Ep. 2 - From Salsa to Alternative: The Joy and Tears of a Diverse Life Through Music - A Life in Six Songs

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
I am sugar.
Hey, everyone, welcome to ALife in Six Songs.

(00:38):
Our music interview podcastfocused on those particular
songs that have a strongconnection in each of our lives.
These are not necessarily yourfavorite songs, but rather those
times music was seared intoyour memory, strongly connected
to your experiences at the time.
So many of the discussionsaround music are about who the
better band is or what genre isnot as good as another.
Those discussions really misswhat is so fundamental about our

(01:02):
interaction and enjoyment ofmusic.
This podcast is a judgment-freezone where we do not critique
our taste in music but arefocused on understanding the
unique role music has played ineach guest's life.
We're on an epic adventure tofind the songs that are stuck to
us like audible tattoos thattell us who we are and who we've
been, like the sonic DNA of ourlife.

(01:24):
No two peoples are alike.
These stories are the audiblefingerprint we leave behind as
our unique mixtape.
Let's go have a listen together.
I'm your host, david Rees.
I'm joined by my co-host, mywife Carolina, and my longtime
childhood friend, raza.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Hey, hey.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Hi, all right, all right, diving in here we go, all
right.
So for our first few episodeshere, we figured lead by example
let's not ask our guests to doanything we're not going to do
ourselves.
And so these first few episodes, we're going to be interviewing

(02:05):
each other, so you all outthere get to know us, get to get
an idea of what the podcast isall about.
And so, yeah, and so our guesttoday is my wife, carolina.
She is an Iron man finisher,that's right.
That's right.
Well, maybe we'll get into someof that, absolutely.

(02:27):
She is also, has been, aprofessional photographer, an
art teacher.
You know, like so many of us,she's lived a number of lives
and so we're excited to get intoit, getting to know each other.
And, yeah, let's go.

(02:47):
So, carolina, to sort of warmus up and kick us off here, you
know what role when you thinkabout your life, what role does
music play in your life?
How do you view music in yourlife?

Speaker 2 (03:05):
A really, really strong connection, and not
because I play anything.
I don't play any instruments, Ionly sing alone in the shower,
in the car, like I'm not amusical person, but like music
just stirs up a lot in me.
I think as an only child I, youknow, sat alone in my room a

(03:26):
lot listening to music and Idon't know it just has like this
very visceral response.
So I joke, I work with acolleague who's in like Show,
choir and musical theater andhave a consultant.
Now we do work withentertainment and stuff and
they're always, every time I goto New York, they're like you
need to see the show and theshow and the show.
And I'm like I can't watchmusicals and they're like bless

(03:48):
for me, like why?
And I'm like because they justmake me cry, like it's the like
the, when music is really strongand like people are singing and
there's like a story like it'soverwhelming to me.
So that gives you like aninsight, like I have a really
strong connection in in aninteresting way because I'm not
a musician.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
That's interesting though, isn't it?
I mean, it's I'm sure one ofthe reasons why we're doing this
is to connect our audience,right, who might not all be
musicians.
So like full disclosure, right.
I mean, dave and I, we, we aremusicians, and it's kind of in
our blood and everything, but Ithink we all, we're also
obviously appreciator, weappreciate music as well, and

(04:34):
but I think the audience is isgoing to appreciate, you know,
non-musicians and musicians kindof just talking about music,
because I think everyone has aconnection to it and that's
that's really cool to hear.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally yeah, I think it's.
I think it gets at you knowwhat the what the idea is behind
the podcast, right Is to getyou know away from those
discussions that people are justarguing about you know who's
the better band, or somethinglike that, because I think that

(05:04):
you know that's not what it'snecessarily about.
Like that discussion can be hadright, you can have and say
who's the best drummer and who'sthis, and you can have your
your reasons and things.
But but if we only do that, wewe miss how music, even if we
have different interests ordifferent, you know paths,
really connect us right, and sothat's really what we're.

(05:25):
What we're trying to do here isis show why you know the songs
and things may be different forall of us, but the experience is
, is is similar around.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
So yeah, great how music makes us feel right,
that's right, that's right 100%Like think about.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
think about a movie without a score.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Oh, wow, yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Or you know, yeah, like how empty.
Would that be Right?
It really like grounds storiesand you know, just like stirs up
all the fields.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
That's a really like epic analogy.
I'm trying to think of thoselike those Christopher Nolan
movies.
Right, I mean, they're huge,they're expansive and and
there's, you know, obviously somuch going on, so in depth, but
then he always, almost always,has Hans Zimmer provide the
soundtrack and the score andthat just like it.
Just it takes it to just awhole other level.

(06:24):
So I'm just as you said, thatI'm thinking, okay, well, what
if Hans Zimmer, you know what ifit was silent?
There's no soundtrack, it justI don't, it wouldn't hit right.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, and I mean when I think about our generation,
like I won't age us.
But you know, like we grew upin the time of the like
breakfast club and all that I'llthink about like Footloose
without those like musicmontages of him learning to
dance or Rocky with that,Remember the when he's training
in Russia and like the songsthat go with it, or when he's

(06:59):
running up the steps likewithout music.
It's just some dude huffing andpuffing off the stairs and.
Philly right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
There's that great, great clip out there.
It's of the ending scene ofStar Wars, when Chewbacca, han
Solo and Luke Skywalker arewalking in to get their medals
from Princess Leia.
And so it's this huge, like yousaid, kind of Christian
Rinaldin, like this expansivescene.
And there's this, just, youknow, epic music playing, but

(07:27):
the clip cuts the music out.
And so you just see the clip andthey're just walking in silent,
yeah.
And then there's a few thingswhere, like Chewbacca, like
yells and like R2D2 beeps andthat's all you like here, and
it's like oh yeah, that's justflops.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
It's just flops, it's just like weird yeah.
That was.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
John Williams.
John Williams in the house.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, I feel like between the two of them it's
like 87% of musical scores.
It's like it's always HansZimmer and you're like really
again John.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
Williams, really.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, and for a long time, like whenever I see that
I'm like he's still around, likelonger, but still still like
epic scores, yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
All right, well, let's, let's dive in and get
talking about the score to yourlife, oh my God.
Because it's the same way iswhat really what we're getting
at right?
If we didn't have music in ourlives, it would be like those
scenes that are epic because themusic's there, but if it wasn't
, it wouldn't be as epic.
And so, you know, that's areally good analogy for what

(08:36):
we're trying to do here.
We're just trying to, you know,see what the score of our lives
were, and of course you knowit's a life in six songs, but no
life can be defined by only sixsongs.
So this is always you know it'san approximation, pulling out
kind of those, those key points,and so we're not keeping score,
right no?

(08:56):
no, no, no we're discussing ourscore, but not keeping score.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Yes, I'm sorry, prepare yourselves for it, for
really, really bad dad jokes Fordad jokes.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
I'm outnumbered, so I'm bracing myself.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Absolutely All right, so let's dive in.
So the first song we're goingto discuss is you know what is
your earliest music memory?

Speaker 2 (09:33):
I had to think like just first memories really of.
So I was born in Bogota,colombia, and we immigrated to
the United States when I waslike four-ish and I'm trying to
remember like those firstmemories of American culture and
the memory that most sticks out.
I think MTV was in its infancy.

(09:54):
I have a really stark memory oflike sitting Chris Cross on the
floor in my family room infront of like this giant
television that looked like acabinet at the time, watching
Michael Jackson's Billie Jeanvideo.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
Nice, nice.
Yeah, let's take a, let's takea quick listen.
This is probably a song I'msure everyone is singing in
their head already, but let'splay it and so we can get
everybody on the same page Nice,nice.
So hearing it now again.

(10:56):
What's going through your mind?
What do you tell us a littlebit more about that moment, that
time in your life?

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, Hearing it again.
I'm like back sitting on my youknow, family's family room
floor, I think you know I had tolook back at what year.
It came out like that's theearliest memory, right.
And then I had to be like whenwas that?
I think we had just moved tothe US.
I don't even know that I spokeEnglish yet, and so you know my

(11:27):
mom jokes that like SesameStreet taught me English, but I
think so did just pop cultureand music and music videos,
right, because not only are youlike singing and jamming and
rocking out, but stuff like.
I have that vivid memory of himlike walking on those tiles and
the tiles would light up andwasn't there like a tiger in it
too.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
And it disappeared, I want to say in the video.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
A little kid right, and you start to like move past
cartoons and you're likewatching other stuff and you're
like what is this melting mybrain?
This is amazing.
Yeah, it takes you right back.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
I remember watching that video too as a kid, also
somewhat like of an immigrantstory with me.
But I remember moving toAmerica and then realizing and
actually looking for tiles thatlight up because I saw that in
the Michael Jackson video andalways being disappointed that
where are those tiles?

Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, it's plain old concrete.
I think something else thatcomes to mind with that is you
know, it's like my family is allwandering around in the
background my grandparents, mom,uncle, aunt, that kind of thing
and primarily they'd listenedto Latin music.
Coming from Colombia, my momwas big into disco and stuff

(12:46):
like that.
My uncle was big into rock andACDC and stuff like that, but
the whole family was like welike Michael Jackson, because my
grandma would sometimes be likeyou listen to what is that.
But everyone was like this isgood, it's like bobbin heads as
they're walking around the house.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, and I think that was such a important thing
about one that time.
Mtv.
Mtv was new for all of us,right, not just us as younger
kids, but our parents andeverything else, and so it was
really that thing like everybodywas into Michael Jackson, right

(13:25):
, it was just this thing.
You knew about it even if youweren't parents weren't rocking
out to it every day and stufflike that.
It's like everybody knew.
And it's like that moment of wetalked about the music video
with the light up, tiles andthings.
But there's that moment wherehe performs Billy Jean I think

(13:45):
it was the Grammys and he doesthe moonwalk for the first time.
And I remember, just like yousaid, sitting there watching it,
just going what in the world?
This is just, this is.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
This is insane, this is amazing, right, he was
already cool and now he'sdefined gravity like who walks
backwards that way.
What is that?
Yeah, it's like blows your mindat that age.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, totally.
In that, you mentioned your momand mom being into disco, and
so you know, for our nextquestion, our next song, you
know in your, in your Life, here, you know what, what is a song

(14:31):
that reminds you of your, yourparents?

Speaker 2 (14:36):
I Couldn't remember the name.
Actually I had to like go backand be like popular disco songs
the late 70s, early 80s, andthis came up and you know I was
like hearing little samples ofevery song and the moment Anita
Ward's ring my bell came up Iwas like that's it, that's it,
that's my childhood, cuz youknow, when you're a kid pre.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
A little listen here, yeah a little bit of music.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
Nerd them coming your way.
I never realized that you know,whoever the backing band was,
they're actually using, like thelittle, like the xylophone or
whatever.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah, yeah yeah, it makes that song like so distinct
.
And you know, when you're a kidlike your Pre iPhones, ipad,
you know you just listening towhatever your parents listen to,
like that's what you were stucklistening to in the car.
And I have a really, reallyyoung mom she she had me as a
teenager and so she was like inthese early 20s Clubbing, you

(15:58):
know, in South Florida kind ofthing, and she had all of these,
all the clubs.
She went to her like playingdisco at the time and she had
all these mixed tapes in the carof the DJs that would play at
those clubs that night.
So I had like Countless Jimmy'smix, volume one, two, eighty
five or whatever, and so she'salways playing those tapes and

(16:21):
this song was like always a partof it.
That's awesome, yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
When, when you hear that song, you know now again,
after having to, you know, lookit up and find out who it was
and stuff, how do you, how doyou feel about it?
What is it?
Does it?
Does it give you sort of Happymemories about it?
You know, because it can beeither way.
It's either like oh, thisreminds me my parents and it was
one of my like.
Like, oh man, this set me on mypath and I just love that song.

(16:50):
Or it can be like this makes methink of my parents and Right?

Speaker 2 (16:57):
No, it's definitely good memories and it's it's the
memories in that way where sooften your parents are just like
your parents and you don't seethem as like the individual
humans that they are, you know,because they're like telling you
what to do and they're movingyou from one place to the other.
You know they're they'reparenting.
But this song immediately putsme in the car and I just have

(17:18):
memories of like being littleand like looking over and
watching her just dance to itWhile she was driving.
She would like do this littlething with her hand all the time
and just being like, wow, likeshe's cool.
You know, when you see yourparents in their element, like
Not self-conscious, just beingthemselves outside of parenting,

(17:38):
that's, that's the memory Ihave of just watching her,
really a Woman in her early 20s,just being young and having a
good time hmm, I like that.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
I like that, yeah, I think it's, I think that's such
an important thing too and and IThink music you know we, you
know you talked about the powerof music.
We were talking about that inthe beginning and and all that,
and so, yeah, I think Music canbe that way where people let
loose, right?
Yeah, they loosen up a littlebit, they sing along, they dance

(18:14):
, they, whatever, and so, yeah,so it's a way to see them as as
fellow human beings, rather thanjust this disciplinarian or
Whatever, whatever it might be.
So, yeah, thanks for that.

Speaker 3 (18:29):
What do you guys think about?
I mean, we're all parents,right.
What do you guys think about?
You know Kids, and obviouslythe kids are in a different
generation, different age group.
What do you guys think aboutkids Listening?
They obviously have their owntaste in music, but then they're
also, I think, their earliestmemories, like I think you were

(18:51):
saying, they're exposed to musicjust based on what the parents
have, kind of playing aroundaround the house.
So, but as they grow up,obviously you know, they start
listening to things that are youknow from their generation,
that their friends Maybeintroduced them to and things
like that.
So how do you, how do you guysfeel about?

(19:14):
You know, sort of you can'tforce your kids to listen to
your music, but I but I'mdefinitely guilty of saying, oh
well, you know, when I was 15,you know, this was the greatest
thing that ever came around,whether it was, I don't know,
tool or Metallica or whateverand and then I would tell my
kids and my kids would say, well, yeah, that's great, but we're
listening to, you know, whateverthe current thing is.

(19:35):
And then obviously we get intothe whole sort of comparing and
contrasting which, you know,rightly or wrongly it happens,
but I don't know how do you guysnavigate that?
Because I mean, carly and I,like you said, you know, your,
your parents, you, you heard,you know disco growing up and a
bunch of other stuff as as as aswhat your parents were
listening to.
But then you also it did, itmade some sort of an impression

(19:57):
on you as well.
So, yeah, how do you?
How do you navigate all that?

Speaker 2 (20:03):
You know, I think I didn't try really hard to Push
her towards any music or youknow, like we kind of let her
listen to whatever she wanted atthe time and we would listen to
our things, but they felt morelike Contemporary to the year
she was born.
But you know, what I findinteresting about that question
is is the folks that arecreating TV shows and contents

(20:28):
that she's growing up with areprobably our age and or like
using throwbacks to the 90s andthings like that.
So when she watched glee andthey were covering like all
songs that we grew up listeningto, and then I would like hear
her singing Around their house,or it would come on the radio,
or I would have it on and shewould know the words and I'm

(20:48):
like, how on earth do you knowthat song?
And it was always like glee.
And then I couldn't help butlike I Don't know, like I would
nerd out a little bit becauseshe would be like, oh, it's from
glee, and I was like, no, no,no, it's cover of so and so.
And then I would like, you know, play it like you need to.
You need to listen to theoriginal.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
So yeah, we kind of.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
I remember we did some like music education II
stuff like that.
Yeah, we know.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
I mean stuff like social media and tiktok is
really big on that, you know,for whatever reason.
So I know that my kids, as faras Getting exposed to different
trends on on tiktok and then yourealize whatever's trending is
something that, like, I'mfamiliar with.
I know there was a big thingabout like vanilla ice a few
years ago.
I says, baby and, and someonewas doing a tiktok on that and

(21:44):
you know they brought the songto the house and my wife was
like okay, no, no, this is howthis is how the words go.
And she, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah you know allthe lyrics to the ice ice baby,
and my kids are like what, howdo you know that song?
We're like dude.
This, like this, is how we grewup South Florida in the early
90s.
This is us oh yeah, okay, like.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
oh yeah, okay so a hundred percent, or even songs
that are explicit today, youknow, like just, and she'll play
it or whatever.
And I remember in like earlierdays when she was getting
exposed to some of that music,she'd kind of look over like Did
you hear that?
Did you hear what they said?
And now David and I wouldalways be like girl, it's fine,

(22:27):
hear the music like we grew uplistening to.

Speaker 3 (22:30):
So yeah, yeah, it's almost like they get a pass
because it's music that we'reokay with.
But if it's like somethingthat's current, that I have, no,
I know nothing about, butsomeone drops like an F bomb and
I'm like, what are youlistening to?
It's like dad, when you knowAxel Rose was cursing in the
other song, you were, you.
I'm like, but that's.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Different, different, it's classic.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, yeah, no, I think that question, you know if
we started it with, you knowTalking about Carolina's mom and
her music, and then you know,razzi, you brought it back to
like us and our kids and I findit so interesting in that way.
I mean, this is this beyondmusic with kids, I think in a
lot of ways, but I think there'san inverse relationship between

(23:17):
you telling your child this isreally cool, you should check it
out and their interest in it,right, so the more excited you
are, it can.
It depends on the age,obviously, but like it's this
sort of resistance, because Ithink, you know, for like we're
doing right now, music is sopersonal for us in ways that
like, if, if I listen to thissolely because my dad told me it

(23:42):
, it's got some you know there'sresistance to it in ways and so
, yeah, like, like Carolina said, I think it's.
You know, what we've alwaystried is just exposure without
like pressure, yeah, and so,yeah, yeah, I also think it's
it's a little bit different.
Now, going back to, you know,the Michael Jackson story, I

(24:06):
feel like when in the 80s, there, there, there wasn't the
internet, there wasn't thesethings, and so there was limited
spaces where you can get accessto music, which sort of brought
us all together, right, thatthe only thing was MTV and so
everybody was watching theGrammys and, and you know, the
moonwalk and stuff like that,whereas now Nobody's tied to to

(24:31):
really any of that.
Right, you can, you know, haveyour entirely own playlist.
That's not, you know, sharedwith almost anybody else, and so
I think it's potentially one ofthe One of the the struggles
going forward as technologyincreases.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
Well, you know, but to that point, so, um, so I'm
just thinking about this, as yousaid, that I remember, I think
all of us we're basically thesame age groups.
I think our exposure to, likeMichael Jackson was the same
thing, and I remember like myparents were as excited about
this guy, you know, from America, walking across, you know, or
sliding across, you know, duringthe Grammy performances, right

(25:09):
as I was.
It was like a collective, itwas a really cool like shared
experience.
And now I'm thinking that, likeon, like on tiktok, for example
, right, you have kids that dotheir little dances and then
they pull in their parents andthen there's like this mom, mom,
daughter, you know, dad,daughter, dad, son, mom, that
type of thing happening as well.
So, yeah, I don't know, I thinkthat's that, that's one way

(25:32):
that it's.
It's we're still doing thislike generational um, exposing
each other to, to, to, to musicand then kind of interacting
with it.
But it's the same type of thing, it's just in a different
format now, which is kind ofcool as well.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
During, uh, early days of the pandemic.
I remember Bella trying toteach me some of those tiktok
dances.
Like we're you know, Like wegot to pass the time and
entertain ourselves.
Like we're home you know allthe things.
And like I remember rehearsingin her room trying to get these
dance moves right oh my god soare they.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
No, sir, okay, they are not.
And I'm super grateful for thatdestroy all evidence for her
entertainment only.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Oh my god, could you imagine?

Speaker 3 (26:20):
Nice yeah yeah, um.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Thank you, raza, for your optimism in balancing out
my pessimism about technology.
So you know so to everybody outthere.
Uh, do the tiktok videos withyour kids.
It's important.
Yes, yes.

Speaker 3 (26:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
This, this Gatorade bottle ishalf full.
Okay, awesome awesome alwayspositive.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
Let's move along.
Our.
Our third song in your life.
This is, uh, one of my favoritequestions, my, I think you know
we ask in this because it'sit's music has such a power for
this, and so you know what was asong, carolina, that you know
opened you to an entirely newperspective.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
Um, so, you know, often we think of our lives like
in phases, you know, like earlychildhood, adolescence, college
, you know, or post high school,that kind of thing.
And so I was thinking back to Ithink maybe it was late
elementary or even middle school.
Uh, this family moved in nextdoor.

(27:33):
They were from new jersey,they're peruvian, but from new
jersey and back then.
So this is early 90s, I wouldsay.
Um, for music to get from likenew york city, new jersey area,
down all the way to fortlauderdale, miami, like a dj
would have to pick it up andplay it on the radio, right, we
didn't stream things, we didn't,so we were sort of beholden to

(27:56):
either we traveled up there andheard it or somehow the music
made it down by some djs.
So, anyway, like neighbors movein, um, and there was a girl
named priscilla who was my age,and then she had like wickedly
cool older sister named blanka,right, she was like 17 or
something like that and like thecoolest thing, right, and all I

(28:16):
remember was going over totheir house to visit and she was
Blasting it was either wu tangclan or mary j blige from her
room and I was like what is thislike I was just blown away.
Hip hop was a thing, like youknow, it was already on my radar

(28:37):
, but, um, like it was somethingabout method man's voice, the
soul behind mary j blige's music.
That was just so rich.
Um, so, when I was thinkingabout that memory because those
are the two artists thatspecifically stand out that she
was just like listening to onTape over and over and over, and
then I remember getting mary jblige is what's the 411 tape?

(28:59):
Um, I picked a song where theycollaborate together because
that was equally as like,mind-blowing.
Yeah, let's take a listen.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
Make a man feel better than a woman queen with a
crown that be down for whatever.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
Nice, I got to say this one in getting this ready
for the podcast.
It was tough to get it to a 30second clip that sort of
captured the essence of the song, because it's them together, so
they sort of alternate Versesand things, um.
But I'm glad you mentionedmethod man's voice and we had a
clip in there that that had it.
So yeah, when you hear it now,what do you think?

Speaker 2 (30:04):
It's just so good.
Like it's just so good.
Yeah, I feel like an earlyteenager.
Um, I listened to a lot of hiphop in high school and I think
this opened that world for me.
It was, it was stuff I hadn'theard, and so I'm like
transported to that time.

(30:24):
I think you know we startedwith like my early life, where
you're like listening to what'son TV or listening to what your
parents are listening to andlike this music started to like
carve my own interest and likemy own preferences for music,
because no one in my family waslistening to hip hop at all.
Then I just like fell down therabbit hole for a ton of years

(30:47):
listening to this stuff.
It's so good, like even still,that song just still sounds so
good.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Well, I have a question why do you think that
that song in particular, likewhat about that song just
resonates?
I mean, it's one of the mostpopular, like when I think of
Method man, I mean I think ofyou know some Wu Tang stuff.
And then this particular songand I'm not, like you know, I
love, I appreciate hip hop, butthat's not like my background

(31:22):
and we can get to that anothertime.
But yeah, but this particularsong, why do you think it
resonates?

Speaker 2 (31:28):
or even for you, I don't know that I like have the
musical terminology to likestate why it like hit home so
much, but I think it was adifferent duet than what I had
ever heard.
You know it's a song about loveand their relationship and you

(31:48):
know how they feel about eachother, right, but not in this
like lovey-dovey ballad sort ofway.
It just felt like raw and likethe melody of it is so smooth to
me.
And both of their voices justlike mesh so well, she's got

(32:08):
this just beautiful voice andhe's got like somewhat of a rasp
in his voice and it's likerough, like all those pieces
come together to just make itsound really great.

Speaker 3 (32:23):
No, that's exactly right.
I was trying to sort of thatwas a leading question.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
Yeah, yeah, no, I mean I think you're absolutely
right because that's at leastfor me again.
You know, I don't know the likethe super detailed stuff, but
it's that mix of melody but thenalso like really sort of, you
know, authentic like hardcore.
You know, to really extremevoices extreme melody, but also

(32:52):
extreme like hardcore, and it'sa great like mixing of both.
And yeah, I think that's why Iresonate, because I think anyone
can appreciate it.
You know you can go, oh man,like the melody is great, but
then you can also go look therhymes.
I mean that's excellent too.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah, it's not as slow as a ballad but it's not as
fast as hip hop usually is andI don't know if it's like the
base of it, but it just playslike so smooth Like I don't
think you can help but, like youknow, kind of bounce your head
to it as you're listening to it.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, that's what I was
thinking is, as you were, youknow, having that conversation
just now, of like, for me it'sjust like when it kicks on, it's
just like you're just bobbingyour head.
It's just got that feel andit's, you know, I think it's
also one of these things thatyou know.
You know, the idea behind theseconversations we're having is

(33:59):
how chance it was right.
If you have a differentneighbor, move in.
We could be talking about acompletely different song here.
Yes, and so I, you know, musicfeels so personal, right, it's
this thing of like oh, this isme, and if you don't, you know,
you just don't get it, whateverit is, you know, especially in
those teen years, but it reallyis a community thing, right,

(34:20):
because we don't live inisolation.
Right, we are at the even nowwith stream, right, depending on
who you follow on social mediaand what not is going to, you
know, put different things outthere, and so I just think it's
so like just interesting, kindof that butterfly effect, right,
the whole, you know, butterflyflaps and swing is on the other

(34:42):
side of the planet and can causea hurricane or whatever.
It's like these little chancemeetings and it makes this like,
like you said, karolyne, youknow, like this song just was
like whoa and then boom, youwere into hip hop for the next,
you know, few years, really,really heavily stuff and so.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
Yeah, and I love how you said like about you know, I
had another neighbor moved in.
Actually, the neighbors behindus that I played with their
daughters, like when we werelittle, her parents had a band,
like they had businesses, butthey converted their garage into
like a jam space and dad playeddrums and mom sang, but it was
more like rock, country kind ofstuff and I would listen but I

(35:20):
was like you know, all right,but then, like you know, and
it's also like the older sisterthing You're like look up to,
like blew my mind.
I was like what is this?

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah, the power of the older sibling, the power of
the older teenager in theneighborhood that everyone's
like you're so cool.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
So, yeah, probably not to Priscilla because it was
her older sister, but hugethanks to Blanca I don't
remember your last name whointroduced me to Wu Tengkue, and
then Mary J Blyche.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
So what was the?
So it sounded like this songwas kind of like a gateway to
like the world of hip hop justopened up, right, yeah, and it
was like the next, maybe youknow, next couple of bands or
next couple of groups that led,you know from here.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
In terms of hip hop.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
Yeah, yeah, oh God, did like the floodgates open or
was just like okay, one band andyou were really into them, and
then some other band and youwere really into them.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
Yeah, oh God, I don't really remember off the top of
my head, but what I will say islike it wasn't just hip hop but
also R&B.
So, like you know, maybeinstead of I remember in high
school, like you know, you havethe radio stations that you
listen to.
More often than not, I was morelistening to like 99 Jams,
which was the hip hop R&Bstation in South Florida at the

(36:44):
time, and like Hot 105, whichwas more R&B than like Power 96,
which was more like how wouldyou describe Power 96?

Speaker 3 (36:51):
South Florida pop pop party, you know.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
You know that was good, Like that had its place,
obviously Parties and weekendsand clubbing, but like If you
know, you know, yeah, but thatone.
Just a lot more of like thoseradio stations, because that was
a newer sound that I wanted tohear more of.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
Nice, nice, yeah.
And so, speaking of songs thatsort of, you know have this
connection right, when you hearthis song you think of your
neighbor and think of where youare in life and sort of it.
You know can be these markersthat you can go back to.
You know what's a song that foryou is really intimately

(37:37):
connected to some other activity, like you know a song that's
tied to a certain book, or it'stied to a certain location or a
trip.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
So sort of like chronologically this just works.
But as I became a teenager Iwas starting to spend more time
flying back to Columbia andspending summers and Christmases
Like pretty much, as I got tothe age where, like, you start
to get in trouble when you don'thave something to do when
you're out of school.

(38:11):
Like my mom was, like you're ona plane, like you're out of
here, right, and I would spendsummers and Christmases and
spring breaks, like whatever,with my cousins down in a town
just outside of Cali, columbia,and I just really then got more
embraced in Latin music and myLatin roots, because we were

(38:32):
always going like dancing andclubbing, and so the song you'll
play now like instantly takesme back to just clubbing and
dancing with them till wee hoursof the morning.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
All right, let's all go back and club, here we go.
All right, so hearing it again,now not at a club in Columbia.

(39:29):
What are you?
What are you?
What are you feeling?
What are you thinking?

Speaker 2 (39:36):
First off, just like noting how different this song
is than all of the other songswe've talked about, like through
y'all at curveball, but I thinkthat's kind of indicative of my
life.
Like probably I've had likeseven careers and like I think I
just like like to try newthings and I maybe not that I

(39:57):
get bored, but like I'm easilylike drawn to something new and
so one that like seems to standout to me like wow, this was
really different from likeeverything I just walked you all
through.
But listening to it now, likeI'm transported to what felt
like a very carefree time in mylife summers with family, summer

(40:22):
vacations and trips down there.
You know you're like briefsummer loves that you know you
don't want to leave at the endof the summer.
Like and Latin music,particularly salsa, which this
is.
You know you dance it as acouple.
You it's not a solo dancesituation, so it's and you're a

(40:45):
teenager, so you're likehormonal and you're like dancing
really close to this person andlike just like lots of teenage
feels.
I think the other thing that'ssuper interesting about this
song to me in Latin music ingeneral is like this song came
out in the 70s but it was likeraging in clubs still in the 90s

(41:07):
, like salsa can be verytimeless in that way, tied to
like the dancing style and stufflike that, and classic songs
are still super popular.
So yeah, I love this song.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
Yeah, I just, I love the horns in it.
I mean, to me, like A hornsection is just amazing.
I mean, it's, it's, I think,why I just, you know, I think
ska is such great music becauseit's like they just bring the
horns in and it's just like whenyou hear the horns, it's just
like.
It's one of those moments likeabout, like we said, like the

(41:45):
sort of power of music andthings like that to elicit
Emotion, sort of in this directway, like instantaneously.
I just just have these feels.
It's, it's so great.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
That's a funny.
I never thought about the hornsbeing like a standout thing,
you know.
And then like the comparison toska music and you, I mean,
you're right, it's yeah, it justadds a whole other like layer.
It's really cool.
I, whenever I hear salsa musicand I have, I can't, I cannot
follow the beat at all.

(42:16):
I can kind of, you know, followalong to merengue a little bit,
but but salsa was it was alwayslike nope, nope, Nope, there's
too many twists and twirls andcan't do it.
But it reminds me of I don'tknow if you guys ever saw that
John Leguizamo special, and so Ithink his entrance music to the

(42:37):
second part of his show washe's playing like salsa music
and and he's has something tothe effect of, you know, he's
like engaging with the audienceand and Sort of making his way
back down to the stage and he'slike dancing along and like I
mean I'm pulling some peoplefrom the audience, kind of
dancing with him doing thetwirls and stuff, and then going

(42:58):
back up and he and he and heand he for the first time
explained what the beat does.
Well, you know, it's like, andthat was the first time that I
realized oh, oh, it does makesense.
It's not just random twirls.
So this song reminds me of that,yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
I would say Latin music.
You know there's kumbia andmerengue and salsa and bachata
like, but the, the, the, the waythe dancing Intertwines with
the music, like it.
It's so on the beat to how thespecific style of dance goes
that you almost feel like partof the music.

(43:41):
In a way that dancing to maybelike pop or other things doesn't
feel that way.
Yeah, and then the just thebands of, like Latin music.
One of my really good childhoodfriends who I'm hoping to have
on that I went to college withJay, his, his cousin's play in a
Latin band like St Nancy.

(44:01):
I remember David and I went andsaw them in New York City and,
yeah, it's just like thepercussion is so amazing, the
horns there's like the singinglike it's like not quite an
orchestra, but it was a, it wasa large band of you know all
kinds of different instruments,the huge, the cowbell, that you
just all of it, right, yeah,yeah and so, yeah, this is so

(44:27):
good.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
No, but you're right, I think that the dancing is
like a really like it, you know,integral part of the music.
Like you, I don't like at leastagain, for me I'm not, you know
, I'm not part of the culture,but I've been around it long
enough to like.
You know, whenever I hear, youknow Latin music, it's like okay
, you just imagine like a whole.

(44:49):
You know Couples dancingtogether and everyone knows
exactly what they're doing andI'm always thinking how is that
possible?

Speaker 2 (44:57):
It's so true, because we would go to clubs and you
know, a stranger would ask youto dance, right, you know, and
so, but you, you're, both ofyour bodies have to blend, like,
if my foot goes forward, hisfoot has to go back, like and
there's this unspoken way thatyou just know how all of it

(45:17):
works if he starts to like lifta hand, you know you're about to
get turned and it has to gowith the music.
And because if somebody doesnot dance, well, it's like, it's
like flopping, like it's justterrible, it just goes horribly
wrong, right but, then when?
when two people do mesh andblend that way, it's like

(45:38):
magical it is such a good time.

Speaker 3 (45:42):
Yeah, it is magical.
Yeah, I mean, that's the way Ithink of it, just like.

Speaker 1 (45:47):
Just the music and the horns and everything.
Yeah, it's just this.
It just feels like such a likeParty right.
This, this thing of like we areall here, whether it's at this
club, that this you know partyat a house or something like
that the salsa music and theLatin music.

(46:08):
It's just like we are here tohave have fun and and be
passionate about it and and go,and it's just so, so refreshing.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Yeah, you're like an extension of the band.
They're all dancing as they'replaying, so yeah, it's just a
giant party.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Yeah, again the horn section, because they're like
they'll hit it.
And then they're like, yeah,right, and so you can see how
these things last until themorning.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Right, my best friend Growing up was Venezuela and we
would have parties at our houseall the time and like it was
breakfast at the end, like thisgoes until yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
Six in the morning, no pretty much.
Oh man awesome, All right soyeah, moving along, now moving
along.

Speaker 1 (46:59):
So We've been talking about sort of early memories
middle school, high school.
Now we're, you know, movingsomewhat chronologically, and so
you know, we've talked about alot of positive connections to

(47:19):
music.
Right, these like joyful thingsand this is amazing, and the
dancing and the moonwalking.
But you know, music also hasthat ability to be there when we
are struggling, right.
And so, carolina, you knowwhat's a song that you struggle
to listen to, or that you evenmay need to, you know, turn off

(47:39):
because of the difficultmemories it brings up, or you
know the challenges.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
Um, you know, I think this probably resonates for a
lot of people you might havesongs that, like you had with a
partner and then you split up,like you know, songs that remind
you of a Challenging timebefore, before David and I met.
I was married previously and my, my husband ended up dying of

(48:08):
cancer.
I was like 29 when he died, soand it was a long drawn out
Illness like he had it when wewere engaged, and then
intermission, we went on to haveour daughter and then he got
sick again, really, really,really sick, and did not not
survive that bout, but itrequired.
At this point I was a mom andso I was, like you know, taking

(48:31):
her to daycare and then rushingto the hospital like every day,
and then, like at night, cominghome.
And At the time, alisha Keys noone was popular on the radio
and you know how like the radiois this, particularly like the,
you know your Y 100s and stuff,like it's playing like every
fifth song, and so this song wasConstantly on.

(48:53):
I would, I could not, maybe, andthe drive to the hospital, fyi,
was like seven minutes.
It was like almost impossibleto go from my apartment to the
hospital without hearing it onthe radio and so it's still.
It's still hard today, becausethe lyrics to just like given
that the circumstances, yeah,all right, let's, let's take a

(49:14):
listen.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
Oh, what are you feeling?

(49:59):
What?

Speaker 2 (50:00):
are you?

Speaker 1 (50:00):
thinking, I think.
I think that says it betterthan any words you could say
right, I mean there, there it is, it's yeah, the power of the
music, even even now.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
I'll ever think of that song in the same way.
I've always thought of it aslike, as a like uplifting and
powerful.
But but it's it.
And it's so funny how it hasthe exact opposite.
You know, you can interpret itcompletely in the opposite way
as well.
And yeah, man.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
Yeah, depending just what is going on in your life,
like like music can just triggerthings, right.
So I think you asked me withother songs, like what I, what I
, what memory comes up when Ihear it.
Now, you know, and I have thismemory of, at first I Would

(50:56):
listen and I would sing and then, as just things got harder, I
have a, I have a memory of likeit was like late at night and I
was parked in the parking garageof the hospital and I was like
Belting it out at the top of mylungs, but also just like
sobbing, and Then I drove homeand then, I think probably after

(51:20):
that, I just couldn't listen toit anymore.
So then when it would come on,I would just change this the
station, because it just gotlike too hard.
And then after it was stillpopular and I was like Alicia
Keys, leave me alone.
Really great, you need to goaway, yeah.
Yeah, they're not always greatmemories, but like, yeah, I'd

(51:42):
like visceral still.
I mean he's been gone, he diedin 2007 and like I still tear up
to hear it.

Speaker 3 (51:52):
That's the thing about songs too.
Like it's they, they're like abookmark and anytime you hear,
especially against somethingthat's tied to memory, you know
that's that you know significant.
It'll always, I think instantly, you know the rest of your life
that anything here that songunfortunately.

(52:13):
Damn song you know, and it's,and it and it's, you'll probably
transported right back to 2007or before, and it's in an
instant like that.

Speaker 1 (52:24):
Yeah, yeah.
And you know, I think this issuch a great example too of of
how Music elicits those emotionslike Immediately, right, you
don't listen to it and thinkit's just before you even have a
ability to kind of Process it,you've already got the emotion

(52:47):
coming right.
It's this, it's this Justvisceral, like Right in there,
like someone's almost likeelectrocuting you, right, you,
you jump before you know whathappened and so, yeah, it's just
again that, that that power ofit you know what memory that
brings up.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
So our daughter is 17 now but when she was little,
she she used to have a reallyvisceral response to music in
movies, like she'd be watching amovie and if the music got like
ominous, she knew shit wasgonna hit the fan and like
something bad was gonna happenand like nothing had happened on

(53:29):
screen yet.
But literally just the shift intone of music and she would go
like this and like start to hide.
It's like that, that's whatthat's, that's what that's
reminding me of.

Speaker 3 (53:41):
Hmm.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:42):
Yeah, absolutely Absolutely.
So I think you've passed downthat gene of you know.
Music Teleportation.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
So, yeah, yeah, and I think it goes back to of of you
know, at the beginning of theinterview.
You know Carolina, youmentioned that you're not a
musician.
You know Raza and I both areboth most of our, you know,
middle and high school life wasspent music and and since, you
know, in different times.

(54:13):
But I Think this, this, youknow this particular song and
this experience shows how wedon't need the musical knowledge
of, like, what key is this in?
What's the tempo, what's the,you know, whatever to have the

(54:33):
feeling right and I think itjust gets at that.
You know, music is something sofundamental for us as humans,
right In a lot of ways, becauseit's able to tap into that thing
where you don't need to thinkabout it, it just happens, right
.
You just you get it.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
Yeah, I don't know what it is, but I know it when I
hear it, like when you weresaying, you know, sometimes you
don't even need to hear thelyrics or whatever, just a
little bit, and I was like, yeah, like the, what the hell is it?
The piano, the like beat?
I couldn't even describe it,but I just know.
When the song starts.
Before she said anything, Iknow exactly what song it is

(55:15):
that I need to change thestation.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (55:20):
I think that's the whole universal aspect of music,
right, you don't have to know,is it in 4-4 or 9-13 or whatever
?
Yeah, the key time signature is, you know, c-flat or A-minor.
It's like no, no, no, it makesme feel X, you know X amount of

(55:41):
things from you know 15, 17years ago.
I think that part is universal,that part is what other people
can relate to, and that's that's.
I think music does that.
You know Michiki's voice doesthat.
Yeah, it's just there.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
Yeah, and I think, talking about that universal
perspective, you know I sharedthat I would go to Latin America
a lot, you know, as a kid and Iwould listen to what my cousins
were listening to and a lot ofit was actually American music,
but they had no idea what thelyrics were Like they don't,
they didn't speak English, butwe're just like rocking out to

(56:22):
you know all kinds of differentlike American songs and I always
found that really interestingthat they would enjoy it as much
as they did, without knowingthe words, without understanding
.
But I think it is about likemelody and beat and, like you
just know, you know it feelsgood for you when you hear it,
without being able to explainwhat it is.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
Well, you know from, like, the heavy metal
perspective.
Apparently, you know, metal ishuge in Latin America, right?
And it's like all the metalbands from the States and from
Europe.
They have to tour Latin Americaand they'll say time and again
these guys, I don't think thatthey know, you know what the
hell it is that we're talkingabout in the lyrics, but they

(57:05):
are passionate and rocking outand selling out these huge you
know, stadiums.

Speaker 1 (57:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:12):
And, and and it's all metal, it's it's which I love,
which is awesome.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Yeah, yeah, totally, and I think I am someone who is
I'll use the word guilty but ofnot always paying as much
attention to the lyrics, right,Even to bands.
I like love, right, Because Iand this is maybe a little bit
of that musician as a drummer,you know, boom, what's the drums

(57:40):
doing?
I'm trying to learn the drums,I'm trying to learn the drums,
and then from there I'm like,ooh, what's the bass doing?
And then it kind of goes to theother things, but, like, what
the person is saying is sort ofnot the first thing that jumps
to my mind.
As I've gotten older, I've goneback to a lot of the music that
I was, you know, into in thepast and paid more attention to

(58:02):
the lyrics and it's like oh, wow, oh wow.
But yeah, I think those, thoseemotions and feelings you get.
You don't necessarily have tounderstand the lyrics to get it
for sure.

Speaker 3 (58:15):
Yeah, I was the opposite.
I was like if the lyrics aregibberish and I'm not interested
, it's actually like heavy metal.
I'd like those, my metalfilters, like Satan and design,
not, not, not interested.
Goodbye and talk to me about.
You know love and you knowpolitical stuff.
Yeah, that resonates.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
You know, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, I'm rage
against the machine.
Give me some you know, suppleTorah, I was just going to say a
a, a example that doesn't fallinto.
That is rage against themachine, right, because the
words are so much of it, rightyeah?

Speaker 3 (58:48):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Without, without, zach, it'slike you know, just profits of
rage, it's not.
It's not rage against themachines.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:58):
All right, let's get back on track.
We're we're not the railing,but we are definitely going down
in a side and running away, allright.
So you know that, thatdefinitely, you know, gets that.
And I'm sure everyone listeningand watching they've got their
song in their mind, that theyknow does that right.
And so you know, carolina,thank you for you know, sharing

(59:20):
that.
You know, while the specificsmay be different for everybody,
everybody's got that that songthere.
So for our last song in yourlife, you know what?
What's a song that youassociate with a weighty

(59:43):
transition in your life?

Speaker 2 (59:49):
I mean super weighty is is the transition from from
being married to then being awidow and a single mom, right,
like my life changed prettyinstantly, overnight, and my
life changed in a ton of ways.
So like it wasn't just the lossof a spouse but, at 29, the

(01:00:11):
realization that, like I couldhe was 33 when he died, right,
so I could die young and I gotlike this like huge kind of like
you only live once, feelinglots of YOLO, and so I was going
back to music that just feltreally good and that I wanted to

(01:00:31):
listen to.
And so I'll tell you how Idiscovered this band and this
song.
But I was I was binging a lotof deathcap for cutie for a
while.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
Let's take a listen.
What are you thinking?

(01:01:27):
What are you feeling?

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
Yeah, so that was deathcap for cuties, marching
bands of Manhattan, so yeah.
So so, entering this new sortof transition in my life, I was
kind of exploring all kinds ofthings.
I had studied abroad in Englandand really, really loved
British radio.
Like I was listening to Virginradio, specifically the radio

(01:01:53):
station over there at the time,and I just loved all of it.
I came back and I was trying tostream it here in the United
States.
I had Virgin was streaming tothe US via internet for a while,
so I was listening to that, andso I started to like amass
bands and then I was usingPandora to listen to them and

(01:02:14):
Pandora was really great in thatyou know, the algorithm of it
was like Well, if you like this,let me suggest this, right.
So that's how I found deathcapfor cutie and keen and the
killers and like all of thisother sort of alternative type
music that I just fell in lovewith.

(01:02:35):
And so I think there was a biglike alternative music switch
and I went from like hip hop toLatin to like oh, it's been a
ride.
But yeah, I've been like reallyin love with alternative music
ever since.
It's just kind of spoken to me,and so I was, I was binging the
song, and they're just theirmusic in general for for a long

(01:02:56):
time.

Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
Nice, yeah, I think you know, I know you.
Obviously, we've been marriednow for a number of years and,
you know, been together since2008.
So what is that?
15 years, wow.
And I'm so glad you, you, youpicked this song and this band

(01:03:24):
specifically because when I heardeathcap for cutie, I
automatically connect it withyou, like, like it is you
because I, you know, before wemet I really didn't listen to as
much of this kind of style ofmusic and it it like I got it

(01:03:49):
right.
When I listen to it, I'm like,oh, I get, I can see how you,
specifically, are connectingwith this.
And I just also think of thejoke we always had, because
anytime you had the station onand it was playing keen and all
these other bands, I wouldalways joke and be like, is this
death, that death cap for cutie?
That was my joke for anything,any music that I didn't know the

(01:04:13):
band necessarily.
That's what I would say.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
Yeah, I have to say so, yes, part part of that
transition was was moving on andand and meeting you, and I
super appreciate that.
While you have very specificmusic tastes right, your love of
Rush and metal and all thatstuff like whenever I had music

(01:04:35):
playing, you never ever saidlike you don't want to hear that
or that sucks, or like you know, I was always like this is okay
, I can't play it, like you know, and like listen a lot more
than I've listened to your metal, like I usually am, like hey,
this makes me feel a littlemurdery and can we shut it off?
But you so it hasn't hasn'talways been as as equal, but

(01:04:59):
you've always listened towhatever I was listening to,
like happily, which is which Ireally appreciate it Nice, I
think.

Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
Yeah, I've always.
Like I said, you know, that'sthe motivation behind doing this
podcast is that I always feltlike you know, I was hesitant to
share with people what bands Iliked, because normally the
conversation was always justwell, then let me tell you why
that band isn't as good as theband that I like.
And I'm like I don't, I don'twant to have that conversation,

(01:05:27):
right, right, I just what's youknow?
So what you know, like it's notwhat music does, right, and so
I think that's what you'reyou're getting at in the sense
of, like I loved hearing themusic that connected to you,
because it wasn't just the musicand I'm like, well, you know,
that drummer is not as good asNeil Peer or something like that

(01:05:48):
.
Like, no, like who cares?
Right, I felt like I was, I wasgetting to know you through the
music, right, I was seeingsomething of of you in it.
So Now, now, all we have to dois have you see some of me in
some of the metal, and you know,minus the murder, right, minus

(01:06:09):
the murder, yeah, that's right,we won't start you off with like
cannibal corpse or dying fetusor something like that yes.
Ejin, and this is where I'mgrateful for Raza in your life.

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
Yes, yeah happy to happy to help with that quick
question.
So I, I, I, I, I remember deathcab in passing and, and to me
you know all the bands youmentioned, death cab, keen, not
the killers, I feel like thekillers are.
They were slightly heavier, soI was just like okay, I like, I
really like these guys and thenfrom then, from there, it goes

(01:06:53):
into like the muse typeterritory.
Patrol yeah yeah, but death cabkeen, and I always think of
dashboard confessional.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
Yes and yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:07:07):
So but but to me it's like, it's like a big lump of
the same stuff.
So it's funny, dave, like whenyou said, oh, is this death cap,
is that death cab?
It's like, yes, I thought of italmost the same way, because
you could point to any of thosebands and I could say, is that
dashboard?
Because it sounds like the same, the same shit.

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
Yeah, yeah in this in the same way.
All genres.
If you're not into it, soundthat way right, yeah, talk about
metal like it's all the samepeople talk about there's a
distinct difference between youand stuff you know.
But if you know it, you know it, right.

Speaker 3 (01:07:39):
Yeah, you can tell the differences cannibal corpse
and obituary two completelydifferent things.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
Well.

Speaker 3 (01:07:45):
I get that right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
I related to I Don't know like how you develop a
palette for certain food, or youlearn like the nuances of wine
or like whatever it is like Ijust don't with metal.
Like, let's say, I don't feellike I have the palette for I'm
not able to distinguish thedifferences or, like, appreciate
it.
I know there's a ton there, Ijust I Don't get it.

(01:08:09):
Like I don't you know, um, andso I can see.
I can see with with this kind ofmusic, like the same thing and,
to be honest, like Usually,whenever I talked about music
with somebody and they're likeoh, what kind of bands you I
always get who like I don't knowwho that is.

Speaker 3 (01:08:26):
It's funny you mentioned wine, because I'm like
the same way.
It's like, okay, people go,well, you know this, try this
red, try this pink, try this.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
It's like Like I don't like what I don't get it
right right, and I'm sure it'ssomething you could learn, and
you know the more you're exposedto and you Know that stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:08:45):
Um, I think I just haven't been ding ding, ding,
and you know you swirl it around.
Look, this one has the bubbles.
Can I get a margarita please?

Speaker 1 (01:08:56):
And I think that's a great example too, for music in
that way, because if you've gota wine person, a craft brew
person and, you know, a whiskeybourbon person, they all have
the three different interests,right.
And just because someone's intowhiskey and bourbon and can
tell all the difference and allthat Kind of stuff, doesn't mean
they're gonna be into wine,right.

(01:09:18):
And that's same way of likehip-hop and metal, right.
Like, yeah, we might not get itin the same way.
However, the wine person canunderstand what it's like for
the whiskey person because it'sthe same feeling, right, it's
the same connection, and so it'sit's the same here.
So, while the genre may bedifferent, you know what we can
get out of.

(01:09:38):
It is Similar, right, in thatsense where we're connecting to
it in ways, for whatever reason.

Speaker 3 (01:09:45):
So we all really just want to get pissed drunk, is
what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
Got it exactly exactly, and listen to metal and
hip-hop and salsa music.

Speaker 2 (01:09:54):
They're strong god music oh.

Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
That's the new name for the my name.

Speaker 3 (01:09:58):
There we go.
Look at that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
Slosh drunk, his drunk on music.
Oh, it's like drunk historythat show drunk history where
the people get drunk and tellthe story.
Although if we had to get drunkto do this.

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
I don't think it's gonna go well.

Speaker 1 (01:10:15):
We'll keep this and then maybe that'll be like an
offshoot thing, a little sideProject.
We try a special edition forthe subscribers.

Speaker 2 (01:10:23):
You get to watch us interview.
You get to watch us.

Speaker 3 (01:10:26):
Oh my god, you set up a patreon page for that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:30):
Yeah, I'm a whiskey.

Speaker 3 (01:10:35):
Oh boy, we'll go all the questions in reverse.

Speaker 1 (01:10:37):
Yes, what are we talking about?
Yeah, totally Well, carolina,those are our six songs, and so
you know, thank you for sharing,thank you for giving us a
window Into your, your life, andthe way music has has played a
part in that.

(01:10:58):
I think you've given us a goodexample of how conversations
around music can really bringpeople together If we focus on
the shared experience behind itand don't get caught up on the
genre and everything else.
And so, yeah, real quick,though a little rapid fire First

(01:11:19):
concert, best concert, lastconcert, or no, first last and
then best yet.
I'm not familiar with that band.

Speaker 3 (01:11:32):
I'm sure it's out there, though it's one of the
genre Band, is it?

Speaker 2 (01:11:37):
I feel like my first concert was was Madonna at the
Orange Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:11:45):
Yeah, and the reason why you had a yeah there.
You had an interestingexperience there.

Speaker 2 (01:11:48):
The reason why I'm claustrophobic.
We were.
So the Orange Bowl was a bigstadium down in South Florida.
It's no longer there.
They torn it down, but concertlets out and people start to
leave and they forgot to openthe gates and so there was like
a, you know, almost crushingsituation.
Like I had that memory of, likeI remember looking up at my
mommy One of my mom and her bestfriend at the time, and telling

(01:12:10):
her like I can't breathe, likeI felt like I was getting
crushed, and my mom's friend,who was like Just this badass
foul mouth from New York kind ofthing, was like fuck this.
And she climbed, she starts toclimb the fence to get us out
because it was bad, and so thenI climb you know, they helped me
climb the fence to get out andthen my mom goes to climb the
fence to get out and I want tosay she ripped her pants at the

(01:12:32):
top of the fence.
Just well, my mom.
But yeah, so first concertMadonna.

Speaker 1 (01:12:39):
Yeah, so I'm guessing that wasn't the best concert.

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
Um, oh Shit, I cannot remember what I put.
Oh, yes, I do.
Best concert.
We went to go see Walk the Moonin DC at the anthem right, yep,
and they are just.
It was such a good time.
I had a broken foot at thatconcert so I couldn't dance.
But their music is just just ablast.

(01:13:10):
Like it was just so much funwatching them.
And then last concert Sorry,what like what?

Speaker 3 (01:13:20):
what genre is?
I've actually never heard of.

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
What you call them in the alternative pop like it's
like that Kind of killers likethat.

Speaker 1 (01:13:32):
more poppy, no no not nothing at all no, no, it
doesn't have that kind of it,doesn't have that kind of emo e
kind of Darker feel it's theit's almost a complete opposite.
It's a party and happy and yeah, it's awesome, it's fun.

(01:13:52):
Yeah, I had a great time at ittoo.
It was just just a blast.

Speaker 2 (01:13:57):
Yeah, I would totally see them again.
I'm out.
And they just finished playingat summer fest and then,
literally yesterday, announcedthey're they're taking a hiatus
from touring and just creatingfor a while.
I think they've been touringlike non-stop for, yeah, several
years now.

Speaker 1 (01:14:13):
So then, walk in the moon too much now we got to sit
down.
We got to sit down on the moonfor a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:14:17):
Yeah, so that that was my best concert and I think
just the joy gravity right.
The anthem in DC was like justsuch a fun venue to watch a show
.
It's like really intimate andsmall.
It's not this like huge stadiumsituation.
I could see like they were soclose.
We are in one of the littlebalconies off to the side
Because of the claustrophobiafrom Madonna.

Speaker 3 (01:14:38):
I don't do floor or standing room only anymore, ever
because I get freaked out youknow, going back to that Madonna
incident, I was, I was, I wastransported back to Latin
America and I was thinking of,like you know, like like those
soccer stadiums and they're justpacked with people, and then on
the Cajun they've had someissues too, like there's been a

(01:14:59):
couple that, like the, theStands collapse, and then
there's other you know issues,thinking of chaos, and then
Latin American soccer.

Speaker 2 (01:15:10):
I mean the.
The memory is so Engrained likeI could have.
I could have died of, I couldhave suffocated right in the
moment.
I felt being crushed.
I was small, I was a kid, solike the adults over you, like I
just felt myself gettingcompressed.
That I don't do standing room,like seats at concerts, and when

(01:15:30):
a concert ends I wait at myseat until most people leave.
Before I leave, I Won't be oneof the first people out the door
, like I want all doors open andI want the crowd to be gone and
I'll I look for exits, I lookfor Crowd control type
situations like it's.
It's always in my mind becauseof that and I was, I was young

(01:15:51):
when that happened.
Well, and what was the last one, last concert?
Yes, I took Bella bells, ourdaughter.
I took Bella to see Lizzo herein Nashville and, damn it does
she put on a phenomenal show,just a phenomenal show.

(01:16:13):
She's amazing nice.

Speaker 3 (01:16:17):
Yeah, she's a boy.
Did she do the?
She's the classically trained.

Speaker 2 (01:16:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
Yeah, she's a band nerd.
Yeah, she documentary wasreally good her documentary was
gonna check it out.
Um we're any band nerds outthere.

Speaker 2 (01:16:35):
She's super like inclusive and talks about just
inclusivity in music and stufflike that and like that
non-judgmental piece that, likewe, we're specifically talking
about with this podcast.
She just put out something onInstagram recently or something
about how she doesn't understandwhy everybody gives Nickelback
so much shit.
She's like I love them and shestarts talking about like the

(01:16:57):
time and signatures and like allthat stuff she did.
She did an episode of the hotones, you know, the the chicken
wing show, and they were totallynerding out on like music
theory and stuff like that.
She is a very accomplished,trained musician.

Speaker 3 (01:17:12):
Yeah, she went.
I saw a clip of her.
I guess it was in Germany andshe starts doing Romstein in
Germany to the audience andthey're totally caught caught on
to.
That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
That's amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:17:26):
Hey, y'all you know that's who do host you know.

Speaker 1 (01:17:29):
Yeah, yeah, totally, totally, yeah.
I think and I really like howyou brought that together,
Carolina, for like theconnections to the ideas behind
this podcast, because I thinkshe represents a lot of what
we're getting at right you knowof, of it's not about one
specific genre or not it's, youknow yeah, or what you know,

(01:17:50):
anybody's preconceived notionsare of what a Successful or good
artist looks like or soundslike.

Speaker 2 (01:17:56):
So her shows are huge on, just like self-confidence
and body positivity, and so tolook around you, I took our
daughter.
But to look around and see allof these like adults and kids,
just like Screaming at the topof their lungs, just like
resonating with her message waswas really cool and her music's
like kick-ass and the show wasamazing and like all the things.

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
A team was like a inseparable team, from at least
8 years down to 9 or 10 years.

Speaker 3 (01:18:39):
Nice, totally I.
I foresee a plan coming forwardwith this podcast as we talk
Like John Leguizamo.

Speaker 2 (01:18:47):
Can you please come on?
Yeah yeah, and it's out there,Huge, huge fan.

Speaker 1 (01:18:52):
It's out there.
Tag him, tag him in the post,all right.
Well, we are ending the near ofour ending, the near Whoo
Nearing the end of our time, andso you know, in the minute, or
you know a little bit, we haveleft Carolina.
Anything you've got going on inyour, your world, you know

(01:19:16):
anything that people might beinterested in If someone wants
to connect with you and talkshop on anything.
What do you got?
What do you got going on?

Speaker 2 (01:19:24):
I got my day job.
I'm a diversity, equity andinclusion consultant, so I joke
that I teach people to be kindto each other, not to be
douchebags to each other in theworkplace, and so that's that's
what I do.
That's my nine to five, butalso I co host this podcast, and
so I got that going on and Iwant that to do really well, and
I super want to hear otherpeople's stories Like.

(01:19:48):
My goal with this is for folksto think about that person that
they want to hear what their sixsongs are, because I want to
ask them.
No one talks to them.
So I got that going on.
You can reach me at a life insix songs podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:20:05):
Great great Nice.

Speaker 1 (01:20:07):
Anything.

Speaker 3 (01:20:08):
Yeah, I was just gonna say let's let we should,
we should name drop our socialsand let let people know how to
get in touch with the podcast,you know right.
I think we're on Insta, we'reon Facebook.

Speaker 1 (01:20:21):
So, yeah, share with us, dave.
Yeah, yeah, Let me hit it up, Idon't have her and we should
put the links.

Speaker 3 (01:20:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we should put the links up.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
There will be in you know when this gets right here,
you know, right there and rightthere.

Speaker 3 (01:20:34):
Right there, subscribe right there.

Speaker 1 (01:20:37):
Yeah, hit that bell right there, we'll get better at
this.
Yeah, so a life in six songspodcast.
Search it.
We're got Instagram page,facebook page, tiktok.

Speaker 3 (01:20:51):
I think we have a thread.

Speaker 1 (01:20:53):
I think I set that up .
If not, I will not sure howwe'll use that yet, but hey, you
know unroll things that's right, that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:21:02):
And anywhere you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 (01:21:04):
Yep, on all podcasts.
You know Apple podcasts,spotify, any of those, the video
podcast we've got a YouTubechannel where we'll be posting
the actual videos.
So if you would rather see usas you listen to us rather than
just listen to us, you can dothat, although we will not be
offended if you just want tolisten, yeah, on your commutes

(01:21:26):
and your car ride and everything.
So, yeah, check us out, have afollow and, you know, join us on
this ride to see where thisgoes and hear some stories and
let us know who you want to hearfrom.
You know who do you want to seeus talk to?
Whose story do you want to hearin six songs?

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Ep. 2 - From Salsa to Alternative: The Joy and Tears of a Diverse Life Through Music

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 2 - From Salsa to Alternative: The Joy and Tears of a Diverse Life Through Music