Playing from the Heart: Robby Schenck’s Musical Journey

In this episode of Hometown Jax, host Aaron Bacus welcomes Jacksonville's beloved musician Robby Schenck for an inspiring conversation about his journey in music and his deep roots in the local community. From his humble beginnings learning guitar from his dad to becoming a full-time performer, Robby shares how he turned his passion into a thriving career. Hear stories about his time playing at iconic local spots like Palm Valley Outdoors and Harps, the supportive community that shaped him, and the unique moments that make his performances unforgettable.

Whether you’re a fan of live music, a Jacksonville local, or just love hearing stories about chasing dreams and connecting with people, this episode is for you. Robby’s dedication to his craft and the connections he builds with his audiences will leave you inspired. Tune in to discover how one man’s love for music has become a soundtrack to Jacksonville’s culture and spirit!

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;14;29
Unknown
Where are your hosts, Aaron Backus and Jason Kindler? We like to sit down with our guests to hear their journey, their challenges, and how they impact the local community. So grab a seat. Tune in and let's get inspired by Jacksonville's everyday workforce. Welcome to Hometown Jacks.

00;00;14;29 - 00;00;41;00
Unknown
All right. I'm excited to have Ravi Shankar with us today. Ravi is a local musician, in the Jacksonville area that plays all around. And I've actually known him for a long time, but we'll get into that. On how we met. I like to go right into the meat of it right off the bat. Robbie, I want to know what is the most requested cover song asked by people whenever you're up there asking for requests, I got to know that right off the bat.

00;00;41;00 - 00;00;56;28
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. And you did send me a I asked for it for a brief look at the question before I saw that on there, and I really had to think about it because there, there are a lot of them that are, asked for and Brown Eyed Girl was more as one. I was singing Brown Eyed Girl.

00;00;57;01 - 00;01;16;13
Unknown
Also Don't Stop Believin by Journey. Don't stop. And that's a surprising one. I know, and it's kind of a makeout song. Yeah, I think that's like a bar song, but, but it overwhelmingly there's one, and it's happy birthday. Oh, well, hey, don't spoil my. I got a question on that, so we'll get to that. But that's great journey.

00;01;16;13 - 00;01;34;13
Unknown
I never would have guessed Brown I girl I can definitely understand. And that is also my mom's favorite, song. So, at least that makes you feel good. Yeah. You're saying that right off the bat, and, I'm very confident when people ask for it, because I've played it for her so many times, you know? So it's it's just one that I played over a thousand.

00;01;34;13 - 00;01;53;08
Unknown
Does your mom come to many shows? So yes. Yes she does. She's she's, my biggest supporter. And, she does travel. She's retired now for about three years, and she bought an RV, and, so she travels a lot more. So, where it used to be, you know, 2 to 3 shows a week, every week, year round.

00;01;53;08 - 00;02;11;01
Unknown
Yeah. Now it's just spurts. Okay? Okay. And which is great. She's having a great time traveling, and that's awesome. Yeah. It's always good to have the parents I know. My my my business partners. Mom is one of the only people that they comment on every one of my post on social media. So it makes me feel good.

00;02;11;07 - 00;02;15;14
Unknown
At least I have one, like, every time. So let's take it back to when.

00;02;15;14 - 00;02;30;26
Unknown
When do you remember where you started loving music? Like when? When did that light bulb come on? It it came on, I think in the sixth grade. So, 13. Is that what you are in sixth grade? You really remember it that vividly?

00;02;30;26 - 00;02;53;09
Unknown
I remember picking up the guitar and, seeing my dad. My dad's a retired Presbyterian minister, and, didn't know that. So there was always a, And he, he, with the youth group was always involved musically. And so there was always a guitar around in our house. And, and I remember seeing him playing every Rose Has Its Thorn by Poison and the youth ministers playing poison.

00;02;53;16 - 00;03;05;05
Unknown
Oh my God. Yeah. And but it's, it's, it's two chords that are very similar. And you just move two fingers. And I remember thinking, man, I can do that. Yeah. You know, and and it started from there.

00;03;05;05 - 00;03;13;20
Unknown
But up until then, I love music, but I never had any interest in playing it. I was all about sports and baseball.

00;03;13;20 - 00;03;33;11
Unknown
Yeah. And, for whatever reason, it just clicked around age 12 or 13 and, and. Yeah. What did that look like? Did you like a, I'm done with baseball. I'm going all in. Did you get lessons? No, no, I still, I kept playing baseball, and I still love baseball. Yesterday, my favorite sport. And I love sports to this day.

00;03;33;11 - 00;03;56;02
Unknown
And, but, it did take over more of my interest, and going into my high school years and, and, I forgot the second part of your question. No. Like, did you take lessons? Oh, did self taught or, my dad taught me chords. Okay. And, from there, I just, no, no lessons.

00;03;56;02 - 00;04;20;19
Unknown
Just played with friends and just slowly kind of, I think my given ability kind of took over and, helped me just kind of, mature as a musician, learning from this guy who I played with and this other guy who I played with. And then I joined the choir where I met you and your brother in high school, and, was then surrounded by musicians all the time and learning from this one in that one.

00;04;20;19 - 00;04;38;13
Unknown
And, so, yeah, I guess in a way, we all took lessons from each other, you know, and, so really, you could say you're pretty much self-taught. Yeah. That's so funny. You brought up the choir. I, I want to explain to all our listeners, you know, it doesn't really instill a lot of excitement when you say choir.

00;04;38;14 - 00;04;55;04
Unknown
Right? But this choir was different. It was kind of a rock and roll Christian choir. The church we went to was fantastic. Yeah. Is that that's where you and Brian met Brian? To my brother. So, yeah. You started playing with him? Yeah. And I never would. I would have met him because you guys went to a rival high school.

00;04;55;05 - 00;05;13;00
Unknown
That's right. Beholds and I went to Gainesville High School, but, no, I and actually started a band with your brother Brian, swamp water taffy and, and so. Yeah, those were those were fun days. Just all of us learning, you know, and, well, disciplining. I'm here, and Brian doesn't play much drums. Well, I know you got it.

00;05;13;00 - 00;05;37;12
Unknown
You got to rally him. It's never too late. Well, that's really interesting. Like, so essentially self-taught. One would say you probably had a gift for that right off the bat, I think so, yeah. Because there's some stuff that just kind of comes to me that I. I gave lessons for a while, and it was a little frustrating for me because I didn't know how to convey what what is is kind of natural to me.

00;05;37;15 - 00;05;55;21
Unknown
And, that's when I, you know, started kind of appreciating, you know, whatever gift that I. Yeah, you know, so, so yeah. And but that's not to say there hadn't been a ton of hard work. Well, yeah, of course, of course. I mean, self-taught doesn't mean you automatically pick up the guitar and know exactly what to do.

00;05;55;21 - 00;06;18;24
Unknown
Did the singing come along with it right out of the band? No. In fact, when when I was, I guess, my first or second grade, when my dad was at the First Presbyterian Church and Ferndale and Beach, I was, given the third verse and we three kings in a, Christmas show at the church, and, I remember just being so nervous and my voice was like, shaking, I guess.

00;06;18;26 - 00;06;38;25
Unknown
Probably sounded like good vibrato, I don't know, but I, I was so, so nervous and I did not want to sing ever again after that. And and going through high school, I was always in bands and I was not the singer, I was just the the guitar player. And, and then at about 12th grade, I got encouragement, to, to start singing.

00;06;38;27 - 00;06;56;02
Unknown
And now people think of me more as a singer than a guitar player. Well, it's, it's funny how that that happens when you were nervous on that first time you were singing, probably everybody in the crowd thought it was amazing. Yeah. I'm like, I never want to do it. But I still vividly remember singing it.

00;06;56;08 - 00;07;18;04
Unknown
The nervousness looking out, you know, at the crowd and and being so young. It's crazy that I remember that clearly, but. Well, yeah, I mean, you remember exactly kind of when you started thinking about loving music and then you're it's obviously very distinct memories and your brain about stuff in and in that in first or second grade. That wasn't me wanting to go sing.

00;07;18;04 - 00;07;36;24
Unknown
I think that was my dad being like, hey, you need to do this, you know? And, it feels like a lot of musicians come from, ministers, you know, things that are associated with religious music. It seems like that happens a lot. Well, the church is a great place to to kind of foster, and nobody's going to throw tomatoes at you, right like that.

00;07;36;24 - 00;07;59;03
Unknown
No. Yeah. And it's a safe place to, Yeah. Right. You know, to be around other musicians and and and just learn. Yeah. What are, some of the early musical influences? I mean, you talked about what you could physically touch the choir, the church. Like, was there some big name artists, things like that, people you really liked?

00;07;59;05 - 00;08;20;22
Unknown
Well, my first big influence was James Taylor. I remember, I love the fingerpicking. I've always been, more drawn to the acoustic guitar and the electric. I own both, I play both, but, I would consider myself more of an acoustic guitar. Fan, if you will. Is acoustic considered more of the pure side of it, more of the technician kind of thing?

00;08;20;25 - 00;08;41;18
Unknown
Well, I don't I it's, it's, it's a little more difficult to play an acoustic guitar. But the great technicians of the guitar, you know, you can be, you can play a lot faster and a lot more, I guess detailed or you a lot of the guys who are just drop your jaw. Technicians. Yeah.

00;08;41;20 - 00;09;02;24
Unknown
Our electric players and, but they're guys like Tommy Emmanuel who's just a master acoustic player and, you know, so I think there's, there's pros and cons for both. Obviously, we know James Taylor, Tommy Emmanuel, is he part of a group I know? No, he, he's a, an older gentleman from Australia who, is just, legend in the business.

00;09;02;24 - 00;09;22;21
Unknown
Right, guys? And. Yeah. Okay. And, just a master guitar player. Yeah, like Chet Atkins or. Yeah. You know, those kind of guys, Eric Clapton and something like that. Yeah. Well, you talked, I was gonna ask as far as James Taylor goes, my first, when I started playing out, as a solo musician, I got started as a James Taylor cover act.

00;09;22;25 - 00;09;45;00
Unknown
Okay? I only went out as mudslides. Lamb was was my stage name because his. Where did you come up with his second or third album is called Mudslides Slim in the Blue Horizon. Okay. And so, so yeah, I think this was 11th grade, 12th grade. I started going out and playing solo gigs in Gainesville. What were some of the places you played in Gainesville?

00;09;45;00 - 00;10;05;13
Unknown
The Shamrock was the one. That's right. On University. The, Hard Back Cafe, which is now something else, is right next to the Hippodrome in downtown Gainesville. Yeah. And, there was a place over in the Thornburg area, and I forget the name of it built off or something like, was in there the whole place or Millhouse was here in Jackson.

00;10;05;14 - 00;10;28;01
Unknown
Okay. That's where I got started here in Jacksonville. But, but, yeah, just, in Gainesville, it was just kind of smaller bars, and I don't even think they they paid me, you know, I think I was just going out playing and, and probably got some tips, but, but yeah. So I would just go out and play, set, 12 or 15 James Taylor songs and then, and that's how I got started playing solo.

00;10;28;07 - 00;10;31;29
Unknown
Oh, wow. Man. That's interesting. That's interesting. What? We

00;10;31;29 - 00;10;48;10
Unknown
I was going to ask you, like, what was your family history? Obviously, you told us your dad is your was your dad pretty much the only one in your family musically inclined, or did you have relatives? Siblings, that sort of thing? Yeah. My, I do have siblings, but neither one of them are musically inclined.

00;10;48;16 - 00;11;10;08
Unknown
Two sisters and, and I love them. I have a great relationship with them. And, and they support me in my music. Like, just like my mom. Yes, amazingly. And, but bless their hearts, they have. No. Yeah. Going to ask them out to stay. They'll be the first person to tell you that, although my sister Shelly does strum the guitar and, still does.

00;11;10;08 - 00;11;33;23
Unknown
You know, a lot of people, they'll pick it up and play it for a little bit. Yeah. And then, in a couple of years later, I'll be like, hey, you still playing the guitar? And, you know, it's just been so busy. Yeah, yeah. And, to her credit, she's she still picks it up and plays it, you know, and, and so, yeah, I admire her for that because I don't know that if I didn't have the natural talent that I have, if I would be so persistent, you know.

00;11;33;23 - 00;11;57;09
Unknown
Right. So, so, yeah, it was just my dad and, and then his, his uncle, my cousin or my, his, his dad's cousin is great guitar player. Okay. And so that's dad's side of the family has music. Yeah. Coming down through it, you know, which isn't. Which isn't normal. I mean, you know, a lot of people don't have anybody musically inclined in their family.

00;11;57;09 - 00;12;00;23
Unknown
So, yeah, it makes sense that you would have some sort of,

00;12;00;23 - 00;12;18;12
Unknown
push from somebody at least. Yeah. You know. Yeah. It's still just does amaze me how it just clicked, you know, at that point. And I went from just being focused on sports and girls to music and girls. Yeah. I was gonna say the music in girls Goes On.

00;12;18;12 - 00;12;36;24
Unknown
Don't be modest, okay? We understand that one of my best friends in high school can play the guitar and man, it was just. You could not compete. You could not compete when he started playing the guitar. That's really interesting. So we talked about a little bit about the instruments you play. So is it just guitar? What what other are you playing?

00;12;36;24 - 00;12;58;24
Unknown
Anything else professionally? I play, while I'm at work, I play the guitar and I play the harmonica. Harmonica. Self-taught too. Wow. Yeah. Harmonica is a lot of people don't know. Come in. Keys. So if we're playing Wagon Wheel in the keg, if you pick up a harmonica and blow through it, it's gonna sound great. You know, it's all the notes you need in the keg.

00;12;58;25 - 00;13;21;17
Unknown
So harmonica is not super hard to play. Okay, the hardest thing is just knowing that you have the right harmonica for the key of the song. You're playing. So, So yes, it was. You made that mistake. Yeah. Yes. Well, my buddy Jack Stripling, I remember back at the harp, back in 10th grade, we were playing and we were playing, song we wrote called Enigma, and it was in the key of E, and he goes, guys, I got a harmonica.

00;13;21;17 - 00;13;40;29
Unknown
And we didn't know that harmonica came in keys back then, and I don't think any. But when you say it, come in keys like there's different harmonicas for different notes, different physical if you're playing. Yeah, there's 12 I get there 12 notes. And and they're like, you'll see John Popper from Blues Traveler who has this vest and they're all stuck in there.

00;13;40;29 - 00;14;00;25
Unknown
And, that's funny too. So yeah, but Jack had the wrong key. And, for our song, because I remember he just started blowing into the mic and I, I was playing guitar, and I looked out and I saw some people go like that, and. And that's the last thing you want to see, like the first gig. But, you know that that was a learning moment for me, you know, so that's funny.

00;14;00;25 - 00;14;22;28
Unknown
So. Yeah. Funny. So, yeah, while I'm playing my gigs, it's it's guitar and harmonica, but I have a home studio, and then I play a little piano. I play some drums. I played sax in middle school, so I play a lot of instruments, but. So the music inclination transfers to different instruments. Yeah. Yeah.

00;14;23;00 - 00;14;43;11
Unknown
That's interesting. That's interesting. Well let's move on to college. Tell us about that college experience. So left Gainesville still playing. Went to Tallahassee. Tell me a little bit about that. Well I did go to Tallahassee only to play some gigs. I didn't go too far to, Berklee College of Music and oh, I went to Berklee. Wow.

00;14;43;13 - 00;15;01;29
Unknown
I but, I when I went to Tallahassee, I put in that core. I'm putting that correlation together with my brothers. Yeah, yeah. Played at the Sally House. That's right. Okay. And tally. But, but yeah, I went to, to I went to Berkeley. I didn't realize I needed a salute, you know. No, it's not like Berkeley and California.

00;15;02;01 - 00;15;22;15
Unknown
But it is. It's a it's a really, really good music school. And, going back to the self-taught thing, I went in over my head because I didn't know any music theory. You know, that's all this stuff you learn when you're, taking lessons or. And so I had to cram a lot of music theory in that first summer before I went to Boston.

00;15;22;15 - 00;15;45;02
Unknown
And, got there and and just found I found myself, overwhelmed, you know, and, also, it was a it was a long way for me as an 18 year old who is very attached to my family and, and, and, so we stayed there one semester. Yeah. And then came back home to game. That's probably a misconception, though.

00;15;45;02 - 00;16;06;14
Unknown
Like going to a music school. You think you're just playing music. In reality, you're doing a lot of studying of history and how you put it together and all that, and stuff that, that you, you know, people learn that take lessons. Yeah, that aren't just learning. You know, I tested very highly in ear training when I went into Berklee and I, I skipped a few classes.

00;16;06;15 - 00;16;25;06
Unknown
And when I went to my first class, they were using all this terminology that I had no idea with, you know, and I said, you know, I'm not sure. And they said, you know, and they said, oh, you need to you need to go back to ear training. Yeah. You're training. Okay. Okay, I didn't know. So, so yeah, but that was a great experience.

00;16;25;08 - 00;16;53;01
Unknown
Loved Boston. Yeah. Loved the weather changed. Yeah. There. And the cold going to. And we could walk to Fenway, you know, and, So. Yeah. And then I went on to Full Sail, in Orlando. Okay. And, is that a music school? Audio engineering. Okay. That's where I learned, how to run all the equipment in my home studio, you know, picture shows and all that stuff, and, recording and microphone things and, so I at that time, I thought I was going to be an engineer.

00;16;53;01 - 00;17;18;05
Unknown
I wanted to be an audio engineer. And, so, but that, as I said, is really giving me a lot of, just foundation for, for knowing how stuff technically works and how long were you there? That's a, 14 month program. Okay. So it's it's hands on as escalated. Yeah. So you go, like, eight hours a day and, 24 hour cycles.

00;17;18;05 - 00;17;37;18
Unknown
So your classes could be at 4 a.m.. Oh, interesting. Yeah. So, so it's like a it's like a cram. Yeah. Definitely interesting. Yeah. But it also gets you used to working on hours, as you would in the film industry because they have a film, department and audio engineering. And, so it gets you used to working weird.

00;17;37;24 - 00;18;03;02
Unknown
Yeah. Offbeat hours. Yeah. So after that, you come out thinking you're going to be an engineer. What happened next? Then moved to, moved back to Gainesville and, was just kind of trying to figure out what the next step was. Yeah. And, ended up moving to Jacksonville and, that's when I started playing music. And, my buddies said, I'm opening a restaurant on the north side of Jacksonville.

00;18;03;04 - 00;18;25;13
Unknown
And he had his mom and my mom, her best friend Ruth, and my mom, Debbie and I had known Ruth forever. And I knew of Gary. He was, he is a bit, you know, ten, 18 years older than me. So, yeah, we weren't quite in the same circles, but when I moved to Jacksonville, we would all go out and hang out, have dinner for the night, and come back and end up at somebody's house, and I'd be playing the guitar.

00;18;25;14 - 00;18;46;21
Unknown
Right. And so he knew that I played, and then I sang and he said, would you like to, play at my restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights where it opens up? And I said, man, all I have is a guitar. I don't have speakers and mics and all that stuff. And, and I was pretty broke. And, he said, listen, I'll buy all of the equipment for you and you just work it off.

00;18;46;22 - 00;19;13;27
Unknown
You know, after 8 to 10 gigs, it'll be paid off. It'll be yours. And and so, so I did that. I was also a server at the restaurant. Yeah. At the same time. Right. And from that point on, I just started getting more gigs and more gigs and, and, just took off to where I didn't really even expect it to go as far as, the, the income that I was earning and the opportunities that I was getting and just how people receive my music.

00;19;13;28 - 00;19;36;21
Unknown
Right. And, well, that's the first time you really consistently performed in front of people, right? Solo for sure. Yeah. And, you know, when I'm in the early 2000, I had a band, Punjab in, Gainesville, and we would play, you know, a couple shows a month regularly, but but at that, you're just like, having fun with your buddies, you know, you're making a job.

00;19;36;21 - 00;19;54;08
Unknown
Yeah. Right. Right. And you're splitting it up with Punjab. You're splitting the money up five ways. It was not a job, right? You know? And, So. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And and really, I remember when I, when he said, you know, we play 8 to 11 and I remember thinking, man, do I have three hours worth of songs.

00;19;54;08 - 00;20;21;02
Unknown
You know. Right, right. But, I did at the time and, I think it was pretty close to just three hours, you know, and the breaks. I know you're gonna ask me about that later, but the breaks were almost strategic back then. It's like, okay, I need to take a break now to eat up a little bit of this time, you know, but, well, it's funny you brought that up because there's something I wanted to talk about because I've seen you play many times and you're pretty, regimented in the good part of the word, like, you

00;20;21;02 - 00;20;24;27
Unknown
know, you start on time, you have your breaks, you end on time.

00;20;24;27 - 00;20;42;25
Unknown
Like, tell me why that is. Like, is it you found it over the years that the more regimented it. I mean, tell me why you do. Well, for me, I'm just very prompt in everything in my my life. So I think it, it's a, it's kind of just an effect of that. A, I hate being late for things.

00;20;42;25 - 00;20;59;16
Unknown
It makes me feel anxious. It makes me feel I don't like it. So usually I'm early. You should be here at three. I was here at 250, you know? And that's just. That's just how I am. And. And that's how I am with work. And, so, so, yeah, I always start on time. I'm always there, set up.

00;20;59;16 - 00;21;17;12
Unknown
I like to have about 15 minutes to, to change from roadie Robbie to, to musician Robbie, you know. And so one time setting up is can be I mean a half hour. Yeah. An hour. It is it, it is about 25 minutes. Unless it's a, it's a night where I'm playing with Felix, my buddy on violin.

00;21;17;12 - 00;21;20;25
Unknown
Who. Yeah. And then he'll have he'll be setting up a little bit of it.

00;21;20;25 - 00;21;36;15
Unknown
So, that might shave five minutes off. Yeah, but, but. Yeah. And then I've set up and taken down so many times over the years now that I can do it in my sleep. Yeah. But, but, yeah, I like to, like to have about 10 or 15 minutes after I'm done setting up and start right on time.

00;21;36;15 - 00;21;59;28
Unknown
And then most of my gigs are three hours, and I like to go an hour, and then I take about a 12 to 15 minute break. And that break is usually either me going to the bathroom. It's mostly me catching up with the regulars. Like I go, I'll see in the first hour who's there that I want to say hi to, and then I want to just make sure they know you know that they know that I know they're there.

00;21;59;28 - 00;22;24;09
Unknown
And, so that that's really interesting. You brought that up. You fit you've made that a point in your career to go out and reach out to the ocean, let them know. Yeah. Interesting. Not just let them know, but just say hi, you know, and say thanks for coming. You know, when you and Christy are there, you know, I try and come by, y'all are always at the bar area, and, and I stop by and say hi, and that's not because I feel like I need to.

00;22;24;09 - 00;22;54;11
Unknown
It's just because I want to, you know, and probably indirectly, the one of the reasons why your career has done so well for so long that that'd be awesome. But but yeah, no, I, I, I, I love that that, I have regulars and, they enjoy coming out and listening and, so. Yeah. And it it does sometimes I'll, I'll get home at night and I'll be like, man, I saw Erin and Christy here at the bar, and I, I saw them when I was playing, and then I got sidetracked with this one or that one.

00;22;54;11 - 00;23;12;04
Unknown
And I never said hi, you know, and sometimes I'll be a little hard on myself about not getting to so many people. So, right. So. Yeah. Right. Well, that's special because, you know, I mean, people like to go see people that they know. I mean that. Yes. One of the reasons why we started going and and you're pretty good, too.

00;23;12;05 - 00;23;34;23
Unknown
You sound, What, what are some of the places you play now? Like, where are your regular spots around Jacksonville? Like, where can people find you? Well, palm Valley outdoors. When you hear me say PVA or you say PVA, that's Palm Valley outdoors, and that's over off Roscoe, underneath the bridge that connects Nocatee, to Palm Valley or Ponte Vedra.

00;23;34;23 - 00;23;57;11
Unknown
That, that and it's a fantastic location. Right on the inner coast is the Sunset Room right behind us as we're playing, the owner, Paul Rowan there has just done an amazing job. They had a, tough period where some ownership issues were going on, and he has, really worked through that and just and just and we love it there.

00;23;57;13 - 00;24;13;22
Unknown
Again, I say we, Felix and I, we play there every Saturday, and I play there solo every Thursday. And, and it's just a beautiful setting, like you said right there on the water. And, and I've got and it one of the great things about it is it seats so many people. You've seen it and the bar area.

00;24;13;23 - 00;24;32;10
Unknown
Yes is just a small part. And then it probably seats another 200 people at tables out there. So you're looking at 250, 300 capacity that I'm playing for out there. And that's just awesome. You don't get that in a lot of the the venues that you can play. Lots of room. Family oriented. Yeah. Kids are running dogs.

00;24;32;15 - 00;24;54;29
Unknown
Yeah. Dom sister. Yeah. So yeah. And then there's harps which I have, that's my longest running gig. That's over in Avondale Riverside. Okay. Yeah. I started playing there in 2007. Oh my gosh. It was one of my first gigs after the mill House. Yeah. And, that's another very family oriented. It's right on fish. We are creek.

00;24;55;02 - 00;25;17;23
Unknown
Lots of locals. And Riverside is very artistic. It's artistic. And everybody's walking here to there. And, so lots of people that live in that area are regulars. And, and like I said, I've been there since I was seven. I, I remember playing for these girls, these twins, they wanted to hear, American Pie. You know that song back?

00;25;17;23 - 00;25;37;00
Unknown
This was back in 2008, and they were probably 7 or 8 years old. They just turned 21 oh my gosh, a couple weeks ago. And their grandmother asked me to play American Pie for him. And, they didn't ask for anything, and I thought they were going to be like, oh, gosh. Rolling their eyes. We I don't know, we used to like this song, but they started crying.

00;25;37;01 - 00;25;55;19
Unknown
Oh, my. And, so yeah, it's just great. It's pretty special. Yeah. You've been playing there that long? They've been coming to see you. That long? Yeah. And they turned 21 to have their first legal drink. Let's do an American pie. Yeah, I know it makes me feel old, but, Well, you also, I just appreciate it. And love all those harps.

00;25;55;19 - 00;26;11;21
Unknown
Regulars and, you know, it's a it's a it's a great place. And it's been good for me. Yeah. So. Yeah. Do you, do you do private events? Yeah, yeah, lots of private. I know we've been fortunate to have a couple of them, and there's going to be more to come. Tell me about those. Like, what are those look like generally?

00;26;11;21 - 00;26;35;02
Unknown
Well, they could be, corporate anything from a corporate event down to someone hires me to play in their living room. You know, I think that's happened before. Oh, gosh. Yeah, yeah, I just for a couple people, yeah. I mean, usually it's more than the smallest, probably 12 to 15. Okay. People. But, there have been some private, events that like parties where.

00;26;35;02 - 00;26;58;25
Unknown
Yeah, it's scheduled to go eight, midnight. And by 1130, most of the party is gone. We're down to just the homeowners, you know, and I am playing for just the people, but. And waiting for them to be like, you know. Yeah, they're not saying it. So I keep playing. Right, right. But, so, yeah, lots of different kinds of events, if they want music and, and they're willing to pay the price, you know?

00;26;58;25 - 00;27;20;22
Unknown
I'll do it. Yeah. No, you've been fantastic. I feel like it's been like, at least 3 or 4 events that we've had. And, your your music and your style. And I think we had Felix at one of them. We'll start talking about him, but it's just a great atmosphere type music. Thank you. But, do you prefer, do you prefer big crowd?

00;27;20;22 - 00;27;44;20
Unknown
Do you prefer a small crowd? Like, what's. That's the. What's the biggest crowd you think you've played for? Well, Gosh, let me think. I mean, probably back in those church days. Yeah. The church right at five, 600 people. Okay, okay. So, we were slated to play at the barbecue fest, and we were going to play Daily's Amphitheater.

00;27;44;23 - 00;28;01;02
Unknown
Oh, my gosh, couple of years ago. And then the barbecue fest canceled. Okay. So that would have been up there as far as I don't know. Yeah, I know we were pretty early on the day, like, maybe we were set to go on at one, so I don't know, it wouldn't have been full. Right. But you know, who knows.

00;28;01;04 - 00;28;21;18
Unknown
So right now maybe we go back to Trinity. And those were my biggest crowds. But that's true. Holme Valley outdoors and being 300, you know. Oh, yeah. When it's packed out. Yeah. It's probably the biggest, you know, on a regular basis. Do you prefer I packed, I prefer more people as opposed to playing like one on one.

00;28;21;18 - 00;28;41;22
Unknown
Right. Yeah. And I'll, we'll get nervous. That's the only time I get nervous. We still get nervous. When I used to do weddings, I stopped doing weddings a few years ago. Although I did one a couple weeks ago. I've never seen a friend. That's when I would get nervous is when I was playing, when the bride was coming down the aisle because, you know, she's going to remember that.

00;28;41;22 - 00;29;01;21
Unknown
Yeah, yeah, moment the rest of her life. Whereas when I'm playing out on a Friday night, it, you know, wherever. No one people's memories aren't good, right, right, right. So not to pick the wrong harmonica when the bride's going down. Right? Right. But that never went wrong. And that's not why I stopped doing weddings. They just, you know, became more work, and they were really worth it.

00;29;01;27 - 00;29;22;05
Unknown
We do so well on Saturdays and TVO that it's not really the extra money we'd be making it at a wedding isn't worth the the, the songs that I need to learn for the bride and the groom that I would never really rent. Right. And I don't want to spend time on it. Yeah. So yeah, when you made that jump, like when you I mean, it's funny, it seems like you kind of got pushed into it.

00;29;22;05 - 00;29;44;20
Unknown
You never look back. Like financially I think that's probably a little nerve wracking right from the beginning. Like I'm making my job. Yeah. Playing music. Well, one good thing is that I was. So, you know, I was pretty broke. I did, I was a server and I. Yeah, I was living a month to month and, And no, I could have never imagined that I could actually make a good, comfortable living.

00;29;44;20 - 00;30;02;19
Unknown
That's awesome. I mean, and and other people don't. My mom, we were just having lunch last week, and she said that people who live in her lake cress community were saying, how does he make a living doing that? Right? You know, and when are you going to grow up and get a river? Right. And I can see how people might they just don't they don't know.

00;30;02;19 - 00;30;22;09
Unknown
And but it's no different than any other trade, like a plumber or, a writer, you know, and, you know, I write invoices, I, chase money time from time to time, I, you know, it's just it's a business. And I have a service to offer people and, and so. Yeah, it's it's been great. I'm a homeowner.

00;30;22;09 - 00;30;41;26
Unknown
I, you know, I, I love that I don't have to travel. I know you're going to get to making it big, and, I have friends who are musicians who play with this country artists or and play drums for this one. And they're on the road traveling around. They're having a great time. Yeah. I like to be near my family.

00;30;41;26 - 00;30;58;11
Unknown
I like to have a dog. I like to have a house. Yeah. I like to sleep in my own bed. Yeah. And, so it's it's just a different kind of musician. Yeah, like a touring. I want to make it big musician. And then there's the musicians that are just working and, you know, carving out a life, you know.

00;30;58;12 - 00;31;16;20
Unknown
Well, but it's you've carved out the life. You want it. I mean, which is pretty cool. Yeah. I mean, not a lot of people can say that honestly, like I'm doing and what I want to do on my own schedule. Yeah. No, I, I, I pinch myself all the time. I mean, I mean, it's, it's it's amazing. And, I haven't had a real job and you know, most.

00;31;16;23 - 00;31;36;01
Unknown
Well, you have a real job really. I mean, a real job where you want, like when I get to go home kind of thing, you know, does, we talked a little bit about compensation with the majority of your compensation from a night come from the tips or from. No. Yeah. No, only about 20%, you know, and and it depends on the gig itself.

00;31;36;04 - 00;31;56;10
Unknown
You know, PTO, because it seats so many people naturally, the tips are going to be bigger there because you're supposed more people. Yeah. So from gig to gig, it's different. But I would say on average about 20% of my, you know, income from any particular gig is is tips. However, Friday nights on YouTube, which I know we'll get to later, those are 100% tips.

00;31;56;10 - 00;32;01;09
Unknown
You know so well. I mean, since you brought it up, I mean, I remember

00;32;01;09 - 00;32;17;24
Unknown
it obviously generated from Covid because you were telling us about it one night. I was like, wow, I didn't even think about this. So tell us about your YouTube channel and what you do, how it started, and obviously it's continuing on. Yeah. I started the YouTube channel back in, I want to say maybe 2010.

00;32;17;26 - 00;32;40;17
Unknown
And, I was just putting up videos of me and my original songs, you know, just just putting stuff up, you know, not really knowing, you know. And YouTube was pretty new again, first five years and, and then, you know, I gradually as my music, music grew, that I started posting more videos of me playing in this gig or that gig.

00;32;40;17 - 00;32;59;24
Unknown
But it wasn't until lockdown, March 2020 that, you know, and everybody was stuck at home. Yeah. And, I had just built my home studio. I had, kind of a bad break up, and I just wanted to, like, immerse myself in something. And so I said, I'm just going to take my one of my spare rooms and just turn it into a home studio.

00;32;59;24 - 00;33;00;09
Unknown
Yeah.

00;33;00;09 - 00;33;20;23
Unknown
Bought all equipment and, and, it worked out that a lot of that equipment also could be used to broadcast, on YouTube, for good quality, you know, interest streams. So, yeah, so that I started doing that and, you know, during lockdown, everybody was home. So I was getting like a thousand views forever.

00;33;20;23 - 00;33;40;15
Unknown
Every Friday night. When you say a thousand views, there was a thousand people watching you doing it live. Yeah, well, some of them came maybe the next morning. Because you can. What? You can pull them back up. But and I don't remember at the time it was around there. And they ended up going over thousand. Well now it's down to 100, 150.

00;33;40;15 - 00;34;13;18
Unknown
But yeah, everybody's back to normal life and has been for a while. But I still have this great core of, we call ourselves a Friday night fam, the, Friday night family that that are there chatting, always tipping, supporting. And then there are others that are I would say that core group is probably 40 strong. And then, but they're the bulk are other people that are watching that aren't chatting, maybe watching the next day because I run into them at I was doing a private gig near, around Halloween this year.

00;34;13;18 - 00;34;34;08
Unknown
Yeah. And this guy brought me a root beer, and I said, okay, how did you know? I like, you know, and, I said, did you did it that I asked for this, and, he said, no, I watch your Friday night shows. And so there and, and on those shows, I'm always drinking root beer. And so, so, yeah, I'm always kind of amazed at how exposed, more exposed I am than I think.

00;34;34;08 - 00;34;56;01
Unknown
I think it's just me and the. And I also when I'm playing and I'm reading the chat, on my phone, I have a rubber band around the part that says how many people are actually there watching because I don't want to be. Yeah, right. I don't I don't want to be enthused or not right or whatever. I'm right because early on I would do that and I'd see the number go down while it's playing a certain song.

00;34;56;01 - 00;35;16;19
Unknown
That's why they like, yeah, I didn't think about that. And, they don't like, so I just, I don't want to know. I end at the end, I see, you know, I just don't want to be bothered with that number while. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. And so for that reason, sometimes just taking it back like, oh, this guy was, was watching and I just never would have expected that.

00;35;16;19 - 00;35;37;16
Unknown
And, so yeah, that and that's been great. And I've, now four years later, I am still, I make I, I you never know what you're going to make on this Friday night. So they're all tips and, but I average about what I would make at a regular gig on a Friday night. Well, obviously, I would think you would, or else you'd probably be playing something on a Friday night, right?

00;35;37;17 - 00;36;07;22
Unknown
Right. But what a cool thing. Or how you, how a series of an event set that up because that if you hadn't started it before Covid, it probably wouldn't have really happened before covet. No, no. And I there's a, local musician, Taylor Roberts, awesome jazz guitarist. If you ever get a chance to see him, you should, he would go live on Instagram and, and, but pre-COVID and because I would get home from my gigs and I'd see it was live and I'd, I'd pull him up in my recliner, I'd be good to get to watch some, because I rarely get to see him because I'm.

00;36;07;22 - 00;36;21;29
Unknown
If I'm not. Yeah, I'm playing most nights and on the nights that I'm not playing, usually I'm not looking to go out to a bar, you know, and but there are nights, like, if I'm, if I want to go out on a nice day, he plays out of the Ritz at for and you know. Oh, yeah.

00;36;22;01 - 00;36;40;25
Unknown
Okay. If I want to. That's a date spot. Where are we have I'm going to take this Friday. Roxy Taylor and, so, so that that gave me a good opportunity to see him. And I always thought, man, I wonder if I should ever do something like this, but I always just put it out of the back of my head, cuz at the time, I also didn't have the studio, right.

00;36;40;25 - 00;36;59;09
Unknown
You know, all the the hardware and software to make it happen. And that all just kind of happened naturally before, right before lockdown. And, really worked out well and, and it's nice to work from home. I never thought as a musician I could work from home. Well, and it took it took some building out of the studio.

00;36;59;09 - 00;37;17;10
Unknown
Right. It's just not something you do right off the bat and make it sound right. And on top of that, like my earliest shows were lockdown. First of all, the studio started in one room in my house and is now in a bigger room. Right. So if you watch those early shows, I it's a whole different room.

00;37;17;12 - 00;37;45;15
Unknown
The set is, is just like two pictures and something. And now I've got lights and, you know, it's just evolved over the years and, and. Yeah, and, lots of stuff that, that has been, that I've accumulated from shows where whether I played here or there, they all go into the studio. So it's kind of, it's turned into kind of, you know, music room, memory, music room, as well as a studio and a TV set, you know?

00;37;45;15 - 00;38;17;21
Unknown
And so that's neat. Yeah. I haven't, are you playing your own stuff or are you playing cover? Like what? What's the mix? Is there a mix? It's just that it's a mix. And, I mostly play covers. Well, it depends on the gig. Friday nights on YouTube. I definitely mix in originals because, a lot of my Friday night people, like my originals and, but my shows, they at PVR, they're mostly all covers, unless people ask for them.

00;38;17;23 - 00;38;35;07
Unknown
Like the other night, Thursday night for Saturday night with Felix, we played one of my originals towards the end of the night. So I'll throw them in, but I usually wait for people to ask for him. I love my originals. They're, They're. I definitely have some popular ones, but they're not how I make my living.

00;38;35;07 - 00;38;52;29
Unknown
I understand that, you know, I'm I'm. I love them like they're my children myself. But I know where my bread is buttered, and I'm a performer before I'm a writer. Right? You know, have you have you ever done a record? You have? Yeah. I've got two albums out right now on all streaming platforms. What are the names of those?

00;38;53;01 - 00;39;13;19
Unknown
Amelia was the first one I got. And then, the second one was an EP, which is a shorter. It's five. Amelia was 20 tracks. The Aria EP is my dogs, and, the Aria EP is five tracks, so they're total 25 tracks right now on Spotify or Apple Music or wherever you download your music.

00;39;13;19 - 00;39;45;00
Unknown
And before that, you know, when I was younger, we, I made I had albums that that I recorded, you know, in my studios. And so I had all the tracks. I just never had them packaged and labeled and all that stuff. So I would just take them for my iTunes burn disc for people. And hey, this is my album, Mr. Fancy Pants, and I just hand them out to people and, so but so when I, when I did the streaming service thing a few years ago, that was my first kind of legit album, and that was all recorded in my home studio.

00;39;45;00 - 00;40;03;29
Unknown
All the instruments are me, and everything on them is me and, produced all by me, you know, which I've learned. I've come to appreciate producers. Yeah. It's because it's you need it is. And you also just need a second opinion just to check yourself. Yeah. You know, just to say, hey, what have you thought about this?

00;40;03;29 - 00;40;20;08
Unknown
Or how do you, you know, so because I remember when I was at Full Sail and I learned what a producer was and they're like, oh, they're going to produce your music. They're going to give you tell you that. I was like, I wrote this. I know how it was, you know, like, but no, you as you get older, I think you realize help is a good, decent direction.

00;40;20;08 - 00;40;38;13
Unknown
Yeah. I guess the days of handing out CDs are over right. Yeah. That's right. I used to have, I used to keep in my glove compartment and now I just, I, somebody asked for one within the last two months I remember and I remember thinking I might have said it out loud, do you really want to see me and I, I gotta typewriter in the wrong way, too.

00;40;38;15 - 00;41;00;05
Unknown
Well, we've mentioned this guy Felix. Tell me about Felix. I know, I know, don't know him as well as you, but I've seen you guys play. Yeah, I was playing at a gig, called, a place called Seven Bridges over in the Tinseltown area in Jacksonville and, 2012 and, I remember, he came up to me at the end of the show and said, hey, I play violin.

00;41;00;11 - 00;41;17;13
Unknown
Can I play with you sometime? And I, you know, at this point, I started in 2006 at the Millhouse, and Fuller became full time. So this was six years into my full time music career. Yeah. And I had had a bunch of people that would come up and say, hey, I really came. And we had a jam session, right?

00;41;17;13 - 00;41;35;07
Unknown
And, and I give him my card and I hope that they lose it on the way down. And, but something about Felix. Hey, he was, like, dressed in a suit. Yeah. Yeah, he's. You see him? He's always dressed. I mean, it can be 95 degrees, and then the man's got a jacket on, and, you know, so I just.

00;41;35;07 - 00;41;52;12
Unknown
And he also, he's the. He doesn't drink, so he wasn't drunk. And, you know, he presented himself very well. Well, he stood out in the crowd. Yeah. And then he helped me carry my equipment in my car. And then I said, I'll be I'll be back here at Seven Bridges in two weeks if you want to, join me.

00;41;52;12 - 00;42;11;19
Unknown
And I totally forgot about it in the day came that Thursday and he texted me and I thought, oh gosh, yeah, yeah, let's do it. And so that night, I had just gotten one of these little flip recorders, this, back in, you know, the 20 tens, you know, little cameras that recorded video. And, I thought, man, this might be good.

00;42;11;19 - 00;42;27;05
Unknown
You know, I'm just going to take it and record it, and I'm glad I did, because to this day, on on my YouTube channel, I have, a Watchtower. That's a song, that we, we played that night, and it was the first night we ever played together. And, so it was natural. Just rolled up. Yeah, yeah.

00;42;27;06 - 00;42;53;08
Unknown
And you can even see me. I remember when I first started playing with him, I would just I'd look, I couldn't help but when, when he would start jamming, it would just be like, yeah, Gran would come over, but I couldn't believe what I was like, experiencing. Right. And he was playing with other bands at the time. I remember he was playing with a salsa band, I think, and they were playing, at Modular modular down in Palm Beach, and I said, I'm going to go by there and check out and see what see what this is all about.

00;42;53;08 - 00;43;15;18
Unknown
And, I went by and there was like, there was like 12 people in the band and the band took a pass. And, I remember it came time for his solo and he, he got like 16 measures, of solo, which in, in music time is like 10s, you know, and then they went on to the next guy who was not nearly, you know, he was clearly the thing with his band.

00;43;15;18 - 00;43;39;01
Unknown
And I just remember thinking, man, he's going to be showcase next level more. Yeah. Like he does he do full time like you or does he have another job? He he was at the time he was working, for Merrill. Okay. And doing, financing and financial stuff and, and kept, kept working with that until I think it was 2018 or 2019 and then started doing real estate with his brother.

00;43;39;02 - 00;43;58;04
Unknown
And so he's always had, other things going on. And, right now he also owns a couple Tesla wrap, but you know, that he's in the paint job, right? Yeah. I don't know much about it. Yeah. Owns a couple of those. And he's constantly busy now. Before pre-COVID, he was playing 4 or 5 shows a week with me.

00;43;58;07 - 00;44;17;21
Unknown
And now he only plays Saturdays and some private and corporate stuff. Because. Right. I he just it before he needed, you know, it was part of his income and now I think he just does it because he probably likes it. Yeah. Well I mean I've that's where I've seen you guys play so much on Saturday nights, Palm Valley outdoors down in Ponte Vedra.

00;44;17;21 - 00;44;38;13
Unknown
It's a great spot to go. And he's next level. Yeah, yeah. It's electrifying. Right. When you say jam out, it's not like you know Beethoven. No, it's getting after it. No. In his thing. I mean, he's never said this to me, but what I've gathered is that he likes to play stuff on the violin. That's not classically violin, you know?

00;44;38;13 - 00;44;57;04
Unknown
Hey, it's an electric violin, so he's got a lot of effects. It sounds like he can make it sound like an electric guitar, as you've heard. Like, he also plays it like a violin on certain songs. But it's just not your standard in the box violin player. No. And also, when he started with me, he wasn't singing at all.

00;44;57;06 - 00;45;14;06
Unknown
And I remember one night he pulled up to a gig and he had this microphone hooked into his car stereo, and he was like, saying that he could hear his voice in the car and he was singing. And I thought, man, why don't you do that? Why don't you sing it with me? You know? And from then on, he's had a mic and now he he sings, lead on, you know, 5 or 6 songs and.

00;45;14;07 - 00;45;34;21
Unknown
Absolutely. And, and he has a great voice which his range is higher than mine. I have a lower range. So we fit very well. Yeah. No, no, it's it's awesome. Yeah. Thank you. Do you guys, I think you answered this before. Do you normally take requests? Are you, like, outgoing? Hey, you know, do you ever request or you just kind of let him come in or how does that work?

00;45;34;23 - 00;45;52;05
Unknown
Pretty much just let him come in. People say, hey, do you take requests? And I. I always just say, if I know it, I'll play it, you know? And, if I've heard it and it's not to kind of introduce the song. Yeah, I can pretty much just pull it off. I don't love just, like, winging it, you know?

00;45;52;07 - 00;46;12;15
Unknown
Well, I would assume that that would come with a tip when people ask that. Yeah, I had a courtesy. I would write you, and it usually does. It usually does. But, but yeah, it's. And sometimes I'll send mail to me and I'll know the regulars and I know the songs they like, and I'll just, play it because I know they requested it before kind of thing.

00;46;12;16 - 00;46;34;23
Unknown
Has there any has there ever been like, a kind of a crazy bar experience that you've had? I know I had that down here. Like, yeah, it comes to your mind that you can, you can tell on, on television here. Well there's, there is, there's, there's a few stories over the years, but there's one that I've told over and over and then that I call the Bon Jovi story.

00;46;34;23 - 00;46;55;08
Unknown
And, I was playing it kickbacks, which is over in Riverside. And, there was this gentleman there, and he was in a Steve Nash Dallas Mavericks jersey. I'll never forget it. And, he came up and, he slapped down $100 bill. He says, I want to hear Bon Jovi. And I was like, okay, I'm ready to go.

00;46;55;09 - 00;47;15;06
Unknown
Happy to play some Bon Jovi for you. And, so I played livin on a prayer and, as I was finishing it up, slapped another 100 down and he says, I want to hear it again. And I said, well, man, I, I don't just repeat songs over. Yeah. And, so, I said, just just give me a second.

00;47;15;12 - 00;47;43;04
Unknown
I'll go, I'll go print out. This is pre iPad. You know, this is I had to run into the office at kick bags, print out like a few more Bon Jovi songs, Blaze of Glory and, and, so, long story short, 700 something dollars later of Bon Jovi songs he just kept. And I tried to stop him at 300 and I and my buddy Gary, who on The Millhouse was there that night, that's funny.

00;47;43;04 - 00;48;08;24
Unknown
On saying I on a break, I said to him, what do I do? You know, I'm not trying to take advantage of this guy, you know? And he said, man, if he wants to, you know, and everybody in the crowd is like, man, this is a band. This guy. Right, right, right. And, and he actually at one point started taking his jersey off and, and the owner was like, well, you know, he's he's telling you so much.

00;48;08;24 - 00;48;26;15
Unknown
I think we're just going to let him hear some area. So I feel like there's a Vegas story behind that. It's like, oh my God. Incidentally, a couple of years later, he came in and, did not address totally differently. Played a Bon Jovi song. He didn't even know. He didn't even even look, he was in a different frame of mind.

00;48;26;17 - 00;48;44;25
Unknown
Well, as we wrap up, I want to kind of get to a couple quick personal things. I know you go every summer, too. I think it's your family's lake place in Michigan, Beaver Lake, new Jersey, new Jersey, close. Yeah. So tell me about that. Quickly, because I thought that was kind of a cool thing when you've I've seen you post about it and you told me about it.

00;48;44;25 - 00;49;18;09
Unknown
Yeah. My sisters and I are sixth generation, in our family to be Lakers at Beaver Lake. And, so my sisters, children are seventh generation and, my, my great great great grandfathers founded the lake. And, so we've been going there since I was, very young. We spending my summers there. When I was a kid, we, I would spend almost the whole summer living with, in my, with my grandmother and my older sister, and I and, so I, you know, you just had this summer friendships.

00;49;18;09 - 00;49;39;19
Unknown
It was almost like a camp. I never went to camp, but I imagine that's what it was like. And, and Beaver Lake is a very small community where everyone knows each other. There are lake events, when you say founded, like, literally colonize the lake, right? Pretty much. Yeah. Started building around. Yeah. And my grandmother would be much better to ask about the history of Beaver Lake.

00;49;39;21 - 00;49;59;12
Unknown
But, but no, it's just my favorite spot in the world. And so many good memories of being, you know, young there and, and growing up. And do you do your YouTube when you're up there? I have, yeah. The first couple of years after Covid, I it's a lot to take the whole studio and all the equipment that I need.

00;49;59;15 - 00;50;18;01
Unknown
It'd be like you taking all this stuff up there, right. And and on top of all your regular grooming, you know. And so, yes, I have, and there are some if you look on YouTube, Beaver Lake on my channel, you'll see those shows and they're picturesque. They're great. And I and I still this year I drove I always drive up nowadays because I do.

00;50;18;01 - 00;50;35;27
Unknown
This year I played a show off the lake, at a bar there near Beaver Lake in, in Franklin in new Jersey. And, went really well. It was a small place. So in Lake really came out strong and support. So we the place was just sounds like you need to write a book about this experience. It's pretty cool.

00;50;35;27 - 00;50;55;18
Unknown
Like Norman Rockwell time. They do say I've never seen On Golden Pond the Movie, but my grandmother says that is is how she when she tells people about Beaver Lake. That's. Well, I think it's funny because I think, you know, I've seen your post about it and it just that's what it makes you feel like. I'm in a lake special, you know, remote, that sort of thing.

00;50;55;18 - 00;51;17;22
Unknown
That's pretty cool. And another thing you're a big into is, disc frisbee. Okay, I pronounced it wrong earlier. So it's not frisbee golf. It's disc golf. Of course. I'm a I'm a big disc golfer. And, so literally, it's just like golf, but you're throwing a disc. Yeah. And the discs are, you've got a driver, you got a mid-range, which is like a six iron, five iron, and you've got a putter.

00;51;17;22 - 00;51;40;28
Unknown
And, so my bag, has 17, 18, you know, drivers and mid ranges and then three putters. So you're carrying around, you know, anywhere from 20 to 25 disc and is, are you driving a cart? No. There is a course here in Jacksonville. Over out off I-10. That's a both a regular golf course and a disc golf course.

00;51;40;28 - 00;52;00;11
Unknown
And, and the disc golf, it's a long disc golf course. And they do offer, cart rentals. And so there's plenty of places to play around. Jack. Oh, yeah. There's, between just in Jacksonville, there are five courses. Wow. There are two courses in Saint Augustine, one being built, one in, Green Cove, one new, one in orange part.

00;52;00;11 - 00;52;19;18
Unknown
And I just played the other day called The Grove, which is, awesome. It used to be a regular golf course. They repurposed, so yeah, there's there's no shortage in my hometown, Gainesville, of course, which I'll be playing on Wednesday morning when I I'm going to head back and visit a friend. And, so, yeah, there's tons of courses, something I didn't really know.

00;52;19;18 - 00;52;43;28
Unknown
So I saw that on there. So another another sport you could pick. Well, I have to ask, like, how many times do you think you sang the song Happy Birthday in your life? Is it are you approaching trillions at this point? Yeah. Well, I, I mean, I, I well I see I play there's 300 and pi, 250 gigs a year and I probably play at every second gig.

00;52;43;28 - 00;53;00;22
Unknown
So 125 I'm doing the math. I thought 2000 times I would say that, and maybe there's some gigs you play multiple times. Oh gosh. Yeah. And the thing like, I like, well, I'll play it some like, I'll play it and then someone will come running up and they'll say, oh, you know, it's my it's my friend's birthday.

00;53;00;22 - 00;53;22;01
Unknown
I'm like, well, I just play, you know, let's not overshadow the person. So we do a group birthday and I try and do out and they start coming out like, hey, birthday song goes on in our give me the names between oh excellence and all of these, you know, you name them all and well, in and in closing, what what do you, what do you think your perfect gig is like?

00;53;22;01 - 00;53;48;11
Unknown
What? Like what would you say? Like the place, the crowd, the time, all of that. What does that look like? I would say probably my perfect gig would be, at Beaver Lake, you know, with all my friends there. Well, I kind of like you said you had last summer with. You went to that bar. Yeah, but the ones actually on the lake, like, my favorite gig went back in 2020.

00;53;48;16 - 00;54;13;26
Unknown
Maybe it was 2021. My, my sister Shelly bought the the, the house that my grandmother owned when we were growing up. Now, Shelly and Miles on it, and, there's a gazebo down by the water and I had always, dreamed, I guess, of playing a show. Like, taking the table out of the gazebo and me being in the gazebo and playing out to the lake, and people coming with their boats and, oh, man, I, I think about that.

00;54;13;26 - 00;54;35;16
Unknown
And, and so we did that in 2020 and, and, that was great. And, and that's, I mean, that's, that's my favorite spot in the world doing the thing that I love with my, you know, favorite people in the world. You know, that that sounds like an amazing place. Yeah. You you real quick. I actually do on a mortgage company you mentioned earlier.

00;54;35;18 - 00;54;53;15
Unknown
You own a house. Can you remember what it was like buying that house? Anything come to your mind was a difficult, easy, stressful. What comes to your mind when I think about, well, my mom works for, company or was retired, but worked for BBVA compass, and, she was a banker. Okay, so I had a lot of help.

00;54;53;16 - 00;55;14;11
Unknown
Yes. As far as, buying it because I where I'm very good with music and all this stuff. I know there's a whole side of life that I'm not. I'm not good with. So mom helped you through the process. That's not fair. Yeah. That's, we'll have to talk to mom at some point. But, anyway, now, super interesting to talk to you, Robbie.

00;55;14;13 - 00;55;33;17
Unknown
If you guys, haven't follow him, follow him. Check out his gigs. I go to him a lot. Love it. And really great to have you. Thank you. I think we're going to love this. Robbie and Felix on Instagram. That's right. And Facebook and YouTube channel is just my full name. Ravi Shankar Shankar. And, So.

00;55;33;17 - 00;55;37;22
Unknown
Yeah, let's do it. Cool. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yeah. It's great. Thanks.