working with Less Than Jake. Was it Hawthorne

01:19:09.710 --> 01:19:11.590
Heights? So these are some of the shows that

01:19:11.590 --> 01:19:13.310
After Dark has. Yeah, Less Than Jake, Hawthorne

01:19:13.310 --> 01:19:16.930
Heights, Static X. For me, a unique one is Cold,

01:19:17.010 --> 01:19:19.630
because I worked on one of their initial campaigns

01:19:19.630 --> 01:19:22.369
25 years ago. And so now to have a show with

01:19:22.369 --> 01:19:25.770
them coming through. Did they have a song? I

01:19:25.770 --> 01:19:29.430
never meant to be so cold. Well, that's. No,

01:19:29.430 --> 01:19:31.250
that was I think that's CrossFit. That's CrossFit.

01:19:31.470 --> 01:19:33.649
Yeah. But but cold themselves, you know, they've

01:19:33.649 --> 01:19:35.689
had a tremendous career, lots of records and

01:19:35.689 --> 01:19:37.989
the fact that they're touring on a 25th anniversary

01:19:37.989 --> 01:19:39.909
and a 20th anniversary where they're playing

01:19:39.909 --> 01:19:43.210
these two records in their entirety. Stupid girl.

01:19:43.289 --> 01:19:45.029
Stupid girl. Yes. That's a big one. I've met

01:19:45.029 --> 01:19:47.090
them. They're a great band. They're incredible.

01:19:47.270 --> 01:19:50.670
Yes. I love that band. You know, so they they're

01:19:50.670 --> 01:19:54.289
one of them. Asking Alexandria. Yep. Thrilled

01:19:54.289 --> 01:19:56.239
about. you know, having them, they're playing

01:19:56.239 --> 01:19:58.460
Buffalo, Buffalo River Works. But yeah, lots

01:19:58.460 --> 01:19:59.939
of stuff that's happening out of the song and

01:19:59.939 --> 01:20:01.840
dance, including our emo night, Syracuse, which

01:20:01.840 --> 01:20:03.760
is sort of like the new hot emo night for me

01:20:03.760 --> 01:20:06.819
is amazing. Cause these are the songs that I

01:20:06.819 --> 01:20:09.279
really kind of grew up with in the scene. And

01:20:09.279 --> 01:20:12.579
to see like the 18 to 25 year olds out there

01:20:12.579 --> 01:20:15.140
just, you know, screaming to taking back Sunday

01:20:15.140 --> 01:20:18.079
is amazing. It's a really fun night. So, you

01:20:18.079 --> 01:20:20.779
know, those things I'll plug after dark. Absolutely.

01:20:21.659 --> 01:20:25.100
After Dark Presents .com. You know, O Records

01:20:25.100 --> 01:20:28.659
is A -U -X. Yeah, A -U -X Records .com. Not a

01:20:28.659 --> 01:20:30.260
whole lot happening there right now, but on the

01:20:30.260 --> 01:20:32.380
management side, O Management, A -U -X Management

01:20:32.380 --> 01:20:35.420
is still happening. 70 .3 for everything else

01:20:35.420 --> 01:20:38.279
on me. Yeah, at 70 .3. And also, the one thing

01:20:38.279 --> 01:20:42.060
I did forget, because you're amazing, is you

01:20:42.060 --> 01:20:46.489
also, what was it, you're... involved with music

01:20:46.489 --> 01:20:48.689
internships? Oh, yeah, I started working for

01:20:48.689 --> 01:20:50.630
Hofstra University. So, you know, that means...

01:20:50.630 --> 01:20:53.989
Add that to them. Yeah, my work brings me from

01:20:53.989 --> 01:20:56.689
Buffalo to Long Island. And I oversee music business

01:20:56.689 --> 01:20:59.489
internships for their program. And it's just

01:20:59.489 --> 01:21:01.630
a part -time gig, but it's a perfect one because

01:21:01.630 --> 01:21:04.010
I get to interact with students again, and then

01:21:04.010 --> 01:21:06.130
also the industry folks that I know and try to

01:21:06.130 --> 01:21:09.130
make some magic happen between placing students.

01:21:09.430 --> 01:21:11.350
Let me tell you something, man. First of all,

01:21:11.489 --> 01:21:13.189
thank you for your time and being here. Clearly,

01:21:13.270 --> 01:21:15.930
you're a busy man. It was great to connect with

01:21:15.930 --> 01:21:20.449
you again. And Dosekis, forget the guy that you

01:21:20.449 --> 01:21:22.029
have for the... This is the most interesting

01:21:22.029 --> 01:21:27.430
man in the world right here. Ulf Austerly, afterdarkpresents

01:21:27.430 --> 01:21:30.829
.com, orekkers .com, at 70 .3 on all social media.

01:21:30.949 --> 01:21:34.529
Dude, I love you. Best of luck. And let's do

01:21:34.529 --> 01:21:36.800
this again. Love to come through and talk more

01:21:36.800 --> 01:21:42.000
music. I would too. We will be back on Good News

01:21:42.000 --> 01:21:42.380
York.