July 30, 2024 • 34 mins
The story of the UPS driver who almost committed suicide, found healing, and accidentally started a viral ministry of delivering good vibes through dance. Today Russell is better known as “The Dancing UPS Man”, with 1.6 million followers on TikTok and 1.2 million on Instagram.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
And we continue now with part two of our conversation
with Russell Butler, right after these brief messages from our
general sponsors. This is not a typical conversation I would
(00:29):
expect I have with a uposdriver.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I just delivered packages, due.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Deliver packages and dance.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So it's a good segue COVID.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
You you, you have this interesting relationship and really deep
understanding of anxiety and depression. And at COVID people are
locked in losing their interpersonal relationships. They're able to do
it on phone and text, but human.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Need to interact.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
And you're recognizing through delivering packages to these people who
are locked in, you're seeing some of the same blank stairs.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You saw on Heath's face. Yep, And you realize.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
We need smiles, we need we need smiles. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And so off the cuff, you go back to the
days with your mom and you record yourself doing a little.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Dance Vanilla ice ice ice baby, yeah, Ice ice baby.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
It was like, I mean, like you said in the
height of COVID, I was like, dude, can we just
change the conversation And again, like I don't discredit how
serious that time was, but I was like, can we smile?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Can we laugh?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Can we just change the conversation a little bit? So
drop my phone down, put on I size baby.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Literally just on a whim, just put your phone down
and say, let me see all this recording thing.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Mark has it And within twenty four hours it had
three point five million views, and just and again like
you know, comments are comments, but you made my day.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
You made me smile again.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
You have no idea where I've been in life, and.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You brought joy back.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Like those are the comments heart all day and I
try to respond as much as I can, But.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
It had to have been like, I mean, look, everybody
listened to us. If you haven't had a public life,
which is ninety nine point nine percent of us, just
imagine doing a two minute recording on your phone and
posting it and then three and a half million people
the next day start.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
You had to have been like why and so again
like that that that was kind of the launch to
my mission in life is I know people are suffering
with what I suffered with, and now let's make them smile.
(03:17):
Let's give hope, deliver hope. And that when I came
out for Saint Jude's. That was the whole mission with
that was delivering hope, and.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
That's dancing for the goods. That's what I try to do.
So you know, I.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Haven't done this, probably in a few months, but I
feel like now's a perfect time to say this.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
This is an army in normal folks.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Bro Yes, sir, And really what that is is I'm
sick to death of the division in government and the
media is proven woefully inadequate and serving the most disadvantaged
(04:04):
among us.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I don't care if you're a CNN or Fox person.
Let's be honest. All of them are incented by an
enormous amount of power and wealth to craft narratives to
divide us.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Well, like we were talking about, just adding fuel to the.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Fire, and add fuel to the fire, and the hotter
and brighter that fire rages, the more powerful they get
to the people that encamped themselves under one or the
other banner. It's divisive by definition.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
My belief is, I don't care how you vote, who
you love, what your skin color is. I don't care
about any of that. If somebody is doing something to
elevate someone in their community, that isn't as fortunate as them.
Regards of who you are or how you vote, who
(05:01):
you come from, what you believe, how you works for
anything else, I can celebrate that work that you are
doing right.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
And same to you.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
So the answer to me, then, is an army of
normal folks who put aside societal preconceived notions, who set
aside divisions based on how we vote, what media would
listen to, how we worship, what are races, and just say.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
We're all human beings.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Absolutely couldn't we put together an army of normal folks
to take back the narrative that just because we don't
look like each other and necessarily agree with each other
on a veried group of topics, we're not enemies.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So that's what we're trying to create, an army of
normal folks. And the beauty of it is you don't
have to be part of some massive five oh one
C three or NGO or some big organization. You do
not have to be invited to be involved in something
to make a difference in life. You can be a
ups dude that dances.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
That's right, dude, that's right.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And that's the thing man, Like I always say I
feel like just being kind is a lost art.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Like holding a door for.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Somebody, smiling at somebody, having a conversation with the lady
at stripes, like making somebody's day for no damn reason.
Just loving on people. Yeah, normal people making the biggest difference.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I've often said the magic happens when someone's passion and discipline.
And when I mean discipline, I mean talents, not discipline
as in doing following the rules. But passion and discipline
meet opportunity. Now you have a passion for people, you
(06:55):
have a passion for mental health, and you have a
particular discipline dancing that needed opportunity every day.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
And I tell you what, man, it it. It blesses
me more than you know to see those comments. Just
by you dancing, just by you doing what you love
and you've overcome this, this and this. You give me hope,
and that's that's what it's all about.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So that's beautiful. You have a coffee. I have a coffee.
So we're at so the company. It's kind of crazy story.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
The company actually got bought out at the time I was.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
We were doing the deal.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
So it's gonna be Russell's Groovy Coffee.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Well, Russell's groovy coffee. Yeah, why not? Why not? Yeah?
So yeah, man, is it an iced iced coffee?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Iced ice coffee?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I get.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I get more crap I drink ice coffee. I get
more crap for that than you will ever imagine.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
You know a little bit about my story, and this
is not about me, it's about you.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
But there's a parallel.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
There's a parallel here and your story bill remarkable.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Thank you don't all right? So thank you sir?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
What I I really think people most people when they
hear me, think this is some real southern all shucks,
false humility, but it is not.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I genuinely got one hundred.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Times more out of my time at Manassas and the
other things that I do than I ever put into it.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
The blessing and reward for me.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Filled my life up and in a place that really
needed to be filled. The relationships I built with a
group of kids and people in an area of town
that I otherwise would have never ever even met and
truthfully probably would have crossed the other side of the.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Street to avoid correct.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Has has lent me to a level of personal growth
and understanding and depth that there's just no way i'd've
ever gotten understanding.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
That's the word. It's true understanding.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
So we don't I've heard you say what dancing does
for you rather than for the people that you're trying
to make smile. That's also one of the keys to
the army of normal folks. So talk about that.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
You know, And that's that.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Yeah, I mean, it's a about finding your passion, like
you said, and once you find I feel everybody, all
normal people, whoever, we all have this innate thing inside
of us that once you find that, it's your duty
(10:30):
to share that with the world because.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
It brings the light out of you.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
And you give that to others. And by giving that
to others, they're like, well I gotta find the light
and meet It's just that pay it forward.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
So Tommy Norman, Officer Tommy Norman and Little Rock, Arkansas
is one of my very first customer we started.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And this guy is a cop in North Little Rock.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
His goal, short story, is to get invited into somebody's
front yard, then next week to get invited on the porch,
and the next week get invited in the home. Because
once they get invited to the home, he's got a
relationship with them. And he serves a very underprivileged He
polices a very underprivileged area North Little Rock, and one
(11:36):
day he said, driving around a car and intimidating people
is nowhere to police him. He parked his car and
he started walking his beat. Now ten years later, he
is considered the Michael Jordan of community police.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I love it, and there have been.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Murderers who have called up and said I want to
turn myself in, but I'll only do it to Tommy Norman.
His daughter died of an overdose, and he suffers daily
anxiety and depression, and he has said that the people
that he polices on his beat have saved him rather
(12:18):
than the exact opposite. Likewise, I had issues with my
father and paying for it for many, many many years.
The kids of a nassas solve that for me.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
It's amazing. What does dancing do for you?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
These lovely smiles out there, man?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Like for real?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
I can't thank each and every one of you enough
for being in my life, for giving me purpose to
continue to do what I do. I truly thank you all, Hi, Debbie,
but serious, it means more to me to see somebody
(13:08):
smile than you can ever imagine. To again, bring hope
to the hopeless, and they give that back to me.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
That energy, just back and forth, back and forth.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
So that's it, man, Like, whatever I can do to
give love, to give hope, I mean, honestly, I want
nothing in return other than to see you guys smile
and enjoy life.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
So this cat's got one point two from the from
that first put the phone on the ground and dance.
You've got one point two million followers on Instagram and
like one point eight million followers on TikTok one.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Point six but who's count And you're not some tech guy,
You're a ups guy.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
So I mean, I guess like when you have extra time,
you just say all right and you go throw a guy.
I've seen it. I've seen it last night.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
So well, first of all, there's Lisa right there, right Lisa, Yeah,
my wife Lisa, and anybody who knows Lisa and me
knows that there is a dichotomy there. That's that's interesting,
which is I'm a three and a half four a bus.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
She's a dome. Right. You married up. I married right
big time.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And so I was showing her videos of you yesterday
dancing and stuff, and she used the word Oh he's
so cute, and.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I thought you ain't watching this. No more off, turn
it off because you're about to meet him face to face.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
I don't need it off off, none of that, Noah,
cut absolutely, But I mean the truth is you are
kind of cute dude. Well, I mean, and then when
you dance, you're like vibe.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I mean right, So, I mean the thing is dancing
is my element, bro, just put it that way. I
got I got it as I element it. And you've
got the whole cool look and the holes of.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Your jeans and the and the beard and the whole
thing going. I mean, you know, so anyway, but the whole,
the whole point tall this is, you know, with all
these followers, and I don't want people hearing me today
on this podcast. Nintendsil townspeople going to hear this. Yes,
(15:51):
you are the dancing ups Man, which is the most
hilarious moniker that ever was. But that is not what
you're about. No, You're about trying to bring a light
to the to the dangers of hiding problems with mental
(16:12):
health through the platform of simply making people smile. So
speak to that speak most importantly, speak to yeah, dance,
But there's a bigger thing out there that I've struggled
with in my life that has affected me that I
want people to start paying attention to.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You've got a platform, use it.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
And here's the thing, Bill, It's like, yes, if you're
dealing with it, like I say, and it's beyond you
and you know. And that's the thing is, like I
try to tell people.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I have a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
I don't want to say, look to me as a savior.
But but if you're dealing with it to a point
that it's out of your hands, seek help. But also, Bill,
my biggest thing is like be a kind human being.
And what I mean by that is you don't know
(17:19):
what the person in front of you is going through on.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
A daily basis.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
So by all means, go out of your way to
be kind to somebody.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And look, when you were shuggling with with the not
addiction depression, could you put a smile on your face
in public.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
To hate it when it got really dark?
Speaker 4 (17:43):
No?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I guess what I'm saying is cause what you just said.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Is important is that you do not know what's going
on and that person's life across from you that you
bump into in Walmart or whatever. And I guess what
I'm hearing is, you know, you may see somebody that's
fakeing a smile, but inside there at war.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
They're fighting that war that your book talks about exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
And the difference in a smile and a little bit
of kindness for that person that day literally could be
the difference in a lot for them.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
I mean, it could change their life, truly, you know.
And that's the thing THO is, Like, my mom is
one of the main reasons I came out of mind
because she had dealt with it her whole life and
she recognized what I was going through. And you know again,
(18:43):
like that love, that affection, and it doesn't have to
be from a family member, you know what I mean,
just showing love and kindness and.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Just being presence.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
The power of presence in somebody's life, like that Who's
Battling says it all.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
How it's supporting everybody who wants to follow you, how
do they find you?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Russell Butler Too on TikTok and Russell's Butler two correct
and Russell Dancing ups Man on Instagram. So please, I'm
going to say this on a live show, Please be
aware of scammers.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
I've read there's people that are like imitating you now out.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
There, hundreds, So it's it's just it's just a racket.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
I mean, it is what it is.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
But I just want people to be aware because I've
seen the effects of it, you know, And that's the
world is again. The world's a dark place and there's
a dark side to everything. So yeah, there's hundreds of
people catfishing and getting people to give them money, so
(20:07):
please be aware. I just want to put that out there.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
But the og og is Russell Butler two on TikTok and.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Russell the Dance Russell Dancing ups men.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
On Instagram on Instagram, and you go there and every
a couple a couple, a couple of times, three or
four times a week, you can look at a two
minute thing of you making somebody smile by getting on
their front porch.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
That's it, dude, that's it, all right.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
The last thing I want to ask you before we
go to the other last thing is this, I've watched videos.
You're like, man mc hamer, ain't got a dog on
your dog. I mean, y'all, the guy's good and it's fun.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
How in the hell did you learn to do that
because I know you danced from the kitchen with your mom,
but she was Barvin's Gay Elvis and and your dad
was country, and I know Johnny Cash wasn't doing some
of that running man stuff that you do.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
How'd you learn it? So, dude, I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Uh we had a house with a basement one while
I was eighth, ninth grade, somewhere in there, and I remember, uh,
well Michael Jackson of course, but genuine hony. When that,
when that song specifically and that video came out, I
was like, I need to learn to do that. So
(21:35):
I literally shut the basement door, locked myself in there.
Mom would come knock on the door, what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Like, let me do my thing. So yeah, I mean
I literally went in front of a mirror in the basement.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
In front of a mirror in the basement until I
got you know, it didn't have to be purple.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I was like, I got this in me. I just
got to do it. So I hours, no, really, you
just picked it up. Rhythm, I gotta say.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Rhythm was just something kind of like throwing a baseball.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
From me really just it just clicked, just clicked.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And then so you had to be dope at prom?
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Prom was the highlight of life?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
What was that?
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Like?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Oh, dude, dumb, dumb, dumb. I think everybody should. Yeah,
we'll be right back. It's so funny.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
But like, so all my buddies just got back from
a trip with my friends and they're still like, you're
just you.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
You just that's what you do.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You dance, love, life, give life, like that's what you do,
So just keep doing it.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
So I have I can't. I'm the worst thing in
the world, Lisa as No, it's terrible.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Every everybody's got a dancing bone in their body.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
No, this one does. And I will tell you something.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
When you when you go about two fifty, when I
start going right and then I come back left, some
of me is still right. So there's a little danger
in there because I mean I might, I might accidentally
with some of my back fat slap somebody. I mean,
I just so it's just it's it's not only am
I not good, it's it's it's a it's a hazard.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah all right, yeah, Lisa, I gotta see this, by the.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Way, Yeah, see nothing, but uh, Lisa, Lisa made me
go to ballroom. We had two kids, get married, in
five weeks. So Lisa made me go to ballroom dancing
lessons for a month and.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Oh good. Yeah, so I can't do what you do,
but this bad boy can rumba. That's what I'm talking about.
I can rumble my. I love it.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
And you know what's funny is like people ask me
all the time, like like I don't have the technical
skills like I just do.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, well, you're fortunate, You're You're very fortunate. So we're
going to end this with what you do best, which
is putting smiles on people's faces. But before we do that,
I'm going to do this three questions I'll take if
anybody wants to know anything about the dancing ups man,
(24:33):
now's your chance. Anybody out there want to ask him
anything I hadn't covered, ask it up nobody. Oh god,
I did a good interview if I caught them all.
Nobody's got any thoughts or questions for him?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Hey, what's that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Oh this is from UPS for driving the brands. So okay,
So here's the question Bill Seay who, by the way, Bill,
your fam your son, Thank you so much for offering
up Ground City Brewing.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Thank you for letting us be here. And thanks for
the beer.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I'm not sure if it's free or if Alex paid
for it, but I know I didn't.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Okay, thank you, Bill Sealley.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Everybody is the president president of varsity brands?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Am I right? Varsity president of varsity Spirit, which is.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Cheerleading outfits and all that stuff that goes on in
Orlando nowadays that people take for granted. Where cheer teams
get to compete for national championships at all, that's Bill
Seally That's where that came from. And Bill is an
enormous civic leader in our town, but he's a business guy,
(25:48):
so it's not at all surprising that he would ask
what is UPS.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Using for the brand? Is that the question? Are you
getting any benefits for what you do to bring light
on Brown brand?
Speaker 3 (26:02):
I will say thank you to Carol Tomay, the CEO
of UPS. She wrote me a letter saying thank you
for being a great brand ambassador.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So he got a letter, I.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Got, I got, I got a letter, and I got
a coin saying thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
So that was a really politically correct answer from a
man who makes his living from UPS saying they have
not yet had the temerity or the wisdom to break
onto what this man does to help the brand, which
ups if you're listening, Uh, wake up.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
So that's it.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Anybody else, anything else for our buddy Russell, anything at all? Hey, Bill,
you know he's in the home of fed X.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Maybe we can take that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
To get that bonus today.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
So here's a question from Dan Patterson, another Memphian who
has businesses a lot of places and on other continents
right now, and who is another proud Memphian who says, Hey,
you may be on the on the precipice of crossing over,
(27:19):
of crossing over the boundaries into into enemy.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Territory here in Memphis, fed X.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
But Dan thinks there could be a possibility that fed
X would love to calculate on top of your brand.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
That's what Dan's saying.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
And he's wearing a shirt that says TCB, so he's
taking care of business.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
That's right, that's right, that's exactly right, Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Anybody else anything else with Russels before Russell puts smiles
on our faces because everybody's going to stand up.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
So Saint Jude, as all Memphians know, is so important
to our city.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
But the world.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
They're curing cancer at a rate that nobody ever thought
could be done for children. Absolutely, and they take in
kids and families from all the world, and those families
and kids don't pay a single cent for that care.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
I tell you, Bill, like Alex, that was a great question.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
And you and Alex actually met at say Jude, yeah, correct,
tell us.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
That was probably one of the more profound experiences of
my life to see these kiddos, my youngest age three
years old, getting wheeled.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Into chemo bald.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
I tell you, I tell you, I looking at those
mom and dads, looking at those courageous kids. I went
back and I hugged my kiddos a little bit tighter,
I tell you.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
But that I mean seriously.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
To be able to raise leave after Mother's Day and
Father's Day campaign, we raised just over eleven thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
So and again, like Saint Jude sent me the breakdown
of what all that covered, and I was beyond blessed
to be able to do that for them.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Well, you got friends at Memphis now, so you got
to come back more. You got to come back more
and dance for those kids.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Love to man, love to all right, anything else here
to give me in trouble.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Who's got ice iis baby on the thing? Can we
start that?
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Oh oh?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Hold it. One more reason.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
The reason I chose ice ice Baby is because it
puts a smile on me. In Lisa's face, our oldest daughter,
Maggie shout out to you, baby, what's three? When Ice
ice Baby was a thing, that music would come on
in our house and she would go into an other
worldly trance am I line, Lisa. She would literally start shaking.
(30:01):
It was not dancing, but she would. And then she
would just get on the ground and flap around like
a fish out of water.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
To Ice ice Baby. But y'all, she just it just
consumed her. And you know what it did. It made
my wife and me smile.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
And you know what, at the end of the day,
you never know who you're going to cross and what's
going on between their ears and to your world. If
we can just make them smile, you could change the life.
And from a guy who is homeless in a car,
who lost his best buddy while he was struggling with depression,
(30:43):
anxiety and suicide thoughts himself, who lost his parents and
went into a three.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Destructive period of time with abuse.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
And came out of it longer in his faith, a
father who loves his children, who has owned all of it,
and is now on a mission to say mental health
is not taboo. We got to talk about it. And
in the meantime, I'm gonna use this talent that God
(31:18):
gave me to simply put a smile on the face
of people who may not have anything to smile about.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yes, sir, that is what the army and normal folks is.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Bro Hey, it's been an honor. It's been a pleasure, Bill,
and thank you for doing what you do.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Brother, Thank you. It truly is an honor and pleasure
for me. So you all ready to end this on
the right note? Can we get this thing going? Somebody
turn it on.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Russell's gonna do his thing, and I think everybody needs
to stand up for it.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
So we're gonna stand up. Are we still recording? Catch
us all right?
Speaker 1 (31:50):
We're still recording for those who are listening. Here we go.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I don't even know how you do that.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Stops. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Off the lights and extreme over.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
I'm like, I'm doing a lot of the stage like
I can't do.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Russell, Brother, just put a smile on everybody's face. I'm
Bill Corney. This was an army and normal folks. Thanks
for being here, everybody.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Thank y'all so much, Thank y'all awesome, awesome, and thank
you for joining us this week. If Russell Butler or
(33:08):
another guest have inspired you in general, or better yet,
inspired you to take action, please let me know. I'd
love to hear about it. You can write me anytime
at Bill at normalfolks dot us, and I guarantee you this,
I will respond. If you've enjoyed this episode, y'all, share
it with friends and on social Subscribe to the podcast,
(33:31):
take the time to subscribe to the podcast, rate and
review it. Become a Premium member at normalfolks dot us.
Do all of these things that can help us grow
an army.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Of normal folks.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Thanks to our producer, Iron Light Laps, I'm Bill Courtney.
I'll see you next week.
Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
And we continue now with part two of our conversation
with Russell Butler, right after these brief messages from our
general sponsors. This is not a typical conversation I would
(00:29):
expect I have with a uposdriver.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I just delivered packages, due.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Deliver packages and dance.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So it's a good segue COVID.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
You you, you have this interesting relationship and really deep
understanding of anxiety and depression. And at COVID people are
locked in losing their interpersonal relationships. They're able to do
it on phone and text, but human.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Need to interact.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
And you're recognizing through delivering packages to these people who
are locked in, you're seeing some of the same blank stairs.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You saw on Heath's face. Yep, And you realize.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
We need smiles, we need we need smiles. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And so off the cuff, you go back to the
days with your mom and you record yourself doing a little.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Dance Vanilla ice ice ice baby, yeah, Ice ice baby.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
It was like, I mean, like you said in the
height of COVID, I was like, dude, can we just
change the conversation And again, like I don't discredit how
serious that time was, but I was like, can we smile?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Can we laugh?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Can we just change the conversation a little bit? So
drop my phone down, put on I size baby.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Literally just on a whim, just put your phone down
and say, let me see all this recording thing.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Mark has it And within twenty four hours it had
three point five million views, and just and again like
you know, comments are comments, but you made my day.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
You made me smile again.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
You have no idea where I've been in life, and.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You brought joy back.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Like those are the comments heart all day and I
try to respond as much as I can, But.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
It had to have been like, I mean, look, everybody
listened to us. If you haven't had a public life,
which is ninety nine point nine percent of us, just
imagine doing a two minute recording on your phone and
posting it and then three and a half million people
the next day start.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
You had to have been like why and so again
like that that that was kind of the launch to
my mission in life is I know people are suffering
with what I suffered with, and now let's make them smile.
(03:17):
Let's give hope, deliver hope. And that when I came
out for Saint Jude's. That was the whole mission with
that was delivering hope, and.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
That's dancing for the goods. That's what I try to do.
So you know, I.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Haven't done this, probably in a few months, but I
feel like now's a perfect time to say this.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
This is an army in normal folks.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Bro Yes, sir, And really what that is is I'm
sick to death of the division in government and the
media is proven woefully inadequate and serving the most disadvantaged
(04:04):
among us.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I don't care if you're a CNN or Fox person.
Let's be honest. All of them are incented by an
enormous amount of power and wealth to craft narratives to
divide us.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Well, like we were talking about, just adding fuel to the.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Fire, and add fuel to the fire, and the hotter
and brighter that fire rages, the more powerful they get
to the people that encamped themselves under one or the
other banner. It's divisive by definition.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
My belief is, I don't care how you vote, who
you love, what your skin color is. I don't care
about any of that. If somebody is doing something to
elevate someone in their community, that isn't as fortunate as them.
Regards of who you are or how you vote, who
(05:01):
you come from, what you believe, how you works for
anything else, I can celebrate that work that you are
doing right.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
And same to you.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
So the answer to me, then, is an army of
normal folks who put aside societal preconceived notions, who set
aside divisions based on how we vote, what media would
listen to, how we worship, what are races, and just say.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
We're all human beings.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Absolutely couldn't we put together an army of normal folks
to take back the narrative that just because we don't
look like each other and necessarily agree with each other
on a veried group of topics, we're not enemies.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So that's what we're trying to create, an army of
normal folks. And the beauty of it is you don't
have to be part of some massive five oh one
C three or NGO or some big organization. You do
not have to be invited to be involved in something
to make a difference in life. You can be a
ups dude that dances.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
That's right, dude, that's right.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And that's the thing man, Like I always say I
feel like just being kind is a lost art.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Like holding a door for.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Somebody, smiling at somebody, having a conversation with the lady
at stripes, like making somebody's day for no damn reason.
Just loving on people. Yeah, normal people making the biggest difference.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I've often said the magic happens when someone's passion and discipline.
And when I mean discipline, I mean talents, not discipline
as in doing following the rules. But passion and discipline
meet opportunity. Now you have a passion for people, you
(06:55):
have a passion for mental health, and you have a
particular discipline dancing that needed opportunity every day.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
And I tell you what, man, it it. It blesses
me more than you know to see those comments. Just
by you dancing, just by you doing what you love
and you've overcome this, this and this. You give me hope,
and that's that's what it's all about.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So that's beautiful. You have a coffee. I have a coffee.
So we're at so the company. It's kind of crazy story.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
The company actually got bought out at the time I was.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
We were doing the deal.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
So it's gonna be Russell's Groovy Coffee.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Well, Russell's groovy coffee. Yeah, why not? Why not? Yeah?
So yeah, man, is it an iced iced coffee?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Iced ice coffee?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I get.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I get more crap I drink ice coffee. I get
more crap for that than you will ever imagine.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
You know a little bit about my story, and this
is not about me, it's about you.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
But there's a parallel.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
There's a parallel here and your story bill remarkable.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Thank you don't all right? So thank you sir?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
What I I really think people most people when they
hear me, think this is some real southern all shucks,
false humility, but it is not.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I genuinely got one hundred.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Times more out of my time at Manassas and the
other things that I do than I ever put into it.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
The blessing and reward for me.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Filled my life up and in a place that really
needed to be filled. The relationships I built with a
group of kids and people in an area of town
that I otherwise would have never ever even met and
truthfully probably would have crossed the other side of the.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Street to avoid correct.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Has has lent me to a level of personal growth
and understanding and depth that there's just no way i'd've
ever gotten understanding.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
That's the word. It's true understanding.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
So we don't I've heard you say what dancing does
for you rather than for the people that you're trying
to make smile. That's also one of the keys to
the army of normal folks. So talk about that.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
You know, And that's that.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Yeah, I mean, it's a about finding your passion, like
you said, and once you find I feel everybody, all
normal people, whoever, we all have this innate thing inside
of us that once you find that, it's your duty
(10:30):
to share that with the world because.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
It brings the light out of you.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
And you give that to others. And by giving that
to others, they're like, well I gotta find the light
and meet It's just that pay it forward.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
So Tommy Norman, Officer Tommy Norman and Little Rock, Arkansas
is one of my very first customer we started.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And this guy is a cop in North Little Rock.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
His goal, short story, is to get invited into somebody's
front yard, then next week to get invited on the porch,
and the next week get invited in the home. Because
once they get invited to the home, he's got a
relationship with them. And he serves a very underprivileged He
polices a very underprivileged area North Little Rock, and one
(11:36):
day he said, driving around a car and intimidating people
is nowhere to police him. He parked his car and
he started walking his beat. Now ten years later, he
is considered the Michael Jordan of community police.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I love it, and there have been.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Murderers who have called up and said I want to
turn myself in, but I'll only do it to Tommy Norman.
His daughter died of an overdose, and he suffers daily
anxiety and depression, and he has said that the people
that he polices on his beat have saved him rather
(12:18):
than the exact opposite. Likewise, I had issues with my
father and paying for it for many, many many years.
The kids of a nassas solve that for me.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
It's amazing. What does dancing do for you?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
These lovely smiles out there, man?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Like for real?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
I can't thank each and every one of you enough
for being in my life, for giving me purpose to
continue to do what I do. I truly thank you all, Hi, Debbie,
but serious, it means more to me to see somebody
(13:08):
smile than you can ever imagine. To again, bring hope
to the hopeless, and they give that back to me.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
That energy, just back and forth, back and forth.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
So that's it, man, Like, whatever I can do to
give love, to give hope, I mean, honestly, I want
nothing in return other than to see you guys smile
and enjoy life.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
So this cat's got one point two from the from
that first put the phone on the ground and dance.
You've got one point two million followers on Instagram and
like one point eight million followers on TikTok one.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Point six but who's count And you're not some tech guy,
You're a ups guy.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
So I mean, I guess like when you have extra time,
you just say all right and you go throw a guy.
I've seen it. I've seen it last night.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
So well, first of all, there's Lisa right there, right Lisa, Yeah,
my wife Lisa, and anybody who knows Lisa and me
knows that there is a dichotomy there. That's that's interesting,
which is I'm a three and a half four a bus.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
She's a dome. Right. You married up. I married right
big time.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And so I was showing her videos of you yesterday
dancing and stuff, and she used the word Oh he's
so cute, and.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I thought you ain't watching this. No more off, turn
it off because you're about to meet him face to face.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
I don't need it off off, none of that, Noah,
cut absolutely, But I mean the truth is you are
kind of cute dude. Well, I mean, and then when
you dance, you're like vibe.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I mean right, So, I mean the thing is dancing
is my element, bro, just put it that way. I
got I got it as I element it. And you've
got the whole cool look and the holes of.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Your jeans and the and the beard and the whole
thing going. I mean, you know, so anyway, but the whole,
the whole point tall this is, you know, with all
these followers, and I don't want people hearing me today
on this podcast. Nintendsil townspeople going to hear this. Yes,
(15:51):
you are the dancing ups Man, which is the most
hilarious moniker that ever was. But that is not what
you're about. No, You're about trying to bring a light
to the to the dangers of hiding problems with mental
(16:12):
health through the platform of simply making people smile. So
speak to that speak most importantly, speak to yeah, dance,
But there's a bigger thing out there that I've struggled
with in my life that has affected me that I
want people to start paying attention to.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You've got a platform, use it.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
And here's the thing, Bill, It's like, yes, if you're
dealing with it, like I say, and it's beyond you
and you know. And that's the thing is, like I
try to tell people.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I have a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
I don't want to say, look to me as a savior.
But but if you're dealing with it to a point
that it's out of your hands, seek help. But also, Bill,
my biggest thing is like be a kind human being.
And what I mean by that is you don't know
(17:19):
what the person in front of you is going through on.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
A daily basis.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
So by all means, go out of your way to
be kind to somebody.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And look, when you were shuggling with with the not
addiction depression, could you put a smile on your face
in public.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
To hate it when it got really dark?
Speaker 4 (17:43):
No?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I guess what I'm saying is cause what you just said.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Is important is that you do not know what's going
on and that person's life across from you that you
bump into in Walmart or whatever. And I guess what
I'm hearing is, you know, you may see somebody that's
fakeing a smile, but inside there at war.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
They're fighting that war that your book talks about exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
And the difference in a smile and a little bit
of kindness for that person that day literally could be
the difference in a lot for them.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
I mean, it could change their life, truly, you know.
And that's the thing THO is, Like, my mom is
one of the main reasons I came out of mind
because she had dealt with it her whole life and
she recognized what I was going through. And you know again,
(18:43):
like that love, that affection, and it doesn't have to
be from a family member, you know what I mean,
just showing love and kindness and.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Just being presence.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
The power of presence in somebody's life, like that Who's
Battling says it all.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
How it's supporting everybody who wants to follow you, how
do they find you?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Russell Butler Too on TikTok and Russell's Butler two correct
and Russell Dancing ups Man on Instagram. So please, I'm
going to say this on a live show, Please be
aware of scammers.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
I've read there's people that are like imitating you now out.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
There, hundreds, So it's it's just it's just a racket.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
I mean, it is what it is.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
But I just want people to be aware because I've
seen the effects of it, you know, And that's the
world is again. The world's a dark place and there's
a dark side to everything. So yeah, there's hundreds of
people catfishing and getting people to give them money, so
(20:07):
please be aware. I just want to put that out there.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
But the og og is Russell Butler two on TikTok and.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Russell the Dance Russell Dancing ups men.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
On Instagram on Instagram, and you go there and every
a couple a couple, a couple of times, three or
four times a week, you can look at a two
minute thing of you making somebody smile by getting on
their front porch.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
That's it, dude, that's it, all right.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
The last thing I want to ask you before we
go to the other last thing is this, I've watched videos.
You're like, man mc hamer, ain't got a dog on
your dog. I mean, y'all, the guy's good and it's fun.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
How in the hell did you learn to do that
because I know you danced from the kitchen with your mom,
but she was Barvin's Gay Elvis and and your dad
was country, and I know Johnny Cash wasn't doing some
of that running man stuff that you do.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
How'd you learn it? So, dude, I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Uh we had a house with a basement one while
I was eighth, ninth grade, somewhere in there, and I remember, uh,
well Michael Jackson of course, but genuine hony. When that,
when that song specifically and that video came out, I
was like, I need to learn to do that. So
(21:35):
I literally shut the basement door, locked myself in there.
Mom would come knock on the door, what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Like, let me do my thing. So yeah, I mean
I literally went in front of a mirror in the basement.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
In front of a mirror in the basement until I
got you know, it didn't have to be purple.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I was like, I got this in me. I just
got to do it. So I hours, no, really, you
just picked it up. Rhythm, I gotta say.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Rhythm was just something kind of like throwing a baseball.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
From me really just it just clicked, just clicked.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And then so you had to be dope at prom?
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Prom was the highlight of life?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
What was that?
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Like?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Oh, dude, dumb, dumb, dumb. I think everybody should. Yeah,
we'll be right back. It's so funny.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
But like, so all my buddies just got back from
a trip with my friends and they're still like, you're
just you.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
You just that's what you do.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You dance, love, life, give life, like that's what you do,
So just keep doing it.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
So I have I can't. I'm the worst thing in
the world, Lisa as No, it's terrible.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Every everybody's got a dancing bone in their body.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
No, this one does. And I will tell you something.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
When you when you go about two fifty, when I
start going right and then I come back left, some
of me is still right. So there's a little danger
in there because I mean I might, I might accidentally
with some of my back fat slap somebody. I mean,
I just so it's just it's it's not only am
I not good, it's it's it's a it's a hazard.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah all right, yeah, Lisa, I gotta see this, by the.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Way, Yeah, see nothing, but uh, Lisa, Lisa made me
go to ballroom. We had two kids, get married, in
five weeks. So Lisa made me go to ballroom dancing
lessons for a month and.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Oh good. Yeah, so I can't do what you do,
but this bad boy can rumba. That's what I'm talking about.
I can rumble my. I love it.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
And you know what's funny is like people ask me
all the time, like like I don't have the technical
skills like I just do.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, well, you're fortunate, You're You're very fortunate. So we're
going to end this with what you do best, which
is putting smiles on people's faces. But before we do that,
I'm going to do this three questions I'll take if
anybody wants to know anything about the dancing ups man,
(24:33):
now's your chance. Anybody out there want to ask him
anything I hadn't covered, ask it up nobody. Oh god,
I did a good interview if I caught them all.
Nobody's got any thoughts or questions for him?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Hey, what's that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Oh this is from UPS for driving the brands. So okay,
So here's the question Bill Seay who, by the way, Bill,
your fam your son, Thank you so much for offering
up Ground City Brewing.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Thank you for letting us be here. And thanks for
the beer.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I'm not sure if it's free or if Alex paid
for it, but I know I didn't.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Okay, thank you, Bill Sealley.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Everybody is the president president of varsity brands?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Am I right? Varsity president of varsity Spirit, which is.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Cheerleading outfits and all that stuff that goes on in
Orlando nowadays that people take for granted. Where cheer teams
get to compete for national championships at all, that's Bill
Seally That's where that came from. And Bill is an
enormous civic leader in our town, but he's a business guy,
(25:48):
so it's not at all surprising that he would ask
what is UPS.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Using for the brand? Is that the question? Are you
getting any benefits for what you do to bring light
on Brown brand?
Speaker 3 (26:02):
I will say thank you to Carol Tomay, the CEO
of UPS. She wrote me a letter saying thank you
for being a great brand ambassador.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So he got a letter, I.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Got, I got, I got a letter, and I got
a coin saying thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
So that was a really politically correct answer from a
man who makes his living from UPS saying they have
not yet had the temerity or the wisdom to break
onto what this man does to help the brand, which
ups if you're listening, Uh, wake up.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
So that's it.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Anybody else, anything else for our buddy Russell, anything at all? Hey, Bill,
you know he's in the home of fed X.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Maybe we can take that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
To get that bonus today.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
So here's a question from Dan Patterson, another Memphian who
has businesses a lot of places and on other continents
right now, and who is another proud Memphian who says, Hey,
you may be on the on the precipice of crossing over,
(27:19):
of crossing over the boundaries into into enemy.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Territory here in Memphis, fed X.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
But Dan thinks there could be a possibility that fed
X would love to calculate on top of your brand.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
That's what Dan's saying.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
And he's wearing a shirt that says TCB, so he's
taking care of business.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
That's right, that's right, that's exactly right, Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Anybody else anything else with Russels before Russell puts smiles
on our faces because everybody's going to stand up.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
So Saint Jude, as all Memphians know, is so important
to our city.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
But the world.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
They're curing cancer at a rate that nobody ever thought
could be done for children. Absolutely, and they take in
kids and families from all the world, and those families
and kids don't pay a single cent for that care.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
I tell you, Bill, like Alex, that was a great question.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
And you and Alex actually met at say Jude, yeah, correct,
tell us.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
That was probably one of the more profound experiences of
my life to see these kiddos, my youngest age three
years old, getting wheeled.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Into chemo bald.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
I tell you, I tell you, I looking at those
mom and dads, looking at those courageous kids. I went
back and I hugged my kiddos a little bit tighter,
I tell you.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
But that I mean seriously.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
To be able to raise leave after Mother's Day and
Father's Day campaign, we raised just over eleven thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
So and again, like Saint Jude sent me the breakdown
of what all that covered, and I was beyond blessed
to be able to do that for them.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Well, you got friends at Memphis now, so you got
to come back more. You got to come back more
and dance for those kids.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Love to man, love to all right, anything else here
to give me in trouble.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Who's got ice iis baby on the thing? Can we
start that?
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Oh oh?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Hold it. One more reason.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
The reason I chose ice ice Baby is because it
puts a smile on me. In Lisa's face, our oldest daughter,
Maggie shout out to you, baby, what's three? When Ice
ice Baby was a thing, that music would come on
in our house and she would go into an other
worldly trance am I line, Lisa. She would literally start shaking.
(30:01):
It was not dancing, but she would. And then she
would just get on the ground and flap around like
a fish out of water.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
To Ice ice Baby. But y'all, she just it just
consumed her. And you know what it did. It made
my wife and me smile.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
And you know what, at the end of the day,
you never know who you're going to cross and what's
going on between their ears and to your world. If
we can just make them smile, you could change the life.
And from a guy who is homeless in a car,
who lost his best buddy while he was struggling with depression,
(30:43):
anxiety and suicide thoughts himself, who lost his parents and
went into a three.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Destructive period of time with abuse.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
And came out of it longer in his faith, a
father who loves his children, who has owned all of it,
and is now on a mission to say mental health
is not taboo. We got to talk about it. And
in the meantime, I'm gonna use this talent that God
(31:18):
gave me to simply put a smile on the face
of people who may not have anything to smile about.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yes, sir, that is what the army and normal folks is.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Bro Hey, it's been an honor. It's been a pleasure, Bill,
and thank you for doing what you do.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Brother, Thank you. It truly is an honor and pleasure
for me. So you all ready to end this on
the right note? Can we get this thing going? Somebody
turn it on.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Russell's gonna do his thing, and I think everybody needs
to stand up for it.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
So we're gonna stand up. Are we still recording? Catch
us all right?
Speaker 1 (31:50):
We're still recording for those who are listening. Here we go.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I don't even know how you do that.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Stops. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Off the lights and extreme over.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
I'm like, I'm doing a lot of the stage like
I can't do.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Russell, Brother, just put a smile on everybody's face. I'm
Bill Corney. This was an army and normal folks. Thanks
for being here, everybody.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Thank y'all so much, Thank y'all awesome, awesome, and thank
you for joining us this week. If Russell Butler or
(33:08):
another guest have inspired you in general, or better yet,
inspired you to take action, please let me know. I'd
love to hear about it. You can write me anytime
at Bill at normalfolks dot us, and I guarantee you this,
I will respond. If you've enjoyed this episode, y'all, share
it with friends and on social Subscribe to the podcast,
(33:31):
take the time to subscribe to the podcast, rate and
review it. Become a Premium member at normalfolks dot us.
Do all of these things that can help us grow
an army.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Of normal folks.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Thanks to our producer, Iron Light Laps, I'm Bill Courtney.
I'll see you next week.
Host
Bill Courtney
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