Welcome to Big Blend Radio where we celebrate variety and how it adds spice to quality of life. Everybody today is Joey Stuckey's Alive Day. You know this is a big deal. Why? Because we're going to celebrate life and living life and getting a second chance of life. We have some great guests joining us on the second panel discussion. We have an amazing giant big monstrosity of a super cool music playlist for you. So look in the episode notes. We've got great guests joining us. But Nancy, are you ready? Joey's here. Are you ready? So Joey, are you ready? Are you ready for part two of your special day? I am ready and having a blast. So that's right. Well, let's rock it. So first thing before we get started, you know, for those who didn't listen to part one, y'all I'll put the link in the episode notes so you can listen because we have great guests from the walkabout band, right? We have a mom rule who likes to hang out at Waffle House just saying we had a great, great conversation. So that is listed in the episode notes. But hey, Joey, tell everybody why we need to celebrate a live day. And before you do that, I got to remind everybody, Joey is an award-winning, blank guitarist, songwriter, singer, composer, producer, radio, and TV personality. Music columnist, educator, sound engineer, he co-hosts our big daily blend podcast every fourth Sunday. He has released several albums and is the owner and sound engineer of a recording facility, which is called Shadow Sound Studio in Macon, Georgia, which Nancy and I just got to visit. Most importantly got to hang out and meet our friend, Joey. Did I do that right? Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. He's the official music ambassador for Macon, Georgia, which is the southern rock capital of the world. Keep up with Joey at joeystucky.com. I think I'm done now. Are you ready? Nice. Yes, beautifully done. Yeah, you need a cookie. I do. You need a break. Yeah, so well, you mentioned a live day and what that means. And so I was a very young child and they realized I developed a brain tumor and it took my sight of my sense of smell, which by the way, is how I trick my wife into marriage, because I told her that she would always look and smell perfect if we got together, and she was like, I'll take that deal. We've been married 21 years now, so it worked out pretty well. That's great. Yeah, but so, you know, I use everything I got. So, but when my parents discovered that I had a brain tumor, they realized that it was it was pretty dire stuff. And the doctor said that it would for sure kill me if they didn't operate, and there wasn't much time to do that. And so they had to make a very quick decision. But they said that even if they did operate, the surgeon applied in the last eight or nine hours, and I probably wouldn't survive it, and even if I did survive it, I wouldn't walk or talk. And though brain tumor left me with others found this like no intricate system, no adrenal function, and later in life, some challenges like having to have a complete hip replacement and shoulder replacement at a very young age through just some bone issues, I am most gloriously and joyfully alive. And so, my parents took a very scary day, the day of the brain tumor surgery, where everything was so traumatic and just really uncertain. And to help me deal with this as a very young child, because I was two years old when it happened, they turned it around and said, no, it's not a day that you almost died, it's the day you beat the odds. And they really turned it around and presented it as an affirmational day, as opposed to day of fear. And so, we celebrated that second birthday, my parents always believed in celebrating every chance you get, and we celebrate that second birthday. But then in 2017, I realized that a life they could be something more than just a private day of triumph and celebration, that it could be a day for the whole community to come and revel in the joy of life through music, which is what I know how to do. And it would be a day to reconnect with neighbors and family and friends, and just a day to come together and think about what they were grateful for and what inspired them. And so, we put on a free family-friendly concert in downtown Macon for a number of years, even through COVID. We did stuff on Facebook. We came back with a full concert last year. This year, we weren't able to do the concert, but we're doing this podcast. So every year, we do something a little different. And I'm really excited about it. And the amazing guests that we have on there to help us celebrate with their music. So that's their stories. And the playlist. I love this. I love the playlist. And because this goes, I mean, the playlist lasts for however YouTube and Spotify will allow it, same as the podcast, right? And this spans the country and the world. You know, we have listeners everywhere, and we're excited about this. I want to bring Pamela Bedwell on first, because, you know, she has worked and recorded with you, which you know I want to do. You know, you know, we're just saying. And Pam has been on the show last year, right before your live concert in 2023. And she's an amazing singer, songwriter. We've got her shows, her songs listed in the playlist. She's got good times going on. I do believe, Pam. How are you? Thanks. I'm doing great. I appreciate you having me here. And happy, happy, happy day, Joey. Thank you. It's so wonderful to hear your voice. And I'm so proud of you and all you're doing and all your music. And I believe if I'm not mistaken, the song you submitted for the playlist, I played guitar on them. I submitted two. And both of them, you, you did play on one is the good times, which is retro funk. I like it. And then the second one is words, which is, I've always wanted to write a song where we use tuba instead of a bass guitar. And so this was, I was playing around in my head with the song and the gypsy kings came on. And I said, that's it. That's it. So Joey is my gypsy king guitar player on that. Joey. And the middle is a big celebration of me just hoping and hollering and yipping and yapping. So it may sound like a sad song, but I was having a grand time in the middle. I feel like I'm going back to the desert now. Like, you know, so Joey played on both of those. Yeah. It's always a thrill to get to play with Pam because she's so cool and so sweet and so talented. And I'm, I'm one of the people that told her that she was too talented not to be doing this and beat her into submission to make her go out there and start playing. That's honest. He is telling the truth. He's not only a blind man driving. Watch the video and listen to the song and the playlist, but he's a blind man meeting too. Professional beaters prefer the word spanker. Oh, spanker. Well, you know what, he gave us hugs when we met you, but I don't know what's. So the second second time we see, I mean, does this go from hugs to spankings? It's motivational. It's all I know is my butt is not so big from doing so much computer work then. It's just whatever paddle you put on there, man, it's just going to reverberate and you've got a whole new sound issue. Well, now you're, now you're, now you're, it sounds like a brand new recording project. I know it is. I mean, you shot us around all the sound to me. I, I learned from you. And right now I've pillows cushioning everything in a room that I'm in because I learned sound that day. I was like fascinated about what you were doing in the studio. And I love the drummers room. Yeah, that's a lot of fun. And the fact that your studio is downtown Macon, Georgia, in this historic downtown, the studio is there. It's kind of, I mean, back in the day, Joey, didn't didn't people get to see people recording music downtown? There have been, there have been studios that were famous for having glass windows where they could wash people in court. There was a lot of instances of that for radio. But there have been some recording studios that, that were, you could, you could walk by and kind of see what was going on. And it kind of depends on what room they were in. But you know, one of the challenges that we're working with right now is I'm developing a new space in downtown. It's 9,000 square feet. It's a new studio. And it's, it's amazing. It's just a massive undertaking. And one of the things we're trying to figure out is, do we want windows to the outside? Would that be, would that be inspirational? Or would that be distracting? So we're trying to figure out how we can have both and we haven't quite figured that out yet. But we've got a killer team put together to help work on that. That's interesting, especially, especially, like, true with, yeah, I mean, that's always interesting. When you think about also you being blind and not. Yeah, that doesn't really affect me. Yeah, it doesn't affect you. Visually, I don't really get affected by that. But, but Joey's got a cat called Shadow that he found in the studio area right in the buildings, a little homeless cat. Little homeless cat was hiding out in my, in my, this building, we're renovating his empty at the moment. And somehow he got in and was hanging out in the window. And so, right next to him was my studio that said Shadow, the sound studio on the door. So everybody, of course, was like, oh, wow, his name is Shadow. He must have read the sign. He's like, this is my new home. He's my totally god ownership. And he's like, you're lucky you're allowed to move in. He plays on top of me and just runs all over me and jumps on top of me. And he's, he's, he's, he's well loved. This is important. Cat, cat love is important. I want to bring Johnny Shafer back on the show. Everyone go to here, johnny.com. Johnny has been on our show for a number of years, just like Joey. And he hosts our first Sunday, a big daily blend show. I have a hard time even saying our own show. I would say big blend radio this, you know, but big daily blend show. And Joey and Johnny have taken us on wild rides of music and looking at music in so many different ways. It's like, oh, we're going to look at fall music. That's what we're doing next, you know, you Johnny, you know, so it's really interesting. And you have done some amazing work lately that we'll get into it in a little bit. I want to get into that in a little bit. But Johnny, welcome back first. So glad to be here, everybody. And I love that you said wild ride because I feel like, you know, music is a wild ride. And when you talk about a live day, being alive is so much more than existing. And what I love about you, Joey is like, you just you do so you put so much into life. And you it's contagious. And all the people around you just are listed up. You lift up the musicians up. You lift the people who get to hear your music up. And so it's really awesome that we get to celebrate you. Man, that's that is beautiful. I really appreciate that because that is that is, and I'm proud to call Johnny and friend and I'm proud that we got a chance to meet in person in LA a couple of years back. And and it means a lot to me because to simply exist is not sufficient. You have to you have to embrace life as well. You have to be part of the universe. And it's it's really important in my life's mission to lift other people up and to be a source of positivity. And and and and you know, we can find positivity through lots of different things. But Johnny and I both and all the guests on the show know that one of the most powerful things we can do is music. So thank you for that my friend. I appreciate it. Well, you absolutely do that all the time, Joey. So yeah, absolutely. Didn't you guys meet at the Grammys? We did. We did. Yeah, Johnny, Johnny has a billboard. Yeah, Johnny gave you a list. I didn't have to have to get an Uber. And and I said, hey, I've got some dinner. Yeah, we have conversations. What what Johnny's done with his music is absolutely fabulous. And I know there's some things I just read. I just read a newsletter. I guess maybe a week ago and I learned about the things that hopefully we had just talked about with with Lieutenant Sue Lou. I just read some of that some fun stuff in the news. Anyway, we'll hopefully we'll get to all that. Oh, we have to. We have to. I know that you put your song on flown in on the playlist, but we're we're we can't stop at that. Okay, we have to put the new single on there too. So before we get to the storage brothers, tell us about unfloned. Well, you know, unfloned, I at least and I both thought of the joy when we were talking about what what fun or about that song when we were talking about what what I should pick, because it's about it's about having the the guts to to put yourself out there and to not like I said, not just exist, but to really live. And I use the analogy of if you woke up with wings one day, would you be afraid to fly? And and so the song just talks about not you're having the talent and having the resources isn't enough. It's also the courage and the passion to go for it. And you always do that. And so that's really what I'm flown is about is not is not leaving those lights unfloned. And you're at the end of the song, it talks about, you know, that fledgling, you know, the whole thing, the whole point is that one day they're going to fly away, and not just hanging around the nest. And so it's about courage and about passion, stamina, and so all of those things fit really well with a live date. So that's why we picked that song. Nice. Well, we got another one coming, but I want to bring our friends, Bill and John storage on the show from the Cravens. And we've known them for a number of years on our show. And they've done happy hour podcasts. Then we did a contest for a Craven Raven cocktail, because the Cravens just sounded like they needed a cocktail. And then we did this. Yeah, they should write a cocktail and the store brothers don't drink. But anyway, we still had this cocktail contest and it happened. It was crazy and it was cool. And then finally, we kept going, we're going to meet each other. They're going to go across west or we're going to go around there. And of course, we traveled full time across the country. And next thing you knew, we made it. We made it there. We did. And we got to see them perform live. And it was amazing. And like I was telling you all before we were recording that I had to drag my mother and Nancy here out of the club that they were performing in. And because you just want to stay in party, which is true. And by the way, we still have the Ravens, by the way, those little Ravens that you have. We still have them, but they're at our house. There are friends house and Tucson that we pet sit every time we go back to November. She has one in the handbag. I know in my overnight bag. Seriously, once in a while, this thing just pops out of Nancy's bag. And I'm like, what the heck are you doing? It's crazy. But, but you guys, I know, but you guys never quit. So I want to, John, you're there. You're John. So yeah, this is John. Yes. Now bring the one you all. Yes. Nice meeting everyone. Yes. Yes. And Bill, you're there. Bill, I know. Oh, Bill is right here. Hold on. Bill. Hi, everyone. Nice meeting everyone. Hey, Bill is good to have you here. So excited. Yes. Yeah. And now one of you are going to tell a little bit of the story of the Cravens because I want people to hear a musical journey, a little bit of never giving up. Right? Okay. Yes, absolutely. John's going to be doing our musical journey. And then giving up. Oh, yeah. Yes. Yeah, Bill and I've been writing music together since we were teenagers, young teenagers. And, you know, we've, we're just so connected, you know, as brothers, we come from a large family of six sisters and then Bill and myself. Yes. Most of them are Thanksgiving. Yes, we do. Two years back. Yeah. And so, you know, our musical journey has taken lots of twists and turns, you know, from things very rock oriented to more compositional for modern dance companies and theater groups, and then some funk and soul R&B stuff. And then back to rock and roll, hard rock, which you saw with the Cravens. And now we're going a little bit more acoustic right now. So, yeah. Yeah. Live, live, acoustic. We're working on a new, we're working on a new CD, you guys. And it's, it's very, very heavy, heavy rock. So you'll love it. It's heavy rock, but it's acoustic. Is that? Yes, there's acoustic in it. Yeah. Well, no, no, no, this is heavy rock. This is heavy rock. This is like, how was, when Ron was in the band, but more crankier, but, but there's lots of interesting music on it also. Yeah. Early bird album, the early bird album. Yeah. Yeah. Early bird special. Yeah. Yeah. That's what we sound like live right now. Yeah. Very, very realistic. Yes. I want to ask you both, each of you individually. So, let's start with you, Johnson's, you hear Joey's story. When you hear his story, how does that relate to you as a musician, as a human being, to keep moving forward? It's inspirational to be, to hear his story, to have so many, like, life-changing events, threatening, you know, do or die type situations, and then to just continuously pull yourself up out of that, and then to expand yourself in the process, and to never let go the fact that other people may be experiencing similar things. You know, I mean, everyone experiences different, you know, obstacles and, and, you know, hardships, but to keep moving forward, regardless of what the situation is, and to expand yourself in the process. Yeah. That's exactly right. To, to, to, to, to completely, like, blossom from whatever hardships have you experienced, and to, and to make sharing that experience, and, and, and projecting that type of positivity onto other people, you know, to be giving. Yeah. That's, that's, that's exactly right. And it's, and it's, you know, people ask me all the time, how, like, how do I keep going? And, and my answer to dumb to quit. And it's just, it's just, it's just one of the things where my, I never had the word give up in my vocabulary. Right. It's, it's never been, it's never, it's not, you know, there are times that certainly I'm like, oh my god, I wonder if I can overcome this, like, I have to confess. In fact, Pam was part of this, um, I don't know if she knew it, but she was part of my, my, uh, my real, uh, whirlwind session, uh, for the last six months when I had to have my shoulder replacement because I was at the Grammys in New York City when they brought it back to New York City for the 60th, I think it was the 60th Grammys in 2018. And, uh, my shoulders started hurting. And I thought I just made picked up something wrong or pulled, pulled a muscle or something. And that was in early February. And then by April, it was, it was worse. I was like, yeah, just, if, if I, I mean, if I wasn't talking every time I something was wrong with me, I'd never leave. So like, I guess maybe I should go see the doctor about this. I'm like, oh yeah, you do the shoulder replacement. So it got the liver, I couldn't, I could play the guitar, but I couldn't take the guitar on and off. So I could play, I could play, I could play guitar, but my arm was like, frozen in like this one position. And I had all these sessions, Pam, Pam was one of those sessions. And I had all these sessions was like, I was determined to finish them before I had the shoulder surgery because they're like, it's going to take you six months to recover or, or maybe a little longer. And they were kind of nebulous about the recovery time. And, and I was that, I don't like things that are nebulous stuff. So I was like, I was like, I feel like maybe they're not telling me the whole story here. Maybe it's going to be more than six months. I'm not sure. So finally, I did my last session on like August the 25th. I finished, remember, I started hurting in February. So I did my last session, I was like, I'm not going to, I am not going to do the surgery until I have finished all the obligations that I have. And, you know, with this frozen, with this frozen arm. And so on the August 25th, I did my last session on August, August, October 25th, I did my last session on October 29th, I had my shoulder surgery. And it was not as much fun as I had hoped. I can't imagine, I can't imagine not being fun. Because both Bill, my brother Bill and myself went through quadrupled bypass surgeries within six months of each other in 2022. Yeah. So, yeah. So when you're talking about big obstacles, like, like a shoulder replacement, that's insane. So, yeah, you keep pushing, you know, yeah, yeah, that's scary stuff. And then the thing that, the thing that the worst, one of the worst parts was, normally, before everything gets going in the operating room, I'm unconscious. But for some reason, I hadn't, they hadn't put me out yet. And I can hear in the background, all these sharpening of tools, my wife is an advanced practice nurse. And she swears that they were probably just counting the tools and not sharpening them. But I've changed, changed, and I was like, um, you've got a point of mind. I was like that. Why am I not unconscious? I don't, the unconscious thing bugs me. I think I told you that, Joey, when we met that, when they replaced my, um, well, this part of my arm, I have this rod in my arm and, um, they, I was paranoid. And like, I just wanted a code word that if I woke up during a surgery, no one gave me the code word. And they just put me in, you know, so it's a weird thing about that stuff. But this, you know, the medical thing is a very scary thing. I wish there was also, when we talk about a live day, there's stress that, you know, Nancy and I find across this country as we travel. And I want to bring this to light. And I think I want to go back to Johnny on his song too on this. But as we travel their stress, and I can tell you, Nancy and I, over the last two years, have gone through an insane amount of stress on our travels. And we haven't stopped. And we've gone through blizzards, ice storms, hurricanes. We've been through tornadoes. We've been through, um, just even trying to manage all of it, right? As we do all these shows, magazine, all this stuff, nothing negative. We've had a few little health things on the way. We're fine. We're all healthy. We've been warned. We've been warned on our health, you know, more celery, you know, whatever. But we're doing as best we can. And, and those times were life. And I want to bring this to people that, you know, it's, it, it is not always a life threatening medical situation that can bring you right. Sure. And I want to touch on this on this show on a live day. And I can, can I interject something here, please? Can I finish for a second? Sure. Yeah. Let me finish for a second. Okay. Just finish for a quick, quick second. You take three seconds. As we do this, and I want to go back to this because of what Joey said about his, you know, his shoulder surgery. And that's why, um, as we travel, there are moments where if anybody in some of you know my language, um, there, there are times where my language is the most brilliant that you could ever hear allowed and beautiful. And people would think she's out. She's going to go like I will, but I'm going to, I'm done. And then Nancy will go look, there's a bald eagle. We were driving through an ice storm this winter. Our tires were five pounds. And I drove through a blizzard and I storm a mountain pass, one of the iceiest mountain passes. And I'm ready to throw up, but I did it. And I turned to Nancy, I said, this is some, you know, BS of what we're doing. We could die. And then there's a bald eagle. We're like, Oh, look at the eagle. Well, this is cool. All right, let's keep going. Right. But here's why we don't quit. It's, and this is why we're doing this show today. You know why I never quit ever? And trust me, there's a million reasons why I'll quit. Yeah, Nancy knows there's a whole like, hey, you know, we all have our moments of like, oh, I don't know. But you know why we never quit is because we are connected to a community of people that we do things with. We are committed to all these different things that we do with people, places, shows, whatever. And I would be letting someone down. And so I never quit because I made a promise. And I won't. If I make a promise to someone, I don't quit unless there's like real life threatening or like, Hey, I really need time out. But it's not a quitting of my life or anything or quitting of our business or quitting of a door or quitting of all these things we do. It's because we have a community that we are a part of. And I believe that is the biggest thing that we have in life is community. And I think a live day and what Joey is talking about is community. So you don't quit when if you're on your own 100%, there's a few hermits will make it. And you know what? They're going to be crotchety as hell. But yeah, you can still try and hello friend them. But like crotchety like Krabby, you know, but Joey, I think when you have a community, that's when things really thrive. When you feel like things can be possible and yes, a community can let you down and people can let you down. But you still have some other people in the community that won't, right? Isn't that part of it? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, keeping my word is a big deal. And in the final evaluation, you know, who you are and what you stand for is the only thing that really, at least for me, the only thing that really matters and the only thing that you really can leave behind is those things you did that stood for something. And so I totally agree with that. Yeah, absolutely. And you're right, sometimes community, some parts of the community are not always rowing the same direction. But most of the time, once you get old enough and you learn how to separate the seeds from the stems as it were, you can find those people you know that you can really count on. And it's a big deal. And my community is one of the things that I love about it. And one of the reasons I tour is, and one of the reasons I travel all over the world teaching is because I'm expanding that community and I'm bringing new people in. And I'm sharing my story, but I'm also hearing their stories and we're, it's a feedback loop. We inspire each other. And so that's a big deal. Yeah. It's a big deal. And when you make those commitments in life, you need to cherish and honor them as best you can. And if you can't communicate, communication and communication. If I don't do something, I said, there's going to be something major that's going down. Yeah, you're going to communicate, just communicate. Because sometimes what you think is a big deal is not. But this is what I think is so important about a live day is what makes us stay alive. And not just be what John said is about, you know, flowers blossoming flowers, right? That is like, we're thriving instead of surviving. So I've got to go to Pam because we went over the three seconds by a long shot. So come back, please Pam, tell your story. It's all right. One of the gifts I have is taking all these threads and kind of weaving them into one scarf to put around your neck. But the everything you're talking about community and the power of music back last Saturday in April, I found the one spot where everybody trips and falls and I shattered my right shoulder, which is my dominant arm. And the fracture was so bad that they did replace the shoulder except now mine is upside down. And so the end of the bone where you'd have the ball that fits into the socket is now nailed and duct taped and glued to my shoulder blade. And then the little cup that that ball would sit in, which is typically on your shoulder under those that rotator cuff is now embedded in my arm like a golf tee. Wow. And so so I've lost quite a bit of range of motion. But the point of all of this is that when they send you to PT physical therapy, now after any major surgery within 24 hours, they've got you up and doing something. So the physical therapist asked me, he said, what are your goals? Because you're never going to get full range of motion back. And I said, I have two goals. One is I have to be able to play my guitar. I have to. It's my mental health. It's my community. It connects me to those that I care so much about. It allows me to speak language that I can't speak otherwise. And then the other goal is be able to wash my hair with both my hands. Oh my God, it's a huge deal. It is a huge deal. It is. When I went through that with my arm, it is huge. It is. And so the idea of a live day, and maybe it's maybe it's age, hopefully growing in wisdom. And Joey's right. Joey is the one that said, you need to be in this world. You need to put your music out there. You need to do this. And I was terrified, absolutely terrified. But it's the music that has allowed me to meet people like you, Lisa, and Nancy, and John, and Johnny, and Joey, and I'm missing somebody. Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, I'm sorry, Bill. I think Bill had to leave. So, okay, well then I didn't have the feelings. Okay, I'll tell them they used to the level. Okay, thank you. Thank you. And I'm working with people in the UK and I'm working with people in Canada and I'm working with people in Guatemala. And if it had not been for first, Joey saying, all right, come on, you got to live a little bit more, got to live a little bit louder. And through this experience, then it's the small, get me, get that guitar under my arm. I don't play well. I'm not a Joey. But it was so important to being alive and staying alive and for me to continue just being silly, right? But your music is feel good. Like that's the thing. I love that about you. It's feel good. It's like ego like, oh my God, let me just relax and have a good time. And that to me means a whole bunch. No, no. You know, there's all kinds of songs and I want to go to Johnny with this because Johnny, I think no one's pegged him and can't. And I mean that in a positive way because Johnny, no, no, no, no. I mean, no. In other words, they haven't pigeonholed him and put him in a box and he can't. He has done. I mean, from the day we met you, I remember you coming on and it was like, I think I'm flown was the very first song you came on the show with. And then we talked about Christmas and we all got along so well in the show and then came back. You know, storage brothers know how that happened. Joey knows how that happens. You guys all know, Pam's you're back here, right? So, you know, and I remember, you know, then here's another song, like, well, that didn't sound like that over there. And people don't know what to do with Johnny because you can't put Johnny in a box, not even a Christmas present box, even though his music can do that. And he's got great. You know, he's done Halloween songs that have gone viral on YouTube. He's done a little bit of everything. And I think there's a joy to doing that. And sometimes, I mean, we're the big blend. So we always kind of get in trouble for not performing the box, you know. We're not, I don't think anybody on this show gives a about doing what you're supposed to be alive, right, Joey? Isn't this the point? We're supposed to be alive in doing what we want and not being conformed to a box, I don't believe. I understand there's marketing, right, Joey? But before Johnny gets into this, we should as artists have our integrity. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's very tempting to, to me, it's very tempting to, to say, what can I do that's going to pay the bills? But anytime you do that, you're always going to miss the, miss the boat. And you're not going to be happy. And I have a similar problem. I mean, I mean, what I do is broadly Americana because broadly, because Americana is such a broad umbrella. And it encompasses blues and salt and all kinds of things. So I call what I, I call what I do progressive Americana. And that means what I probably want it to mean. It's just, you know, it's, it's hard to, it's hard to fit in the box, but it's, life is so interesting and music is so vast. And there's so many cool things you can do. It's really hard to, to stay, just, you know, in one nature. But I will say that from a financial perspective, the more needs you are, or the more, more easily you're defined, it seems like you sell more records. But I don't care about that. I mean, that's, that's a, that's a balance. Yeah. It's about finding your place in this world. Yeah. You know, I remember, I'll go ahead. No, you first say when, okay, thank you. When you walk outside, for me, like, inside is different than outside. When you walk outside and you can hear, smell, see different animal birds, trees, all these things. And like, um, wind through the leaves of a tree, you can hear it. If you take the time to listen, you know, it, and, and, and it's for your focus on it. Yeah. And so, and then sometimes, like, I was watching a lizard out on the patio of where we are now, and I'm like, well, he's a little cocky dude, because he just, no, he came on the patio and he, he switched his head back and forth, back and forth. I'm like, oh, it can be another lizard. And I, I follow the other lizard about 10 feet away. I'm like, oh, this is drama happening in the lizard world. Just like we have drama in the human world. I'm like, we're just not that different. Was he in our arms? But the more we separate ourselves from nature, the worse we get. Yeah. And nature is a, nature is eclectic. Right? I mean, that's everything. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I, I had a wonderful experience. Um, I, I went to, I went to Berkeley College of Music. Um, uh, and I was working online, and I was working, uh, slowly crawling towards a master's degree. Um, and I'd always wanted to go to Berkeley, but it never thought I could. And then they started offering online. And, you know, we're all worrying about these nuts and bolts statistics and music marketing and all these things. And I had a professor tell me, she's like, Hey, relaxed. You have a unique voice. People want to hear it. Just do what you do and stop worrying about all those stuff. And I don't know if she's right, but I'm going to pretend that that was sage advice, because that's naturally what I want to do. Well, because actually everything that's in a box sounds like, you know, something I don't really want. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And Johnny's music is, is, has a wonderful array of modalities and tones. And yeah, that's why I love that about you too, Joey. I mean, one time's whipping posts. And then it's one time, you know, it's like, Oh, wait, one day at a time one song at a time. And you know, it's like, everything is a little bit different. And I love that Craven's on the show today. Perfect example of like, I'm going to do a little bit of everything, even punk, right? So, but I want to go to Johnny on his song that just came out. We did a show, a special panel discussion on teen suicide about it. So do you want to tell everybody about the song, Johnny, and what is culminated? We did that podcast, but like so much has happened. You got George Takai on your side and all kinds of good stuff. But I mean, there's the message. I mean, it's, it's really hitting all kinds of places and in good ways, because the message is so important. And I know Bill and John Pam and and Joey, you're going to appreciate this. So, and, and our listeners as well, hopefully will also, but Johnny, please share how, how things have gone since the release of the song and tell everybody the name. Start with that. Sure. Well, you know, when you first talked about, uh, discussing when it's your kid on this show, I thought, well, I don't know if that's really, you know, if it fits, but I guess when as the conversation has evolved, you know, you're touching on, uh, not giving up. And, uh, my song is really heavy. Uh, it, I was scrolling through TikTok and Instagram and seeing all these young people posting about their anger at the world that, you know, I'm 62 years old at what are the world that we're leaving them. And it's not just one thing. They're just rattling off, you know, climate change and, and uh, this treatment of, you know, LGBTQ and, and, um, school shootings and, you know, everything that goes with that. And they feel like we're not doing anything and they're feeling desperate and like, is there even going to be a world for me to live in? And we released the song right as September was coming in September is suicide prevention month. And, um, you know, I, I, the first verse of the song actually told a true story of a young man that I knew of years ago who his whole family knew he was gay, but they decided not to say anything to him. They wanted to just let him come out when he was ready, but they were ready to accept them. And unfortunately, they went to church one Sunday, the preacher railed against homosexuality for 20 minutes. And they didn't say anything and he went and took his life. And so I figured I would start with that song or that story. And then just say the chorus is when it's your kid, don't you want to be happy. And it's just trying to find another way in with people who've closed off to these things and hopefully open some minds. And I, I have a lot of stories of people who've reached out to me, including one guy who, who I went to school with 50 years ago. And he reached out to me and said, you know, I used to bully you. I remember I used to bully you. So I'm sure you remember it too, in junior high school. And I just want to say I'm sorry. I was young and stupid. What you're doing here is really great. And, you know, I let people do their own price to download my music on my website. I mean, he'd take $25 for that song. And the reason I tell that is just that he was showing that it meant something to him. And so, and I've got actually a lot of stories. Somebody messaged me the other day from P flag, which is parents and friends of what's being engaged. There's an organization nationwide where people in communities come together who have LGBTQ people in their lives. And they try to support each other in supporting these people. And they shared that they had played it in their meeting and they were passing the box of Kleenex around the room. And so it's, I guess I would say with being, you know, tying this in with a live day, Joey, you've gone through way more than most people can even imagine with all the physical challenges that you've overcome. And that's an inspiration to people. I think a lot of times we can heal partly by comparing, you know, with other people. And I think sometimes when I've been in a really dark place in my life, what's helped me get out is to get my mind off my own problem and start helping other people. And that's something that you always do. And I think with, you know, what I tried to do with the song is just we featured the Trevor Project, which is an organization. It's a hotline that LGBTQ youth can call 24/7 free and they can talk to crisis counselors. And, you know, because a lot of times they're ostracized by families and their churches, their communities, the people they go to school with. And so it's, for me, I struggled. You know, I was a preacher. I grew up in portable where I am right now and it's very conservative pound. And I, it was in the '80s where there were no gay people on TV or anything. And Anita Bryant was pre-saving around the country. And I felt really alone. And it was music that got me through. And, particularly, Melissa Manchester's music really, it's very nurturing and parental and uplifting. And it got me through. And now you record her. I'm just saying, I know my grandmother, my granny used to tell me, live and let live because you never know. Here's, live and let live is a common thing. She added, because you never know when the tables can turn. And it's true because the thing is with music, such a powerful connector to illuminate all these stories. And it's, it's really important, you know, as a child who was very sick and also blind, I didn't believe, I felt, I felt alone and not sure, you know, how to proceed as a young child. And music was a big sort of solve for that wound. And it just, it helped. And then, you know, eventually, what happened was, I realized that the people that were detractors didn't matter. And I actually kind of felt sorry for them because they would never know the joy and connection that I, that I had found by being my authentic self. And this is what we all have done with our music is to raise people up. And that's, and music's so powerful that way. And I said this a million times, but even sad songs can make you feel that universal language. It really is. It is. And it comes from walking outside in nature and hearing the birds and the water flowing and the creek and all those different sounds. That's music. Yep, that's music also. Yeah. That's the music that composers have taken their inspiration from. Yeah. And made it into what we call music. But if you are poor imitation, but it says, you know, it's the best we can. It's the best we can do. I don't think it's for imitation at all, Joey. I think it's wonderful that there's a. Not poor. I don't know if he said poor or our imitation. I said poor, but what I meant was like, there's a burn outside of my window that can riff way more than I can. Like this is the guy. Oh my gosh. This guy's the best musician ever. Yeah. Yeah. We could say transportation. We could say translation, you know. I want to go back to the Cravens to hear the Bill and John Storch Brothers here, the Storch Brothers. Yeah. I mean, when you're talking, when you mentioned about bird songs, like there was a French composer, Oliver Messian, who, his waggings are all based on on on on bird on on patterns of bird speech. And it's, you know, it's very modern, but it's gorgeous. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. It was like, there was a great little foray into that topic of how nature and music can blend together, you know, perfectly. Yeah. Well, tell us a little bit, guys. You guys are going, you know, hard rock and into, you know, still being more acoustic. So there's three of you now, right? So tell us a little bit about you guys before. Yeah, it was, yeah, I'm not going to go into the whole upheaval because it was pretty drastic. We pulled ourselves up from the bootstraps. You know, we, um, yeah, two, two band members left. And it was, you know, we're still, you know, persevering and doing what we would do. But we said, well, let's just do everything. You know, our songs are their songs. They're melodic. And they're not necessarily walk per se. They could be presented in any kind of fashion. Actually, a lot of frog roster. So yeah, so, so yeah, it's very hard, but it translates beautifully on a piece of guitars. And so Dennis and Bill and I decided let's just start playing out acoustically. And then Bill Meredith, our drummer, who you met, Bill Meredith, he said, he's still there. Yeah, he came back in the band playing percussion. He's a great percussionist. So it's like, um, you know, he's got like a whole percussion set, you know, with wind chimes and, you know, everything. And, um, it's just everything translated beautifully. Um, and so, yeah, so when life throws, you know, bass player, yeah. And then he's playing bass and he's also playing acoustic guitar. So when, you know, music is so important to Bill and I, it's our, it's our lifeblood. Yeah. And we've always, we've been chameleon like, you know, through music, gone from extreme electronics, you know, and compositional things for dance companies to, you know, rock and funk and disco and then hard rock and the acoustic stuff. And it's like, um, it's great. You know, there was an obstacle that happened and we decided to persevere and work our way around it. We're still working our way out of the crater that was, dug, but, um, we're coming out on the other side, you know, refreshed and, um, actually, um, rejuvenated and everything about the whole topic of perseverance. It's like, absolutely. You know, keep on going for it. Keep on doing what you're going to. Don't let obstacles and do anything. You have to keep on going. Yes. But I said about wanting to, I will never quit because I have this community that we, we work with. We do things for, we have like, you know, Joey's show is airing today. And it doesn't matter for hurricanes coming near Florida. We're right. Right now. I mean, yes. It is coming up to you. Yes. It is coming. Yeah. You're in back to the light now. So yeah. Well, thanks for that. Um, somebody get us a wine. I don't care. I don't care. It's like, it's like, um, after the quadruple bypass heart surgery and, you know, bills, and then our sister, Chris, having a stroke and all these things happen in 2022 was major, massive upheavals and then the band upheaval. It's like, I'm going to be doing music. Um, even if I'm 95 years old, singing to the wind with a cricket on my knee, I'll be happy, you know? I love it. I love it. I love it. Blue Jays come out every morning and they sing no matter what. They do. They don't really care about our problem. And this is a hurricane. Yeah. So they care about their, they probably care about climate change and lack of food or whatever. But as long as they come out and they sing in the tree and they got water and they see a worm and furry worm, but there you go. Um, you know, well, you have some big sluts. Life is a life is a life is a gift. It's a brief gift, but it's a gift. It's filled with wonderful things. It's positive. It's negative. It's good. It's bad. It's rich. It's so rich that just take it. Just take it and go with it and, and, and live it to its fullest, you know? Yeah. Remember you have it. Sing it while you have it. The favorite, favorite phrase of mine is magic moments because when you live with your, with your eyes and your ears open, you find yourself in a situation experiencing an emotion, sight, a sound that you could never have created. You could not have landed. It, it, it happens. And, and there's for me, there's usually some kind of music associated. So it might be someone playing an instrument. It might be a bird. It might be the water in the creek or Superman or Superman. I mean, you never know, but there, but if you live closed and, and you, you, you, all the time are, are paying attention to the rocks in your pockets. You miss those magic moments and it's the magic moments that, that keep me moving forward. Uh, because I could complain all day long. Oh, that's easy. That's easy. That's easy. That's easy. Like, no, no, no. Yes. Yep. It's so easy to get caught up into the, the day to day traffic of the world. Seriously. Yeah. Absolutely. Like, and I know what you mean by magic moments. It's like, when all of a sudden it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, you're in the space and you're in the moment now and you can hear things and you can see things. Oh, we have to. Away from your own thoughts. Yeah. You're away from your thoughts. Yeah. My neighbors, I'm sure my neighbors think I am, I am the old crazy woman on the block, but I was sitting outside the other morning having coffee and there are a couple of birds that come and we, we converse with each other. And I realized that the three little birds, three little birds, three little birds, three little birds. And I realized I was looking and the way the sun was hitting the dew on the end of the grass looked like diamonds. And I got up and I'm just standing in the yard perfectly still, a cup of coffee in one hand and been over long enough to stare at the little diamonds. I don't know how long I stood there, but I was waiting for the neighbors in an ambulance or something. And the rest of my day, it didn't matter what happened. I was a full of joy. And actually, song came out of it that I'm working on. But it's the time together of those moments and the living large. And yeah, and for me, the music and being around people with the spirit that Joey has just just keeps me going. So the arms dangling off the side, and the doctor doesn't know what he's going to do about it. So you've got to figure this out, because I got musing to make. So that's the only, that's what you're listening across the country through whatever I drive through. And I drive through some crazy, crazy stuff that nobody wants to do. No, no, truck stuff, snow blizzers on a mountain pass at night. I'm telling you, and if it wasn't for music, it is. And sometimes it's AC DC or like really loud that Nancy goes, you can't. I'm like, I don't care. It's the only way I'm going to get through. It is. It is music that how music is a fuel. And I think that we should put it there as part of the things that we need in life. We need food, shelter, water, air, and music. Music needs to be part of that, because it is a language between ancient beings and spirits. And it's universal. It is a language that it's a universal language. It's a way we can all connect, and we can all understand a beat, even though some people don't understand walls. But I'm not saying, but I'm just saying that as a fun thing. One side of the rhythm guitar is he said, there's no such thing as a three, four beat. And we're like, you're fine. Anyway, but Joey would have fired him. But Joey, Joey just proves we need to do the quarterly big blend, you know, radio community show for music. Absolutely. Yeah. We all feel, we all feel compelled to go ahead. Go Johnny. Well, I think we all, all of us on this show feel compelled to create, to express what we're feeling, and we are able to do it in a way that we express things that other people don't have the ability to express. And a lot of people appreciate that. And other musicians express things that I can't express. And that goes back to the eclecticism. Like, I let every song tell me what it wants. And so I want to use all the crayons in the box if I need to. I don't want to be just confined in the way I express it, because I listen to all kinds of music and I go through all kinds of things in my life. And so when each different expression has its own unique parameters, and I want to put it forth in the best way possible. And that's, and each of everyone on the show has talked about, you know, different periods in their career where they've done different things. Joey, you know, you have the, the quiet is the quiet, the fun has three million streams on Spotify. Quiet. Oh, you're talking about that. Quite sense that was one of the. Quite sense. Yeah, yeah. You know, like, I mean, you've done lots of different things here and working with other people, and who we work with influences what it ends up sounding like. Sure. And, and, you know, there's so many elements that go into it and it's so fluid. And so I just think that, you know, when we're, we're talking about life, life is full of everything. And, you know, John, you talked earlier about, you know, the good and the bad and all that stuff. Well, it's the same thing with music. And so the more that we are free to express all of those different things in the best way possible. At the moment, if that's where it becomes magical, like what you were saying, Pam. Yeah. And we need it. It's okay to play. It's okay to play. We can, we can give ourselves grace to experiment and to play and to, to find joy, even if, even if only two other people are going to want to hear it. No, some of the best things I've ever had was actually playing to two or three people, but it was a scary as heck because then they're like, that's it. And I was like, Oh, damn, a thousand is almost easier, right? But I want to ask each of you in closing, Johnny brought up something that really, I think is a good thing to close with. You know, in this big, big, big, big music playlist that we're putting together, we've got everyone that's been on the podcast channels that we're doing in these panel discussions, not channels, but as we're doing this, everything is linked in the episode notes. So check that out. But on this big music playlist, this, this is actually the true thing. Like everyone on the show today, you wouldn't believe the difference of music, right? And like, even if we talk about the cravings, I'm still going to say they still have that same vein running through. No matter what, they have a signature sound. I'm sorry, Storch Brothers, you got your sound. Oh, thank you. Thank you. You do. You have a serious, you know, God, you do. Well, Joey too. But I'm also going to say Johnny has this way of going, I am this, but I'm going to go over here and I can go over here and I can do this. And yes, you will hear his voice and know who he is. And that's his signature sound. Everybody has a thing, right? Everybody has a thing. So it's the same thing in our musical taste as the listener. That's the beauty of playlist and putting a playlist together is really interesting because when I go, well, we're going to throw Eminem in there. Thank you, Joey, on an inspiring, but then I was like, Oh, I knew exactly when you put it in there, I was like, it is, it is, I'm going to go and then we go. And I have it there at the end because it's like leaves you on this like precipice of you're going to do it or get off your butt ski and do something, right? You know, it makes you want to go. And I'm, I think we're going to still keep it there. We'll see. We already have this amazing playlist from last week's. No, it's staying there, but I don't know, man, the way it closes off, it's like you just, you just, you got to do it. You know, anyway, um, I'm going to the last question of everyone here. One song that you either wrote or you sang or did or someone else's that no one will think that you like, right? Or that is part of you. In other words, something out of the box for you, whether you wrote it and sang it or produced it or whatever, because we've got all kinds of musical people here, or that you just like to listen to. I mean, I still like listening to Barry Manolo O'Mandy. So I'm just saying people would never know that I like it. It is a damn good song. Yeah, Barry Manolo is good. He's good. So let's, let's, because people also do this to music of, oh, that's not cool. This is cool. You know what? Y'all doing the cooler, not cool? Shovet, because when it comes to life and music, that's a good one. Take a song and show it. Yeah, can I just say it? Shovet, because we had a tweet of it, because there's no such thing as cool or not cool music. Yeah, there's only music. Well, there is. There is. Oh, no, there isn't. There it is, but it's okay not to like non-cool music. It's okay. I love non-cool music. Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. There is some really cool music. I'm sorry, Heather. I forgot about real music. Yeah. Okay. I know. Okay. I said, you know, I'm only talking about real music. I'm going to start with you, John. I'm going to start with you. Okay. I would gladly love to start. Okay. Like, like all of you, I have a very, very, very broad range of musical tastes. Everything from like a Baroque classical to modern 21st century classical to avant-garde jazz, experimental noise to rock, to folk, to punk, to R&B, to pop. I mean, country folk music. I love it all. I love it all. I love it all. I know, but I do like really crazy songs and I'm thinking I want to stay on the theme of birds. So my song that I'm embarrassed to love, but I absolutely love it from the bottom of my heart is a bird song. I love birds. I love songs about birds, but this one is, and you wouldn't think I would ever like it. It's a Chica Tita by with Ava, by Ava. I absolutely adore that. Yes. Beautiful. Yes. It makes me want to try. Ava is a great band. You know, Ava is a great band. Ava is a great band. But, you know, just any songs about birds, like Chica Tita just, you know, it rips my heart apart, you know? Wow. Wow. And then, you know, yeah, you would never think someone from the Cravens would like Chica Tita, but that's the one I'm going to pick. Well, now we're going to have to put that on the playlist. Yeah. Yeah. That's okay. That's great. It's a great song. It's a great song. Hey, why not? I mean, and they did that whole. It's like the very, very best of like Euro pop of the late 70s. It's just, it's great, you know? Okay. Let's hear what your brother does. I want to hear your brother. He's not here. He had to leave. He had to leave. He had to leave. Okay. So now let's go to Pam. I'm going to say ditto. My musical taste or just as broad as the earth is round. But when I need to just disappear for a little while, my go-to song is Mustang Sally. Oh, oh my gosh. I got so much trouble with that song with that song. No, that's because I'm a cougar. And she said, I'm not going to bet if you don't play Mustang Sally again. Oh, I don't. So we did. We played it again. We didn't know. You know, I'm driving down the road and just having a, but just a horrible, horrible time in my head. And it's more than once. I've had to stop myself from pulling off on the side of the road and just getting out and dancing. It just, it just grabs me and will not let me go. It's wonderful. And you're doing a Wilson Pickett. You're doing the Wilson Pickett. That's right. You got to because he's this live box. Pam, I have played that so many times with my dance. So we've, if we, it's, it's a great song. Next time he's like, please dedicate it. You've got, because I hear it. I hear it. Joey, when we see you next time, I want to record that. Because we had to play that so many times in our band. It was like, oh God, but it would just be for old time's sake. I would, I would record it just for old time. It's a great song. That's a great song. It does. You know what? It's a, when we had our band played at a horse ranch, for New Year's Eve, and they all came, they came in, no, real horses, not wild horses, but not real. That's the wrong term. But human, human, human, um, trained horses, uh, domesticated would be the word. Um, they, we were in the clubhouse and they set us up there. And we're supposed to sleep in the clubhouse and in these little trailer things, these little air streams, it's kind of cool. But, um, we were setting up and they decided, we were setting up and doing our, our warm up and making sure about sound and sound check thing. And everybody started coming in and getting their food. So the organizer, Joey, we talked about this on the last podcast. When we, when musicians have a certain, you know, program of what happens. Well, and things are supposed, it didn't, people started coming in and started making food in the kitchen. Well, the band was excited about that. I'm like, hello, we need to do sound check. So we played Mustang Sally, just as a warm up. They started doing a chain dance, you know, the last time I was, I was like, Sally at three in the afternoon and we were looking at each other going, what the people are going to be done by six, you know, because by the time our band was playing, they're going to, they're going to eat, drink and be done. And by eight, nine, they think they were done. And then the, one of the employees of the ranch, um, drove his VW up the steps into the clubhouse. So that was, that was, that was, that was, and the sister of the bass player, um, tie, was got tied up by a horse thing. Uh, anyway, anyway, anyway, it was fun. Nice. No, anyway, it was a fun night. So jealous. Let me know. Really? Then all. Oh, God. It looks like Johnny there. I'm going to shoot his team. Well, he, I'm sleeping. This is how in the desert, and he out there, the guy who tied her up to this thing, they apparently then he and did her leg and they had fun. And then he slept out in the desert with a Bud Light box, his, his pillow in the desert. So, you know, that's how, that podcast. And that's how you know it's quality happened. Yeah, no, this is why we don't have a band anymore. But I want to go to Johnny. Johnny, tell me your song. Okay, so, um, I, I, I'm going to go with what popped in my head and it's a guilty pleasure. And it's probably what people roll their eyes at when I, when I, if I get up the nerve to tell them, but I'm going to save the park, which I don't think because when I was a kid, I really loved that show and it, uh, I used to sing with those songs all the time. And I think I love you. Yeah, those songs, those songs just make me happy to this day. And the way David has to be all, he always had this joy in his face whenever he was singing. And it kind of rubbed off on the empty. If you go back and look at videos of him, he always just so happy. And, uh, and the songs just make me happy. I, I, there's a song called that'll be the day. It's got of, it's, uh, I thought the songs, they were mostly written by shooting musicians and, and, you know, kind of, uh, uh, you know, they're publishing companies, like staff writers and that, but I, I thought they had some pretty good songs and, and they just, I don't know, they just made me happy. And to this day, if I'm, sometimes if I'm in a bad mood or something, I'll just, to the park is coming on and it makes me smile. Excellent. That's great. That's great. That's cool. Well, it's nostalgic too, man. And I think that's, you know, sign of the times of what you, you have around you, you're picking up of what makes you happy, right? And running with that. I love that. And I want to go to Nancy. Tell me Nancy. While we were talking about birds. So I want to go with Blackbird singing in the dead of night. Oh, that's a great song. I can't, I can't, but I know, but that's also a really good song to talk about what we're talking about today. But yeah, yeah. Because it's like, this bird is still singing at night. I'm still going for it. And I think that's a perfect song for what we're talking about. But I also thought you would go for Eric Burton. The birds, I'm totally shocked, but Eric Burton. Eric Burton, I thought you would go for Eric Burton. Well, I know, but I love Blackbird singing in the dead of night. I know, but it's perfect. Sometimes they do. Take these broken wings and learn to fly. Exactly. And, you know, people always assume that birds don't sing at night. They do. But they do. One in a while. And sometimes it's hard to tell them from a frog or a toad. He's also singing. So like, well, Markingbird. Yeah. Well, that's my bird. Yeah, I love Markingbird. At night, then it's a dilemma. Who's singing? Yeah, it's a danger. Yeah, they're in danger. Yeah. So when I, you know, that always reminds me of Blackbird singing in the dead of night. I mean, it's a beautiful song. Oh, yeah, I'm on that, man. So honest and gentle and yeah. So Joey, what's your song? Well, interestingly, when they took out the brain tumor, they took out the brain mouth barrier and also my sense of shame. So I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of any of my musical choices, though I have been derived from them. The guys in the band when I play, I have a couple different bands, but I have a jazz band. And when we play Misty, it's a crowd favorite. And they're like, oh, God, this stupid, sappy song. Everybody, they all hate it. I think it's a beautiful piece of music. I really love it. So that's, that's one of my, that's one of my, if I had shame, that's one of my secret shapes, but I have to echo Johnny here, he and Harrison. Wait, wait, wait, Misty, but which one, which person is singing it? Well, not Ray Stevens. Otherwise, otherwise, I don't really care. But not just not Ray Stevens, not Ray Stevens is actually very talented, but I just, I just don't like that version. Well, too, got too much smaltz or something. I don't know, I just, it's not, it's not, it's not the, it's not. I was learned. I was driven by Theravon. Yeah. That's my version. Yeah. Johnny Mathis. I think, sure, sure. But I had to say, kindly tapped into something here because, and my wife and I, we do this together. We sing, when we're feeling down, we have two records that we'll put on. One of them is from my childhood is Burke and Ernie Singalong. And it's a fabulous record, fabulous record with really incredible musicians and incredible singers. And they're singing things like on top of all Smokey and all this stuff. And they're singing, and it's just fabulous. And the other, the other thing we put on is the Book of Mormon soundtrack. And we listen to "Hoss of New Year," and some crazy stuff like that. And that's, that's a very, that's a very wonderful soundtrack as well. And it's just so funny. And so, if we're, if those are our two, our two guilty ones, but I have to put one last piece in my, you know, I couldn't just pick one, you know, double do it. But the, the record from Miles Davis, Kinda Blue changed my life as a jazz musician. And it is, I go back to it all the time to get regrounded into what, what you can do, because it's fun to play a lot of notes really fast. And I do that. But, but sometimes it's, it's what you don't say. That's more important. And, and I, I often will go back to that record to remind me that I can use very sparse musical vocabulary and have just a big impact. So it's, it's, it was a transformative record for me. Is there a specific track? Oh, yeah. So what? So what? So what? That's the one. And he's got, he's got two wonderful versions. He's got the slow and mellow one that's probably the most famous off of the, of the kind of blue record, but he's also got a live album of four and more. And he's got a really a tempo version of so what on that. And that's when, you know, you got a good song when it translates fast, it translates slow, it translates on the electric instruments, it translates to the coosically. And you got, you got to solve it that you got a great song when you're doing that. We could, we could do it so on road trip music. Because one of the best songs on a road trip is my baby loves a hanky face talking from personal experience. It just, it makes you drive a little fast. Are we back? Are we back? Talking about Johnny Dare. That's the whole thing, we have to start talking about running pirates and things. Yeah, that's a whole other thing. I think you're through a podcast called Time Up in the Desert. Yeah, well, I would like to do, I would like to throw in Maryam McEba from South Africa. And there's just an incredible vocalist. I find African music to be my absolute core. And Johnny, we've talked about things, Joey, we've talked about things on music of inspiration. But honestly, when it comes down to it, whenever I listen to African music, it reminds me of absolute 100% resiliency. Because in their singing, in one song, within one, two, three bars, they can go from despair to we're gonna make it work. And then fire warrior ship as well. Like we're gonna be a warrior, we're gonna do this. Women, men, all of it. And when I think there's a lot of warrior music that I grew up with from different tribes, Zulu Kosa, you know, especially there, of course, in Kenya is Messiah and everything, but mostly knowing the music music part, understanding the tribes was mostly in South Africa. But was raised in that sound, the sound of Africa, which is which is multi. The sound of Africa is massive. It's like trying to say the sound of America. It's so huge. Yeah, coming from the west to the east and everything is all different. But it is still like our Native American indigenous people of our country. This tribal sound that has the drums, the drums tell you whether you should be panicked or not. Where we're going, are we levitating to the gods or a god, right? Or where are we going? Are we going to fight the drums and the people's feelings, the sounds, the chance, everything. I have to say, when you get down, go to your music. I'm going to throw some African stuff in this playlist that is some crazy stuff. And from the Middle East down because the Middle East, they do some North African stuff. Yeah, from where you hear some great musicians and yeah, Nigeria, King Sonny Ade, and some of the, you know, you know, psycho Afro stuff that, you know, the trippy. Oh, yeah. I know I'm not well versed in African music, but there are a few that really stand out. Oh, I know it's like grew up in it. I didn't know, like, I didn't know to take notes or anything. But what I do know is like drumbeats, vocals, rhythm, right? Melody. Yes, there's words writing words. We're poetic in this country. And, you know, we have poetry and we have lyrics and everything that's also very touching and meaningful. But it's about, like I talked about, Joey, didn't I talk about this the last time on the show? Levitation, man. Levitation station, we got to levitate. We've got to lift our hearts and souls up. But not while we're here alive to be alive. We've got to levitate up. Don't be down. You can be down. You can go down. But you can't stay down that long. You're not allowed to. You can swim in the muck. You're allowed to. Because then, you know, hey, I want to sleep. It's like slime around in the bottle of like this pond of muck and dirt and slime and leeches and all kinds of things you can't see around or what I'm just saying. You want to go up. It's always leeches of you. We're down. You have to sing about it. So you can get up. Absolutely. Exactly. That's the music. The music's all mine. Everybody else up. Yeah. Joey, Joey, thank you for sharing a live day here on Big Glenn Radio. It's been fun. It's been motivation. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for the wonderful guest we've had. It's been absolutely fantastic. And everybody, the big, big, big, big, big, big music playlist that we have for Joey a live day is big, big, big. I mean, we're going to have how many songs because it's the 29th of September. Thank you, Joey. We have a check with Guinness Book of World Records to see if it's the longest playlist. No, I don't think it will be, but it is 290 songs for the 29th of September. We can do 929, Lisa, if you think you're up to it. 929. I mean, what are you doing to me? We have a hurricane in between this recording and her podcast. Oh, we should do 300. You know, no, why would we do 300 when it's 290 when it's at 20, the 29th of September, Joey Stuckey, a live day. Nancy just wants to add another peg and like, give you another way. She doesn't want. Don't worry. Don't worry, Nancy. Your song will get in there. We put an Eric Burton song on there for you. I know you will not. I know. She but listen, can we all agree that Eric Burton and war was better than Eric Burton and the animals? No. Yeah, no, I don't know. Bill the Wine was a good song. War was better without Eric Burton. That's what I think. War was better without Eric Burton, like lowrider and some of those songs in the mid 70s were great. They were great, great, great. The animals were great, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I mean, I think if I say, I'm not talking about those songs at all. I'm not talking. There are actual songs, Eric Burton songs. I think what is that's what it is. Eric Burton did his animal song. No, I'm going to send them all to you guys and I want to have a show on this at some point, because I've there's a war on this now. Okay, okay, okay. Because there are that this is the thing Eric Burton always got out there talk about a little taffy about a live day. I think he's one of those little taffy's who got out there no matter what. And he kept going and the animals evenly. Yeah, no. And he stands up for our rights of water. He did a whole album on it. It's amazing. He's an amazing musician, but he was a great vocalist. He's a great, great, absolutely wonderful. You listen to the commercial Eric Burton with war. You hear still the wine and all that, but he has no one. Yeah, no, I'm going to send you guys what I'm talking about. No one knows what I'm talking about. I just realized he did really good off the cuff jam stuff that is real authentic good. Like, I mean, I know he's a musician and everything, but animals are like cleaning we need like we're doing this. I would like to debate this with, you know, a wrestling links full of jello and anger, and we can just dig it out. We went from a live feature wrestling with jello. Everybody has a right to their opinion in their own. Absolutely. And their own jello. It's a bring their own jello party. Joey, what's your flavor? Do you care? I've got another phone call coming in. I've got to go. Okay. Great meeting you all. Yeah. Bye bye. Thank you. Bye bye. Sam, what's your flavor? Close your flavor. Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, no, gentlemen. The only thing, no, the only thing, no, we had it for every church function and the only thing jello is good for is squishing it between your teeth. I mean, I think it's great to wrestle in, but maybe I'm wrong. I had tons of jello. It was a sick child as well. So there was a time that I foreswored jello because of that. But I'm back in the jello room. Are you back in the jello room? I don't understand. I don't understand the squishing with your teeth. You never squished your jello between your teeth? Uh-oh. Oh, it's talking about life. It is halloween nasty, but that's the only thing that's good for one. Oh, no, I'm not. You didn't even have jello. We squished butts? Yes. That's a whole different jello first. It's similar. It's similar. Joey, I wish you all the best. I thank you for being there live. Thank you for what you've done for me. Well, I'm glad you're here. Thank you for being here. Johnny, thank you for joining us. Yes, John, thank you for your reference. Thank you. Oh, yeah. It was great. Congratulations, Joey. I'm another year. Thanks to my friend. We'll talk again soon. It's been two months since we've had a chance to visit. Yeah, sounds great. Looking forward to it. Take care everyone. Everyone, thank you for joining us here on Joey Stuckey's Alive Day. Thank you for listening to Big Blend Radio. Keep up with our shows at bigblendradio.com.
