September 10, 2025 • 50 mins
I am joined by “The Open Mic Guy” David Craver to talk about all things open mics and opportunities for singers to get out there, meet like-minded people, find musicians to play with and perform in front of a supportive crowd. If you’re new to open mics - or as David likes to call them, Mini Music Festivals - or you moved to a new place and want to find some performance opportunities, this episode is for you!
📍Mentioned Resources:
Find Open Mics in your city here: https://www.openmic.us/
Join The Singer’s Club here: https://thesingers.club/
Free Class To Learn How To Get Paid Gigs: https://www.performerpro.net/
Donate to the Amped Kids Foundation here: https://ampedkids.org/
👉 Want to make practicing easier? Grab our FREE warm up track here: https://lessons.voxtapestudios.com/free-warm-up-track
👉 Want to know exactly what your voice needs to improve? Get a vocal evaluation from our professional coaches here: https://lessons.voxtapestudios.com/vocal-evaluation
👉 Book a 1:1 session with Coach Lara: https://lessons.voxtapestudios.com/trial-lesson
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
what is the singers club
(00:01):
people may have heard of pop up choruses
yeah it's kind of a thing that's bubbling around
so we took that concept and said
let's let's organize this thing right
let's make it a recurring steady thing in each city
so the idea is we're going to be in um 20 major markets
we will hold one pop up chorus each month
(00:24):
we secure the venue
and so instead of there being an audience
and there's something on stage
what's on stage is the coral director
yeah right
so the coral director is there along with a musician
and you know we're gonna do um Tom Petty free falling
okay right
and that killer arrangement
yeah right
it's such a fun song everybody loves it
(00:46):
everybody sings along with it anyway
but boy when we do it all coral
you know with an acoustic guitar playing
and so what we do is we have one song
and we do it for two hours
you're gonna meet all kinds of new people
they all love to sing
(01:08):
hey voxar and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
at Voxar Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the three fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry whether you're looking to go pro
(01:29):
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources already
are you ready let's get started
we are back in my parents living room
in beautiful Switzerland
dressed to the nines because beautiful
David Craver and I welcome
just came back from a hike
how are you Laura
(01:50):
it's so good to be here I am doing very well
surprisingly after the hike we just did
you did perfectly fine
I did say I was going to be resilient
and I feel pretty good yeah
you picked the toughest route up on that mountain
well it
it did say you know if
if for those more
a little more adventurous
uh huh I think what it should have said was
if you like repelling
(02:11):
and if you can climb like a mountain goat this
this is the one for you yeah
yeah this
this was a very very
they downplay the danger they really do
you gotta you gotta just stick to the
the the kettle trails
well I mean
they even said you know
this is the scenic route right
and I was like well
very scenic how difficult can the scenic route be
well turns out it was pretty steep
(02:33):
but we killed it oh
we killed it we'll do it again tomorrow
perfect let's go
cause finally the sun is out
very nice it's been raining all month
and now it's a beautiful day and yes
it is we had a beautiful hike
thank you for making the recommendation to go on a hike
absolutely before we do this yeah
now we're warmed up cause you're a singer yourself
you're a musician yourself
(02:54):
you know how important it is to warm up when you
before you sing not just your voice
but your whole body Lord knows we are warmed up
oh we're warmed up
I mean we could do a whole tour off of this warm yep
right here this isn't just like
a one day warm up and go sing a little bit
this is I think we're gonna get some
some real mileage out of this
yes absolutely
well David
you are known as the open mic guy
(03:16):
you you founded a company called Open Mic Entertainment
I did for
for people who don't know
tell us like what is an open mic
an open mic um
it is a
I I'll describe how I
I ran I used to run an open mic for
for many many years
and so
I would bring out a PA as if I was doing a solo gig
(03:37):
okay and typically we'd have six uh
inputs so
we can have multiple
instruments and players at the same time
and so I would come out and
and be the person that uh
would contract with the venue
the venue would pay me to be there and
you know it's okay
I'll be there every week at this time scheduled event
(03:58):
I'm committed to doing this
they're gonna pay me a little bit of money to do that
um everything else is free so um
the uh
other people can come out that uh sing and perform
uh huh and uh
they just get there and usually uh
you either have online sign up in advance or you just
most of the time
people just get there and sign up for a time slot okay
(04:21):
get about uh three songs is typical okay
and um
and then there's about a five minute changeover
in between a lot of solo acoustic performers um
some duos depending on the venue you could have bands
okay um
we run one at the Hard Rock Cafe in LA in Hollywood
(04:41):
yeah that's weekly and they have a full backline there
wow so we encourage bands to come cause it's we
we don't the the
the problem with doing bands
if you don't have the backline all set up
is you have to do the equipment change yeah
and that takes forever yeah
and you only have
we have about 3 hours to do the whole open mic well
and setting up a whole drum kit for just three songs is
(05:02):
that's terrible it's awful yeah
just doesn't happen so uh
in in a venue that like the Hard Rock that has the um
the backline there we have a
a bass amp an electric amp and the drums
the people just come in and play okay
and it's great it's great for them they
is practice is exposure they get to perform for the
the buyers of talent right
(05:23):
hey wasn't that good
you know how
how'd you like to hire us for next Saturday
yeah so they're auditioning um
and it's a lot of fun matter of fact
now that open mics
traditionally
have also been inclusive of poetry and comedy okay
um but we
when I started the company um
(05:44):
we wanted to focus on uh
running and promoting
uh live music open mic focus on the musicians yeah
not I and I'm
I'm a big fan of comedy okay
I love comedy uh
poetry is fabulous however
um so we uh
renamed it so we we uh
we call ours micro music festivals ooh
(06:07):
I love it multiple acts right
that's that's a festival yeah
music festival oh
but you know you be buy stuff well
the restaurant's gonna sell you food and booze
all day long mm hmm
that's it that's a festival yeah
best thing you don't have to pay to get in free entry
who doesn't love that yeah
so um
it is it is a fantastic uh
(06:30):
thing and and
and it's it's all about music but um
one of the thing I I personally ran an open mic uh
for
has to be over 20 years wow
and so I've I've Learned an awful lot about that um
and I've seen the different aspects um
I think I mentioned on our our hike today I've had uh
(06:53):
10 marriages occur yes
just from people that met at my open mic
isn't that so sweet right
uh I don't know how many divorces came after that
but that's oh
we don't need to know that we don't even want
we're gonna move on we're gonna focus on the positive
exactly that's not the open mic fault yeah um
but but
they happen to be in the same place at the same time
(07:13):
and uh
hey that you know
girl like that musician and next thing you know
off they go so yeah um
and then I you know
personally I have dozens of friends 100% met
they walked through the door at my open mic
they became regulars yeah
hey you know I'm doing a band thing hey
do you want to play you know
I've got this gig shirt next thing you know you know
(07:34):
once you guys come over to the house
we're good friends and I mean
dozens of people and I would say by far it's
it's been the the very best way for me to make friends
once I've left school
hmm because adults have a hard time making new friends
yeah 100% you talk oh
I have friends from school yeah
how many friends do you have that you've met
that aren't from school and not your job right
(07:56):
maybe a couple people at work alright
if you take work you know
just in the wild right everybody keeps themselves
they don't want to open up and but you
you end up with like minded people right here oh
you what do you do oh
and they all do different things
this guy's a lawyer this guy's a doctor
this guy works at the gas station
and they're all gonna put together a garage band on yes
(08:18):
and they're all just having a great time so um
you know you people come in there
professionals use open mics to um
audition uh huh
many many times um
people come through the door and um
they're like hey
you know I'm looking to get a gig
I'm like oh okay
let's Charlie come here this
you know
this is Laura she's going to uh
(08:39):
be singing and she was wants you to pay attention
cause she would like you to hire her hahaha
oh OK
yeah next thing you know Laura plays and Charlie's like
dude hahaha she's great told you
and and so many people get gigs uh yeah
by doing that and then uh
of course now
you've got all these musicians sitting there together
(09:01):
how you know you know
I'm looking to get gigs oh
you should talk to and and they've seen you right
you've played they automatically know you
yes right
and they feel comfortable with you because they
they can refer you somewhere
cause they've seen you play yeah
you could talk all day long until
till somebody
100% until somebody sees you play and not
(09:21):
not a video they wanna see you play yeah
show me show up this is this is if I'm gonna pay you
this is what I'm gonna get right right
it's so they know exactly what they're gonna get
they know the product they got the product right
and it's the best way to sell so
you know a lot of people like oh
I'm not playing unless I get paid alright
well if you have enough paid gigs and then that's fine
(09:42):
but if you wanna go out and make music
meet new friends audition get referrals
you might want to try an open mic yeah
and it's not a commitment you bring your guitar
you walk in
you plug in you play 15 minutes it's you know yeah
what's not to like that's how I got started too
there you go when I moved to Indianapolis
I didn't know anybody besides my well
(10:03):
now husband
then boyfriend and his people and I was like okay
well I'm a musician
I need to act like one I need to
figure out how I'm gonna go get some gigs around town
I wasn't too keen on playing for free open mics
you don't get paid if you don't
if you don't if you go play there right
so I was like Alrighty I would like to get paid to play
(10:25):
cause I was already a professional at that point right
um but I was moving to a new city
so I was like okay
well how do I get into this city's market so that I
you know maybe find people to play with
form a band or join a band that already exists right
or you know
get bar and restaurant gigs as a solo act
(10:45):
or
find a guitarist that will come with me as a duo act
or just something like
I just needed to get myself out there
and I did open mics right
I went to the first open mic that I could find
the first night I just watched cause I was like
I don't know the vibe I don't know what to expect
so let me just watch see what happens
(11:06):
who are the people what's the
what's the the talent as well
you know the skill set
is this your tribe this is my tribe
I don't know or these not my people
and and I was like
oh this is
this is kind of cool and as far as skill set goes
you have kind of everything
it's all over the board it's all over the board
you have some really
really good ones and some that are like
you're doing it baby you gotta practice some more
(11:27):
but you're getting up there yeah
you left the house that's good
exactly that's good
let's focus on the positive
you're here the hardest part is singing
in front of strangers right
like that's so hard yeah
and using an open mic
stage is such a great way to practice that
because you're not getting paid right
once you get paid you better deliver right right
bring it so
(11:48):
you know it's
it's how I got started too
and at that point a friend of mine
she was in Indianapolis as well
she left like she was just staying for a little bit
and I met her in music school
so we were singing a couple songs together nice
and then I did a second set where it was just me and
you know it was nice to go there with somebody
(12:08):
that I already knew um
not necessarily from the town
but somebody that was just visiting
but you can totally do this on your own too
people are so supportive and so friendly
and so welcoming they want you to do well right
and then they wanna play with you if you're great
yeah hahaha hey
you wanna play exactly like you're a kid
hey yes
(12:28):
let's play together well
and then the guy that put on the open mic night
like what you were
what you were doing for a long time as well
he was he just happened to also be the booking agent
for the paid gigs at that place as well
right and he
as soon as I got off stage
he hand handed me his business card and he was like
if you would like to get paid to play here
(12:49):
shoot me a message I would like to book you
and that was the first like literally that night
yeah I was like
alright cool
I already have my foot in the door now
and then from there
I was able to take a lot of videos of me performing
put together a little booking reel
and got booked all over town
in all different kinds of restaurants and bars
(13:10):
yep and I was solid booked within a couple weeks
yeah and it started with walking through the door
exactly right open mic
yep so um
if folks would like to know how to find an open mic
yes that's kind of what we do
well that's how I found the open mics too
I was like alright
open mic Indianapolis is what I typed into Google right
(13:32):
and there you go there
your website what's the first thing that popped up
right so that's
tell us about it that's how we do
we've got 85 domains right
so open mic New York dot com
open mic Miami dot com um
and we um
we focus on the the larger metropolitan areas
yeah um
and we don't we some
(13:52):
some like in um North Dakota
mmm hmm we just have North Dakota
oh okay
hahaha
fair enough no
love North Dakota love you people
um but um
just not a lot of folks out there
so yeah but um
what we do is we allow um
anybody that has an open mic can come into the
(14:14):
the website and click on submit
and that's either the venue operator or the host
and then they just uh
fill out the form and uh
send it on over and then we take a quick review
make sure everything's good
we publish that and it's all free
mm hmm so we have um
I think over a thousand uh events
(14:35):
wow most of them are weekly
uh huh um
listed on our various sites um
we also that it's all of that's tied to a database
so if um
when people pull up Open Mic New York
it pulls it grabs the
the um
the open mics from New York out of the database
and puts it on your screen yeah um
so that's all you see but we have um
(14:57):
an app okay
open mic Finder and it has all the open mics in it
I didn't know about this app aha see
I forget to tell people yeah
oh and we have an app
you have an app why you won't you lead with that
I don't know
I'm not such a good business guy
I like to I like to sing oh
you're right um
(15:19):
so um
so the app yeah
open mic Finder um
actually I think right now it's just available on apple
OK yeah
sorry about the Google guys
but something happened there
but we're gonna fix it yeah
but you can download that and then you it
it you just scroll and you pick your um
your your your area
your metro area with Boston or Atlanta or whatever
(15:42):
and then boom it puts it right there
um and a lot of uh
a lot of the um uh
venues and hosts
have opted to allow you to register early okay
like to sign up in advance and they'll
you can do that through the app and on the website also
oh amazing
if if they don't want a lot of them are like no
(16:03):
you you know
just just show up and we'll go yeah
but others do when we run it we have
we not only have uh advanced sign up
but we have um we use um um
jot form
and you're able to actually pick your time slot
oh OK
and so I I find that people like the idea of a
well run open mic where you don't get walk in and
(16:24):
you know oh
you know I'll we'll get you up you know
put your name on the board over there
and I'll get you up and
and then the host friends play all night and jam
and you get to play at midnight um
if you sign up for 7:15 at one of ours you play at 7:15
good I like organization
yes that's very Swiss of us
you're very Swiss actually I am also Swiss
which I don't sound like I'm Swiss but actually
(16:46):
you don't sound like you're Swiss
I don't sound like I'm Swiss either
but I was born and raised here
you just got your Swiss citizenship
yeah how exciting
a few years ago my
my beautiful bride Claudia is 100% Swiss
yes and was born and bred and raised here
um I was born in New Jersey
yep I got out of there pretty quick
um love New Jersey
(17:08):
hahaha
just left I just left and um
uh I was lucky enough to um
be able to apply and get my
my citizenship so I am
I'm a dual citizen with um
the US and Switzerland same right
same seas right
look at this yes
and you like to spend your summers here
(17:29):
Summer's beautiful
I like to say I summer in Switzerland
hmm hmm
so great I
I December in the Turks and Caicos
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
he's living the life I
I've got a gig down there folks
I'm working you're working
yes it's
you're playing it's one hour a day
six days a week that is a six hour work week
(17:49):
just one man that's a
that's a I know don't
don't cry for me Argentina
uh uh oh
it's a good song too love that
oh we were just singing the hills
oh
we were just singing that on the top of the mountain
insert clip here cause we have a clip of it
(18:11):
the hills are alive with the sound of music
greetings from Switzerland
that's right and
and we have a second clip
and we have a second clip Edelweiss
we sing that one too there you go
(18:41):
hi
ha ha ha ha um
how did you even like
get started with the whole open mic thing though
uh I
I did the journey hmm
I Learned how to play guitar when I was 18
started singing um
I had a roommate yeah
uh my buddy Neil
um he knew three chords
(19:02):
terrible singer oh
sorry Neil
um but he
he played Neil Young songs
and I'd never heard Neil Young songs
I don't know how oh
being who I am and what I do
but yeah I really wasn't into Neil Young
and I'm like these are really good
so I went out and bought a Neil Young album
okay and I'm like oh
that's how it sounds yeah
no like
(19:23):
oh poor Neil
he's so off but yeah
but that was how you know learn
learn you know
find somebody that knows more than you
and pay attention right
yeah that's it
that's how you learn and that's what I did
and so um I
but I just played at home
my neighbor played some we get together and sing
never played out never
never and then um
(19:43):
I moved to Atlanta and somebody said hey
you know you
you should bring your guitar
there's an open mic and
and I'm going yeah
the sky flame like oh okay
what's that
and then it it ran for the summer
when the winter came it was really small
it was in a coffee shop it was outdoors
and they shut it down cause it was too cold
and the coffee shop too small
(20:03):
so I'm like well
we can't have that hmm
this is I
I like playing yeah
so I went to a local bar uh
close to home like five minutes and said um
so I'm Dave and you've got this bar
and I'd like to run an open mic here
and I told him what it was
and there was a British guy
he's like alright
right right right
(20:24):
well I have one question
I said yes sir
what can I do
what if you suck
I'm not kidding oh
the one question what if you suck
uh well
well if I suck
don't call me and I gave him a cassette of me playing
you know in my basement
(20:45):
yeah and he called up and says
you don't suck right
come on back right
and so uh
three years running every Tuesday
packed in a little uh
uh hamlet outside of uh Atlanta
yeah called Norcross
and it was just nothing goes on there during the week
and this place was packed
hmm so was it
and then they they sold the place
(21:06):
and the first act of the new owner was like
yeah man
we're not doing any live music
I'm like oh
you know the weekend stuff
and I was actually playing a gig on the weekend there
yeah and he told
tells me during my gig I'm like
oh okay
well you don't mean the open mic
he goes what part of no live music don't you get
I'm like uh
what part of not making money didn't you get
(21:28):
I mean mm hmm
I mean it was fine
yeah and we packed that
we were supposed to play the next night
I'm like nah
we're not coming back tomorrow
mm hmm we're good no
you're no
you don't want live music yeah
no no
so we we
we go and then Tuesday night comes around
you could you could throw a bowling ball
down this place and not hit a customer
from one end to the other
there was nobody
(21:49):
a guy ended up calling back about three months later
and says hey man
can you come back I said yeah
but not me I'll send somebody
uh huh but I'm
I'm out yeah
but what happened was
so we got fired there and three other bars called me
no way
when have you ever heard of a bar calling anybody
yes right yes
(22:10):
I'm not kidding three bars in the area call me
I'm like yeah
I can do you Monday I can do you Tuesday
I can do you Wednesday mm hmm
right and all of a sudden
I had three where before where I had one
and I doubled the price perfect
I'm like
it's first time I thought of this is a business yeah
and then I thought of I was like hmm
I wonder well
I can't do 20 of these cause I'm only one guy
(22:32):
I'm just one man
and I find the six hour work week is very difficult so
um
ah I built added value
so I went to a local radio station
classic rock Z93 and said um
you know I'm in all these bars with
with this open mic every week
(22:53):
and you need to get more money
or additional advertisers from your beer and spirits
guys I will put
I will make sure that their spirit is put on sale
in the bar during the open mic
I'll make sure the guy in the open mic actually
talks about it mm hmm
(23:15):
we have Southern Comfort here tonight guys
two dollar shots okay
a guy in a microphone is a very persuasive thing right
yes
unbelievable sold sold sold sold
so the uh uh
Southern Comfort comes in and does a 10%
additional ad buy yeah
I get free ads
(23:35):
so I go to the bars and say
how'd you like to have a free ad on Z93
that airs 6 times a day
huh mmm hmm
the ad on the day on the day of the open mic
so you have 6 ads the
the value of that ad
was far more than they were paying for the
open mic yeah
right so
I was able to raise the price of the open mic
(23:56):
and pay a host and make a spread
genius spread that to six cities
uh huh and then um
the great radio station consolidation happened oh yeah
and all the little stations
that thought this was a great idea
went away mm hmm and the uh
(24:16):
the CBS's and the I heart radio yeah
I heart radio they stole my money oh yeah
so that all melted away but that's okay
I Learned a lot yeah and um
so with that um and and
and we said we're
gonna have all these different cities
and everything else and we
(24:36):
we went and did that
and we attract so many musicians that were able to um
get uh companies like Taylor Guitars yeah
electro voice uh Takamine uh
uh Latin percussion
over the years
we've had probably two dozen different major companies
pay us to be able to advertise their product
(24:59):
to our open mic musicians wow
that's how we're able to do everything for free yeah
cause we get money from the advertisers
and then when we actually operate the open mics
the Micro Music Festival yeah
um a little we should put a ding yes
a little sound effect every
every time we say that ding trademark don't use it um
(25:20):
oh you can so um yeah
so when we do that we we do the same the
the thing we do all of the promotion
mm hmm and then we um
we we hire the host
and make sure that the sound system
and everything is in place okay
and for the venue and then the
the um
the venue pays us okay
yeah that is so cool
(25:41):
I also have one more yeah
just thought of this one of those things I forgot
Performer Pro no
not Performer Pro open mic Pro
open mic Pro well
this is okay
tell us about it open mic Pro
that's your course yeah nope
no that's something Performer Pro is
Performer Pro is your course right
open mic Pro what's open mic Pro
it's the other way I use Pro
oh wait
you mean what is it yes
(26:01):
we will mega market your open mic okay
we'll turn it up we'll spin it up
we will make you a lot of money from an open mic
which typically does make a lot of money
and how do we do that we drive new customers
so you're already getting exposure
from being on the website
mm hmm right
but if you join Open Mic Pro for a small weekly fee
(26:24):
you will get included in our weekly email
and we have 80,000 open mic performers
on our email list and so if you're in Philadelphia
or if you're in New York or Indianapolis
some people are there
(26:45):
okay me hahaha
and and you're
you're on my email list
and so we have Joe's Bar and Grill
in Indy says I I wanna do this okay
so we put them we give them an expanded um
listing on the website
and then we put them in that email that goes out
and if they're the only one in indie paying us
(27:07):
they're the only one in the email yeah
we may have 25 open mics on the regular site
but we are being proactive
and getting in people's faces
and say hey
come out this week to Joe's Bar and Grill yeah
and it really drives traffic and the
I believe the cost is $25 a week okay
if you get one person extra through the door
(27:27):
that already pays for itself right
done and and and and you're gonna get you know
average of five to 10 new people every week yeah
it's a no brainer so the open mic pro
that's for the venues the the hosts and okay
very cool
and then you gotta tell us about performer pro
the other way I use Pro okay
a big pro on Pro oh
(27:48):
there's a pro pro if you want pro Pro
you're pro pro that's good
I like that so Performer Pro is basically
my journey from going to that first open mic and
and getting out there starting to run open mics
and then starting to get paid gigs
and then finding out that all gigs are not the same no
(28:13):
they sure aren't and so
you know how how do you get how do you start
how do you how do you put your toe in the water
which is the hardest part
and then um
how how do you go up the ladder and get
you know high paid gigs
like I play gigs we're close to home and it's
I get paid more than most people
mm hmm it
it's the highest paying solo acoustic gigs you can get
(28:35):
yeah and it's because I know how to play the game
yeah and then
you know we even get to the point where
if somebody is good enough
we have connections to booking agents to get them out
playing gigs at resorts like in the Caribbean
yes yeah
so very very cool
so
(28:57):
performer Pro allows you to very quickly
learn from all my mistakes
shortcut shortcut
hey you
you can there's no
there's no magic pill
there's no super secret to doing this
it's just that if you could sit down with me
(29:19):
one on one and say Dave
I've got questions
what do I do how
how do I find that gig you know hey
I got a question am I good enough
hmm okay
right we answer that right
so you know what
how do I get the gig what gear do I get do is
is this PA good enough or whatever and
and you know
I spent way too much money on my PA system
right for what it
(29:40):
for what I needed I was like
I could have saved
probably a good one to two grand on that yo
yeah and
and you know
I tell people I said
you know there's
there you could you here's
here's the range
but you need to go buy the Electrovoice um
evolve 30M mm hmm
and I tell you why yeah
right and
and we go down the list and people like oh okay and
(30:01):
and I'm not really long winded I'm
I'm pretty pithy when this stuff
yeah yeah
and get it done
you get it done and times money and people like oh
I get it yeah
I I don't wanna read gone with the wind
I wanna know what the heck to do and
and what was and
and you know you
you run through the course and you are able to be
(30:23):
get your first gig in in
in a week or two yeah
and that's after acquiring the equipment
doing all this stuff and then
and then going out there and doing what's necessary to
you know
get in front of the right people to get that gig
yeah right
and so it's just it's
it's a um
it's it's a shortcut
it's it's
it's it
(30:43):
it saves you years mm hmm
right and if you
if you're let's say you're out making
you know $200 a gig
right and if you could get out and do that faster
how you know
how if
if I could get you making that $200
and you do it twice a week play
you know Friday
Saturday night yeah
that's
four hundred dollars was 16 hundred dollars a month
(31:06):
right and if I can get you six months
what says is 7,000 $8,000 yeah
in your pocket yeah
right so
you know is it worth it to pay to take the course
well yeah
I would say so yeah
it really is it's a
I played a lot of 50 dollar gigs
you know for two hours when I first started out
(31:26):
yep and very quickly was like
oh this is a
this is a lot of effort
and not a lot of money for 50 bucks
right'cause you gotta pay gas to get there
yeah it doesn't really pay for my equipment
definitely doesn't pay for
all the time that went into preparing for this gig
mm hmm mm hmm
so I was like okay
(31:46):
I gotta figure out how to
get me some better paying gigs and
and that's where you come in
and you shortcut everything
yep yep
yep and it's
you know it's
it's perfect for the open mic performer guys that yeah
you know they're out there playing
you know they
they're getting experience
they got the chops but they
you know how do I
how do I get paid for this
yeah and
you know it's
it's if you play music and you can get paid
(32:07):
then you have a hobby you get paid to do yeah
isn't that great my mom used to say
find yourself a hobby that pays
you don't go scuba diving
you pay to do that skiing
not so good yeah
my mom didn't talk like that
if she was an old Jewish lady
she would your mom actually was a performer too
(32:31):
she was she spent six years as the
lead soprano on the Perry Como Show
which is a bit of a throwback for some of you
yeah and a lot of us that are like hmm
what wait
what what is that what
what show but you can actually um
get on YouTube okay
and pull up clips and my mom's on it
(32:51):
oh yeah
matter of fact I did
I pulled up a whole bunch of them and made
made one edited together yeah
very cool very cool
with big stars she's
she's singing with everybody yeah
whenever Perry Como so Perry
there were three stations back in the 60s
yeah and um
uh Perry Como was like prime time
you know 8 o'clock at night uh
hour long show and a variety show
(33:14):
so he Perry Como is a
is a is a singer yeah
a crooner guy and he um
was the host but he had uh
this chorus behind him mm hmm
right my mom was the lead soprano of that chorus
yes and the
the choral director was named Ray Charles
not that guy okay
hahaha I was gonna say
I know Ray Charles you don't
(33:36):
know that guy no
no no
this is this is the uh
this is the uh different Ray Charles and
but he was he did all the arrangements for 30 years
yeah for him
and um it was called the Ray Charles Singers
my mom was was the head of that
and so um
anytime Perry Como would want to come out and do a duet
uh huh Susie
(33:58):
and so mom's front and center
yeah national television
wow big time
it was it was
it was very pretty cool
wow you've come from such a musical family
yeah that's so awesome
and now you are doing music yourself
with the open Mikes
and you play gigs in the Caribbean and everywhere else
too that's so awesome
(34:18):
I love and now you started yet another thing
I did you are the master of starting new businesses
I spin stuff up that's what I do
you sure do you sure do
I love it
so your latest business is
business is the singer's club
the singer's club and this is where I'm like hmm
(34:38):
singer's club singers
I'm a singer exactly
I wanna be in the club how do I get in the club
I sure wanna be absolutely
so what is the singer's club
so um
people may have heard of pop up choruses
yeah it's kind of a thing that's bubbling around
so we took that concept and said let's
(34:59):
let's organize this thing right
let's make it a recurring steady thing in each city
so the idea is we're going to be in um
20 major markets and we will hold one pop up course
uh each month and so we
(35:19):
we secure the venue so it'll be a
a theater a performance theater um
the members of the club will uh
come in and be the singers
right and so instead of there being an audience
and there's something on stage
what's on stage is the choral director
(35:40):
yeah right
so the choral director is there along with a musician
and you know
we're gonna do um Tom Petty free falling okay
right and that killer arrangement
yeah right
it's such a fun song everybody loves it
everybody sings along with it anyway
but boy when we do it all coral
you know with an acoustic guitar playing
(36:00):
and so what we do is we have one song
and we do it for two hours
you learn it for two hours
in three parts in three parts
why sing alone yes right
so it's um designed 100% to be fun
it's what it is just fun
(36:20):
we're gonna have we're gonna spend two hours
you're gonna meet all kinds of new people
they all love to sing right
so like minded people yeah
it's like it's like an an open mic on steroids
I was literally just gonna say that
you took the words out of my mouth
there you go great minds
this is a Swiss thing yeah
it is I'm gonna hold on to that
(36:41):
but um yeah
so you have so many people all singing and and
and it is just so much fun and you you
you it's you know
you're not doing church music
mm hmm church music right
yeah but this is you hey
how about if you apply the same singing
and everything else to
you know contemporary
yeah yeah
you know fun stuff
the community aspect of it the singing aspect of it
(37:03):
exactly yeah
and it's just just designed to be fun yeah
and and and and the um uh
the nice thing is we're not having tryouts
you don't have to audition for
you don't have to audition
you don't have to send in a video
if you want to come and you want to sing anyone
(37:24):
you're welcome you're welcome
even you oh
thank you
you're a bit of a singer this one just
just a little bit
just a tiny little bit does that singing thing
oh my gosh so um yeah
so anybody can join I love that um
and you know we're doing it's all adults
so we're doing um you know 18 to 95 yeah
(37:47):
hahaha but if you love to sing then hey
this is it yeah absolutely free and uh
the uh
the domain where we can get on there is the singers
dot Club OK
the Singers Club the Singers Dot Club it's in it's
it's
it's like people are gonna go The Singers club.com
is that it no
(38:07):
no it's the Singers Dot Club Club is like
com OK
perfect like net.org also to make it easy for you
you can just find the link in the description
we popped it in right there just yeah
click on it and then so how do people sign up
they just click on the website and oh yeah website
it's got it I mean it's I think it's uh 4 pages
(38:29):
what we do is we explain what it is we're doing
we have a little demo video
this is kind of what you're gonna be doing and then um
you know some testimonials
people saying that we've had a lot of fun
it's a blast and then we have a form
you just click on sign up and it just goes to the form
you put your info in there
when we have an event in your area
(38:49):
we will send you an email
we also have a Facebook page right
and matter of fact
we're getting ready to start a Facebook group
so that people can communicate with each other yeah
oh perfect yeah so we'll have all that in place
but you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram and um
sign up for the club on the website okay
(39:11):
perfect yeah
and then they pop in their city
because we need to know where you're at
so we can send you the information exactly
so we have all that is uh
you know name yeah
email city all that perfect
perfect good stuff
yep
and just as a little bonus when you sign up for it
(39:31):
you get a little free mini voice lesson series from me
personally I recorded it just for you David
I know just for you I love that about you
I love that for me actually yeah
so it's free to join the Singers Club
and you get a little free mini uh
mini voice lesson series uh
(39:52):
about the three most commonly asked questions
or concerns or just things that I see in singers
cause I've done hundreds of intro lessons
like new lessons with new people
new to me whether they're beginner or advanced
so I addressed all of those concerns and comments
or questions
uh in those in that series in those little videos
(40:15):
so go check it out
it's included as a bonus when you sign up
and again
the link to sign up for the singer's club is also below
right find it
you'll be able to you'll be able to find the open mic
dot us is the jump off point to find all of the cities
okay yeah
so that that site just has cities listed
yeah and you just click on New York or Chicago
(40:36):
wherever you are perfect
we'll link to that yeah
and then you can bookmark it and keep it yes
keep it safe and sound yeah
and then um we'll have Performer Pro
mm hmm and we'll have Open Mic Pro
Open Mic Pro right
and the singers the Singers Dot Club
Singers dot Club I love that amazing
I got another one another one
another one what else you have
(40:57):
oh my gosh another business
I did not start this and it's not a business
it's a charity it's a charity
that's right yeah
so I sit on the board of a charity called
amped Kids Foundation
and um
April Brooks started this and she has such a big heart
(41:19):
and she called me she
she um
was hosting for me and uh she
she's also a voice teacher okay
and she uh
she big big into music and
and um
got a lovely family but she called me up
she says Dave I
I I started this thing um
I just wanna tell you about it
and she goes is there
(41:40):
is there anything you could do to you
you might yes
I love that I'm in what do you want me to do
so I'm on the board of the amp Kids Foundation
and what the amp
Kids Foundation does is we provide lessons
music lessons voice lessons
um guitar
any instrument lessons and the instrument
(42:04):
for free to kids in the foster care system
and that's that's where we started
we actually have expanded that to um
kids in need um yeah
outside of foster care mm hmm
if we have special cases that come and and we will
we'll take care of them so we
yeah we match um
local
uh teachers with the child
(42:28):
mm hmm and we work with the
um the foster parents
to make sure that everybody is on the same page
we get the
the teacher and the foster parent and then we
they the schedule and all that
but um
what we do is
we raise money so that we can pay the teachers
yeah and we can buy the instruments
that's amazing right
so we we know that
(42:50):
you know the teachers of music are
are not the the
on the high scale of well paid individuals in the world
right and and
and but
and but we
we're all musicians
so we understand exactly where they're coming from
yeah and we said we
we need to do this different
we need to not ask them because they would yeah
they would they donate their time
yeah so many have said oh I'll
(43:11):
I'll help I'm like you
you just you just need to
to say you'll do it
and then we'll get you hooked up with some kids
yeah right
so and we'll pay you
yeah so we have many
many many
um uh
kids and and
and teachers connected and we're
we're just we're
we're that that connector right
we we
over here we raise money
we put it in a pot we pay out the teachers
(43:33):
mmm hmm find the kids
connect it all we have it's
it's it's a job
oh for sure
it's a lot you have to
you have to deal with um
the foster care system in each state
and each one's different oh yeah
and the the um
anonymity of the children and things are
so it's there's a whole lot that goes into it
(43:54):
but yeah
but it is it is a labor of joy
and I just want to tell everybody at um
you know if you
if you are an instructor of any kind and you want to um
get involved or if you would like to donate money
we also take instruments yeah
donate instruments right
so we'll take in an instrument
(44:14):
and then maybe get it fixed up
and then put it back out on the street
I love that and yeah
tell us the name of the foundation again
amped kids amped
amped kids.org.org.org cause it's right
it's an organization there you go
yeah not dot club
no not the amp
Kids Club no
it's not the amp Kids Club
where kids jump around and they're all amped up
no this is yeah
(44:35):
this is different OK
this is the charity perfect
so we'll definitely link to that as well
and you know
thank you for doing the good work
absolutely
I think musical education is so important for kids
oh you know
especially if they have the desire to do it
it's it
foster kids they
they you know they
they just
they start with such a bad hand
mm hmm right
(44:56):
it's like people complain about their um
their parents but just what if you didn't have parents
yep right
and you know
where's the love come from
yeah and a lot of times foster parents are wonderful
sometimes they're really not yeah
you know and the kids bounce around
and they don't stay with the same family
they don't grow up in a in a stable household
(45:17):
yeah so they're
they're struggling with you know
just the most basic feelings of
of try you know
needing love and
and where do they fit into the
all this
and what we've found is that when you introduce music
and not all foster kids you know
you're into music mm hmm
but we we find the ones that are
(45:37):
we give everybody a chance
yeah right
and oh
you know here
here here's this opportunity
and they you know
when a child or the foster parent sees it and goes oh
Bobby would like that mm hmm
you know can we get him signed up for guitar lessons
yeah we can
yeah and next thing you know Bobby's
and he starts singing he starts writing songs
and he meets other kids
and he finishes high school and graduates college
(45:59):
yeah as opposed to
the statistics on foster kids are abysmal
yeah they
I have no doubt half of them don't finish high school
yeah yeah
and oh
the numbers are so terrible
every single kid
every single kid that has gone through our program
has graduated high school
wow and most of those have gone on to college
that's amazing yeah
(46:20):
so it's not just oh the
the the kids
the kids they're nice
give them a guitar yeah
yeah it's life changing for them
absolutely it's something to hold on to
and it's a gift that they can
they can you know
keep using for their entire life
yeah right
yeah I'm no spring chicken
you are I just told you running up that mountain
(46:41):
how much of a spring chicken you are you
you said I run like a goat
I'm just saying hahaha
I did not I literally called you a spring chicken
okay you were the one who was talking about goats
yeah I think I said old goat hahaha
well this old goat still plays
and I still go to Caribbean resorts
yeah and I
you know
I just have so much fun and it all is because of music
(47:04):
and yeah that's why all these business things I do
absolutely it's all
you know it's all music
it's all fun it's all good
and um yeah
and it's a real joy to uh
be working with you yes
thank you so much and how fun that
we were in Switzerland around that same time
I mean you're here for like two months
I'm here for a week but we arrived on the same day
we arrived on the same day
(47:25):
can you believe it or not
that was weird wow
and then we did a beautiful little hike now here
now our next stop is the boat on beautiful Lake Toon
we're going on Lake Toon we're going wait
wait wait somebody's gonna know this I'm
(47:52):
that was brought to you by the who ah
that's the who
it's the who I didn't know that was the who yeah
it's the who you gotta be an old goat to know that song
I guess I'm a spring chicken haha
as well you are haha I'll take that I'll take that haha
all day thank you so much for being here
for taking the time to hang out with me all day
(48:13):
for talking to these beautiful people
in the cameras in the cameras
on the other side of the camera
on the other side of the camera out in the cyberwebs
exactly somewhere out there somewhere
I will link to all of your things and you know
you at home if you are in a position to donate
either money or instruments
(48:33):
it truly as we could just hear
makes such a big difference in uh
in the lives of these foster kids
so thank you so much for for doing that
we need more people like you and uh
Lord knows I will be donating so please join me
you heard me oh yeah
I'm a I'm a woman of my word
I am so and you're gonna be giving voice lessons too
(48:53):
there you go absolutely
100% we do
we do uh
remote voice lessons okay
there you go a lot of kids live way off the grid
yeah yeah
and it's like oh
I know what we can do there you go
absolutely sign me up
you tell me where to sign
I'll sign whatever hahaha
maybe not where it says in fine print
and she will give $1 million
(49:13):
cause your girl ain't got $1 million
but I will do what I can
please join me in that if you are at all able
um otherwise join us in the singer's club
check out the free bonus
if you wanna learn more about how to get paying gigs
too check out David's course
and what else do we talk about
find you know
your open mic um yeah
(49:35):
if you wanna find an open mic
open mic network there you go
open mic dot us yes
I love it thank you so much for joining me
anything else you would like to let the people know
never stop playing hahaha
perfect hahaha
we'll end it on that thank you guys for tuning in
if you have any questions
shoot us a message on Instagram
(49:55):
otherwise check out the links below
and we'll catch you in the next episode bye bye
what is the singers club
(00:01):
people may have heard of pop up choruses
yeah it's kind of a thing that's bubbling around
so we took that concept and said
let's let's organize this thing right
let's make it a recurring steady thing in each city
so the idea is we're going to be in um 20 major markets
we will hold one pop up chorus each month
(00:24):
we secure the venue
and so instead of there being an audience
and there's something on stage
what's on stage is the coral director
yeah right
so the coral director is there along with a musician
and you know we're gonna do um Tom Petty free falling
okay right
and that killer arrangement
yeah right
it's such a fun song everybody loves it
(00:46):
everybody sings along with it anyway
but boy when we do it all coral
you know with an acoustic guitar playing
and so what we do is we have one song
and we do it for two hours
you're gonna meet all kinds of new people
they all love to sing
(01:08):
hey voxar and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
at Voxar Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the three fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry whether you're looking to go pro
(01:29):
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources already
are you ready let's get started
we are back in my parents living room
in beautiful Switzerland
dressed to the nines because beautiful
David Craver and I welcome
just came back from a hike
how are you Laura
(01:50):
it's so good to be here I am doing very well
surprisingly after the hike we just did
you did perfectly fine
I did say I was going to be resilient
and I feel pretty good yeah
you picked the toughest route up on that mountain
well it
it did say you know if
if for those more
a little more adventurous
uh huh I think what it should have said was
if you like repelling
(02:11):
and if you can climb like a mountain goat this
this is the one for you yeah
yeah this
this was a very very
they downplay the danger they really do
you gotta you gotta just stick to the
the the kettle trails
well I mean
they even said you know
this is the scenic route right
and I was like well
very scenic how difficult can the scenic route be
well turns out it was pretty steep
(02:33):
but we killed it oh
we killed it we'll do it again tomorrow
perfect let's go
cause finally the sun is out
very nice it's been raining all month
and now it's a beautiful day and yes
it is we had a beautiful hike
thank you for making the recommendation to go on a hike
absolutely before we do this yeah
now we're warmed up cause you're a singer yourself
you're a musician yourself
(02:54):
you know how important it is to warm up when you
before you sing not just your voice
but your whole body Lord knows we are warmed up
oh we're warmed up
I mean we could do a whole tour off of this warm yep
right here this isn't just like
a one day warm up and go sing a little bit
this is I think we're gonna get some
some real mileage out of this
yes absolutely
well David
you are known as the open mic guy
(03:16):
you you founded a company called Open Mic Entertainment
I did for
for people who don't know
tell us like what is an open mic
an open mic um
it is a
I I'll describe how I
I ran I used to run an open mic for
for many many years
and so
I would bring out a PA as if I was doing a solo gig
(03:37):
okay and typically we'd have six uh
inputs so
we can have multiple
instruments and players at the same time
and so I would come out and
and be the person that uh
would contract with the venue
the venue would pay me to be there and
you know it's okay
I'll be there every week at this time scheduled event
(03:58):
I'm committed to doing this
they're gonna pay me a little bit of money to do that
um everything else is free so um
the uh
other people can come out that uh sing and perform
uh huh and uh
they just get there and usually uh
you either have online sign up in advance or you just
most of the time
people just get there and sign up for a time slot okay
(04:21):
get about uh three songs is typical okay
and um
and then there's about a five minute changeover
in between a lot of solo acoustic performers um
some duos depending on the venue you could have bands
okay um
we run one at the Hard Rock Cafe in LA in Hollywood
(04:41):
yeah that's weekly and they have a full backline there
wow so we encourage bands to come cause it's we
we don't the the
the problem with doing bands
if you don't have the backline all set up
is you have to do the equipment change yeah
and that takes forever yeah
and you only have
we have about 3 hours to do the whole open mic well
and setting up a whole drum kit for just three songs is
(05:02):
that's terrible it's awful yeah
just doesn't happen so uh
in in a venue that like the Hard Rock that has the um
the backline there we have a
a bass amp an electric amp and the drums
the people just come in and play okay
and it's great it's great for them they
is practice is exposure they get to perform for the
the buyers of talent right
(05:23):
hey wasn't that good
you know how
how'd you like to hire us for next Saturday
yeah so they're auditioning um
and it's a lot of fun matter of fact
now that open mics
traditionally
have also been inclusive of poetry and comedy okay
um but we
when I started the company um
(05:44):
we wanted to focus on uh
running and promoting
uh live music open mic focus on the musicians yeah
not I and I'm
I'm a big fan of comedy okay
I love comedy uh
poetry is fabulous however
um so we uh
renamed it so we we uh
we call ours micro music festivals ooh
(06:07):
I love it multiple acts right
that's that's a festival yeah
music festival oh
but you know you be buy stuff well
the restaurant's gonna sell you food and booze
all day long mm hmm
that's it that's a festival yeah
best thing you don't have to pay to get in free entry
who doesn't love that yeah
so um
it is it is a fantastic uh
(06:30):
thing and and
and it's it's all about music but um
one of the thing I I personally ran an open mic uh
for
has to be over 20 years wow
and so I've I've Learned an awful lot about that um
and I've seen the different aspects um
I think I mentioned on our our hike today I've had uh
(06:53):
10 marriages occur yes
just from people that met at my open mic
isn't that so sweet right
uh I don't know how many divorces came after that
but that's oh
we don't need to know that we don't even want
we're gonna move on we're gonna focus on the positive
exactly that's not the open mic fault yeah um
but but
they happen to be in the same place at the same time
(07:13):
and uh
hey that you know
girl like that musician and next thing you know
off they go so yeah um
and then I you know
personally I have dozens of friends 100% met
they walked through the door at my open mic
they became regulars yeah
hey you know I'm doing a band thing hey
do you want to play you know
I've got this gig shirt next thing you know you know
(07:34):
once you guys come over to the house
we're good friends and I mean
dozens of people and I would say by far it's
it's been the the very best way for me to make friends
once I've left school
hmm because adults have a hard time making new friends
yeah 100% you talk oh
I have friends from school yeah
how many friends do you have that you've met
that aren't from school and not your job right
(07:56):
maybe a couple people at work alright
if you take work you know
just in the wild right everybody keeps themselves
they don't want to open up and but you
you end up with like minded people right here oh
you what do you do oh
and they all do different things
this guy's a lawyer this guy's a doctor
this guy works at the gas station
and they're all gonna put together a garage band on yes
(08:18):
and they're all just having a great time so um
you know you people come in there
professionals use open mics to um
audition uh huh
many many times um
people come through the door and um
they're like hey
you know I'm looking to get a gig
I'm like oh okay
let's Charlie come here this
you know
this is Laura she's going to uh
(08:39):
be singing and she was wants you to pay attention
cause she would like you to hire her hahaha
oh OK
yeah next thing you know Laura plays and Charlie's like
dude hahaha she's great told you
and and so many people get gigs uh yeah
by doing that and then uh
of course now
you've got all these musicians sitting there together
(09:01):
how you know you know
I'm looking to get gigs oh
you should talk to and and they've seen you right
you've played they automatically know you
yes right
and they feel comfortable with you because they
they can refer you somewhere
cause they've seen you play yeah
you could talk all day long until
till somebody
100% until somebody sees you play and not
(09:21):
not a video they wanna see you play yeah
show me show up this is this is if I'm gonna pay you
this is what I'm gonna get right right
it's so they know exactly what they're gonna get
they know the product they got the product right
and it's the best way to sell so
you know a lot of people like oh
I'm not playing unless I get paid alright
well if you have enough paid gigs and then that's fine
(09:42):
but if you wanna go out and make music
meet new friends audition get referrals
you might want to try an open mic yeah
and it's not a commitment you bring your guitar
you walk in
you plug in you play 15 minutes it's you know yeah
what's not to like that's how I got started too
there you go when I moved to Indianapolis
I didn't know anybody besides my well
(10:03):
now husband
then boyfriend and his people and I was like okay
well I'm a musician
I need to act like one I need to
figure out how I'm gonna go get some gigs around town
I wasn't too keen on playing for free open mics
you don't get paid if you don't
if you don't if you go play there right
so I was like Alrighty I would like to get paid to play
(10:25):
cause I was already a professional at that point right
um but I was moving to a new city
so I was like okay
well how do I get into this city's market so that I
you know maybe find people to play with
form a band or join a band that already exists right
or you know
get bar and restaurant gigs as a solo act
(10:45):
or
find a guitarist that will come with me as a duo act
or just something like
I just needed to get myself out there
and I did open mics right
I went to the first open mic that I could find
the first night I just watched cause I was like
I don't know the vibe I don't know what to expect
so let me just watch see what happens
(11:06):
who are the people what's the
what's the the talent as well
you know the skill set
is this your tribe this is my tribe
I don't know or these not my people
and and I was like
oh this is
this is kind of cool and as far as skill set goes
you have kind of everything
it's all over the board it's all over the board
you have some really
really good ones and some that are like
you're doing it baby you gotta practice some more
(11:27):
but you're getting up there yeah
you left the house that's good
exactly that's good
let's focus on the positive
you're here the hardest part is singing
in front of strangers right
like that's so hard yeah
and using an open mic
stage is such a great way to practice that
because you're not getting paid right
once you get paid you better deliver right right
bring it so
(11:48):
you know it's
it's how I got started too
and at that point a friend of mine
she was in Indianapolis as well
she left like she was just staying for a little bit
and I met her in music school
so we were singing a couple songs together nice
and then I did a second set where it was just me and
you know it was nice to go there with somebody
(12:08):
that I already knew um
not necessarily from the town
but somebody that was just visiting
but you can totally do this on your own too
people are so supportive and so friendly
and so welcoming they want you to do well right
and then they wanna play with you if you're great
yeah hahaha hey
you wanna play exactly like you're a kid
hey yes
(12:28):
let's play together well
and then the guy that put on the open mic night
like what you were
what you were doing for a long time as well
he was he just happened to also be the booking agent
for the paid gigs at that place as well
right and he
as soon as I got off stage
he hand handed me his business card and he was like
if you would like to get paid to play here
(12:49):
shoot me a message I would like to book you
and that was the first like literally that night
yeah I was like
alright cool
I already have my foot in the door now
and then from there
I was able to take a lot of videos of me performing
put together a little booking reel
and got booked all over town
in all different kinds of restaurants and bars
(13:10):
yep and I was solid booked within a couple weeks
yeah and it started with walking through the door
exactly right open mic
yep so um
if folks would like to know how to find an open mic
yes that's kind of what we do
well that's how I found the open mics too
I was like alright
open mic Indianapolis is what I typed into Google right
(13:32):
and there you go there
your website what's the first thing that popped up
right so that's
tell us about it that's how we do
we've got 85 domains right
so open mic New York dot com
open mic Miami dot com um
and we um
we focus on the the larger metropolitan areas
yeah um
and we don't we some
(13:52):
some like in um North Dakota
mmm hmm we just have North Dakota
oh okay
hahaha
fair enough no
love North Dakota love you people
um but um
just not a lot of folks out there
so yeah but um
what we do is we allow um
anybody that has an open mic can come into the
(14:14):
the website and click on submit
and that's either the venue operator or the host
and then they just uh
fill out the form and uh
send it on over and then we take a quick review
make sure everything's good
we publish that and it's all free
mm hmm so we have um
I think over a thousand uh events
(14:35):
wow most of them are weekly
uh huh um
listed on our various sites um
we also that it's all of that's tied to a database
so if um
when people pull up Open Mic New York
it pulls it grabs the
the um
the open mics from New York out of the database
and puts it on your screen yeah um
so that's all you see but we have um
(14:57):
an app okay
open mic Finder and it has all the open mics in it
I didn't know about this app aha see
I forget to tell people yeah
oh and we have an app
you have an app why you won't you lead with that
I don't know
I'm not such a good business guy
I like to I like to sing oh
you're right um
(15:19):
so um
so the app yeah
open mic Finder um
actually I think right now it's just available on apple
OK yeah
sorry about the Google guys
but something happened there
but we're gonna fix it yeah
but you can download that and then you it
it you just scroll and you pick your um
your your your area
your metro area with Boston or Atlanta or whatever
(15:42):
and then boom it puts it right there
um and a lot of uh
a lot of the um uh
venues and hosts
have opted to allow you to register early okay
like to sign up in advance and they'll
you can do that through the app and on the website also
oh amazing
if if they don't want a lot of them are like no
(16:03):
you you know
just just show up and we'll go yeah
but others do when we run it we have
we not only have uh advanced sign up
but we have um we use um um
jot form
and you're able to actually pick your time slot
oh OK
and so I I find that people like the idea of a
well run open mic where you don't get walk in and
(16:24):
you know oh
you know I'll we'll get you up you know
put your name on the board over there
and I'll get you up and
and then the host friends play all night and jam
and you get to play at midnight um
if you sign up for 7:15 at one of ours you play at 7:15
good I like organization
yes that's very Swiss of us
you're very Swiss actually I am also Swiss
which I don't sound like I'm Swiss but actually
(16:46):
you don't sound like you're Swiss
I don't sound like I'm Swiss either
but I was born and raised here
you just got your Swiss citizenship
yeah how exciting
a few years ago my
my beautiful bride Claudia is 100% Swiss
yes and was born and bred and raised here
um I was born in New Jersey
yep I got out of there pretty quick
um love New Jersey
(17:08):
hahaha
just left I just left and um
uh I was lucky enough to um
be able to apply and get my
my citizenship so I am
I'm a dual citizen with um
the US and Switzerland same right
same seas right
look at this yes
and you like to spend your summers here
(17:29):
Summer's beautiful
I like to say I summer in Switzerland
hmm hmm
so great I
I December in the Turks and Caicos
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
he's living the life I
I've got a gig down there folks
I'm working you're working
yes it's
you're playing it's one hour a day
six days a week that is a six hour work week
(17:49):
just one man that's a
that's a I know don't
don't cry for me Argentina
uh uh oh
it's a good song too love that
oh we were just singing the hills
oh
we were just singing that on the top of the mountain
insert clip here cause we have a clip of it
(18:11):
the hills are alive with the sound of music
greetings from Switzerland
that's right and
and we have a second clip
and we have a second clip Edelweiss
we sing that one too there you go
(18:41):
hi
ha ha ha ha um
how did you even like
get started with the whole open mic thing though
uh I
I did the journey hmm
I Learned how to play guitar when I was 18
started singing um
I had a roommate yeah
uh my buddy Neil
um he knew three chords
(19:02):
terrible singer oh
sorry Neil
um but he
he played Neil Young songs
and I'd never heard Neil Young songs
I don't know how oh
being who I am and what I do
but yeah I really wasn't into Neil Young
and I'm like these are really good
so I went out and bought a Neil Young album
okay and I'm like oh
that's how it sounds yeah
no like
(19:23):
oh poor Neil
he's so off but yeah
but that was how you know learn
learn you know
find somebody that knows more than you
and pay attention right
yeah that's it
that's how you learn and that's what I did
and so um I
but I just played at home
my neighbor played some we get together and sing
never played out never
never and then um
(19:43):
I moved to Atlanta and somebody said hey
you know you
you should bring your guitar
there's an open mic and
and I'm going yeah
the sky flame like oh okay
what's that
and then it it ran for the summer
when the winter came it was really small
it was in a coffee shop it was outdoors
and they shut it down cause it was too cold
and the coffee shop too small
(20:03):
so I'm like well
we can't have that hmm
this is I
I like playing yeah
so I went to a local bar uh
close to home like five minutes and said um
so I'm Dave and you've got this bar
and I'd like to run an open mic here
and I told him what it was
and there was a British guy
he's like alright
right right right
(20:24):
well I have one question
I said yes sir
what can I do
what if you suck
I'm not kidding oh
the one question what if you suck
uh well
well if I suck
don't call me and I gave him a cassette of me playing
you know in my basement
(20:45):
yeah and he called up and says
you don't suck right
come on back right
and so uh
three years running every Tuesday
packed in a little uh
uh hamlet outside of uh Atlanta
yeah called Norcross
and it was just nothing goes on there during the week
and this place was packed
hmm so was it
and then they they sold the place
(21:06):
and the first act of the new owner was like
yeah man
we're not doing any live music
I'm like oh
you know the weekend stuff
and I was actually playing a gig on the weekend there
yeah and he told
tells me during my gig I'm like
oh okay
well you don't mean the open mic
he goes what part of no live music don't you get
I'm like uh
what part of not making money didn't you get
(21:28):
I mean mm hmm
I mean it was fine
yeah and we packed that
we were supposed to play the next night
I'm like nah
we're not coming back tomorrow
mm hmm we're good no
you're no
you don't want live music yeah
no no
so we we
we go and then Tuesday night comes around
you could you could throw a bowling ball
down this place and not hit a customer
from one end to the other
there was nobody
(21:49):
a guy ended up calling back about three months later
and says hey man
can you come back I said yeah
but not me I'll send somebody
uh huh but I'm
I'm out yeah
but what happened was
so we got fired there and three other bars called me
no way
when have you ever heard of a bar calling anybody
yes right yes
(22:10):
I'm not kidding three bars in the area call me
I'm like yeah
I can do you Monday I can do you Tuesday
I can do you Wednesday mm hmm
right and all of a sudden
I had three where before where I had one
and I doubled the price perfect
I'm like
it's first time I thought of this is a business yeah
and then I thought of I was like hmm
I wonder well
I can't do 20 of these cause I'm only one guy
(22:32):
I'm just one man
and I find the six hour work week is very difficult so
um
ah I built added value
so I went to a local radio station
classic rock Z93 and said um
you know I'm in all these bars with
with this open mic every week
(22:53):
and you need to get more money
or additional advertisers from your beer and spirits
guys I will put
I will make sure that their spirit is put on sale
in the bar during the open mic
I'll make sure the guy in the open mic actually
talks about it mm hmm
(23:15):
we have Southern Comfort here tonight guys
two dollar shots okay
a guy in a microphone is a very persuasive thing right
yes
unbelievable sold sold sold sold
so the uh uh
Southern Comfort comes in and does a 10%
additional ad buy yeah
I get free ads
(23:35):
so I go to the bars and say
how'd you like to have a free ad on Z93
that airs 6 times a day
huh mmm hmm
the ad on the day on the day of the open mic
so you have 6 ads the
the value of that ad
was far more than they were paying for the
open mic yeah
right so
I was able to raise the price of the open mic
(23:56):
and pay a host and make a spread
genius spread that to six cities
uh huh and then um
the great radio station consolidation happened oh yeah
and all the little stations
that thought this was a great idea
went away mm hmm and the uh
(24:16):
the CBS's and the I heart radio yeah
I heart radio they stole my money oh yeah
so that all melted away but that's okay
I Learned a lot yeah and um
so with that um and and
and we said we're
gonna have all these different cities
and everything else and we
(24:36):
we went and did that
and we attract so many musicians that were able to um
get uh companies like Taylor Guitars yeah
electro voice uh Takamine uh
uh Latin percussion
over the years
we've had probably two dozen different major companies
pay us to be able to advertise their product
(24:59):
to our open mic musicians wow
that's how we're able to do everything for free yeah
cause we get money from the advertisers
and then when we actually operate the open mics
the Micro Music Festival yeah
um a little we should put a ding yes
a little sound effect every
every time we say that ding trademark don't use it um
(25:20):
oh you can so um yeah
so when we do that we we do the same the
the thing we do all of the promotion
mm hmm and then we um
we we hire the host
and make sure that the sound system
and everything is in place okay
and for the venue and then the
the um
the venue pays us okay
yeah that is so cool
(25:41):
I also have one more yeah
just thought of this one of those things I forgot
Performer Pro no
not Performer Pro open mic Pro
open mic Pro well
this is okay
tell us about it open mic Pro
that's your course yeah nope
no that's something Performer Pro is
Performer Pro is your course right
open mic Pro what's open mic Pro
it's the other way I use Pro
oh wait
you mean what is it yes
(26:01):
we will mega market your open mic okay
we'll turn it up we'll spin it up
we will make you a lot of money from an open mic
which typically does make a lot of money
and how do we do that we drive new customers
so you're already getting exposure
from being on the website
mm hmm right
but if you join Open Mic Pro for a small weekly fee
(26:24):
you will get included in our weekly email
and we have 80,000 open mic performers
on our email list and so if you're in Philadelphia
or if you're in New York or Indianapolis
some people are there
(26:45):
okay me hahaha
and and you're
you're on my email list
and so we have Joe's Bar and Grill
in Indy says I I wanna do this okay
so we put them we give them an expanded um
listing on the website
and then we put them in that email that goes out
and if they're the only one in indie paying us
(27:07):
they're the only one in the email yeah
we may have 25 open mics on the regular site
but we are being proactive
and getting in people's faces
and say hey
come out this week to Joe's Bar and Grill yeah
and it really drives traffic and the
I believe the cost is $25 a week okay
if you get one person extra through the door
(27:27):
that already pays for itself right
done and and and and you're gonna get you know
average of five to 10 new people every week yeah
it's a no brainer so the open mic pro
that's for the venues the the hosts and okay
very cool
and then you gotta tell us about performer pro
the other way I use Pro okay
a big pro on Pro oh
(27:48):
there's a pro pro if you want pro Pro
you're pro pro that's good
I like that so Performer Pro is basically
my journey from going to that first open mic and
and getting out there starting to run open mics
and then starting to get paid gigs
and then finding out that all gigs are not the same no
(28:13):
they sure aren't and so
you know how how do you get how do you start
how do you how do you put your toe in the water
which is the hardest part
and then um
how how do you go up the ladder and get
you know high paid gigs
like I play gigs we're close to home and it's
I get paid more than most people
mm hmm it
it's the highest paying solo acoustic gigs you can get
(28:35):
yeah and it's because I know how to play the game
yeah and then
you know we even get to the point where
if somebody is good enough
we have connections to booking agents to get them out
playing gigs at resorts like in the Caribbean
yes yeah
so very very cool
so
(28:57):
performer Pro allows you to very quickly
learn from all my mistakes
shortcut shortcut
hey you
you can there's no
there's no magic pill
there's no super secret to doing this
it's just that if you could sit down with me
(29:19):
one on one and say Dave
I've got questions
what do I do how
how do I find that gig you know hey
I got a question am I good enough
hmm okay
right we answer that right
so you know what
how do I get the gig what gear do I get do is
is this PA good enough or whatever and
and you know
I spent way too much money on my PA system
right for what it
(29:40):
for what I needed I was like
I could have saved
probably a good one to two grand on that yo
yeah and
and you know
I tell people I said
you know there's
there you could you here's
here's the range
but you need to go buy the Electrovoice um
evolve 30M mm hmm
and I tell you why yeah
right and
and we go down the list and people like oh okay and
(30:01):
and I'm not really long winded I'm
I'm pretty pithy when this stuff
yeah yeah
and get it done
you get it done and times money and people like oh
I get it yeah
I I don't wanna read gone with the wind
I wanna know what the heck to do and
and what was and
and you know you
you run through the course and you are able to be
(30:23):
get your first gig in in
in a week or two yeah
and that's after acquiring the equipment
doing all this stuff and then
and then going out there and doing what's necessary to
you know
get in front of the right people to get that gig
yeah right
and so it's just it's
it's a um
it's it's a shortcut
it's it's
it's it
(30:43):
it saves you years mm hmm
right and if you
if you're let's say you're out making
you know $200 a gig
right and if you could get out and do that faster
how you know
how if
if I could get you making that $200
and you do it twice a week play
you know Friday
Saturday night yeah
that's
four hundred dollars was 16 hundred dollars a month
(31:06):
right and if I can get you six months
what says is 7,000 $8,000 yeah
in your pocket yeah
right so
you know is it worth it to pay to take the course
well yeah
I would say so yeah
it really is it's a
I played a lot of 50 dollar gigs
you know for two hours when I first started out
(31:26):
yep and very quickly was like
oh this is a
this is a lot of effort
and not a lot of money for 50 bucks
right'cause you gotta pay gas to get there
yeah it doesn't really pay for my equipment
definitely doesn't pay for
all the time that went into preparing for this gig
mm hmm mm hmm
so I was like okay
(31:46):
I gotta figure out how to
get me some better paying gigs and
and that's where you come in
and you shortcut everything
yep yep
yep and it's
you know it's
it's perfect for the open mic performer guys that yeah
you know they're out there playing
you know they
they're getting experience
they got the chops but they
you know how do I
how do I get paid for this
yeah and
you know it's
it's if you play music and you can get paid
(32:07):
then you have a hobby you get paid to do yeah
isn't that great my mom used to say
find yourself a hobby that pays
you don't go scuba diving
you pay to do that skiing
not so good yeah
my mom didn't talk like that
if she was an old Jewish lady
she would your mom actually was a performer too
(32:31):
she was she spent six years as the
lead soprano on the Perry Como Show
which is a bit of a throwback for some of you
yeah and a lot of us that are like hmm
what wait
what what is that what
what show but you can actually um
get on YouTube okay
and pull up clips and my mom's on it
(32:51):
oh yeah
matter of fact I did
I pulled up a whole bunch of them and made
made one edited together yeah
very cool very cool
with big stars she's
she's singing with everybody yeah
whenever Perry Como so Perry
there were three stations back in the 60s
yeah and um
uh Perry Como was like prime time
you know 8 o'clock at night uh
hour long show and a variety show
(33:14):
so he Perry Como is a
is a is a singer yeah
a crooner guy and he um
was the host but he had uh
this chorus behind him mm hmm
right my mom was the lead soprano of that chorus
yes and the
the choral director was named Ray Charles
not that guy okay
hahaha I was gonna say
I know Ray Charles you don't
(33:36):
know that guy no
no no
this is this is the uh
this is the uh different Ray Charles and
but he was he did all the arrangements for 30 years
yeah for him
and um it was called the Ray Charles Singers
my mom was was the head of that
and so um
anytime Perry Como would want to come out and do a duet
uh huh Susie
(33:58):
and so mom's front and center
yeah national television
wow big time
it was it was
it was very pretty cool
wow you've come from such a musical family
yeah that's so awesome
and now you are doing music yourself
with the open Mikes
and you play gigs in the Caribbean and everywhere else
too that's so awesome
(34:18):
I love and now you started yet another thing
I did you are the master of starting new businesses
I spin stuff up that's what I do
you sure do you sure do
I love it
so your latest business is
business is the singer's club
the singer's club and this is where I'm like hmm
(34:38):
singer's club singers
I'm a singer exactly
I wanna be in the club how do I get in the club
I sure wanna be absolutely
so what is the singer's club
so um
people may have heard of pop up choruses
yeah it's kind of a thing that's bubbling around
so we took that concept and said let's
(34:59):
let's organize this thing right
let's make it a recurring steady thing in each city
so the idea is we're going to be in um
20 major markets and we will hold one pop up course
uh each month and so we
(35:19):
we secure the venue so it'll be a
a theater a performance theater um
the members of the club will uh
come in and be the singers
right and so instead of there being an audience
and there's something on stage
what's on stage is the choral director
(35:40):
yeah right
so the choral director is there along with a musician
and you know
we're gonna do um Tom Petty free falling okay
right and that killer arrangement
yeah right
it's such a fun song everybody loves it
everybody sings along with it anyway
but boy when we do it all coral
you know with an acoustic guitar playing
(36:00):
and so what we do is we have one song
and we do it for two hours
you learn it for two hours
in three parts in three parts
why sing alone yes right
so it's um designed 100% to be fun
it's what it is just fun
(36:20):
we're gonna have we're gonna spend two hours
you're gonna meet all kinds of new people
they all love to sing right
so like minded people yeah
it's like it's like an an open mic on steroids
I was literally just gonna say that
you took the words out of my mouth
there you go great minds
this is a Swiss thing yeah
it is I'm gonna hold on to that
(36:41):
but um yeah
so you have so many people all singing and and
and it is just so much fun and you you
you it's you know
you're not doing church music
mm hmm church music right
yeah but this is you hey
how about if you apply the same singing
and everything else to
you know contemporary
yeah yeah
you know fun stuff
the community aspect of it the singing aspect of it
(37:03):
exactly yeah
and it's just just designed to be fun yeah
and and and and the um uh
the nice thing is we're not having tryouts
you don't have to audition for
you don't have to audition
you don't have to send in a video
if you want to come and you want to sing anyone
(37:24):
you're welcome you're welcome
even you oh
thank you
you're a bit of a singer this one just
just a little bit
just a tiny little bit does that singing thing
oh my gosh so um yeah
so anybody can join I love that um
and you know we're doing it's all adults
so we're doing um you know 18 to 95 yeah
(37:47):
hahaha but if you love to sing then hey
this is it yeah absolutely free and uh
the uh
the domain where we can get on there is the singers
dot Club OK
the Singers Club the Singers Dot Club it's in it's
it's
it's like people are gonna go The Singers club.com
is that it no
(38:07):
no it's the Singers Dot Club Club is like
com OK
perfect like net.org also to make it easy for you
you can just find the link in the description
we popped it in right there just yeah
click on it and then so how do people sign up
they just click on the website and oh yeah website
it's got it I mean it's I think it's uh 4 pages
(38:29):
what we do is we explain what it is we're doing
we have a little demo video
this is kind of what you're gonna be doing and then um
you know some testimonials
people saying that we've had a lot of fun
it's a blast and then we have a form
you just click on sign up and it just goes to the form
you put your info in there
when we have an event in your area
(38:49):
we will send you an email
we also have a Facebook page right
and matter of fact
we're getting ready to start a Facebook group
so that people can communicate with each other yeah
oh perfect yeah so we'll have all that in place
but you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram and um
sign up for the club on the website okay
(39:11):
perfect yeah
and then they pop in their city
because we need to know where you're at
so we can send you the information exactly
so we have all that is uh
you know name yeah
email city all that perfect
perfect good stuff
yep
and just as a little bonus when you sign up for it
(39:31):
you get a little free mini voice lesson series from me
personally I recorded it just for you David
I know just for you I love that about you
I love that for me actually yeah
so it's free to join the Singers Club
and you get a little free mini uh
mini voice lesson series uh
(39:52):
about the three most commonly asked questions
or concerns or just things that I see in singers
cause I've done hundreds of intro lessons
like new lessons with new people
new to me whether they're beginner or advanced
so I addressed all of those concerns and comments
or questions
uh in those in that series in those little videos
(40:15):
so go check it out
it's included as a bonus when you sign up
and again
the link to sign up for the singer's club is also below
right find it
you'll be able to you'll be able to find the open mic
dot us is the jump off point to find all of the cities
okay yeah
so that that site just has cities listed
yeah and you just click on New York or Chicago
(40:36):
wherever you are perfect
we'll link to that yeah
and then you can bookmark it and keep it yes
keep it safe and sound yeah
and then um we'll have Performer Pro
mm hmm and we'll have Open Mic Pro
Open Mic Pro right
and the singers the Singers Dot Club
Singers dot Club I love that amazing
I got another one another one
another one what else you have
(40:57):
oh my gosh another business
I did not start this and it's not a business
it's a charity it's a charity
that's right yeah
so I sit on the board of a charity called
amped Kids Foundation
and um
April Brooks started this and she has such a big heart
(41:19):
and she called me she
she um
was hosting for me and uh she
she's also a voice teacher okay
and she uh
she big big into music and
and um
got a lovely family but she called me up
she says Dave I
I I started this thing um
I just wanna tell you about it
and she goes is there
(41:40):
is there anything you could do to you
you might yes
I love that I'm in what do you want me to do
so I'm on the board of the amp Kids Foundation
and what the amp
Kids Foundation does is we provide lessons
music lessons voice lessons
um guitar
any instrument lessons and the instrument
(42:04):
for free to kids in the foster care system
and that's that's where we started
we actually have expanded that to um
kids in need um yeah
outside of foster care mm hmm
if we have special cases that come and and we will
we'll take care of them so we
yeah we match um
local
uh teachers with the child
(42:28):
mm hmm and we work with the
um the foster parents
to make sure that everybody is on the same page
we get the
the teacher and the foster parent and then we
they the schedule and all that
but um
what we do is
we raise money so that we can pay the teachers
yeah and we can buy the instruments
that's amazing right
so we we know that
(42:50):
you know the teachers of music are
are not the the
on the high scale of well paid individuals in the world
right and and
and but
and but we
we're all musicians
so we understand exactly where they're coming from
yeah and we said we
we need to do this different
we need to not ask them because they would yeah
they would they donate their time
yeah so many have said oh I'll
(43:11):
I'll help I'm like you
you just you just need to
to say you'll do it
and then we'll get you hooked up with some kids
yeah right
so and we'll pay you
yeah so we have many
many many
um uh
kids and and
and teachers connected and we're
we're just we're
we're that that connector right
we we
over here we raise money
we put it in a pot we pay out the teachers
(43:33):
mmm hmm find the kids
connect it all we have it's
it's it's a job
oh for sure
it's a lot you have to
you have to deal with um
the foster care system in each state
and each one's different oh yeah
and the the um
anonymity of the children and things are
so it's there's a whole lot that goes into it
(43:54):
but yeah
but it is it is a labor of joy
and I just want to tell everybody at um
you know if you
if you are an instructor of any kind and you want to um
get involved or if you would like to donate money
we also take instruments yeah
donate instruments right
so we'll take in an instrument
(44:14):
and then maybe get it fixed up
and then put it back out on the street
I love that and yeah
tell us the name of the foundation again
amped kids amped
amped kids.org.org.org cause it's right
it's an organization there you go
yeah not dot club
no not the amp
Kids Club no
it's not the amp Kids Club
where kids jump around and they're all amped up
no this is yeah
(44:35):
this is different OK
this is the charity perfect
so we'll definitely link to that as well
and you know
thank you for doing the good work
absolutely
I think musical education is so important for kids
oh you know
especially if they have the desire to do it
it's it
foster kids they
they you know they
they just
they start with such a bad hand
mm hmm right
(44:56):
it's like people complain about their um
their parents but just what if you didn't have parents
yep right
and you know
where's the love come from
yeah and a lot of times foster parents are wonderful
sometimes they're really not yeah
you know and the kids bounce around
and they don't stay with the same family
they don't grow up in a in a stable household
(45:17):
yeah so they're
they're struggling with you know
just the most basic feelings of
of try you know
needing love and
and where do they fit into the
all this
and what we've found is that when you introduce music
and not all foster kids you know
you're into music mm hmm
but we we find the ones that are
(45:37):
we give everybody a chance
yeah right
and oh
you know here
here here's this opportunity
and they you know
when a child or the foster parent sees it and goes oh
Bobby would like that mm hmm
you know can we get him signed up for guitar lessons
yeah we can
yeah and next thing you know Bobby's
and he starts singing he starts writing songs
and he meets other kids
and he finishes high school and graduates college
(45:59):
yeah as opposed to
the statistics on foster kids are abysmal
yeah they
I have no doubt half of them don't finish high school
yeah yeah
and oh
the numbers are so terrible
every single kid
every single kid that has gone through our program
has graduated high school
wow and most of those have gone on to college
that's amazing yeah
(46:20):
so it's not just oh the
the the kids
the kids they're nice
give them a guitar yeah
yeah it's life changing for them
absolutely it's something to hold on to
and it's a gift that they can
they can you know
keep using for their entire life
yeah right
yeah I'm no spring chicken
you are I just told you running up that mountain
(46:41):
how much of a spring chicken you are you
you said I run like a goat
I'm just saying hahaha
I did not I literally called you a spring chicken
okay you were the one who was talking about goats
yeah I think I said old goat hahaha
well this old goat still plays
and I still go to Caribbean resorts
yeah and I
you know
I just have so much fun and it all is because of music
(47:04):
and yeah that's why all these business things I do
absolutely it's all
you know it's all music
it's all fun it's all good
and um yeah
and it's a real joy to uh
be working with you yes
thank you so much and how fun that
we were in Switzerland around that same time
I mean you're here for like two months
I'm here for a week but we arrived on the same day
we arrived on the same day
(47:25):
can you believe it or not
that was weird wow
and then we did a beautiful little hike now here
now our next stop is the boat on beautiful Lake Toon
we're going on Lake Toon we're going wait
wait wait somebody's gonna know this I'm
(47:52):
that was brought to you by the who ah
that's the who
it's the who I didn't know that was the who yeah
it's the who you gotta be an old goat to know that song
I guess I'm a spring chicken haha
as well you are haha I'll take that I'll take that haha
all day thank you so much for being here
for taking the time to hang out with me all day
(48:13):
for talking to these beautiful people
in the cameras in the cameras
on the other side of the camera
on the other side of the camera out in the cyberwebs
exactly somewhere out there somewhere
I will link to all of your things and you know
you at home if you are in a position to donate
either money or instruments
(48:33):
it truly as we could just hear
makes such a big difference in uh
in the lives of these foster kids
so thank you so much for for doing that
we need more people like you and uh
Lord knows I will be donating so please join me
you heard me oh yeah
I'm a I'm a woman of my word
I am so and you're gonna be giving voice lessons too
(48:53):
there you go absolutely
100% we do
we do uh
remote voice lessons okay
there you go a lot of kids live way off the grid
yeah yeah
and it's like oh
I know what we can do there you go
absolutely sign me up
you tell me where to sign
I'll sign whatever hahaha
maybe not where it says in fine print
and she will give $1 million
(49:13):
cause your girl ain't got $1 million
but I will do what I can
please join me in that if you are at all able
um otherwise join us in the singer's club
check out the free bonus
if you wanna learn more about how to get paying gigs
too check out David's course
and what else do we talk about
find you know
your open mic um yeah
(49:35):
if you wanna find an open mic
open mic network there you go
open mic dot us yes
I love it thank you so much for joining me
anything else you would like to let the people know
never stop playing hahaha
perfect hahaha
we'll end it on that thank you guys for tuning in
if you have any questions
shoot us a message on Instagram
(49:55):
otherwise check out the links below
and we'll catch you in the next episode bye bye
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