Episode 83

Carla Simpson of SOMD Music Scene

Carla Simpson of SOMD Music Scene joins the show!

Check out her YouTube and Sound Check here: https://www.youtube.com/@somdmusicscene

Get Tickets to The Great Gig: A Pink Floyd Experience here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-great-gig-a-pink-floyd-experience-tickets-730991895437?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwAR3k--uzSOxCRG-5Vyd1J0wrVZtgmsRAPwi4f0XvpzezF0z9LZbOjWmu30w

Check out Carla on Instagram @somdmusicscene

You can now support the podcast directly! With your money! Isn't that fun? Lend your support here: https://ambitionradiopodcast.captivate.fm/support


Promotional Photo Cred to Jenn Dorsey aka Dingus Has a Camera. Check out her great work on Instagram @dingus_has_a_camera

This episode was edited by Mike Bridgett of The Monster House Recordings. Check him out for everything audio here: http://www.themonsterhouse.info/

Intro music by Brian Luttrell of Girih

Check them out here:

https://girih.bandcamp.com/

Copyright 2018-2023 Chris Tondevold. All Rights Reserved

Transcript
Chris:

What's going on, everyone?

Chris:

My name is Chris Tondevold, and this is Ambition Radio.

Chris:

This is a podcast where I interview indie artists, content creators,

Chris:

athletes and small business owners who share how they continually discover

Chris:

and maintain a balance between their life, family, career and the pursuit

Chris:

of their passion, dreams or hobbies.

Chris:

This episode features Carla Simpson of Southern Maryland Music

Chris:

Scene and the Soundcheck podcast.

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This was a really, really good time, and it was super nice to

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be able to talk to someone so passionate about promoting others.

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We go over how Southern Maryland music scene started what it means to be in

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a community more than a scene How much it means to just be told hey, you've

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done a good job and letting all the pettiness come through just every once

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in a while Carla is organizing the great gig a pink Floyd experience, which will

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be an amazing event On November 3rd at last drop in Hollywood, Maryland,

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22 musicians from the best local bands that Southern Maryland has to offer,

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share the stage to pay tribute to one of the most influential bands of all

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time, Carla gets to play double duty and show off her musical talents on

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stage, along with previous guests on the show, like Greg Barrick, Justin Myles,

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Jordan Pickens, and many, many more.

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Maybe even some future guests for this very show.

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What do you think?

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Tickets for the great gig are on sale.

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Now I'll have the link in the show notes along with all of Carlos socials, make

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sure to check out her YouTube page.

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at S.

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O.

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M.

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D.

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music scene to catch her latest episode of Soundcheck with the mighty Moldyre.

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Fantastic group of people featuring former guest DJ Lavery, along with

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former guest and former guest host Aaron Testerman, also of Roachzilla.

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As always, please rate and review on Apple Podcasts.

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Follow me on Spotify and share the show if you can.

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Thank you for everything.

Chris:

Here's a show.

Chris:

Enjoy.

Chris:

Technology is the best when it works, and it's the worst when it doesn't.

Chris:

Absolutely.

Chris:

Uh, what we were saying is, uh, Carla gave me compliments, so I'll take those and

Chris:

I'll, I'll make sure that I keep those.

Chris:

So I have a, a nice conversation with Sonny on one of my episodes, I think.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Sunny from Tap House.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

So, I'll take the compliments.

Chris:

I love that.

Chris:

Absolutely.

Chris:

Why shouldn't you?

Chris:

There you go.

Chris:

It's hard to take them sometimes, though.

Chris:

Oh, yeah.

Chris:

I'm sure that you felt it.

Chris:

Like, it's awkward sometimes when someone's like, Hey, good job.

Chris:

It is.

Chris:

Like, you're, you're amazing.

Chris:

Like this, no, I, I sound dumb and I have terrible questions.

Chris:

What is, what is happening

Carla:

right now?

Carla:

It's super, super, uh, awkward sometimes.

Carla:

And I was just having this conversation a little bit ago.

Carla:

You know that, Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Like, I go up to people and let, and tell them like, man, I really loved

Carla:

your stuff, whatever that was, you know, your art or a moment, whatever it is.

Carla:

And I'm like, no dude, for real, I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

Carla:

But when people say that to me, sometimes I'm like, Why?

Carla:

Why, why are you saying this to me?

Carla:

Like, I don't, I don't deserve your, your praise or your compliment.

Carla:

And it's so hard.

Carla:

It's because I don't feel like I'm doing anything special.

Chris:

You know, it's, it's something that I've always dealt with doing,

Chris:

especially like when I was younger doing shows, like it was just really

Chris:

an excuse for me to see the bands.

Chris:

Yeah,

Carla:

I get that.

Carla:

I get that a hundred percent.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

That was like my artistic expression was instead of a, me actually

Chris:

playing like instruments and guitars and being cool like that.

Chris:

I.

Chris:

I just put the lineups together.

Chris:

I put mixed CDs basically as live performances, right?

Chris:

So that was always really, really cool for me.

Chris:

But when one of, one of my friends, he was like, you know, without you, there

Chris:

would be a lot of us without music.

Chris:

And I was like, that's not true.

Chris:

Like that can't be real, but it looks like, and I forget this, that like

Chris:

one person can have a really, really good impact and a big impact on stuff.

Chris:

So you have like what you're doing with Southern Maryland music scene

Chris:

is that you've already really hit.

Chris:

Live shows, promotions, you've, you've done all these different

Chris:

things, supporting people just by going to the shows, right?

Chris:

So, that's something where that feels like, Herculean almost, is being able to

Chris:

like, juggle all those different things.

Chris:

And then on top of it, you just feel like, Even though you are doing the

Chris:

work, that it's no big deal, right?

Chris:

That it's, Oh, no, this is nothing.

Chris:

Like, right.

Carla:

Cause for me, it's like, so I started this as a hobby.

Carla:

You know, it was mostly out of being not connected to the community anymore.

Carla:

Not feeling that connection with my community anymore.

Carla:

And that was, that was a self inflicted wound.

Carla:

As soon as I.

Carla:

Um, left my previous band, which, um, back in, oh, was this was 2005, 2006.

Carla:

We recorded an album and we disbanded.

Carla:

No real reason.

Carla:

Yim Wu and the Dirty Islands.

Carla:

Yes.

Carla:

I

Chris:

remember the first part.

Chris:

I never remember.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

But Yim Wu is, that's all you need to say.

Carla:

And, and most people, if you say Yim Wu, if they don't know, they're like, Yim Wha?

Carla:

What?

Carla:

What does that mean?

Carla:

I don't know what it means either.

Carla:

So, but, but once I, we disbanded, I.

Carla:

Left the community as a whole.

Carla:

And, and that was from, that was mostly because of the competitive

Carla:

nature of the times, right?

Carla:

Back in 2005, 2006, it was so competitive, man.

Carla:

It was like, I'm not going to let you use my amp.

Carla:

And there was almost a little bit of sabotage as well.

Carla:

And that's just not me.

Carla:

I don't like that.

Carla:

So I left not even knowing.

Carla:

And.

Carla:

And shame on me for not, for not checking back, you know, every once in a while.

Carla:

But then, you know, 2020 comes around and I'm like, man, obviously right

Carla:

before the shutdown and all of that.

Carla:

And then coming out of the shutdown even more, you know, we're going out

Carla:

and I'm, I'm seeing bands and I'm like, Man, I, I feel like I missed a lot.

Carla:

Yeah, I feel like I missed a lot.

Carla:

And so now I, part of me is like trying to make up for it, you

Carla:

know, hit the ground running type.

Carla:

Not only that Chris, but I'm, I'm that type of person as well.

Carla:

Like I, I'm going to, if I'm going to do something, I'm going

Carla:

to do it and I don't even care.

Carla:

Like.

Carla:

What what I need to do to get it done.

Carla:

So yeah showing up it is sometimes It is a herculean effort and I'm not saying

Carla:

that like, oh my god, I gotta do it, but it's like just today I was like, oh

Carla:

my god, I posted all of these photos on Instagram, but I forgot to post them on

Carla:

Facebook So, um, you know what I mean?

Carla:

And there's so many multiple things and there, there's like all kinds

Carla:

of things going on right now with Southern Maryland music scene.

Carla:

So it kind of, it's, it's a little, it's, it's a little overwhelming

Carla:

at times, but not anything that I can't be like, you know what?

Carla:

Take a step back.

Carla:

This is still a hobby.

Carla:

If you don't go out this weekend, it, it will be okay.

Carla:

You know, like part of me is even like Don't be so OCD about it.

Carla:

Um, your friends will understand.

Carla:

Yeah.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I think twofold with that because of the area that we're in.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

We're going to see the bands again.

Chris:

It's going to be okay.

Chris:

This isn't going to be their only road.

Chris:

It's going to be okay.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

But also like, like what you're just talking about, right?

Chris:

Like you want to see your friends, but they'll understand.

Chris:

Sure.

Chris:

They know what's up.

Chris:

Yep.

Chris:

Everybody's going through it.

Chris:

I'm, I'm kind of similar to your story.

Chris:

So I started doing So, uh, literally like right out of high school

Chris:

for me, 2006 ish, I had started doing shows at the Coffee Quarter.

Chris:

Oh yeah.

Chris:

I remember.

Chris:

I was doing some acoustic shows there.

Chris:

I've, I've met amazing people through doing that and I'm still friends

Chris:

with them today, which is awesome.

Chris:

And then I don't remember what happened next.

Chris:

But I somehow like got in contact with this church.

Chris:

Mm-Hmm.

Chris:

. And I was like, Hey, I have this going on.

Chris:

Can I rent your hall?

Chris:

And then all of a sudden we were doing all ages shows at That's so

Carla:

you could do the all ages show all age, which really

Chris:

miss Yes.

Chris:

So that was, that was my biggest, like, I think my biggest piece for

Chris:

it, for me, was that I was doing stuff there and then I was doing it at a

Chris:

place called, uh, Room with a Brew.

Chris:

Which was an old, old coffee shop.

Chris:

Originally they were in the...

Chris:

So there's a, there's an office building looking thing that I think

Chris:

has like winners chiropractic in there or something that used to

Chris:

be room with a bruise building.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

And we would do, she had her coffee shop and then just a mixed use space.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

Yoga could go in there, whatever could go in there, but it was Wendy Heinrich.

Chris:

And her and her husband were just amazing, supportive, like all of

Chris:

this stuff, because they then moved across from Leonardtown High School.

Chris:

So where the paint store is, used to be a room with a brew.

Chris:

And you would have 50 to 60 kids, no problem.

Chris:

And then on some of the bigger nights, you would have 100 to 150 kids.

Chris:

Showing up and they were just in this random building

Chris:

across from their high school.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

That was basically it.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

So, but it was really cool because that was my focus, you know, the,

Chris:

the all ages, it's still my focus now trying to find a spot for that.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

But I, I then did stuff at memories and my brother's place.

Carla:

I played, I played at my brother's place

Chris:

quite a bit.

Chris:

Yeah, when, uh, when I was there, the, the ceiling was leaking,

Chris:

I think, from about 20 holes.

Chris:

Uh, I specifically remember getting water dropped on me, so

Chris:

I wasn't super happy with that.

Chris:

Um, and then I had, I had booked some folks, and instead of playing

Chris:

on the stage, they, they said, Fuck that, and then set up right

Chris:

on the floor, right in front of everybody, and then just went to town.

Chris:

Fantastic.

Chris:

But yeah, so I did that and I worked with Sonny at Bollywood for a little bit, and

Chris:

he was able to let me do whatever, which was really cool, but also not because

Chris:

I remember booking one, and I think I apologized to Sonny, but if I did not,

Chris:

sorry, that just did not fit that, that vibe at all, and I think That's pretty

Chris:

sure like people left and that band felt it and I was like, ah, that's shitty.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Sorry.

Chris:

But I've talked to that band since then and they still thank me for at

Chris:

least putting the show on for them.

Chris:

Oh, good.

Chris:

So we'll take that.

Chris:

But I stopped.

Chris:

I think my last show was in

Carla:

2014.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

And now, and now you're getting back to

Chris:

that.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

So just like you, right?

Chris:

Getting back into the scene, so to speak, cause I was in La

Chris:

Plata for a while and would only come down every once in a while.

Chris:

Sure.

Chris:

Now it's like.

Chris:

Where do I fit?

Chris:

I don't know what I'm doing.

Chris:

This is really, like, how much do I want to chew off?

Chris:

How much do I want to try to take on?

Chris:

Will my brain stop working?

Chris:

Can it?

Chris:

Like, just, just stop with the ideas just for like a second.

Chris:

Because I don't, like, kind of like you, like, I can juggle a couple things, but

Chris:

I hit a wall a lot more when it comes to personal stuff than I do for work stuff.

Chris:

Which is dumb, because work will be there.

Chris:

And I need to, like, get my mind wrapped around that.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

But, like, these things won't get done without me or you, right?

Chris:

Sure.

Chris:

Like, that's what I have to tell myself.

Chris:

Is to like, no one else is going to do it.

Chris:

This is your dumb idea, but it sounds cool,

Carla:

so just Like you already said it.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

You announced it to the world, so you better fucking do it, right?

Carla:

Yeah,

Chris:

yeah.

Chris:

That's, that is one way to, to really like, hold myself accountable.

Chris:

Uh huh.

Chris:

I found is like, alright, fuck it, I'll post it.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

And then, someone, somewhere will be like, I saw that.

Chris:

Uh huh.

Chris:

That means that you have to fucking do it.

Chris:

I was like, are you sure?

Chris:

That's how it works.

Chris:

Yeah Like never do it again.

Chris:

So this I mean this show it started in 2018 Uh huh, and I haven't had

Chris:

a hundred episodes yet because I have to be fair back surgery.

Chris:

So I'll take that yeah, so also just like Um, hitting that wall so much quicker,

Chris:

because I think like you, like I started from the ground up not knowing anything

Chris:

about sound, like always being around it, but not knowing anything about

Chris:

recording and editing sound, right?

Chris:

I can kind of play with some knobs, twist them here and there, um, use my

Chris:

one good left ear to hopefully make everything else sound good live, but the

Chris:

recording was a lot different for me.

Chris:

So a lot of YouTube.

Chris:

A lot of reviews, a lot of tutorials, trying to go to my friends.

Carla:

That's the way it goes, man.

Carla:

And you know, I wish I had the time to invest into all of that education.

Carla:

So what I've done is like, I've delegated, right?

Carla:

Like I delegate the sound to Jay and, uh, and then I'll do the video.

Carla:

Cause I've, I'm a graphic artist.

Carla:

Um, I'm a multimedia artist by, by trade.

Carla:

So I've done video a thousand times, you know, I, I do do sound, but it would

Carla:

just be too much for me to do sound and video editing, you know, once, even

Carla:

once a month with everything else going

Chris:

on.

Chris:

Yeah, for sure.

Chris:

So with my work and the show, I haven't done anything for about a year.

Chris:

So this is starting to come back and I'm excited for it.

Chris:

I'm excited to, I'm sure that you felt reinvigorated a little bit coming

Chris:

out to the scene and being like.

Chris:

Oh, there's a good amount of people coming out.

Chris:

There's a good amount of support.

Chris:

It's fun for me because these are all the friends that I've had since 2005 that

Chris:

have still been playing music, but it seems to still organically grow a little

Chris:

bit and we're still getting new folks in.

Chris:

The only thing that we're missing really is, is, uh, an all ages spot

Carla:

and that's, that's it.

Carla:

That and you know, we, we still have a lot of, a lot of people around the area

Carla:

who are like, well, there's nothing ever.

Carla:

to do in Southern Maryland.

Carla:

And it's like, no, there is a lot.

Carla:

It may not be your cup of tea, you know, to, to do this every weekend

Carla:

to go see a show every weekend.

Carla:

It may not be your, your music preference, but there are, I mean, I was just having

Carla:

this conversation with a couple of people yesterday or a few days ago, you know,

Carla:

all of the everywhere around here, you cannot go to a restaurant on the weekend.

Carla:

And not see live music, an acoustic act, an acoustic duo, whatever,

Carla:

whatever, you know, businesses are starting to realize like, Hey, if I

Carla:

have a little acoustic act here on the side on Friday nights, Saturday

Carla:

nights, Sunday evenings, or whatever, I'm going to be attracting more people.

Carla:

So, there is a lot to do down here.

Carla:

There are a lot of really good shows and just the amount of talent that we

Carla:

have down here per capita I think is, holy crap, I say this to a few people

Carla:

here and there, but I'm just going to tell you and everybody who listens now,

Carla:

not to be, not to be conceited or this area could very easily be an Austin.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

It could very easily be a Seattle with the amount of talent that we have here.

Carla:

And

Chris:

especially since you can pull from DC and Baltimore and Richmond, right?

Chris:

I think one of, one of my next endeavors again, this is, these are all the

Chris:

thoughts that go through my head, right?

Chris:

Like I have a lot of ideas.

Chris:

But whether or not I can actually do them or talk myself into doing them,

Chris:

because I really want to get all of our Submarine folks in Fredericksburg.

Chris:

Fredericksburg has a really solid DIY scene with.

Chris:

metal with hip hop with acoustic with a whole bunch of stuff.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

And they have a couple of different spots in there that,

Chris:

that I think would be great.

Chris:

So I really can, can we

Carla:

go to the arcade?

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

I really want to go to the arcade.

Carla:

I,

Chris:

my whole thing that like ever since that I've been back has been okay.

Chris:

How do we show swap?

Chris:

Yeah, right.

Chris:

Like we need to network the shit out of

Carla:

this, but I kind of feel like we would get like, like we would get spoiled

Carla:

if we played at the arcade, probably,

Chris:

but why not deserve it?

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

All right.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Uh, and I mean, it's an arcade who doesn't want to play music at an

Carla:

arcade.

Carla:

I still want to go to this arcade.

Carla:

Greg Baric was the one who told me about it.

Carla:

And I was like, when are we going?

Carla:

Like, we need to rent a van and just fill it with people, school bus,

Carla:

whatever, and just go have a good time.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

So that, but that's a great idea.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

If, if we find our sister, you know, communities and other states

Carla:

or in other parts, even other parts of the state, you know, that would

Carla:

be awesome to do those, those,

Chris:

uh, show swaps.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Cause it was a lot of fun when I was doing them.

Chris:

Because so everybody was so eager, right?

Chris:

This was 10, 15 years ago.

Chris:

So we're looking at these are still early twenties, teenagers that are

Chris:

ready to hit the road, ready to have, they have the energy, uh, they're

Chris:

ready for the road miles, right?

Chris:

They're ready to drive eight to 12 hours for one show and then drive home.

Chris:

For no reason, but not, not, not for no reason.

Chris:

Sure.

Chris:

Sure.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

For a bad reason, plan your routes out,

Carla:

but the it's an adventure, Chris.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

All right.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Go with

Chris:

me there.

Chris:

Where's your dad read a map.

Chris:

But, um, it was, it was always funny to me because we, we, I made a lot

Chris:

of friends from Boston and from like New Hampshire and Massachusetts area.

Chris:

Where it was a lot of like, post hardcore, it was a lot of like, metalcore, it

Chris:

was everything that was like, hittin at that time, and we were able to kinda

Chris:

send a couple back and forth, right, so that was, that was really, really cool.

Chris:

And that's something that I think I miss a lot.

Chris:

There doesn't seem to be, and I, I don't know this cause I'm

Chris:

just on the outside, right?

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

So I'm sure Aaron has some kind of connects in Virginia, right?

Chris:

I'm sure he does.

Chris:

In Baltimore, right?

Chris:

Absolutely.

Chris:

But it just doesn't seem like we have it established to where, okay, we know.

Chris:

So our actual rotation is going to be Fredericksburg, it's going to be St.

Chris:

Mary's, and then we're going to be able to find something in Frederick,

Chris:

or we're going to be able to find something possibly like a small one

Chris:

in Baltimore, and that's going to be our circuit for a little bit.

Chris:

And then we're going to be able to break it up.

Chris:

And that way bands can do it and then promoters can do it, whatever.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

So those are the.

Chris:

Along the lines of ideas that I have and whether or not I can actually

Carla:

get execute them so I I think I think You know focusing on the on

Carla:

the the all ages shows would be a great start simply because no well

Carla:

not simply because but because of the fact that You're creating more fans.

Carla:

You're creating more opportunities for musicians, up and coming musicians

Carla:

to see, you know, a band like, you know, runaway guns and be like, Oh

Carla:

my God, I want to play like that guy.

Carla:

And by that guy, I mean, Dan tell us.

Carla:

Or, or like that girl and by that girl, I mean, Chris Baker, you know, you

Carla:

create that environment where people were young musicians can be nourished.

Carla:

And that's what we need.

Carla:

We need, we need more musicians, you know, so that when they hit that magic

Carla:

age where they can be, where they can play at, at our, at our cool dive bar

Carla:

spots, you know, I I'm curious to know, I mean, I've been doing this for almost

Carla:

for two years and here in a few months.

Carla:

But I'm curious to know how many more bands are going to come out of this

Carla:

area in the next three to five years.

Chris:

That's, that's actually part of my fear because there's not an all ages

Carla:

venue.

Carla:

I,

Chris:

I get it.

Chris:

There's no backfill.

Chris:

Correct.

Chris:

So there's no real new bands ish, right?

Chris:

I've seen a couple pop up and that's, I think that's what like reinvigorated me

Chris:

the most when I was coming to shows and I was like, I've never seen them before.

Chris:

What about the skate park?

Chris:

Skate park would be cool.

Chris:

I used to do the, that stuff.

Chris:

Nicolette.

Chris:

Yeah, we, we, we did some stuff.

Chris:

We played a couple of different times there.

Chris:

We had thought about going into the bowl and setting up in the bowl, but that, that

Chris:

just, that just seemed like way too much.

Chris:

That's a

Carla:

lot of work getting drums down there.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

And

Chris:

the power wasn't there.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

Sure.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

So, cause I think right there at the park, you would get, you know, I

Carla:

mean, you already have music friendly.

Carla:

Cause skaters are typically, I'm not stereotyping, but typically

Carla:

they're, they're music friendly.

Carla:

So I know they did a show over there.

Carla:

I saw, I wasn't able to make it, but my kid, Miles, he went to see a Ripley void.

Carla:

They played there and it seemed like a really cool like place where to

Carla:

have, I mean, obviously it's outdoors.

Carla:

So, you know, Right.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

You can't do it past a certain month and if it rains, you're screwed and all

Carla:

that, but that would, that wouldn't be a bad place to like start doing like a

Carla:

once a month type of thing, I, I think.

Chris:

Perhaps.

Chris:

So these are, these are ideas, right?

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

That, uh.

Chris:

These are the things you think about.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I, I started thinking about this yesterday.

Chris:

I'm going to get a notebook for like every project idea.

Chris:

Oh my God.

Chris:

I have, I have like six of

Carla:

them.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

That's not even counting my work, my work notebooks,

Chris:

but yeah.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Cause I, I started like a, a Google doc trying to keep track of all

Chris:

these dumb ideas that I have.

Chris:

They're not dumb ideas,

Carla:

man.

Carla:

Come

Chris:

on.

Chris:

I'll, I'll convince myself one day, it'll be fine.

Chris:

Getting like a, cause I like writing more than I like typing,

Chris:

even though my handwriting is terrible, so I have to like...

Carla:

Writing.

Carla:

Think.

Carla:

Well, writing, you know, your, your pause, cause you obviously, you can't

Carla:

write as fast as you type, right?

Carla:

So you have the, the, the, that time in when you're writing to be like,

Carla:

okay, do I really want to say this or do I want to say it another way?

Carla:

So it's, so I, I get why you like writing

Chris:

more than typing.

Chris:

And I think also it's the tactile feel for it that the, the clicky clacks

Chris:

doesn't, doesn't ingrain anything in me.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

So if I'm actually doing the motion and doing everything in

Chris:

there, I think that just solidifies everything for me a little bit.

Chris:

It makes me remember more stuff and keeps that present in mind a little bit better.

Chris:

But that's, that's my, my next idea is to get a bunch of, I guess,

Chris:

journals or notebooks or whatever.

Chris:

Either one.

Chris:

Project ideas.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

And then just write down like free flowing ideas in there and like

Chris:

thoughts of what I need to do.

Chris:

So work backwards a little bit.

Chris:

There's a festival idea in there.

Chris:

There's a live show idea in there.

Chris:

There's a whole bunch of other,

Carla:

there's, there's always a festival idea.

Carla:

You have, you have no idea how many times I drive around this, this

Carla:

town and, or, or, you know, I'm in conversations with my husband about

Carla:

like this, this spot right here would be a great location for a big festival.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

Like we could put the food vendors here and the stage over there

Carla:

and the da da da da da, you know.

Carla:

So festival, festival ideas are

Chris:

always there for sure.

Chris:

It's always there.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I will say also what's always there for me is a, uh, a sense of

Chris:

judgment when I go to any show.

Chris:

And that's on judging the venue, the sound, the music.

Chris:

And then like, Every, every operational aspect of it, which

Chris:

sometimes is great for me.

Chris:

And then sometimes it's like, shut up and enjoy what is happening in front

Carla:

of you.

Carla:

Well, for me, and, and I get what you're saying, you know, I mean, I've, I've

Carla:

played in some really nice places and I've played in not so really nice places.

Carla:

What makes it for me, and I think this is another thing that we really,

Carla:

really need to start focusing on is.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

That's like, out of all of the things that you mentioned just now, having a

Carla:

poor sound experience is probably the worst thing for me, um, personally, I,

Carla:

I was, I was telling you a little bit ago that we, you know, I, I went up to.

Carla:

To see the, the Southern Maryland musicians take over Baltimore

Carla:

over at the Audubon and their sound engineer was so rad.

Carla:

She had pink dream.

Carla:

I mean, it was booming.

Carla:

Like I could feel it on my chest.

Carla:

Like it was kicking in my chest.

Carla:

And I know those things cost money and all of that.

Carla:

I I'm well aware of it, but we need to start bringing in people to like.

Carla:

That, that know how to do it, even if it's not, I mean, I'm obviously not

Carla:

requiring some sort of big arena type of sound or anything like that, but just,

Carla:

you know, vocals, vocals are important.

Chris:

So it's, it's something that I think we have the talent for.

Chris:

It just needs to be

Carla:

prioritized.

Carla:

Yes.

Carla:

And I don't, and I don't think it is, I don't think sound is

Carla:

prioritized as much as it should be.

Carla:

That person doing sound is.

Carla:

Like the fifth member of the band.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Because the band can be

Carla:

really,

Chris:

really good of every single band.

Chris:

Correct.

Carla:

Because the band can be super good.

Carla:

But if you're not getting somebody who's like, Hey, uh, you know,

Carla:

there's keeps feedbacking.

Carla:

Um, then, then it doesn't matter how good the band is.

Carla:

When,

Chris:

uh, when I was coming up, and I'm sure when you were

Chris:

coming up, feedback, Fred was...

Chris:

Oh, yeah.

Chris:

Yeah, so it is, and I have tinnitus in my right ear, so I have to be careful now.

Carla:

Yeah, do you not wear hearing protection when you go?

Carla:

I do.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

I do now.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

Because I

Chris:

have tinnitus too.

Chris:

Yeah, I should have when I was...

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I mean, yeah, we all should have.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Do you have it

Carla:

in both or just I have it in both, but it's predominantly on my left ear.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

Is it my left ear is the biggest bitch that I know.

Carla:

She there, there are nights when Chris, I, I, I'm not kidding.

Carla:

There are nights when I, like, I have the volume on the TV up.

Carla:

I put the TV on and, and, you know, like put a timer on it

Carla:

and she's just yakking at me.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Like the entire time.

Carla:

And I'm like, you suck,

Chris:

man.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Mine is, uh, mine is constant all the time.

Chris:

So is mine.

Chris:

And, uh, it, it matches almost every like volume for some reason.

Chris:

Does it really?

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I

Carla:

have, I have a, I have a hard time with lower frequencies.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

It's, it's the higher ones for me that, that really mess it up.

Chris:

So, uh, and I almost had a panic attack yesterday because

Chris:

my left one started ringing.

Chris:

And it rang for like a second straight and I was driving and a second

Chris:

doesn't sound long, but it is very long when like one of your greatest

Chris:

fears is about to happen, which is losing the left side of my hearing.

Chris:

So I had, I had a mini quick panic attack and then it went away.

Chris:

I was like, Oh.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

Do you, do

Carla:

you get that?

Carla:

Do you get that feeling like when it starts ringing where like you feel like

Carla:

you've gone underwater for a second?

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Chris:

That sucks, dude.

Chris:

That's when, that's when I know it's like about to turn on real quick.

Chris:

And then what I, what I've noticed is that it's just, my left one is popping

Chris:

up more and more and it's only there for like half a second or anything.

Chris:

Now, now I'm starting to get more and more worried about it, but do I want

Chris:

to stop going to any of these things?

Chris:

No, like

Carla:

I said, I mean I got I got some some hearing protection and I always

Carla:

carry with I have one in the car I have one, you know in my my my little bag I

Carla:

I keep them everywhere now but um and if it and if I find myself in a place where

Carla:

I don't have any hearing protection, I just I'll go outside if I have to listen

Carla:

through like the door or whatever, but I, I probably should we, and you should

Carla:

to probably go see an audiologist and not that there's anything they can do about

Chris:

it, but no.

Chris:

So when I went two years ago, maybe, maybe you've gone.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I

Carla:

haven't yet.

Chris:

I have.

Chris:

And what they're saying is really, really interesting and makes sense.

Chris:

And I really want this to happen.

Chris:

They're saying that the cells can be behaviorally trained.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

To, instead of listening to themselves, which is basically what

Chris:

they think tinnitus is, they're listening to outside sources, right?

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

Basically, it just means wear headphones with white noise

Chris:

on there 8 to 12 hours a day.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

It's supposed to do something three months.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

It didn't do anything for me.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

Not saying that it's not going to work.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

Just didn't do anything for me.

Chris:

Cause I would be at work with it.

Chris:

I would be everywhere with

Carla:

it.

Carla:

But just regular headphones or just like AirPods.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Just some AirPods.

Chris:

Cause it's, there's nothing that they're trying to do outside of

Chris:

get yourselves to listen to that.

Chris:

exterior source, right?

Chris:

So the, the headphones are just there to provide some kind of

Chris:

audio signal and the white noise is the best part of it, I guess.

Chris:

Um, or the best way for them to cling on to it.

Carla:

I kind of make sense.

Carla:

I mean, like everything that I've read is like use white noise

Carla:

and I'm like, I, there's, I put so much noise now in my room.

Carla:

It's like, there's a TV, there's the, you know, the little

Carla:

machine that makes the noise.

Carla:

There's a little, I have a little humidifier that makes.

Carla:

All this noise, the fan constantly.

Carla:

It sucks man, it really sucks, cause it's, you know, like, I'm not sure what

Carla:

all I'm missing as far as frequencies.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

I know that there are times when like, if it's too loud, like a guitar or a siren,

Carla:

for example, dude, sirens hurt my ears.

Carla:

Like to the point where I just, they, they water my eyes.

Carla:

It hurts so bad.

Chris:

A bad, a bad guitar, like a super high tone feedback where it just hits

Chris:

that, that right screech that kills me.

Chris:

Growing up and then obviously going to just shows everywhere,

Chris:

you're going to hear that because some kid or, or the sounds just

Chris:

not correct for whatever reason.

Chris:

And then it's too hot.

Chris:

Mike's too hot, whatever.

Chris:

And then boom, next thing you know, I'm just like, ah, I got to go outside.

Chris:

This is, this is not, not fun, but yeah, it's, it's a never

Chris:

ending struggle and it sucks and hopefully they can figure something

Chris:

out for it, but I don't think so.

Chris:

So we'll see.

Chris:

We're going to circle back a little bit.

Chris:

So we started doing this project for Southern Maryland music

Chris:

scene two years ago, right?

Chris:

Came back.

Chris:

You were like, Oh shit, these are my friends, but I don't

Chris:

know anything that's happening.

Chris:

Around me.

Chris:

Right at all.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

So what I wanna know a little bit is kind of some of the stuff that really

Chris:

invigorated you to, to go for it, right?

Chris:

And then I also want to figure out at what point do you hit a wall and how do

Chris:

you keep your motivation going for it?

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

So my, my biggest piece would be like, what?

Chris:

What really?

Chris:

Initially motivate you to really hit that scene and go like 110 percent and,

Chris:

and really try to say, Hey, I can help.

Chris:

I can do something.

Chris:

Let me at least put a spotlight somewhere.

Carla:

Honestly, it was honestly, it was the excitement.

Carla:

Like I would go, I would go to the deli and I heard one show in

Carla:

particular, I can't remember when this was, but it was early on.

Carla:

This show in particular, and I'm seeing, you know, music that

Carla:

I haven't experienced before.

Carla:

And I would just be so excited.

Carla:

I would leave there like, okay, they're my favorite, like they're my new favorite.

Carla:

And then the next week I would go somewhere else and I would

Carla:

see another band and be like, okay, they're my new favorite.

Carla:

And this happened so much.

Carla:

I'm sure people think like, okay, she's always saying these, like this

Carla:

one, that one, and the other one are their favorites, her favorites.

Carla:

But it's true.

Carla:

It's like.

Carla:

Discovering and, and, and let's just clarify that by the time I got back into,

Carla:

into the scene, the, the community, I see I'm now I'm like careful to say community

Carla:

instead of scene because of Aaron.

Carla:

Aaron was like, it's not a scene, it's a community and he is 100 percent right.

Carla:

Coming back to the community.

Carla:

I only had a, like a handful of friends that were still left from those days.

Carla:

So Charlie Collins was one.

Carla:

Hi, Charlie was one of them and man, DJ is another one.

Carla:

Yeah, I think that's about it.

Carla:

So I've met all of these people by just by showing up and by being like, like I

Carla:

said, genuinely interested in what they're doing, excited about what they're doing.

Carla:

And like, I don't know, man, it's just sometimes I think, I think that's

Carla:

infectious, you know, like I'm not just being like, Oh my God, these guys are so

Carla:

good just for the sake of saying that.

Carla:

Like, if I hear it, if, if I'm saying it, I mean it, even

Carla:

if, even if it's not for me.

Carla:

Even if it's like a genre or, or a band that I particularly, I'm like,

Carla:

uh, okay, I still want you to succeed.

Carla:

I feel like your success is everybody's success, right?

Carla:

You're putting, you're putting a highlight or, or, you know, you're,

Carla:

you're a spotlight on the area and that's, that's the goal, right?

Carla:

It wasn't hard to like hit the ground running because like I said, I'd be like.

Carla:

Saturday, I'm going to go see this band and I'd be like, holy shit.

Carla:

That was the best fucking show I've seen.

Carla:

And, you know, and then next week it would be, I'd be saying the same thing, right?

Carla:

Because it's, it's true.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Um, yeah, man, if you, if you get me to sway back and forth in the dance, I'm

Carla:

like, all right, consider, you know, consider me a fan, what keeps me going.

Carla:

And, and not hitting, like you, you were saying about hitting a

Carla:

wall, I mean, look, that's, that's really hard not to hit that wall.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

There have been times when like, I really just wanted to stay home.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Cause I went from being a complete hermit and being at home, you know,

Carla:

like watching movies and listening to music and you know, whatever it is I was

Carla:

doing to like being out all the time.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

So I guess.

Carla:

That excitement is still there.

Carla:

I don't guess that that's that's the reason that excitement is still there.

Carla:

I'm still super excited every time squidding plays.

Carla:

I'm still like, Oh my God.

Carla:

Yes, you know, I haven't hit that yet.

Carla:

I have slowed down in a, in a way like, man, tonight I don't want to

Carla:

go out, but I go out and I, but I go out and then I have a good time.

Carla:

So it really, you know,

Chris:

it's, it's a dual edge sword, isn't it?

Chris:

Cause that's, that's how I felt every time I was like.

Chris:

Uh, do I, and then I force myself out a few different times.

Chris:

It's, it's partially probably depression, ADD,

Carla:

ADHD, whatever.

Carla:

Yep.

Carla:

Anxiety, depression, all of that.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Plays a role over here too.

Carla:

All

Chris:

the, all that stuff.

Chris:

Cause, uh, I remember you were, you were talking about how you

Chris:

needed all the sounds, right?

Chris:

So I had one of my friends come over and I had my music, I had a TV show

Chris:

going on and I was playing a game.

Chris:

Uh huh.

Chris:

But that's like my normal.

Chris:

Uh huh.

Chris:

Cause I need to have.

Chris:

A cacophony of sound all around me or else I apparently can't

Chris:

focus, which is so weird.

Chris:

It's so

Carla:

backwards, right?

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Uh, I, I often say in my house, like when somebody is like,

Carla:

Oh, can I change the channel?

Carla:

I'm like, yeah, go for it.

Carla:

Oh, but you're not watching this.

Carla:

No, I'm not.

Carla:

I'm really not watching it.

Carla:

It's keeping me company.

Carla:

And it's keeping me well, one, it's keeping that stupid beep that ringing

Carla:

in my ear from being so predominant.

Carla:

And two, it's, it's keeping me focused, right?

Carla:

Because the silence, it's not that I don't enjoy silence.

Carla:

I often do, you know, bring it in the ear aside and all of that.

Carla:

But for some reason, having that TV like keeps my anxiety level down.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

And it can be.

Carla:

I am a huge Nat Geo fan, like, so like, I'll be, you know, listening about

Carla:

the whales and the birds of paradise and the Komodo dragons and all of

Carla:

that shit, you know, retain anything.

Carla:

Sometimes, sometimes I did purposefully.

Carla:

This wasn't just as background noise, but I just, I just watched

Carla:

the Nat Geo series on elephants.

Carla:

And it's a four part series.

Carla:

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

Carla:

Elephants are my favorite animal.

Carla:

So for me, it was like, okay, I'm going to stop what I'm doing

Carla:

and I'm going to watch this.

Carla:

And yeah, there are four.

Carla:

Did you know that there are four types of elephants?

Carla:

And, and on the planet,

Chris:

Indian, African, and two others, there's a,

Carla:

there is a desert, um, type of, of elephant and they live

Carla:

in like super harsh conditions.

Carla:

I mean, like, why don't they know that they can just go to the

Carla:

right where there's vegetation?

Carla:

No, they like.

Chris:

Like camels are cool, but you don't have to be friends with them,

Carla:

correct?

Carla:

Yeah, exactly.

Carla:

So like their, their feet are actually different from other elephants and

Carla:

then there is a jungle elephant that's a lot smaller in size.

Carla:

Interesting.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

I didn't know that, but you know, you think considering that they're my

Carla:

favorite, that I would know that, but shit like that, you know, like I put that on

Carla:

just for having that, that background.

Carla:

And then all of a sudden it's like, Oh, wait a second.

Carla:

Let me, let me stop.

Carla:

And, and all of a sudden I'm just sitting there for four hours watching.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

That, that definitely happens since I've been recovering.

Chris:

I've been trying to fill my time and it has been rough.

Chris:

I understand what like other people went through with the pandemic because

Chris:

I was enjoying not talking to anybody because for my job, that's what I do.

Chris:

So I did not have the mentality that I have now, which is.

Chris:

Do I really want to do this?

Chris:

What can I do in my house?

Chris:

I have done projects.

Chris:

You can't do projects when you have a broken back, like, but

Chris:

yeah, so I've done projects.

Chris:

I've looked at other ideas.

Chris:

They don't stop coming and until I'm asleep and then even, even

Chris:

sometimes like the dreams get you.

Chris:

So,

Carla:

oh yeah, you're not kidding there.

Carla:

So you know, like you said, get some journals and put it

Carla:

down and that way you're like.

Carla:

You know, we'll do one page per idea and that way you can keep adding to the idea

Carla:

as, as it comes because it always does, you know, shit starting Southern Maryland

Carla:

music scene wasn't supposed to be all of, all of this, all of what it is now, just

Carla:

things just kind of, you know, started with one thing and they snowballed into

Carla:

all of these other things because you're

Chris:

essentially marketing promotion, live shows.

Chris:

Podcast, media, right?

Chris:

Graphic design.

Chris:

You can throw that in there.

Chris:

And photography

Carla:

and

Chris:

videography.

Chris:

Photography, videography, which is a completely different skill.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

So that's seven.

Chris:

Mm hmm.

Chris:

Musician.

Chris:

Mm hmm.

Chris:

Performer too.

Chris:

We'll take that.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

Cause that's

Carla:

different.

Carla:

I can MC.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

I can MC like, you know.

Chris:

You could also be a studio musician versus a live musician.

Chris:

Correct.

Chris:

Those are two different sets of skills.

Chris:

I want to get a 10.

Chris:

You want to get a 10.

Chris:

You're a mom.

Chris:

We can do that.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

How's

Carla:

that?

Carla:

Well.

Carla:

Yeah, but my kids are, my kids are old.

Carla:

I mean, they're, they're both adults now, so I don't know that, you know,

Carla:

all right, well that doesn't work.

Carla:

But, but I do have a full time job, so.

Carla:

Perfect.

Carla:

There we go.

Carla:

Yes.

Chris:

All right.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I forgot about that part.

Chris:

I have a

Carla:

career.

Carla:

Right?

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

That's so easy.

Carla:

You

Chris:

forget about that.

Chris:

Oh.

Chris:

That's so funny.

Chris:

Now, do you have, do you have a career that allows you to do everything?

Chris:

Or do you have a career that you've just figured out how

Chris:

to balance between everything?

Carla:

So, a little bit of both.

Carla:

Um, my career, uh, right now I am in a hiatus.

Carla:

Waiting for some things to happen.

Carla:

I'm fortunate enough to own my own business, so I can't take right now.

Carla:

I can't take the time because I've been, like I said, just

Carla:

waiting for some things to happen.

Carla:

I've been taking the summer to like, you know, really hit the ground running.

Carla:

Now, once, once I start getting steady work again, that's going to change

Carla:

the dynamics a little bit, right?

Carla:

So I'm going to have to figure out, okay.

Carla:

What do I necessarily have to have and what are nice extras to have

Carla:

and what can I definitely not, you know, don't need to focus on.

Carla:

It's either that or I start delegating or I start bringing people in.

Carla:

But here's the thing about that.

Carla:

It's that, you know, I, this has been a theme of conversation as of late.

Carla:

It's having that, you know, my name's attached to it, to, to this.

Carla:

And I inadvertently created a brand, right?

Carla:

Didn't mean to, but that's what happened.

Carla:

And so now, because my name is attached to this thing, how do I protect that brand?

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Like, do I give it to somebody else who may not?

Carla:

May or may not do the same that I do or have that same passion.

Carla:

That's what the most important part for me is.

Carla:

It, it's the passion, right?

Chris:

Yes.

Chris:

Um, it was, it was very similar to when I started doing shows again.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

Started booking shows.

Chris:

Again, a lot of people, a lot of the musicians knew who I was, right?

Chris:

Mm-Hmm.

Chris:

. They remember it because I booked them when they were first starting, right?

Chris:

Mm-Hmm.

Chris:

. And I've seen them grow throughout all of this.

Chris:

But what I had to really.

Chris:

Think about, and I don't know if I'll leave this in or not.

Chris:

is what is my brand?

Chris:

Do I let someone else speak for it, so to speak, right?

Chris:

And then do I even want all for lack of better words, glitz and glamor

Chris:

or like presence of it, right?

Chris:

Do I want to be a face?

Chris:

I, I think that's what I was, I was really trying to process if

Chris:

I want to be a face of something.

Chris:

Do I want, do I want that brand again?

Chris:

Or can I just enjoy myself by doing lineups for someone else?

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

And that's, that's what I really had to kind of think of is like,

Chris:

who am I surrounding myself with?

Chris:

Because the shows are my brand at that point.

Chris:

So nothing, nothing really is solid outside of me just trying to leverage

Chris:

old relationships to get some bands in.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

And then on top of that, if the show goes poorly, that's,

Chris:

that's where it all hinges on.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

So that production goes poorly, then my reputation goes for, right.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

And that's, that's where I'm at.

Carla:

It's, um, you know, I have been asked by, by people around the County,

Carla:

like, Hey, let's partner up for this.

Carla:

Let's partner up for that.

Carla:

And I'm like, you know, I'm, I'm trying to be very selective of

Carla:

who I partner up with and what I, what kind of projects I take on.

Carla:

It's not me being, you know, uh, Conceited or that.

Carla:

I think that I'm better than or whatever.

Carla:

It's the fact that like I said, this is, this is a brand, you know,

Carla:

if, if I were, if I'm, when I'm putting a show together, like, uh,

Carla:

you know, my thing is tribute shows.

Carla:

I love tribute shows

Chris:

because you've

Carla:

done the Beatles and we're about to do a Pink Floyd one in November.

Carla:

So if something goes wrong with, and if something had gone

Carla:

wrong with the Beatles show.

Carla:

Kind of sort of did with the rain and all of that that was on me if

Carla:

I have a if I have a person Who paid money to get into one of these

Carla:

shows and they're not satisfied.

Carla:

That's on me Yeah, so and I'm I am 100 percent willing to take that right?

Carla:

So if somebody makes a decision for me that maybe isn't A line with,

Carla:

with what I think should happen or whatever, I can't very well say,

Carla:

well, it was Chris who did it, right?

Carla:

Because it's still my name.

Carla:

It's not, I'm still Southern Maryland music scene.

Carla:

Correct.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Correct.

Chris:

So that, that's what I was trying to balance out because the, for me it

Chris:

is my, my, my people aren't the fans.

Chris:

Like I want them to come and I want them to have a good show.

Chris:

But really this is.

Chris:

Um, mostly for me, but also the people that I care about the

Chris:

most are the musicians, right?

Chris:

So I have to be that liaison in there a little bit.

Chris:

This is what I feel anyway.

Chris:

So I want to be that liaison to make sure everything is smooth with that, right?

Chris:

And then I have to figure out how much do I want to control.

Chris:

So I've done literal ground up productions, right?

Chris:

Where I've been in part of every aspect of it, like what you have, right?

Chris:

And I've done this.

Chris:

So many times that I know in my mind what I would prefer it to look like, and that's

Chris:

something that I have to really balance out of, okay, I'm working with people.

Chris:

This isn't me.

Chris:

This isn't mine.

Chris:

What do you let go?

Chris:

What is yours, right?

Chris:

Same kind of concept, right?

Chris:

What do you let go?

Chris:

What do you, what do you take as your ownership?

Chris:

Right?

Chris:

Like what, what can you not live without?

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

And I, I really think that this past experience with the shows

Chris:

have let me figure out if.

Chris:

I really want full control over it or not, or if I want to do this every week,

Carla:

that's the bigger thing.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

So that there's the burnout factor as well.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

And, and I have felt myself getting really, really close to the burnout

Carla:

factor, you know, to being burned out rather, but I don't know, man, it's,

Carla:

I'm a music junkie and like, right.

Carla:

And it's like.

Carla:

Man, like I'll find the time, you know, I still have, like, I have

Carla:

the autobar video that I have to, that I want to process and, and

Carla:

put on, on, on the YouTube channel.

Carla:

I'll find the time to do it.

Carla:

It may be a month from now, but I'll do it, you know,

Chris:

if you teach me how to video at it, I can show you

Chris:

how to do everything podcast.

Chris:

So just so you know, I don't know why I didn't say that earlier,

Chris:

but that sounds like a great idea.

Chris:

So

Carla:

we can figure that out.

Carla:

Video editing.

Carla:

I mean, it's funny because a lot of people who do video, like I

Carla:

have a, a very good friend of mine.

Carla:

I've known him for, you know, 20 something years for almost for as long

Carla:

as I've been living in Southern Maryland.

Carla:

And he went to school for, for film, you know, he went to film school.

Carla:

And we were shooting a video together not too long ago.

Carla:

And he was asking me, he was like, well, who's going to edit all of this?

Carla:

And I was like, well, not me.

Carla:

And he's like, well, good.

Carla:

And I was like, no, kind of not good because I actually like editing.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

And he was like, are you out of your mind?

Carla:

And I'm like, why?

Carla:

And he's like, because of all the, all the details he said.

Carla:

And I said, well, that's kind of what I like about it.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

I like the details.

Carla:

That's my whole bag.

Carla:

Like, yeah.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

I am a, I love details in anything and everything.

Carla:

I love details.

Carla:

So that's the part of editing.

Carla:

That's why I like editing so

Chris:

much.

Chris:

One of, one of my favorite accomplishments is, uh, I can

Chris:

go anywhere recording, right?

Chris:

So I've been able to, to really figure out some rooms and some of the

Chris:

editing tricks that I can figure out.

Chris:

Making that room not sound like shit, right?

Chris:

I literally, I bought condenser mics.

Chris:

Uh, I was going to all these places and detail is all condenser.

Chris:

And I had no idea what I was doing.

Chris:

So I'm going through and trying to like figure out how to, why,

Chris:

why do I only hear the fan?

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

All, all I know is that I was mad and I couldn't fix it.

Chris:

And now with the plugins that I have and like the ability to kind of.

Chris:

Fine tune.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I'm more confident that I could have probably fixed fix that at least

Chris:

buy in a plug in and figure it out I

Carla:

mean, it's all experience, right?

Carla:

Like I mean look I I had the third episode of soundcheck.

Carla:

I didn't have enough light and I have this really, really cool lighting

Carla:

system, but I only had one because, you know, I mean, why would I get two?

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

At the time when I brought the one light, I just needed the one light.

Carla:

And then when I went to get the second one, they were back ordered

Carla:

because of course they were.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

So yeah, for the third episode, there wasn't enough light.

Carla:

So I had, you know, half that was, that episode was.

Carla:

It was a big episode.

Carla:

I had, shit, I think I had ten, uh, eight, nine.

Carla:

That was the Beatles one?

Carla:

That was the Beatles episode.

Carla:

I

Chris:

mean, it looks fine, so just so you know.

Chris:

Okay, thank you.

Chris:

The lighting looks fine.

Chris:

Thank you.

Chris:

Cause I did, I did watch that one, trying to like, figure out

Chris:

some of your styles and whatnot.

Carla:

Yeah, thank you.

Carla:

I, it's, it was, I felt like when I, when I, when I started processing

Carla:

the, the, the video, I was like, you've got to be kidding me, man.

Carla:

This looks like shit.

Carla:

Um, so I did my best, you know, um, until I was able to get a, another

Carla:

light, but all of those things have been like, I'm basically in a dark room, like

Carla:

stubbing my toe on all the furniture.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Every, every episode is something like that.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

It's, it's always some artifact, always some kind of weird thing that goes in

Chris:

there, some call for whatever for me, or.

Chris:

Or someone hits the mic like I've done a couple of times.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Um.

Chris:

That happened on our first episode.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

That, that'll do it.

Chris:

And it, it is a learning experience.

Chris:

So it's cool.

Chris:

I, I've been happy to learn.

Chris:

Uh, I'll be even happier when I don't have to.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Like I've made money off of this and I'm like, Oh yeah.

Chris:

I can pay these peasants to do my work,

Carla:

right?

Carla:

You know, and I had that opportunity.

Carla:

I had that opportunity to, um, you know, it's not about, it's

Carla:

not about being a control freak.

Carla:

I swear to God, it's not.

Carla:

But I had the opportunity to give, to give the podcast.

Carla:

First episode hadn't even dropped.

Carla:

And I got a phone call from one of, one of the media, uh, organizations around

Carla:

here and said, we want your podcast.

Carla:

And we'll take care of everything.

Carla:

All you have to do is interview the person.

Carla:

And I'm like, okay, but do I still get to pick whoever I want to interview?

Carla:

Sure.

Carla:

I said, well, do I, what happens if, because we're

Carla:

monetizing it, what happens if.

Carla:

You know, we start talking about, I'll just use the last episode

Carla:

as an example, cannibalism.

Carla:

Sure.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

You know, like, like if, you know what I mean?

Carla:

Like, if we're being sponsored by somebody who

Chris:

may or may not watch your language,

Carla:

correct.

Carla:

And I was like, you know, I don't want that.

Carla:

I don't want that.

Carla:

I want people who are coming into my basement.

Carla:

To talk to us to be themselves and just not somebody behind me saying,

Carla:

Hey, you know what you said last week?

Carla:

We can't, we can't use that.

Chris:

It's tough to, I think.

Chris:

You, we might be able to split it where, cause I, I've thought about

Chris:

this too, like there was, there was, I was talking to someone that had

Chris:

a host for a show and the host was kind of thinking about stepping back.

Chris:

And I was like, maybe I'll do that because it was kind of the similar

Chris:

vein, but a little bit different.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

So I, I have to.

Chris:

It's kind of probably what you thought of, it's like, okay,

Chris:

am I a host or is this mine?

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

Is this my project?

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

Is this my voice that I have to put out or am I a hired gun

Carla:

host?

Carla:

Are they going to be okay with me saying the word fuck?

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

As a host.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

You know what I mean?

Carla:

Yeah.

Chris:

Or, or, you know, I have problems with organized religion,

Chris:

so that may or may not fly.

Carla:

So.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

If we're, okay, I'm going to stop right there.

Carla:

Nevermind.

Carla:

But you know, like if, if we do live in a conservative area and you know, if they

Carla:

don't like us talking about the use of.

Carla:

You know, marijuana, even though it's legal or they don't want us talking

Carla:

about, you know, mental health, even though it's, we all, a large majority

Carla:

of us suffer from it, you know,

Chris:

or gaps in wealth, even in this county, which has now really caused a

Chris:

lot more fentanyl use and all this other stuff, you know, like, yeah, it's so

Carla:

much, absolutely so much.

Carla:

Or, or I didn't, I didn't, I also didn't want anyone telling me like, Hey, nobody

Carla:

knows who dog army is, so don't book him.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

You know what I mean?

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

Or, hey, you know, let's make it a little more accessible to people

Carla:

by not, uh, inviting metal bands.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Because again, just because it's not your cup of tea doesn't mean that we

Carla:

don't, I mean, we have a large metal community and they are fucking supportive.

Carla:

They're great.

Chris:

They are super great.

Chris:

Shout out to Aaron, BCFC, Cody, all those folks.

Carla:

Absolutely.

Carla:

They, the, the metal crowd shows up, like, I know whenever I go to, to

Carla:

a metal show, I know I'm going to be in good company there, you know?

Carla:

So I don't, I didn't want anybody telling me like, no, I don't want you to have

Carla:

hell pie or Roachzilla or, you know.

Chris:

It was something I was also very, very conscious of when I was doing the

Chris:

show because my wheelhouse is music.

Chris:

This is what I know, right?

Chris:

Do not want to be pigeonholed into something that is, to me, universal, which

Chris:

is motivation, balancing life out, right?

Chris:

Trying to figure out what you can take with you and learn through these

Chris:

projects that you're doing, right?

Chris:

And I've been very happy with being able to reach out to Sonny

Chris:

for business people, right?

Chris:

Interview Eric from Dog Army as...

Chris:

a guitar club from great mills high school instead of kind of dog army.

Chris:

We threw that in there though.

Chris:

But that's, that's kind of the like athletes.

Chris:

Like I've been able to interview a whole bunch of different things and that's what

Chris:

I want to do because it is a universal like ambition, motivation, trying to

Chris:

stay going in there is so universal.

Chris:

But for me, like the music, that's what I know balances out the most.

Carla:

But I also think that, you know, and I, and I have listened to a few

Carla:

of, of your, of your episodes as well.

Carla:

You're having conversation with a community, you're, you're having community

Carla:

conversation and that's fine too.

Carla:

Um, I, I think that's excellent.

Carla:

Uh, you know, that you can go to Sonny and say, Hey, I want to talk

Carla:

to you, or you can go to a doctor and say, Hey, I want to talk to you.

Carla:

Right, right.

Carla:

You know what I mean?

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

Um, or, or whoever, a musician, myself, whatever.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Um, that's, that's great.

Carla:

Let's talk, let's talk as a community.

Chris:

That's exactly, yeah, that's exactly right.

Chris:

That's, uh, that's also another idea that I have.

Chris:

So we'll, we'll, we'll talk about that later, but that is, that is

Chris:

something that I was super self conscious of, uh, super like present

Chris:

in mind of just not being pigeonholed.

Chris:

So I would, I would also feel like the same kind of.

Chris:

Constraints on it.

Chris:

And this is also something for me, like what I think you brought up hobby.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

So this isn't this project specifically is not money.

Chris:

This project specifically is literally for me to like, talk to people that

Chris:

I haven't seen figure out if I can get some motivation practices and

Chris:

organization practices, like I had the infinite Daisy chains was on.

Chris:

And one of them had like a whole Excel spreadsheet of what they were doing.

Chris:

Like, this is violin practice at this time.

Chris:

This is, I'm a professional.

Chris:

I keep hitting

Carla:

the mic stand.

Carla:

Oh, that was him.

Carla:

Not me.

Chris:

But yeah, it, so it's stuff like as crazy as that would sound

Chris:

as like someone putting their life in a spreadsheet, it helps them

Chris:

and that's, that's something that.

Chris:

I'm hoping I will take into myself because it's all, this is all about me.

Chris:

Well, you almost, you almost let that go.

Chris:

Yeah,

Carla:

it's cause I was thinking like, it would be great.

Carla:

It would be, it would be super great if somebody paid us to do

Carla:

this, you know, that would be like the cherry on top, right?

Carla:

It would be nice.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

If, if I'm not, you know, just don't make me compromise and you can

Carla:

pay me, don't make me compromise.

Carla:

There are, however, like, I don't know if you've checked into this, but

Carla:

there are like the state of Maryland is super generous with artists.

Carla:

Yeah.

Chris:

I need to, I need to really look at that again.

Chris:

Um, so the Maryland,

Carla:

the county just did just closed one up.

Carla:

Yeah.

Chris:

So the Maryland state art council is amazing.

Chris:

Yep.

Chris:

I think during the pandemic, St.

Chris:

Mary's art council reached out to me.

Chris:

And they were able to give me like a 250 grant.

Chris:

That's cool.

Chris:

And it was, it was so fucking cool.

Chris:

Cause I don't, I'm pretty sure the woman that emailed me

Carla:

was Wendy.

Carla:

Oh, Wendy Davis.

Carla:

She's fantastic.

Carla:

I love her.

Carla:

I've never met her.

Carla:

Really?

Carla:

I just met her last Friday.

Carla:

Oh, I need to

Chris:

meet her.

Chris:

Just to say thanks because I don't, I don't think I had

Chris:

any real support from anybody.

Chris:

And then she had like randomly hit me up, email me or, or something and

Chris:

I was like, Hey, we're doing grants.

Chris:

You're doing great.

Chris:

Do you want this?

Chris:

And I was like, um, yes.

Chris:

Yeah.

Carla:

Wednesday is Wednesday's fantastic.

Carla:

I love her.

Carla:

I love her.

Carla:

Uh, and, and again, I didn't know, I don't know how.

Carla:

She must really like comb through social media or whatever has to write because

Carla:

I don't know how I don't know how she found me Yeah, yeah, I don't know how

Carla:

she like she sends me an email out of nowhere Well, I shouldn't say out of

Carla:

nowhere But right as I'm getting ready to post the first episode of sound check

Carla:

and she's like hey when you when you do that Send me an email or send me the link.

Carla:

Please share it with me Do you would do you mind if I put it on the on the

Carla:

newsletter and I'm like do I mind?

Carla:

No, I, first of all, I don't mind.

Carla:

But second of all, how did you find me?

Carla:

Holy shit, girl.

Carla:

You know?

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Wednesday's fantastic.

Carla:

So then she invited me to be the spotlight artist for last month.

Carla:

And that was really cool.

Carla:

And then we did the meet and greet last Friday and that was really cool.

Carla:

And that's when I got to meet her.

Carla:

It was cool.

Carla:

Cause I turned around and she was, she was actually sitting in the

Carla:

drum circle drumming and I was like.

Carla:

Yeah, girl.

Carla:

This is awesome.

Chris:

This is awesome.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Uh, little, little kindred spirits.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I like that.

Chris:

But yeah, I don't, I don't know how she found us, but thank you.

Chris:

Thank you, Wednesday.

Chris:

She's, she's fantastic.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

And, um, I, I, that, that was just like a random act of like, oh,

Chris:

support, kindness, all this stuff.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I was like, oh, that's,

Carla:

that's all right.

Carla:

But they, they're constantly like, Wednesday just sent me a link and,

Carla:

and I put it, I had posted it.

Carla:

Um, On, on my, on Southern Maryland music scene, socials, uh, for a 500 grand.

Carla:

And, uh, aside from that, the state itself, I was able to get a grant.

Carla:

It was one of those where I just, it happened so quickly.

Carla:

Like I, I like, I heard about it on a Monday, complete fluke.

Carla:

Wasn't looking for it.

Carla:

I just, I had been talking to Shannon Wang from bird city

Carla:

records and shop 53 and shop 53.

Carla:

Um, and she was telling me, you know, like you should really look into these grants.

Carla:

But she was, we were talking about grants for, for, for actual brick and mortar,

Carla:

um, for venues and things like that.

Carla:

But I went looking and I saw that there was an artist grant and I

Carla:

was like, what do I have to do?

Carla:

And it was on a Monday and it was due on a Wednesday.

Carla:

So I spent Tuesday that day in between when I found out about it and when

Carla:

it was due writing a proposal and it wasn't very long or thorough.

Carla:

And part of me was like, do I even qualify?

Carla:

Because What am I, what am I doing?

Carla:

Like they wanted me to know, they wanted to know what I'm doing.

Carla:

And I'm like, okay, well I'm taking photos and I'm, and I am, you know,

Carla:

kind of elevating artists and I'm doing a podcast and I'm like, like you

Carla:

said, all the seven things or eight things, you know, and then finally I was

Carla:

like, well, you got to pick one girl.

Carla:

You can't, you can't just tell them you're, you can't tell them,

Carla:

but there has to be a reason why you're applying for the grant.

Chris:

There's got to be kind of like a

Carla:

vision.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

So I was like, is podcasting even an art form?

Carla:

You know, I kind of struggle with that one.

Carla:

Like, okay, I'm Yes, I'm sitting down and I'm interviewing people, but I'm not.

Chris:

I'm talking into a microphone.

Chris:

Exactly.

Chris:

It's not, like, this isn't high art or anything.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

That's, that's the same feeling that I had when I applied for one.

Chris:

Uh huh.

Chris:

Uh, and I went into, like, submit my audio files and, like, I put, like,

Chris:

a best of reel together, so to speak.

Chris:

And I had to, like, write the description of what I'm talking about, of why...

Chris:

This is important to like everything else.

Chris:

I don't, I didn't get anything from it, but I can't remember if it was a grant

Chris:

or like a competition or like, yeah, it was the second round or the first

Chris:

round to be like considered for the grant or something, something like that.

Chris:

I don't remember, but I do remember submitting my audio files

Chris:

being like, this is the silliest fucking thing I've ever done.

Chris:

I'm not doing

Carla:

anything.

Carla:

I felt the same way, but I was like, okay, well, we'll,

Carla:

we'll, we'll see what happens.

Carla:

You know, obviously there are people out there who are like.

Carla:

They're painting and they're sculpting and they're making music and they're writing

Carla:

scripts and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Carla:

You know, and yes, video editing is an art form, but like, is it enough?

Carla:

You know, it's, it's all this like.

Carla:

Is what I'm doing important?

Carla:

Right.

Chris:

Because then, then you look at the nasty pair of words that I don't

Chris:

necessarily like as content creator.

Chris:

Mm hmm.

Chris:

Right?

Chris:

So what is that?

Chris:

That's fucking anything that you want it to be, right?

Chris:

So that's cool,

Carla:

but Yeah, I got up this morning and I made a milkshake in front of my camera.

Carla:

That's content creating.

Carla:

And I don't Yeah.

Carla:

To me, that's like, it's nails on a chalkboard for me, right?

Carla:

You didn't even have to think about it.

Carla:

Anyway, um,

Chris:

well, so one of, one of the reasons why I started the show is

Chris:

cause I like, I ran out of music going commuting, ran out of music,

Carla:

can't, right.

Carla:

It's like, like, it's like reaching the end of the internet.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

So I, uh, I started listening to podcasts and I was like,

Chris:

Oh, all these dudes are white.

Chris:

With a microphone.

Chris:

I, I can do that.

Chris:

I'm white and me, right?

Chris:

There's gotta be someone there.

Chris:

Uh, they have an audience.

Chris:

You know, and that's, that's how silly this whole fucking thing is.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

But I love it.

Carla:

Like, it's great.

Carla:

Well, and, and for me, it was like I mean, I think by now people, some people know

Carla:

that this started because again, talking to Shannon Wang and when, before I even

Carla:

met her in person and I was calling her to, you know, book me an appointment

Carla:

for a tattoo and she was playing the specials on shout out to the shirt.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

I'm, I'm actually wearing, I did, this was not planned, but I am wearing a

Carla:

special shirt, but they were, she was playing the specials in the shop and

Carla:

I was like, Oh, the specials right on.

Carla:

Um, cause.

Carla:

You don't meet many people who like the specials, right?

Carla:

And, um, she was like, Oh, I'm actually opening up a vinyl shop here in La Plata.

Carla:

And I was like, holy shit, that's awesome.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Having just started to get back into vinyl myself, you know,

Carla:

and somehow, I don't know.

Carla:

I don't know exactly how.

Carla:

Maybe I told her that I've, that I think like, thanks for

Carla:

letting me know I'll follow you on Southern Maryland music scene.

Carla:

And she, she's maybe that's how I don't remember exactly.

Carla:

But somehow we figured out that she figured out that I was Southern

Carla:

Maryland music scene and she had already been following me.

Carla:

She's like, Oh, well, uh, you know, I'm, I'm Shannon, blah, blah, blah.

Carla:

And she was so excited.

Carla:

She was like, hold on a second.

Carla:

I want to talk more about this Southern Maryland music scene.

Carla:

Hold on a second.

Carla:

She put me on hold for a couple minutes and then she comes back and she was

Carla:

like, okay, tell me all about it.

Carla:

Is this a podcast?

Carla:

And I was like, no, but it can be, you know, like right away I was like,

Carla:

Oh shit, this is a possibility here.

Carla:

And this was February of 2022.

Chris:

I think I interviewed her 2019.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I

Carla:

think she's rad.

Carla:

I love her.

Carla:

And Mona and Erica,

Chris:

the whole two shops with the vinyl record shop, uh, with Erica,

Chris:

with bird city records and then shot 53

Carla:

woman owned

Chris:

woman, tattoo shop, which is awesome to have art

Chris:

galleries, all this stuff.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

And from what I can tell with.

Chris:

Everything that you've done in concert almost with them, right?

Chris:

With like, the port, uh, Music on a Porch Day,

Carla:

right?

Carla:

Music on a Porch Day.

Carla:

And then Which I didn't really have any I mean, if I'm honest I really

Carla:

didn't have anything to do with it.

Carla:

I, I, I suggested a couple bands and

Chris:

Do you remember the marketing part of this and like the promotions

Chris:

that you do and the photos and videos?

Chris:

Yeah, so you're part of it.

Chris:

But it's interesting to feel supported.

Chris:

I bet you there's still a whole bunch of kids out there that have

Chris:

no idea who any of us are, right?

Chris:

That are still in this county that are like, I don't have any kind of

Chris:

support for anything that I want to do.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

And that's, that's what I always circle it back to.

Chris:

I think I derailed you enough.

Chris:

That's all right.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

We'll talk about more how Shannon is great and then how

Chris:

she gave you the podcast idea.

Carla:

So no, it was just, it was just that simple.

Carla:

It was just that simple.

Carla:

And, and after coming up to see her for the first time, like actually meet

Carla:

her for the first time and we started talking and I felt like, holy shit.

Carla:

There's a lot of support here, right?

Carla:

Like she was right away.

Carla:

She's like the corner man, you know Just massaging my shoulders go forth and right

Carla:

concrete, you know yeah, my thank you my hype men and woman I have woman and yeah,

Carla:

she it was like just talking to her gave me so many ideas and so many like Things

Carla:

to look at differently, you know, like she was the one who said let's look at

Carla:

look at the grants, you know Possibility

Chris:

right, which is nothing that I would have even thought about right then

Chris:

even when I did get that one from Wendy Mary's I had Like no real thought of,

Chris:

of this being an option for me, right?

Chris:

I'm watching YouTube videos.

Chris:

I'm listening to shows.

Chris:

I'm like, Oh, I have to sell ads.

Chris:

I have to get an audience to sell ads.

Chris:

So what the fuck do I do to get an audience?

Chris:

I spend money on Facebook for Facebook ads.

Chris:

No, none of this shit matters.

Chris:

I'll just talk into a microphone.

Chris:

Hopefully someone will listen and we'll go.

Chris:

And

Carla:

you know what?

Carla:

But that's the thing.

Carla:

Like if you have, if, if you Um, if you have a good

Carla:

conversation, people will listen.

Carla:

And that, and that's part of like what, what I try to do with Soundcheck is,

Carla:

you know, have a good conversation with, with my, with my friends.

Carla:

They're not even my guests.

Carla:

They're my friends.

Carla:

I am a curious person by nature.

Carla:

Like I, I really do want to hear your story and where you came from

Carla:

and what makes you tick and why you like the things that you like.

Carla:

So that part wasn't, you know, like, can I do this?

Carla:

I can ask you questions all day long.

Carla:

I mean, we can talk for, we can talk for hours, but would anybody listen?

Carla:

And in the beginning I was kind of afraid, like afraid is a strong word.

Carla:

In the beginning I was a little bit like, well, it'll probably

Carla:

be like my mom, if that, right.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

You know, and then whoever I'm interviewing and their family, that's

Carla:

probably what's going to happen.

Carla:

So.

Carla:

To have like 500, almost 500 hits on my very first interview.

Carla:

Yeah, it's got to feel good, right?

Carla:

Holy shit.

Carla:

Absolutely.

Carla:

And again, there are no expectations here.

Carla:

Absolutely none.

Carla:

So had it been a hundred people, I would have been like, fuck yeah, dude.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Right?

Carla:

No, it's, it's been a super wild ride.

Carla:

It's been, I'm finding myself doing things that I never.

Carla:

Imagine I would be doing, and I'm, I consider myself extremely, extremely

Carla:

fortunate to be able to do this, to be able to talk to, like I said, my

Carla:

friends to come here and, and to have met you and, and talk to you to be

Carla:

able to go to shows, to experience the things that I'm experiencing.

Carla:

I am extremely grateful and fortunate for it.

Carla:

And I guess that is part of what we were talking about earlier, you know, like.

Carla:

What makes Southern Maryland music scene different sets it apart from other things.

Carla:

And it's that excitement.

Carla:

It hasn't gone away.

Carla:

Genuinely excited.

Carla:

Genuinely feel like, I was just saying, fortunate to be able to do this.

Carla:

And just showing

Chris:

up.

Chris:

Yeah, that's, that's all it takes, right?

Chris:

Just showing up.

Chris:

If you want to, you know, support your big favorite band, go listen to A Little One.

Chris:

Correct.

Chris:

Or go show up at a Little Ones concert.

Carla:

And you never know, like, what you're going to find, right?

Carla:

Because like, I, yeah, you may come across, you may come out and see

Carla:

a band that you never thought you would absolutely love and have to,

Carla:

you know, down, like, changing scene.

Carla:

Yeah, that was a complete surprise to me and people are like, Oh, yeah, we've

Carla:

been seeing them since blah, blah, blah, blah, and I'm like, right, I just saw

Carla:

them today for the first time and went home and downloaded everything they

Carla:

put out, you know, on iTunes so that I could listen to them in my car and

Chris:

whatnot.

Chris:

Yeah, they're, they're fantastic.

Chris:

This is great.

Chris:

I think they might be working on some new stuff.

Chris:

So hopefully I saw that.

Chris:

Hopefully that'll

Carla:

go through and they're playing.

Carla:

I don't know.

Carla:

I mean, I don't know when this episode is going to drop.

Carla:

Whenever, but September 30th, they're playing, uh, the VFW and that's

Chris:

right.

Chris:

I'm glad that you mentioned that.

Chris:

Cause I forgot about it.

Carla:

So I'm, I'm doing that.

Carla:

Um, BEI reading rocks festival for, uh, to support BEI boundless expectations,

Carla:

Inc, which is a phenomenal organization.

Carla:

I'm so happy to have partnered up with them and to be able to

Carla:

help in whatever capacity I can.

Carla:

Because they do phenomenal work for kids with learning disabilities,

Carla:

especially dyslexia, which is a subject near and dear to my heart.

Carla:

So I can't wait.

Carla:

I mean, it's changing scene.

Carla:

I, and I was very peculiar about this lineup, putting changing

Carla:

scene with the runaway guns.

Carla:

Squidink was supposed to play, but they, Jordan had a previous, uh, commitment.

Carla:

So he couldn't, he couldn't make it.

Carla:

That would have been They're just busy all the time.

Carla:

They are.

Carla:

They are.

Carla:

They're very busy.

Carla:

But the cherry on the top would have been Squidink.

Carla:

But, um, so yeah, changing scene, the runaway guns, Buffalo Velcro.

Carla:

I'm just, just gonna, well, amateur hour and landing Mary.

Chris:

Yeah, so Landing, Landing Mary is great.

Chris:

I think that's Matt.

Chris:

Yep, Matt Henshaw.

Chris:

Yeah, so I, I, uh, I met him at Red Oak in La Plata years and years and years ago.

Chris:

Years ago.

Chris:

And what I was really happy to see is I think he was one, one of the

Chris:

few that kind of took the pandemic and ran with it a little bit.

Chris:

Where he was able to do some of those virtual shows, which is fucking awesome.

Chris:

So I'm really happy to see that.

Chris:

And I'm really happy to see them come back.

Chris:

So I'm stoked for that.

Chris:

I'm

Carla:

stoked to see.

Carla:

They're dropping an album here pretty soon.

Carla:

So I'm really excited for that.

Chris:

Yeah, I'm, I'm looking

Carla:

forward to it.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

And Matt also did, did the sound for our last Beatle show.

Carla:

Hell yeah, okay.

Carla:

I know it wasn't easy.

Carla:

I mean, my band had an orchestra for crying out loud.

Carla:

So he had to figure out how to mic.

Carla:

You know, violins, violas, cellos, trumpets, you know, the whole

Carla:

nine and I know that was not easy.

Carla:

So many fucking microphones.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

So many.

Chris:

I want to, I have like four questions that I want to kind of wrap with.

Chris:

Go for it.

Chris:

So, uh, one of the, the, the first ones we're going to be, um, what has, what

Chris:

do you think started your love of music?

Chris:

Oh, that's

Carla:

easy.

Carla:

I just, it's, uh, yeah, this is.

Carla:

Kind of the timing is perfect.

Carla:

I just posted a picture the other day on my personal Instagram I Jay was

Carla:

out in in LA and he brought me back a copy of Frampton comes alive for those

Carla:

of you who don't know Peter Frampton and My I posted a picture of it saying

Carla:

like Man, I, this is, you, you got to have this album in your collection.

Carla:

Like this is a classic, right?

Carla:

And my mom was, my mom's response was you and I used to listen to this

Carla:

record when you were just days old.

Carla:

That's awesome.

Carla:

So something I didn't know, right.

Carla:

Obviously.

Carla:

I don't remember that far back, but it was cool to hear

Carla:

to first to see it like, okay.

Carla:

So I, it's a classic.

Carla:

Yes.

Carla:

I've always loved this album.

Carla:

Never had it in vinyl, but I have it in other various formats.

Carla:

So, I've been around music my entire life and that is not a, uh, an exaggeration.

Carla:

My mother's side of the family is full of musicians.

Carla:

Her oldest brother, my grandparents firstborn, is the symphony conductor for

Carla:

the, the National Symphony in Panama.

Carla:

Oh, that's amazing.

Carla:

So that just, that just, yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Music has always been around.

Carla:

Sunday dinners at my grandparents house was guitars would come out, they can

Carla:

all harmonize like ridiculous harmonies, harmonies that don't exist, but they throw

Carla:

them in there and it's like, Oh shit.

Carla:

Um, they all play instruments.

Carla:

So yeah, there was no way that I was escaping the music.

Carla:

It's, it's in the DNA.

Carla:

First of all, second of all, it was.

Carla:

There's always music.

Carla:

My grandmother was, my grandmother never performed.

Carla:

This is, we believe this is the side.

Carla:

My grandmother was pitch perfect.

Carla:

Really?

Carla:

Pitch perfect.

Carla:

Timing, not so much.

Carla:

She doesn't have much of the rhythm, but But she was pitch perfect.

Carla:

Give her a note, she'll be alright.

Carla:

And she was always singing.

Carla:

And, and I grew up, I, I spent a lot of time with my mom's mom.

Carla:

Okay, I'm with my maternal grandmother.

Carla:

And so she always had music in the house music and baseball I got my

Carla:

love of baseball from her as well.

Carla:

All right

Chris:

Okay,

Carla:

oh Come on, you know like baseball

Chris:

it is probably the most boring

Carla:

game.

Carla:

No, I love baseball But I would that's

Chris:

another cover.

Chris:

Yeah, I went to a Nationals game fell asleep.

Chris:

Oh god.

Carla:

I love baseball.

Carla:

So I'll take you to a baseball game and I, and I could probably change your mind.

Carla:

I, I make it pretty exciting when I go to

Chris:

baseball.

Chris:

I do.

Chris:

I do legitimately like, I think the radio

Carla:

announcers.

Carla:

So that's what we did.

Carla:

So that's what my grandmother, I would listen to the radio.

Carla:

I mean, she would put games on at night, like when we were going to bed.

Carla:

So, um, and her little.

Carla:

Her little teeny tiny radio, you know, that's how that, I mean,

Carla:

like I said, couldn't escape it.

Carla:

I've been, and I was in choir since the time I was six and music classes

Carla:

until I was in the sixth grade.

Carla:

And then it all fell apart when I came to middle school, when I.

Carla:

When I came to the United States, when I migrated to the United States, you know,

Carla:

there was, there was no music lessons and there were no, I came, I came to the

Carla:

United States with my father's parents.

Carla:

Um, and not to say that they don't enjoy music, they do, but the Sure,

Carla:

it's not the same kind of passion.

Carla:

So yeah, it, it kind of changed a little bit and, and it affected

Carla:

that, the fact that like.

Carla:

I'm 46 years old and I'm still playing the guitar like I'm in a late teen

Carla:

because I don't have that, um, discipline.

Carla:

Sure, sure.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

To, like, actually sit down and play for, like, 5 to 10 minutes a day, even.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

I'm doing it now because I'm singing more with Becky Titus and stuff like that.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

So now I'm like, you gotta get your shit together, girl.

Carla:

Um, no, I'm, I'm, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but.

Carla:

Over the pandemic, I started, I picked up the guitar again and, and just

Carla:

really started to learn a lot of things so that it prepared me without me

Carla:

even knowing it prepared me for now.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

But I still wish, I mean, for playing as long as I played, I wish I, I

Carla:

wish I could play like, like a Dan Tellis or, I mean, nobody's Dan

Carla:

Tellis, but, but one can wish, right?

Carla:

I mean,

Chris:

do you, do you even want to like, that's so much work.

Chris:

Like, do you have to, do you have to, can you skip the work he makes?

Chris:

That's, that's the question.

Carla:

Can you skip the work?

Carla:

He makes it look so effortless.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

If I could like, dude, if I could like rub a lamp and be like, right, right.

Carla:

What are your three wishes?

Carla:

Uh, yeah, I wanna play guitar.

Carla:

Like David Gilmore.

Carla:

Duh.

Chris:

Yeah, yeah.

Chris:

You know, gimme a back that doesn't suck.

Chris:

And then like, oh, right.

Chris:

I, I like to shred.

Chris:

That would be cool.

Chris:

Or whatever, like weird fucking noises that I can make outta guitar.

Chris:

That, that'd be, that'd be what I want to do.

Chris:

For sure.

Chris:

Like I, I, I grew up and like basically was like raised ish on like

Chris:

all of the, the, the discord shit.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

Okay, cool.

Chris:

I started, it's so weird.

Chris:

My, my first concert that my mom told me about was a country

Chris:

artist, leaf Garrett or Garrett.

Chris:

All right, cool.

Chris:

I think I don't remember just like what you were talking about.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

And then when I was, I think a freshman going into a sophomore or

Chris:

sophomore going into my junior year, I went to my, uh, grandparents in

Chris:

Oregon and I saw Styx and Pat Benatar.

Chris:

Oh, right on.

Chris:

My sister was a huge Pat Benatar fan.

Chris:

Of course.

Chris:

I got a picture of her with her.

Chris:

And Pat Benatar, My sister was probably like 10.

Chris:

Okay, at most.

Chris:

Maybe that sounds right.

Chris:

I'm pretty sure Pat was like the same size.

Carla:

Oh, wow

Chris:

She's a little Teeny tiny she's like 411 or some shit Oh, wow,

Chris:

probably I'm probably butchering that but it doesn't matter because

Chris:

when when you're a teenager Yeah, and you're adult looks like your child

Chris:

like that's but she was amazing.

Chris:

Her voice was perfect.

Chris:

Everything was Amazing.

Chris:

Mm-Hmm.

Chris:

, uh, sticks was really cool.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Which I was not expecting.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

'cause I'm like a shithead teenager.

Chris:

I'm just like, this is dumb.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

This is so lay

Carla:

man.

Carla:

Why am I this

Chris:

new sticks.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

And they had a spinning keyboard.

Carla:

Oh yeah.

Carla:

Stage.

Carla:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Carla:

Like they, they killed it because, you know, sticks is like one of

Carla:

those bands, I mean like back in the seventies they were your.

Carla:

I don't know, you're Motley I'm not gonna say that they're like Motley Crue, but

Carla:

that big stadium production, you know, things rotating, people coming out in

Carla:

capes, that kind of shit, you know.

Chris:

Right, and this was at a county fair.

Chris:

Oh wow, okay.

Chris:

Or a state fair, I think.

Chris:

It was Jackson County Fair, I think.

Chris:

And they just fucking killed it.

Chris:

It was awesome.

Chris:

It was amazing.

Chris:

And I really appreciated that.

Chris:

And then when I got home, I think I had started picking up.

Chris:

So I started with country, so to speak, right?

Chris:

So raised nineties country, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, um, all that shit.

Chris:

And then my stepdad at the time got me into like eighties thrash.

Chris:

Oh, right on.

Chris:

And then I said, fuck all that.

Chris:

And when it just, when it's a punk.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

So Fugazi, Minor Threat, that kind of stuff.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

So it started, it

Chris:

started with the Buzzcocks.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

And then all the way up to once I found Discord Records.

Chris:

And once I found that first Fugazi, my first Fugazi experience was Hello Morning.

Chris:

It's a three song EP.

Chris:

Yep.

Chris:

And it sounds nothing like what, what else they've done.

Chris:

Because it's just like the, it's such a cacophony of sound.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

And it was great.

Chris:

I had the same experience with Rancid where my first Rancid record was

Chris:

Rancid 2000, which is their like, quote unquote, grindcore record, kind of.

Chris:

It's a minute long or like 10 minutes long or some shit like that.

Chris:

Fantastic ish, complete departure of all of this shit that they did before.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

There was no reggae.

Chris:

There was no, there was no fucking nothing.

Chris:

And it was just like aggressive and it's not, it's not, it was axiom.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

That was my first time listening to Matt Freeman play bass like that.

Chris:

And he soloed on the base.

Chris:

Like he does.

Chris:

He does a little bit in, uh, Maxwell Murders, which is

Chris:

just fucking amazing, too.

Chris:

But I was like, oh, a bass can sound like that.

Chris:

Let's figure out what else we can figure out.

Chris:

Cause there's so many different sounds.

Chris:

And then as soon as I got, like, the abrasiveness from Discord, that was it.

Chris:

And that was Fugazi, that was Medications, that was Farrakat,

Chris:

that was all of Q, Q and not U.

Chris:

All of that shit that I just gravitated so much towards.

Chris:

That like I found it was weird and I think this is a real thing because

Chris:

you hear that you don't really change your music Style after like 15.

Chris:

Okay Still listen to the same shit.

Chris:

I think

Carla:

that's still tracks.

Carla:

I had so many I have so many like I mean I can If you go, if you look

Carla:

through my phone, you will see pieces by Mozart pieces, by Bach, um, and then,

Carla:

you know, Slayer, , and there we go.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

You know, Pantera and Rage Against the Machine and yeah.

Carla:

Childish Gambino and Rancid Queensland, stone Age, I mean, like, it just, it's

Carla:

all, it's all over the place for me.

Carla:

Oh, but it was like that.

Carla:

I mean, yeah,

Chris:

I think, um, I think for me still hip hop, hip hop and like, there's some

Chris:

experimental digital stuff that, but, uh, that has like the most free and like the

Chris:

most innovation that I've seen recently.

Chris:

It feels, it feels like there's a lot more than what

Carla:

we listened to.

Carla:

Oh, absolutely.

Carla:

I mean, just.

Carla:

Hell, right now, right now I'm just very much into, you

Carla:

know, listening to local stuff.

Carla:

Like I said, Squid Ink, Changing Scene, The Pink Dream.

Carla:

I listen to that Pink Dream album, man, at least once a week.

Carla:

Sometimes I'll go like a couple of weeks without listening to it,

Carla:

but I just love the damn thing.

Carla:

So, but right now I'm like focusing on just.

Carla:

Listening more to, to our local guys, you know, our local scene.

Chris:

I like that.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

All right.

Chris:

So what band really triggered it for you?

Chris:

Cause you asked this question to most of your other folks.

Chris:

Uh huh.

Chris:

Oh my

Carla:

God.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

That is so weird.

Carla:

Um, to be put on this side of that.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Cause you have a tattoo that has four of them.

Chris:

Five.

Chris:

Five of them.

Chris:

My bad.

Chris:

And then you're wearing a special shirt.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

On, on those lines.

Chris:

I want you to answer that question, but I also want to, have you seen Renfield yet?

Carla:

No, I haven't, but I want to, it's on, it's on my, it's on my to

Chris:

do list.

Chris:

We'll skip that over, but yeah, I want to, I want to put you in the hot

Carla:

seat.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

So the record that did it for me was Outlando's D'Amour by The Police.

Carla:

And it was the first record that I felt that was mine.

Carla:

Like I, like I went to the store.

Carla:

There was a, there's a store in Panama.

Carla:

That's kind of like an end all be all like you can get shoes.

Carla:

Walmart.

Chris:

But like, better, because it's in Panama?

Carla:

No, not even better.

Carla:

It's like, it was like a shopping mall, like an entire shopping mall, all in one.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

Like, many floors.

Carla:

Okay, okay.

Carla:

Like, Macy's in New York back in the day, you know, shit like that.

Carla:

Okay, okay.

Carla:

They had, like, I, I would go there at the beginning, before

Carla:

the school year began, to get my uniforms, my shoes, all of that shit.

Carla:

Right, right, right.

Carla:

Because we, we wore uniforms to school.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

And I would always stop by the record.

Carla:

And so the reason I picked up the police was because my oldest cousin,

Carla:

um, she was a teenager around the time when I picked up and she was into the

Carla:

police and I heard her one time she put a cassette in and it was so lonely.

Carla:

And I was like, I love this music.

Carla:

This is.

Carla:

So good.

Carla:

I love this.

Carla:

I love this sound.

Carla:

I didn't even know why but I just did and so I went and I got their first Or second

Chris:

that was their first that was their first one So they they had a mix of

Chris:

literally everything that they were doing.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Yeah,

Carla:

so it was it was a little punkish It was you know, it was some reggae

Carla:

some ska some You know, and then later on, as, as I, as I grew up and began

Carla:

to understand why I love the police so much, um, not just to catchy, you

Carla:

know, writing and whatnot, but Stuart Copeland had a lot to do with that.

Carla:

Their drummer, he, he drove everything for me.

Carla:

I, for whatever reason.

Carla:

When I listen to music I start or I mainly focus on bass and drums.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah Yeah to the point where I sometimes I don't even know the lyrics

Carla:

to the song like I love this song and it's one of My favorite songs,

Carla:

but I don't know the lyrics because I am listening to the bass at the

Chris:

drums.

Chris:

I look for specific bass tones Uh huh.

Chris:

So I look for something that's completely different Unwound is my band.

Chris:

At least that's what I feel, because I'm going to ask you the same thing.

Chris:

So I want you to think about this, where it's a band that I really,

Chris:

really like that in theory is bigger, but fucking no one I know knows them.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

I was able to see them in Philadelphia this past, uh, this year.

Chris:

My sister lives up there.

Chris:

Fucking amazing.

Chris:

Their, uh, bassist passed away in their original run of, uh, of stuff.

Chris:

So, their last album came out in 2000.

Chris:

And then his, he, he had a, um, a drinking problem or a bout with alcoholism.

Chris:

I'm not, I'm not sure.

Chris:

Um, and then passed away.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

His baselines, his tone, his everything is, is it for me?

Chris:

Uh, and then they had, um, the basis of Big Business play.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

Their, their comeback show, so to speak.

Chris:

And it was just like so amazing to hear that tone and he was able to dial in that

Chris:

tone, those lines, those everything, live.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I was like, holy shit.

Chris:

It still hits.

Chris:

So, sorry, that was a little tangent, but back to, uh, the record, Phantom Live and

Chris:

then your Police, Phantom Live, not it.

Carla:

Phantom Live was what my mom says that I was listening to when I

Carla:

was just days old, but the Police, yeah, that, that's, that, that was

Carla:

the band that hooked me, um, for sure.

Carla:

And then you mentioned the tattoo and the, and so the Police falls in my

Carla:

top 10 of all time favorites bands.

Carla:

And so the tattoo that I have is.

Carla:

My top five the top 10 are eventually gonna get the other part filled out I

Carla:

am gonna get eventually the other five, but the tattoo piece is The the sergeant

Carla:

peppers drum from the album cover.

Carla:

Mm hmm the lightning bolt for David Bowie from a lot insane Wish you were here the

Carla:

two guys shaking hands For Pink Floyd, Pretty Hate Machine, Nine Inch Nails.

Carla:

And there is a band from Argentina who is probably one, the second

Carla:

most influential band at that, at that young age after the police.

Carla:

Um, there's a band from Argentina called Soda Stereo and Um, to this

Carla:

day, to this day, every time I hear the records, it's like I'm

Carla:

listening to it for the first time.

Carla:

I get that.

Carla:

That's getting us in that.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

A song of theirs comes on and I'm, and I'm, you know, I'm eight again,

Carla:

jumping up and down on the couch and you know, pretending that I'm

Carla:

in the band and all of that shit.

Carla:

So those are my top fives.

Carla:

And what's cool about it is Billboard magazine just, they just released

Carla:

something, um, like the, the top 100 voices in rock and roll.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

And the singer from Soda Stereo.

Carla:

Oh shit.

Carla:

Is number 33,

Chris:

Gustavo Serrati.

Chris:

I'm going to have to listen to that though.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

So

Carla:

that was, I, I was like, you gotta be shitting me.

Carla:

They actually know who these people are, you know, and put them

Carla:

in, you know, for me, he's top 10 vocals of all time, but okay.

Carla:

33, that's fine.

Chris:

Although that's, that's still fucking great of all time.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Do you think that's like your band that really like fits?

Chris:

Kind of my description would be someone you love should be pretty popular.

Carla:

Well, they are pretty popular.

Carla:

People should know.

Carla:

They are pretty popular, just not in this country.

Carla:

Right, right.

Carla:

If you, if you go down to anywhere from Mexico all the way down to, uh,

Carla:

Argentina and you mention, and you say the name Soda Stereo, people know

Carla:

exactly who you're talking about.

Chris:

So Unwound is from the West Coast, but I had a lot of that

Chris:

like discord sound, which is what I gravitated towards, but no one from here

Carla:

knew them.

Carla:

Well, there's, I, there's one, another one of my favorite bands.

Carla:

They're not top 10, but another one of my favorite bands.

Carla:

Uh, they're called hours.

Carla:

Yes.

Carla:

O U R S.

Carla:

Yes.

Carla:

Jimmy Necco.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

And nobody fucking knows.

Carla:

So good.

Carla:

Nobody knows this band.

Carla:

So good.

Carla:

And every time I, people are like, I just, I don't understand

Carla:

how there are certain bands.

Carla:

I don't understand how.

Carla:

I have his voice in my head right now.

Carla:

Mm hmm.

Carla:

So how, how does a band like, I'm just going to throw a shade cause I can,

Carla:

cause I'm feeling, you know, frisky.

Carla:

But how does a band like Third Eyed Blind.

Carla:

Make it.

Carla:

But a band like ours doesn't is it's beside me.

Carla:

And I know he had a lot of control into his, but still, I, I don't know, man.

Chris:

I don't, I don't know.

Chris:

Uh, I I have a soft spot for that first, third eye blind record.

Chris:

Do you really?

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

I can't stand it.

Chris:

Jumper.

Chris:

Jumper.

Chris:

For, for me, jumper hit in a way, like when I was a kid, Uhhuh.

Chris:

'cause I, I think I was going through.

Chris:

Some stuff as a kid.

Chris:

Yeah, sure.

Chris:

And jumper really like hit me.

Chris:

That's my, that's one of the soft spots that I have.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Nothing else

Carla:

really like, this isn't a judgment.

Carla:

I like, I, well, I understand what you're saying.

Carla:

My motto is it may not be for me.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

You know what I mean?

Carla:

And that's totally cool.

Carla:

So that's where this, you know, but it was,

Chris:

it was funny too.

Chris:

Cause like Steven Jenkins got really popular.

Chris:

Like I remember watching MTV and he was on like, um, Almost like a talent show

Chris:

like he was one of the judges on there.

Chris:

I was like, this is fucking weird Like you're you're not you're in a

Chris:

popular band, but you're like not a pop

Carla:

star, right?

Carla:

I you say the name and I don't have I have he's the singer of third.

Carla:

I know I figure that Fair enough.

Carla:

Well, yeah, Jimmy Necco.

Carla:

He's got one of the best voices in rock and roll.

Carla:

He

Chris:

really does It's him, uh, I think him, Jeff Buckley, Jeff Buckley, who the,

Chris:

the live at Sine is one of my favorite.

Carla:

Oh, really?

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

I love that album too.

Chris:

All right.

Chris:

We're going to talk about this a lot.

Chris:

If, if we don't actually continue to

Carla:

finish, you're going to have a lot of editing to

Chris:

do my friends.

Chris:

This is usually how it goes.

Chris:

This is usually how it goes.

Chris:

Cause we get off on tangents.

Chris:

Sorry.

Chris:

I don't give a shit.

Chris:

So.

Chris:

That was my third question, really, was like, what do you

Chris:

consider, like, one of your bands?

Chris:

Like, one of the things that you really hold

Carla:

dear.

Carla:

One of my bands that nobody else knows, that kind of thing.

Carla:

Oh shit, I got so many.

Carla:

Ours is one of them.

Carla:

There's another band from California.

Carla:

called the skeletons.

Carla:

It's a ska band.

Carla:

And, um, they're from Orange County.

Carla:

No, they're from Riverside County, which is where I lived.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

And it's another band where I'm like, how is it that the skeletons didn't make it?

Carla:

But no doubt did.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

You know what I mean?

Carla:

So I saw this, the only, I've.

Carla:

My grandparents were my, my father's parents were very strict and they

Carla:

wouldn't, they wouldn't let me, it's like you bring me into this country

Carla:

and you don't let me do the things that the kids in this country are doing.

Carla:

And it's like, well, why'd you bring me here?

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

A real quick way to get an ostracized.

Carla:

Yeah, dude.

Carla:

Like no sleepovers and no.

Carla:

You know, kind of come

Chris:

from like a family environment to like, no

Carla:

going to concerts, none of that shit.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

Not no doing music, no being in bands, that kind of stuff.

Carla:

So anyway, I still love them.

Carla:

They're, they're my grandparents and they were, they did their

Carla:

best and I understand that.

Carla:

So, um, I, I only got to see the skeletons once, but man, were they good.

Carla:

The red album, which is their other stuff got kind of weird toward, you

Carla:

know, I think they were trying I think they were trying to follow that

Carla:

no doubt formula, like start with Ska and then just do something else.

Carla:

Do whatever.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

And it didn't, didn't really, didn't stick with me, didn't land on me.

Carla:

But um, but the red album from the Skeletons, that one is um,

Carla:

fantastic album, fantastic album.

Carla:

And, um, let's see off the top of my head, I would say those two, but you know, ours.

Carla:

So at least there's,

Chris:

you know, I think, I think it's, um, folks my age and older would know his

Chris:

voice because it was on some soundtracks somewhere that would have hit them.

Carla:

They did.

Carla:

They did achieve a little bit of commercial success with,

Carla:

um, their third album, mercy.

Carla:

Yes, I remember hearing one of the songs on Fox at, you know, for sporting events

Chris:

and shit.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

And I think sometimes if that's, I cannot remember that, that the name

Chris:

of the song, but yeah, sometimes, yes.

Chris:

That's the one that always hooked me.

Chris:

Cause I thought, I thought it was on, I don't think it was on the crow soundtrack.

Chris:

No, I

Carla:

thought it was on, it wasn't, but you would walk around

Carla:

target when that album came out.

Carla:

That's what it was.

Carla:

And that song was always playing because they were trying to like promote,

Chris:

yeah.

Chris:

Yeah, they were, they were great.

Chris:

Um, his voice is phenomenal.

Chris:

Definitely one of the better ones right, right up there.

Chris:

I think with Jeff Buckley, Tom York, where they're just the range,

Chris:

whatever they're, they're phenomenal.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Make do and mend is one of those bands that are kind of like what

Chris:

you were saying where you don't understand why they didn't grow up.

Chris:

So they were around Bands like Law Dispute, uh, Defeater, and a couple other

Chris:

ones that are like, post hardcore, really big, I think Law Dispute just went on and

Chris:

did their like 10 or 15 year anniversary of one of my favorite records from them.

Chris:

But Make Do and Men, my favorite out of like, that core group that came,

Chris:

kind of came up together, right?

Chris:

But never got any kind of commercial

Carla:

success.

Carla:

It's a shame sometimes that that, that, that happens.

Carla:

And you know, like I get it, you know, commercial success and all of that.

Carla:

And some bands just like, that's all they want is that commercial success.

Carla:

And Jimmy Necco was one of one, one who didn't want that.

Carla:

I mean, he tore up his fucking contract with Warner just,

Carla:

you know, because he could.

Carla:

Didn't care about it.

Carla:

But yeah, and for some other bands, it's just you know, they don't seek

Carla:

it But for some reason they get picked up, you know, it's it's it's weird

Carla:

how that happens sometimes in music

Chris:

I got two more.

Chris:

What do you want this to be?

Chris:

What do you want Southern Maryland music to be?

Carla:

Hmm.

Carla:

That's a really good question.

Carla:

Um, I, I never think about it in these terms, but I wanted

Carla:

to be a place for community.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

I want it to be a place where people, and I think it, I, I think it's already

Carla:

achieving this, you know, I want it to be a place where people are like,

Carla:

Hey, what's happening this weekend around here and I have had people

Carla:

who, who DM me and where should I go?

Carla:

Like what should I go check out?

Carla:

And I, and I love that because it's like, damn, you think that

Carla:

I know something, you know, like, like you're taking my word for it.

Carla:

I take that very

Chris:

seriously.

Chris:

Yeah, I was, um, very flattered when you reached out to me about Sonny, possibly.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Like that, that just goes a long way, right?

Chris:

Of just like, I'm not much, but like, I got you.

Chris:

Yeah, but

Carla:

like, absolutely.

Carla:

Oh, a hundred percent.

Carla:

I, you know, I think a big part of this is I consider myself a cheerleader.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

And like, I was never into cheerleaders when I was, when I was a kid, you

Carla:

know, but, or into cheerleading.

Carla:

I wasn't a cheerleaders either, but now as an adult, I'm like,

Carla:

I, I, I want you to succeed, man.

Carla:

I want for everybody, I want for, I want for this place to be packed all the time.

Carla:

I want for people to come see you.

Carla:

I want, I want all the good things for everybody, you know, um, well maybe not

Carla:

everybody, but most everybody, you know, because I can still be a little petty

Carla:

bitch sometimes, but, um, it's okay.

Carla:

Absolutely.

Carla:

Absolutely.

Carla:

I do not.

Carla:

I do not deny.

Carla:

I don't deny my petty side.

Carla:

It's moment, you know, when it, when it needs to come out.

Carla:

Um, I don't deny being human.

Carla:

That's, that's the part.

Carla:

Um, so yeah, you know, I, I want, I want Southern Maryland music

Carla:

scene to be a place for community.

Carla:

I want, you know, I'm not going to lie.

Carla:

I like it when people are like, Hey man, we really like what you're doing.

Carla:

Of course.

Carla:

Cause cause it makes it, it makes it feel like I'm not wasting my time.

Carla:

When,

Chris:

uh, when a lineup hit someone, this happened to me when I was Coming

Chris:

up doing my own shows and happened to me this year like when the lineup hits and

Chris:

someone comes up and like This is it.

Chris:

Yeah

Carla:

Absolutely

Chris:

that that means so much more than Anybody could even

Carla:

know I know I guess ridiculous.

Carla:

Absolutely Yes, when people when people are like, hey, you did a

Carla:

good job who doesn't like being right they did a good job, right?

Carla:

Right So it may be for you, this lineup was sick.

Carla:

And for me, Hey, you know, we really appreciate the

Carla:

fact that you did X, Y, or Z.

Carla:

Yeah.

Chris:

You know what I mean?

Chris:

And then, uh, I think one of the, the unsung heroes or maybe he's a

Chris:

song hero, Lynn, just putting a music schedule around and just showing up

Chris:

to whatever, like that's fucking cool.

Chris:

That's so, so cool.

Chris:

And I'm so glad that that is able to

Carla:

be done.

Carla:

Lynn is.

Carla:

Um, I, like, I didn't know Lynn before a couple years ago when

Carla:

I first started doing this.

Carla:

The first time I saw Lynn, Amateur Hour was playing at the deli and

Carla:

he had, he had long hair back then.

Carla:

He was tied up.

Carla:

Amateur Hour started playing, um, they did Breathe in Time and

Carla:

then they also did Another Brick in the Walls Part 1, Oh my gosh.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

And you know, they're young.

Carla:

They're a younger band at the time.

Carla:

I think I, I believe that one of the guitars wasn't even old enough to drink.

Carla:

Um, but we won't talk about that or how he got into venues and shit like that.

Carla:

Um, anyway, so to see such young folk for people like me and for Lynn, like,

Carla:

holy shit, you appreciate Pink Floyd.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

What the hell?

Carla:

You know?

Carla:

And I remember watching Lynn.

Carla:

I didn't know him at the time.

Carla:

I didn't know who he was.

Carla:

I didn't know what he did.

Carla:

And he's just starts taking video and I'm like, okay, he, he's

Carla:

like me, he appreciates this.

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

This is awesome.

Carla:

Anyway, because I'm going out every weekend, I'm running into

Carla:

him and he's friends with some of people I made friends with.

Carla:

And so now it's like every time I see him, I'm like, come sit with

Carla:

me or can I come sit with you?

Carla:

Right.

Carla:

We're friends.

Carla:

Absolutely.

Carla:

And I, I coined him the, the unofficial mayor of a music

Carla:

town, you know, because he is.

Carla:

And but he's such a sweet guy.

Carla:

I absolutely adore him.

Carla:

Yeah, I adore him.

Carla:

I don't

Chris:

think I've actually ever Talked to him.

Chris:

Oh, I'll um, so i'll eventually right i'll make that connection for you.

Chris:

Yeah Yeah, just because I appreciate the work that he does

Carla:

He's got a kick ass record collection.

Carla:

I bet, I bet he does.

Carla:

And he's brought me some, some rarities that he, that he has

Carla:

collected over the years and holy shit.

Carla:

I, I told him, I said, Hey Lynn, um, if nobody wants his shit, you know, like

Carla:

put it on your will for me, will ya?

Carla:

I got you.

Carla:

I'll

Chris:

take it from you.

Chris:

Yeah, you don't even have to put it in the will, I'll just take it, it'll be fine.

Chris:

Oh yeah, well no, I wouldn't do that to him, but.

Chris:

But yeah, I mean, folks like that, there's a, another photographer and a booker.

Chris:

Named Alec Berry from Rocksplosion in D.

Chris:

C.

Chris:

Very similar vibes.

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

Where he just fucking goes to everything.

Chris:

Pictures, videos, the whole nine.

Chris:

Okay.

Chris:

Ready for the last question?

Chris:

Yeah, sure.

Chris:

Go for it.

Chris:

What do you think you've learned the most about yourself

Chris:

throughout your journey so far?

Carla:

Oh my god.

Carla:

Dude.

Carla:

That is one hell of a question.

Carla:

But it's also a very simple answer.

Carla:

Uh, I'm not bullshitting here.

Carla:

I have found so much joy doing this.

Carla:

It's been really cool.

Carla:

Again, going from the hermit that wasn't leaving her, you

Carla:

know, couch all weekend long.

Carla:

I mean, I, yeah, I would go, but I would go to DC a lot.

Carla:

Like, we would, I would tell Jay, like, let's go out this weekend, let's go to

Carla:

the caverns when they're closed now.

Carla:

Let's just do something.

Carla:

Let's just do something.

Carla:

Let's just go find things to do, you know.

Carla:

But we thought that's where we needed to go.

Carla:

And if we weren't up there, then I was on my couch, you know,

Carla:

just watching Game of Thrones or

Chris:

whatever.

Chris:

Thinking, fuck all that's happening.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

This experience has brought me so much joy.

Carla:

I tend not to look at it as like, well, you could have been doing this.

Carla:

Three years ago or five years ago or six years, like you miss out, right?

Carla:

Part of me does feel like I missed out on a lot, but other, but

Carla:

another part of me is like, fuck it.

Carla:

You're here now.

Carla:

Like enjoy the ride now.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

I have also learned that there's some really good people down here that I

Carla:

wouldn't have been as open to meet and talk to had it not been for this.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

It's been, it's been a, it's been a really cool ride, man.

Carla:

I, I.

Carla:

I have really enjoyed it and I hope that I continue to enjoy it.

Carla:

Um, there are nights when I'm very tired or there actually there are mornings when

Carla:

I'm very tired, but it's totally worth it.

Carla:

Just, I've gotten to know some very, very cool people.

Carla:

I've gotten to be friends and really good friends with some very, very cool people.

Carla:

And honestly, I think, because we, we can all be a little judgmental, you know, but

Carla:

I think, I don't think this is the truth.

Carla:

I mean, Anthony Bourdain used to say, if you want to know people go where they are,

Carla:

you know, um, and he's one of my heroes.

Carla:

So I go where the people are, you know, and I listen to stories and I.

Carla:

Enjoy music with others.

Carla:

I don't know.

Carla:

Is that like too deep?

Carla:

Like, I,

Chris:

This is why I asked the question, isn't it?

Carla:

That's a really good question, actually.

Carla:

It's very good.

Carla:

But yeah, it, it gets you to think, you know.

Carla:

I think

Chris:

finding your joy is, is pretty good.

Chris:

When I stopped doing shows, I felt very empty.

Chris:

Sure.

Chris:

Very, very empty.

Chris:

That's when I started having more ideas about the podcast.

Chris:

And like, how, how can I highlight, how can I give back?

Chris:

If I'm not doing the shows, right?

Chris:

And then how do I have some kind of creative outlet that doesn't

Chris:

make me feel like a void inside?

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

So I was definitely missing that.

Chris:

And I was definitely missing that joy and that excitement and that, Oh man, this

Chris:

is the, it is the electricity about it.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

So like my, my first show back, I felt it.

Carla:

It, it, yeah, there is an electricity.

Carla:

There are times when I go out.

Carla:

And I'm like really anticipating like a, a, a show, you know, what was the

Carla:

one that had, this was one of your shows that had, it was ammonite.

Carla:

I remember the, the, the flyer was the, like the, the throwing

Chris:

wheel.

Chris:

Yeah, that would have been ammonite.

Chris:

It was ammonite.

Chris:

I think Vivid Vertigo was on that.

Chris:

Maybe.

Chris:

No, I can't remember.

Chris:

I think that was my second or third show back.

Chris:

So I, I was in April and we, we had Vivid Vertigo and some other folks on that.

Chris:

I think.

Chris:

No, I know I had Phantom Derby in April.

Chris:

It doesn't matter

Carla:

whatever it was.

Carla:

It

Chris:

may all all the same shit It all works together.

Carla:

It's Like going to that show and it's like oh shit I got to see a brand

Carla:

new band and they were exciting and I really loved them And then the next

Carla:

time I got to see them I was like really anticipating like it was kind of like

Carla:

that feeling that you got and I'm not a big fan of like Fest, you know like the

Carla:

big festivals or I don't think I've ever been I think I've been to one festival my

Carla:

entire life Yeah, yeah, but it was like kind of one of those where it's like Who

Carla:

are you looking forward to seeing tonight, you know, and I'm like, Ooh, I'm really

Carla:

looking for like, I talked to Charlie, you know, like, because Charlie and I are

Carla:

Charlie and I are like peas in a pod, you know, and it's like, well, well, what are

Carla:

you looking forward to seeing that I'm really looking forward to seeing this and

Carla:

I'm really looking forward to seeing that and it's like, dude, this is happening.

Carla:

In our backyard.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Like, we have the giddiness of like, school children and it's

Carla:

happening right here in our backyard.

Carla:

How fucking cool is

Chris:

that?

Chris:

Yeah.

Chris:

That's, that's what I wish more people would realize.

Chris:

Uh, that's why I'm doing it.

Chris:

That's why you're doing it, right?

Chris:

Yep.

Chris:

So try to...

Chris:

You know, shine a spotlight on stuff that's over here because

Chris:

there's, there's a bunch of it.

Chris:

There's athletes, there's musicians, there's beautiful

Chris:

artists, artists, writers.

Chris:

Yes.

Chris:

I saw, I just saw a billboard for a random writer.

Chris:

But she's from here.

Chris:

Oh yeah.

Chris:

I, uh, I don't remember her name now, but she is now on my list cause I'm

Chris:

pretty sure I looked her up and I was like, all right, I need to talk to this

Chris:

person because apparently she's had seven books, but I wouldn't even know.

Chris:

I should know.

Chris:

Interview her.

Chris:

Yeah, but I shouldn't know.

Chris:

Right.

Chris:

Like, and if I don't know, then there's a whole bunch of

Carla:

other people.

Carla:

Well, and that's the thing.

Carla:

It's like.

Carla:

I don't know if it's because there hasn't been, it can't be because of that.

Carla:

I was going to say it, it, maybe it's because there isn't a want

Carla:

for it, um, or a need for it.

Carla:

But you would think that there would be a place where we could

Carla:

like, this is how Southern Maryland music, it's exactly how it was born.

Carla:

Like, is there a place where I can get all of this?

Carla:

Not just an announcement like so and so is playing at so and so, but hey, can

Carla:

I see what so and so sounds like like?

Carla:

Can I can I you know

Chris:

at one point I was legitimately working on a Southern

Chris:

Maryland specific like reverb calm.

Chris:

Oh cool where bands could like set up Uh, profiles, uh, calendars, uh, their

Chris:

music, their shows and all that shit.

Chris:

And then I found out that's a lot of work.

Chris:

It is.

Chris:

It's a lot of work.

Chris:

It is.

Chris:

Uh,

Carla:

and it's not just a website.

Carla:

Look, I'm regramming and it's still a lot of work because I'm

Carla:

like, did I miss anybody on Monday?

Carla:

Yeah.

Carla:

Okay.

Carla:

And oh my God, somebody just announced.

Carla:

So I better put it.

Carla:

And the videos.

Carla:

They have tools for this and it's still a lot.

Carla:

And I'm not saying that it's, you know, it, it is a lot, but

Carla:

it is, it's a labor of love.

Carla:

And, and I, I love doing this.

Carla:

I really do.

Carla:

I mean, it's the joy, right?

Carla:

It is.

Carla:

I, I didn't expect 20 people to follow me and at all, you know, and

Carla:

I, I remember in the beginning, I kept getting all those like marketing

Carla:

things like, Oh, you can buy.

Carla:

I thought, and I'm like, why would I want to buy a thousand followers?

Carla:

Like why?

Carla:

It's not, this isn't an ego thing.

Carla:

Like, why would I want to buy seriously?

Carla:

Why would I want to buy a thousand followers?

Carla:

They're not doing anything

Chris:

for me.

Chris:

Yeah, there's no reason for it.

Chris:

Correct.

Chris:

Any of the analytics that you're looking for, those don't

Carla:

fucking matter.

Carla:

No, they don't.

Carla:

They don't.

Carla:

And so, to be, to have the account where it is today, it's

Carla:

up to a thousand and thirty?

Carla:

A thousand and thirty followers?

Carla:

What?

Carla:

Like how, dude?

Carla:

How exactly did that happen?

Carla:

You know, and If you spend five seconds of your day looking at what I posted,

Carla:

thank you so much, you know, I so appreciate you, I really do, I really do.

Carla:

I'm just trying to give you some of the same joy that I've, that I've

Carla:

experienced in the last two years.

Chris:

I love it.

Chris:

I think that's a good way to wrap up.

Carla:

Excellent.

Carla:

All right.

Carla:

Thank you for having me, man.

Carla:

Of course.

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About the Podcast

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Ambition Radio
Host Chris Tondevold interviews indie artists, content creators, athletes, and small business owners who share how they continually discover and maintain a balance between their life, family, career, and the pursuit of their passions, dreams, or...

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Chris Tondevold

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