[00:00.3]
What do you see with kids today as far as their ability to listen? Attention span, but also like value system has shifted a lot. There's a there's a scale of consumption versus creation. And when my consumption is too high, there's no creation.
[00:15.8]
We're on a track to where all of our thinking now is being prompted to be done for us. I've been asked three times to perform one of my original songs at a memorial service. I'm like, well, that's a creepy niche. All right. Welcome to Think Incursive.
[00:33.9]
I'm here with my buddy Russ McLaughlin, an Atlanta-based producer, father, husband, and an old buddy from Jammin' in the Bar Days. That's right. And thanks for coming and chatting with me, man. So happy to be here, man. Thanks for having me. What's cooking on your back burner right now? Man, all sorts of things.
[00:50.1]
I guess front of mind right now, I sort of shifted gears in COVID from. Just primarily performing music, to being a back end kind of guy, and so I opened a studio the summer of 2020, primarily focused on teaching private music lessons, group lessons.
[01:08.2]
I'd been doing so in other studio environments for years and years and years. And along the way, I always figured I would eventually open my own place. And every stop that I had, I would observe like these things are working really well. This is awesome. If it was my place, I would do this, that, and the other.
[01:25.1]
And so, flash forward to the summer of 2020 when everything was shut down, and I'd gone fully independent by then. But had gotten a need, or I'd gotten calls from friends who had been doing the same things and were reliant on places who were in a jam because they were like, "I've got people who need a place.
[01:43.9]
I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm I'm concerned about the future. I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills, this and that, whatever." And I was just like, "Hey, you know what? I've been thinking about opening a place." Seems like a good enough reason to go ahead and you know fast track that. So we opened the place and joined forces with some friends that I'd worked with at other spaces and they brought their students in.
[02:03.2]
And that's how Galaxy was born. Galaxy Music and Arts Academy. That's my that's my studio. Afternoons and evenings, private lessons, group classes, nights and weekends. We do a lot of like recording and stuff like that. Back end. You know things like of this nature. Like like I do a lot of different client projects where I'm composing audio, editing audio, mixing and All that sort of stuff.
[02:23.5]
In addition to resuming some of my old behaviors of of hitting the bar gig scene and playing weddings and party gigs and stuff like that. And actually my I told you a little bit about this off camera, but I recently reconnected with some bandmates that I went to music school with like almost 20 years ago, and we're all spread around.
[02:42.4]
Like the drummer is in Italy and the the main dude is in Utah. But we've been kind of collaborating remotely on some stuff and that's been that track. Yeah, sick. I love that class. I'm so sick. So yeah, you went to Berkeley. You got to rub shoulders with a lot of bright people.
[02:58.4]
That's right. You play many instruments. Correct. You teach. You're also the audiophile. You know how to mix, master, produce, capture the best out of people as such a unique skill in its own. I mean, you anybody can learn how to play an instrument, let alone go perform, but also to.
[03:17.1]
Draw that out of people is something that's really I've recorded I don't maybe seven or eight times sure and to see people that really can draw that out of you is it's a unique skill totally man like so I what's funny is I guess what the impetus for my journey specifically to Berkeley was I was I was looking for creative ways to be as self-sufficient as possible because early on I think you and I probably had a similar background in that we were both idealistic and just sort of dove straight into the deep end of the music thing and and knew that we were creative and knew we you know wore our hearts on our sleeves and wanted to figure out how to like capture that right and along the way I realized that it's a lot harder to do those things like I I only played one instrument at the time I was not much of a writer I was not much of a singer and I had zero concept of how to like record and stuff like that so little by little through like my own guerrilla warfare Style approach to doing it, like I started kind of figure out some things that worked and some things that maybe not so much, you know, on that front.
[04:19.0]
But arriving at that place, it was like, all right, cool. How can I, how can I crack this code to be as self-reliant as possible? Because I mean, I'm sure as you know, having been a band leader and having played with a bunch of different people, like life has a way of getting in the way, you know what I mean?
[04:35.6]
And and and being reliant upon other people to fulfill your own creative vision. can be really tough. Specifically, if you've got four or five, I know you you played with a band of of of numerous people, and when you got four, five, six personalities in a room, and I know that you in your particular faction, like you were the main guy, like if you have a certain vision and you're hell-bent on going in a certain direction, but the other three, four, five guys in the room are trying to do other things, you know what I mean?
[05:02.5]
Like things have a way of getting real tricky, you know, and so. Flash forward, I guess I could say through my experience, that was kind of the impetus for that was to try to figure out how I could be as multidisciplinary as possible for my own stuff. And then little by little, as I as I as I really began my my journey as a teacher, I started to see all those things really snap into a different focus as I was trying to communicate how to do these things to other people.
[05:29.0]
And so even like when you and I, you know, when we've worked on on Projects or like if I've been in a room like this one, I've gotten a really solid sense of what I think other people's vision is. And as a producer specifically, like if you came in and you're like, oh, I've got these songs and you play them for me, I'll have a real good idea of what I think it should be.
[05:46.6]
And the trick is to take what I think it probably could be or should be, and what you want it to be, and figure out how to marry those things as as quickly and as efficiently as possible to make sure that that vision gets realized. You know what I mean? It's kind of a an interesting answer to that question.
[06:02.2]
To be honest, I don't even remember what your original question was. Well, I was just talking about producing and drawing that magic out. You know, you're trying to capture lightning in a bottle, right? Totally. And unfortunately or fortunately, whatever. Sure. When we're expressing our art, we have such deep emotion attached to it.
[06:21.4]
And you know, I didn't realize this until the first time I went into the studio. Sure. And you hear yourself totally unedited. And you hear yourself totally raw. Oh yeah. And I mean it is soul crushing. Totally. It is soul crushing. Totally. I mean I remember looking at you know looking at it and and seeing how far off I was on my my rhythm or pitch or whatever it may be or you just you hear your worst bits amplified over and repeated over and over and over and it's an electron microscope that just zooms in on all those imperfections and there's no hiding from it.
[06:53.6]
No, right in the in live gigs in the bars or you know if you're in a backyard barbecue party or whatever, anything goes and it's really about the energy and the vibe. But you get in that studio environment and everything, the microscopic imperfections just get so blown up and it's it's intense man. Yeah and it's funny and all my artist friends they have to be hustlers right because you know we're in a a post Napster world oh yeah you know everybody has free music on their phone nobody wants to pay for music these days I was even seeing you know my kids have Tony's and I saw that Disney doesn't pay royalties they just get other people to record you know their tracks and that doesn't bother a lot of people right but as a somebody who collects royalties for music that I wrote and sure and published absolutely that is a stab in you know it's a stab in the back and yes it's it's a super cutthroat competitive world and I thought I had it made because I was able to scrape together like 50 grand a year as a musician I was like, I have made it, dude.
[07:50.6]
Rolling. I can actually pay my rent and eat, you know. You're doing it. Yeah. Granted, I ate mostly in bars, you know, but part of the compensation. Yeah. Yeah, I gotta tell you, making a living in real estate is far easier than music. And and I imagine there's a lot of opportunity for teaching as well.
[08:09.6]
And just being able to set down your own, I am reluctant to call it ego, but. I think there's an element. There's a little element of it, and I'm not saying art is art is egotistical or anything, but it is personal expression that other people identify with. At least that's the way I see it in this moment.
[08:26.9]
Totally open to it, but you know really we're all just trying to figure things out. Sure. And I don't know, people get really up in their feelings about how to classify and categorize, and you know we can be quick to be disagreeable or we can roll with things. And I feel like especially when you're trying to produce something with a lot of people in a band or make a Small business work where it's like you got four girlfriends trapped in a van.
[08:51.0]
It's a very tough thing. I I wish it's funny. I took some songwriting lessons from this killer songwriter out of Nashville, Ross King. Shout out if you're out there, buddy. Yeah. Praying for you. Great songwriter.
[09:06.2]
But I took the I never thought about songwriting lessons. And really, this was after. The old band was broken up. Sure. And it's funny because I took voice lessons and songwriting lessons after the band broke up and we were four years and 400 shows and really just went after it hard. Two records and then the the most impactful thing that I recall from that lesson was, you know, above all else, prioritize the songwriting experience with the other person.
[09:30.6]
Absolutely. Yeah, I think your relationship, cultivating a really solid relationship, creating a safe space. And one of my rules for entering a space like that, specifically with somebody that I'm not necessarily super familiar with, is to create a no-free zone.
[09:47.4]
Even if my instinct or my ego kicks in and is just like, oh, this is the worst. And like if we go this way, it'll be so much better. But like opening oneself to the idea that that something new and unfamiliar and maybe potentially dangerous, you know what I mean, could ultimately create something that you would have never thought of otherwise.
[10:06.3]
You know, and something you said a a moment ago when you were talking about teaching specifically, like I I would apply to the same being in the songwriting room, is actively and intently listening, and really listening. Because if you came to me with an idea and you were pitching something, you're like, I have this idea for this thing or whatever.
[10:23.4]
If I'm just waiting for you to stop talking so that I can inject my own thing, I've missed everything you're trying to say. But if I'm sitting there hanging on every word and you're you're Like, I've got this idea. I think this thing. I'm not really sure how to get there. As you're saying it, my brain's going to be spinning going. I think I know how to fill in those gaps.
[10:39.5]
I think I know what it is you're trying to say. And what if we try this to get you to that spot? You know, I mean, you're here. You're trying to get there. Not really sure how to do it. What if we try this thing first and then go or whatever? And man, and I can't tell you how many times so many magic moments have come out of opportunities like that or are opportunities that have been created out of moments like that.
[10:59.9]
Where I had zero expectation that anything was going to pop off that way, and then next thing I know, we're in a space that I would have never in a million years anticipated, because then all of a sudden it just sort of happened that way. And I think that if you can open yourself to, or I guess cut the cut the the safety net from underneath you, and just be willing to just go, and you'd be surprised what you find.
[11:21.7]
You know, it's pretty cool. Talking about listening and not just. Being ready to interject your thoughts, just waiting for the other person to stop talking. I feel like that's the bulk of human, you know, communication right there. Totally. How, especially because you are teaching, and you got the next generation of musicians and whatnot coming up.
[11:38.1]
Totally. What do you see with kids today as far as their ability to listen and focus long term, dude? I, that's a loaded question. I have so many answers. What's funny is one of my students that I saw last night actually, he's been with me for a long time, and I've actually, he's been my student since he was like 12-ish and I think he just turned 20.
[11:55.3]
And when he first came to me, like he was already somewhat accomplished mechanically as a guitar player. Like he had some chops and he could do some stuff. But one of the things that has been a challenge for us in our time together, and Zach, if you're watching this, I am talking about you. But he like one of our big lessons that we have come back to constantly throughout our time together has been specifically that is that he likes to speak whether that's with his mouth or with his His playing, and he'll ask me a question and literally while I am in the process of getting to the crux of the answer of the thing that's going to change his life, I can see him going, "Okay, wait, but you know, let me let me talk again." Like, yeah, yeah, okay, but yeah, okay, but and it's like if you can get over that and if you can really train yourself to just sit there, close this, open these, and let this soak it all in, like you'd be surprised.
[12:48.9]
And little by little, like and we talk like Probably at least once every couple of weeks, something to that effect will come up. And he he identified it because he himself started teaching kids. Like he's he got a teaching job. He still takes from me, but he's he's teaching like beginners now. And that's one of the things he brought up yesterday.
[13:05.4]
He was like, dude, he's like the thing you've been saying. He's like this listening thing. He's like, it drives me nuts when somebody will ask me a question and I'm trying to give them the answer and they I can see them not listening or I can see them not being responsive or whatever and those kind of float away and I'm just like That's the thing. But then the other thing you asked about kids these days.
[13:23.4]
I've noticed over the last small handful of years, attention span, but also like value system has shifted a lot. So you and I are the same age. You know, growing up, like listening to guys like I mean I don't I I don't know if we've talked about our collective influences, but I was listening to like Dave Matthews.
[13:39.4]
I was listening to 311, like bands that I absolutely loved, and I. Obsessed over the music that I was super into, like I couldn't stop listening. From like 1993 was somebody handed me a Dave Matthews cassette tape. One of my neighbors, she was like, "I don't really like this, but I think you'll like it." And I was obsessed, could not stop listening.
[13:57.9]
I would just I would hit rewind and just play satellite or whatever song over and over and over and over again. Couldn't stop listening to it, and I wanted to just swim in it and and and get lost in it. I didn't know it at the time, but I wanted. To analyze every single element of it, so not only that I could understand it, to do it, you know, I wanted to learn the how, but then I I wanted to also understand the why.
[14:22.9]
Why does this make me feel the way that it does? What is it about the words or the melody or what he's doing with the instruments that affect me so deeply, right? Like I gotta know why, and so I I've spent my life in pursuit of that why, first and foremost.
[14:38.5]
But when I ask those kinds of questions to younger students who are like middle school or high school or even some that are like early college, late teens, early 20s, when I ask them kind of questions about that, like what are you into? What do you like? Have how do you how are you thinking about things? How are you feeling about things? I don't get a lot of the same responses.
[14:53.6]
I know people that are really passionate about like Minecraft and Marvel movies and stuff like that, but when it comes to music, I've noticed for the most part there's definitely a disconnect with a lot of younger people, which I find fascinating because like I said, starting at like 9, 10 years old, I was hooked.
[15:09.2]
That was it for me. I knew music was my life. I didn't know necessarily at the time that I would be doing it for a job. You know what I mean? Like in my 40s now. So I'm curious how the next few years, specifically now with like AI and stuff like that, kind of entering this space, because you mentioned being in a post-napster world.
[15:26.6]
I think being in a post-napster world impacted how people consume music and therefore impacted how people. were presented with it. You and I got so lucky, man. I I tell people this all the time. I don't mean to go on another tangent about this, but I feel like you and I were so fortunate to grow up when we did because radio was king, MTV was everything, VH1, like they were the tastemakers and they were letting us know what was happening.
[15:50.7]
But everybody was in competition for such a small number of spots that everybody had to be good, and like good was so good, but they were all trying to outdo one another. With content or with flair or proficiency or whatever, but all of it, I feel like for the most part was an all-time high.
[16:09.9]
Even the stuff that we didn't like, like the Backstreet Boys or N-Sync or whatever, I always turned my nose up at it. But like when you go back and listen to the Goo Goo Dolls or bands like that, apologies to anybody who might love all this music. But as a kid, I turned my nose up at some of that stuff. You know what I mean? Like as a punk, you know, anti-establishment type or whatever.
[16:27.5]
But going back to listen to so much of that material that I wasn't a fan of as a kid, I'm still like. It was still good. I don't care if you didn't like it. It was still good. Every by every metric, it was good, you know. And so I feel like in that post-Napster world, MTV is gone now. I think I think MTV is like officially out of the music business.
[16:45.7]
I don't even know. I think it's still a network, but they don't do music anymore, you know. And so the way that people are presented with things has has changed irreversibly, and because the scarcity. Of music made us appreciate it that much more. So now with the all the the entire library of the history of the world at your thumbtips at all moments of the day, like how has that impacted, you know what I mean, things for the our current young people and and and beyond, like that with the advent of AI generators and stuff, kind of starting to infiltrate the space.
[17:19.7]
I'm curious what that's going to look like for middle schoolers and high schoolers. Over the next couple of years, you hit on something earlier as far as we were limited with what we could consume. Right. And something that I remind myself often whenever I'm starting to feel not like myself is there is a binary scale or whatever.
[17:40.0]
There's a there's a scale of consumption versus creation. And when my consumption is too high, yeah, there's no creation. And I have to throttle back what I'm consuming to make space for creation because. Creation, whatever form it it takes, it's greedy.
[17:56.3]
It needs space. Totally. You know, and I would love to see the statistics on how many records are being put out today versus, you know, yeah, 20 years ago. Because the creation, there's so much available to to consume and people are just creating in their sleep with algorithms and AI stuff and and frankly some of that AI stuff is pretty cool.
[18:17.5]
I'm not gonna lie. Totally. There's one like the soul version of Lightning Crashes which is AI generated. I'm like, man, this song is so good. I wish it was real. Yeah, but it slaps, man. Dude, I I saw somebody sent me recently. There's a girl, some sort of social media influencer type, but she did like a funk version of an Alanis Morissette song and she was like, I think it was ironic.
[18:39.1]
She's like, this is ironic, but if it was funk, and dude, it was crazy. Like I would have never thought to repurpose that song in that fashion and it was. Fabulous. It was sick, dude. And I was just like, dude, like this. I mean, that's that's where we are right now. Like something I I I want to respond to really quickly too.
[18:55.3]
You mentioned like the the ratio of consumption versus creation. Part of the reason why bands like Muse, other stuff that was coming out around between 07 and 2010, and even further along than that, there's bands that were like some of the biggest bands in the world at that time.
[19:12.6]
I never even heard of their stuff. Mumford and Sons, like I mean, I'd heard a couple of songs here and there, but never listened to any other stuff because when they were coming out and when they were a big deal, I was completely immersed at school. First off, I was studying and I didn't have much time to do much else, but like I was completely involved in what I was creating and in my own stuff.
[19:31.0]
And when I was writing like that, the only music that I would listen to would be voice memos on my phone of songs I was writing and working on for years, like years. Like that's it because whenever I would listen to other stuff. I felt like it would adversely impact some of what I was working on.
[19:46.6]
If I was working on a song and trying to finish, it was like that you know a 2,000 piece puzzle. You're trying to find that one piece that's missing. Like that thing, if I put something else on, it might I'd be so close to it and then it would be like, oh no, go over here in my ADHD brain.
[20:03.2]
Like would not be capable of of segmenting those themes apart or whatever. So for years, I was like not listening to pop radio. I wasn't listening to music at all. Like it was just what. I was completely doing, and I'll say like during that period, that was the most prolific creative period of my entire career.
[20:21.0]
Like again, a solid handful of years where like it was just that. And I might have asked you this before as a side note, but I got to the point where with gigs, when I was playing so often, I would drive home like to or from gigs in silence. Do you ever do that?
[20:36.2]
Do you ever drive in silence? Almost all the time. Totally, dude. And especially now with all the stuff you got going on and stuff like that. But like that, that was such a weird moment for me too, because my entire life, dude, I used to have spools of CDs in my car and I had the little things and I would just have CDs, music on constantly as loud as I could stand it, always.
[20:54.7]
But then when I got in the throes of like that creative mechanism, like when I was at my most prolific writing, like I was at a point where I was writing like a couple songs a day. Every day for years, right? And was just constantly spinning stuff and just constantly going. And to that end, like there wasn't time for anything else.
[21:12.0]
There wasn't space for anything else up here because anything else that I would try to put up here, I felt like became a distraction, you know, or whatever. Anyways, I didn't mean to go on a giant tangent about that, but those were a couple of things that I found to be fascinating in my own journey. And I'm curious if people are either or like younger people specifically if they're going to have.
[21:31.0]
Those kinds of experiences, because there's no excuse to be bored anymore, ever, especially with the E's and with the E's and with the E. Why write? Why wonder? Why dream? Yeah, that's it. Totally. And and you know, guys like you and me, I think we're the last generation that we went out in the yard and played with sticks.
[21:47.3]
You know what I mean? Like we had to dream. Like that's what we did. I mean, we had Nintendo, we had stuff like that, you know. But like I feel like what I'm really trying to impose on my own kids is to unplug us as often as. Possible and to go lay in the grass and look at the clouds and what does that one look like oh that one yeah cool that does look like ice cream that one looks like a dragon that's cool or whatever like getting you know what I mean back into an analog driven mindset you know what I mean to unplug in hopes of feeding that creative mechanism because we're we're on a track to where all of our thinking now is being prompted to be done for us you know what I mean in a lot of ways and I'm curious to see how all of Music specifically, but all creative endeavors are going to be impacted by that.
[22:30.2]
It's wild to see how effective a device is at completely sucking the soul out of your kid, right? Right. You know, my three-year-old, you know, she really doesn't watch screen time. Maybe maybe once a week we'll use it. And no, we just did a 10-hour drive with no screen time and I wouldn't recommend it.
[22:49.7]
No, but for a three-year-old. Well, three and a 10-month-old, but yeah. But we survived. Good for you. Mostly intact, but you know she did it and she had a Tony box. She was listening and she was listening to stories and making up stories too.
[23:05.7]
Because when the Tony box dies, then then what? You become more creative. That's right. Yeah and that's the whole idea of listening. I feel like it's such a rare thing. I tell you man, we met when I was playing with the Deadfields. Drumming, singing, really learning to be a harmony singer, learning to be a songwriter from these guys.
[23:23.3]
Everybody in the band had been a lead singer, so in that group, I really wasn't, you know, front and center, but it it was a good group. Good group. There's a lot of good memories in there, a lot of painful lessons in there, but at the same time, so much development and honestly just a a wonderfully selfish section of my life that I really can say I went at it hard.
[23:42.8]
You know, we we I booked 400 shows with that band. That's a lot of guests. And got to a point where became becoming a writer was my identity. I didn't feel guilty about taking a day off to just go chase the passion.
[23:58.5]
When I jumped back into you know the the band was starting to fall apart. I married a bartender, art school dropout. That marriage didn't last. No surprise. As the band was falling apart, I felt financial pressure to take a a call or take a gig.
[24:13.6]
Sure. That wasn't the band, and that's when I went and worked for the home builder and I recruiter called me and said, "Hey you want to interview for this accounting manager job?" And I'm like, "No, no. I'm an artist." My heart says no, but my my pocketbook says otherwise.
[24:28.7]
Well, they said, "Yeah, well the salary's like 70k plus a 10%. I'm like, yeah, well if I get fired after six months, yeah, that's not bad cash. That's right. After living on the road, right? That's right. So I did it and then I had to put on that hat again. And we, you know, it wasn't even that long after we put out the second record and here I am back in corporate America trying to trying to blend in with all these sheep.
[24:51.8]
Feeling like an outcast. Yeah. Right. The black sheep. Almost trying to like tuck in my artist. Right. And that's been the story of my my my working career. Sure. But it's funny how much identity I got from being a songwriter and having that expression now.
[25:07.9]
Now I know when you're first tapping into that expression, it's like your your little baby kitty, you know, like it's so precious. That's right. And any little bump, anytime somebody wants to bump in or or critique or or touch your kitty, you know, lay off your. It hurts. You're like, hey, that's right.
[25:23.0]
You know, that's right. But now that I've developed my own outlets, my own creativity, I've really fallen into my own identity. Sure. Which it turns out isn't just being a songwriter. That's right. I like to talk. It's here we are. We're thinking in cursive. You know, well, it became such it became so important to get over my fear of singing.
[25:42.5]
And then eventually, I was like, well, I I can't play multiple instruments. I was a drummer. Sure. So I couldn't really lead my own gigs and supplement my income. All my income was forced through the band, which is why they we booked so many gigs. Sure. Because I needed to eat. That's right. But once I got over the fear, learned how to you know do my own gigs, lead from guitar, actually sing lead.
[26:01.5]
Sure. All that. And then I put out some EPs. It's funny because after I went through all of this, you know, cathartic release and overcoming my fears and all this stuff, and I finally got to where I could draw a small group of people that love me, really, and they don't love me for the music.
[26:18.1]
I realized sure they're there because they love me. Is it unconditionally? Yeah, they're there for you. It's it's like they love me in spite of my music, you know. Yeah, for sure. So when I realized that I had an album release in downtown Roswell. Yeah. It was the best gig of my life, I told you, and it all of a sudden it just popped the balloon with me wanting to do any bar gigs because I was like, I would rather do one of these a year.
[26:39.5]
That's right. Than you know three or four hundred bar gigs. Once you've been to the top of the mountain, it's real hard to just be chilling at the at the bottom. Yeah. Yeah. And then also once I got command of the mic, yeah, I really wanted to evaluate what I was going to say in case anybody's listening.
[26:55.2]
Oh yeah. Because really, you know, I put out records and a lot of it is just cathartic, like me processing stuff. Sure. You know, heartbreak songs, you know, are great for getting through a you know, a broken marriage or whatever. Totally. The blues are great. I love the blues. The blues are always cool. Always.
[27:10.6]
But when you start to get out of that phase of life and now I'm in kids and stuff, like, well, I'm not out there singing the blues whiskey. Like, that's not my season of life right now. I'm not feeling that anymore. I'm not that person. I'm not that person. So it's. Now that I yeah I'm a different person which I feel like I'm like on my sixth lifetime already I've had so many careers and totally and that's the beauty of being an artist you can you can reinvent yourself every single day totally and it's just it's just interesting because focusing on listening it's like well if I can actually speak and people will actually listen what am I going to say totally and for me you know faith comes into a big part of that it's like well the only thing that we can really take with us if we're lucky are The people we go into heaven with.
[27:51.4]
Sure. You know, so all of this is temporary. Sure. And for me, getting a bunch of people to pay money for my artistry all of a sudden became less important versus, well, okay, if I can take care of my family, if I can do this and this and this, but be home more, it just became less important.
[28:09.8]
And granted, I love playing music, man. It's so good. But but I I can get the same. The same high from having a stimulating conversation or telling a joke at the right time or whatever. When you got a good joke that hits, yeah man. I'm leaving. That's it. Yeah, it's like go out on a high note.
[28:24.9]
That's a there's nothing better than that and totally. That's why I started to just hold on loosely to my identity as a musician. It's like well, there's a whole lot more there than just singing and playing guitar or whatever. But I don't know. It's interesting because all of those things require someone to listen.
[28:43.4]
Totally. You know, and we're all so distracted. Totally. So how do you combat that endless distraction? I mean, you you run a, you know, you're playing in multiple bands. You're running a studio. You're teaching. You got and you got little kids. Got a couple. Yeah. How are you doing that?
[29:00.2]
How do you stay grounded? What makes Russ feel like Russ? You know what, man? It's so funny. I was having a conversation with another buddy recently who was also in the throes of parenthood, has a couple young ones, and somebody I used to play music with. And honestly, dude, like that's I often feel like I my the majority of my life is a masquerade, right?
[29:21.9]
And I wear different masks throughout the day, right? Got my my my my business owner and you know music guy and studio guy and teacher and even you know mom dad you know parent whatever like I'm I'm throwing on different masks and at the end of the day, that dude.
[29:38.3]
Who just sits down and picks up his guitar and etches some stuff in the book. That's him. That that guy's never gone away. Like that's always been me. That's always that will always be me. You know what I mean? And I've stacked a lot of personalities on top of him. And when I get a moment to sit down and even just jot a few things down or try to arrive in some sort of musical flow state, that's the real me.
[29:57.2]
And that will always be the real me. And I've gone through a couple of seasons of life where we've been estranged, me and that version of me. I I feel very fortunate to be kind of. Tapping him on the shoulder from time to time to wake him back up to get back to work as of late, which has been awesome.
[30:12.7]
And so there's there's pros and cons. Cause to your point, like I've got so many other things specifically with two young kids that are so much more important than anything else right now. And like I, if I'm gone for a couple days, especially if I'm doing travel dates or whatever, when I get back home, or you know, because I keep strange hours, especially if I've got like a recording engagement where I'm going like last night, for instance, I was at the studio until.
[30:34.9]
4 in the morning. You know what I mean? Like, so there are times when I walk outside in the morning to see my kids, and they have visibly grown. They have physically changed since last I saw them. You know what I mean? It's only been a day or two, but like they are different, and it's crazy. And like stuff like that, I am I am present enough to understand that like that phase of life is temporary.
[30:57.7]
And so I'm doing everything I can to be as present as possible in that to soak up as much of that as possible. Cause I also know as a quick aside that you know I got 5, 10, 12 years until they're like, all right, see you mom and dad. We're I'm going to the mall or whatever the the you know the 2040 version of the mall is going to be.
[31:14.6]
You know what I mean? Like when kids want to go and do their own thing and not necessarily hang out with mom and dad. So I'm trying to soak up as much of that time as possible. But something else that you said a second ago that I I I wanted to respond to in terms of listening and how our words carry weight.
[31:29.9]
And power. So I was in Nashville a couple years ago, doing some gigs, and I had lunch with a student who had gone to Vanderbilt. And he I hit him up, was like, "Hey man, I'm in town. What's up?" He's like, "Oh, dude." He's like, "I'd love to have lunch. Let's get together, whatever." Got kind of got a little snacks, and we were just catching up or whatever. And he was just like, "Hey man, I just need you to know that this one time you said this one thing to me that changed my life." He's like, "I think about it all the time and this and that, whatever." And I was sitting there and I was overwhelmed by the moment because he like.
[31:57.8]
He was like, "I just need you to understand that this thing that you said to me was so important and it happened at this critical time." And I had a moment where I was just like, "I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't remember saying that, dude. I don't remember that moment. I don't know what you're talking about." And I felt overwhelmed by how impactful that moment was on him.
[32:15.6]
And that stuck with me because what I took from that is that our words have so much power, and if we're just Talking out of our butt, if we're just saying things off the cuff without any sort of intention, the things we say will imprint upon people, especially if it's a teacher-student or a father-to-child or even if it's like client relations or whatever.
[32:37.3]
If you're speaking as the authority figure to somebody who is taking your word as gospel, it's such a delicate and high intensity kind of position to be in, because literally with this guy, and it had been Three, four, five years since I'd seen him, but that thing that I said to him, to what he said to me, it changed his trajectory.
[32:58.1]
It made him think about things differently. He chose the path he was on, in part because of the conversation we had that I didn't even remember. Ever since then, whenever I'm having any level of what I feel like is an impactful conversation or reaching a moment of impact, especially with the younger person, or even my friends, like if somebody's going through something and we're talking about what they're going through or whatever.
[33:19.5]
I'm a lot more guarded. I I don't know if guarded is the right word, but I'm certainly a lot more sensitive to the matter and a lot more intentional about how I'm saying what I'm saying, because I've also understood that I've can have a tendency to be very casual with sometimes the things I say or how I say what I say.
[33:41.4]
And so that for me was a very sobering moment in time to say, "All right, man, you've got to be very thoughtful." And very cognizant of like what's happening and how it's happening because these things can potentially have very lasting. A comment that for me was probably just off the cuff. I was probably just riffing and that thing had a lasting impact on that dude.
[34:00.9]
And thankfully, I mean, he's graduated from Vanderbilt. He's traveling the world now. He's doing awesome. Shout out to Connor. How's it going, man? If you're watching this, cheers. That for me was such a turning point in my life as like an authority type.
[34:16.4]
Figure, and I'll never forget that. Isn't that the best when somebody says you did this thing? Yeah. And totally rocked my world in the best kind of way. Totally. And you don't even remember it. Totally. That's awesome. Cool. I'm glad that it wasn't the opposite. Yeah. I'm glad it didn't dissuade you from like you know pursuing your passion.
[34:34.3]
You know, so there's a local band here, Run Katy Run. Yeah. And you know those guys well. I met I met Kate when she first moved to Atlanta from New York. Yeah. And She and I've known her, you know, just off and on over the years. Just kind of bumped into her from show to show, and I bumped into her maybe, I don't know, eight years ago or something.
[34:52.9]
Yeah. And she was playing lead guitar. Yep. And she used to only play acoustic. Right. And I said, "You sound good on that electric, you know, electric guitar is a lot different than an acoustic guitar." Yeah. And she said, "You know, Brandon, you set me on this trajectory." She said, "When we talked about it." We talked about playing electric guitar and how intimidating it was, and apparently I said, "Well, I mean, if you start now in 10 years, you're going to be able to play anything that Susan Tadeshi can play.
[35:20.2]
That's right. Right? And that clicked with her, and now she plays electric all the time. That's great. And I don't remember saying it. I don't at all, but and off the cuff, isn't that the best feeling? Like totally. Yeah, totally. Yeah, you can just kind of sprinkle in some motivation unintentionally. Sure. Yeah, well, it does have power, man.
[35:36.0]
And I was just saying with her specifically, I understand that she's had a lineup change. Because when I first met her, she had a built-in guitar player, and I believe that she's since become her own guitar player as I understand it. And the idea that you were the catalyst to get to give her that kick in the buns to get that ball rolling a little bit, it's pretty awesome, man.
[35:54.2]
Well, I wouldn't credit myself, sure, but I'm definitely a talker. Sure. So, sober-tongued devil. I'm just I'm just proud of her. That's great. She's cool. She's crushing it too. I haven't talked to her specifically like in a while, but like I've I I'm on her mailing list. I get their updates and stuff like that.
[36:09.3]
And she's apparently doing super duper well, which is great. Yeah, whoever wants to go check out Run Katie Run. Run Katie Run, yeah, she's got an amazing voice, and she's a great player too, man. And big harmony band, yeah. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. It's awesome. Let me ask you this: in terms of listening, and also, I mean, gosh, it's so hard to be playful in music when it's a career.
[36:29.7]
Sure. Right? Like, sure. Nothing can suck the fun out of music like having to do it six days a week. Sure. How do you how do you stay playful and also how do you teach your kids to play and listen? I mean, I when it comes to the kids, I'll answer that part first.
[36:46.2]
I so I grew up in a house so I grew up playing sports. I I was I was the black sheep when I when music took over because nobody in my household had ever done that pursuit more than just like a very basic level hobby. But I grew up playing sports and a lot of my time baseball was my was my chief sport and my dad was my coach for a lot of years.
[37:05.3]
And and he had been a very successful coach, and our teams were doing really well. And being the coach's kid, I don't know if you ever had a situ- I know you played sports. I don't know if you ever had the father-son kind of situation. But like, I remember playing with some squads where the coach's kid was always kind of the loafer and would get the benefit of certain things because he was the coach's kid or whatever.
[37:26.1]
So I was motivated by that because I never wanted that. I never wanted to. I never wanted people to perceive. Anything like that about me that if I was having any degree of success it was because I was getting tapped as the coach's kid so it was an it you know that had me working super duper hard at every element of my craft starting at like seven years old by the way I was a kid and I was like going to the batting cages five six days a week and I loved it but it was important to me to be good at that thing because I was competitive first off but I also didn't ever want anybody to think that I was You know, making moves because I was the coach's son.
[38:01.9]
To that end too, I also caught the most vitriol from the coach. Like he got onto me the hardest than he would anybody else. I was trying to be I was trying to think of the words to say that on a podcast, but you know, but being very cognizant of that, as I got to be a little bit older, our relationship was somewhat splintered because by the time I was like a senior in high school.
[38:25.9]
We had a real we had a a sit down of a consequential sit down where hit I'll I'll paraphrase but his words were that I needed to to cut all the arts the artistic things I was doing because I was at the time I was in theater I was doing plays and stuff like that and I was improvising I was doing a lot of improv stuff and I was playing music and these were things I was very passionate about I was super interested in I was I felt like I was doing pretty well and and felt like it was a thing I was taking naturally naturally to and was Kind of diving into the headspace of how to get better at those things while also still playing sports year round.
[38:58.4]
And our conversation was, you need to quit all these distractions and focus on what's important, which is baseball. And my perspective at the time was that like, if you can't understand why these things are important to me, then like you don't understand me. I'm going to quit playing baseball. You know, give you the the the bird while doing it and ha ha ha to focus on these things.
[39:18.0]
And for better or worse, like that's end up that. Is what I ended up doing and looking back on it, I certainly regret leaving when I did and and I miss playing sports and I'm aged out now of course and because a lot of the dudes that I was playing with at the time ultimately ended up getting drafted and some of whom played for the Braves for a number of years you know what I mean and it was it was a thing where I was just like oh what if you know but my point in going to that part of that conversation was the work ethic that I got that was instilled from my dad.
[39:46.9]
Being a tough coach of me, or something that I value to this day and was super important, but we had a splintered relationship because of it. You know what I mean? And it impacted our ability to communicate and stuff like that. And so I'm cognizant of that now with my kids because I, whatever they decide to do, I'm going to encourage them to try to be their absolute best at that thing.
[40:06.9]
And whether that's playing sports or doing something artistically or scientifically or whatever, like whatever you're gonna do. Figure out how to be your best at it, and I'm going to encourage them to do that because people ask me all the time, like, "Oh, are they playing music? Are they doing sports? Whatever." And I'll start to kind of tease them with, like, "Here's this thing, here's that thing, whatever." And they'll kind of take a look at it and be like, "All right, whatever." But my oldest is almost five, and he just played T-ball, and it was hilarious.
[40:31.6]
But little by little, we start to pepper in, like, "Hey man, let's go throw the ball around." And he's kind of like, whatever." And I'm kind of still get letting him get off the hook, you know, a little bit with it, but. As he gets a little bit older, I'm turning up the heat a little bit. His little sister wants to be just like him, so anytime she sees me doing anything specifically with him, she's like, "Well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do it too." And so she's into throwing the ball and hitting, you know, and stuff like that.
[40:53.7]
So music, I'm gonna probably pepper in the same kind of way and just dangle it, you know, and pepper it in a little bit. And if they take to it, then I'll start to kind of be a little bit more helicopter about it and and try to get them to, you know, to do their thing. But you know, switching gears from my kids to like students.
[41:10.5]
I try to figure out where their interests are. What are your goals? What do you want to do? Do you want to be a songwriter? Do you want to play Van Halen songs or do you want to play keyboard? Do you want to play Mozart? You know, do you want to do these things? Cool. If that's what you find interesting, let's figure out a pathway to get from where you are to where you want to be.
[41:27.5]
Music, as you know, is hard. You know, it's a hard lifestyle and it's really easy for music to feel like work. Specifically with a lot of the gigs, even nowadays that I take on, like they're not passion projects. You know what I mean? They are to fulfill either the bottom line or to cultivate another opportunity down the road or whatever.
[41:47.8]
And so I still will kind of find balance between a lot of those things. Gigs that pay decently well, but are just like the same songs and the same environment, the same kind of thing that I'm just like, you know what I mean? Like it's not why I signed up, but I got mouths to feed. I got a bottom line to meet.
[42:03.1]
And so like. I try to trade quantity for quality gigs as best I can. Cause again, when you and I first met, I was playing 200, 250 shows a year, you know, for a couple hundred bucks a night or whatever. Did not care because all I wanted to do was play. Because in a lot of those environments, it allowed me to express myself.
[42:21.2]
It allowed me to write new songs. And when I was playing with a band, we were like working on new material and figuring out how to be a band and interacting with the people and building a little bit of a buzz or whatever. Obviously, that was a few lifetimes ago, and anything pre-COVID, you know, I think you said you felt like you've been through six lifetimes.
[42:37.3]
I can't even fathom, you know what I mean, like how many lifetimes ago 2012 even was, you know what I mean. Anyways, but yeah, so I I try to make everything as fun as possible for every person that comes at my door and that says, "Hey, I want to learn how to do this thing." Cool, what makes you tick?
[42:54.0]
Like, what do you like? What don't you like? What you know, what do you find interesting? And I try to maximize the fun while like very sly, you know what I mean, being very coy about peppering in the educational element. Cause some people don't want to like learn, you know what I mean, like they want to get better at it, but like the learning part when it feels like school, they kind of detach from it.
[43:15.1]
So as best I can, I try to infuse fun and learning. I don't want to impose the learning. I want it to be a natural thing that they're like, oh, wait a second, this is a lot easier now and it's way more. Fun because it's easier. It's like, well, because you're learning how to do it, man. No, anyways. Yeah, that reminds me of a meme I just saw.
[43:31.8]
Somebody, somebody categorized it as a type one fun and type two fun. Have you seen that? No, I haven't seen that, but that's great. Yeah, you know, and it's like those that grind of gigs and yeah, to where I went through a season where I was playing yeah a couple hundred shows a year.
[43:47.3]
Right. Looking back, I remember how smooth my chops were. Right. I mean, just how. Fluid everything was. Totally. It feels effortless. The efficiency is intoxicating. However, it's that type 2 fun. You know, you it's fun in retrospect, right? But in the moment, it's a grind.
[44:03.2]
And totally. I don't know, man. I I feels like today people are so performance focused that they're not making any room for fun. And that to me, it's it's funny. I heard somebody say the other day, like, why no?
[44:19.4]
I know who I am. I'm good at singing. I'm good at dancing. I'm good at drawing. And I said, "Well, all of those are performance metrics. Like, what do you enjoy doing?" Because really, the enjoyment is what brings the proficiency. Totally. Right? And and really, like nobody cares.
[44:35.8]
Nobody cares how good you are. It's true. And we're all gonna die anyway. It's true. So like what you know like what brings you joy? And I don't know. Maybe it's because you know I've got daughters and yep. I'm in this place of life where I'm just so enchanted by a little small mind finding so much enjoyment of catching fireflies for the first time.
[44:55.6]
We did that this past weekend. That's the good stuff. And it's like, you know, does the world need one more like heartbreak song as much as kids need to chase fireflies? That's right. That's right. Which one is truly magical? Because you can feign magic with your little thing and it'd probably be a good tune, but like watching that experience unfold in real time.
[45:14.5]
That's irreplaceable, yeah. Absolutely, yeah. That's the that's the thing that's that's making me tick right now. It's just realizing how much of art, music, everything is just it's in a moment. Yeah. And we're all just chasing that moment. Totally. And it's fun, you know.
[45:30.9]
So so for work, you know, I'm I'm in real estate. I help people buy and sell houses. I flip houses and create do creative financing with with you know development projects and whatnot. But I get to experience a side of people that very rarely is shown because there's always a lot of dollars behind the transaction.
[45:50.3]
So I get to watch every single person express their fears in different ways. Oh yeah. And I've done like 400 transactions, so I've had a lot of repetition going through this psychological process. And we all have hangups and we all express our fear in in different ways.
[46:08.9]
And it's so funny because. I know mine and mine I think I can like I've been through so much freaking therapy I've had a messed up childhood I didn't have those dad experiences but I had all kinds of other childhood sure and going through and figuring out you mean chasing that figuring out okay I keep feeling this same expression of fear without really the need to feel it it's not logical none of this is logical totally irrational yeah it's rational and there's something in here I need to like rip out or at least analyze and know intimately and know how to Combat it, but it's funny because everybody has that different expression.
[46:44.2]
It feels like we're all so afraid to play because if somebody grades our play, right, you know, and that's what I I just wonder about the attention span of kids and just you know how kids supposedly they're not like they're not dancing, they're not writing, they're not taking risks, they're not procreating as much, like all these things.
[47:03.7]
Sure. And I wonder how much of it has to do with The device, you know, we all got cameras. That's right. Everything is like that's right hyper monitored. That's right. And it's so different from when we were kids. Totally. You know, yeah, I don't think that there's necessarily less crime or atrocity.
[47:22.8]
Right. It's just that everything is live today. It's so amplified. Yeah. And it's so instant knowledge. That's right. Yeah. And to your point, the fear, like I have so many friends. Who are so incredibly talented at whatever the thing is. Like I have a I have a couple friends.
[47:38.3]
I actually longtime drummer in my group has perfect pitch, but he has such an aversion to failure or scrutiny that he would never do what you did to pick up a guitar to learn how to play and sing and do the thing because he doesn't want to be looked at as a beginner or a failure.
[47:59.5]
He would rather not even try. Then run the risk of failure and that's a dude who's in his 40s now. I see that a lot more in students or colleagues who were you know late 20s, mid 20s, you know and younger now more than ever. Because to your point, like when it comes to the devices, like if you post a song, hey, here's this thing that I'm trying, you know, and then you get eviscerated by Jim 726 who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, who is miserable and you know on disability.
[48:27.5]
So she's been sitting doom scrolling on Facebook, you know, all day every day and just talking. Trash to people like that guy might get his dopamine hit from making somebody feel bad. Meanwhile, this other person who might have decided to be a creative spirit or or try to invent something or whatever, their dream gets dashed instantly because some jerk said something ugly and then they're like, "Well, I'm not going to do that anymore because I don't want to I don't want to feel that way." You know what I mean?
[48:51.4]
That's like you said, that's something that you and I never had to really experience because the closest we had when we started doing music was MySpace. You know what I mean? Like and my space was a friendly and you know hospitable environment. I felt like for creativity and stuff like that. One of the things you you said a second ago I I wanted to respond to because it made me think about a very pivotal moment in my career.
[49:11.9]
You were talking about people not caring, right? And so I spent the first couple years as a band leader with my group, the instructors, trying to please other people, trying to write music or trying to play music that I thought other people would like. And so a very pivotal moment we got hired to do we had a a residency is a place in East Atlanta called the Glenwood.
[49:32.6]
Have you ever been to the Glenwood? So the Glenwood is this place right in East Atlanta Village. It's right next to the graveyard and it they traditionally they had a little stage space built into the corner of this small little like borderline. I I don't know if you call it a dive bar. It's got it's dive bar adjacent, dark and stinky and awesome.
[49:50.9]
And they would have DJs come in, but for whatever reason they were hiring a band to come in. I think we might have been the first band that ever played there, but we came in and we started playing. It was like a 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. kind of an endeavor, right? And so we spent the first set. It wasn't a ton of people in there yet, but we were playing.
[50:06.9]
I was really trying to like get people to engage with us and we're you know here's this band we're doing this cool stuff and no one cared and so we played a whole first set that no people could not be bothered like whatever it was that we were doing and We we took a break, stepped outside, had a little powwow, and I don't know what what got into me, but I was just like, all right, forget them, forget this.
[50:28.9]
Let's just go in there and let's do our thing. Cause we had a we had a rehearsal space at Vision Studios. Did you ever have a spot at Vision? Do you know Vision? It's right at like 2:30. No, we didn't have a spot. Cool, but you've been there. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah. So we had a room there, and some of the best music that I ever experienced in my life when we just have, cause we would do like a warm-up jam, but we'd play for an hour without stopping.
[50:48.9]
Right, that's how we would get loose and then we would work on our tunes. And I was like, let's just go in there and do that. Forget them. Let's just do it. We're gonna go in there. I don't even care. We're we're gonna walk in and you're gonna pick a you're gonna start a groove. You're gonna do a thing or whatever. And let's just see what happens. And so we walked in the second hour of four and it just started playing and and we were playing for us for ourselves and not for them and what I happened to notice was that like I was mostly like kind of just staring off into space but like the microphone was kind of here And I just had a sense of the people who were at the bar who had previously been ignoring us.
[51:21.5]
Well, little by little, I started to notice bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. And because we stopped trying to play for them, and instead played in spite of them, we were playing for us in spite of them. Again, tossing up birds, you know, in their direction, metaphorically speaking, of course.
[51:37.3]
That's when they started to gather. And by the end of the night, we had like 30 people like in front of the stage. And again, this is a small space of 30 people. 30 people felt like a thousand in that space, but by the end of the night they were gathering around because we stopped caring. It was like that to me was such a pivotal moment as a music as a musician, an artist, a creator, and everything that like okay cool there's power in that too.
[51:59.2]
The moment we stopped caring about what people thought, the moment we stopped trying to be there for them, is the moment they all came on in. After that we played there I don't know how many times we had something of a residency there. We were there a few times a month. For a couple years, and that's where we really learned how to be a band.
[52:15.7]
That's where I learned how to be a band leader, where we learned to improvise, and I would play partially written songs, you know what I mean. And it was just this whole thing where everything about my life changed from that moment. But it was such a pivotal, like a pivotal moment for me where it was so revelatory in so many ways that like cool man like redefine your expectations because all I was trying to do was play for a million people and I was begging them to listen and they could not be bothered.
[52:42.2]
And literally the moment that we flipped the switch and said, "Screw that, let's go do it for us, let's do our thing and see what happens." Then they came. And so I've tried to sort of take that lesson and infuse it into every other creative endeavor, but also try to to get my students to understand how to redefine their own expectations, how to set goals with themselves in mind.
[53:05.8]
Because yourself, man, you were just talking about you made a record that was cathartic for you. And by the way, Brandon just handed me a vinyl. He's got plenty of vinyl over here if you guys want to buy it. His his music is really good. His record sounds great. And I'm super excited to to put the vinyl on. But like when you make it for you, you've already won.
[53:21.1]
And you talked about your show at Gypsy Rose. Like you did that as a release and you had you were in a room full of people who loved you and then you just crushed it. And so it's like, what's better than that? You're never going to top that because that was the gig. That was the gig you'll remember the rest of your life. You'll be telling your grandkids about that gig.
[53:36.2]
You know, hopefully you'll have several more between now and then. But When you do it for you, it's the ultimate playtime, yeah, and it never feels like work. It's funny because yeah, what it was for me. I wrote a song before that gig called Alpha May, and it was it was for my Mima.
[53:52.3]
Oh. And my Mima was she's still alive. She's in her 90s, 92. She came up and probably her last, you know, it was her last trip to Atlanta. She's she's getting on up there, but I wrote this song for her and I was excited to play it at the album release. It wasn't on the record. I haven't actually recorded it.
[54:08.1]
But I can help you with that. You yeah, I know a guy. Yeah. But the coolest thing happened. Yeah, I wasn't playing it for anybody. I actually don't feel like I was playing it for me so much as I wanted to honor her from the mic.
[54:23.7]
Right. And so she came up there, and she came up there and I sang her song and in the middle of the song, I am. You know, there's a little bridge where I want to build, and in the moment, I improvised a little chant, and I got the whole room chanting her name.
[54:44.3]
That's awesome. And then I'm looping the the bridge melody on top of that. Yeah. And I can see her. I can still see her face. I mean, you know, getting getting do something. Totally. See her face, just eyes, you know, welling up. Whole room of strangers is cheering her name.
[54:59.3]
Her name. They don't even know that. I mean I told I I spoke from the mic and and told them that this this song was for her. Sure. But for me, I mean, there's nothing better and it was a sweet song obviously like I just wanted to honor her you know I this Altha May, you're once in a lifetime you're the last of your kind.
[55:18.2]
When will I find another like you? You know those kinds of moments that it's crazy. I mean I've had I've been asked three times to perform one of my original songs at a memorial service. I'm like, "Well, that's a creepy niche." Like, that wasn't my intent when I wrote the song.
[55:39.8]
Sure. But people trusted me in a very sensitive time of their life. What an honor. It was an honor. What an honor to be asked multiple times to be in that role. I'm like, all right, I did not see that coming, but. For me, more than the the songwriting, more than the musicianship or performance, it was a trust with with their heart in that moment, and that was so like powerful.
[56:02.0]
Totally. Yeah, yeah. No, I don't want to be like the. Hey, I book funerals. The funeral guy, but maybe there's a need. I don't know. Totally. But truly, like what an incredible honor. Like the most intimate, vulnerable moment of a lot of people's lives.
[56:19.9]
You were asked to be the person to share your songs. I mean, that's incredibly. That that that's that is. I can't think of a higher honor to be asked. You know what I mean? Other than to be at like our wedding or the birth of my child to to to honor someone's.
[56:35.3]
Never played a birth. Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, I've seen a couple births. I've never had any music there, buddy. Maybe next time. Maybe next time. That's funny. For sure. That's Funny. Well, yeah, it's it's been great catching up with you, Russ. You as well. It's always a chemistry.
[56:50.6]
That's why you're here today. It's like, it's why you know I will always want to hang out. You've just got this magnetic thing about you, and it always feels like play when I'm around you. Totally. And I hope that that your students and your kids you know can absorb that because it is it is it's special and it's uncommon you know.
[57:09.3]
Sure. Oh, and I appreciate that. And that's you know. I I've always felt the same way, you know, when we reconnected not too long ago, we always had a great time together, and I'm super glad to be sharing this space with you and I appreciate you having me. And I I you know your question about it's the hypothetical or the rhetorical, like how do you infuse fun into all this?
[57:26.2]
I think that's the most important thing. You know what I mean? Like, because if you can make, and I don't care what the discipline is, but specifically with me in music, if I can find a way to make that fun, I know I can change people's lives. And same thing for you. You talked about. You know over 400 you know engagements with with people like for a lot of people I have to assume that's the most significant purchase that they've made or ever will make you know what I mean and to to have you as a guide walking them through it and again kind of being creative with it and trying to help them through it or also kind of elbowing them and making them you know trying to ease some tension or throwing some jokes or whatever I have to assume that that's also life-changing for a lot of people so I think that's pretty cool man yeah man Well, yeah, I feel blessed to have all the variety of you know roles I get to play and totally.
[58:09.1]
Yeah, I I know that to be a musician today, a working musician, you got to wear a lot of hats and masks, whatever you want to call it. Totally. Yeah, if people want to check out your studio or maybe put their kids in lessons, where can they where can they find you? Totally. Totally. So, galaxymusicarts.com. Galaxy Music and Arts Academy.
[58:24.2]
We're currently located in Alpharetta, kind of the top end of Alpharetta, sort of between Alpharetta and Cumming. But yeah, galaxymusicarts.com and then from my personal website, itsruss.com, I T S R U S S.com. That's kind of my proverbial catch-all, which will share with, or I guess direct you towards all of my creative endeavors as well as the studio and anything like that.
[58:44.0]
Well, you are the man. Thanks for coming, chatting with me, man. Thanks for having me, man. It's looking forward to doing this again. Totally. All right, buddy. Cool, man. Till next time. Till next time. Thanks for checking out the Think In Cursive podcast. Please give us a like, subscribe, and your comments along the way.
[58:59.4]
They're so important to us. Also, for information about lifters of men, check out liftersofmen.org. For all things podcast or real estate, you can find me at begoodbrandon.com. Thanks for checking us out. We'll see you soon.
