QLS Classic: Sheila E.

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic
episode was produced by the team at Pandora. What's up, y'all?
This is QLs classic. My name is Questlove. One of
my favorite people ever, Sila Escabido. This is from twenty seventeen,
December thirteenth. Yeah, man, Sheila is you know, has killed

(00:25):
the game for the last well, you know, four or
five decades. It's one of the greatest drummers. And this
is modern music. She's really really made a name for
herself from her humble beginnings playing with her family of course,
her time with Prince, and her time after Prince as
a percussionist and session musician and a solo artist in

(00:46):
her own right. It's definitely a fun time. She's a
great storyteller. Let's get into it. This is Chila e
quest Loves Supreme PLS classic from twenty seventeen. All right, okay,
here you go. Who already?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:07):
What two? Three?

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Supremo Suprema roll called Suprema Suprema.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Roll called Suprema Supremo. Roll call Supreme Supremo roll? Some
call me eyeball? Yeah, w nineteen jobs? Yeah, everybody stop
on the one.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah, I knew I was going to mm hmmm find docs.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
How you doing, Sheila?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Good God see you still I didn't know, but that's
what we would do.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Damn it, good God.

Speaker 5 (02:07):
My name is Sugar Yeah with Sheila E. Yeah, if
we got married, Yeah, I'd be sugary.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Supreme roll so Supreme roll boss. Milla wanted to be
a percussionist.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah when at the age of six, sore Sheila bound
some sticks you supreme rolls.

Speaker 6 (02:40):
Yeah with Queen Sheila.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
Yeah, this ain't gonna be quick because I want to
talk about dookie sick.

Speaker 5 (02:50):
A roll call.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Suppreme.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
My role called My name is Sheila. Yeah, I am
the queena. Yeah, a cushion.

Speaker 7 (03:00):
Yeah, no discussing supremo Supreme Supreme.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Wow. I actually I wanted to say that I don't
think there's any word in the English language that rhymes
with Sheila.

Speaker 8 (03:30):
You gonna say dookie, Okay, No, Sarah, there's there's there's
no word that Sheila might be the most unique Namela.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
No, I'm serious, Like I literally for at least two
hours last night. Yeah, there's nothing a rhymesa it.

Speaker 5 (03:55):
Took you two hours?

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Then I just said, I gentlemen, feel a sneakers Okay,
so next episode I'll rhyme it with Fila. Anyway, Ladies
and gentlemen, who I will say that, Yeah, I'm gonna

(04:17):
keep my composer. If you were probably to compile and
gather uh probably the modern rock top three list for
drummers or percussionists, I guarantee you that our next guest,
uh well, no doubt always be placed on that list.

(04:38):
Her name and her legacy, I believe is synonymous with
uh drumming excellence, band leader excellence and truth be told
as many times as I've ever name dropped as influences
either Tony Williams or Clyde Stubblefield or John Starks or whoever,
uh truth be told pro Probably you know Sheila E

(05:03):
is my drumming hero. Like I've I've done many hours
practicing and studying and practicing and practicing, and you know
she never ever gets her props. I mean as a
as a session ah, as a session musician. The roster
is endless, from from George Duke to Marvin Gaye, the
Lionel Richie Dinah Ross to Kenny Loggins to Phil Collins

(05:27):
to Jennifer Love Hewitt, Quincy Jones. We know this homework. Yeah,
the list is endless, and you know even in the

(05:48):
art as an artist in her own right. I mean
she has an amazing uh diverse discography lasting over the
last four decades, from Alms with her father pescaveto of
course to the Grace of all Time with Prince and
again it's it's absolutely endless. Uh. Your new project, which
I believe is iconic, Yes, formally called Boy versus Girl

(06:13):
or that was I thought it was initially.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Called No No, No, that was that was another record
that was after Prince pass.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
I see, so Girl, Me's Boy. I'm sorry, but your
new how iconic is in the stories now and everyone
from Freddie Stone to put Collins and everybody's on this record,
even Ringo star ladies and gentlemen. Please welcome she the
quest left Supreme.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Shout shout out to Fante, who's kicking himself right now.
He's like me when the shock episode happened. Sorry, everyone
has to and Bill Sherman and yes, I'm paid Bill.

Speaker 5 (06:54):
He's always kicking himself, kicking both.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Of you guys. How are you today show? I appreciate
you doing this for me on know that you've been
up since zero clock in the morning.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
That's true. Two hours. Hey, anything for you.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
You know. But I also I was telling them that,
you know, I'm not saying that the sleepless streak you pasted,
but you're you're the queen of this. You've done many me.
I learned it from y'all, Like you know, who needs sleep. Yeah,
I know, I'm just saying, but I appreciate you for.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Being no, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Okay, I'm looking at the clock and realizing that my
intro took seven minutes.

Speaker 6 (07:35):
It's only right, though you talk, It's only right.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Okay, Well I want let's let's start right into it.
For those that don't know about your history. Could you
tell our audience where you were born?

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Oakland, California, Oaktown, Califuna Area, born and raised. Uh, My
dad Pete Escavito, still playing, still alive. My mom Janita
Marie guard Deer Escavte, still crazy. They had their sixty
first anniversary yesterday, sixty one years being married. That's a

(08:08):
miracle right there. What sixty one years? Yeah, and Pops
are still playing percussion and playing with his band, and
so it's awesome. I have two brothers, warning Peter, Michael,
and his sister Zena, and and about five billion family
members and I'm not exaggerating.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Cousins and the's nephews forever. Every week you meet somebody,
it's like, yeah, I'm your cousin from No, no, that
is true, and you just gotta believe him.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
No, it's mostly true. We find I'm not even joking.
It's most right, Britt, It's mostly true every time. I mean, seriously,
I go somewhere. Okay, you got to prove it. Okay, Well,
my mom da da da da da. So I'm your
third cousin. I'm like, wow, you do look like that
is okay, You're right, it's both sides.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Have been so lucky. All my cousin situations have not
you know, worked out well.

Speaker 6 (09:02):
Plus I have all kinds of funky mixes in your family.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, which is yeah, we have everything and everybody. Yeah, Mexican, Creole,
Puerto Rican, Cuban, Filipino, Japanese, German, French.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Related to y'all literally are the world.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
We are the world.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Literally, yes, we is so okay. You'd said that you're
Oakland born and raised, so I gotta ask you, you know,
because I go out to Oakland a lot. Well, I
guess fever missed if I didn't say that Pandora or
our parent company right right, is located in Oakland, which

(09:40):
which is why I'm out there often, and I'm often
told by people that, you know, the Oakland of twenty
seventeen is definitely not what Oakland was or the Bay
Area in general. So what are you what are your
feelings of the the current metamorphosis of what Oakland has
become from what it was to what it is now.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Well, I mean, right now, it's pretty pretty challenging because
all of the tech you know, and companies like Pandora
and different things like that, and Apple and everything else.
A lot of the people who are building all of
these things have moved the people, some of the people
out of the way and places where they used to

(10:24):
live that they can't afford it anymore. So, I mean
there's some places in the hood I can't believe that
are a million dollars and they're not even worth thirty
five thousand dollars. So the money's gone up as far
as pricing housing, So a lot of people are having
to move out of the Bay, you know, further out

(10:45):
into like Valayo or even past Richmond, but Valayo, Sacramento,
different places like that, Fremont, mial Pedis because they can't
afford it. And then at the same time, like my foundation,
we're partnering. We partner with five in Oakland. We started
Elevate Oakland with Elevate Hope. So there's like three of

(11:07):
us together just trying to keep music and arts and
the schools in the Bay because we just don't have
enough help, especially in the hood in the community where
they really need us, and they're ending up dividing the schools.
Instead of it being one school, they're dividing it to
two and sometimes three schools because there's too many kids

(11:30):
and not enough teachers. So a lot of the teachers,
they're really good teachers, don't want to go in the community,
and we get small pickings from choosing a great teacher
who would like to come and help our students. So
I've been you know, it's changed a lot even for us,
like what we've been doing to help some of the

(11:53):
schools and stuff and try to keep the kids and
get them involved in music and arts because the music
and arts have been take you know, a lot of schools.
We hire a lot of the Bayery musicians, you know,
and if they're in town, we hire them to do
artists and residents. So they come, you know, to to
fod to six times in a month for like a
couple of months if they're available, and we pay them

(12:15):
to help assist the teacher and teaching classes and Afro
Cuban hip hop whatever it may be. So that changed
we were we didn't do that early on. There was
music in school when I was growing up, you know,
and now there's there's that need. There are a few
charter schools and stuff, but a lot of the kids

(12:37):
there there's nowhere for them to go, so we need
to fix what's happening. So to me, that's changed tremendously.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
So you're saying that during your time period in school,
it was typical for music appreciation class and lessons like
you can't go to a performing art schools.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
No, well we couldn't afford it either. No, No, we
just learned in school. We have music in arts in school,
but I mean most of my learning music was in
the house watching pop play.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
So okay, yeah, so I mean describe that because you know,
there's rarely arts that are here that come from that environment.
What is it at least, why is it important for
music in the school systems?

Speaker 5 (13:21):
Like how.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
When did they like remove that probe? Like the idea
of taking the arts away? Was it like the mid
eighties the.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Lad Wow, I don't even really know, because if it
seemed like it was about the eighties, I don't know
for sure. I just noticed that there was a whole
generation of kids that wanted to learn, and we found
out that they weren't learning, and they were asking where
could they go get classes or be taught? Can I

(13:53):
get a trumpet? And that's when we started raising money,
like in the nineties, or let's just raise some money
so we can get the kids instruments. Well then we
got the instruments, Well, who's going to teach them? You know,
Well there weren't. They're not enough teachers to teach. So
then again going back to well let's get some of
the local musicians, maybe we can have classes with them.
We went beyond not We didn't go to the superintendent

(14:16):
of schools and things like that or the district. We
ended up at that point even in two thousand, we
ended up going to the schools personally and talking to
the principals. Hey, we just want to help. Can we
help you If you guys say yes, we'll just come in.
You know, I don't we were going to go to
Sacramento and deal with the whole Supreme Court thing and all.

(14:37):
It's like, well, no, if you just allow us to
come in, we'll help. So I think it was around
eighties or so, and then we started helping in the nineties.
And again growing up with my parents, Pops always had
percussion around the house, and you know, and we'd go
to facilities since I was young and play the foster

(14:57):
care facilities, the jewy facilities, anything where there were kids
where they didn't have a lot of help, or they
would live somewhere you knowerod periodically at these facilities and
then go home on the weekends or whatever. Some of
the kids have been abused. So, you know, Pops, even
though we didn't have much, we would go there when
I was young, like eight nine years old, and we

(15:20):
were doing that most of our lives. That's how we
grew up giving back to the community back then.

Speaker 4 (15:24):
It sounds like the organization that you have is a
great model for a lot of other major cities because
I was thinking when you were speaking, the nineties was
a period when it's happened in most major cities, Like.

Speaker 6 (15:34):
Music was let out of schools.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
That's why the Grammys started their organization and whatnot. But
do you ever think about like expanding that because there
are a lot of I just thought it. But that's
a great idea to have people who have already succeeded
from the area start an organization for you know, music
for children.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, we're trying to build a curriculum now so that
it works wherever we go. And instead of saying we're
going to elevate Oakland, we want to elevate San Francisco,
elevate La elevate Copped, and elevate whatever is. Just elevate
whatever city. But we have to raise the money. So
we took a break and trying to raise the money
so that we can start all over again and and

(16:12):
get a good board of people and and begin at
the beginning. So this is the beginning. So and it's
funny because Phill I'm ready.

Speaker 9 (16:21):
I'm ready.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
I wasn't in the already.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Thank you. Yeah, you didn't know.

Speaker 6 (16:26):
In a way, there's always more Philly, there's always more
you can do.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
There's always more, yeah, because I'm coming down the pocket
with that, so it's kind of hard to do. It's
kind of hard to do without a sponsor.

Speaker 4 (16:36):
I'm just on the board. I'm just still adding to
the idea.

Speaker 6 (16:40):
She listened. You know a board, Yeah, a board.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
Yeah, absolutely, we start a board and.

Speaker 9 (16:47):
I will.

Speaker 5 (16:48):
Okay, you need to do more like you.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
I will.

Speaker 6 (16:50):
I just don't have the fund, but I definitely have
the energy. You got the energy and didn't mean to
cut you off, you did, so.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
What uh, what's your What was your first musical memory?

Speaker 2 (17:06):
Five years old? Playing with my dad? Actually I don't
remember playing with them as much as I remember getting
dressed to go play. I was five years old at
my grandmother's house and my cousins were mad because they
couldn't go to the club. They're like, well, Sheila's five,
how come she gets to go. My mom was explaining, well,

(17:28):
she's gonna play. So I'm getting dressed. I had on
this white dress with the little white uh socks and
then the black pant le pant and leather shoes, and
I remember my mom combed my hair. We got in
the car. We went to the gig, which is still
there at the places. It was called Sands Ballroom right.

Speaker 5 (17:47):
On gig you were five, Yeah, gig.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
For real, Like my first gig was five, and I
remember it like it was yesterday. But anyway, yeah, Sands Ballroom.
So we go there my mom. We get out of
the car, and I could hear my dad playing. There
were these windows up at the top, so you can
hear the music coming from the place. And as she
was walking me up the stairs, I can hear the
music getting louder and louder and louder. And then they

(18:13):
opened the door and we stood at the door and
my dad saw us, and they ended the song. And
then he said, ladies and gentlemen, I want to bring
up my daughter, Sheila Escavito. She's gonna come and play
with us. And then I just remember all the people partying,
like the Red Sea. It was so weird. It's like wow,
and I'm just looking at everyone. Wow, this is amazing.
And I remember him picking me up and I was

(18:36):
gonna play Congress. So the Congress were pretty big, and
so he stood me on a stool and then I
don't remember anything else, and he said I was killing it,
but I don't remember.

Speaker 4 (18:47):
Five year old hand on congress, like I'm just making
a loud sound. I remember my father's a drummer too,
and I remember trying but it didn't come out loud
as I wanted it too, because my hands were too small.

Speaker 6 (18:58):
That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, I was going to say as a drummer, I
mean I started off from bongos, but really it's well, yeah,
I mean, it wasn't like there was a drum set
in the house, but there was like one bongo in
the house, and I mean I played it a lot.
But the wear and tear on your hands.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
Especially, no, bongos are horrible to play.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Why did you choose that?

Speaker 2 (19:24):
I chose congas, not bongos. They're different.

Speaker 5 (19:30):
Still tell him that the difference boos, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
He was doing listeners shut up each other. No, but okay,
so why I didn't know that there is a wear
and tear difference on your hands.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
Between my god?

Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yes, okay, so explain the difference.

Speaker 5 (19:51):
Then.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
The difference of the bongos are really small and because
of the drum heads, I'm gonna put this dumb the drumheads,
they're smaller playing bongos. You're gonna play with half of
your finger where your finger, uh, your knuckle, you know,
so that first part of that finger, that's how you
get that really high snapping sound on the bongles. So

(20:12):
you're playing everything just you're just playing this, and it
hurts after a while. Your finger is swollen. I mean,
my brother's hands used to be so swollen from playing.
So I would play them too, but they hurt, and congas,
you end up using more of your hand. I mean,
you can do that on the bongos, but the sound
of what you want to get for bongos is really
the tips of your fingers, and that hurts.

Speaker 4 (20:34):
You have beautiful hands with somebody who does that, thank you.
And I was looking at your palms, like, look at that,
no marks, no scars, that's let me suck.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
Is techno soft technok.

Speaker 10 (20:46):
You get treatments on your hands, like to keep them
softer or anything along those lines.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
No, I do use lotion, but.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
In every household and every.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
Housele now uh no. You know, when I was playing
every single day, like with George Duke and with my
dad playing Congress, just mainly playing that as my instrument,
my hands were bleeding. I'd have to use rage of
blade to cut the calluses and it was painful. Yeah.
I mean I remember like this wall right here, This
is like a concrete wall, and before this shows with

(21:22):
my dad and with George Duke, because we would play
every night, I'd have to bang on the wall before
we went on stage until my hands got numb so
I could get through the first like two songs, and
then he'd do a ballad and I have to start
all over again. It's like so painful, but I loved it,
not the pain, but the you know, the satisfaction of
being able to play percussion is.

Speaker 10 (21:44):
Just And when when did you hear of the existence
of these things called sticks that you can use instead
of your hands?

Speaker 2 (21:51):
It's not any better.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
Without without going to see the unspoken situation with the
roots right now? No no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah.
But what I'm saying is that you know, is it
is it? Is it taboo or unspoken or cheating?

Speaker 10 (22:18):
I think it's taboo and cheating if I use those
things are meant to be played with your hands.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Why are you answering the question?

Speaker 6 (22:24):
I want to know?

Speaker 1 (22:29):
This is my favorite already.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
No, No, I'm asking because I want to know. Do
you play.

Speaker 5 (22:36):
We've all used bongos.

Speaker 4 (22:37):
No, she doesn't know your background, like you're a superstar engineers,
that's what she's asking about.

Speaker 10 (22:41):
I mean, I know the answer is no, but I've
seen and recorded.

Speaker 5 (22:46):
I've seen and recorded both types.

Speaker 10 (22:48):
People use sticks and don't use sticks, And it's just
my I guess my opinion that bongos and congress are
supposed to be played with the hands, and sticks are
for other percussive things like drums.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
But I well, my question was I always wanted sticks
because there's a certain loud dynamic that I like when
sticks hit bongles, just for it, for it. And I
think it's mostly because of whenever Prints programmed the rim
shot to be that conga sound, that's the sound I

(23:24):
always was going for in my head. So thus it
was like, well, I can't get that with the hand,
but you keep that with the stick. So that's always
been my default move. Of course, to the dismay of
every percussionist watching us, Oh why Y're cheating, Why your
man is cheating?

Speaker 9 (23:39):
Not not?

Speaker 1 (23:40):
You know that sort of thing. So is it really?

Speaker 5 (23:42):
Is it?

Speaker 9 (23:43):
Truly?

Speaker 1 (23:44):
Because even when you're you're you're at your your setup
with Timbali's and whatnot, and you're in your your cow
thoughs it's not like you're gonna put them down.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
And then yes I would.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
So you're saying that is absolutely cheating.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
Oh yes, but I agree with them as well. Let
me tell you why. Because in traditional music, like traditional
meaning Latin jazz, also things like you're gonna play bongos
with your hands, they would kill you if you so
playing there's no sensitivity to the instrument. Is just going
to be one tone. You can't get the different tones

(24:22):
and the feel with sticks. Now, however, when disco music
came out and more pop music, you would end up
using sticks, you know, for a different sound. I've done
it on recordings, but it depends on but I've done
it too, but it depends on you know what music
you're gonna play with it. But definitely they were made
to play with your hands and not sticks.

Speaker 6 (24:43):
Final answer, final answer.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
That is my final answer.

Speaker 10 (24:46):
The real answer to your question, which was why did
I chime in?

Speaker 2 (24:51):
It's because on this day right there, like talking is
the most talking, No I want to hear.

Speaker 10 (25:08):
I already said it. I was right, as it turns out,
Thanks you for I'm a purist. You know you can
sticks on those things. But you're more famous actually in
my head for using sticks.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
You know, you just do me. You've been engineer for
like twenty years. You're just telling me this now.

Speaker 10 (25:29):
But you're I mean, you're more of a drummer, you know,
than a percussion than a congo bongo player like I.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Was about to do.

Speaker 6 (25:36):
You play the over thirty.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
You know what, I have the ability to, but until
I master the sound of I cannot claim that and
I do not know how to.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
What is that?

Speaker 3 (25:53):
It's like when you rub your fingers. When you rub,
this a vibration thing. Okay, I've never been able to
do anything. It's like learning the whistle or like when
you wolf whistle.

Speaker 6 (26:01):
When on the actually on the drum, you can guess.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
It's a vibration with your fingers. That was what was
the song?

Speaker 2 (26:07):
Dun't dunt dunk dunk dude. Yeah, Scorpio Scorpio. You practice
YouTube of course, of course.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
Okay, so how long did you? Because we're big on
just the one thing I want to convey to my
listeners is the amount of practice, yeah, that you have
to put into to master your craft. So in general,
were you just always jamming in the house or like,
how much time would you personally practice just isolated and

(26:38):
that sort of thing, or was it like you had
to go and practice.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
Oh no, no, no, Actually, like when I played that beat,
it was if you know, my dad's congos were there.
The song came out, we got the forty five, and
I was like, oh, that's dope, let me try that.
You know, we would just do it, or we'd play it,
you know, jamming, jamming with bands, or out in the park,
you know when the street drummers, we'd all get together
and just play outside. I hate to say that I've

(27:06):
never practiced today in my life, and I'm sorry for
those who need.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
I believe you. I believe that you've jammed a lot
of hours, like and that was your practice, yeah kind
of yeah, just like the Roots before Foullin. The Roots
never practice as a band like we just you do
three hour shows for three hundred and sixty five days
out the year. Then it's right.

Speaker 6 (27:28):
So you just jam with your family and now.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, just jamming and stuff. Yeah, but to sit down
and say I'm going to learn a rhythm and a
part so I can get better, I'm sorry.

Speaker 8 (27:37):
No.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
See, my parents made me practice to keep me from
going out on the streets.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
And they did the right thing.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Right, But I'm saying, like, but you grew up in
the household with other musicians, so I'm certain that it
was more like a jamming thing.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
It was. Well, yes, that.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
Weird though, I mean, is it also I I I'm
not not that I'm big on jamming, but there's something
very vulnerable about a jam session that makes it very
hard for me to do in front of people. I know. Okay,
so the first the first day of taking the Tonight

(28:15):
Show gig, and it's just the eight of us facing
each other, sort of like the circle we're in now.
It was the hardest thing in the world to do. Like,
I stopped the session after five minutes and called my
manager like, I don't know what to do, Like, what
do you just just start playing a song? Like, because
I think it's it's a it's a vulnerable, intimate thing almost.

(28:38):
I hate to be creepy with the metaphorical thing, but
I mean it's like intimacy, and you know, the thing
is that you have to be on I mean, we're
on good terms with each other as a band, but
it's it's sort of like I think that you also
socially have to be in tune with the person that
you are playing with in order to get that the

(29:01):
desired results. And so it's I think that's it's hard.
So it means that you were able to jam or
borderline envious, that you're able to like play with your family, like.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Yeah, and we grew up like that, So I mean,
anytime the opportunity, if they were sitting out, let's go play,
all right, We started getting into this whole thing and
then taking solos and going into different rhythms and like
just jamming the house.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
In the backyard outside, absolutely in.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
The house in the backyard, at the parks, down at
Berkeley College and on telegraph all the time. We were
at down on the streets just jamming. And the mission
in San Francisco. Yeah, yeah, for real.

Speaker 6 (29:43):
Where are you? Your brothers and sister like oldest, youngest,
how does.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Yeah, so I'm the oldest, My brother Wan, my brother Peter, Michael,
my sister Zina.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
Because I was wondering why you got I was like,
how does she get picked out of everybody to go
jam with dad?

Speaker 2 (29:57):
And do the direct They played too.

Speaker 6 (30:00):
They played It seemed like you guys had a special
relationship or your dad.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Yeah, I was first answer question.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
So how unusual in your childhood was it? For I
know that drums are normally associated as a more masculine music,
uh instrument to play, So how unusual was it? Like
did you get any ribbing whatsoever? Tease like you played
the drums? Yeah? No, or like why don't you play

(30:27):
piano or why don't you play guitar?

Speaker 2 (30:29):
Like or people?

Speaker 1 (30:32):
Well, I'm just saying, was there anyone to discourage you, like, well,
that's not a young lady shouldn't be playing, Like do
you have a grandmother that said, like, she shouldn't be
playing the drum.

Speaker 6 (30:40):
Can't wear a dress and play the drums?

Speaker 2 (30:41):
Oh no, my family. No one in the family ever
said anything.

Speaker 9 (30:45):
So it was a supernatural to supernatural.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
No one ever said my parents, my uncles, cousins, they
all play. No one ever said you can't play because
you're a girl, because everyone would pick up something and
just play. My mom plays guido, she plays a little
bit of congas, she tap dances. She's sayings. You know,
it's just an entertaining family. And every time we go
to a party, even with the family, we'd put on
Jackson five Temptations whatever, James Brown, and we just start

(31:10):
imitating people. So we grew up like let's let's who's
going first, and the and the the way to get
to the party. Well, in the party, as soon as
my mom would starts singing Da d everyone start running
to the living room, it's like time for that's the
INTROTI oh yeah, oh yeah. Then my mom would break

(31:35):
right into tap dance and then we'll see who's gonna
play what record and start dancing. So I was never told.
Never ever until I left uh the house and started
performing with other artists did people say things. But even
in school, no one really said, oh, you know, you
can't play because you're a girl. I don't. I mean,
it was always cool. It's like, you know everyone was

(31:55):
in school was like stope.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
Well, I mean on the other side of the corn,
like did they make a big deal of it because
you were dope or you know, it was like yeah,
every time you play, like like it's a novelty thing
that we're watching or whatever. Because yes, I think with
the exception with the exception of what's her name, I
think her name was Cookie. There was there was a

(32:19):
Jersey based group in the seventies called Ecstasy, Passion and
paindess uh, the mom deep sample, the realist do do
do Do Do Do Do Do Do? I'll play it later,
but yeah, there's they were. I mean, they had a

(32:41):
they had a run from like seventy three to seventy six,
but they did like three appearances on Soul Train. So
oh wow, that's the first time I saw like a
woman playing.

Speaker 2 (32:49):
Drums, but she was actually playing drums. Yeah, oh yeah,
I gotta check it out.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
So yeah, I was going to say, did you have
anyone that you looked up to that was yes, the
car and cooking? Yeah, did you have anyone that you
looked up to that was a woman that was playing
drums when you were coming up at all?

Speaker 2 (33:08):
The only woman that I saw play ever, especially drums,
was Karen Carpenter when her and her brother had their
variety show. Yeah, and she was killing it, you know.
And as soon as I saw around television, I turned
to Pops and said, how come I don't have a
TV show like nine or something? What do you mean?

(33:29):
I said, I played drums. I played just like her.
How come can't we just get a TV show? He goes, sure,
you can. I mean it was never like no, you
can't play because you're a girl that no one else.
That was never said.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
But in your formative years, did anyone think like, yo,
there's no one that we know of that can fill
in the slot and you'll be the first to like
ye at that time would have been revolutionary. So I'm saying, like, right,
anyone thinking like dollar signs.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Like no, we did. Actually, as a matter of fact,
when I first started playing and sitting in with other
bands and they wanted to pay me, I thought it
was disrespectful to pay me because I know it's kind
of weird. Yeah, I thought it was disrespectful because I

(34:14):
loved it so much. It's like, don't pay me for
something I really love. I'm just I just want to
do it, like this is my passion. I don't And
then Pop was like, come here.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
He took me in the kitchen.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yeah, he took me in the kitchen, open the kitchen door, refrigerators,
like we need some food. You gotta it's okay to
get paid, It's okay. And I'm like, oh, okay, all right, cool?

Speaker 6 (34:37):
Were you at that moment?

Speaker 2 (34:39):
Fourteen?

Speaker 1 (34:40):
So I was going to ask at what age were
you when you were like a total Jedi master, as
in like I could close my eyes and know.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
I haven't got you. I haven't gotten there yet.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
Good answer, Good answer. Now I ask you again, this
time just dropped.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
No, I'm so serious. I'm being honest.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
I'll ask you, at what age were you when other
musicians took you? Totally serious as in I want her
for At what age were you when you started?

Speaker 2 (35:16):
You know, they still sometimes don't take me, sister, can't
get a call for a gig nowhere me. I'm telling you.

Speaker 4 (35:25):
This because you're They're like, I can't afford I was like, oh.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
I could have called you.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
See that's what happened.

Speaker 6 (35:36):
That's not nothing to do with that's that.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
That's because we're afraid of you.

Speaker 6 (35:41):
You're at a mountain top and now it's about of climbing.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Is like, yeah, no.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
I mean, I know you're not owning the superhero thing,
and I know that artists hate the fan worship thing,
but your your existence is kind of a big deal.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
So no, thank you. I mean I understand it now,
But seriously, when when growing up, I mean, I didn't
get it, and I don't think we realized it even
Pops until later on it's like, okay, well wait a minute.
You know that wasn't ignoring you.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
That was more like we're not worthy. There was one
time I think I was going to call you for
a things and it's only because I saw that you
did was it loving you? Right? And I saw your
credit and then I was like, oh, oh, she would,
she would come down to earth and mess.

Speaker 6 (36:37):
At what point in your life were you thinking like this?

Speaker 4 (36:39):
Because you said, you know now you understand now why
people weren't calling, But like at.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
Because until I started speaking with people, it's like, you
know how you doing? Oh? You know? Like and then
I was like, wait a minute, you know, I'll come
and do a session. You would, I mean.

Speaker 6 (36:56):
And Stevie wanted to play the piano and no.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Listen, this guy, this dude, this producer called me. I
could have slapped him through the phone. He called me
and he said, hey, Sheila, I just want to know something,
all right, okay, yeah, what you need I'm doing. I'm
producing this record on this girl. I want to know
how to get the Sheila und do you know anybody.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
But you're on the phone with her right now?

Speaker 2 (37:23):
I did. I said, wait a minute, how can you
my sound you want to you want me to refer
you to somebody else? Dude.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
Okay, here's another thing, and we're skipping we're skipping the
line here. But I believe that the the number one
weapon of the Purple Cloud period or just that period
with Prince, the number one weapon was mystery and anybody

(37:56):
associated any at least in my eyes, Like you know,
when I was ten, eleven twelve, like seeing you guys,
it was like it was some untouchable. We're too I
don't mean arrogant, like we're too good for.

Speaker 5 (38:10):
That, but you know, a different world.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
Yeah, even though like that we are the world perception like, oh,
we never do that, like in our minds, we're just
like you guys would only do your music and you're
laughing at us mere mortals like oner.

Speaker 9 (38:25):
Brand kind of like that.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
But we weren't gonna say no, no, no, no, no,
we you know what the it's weird. It's like it's
like being in this room, all of us sitting here,
we just start playing and jamming and next you know,
four days later you might have cut another record. I mean,
it was just like we love being in a studio
and after being with everyone, you know, all the time,

(38:50):
you kind of forget that there's a world happening, There's
something's going something is going on. At one point, Prince
and I just we felt like we're in a bubble,
and until we woke up at the end of Purple Rain,
it's like, wait, what just happened? We didn't even we
didn't understand it at all.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
Okay, so now I know that you're available for session work.
Was it the important thing?

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yes? I am.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
So. What was your very first gig as a profession
professional percussions?

Speaker 2 (39:26):
Pops playing his percussion player got sick. He had a
band called that Techas signed to Clive Davis. They were
touring out with Temptations, Stevie, Wonder, earth Wind and Fire.
Pops's percussion other percussion player got sick and I said,
I'm fifteen, Pops, I know all the music you know.
Let me play this show.

Speaker 9 (39:44):
And it was like coach.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
He was like, no, you can't do it. And I
was like, Pops, come on, why. He said, you're only fifteen.
You can't you know they're out on tour with all
these bands. No, you can't do it. You're only fifteen
years old. And I said, moms, Pops won't let me
play in the band. Well, thank you. So I got
my way, and so I played that show in San
Francisco for I think it was then Mayor Moscone, I think,

(40:10):
and it was for three thousand people, and the band
was killing, like you know, fifteen years old. Like I've
been playing with these a couple of other bands and
they were like knockoffs of Santana music. So we knew
all that stuff. And my dad was in Santana right
before having the band ass Teca, and that band ass
Teca was formed with when Santana's band broke up, Carlos

(40:32):
broke up his band half the band with my dad,
Neil Sean, Lenny White on drums. All those people were
for a journey or huh okay yep. So they were
playing with my dad in Azteca, and so you got
this caliber of musicians in these people playing with an
eighteen piece, you know, five six horns, three singers, three

(40:53):
percussion players, to keyboard players to guitar players. I mean,
it was insane and all this music and it's like
I wanted to play in that band, So I got
to play in the band. And it just brings you
if you're set in a place where it's going to
force you to go somewhere you've never been before. You know,
I wanted to make sure that I was there representing,

(41:13):
and I mean I went for it. Well. You know,
my dad turned to me at one point and he said,
you know, I want you to take a solo, you know,
like he's gesturing to me, you know, play from your heart.
I'm like, I'm so scared. I closed my eyes and
I started playing a solo and I black. I felt
like a blackdown. I just left the planet. And next

(41:34):
thing I know, I remember looking up in the sky.
I was up in the sky like floating, looking at myself,
playing in the looking at the entire room with my
dad looking at me. I'm looking at him, and the
crowd is just starting to roar it and I saw
it like from above. It was so weird. And I

(41:56):
when I finally with my eyes, did I realize, like
all of a sudden, you know, like in a movie
and you hear the music like coming back in out
of nowhere. That's how I felt. And then I started
shaking because I got scared, like wait, did I just
find what happened? You know? And I felt like it
was an out of body experience and my hands were shaking,
and at the end of my soul, I looked at

(42:17):
Pops and I was I just started crying while I'm
still playing. And then I heard the roar of the
crowd and just like and it just got loud and
there was a standing ovation and I was like, I
don't even know what's I was just looking. I was
just crying like crazy. When we ended the song, the
show stopped, went backstage, and I was like, Pop's daddy, Daddy,

(42:37):
I'm going out on tour with you. This is what
I want to do.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
That's what I want to do.

Speaker 4 (42:41):
I know, and I know what I know this is
It was that the first thing, the last time you
had that feeling at that moment.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
No, that was the beginning of my purpose. That was
the beginning. And Pops looked at me and then we
hugged and we just started crying. He's like, I don't
even know, how do you know all this? I was like,
I don't know. I think I was watching you on
like a sponge. I don't know. We had no idea,
like all of a sudden, just kind of jamming with

(43:07):
a local band for six months and then I went
from that local band to professionalism. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
So, Okay, this is definitely the I.

Speaker 10 (43:19):
Gotta get a nice Techa record, bro man.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
There's two of them. You have to hear it. It's amazing.
Seventy six five something like that. Seventy five four.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
Okay, So you as a drummer and as a musician.
I was going to say that the one thing that
I think that you won't ever able to be, that
you'll never be able to avoid is the solo. Now

(43:56):
that's the dividing line between you and I because think
I've made a life and a career on the most
minimalist kind of approach to drumming.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
That's a huge gift to have. It's a it's a
dangerous gift and a big responsibility.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
I know it's a dangerous gift. But the thing is
is that in my age and as I get older,
like okay, so when I was in my twenties and
my thirties or whatever, especially uh, the way that my
arms are now with uh.

Speaker 9 (44:29):
When you carbletonnel and everything.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
Yeah, yeah, it's so painful now to take solo. So
it's like I'm taking them less and less on youtubes.
How are you, especially when most of your solos have
to have this you know this this climatic uh uh,
climactic applause from the audience. How are you able? Like

(44:55):
do you not? Do you have a fear of soloing
or no? Just but it's always expected of you, Yesela,
and the music stops like go ahead, and.

Speaker 6 (45:04):
Yours has to be extra acrobatic, like it's always.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
Yeah, you have to be You're not even zero to ten.
You have to go from zero to utter bond. You
gotta go to zero autobond in like five minutes. And
I'm just saying not even physicality or with with with
with age, whatever, but maybe there's just some nights you
don't feel like turning it on and like, but that's

(45:27):
pressure because you have to go from zero to a gazillion.
It's expected of you at least two minutes.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
Yeah, it's interesting because I don't I don't think of
it as an I've got to be on on and
off or I don't feel like it. I've never put
myself in that position to feel like that. So I
love doing what I do and if people ask me,
I would love to do it, but I wouldn't walk
into a room to say I'm not gonna walk in
there because I don't feel like it. Then I should

(45:56):
have showed up. I never want to put myself in
that position say okay, I gotta turn it on. No,
I'm excited. If someone asked me to play, I would
love to. So there's no on and off switch you
asked me, It's always on.

Speaker 6 (46:10):
Can I just I'm not fast forwarding?

Speaker 4 (46:11):
But I just have a quick question on that note,
because I just watched you do the view and in
my mind I said, she would not do this performance
unless you have full hundred percent like comfortable. They would
say yes and you could do everything that you wanted
to do. Is that like an example of that moment
because it was kind of amazing and groundbreaking, so many
the things.

Speaker 6 (46:27):
That you did within it.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
Thank you. It was it was a it's interesting. It
was a fight. It was a fight. Yeah we had
it was a fight, and I'm grateful ended up turning
out good. But I always tell everyone, you know, no
doesn't mean you can't do it. No doesn't mean you
shouldn't a lot of time, no means opportunity, And I

(46:51):
was like, this has just been insane. The things that
we had to do and change. And I mean it was,
you know, from one thing to another, and I just
kept saying, but no, this is the message. We have
to send a message. I have to stand for. This
is what we're trying to send this message, and we
need the flag and it needs to be upside down,
you know. And I need to put the the images

(47:13):
in the back where people can see what we're talking about.
I need doctor King's speech, I need Kennedy's speech, you know,
I need Obama's speech. You know. So it was a
definite fight. But you know, again how things turned around.
We were only supposed to just play the music, and
then it turned into two questions, and then there's then

(47:36):
once they understood what we were trying to do, then
they were behind us one hundred percent, and we're glad
that they understood what we wanted to do. And then
it turned into let's move you to segment five and six,
and it's like, oh, now I get to explain what happened.
But never give up, you know, never give up. And
know me as opportunity man, I wasn't coming through that
front door, but I came through that side door, you know,

(47:58):
And I wasn't going to give up, but I still
got there and it was better than it was going
to be initially.

Speaker 5 (48:03):
Sorry for those of us who don't watch the view
on a regular.

Speaker 4 (48:06):
Basis, to move your neck like that when you say
the word okay, then watch the view.

Speaker 10 (48:12):
I just I don't watch most of the time. So
what can you just tell us what the performance was?

Speaker 2 (48:19):
Yeah, and you can go on Sheila YouTube channel to
watch it too, or my Facebook. Yeah, Shelia drummer, she
let's watch. No, the beginning of it is I did
the funky national anthem. I call it so the national
anthem with some things, and I had speeches in in

(48:42):
the song as well.

Speaker 4 (48:43):
She kneeled while she played.

Speaker 10 (48:46):
With the speeches samples of the actual speeches or was
somebody else?

Speaker 2 (48:50):
No, it was the actual Like I got the okay
from doctor King's estate and family to use his images
and his speeches on my record. That was huge because
they just don't do that for anybody, for anybody.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
It was super political.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
Yeah, it was funky national anthem. I got it, Dan,
you gotta have me a funky okay.

Speaker 4 (49:09):
When I reposted it, I was like, it was nice
that they allowed you to show your love and your
frustration for this country.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
Okay, So in performing I know that today, especially with
it being the call to personality and based on celebrity
that gets people approval. I know that in the seventies
you actually had to be good and great and you

(49:36):
had to entertain, not just perform, but you had to entertain.
So what was this the level of preparation, especially with
Azteca and then eventually you went to George Duke and stuff.
What was the level of preparation that you guys put
into doing shows? Like were you guys looking at other
acts that were on the bill and like, yo, we
gotta blow them off the stage? Or you know, were

(49:58):
their headline acts that were like okay, can you guys
not you know, I'll just you know, do something normal And.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Right now, I don't know that. I don't remember with me,
once I said I was going to become a professional musician,
did was there a competition? I think that there was
competition early on with the other bands, the local bands,
We're gonna be better than them kind of thing. But
once once I became a professional musician, it wasn't about

(50:30):
we have to be better. The preparation was like, as
Pops told me all the time. In order for you
to feel good about what you're doing and what you're
playing and walk out there with confidence. The only way
to do that is know what you're supposed to do.
And if you prepare and listen to the music, learn
you know all the breaks, and you walk in, you
play the show. You're gonna enjoy yourself and you're gonna

(50:53):
play and not have to worry or be afraid. So
I was always prepared. I always listened to the music
whatever I needed to listen to to make sure, especially
if I had it ahead of time, I would learn
the music so I'd walk in. And that was part
of the issues with some of the other male drummers
was I'd walk in prepared and they wouldn't know anything,
and they're just like pissed off of.

Speaker 1 (51:15):
Me, really, because you're because she did the job.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
I did the job with a smile.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
I'm so glad we didn't come up and see it.
I would have heard, Okay, actual proof where the cuts
in the Huppy song. So how I know that Because
George Duke came from the school of uh Frank Zappa.
But I also know that in the mid seventies he
was trying to get more into his funk thing at

(51:44):
I mean, we're his shows. I've never seen like any
of the tapes of his seventies shows on YouTube. I
mean there will be like a clip or two, yeah,
but it'll just be you know again like dookie stick
or you know, just like one of his his groove
based songs. But how much of his fusion stuff that
he incorporate in his seventy shows by the time that

(52:05):
you joined his band.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
Oh a lot of it. The dope thing about George
was he played so many different genres of music because
he played the fusion a lot. He did play jazz,
we played a lot of Brazilian music, we played the
funk music. I mean, he played everything in the show.
So he allowed me to He never told me what

(52:26):
I needed to play or even what he wanted me
to play. He just always said, Okay, you got your
house full of stuff, whatever you feel like fits in
that song, just play it. So he allowed me to
grow as a musician. That doesn't really happen with people.
You know, everyone's a lot of times you need to
play this and you need to play that, and be
specific on what you're playing. But he just allowed me

(52:47):
to express myself freely like always and that was.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
Huge for these early gigs. Were you also your own
tech and your own rodie Like I know that times
have changed now it's like I have a writer those things,
but now those things exist Back then.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Uh, I had a tech later, but no, I was
when I was playing the clubs in the Bay Area
with the different bands, I put my drum set, Timbali's
and congas in a voval myself, load and unload and
set everything up and then do the same thing every night.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
So you transport it in a car.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
In a car, That's what I say.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
Those are hills where you live, Like how did you
get those? Like how did you transport?

Speaker 2 (53:32):
Yeah? They were here, they were hells. But no, I
I had a voval and so I put all my
gear in a voval, not unless I use At one
point moms got a van, but that was I never
hardly use a van. So I was my own tech.
Absolutely sometimes I get help. And then later on with George,
he did have a tech. Uh so he did do

(53:55):
a lot of the workers as well.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
Yeah, after George Suke, it was did you do a
stint that I don't know if you did a stint
with Algibo or not, or I don't know if he
was just opening.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
Or we well, we played on the same bill. Yeah,
so we all jammed together. Yeah, we did shows together.
I wasn't officially in this band. What we played together?

Speaker 1 (54:14):
Damn? Okay, because I thought that you would have been
on the live in Europe. Look at the Rainbow. It's
one of my favorite albums.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
Of it and I someone else asked me that, and
I'm not sure. I have to listen to it because
it could be me. We were in Europe doing those
shows a lot together on the same bill, so I
don't know. It's it's it's all a blur. I'd have
to listen and see, or it could be No, I
don't know. I was gonna say it could be Paulino.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
Okay, I don't know.

Speaker 5 (54:43):
Were you on a lot of George Duke albums or
just part of his work?

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Yeah, Resilient, Love Affair and uh the Game Master of
the Game, Follow the Rainbow, and about four after that
I just don't remember the names of.

Speaker 9 (55:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (55:01):
Yeah, I'm on the verge of going headlong into him.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
He's amazing, incredible.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
Yeah, oh you love it because.

Speaker 5 (55:09):
Yeah, I'm coming in through the jazz way. Actually yeah, like.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
No, Havadilla's stuff is based on like George stuff, so
you will love it instantly. So uh, I know that
you did stints with Uh, you're Diana Ross? Period? Was
that in the seventies or in the.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Yes, it was in the early seventies.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
Do you know if that? Are you part of the
I know that she had two live albums out in
the seventies, one was uh, there was one in the
seventy seven, which I know there's multiple percussionists when you're
doing these shows. Are you the lone percussionist on a
majority of these shows?

Speaker 9 (55:47):
Are you sharing with?

Speaker 2 (55:49):
Yeah? Mostly?

Speaker 1 (55:49):
Were you and your brother in a package or no?

Speaker 2 (55:53):
Those shows? Well with Diana Ross, that's a different story.
I didn't even make the record because I quit after
this second gig.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
Okay, I was gonna say client wise, pre pre your
your solo career. Who who was a client that was
easy to work with? I mean, I don't mean the
complexity of the music, but just a comfortable environment that
you enjoyed, that you like the music versus high end. Yeah,

(56:24):
versus high end? Uh, you know, politics of either a
band a band leader not being cordial or being hard
on you or whatever, or just because a lot of times,
you know, I know that with the artists, like even
if the artist is is wrong, they're right.

Speaker 9 (56:43):
Yeah wait, that's throw me off.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
That's not the one and and you know, blaming you
easy to point you out.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
Yeah, well that was Dyana Ross. That's why I quit.
She came to play Circle Star Theater, which is one
of the the dopest places playing in San Francisco at
the time, and everyone played there. Shaka Rufus played there.
I mean everyone, oh Jay's it didn't matter. So all
the artists would come and play that play. So they

(57:09):
hired me to play. And it's in the round, so
it turns in. The stage turns throughout the show, so
half of the stage was pit for the orchestra. And
then she's on top of the main floor and so
you know, I told everyone in the Bay area, shoot,
I'm playing with Diana Ross. And all my people came. Well,

(57:32):
she didn't like people screaming at me.

Speaker 4 (57:38):
Oh no, oh, get a one off, like okay, I
won't do it the second time.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
Yeah, it was you know, I mean, and they announced
the people in the band and everything, and then but
you know, she was very angry, and so then she said, well,
I'm getting too much Well she didn't tell me that.
She told the musical director she's getting too much attention.
She needs to cover up from her neck all the
way down.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
But they told me to wear black. I mean I
just I had like a sleeveless blouse on. It was black.
Everyone should wear black. And I was like, okay. He said, well,
she wants you to cover up your arms. I said
I can't because I'm playing and you know, it's like
this is going to get in a way.

Speaker 6 (58:17):
I wanted you to cover that pretty face.

Speaker 11 (58:18):
I shouldn't say that.

Speaker 2 (58:29):
That's okay.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
Oh yeah, So only two shows.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
Yeah, I played the one night and then he said,
missus Ross wants to talk to you and for tomorrow's show,
but she wants you to cover up. And I was like, well,
you hired me for my musicianship, right, he said yeah.
I said, well I'm doing what you need to do,
right he said yeah. I said I can't play with

(58:55):
the sleep It's going to be too hard. He said, okay,
well she would like to speak with you. Okay, So
I stood out the side of stood at the door
of her dressing room and she could see me in
the mirror. She was just staring at me, but she
was talking to her friend. Yeah, uh huh. So I'm
standing and she's just talking. I'm standing there. She could
she could see me in five minutes, ten fifteen, then twenty,

(59:17):
then almost going on thirty, and I said, oh, I'm leaving.
So I turned around and her friend saw her because
Diana kind of you know, looked to the side, and
her friend turned around. She said, oh my god, you
were amazing.

Speaker 1 (59:32):
I loved you.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
You were so amazing, and diyie, oh, yeah, that's all
our percussionist. Blah blah blah. So I walked out of
the room and the guy said, well, you know, I
just want to make sure when you come tomorrow that
you're going to be covered. I said, no, that's not
gonna happen because I quit. He's like, not, we in
the two shows that night. So there was the two shows,
but the next night I didn't even show. I said, no,

(59:55):
I'm not coming. He goes, no, no, no, wait, what
you're quitting? I said that absolutely. I said that's just wrong.
I know what she's doing. And she and then I
got really angry. She made me wait there in the
dressing room. Right, she looked at me purposely and like
dogged me and like hit you.

Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
So you weren't afraid of no, no, no, not comming you
for that, But at that time in your early career,
you weren't afraid of burning the bridge.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
No, she was wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
He So that makes the we are the World sessions super.

Speaker 6 (01:00:33):
Between. Wait, what's the time between we are the World?

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
And that's a lot of different, and it was different.

Speaker 6 (01:00:40):
There was never a breakups after the makeups to break ups.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
No, it was I was she left Corvino when I
played with her, and then.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
I was she did talk to her sessions.

Speaker 2 (01:00:53):
You con't my favorite.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
But did she know it was? Yes, I don't worry.

Speaker 4 (01:01:02):
And I bet you were playing with sleeves by then,
so like, oh I can do.

Speaker 6 (01:01:08):
I swear some of them suits? It was some sleeves.
It was some sleeves, Shila.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
After that, I laughed, we kind of we didn't say nothing,
but we laughed, like you come sit over here, you
know it's all good. Okay, that's my girl.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
I love me some Diana Ross.

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
So I gotta know I know that you were on
the Midlight Midnight Love Tour. Okay, just to make sure. Okay,
So the the nineteen eighty the documentary, No no, no, the
the nineteen eighty Manto Jazz Festival. That is not Chila playing,

(01:01:45):
but I thought it was he has a crowd. No, no, no,
this I'm talking to Marvin. Yay. Now, I'm sorry you
never seen it. Okay, I thought this whole time, I
thought it was you. When I looked this morning, I
was like, that's not Sheila. When did you? When did you?
You've only joined for the Midlight Night Love Tour.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Yeah, very and eighty two, the very his very last tour.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
I saw. It's not much footage is online, but I
know of a promoter that had a really good Uh
at least there was a radio City of Music Hall
show that he did and it's it's there. And I'll
say that of all the Marvin shows that I saw,

(01:02:33):
it was a little weird. I don't know if it's
based on the newer material or whatever, but I mean
there's a point where like even when he does sexual healing,
like he does a strip tease thing down to his
underwear and he just for this particular performance, he didn't
look comfortable. And then when the promoter told me like, yeah,
this is like one of his, I think he's like, yeah,

(01:02:56):
this's like his his he would only have eleven more
performances left, and there's like his last ten performances of
his life. What was it you did the whole duration
of that tour?

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
Yeah, the whole tour and my brother and one of
our friends. So there was three of us playing percussion,
three of you, and we had duplicates of each, three
pairs of Tenbali's, three pair of congress, three pair of
bongos chimes.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
Yeah, what what was it like to to do that tour?
Just knowing what you know of what happened to his
life and stuff, and I mean not skied to personal
in his life, but what what was it like? Because
even when I watched it, it just.

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
It's weird because I thought we started at Radio City.
That was the first gig, wasn't it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
Well maybe I don't know when he does, but he
said like this this is the last eleven something. Maybe
it was eleven months or whatever, but I know that
because we were out that was his last tour. I
definitely know that it was the.

Speaker 2 (01:03:56):
Last tour, definitely because after we got home was when
he passed away.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
He started in New York. It starts in New York.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
I think we started at Radio City.

Speaker 1 (01:04:03):
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
I could swear.

Speaker 9 (01:04:06):
No, no, I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:07):
He could, but I'm just saying that. Usually like agents
like to start you off in right Kansas or somewhere
where you can.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
Yeah, I don't know, And maybe we did. I just
remember because some stuff went down at that gig. So yeah,
it was pretty interesting. He was amazing. I mean it
was weird. What I mean. Of course the women loved,
you know, him dropping his pants into some boxers with
some designs on him. But man, there were times when

(01:04:39):
he was singing. I almost missed my cue because I
was a fan of going, oh my god, look at him.
I mean, I was tripping. He's at the piano, like really,
when he got into it, he got his rhythm going.
As far as knowing what songs were coming up, it
was amazing. He just blew us away.

Speaker 6 (01:04:56):
How often did those moments happen?

Speaker 4 (01:04:58):
And that's that's interesting that you would get this because
you worked with like so many great people as though.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Exactly now this was at the kind of at the
very beginning because it you know, I mean, I grew
up listening to Marvin gay and all of a sudden,
I'm in the band. And that was one of the
dopest conga drum beats. Everyone wanted to play. Doom Doom
got the mother right. So playing that conga beats, like

(01:05:23):
I'm playing it with Marvin Gaye like this story. I
don't know if I told you this before, but the
story when we were in rehearsals, like my brother didn't
have the gig, Peter Michael. So I'm playing and I
kept telling him, come to rehearsal, you know, I think
I can get you the gig. So he kept showing up.
So Marvin thought he was in the band for real,

(01:05:44):
like during rehearsals, no one, he didn't even know. And
so he's playing. He's thinking that there's three of us playing.
So I'm playing. Uh, we're all playing at rehearsal, and
everyone's kind of just sitting down playing, you know, chilling.
So the three of us we start doing like the
Michael Jackson dance, the Jackson five danced. We start, oh yeah,

(01:06:05):
the two step. We started doing that, and we started
getting into it. So then the horn players look like, oh,
we can dance too, so then they started throwing down.
Then the singers are like, well, we can do something.
So all of a sudden, that's how everyone just started dancing,
because we started dancing first, and especially playing what's going on?
I mean, you can't help but not dance. So I'm
playing that beat and it's really it only consists of

(01:06:28):
that boom boom back dun. Well it got good to me,
and I hit that low jump and went dun dun
goad got dude, you know I hit that low jump.

Speaker 5 (01:06:38):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:38):
He's a very soft spoken man. How you doing? She
like he whispers when he talks. His back was to
us he's singing that song. I hit that extra drum beat.
There were twenty four at least twenty four to twenty
six people in the band. He put his hand up
and yelled with his back to us. I'm like, hold

(01:07:00):
on stop. And it was a trip because I don't
think anyone had heard him yell like yeah, and all
you hear is you know, stick's falling, and you know, like,
what the heck does happen? And it's like, you know, right,
And then he turned around and he and he has

(01:07:24):
his mic in his hand. He said, somebody played an
extra beat, and I'm like, oh my, you could hear
my heart pounding. I was so scared. I was like,
my heart's gonna pop out of my chest. I'm frightened.
And all I could think it was to blame it
on Peter Michael. So so I just went like this.

(01:07:46):
I was like, I better say something before no one's okay, sorry,
mister gay. That was my brother, Peter Michael. So that
the hand raised, Yeah, I raised my hand. Excuse me,
I'm sorry, but I'll make sure that he doesn't do
that again. And then Peter Michael put his hand in
it and he goes, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So
he took it and he's like okay. So at the

(01:08:08):
end of all of this, Peter Michaels rehearsing with us
for a couple of weeks or whatever. We get ready
to leave and Peter Michael's walking to go home and
he says, I'm gonna drive back to oak because we're
rehearsing here in La. I'm gona drive back to Oakland
and the road. Magic River says, hey, man, go get
your suit, your tuxed will get fitted for your tuxedo,
and he's like, for what, He goes, you're going on tour.

(01:08:30):
He goes, I'm not in the band, and then he said,
yes you are. He said, yes you are, and Marvin said, yeah,
you go get your suit. And he didn't know that
Peter Michael wasn't in the band. He's like, make sure
you get your suit and you look nice. And so
he got hired as he was leaving because Marvin thought
he was in the band the whole time.

Speaker 1 (01:08:50):
Oh wait, who's do you know who the MD was
at the time.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
It was his cousin, nephew. What was his name? If
you told me his name, might say, okay, yeah, he
wasn't Like well wait a minute, Nobody said what.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
The hell was he doing it in the first place?
That many musicians Yep, okay, you brought up. You brought
up a point. Even when you said with the Askteker,
you mentioned at least seventeen eighteen nineteen people, how did
y'all get paid?

Speaker 2 (01:09:21):
We did? Really, we got paid well. I mean as
Teka was opening for earth Wind and Fire and Stevie
and Temptations, so they were making money and that back
in that day, you know, they were getting paid so.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
You could you could still make a good living.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
Actually as a as a side person.

Speaker 1 (01:09:41):
Yeah, at no point during this part of your journey
are you thinking, Hey, I gotta be out in the front.
I got to be my own artist, and I gotta
you were just fine with being a team member, and.

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
Oh absolutely I love being a team member. And the
crazy thing about it, even being a team member with Marvin,
he would still say she I want you to go
take a solo. I'm like, okay. So he'd go change
and then the three of us would do this drum
thing that we made up, and I'd take a Timbalish solo.
We throw the sticks up and do this whole thing
until he come back in a new outfit.

Speaker 1 (01:10:13):
Okay. And I'm always going to refer to the solo
because it's very important. When you bounce the stick on
the floor, you throw up in the air and you
turn around do the pure wet and you catch it
behind your back.

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
Has it ever dropped?

Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
And I still yes, it has dropped. But here's the
thing is when I was.

Speaker 1 (01:10:35):
You play it off well or something like what I've.

Speaker 2 (01:10:38):
No I see, here's the thing. I'm gonna give away
some of my secrets, please, thank you the ball. Yeah.
So here's the thing. It's I when I realized every
time I wanted to make sure it's like she you know,
you can't freak out. I don't want to drop the stick.
And I was like, you know, I don't want to
drop the stay every time I throw it up. So
most of the time I caught it. Once in a

(01:10:59):
while I miss it. You'd hear the audience go, ah, well,
you're playing in front of twenty thousand people. And I
threw the stick up one time and I missed. I'm like, shoot,
you know, and you hear ah. And then I threw
it up again. I said, I'm catching a second when
I missed it, I was like, seriously, But the all
got louder. Oh. And then the third one they're like, oh,
she looked, come on, and then I looked, oh, they

(01:11:21):
want me to win. So the fourth one, I picked
it up, and I mean, I threw it up and
I caught it, and they're like, the roar was louder
than the first roar because they they wanted to be
with me and cheer me on. I was like, I
get it. I get it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
See you're making me feel bad. For not taking more risks.
I did that once once once all it took. I
did so and I was watching you did the thing
when you bounced the stick off the floor or whatever,
and the shit hit me in the face and I
was like, never again, you got that.

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
Yeah, that hurts, and it's happened before.

Speaker 3 (01:12:01):
I used to try it, like in bank class in school,
and you just stay on the floor.

Speaker 1 (01:12:05):
Yeah, Like I never knew.

Speaker 6 (01:12:06):
How youre a science to the balance.

Speaker 3 (01:12:08):
That's why I like between watching her and Jerome bent
and do it. Yeah, I wanted to know how to
do it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:14):
Do it with ease and they bounce off the floor,
spin and they kept it like it was nothing. Uh yeah,
I practiced that thing for least thirty seven minutes back backstage.
I was then, because backstage is marble floors bouncing right
your drum sets on a run. Somebodyn't think about.

Speaker 6 (01:12:34):
To make up your own move. That's Sheila move, all right?

Speaker 1 (01:12:42):
So I know that you moved to Linel Richie right
after Mark correct.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
I was actually uh touring with Marvin playing Chills at
night and flying back to la during the day to
rehearse with Lionel for that next tour.

Speaker 1 (01:12:56):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (01:12:57):
You the linel the first line of album tour not.

Speaker 1 (01:13:02):
Uh technically, well it's or canceled. Yeah, cancel because you're
I forgot. You're in Running with the video.

Speaker 6 (01:13:10):
Yes, she's the leader video.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
You're not here right now? I finally know something important. Wow, yes,
is the lead and Running with the Night video.

Speaker 5 (01:13:32):
And so you did the cancel down tour?

Speaker 1 (01:13:34):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:13:35):
Yes, cancel?

Speaker 1 (01:13:36):
Yeah, yes she did.

Speaker 2 (01:13:39):
That's okay.

Speaker 1 (01:13:41):
Sorry, I'm just amazed that I knew something that wasn't
here to steal my shine on my own show.

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
Thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:13:47):
So you're on the album too, I don't remember.

Speaker 2 (01:13:51):
I don't know if I came in before.

Speaker 1 (01:13:53):
Yes, before I did. Speaking speaking of are you there
or were you not there? Can you settle the debate
of if you are or if you're not on? Don't
stop till you get enough?

Speaker 9 (01:14:10):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:14:11):
Good question.

Speaker 1 (01:14:12):
I've heard that you confirmed that you were on. I
heard you. I heard it was a rumor. I don't
Is that a rumor?

Speaker 9 (01:14:20):
No? Uh, that's not a rumor.

Speaker 2 (01:14:23):
No it is no, it's no, it's is it fake news? Okay?
Look what happened was Quincy called me and said he
wanted me to play something on this song that Michael
had written with some kind of he didn't know what
percussion thing it was going to be right, So I forget,
I don't know. I want to say it's Westlake. I
can't remember what's too he was in La Westlake. Yeah,

(01:14:44):
I think it was west Lake. So I go there
and I'm one known for not using normal percussions. I
makeup stuff. I use different things, bachelor's hair brushes, chopsticks,
you know, just whatever bite of an apple put on
the snare. I'm telling my secrets. Yeah, uh huh, I

(01:15:05):
know you're gonna rewind that one. But so I go
into the studio and it is like trying to figure out, Okay,
what what works here? What he's what? They're trying to

(01:15:26):
tell me he need he needs something. So I took
water bottles and I want real bottles, not plastic. We
didn't happen, but water bottle and I tuned it to
the song, and I used my that metal piece for
the triangle that I played the triangle with. I used
that for the sides and went gan. So I tuned
it to the to the song. That's it. But what's

(01:15:50):
so So what happened was they kept changing Who's gonna
play on what you know? That thing went on forever
trying to get it done, and they forgot I played
on it, and they're like, no, I think it was
Paulino or maybe it was what.

Speaker 1 (01:16:04):
Well, you're not the first person to get gagged on this, right,
So I.

Speaker 2 (01:16:10):
Was just gonna say feeling games too. So I'm waiting
for the record to come out, and the record comes off.
I was telling me what I played on Michael's first record,
blah blah blah blah. So I go to Leopolds in
Berkeley and Michael's doing a signing. So he says, I'm
going to be there at Leopold's. I want you guys, come.

Speaker 9 (01:16:26):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:16:26):
We go to Leopolds, We meet him there and I
get the record and I was like, my name's not
on the record. He's like, huh, my name is not
on the record, man. So I just have to tell
the story.

Speaker 5 (01:16:40):
Damn Michael, who did the credits for that?

Speaker 1 (01:16:43):
I did because I always forget people. That's funny because
he did it in store at Leopold's. Because I believe
there's there's footage of him the same day that he
did that in store at Leopold's. There's footage of him
visiting in Oakland club that very night and the DJ
plays don't stop tea good enough, and he gets on

(01:17:06):
and like he grabs the microphone and dances a little
bit in front of it, like it's it's that night
in Oakland that that same that same period. Wait a minute,
he let you guys know, I know this is weird
because you've played with everyone, but I'm kind of freaked
out that, like you were even on speaking terms with

(01:17:26):
Michael Jackson.

Speaker 6 (01:17:27):
It was just me, But I thought it was like
something people, because that's kind of uncommon. Wait, so did
y'all talk about each other? And did he say?

Speaker 2 (01:17:34):
Did he?

Speaker 6 (01:17:35):
And did he asked you?

Speaker 1 (01:17:35):
Were he?

Speaker 6 (01:17:36):
And why are you talking to him?

Speaker 1 (01:17:37):
But he wasn't. He wasn't Michael Jackson. I mean, was
Michael Jackson. He was still Michael Jackson.

Speaker 2 (01:17:42):
But yeah, but I met them when they were I
met them with George Duke in the seventies, so I
met the whole family when they were playing in Europe.

Speaker 1 (01:17:52):
So they were still approachable.

Speaker 9 (01:17:53):
Yes, okay, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:17:55):
They wanted me to teach Randy how to play percussion,
so I went to the house to try and and
then the parents were like, we don't want to know Mexican.
I'm just kidding.

Speaker 1 (01:18:07):
Something, but I'll let it go. But I kidding.

Speaker 2 (01:18:13):
No, No, they wanted me to come and, uh, you know,
teach him how to play?

Speaker 1 (01:18:19):
So, yeah, can you teach him how to play? Because
people ask me all the time, No, yes, I say,
I say yes, man. I've seen every one of their
mom asked me. And the most I'll do is I'll
do a play. I do not know how to or
I don't know if I have the patients do.

Speaker 2 (01:18:35):
But there's another secret.

Speaker 1 (01:18:37):
When's the last time you gave a lesson? Can you
teach them how to play? Okay?

Speaker 2 (01:18:42):
Yeah, I've done some.

Speaker 1 (01:18:43):
I don't mean like when you're going to a school
and whatever and you're like, okay, you hold the sticks
and it's like, I mean, like a real Okay, I'll
be there at four o'clock and then I sit down
and your jackson, you're paradiddling need to Deafinitely.

Speaker 2 (01:18:57):
I don't know any so I don't. Yeah, I don't
know a lot of that stuff. Anyway, you know. I
taught like people at some of the women conferences and stuff,
and we talk about my book or what everything I'll say,
but I can also teach you how to play drums
very simple. It's really simple. And everyone's going no, no, no,

(01:19:19):
I want to play, and I don't know how to play.
So I have a drum set in the room for
these conferences, and all I do is this is this
is the trick right here. And because it's mind over matter,
you can sit down. You're going my feet and my
hands are gonna How am I going to separate my
brain to do well? If you're walking, you're walking opposite
like this, your your your hand and your feet are

(01:19:42):
walking opposite of each other. So if you walk like
that on the drums, high hat kick, high hat kick,
I can do it like this and every if you
just walk on the drums, immediately everyone plays doom, got doom,
got doom. Got It happens in three seconds.

Speaker 4 (01:20:00):
I'm going through some emotional things in the corner because
my dad is a drummer, and for all my first
ten years of my life, I wanted to be a
drummer and he just never taught me. And I had
to look at you on TV, and then I had
to look at our look at Terry, and now that
was he could have at least just shown me that
you know the way to hold the sticks and it's

(01:20:20):
still hard. Yes, you weren't teaching, what you say.

Speaker 6 (01:20:29):
Did you hear what he said? You don't teach.

Speaker 1 (01:20:30):
You never asked. I mean, you wouldn't have done it,
would have taught it. Can at least give me the
honor to reject.

Speaker 4 (01:20:37):
You teach me how to play the drums.

Speaker 1 (01:20:40):
But I just had an epiphany, and I'm dead serious.
You are going to be my percussion teacher. Okay, I
do not feel like I'm a complete drummer until.

Speaker 2 (01:20:54):
All right, So you take your bottle water. We're here.

Speaker 6 (01:20:58):
You get your bottle of water. Bill Hannim water.

Speaker 1 (01:21:04):
You just wait. Not all you have bottles. I'm thirsty,
heard me calling. I'm not thirsty, but I gotta get
rid of this. I don't want to destroy Electric Lady
Studios right now.

Speaker 2 (01:21:20):
But you have to drink some of it because it's
too full to to make a sound. There you go.

Speaker 6 (01:21:30):
You're not supposed to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:21:32):
This is gonna be the next I watched watch.

Speaker 6 (01:21:35):
You you holy For those that.

Speaker 1 (01:21:38):
Are listening at home, there breathing earlier, we say breathing.
This is a boss water commercial, right, now is based
using bottles of water.

Speaker 6 (01:21:50):
But she didn't do that. But she didn't. You encourage me, woman,
you're doing good. I just mean that this is a.

Speaker 2 (01:22:02):
Mere failing wait away from the mic first of all,
just may.

Speaker 1 (01:22:09):
Do it away from the mica, because this is why
I can't whistle in the mic when i'm.

Speaker 2 (01:22:13):
Yeah, because you're gonna hear nothing but error.

Speaker 1 (01:22:15):
Oh you're right.

Speaker 2 (01:22:16):
No, no, no, no, you do it like the shut up,
you get away from the mic. They're just mad at you.

Speaker 1 (01:22:24):
You just this is pressure.

Speaker 6 (01:22:25):
It's not we're not looking. Go ahead. You said you
don't like it when other people looking.

Speaker 2 (01:22:29):
No, don't make a sound first, just make a sound
with the bottle.

Speaker 1 (01:22:35):
Yeah you did, Bill, Okay, you want there you.

Speaker 10 (01:22:42):
Stop trying to do headhunters and just.

Speaker 1 (01:22:45):
Just a can we tell the prince heres now? Please?

Speaker 2 (01:22:50):
No, you have to hit a different notes than the
note in the bottle.

Speaker 6 (01:22:58):
There you go, There you go like Bobby mcfern type.

Speaker 2 (01:23:02):
Yes, there you go. Good job.

Speaker 3 (01:23:07):
I am now that we've edited half of that out.

Speaker 1 (01:23:13):
I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

Speaker 2 (01:23:14):
It's okay, wow, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:23:17):
Yeah, I do feel lightheaded.

Speaker 5 (01:23:21):
That's your first lesson how to get high?

Speaker 4 (01:23:24):
That's interesting, though, Sheila, because you talked like a mere
already talked about carporal tunnel and stuff, and you seem
to have very healthy hands and wrists.

Speaker 1 (01:23:31):
You talked me about the rice trick. I did that.
You did what she told me to go to Traded
Joe's or to a place that has like just one
of the big ass industrial sized rice bags. Put it
in my freezer and then put my entire arm in it,
and uh, exercise, exercise, mold. Do you warm them before

(01:23:53):
you go on stage?

Speaker 2 (01:23:54):
I do a little bit now, fifteen minutes, just just
back and forth with the sticks on a pillow or
couch or chair or something, and that helps. Yes, absolutely see.

Speaker 1 (01:24:05):
I thought, in in tune with with our James and
too many Miles Davis stories that that would kind of
be like eating before you get to the restaurant or.

Speaker 6 (01:24:17):
WoT.

Speaker 2 (01:24:18):
Well, I learned the hard way, like maybe you have.
I mean I never warmed up before I played, so
I've got injury after injury and it's like, okay, you
need to stop and you need to warm up. So yeah,
I mean, my my wrist was messed up. I couldn't
pick up a toothbrush to brush my teeth, my elbow.
So I had a p r P done.

Speaker 9 (01:24:39):
Which does that work?

Speaker 5 (01:24:41):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:24:41):
My god?

Speaker 1 (01:24:41):
Look I'm doing a p r P in like a month.
Oh does it work?

Speaker 2 (01:24:45):
I'll tell you. Wait, who's well? We can talk after I'll.

Speaker 6 (01:24:49):
Give you my.

Speaker 1 (01:24:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:24:52):
But i'll tell you now. I have the dopest doctor here.
He moved here New York. Yes, he did mine and
everybody I think, So, what's his name?

Speaker 1 (01:25:01):
You know what? I think? We see this? We see okay, uh,
there there's a doctor in Brooklyn. I see your photos
up in there, Stevie Wonder's photo.

Speaker 2 (01:25:09):
Like then it would be him.

Speaker 9 (01:25:11):
He's amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:25:12):
African? Is African?

Speaker 2 (01:25:15):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:25:15):
What is he?

Speaker 2 (01:25:16):
He's not African.

Speaker 6 (01:25:17):
I think he's like the opposite the way she's looking.

Speaker 2 (01:25:19):
Like it's Caucasian.

Speaker 1 (01:25:21):
Yeah no, I mean this is the doctor's office. So
many doctors have done. But PRP is, I guess in
a way to describe it is when they take your
blood out of you and then feed it back like
they have.

Speaker 2 (01:25:36):
To spin it first. Yeah no, no, they spin it
and clean it and then they get the good blood
as it spits out in like three or four or
five different bags automatically. In this machine and then they
take the good blood and then they mix it and
they shoot it back in the area and you end
up growing new tissue. That's what it does. So I

(01:25:56):
grew new tissue in my elbow and my wrist. I
did have it twice, because sometimes you do. I just
want to tell you take a pain pill before you
do this, because I'm no, I'm not scared, and I'm
not scared. That's fine. I am okay, that's the simple parte.

Speaker 3 (01:26:18):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:26:18):
The pain is that your blood going back into that area.
Is it hurts? Like I can't even explain. I filmed
my whole thing. I haven't all on film yet.

Speaker 1 (01:26:31):
The uh, well, I only know about it because at
the tonight show, a lot of those camera guys there,
it's wearing terror for them to do that a lot.
So at least four or five of them have gotten.

Speaker 2 (01:26:43):
But how are you going to do this when you
need at least three weeks off?

Speaker 1 (01:26:49):
That's I'm waiting for Christmas? Yeah, Christmas break to do.

Speaker 2 (01:26:53):
It and you literally you can't do Where are you
having it done in New York? No? No? No, I mean
is it your wrisks?

Speaker 1 (01:27:00):
I'm doing it on my knee.

Speaker 2 (01:27:01):
Oh Yeah, that's good. My mom had it done on
her knee too, same for our same guy.

Speaker 6 (01:27:05):
So you want to get.

Speaker 1 (01:27:08):
Talking about blood and everything.

Speaker 2 (01:27:10):
I never heard of it, but it's important because really,
in order to sustain what we do for real, we
get I have. I had a torn uh in my
shoulder all this stuff. My back went out in nineteen
ninety from wearing heels.

Speaker 6 (01:27:24):
I wanted you to talk about that because wearing.

Speaker 2 (01:27:27):
Heels and it shortened my calf muscle wearing heels playing
for years and years and years, my back gave out. Uh.
And when it gave out, I was partially paralyzed for
like two months, sorry, two weeks, and then it took
four months and three doctors, three or four doctors to
get me to walk an entire block like I had
to start learn how to walk all over. Had I
had a cane must have been determined. I was in pain, pain, pain.

(01:27:51):
I didn't want to take.

Speaker 4 (01:27:52):
You are a trailblazer in pain because there was nobody
else that you could probably vibe with because nobody else
is wearing heels, playing kungaz bong, goes.

Speaker 2 (01:27:59):
And eggs exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:28:01):
Yeah, that's what I was freaking out on some women.

Speaker 2 (01:28:04):
Yeah, no, it messed me up.

Speaker 6 (01:28:06):
Yeahs right, but he didn't. His surgery was after yours,
right like you had George before he did.

Speaker 2 (01:28:13):
Well, I didn't have surgery.

Speaker 9 (01:28:15):
You didn't know.

Speaker 2 (01:28:16):
They wanted me to have surgery in my back and
I said no, I think let me try to walk
on and do this health wise, you know, by myself
and with the doctors. And it worked. Yeah, so it
took a long time.

Speaker 1 (01:28:31):
Now what those I'm sorry. I started with line and
then we got off.

Speaker 2 (01:28:35):
I don't know what happened.

Speaker 1 (01:28:41):
Were those? Was that a good tour for you or
did you? Marvin? No? No? After I mean after was
it night and day? Or I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:28:53):
Was it a good tour with linel?

Speaker 9 (01:28:55):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:28:55):
Amazing? For me? It was the first time, uh, realizing
when someone makes that much money what that really means.
And so then you start touring on a private plane.
Hot cookies when you get on the plane, blankets, dranks, chicken.

Speaker 6 (01:29:17):
I was worried. I wasn't good.

Speaker 4 (01:29:18):
I was scared to eat fried chicken in front of you.
First impressions. By the way, can I get adding this
this this video with the line on Richie video just
a quick quest quest left supreme one degree separation. Michael
Peters godfather Michael Peters.

Speaker 1 (01:29:34):
I was going to say, how long did it take
for you guys.

Speaker 6 (01:29:37):
Told the story about Disneyland taking the Disneyland?

Speaker 4 (01:29:39):
Yeah, okay, the rapper Prodigy from Mob Deep, that's his
god this year.

Speaker 1 (01:29:44):
Yeah, And I was gonna say, how long did it
take for you guys to I mean, were you throwing
off about being the lead lady.

Speaker 2 (01:29:52):
Or I didn't want to do it because Blind was
like my brother and he says okay, and Michael Peter's
not there, like Okay, she have to learn this dance
step and I'm like, okay, what are we gonna do?
And the dance steps that Michael Peter how, I'm like,
who does that? Like yeah, like how am I going
to extend the arm with the leg? And then look

(01:30:13):
at Line like we're in love? That's my brother. Like
so we kept laughing and in between takes we couldn't
even get it together, and Line was like, don't look
at me like that, like it's your fault.

Speaker 1 (01:30:23):
Don't look at me like that did direct that video?

Speaker 2 (01:30:28):
Yes he did?

Speaker 9 (01:30:29):
Wow, Yes he did.

Speaker 1 (01:30:30):
It was dope.

Speaker 5 (01:30:32):
You must have been in the All Night Long video too.
There were like five thousand.

Speaker 2 (01:30:37):
We all look alike and I'm gonna mess with you.

Speaker 1 (01:30:43):
No, actually I thought initially I thought, who was the
lead in Hello video? She was all my children?

Speaker 2 (01:30:48):
Oh yeah, I forgot her name.

Speaker 6 (01:30:51):
It wasn't. That wasn't the same chick from Thriller.

Speaker 1 (01:30:53):
I thought, oh no, that was that was Oh no, no, no, okay,
why do I know this? Her name was Laura Carrington.

Speaker 6 (01:31:02):
Why do you know that?

Speaker 1 (01:31:04):
Because I stopped much in the eighties. Her and Old
Ray like those names, they were the original video joints.
You know what I'm saying. Uh No, But I thought
when I saw the Running with the Night video, I
was like, yo, she grew hair out a lot like
I thought it was continuation, like oh they were dating
now off the college campus and now she got her
site back? What right? Exactly exactly?

Speaker 5 (01:31:29):
But that album, that album was very Latin leaning.

Speaker 2 (01:31:33):
Yeah, the can slowed down, cancelo down.

Speaker 5 (01:31:37):
There was there was a lot of percussion on the album.

Speaker 2 (01:31:40):
Yeah, there was some. I played percussion on one or
two of Linel's records, and I don't remember if it
was that one or not, but which I do have
to look and see. But he did he loved having
a percussion in the show. And the cool thing about
line again that was so different from the Marvin Gaye tour,
but musically and then what they were doing, I mean
they had, uh, all these people putting together the show.

(01:32:04):
It's like a big major thing, you know, and you know,
private planes and cookies chicken chicken and uh, you know,
you've got clothes made for you and everyone's you know,
everything is coordinating, and you're going, wow, this is Yes,
it's the big times. My first time ever experienced in that,

(01:32:24):
and I was like, oh, this is what it is. Okay,
I think I want this.

Speaker 1 (01:32:28):
Yeah, okay, Shela.

Speaker 5 (01:32:30):
I think I may roll with you for a while.

Speaker 3 (01:32:31):
And this guy okay, okay, let's throw me.

Speaker 1 (01:32:38):
Under your bus. So wasn't being positive.

Speaker 5 (01:32:51):
I love being.

Speaker 1 (01:32:54):
His name. His name is Sugar, all right, So Steve, Basically,
we're here an Electric Ladies studio.

Speaker 6 (01:33:00):
Because a good story to tell.

Speaker 1 (01:33:02):
This is where no, I'm trying to make it sustinct
and fastest watch watch watch Okay. Uh I wasted twelve
minutes right there. Okay, So we're in Electric Lady Studios
because for five years this is where we recorded D'angelo's Voodoo,
which Steve was one of the Angel ten. Yeah, trust me,

(01:33:23):
we spent a lifetime with d Angelo. So after the
Voodoo record, and I guess you know, you started getting Yeah,
you worked on Black Besides, which took fourteen years to make.
But by that point, you know, everything fell off the rails.
And he became my full time engineer. And I think
Steve is probably the first white person in history to

(01:33:46):
have diabetes. He basically after.

Speaker 5 (01:33:50):
The first white person.

Speaker 1 (01:33:54):
Got it. How he got how he got it? Yeah,
because of my soul food diet.

Speaker 5 (01:34:00):
It Lord, I moved to Philly. He moved to Philly
basically just eating every meal with him. Yeah, and and
I got diabetes.

Speaker 2 (01:34:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:34:10):
And there was a church street that what was the
name of the church house?

Speaker 1 (01:34:16):
Prayer house to prayer Stevie wonder l version of it. Yeah,
it's the House of diabetes. Definitely.

Speaker 4 (01:34:22):
Oh my goodness, do not feed your white person too
much that what happened to you?

Speaker 1 (01:34:28):
Glins food after Okay, so I know you're asked this
a billion times, So I want to take a different approach.
Can you tell me a random, normal print story, No,
like a very normal story, Like, but what is normal.

(01:34:52):
Oh that time that our volkswagon broke down in the
middle of the four oh five and we had to
to the supermarket.

Speaker 6 (01:35:02):
He ran out of toilet paper.

Speaker 1 (01:35:10):
Let me get this sorry. Wow, I'm pretty sure that
the world half of your fans know how you met
Prince at backstage at his show in the seventies.

Speaker 2 (01:35:21):
Same place where I played with Diana Ross.

Speaker 1 (01:35:23):
Okay, the same theater, Yes, the same show. No, okay, wait,
what was he doing going to see Algebra?

Speaker 2 (01:35:30):
Well, we were both at the Algiro show, Great Theater
in Oakland, Berkeley.

Speaker 1 (01:35:35):
I'm impressed.

Speaker 2 (01:35:35):
That's when we first saw put at each other and went.

Speaker 1 (01:35:40):
So you were there to see Algebra? You were there
playing with.

Speaker 2 (01:35:43):
Both No, we were both there to see Algira. But
I think I was playing with George then. But but
we were both there watching Algerrol on stage, see from
each other, and we locked eyes and it was over.

Speaker 1 (01:35:54):
Princeton strike me as a cat. That was like, yo,
I gotta see Algebra.

Speaker 2 (01:35:58):
He loved and he loved all that music.

Speaker 1 (01:36:00):
It's weird to me because, at least from what I know,
like I feel like if from people I know that
you're either a total student or a total leader, and
oftentimes leaders aren't too they're more aloof or not aware.

Speaker 2 (01:36:18):
I totally disagree. Let me tell you why no, because
you can be both and that's what makes it awesome.
I'm going to continue to be a student left life
forever because I'm never going to learn everything, and if
every single day I learned something, so I'm always a student.
Prince was the same way, and I'm a leader. Prince
was the same way. He was a student. He wouldn't

(01:36:39):
say it, but he's a student because every time we
came in with something different, he's learned the stuff he
had never even heard before, you know. So, I mean
he was he became a student if he's in a
situation with other people that he's not played with, or
you know, we bring in music that he's never I
mean when he first met my families, like what kind
of music is this? Latin jazz? Dang, this is dope?

Speaker 1 (01:37:01):
You know that's the first time you heard it?

Speaker 2 (01:37:03):
Okay, Yeah, So he he was always a student in
a way. Never had to really say it, but he
was always learning, which is why he every time you
can tell if he was hanging with this group of
people or that group of people, his music changed the
influence from being a student. I think he was always
a student and he was also a leader, And I
think you can do both. That's my take on it.

Speaker 1 (01:37:25):
No, I never thought of that can do both.

Speaker 6 (01:37:28):
It sounds like we all should be both.

Speaker 2 (01:37:30):
Yes, we we yes, all of people.

Speaker 5 (01:37:36):
Okay, I love ald.

Speaker 6 (01:37:42):
Steve after all?

Speaker 1 (01:37:45):
Really Okay?

Speaker 6 (01:37:47):
In this Love Get Alive dead last.

Speaker 5 (01:37:57):
He locked eyes with Aldiau And then what happened.

Speaker 1 (01:38:03):
That I got that Steve? So in meeting? How long
did it take for him to really convince you that
you should be your own artist?

Speaker 2 (01:38:16):
And for him to convince me yes, Oh, it.

Speaker 1 (01:38:21):
Was assuming that he was the one that told you
you need to be your own artist.

Speaker 2 (01:38:26):
Well he wasn't the only one. But I had been
writing a lot of my own music when I was
a teenager, and whatever money that I made at clubs
or whatever, I would take that money and go buy
a piece of gear. And I said, I'm going to
learn how to record. I'm going to be an engineer.
I'm going to learn how to produce. I'm going to

(01:38:47):
learn how to write songs. So I started with a
two track, then I started with a four track. You know,
and you keep duplicating, like then you hear more hissing
and more, you know, to get to that point, what
is what am I listening to? So I kept buying gear,
and so I had tons of tapes of songs that
I'd written when I was with Marvin gay Prince Prince was.

(01:39:11):
I forgot what record he was doing then nineteen ninety nine, right, yeah,
So nineteen ninety nine, during the Marvin Gaye tour, he
was sending me flowers, and then you know, coming to
some of the shows Lionel, Ritchie and eighty three, then
he started coming hanging out. He's like, man, you're always

(01:39:31):
backing everyone else the same thing. You get a solo
with everybody. Every time I see you're playing with you know,
don't you want to do something? I said, yeah, I do,
but I'm you know, when the time is right. And
so during me playing percussion with Line on eighty three,
then towards the end of Lionel's tour, he said, you
want to do a record? I said sure, He said, okay,

(01:39:52):
let's do one. I said, okay. That was it, just
like that, and we went into the studio and a
week later we were finished with Glamours Life Record.

Speaker 1 (01:40:02):
Wow, you recorded it in that in less than two weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:40:06):
You have it's only like six songs.

Speaker 5 (01:40:10):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (01:40:10):
Well, yeah, but you also have to be focused.

Speaker 2 (01:40:14):
We didn't sleep again.

Speaker 1 (01:40:16):
You remember Prince was doing the song to day, so
you got six songs on the record.

Speaker 5 (01:40:20):
That's six days.

Speaker 2 (01:40:21):
We had two studios going at the same time, so
we had senses sound.

Speaker 1 (01:40:26):
Yeah. I admire his especially in hearing that the output
between eighty two and eighty seven, his kind of bull's
eye like ability to I mean, you know, when you again,
when I'm you're younger, you just think that, oh, this
magically happens. But it's like the rareness of someone to

(01:40:51):
write something effective. I mean, I gotta go through thirty
songs before I think like one's half decent to use.
This is someone that's just.

Speaker 2 (01:41:00):
Like, well, he really believed that every single song, every
single song that he wrote, he believed was a hit.
Well it wasn't, but he believed that, so he just
kept writing. So it didn't stop him to go, well,
this is not a great song. So you know, but
again you're you're writing songs and it just kept going.
In the archives, I mean, I think even.

Speaker 1 (01:41:21):
If they weren't singles. I mean, they were still.

Speaker 2 (01:41:22):
Great, so yeah, just the ideas. And some of them
weren't all great. I know some people are not gonna
be having me saying it, but it's the truth. They
weren't all great. Uh uh Nope. Some of the ones
him and I recorded, just him and I that are
in the vault about two hundred.

Speaker 1 (01:41:38):
Oh yeah, I can think of one that I didn't
really like. I'm sorry one friend. No, no, I'm one record.
I wanted to get to that later though.

Speaker 2 (01:41:50):
Okay, no, but I mean he but that was so
this is the incredible This man was an incredible songwriter,
and he he never wanted sometimes he would but like
he never wanted to use the same sound all the time.
He would just experiment. There were no rules. And that's
the thing is musicians tend to we put ourselves in
the box, you know, and say, well, we need to

(01:42:12):
mic the drum set this way. No, we don't. We
need to use this mic because I heard that this
is the snare mic. Well you really don't, you know,
Well let me I used to kick drum mike and
I'm gonna sing a lead vocal on it because it
sounds different.

Speaker 1 (01:42:25):
You know, go ahead, Can I ask uh for the
Sunset sound sessions doing that tenure? Do you remember what
brand the drums were there? If I could get the
answer to that, my life would be super complete.

Speaker 2 (01:42:42):
Drum machine.

Speaker 1 (01:42:44):
No, no, no, no, I don't mean the Lend drum. Oh, I'm
talking about you know, the occasional songs that you did
cut that had live drums on them.

Speaker 2 (01:42:52):
Oh, everything I used there was Yamaha okay, all right,
the maple custom maple okay, that's and pisty symbols battle
right there, and pin stripe hands drum heads really yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:43:10):
Pin stripes ye, not coated white?

Speaker 2 (01:43:13):
Uh huh?

Speaker 1 (01:43:14):
Why did you put for pin stripes? I mean did
it matter to you? Was it just like, oh, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:43:18):
There, or was it like I changed I changed them
out sometimes, but most of the time it was because
it had a funk thing, you know, with the pin
stripe and then sometimes putting a pillow inside the kick
drum and then putting a little bit of tape or
something on the snare is just tight.

Speaker 1 (01:43:32):
Even on the snare. It never occurred to me once
to use the pin stripes there.

Speaker 5 (01:43:37):
Do you remember how they mike the len drum.

Speaker 9 (01:43:43):
You are.

Speaker 1 (01:43:46):
For those that are scratching their heads at home. You
can't really mind that.

Speaker 10 (01:43:51):
Actually that's not even fair to because a lot of
people put things like that through an amp.

Speaker 5 (01:43:56):
And then kay, I was.

Speaker 1 (01:43:58):
That's what I want to get to to get I
know that the dryness of the line drum, the dryness
of the line drum naked sounds very dry. How many
do you know? What was the effects process of getting reverb? Yeah?
Just this the sound like those patches. M you gotta

(01:44:21):
please tell me. This is the closest. This is the closest.
Remember that is like what what?

Speaker 5 (01:44:29):
What reverb stuff? Did Prince use?

Speaker 1 (01:44:33):
That's what I want to know.

Speaker 2 (01:44:35):
Other engineers as well? Have they told you? I mean
for me, yes, Look we're talking about Susan. You talk.

Speaker 1 (01:44:45):
You have to talk to Susan. I'm certain that she'll
reveal it. But but you've got just for the sake
of that sound being preserved.

Speaker 2 (01:44:56):
And here's the other thing with the drummers, the line
drum machines, because we have both of them, the big
mon I call it the mothership, the big one and
then the smaller one. But we had are the line
drum machines modified, so we had a m B switches
to do different stuff on the lim machines, which I
still have.

Speaker 1 (01:45:15):
What customized modified?

Speaker 5 (01:45:18):
Do those have effects on them? Yeah? We got her.

Speaker 1 (01:45:25):
Must be in the Okay, so those claps, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:45:29):
Those Those claps are dope.

Speaker 1 (01:45:31):
Yes, yeah, how did you build those claps? Slowly? Sip water?
You know I'm a.

Speaker 2 (01:45:43):
Student, man, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding for the bus.

Speaker 1 (01:45:55):
Let me off the hook. She'll tell you.

Speaker 2 (01:45:57):
Offline maybe, yeah, I'll tell you offline.

Speaker 1 (01:45:59):
Seriously.

Speaker 9 (01:46:00):
Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 1 (01:46:01):
That's just the head claps. That's the only thing I'll
ask about the drums.

Speaker 6 (01:46:05):
She's gonna tell you that is the key.

Speaker 1 (01:46:08):
To Yes, it is you want to give the secret
to tell you. She's gonna tell you. Have you heard music? Yes,
So she's gonna tell you.

Speaker 2 (01:46:19):
I use those same claps right now on my show,
I should hope.

Speaker 1 (01:46:23):
So, like, those are very iconic, they are, but louder
than hell claps. They can be achieved. Okay, I'm gonna
get this from another I'm gonna get this from another angle.
So when you're doing this live, which I know this

(01:46:46):
is a a a nightmare, at least two duplicate to duplicate.
How many drum machines are you guys taking on the
room with you in case one breaks down or in
case a button is missed, or me right now or
before now before I'm talking pre pro tools, pre oh,

(01:47:10):
you guys invented pro tools in my mind.

Speaker 2 (01:47:13):
We did? For real, we did. So what I did
was I had a Yamaha drum set. I had eight
ten twelve fourteen sixteen eighteen tom and I had two
twenty inch kick drums. I had a Piccolotle snare of
fourteen inch, and then I had a eight ten twelve
fourteen sixteen eighteen crashes with a couple of splashes, a

(01:47:34):
sixteen in, a fourteen inch pang, and a twenty inch
ride and a sixty inch right that real big one.
I don't even know what size that thing is. And
with each which, each tom that I had, I put
triggers in the in each tom, so which so that
I could trigger any sound that I wanted, not just

(01:47:55):
on the snare, but on all the toms. Then I
had switched is put on each tom that had an
a switch and a be switched, so in case a
trigger went out, I just click it and I'm not
gonna lose anything. So I got my B plan. I
always got to have a B planned.

Speaker 1 (01:48:11):
So the way that triggers are sensitive and the way
that monitors are, your monitors really can't be that loud
or have that much vibration because it might offset the triggers.

Speaker 2 (01:48:26):
Correct, yes, and no that we didn't have that problem?
Would they modified that for me?

Speaker 1 (01:48:31):
And how loud were your monitors we're using in ears or.

Speaker 2 (01:48:34):
We didn't have in ears? Then we have monitors.

Speaker 1 (01:48:38):
I tried triggering once again, I do something once and then.

Speaker 2 (01:48:42):
That you give up too easy?

Speaker 1 (01:48:45):
Well, no, it's just a nightmare because you know I
at the time when I was using monitors before in
the ears, anytime I my kick drum, it would set
off the entire right. It was just a nightmare. And
I know, like even with the way that Rob had
those those lights going, oh yeah, surely like if like

(01:49:05):
you must be bullseye and no to press like what
have you missed the nineteen ninety nine Q to press
button number eight?

Speaker 9 (01:49:13):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:49:13):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:49:13):
No, no, I have. I had triggers on each drum and
then I had pads. Uh it might have been a rolling.
I don't know, it might have been Yamaha, but I
had modules in a rack. Then I had a different
trigger on my snare. And with the trigger, there was
an on and off switch for the handclaps that I
triggered all my snare. Those claps are on my snare,

(01:49:36):
so I triggered. There's an on and off switch for that.
Then there's an on and off switch for the Lend
machine and everything that I just told you that I built.
That my text built, but this is what I needed
to make this happen. We built a duplicate one just
in case that one went down. So then I had
another switch that would then switch all the programs. Every
time I went to the next song. They weren't switching,

(01:49:58):
I was switching it. So I had like ten petal
on the floor. One was off and on switched just
for the snare to have hand claps or not. One
was a switch to change all the programs. One is
to turn the entire drum Lend drum machine off. And
then I've got two double pedals because they didn't make
a double pedal then, so I had two separate pedals,

(01:50:20):
and I had the high hat. Yeah, there were so
many pedals down there, and I was it was like
me playing in the base organ Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:50:26):
Yeah, it was so on, assuming that everything wasn't one
hundred percent perfect. I mean, what's your panic level if
something gives out like okay, it's time to do hot
thing and you press the button and it doesn't start, well,
you would naturally play it on drums. I'm behind it rhetical.

Speaker 2 (01:50:44):
Right, Well, that was the that was why we had
a B plan. So if that machine didn't work or
didn't trigger, they just automatically switched to the secondary entire
rack of everything dramatically.

Speaker 1 (01:50:58):
For those that are listening right now, this might be
is this going over your head right now? I had
a question a followed question. I'm not even the subject.
I've already forgotten it. I just got it.

Speaker 5 (01:51:09):
Some people might not understand.

Speaker 1 (01:51:10):
I'm just saying that what she's describing to me right now,
like I'm not breathing right now, because just.

Speaker 5 (01:51:16):
Sound like a lot of pedals breathed dog breathing.

Speaker 1 (01:51:19):
Just the level of I don't know if I can
handle that.

Speaker 2 (01:51:25):
No, it was. It definitely was a lot. But that
was what I came up with to do because I
was his MD, and it's like I was there most
of the time, just him and I as he recorded
a lot of stuff, and it's not like we have
pro tools. We had one hundred and fifty tracks, so
we had twenty four tracks, and if we slaved another one,
we'd have forty eight maybe. But you know, so where

(01:51:47):
it says bass and he's playing bass, he just put
another sound in the middle of something, and I'd have
to grab that little sound for one or two bars
or a phrase and take it and sample that so
I can play it on the drums because it was
on the bass track. But no one would know that
because they weren't sitting there with him. Oh so I
was punching him in like stuff that he couldn't punch

(01:52:09):
himself in as far as playing guitar solos or lines
or whatever. If he couldn't do it. I was his
engineer for a lot of the stuff.

Speaker 10 (01:52:17):
So you would sample stuff from tape that he had
played and then and then assign it to a drum
and then play some other Wait a.

Speaker 1 (01:52:27):
Minute, even in overdubbing, he would play it on top
of pre existing tracks because we didn't have I'm spitting
out what you just told me.

Speaker 2 (01:52:38):
Yeah, So even if like there's a keyboard part that says,
keyboards left and right, but at the same time he
would just punch in some other weird sound instead of
going through another track. He just punched it in the middle.
And there were tons of that throughout a song. So
when you hear stuff coming in and out, it's because
he punched it in there, and it's only to happen

(01:53:00):
at that place, at that sound, and you'll never hear
it again.

Speaker 1 (01:53:04):
Because it's my life's dream just to sit and analyze
one of those tracks in the vault, just to see
how things are mixed or just the other world. I mean,
that's like Rubik's cube level of confusion, because I mean again,
now we have technology and our computers that you can

(01:53:25):
have a gazillion tracks.

Speaker 10 (01:53:26):
But yeah, I think what what she's saying he was
doing was like when you run out of tracks, you
have to go to a track that already has something
on it and find a space where that thing isn't playing,
like the pianos the universe.

Speaker 2 (01:53:37):
That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 9 (01:53:42):
He didn't have to not even go with.

Speaker 1 (01:53:43):
The Sempty track. We didn't have, we didn't believe in
Simpty back.

Speaker 5 (01:53:46):
All right, you got if you're locking.

Speaker 2 (01:53:49):
Up the machine and I'm sorry, if we're getting two
technical on something.

Speaker 1 (01:53:53):
This is what this shows. For This shows for nerds.

Speaker 2 (01:53:56):
Me up becoming Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (01:54:02):
Okay, So I have a question.

Speaker 3 (01:54:04):
So you were talking about the all the pedals and
stuff and the triggers and all that. How forgiving was
prince of technical screw ups? You know, if something went wrong,
like did he get mad at you? Or who did
he get mad if something if a lyn drun didn't
get were impatient or impatient?

Speaker 1 (01:54:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:54:21):
Absolutely?

Speaker 1 (01:54:22):
Like but like did he see did he see that
as your fault?

Speaker 9 (01:54:28):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:54:30):
Like if it was, if it was if there's a short.

Speaker 3 (01:54:33):
Yeah, like if it was a bona fide technical like
if something was wrong with the mission.

Speaker 2 (01:54:36):
He sometimes he would just say, whatever is going on,
somebody fix it, walk out of the room and come
back and hopefully it was fixed. Yeah, I see that.

Speaker 1 (01:54:46):
We're still not breathing.

Speaker 2 (01:54:49):
Yeah it was. I'm telling you. It was a lot
for me. And then at the same time, not just
you know, some of the times I had to press
either the limb machine to stop on the end of
before the down so I could hit the down with
the kicked I mean I was, I know, you got
to hit in all of this, but at the same
time taking this uh you know, the collaps off where

(01:55:11):
they needed to be in the middle of a phrase
sometimes and it was always on the up while I'm
still playing and singing.

Speaker 6 (01:55:16):
And doing choreography, and you're like, it's okay, superwoman, that's
what's up. Yeah, she is a superwoman, super genius.

Speaker 1 (01:55:26):
So this is where I don't know if you're aware
of this. So so there's a term speaking of black
Messiah that that D and I always used, and well
the term was Michael Angelo. Oh okay, So I don't
know if I ever told you the story. So basically

(01:55:47):
there was there was a law period in our relationship
where you know, we didn't rap with each other for
like a couple of years, and he was still working
on this record. So we mended our relationship and I
came back to the studio and he's like playing me
cuts of what he's been working on so far, like
all three of them, and by this no I'm playing

(01:56:11):
by this time, like he'd got James Gatson to uh
to drum on these joints, and I was sitting you know,
part of me was like trying to be like encouraging, like,
oh man, it's really funky, you know, because again it
was incredible ass funk I was listening to uh, But
in my mind I was on this. Yeah, in my mind,
I was seven with rage, like damn, I'm not on

(01:56:33):
this ship. And for me, in my head, I was like, damn.
The only songs i'll I'll be able to play on
are the Michael Angelo songs, which in di'angelo speak, because
the way that Roman sixteen hundred is is sequenced, that
would be Sheila's second solo. Yeah, for those that are listening,

(01:57:00):
A love Bazzar is such a monstrous song the way
that it's positioned on the album that there's really no
way for me to separate and make Dear Michael Angelo
its own song without thinking that Dear Michael Angelo is
just a three minute movie preview to what's about to
come around the corner, kind of like the first half
of slimin Family Stone Stand like, okay, this, we know

(01:57:24):
this part of song, but we know the part we're
really waiting for is the last minute of the song
where they start like funking out. And but whenever I
sequenced the record, I always used Michael Angelo the lovelzart,
like it's almost like an alley setup shot to the
slam Dunk. And I thought, well, damn, I can't get

(01:57:44):
Jimmy Gatzon off this record, but at least I can
try to work on all the Michael Angelo's the setup songs.
And so that's where the charade song on on Uh
Black Messiah comes into play, Like that was our tribute
to dear Michael Angelow because you know I was not

(01:58:09):
on Sugar Daddy and Salty about that.

Speaker 2 (01:58:13):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:58:14):
But yeah, so that no, that that song means a
lot to us. I don't know if you hear that often.

Speaker 2 (01:58:20):
I never, no, thank you, that's awesome. Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:58:24):
It's also hard to figure out where the one is
in that. I gotta ask for toy box because I
know that humor is a big part of the presentation.
But how how how easier heard is it to do

(01:58:49):
skits or that sort of thing like in front of
like as you're recording it. I mean, it's one thing
to hear and like, oh okay, by that point you
used to the comedy skit or the comedy section of
a certain song. But how hard is it to do
like and and map and plan, because it's like you

(01:59:10):
have to take a sixty four bar break to to
insert this in the song, Like are you guys mapping
it out one by one? Like all the lines of
you're just.

Speaker 2 (01:59:20):
No, we're just going for it. Okay, yeah, just going
for it.

Speaker 1 (01:59:25):
I see.

Speaker 2 (01:59:26):
So a lot of times it wasn't planned. We're just
playing in whatever ended up happening, is what it was,
and then.

Speaker 1 (01:59:33):
You built it around there yeah I see, yeah, okay,
all right. And fourth for songs like Mercy.

Speaker 2 (01:59:41):
For the Mercy for the Speed of Mad Clown in
the Summertime?

Speaker 1 (01:59:44):
Yes, how many? Is that a band effort? Like who's
playing on?

Speaker 4 (01:59:49):
That?

Speaker 9 (01:59:49):
Is the whole band?

Speaker 1 (01:59:50):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (01:59:51):
That was recorded live like Love Bizarre was, And.

Speaker 1 (01:59:56):
Yeah, I'm trying to get everything else. So I want
to get the crush groove right now.

Speaker 2 (02:00:01):
Tell you better hurry because I gotta go.

Speaker 6 (02:00:03):
I can you tell me where the pink jacket is though?

Speaker 2 (02:00:07):
In my closet?

Speaker 9 (02:00:07):
Okay?

Speaker 6 (02:00:08):
Thanks?

Speaker 1 (02:00:12):
Crush groove Bill? Do you oh?

Speaker 3 (02:00:15):
I thought, you know, helping you move along the crush groove?
Oh okay, crush groove, Crush.

Speaker 1 (02:00:22):
So yeah, Michael, how did how did Michael Schultz choose you? At?
Like were you.

Speaker 2 (02:00:29):
I was out on tour on Purple Rain. I have
no idea. Management said at the end of Purple Rain,
we had been out for a year or something, that's like,
we want you to go to New York and audition
for a part in the movie. And I'm like, what, okay.
So they said, we just want to see if you
have chemistry with this up and coming actor Blair. Okay.

(02:00:53):
So of course I was exhausted. I had just cut
my hair because we had been on tour. I was like,
I'm so tired, but I'm going to come here and
try it. I came here. I was stressed, and it's
so dumb because I've seen it somewhere. I don't know.
I think it was on YouTube or maybe it was
in my archives of stuff that I have. But we

(02:01:15):
did a what do you call it? Audition? I think
I saw it there. If it's not, I have it.
If not, I have it, But I thought it was
on there. But if you see it in my profile
because I was stressed out, this big pimples it was.

(02:01:37):
It was a thumb growing out of my nose. It
looked like and I was so nervous. That bothered me
more trying to act like, please don't look at my
nose while we're auditioning here. But anyway, we did the audition,
it was fine, and they said we want you to
come back, and so we kind of worked it out.
And it was interesting still because in the middle of

(02:01:59):
the filming of this, I quit, uh, And I usually
don't quit, but I quit.

Speaker 1 (02:02:05):
You quit the movie.

Speaker 9 (02:02:06):
I quit the movie in the middle of filming.

Speaker 12 (02:02:08):
Yes, sir, wait sleeves, sleeves too much, too little, sleeves
have haunted.

Speaker 1 (02:02:20):
How long did it take the film?

Speaker 2 (02:02:23):
I don't. I don't know. Four months, three months, I don't.
It didn't seem like it was that long.

Speaker 1 (02:02:30):
Was it a is it fine? Memories of it like,
oh the good old or was it just like whatever? Oh?

Speaker 2 (02:02:36):
No, it was messed up. It was totally messed up. Now.
What happened was while we were filming it, Uh, I
guess there was an East coast West coast thing happening.
I didn't know anything about it, you know, because early Wow,
I had been on I had been on tour, and
I came in and it's just like, who's this West

(02:02:56):
coast wanna be rapper coming in as what I was.

Speaker 9 (02:03:00):
Because the Bronx.

Speaker 1 (02:03:01):
Okay, yeah, because.

Speaker 2 (02:03:03):
I'm just saying that's how it went down. It's like, wait,
what do you And I'm saying, what are you talking about?
I don't even know what you're talking about. Well, we're
here in New York and you're just wanna be rapper
and I'm like, no, I'm a musician, you know. So
a lot of them hadn't heard kind of is like.
And then plus being out on tour, I came in
with and again you would call it ontourage now, but

(02:03:23):
I mean I had road manager and the wardrobe people
and we were just on tours. So everyone came with
me making sure everything was cool. And you know, I
used to being on tour and wherever we go it's
like wherever I laid my head is my home. So
you know, like we're sitting in this room, you gotta
have vibe, you know, lamps and you know, pictures.

Speaker 9 (02:03:42):
My family they'd never seen that before.

Speaker 1 (02:03:45):
It seemed high end.

Speaker 2 (02:03:46):
The very I mean, you know, the fat boys were
in the other room with some cafeteria chairs and a table,
and I came in with the rug. I mean again,
you talk about the writer. I mean it's like and
I want a popcorn machine and I want to for
real and they're like wait, and they peaked in my room,
like what's the They were cool, but some of the

(02:04:08):
other rappers were so mean to me. And and then
not only that, the fans, not even the fans because
they weren't my fans. The peep the extras in the movie.
While we were shooting Love Bizarre.

Speaker 1 (02:04:23):
At the at the club, at the Funhouse or.

Speaker 2 (02:04:28):
Yes, at the Fever, Yeah, we're we're we're we're filming
that part, and everyone's like, you know, yeah, kind of
halfway moving and was like whatever, and I'm singing love
Bazarre and then at the end they're supposed to go, yeah, yeah,
you know she's they just stood there like there's nobody clap,
and the extras nobody clap.

Speaker 9 (02:04:47):
You got new York New York is they were It
was so many.

Speaker 1 (02:04:51):
They're protective and they're very caddy.

Speaker 2 (02:04:54):
And and yeah, so they just they had the directors
had to say, wait, cut, hold on, do you guys
know where shoot in the movie, Like for real, you
guys got a clap We're shooting the movie. So anyway,
it just got crazy.

Speaker 1 (02:05:07):
For the Holly Rock scene too, that was a.

Speaker 2 (02:05:09):
Little bit weird too, because actually I had prints come
for that and so he was there. Yeah, he was
there for that for a second. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:05:18):
Yeah, wow, I didn't know that it was.

Speaker 2 (02:05:23):
And then and then at the end when we were
shooting the part where we were all dancing at the
end of the movie. Yeah, at the end of the movie. Uh,
it was kind of crazy because some of the other
rappers were pushing us off the stage and everything and
moving us out the way and it was just dumb.
I'm like, they were just hating on us.

Speaker 5 (02:05:41):
And I was like, but that boys were nice, right, cool?
What was on their ride?

Speaker 1 (02:05:45):
Damn? I feel bad for wearing this ll sweater? Now?

Speaker 2 (02:05:49):
Was cool? Was cool, I'm.

Speaker 1 (02:05:53):
In.

Speaker 4 (02:05:54):
But you know, in retrospect, now, I'm sure the next
project they did, they upgraded their rider because they was like, oh,
we can get this.

Speaker 6 (02:06:01):
I had no idea. Yeah, we go disorderly kill you.

Speaker 9 (02:06:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (02:06:06):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (02:06:06):
Damn. I'm kind of disappointed that that wasn't a good
filming experience because that film meant everything to us.

Speaker 2 (02:06:13):
Yeah. No, I mean I came back and you know,
it was cool, but it was weird. I mean, and
the other ones that were really mean to me who
are well known people now and what they do and
it's like, wow is their name?

Speaker 1 (02:06:26):
Ryan would fun p RB.

Speaker 2 (02:06:30):
No, I got that one.

Speaker 9 (02:06:33):
Us go.

Speaker 2 (02:06:36):
Cold. Curtis is cool now? He was? He was. He
was really cool and he turned around to address everybody's like,
come on, y'all, you know we're supposed to be shooting
a movie. Come on, what you're doing? He was really cool.

Speaker 1 (02:06:47):
Well, yeah, for the greater good, I appreciate you doing
that movie.

Speaker 2 (02:06:52):
I had. I had a good time. I mean, all
in all, I had a good time.

Speaker 6 (02:06:55):
Was that your first East Coast West Coast situation?

Speaker 4 (02:06:57):
Because I not for nothing that I was always curious
about the West Coast Latin jazz scene versus the East
Coast Latin.

Speaker 2 (02:07:03):
Right, and then that was a whole other issue. Yeah,
the Latin jazz and jazz and then salsa right the
East Coast against the West Coast, big huge thing happening.
Absolutely that was also a rival with the East Coast,
said the West Coast US Latin jazz artists and musicians
don't play as well as the East Coast.

Speaker 4 (02:07:21):
Plus it's different countries we're talking about too in situations
and all.

Speaker 2 (02:07:24):
Kind of But I mean it's really it all goes
back to this rhythm called the clave, and and in
Layman's term is really like the two and the four
where we clapping on the funk, but this is called
the clave and that's their their their clock, and so
it's how you play it. So yeah, so interesting.

Speaker 1 (02:07:41):
Okay, I'm trying to move past the purple period to
your sex symbol post sex symbol period of your career
where you're totally out of the folder left, Like what
was what was it like to make the decision to
really leave and explore music that you wanted to do

(02:08:03):
without the tutelage of what you what you came to
the world as, at least in our eyes, Like, what
was that like for going to do Prince's Bid? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (02:08:12):
Well, I mean I after a while, it's like I
didn't like the direction he was going in and I
didn't like all the cursing, and I just the music
was getting crazy, and I'm like, no, it does I'm
not having fun. If I'm not having fun, you know,
I need to leave.

Speaker 3 (02:08:24):
After we forget to ask, well, we did, but actually
I just wanted to ask, did you have any problems
with singing Scarlett Pussy?

Speaker 2 (02:08:32):
No?

Speaker 1 (02:08:32):
Okay, because I was wondering if that was if that
might have been something that you.

Speaker 2 (02:08:36):
Know, kind of no, no, no, when I did that
that was supposed to be on my record and it
turned out so good.

Speaker 1 (02:08:42):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (02:08:43):
That's actually segue. I wanted to ask about the record
that didn't come out. Yeah, can you tell me anything
about the song three Nigs watching a Kung Fu Movie?
Because that title has just been stuck in my head
for forever.

Speaker 2 (02:08:55):
Prince called me when I was in Oakland and three
Nigs United in West Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:09:01):
That was on the Black album, but there was I
guess a sequel that was coming on.

Speaker 2 (02:09:04):
Yeah, that was me. He called me, goes, I don't
have a title for a song. I said, okay, Three
Niggs United in Wiscompton or whatever it was, it goes, Okay,
that sound good?

Speaker 1 (02:09:15):
Okay? It was so he literally made the Black Album
just to have party music at your birthday celebration.

Speaker 2 (02:09:22):
That was yes and no. I mean we were we
were recording you know, that music mostly at his house,
in the studio at his house, and then one day
he's just like, we can't let this go, we can't
release him like it's the dopest record you are you
kidding me? He just stopped the truck. No, we can't.
And of course you know one of them trucks got

(02:09:44):
through or I don't know how many truck Yeah, a
lot of people got the record anyway, Sure it did. Yes,
how many you have? But yeah? Okay?

Speaker 1 (02:09:55):
But yeah, leaving it, I mean you felt more of
a sense of independ.

Speaker 2 (02:10:00):
Well again, no, it's not that. It was more of
I felt something was missing musically, and so something missing
musically for me means well why am I doing it?
That passion was dwindling away because I wasn't excited about
showing up, you know and playing. It's like I don't
like the direction. I don't like what's happening, So I

(02:10:21):
said I got to leave.

Speaker 1 (02:10:22):
Well, this led her to something that we do really
have in common. You were a late night band leader
for the Magic Hour? How how how was that experience
at least as a late night band leader?

Speaker 2 (02:10:40):
Like, it was actually pretty dope. I mean I was
ready to do it. To me again, you're going to
be a musical director for television. It's all about timing.
So it's like it's to me, I thought it was
a no brainer, and I just visualized what I needed
to do. It's like, okay, what's common sense. It has
to happen. And I was cool with it. So your

(02:11:04):
brother too, I enjoyed it. Yeah. I brought my brother
and my band and.

Speaker 4 (02:11:08):
Now he's because right, your brother was a music director
for a TV show.

Speaker 2 (02:11:11):
As well, Martin Short and Wayne Brady. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:11:16):
Wait a minute, Peter, Mike Martin Short show.

Speaker 2 (02:11:22):
No no, no, not that one.

Speaker 1 (02:11:24):
You scared me. Peter Michael was under my no, my floor,
and I didn't know about it. What the hell?

Speaker 4 (02:11:31):
No?

Speaker 2 (02:11:31):
Okay, but but I'm just gonna say the Magic Hour thing,
I mean it was. It's interesting. It didn't last as long.
I mean Magic have problems trying to, you know, figure
out how to be a host. That's a hard gig.
That's not easy at all.

Speaker 1 (02:11:49):
Have some troubles with that. This show. The first few
episodes of kind of yeah, the first few, this is
probably our first fifty episodes. This is probably are rough
this episode right now, it is not okay, So I
have I have two more questions. I'll let it go.

(02:12:10):
The co Ed prop project, Well, that happened in the future.

Speaker 3 (02:12:16):
You want to explain what Coed is? Oh, chronicles of
every dealer, Well, explain it to us. But what's the
co ed prop co ed project? Well, let's let Sheila explain.

Speaker 1 (02:12:24):
Could you tell us what the co ed project is?

Speaker 2 (02:12:26):
Well, we got there, okay, Chronicles of every Dudy. Yeah,
we were h me kat Dat Dyson who plays guitar,
Ronda Smith who plays bass, and Cassandra who plays keyboards
and uh Cassandra Neil and we would have different guest

(02:12:49):
artists playing and performing with us. That was the idea.
And let's just go out and play and put an
all girls band together, which is something I always wanted
to do anyway, So I don't know if we're going
to do anything. I had to disband it because all
the things that I didn't want it to be and
how women should be supportive of each other and we

(02:13:11):
get along and you know, write some good music. It
just kind of got funky. It's like, this is what
we said we weren't going to be so not that
is so raw. No, it's no, it wasn't a devi thing.

(02:13:35):
It's just really uh just not all on the same
page of what we wanted to do musically. You know,
we all we have to be on the same page.

Speaker 1 (02:13:44):
Okay, I lied, So there's two point five questions. No,
because you are a band leader. How and I've heard
maybe a rehearsal too, where you and LEVI maybe had
some words. That's how nerdy we are here.

Speaker 2 (02:14:03):
Oh my god, rehearsal tape.

Speaker 1 (02:14:06):
We believe that. Yes, so you heard it too. No,
But the thing is is that I was I was
impressed that you won the kind of the debate or whatever.
But how hard is it for you to put your
foot down, plant your flag and really make people respect

(02:14:28):
your gangster as far as you know, this is our plan.
Because this leads to what you organized for the for
the BT tribute, I know that must have been the
hardest thing in the world for you to do.

Speaker 9 (02:14:44):
I just mostly, but just.

Speaker 1 (02:14:46):
From a technical aspect, for you to really take it there.
I know that you had to draw the map, draw
the blueprint, and execute it. How hard is it to
band lead into to be the bad guy? To be
a bandleader, You've got to be the bad guy, and
I hate being the bad guy. I wouldn't be everyone's friend, right, So,

(02:15:07):
how how hard is it to do it?

Speaker 2 (02:15:10):
Right now? It's not that hard. It wasn't that hard
when we did the bet to put that together. I
have such an amazing group of musicians and people around
me that we love what we get to do. There's
no drama anymore, and man, what a great place to be.
I have to say, there's no drama. There's no arguments
and stuff like that. It just doesn't really happen anymore.

(02:15:33):
If it does, it's once in a great while, but
hardly at all. And putting together the BET thing, you know,
first trying to understand how I was going to do
it and figure it out and then say, okay, then
who can do this with me? I knew my band
was going to do it, but who else was I
going to bring into play? Well, some of the people

(02:15:54):
I did ask were already booked for other things because
it was the last minute. You know, this was unexpected
first of all. And then you know, some people just
said no, left me hanging like they didn't even call
me back.

Speaker 1 (02:16:08):
But you got it's because it was the timing. It
was no one knew you know what I mean, It
was no, but it was a brave thing for you
to to do. And I have to I don't know
if I even texted you or after, but yeah, that was.
That was a great job.

Speaker 2 (02:16:28):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (02:16:30):
Okay, we're about to let it go. Do you have
one last question? This is our last question. I swear
you're gonna go.

Speaker 3 (02:16:37):
You've accomplished quite a bit as a musician, and I've
been reading your book, The Beat of My Own Drum,
which is in stores now, and you talk about how
when you were a child you actually had some aspirations
of being an astronaut and you were quite an athlete too.
Which of those two do you think you would have gone,
like gone into had music not worked out for you?

Speaker 2 (02:16:59):
Or oh definitely athlete? Yeah were you?

Speaker 6 (02:17:02):
I saw the Olympics and you had Olympic hopes?

Speaker 2 (02:17:05):
Oh yeah, absolutely. Mom's my mom is a tomboy, and
all her brothers and their sisters, they would, you know,
compete all the time. So all of them doing that,
they just you know, I learned all of that from
from my mom competing and being an athlete. She wanted
to start her and her sisters wanted to start their
own women's basketball team and baseball team. And so she's

(02:17:28):
my mom's always like, you know, you can do whatever
you want to do. And she's that person's like, don't
tell me, I can't do something kind of person. So
I wanted to be. I was in track and field,
and I was breaking a lot of records in junior
high and high school running track, and then also played
on a women's soccer league team for five years undefeated.

(02:17:51):
We were undefeated, and I h trophies for the most
goals and stuff like. So you couldn't even catch me.
I just couldn't catch to me. Just that was just
how it was.

Speaker 5 (02:18:02):
Running with the night.

Speaker 2 (02:18:03):
Huh wow, I love it. Yeah, that's what I would have.
I would have. I always tell you when it was
like I wanted. I wanted to be the first girl
on the moon and then astronaut, and the second thing
was to win a gold medal in track and field

(02:18:24):
and Olympics. But I got a gold record. I'm like,
I'm cool with that, you know, I got something. Yeah,
and been around the world. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:18:32):
You know, like when you're talking to someone and you're
trying to keep the conversation going on, like you you
hang up, you hang up, Okay, it's time to hang up.

Speaker 6 (02:18:42):
It's so funny because.

Speaker 1 (02:18:46):
Yeah, trust me, there's like nine more hours of technical
questions I have about drumming and me but I.

Speaker 2 (02:18:51):
Know we can come I can come back, you can
get to.

Speaker 1 (02:18:53):
Talk about gone country.

Speaker 6 (02:18:54):
What are y'all doing? And then we got like a
para drum behind us. I don't know what we're doing tonight?

Speaker 1 (02:18:59):
Is you just you have no finess? Whatsoever? Do you
you have.

Speaker 6 (02:19:05):
To get there before? She was like sleeping, you have
zero to get this?

Speaker 2 (02:19:10):
Okay, no, no.

Speaker 1 (02:19:14):
I'm not passing the messages, see sending me over to.

Speaker 6 (02:19:16):
Okay, my bad, I'm sorry. We are communicators.

Speaker 1 (02:19:18):
Yes, you're right exactly. Anyway, I like probably say goodbye, Chilia,
I thank you.

Speaker 2 (02:19:24):
Thank you for coming on left, don't forget to go
buy Iconic.

Speaker 1 (02:19:30):
Yes, please by now. Yes it is available now okay, uh,
sort of go off script with the show instead of
playing our theme, Can we just have a thirty second
dance on drama off? That's all went, thirty seconds? Dance
thirty just the song.

Speaker 6 (02:19:49):
I'm shutting up?

Speaker 1 (02:19:50):
Can we shut our micaelf please chield for thirty seconds?
Can we do this? Please do what? Yes? Can we
have a dance on drum off for thirty seconds?

Speaker 2 (02:20:01):
What's a dance on drum off?

Speaker 1 (02:20:03):
You know? I love that you have such an illustrious
history with drumming that you don't even remember your classic
the dance on. Yes, it doesn't even have to be that.

Speaker 2 (02:20:18):
Just do that because the triggers it's the sound. Yes,
I do. It's not going to sound the same.

Speaker 1 (02:20:26):
We don't need the glass breaking and all that stuff.
Just for thirty seconds. All right, can we do this?

Speaker 2 (02:20:34):
Can you play it first?

Speaker 1 (02:20:35):
Sexual suicide?

Speaker 6 (02:20:36):
Can we do Can you play it first? Can you
play it first?

Speaker 2 (02:20:39):
Yes, all right, let's go.

Speaker 3 (02:20:40):
Let's go, so everybody a mirror is going to go
behind it right now. Thank you, good night, thank you.

Speaker 1 (02:21:29):
This has been an amazing episode of Quest Love Supreme
on behalf of the entire Supreme team. I'll see you
guys later and I'm gonna go die now. Thank you
until next time. Good night. Quest Love Supreme is a
production of iHeartRadio. This classic episode was produced by the
team at Pandora. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit

(02:21:51):
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.

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Episode Transcript

Hosts And Creators

Laiya St. Clair

Questlove

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