Respecting Perspectives
Self Discovery and Emotional Awareness are just a few of the topics discussed in this "If Theo Von met Mac Miller" podcast series.
Tune in as Andrew "AWALL" Cornwall (Rapper turned Hitmaker) and his guests, explore what it means to be human, from every perspective imaginable!
Respecting Perspectives
A Creative Odyssey in Baltimore's Art Scene With Scott Frias
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Ever wondered how a childhood in a hippie environment, a stint in the military, and a passion for skateboarding can intersect to forge a path of creativity and resilience? Our guest today, Scott Frias, embodies this unique journey, navigating the challenges of poverty and addiction to emerge as a multi-talented artist thriving in the DMV. Discover how he channelled his experiences into music and art, playing in two bands and founding the improvisational jam collective, 4our Flights Up. As you listen, you'll uncover the secrets of artistic expression that help connect diverse communities and the life lessons found in unexpected places, like skateboarding in parking garages.
Join us as we explore the vibrant Baltimore arts scene through the eyes of extraordinary artists like Will Shanklin and Matthew Grube (Respecting Perspectives Producer). From the spontaneous joy of freestyling in music to the profound influence of poetry and literature, Scott shares his journey of self-discovery and artistic revival! Learn about his experiences at gatherings and the transformative power of verbal dexterity in life's challenging moments. Immerse yourself in the vibrant stories of creating communities in historic venues such as the Hooper House, and the collaborative spirit that fuels projects like TellerFest (Party For A Purpose).
Prepare for an exhilarating ride through rapid-fire questions that reveal quirky insights into our guest's world. From musings on creative inspiration to the playful exploration of personal growth, this episode promises a refreshing blend of humor and wisdom. You'll hear about Scott's ambitious plans to build an online platform, Metapainting.net, and their DIY approach to tackling life's challenges. Whether you're drawn to the allure of music, the complexities of personal reinvention, or the thrill of artistic collaboration, this conversation offers a testament to the enduring impact of creativity and community.
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Intro with Scott Frias
Speaker 1the respecting perspectives podcast is here for you and I hope that in the future this can be something that can inspire you and help you in turn again , help other people in making music . You have been really influential in my life . I may not have been able to be all , be and like all the things , but I saw you , dude , and I really respect the , the action that you take in your life and , uh , tell , tell the RPP fam who you are and you know
Skateboarding in Parking Garages
Speaker 1where you're from and and a little yourself .
Speaker 2Great Well , thanks , thanks for bringing me on the podcast and thanks for giving me space to kind of talk through a lot of the I mean , I think changes and insights I've gotten in my life as a result of a lot of times , great pain , you know . After great pain of formal feeling comes , I might quote some poetry , because I went to school for English and I really loved it . So what am I like ? Who is this cat ? All right , so I can . I can say right now that you know , I'm in a I'm over 40 , for sure and I'm living . I'm living in Baltimore with and I have two bands one that's getting off their ground and one that we've played for like three years . We're cutting an EP soon , nice , and I'm kind of enjoying a renaissance of my art , where I'm doing a lot more art . I'm actually going to be doing a collaborative painting tomorrow at Patterson Park . I'm doing it for one of the local bands . Awesome , it's at Teller Fest . Teller Fest , yeah , yeah , it's going to be dope , I'll see you there .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , for sure , for sure and so . But who I am is an amalgam of all the things I've ever seen and experienced . Right , amalgam , love that word . So , like I , I love that word . So I was born a hippie child . I went through real poverty . I was in foster care , went through a little period of drug addiction the cocaine was huge in the 80s when I was growing up . It got a lot of people . Then I kind of found my way by joining the military . I stayed in there for quite a long time , active for a little while and then in the Guard for a good long time . Gotcha , thank you for your service . Oh yeah , it was my pleasure and I learned so much and really helped . I hoped to just except for right at the end exemplify all the good things that a soldier can be and also not beat it on your head or wear it too hard .
Speaker 1You know it's got to be a challenge .
Speaker 2Some people . No , it wasn't , because some people will wear the retired . I go to VA for my health care . It's great , by the way , shout out to ya , um and and there's , there's a lot of cats over there that have their , have all their crazy hats on and it's like they're showing it everywhere they go , like I was in a war . I was in a war , like some people who know , who know me , don't even know that about me at all . They're like you were military , you're an officer , you're a commander , a commander , you did all that crazy shit and you were in wars . Like yeah , and that was part of my life , and like I kind of transformed after that phase of my life . It was an interesting sort of bridge . I took a year after I got out of full-time service and I did really kind of nothing . I worked on a novel , I learned a little bit how to play the didgeridoo , oh there you go .
Speaker 2Not too much . Not too much . I can't do it now , so it sucks . I have to get back into the groove .
Speaker 1It's not easy to do .
Speaker 2You don't practice right , dude it's not easy to do , but I really , you do , but I really . I started skateboarding in parking garages there was a group of us the Baltimore Garage . Skaters , skate kids oh , so much fun .
Speaker 1And in fact Simpler times , right , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 2Right , In fact I have a little story . So while we were doing this , we're at Wednesday night We'd go out like 10 , 8 , 9 , 30 .
Speaker 1Oh , until you're taking me there , all right , it's Wednesday night , it's .
Speaker 2Wednesday night we're all meeting up at a parking garage over here in downtown .
Speaker 1All right , we meet at the spot there's like eight of us .
Speaker 2We'll meet up and we all go to the top of the parking garage . There's no cars in there and those things , oh , super clean .
Speaker 1So and then , and there's , there's a an elevator , so it's an endless hill . It's so we usually will skate two or three garages in a night .
Speaker 2Go , that's genius skate it . Go to the skating skates so great . So so I get in , so I finally get a job . I'm like I took that year off , I can't live forever without a job . So I get a job . I happen to be helping this cat that's upstairs , one of the execs and I I just you know . He's like oh , I'm trying to teach my . I saw you skateboarding because I skateboard down the hill , my job .
Speaker 1There's a hill in front of the job and they're like who is this crazy dude on the lawn ? No , I never fall no , no , I longboard . Yeah , that's not , you don't have time for oh , you're gonna get hurt , yeah , bro yeah , I can't do that .
Speaker 2I love it when people tell me to do an ollie . By the way , yeah , I'm on an electric lawn board and they want me to do an ollie , I flip them off immediately . But so he said , yeah , I'm trying to teach my kid to skateboard . I said , oh yeah , it's not just like down this hill . I said we go at night in park garages , right . Yeah , it me a number , so he called me right , so I get a call from Linnea O'Neill . Linnea O'Neill , like the award-winning reporter from the Washington Post internationally .
Speaker 1Oh , wow , okay , okay , the name sounds… .
Speaker 2She's a big deal reporter and she's at the cusp of her career . She's really great , okay . She's really great , okay , she's doing well Someone you support .
Speaker 2I had no idea who she was . She called me up and she said well , I'm Lene from the Washington Post . My husband told me a story today about skating in parking garages , and I kind of couldn't believe him . And so can you . What is this Tell me the story ? Garages , and I kind of couldn't believe them . And so can you . What is this ? What is this Tell me the story . So I spit poetry to her about it because it's a wonderful thing to do you know , and she's like kind of a tell me more thing .
Speaker 2She says , well , when's the next time you're doing this ? It's Wednesday night . Well , she's giving me the address . I'd like to come out . So she comes out and she brings a photographer . Uh-huh , and I brought a bike for her so that she could flow with us . Oh nice , and we took her to three garages and she came back another night . She came out two nights and then another night , when we were in town , she sent a videographer out . What ?
Speaker 1That means you're dedicated , too , to your craft . That's cool .
Speaker 2So this girl did all this . So then one day we're like what happened ? I don't know .
Speaker 1All my friends are like yeah , where'd the story go ?
Speaker 2What happened ? Right , it's like two months later or something , right ? Uh-huh , and it's a Tuesday . Front page of the Washington Post . Above the fold on the front page of the Washington Post is a picture of one of my friends , a famous photographer I can't remember his name right now going down the corkscrew it's all downhill from here . It says it's a beautiful picture and it leads into the cover page of the style section . Oh , shoot , there's a cover page of the style section . Page of the style section . So there's a cover page of the style section . It's like three pictures and a big leading paragraph for the main article , which still isn't there . Then you open up and then , across from the comics , the whole full page , full page article , another three photos and all this crazy material right , it's like the biggest I know what I have never
Unleashing Creativity and Wisdom Through Experience
Speaker 2seen .
Speaker 2The photographer said that was the biggest orgy of uh , of uh like they me and then online they give them like 15 photos online . We had 15 photos online and video online .
Speaker 1Yeah , they treat us like kings . That's the story waiting to happen . Right , there's stories out there just waiting to happen . Man , that's wild man .
Speaker 2I'm glad you could be a part of one like that , yeah yeah , what was cool is the thing we actually did , but what I thought was interesting is just the thing that we did . That's what we do . What was interesting was her response to show everyone this cool thing we do .
Speaker 1Right Share it . Share the experience with a bunch of people who wouldn't maybe normally have been with each other , and you can bring bikes and all these other crazy things that are just like— .
Speaker 2And people are sleeping and watching some stupid show .
Speaker 1Yeah , sitting in them , get off your hands , no , so you know what ? So , while I have you here , man , I mean there's really , you know , so much that you know we can talk about , but I want to give you the uh , the baton and , uh , you know , are there any things that you want to kind of bring or shed any light on right now that you feel , um , is important ? Uh , you know , for people to either information , like for people to know , or like , maybe like a hardship or something that you've been through , that that you can , you know , help someone uh understand , like a particular emotion or or whatnot . Uh , yeah , is there anything that you can bring to the forefront ?
Speaker 2uh , you know that's a great question , um , because it lets me kind of range free into what's actually meaningful now . Yeah , because I mean , if you think about the way the world is and how hard it is to be a young person , right , I've had a really great life , done a lot of incredible stuff , but the world was not as sort of tippy and not as extreme and not as intense . Everything moves at triple speed and then the speed gets tripled and then , like it keeps doing that . It's been doing that my whole life , um , and it's gonna do it your whole life . It's gonna do it your whole life , man , it's gonna . It's gonna be a roller coaster of change that you have to adapt to and each phase of your life you're kind of in that phase , you're paying attention to that phase .
Speaker 2I just can't imagine being like 18 years old right now and kind of looking at the world and deciding , well , what am I going to do ? You know , kind of looking at the world and decided , well , what am I going to do ? You know , right , that's why I picked up a uh , another uh protege , because it's super important to take somebody who is young and smart , and and love and , and and has drive and and say I learned all this stuff . Yeah , let me show you a couple of these things . Yeah , check , check out these gems like here's here I I know this wizard way to make paintings , that that I can have the crowd make the painting .
Speaker 1Oh , that's cool .
Speaker 2And I'm teaching Josh how to do it . And a dear friend of mine .
Speaker 1Josh who ? What's his name ?
Speaker 2What's his fucking ?
Speaker 1last name Bruce Jones .
Speaker 2He has . Yeah , he's Bruce Jones , b-u-s-s-j-o-n-e-s . Go check him out . I don't want to blow up his last name on the podcast .
Speaker 1He's actually going to be on the podcast sometime soon .
Speaker 2Yeah , he's a fantastic cat .
Speaker 1They'll be able to catch up with him at some point .
Speaker 2He'll tell you a little bit about what we're doing . Nice plug , the point I took right with I was just saying Tristan , my first really incredible helper , taking the art that I was doing , which was all by hand , routing , and really taking it to the next level and learning how to illustrate or CNC , and going through the classes and making it happen . Going through the classes and making it happen , I think the thing that I would say this is the best piece of wisdom I know , just about Drop it , drop it . Most people are stuck in a loop , tell them , and they're bound by their limiting beliefs .
Speaker 2Sir , when you realize that you can do whatever you want tomorrow and anything that seems impossible to you , it's not that , oh , take the first step , oh ho , like some kind of a thing . But you could try shit that you would never think was possible to try . Like , I started doing art at 47 years old . Okay , have you done any art yet ? How young are you , sir ? I am 38 years old , so you could take another nine years off of doing art . Don't even do any art . Then you could take another nine years off of doing art Don't even do any art .
Speaker 1Then you could just at 47, .
Speaker 2Well , let me see how do you do art and then how could I do
Musical Honing with an Ear for Truth
Speaker 2it ? Like , my art is unique because it's the way I do it . Everyone's art . You know how people have a unique brush stroke . They have a look to their art .
Speaker 1Oh for sure , If .
Speaker 2I look at Will Shanklin's art it blows me away . He's so fantastic , hey man .
Speaker 1And Harrison .
Speaker 2Yeah , and Harrison , I mean it's also great .
Speaker 1We got it and .
Speaker 2Renee , oh Renee , love it . All the art monkeys . I'm having such a hard time remembering everybody's names . I'm so terrible at names , but the point is , everybody has their own little certain touch and the thing I think , if we can talk about me for one second that makes me unique is that I I almost can't . I love making other people happy and I love getting people past their barriers I I've been doing it . I've been doing it in different ways because it just seems the most gratifying thing you can do for somebody .
Speaker 2Making somebody else feel good , right , let them find their edge . I started this improvisational jam collective in my house called Four Flights , about seven years ago .
Speaker 1It was a staple in Baltimore for sure you should be extremely proud of that .
Speaker 2We did a few events , um , over the five years . Um , we did about , we did about two dozen out events , which was great , you know , and in over 200 at the house , but it was the out ones . The out ones were so great , like woodland man all . I'll tell you the story we got challenged to . A friend of mine asked me if he had the whole lineup A duel . No , he had the whole lineup of Woodland but he didn't really have an opening act right . So there was a 1.30 . It was 1 to 2.30 was open . Okay , 1 to 2.30 . That's a two , you know , one , I mean one to two . One to 2.30 was open . Okay , one to 2.30 .
Speaker 1Well , that's a nice little spot .
Speaker 2He said can four flights do it ? And I had . We had been running about eight months and people were coming over , regular people . You know the community was building . We probably had , we had a lot of momentum . It was before all the carjackings and all that stuff .
Speaker 1No , dude , there was a time I know you , I mean you really had some nice momentum with that .
Speaker 2It was cool to see .
Speaker 1On Facebook . You were seeing it on Facebook .
Speaker 2We were doing a thing , so what's so great is ? So we made , so I decided that we could take that time and we made four bands and each band got 15 minutes right and then you have to build in the that other last 15 , 20 minutes for transitions between all the of course , right , uh and we .
Speaker 2And we ended up having a uh , a soundcheck band that was full of the extra funky crazies . Oh , it was the dude . They're so dope . The soundcheck was beyond dope . Full of the extra funky crazies . Dude , they're so dope . The soundcheck was beyond dope . It was like all of a sudden there's this raging jam going on . I think Steve-O was on the drums , joey 2G's was on guitar , I think we had Frankie on the bass . It was crazy and you wouldn't normally they warmed the stage up .
Speaker 1They weren't even one of the bands . You know what ? Let's make a shout out to Matthew Gruby and the rhythm royale that he has right now . What ? A thing it actually occurs in the watermelon room here and man , it's where we . It's the musical version of kill tony .
Speaker 2I think that's the vibe yeah , whose line is it anyway , yeah yep , and different .
Speaker 1You know , there's a , there's a few wheels , and we pick . Uh , you know , each instrument has its own wheel and that's how your band is made . And uh , man , you got everything from keyboard to a few guitars , some bass .
Speaker 2Sometimes a saxophone or a harmonica , something like that .
Speaker 1Yeah , you get so many different people that wouldn't normally play together , but they're up on this stage so got to shout out .
Speaker 2And then they do something . Who's the producer ?
Speaker 1of this show .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , matt , you're the boss , you're the boss , boss . And then they do this crazy thing where they take AWOL and me and they make us make up a song . Oh , yeah , they give us the key of the song for the musicians , the style of the song , style , and then it's what the song is about Yep .
Speaker 1We make crazy scenarios . And then it's what the song is about Yep , we make crazy scenarios . And then how you feel yeah , yeah , right , when you come in , what ?
Speaker 2emotion . Yeah , yeah , when you come in , they ask you , Matt asks everyone some people give several . Matt asks everyone to say give me a scenario , you know ? So that's what ends up on the wheel . So you make a song on the spot , On the spot . It you make a song on the spot , on the spot it is such a fun .
Speaker 1Oh man , the whole freestyle . Let me tell you , when I was younger , freestyling was the thing that helped me stay connected with lots of different people and settings . Let me ask you I know we were talking about poetry and you really do have a poetic side to you you know , and where does that come from , man ? Like where , where do you feel ? Like you know the poet in you either comes from , or or you know where does it lie , like you know how can you put like a ? Can you put , you know , some description to it ?
Speaker 2I think so
Exploring Poetry and Artistic Expression
Speaker 2. My , my mother , uh , was an avid reader and read to us as a child . I read to my daughter , uh , as a child . I have two beautiful kids a daughter son , my , and three grandkids uh and and and I just I can't be , I can't be more surrounded by love um what we just said . I'm just , I just see them . See them in my mind's eye .
Speaker 1No , it's okay , Take it where you want to . Man , I really was kind of just , you know , being a poet , you really have , you know , I know you're probably writing something in the back of your head right now , yeah .
Speaker 2I have to say it's my mother being really excuse me me my mother being really dedicated to uh , making language a priority in our lives . And even though I had , like that broken childhood thing , I had a great foundation , uh and um , you can tell and kind of , and I had a natural ability with . Language was always easy for me and Language arts were always easy for me . So I think it was , you know , once I decided , once I went to school there's a lot of complicated life in there . I'm not going to get into it , of course , always is .
Speaker 2And I ended up getting my English degree because it was the best thing I could pick . That was just pure wisdom . Only philosophy could hold a card to it . But philosophy isn't . And physics I love me . I love microbiology and chemistry and physics and anthropology . I love so many scientific disciplines . They're just so rife with great truths . I like the way you said that . But poetry has been sort of like . When I first came to Baltimore I went to Zelda's Inferno and it was a weekly poetry gathering . I met I got to meet Alice and Tom and some people that are staples in my life in Baltimore to this day uh , burners , uh , and , and I mean I think I took such a long road from there to running karaoke .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 2Think about everything that led up to that , too , to running , running the four flights and really improv-ing in four flights , improvisational live lyric , um , and and that that it was a bridge from all the song lyrics that I memorized and all the poetry that I memorized and did you memorize this poetry or these words , you know , for a particular reason , or or was it , was it ?
Speaker 1you know what were you , what were you trying to achieve when , when , storing those , you know , those , those things all right .
Speaker 2So this is a , this is another piece of wisdom that y'all can take with you forever . Uh , and I don't mean to be swaggy about that , but there's certain things that you can do that help your whole life , um get swag exquisite , exquisite mental jewelry .
Speaker 2okay , if you go deep into a topic , and and and you find like for and and and you know it , you , you can , you can recite it , you've , you've , you , you're , you're conversant with it at a high degree . It's basically movement toward mastery . Once you have the framework for mastery of a thing , you can adapt that to almost anything else in your life . So , and the other thing is all the things that you put in your head , like all the shows you know . You can go and quote a show with your buddy and they know the show . You can go line by line and do 100 shows . Those are all lodged in your mind , they're all Somewhere , they scintillate . One of the things that I used to do was .
Speaker 2Scintillate . What does scintillate mean ? It means they shine with flickering brightness . Cool , let it shine . That's awesome .
Speaker 1Sorry , I interrupted you asking that's okay , it's okay .
Speaker 2I took poetry with me everywhere when I was going down the ice wall . There was a class I took at Winter Mountain Warfare School up in . Jericho Vermont winter mountain warfare school . Up in jericho , vermont , and um , you have these claws on your feet , crampons and zaxxas , and climbing up ice walls and stuff , and then we would rappel down and when I would rappel down I would recite shakespeare , because I could , because you could , right and everybody called me extra layer , baby you know I like , always like to be .
Speaker 1It was helped you stay in the moment .
Speaker 2Maybe you know yeah , no , I mean , what was very interesting about that whole thing was there was an Irish cat who was about to get thrown out of the army and somehow they threw him into this class and he was a real dick and he was trying to pick on me . He was trying to be mean to me . The problem was I was good at a lot of stuff . It's kind of hard to pick on somebody that's good at stuff yeah , right well actually I'm better at that than you .
Speaker 2Actually , you can say what you want , like you're just you're being like you sound like a that's how you know he's a dick too .
Speaker 1You sound like a child bully . Yeah , you don't have anything .
Speaker 2No , I , I would just cut him . I'll just cut him back down . I don't . I'm not , nobody's gonna give me any shit . Yeah , I grew up tough . I grew up in hard circumstances right , you have .
Speaker 1You learn how to .
Speaker 2You learn how to kind of what , what to juke , you know yeah so so , and I used to use my mouth to get me out of everything . So you think you're gonna pin me down with your mouth , right ? But anyway , uh , and it was so great to bring poetry out to everywhere that I've been like , when I go to Burns sometimes I'll just gift poetry . And you think that's silly , right ?
Speaker 2Hold on when , in disgrace with fortune in men's eyes , I all alone beweep my outcast state and trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries and look upon myself and curse my fate , wishing me light to one more rich in hope , featured like this man , with friends possessed , desiring this man's art and that man's scope , with what I most enjoy , contented least yet in these thoughts , myself almost despising , happily , I think , on thee . And then my state , like to the lark arising from heaven's earth , sings hymns at heaven's gate For thy sweet love remembered , such wealth brings that , then I scorn to change my state with kings . That's a Shakespeare song I like to , sometimes I'll . There's a lot of different ones , I don't know why that one came up . If it's for a girl , I'll do something very romantic If it's in a moment where we're in repast and we're in nature .
Speaker 1I know some several that fit that scene perfectly from a variety of poets communicated , you know , through through shakespeare , and , and , and , even at such a time period that you , you know , imagine is so different than than right now . Why does it feel like that stuff , you know , was either written for , for timelessness ? Um yeah , how ? How do you think that ?
Speaker 2it's just . It's just the uh , this is the mental jewelry bit too right . The reason that I was always in love with Shakespeare as soon as I figured out how to read it , is that it's the most dense , clear way to say so many things in the most offhanded way . It's so difficult to say a thing that you like . Poetry , they say , descriptive writing , is to say exactly what you mean in the clearest way possible . In poetry , it's just the opposite . Right , but it's just the opposite . Right , but it's not true . If you think about this , right ? I would outbrief Candle Life is but a walking shadow , a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more . It's a tale told by an idiot , full of sound and fury , signifying nothing . Like it's he . He dashes away the meaning of life . So , but how ?
Speaker 1do you think he was able to to gather like these experiences that ?
Speaker 2he was a genius . He was a . He was a . He was a . Um he could take on a persona . He would just take on a persona and think in that persona . It goes line by line . If you read Shakespeare , it's like different voices . It's all these different voices .
Speaker 1Yeah , you can tell it's coming from different places , different people .
Speaker 2Yeah , different , and it just runs in a row .
Speaker 1Man , let me ask you this um , you know , if you could , I'd like for you to give me a little bit more information on like four flights up itself . Um , and where did like the inspiration itself , you know , you know , come from , to be able to create that community , you know , and and allow people to build their inner want for music .
Speaker 2Wow , good question .
Speaker 1Um cause . You represent a community .
Speaker 2To me you really do like whether , no matter how much time is in between , that doesn't when we start the new jam at the new space pretty soon it's going to be weekly again . Yeah , it's .
Speaker 1I guarantee that do you want to shout any info about it right now ?
Speaker 2yeah , no , well , it's probably going to the jam chat on Four Flights . Four Flights Up is a group on Facebook .
Speaker 1Will you spell it out Number four , number four .
Speaker 2O-U-R Flights Up . Four Flights Up , and there's a Four Flights family which is a page . Four Flights Up as a group . The group is where it's at . Okay , there group , the group is where it's at okay , um , there's , you know , under 2 000 members , uh , but they're all local , baltimore , a lot it's just tons and tons and tons of musicians in that group . G baltimore cats and uh and we have a little jam chats , that that music , information , things that are going on comes out .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , but aside from , I mean , um , really , uh , we're going to be trading paint with Matt for Rhythm Royale . We'll be publishing and shouting out and commenting on all of Rhythm Royale .
Speaker 1Tell me a little bit about the meta painting that you've been talking about , the one that's coming up tomorrow .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , yeah .
Searching for Creative Inspiration and Connections
Speaker 2I will tell you how I thought about Four Flights . Very briefly is to say I was trying . I'll tell you how I thought about four flights very briefly is to say , I'll tell you about that too , but for four flights I had this I was trying to find a jam . I was trying to find the jam he's looking for a jam .
Speaker 1Where's the jam ? And he can't . It's not even dude jam , I couldn't find it . It's not even the couch .
Speaker 2It's not in the Look hold on Dude Jam . I couldn't find it . So then I saw Is that there ? Then I saw Field of Dreams .
Speaker 1Oh , no , no I didn't .
Speaker 2That's a lie .
Speaker 1No .
Speaker 2It's a lie . No , no . Then I put , I swear to you , I put this will of want out in the world . I actually threw three open mic jams at a place that I was staying in , cewebo , for a little while . Oh , there you go . I tried to pick that up , it's called the Carrot House . It had a long steady history .
Speaker 2Right , got a few things going , but I just didn't know at the time , I didn't know enough people , but they all helped me . Later on We'll get to that , Okay , then I just was willing for it , looking for it , and then I have a friend who's a producer , rodney Daniel , a great producer . Shout out to Rodney and he in the house . Morpheus Studios is in the basement .
Speaker 1Oh nice .
Speaker 2And also Lord Baltimore recording and Morpheus Studios in the basement .
Speaker 1Okay .
Speaker 2And so they produce so much hip hop there and a lot of great stuff .
Speaker 2I mean , a lot of great bands have gone through and just recorded in that room . Okay , history , history for sure . And the house , the Hooper House , is a four-story mansion that was built by James Hooper , who was a sale guy , and my apartment happened . No , no , so the guy who was running the music studio . He had a beautiful wife and they were having a baby . And you can't have a baby when you live on the top of a commercial building with lead paint in it .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , it's time to go out the house , right ? Yeah , you need to . So he needed to rent out that apartment , but it had to be somebody special , because the whole building is a commercial building and that's the only apartment in there , so he could make enough money to support it . Gotcha , so enter me . And he said , hey , I got your guy and I came up and I talked to David and he seemed . And then , dude , when I went there , upstairs was a widow's .
Speaker 1Did you have a plan for something like this ahead of time ?
Speaker 2Yeah , I was just I was willing . I said I was willing it into the world . Okay , I was living with my girlfriend at the time , which I don't recommend .
Speaker 1And she's a lovely . I love it .
Speaker 2Shout out to Tina I still love you he loves you .
Speaker 1You're great . Shout out to Tina I still love you , he loves you .
Speaker 2I truly do . I'm never going to not love Tina .
Speaker 1That's fair .
Speaker 2Never will not . So I love Tina , but I realize I need to be more rambunctious . We were together for a long time after I moved out of the house .
Speaker 2She's a great woman . So I go there and I check out the place and it's cool . And then I say , well , what's that ? And there's a ladder and it goes up and there's a widow's walk on the top of the house and there's this dome inside the room and you can see this little glass you could see up and I go up in there and he has like paint cans and like , oh , he's using it like an attic . Oh goodness , you've been there . Yeah , it was like in . He was like he was like a stick stuff up their attic oh jesus , no , that , see that no dude you don't
Speaker 2so that's disrespectful . That was disrespectful because you saw , yeah , to the spot , to the spot . So then . So then it took about six , eight months for me living there , having a living room , putting a little few of my musical things , had a friend come over play some music . It was like this is a great spot , yeah , right . And then I had a little studio and I'm like , how does this ? And then I met Tristan downstairs at the studio and rodney was coming up , uh , a couple other friends , uh , and there was a little bit of momentum , momentum , tom came over like I , I would have a little thing .
Speaker 2You can see the very early uh . Uh , it wasn't wasn't quite four flights up yet . Okay , um , I , I had to go I did this two or three or something .
Speaker 1It was well time .
Speaker 2Well , I hadn't named it , I hadn't realized , because I had people . You know , what got it named Was people complained they had to bring an amp Right up the . You cannot say that I didn't know . It was four flights up . Uh-huh To me ever . Yeah , no , it's not possible .
Speaker 1Right , you got to be like listen , you know what's going on as soon as you walk in that door . You know that first floor door you know you're going to be .
Speaker 2whatever you're carrying , don't be crying .
Speaker 1Honest and upfront . Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 2I wanted to just put that out there . I like it , so I actually . It was quite an interesting thing . I went to do a painting a 10 foot by 2 foot long painting , three different panels . It says Resolution Revolution . We did it at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and some protests at the Philadelphia City Hall , oh , wow . So we were on Young Turks and a couple newscasters and stuff . So , yeah , I was just doing my big collaborative art , painting stuff in the middle of this place , and when the 16th election was done and Bernie Sanders got mugged in the night and robbed of delegates and the wind came out of me , my desire to be active in the American political system just was over , yeah , and so I said but the thing to do is to act locally .
Fostering Creativity Through the Canvas
Speaker 2Do something that you know you can leave a footprint , you know you can improve it . Right , I would run for office if I gave a shit I can't do that you can do anything you want .
Speaker 2I mean I used to think I had too many hinky things in my past . There's absolutely no way with the people that have been . Anyway , I could do it if I wanted to .
Speaker 1Put it on the back burner .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , no but more I wanted to . It was local office . That's the thing . Be on the thing that is making something . Think globally , act locally .
Speaker 1You could be able to see it , you know .
Speaker 2I thought , if there are enough musicians coming through here , that not only I could find a band , but the other musicians could find each other . Because , I couldn't find the place where other musicians found each other . Where is the place where musicians find each other ? They find each other at clubs when they're playing . They find each other when they're camping out , special at camp out festivals , right ?
Speaker 1So musicians get to know each other .
Speaker 2They're on the same line when you come to Rhythm Royale when you watch a Rhythm Royale broadcast , you're going to see a host of great Baltimore musicians , everybody from Tom Brady to I mean John Brady , rather , to like just I can't even start listing people from every band .
Speaker 1Yeah , you know , because there's so many , there's so many .
Speaker 2I feel , the mist so many , and what's great , too , is that it is a great blend of the people who are part of my community , a lot of the Four Flights Up people who are dedicated of my community , a lot of the four flights up people who were dedicated cyclic jammers and cats that hadn't actually come through my place because they were playing clubs all the time and doing the thing already right um , and so that's what's on , who's on the stage , and , and so it does really showcase a lot of the growth and expansion of baltimore music as time's gone by .
Speaker 1Um , dude , it's a jazzy thing , honestly it's . It's , it's everyone by Dude . It's a jazzy thing , honestly , it's everyone . And sometimes even if it's like something that you're not like a thousand percent , you know you don't call yourself like a master in like a particular instrument . You don't need to be , you know that's the fun part .
Speaker 1Maybe it's you know you kind of feeling out a situation of like if you want to be in a band or not . You know , maybe this will help you kind of figure it out . You know , um , it's cool to be able to like think about the different possibilities . You know that we can , all you know , be in , and I think it comes to like respecting perspectives and you know , like thinking about , you know , each different view from you know a particular um advantage point . You know , uh , it really makes you think and appreciate your own for sure , you know . So I appreciate you kind of breaking down that . Uh , you know that . Uh , the fourth lights's up . But then tell me a little bit about the meta painting .
Speaker 2All right , so one of the things You've got to stop on . Yeah , so when I went to my first festival , you know who got me to that festival .
Speaker 1God , michael Morstein . Oh yo Shout out , michael Morstein , oh yo shout out . Michael Morstein .
Speaker 2Actually just did an interview with him Frania yes , dude , michael Morstein shout out to that motherfucker dude , that's awesome , that's the first festival I went to that was I went to the woods without army gear and at that festival I invented metapainting wow there was a , tell me , there was a painting leaning against the chair .
Speaker 2when I came in in the front where there was a chair and it said paint me on it right . And I got there early . You know sunset on Fridays I can't get my stuff all camped up and then you can't ignore beauty , danger or food . I'm not beautiful or dangerous , so I brought food .
Speaker 1I beg to differ . You're beautifully dangerous .
Speaker 2And so , after it was up 11 o'clock or so , I brought out breakfast for about 20 and had people help me prepare it so we could all eat together . There you go , because that's how you do that right and um , and I , I brought this board out specifically so I could use my cot as a table , um , but then I , I , I had this , I had this thought . I was like , well , maybe , that painting that's up front , how did you know it was so dissatisfying . Remember , I was a military guy , right , how do you know where you paint ? Why wouldn't everybody just paint on everyone else ? Why can't we have just little spots where everybody can paint their own painting ? Yeah , for sure . So I made literally a grid of squares .
Speaker 1It's like a group . It's a group . Yeah , I made a grid of squares .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's a group . Yeah , I made a grid of squares . Yeah , like a quilt almost , and to this day , every meta painting I ever make has one square on it . Find the square .
Speaker 1Oh , there you go Easter egg baby .
Speaker 2I have an Easter egg in every one . Nice , find the square , find the square . So then I paint one , and I get somebody else to paint one and I scrabble paint from people and I'm being even social just that way . Yeah , I put a light on it and I get six people , then eight people , then 10 people , and it got filled up over the weekend , oh really , and I got to meet so many interesting people Like that was my bridge to get to meet new people at this festival ? I didn't know anybody .
Speaker 1Let me uh , I was just at autumn revival this past weekend and , um , let me tell you they really did it upright and , uh , super appreciative to have those cats , you know just uh , making moves in particular ways you know , um , but there were a few artists that were doing that , that had like a painting going throughout the whole weekend , and you know there were opportunities for everyone and anyone to just come up , you know , paint a little , you know a little slither of it and then , uh , you know , move on to the next and I thought that was pretty cool you know .
Speaker 2So it was . It was that interesting . It was directed image , so you kind of would do a part of the image as it was happening .
Speaker 1It wasn't though .
Speaker 1That's a piece that you're missing , or that's the piece that I think would be cool to be there . If , like there , you do have a little bit of a guide , I guess you could say like already you know , and it's kind of like a paint by you know numbers , almost it makes it a little bit easier for the person . It it warms them up and opens them up a little bit to the , to the painting itself . Because I feel like , if you're not that you know , if you don't consider yourself a creative person , creating something out of just a blank canvas is intimidating for a lot of people , I think .
Speaker 2I like the way you're saying this . Yeah , I keep going .
Speaker 1But if you put some lines and add some borders and give them a little bit of a nudge , I think , and give them some paint , and give them some paint and give them the light and a little chair and give them some direction , and sometimes hand them paint and give him the light and a little chair and give him some direction , and sometimes I hand him water and smoke a doobie with him .
Speaker 2Like you're going to get some deluxe ass treatment at my station . Yes , dude , anyway . So I love that . Yeah , no , I love how you say it and see it , because it is true that restriction breeds creativity Restriction . It's very interesting it seems Creativity man .
Speaker 1I remember hearing about that recently .
Speaker 2Maybe constraint is slightly better , right .
Speaker 1Constraint breeds creativity . Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 2Like there's certain things .
Speaker 1I read that in like a Rick Rubin book recently that highlighted that and that said that you know , if something is kind of in a particular , although it's not the majority , there's only like a special percentage .
Speaker 2Yeah , I'm sorry , I keep knocking this mic all around .
Speaker 1you're okay , there's a , there's a particular percentage , I think a small percentage of people that will then think outside of the box but I think you know the , the , the , the lower percentage will be be okay with the , the parameters they have . You know .
Speaker 2Right , it's box edging , box thinking or being comfortable . Yeah . Or being comfortable in an uncomfortable situation , yeah , Like when they give us that song title , whenever they said Grubhub messed up your order and you're angry about it and it's a , a pop song yay let's do it . I had to be now creative , be in the crazy right now . So there's no sort of like and I think , talking about .
Speaker 1It too is important too . That's why we do it .
Speaker 2I guarantee that's why we do it . That's why we do it , though . I guarantee that's why you do it . Yeah , because what a thrill it is for you to come up here and be fronting a band on on point like that yeah , yeah , right , right , so gift , so create so creativity is sometimes the constraints , the the song .
Speaker 2This reason I'm saying this yeah , it's because the song frame , just like in my meta paintings , when I make some I make , some of the shapes are proscriptive , like I'll have a shape that's in two . What does that mean ? That means that it's a very specific thing . In other words , if I cut out the silhouette of a violin , it's very notably a violin and that's your shape . So you're doing a violin because that's your shape . So you're doing a violin Because that's all the paint spot you've got to paint Gotcha , and in fact it's almost like you blew it if you don't base coat or make sure that you do your frame of the violin . So when I pull the tape off from around that violin that violin's going to disappear .
Speaker 2Oh , cool , gotcha Because there's nothing there , but it's just a piece of wood . Yeah , gotcha , because there's nothing there , but it's just a piece of wood . Yeah , gotcha , except I do a painting on YouTube . But anyway , that's why it's called a metapainting , because first they make a painting and then everybody paints on my painting .
Speaker 1Okay , I see what you're saying .
Speaker 2A painting in a painting is a metapainting and that's why I named it that way . Okay , so you actually your painting is the thing that is the foundation , is the painting , and then everybody paints in it .
Speaker 1I love that man . That's awesome .
Speaker 2They get disappeared . I take a picture of them and then they get disappeared .
Speaker 1They turn into something totally different . Yeah , they evolve , they evolve .
Speaker 2They evolve by sequential relationships . Ooh , they just grow . It's like they grow feet and just kind of . And then I know somebody comes up to me and I say , ah it , it is an effectively a uh net that I can drag through a crowd , a burn artscape , uh , even just on the street in fells point . I've done it in a lot of different places inside a club and wave um . You could drag the painting through the crowd .
Speaker 1You know like you need to have some sort of document . That would be cool to see it . I personally want to see the transition . It's an extra layer .
Speaker 2Yeah , no , it's a great thing . I think it deserves to be seen , right ? Yeah , I agree with you Because it is such a . It's like one person , it's captivating . It's live painting , wherever you are right . Sometimes it's two or three . I had one painting where I made it really long and four people at once could paint it , and this thing , it's beautiful .
Speaker 1Oh , at one time .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's beautiful , right , and the reason that it's beautiful is because people have their little spot , so they're not messing on every other place and do you tell them you point to it ?
Speaker 1you say , hey , here's a spot here . No , no .
Speaker 2I say what number ? There's all little numbers on
Artistic Process, Inspiration, and Collaboration
Speaker 2it . It's all what I do is I make a painting and then I cover it with plastic and then I bisect it into shapes that are roughly the size of your hand and then that's going to break up the palette into some things . But okay , if I make it into , if I cut the outside board into the space of a shape of a spaceship and I paint a spaceship , right , what I'm going to do is I'm going to apply on that masking layer , I'm going to outline the space invader . I'm going to outline a spaceship with a little beam coming out of it . Okay , I'm going to make certain aspects of it be very , very space-related . Gotcha , right . And then there's all the intervening space and there's all the after those get done , because those always go first .
Speaker 1And how do you design the ? Are these all like hand-drawn designs ?
Speaker 2It's a mix It'll go from I take a draft of whiskey and make all the lines at once . That was one of my first , like the fourth one . Okay To projecting Flight of the Bumblebee onto the board .
Speaker 2Oh that's cool and tracing it out with my hand . Okay , to taking a light box and taking the image that I want , printing it out at the scale that I want and putting it over . Now this new vinyl-backed plastic cover . I used to use this crazy space tape that could attract cat fur from the sun . It was like , oh my god . But now you evolve , you always find new ways to do the things right , and so now I can go back through that and really control shapes . I also love to use French curves now , so I have little different things that I'll use as tools , because I'm not an artist . Remember , I told you I started at 47 . I think I said that we went over this , right , but I am an artist . I truly am For sure . But I am an artist . I truly am For sure Because they developed a way to express the things that layers like ogres are made .
Speaker 1Oh sure you weren't supposed to tell them .
Speaker 2That's what I mean , and so one of the things I do in my work , which you can find Meta Painting on Instagram and Facebook . It's really easy . There you go , um , and I have a meta paintingnet . I own it , but I haven't put the site up yet , but I have . I have my whole portfolio got shot like two weeks ago , so I realized it was like it's like 35 , almost 40 paintings , so so those are all going to be up there , um , and man let me tell you something , as you were saying that the process of like the flight of the bumblebees and like different ways to create lines in art .
Speaker 1It made me think I , you know , I have a when , there's times when I'm a little bit stuck in the songwriting phase , I will take a track and I will , like , you know , I'll take the speaker and I'll like face it down , you know , and like where it's kind of really muffled .
Speaker 2Hear it differently . Yeah , perspective . You are a perspective , dude , I'm telling you , man .
Speaker 1And then there will be times where I'll like take the whole track itself and , like you know , I'll get the track outs and I'll have all the instruments and everything like that , and then just take out a few instruments and it'll just be like you know , two or three layers , and , man , that will help me think of something totally different , that that wasn't in the beginning , that , like then , like once everything's there , you're like how in the heck did , did that , did that sound ? Come up and and and when it does , it's a beautiful thing . And I just recently did it with , with , with with one or two tracks that , um , you know there's a , you know that's . That's a gem for , for for songwriters out there . You know , right , you know , in like different , uh , with different like circumstances . You know , with in like different , uh , with different like circumstances . You know , maybe like play it like in the car , but like sit in the back seat instead you know and yeah , and listen to it .
Speaker 1Do you think differently ? You know the coolest thing , like when we were just at like the , the festival . You know when you're like 300 feet from where the main stage is . You know , you just hear the , you just hear the yeah , you know you just got . And you know you just got . And , man , that's when I do my best . Songwriting is when I just have like that , I just got that thing in the background and then I can like shine like a mofo right , right out front .
Speaker 2Yeah , that sounds great , because it sounds to me like like you're , you're , you're . There's enough of the human musical vibration , which we're electric beings you know , and we feel each other . We're like little radars , you know , we project out from our eyes a little bit .
Speaker 1Yeah , for sure .
Speaker 2I am a very extremely science-based guy , but I also believe in the electromorpho space , if you follow Michael Levin's work .
Speaker 1And there's a lot of interesting things .
Speaker 2There's also fascinating work that's going on on the natural consciousness , particularly put together by Roger Penrose and some anesthesiologists and great experimentalists in India . I'm not going to drop so many scientist names because I just absolutely love this crazy stuff . All the time we were just talking about songwriting man being under the gun , like we were preparing , uh , we were opening for asa , uh at uh , um , at uh , eight by ten , uh-huh . So we were practicing songs at my house because I made a couple bands that went just like one time to 8x10 .
Speaker 1That's a venue that's in Baltimore City , down in the city , so we would always have at least two or three bands .
Speaker 2We would present as four flights , but then we would have two bands within it , two to five bands .
Speaker 1A transformer of bands .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's a transformer of bands . We are , the four flights up can go somewhere , and it's like a transformer of bands . We turn and we could turn into one big band at the end . I mean seriously , no , dude , I mean that's mind-blowing .
Speaker 1You were talking about like four an hour . You got an hour and then you got four band meetings .
Speaker 2Plus we had the head five . We had a transformer dude there you go .
Speaker 1That's so mind-blowing . Thank you for making me believe that that we did it painting like we did .
Speaker 2That , dude , I'm telling you yeah , I will , I will , and it's going to be all the bands . Well , I'll do another . Tell you what we'll do .
Speaker 1I'll make a promise to the community right now oh shoot , okay , we're gonna get your pens down and and we're gonna get this we're gonna get a community jam set up , like we did in old school .
Speaker 2There's going to be a place to sign up to be kind of randomized or somewhat put together in a band . I think for this one I would like people that mostly aren't in bands or are in bands that are out playing infrequently Okay , because the whole point is to get more exposure . I would love to see that template of dudes , maybe a guy that's in a really good band . You can have a ringer in there , you can throw yourself a ringer .
Speaker 1That's going to be the inspiration Cats are going to be like oh , there's For our closeout band at Woodland .
Speaker 2We had Groovy stacked in there because he's such a killer drummer I knew he tore it all up . It was nice to have . We knew that they were solid in the pocket .
Speaker 1They had a couple of great songs .
Speaker 2Dude it was so much fun .
Speaker 1That was good . That was so much fun . I'm going to bring that back . Yes , please do dude . Okay , hey , you put it out there Now you got to manifest it .
Speaker 2Yes , please do dude . Okay , hey , you put it out there , you mad at now . You're gonna get all we gotta get . Is we gotta get a festival to say we're gonna give you an hour and a half , dude , we should call it manifestival . Ah , you give me an hour and a half and I'll give you music . Musicians . Yeah , you know what ? Let's make a manifestival , all right , but I'm gonna take a note . Somebody write that down somebody manifestible , that that's a great name , but it can't be all men Anyway , because the girls make the world go round .
Speaker 2I .
Speaker 1I have to tell you that I .
Speaker 2I love every single woman on the world . It is all of them . My daughter taught me to be the best she .
Speaker 1She so transformed me and then my son , fatherhood and my son transformed me again .
Speaker 2And then my son yeah , tell me about fatherhood a little bit and my son transformed me again Like it was this and it was kind of out of sync . I think the most important thing that fatherhood , that parenthood , teaches you is utter . It's almost like when you trip balls , like trip balls and you know you're part of shout out to faraji balls out , balls and you realize you're one with the universe , right , but but when ?
Speaker 2but when you have a child , their vibration , their pattern is , is a function of your pattern , and so so they they they get a pattern the first , the most , the most beautiful moment of my life was the moment that I , that I held my daughter's little curvy pinky hand right featuresatures that you didn't even know existed .
Speaker 2And then my son got off a plane and met him at the airport . These kids , they changed my life , they made me a better man and they continue to , they continue to . My boy is called Swordboy on Twitch shout out to sword boy on twitch . Give him a follow and a like you can get .
Spontaneous Jazz Recording Experience
Speaker 2I've been , I've been going .
Speaker 1I've been going to go to the thing .
Speaker 2It's so great , that's awesome it's so great , but I mean , but you know I'm gonna , I'm gonna hold it onto a thread and I'm going to tell you a story about writing a song .
Speaker 1Yeah , please do , because we were going to talk about that . Yeah , man , songwriting has been a very pivotal thing in my life recently and has helped me shape all the things that are happening around me .
Speaker 2Luckily , you know what ? Digging in , you go in and in you get better at everything .
Speaker 1It's not on and on , don't go on and on , ever go in and in . You get better at everything .
Speaker 2it's not on and on , don't go on and on .
Speaker 1Ever go in and in in and in , in and in .
Speaker 2I like that so we're about done with the band practice at my place . Sarah Hughes had come by to blow a few times at my place . Okay , four Flights was really hopping , this was before popping off . It was popping off . And she said , hey , four Flights was really hopping , this was before any of the Popping off . It was popping off . And she said , hey , I know these cats over at Lake 27th . I don't know , I didn't know . I can't remember where the exact . I know where the studio is , I can't remember the address . She said can you come by and do a little spoken word ? We're going to do a track and I'd like you to know a bunch of different things I could do spoken word . So I just finished singing all these songs for my band , so I decided to go over to this thing and walk in the room . All right , no , earlier that day she sends me on my phone .
Speaker 1Okay , wait , cue the low jazz music All right , I'm going to do this , all right .
Speaker 2So , sarah Hughes , you know there's these conversations in the back .
Speaker 1But what is sarah ?
Speaker 2sarah hughes is a conservatory trained jazz cat . Okay she's , she's a badass , she's a badass musician and she's not intimidating at all , oh my god . But so she's palling around hanging doing stuff before flights and she asked me to come over and do this Earlier in the afternoon . She sends me this thing on the phone . It goes , ha ha ha right .
Speaker 2And I'm like listening to this , I'm like , did you have an instrument on your hand ? No , no , that was just the . So there's these horns in the background . And I'm like . So I listened , it was like three notes . She gave me four notes .
Speaker 2I look at the relationship between the notes I figure out what key the thing is going to be got to . So I figure out what was it can mode or whatever . Um , I can't fucking remember . You can listen to the song , okay ? Um , we'll link in the description or something . I don't know how you do that . Yeah , I'll definitely link it . So I walk into the room . It's 1937 .
Speaker 1Oh shoot .
Speaker 2There's three people in a horn section in a room . There's a drummer in the room behind a glass wall , there's a guy with an upright bass standing there Right and there's a microphone . There's an old boxy , cool microphone hanging in the room and open and that's where I'm supposed to go .
Speaker 1Oh , dude , so there's no vocal booth .
Speaker 2There's no nothing .
Speaker 1There's no retakes . This is straight up you ever watch Frank Sinatra .
Speaker 2Do that in the 1930s .
Speaker 1You ever watch Frankie ?
Speaker 2just walk up 1930s , and you see how much of a boss he is . He just goes in there and he's dulcimer tones and dude like breath work .
Speaker 1What was breath work ?
Speaker 2Dude , he would just make it look easy . Incredible . I've watched those things . Did you hop ?
Speaker 1up and grab the mic . Did you get smooth jazz ? No , so here's what happened . 've watched those things . Did you hop up and grab the mic ? Did you get smooth jazz ? No , so here's what happened . Here's what happened .
Speaker 2And there's a guy in the recording booth right , so Mike cools on the drums , everybody's there . There's a horn section , not just Sarah Hughes , but also , like a couple other people , another cat I recognize , but it was like jazz cats . So I'm like , wow , it's like a serious room full of jazz cats . And then , of course , what does she do ? She says , oh , we're just finishing up this other thing , and then she hands me a piece of sheet music . Because that's what jazz cats ?
Speaker 1do . Oh dude , just here's some music jazz , cat Right and you better be able to read this Now .
Speaker 2Good thing I had done my thing already In the afternoon , because I used my ear To figure out what key it was in my keyboard I used my ear and my keyboard at my house To figure out what key it was . So I knew and I could . I could hear the note , because I know I have one note . I have relative pitch . Good musicians are good at making stuff up too .
Speaker 1You know , like on the fly .
Speaker 2So I had five minutes to write the song in the hallway and what it said on the top of the page three words . Everything else was notes , so I'm not really reading too well . I can kind of see how it moves and there's a lot of notes .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's all the direction .
Speaker 2These are like chords , like it doesn't look like . You know if it goes . Mary had a little lamb , you can kind of follow that but if it's like record here and then wow it can get confusing .
Speaker 1It looks like a whole different language . It's not a language , because it totally is .
Speaker 2I mean I can kind of do it , but it's just like .
Speaker 1But isn't it cool when like you don't understand it , but then , like the song plays and you understand the song and that kind of like lines up yeah , yeah , and then you see it .
Speaker 2Yeah , then you can .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's great when you're watching on YouTube and the note flashes or it kind of like it gives you when you're trying to learn how to play a song on the piano or something and you're using YouTube , it kind of follows along .
Speaker 2You can definitely learn to read that way .
Speaker 1I think eventually , oh for sure , you know For sure , but then you'd have to have you want to have a teacher , though , like if you want to learn an instrument , I think the personally , I think the best way is to to find a teacher , a personal , a person who teaches it , um , but I also do feel like , if you don't have the resources or the money , you know to be able to do that , yet you know you can go on youtube and and you can , you know you can learn I built my trailer .
Speaker 2I built a 6x12 trailer in in 11 weeks , uh from a white box to uh . Six air conditioners , solar panels , sink everything a bed weeks . In 11 weeks I did day and night . I worked every day and I worked six hours a night , like every night .
Speaker 1Man alessandro will testify freemindlabscom dude , you probably you went gangster on him , dude we tried so hard , we worked so hard together what a great man . Does the thing still exist , is it still ? Yeah , oh it's just my . That's my dope trailer it's right , that's right , I'm going to bring it to the burn next week .
Speaker 2That's why I'm bringing my paintings around and you can't dude .
Speaker 1Yes , come on , come on , all shoot . Let me finish this story , because we're trailing off .
Speaker 2So I'm in the hallway and the only three words that are on the page it says at a loss . At a loss At a loss . Now . The recording is going to be linked . I'm not going to sing it for you right now . I could sing it , of course , but I'm not going to sing it for you right now . But I'm going to spit you the lyrics now . This is where lyrics and poetry come together .
Speaker 1I didn't have time to revise it .
Speaker 2I didn't have time to update it . I had to write it in the hallway , give it to him . Give it to him from the heart . These were the words , because this is what's recorded and it was a one-take recording that is on the recording .
Speaker 1Sorry , one more time At a loss , at a loss , at a loss with the three words that were on the page .
Speaker 2Okay , the standard lines . They fail me . The breeze you blow unveils me . How can I regard myself ? Your treasure all around me , envelop , surround me until I feel absurd . Treasure all around me , envelop , surround me Until I feel absurd , at a loss for words . The clear blue sky inside you leaks through your eyes , the clouds that never find you , the sun inside you , sun inside you rise . And the song inside I heard At a loss for words . Hold on Now , he has a coda I hold , the faintest , glimmering , ah , the picture of you shimmering light . The dream inside me simmering , simmering , to be with you tonight , to be with you . And how can I regard myself ? Your beauty all around , envelop , surround me until I feel absurd , at a loss , at a loss for words .
Speaker 1Mmm man , take that in . You know what that reminds me . I'm going to open up to a page here and just do a reading from a book called the Voice of Knowledge by Don Miguel Ruiz . Have you ever heard of the Four Agreements .
Speaker 2Yes , I have .
Speaker 1So this is the gentleman who wrote that book and I've been able to kind of just open to any page these days .
Speaker 2Find something cool . Yeah , that's good , find something cool . I love this . You could probably sing lyric from that page . Well , let's do it .
Discovering Inner Truth and Personal Growth
Speaker 1Don't believe yourself , but learn to listen , because sometimes the voice of knowledge can have a brilliant idea and if you agree with the idea , then take it . It could be a moment of inspiration that leads to a great opportunity in life . Respect your story and learn to really listen . When you listen to your story , the communication with yourself will improve 100% . Listen to your story the communication with yourself will improve 100% . You will see your story with clarity and if you don't like the story , you can change it .
Speaker 2That's right . You can reinvent it . That's beautiful . That's beautiful . It was perfectly timed .
Speaker 1Isn't it ?
Speaker 2You can reinvent yourself anytime , anytime , anytime , anytime you don't get to . I haven't been a famous actor yet not yet not yet . But what's stopping me ? Just me trying it .
Speaker 1You know I could not be it , but I could also try yeah , open up to a page and read oh , let's try it , let's .
Speaker 2I really do have to put my old man glasses on now .
Speaker 1Oh , sorry , because I'm over 40 . Young whippersnapper , make sure you're speaking into the mic , really .
Speaker 2Okay , I'm sorry I got to put the .
Speaker 2Hold on , okay . One of the biggest assumptions we make is that the lies we believe in are the truth . For example , we believe that we know what we are . When we get angry , we say , oh , that's the way I am . When we get jealous , oh , that's the way I am . When we hate , oh that's the way I am . But is it true ? I'm not sure about that .
Speaker 2I used to make the assumption that I was the one who was talking , that I was the one who said all those things that I didn't want to say . It was a big surprise when I discovered that it was not me . It was a way I learned to be , and I practiced and practiced , and practiced until I mastered that performance . The voice says that's the way I am , it's the voice of knowledge , it's the voice of the liar living in the tree of knowledge in your head . That's really interesting . The whole text . Consider it a mental disease that is highly contagious because it's transmitted from human to human through knowledge . The symptoms of the disease are fear , anger , hatred , sadness , jealousy , conflict and separation between humans . Again , these lies are controlling the dream of our life . I think this is obvious .
Speaker 1Man , dude , there's a whole slew of different books from the Toltec wisdom and it's very simple stuff , that man . It really helps me understand and navigate life and it just helps me stay grounded when I know that someone else has been through you know a trial or a tribulation , you know that we can share . Been through you know a trial or a tribulation , you know that we can share that . Uh , you know that struggle itself . Um , yeah , but , dude , I have , I have something here . I have a wait , a second cue , the phone sound . Cue , the phone sound . Yeah , who was this ? Oh , this is the young , the younger , scott freus . Oh shit , uh-huh . Oh , you know what you , dude , you called at a perfect time . Um , I'm actually with your older self , yes , yes , your older self , this kid . Yeah , dude , and I want you to , uh , I want , want you to just listen to what he has to say . I promise it's worth it , and you do end up a pretty cool cat , just so you know . But , yeah , take this in , dude , somebody wants to .
Speaker 2You know I don't want to tell you anything besides Bitcoin , bitcoin . But I don't want to tell you anything besides that . All the pain from all these women dude , a lot of it's your own fault , and the reason it's your own fault is because you have to , not ? It's not their responsibility to turn themselves into something . I mean it's their responsibility to turn themselves into something . It's your responsibility to turn yourself into something . I mean it's their responsibility to turn themselves into something . It's your responsibility to turn yourself into something .
Speaker 2So don't try to make anybody else something . Just be your most beautiful self right away . Do your authentic , genuine self right away . The people that will come to you and be in your life will be . It will change the whole pattern of your life .
Speaker 2But I don't want you to change the pattern of your life , because how did I end up to be this badass dude that I am right now ? So , like , don't fuck up , that's all . Just let me say this there's a one time when you like , get really close . Yeah , there's a couple times when you almost die . But well , I'm not going to tell you about those either , because you had enough Spider-Man reflexes to get out of the way in time . It was pretty good . It was pretty good stuff . So man , just remember that all the women that you love , you will always love , because you can't destroy it . It only changes to a different form . That doesn't mean you long for them . That means you can respect them in a way that you can respect no one else . That's what I got for you , kid . You got anything for me ? Yeah , you're gonna go bald , you're gonna go fucking so bald .
Speaker 2yeah , alright , I'm gonna hand you back . You're going to go bald . You're going to go fucking so bald ? Yeah , all right , I'm going to hand you back , yo , he burns .
Speaker 1You know he loves you , though he does , he really does . He said it and I hope he shows it . Too funny , you are too funny .
Speaker 2I was a little mean to him . I was a little mean to him .
Speaker 1You know what Sometimes that tough love really gets to you , that's how it goes , dude , I got one more segment and then we'll talk final thoughts here . I like to kind of spring this one up .
Speaker 2On people that was funny , you bastard .
Speaker 1I didn't realize you was going to call .
Speaker 2I've been sending messages back to my . I get messages from my younger self and I sent messages to my older self when I was younger , so I think that that changed . I do believe in a quasi-linear time . In other words , there are aspects of universal time that maybe aspects of our experience can access .
Speaker 2So , there's certain things I believe about time that are a little weird . I'm the single thread , as we are all right , this presence and knowing , but we're an amalgam of cells . With this huge , I started a band with myself called God of Cells .
Speaker 1And it was God of Cells .
Speaker 2I love that God of Cells and it was a circle , with half of the top of it is a brain and the other half is all organelles in a cell . Organelles in a cell Organelles in a cell and it says God of cells . It looks really cool . It's all that is inside the word when I wrote it . Oh , cool , right , and the point was is that we are the god of ourselves ? If you think about ourselves and all the trillions of bacteria and billions of cells you have , you are just the billions of connections in your , in your mind .
Speaker 2I mean , you're the , you're the orchestrator and in fact they're all having their own little independent experience , right , but they're seeding , they're like , well , man , he's gonna take care of his , bro you know , like the poor lung cells , oh my poor lung cells , groobies , poor mouth cells at sometimes at night , like he's , just like , ah , he's wearing him , he's wearing him off you know , you got to be careful all the time , yeah , all the time that you're beating on your little body .
Speaker 2You know your little body knows , little body knows and sometimes , like your stomach , can actually say hey , hey , hey , buddy , hey , buddy , buddy listen you need . I got a couple controls that you don't have . Yeah , I'm what , what , what , oh your stomach's your second brain yeah , it's gonna tell you like you better calm down right now . I think think I'm going to stop .
Speaker 1Okay , wait , so I have a cool thing here , you ready . Well , it's funny In the past podcast that we did with Michael Morstein , we were talking about that , the human experience and like all the billions of people that are on the earth and like you know , all having a different story you know , and then each of those billion people like have a whole universe on them , you know , and then that's that many stories you know .
Rapid Fire Questionnaire Fun
Speaker 1So it's crazy , isn't it ?
Speaker 2so here we go . I have a memory that you , it's like , it's , it's like a , uh , a gorgeous train , like a gorgeous train , like like the bride of all brides , you know , and it floats , no , and it floats little balls , and it just is this endless train of experience that you sort of keep going through . It's like a river that comes off of you . It's a hover train .
Speaker 1Okay , you ready . So here's something called rapid fire , okay , and I'm just going to ask you quick little questions , like one of them will be Short answers yeah , short answers . We want to try and go through a bunch here okay so all right , you ready .
Speaker 2Are you ready ?
Speaker 1Put the time on the board .
Speaker 2No , there's no time , but we can have fun If we had a virtual clock .
Speaker 1Okay , virtual clock on All right you ready . If you could choose where to be born and live your whole life there , where would it be ? Just one spot , One spot .
Speaker 2I'm trapped there . Yep , wow , that's so hard , rapid fire , all Wow , that's so hard , rapid fire , all right . I would have to say , put Me in Italy , Italy , there we go .
Speaker 1Mountains or the beach Beach , there you go . Coffee or tea , coffee , star Wars or Star Trek Bastards Pass , okay , pass Favorite .
Speaker 2OutKast member . Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , okay , okay , there . Favorite OutKast member . Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , okay , yeah , yeah , yeah , okay , there you go .
Speaker 1Least favorite food .
Speaker 2Cilantro .
Speaker 1Ooh , throw it out . All right , here we go . Scariest villain . Oh shit , clowns are so fucking scary . Oh yeah , dude , go with that .
Speaker 2No , no , but I'm going to yeah , Go with that . No , no , but I'm going to yeah , Go with that dude .
Speaker 1Yeah , let's just go with clowns , any , every clown , dude , doritos or Pringles , pringles , mmm . Worst pizza topping .
Speaker 2Oh God .
Speaker 1Oh God , I don't like hamburger on it . Yeah , nothing's going on on , take , take the hamburger , hamburger off .
Speaker 2I'm gonna throw the patty , I know I'm not gonna get upset about the pineapple I know right , I'm cool with pineapple .
Speaker 1Everybody else is oh , it's a muck about pineapple . All right , you ready ? If you could spend 24 hours with any musician , who would it be alive or dead ? Oh my god , oh my right yeah , that's an impossible question ? No , it's not , come on , it's possible right now . Make , make it possible , come on Rapid fire .
Speaker 2Harry .
Speaker 1Nilsson . Oh , there you go , harry Nilsson , nice Okay . What's one thing you've always wanted to do , but haven't yet Jump out of a plane . Oh , dude , let's do it . I want to do it again . If you could pick any season all year round , what would it be ? Summer , winter , spring or fall ?
Speaker 2spring oh april is the cruelest month breeding lilacs from the dead earth there you go , mr poet himself east coast or west coast ? See new york . Come on , yeah , come on . I'm from Massachusetts , all right , you ready . Favorite subject in school ? Wow , like early school . Oh , dude , I'm so conflicted because I loved English , but I was always really great at it , right ?
Speaker 1Or what , but I love physics . Oh , physics , dan , but I'm terrible at math . Dude , go with the physics because you're defying it , dude .
Speaker 2I love it .
Speaker 1All right , you ready Name your favorite Pokemon ?
Speaker 2I don't know any Pokemon .
Speaker 1Dude , you know one .
Speaker 2Charamon or something .
Speaker 1Charamon , there we go . Best one ever , all right , best duo . Best duo it could be anything . You know music , oh God . History it could be anything . You know music . Oh god , there's so many historians .
Speaker 2There's so many great duos two people that completed each other yeah , who could or it could ?
Speaker 1be , like a couple , like it could be like a goal , couple goals I'm like I'm going with , like I'm not gonna go .
Speaker 2I I'd love me some watson and crick , right , oh , but , but . But I don't think those cats were as cool as all that um , but because but I love , I love , love , deep effort and scientific discovery so much .
Speaker 1Okay , so who ? Who you got then ?
Speaker 2All right , all right , so the best duo of all time .
Speaker 1Yeah , come on . Who gave us that science that we needed ?
Speaker 2No , no , I'm going to have to say that the best duo of all time is Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias .
Speaker 1Julio iglesias oh , there you go drop it . You know what ? You know what I was , dude that's a good one dude where you came from with that , you know , I was thinking left field , dude , left field , I was thinking tommy lee , dude that is a duo for the ages I just I shit on that question , I'm sorry no , no , it's okay , it's okay , my my mind ran , as yours was as well so funny . All right , you ready . You walk into the casino right now . What's the first thing you're playing ?
Speaker 2I'm gonna play um , uh blackjack , blackjack , dang , nice .
Speaker 1Okay , what's my spirit ?
Speaker 2animal is a um puma puma .
Speaker 1I love that dude , that is awesome . Shout out to my pumas baby , oh my puma's out there , puma cam . We're on the puma cam yo , puma cam throw them peas up . Baby , oh yeah , puma can , okay , you ready . Favorite member of the beatles um john lennon oh , john lennon . Okay , what's one thing you can't live without . One thing can't live without . Can't live without . Come on right now , today . What couldn't you ?
Speaker 2I . I mean if I ever lose my voice , if I ever lose my hearing . Oh , that's I . I loved it . Singing is the most joyous single act that I do I mean sex is better than singing oh , just barely on them real quick .
Speaker 1Okay , you ready . What's one thing you can't love without um honesty ? Oh , there you go , all right , favorite curse word . That's not really a curse word oh , that's good yeah , what do you got on that um dag nabbit , what do you got ?
Speaker 2shazbot shazbot rock the shazbot . No , I have pamela , I have one , two things I'm gonna add something on . You know how you have you know how you have one , two things .
Speaker 1I'm going to add something on . Add it . You know how you have , you know how you have it's rapid .
Speaker 2You know how you have a thing where you say oh man , boom he nailed it , oh he crushed it , Boom it crashed , or whatever . Booyah , they had the booyah , Booyah .
Speaker 1I made Pammo and it . I think it's just the way you said it . It's just terrible , no matter . No , there's no fixing that . Yeah , you know , you're right .
Speaker 2All right .
Speaker 1Favorite color Green , green . There you go , okay , planes , trains or automobiles , my friend , oh , automobiles . If you had to listen to one song for the rest of your life , what would it be .
Speaker 2It certainly wouldn't be Indigata Divita because it's really long , but let me see .
Speaker 1What would it be ? Oh my God , what's that ? One song that just won't get old , that doesn't get old , you know , no matter what . I would say Rachmaninoff's Prelude and c-sharp minor there you go , man , my man with the uh , yeah , with the deepness . Okay , you ready . Last movie you cried to fucking all of them .
Speaker 2Transformers movie yes , keep it at that , keep it Come on .
Speaker 1Transformers movie . Yes , keep it at that . Keep it at that , all right , you ready . Favorite kind of flower .
Speaker 2The night-blooming cirrus , the queen of the night . I had one bloom last week . I just had this plant for a year . My mom took six years to grow them . They're unbelievable . The smell is intoxicating .
Speaker 1I smell it right now . The smell is intoxicating .
Speaker 2I smell it right now it's in my nostrils it only opens for one night .
Speaker 1Nuh-uh A year .
Speaker 2That's it .
Speaker 1What .
Speaker 2I had two of them open at the same time on one night , that's it , dude , that's God talking .
Speaker 1All right , daytime or nighttime .
Speaker 2Nighttime is a right time .
Speaker 1All right , any superpower , what would it be ?
Speaker 2Change any superpower . What would it be Change ? Manipulate time ? No one can touch me , then Okay , here's the last one .
Speaker 1Coconut , or pineapple Coconut , oh .
Speaker 2I have to , because coconut oil is good for you , right ?
Speaker 1Okay , man , let me tell you , dude , you have been a pleasure having here , and let's see here . Tell you , dude , you have been a pleasure having here and , uh , let's see here . Is there anything that you would like to kind of close out on ? You know , with the the respecting perspectives crew , you know listening and yeah and uh , what would you like to uh for ? For forbid , for what ?
Speaker 2farewell the the people with you , like you , you did such a great job of . First of all , I want to thank you for having me on too . You did such a great job of invoking uh genuine responses for me and and uh , great thoughts and questions and stuff , so I thank you for giving me a lot of freedom to go through through stuff as well . So it's a mad , mad respect to you . Thanks , um . The thing I said about um limiting beliefs is is really what you need to to remember ? Um , and that possibility isn't discovered by thinking about things . Do stuff , get up , try it . I'm tired , it's raining . No , doesn't matter . Like david goggins , like , even though he's insane he's also brilliant in this one way .
Speaker 2He just does not know how to give up . His give up is broken , and that is the greatest skill yeah persistence , the four flights up . We had 250 events . It was every sunday , sometimes twice a week . When I start this next thing , it's going to be consistent matt's having this thing every month once a month for now , when you when you know what I know about a metronome ?
Speaker 1I'm not a thing to it . Oh , there you go so if you be consistent .
Speaker 2Be consistent Don't mug yourself .
Speaker 1Right , don't stop your own metronome , keep it going and in fact maybe turn it up a notch . You know , give it a little push Right Every now and then . You got to kind of give yourself a little bit of a push , you know , and gain momentum somehow .
Speaker 2Yeah , and go in and in , not on and on , go in and in , not on and on .
Speaker 1Take that in for sure , man . Dude , I really appreciate you for being here , and I know the people who are watching are appreciative of the conversations that we're able to have . Yeah , the people who are watching are appreciative of the conversations that we're able to have and , man , I look forward to seeing you at some of the events that are coming
Navigating Online Presence and Self-Motivation
Speaker 1up . Is there any ? Maybe like information , like Instagram ? Yeah , you can find me at Metapainting on Instagram M-E-T-A-a-i-n-t-i-n g yeah , cool .
Speaker 2Yeah , facebook didn't like fight me or take me down or anything when they claimed the name meta because I had been using it before they were using it . That's interesting . So that's I kind of was . I kind of was good on that , slept under the rug , I slipped under the rug . Yeah , they did buy metapaintingcom , though facebook bought it .
Speaker 1Um but I I got the net well , I got the net .
Speaker 2They just didn't want me to have a commercial site or something . It seemed like it was just an organization , I don't know . Lawyers bought it , so metapaintingnet . But it's not up yet . So it's not going to be up until probably Halloween , but it'll be glorious when it is if you need some help , let's see here .
Speaker 1I had one or two of the guys who Halloween It'll be glorious when it is If you need some help and some . I had one or two of the guys who helped me with my website on the show . If you need some help , connect us . Maybe we'll talk to somebody . That sounds good .
Speaker 2I know a few wizards . What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to publish the entire site from my GitHub and do the entire thing myself .
Speaker 1Okay .
Speaker 2I'm a little bit of a like . I'm a guy who built the trailer from nothing , yeah Right , so like , and this is this is what I'm going to leave you with right , leave him with that jam .
Speaker 1This is what I'm going to leave you with .
Speaker 2And I'm going to look right in your eyes and I'm gonna tell you this the one who stops you every time is you , the one who can save you and move you to any height that you want to . It's also you if you feel like I'm disorganized , I'm adhd , I get drifted and lost off in a thing , but if I put something in my world , in my space , that reminds me to do these important things , and I get them done , and then they slowly and steadily turn into gold , turn into gold .
Speaker 1That's what I get Into gold baby . Hey , thank y'all for joining us and we will see you on the flip side of respecting perspectives , the podcast baby .