Concert Honesty

#70—Shelby Blezinger-McCay

Shelby and I sit in the So studio and chat about her life growing up in Texas, 4-H, raising animals, and her percussion trio, Troika. Shelby is So Percussion’s Operations Director.

Todd and I put aside our differences for an hour long chat about practice methods and solutions. If you are curious how other folks get music in their head and hands, check it out. Hope you enjoy! This is a co-release with www.liquidrum.com

Victor and I catch up in DC in my hotel room and chat a bit of steel drums, a bit of growing up in the Virgin Islands (St. John), and a bit of performance anxiety. Victor is a one of the best steel drummers in the world. Please check out out his work and enjoy this podcast. I really enjoyed the conversation. www.victorprovost.com

Bill and I talk about his life as a percussionist and his work with Nexus, the percussion group. Bill’s approach to music making, improvisation, and instrument curation and collecting has always interested me. Bill is a great guy and a driving force behind what So Percussion does today.

Dorian and I talk about hot button political topics facing us all today, like online culture, the alt-right, Trump, how we talk to each other, and free speech. Dorian is a really interesting composer who’s online advocacy has piqued my interest now for years. His brother Elliot, was a student at So’s summer institute we hold each summer.

Zach and I sit in my living room and chat life, the blues as music, and the blues as a mental state. Zach is my brother and is a blues musician in Charleston, SC in a band he formed called Sufferin’ Moses. He’s very good and very authentic.

Richard and I have an open discussion at the So Percussion Summer Institute at Princeton about his work and process as an author and talk about his new book “Crisis in the Red Zone”. Richard is the author of the groundbreaking book about Ebola, “The Hot Zone.”

Mike and I are old friends from the OSUMB (Ohio State University Marching Band) and we talk about our days during a time pre-youtube/cell-phone videos. It was a complicated time. Mike is a brilliant comedian and magician and a bad ass drummer. We’ll do this again. www.michaelkentlive.com

We sit in John’s staff office and chew the fat about God and Jesus for a good long while.  He’s a smart guy and a great friend to me and my wife.  He’s got a fascinating take on what God is to him and why we do we what we do and we are, fundamentally, as people.  

Take a listen.  We’ll do it again, and next time with whiskey, my friend.

Dan and I sit in his living room and chat about Russia, my mom, and growing up gay in a small town in Ohio. He’s a linquistics professor at USC with a specialty in Russian, and is a fascinating guy. I really enjoyed this conversation.