March 24, 2024 • 47 mins
As the radio waves marry the beats of our hearts, Steve Keller's voice resonates with the experiences of a lifetime in music and broadcasting. In the cozy corners of college radio where he began, Steve rose through the ranks to become an influential figure at SUNY's first station, intertwining his love for music with a skill for managing talent. From rubbing shoulders with legends like James Brown to the digital transformation of radio, Steve's tale is not just a nostalgic trip down memory lane—it's a symphony of adaptations and innovations that keep his passion for a global audience alive through Keller Radio and his beloved band, Best Supporting Actor.
The tune takes a somber yet inspiring turn as Steve opens up about his dance with mortality, sharing a narrative that could've ended mid-note during a Best Supporting Actor performance. The aftermath of his heart attack, the installation of a pacemaker, and a continued battle with heart health have reframed Steve's existence, leading to a rhythm that's both cautious and celebratory. His resilience reverberates in every word, echoing his dedication to local music as a contributor to Brevard Live magazine and as a fervent advocate for bands that color our community with their melodies.
Finally, we crescendo to the meticulous orchestration of the Eau Gallie Arts District (EGAD) music festival revival. With Steve at the helm, we're given a backstage pass to the challenges and triumphs involved in resurrecting this cultural cornerstone. Weaving tales of logistical feats and the electric atmosphere of a festival reborn, Steve celebrates the undeniable impact these gatherings have on the local arts scene. His experiences with WFIT and mentorship of emerging talents underscore the episode's theme of passion and perseverance, a harmonious duet that defines not just a festival or a radio career, but a life well-lived in music.
Follow us on Instagram @spacecoastpodcast
Sponsor this show
Want to watch our shows? https://youtube.com/@spacecoastpodcast
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This podcast is brought to you by Place Pros,
commercial and Investment, realEstate and NECOTOURBoutique your
one stop shop for everythingcool.
All right, we're here withSteve Keller from WFIT Keller
(00:21):
Radio.
Sure yeah, do you have a radiovoice that you put on, and if so
, let's get a little sample ofthat.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's funny because I do a lot of promotion for it.
Yeah.
So I do these little Facebookvideos and I can tell it's
coming back.
I did radio 30 years ago incollege.
Oh yeah.
And then when I graduated it waspretty much okay.
Well, that's done.
So I had an opportunity lastNovember to start up again, and
I'd like to think I don't.
But there's freezing, you knowinvolved yeah pacing.
(00:54):
The tagline?
Exactly?
The tagline is Indy Rock, deepCuts and plenty of Space Coast
original music.
So when I do my little promosin the confines of a minute I
find myself kind of jazzing itup.
So to answer your question,yeah, I guess I do have somewhat
of a radio voice.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I like that.
I think everybody has like alittle bit of them.
Who you know, who just isfascinated by radio hosts and
it's been fun, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I mean I was again.
I was in my 20s back then andnow I'm in my 50s.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So there's a lot of you still have a youthful look
about you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Still dressed like I'm 20.
Yeah, well you got to but yeah,I mean, it's one of those
things that I enjoy with theradio and just a bunch of
whatever else I do.
I try to bring some coolness toan audience.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Absolutely so.
You studied production at StateUniversity of New York.
Is that where you had yourradio show?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
It is actually.
Yeah, it's still there.
It's the oldest radio stationin the SUNY system outside of
Buffalo and you don't know whatyou had until you go elsewhere.
And at 19, I was a programdirector, I became a general
manager and was in charge of 350people.
So I mean that gave me a lot ofresponsibility, a lot of At 19.
(02:14):
Yeah, public speakingexperience, confidence.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Cool.
What else happened during yourcollege years?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Did a lot of interviews which we're bringing
back on the color radio show aswell.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And notable.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
James Brown comes to mind.
That was really cool.
I got to do press for festivals.
We had Lollapalooza access andstuff like that.
So again, being a young kid andjust given opportunities to
succeed or to fail, becamefriends with the Goo Goo Dolls.
So that was one of the coolthings that came to our school
(02:49):
and played a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
That's really cool.
Did you realize you had areally cool gig back then, or
was it kind of just normal?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I knew that it would end, so I just enjoyed it that
much more.
I was a radio major and prettymuch by sophomore year realized
that I wasn't going to pursue it.
Why.
Communications and even radiotoday is all about your voice.
It's really not anything aboutyour creativity, your reading
(03:19):
script.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So did you crave the creativity and knew you were
going to do that?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I knew I had the opportunity there to do so,
which I wouldn't necessarilyhave in pro radio.
So because of that revelationearly, I had a ball, I had a
blast.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Cool, what were your classes?
Like Production classes.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, production back then was reel to reel tape and
cutting and splicing.
So now that I'm back in radionow, 30 years later, it's all
digital.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Do you find it easier ?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I'm scared to death of it.
I'm still not, because I work aday job, so I don't get to be
around it as much as I did incollege.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So there's like a learning curve for you.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Oh, absolutely yeah, the radio station now is
literally a mouse and somescreens and then uploading songs
, as opposed to queuing uprecords and stuff like that
there's nothing tangible anymore.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
There's just no clicks.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, but by the same token, we're able to do it
online all over the world.
My mom lives in Buffalo, my dadlives in Dallas, my
sister-in-law lives in thecountry of Chile, so when it's
live, it's all around the world,so that's definitely a cool
trade off.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, so what did you end up graduating with?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I graduated with the bachelor's in radio
communication, minor injournalism.
Ok.
And promptly didn't use it forall these years.
I mean, to a certain extentI've always done music,
journalism.
I started writing for BrevardLive magazine when I got here.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yes, and what brought you here?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
My ex-wife.
Her dad was stationed atPatrick.
So, that's the short cut to it.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, ok, so because you came in 2002.
All right, and then you formedyour band.
Best Supporting Actor.
I did.
I listened to your Dex musicvideo.
Yeah.
I loved it Thank you.
Thank you.
I didn't know what to expect,right, but it was so fun.
Who did the animation for that?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Mr E, who's been my collaborator and a great artist
on his own right.
Yeah, when he commits to aproject, he just does it.
And one day he was like I wantto make a music video for you
guys.
And a week later, there it was.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
A week.
Yeah, I mean you guys need towatch it.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
It's a great sound, and then, on top of having that
animation, it's super fun.
How many songs do you guys haveunder your belt?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
We've been a band this July or this, yeah, just
this July it'll be 17 years.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So we probably have maybe 35, 40 songs.
We've always been an originalband.
We don't do any covers Great,so that was very important to us
.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Do you guys record?
Do you have albums?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
We have an EP that we did many, many years ago.
We did a split album withanother band called the Trash
City Rockers.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
What's the difference between an EP and an album?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So back in the old days, a long player, an LP,
would be usually around 10 to 12songs.
An EP, which they call itextended play, for some reason,
that's usually around five tosix songs.
Ok, got it.
But even in this day and age,it's easier for bands just to
record and release a single.
It really is no albums anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Very rarely and we you know as much as I'm involved
in the scene and try to promoteeverybody else's stuff best,
supporting actor myselfspecifically.
We really haven't jumped onthat.
Why not?
Um, we're busy with otherthings, you know that's usually
been.
The success of the band is thatand I say this with love we
(07:08):
don't hang out.
We all have our own lives, weall have our own projects, we
all have our own day jobs, whichI'm sure ideally would be.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You know how often do you guys come together and
perform.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Probably five or six times a year.
Okay, I don't know when thisairs but we're playing on March
9th.
Best supporting actor is thename of the band we do these
multi-band, multi-genre showscalled Best Fest.
So we have different bands thatdon't sound like us on the bill
with us to kind of draw abigger audience.
(07:40):
And pretty early on, instead of, you know, making a couple of
bucks per band, we just pick acharity and we donate the money
that we raise to the charity.
So this time around it's theWomen's Center.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Oh nice.
What other charities have youguys?
Do you guys just pick a new oneevery time, or do you have a?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
There's some that we, you know, there's Two Right
Love on our arms, which I'm verypassionate about Good friends
with Jamie and the crew overthere.
What else have we done?
It varies.
It's topical as well.
I mean, we're playing in March,which is Women's History Month,
so Do you have a next dateplanned after that?
No, okay.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Who are your band members?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So Katie Moist is our .
Well, here's an exclusive foryou, I guess.
So when I started the band withWade Vargo 17 years ago, we had
a lot of different bass players.
Okay, we joined on bass andbackup vocals years ago and then
, with the pandemic, it kind oftook a hiatus or Katie left the
(08:46):
band for a while, but it'salways been me and Wade, with me
singing and me playing drums.
So health issues and so forth,and Katie's a drummer by trade.
So this show on the ninth willbe our first show where Katie
will be playing drums and I'lljust be the front man.
Cool and David Lee Roth, forthose people that remember that
(09:09):
guy.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
How would you describe your music?
Because to me it was like itwas very nostalgic of the music
that I listened to when I wasgrowing up.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah, I hear that we're not punk rock.
Right.
Rock, punk.
Yeah, it's kind of how Idescribe it because, we're fast.
Yeah, that song is pretty funnybecause a lot of our most of
our songs and the lyrics arevery personal to me it sounds
like it.
It's about Dexter, the TV show.
Okay.
So it's.
It's.
(09:38):
You know it's a great show andit's a favorite of mine, but
it's not a personal story, I'mnot a serial killer, because,
yeah, it talks about pain, right.
Yeah, I mean it talks about.
It's about Dex, it's aboutDexter killing people with no
conscience.
Yeah, you know so.
And then the video is actuallysome kind of video game.
(09:59):
Sorry, mike, I don't know whatvideo game it is.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, it's a favorite of like a video game and for
some reason it reminded me ofHe-Man a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, which is just another interpretation, which is
cool Because, again, we, ifleft to our own devices, we we
would have not done a musicvideo.
So it's cool that there was oneperson's interpretation that's
kind of representing therepresenting the song.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
So you guys didn't have any creative input, you
just let him do his thing.
That's really cool.
Have you done any other musicvideos?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
He's done a video for us Again.
It's it's video game centricand it's for the song Stupid
White People.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
What other songs?
Should we listen?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
to Like tell us some, because yeah, well, again, I
mean, we, yeah, we've done morerecording, though Think about it
.
There's a song and I alwaysblank on the song titles.
Oh, okay.
But just come see us.
You know Again, we're an alloriginal band.
We don't fall into those bandsthat do a lot of covers and have
(10:59):
one original.
Right and say that they're anoriginal band.
We've just we decided a longtime ago that this is what we do
and as a singer, I wouldn'teven try to to cover songs.
Yeah.
You know, my theory is, if it'san original song that no one can
tell me, I'm singing it wrong.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Right, I mean I need to dive more deeply into that,
but I really enjoyed deck.
So I think that I'll.
I'll enjoy them all, and we canfind those on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, they're on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Okay, so you know, did you start with?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
the channel or Came up with the channel.
I started a podcast actuallywith Mr E as well.
Oh yeah, called Serial Keller.
Okay.
And that was really to promotethe Space Coast Music Festival a
couple years ago.
We did about five episodes aseason with different musicians.
Again, it really it resides onYouTube and probably could have
(11:53):
been a lot bigger if I didn'thave so many projects going on.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So what do you do during the day?
I work Sure.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I work at a local fence and gate company.
Oh, okay.
Doing accounting.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Okay Cool.
So yeah, that's totallyunrelated to the music scene.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I mean, I've never wanted to be a starving artist,
right, I never wanted to be thatkid that that was working at a
convenience store because hisband was going to break at any
minute.
I've always had some, some youknow, solid jobs to pay the
bills so that we could you know,we could do this, you know, on
the nights and weekends.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And I could tell you're so passionate about it
and I kind of I feel like Idon't know enough about the
Melbourne music scene to I don'tknow, so like you're going to
have to educate me as we go, butbefore we get there, you told
me you had a heart attack at2010.
I did how did that come aboutand how are you doing now?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I'm doing well.
Okay, so you had one in 2010,actually right after a gig.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Really.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, as the story goes and for those people that
know me, they hear this storyall the time we were playing in
Cocoa Village there were threebands in the early show and
three bands in the late show.
We were the first band of thelate show, so we were set to
play for an hour but they wererunning behind schedule so they
cut our set to 30 minutes butthey didn't tell us so legit.
(13:23):
Right after a song they're likeall right, everybody give it up
for Best Sporting Actor.
Yay, and I don't get angryoften, but I was really more
confused.
So, we got all of our stuff offthe stage.
You know was kind of likewhat's going on and in the whole
chaos of that it felt like Igot hit by a sledgehammer in the
(13:44):
back In the back.
Yeah, like you need to crackyour back but you can't and I
just chalked it up Again.
We just got done playing.
I chalked it up to maybe Ididn't stretch enough before we
were going to play and then myleft arm went numb.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
That's the clue.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Not.
At that point, I think my brainreally took over and said, okay
, something's going on, but youjust pulled a muscle.
That was my thinking.
Right?
Obviously it wasn't.
My girlfriend at the time hadbaby aspirin in her purse.
Her son has heart issues, so Itook baby aspirin and it just
got progressively worse.
We went outside, we were in thehouse in November and I started
(14:23):
sweating profusely and thelight started swaying, so we got
an ambulance.
Got an ambulance, luckily,wustof in Rockledge was
literally two miles down theroad and, yeah, I had a blood
clot in my main artery what theyrefer to as a widowmaker and
(14:45):
I'm here to talk about it, but Ihad to have a pacemaker
installed in 2011, because partof my heart muscle died that
night.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Wow, did you get a new artery?
I know sometimes they put likepig valves in.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
No, I have a stent from that and a pacemaker.
I actually had a second heartattack in 2021 and had two more
stents put in.
So, yeah, I mean the decisionto just sing in Best Supporting
Actor in addition to Katie'stalent.
Obviously, Katie's a greatdrummer, but it was also okay
you stepped back a little bit,maybe at age 50, I don't go from
(15:23):
zero to 90 in four seconds,like we used to.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
That's an incredible story of recovery.
How else has it impacted you,besides not being able to go
full force with music?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
It's weird because when I got the pacemaker put in
and I think some of it wasdenial you feel kind of
invincible because theybasically tell you okay, if
anything happens, this thing isgoing to help, it's your safety
net.
That's not the case, and norshould it be In 2021.
(16:03):
When I had the heart attack, itnever did anything.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
What is it supposed to do?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It's supposed to.
If you're going too low, it'ssupposed to shock you.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Like on those medical dramas where it was quenched
You're supposed to.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It's never gone off for me, so I'm happy about that.
So if it's too low, it'll sparkyou.
If it's too high, and that'scome close playing, it'll shock
you back down to a healthyrhythm.
Yeah, knock on wood, I havenever had to use it, but again
I'm getting up there in age andhealthier habits would be best.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Probably Are you exercising.
Are you eating better than youwere?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I do, I can't say I do.
Currently I'm kind of above andI did in January do right.
Love on our arms, had a 24 milechallenge.
Oh, wow.
So I walked a total of 24.
I say 24.
It's not altogether or not allat once, but over the course of
January I walked 24 miles.
Wonderful.
You know, I've had my momentsthat need to be more moments as
(17:10):
I get over there.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
It's difficult, though, to write that into your
habits.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Well, in 2021, we were all home.
I was working at home.
Yeah.
I didn't know where my houseended and my job began, and vice
versa, so it was a very badtime in that.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry to hear that, but I hope you
keep going.
Thank you, yeah, we need you.
So you joined Brevard Live inMay.
We have an issue here Tell meabout your writing experience
(17:49):
for that.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Well, I wrote on and off in high school, was always
reading magazines.
Yeah.
My friends in high school wouldcall me the Barbara Walters of
Rock because I would always havethese weird little factoids
about bands and such.
It actually goes back to Mr Eas well.
We had started to do a fanzinecalled Underground Juice and we
(18:14):
got one episode out before I hadmy heart attack in 2010.
So it was a very big project,took a lot of time, a lot of
money.
I was out medically, so hesuggested including it or at
least pitching it to Heike Clark, who's the owner and editor of
Brevard Live magazine, thatbasically, in a very short time
(18:37):
frame, turned into me writingfor Brevard Live.
It was something I still do.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, so you get to meet a lot of bands and talk to
them, or are you just fishingout information?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
It's both.
It's both.
You know it depends.
The magazine's been around foralmost 35 years now.
It's definitely a mirror ofwhat is going on in the scene
who's coming to the King Center,who's coming to the fair, so
there's a lot of well-knownartists.
Heike has been great over theyears to allow me to give press
(19:11):
to the local scene, so I do dothe bigger interviews when
needed or when asked.
But my focus has always beenthe bands, the artists, the kids
that are in a garage band thattheir parents say that it's
never going to go anywhere.
This is something tangiblewhere they can cut it out and
(19:32):
put it on the refrigerator.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Absolutely so.
Who are your favorite big namebands?
Let's start there.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Wow, I was just listening to them in the car.
There's a band from Canadacalled the Tragically Hip.
Unfortunately, the singer diedin 2017.
But I was able to see them abunch of times and just no show
is exactly the same.
The singer was always goinginto stories mid-song and just
(20:00):
being kind of out there, sothat's a huge influence.
The Goo Goo Dolls, as Imentioned.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Are you still friends with them?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, not, as they're all over the world.
They're in Australia right now,so don't get to see them or
talk to them in many years.
But it was a cool feeling toknow basically that you can hang
, and the people that live hereas well.
Actually, I'll share this story.
Pat Bots is the drummer for theband Three Dog Night and he
(20:30):
lives here.
I've been in L'Oreal movingback and pretty early on in the
Brevard live career I got totalk to him and he gave me one
of the nicest compliments I'veever gotten, because he sent me
an email with some informationwe need and he basically said
you get it.
So I try to pass that alongwith whoever I'm talking to,
(20:54):
whether it's he's been in theband for 30 years until his
retirement recently, or if it'sa brand new band starting out,
you're the peers, you're thecolleagues.
It's not necessarily rock stargarage band and I think if you
have that mentality from the getgo or if you're given that
respect from the get go, it'llhelp you out throughout, however
(21:18):
long bands do this.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
So you get it.
When you're conducting aninterview, what is it that
you're trying to fish out?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I've often thought of myself as a storyteller.
You've got an album coming out,you've got the video for a song
, you're playing this show next,just tell me, and then I'll
relay that to the audience,whether it's in print, whether
it's on radio, without having tobe starstruck, without having
(21:52):
to be flashy about it.
You peel the layers back andwe're all just trying to get our
creativity out.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
So it's not necessarily about digging for
exclusive information, it's justlike putting out the
information.
That is just solid.
They're going to be here atthis time.
Their album comes out at thismoment.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, I mean it's conversational, by all means.
I did a column in Brevard Livefor years called Local Lowdown,
which was more of that.
Hey, we're going to talk about15 bands in this column so we
can't give a lot of press, a lotof space to them.
But what's the who, what, whereand why?
The interviews that we're ableto do on the radio now are a
(22:37):
little bit more of a deep dive.
But I'm not going tonecessarily ask their thoughts
on God, necessarily.
It's what their focus is, ofwhat they want to bring out
there.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Do you have any interest to ask the deeper
questions?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Not in that medium.
No, not really.
I mean unless they bring it up,obviously with interviews.
If there's a direction thatthey want to go in, we can
explore that.
But more importantly it's who'sour audience?
And in radio especially, I havea three-hour slot which
initially I was like man, whatam I going to do for three hours
?
But now, with everything thatwe do and we're incorporating
(23:17):
the interviews more and more,the live performances in the
studio, those three hours go byreal quick.
So, you don't necessarily wantto engage in something really
deep, only to go oh, I'm sorry,we're out of time.
Right.
Maybe that's another avenuesomewhere else.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I mean, that's what I'm drawn to getting down to the
undersurface, the underbelly,Definitely.
Who are some of your favoritelocal bands, or bands that you
see something in them that weall should recognize?
Speaker 2 (23:52):
There's been and there are bands now that I think
are on the verge of doingsomething big.
We talk about the speed spiritsPaging.
Mr Herman is still going strongand they're reinventing
themselves all the time.
Kristen Warren never ceases toamaze me.
Shar Good is doing great things.
(24:12):
Sorry for those bands that Ican't think of or mention to you
, because they're almost like mykids.
It's almost like here's anotherthing that I was dubbed the
godfather many years ago andthat's kind of ominous, right,
but at the same time I thinkthere's a lot of truth to it
that again, when we do shows,when we're setting up the music
(24:34):
festival, everyone's equal.
Let's get the audience a bunchof different sounds and looks
because they don't know whatthey're going to get.
So let's just kind of mix it upand see what's out there.
And again the opportunitiesarise for these bands to play in
Brevard, to play in Orlando, toplay elsewhere.
(24:57):
Right, you know yeah.
There's a great band.
Let me give the shout-outs, andI don't think they get the due
that they deserve becausethey're not here all the time.
That's a band.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
It's a band.
Yeah, ok, it's called.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Jillian Jillian Carter.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
OK, what kind of music do they do?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
They are heavy.
I don't know what the kids callit these days, but something
core, I'm sure metal core let'ssay but again, they're always on
the road, they're alwaystraveling.
They went over to France lastyear.
Wow.
And again they're creatingopportunities.
So I think that's the big thingtoo, if I can instill wisdom is
(25:36):
you don't just sit in yourgarage waiting for opportunities
to come or for the phone toring.
We've created opportunitieshere in Brevard for exposure,
which I think is great, but ifyou're truly serious about it,
you know we live in an age whereyou can book a tour on Facebook
.
Yeah.
You can talk to people all overthe country, all over the world
(25:59):
, and crash on their couch.
We didn't have that back in myday.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
You had to kind of just drive to the town and see
who was there first.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I was doing it.
Yeah, Did you?
Or did you not recently have aninterview with Swim?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Because they kind of came to mind when you're
speaking about that.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
They're from here but have somehow, or you know,
they've carved their own way.
They're predominantly inCalifornia now.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Correct.
And it's funny because, yeah, Imean I've known those guys for
many years and finally heard thestory from Adam, or from Chris
rather that they were doing atour and it kind of ended in
California and they were givenan opportunity at the end of the
tour to either come back homeor kind of put up roots there,
and they chose the latter.
So, yeah, I mean they're agreat example of an evolution.
(26:52):
What they sounded like whenthey played shows in Brevard
versus what they sound like nowis quite different, but it's
organic as much as that word isoverused for everything.
I think that's a great exampleof you know, what are we going
to write today and are we goingto worry about how that compares
to what we've done previously?
Yes, you know, and they foundsuccess.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
They definitely have.
Yeah, Okay, so you have been incharge to some degree for this
Space Coast Music Festival.
You said that there was afailed attempt in 2016.
Can you talk about that?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
So the Music Festival people might not know this
actually ran from 2010 to 2015.
It was a multi-day, multi-bandfestival throughout the county
from Sue Lulie, who moved awayin 2015 or 2016.
I had just happened to give hera call to find out what was
going on that year.
She had told me that she hadbasically gifted it, or given
(27:52):
her blessing, to the city ofCocoa Beach and that they were
going to try to do something.
Okay, I mean I should speak tothem.
So all I did and this hashappened a couple of times in my
career all I did is basicallycall and say, hi, I want to know
more information.
And they basically had me comeon and plan it, which I was not
(28:13):
ready for.
But again, opportunities arise.
So I worked with the city oncea week for about eight months to
put something together.
They secured funding.
We were on the verge ofannouncing it.
Things didn't go as planned andthe funding was pulled, so the
(28:38):
event was canceled.
But that again gave me anopportunity to work with
municipalities, with work withokay, we don't have a stage.
It was going to be a loadingdock of a business to be our
main stage.
So you know, but I made someconnections that I still have
now in LA and so forth becauseof it.
(28:59):
And again, it gave me theopportunity what two years later
in 2018, sitting at my kitchentable to go well, maybe we could
do this.
Maybe we could do this hereinstead of here.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
So after it failed, did they give you like this is
yours now.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
So it was up to you to revive it.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
We went exactly.
Yeah, the actual revival tookplace in 2019.
There were some conversationsthat were done kind of after the
fact.
We're going to do this.
Is that okay?
Yeah, as opposed to asking forpermission.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
So when you say funding was pulled and this is a
thing that goes on for days,how many days Is it like a long
weekend?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
The festival was going to be just one day.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Oh, it's a one day thing, but the venues are
Scattered about the county.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
in in Suze Festivals, they, they were it was well.
It was actually in one location, but that location changed In
those five years.
It was never in the same spot.
Okay twice, hers were two days.
Okay the revival, both in 2016as well as what we eventually
succeeded with in 2019, would bea one-day event.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Okay, and where was that?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
In 2019.
Yeah, it would be in GalleyArts District in EGAD.
Okay, and that was a huge andthat is a huge.
Part of our success Was thatthey were able to incorporate
the festival into an event thatthey had monthly called flea gad
.
So it was like the, the Reese'speanut butter cup of.
You know.
We wanted to do a bunch ofbands.
(30:38):
They welcomed us with open armsand we've had it there for
Three times now three times nowat that park with the little
stage.
Well, in the in the band show isour main stage.
To answer your question fromearlier, we had seven stages in
EGAD the one in Cocoa Beach, Ithink it was going to be, maybe
two.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Okay, but Cocoa Beach was like we're not doing this
anymore Now unfortunately thatthat fell apart before we could
move forward with Okay, and thenyou were like let's, let's hook
up with EGAD.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, I mean to give credit where credit's due.
Steve Spencer was, the was ismy partner for getting it done.
So we were able to go ahead andFrom my kitchen table and say
you know, we both wantedOriginal bands.
Yeah, the one that suited was acombination of original bands,
(31:30):
cover bands, out of town bandswhen we relaunched it in 2019.
It was all it 68 local originalbands 68 in one day in one day
Wow holy cow in 2022.
We had a Friday night Pre-partyand Saturday was the festival.
(31:51):
We had 103 bands.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
What are some of the hurdles?
Like it's to me, which I mean,doesn't say much because I'm not
, I don't know what I'm talkingabout when it comes to putting a
festival together.
What are some of the hurdles?
Because you know, you have thecontext, you know all the bands
locally.
It's just about getting them tocome and perform.
It seems so easy, right, and if, especially if O'galley is cool
(32:15):
, yeah, we have a free markethere.
You know, use the space.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
The hurdles would be the space, you know, even in a
perfect situation.
When we did it in 2019, I wasout standing on O'galley
Boulevard at 5 am in the dark.
Yeah, and.
Basically thought to myself thiscould be the coolest thing ever
, or this could be the worst,worst event, and I'll never work
(32:41):
again in this town.
And Then, seven hours later,eight hours later, there was
four thousand people there.
So, however it came to be, andI get asked all the time what's
your secret?
I have no idea.
I wish I could tell you.
You know, positivity perhaps.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah, I mean.
Well, what can go wrong?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Um traffic, traffic, parking.
I would say parking is hasalways been an issue, but as a
promoter, at that stage in thegame, you Can't, you know you
can't concern yourself with that.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
That reminds me of the fire documentary.
You know what I'm talking about?
Yeah, where they they promotedthis, oh, firefest?
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Yeah, no, we're not.
I'm not saying that at all.
Jarl rule is not included withwith ours, but no, I mean that
that is intentional Fraud yeah,right for us it was hopefully a
couple people will come andthere was 4,500 people that came
the first year.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
So you didn't think it would draw an audience.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
I didn't think that People would stay all day right,
I could see it being crowded atsome times and nothing from our
, our my bands Experience localmusic draws 50 people okay, you
know we're gonna promote bestfast, like it's the Super Bowl.
(34:08):
Everyone's gonna tell you thatthey're coming and then 20
people show up.
Okay because the car died ortheir, their cat got sick, so
that that day that first musicfestival in 2019.
I was pumped yeah, everyone wasgonna come.
And then they did.
So that wasn't, that wasn'tpart of my, my mindset again, I
(34:32):
was standing in O'galley Withpeople literally like people,
walking all around me and justme going why, why are they here?
Because you put it together,yeah well, and it's it's
definitely a group effort.
The bands I Co-operate yeahright.
The vendors love it because it'sbasically ero.
(34:54):
It initially was an extendedflea god, the people have
somewhere to go, you know.
So I mean, it was a win-win foreverybody and it still is, but
it's it's grown exponentially.
On 2022, we had about 6,000people.
Wow so at that point, from afrom a promoting standpoint, you
have to go okay, we really needto work on this parking issue.
(35:15):
We need to work on this, weneed to work on that.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Did you do it in 2023 ?
Speaker 2 (35:21):
We did not.
Actually Scheduling was anissue.
There is proposed constructionin EGAD that's still pending.
So those were scenarios that,again with 6,000 plus people, it
would be Irresponsible from apromoting standpoint to not make
(35:42):
sure that those issues are atleast addressed.
Yeah, or or resolved.
Resolve would be perfect, but Idon't see that happening so For
2024, you know, do we notexpect it to happen?
We do, we're moving forward, butagain, we're addressing those
concerns Earlier in the year.
Okay, the issues from last yearin 2023 were more towards the
(36:06):
end of the year when, again, thethe time frame and and
discussions that were had Justweren't going to be logistically
possible with that many peopleagain firefest as hey, let's,
let's throw and we'll see whathappens.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
We were passed that by 2020, which we wanted to do,
but we couldn't because of COVIDright, that gave us some more
insight of saying, okay, let's,let's make sure that we but now
it's like the success of it iswhat's hindering it, because
you're gonna expect this manypeople and now you have more
logistics to more hoops to jump,or Is it the matter of just
(36:43):
waiting for this construction tohappen or not happen?
I mean, they're putting onthese Flea ads, or yeah things
anyway.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Well, and that's I mean.
I'm glad you brought that up,because the events that are
taking place are smaller inscope.
So again we could go forwardand say, hey, we'll just see
what happens.
Or we can say, okay, do we havesomething that's structurally
sound?
Do we have something that has,you know, the staying power for
(37:12):
this year and years in it, inthe future?
Yeah there's also I'm theworry-wart of the group there's
also hasn't been any incidents,so I don't want to us to rush
into something or to forego whatcould happen.
Incidents, and then have ithappen medical incidents,
(37:32):
traffic incidents, I mean whenat the at the height of it, we
have police to To direct trafficif necessary.
But we're going over O'galleyBoulevard right onto the
causeway, so there's cars racingthroughout the day and, yes,
the police are there to kind ofMonitor that okay, but there's
(37:55):
thousands of people that arestill around and again, we
haven't had any incidents.
And I don't want, I'm notsaying that we want to, but you
know.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
That is definitely a scenario.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
So if there's construction going on or you
know Prepping for that, thoseare gonna all fall into place.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
With concerns like other venues.
Have you?
Have you thought of that?
Speaker 2 (38:19):
We have.
We've talked about that again.
I think part of our success hasbeen e-gad.
Yeah, I've always said that youknow, the time that will be out
of e-gad is when we can'tphysically be an e-gad.
Well, that might be apossibility.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
They just had they do the wine and Food festival
every year at downtown Melbourne.
Is that ever an option for you?
It seems like they have a lotof land there.
Same kind of issues with thecauseway and the parking being
so closed.
For downtown, you're sayingyeah.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Downtown, to me, won't work for many reasons, the
the biggest one being we haveso many stages.
Okay, right, even in thebeginning in 2016.
I'll share this with you.
Part of my Planning would bebusking right if busking is when
there's just a person with aguitar, no stage, no amps, know
(39:13):
anything.
So my original vision in CocoaBeach was that, yes, there'll be
a stage for this band to playon, but, as you're walking
around the area, there'll bethis person on the street corner
and this person, you know, witha violin in a coffee shop, so
that music is all around you.
Yeah.
What we've created with EGAD, byHooker, by Crook, is that you
(39:35):
know, we had seven stages.
It was almost like a warp tourwhere there are just, you know,
makeshift stages that bandscould play on.
So it would have to be kind ofa combination of that.
It would have to be, you know,scaled down to a certain extent
for it to work anywhere else.
Okay, downtown, again, theparking you can't park on a
(39:56):
Tuesday, let alone on a musicfestival.
So for me, that's my biggesthang-up is again, logistically
make it feasible.
And I think we work with thecity and such and they want that
as well.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Okay, and Coco is completely out of the question.
I mean, you brought up the warptour that worked back then.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Well, they would do it in parking lots of stadiums,
right?
So when we say a makeshiftstage, it's because there's just
a bunch of space over there.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
There was nothing there.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
And now it's a stage for the day.
What we're talking about inthese places are, you know, city
blocks and traffic andcustomers to their business as
well.
So we never really wanted toimpede on that.
So yeah, I mean never say never.
We've had discussions.
(40:46):
I think I'm allowed to say thatPeople have said well, what
about this?
And I think anything's on thetable, but again, I have to look
at it.
We have to look at it.
Is it going to be sustainable?
Is it going to be safe?
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Yeah Well, I wish you luck on that, because it's a
big event from what I hear.
And then now you're doing WFIT,you have Keller Radio How's
that going.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
It's been a blast.
Yeah.
You know, I've known WFIT folksfor a while.
It had been discussed aboutdoing a show but the scheduling
just never worked out.
And then all of a sudden it didand a phone call turned into
two weeks of training, which wasme sitting there with a mouse
(41:32):
trying to figure out how to dothis.
Yeah, and you know, rightbefore the week before
Thanksgiving was my first showand it's pretty cool.
You know, there are so manygreat bands and there are so
many friends that I have.
We try to kind of space it outnow, yeah, so that we're not,
all you know, doing all of it inthe first three months or so.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
Right, and is it just you there?
Do you have a crew oftechnicians and whatnot?
Speaker 2 (42:01):
It's not a crew.
Shout out to Brooke, who,literally this is how things
happen.
Right, she has a day jobherself and she wanted to learn
more about radio.
She sent a message, I answeredit and now she's been on the
show the last four weeks fiveweeks, I think, you know, not an
(42:23):
intern, necessarily, but justan apprentice maybe.
Yeah.
Yeah, and wants to learn.
And you know she helps out withthe playlist, she helps out
with the guests, because theguests have become, you know, an
every week thing.
Yeah, so yeah, I mean it's, howdid you do this?
Well, they asked.
(42:44):
Yep.
You know, and, more importantly, the opportunity was given and
she stepped up.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Yeah, that's how it happens.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Absolutely Ideally.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yeah, how do you feel about radio in general?
I mean, to us who, like, grewup in it, it's so, it's warming
in a way.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Yeah, I mean it's exactly.
It's the same as it ever was,if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Is it?
It's not dying or anything?
Speaker 2 (43:10):
No, I think it's harder to seek out.
You know, even when I do theseinterviews with we had a speech
from Arrested Development.
I just interviewed NunoBentoncourt from Extreme, which
was a big deal for me.
So now their handlers, thepublicity people, go what
(43:30):
podcast is this for?
So it's kind of flipped right.
It's no longer the podcast ofyou know which radio station is
this for.
It's kind of flipped to theother side.
But WFIT is 49 years old.
Yeah.
You know, people have grown upin this town listening to it.
I listen to it all the time andit's not just because I'm on
(43:51):
there now.
So, like I said, it's a littlebit harder to find perhaps, but
it's still genuine.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Yeah, totally National Public Radio.
Do you guys do video?
Speaker 2 (44:02):
We have the ability to do it Paging.
Mr Herman came into the studioand they brought their own 360
camera.
Wow.
So I mean props to WFITmanagement for giving me the
opportunity to do stuff likethis.
They haven't told me no yet.
Yeah.
Hopefully they won't, but yeah,I mean it's again.
(44:26):
It's just another opportunityto do some cool stuff with local
bands and to blast it out intothe planet.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
For people to look at .
We're so happy to have you hereand you be the godfather of the
local scene.
Do you have any nominationsthat you can think of that you
would want to see here on localcelebrity?
Speaker 2 (44:51):
You know, one of my favorite people and I apologize
if he's already been a guest, Idon't think he has is Pete Spoth
.
Okay, Pete is the guy that doesit and does it with a smile and
is out there writing, you know,musicals with Hot Pink and
DJing and playing birthdayparties and just hustling and as
(45:12):
a musician in his own right.
So I think he'd be a greatguest.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Cool.
Well, we'll reach out to him.
One more thing you are the VPat Harbor City Local.
It's a nonprofit that supportsoriginal music.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Correct, that's the main sponsor of the music
festival.
So Spencer, steve Spencer and I, when we got together he was in
the process of putting thecharity together.
Okay, the money people may notknow this the money that we
raise then from the musicfestival goes to Harbor City
Local, which then buys musicalinstruments that are donated to
local schools.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
Oh, is that right, like the violins that people get
to play when they're in thesixth grade?
Is that what you're talkingabout?
Speaker 2 (45:54):
Yeah, if there's a family out there that needs
financial assistance orqualifies you know for
themselves personally, or thatwe deliver to the school.
That was Sue's main mission aswell.
Sue raised over $100,000, thosefive years for instruments that
are donated to the school andthen they sign them out
basically for the semester.
(46:14):
Right yeah.
We've tried to keep thattradition alive.
We do scholarships for privatelessons.
Oh, really so if a kid's notable to join the band or
orchestra that's super cool.
Then we help out with that.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Awesome, wow, any parting words.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Just thanks for having not only me, but thanks
for the interest in the scene.
Absolutely.
We've talked about music a lot,but there's a lot of creative
content.
People out there, artists,people who paint murals I mean
I've always looked at it.
Dancers, I've always looked atit.
As you know, we're all togetherin this.
The music is one aspect of it,but I'd love to see you know
(46:57):
that interest across the board.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Just the arts in general.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
Yeah, I mean, I'm with you on that one, steve,
thank you so much for being hereand educating us and talking to
us about music and more yeahthat's right, I look forward to
hearing from you in the future.
Sounds good, Awesome.
Thank you To be a sponsor ornominate a guest.
Hit us up on Instagram at localunderscore celebrity underscore
(47:23):
bravard.
Until next time, goodbye.
This podcast is brought to you by Place Pros,
commercial and Investment, realEstate and NECOTOURBoutique your
one stop shop for everythingcool.
All right, we're here withSteve Keller from WFIT Keller
(00:21):
Radio.
Sure yeah, do you have a radiovoice that you put on, and if so
, let's get a little sample ofthat.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's funny because I do a lot of promotion for it.
Yeah.
So I do these little Facebookvideos and I can tell it's
coming back.
I did radio 30 years ago incollege.
Oh yeah.
And then when I graduated it waspretty much okay.
Well, that's done.
So I had an opportunity lastNovember to start up again, and
I'd like to think I don't.
But there's freezing, you knowinvolved yeah pacing.
(00:54):
The tagline?
Exactly?
The tagline is Indy Rock, deepCuts and plenty of Space Coast
original music.
So when I do my little promosin the confines of a minute I
find myself kind of jazzing itup.
So to answer your question,yeah, I guess I do have somewhat
of a radio voice.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I like that.
I think everybody has like alittle bit of them.
Who you know, who just isfascinated by radio hosts and
it's been fun, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I mean I was again.
I was in my 20s back then andnow I'm in my 50s.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So there's a lot of you still have a youthful look
about you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Still dressed like I'm 20.
Yeah, well you got to but yeah,I mean, it's one of those
things that I enjoy with theradio and just a bunch of
whatever else I do.
I try to bring some coolness toan audience.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Absolutely so.
You studied production at StateUniversity of New York.
Is that where you had yourradio show?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
It is actually.
Yeah, it's still there.
It's the oldest radio stationin the SUNY system outside of
Buffalo and you don't know whatyou had until you go elsewhere.
And at 19, I was a programdirector, I became a general
manager and was in charge of 350people.
So I mean that gave me a lot ofresponsibility, a lot of At 19.
(02:14):
Yeah, public speakingexperience, confidence.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Cool.
What else happened during yourcollege years?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Did a lot of interviews which we're bringing
back on the color radio show aswell.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And notable.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
James Brown comes to mind.
That was really cool.
I got to do press for festivals.
We had Lollapalooza access andstuff like that.
So again, being a young kid andjust given opportunities to
succeed or to fail, becamefriends with the Goo Goo Dolls.
So that was one of the coolthings that came to our school
(02:49):
and played a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
That's really cool.
Did you realize you had areally cool gig back then, or
was it kind of just normal?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I knew that it would end, so I just enjoyed it that
much more.
I was a radio major and prettymuch by sophomore year realized
that I wasn't going to pursue it.
Why.
Communications and even radiotoday is all about your voice.
It's really not anything aboutyour creativity, your reading
(03:19):
script.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So did you crave the creativity and knew you were
going to do that?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I knew I had the opportunity there to do so,
which I wouldn't necessarilyhave in pro radio.
So because of that revelationearly, I had a ball, I had a
blast.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Cool, what were your classes?
Like Production classes.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, production back then was reel to reel tape and
cutting and splicing.
So now that I'm back in radionow, 30 years later, it's all
digital.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Do you find it easier ?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I'm scared to death of it.
I'm still not, because I work aday job, so I don't get to be
around it as much as I did incollege.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So there's like a learning curve for you.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Oh, absolutely yeah, the radio station now is
literally a mouse and somescreens and then uploading songs
, as opposed to queuing uprecords and stuff like that
there's nothing tangible anymore.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
There's just no clicks.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, but by the same token, we're able to do it
online all over the world.
My mom lives in Buffalo, my dadlives in Dallas, my
sister-in-law lives in thecountry of Chile, so when it's
live, it's all around the world,so that's definitely a cool
trade off.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, so what did you end up graduating with?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I graduated with the bachelor's in radio
communication, minor injournalism.
Ok.
And promptly didn't use it forall these years.
I mean, to a certain extentI've always done music,
journalism.
I started writing for BrevardLive magazine when I got here.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yes, and what brought you here?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
My ex-wife.
Her dad was stationed atPatrick.
So, that's the short cut to it.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, ok, so because you came in 2002.
All right, and then you formedyour band.
Best Supporting Actor.
I did.
I listened to your Dex musicvideo.
Yeah.
I loved it Thank you.
Thank you.
I didn't know what to expect,right, but it was so fun.
Who did the animation for that?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Mr E, who's been my collaborator and a great artist
on his own right.
Yeah, when he commits to aproject, he just does it.
And one day he was like I wantto make a music video for you
guys.
And a week later, there it was.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
A week.
Yeah, I mean you guys need towatch it.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
It's a great sound, and then, on top of having that
animation, it's super fun.
How many songs do you guys haveunder your belt?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
We've been a band this July or this, yeah, just
this July it'll be 17 years.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So we probably have maybe 35, 40 songs.
We've always been an originalband.
We don't do any covers Great,so that was very important to us
.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Do you guys record?
Do you have albums?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
We have an EP that we did many, many years ago.
We did a split album withanother band called the Trash
City Rockers.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
What's the difference between an EP and an album?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So back in the old days, a long player, an LP,
would be usually around 10 to 12songs.
An EP, which they call itextended play, for some reason,
that's usually around five tosix songs.
Ok, got it.
But even in this day and age,it's easier for bands just to
record and release a single.
It really is no albums anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Very rarely and we you know as much as I'm involved
in the scene and try to promoteeverybody else's stuff best,
supporting actor myselfspecifically.
We really haven't jumped onthat.
Why not?
Um, we're busy with otherthings, you know that's usually
been.
The success of the band is thatand I say this with love we
(07:08):
don't hang out.
We all have our own lives, weall have our own projects, we
all have our own day jobs, whichI'm sure ideally would be.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You know how often do you guys come together and
perform.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Probably five or six times a year.
Okay, I don't know when thisairs but we're playing on March
9th.
Best supporting actor is thename of the band we do these
multi-band, multi-genre showscalled Best Fest.
So we have different bands thatdon't sound like us on the bill
with us to kind of draw abigger audience.
(07:40):
And pretty early on, instead of, you know, making a couple of
bucks per band, we just pick acharity and we donate the money
that we raise to the charity.
So this time around it's theWomen's Center.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Oh nice.
What other charities have youguys?
Do you guys just pick a new oneevery time, or do you have a?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
There's some that we, you know, there's Two Right
Love on our arms, which I'm verypassionate about Good friends
with Jamie and the crew overthere.
What else have we done?
It varies.
It's topical as well.
I mean, we're playing in March,which is Women's History Month,
so Do you have a next dateplanned after that?
No, okay.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Who are your band members?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So Katie Moist is our .
Well, here's an exclusive foryou, I guess.
So when I started the band withWade Vargo 17 years ago, we had
a lot of different bass players.
Okay, we joined on bass andbackup vocals years ago and then
, with the pandemic, it kind oftook a hiatus or Katie left the
(08:46):
band for a while, but it'salways been me and Wade, with me
singing and me playing drums.
So health issues and so forth,and Katie's a drummer by trade.
So this show on the ninth willbe our first show where Katie
will be playing drums and I'lljust be the front man.
Cool and David Lee Roth, forthose people that remember that
(09:09):
guy.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
How would you describe your music?
Because to me it was like itwas very nostalgic of the music
that I listened to when I wasgrowing up.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah, I hear that we're not punk rock.
Right.
Rock, punk.
Yeah, it's kind of how Idescribe it because, we're fast.
Yeah, that song is pretty funnybecause a lot of our most of
our songs and the lyrics arevery personal to me it sounds
like it.
It's about Dexter, the TV show.
Okay.
So it's.
It's.
(09:38):
You know it's a great show andit's a favorite of mine, but
it's not a personal story, I'mnot a serial killer, because,
yeah, it talks about pain, right.
Yeah, I mean it talks about.
It's about Dex, it's aboutDexter killing people with no
conscience.
Yeah, you know so.
And then the video is actuallysome kind of video game.
(09:59):
Sorry, mike, I don't know whatvideo game it is.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, it's a favorite of like a video game and for
some reason it reminded me ofHe-Man a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, which is just another interpretation, which is
cool Because, again, we, ifleft to our own devices, we we
would have not done a musicvideo.
So it's cool that there was oneperson's interpretation that's
kind of representing therepresenting the song.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
So you guys didn't have any creative input, you
just let him do his thing.
That's really cool.
Have you done any other musicvideos?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
He's done a video for us Again.
It's it's video game centricand it's for the song Stupid
White People.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
What other songs?
Should we listen?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
to Like tell us some, because yeah, well, again, I
mean, we, yeah, we've done morerecording, though Think about it
.
There's a song and I alwaysblank on the song titles.
Oh, okay.
But just come see us.
You know Again, we're an alloriginal band.
We don't fall into those bandsthat do a lot of covers and have
(10:59):
one original.
Right and say that they're anoriginal band.
We've just we decided a longtime ago that this is what we do
and as a singer, I wouldn'teven try to to cover songs.
Yeah.
You know, my theory is, if it'san original song that no one can
tell me, I'm singing it wrong.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Right, I mean I need to dive more deeply into that,
but I really enjoyed deck.
So I think that I'll.
I'll enjoy them all, and we canfind those on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, they're on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Okay, so you know, did you start with?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
the channel or Came up with the channel.
I started a podcast actuallywith Mr E as well.
Oh yeah, called Serial Keller.
Okay.
And that was really to promotethe Space Coast Music Festival a
couple years ago.
We did about five episodes aseason with different musicians.
Again, it really it resides onYouTube and probably could have
(11:53):
been a lot bigger if I didn'thave so many projects going on.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So what do you do during the day?
I work Sure.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I work at a local fence and gate company.
Oh, okay.
Doing accounting.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Okay Cool.
So yeah, that's totallyunrelated to the music scene.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I mean, I've never wanted to be a starving artist,
right, I never wanted to be thatkid that that was working at a
convenience store because hisband was going to break at any
minute.
I've always had some, some youknow, solid jobs to pay the
bills so that we could you know,we could do this, you know, on
the nights and weekends.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And I could tell you're so passionate about it
and I kind of I feel like Idon't know enough about the
Melbourne music scene to I don'tknow, so like you're going to
have to educate me as we go, butbefore we get there, you told
me you had a heart attack at2010.
I did how did that come aboutand how are you doing now?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I'm doing well.
Okay, so you had one in 2010,actually right after a gig.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Really.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, as the story goes and for those people that
know me, they hear this storyall the time we were playing in
Cocoa Village there were threebands in the early show and
three bands in the late show.
We were the first band of thelate show, so we were set to
play for an hour but they wererunning behind schedule so they
cut our set to 30 minutes butthey didn't tell us so legit.
(13:23):
Right after a song they're likeall right, everybody give it up
for Best Sporting Actor.
Yay, and I don't get angryoften, but I was really more
confused.
So, we got all of our stuff offthe stage.
You know was kind of likewhat's going on and in the whole
chaos of that it felt like Igot hit by a sledgehammer in the
(13:44):
back In the back.
Yeah, like you need to crackyour back but you can't and I
just chalked it up Again.
We just got done playing.
I chalked it up to maybe Ididn't stretch enough before we
were going to play and then myleft arm went numb.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
That's the clue.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Not.
At that point, I think my brainreally took over and said, okay
, something's going on, but youjust pulled a muscle.
That was my thinking.
Right?
Obviously it wasn't.
My girlfriend at the time hadbaby aspirin in her purse.
Her son has heart issues, so Itook baby aspirin and it just
got progressively worse.
We went outside, we were in thehouse in November and I started
(14:23):
sweating profusely and thelight started swaying, so we got
an ambulance.
Got an ambulance, luckily,wustof in Rockledge was
literally two miles down theroad and, yeah, I had a blood
clot in my main artery what theyrefer to as a widowmaker and
(14:45):
I'm here to talk about it, but Ihad to have a pacemaker
installed in 2011, because partof my heart muscle died that
night.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Wow, did you get a new artery?
I know sometimes they put likepig valves in.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
No, I have a stent from that and a pacemaker.
I actually had a second heartattack in 2021 and had two more
stents put in.
So, yeah, I mean the decisionto just sing in Best Supporting
Actor in addition to Katie'stalent.
Obviously, Katie's a greatdrummer, but it was also okay
you stepped back a little bit,maybe at age 50, I don't go from
(15:23):
zero to 90 in four seconds,like we used to.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
That's an incredible story of recovery.
How else has it impacted you,besides not being able to go
full force with music?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
It's weird because when I got the pacemaker put in
and I think some of it wasdenial you feel kind of
invincible because theybasically tell you okay, if
anything happens, this thing isgoing to help, it's your safety
net.
That's not the case, and norshould it be In 2021.
(16:03):
When I had the heart attack, itnever did anything.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
What is it supposed to do?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It's supposed to.
If you're going too low, it'ssupposed to shock you.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Like on those medical dramas where it was quenched
You're supposed to.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It's never gone off for me, so I'm happy about that.
So if it's too low, it'll sparkyou.
If it's too high, and that'scome close playing, it'll shock
you back down to a healthyrhythm.
Yeah, knock on wood, I havenever had to use it, but again
I'm getting up there in age andhealthier habits would be best.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Probably Are you exercising.
Are you eating better than youwere?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I do, I can't say I do.
Currently I'm kind of above andI did in January do right.
Love on our arms, had a 24 milechallenge.
Oh, wow.
So I walked a total of 24.
I say 24.
It's not altogether or not allat once, but over the course of
January I walked 24 miles.
Wonderful.
You know, I've had my momentsthat need to be more moments as
(17:10):
I get over there.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
It's difficult, though, to write that into your
habits.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Well, in 2021, we were all home.
I was working at home.
Yeah.
I didn't know where my houseended and my job began, and vice
versa, so it was a very badtime in that.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry to hear that, but I hope you
keep going.
Thank you, yeah, we need you.
So you joined Brevard Live inMay.
We have an issue here Tell meabout your writing experience
(17:49):
for that.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Well, I wrote on and off in high school, was always
reading magazines.
Yeah.
My friends in high school wouldcall me the Barbara Walters of
Rock because I would always havethese weird little factoids
about bands and such.
It actually goes back to Mr Eas well.
We had started to do a fanzinecalled Underground Juice and we
(18:14):
got one episode out before I hadmy heart attack in 2010.
So it was a very big project,took a lot of time, a lot of
money.
I was out medically, so hesuggested including it or at
least pitching it to Heike Clark, who's the owner and editor of
Brevard Live magazine, thatbasically, in a very short time
(18:37):
frame, turned into me writingfor Brevard Live.
It was something I still do.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, so you get to meet a lot of bands and talk to
them, or are you just fishingout information?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
It's both.
It's both.
You know it depends.
The magazine's been around foralmost 35 years now.
It's definitely a mirror ofwhat is going on in the scene
who's coming to the King Center,who's coming to the fair, so
there's a lot of well-knownartists.
Heike has been great over theyears to allow me to give press
(19:11):
to the local scene, so I do dothe bigger interviews when
needed or when asked.
But my focus has always beenthe bands, the artists, the kids
that are in a garage band thattheir parents say that it's
never going to go anywhere.
This is something tangiblewhere they can cut it out and
(19:32):
put it on the refrigerator.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Absolutely so.
Who are your favorite big namebands?
Let's start there.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Wow, I was just listening to them in the car.
There's a band from Canadacalled the Tragically Hip.
Unfortunately, the singer diedin 2017.
But I was able to see them abunch of times and just no show
is exactly the same.
The singer was always goinginto stories mid-song and just
(20:00):
being kind of out there, sothat's a huge influence.
The Goo Goo Dolls, as Imentioned.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Are you still friends with them?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, not, as they're all over the world.
They're in Australia right now,so don't get to see them or
talk to them in many years.
But it was a cool feeling toknow basically that you can hang
, and the people that live hereas well.
Actually, I'll share this story.
Pat Bots is the drummer for theband Three Dog Night and he
(20:30):
lives here.
I've been in L'Oreal movingback and pretty early on in the
Brevard live career I got totalk to him and he gave me one
of the nicest compliments I'veever gotten, because he sent me
an email with some informationwe need and he basically said
you get it.
So I try to pass that alongwith whoever I'm talking to,
(20:54):
whether it's he's been in theband for 30 years until his
retirement recently, or if it'sa brand new band starting out,
you're the peers, you're thecolleagues.
It's not necessarily rock stargarage band and I think if you
have that mentality from the getgo or if you're given that
respect from the get go, it'llhelp you out throughout, however
(21:18):
long bands do this.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
So you get it.
When you're conducting aninterview, what is it that
you're trying to fish out?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I've often thought of myself as a storyteller.
You've got an album coming out,you've got the video for a song
, you're playing this show next,just tell me, and then I'll
relay that to the audience,whether it's in print, whether
it's on radio, without having tobe starstruck, without having
(21:52):
to be flashy about it.
You peel the layers back andwe're all just trying to get our
creativity out.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
So it's not necessarily about digging for
exclusive information, it's justlike putting out the
information.
That is just solid.
They're going to be here atthis time.
Their album comes out at thismoment.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, I mean it's conversational, by all means.
I did a column in Brevard Livefor years called Local Lowdown,
which was more of that.
Hey, we're going to talk about15 bands in this column so we
can't give a lot of press, a lotof space to them.
But what's the who, what, whereand why?
The interviews that we're ableto do on the radio now are a
(22:37):
little bit more of a deep dive.
But I'm not going tonecessarily ask their thoughts
on God, necessarily.
It's what their focus is, ofwhat they want to bring out
there.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Do you have any interest to ask the deeper
questions?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Not in that medium.
No, not really.
I mean unless they bring it up,obviously with interviews.
If there's a direction thatthey want to go in, we can
explore that.
But more importantly it's who'sour audience?
And in radio especially, I havea three-hour slot which
initially I was like man, whatam I going to do for three hours
?
But now, with everything thatwe do and we're incorporating
(23:17):
the interviews more and more,the live performances in the
studio, those three hours go byreal quick.
So, you don't necessarily wantto engage in something really
deep, only to go oh, I'm sorry,we're out of time.
Right.
Maybe that's another avenuesomewhere else.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I mean, that's what I'm drawn to getting down to the
undersurface, the underbelly,Definitely.
Who are some of your favoritelocal bands, or bands that you
see something in them that weall should recognize?
Speaker 2 (23:52):
There's been and there are bands now that I think
are on the verge of doingsomething big.
We talk about the speed spiritsPaging.
Mr Herman is still going strongand they're reinventing
themselves all the time.
Kristen Warren never ceases toamaze me.
Shar Good is doing great things.
(24:12):
Sorry for those bands that Ican't think of or mention to you
, because they're almost like mykids.
It's almost like here's anotherthing that I was dubbed the
godfather many years ago andthat's kind of ominous, right,
but at the same time I thinkthere's a lot of truth to it
that again, when we do shows,when we're setting up the music
(24:34):
festival, everyone's equal.
Let's get the audience a bunchof different sounds and looks
because they don't know whatthey're going to get.
So let's just kind of mix it upand see what's out there.
And again the opportunitiesarise for these bands to play in
Brevard, to play in Orlando, toplay elsewhere.
(24:57):
Right, you know yeah.
There's a great band.
Let me give the shout-outs, andI don't think they get the due
that they deserve becausethey're not here all the time.
That's a band.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
It's a band.
Yeah, ok, it's called.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Jillian Jillian Carter.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
OK, what kind of music do they do?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
They are heavy.
I don't know what the kids callit these days, but something
core, I'm sure metal core let'ssay but again, they're always on
the road, they're alwaystraveling.
They went over to France lastyear.
Wow.
And again they're creatingopportunities.
So I think that's the big thingtoo, if I can instill wisdom is
(25:36):
you don't just sit in yourgarage waiting for opportunities
to come or for the phone toring.
We've created opportunitieshere in Brevard for exposure,
which I think is great, but ifyou're truly serious about it,
you know we live in an age whereyou can book a tour on Facebook
.
Yeah.
You can talk to people all overthe country, all over the world
(25:59):
, and crash on their couch.
We didn't have that back in myday.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
You had to kind of just drive to the town and see
who was there first.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I was doing it.
Yeah, Did you?
Or did you not recently have aninterview with Swim?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Because they kind of came to mind when you're
speaking about that.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
They're from here but have somehow, or you know,
they've carved their own way.
They're predominantly inCalifornia now.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Correct.
And it's funny because, yeah, Imean I've known those guys for
many years and finally heard thestory from Adam, or from Chris
rather that they were doing atour and it kind of ended in
California and they were givenan opportunity at the end of the
tour to either come back homeor kind of put up roots there,
and they chose the latter.
So, yeah, I mean they're agreat example of an evolution.
(26:52):
What they sounded like whenthey played shows in Brevard
versus what they sound like nowis quite different, but it's
organic as much as that word isoverused for everything.
I think that's a great exampleof you know, what are we going
to write today and are we goingto worry about how that compares
to what we've done previously?
Yes, you know, and they foundsuccess.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
They definitely have.
Yeah, Okay, so you have been incharge to some degree for this
Space Coast Music Festival.
You said that there was afailed attempt in 2016.
Can you talk about that?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
So the Music Festival people might not know this
actually ran from 2010 to 2015.
It was a multi-day, multi-bandfestival throughout the county
from Sue Lulie, who moved awayin 2015 or 2016.
I had just happened to give hera call to find out what was
going on that year.
She had told me that she hadbasically gifted it, or given
(27:52):
her blessing, to the city ofCocoa Beach and that they were
going to try to do something.
Okay, I mean I should speak tothem.
So all I did and this hashappened a couple of times in my
career all I did is basicallycall and say, hi, I want to know
more information.
And they basically had me comeon and plan it, which I was not
(28:13):
ready for.
But again, opportunities arise.
So I worked with the city oncea week for about eight months to
put something together.
They secured funding.
We were on the verge ofannouncing it.
Things didn't go as planned andthe funding was pulled, so the
(28:38):
event was canceled.
But that again gave me anopportunity to work with
municipalities, with work withokay, we don't have a stage.
It was going to be a loadingdock of a business to be our
main stage.
So you know, but I made someconnections that I still have
now in LA and so forth becauseof it.
(28:59):
And again, it gave me theopportunity what two years later
in 2018, sitting at my kitchentable to go well, maybe we could
do this.
Maybe we could do this hereinstead of here.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
So after it failed, did they give you like this is
yours now.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
So it was up to you to revive it.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
We went exactly.
Yeah, the actual revival tookplace in 2019.
There were some conversationsthat were done kind of after the
fact.
We're going to do this.
Is that okay?
Yeah, as opposed to asking forpermission.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
So when you say funding was pulled and this is a
thing that goes on for days,how many days Is it like a long
weekend?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
The festival was going to be just one day.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Oh, it's a one day thing, but the venues are
Scattered about the county.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
in in Suze Festivals, they, they were it was well.
It was actually in one location, but that location changed In
those five years.
It was never in the same spot.
Okay twice, hers were two days.
Okay the revival, both in 2016as well as what we eventually
succeeded with in 2019, would bea one-day event.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Okay, and where was that?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
In 2019.
Yeah, it would be in GalleyArts District in EGAD.
Okay, and that was a huge andthat is a huge.
Part of our success Was thatthey were able to incorporate
the festival into an event thatthey had monthly called flea gad
.
So it was like the, the Reese'speanut butter cup of.
You know.
We wanted to do a bunch ofbands.
(30:38):
They welcomed us with open armsand we've had it there for
Three times now three times nowat that park with the little
stage.
Well, in the in the band show isour main stage.
To answer your question fromearlier, we had seven stages in
EGAD the one in Cocoa Beach, Ithink it was going to be, maybe
two.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Okay, but Cocoa Beach was like we're not doing this
anymore Now unfortunately thatthat fell apart before we could
move forward with Okay, and thenyou were like let's, let's hook
up with EGAD.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, I mean to give credit where credit's due.
Steve Spencer was, the was ismy partner for getting it done.
So we were able to go ahead andFrom my kitchen table and say
you know, we both wantedOriginal bands.
Yeah, the one that suited was acombination of original bands,
(31:30):
cover bands, out of town bandswhen we relaunched it in 2019.
It was all it 68 local originalbands 68 in one day in one day
Wow holy cow in 2022.
We had a Friday night Pre-partyand Saturday was the festival.
(31:51):
We had 103 bands.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
What are some of the hurdles?
Like it's to me, which I mean,doesn't say much because I'm not
, I don't know what I'm talkingabout when it comes to putting a
festival together.
What are some of the hurdles?
Because you know, you have thecontext, you know all the bands
locally.
It's just about getting them tocome and perform.
It seems so easy, right, and if, especially if O'galley is cool
(32:15):
, yeah, we have a free markethere.
You know, use the space.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
The hurdles would be the space, you know, even in a
perfect situation.
When we did it in 2019, I wasout standing on O'galley
Boulevard at 5 am in the dark.
Yeah, and.
Basically thought to myself thiscould be the coolest thing ever
, or this could be the worst,worst event, and I'll never work
(32:41):
again in this town.
And Then, seven hours later,eight hours later, there was
four thousand people there.
So, however it came to be, andI get asked all the time what's
your secret?
I have no idea.
I wish I could tell you.
You know, positivity perhaps.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah, I mean.
Well, what can go wrong?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Um traffic, traffic, parking.
I would say parking is hasalways been an issue, but as a
promoter, at that stage in thegame, you Can't, you know you
can't concern yourself with that.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
That reminds me of the fire documentary.
You know what I'm talking about?
Yeah, where they they promotedthis, oh, firefest?
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Yeah, no, we're not.
I'm not saying that at all.
Jarl rule is not included withwith ours, but no, I mean that
that is intentional Fraud yeah,right for us it was hopefully a
couple people will come andthere was 4,500 people that came
the first year.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
So you didn't think it would draw an audience.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
I didn't think that People would stay all day right,
I could see it being crowded atsome times and nothing from our
, our my bands Experience localmusic draws 50 people okay, you
know we're gonna promote bestfast, like it's the Super Bowl.
(34:08):
Everyone's gonna tell you thatthey're coming and then 20
people show up.
Okay because the car died ortheir, their cat got sick, so
that that day that first musicfestival in 2019.
I was pumped yeah, everyone wasgonna come.
And then they did.
So that wasn't, that wasn'tpart of my, my mindset again, I
(34:32):
was standing in O'galley Withpeople literally like people,
walking all around me and justme going why, why are they here?
Because you put it together,yeah well, and it's it's
definitely a group effort.
The bands I Co-operate yeahright.
The vendors love it because it'sbasically ero.
(34:54):
It initially was an extendedflea god, the people have
somewhere to go, you know.
So I mean, it was a win-win foreverybody and it still is, but
it's it's grown exponentially.
On 2022, we had about 6,000people.
Wow so at that point, from afrom a promoting standpoint, you
have to go okay, we really needto work on this parking issue.
(35:15):
We need to work on this, weneed to work on that.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Did you do it in 2023 ?
Speaker 2 (35:21):
We did not.
Actually Scheduling was anissue.
There is proposed constructionin EGAD that's still pending.
So those were scenarios that,again with 6,000 plus people, it
would be Irresponsible from apromoting standpoint to not make
(35:42):
sure that those issues are atleast addressed.
Yeah, or or resolved.
Resolve would be perfect, but Idon't see that happening so For
2024, you know, do we notexpect it to happen?
We do, we're moving forward, butagain, we're addressing those
concerns Earlier in the year.
Okay, the issues from last yearin 2023 were more towards the
(36:06):
end of the year when, again, thethe time frame and and
discussions that were had Justweren't going to be logistically
possible with that many peopleagain firefest as hey, let's,
let's throw and we'll see whathappens.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
We were passed that by 2020, which we wanted to do,
but we couldn't because of COVIDright, that gave us some more
insight of saying, okay, let's,let's make sure that we but now
it's like the success of it iswhat's hindering it, because
you're gonna expect this manypeople and now you have more
logistics to more hoops to jump,or Is it the matter of just
(36:43):
waiting for this construction tohappen or not happen?
I mean, they're putting onthese Flea ads, or yeah things
anyway.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Well, and that's I mean.
I'm glad you brought that up,because the events that are
taking place are smaller inscope.
So again we could go forwardand say, hey, we'll just see
what happens.
Or we can say, okay, do we havesomething that's structurally
sound?
Do we have something that has,you know, the staying power for
(37:12):
this year and years in it, inthe future?
Yeah there's also I'm theworry-wart of the group there's
also hasn't been any incidents,so I don't want to us to rush
into something or to forego whatcould happen.
Incidents, and then have ithappen medical incidents,
(37:32):
traffic incidents, I mean whenat the at the height of it, we
have police to To direct trafficif necessary.
But we're going over O'galleyBoulevard right onto the
causeway, so there's cars racingthroughout the day and, yes,
the police are there to kind ofMonitor that okay, but there's
(37:55):
thousands of people that arestill around and again, we
haven't had any incidents.
And I don't want, I'm notsaying that we want to, but you
know.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
That is definitely a scenario.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
So if there's construction going on or you
know Prepping for that, thoseare gonna all fall into place.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
With concerns like other venues.
Have you?
Have you thought of that?
Speaker 2 (38:19):
We have.
We've talked about that again.
I think part of our success hasbeen e-gad.
Yeah, I've always said that youknow, the time that will be out
of e-gad is when we can'tphysically be an e-gad.
Well, that might be apossibility.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
They just had they do the wine and Food festival
every year at downtown Melbourne.
Is that ever an option for you?
It seems like they have a lotof land there.
Same kind of issues with thecauseway and the parking being
so closed.
For downtown, you're sayingyeah.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Downtown, to me, won't work for many reasons, the
the biggest one being we haveso many stages.
Okay, right, even in thebeginning in 2016.
I'll share this with you.
Part of my Planning would bebusking right if busking is when
there's just a person with aguitar, no stage, no amps, know
(39:13):
anything.
So my original vision in CocoaBeach was that, yes, there'll be
a stage for this band to playon, but, as you're walking
around the area, there'll bethis person on the street corner
and this person, you know, witha violin in a coffee shop, so
that music is all around you.
Yeah.
What we've created with EGAD, byHooker, by Crook, is that you
(39:35):
know, we had seven stages.
It was almost like a warp tourwhere there are just, you know,
makeshift stages that bandscould play on.
So it would have to be kind ofa combination of that.
It would have to be, you know,scaled down to a certain extent
for it to work anywhere else.
Okay, downtown, again, theparking you can't park on a
(39:56):
Tuesday, let alone on a musicfestival.
So for me, that's my biggesthang-up is again, logistically
make it feasible.
And I think we work with thecity and such and they want that
as well.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Okay, and Coco is completely out of the question.
I mean, you brought up the warptour that worked back then.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Well, they would do it in parking lots of stadiums,
right?
So when we say a makeshiftstage, it's because there's just
a bunch of space over there.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
There was nothing there.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
And now it's a stage for the day.
What we're talking about inthese places are, you know, city
blocks and traffic andcustomers to their business as
well.
So we never really wanted toimpede on that.
So yeah, I mean never say never.
We've had discussions.
(40:46):
I think I'm allowed to say thatPeople have said well, what
about this?
And I think anything's on thetable, but again, I have to look
at it.
We have to look at it.
Is it going to be sustainable?
Is it going to be safe?
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Yeah Well, I wish you luck on that, because it's a
big event from what I hear.
And then now you're doing WFIT,you have Keller Radio How's
that going.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
It's been a blast.
Yeah.
You know, I've known WFIT folksfor a while.
It had been discussed aboutdoing a show but the scheduling
just never worked out.
And then all of a sudden it didand a phone call turned into
two weeks of training, which wasme sitting there with a mouse
(41:32):
trying to figure out how to dothis.
Yeah, and you know, rightbefore the week before
Thanksgiving was my first showand it's pretty cool.
You know, there are so manygreat bands and there are so
many friends that I have.
We try to kind of space it outnow, yeah, so that we're not,
all you know, doing all of it inthe first three months or so.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
Right, and is it just you there?
Do you have a crew oftechnicians and whatnot?
Speaker 2 (42:01):
It's not a crew.
Shout out to Brooke, who,literally this is how things
happen.
Right, she has a day jobherself and she wanted to learn
more about radio.
She sent a message, I answeredit and now she's been on the
show the last four weeks fiveweeks, I think, you know, not an
(42:23):
intern, necessarily, but justan apprentice maybe.
Yeah.
Yeah, and wants to learn.
And you know she helps out withthe playlist, she helps out
with the guests, because theguests have become, you know, an
every week thing.
Yeah, so yeah, I mean it's, howdid you do this?
Well, they asked.
(42:44):
Yep.
You know, and, more importantly, the opportunity was given and
she stepped up.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Yeah, that's how it happens.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Absolutely Ideally.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yeah, how do you feel about radio in general?
I mean, to us who, like, grewup in it, it's so, it's warming
in a way.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Yeah, I mean it's exactly.
It's the same as it ever was,if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Is it?
It's not dying or anything?
Speaker 2 (43:10):
No, I think it's harder to seek out.
You know, even when I do theseinterviews with we had a speech
from Arrested Development.
I just interviewed NunoBentoncourt from Extreme, which
was a big deal for me.
So now their handlers, thepublicity people, go what
(43:30):
podcast is this for?
So it's kind of flipped right.
It's no longer the podcast ofyou know which radio station is
this for.
It's kind of flipped to theother side.
But WFIT is 49 years old.
Yeah.
You know, people have grown upin this town listening to it.
I listen to it all the time andit's not just because I'm on
(43:51):
there now.
So, like I said, it's a littlebit harder to find perhaps, but
it's still genuine.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Yeah, totally National Public Radio.
Do you guys do video?
Speaker 2 (44:02):
We have the ability to do it Paging.
Mr Herman came into the studioand they brought their own 360
camera.
Wow.
So I mean props to WFITmanagement for giving me the
opportunity to do stuff likethis.
They haven't told me no yet.
Yeah.
Hopefully they won't, but yeah,I mean it's again.
(44:26):
It's just another opportunityto do some cool stuff with local
bands and to blast it out intothe planet.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
For people to look at .
We're so happy to have you hereand you be the godfather of the
local scene.
Do you have any nominationsthat you can think of that you
would want to see here on localcelebrity?
Speaker 2 (44:51):
You know, one of my favorite people and I apologize
if he's already been a guest, Idon't think he has is Pete Spoth
.
Okay, Pete is the guy that doesit and does it with a smile and
is out there writing, you know,musicals with Hot Pink and
DJing and playing birthdayparties and just hustling and as
(45:12):
a musician in his own right.
So I think he'd be a greatguest.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Cool.
Well, we'll reach out to him.
One more thing you are the VPat Harbor City Local.
It's a nonprofit that supportsoriginal music.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Correct, that's the main sponsor of the music
festival.
So Spencer, steve Spencer and I, when we got together he was in
the process of putting thecharity together.
Okay, the money people may notknow this the money that we
raise then from the musicfestival goes to Harbor City
Local, which then buys musicalinstruments that are donated to
local schools.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
Oh, is that right, like the violins that people get
to play when they're in thesixth grade?
Is that what you're talkingabout?
Speaker 2 (45:54):
Yeah, if there's a family out there that needs
financial assistance orqualifies you know for
themselves personally, or thatwe deliver to the school.
That was Sue's main mission aswell.
Sue raised over $100,000, thosefive years for instruments that
are donated to the school andthen they sign them out
basically for the semester.
(46:14):
Right yeah.
We've tried to keep thattradition alive.
We do scholarships for privatelessons.
Oh, really so if a kid's notable to join the band or
orchestra that's super cool.
Then we help out with that.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Awesome, wow, any parting words.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Just thanks for having not only me, but thanks
for the interest in the scene.
Absolutely.
We've talked about music a lot,but there's a lot of creative
content.
People out there, artists,people who paint murals I mean
I've always looked at it.
Dancers, I've always looked atit.
As you know, we're all togetherin this.
The music is one aspect of it,but I'd love to see you know
(46:57):
that interest across the board.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Just the arts in general.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
Yeah, I mean, I'm with you on that one, steve,
thank you so much for being hereand educating us and talking to
us about music and more yeahthat's right, I look forward to
hearing from you in the future.
Sounds good, Awesome.
Thank you To be a sponsor ornominate a guest.
Hit us up on Instagram at localunderscore celebrity underscore
(47:23):
bravard.
Until next time, goodbye.
Popular Podcasts
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial
Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Betrayal: Season 4
Karoline Borega married a man of honor – a respected Colorado Springs Police officer. She knew there would be sacrifices to accommodate her husband’s career. But she had no idea that he was using his badge to fool everyone. This season, we expose a man who swore two sacred oaths—one to his badge, one to his bride—and broke them both. We follow Karoline as she questions everything she thought she knew about her partner of over 20 years. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-3 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.