Good Morning Aurora
Mike "Hitman" Wilson & Kendall Nesbitt Live on Good Morning Aurora! | Wednesday | 9/25/2024
Today Aurora's 1st daily news morning program is proud to welcome hometown hero Mike Wilson to the show in preparation for the A-Town House Music Festival happening at RiverEdge Park this weekend! The Hitman came to talk to us about his early days in Aurora, being a Aurora University graduate and we also go through his amazing catalogue of work with amazing producers, directors and artists. Also, our dear brother Kendall Nesbitt and his wife Tiffany came to the show to talk about the ribbon-cutting for Sage Event Space with our Aurora Regional Chamber of Commerce this Saturday!
Oh! And mention Good Morning Aurora this Saturday at Sage for a one-time 10% discount! So much news in one morning show! Let's get ready to learn, here's the news:
- Every Monday night check out Hairy Beast Dog Radio on Facebook live starting at 8 pm. Dj Venom spins the best of hip-hop, R&B and reggae for the listeners. Check it out and follow the show here on Facebook!
- Every first Saturday of the month, NAMI KDK will host the Family Support Group at the Batavia Public Library from 10 am to 11:30 am. Learn more about support groups in your area and how to get involved by visiting the website for NAMI KDK here:
Have a great rest of the day! Good Morning Aurora will return with more news, weather and the very best of Aurora. Subscribe to the show on YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/GoodMorningAuroraPodcast
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- Broadcast on:
- 12 Oct 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
(ominous music) This is the sound of your ride home with Dad after he caught you vaping. Awkward, isn't it? Most Vapes contain seriously addictive levels of nicotine and disappointment. Know the real cost of Vapes, brought to you by the FDA. (beeping) You're on with Xfinity, how can we help? - Hi, can my phone keep up when I travel for work? - Yep, with Xfinity Mobile you get Wi-Fi speeds up to a gig on the go. - So I can work on my phone by the beach? - Your secret's safe with me. - Switch and save with Xfinity Mobile. Now through January 10th, Xfinity Internet customers can buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. Visit XfinityMobile.com to learn more. Xfinity, fring on the good stuff. Restriction supply, Xfinity Internet and two new unlimited lines required. Reduce speeds after 30 gigabytes usage per line. Data threshold to my berry. And the actual Wi-Fi speed's very not guaranteed. - Good morning Aurora, good morning Aurora. The time is 9 a.m. and you are listening to and watching Good Morning Aurora, the second largest city's first daily news podcast and indeed Aurora Weather on the second largest city's first daily news podcast. The four day forecast is behind me. Let's talk about what we can expect as always. The weather comes from the national weather service of Chicago, delivered to you here locally on Good Morning Aurora. So starting off today, as we can see we have a daytime high of 76 degrees with a daytime low of 72 degrees. Now if you were in northwest Indiana, shout out to Hammond, you're gonna experience a link link effect shower, get ready for that. This evening, 60 degrees for the nighttime high, 47 degrees for the nighttime low. As we transition into tomorrow, take a look. 79 for the daytime high, 74 degrees for the daytime low. A nice sunny day tomorrow, some cloud cover, that's cool, but no rain predicted just yet. Tomorrow evening, take a look at that, 64 degrees for the nighttime high, 53 degrees for the nighttime low. Lot of clouds tomorrow evening, that cloud cover in the nighttime transitions with us into Friday, take a look. 78 degrees for the daytime high, 72 degrees for the daytime low, a low shower chance well south of I-80 and that's gonna be late. Now, let's not get worried, look at Friday evening. See all that rain, they put double emojis in there, 63 degrees for the nighttime high, 56 degrees for the nighttime low, a 20 to 50% chance of rain, now that rain that starts Friday night continues with us in sincerity, take a look at that. 77 degrees for the daytime high, 70 degrees for the daytime low on Saturday, the 20 to 50% chance of rain in the evening time on Friday, turns to 20 to 40% Saturday in the daytime. Now, getting into Saturday night, 64 degrees for the nighttime high, 56 degrees for the nighttime low. Let's recap, today, a daytime high of 76 degrees with a daytime low of 72 degrees, it's gonna be sunny. Tomorrow, 79 degrees for the daytime high, 74 degrees for the daytime low, Friday, 78 for the high, 72 for the low and on Saturday, 77 degrees for the daytime high, 70 degrees for the daytime low and mad rain on Saturday. That is your weather report here on Good Morning Aurora, the second largest city's first daily news podcast. We have a fantastic show for you guys today. My first guess is the one and only Mike Hittmann Wilson to be followed by our dear brother, Kendall Nesbitt, music producers, get ready for a great show. (upbeat music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) Good morning Aurora, good morning Aurora, good morning Aurora. The time is 9.03 a.m. We're listening to and watching Good morning Aurora, the second largest city's first daily news podcast. We have a special guest in the house today, getting ready for a special weekend as well. My guest is the one and only Mike Hittmann Wilson. How you feeling brother? - Good, how you been? - Good to see you too, man. Thank you for taking some time to come in this morning. - Oh thank you, thank you for having me. This is an honor. - Absolutely. So this weekend is really big. It's going to be Aurora's very first eight-town house music fest here at River Edge Park. It's going to be, the party starts at 3 p.m. Gates open at 2 p.m. at River Edge Park. So before we get into all the good stuff, how does it feel to see a house music fest happening in Aurora and right in downtown? - Right. - Did you ever think you'd see that happen? - Well what's funny is me and my partner Kenny Cahill, we thought of this idea, well I guess the chosen few, they had this picnic every year in Chicago and ends up being like one of the biggest picnics in the country every year. And we're like, "Yo man, we should have something like that "because we have the same history they do. "It's just we're in the suburbs, "they're in the south side of Chicago." So we tried to put it together back in the, right around COVID, before COVID. - Okay. - And then COVID hit and it just killed the whole thing. We had talked to the mayor, Richard Irvin about doing something like this. - Right. - Me and, let me think, it was Farley and, who else was there? Chicken Kenny and a few other, Tony Batoi Productions. - Okay. - He's a big time promoter. A couple of my buddies, Rodney Davis. - Okay. - And so we got, we had this idea together, we brought it to it and Richard was like, "Cool man, it sounds good." He put us together with Jim Jarvis from the Paramount. - Right. - And we were working on stuff and then COVID hit and we had to shut everything down and we shut it, there was, you know, we just said forget about it, it was never gonna happen. - Of course, yeah, I remember the COVID era, that killed a lot of dreams. - So what's funny is, I had thrown a, I don't wanna, man, I had my 60th birthday party in May, right? - Happy birthday, brother. - And thank you, thank you. And at the party, I had all the DJs that I grew up with and that we've been DJing all together for 40 years. And just so happened that Mayor Richard came to that party. So it was like, all the local guys, Darryl Fox, Keven, Maurice Ice Cold Pepper, Chicken Kidney, myself, DJ Spanky, you know what I'm saying? We had a lot of guys that we've been doing this for a long time. And I guess it kinda put it like a thought in Richard's, like he started whirling around and then Farley and I guess Farley was driving down the highway and he and Richard like bumped into each other and next thing you know, Farley's like, "Yo man, "why aren't you guys doing anything? "Everybody else is." And Richard's like, "No, that's a great idea. "Let's do it." So Farley and Richard came up with the whole concept of this particular one. We had come up with it earlier, but they brought it to fruition after they met on the highway. Thank God, 'cause Farley has a big truck with his, you know, Farley Jack Mass, King of House and all that stuff on. And it made some, it caught Richard's attention. - That's amazing. Now you grew up in Aurora. - Right. - Okay. Tell us about, tell us about getting started. Now your house, the studio was at home. - Right. - This is a home studio. Tell us about those days. How were you making music back then? - Well, it started off with me DJing. So I was a student at Aurora University. - Okay. - And we were hiring in, you know, DJs and I would play like the slow songs and stuff, but I really got inspired by these guys. And my uncle, Uncle Larry Wilson, he helped me out and took me down to the music store and we got like a, I forgot what it was, a recording device to record and something to make music on. So that I could do, you know, present a tape for the station, for WBMX. At the time that was it, like WBMX was no more in station in the country. And they had this group called The Hot Mix Five. So I wanted to, you know, I inspired to be one of those guys. - Okay. - But I'm a college student all the time. (laughing) So you wanted to be one of The Hot Mix Five. - Right. - And they were on WBMX at the time. - Yes. - Okay. Now, what was the hot songs at the time? - Gee, it is hot man, well, I can't even remember back then. The hot, it was, okay. What's funny is I started that year, it was 84. - Okay. - And that's the same year Jesse Saunders, who was a DJ, made his own song and then Farley made a song and then Chippy made it. The next thing you know, DJs were making songs, so it inspired us. - Right. - And this is right when I started DJs. I figured, oh, that's what we're supposed to do, but I didn't know that that's not what DJs normally did. - Right. - Because that's the first year they started doing, that was 40 years ago. - Because before that, the MC was the person, the DJ and the MC were a team. - Exactly. - It was not really, the DJ was the prominent figure. - Exactly. - Ah, okay. - And the DJ kicked the MC out of there by making his own record. - Right. (laughs) - He started directing the whole thing, you know? - Very cool. All right, now, there's also a street dedication that will be taking place as well on the same day. - Yeah, that's kinda cool. - Now, at your home. - Yeah, that, I definitely don't deserve something like that, but I'm just happy for the whole industry and I'll accept it as for the industry. There's been a lot of artists that once I put that studio together, a lot of local talent and, you know, national talent came through that studio that some of them, it may even have been their first sessions ever. - Right. - And we did it there at the studio. So I kind of, hey man, this will kind of be cool to, you know, memorize this. - It's for everybody. - For all of us, for everybody. This is a celebration for us all. - Now, we are gonna talk about and highlight some of those artists that you've produced and helped get their start. Carl Thomas. - Yes. - Fantastic artists. - Yeah, man. - Very well known artists. - He cut his teeth in that studio. - Okay. - So my cousin told me, me, she was, she was one other one and I brought her in and she was good friends with Carl and then she had another group that she was producing. - Right. - And so I said, "Carl, look, any time you want to, you know, so Carl became a producer and he was producing other acts out of my studio." - That's amazing. - And then next thing you know, we heard, "Hey man, Carl's in New York, get the record deal, what the hell is going on?" (laughing) - Bad Boy Bill. - Yeah, Bad Boy Bill did his first, the recording that he had put on to get on the radio, he did at my house. - That's amazing. That is amazing, man. - His first tape, his first, yeah. - Hype Williams of "Belly Fame." A lot of people will know that name. - Man, Hype Williams is my little cousin and he really inspired, he used to give us music from New York. So every time his, you know, his parents, they come from New York every year. - Right. - And then he'd bring himself to the New York and man, he was like, he'd introduce us to hip hop. - Right. - And I've never heard that stuff before. - Got him going in the studio as well, he was a producer too. - Another producer, Toby Meeks. - Yes, Toby Meeks. And she's producing right now in Atlanta, and she has, her sister, Pearl, get ready for this album, it's getting ready to drop. And it's one of the best albums out of all the stuff that I've ever heard. This is some serious stuff. - Nah, I like that. I like, I can see the anticipation of your eye. - Oh yeah, brotherly man. - Pearl is, Pearl, she's full blown. - If Mike Pittman Wilson tells you to stay tuned or something. - Yeah, he'd better stay tuned. - Yeah, stay tuned. - Pastor Mel Owens, now he was gospel stellar award nominee. - Absolutely. - Okay, the stellar awards have a long history in their own. - Absolutely, and he's one of my college mates at Aurora University. - Okay. - So yeah, he went on to become a pastor and he's a great singer, great songwriter, unbelievable. And we're getting ready to get, we're gonna work on his third album coming up this year. - Amazing stuff. - Yeah, we've got Steve Grissett and Eric White, movie directors. - Right, now Steve Grissett is a local songwriter. - Excuse me. - And he's out of East Aurora. - Okay. - And he was the one, he and Purnell Davis and a couple of those guys, they had a little band together. And that was our music guy growing up. - Okay. - Yeah, Steve could play guitar, piano, everything. He's a bad dude and a great writer. And he's a behind the scenes guy. So there's a lot of songs out there, platinum gold that Steve Rich produced. He did Michael, he did like Jermaine Jackson, he did all the Jackson stuff. He did a lot of stuff. - The time is 9.13 AM, you're listening to him watching Good Morning Aurora, the second largest city's first daily news podcast. GMA right back to Alvin Soto, East Aurora in the house. What's up, Curtis Jermaine? What's up, Mike? Fab Five in the building, much love. Appreciate that. Fab Five Aurora DJs. - Nice. - Farley the King of House. - Yes. - The King of House. - Farley was the one who actually put me on the radio. - Okay. - So I hired him to, I was a promoter. So I hired him to do one of my events. The event was a disaster because some of the Aurora guys, some of my, the guys that I was fighting against, you know, to get to the top, they put the word out that he wasn't coming. So it was a fake party. So no one believed that father was actually coming to Aurora, but we brought him here. - Okay. - It was at the attic, it was a nice thing. But he-- - Now that's just the memory, right? - Yeah man, but that was the one, that was the chance, 'cause he gave me the slot. He said, "Mike, make a guest spot for the BMX Hot Mix Five." - Right. - And I mean, so I made the guest spot for him, and next thing you know, he got me on the air. - Shout out to Farley. Doesn't it feel good when those, it's about the character, right? It's about the character. - Absolutely. - If somebody looks out, that means a lot. It does. - And listen, I try to help. It's more than money. - Well, and that's what I'm trying to do. I wanna try to look out and get other people on. - Right. - There's other artists out there and other producers out there, DJ Fox, another Roar Guy, producer, coming out with some hot stuff. Mike Hardin, it goes by, I forget his, I forgot his, he has a name that he goes by for his music stuff, but we all know him as Michael Hardin. But he's a great songwriter and he's a great producer, but you're gonna start hearing his stuff come out. - Okay, okay. Now we've got Steve Hurley. - Mm-hmm. - Steve Hurley recorded out of the studio. He's been there before. He was an, he was an inspiration. He inspired me a lot too with his mixes, but I was able to get him to the studio and do some stuff once before. - Right. Marshall Jefferson. - Marshall used to come out and do some stuff with us. We mostly played Xbox though. - Yeah. (laughs) - But he's considered like one of the kings of house as well. Big time. Now before we get into the next, even more of the groups and the people who you've helped, I got a burning question for you. - Yes. - What is house music? But what does it take to create house music? What's different between it and other? - For me, right? Because it's probably different for everybody else, but for me it's a derivative of disco music basically, but it's more DJ oriented where we would take a beat. So the characteristics of the music was the four on the floor, the beat, boom, boom, boom, boom. - Right. - And the speed. It was generally between like a 120-ish, 124, it was a club speed, club music. But, and it had, you know, this thriving bass. You have to have that bass line, boom, boom, boom, boom. Something like that going on in it and you mix it with the dance music. But it's, now for us, in the suburbs, I guess for the people in the city, house music was from, I guess they got it from the warehouse. But Frankie Knuckles used to spend. But we always thought of it as like a house party music. - Right. - And so that's where we cut our teeth and the house parties, we do house parties. That was it. There was no clubs for us. - Yeah, which is, which is what I remember. Somebody's basement. - Yes. - And the whole thing was the party. You know, I'm just closing my eyes. I remember like the basement's full of people. You walk in, your glasses fogged up, brothers freestyle and outside. I don't know what they doing. - Exactly. - So I get the warehouse terminology. I think like you do. I feel that the house party is reflective of the music house music. - Exactly. - Yeah. Now the next question is, or rather the next group, and you and I talked about this before, the mics came on. Ghosttown DJs, my boo, that went platinum. (laughing) - That's crazy, right? - Yeah. - What's funny is Michael Malden was a Jermaine Dupree's father and he was gonna manage me at one time because while this stuff started happening with his house stuff, he's like, "Hey, let me latch on." And I guess one of my DJ friends, DJ Boogie, introduced us. - Okay. - And so Michael hooked me up with Jermaine Dupree, Jermaine hooked me up with, believe it or not, Little John, you know, Little John. - Oh yeah. - Little John was the A&R director for So So Death. And Little John hired me to do the mixes. So I redid the whole thing for my boo, and I came up with a house mix and a club mix. I mean, a house mix and a radio mix. - Right. - And we put it out and, you know, next thing, you know, the thing just exploded. And then a 10 years later, it resurfaced again and hit the billboard charts again. - That's amazing. That's amazing. Ghosttown DJs, man. I remember that like it was just this morning. - And then some. - From here and that, yep. Now, don't lose the magic and another sleepless night are both by Sean Christopher. - Exactly. - Okay, talk about Sean Christopher. - Yeah, I produced, when I decided to, the radio station BMX had got bought out by V103. So the New York guys who owned my, I forgot what station they owned, BLS or something, they came in and bought BMX. We didn't know they were gonna change the format and all this, but they did. - Okay. - So I was on the radio. So I said, hey, I'm gonna have to go full blown with this music production now, because I don't have the DJ, you know, the place to release, you know, the songs and the remixes and all that other stuff. That's when I came up and I said, let me do an album. So the first album I did, I featured different artists. I think I had five different artists. I had Toby Meeks, I had Hype Williams, I had Sean Christopher, Reggie Hall, and Crash Man. - Okay. - Okay. - I, they, they, they, they shopped it to Arista. Arista picked it up and they loved the Sean Christopher. They released that song. - That's amazing. - Yeah, that is amazing. Inner City, Good Life, also in Platinum. I do want to mention that Sean Christopher is another sleepless night and Louis and Magic. We're both number one on the Billboard dance charts. - Yeah, they're both number one. Another sleepless night was actually number two for the entire year on Billboard. - Oh, wow. - For the dance songs. Yeah, it was pretty, it was pretty crazy back then. - Good Life, Inner City. - Yeah, Inner City, my buddy, Kevin Sonerson, one of the guys who created techno music. So we had been working together from the beginning and I done a lot of techno songs for 'em. Most notably this song called, "Bounce Your Body to the Box." I don't know if you've ever heard that. - I know some of our listeners have. - "Bounce Your Body to the Box," right? - Okay, all right. - So anyway-- - I have to like that fifth rum and coke. - Yeah, I remember this. - Yeah, we were hoshing it up back then. We were calling it "Jackin' It Up." There was "Jackin' It Up." But anyway, now he, he had out an artist out of Chicago. Her name is Paris Gray and they came together with this group Inner City and they put together some nice songs. The key is the songs. - Right. - If you write a good song and you let the masses hear, everything'll take care of itself. - Right. - And that was a great song. It took care of itself. - So a number of number one Billboard chart hits, a Gospel Stuller Award nominee, artists, directors, and platinum recordings. Are you done yet? I mean, are you, it seems like you're just getting started, brother? - You know what? I had to take a break when this whole digital thing came out because it was killing the industry. You know? Because, you know, the way they were stealing the music and doing all this stuff. It seems like they're trying to get a hold of it. I don't know if they've really done it. - Get their hands around it kind of thing, right? - Well, they're kind of not regulated, but it's like the Wild Wild West out there right now. - It is. - And then now we just, when you add this AI business, it just, now we're on another level now. Because the movie people, they came out with a contract. They stopped, you know, they said, no, we ain't letting you come up with this AI writing own scripts and writing this and that. They haven't done that for the music yet. So there's a lot of cheaters out there making music with AI instead of the old school way of doing it in the studio. - Right. - So, but I'm very inspired to get back into it. I'm inspired to work, my first artist I'm gonna work with is Pearl, and I think that she's fantastic. She's on a level of Beyonce, to be honest with you. And she's local, but she's a great songwriter. And she does more of a better, like, I wanna say, I don't wanna say gospel, but we're on that, she could be played in a gospel radio station, you know? - I know what you mean. Well, it's the evolution of an artist, their voice, their presentation, everything. So they can be a gospel artist, but, you know, one can hear more. - Exactly. - More from. - I wanna go mainstream. - Exactly. - 922 is the time. You remember that Curtis, I got it. Okay, thank you very much. Kevin May, my man, good morning to your dear brother. Yokev, Corey Ingram, DJ Dagwood. I think their name and name's DJ Darryl Robison Fox. - Wait, DJ Dagwood, he's hitting you up? - DJ Dagwood, yeah. - He came out of my studio too now. - He did? - Oh yeah, for sure. That's my boy. - Connected in more ways than we do, man. DJ Dagwood, shout out. Josue Pais, my dear brother, DJ Venom. All the DJs checking in this morning. Good morning to you guys, 922 is the time. Okay, Becky Hoff, good morning. Where'd the name hit man come from? - Because I played a hit. And if you mess with me, you can struggle. (laughing) It's got the double meaning to it, you know what I mean? - I like that. Now, as a person who only got down or even touched turntables if my DJ friends who are watching would, you know, show me a little something, things like that. - Right. - How difficult was it to learn? Take me, but take me to, when you weren't touching DJ's in turntable, take me to before then and when it started. Take me to the moment that you touched one. - Right. - What was it like? What was it like getting established, getting started? - You know, it's watching somebody else do it. - Okay. - It's what inspires you because you don't know what these two things in this thing in the middle can do until you see someone get on it. So when I seen guys like Farley, I seen Eric the Wiz, you know, my roommate Ruben made, there was people I saw do stuff and I'm like, wow, that is cool. And see, I have an athletic background, you know? I come from basketball, football, all that good stuff. So I took my athletic stuff and put it into the music. So what are we doing at? We practice, we spend time, we, you know, that's what we live. So instead of living basketball and living football, now I'm living music. - Okay. - It just happens. - Okay, yeah, absolutely. When you apply yourself, you get the results. - The key is you gotta love it. Find something you love and it's, you're gonna find all the sorts of ways to have fun with it. - Okay. - And I've been having fun with this for 40 years. - All right, very cool. So we're ready for the street dedication as well. - Yeah. - Ready for that on Saturday morning. That's gonna be at... - Noon. - Okay. - Oh yeah, I wanted to mention too. Anyone who comes to the street dedication, they're giving out $25 gift certificates to them, to use at the casino. - Okay. - Now you can't use it at the casino at the restaurant, but you can use it... - Right. - The gamble. (laughing) - I know. - Yeah. - Glad you mentioned that, brother. - Oh man, what's up man, what's up man? You told me about this thing, I can't use this thing. No man, you gotta gamble with it. So yeah, the casino, we're gonna go to the casino and after the casino, we're gonna go to the event at three o'clock. And it's just gonna be nothing but great DJs and artists. We'll have a lot of fun. - Very cool, all right. - Good morning, Aurora, we'll be out there showcasing and shouting out and meeting all the great people, seeing you guys too. We'll be there taking pictures and videos and all kinds of cool stuff. I did want to mention 9.25 was the time. There's gonna be, besides Mike here, there's gonna be a lot of great entertainers who are gonna be here. Mike is our hometown hero. Julian Jumper Perez, Mike Hipman or duh. Kicking Kenny, Maurice Ice Cold Pepper, Richard Graves and legendary musical artists like C.C. Peniston, Fast Eddie and out here brothers as well. Tim Spin and Sean are so many great people. DJ Tito Latino. - DJ Khaleek, yeah, and I'm DJ Fox. - Absolutely, and Mickey Mix and Oliver as well. So this is gonna be a great event. - Oh and can I mention something? - Yes, please. - They lowered the tickets down to 25 bucks right now, but they're gonna go back up after we hit these numbers. So if you, everyone needs to get their ticket now if they're gonna get it because the price is gonna go back up on the day of the day. I don't know, it might go up on the day of the day. It might stay at the same, I don't know. I would get the ticket if I were you, I'd get it now 'cause we're gonna have some fun. - So we're keeping our eyes on Pearl. That's who we're gonna be staying tuned to. Are you gonna be dropping any Mike Hipman Wilson like personal projects or anything like that? DJ Nick's right about that. - No, my goal now is to just start hooking up and networking everybody else. - Good. - You know? - Paying it forward. - Yeah man, I would love to do that, that's my goal. Get these other DJs, get these other producers out there and get 'em rolling. - If you had a word of advice to that young, 'cause young kids are still making music. If you had any word of advice to that young person who's making music right now and doesn't know if it sounds good or not, what would you tell them? - Well, I'm gonna tell you what worked for me and I'm not saying that they should do this but I had to, you have to forget about the financial end of the music. Don't get into music for the business part 'cause if you do, it's not gonna end well for you. If you love music and you just love, and I don't care if, I'll pay you to be on this show. You know what I'm saying? I'll pay you to get on somebody's record. And you have to almost have that mentality to break through everything and that's the mentality I had. So I did over 100 and some remixes and I didn't get paid until the last like two or three at the end, but when you get paid then, you do get paid, you know, it's a different pace thing but still, I didn't care. I don't, even this event, I do this event for free if I had to, it doesn't matter. I love the music part and I would say that's the key. If you really love what you're doing and stick with it and I don't wanna say stay out of the business part, but stay out of the business part. - Absolutely, absolutely. Keep your eye on why you're doing it. - Exactly. - Keep your eye on why you're doing it. - And love what you're doing. - Absolutely, all right, 9/27 is the time. So we are going to, we have another great guest coming up, Mr. Kendall Nespin is back as well. Music producer to talk to us about more DJ Spanky D up in here, good morning to you as well. The show ends on a positive note. What's your message today for the city of Aurora? - Man, let's stick together, man. And then no more back fighting with, let's all back each other, you know what I'm saying? Even if your name's not associated with the thing, we gotta look out for each other and be positive. You think that's nothing good to say? Don't say anything, you know, just, you know, that's what I say. - Amen, amen to that, amen to that. All right, so the house music fest, once again taking place this weekend, it's the 28th at River Edge Park in downtown Aurora. Get your tickets, they're 25 bucks right now, but they are gonna be going up. Gates open at 2 p.m., the party starts at 3 p.m. and the street dedication for the, well, the place where it all started. It's gonna be at noon on that day. So right now we're gonna go to a commercial and then we're gonna come back. I wanna say thank you once again to Mike Hittman Wilson. - Oh, and can I have more to go? Absolutely, brother. - And thank the Mayor Richard Ervin for making this whole thing happen. - Absolutely. - 'Cause he has been really instrumental in putting this whole thing together and keeping us inspired. And I really appreciate him. He's done a great job. - Yeah, we appreciate the Mayor and all of the city leadership of putting this together. - Jim Jarvis, absolutely. - Yeah, shout out to JJ, you know. - There you go, you know all the guys. - Yep. All right, so we're gonna go to commercial and then we'll be back with another great episode. (upbeat music) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) your bank's top priority. 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Reduce be except for 30 gigabytes of usage per line. Data threshold is my very actual Wi-Fi speeds vary, not guaranteed. Don't freak out, but monster tacos are back a jack in the box. Classic monster tacos are back with a crunchy, cheesy vengeance, and you can get two for three dollars, or try the new three-dollar mummy-wrapped monster taco. Loaded with nacho cheese and bacon, wrapped in a soft flour tortilla. Kinda makes you wish all mummies were this delicious, and cheesy. Order now at Jack in the Box. All right, and we are back. The time is 9.31 a.m. and you are still listening to and watching Good Morning Aurora, the second largest city's first daily news podcast. My guest today in part two are Kendall and Tiffany Nesbitt. How y'all doing? All right, all right, all right. Are you so good to see him? So now we, a lot of things to talk about. You know, when last you and I met Kendall, you were doing work and had more work prepared, and one of the things we talked about was the recent ribbon cutting that you guys had for the event space sage. Let's talk about it. Yeah, so the ribbon cutting is happening tomorrow, actually, at 11 a.m. Yeah, 1167 Oak Street, and we have a whole weekend prepared of goodies. So I'll let Tiff, this is my better half, as you say, is her brainchild, so she's gonna give a little more information. All right, please, please let us know about it. Sure, thank you so much for having us. We are very excited about the ribbon cutting that's taking place tomorrow. As Kendall mentioned, at 11 a.m. We have a weekend filled with activities. There is a party that's happening Friday evening that begins at 7 p.m. And then on Saturday, from 11 to 5, we actually have an open house. So we're very, very excited about North Aurora's newest event space. What are some of the features that are going to be going to be available for folks when they come in and check out the space? Sure, so the space itself is about 1,800 square feet. So banquet style, you can sit about 80 people. If you want to come in and just party about 170. But we have smart TVs that you can use. We have a digital photo booth that actually comes with the actual rental of the space. And what I would say is when you walk in, you're going to feel like this is an extension of your home. So we're very excited about how you feel when you go in. It's about the vibe. Okay, we can wear house shoes up in there. You absolutely can't come as you are. You're coming from downstairs. Come downstairs. It's an extension. All right, so the the roommate cutting is going to be taking place at 11. What time was it at 11? 11 a.m. 11 to 12. And we have the Aurora Chamber of Commerce that we're partnering with. Kendall actually and friends will be performing so he can talk a little bit more about that. Okay, all right. Absolutely. Kendall and friends, let's talk about it, man. Let's talk about that. Oh man, it's just a little dinner music as the people are mingling and you know do a little singing and playing. So yeah, have a good time. All right. Now, you are a music producer amongst other things as well. Let's talk about the influence that you've brought, have collectively brought to this. And if I'm looking for my place to do my banquet at, you know, what's the vibe in there? It's like home, but I know there has to be an influence that's musically inclined as well. It's interesting. Great question. This kind of started, we would do events at our home. And folks were like, had a great time. She has a background planning, consulting, event planning, structuring things. Of course, I have a background, especially events. And so it was like, hey, you know, maybe you all need to really consider, you know, we were in, I wasn't a promoter or considered to be a promoter, but it's like, well, wait a minute, you are doing something that feels good. And it's a one stop shop. So when you come, not only can you get the decor and the planning and the execution from start to finish, you can also get the entertainment component, right? You need a DJ. If you need a band, if you need, you know, so you just come in and just give a summary of what you want. And we take care of the rest. And see, that's, I'm glad you mentioned that because that's what I was looking for. And that was the spirit of the question. I mean, it's one thing when anybody's just cooking. But when you got a, you know, a Michelin chef who's making your brew shetta, that's going to taste a lot different. Exactly. Now, could we talk about some of the packages and pricing for folks? Absolutely. So we actually have various pricing to fit individuals' budgets. And I would say we're running a special during this time frame. And I want to actually step back for one second to your question that Kendall was mentioning about the entertainment. And then I'll talk about the packaging. So he does have the music side of it. But my background, actually, I started my career at Disney. And hospitality is my thing. That's actually my undergraduate degree. So it's not only about, like you said, the food. It is who's preparing it. It's the spirit behind it. And that's the same thing with our packages. And so when you think about coming in, people may say, Hey, this is my budget. And I'll say if it's $300, we are not your place. However, if you are looking for an experience, we're there. So I would say the packages themselves start at 300 per hour for a minimum of four hours. But the extra things that you get, I think you'll be blown away by. Okay. All right, that's wonderful. Now, the food, food is per the site and packaging, or can folks bring in outside food? Actually, people bring in their food. We didn't want to get into that. So we provide the entertainment and the decor. And then in terms of whatever catering you would like, you can do that and bring in whoever you'd like. Okay. All right, very cool, very cool. Now, Kendall and friends, that is your own band on group? Yes, it is. Because it can change. And I do have a band that's it's it's the same band every time. But when we do different things, I like to pull in different people. So you never know who you'll get. And everybody works in the industry, like tomorrow, a friend of mine that actually tours with Frankie Beverly and Mays will be playing with me. So that's why I say friends, because it can change up. I may pull a guy that we work together with Alicia Keys or Lionel Richie or somebody in it. So I open it up to Orfa Buddy of Mine is in town from L.A. And it's like, okay, well, hey, come hit with me. So you just never know who you're going to get each time with one offs kind of like this. Okay, okay. And how long have you been playing and producing music? Oh, man, this has been a interesting, over 25 years. Okay, over 25 years. When we so for those who are familiar with Kendall, we met with Deshawn Jones, another great young man, as part of the light music matters program that you were involved in, which was really good. Since then, you've been doing some amazing things. You know, I follow you on Instagram and all the places and you've been doing some really amazing things. And actually, we're bringing light to the space. So light will be happening at Sage. Okay, next season. Yes. So around springtime. So I'll be, you know, giving you information on that. Okay. Now the address is it is hold on. I wrote it down. Don't tell me one one six seven Oak Street. That's Oaken Randall, right? Oaken Randall and North Aurora. What's it like working in North Aurora? So we're very new to the space. I will tell you, it's interesting when we talk about music and how it even came to be. He was working. He was at choir rehearsal and he came home and I said, guess what? We have a visit somewhere tomorrow. And he was like, oh, where we're going? I was like, well, I could tell you or you could just, you know, kind of wait. He said, tell me, I said, I think we're going to open an event space. And literally, that's how it happened. So what is it like thus far, the village has been fantastic to work with in terms of, you know, getting the place up. And our neighbors are great. We had our first kind of, I would say intro event on Saturday night, which was fantastic. Shout out to folks that were a part of that. So we had about a hundred people that were a part of the evening. And they're saying, book this space. So we're very excited about that. Okay. And it's going to be on Saturday. Correct. All right. Now I am, I am part of the Chamber Commerce Board. But a brother won't be able to make it, but my team will. My team will. My team will. I'll be doing the recording of the street dedication at that time for Mike Kidman Wilson. But I know that the team is going to be doing fantastic things with you guys. Now you guys are part of the chamber as well. We are. Okay. All right. So I can see in the future, um, more events taking place at you guys as location. Now is there a website or social media only for Sage at the moment? Yes. Uh, the website is www sage event space.com. Again, that's www sage event space.com. We are sage event space on Instagram as well as Facebook. Where did the name come from? What's the significance behind that Jessica Crow? Good morning to your Brittany Nicole. Like I bless your brother. Absolutely. Actually, when I was thinking about the name sage, I didn't know what it meant at the time, but I had been planning for a while. I was, I had a company called Table Scapes by Tiffany that actually started during COVID. And the reason for that business was because people were unable to go out and celebrate. So what I would do is put a party in a box, send it to them, and they took off. And they said, okay, Tiffany, can you start the decorating for me? That's pretty brilliant. Yes. So it actually worked out. And so I was like, okay, so we were packing up the back of the SUV. And, uh, from that, we said we need a space, um, because, uh, our product was taken over our home. And so when we found the space in North Aurora, we were like, this is simply amazing. And so that's how we got there. So sage came from, you know, oftentimes we make choices about things that are not very wise. And so that comes when it comes to parties, we will spend maybe more on one particular portion of the party and we forsake the other. And it really is about the experience itself. And so sage was about making good choices, uh, which is oftentimes what we tell our children. And so then, uh, we were both downstairs working in our individual offices and figured out what sage means. Uh, and, uh, he said, well, what do you think? I said stylish areas with a great environment. That is amazing. So stylish areas with a great environment. That is amazing. And you know what? It made me just, it made me have a good memory right now with Kendall and a question that I asked him. And, and Mike kind of spoke about this too. Like when, you know, you're trying to focus on this, but one area is not being covered. And I had the same kind of problem starting good morning Aurora. I was so fixated on like, oh, I got to get a good mic with, I got spent a little bit more money on the mic, but I hadn't recorded nothing. I was tripping over my own feet on the presentation, but I wasn't doing a thing. Eight hundred dollar mic, but you're not doing nothing. So it's a, that's, thank you for bringing that up. Thank you for bringing it up. And I do see the, um, I see the tie in now and the strength behind, behind, um, what you guys are doing and putting together. Yep. Is it easy to work with? How much time do we have? He is actually fantastic to work with. So my background has been corporate and, uh, he is really open to me saying, Hey, I don't know that this is it anymore. And so Sage really came about, I was working for Royal Caribbean and, uh, they said Tiffany, we need our executives to move to Miami. And we talked about it. And it was, okay, maybe we can get an apartment. We love it where we live. And, uh, our children were at a place in, in school that we thought that, you know, again, that would be very difficult in terms of how we would engage with them. And so, uh, he said, no, I don't think we should. And I said, well, what are we going to do? What am I going to do? And he said, you'll figure it out. And so he allowed me to kind of, and I won't say allowed, but he was supportive of go and do what you think you should do. And he has been fantastic to work with. Now I will say he likes things very linear. And so I like things that are a little off because that's the design side of me. And so we will kind of get into it about alignment of tables and different things like that. But outside of that, it's supposed to be a diamond sheet. He's like, okay, wait a minute. He's like, it needs to be this way. And I'm like, no, it needs to be a little off. Let's get with the creative side of it. And but when it comes together, when I tell you, I could not pick a better partner. That's this guy here. Okay. So the opening of Sage is going to be an 1167 Oak Street in North Aurora, basically Oak and Randall. You guys are going to really enjoy this fantastic event space bringing something new to not only the North Aurora community, but the Aurora community as a whole, the Aurora community as a whole. Absolutely. So when are so it'll be open for business per the per the ribbon cutting, if those can start booking and everything? Absolutely. Okay. And we have some specials this weekend. Sage events, Sage events space.com. Tell us about the weekend specials. So we are going to offer our Monday through Friday rate. And that will be for Saturday and Sunday rentals. As you move forward, those rentals will go up and they will be six hour rentals. During the specials, you will be able to rent for actually three to four hours for the week they rent. Okay. All right. Very cool. Very cool. And we're going to add in some, you know, additional specialties in terms of tablecloths and centerpieces and all those good things that is not normally a part of the package. So we're excited about that. There is a bar as well. Okay. Table. So is that custom purse somebody's what they want to absolutely. Oh, okay. So if you say that, hey, I want to come in and I want Paris at Sage, we can create that for you. Oh, very cool. Absolutely. So whatever your theme, we can accommodate that. All right. All right. So Kendall. Now, I know that the music selection is always going to be a big park and outside entertainment come in. Sure. We will I'll work with them to kind of, you know, see, but yeah, I'm open to it. Okay. All right. So what's next for the for you guys in the amazing team? You know, what's what's five years look like? Expansion. Okay. All right. Yeah. For sure. We talk about Sage one, Sage two, Sage three kind of going all over. Not only suburbs, maybe even into the city, but yeah. All right. Doing more community work. Okay. You know, programming, giving back. So for sure. Okay. Well, I, I asked that because, you know, I'm proud to be on the, the Chamber of Commerce, but you know, I work for non-profit, it's always trying to get involved with folks and do things with different locations and new organizations. So, you know, if we could, if we could be of any assistance to you guys in terms of like co-working or co-sharing or promoting that space would be, be happy to do it with a way to be happy to do it. Yeah. That's the, that's the purpose of again, the purpose of good morning Aurora is to help people get connected in a proper, healthy, and, and positive fashion. If y'all need entertainment, you know, I sing, right? Oh, Lord. And what I say. Okay. See it, you remind me, grab your sink. Oh, Lord. I mean, I mean, I'm feeling that. Yeah. I like that. Now I'm director of entertainment. You got to come, we have to figure it out. I don't, don't put that brother on stage with no mics, no mics at all. So, so as a, as a team, as a, as a creative team, what other things are you both involved in or causes even, costs that you got to support that you would like us to know about or also support anything? So I would say that the one thing we are a faith based couple. And so our church, we are very involved in, and we love young people. We have always been involved, whether it's from choirs to mentorship, to actually exposing them to other things, coaching, my background, as I mentioned, is in a, from a corporate space. And so college students are near and dear to my heart where I have run, you know, campus recruitment functions and departments for major corporations. So if people are looking for internships, et cetera, that's what we do. And then we are big on community. And so if there is something that we believe that we can get behind, we really not only try to put our hands to it, but we like to pull in our resources as well. So to your point of, hey, I'm a part of a nonprofit organization. If we don't have the tools to do it, we certainly can call in some folks that we believe can put some extra behind it. And that's really huge for us. Okay. All right. So your background, you, you worked for Disney. Yes. Royal Caribbean. Correct. Wow. Yes. Amazing. With that hospitality, I know that you've seen the lack of hospitality. What are three key for the people who are starting a business or have a business or been in business for a little bit? Sure. You know, you got a three, you know, you got a two and a half star on Google. What are three must do for any business when it comes to hospitality? What are the three things that, you know, so I would say number one, one of the things that I learned early on at Disney is you're not the show. Okay. And so what that means is you're there to enhance whatever the event is. So I would say that's number one. Number two, you have to create an experience. People want to talk about whatever their event is for years to come. And then the third thing is oftentimes we say this, but we really have to embrace this. And that is to do unto others as we'd have them do unto us. And so if we want to feel welcome, we've got to make their guests feel welcome. If we want to extend hospitality beyond what they see today, we've got to do that. And so we want, it's interesting when we built our space, we wrote positive affirmations in the wall, literally, so that when people walk in, they're going to feel something different, then hopefully they feel from any other event space. And that was important to us. That's amazing. That's amazing. Yep. You are not the show. The show is whatever is going on. Whatever is going on. The guests experience is what we're here to maintain. And I would say, and that's the difference at stage. Right. Okay. All right. So do you do you both collaborate with any other, you mentioned expansion potentially in Chicago and then things like that in the future. Are there any other like current businesses that you guys work with or who have products that will be showcased inside of Sage? Absolutely. So we have a balloon artist. Her name is Gabriella. We call ourselves family now. So she'll come up to say, Hey cousin, and we'll say hey cousin, but her company is E-Y-E decoration. She is a phenomenal balloon artist. We also have a few bartenders that will rotate that are a part of the Sage family. And then we actually recently just hired someone that is going to be an event coordinator. But in addition to that, as Kendall mentioned, there are DJs that are a part of our roster. We will also have a list of preferred vendors that we are going to work with that we will showcase. And they are based in the Aurora area, as well as North Aurora, and then some folks in the city. So we're excited to extend that to our guests as they come in. Great partnerships and collaboration. Yes. Great way for those businesses to be exposed to the right kind of clientele too. Absolutely. To the right clientele. I know, and this makes me happy that when I go out, yes, I'm looking for that experience. Part of the experience is a nice squared away place. You know, the clientele, it's all got to be in sync. It's all got to be in sync. They ain't got to look like in sync, but it's all got to be in sync. I thought you were going to sing right there. Well, you know, I was about to trace the awareness here. She says Curtis can sing don't stop believing. Brian Moreno, Jay O'Hara, Richard, Jimenez, and Maribel Gaiton. Good morning to you guys. Jessica Crowe. Good morning. Time is 951. Okay. So before we, as we start to land this airplane, I want to say, it's been very humbling and a good experience for me to once again, you know, interview creatives, people who are creating things. And it really does, it really does feel good. I feel like there's going to be so much more added to this age experience as things go. Like, I really, I really do. I see y'all like having a, having the great lounge, man. I really, I'm really looking forward to that. I'm gonna let him speak to that. Oh, I think I just, did I just being something? Okay. All right. No, I'm all about, as she said, it's an extension of our home. Sure. And we were intentional about the feel just being laid back and low key and you can lounge and you don't want to leave. Right. It's like, yo, I just want to hang and be here. You know how we are. It's not like a studio vibe. Creatives, it's like that environment has to be that of, you know, creativity and conducive to inspiration, inspiring. So that was, that was a whole feel. And I told, I said, it may start one way. They may want to make it a restaurant. It may turn into who knows, you know, but yeah, right now, special events. We're not open every day. People think, Oh, this is a club. We're going to be, no, no, no, no. This is not every night food to ever know the grace. None of this is special events. This ain't the beginning. Yeah, let's be clear. Yeah. I said that because I do. Yeah, I do go get that. Well, I, I'm excited to see to see where things grow with both of you. So, and, and as you know, if we can be of any benefit to you, big or small, you know, please let us know our team from the Royal Regional Chamber of Commerce, Jen and everybody's going to go and give you guys the star treatment for the ribbon cutting. But again, if we can be of any assistance to you going forward, as you already know, you got my number, everything. Hey, Kurt is a promotion. We got going on. He shared his flyer. No matter what, we will do it for you guys. Absolutely. We appreciate this. And can I do something that I've never done before, but I've always wanted to do it. All right. So I would like to say, if you come Saturday, I'm looking directly at the camera, and you say, I am Curtis friend, and I watched Good Morning of Aurora. You get an extra 10% off your booking. Oh, I appreciate that. That is awesome. I appreciate that. Now, I am going to caveat that by saying this is only for this event and everything like that. Don't go to Amore, Mio. Don't go to Nona spot yet. Curtis told me it was good. Oh, this Saturday. This Saturday, 1167 Oak Street. It's going to be a fantastic event. Please go through there and also Sage event space.com. You guys got Instagram and Facebook and all that kind of stuff. Okay, as well. So we'll be following that. Kevin May says, that's love. Josue Pais says, congratulations to you guys. Johnny Santiago, good morning. And yeah, this is going to be good. I'm proud. I'm proud and I'm happy. I'm happy to support you guys. Thank you. That you allowed us to have part of your show. Yeah. So as we start to land a plane, we'll get words from both of you guys. You know, the show ends on a positive note. We've done a lot in our episodes today. Proud to have you back, Kendall. So thank you again for coming on to the show. What's your message to anyone listening and watching today? As Sage, what's Sage's message to the community? I would say the Sage message to the community is don't stop believing. And I know we joked about that. I took a leap of faith really from a very cush corporate job and said, I want to bet on myself and probably by far, thus far, even with all of the ups and downs has been the best thing that I've done. That's wonderful. And you're why? You know, why are you doing it? And it's about the significance, purpose. I know, Brother Mike mentioned the business side, the business will come, whereas I said last time, you want your business affairs to be in order, no doubt. But as we see in the news, you can get caught up into that part of it, or get caught up into, you know, how do I climb? How do I do this? Do I cheat, steal, do whatever? It's always about your moral compass, your integrity, and the why. And that's what's going to follow. Absolutely, absolutely. Very well said. Yep. We started recording in a bathroom, in a place that I no longer live at. And the why is still the same. The content is still the same. This show, like a couple weeks into it, a couple months into it and everything, we're doing it for the people who latched onto it for their why. The reason is to see ourselves collectively as a better everything. A better people, a better city, a better street, a better everything. So the why is important, and the why is the why is is everything. It's it will add to your moral compass. It'll keep us grounded and in the right direction. Anyway, 957 is the time. I hope y'all going crazy with that, don't stop believing in the chat. Oh, you got to hit that game. So I hope that you guys have a blessed blessed and positive rest of the day. Good morning Aurora. We'll return tomorrow with more news, more weather and the very best of Aurora. Don't forget a lot of great things going on. Say driven cutting the street dedication from Mike Hitman Wilson and also the Aurora house fest gates open at two shows starts at 3 p.m. Be blessed. Take care of yourself and each other.