Ep. 6 - From Law School Struggles to Film Making Triumphs: A Musical Journey of Self-Discovery - A Life in Six Songs

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:38):
Hey everybody, welcome to A Life in Six Songs.
I'm your host, david Rees, andI'm joined by my co-host,
carolina and Raza.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Hey y'all.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello.
Oh man, I am so excited tobring you another episode of A
Life in Six Songs.
We're having just an absoluteblast doing these interviews,
and so I hope you all out therethat are listening and watching
are enjoying it as well.
And if you are enjoying ourconversations, you know, let a
friend know.
Don't be stingy and keep us allto yourself.

(01:07):
Spread the word.
For those of you new to thepodcast, just give you a little
bit of framework here.
Each week, we embark on an epicadventure to find the songs
that are stuck to us likeaudible tattoos that tell the
story of who we are and wherewe've been, in order to help us
figure out where we're going.
It's a life story told throughsix songs.

(01:28):
Alright, our guest today isJune Johnson, and I'm going to
pass it on over to my co-host,raza, to give us a little
introduction.
Go ahead, raza.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
Alright well, thank you, david.
And yeah, no, it's my greatpleasure to introduce my good
friend and colleague, juneJohnson.
I met June a few years ago on,you know, working on some some
some legal sort of projects andcontracts, and realized really
quickly that we're both, youknow, more interested in things

(02:00):
like art and music than the law.
And yeah, and when I got toknow her realized that, well,
she's a minister, she's ascreenwriter, she's a certified
yoga instructor and I figuredthat what better person to
introduce to our you know sixsong community and see where

(02:22):
this conversation goes.
So, june Johnson, welcome.

Speaker 5 (02:27):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me, davidCarolina.
I am honored to be here, soexcited to have an authentic
discussion.
It's missing in today insociety.
Nobody wants to talk, so I'mready.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Awesome, yeah, yeah, and that's that's the plan with
with, with this show, we want tohave these conversations and,
and, you know, talk about thingswe might not otherwise talk
about.
Right, it's not about justliking the same music, but it's
about, you know, being human andwe all connect to music in in
similar ways, and so we're gonna, we're gonna tell those stories
.
And so, june, to kick off,before we get into your six

(03:05):
songs, just briefly, you know,tell us what role music has
played in your life.

Speaker 5 (03:15):
I'm going to say that music has been a soundtrack of
pivotal moments in my life.
My earliest memories, my dadgrowing up in Memphis and then
see my dad used to be in a bandway back and although I've never
heard him play an instrument oranything like that, he was kind

(03:36):
of like the hype man.
So growing up my dad always hadmusic going.
He always had kind of musicalpeople.
My dad's side of the family'svery, very musical, full of
artists who just go get a nineto five because they don't
believe.
You know, art is something thatcan sustain you.
But my dad always would havegospel music playing, marvin

(04:00):
Gaye, anything like that playing.
And really I just rememberpivotal points in my life where
you know music is in thebackground but something
significant is happening.
So that to me is kind of whereI put music.
It's almost like my life to meis a movie and things happen in
that space and then move andthen music is right, that

(04:23):
underpinning right underneath it.
So you know, when I first toldmy dad I wanted to be a lawyer,
we were driving down the street.
I was in high school, in 10thgrade, and I don't know why I
remember Jodice was playing, butit was.
It was like forever my life andI'm like, yes, that's what I'm

(04:46):
saying.
But you know, if you listen tothe music, it's like this very
dramatic.
You know, park in there and I'mtelling my dad, like you know,
I was arguing with a teachertoday because I thought they
were gonna call home anyway.
So I was arguing with theteacher today and I'm not that
kid right, I was very, you know,kind of straight-laced and I

(05:07):
said I was taking up for someoneand the teacher was wrong.
And the girl I was kind oftaking up for said you sound
like a lawyer.
And I thought to myself beforethat time I wanted to be a
teacher because that's who Iknew.
I knew teachers, I knew nurses,I knew, you know, the mom is a
teacher in a librarian.
So this is how I wanted to be ateacher.
And so I said dad, do you thinkI could be a lawyer?

(05:28):
Like he said that is somethingI don't know.
And he turned to me and he saidin Jodice's mind and he's like
that's what you're meant to do.
I always stop it.
That's what you go for.
You're meant to be a lawyer.
And I just couldn't believe it.
There's no lawyers in my family.
My uncle went to law school.

(05:50):
We never passed the bar, so henever talked about being a
lawyer, and it just seemed sowild to me, and so I remember
driving home.
It was a warm day, the sunbeating on my face and my dad
just filling me with all of thispositive talk about what I
could do and accomplish and howproud it was of me, and so

(06:15):
whenever I hear Jodice foreverybody, I mean everybody's
listening to it for a differentreason.
And I kind of wish it was adifferent song, so I could be
like, oh, it was, you know, likeJapan or it was you know, but
it wasn't.
And it just it makes me thinkabout dad and it makes me, who
passed away a couple of yearsago, and it makes me think of

(06:37):
this moment where he saw me andhe began to speak.
These really positive things inmy life that was that were
seeds and I became a lawyer andI'm the first one in my family
and I tell people I'm not thelast.
Like I don't love saying thatI'm like it should be tons of
lawyers in my family, not justme.
But you know, my thesis iswanting to follow in my

(07:00):
footsteps and OB like a SupremeCourt justice, something way
more than I even think of.
But that's how music reminds meof who I am and kind of where
I'm going in my life.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
So hope for your niece.
You're paying a lot more Jodicearound the house Just for
inspiration.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
That's right.
Yeah, you got to make that.
Listen to.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
Jodice you might become a lawyer.
You might pass that bar examand go on to awesome things you
never, you never know.
Well, you know, they weretalking about Justice Soto Mayor
in that song.

Speaker 5 (07:42):
So just saying well, there you go who I met by.
I didn't meet her, but I waslike a foot away and then
somebody like ran in front of me, but she's so cool.

Speaker 4 (07:52):
Wow, that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
I love that story, particularly because we say this
a few times on this podcast.
You don't pick the song.
It's almost like the song picksyou, like what is on at the
time, that these like moments inour life happen and you've like
no choice over the song that'son.
But that's the song now, likeglued to that memory for you for

(08:17):
life.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (08:19):
And when I hear sometimes it depends on where I
am in my grief journey with mydad passing away, I might tear
up and people are like wow,forever my lady.
Is that, is that your song?
And I'm like it's socomplicated, for me Like it's
just a moment and it's like atime capsule and for me that's

(08:40):
what music is.
It's just a time capsule ofwhere I am and what I'm about to
do.
And I could literally and I'mnot even joking be anywhere
doing anything, so which?

Speaker 2 (08:52):
I'm usually doing anything.
And that's what's so greatabout the way music gets
attached to these memories isbecause you might not even be
aware of it, right?
I've had that happen, whereyou're walking in the grocery
store and you hear a song popson and you're instantly like
crying or something like that,and you're like what?
And you're like oh yes that wasthe one playing when this

(09:12):
happened.
You know whatever it is, and soyeah, so so great, yeah.
Thank you for sharing.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
So we'll kick off your six song journey with your
first one, and you know I lovethat.
You shared the role music playsfor you with this like
beautiful story about just atime with you and your dad and
you know him having passed awayI'm sure has been difficult.

(09:43):
Sometimes music can help pullus out of difficult situations,
brighten or lift our spirits orour day.
So, for your first song inquestion, what's the song that's
helped you through a difficulttime or situation and what was
that situation?
If you're comfortable sharing,the first song.

Speaker 5 (10:03):
I'm going to actually look at the chat and see what I
wrote, because I thought ofanother song and I was like stop
, don't change it, don't changeit.
But it was the Alon de Adams.
Yeah, and that was when I wasin law school and I really
wanted to quit because it washarder.
So law school is not collegeand I didn't have a problem in

(10:27):
college, like I was like collegebecause I didn't have a problem
.
I love to read, so that'sreally what college is right.
It's just like you reading andgiving the professor what they
hope you're paying attention towhat you read, right, law school
is nothing.
So I went in law school thefirst day with like a little pad

(10:49):
and a pen.
And hey, you know, here I amand it literally punched me in
the face.
It was like this is aprofessional school of study.
You have to go study which Ididn't really have to study
right, Like in high school, oryou don't really have to study,
you get it.
But law school was like goingto a foreign country and

(11:14):
learning the language and that'swhat I had to do.
I had to learn the legallanguage and I wanted to quit
because I had taken a quiz andcontracts.
My law school, university,district of Columbia, my
professor for contracts, I hadquizzes and all this other stuff
because it was such a hardcourse and I failed it.
I was like, oh my God, like Ican't, I couldn't remember when

(11:38):
I had felt something and Iwanted to quit.
I was like I don't want to dothis, I'm smart.
Like I started thinking I hadlike dyslexia and all this other
stuff and I was calling my momand I was like you know, I think
something's wrong with me, likeI don't get it, I can't retain
it.
And she was like if you want toquit and come home, you can do

(11:59):
that, but remember, you quit andnow you're home.
And I was like what?
And she was like you quit, soyou have to make your bed, you
have to.
And she was like listen, I waslike oh, no, yeah, oh, that's
great.
Yeah, she was like so you quit,so you're not going to be a
lawyer, you're just going to beyou know kind of whatever, and

(12:21):
you'll, you know you'll have to,you know we'll drop you off at
work.
It's just the way she pickedyou and I was like, okay, let me
call you back when I'm a lawyer.
So, so I had, I was already aChristian, but I wasn't going to

(12:42):
church as much.
So a friend of mine invited meto church and I just started
like going to church and prayand I'm not even joking like
hard, like Lord, don't let me gohome Please.
I've already signed for theseloans and my mom is not joking
Like she is going to baby me andit's not what I want.

(13:04):
So I was listening to, I wasstudying, I was doing a legal
brief and I was listening to theradio and people used to do
that and Yolanda Adams yeah.
Came on and it was like if Godasked me to do something, I'm
going to say yeah.
And I feel like that was amoment in my life where I had to
say yes, yes, I am learningsomething new.

(13:25):
I'm afraid I'm anxious.
Everyone seemed smarter.
Everyone seemed like they wereborn lawyers.
I felt out of place, but I'mgoing to stay in this.
Yes, I'm not going to quit,because a guy that I used to sit
next to we were having funlaughing he quit.
But he was so smart and itseemed like everybody down my

(13:49):
road was quitting and I saidwhen I heard this song, I say
yeah.
I say yeah, I'm going to stay init, I'm going to believe that
God is going to let me be alawyer for whatever.
That means that on the otherside of this, I'm going to
accomplish the goal that I setout to accomplish.
And that's what that word.
Every time I hear that song,I'm just like yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Nice.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Nice, let's, let's take a quick talk on the
backside of it.
Here we go.
Yolanda Adams yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
Yeah, I had to give up a lot going out and have a TV
and I love TV I took my TV outof my house.
I had a studio apartment onConnecticut Avenue which was a
blessing, by the way and it wasacross the street from the law
school and I didn't andeverybody's like going out to

(15:15):
the bar or whatever I'm not abar person anyway but I didn't
do anything.
All I did was study and thatmade me an attorney.
That's all I did.
I didn't, you know, I listenedto gospel music, sermons and
tapes of law school that myfriend would let me borrow.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
Oh my goodness, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (15:38):
It was intense, it was very intense.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
I love you know, thank you for sharing that story
and I just love it.
It just so represents thatmoment right and everybody
listening and I know I connectwith it of like you hit that
moment where you're like I don'tthink I can do this, I don't
belong, whatever it may be, andit's tough to know because, like

(16:03):
, sometimes quitting somethingis the right thing, because it's
not what you're supposed to do,right?
And so it's like how do youknow if it's not what I'm
supposed to do or it's just achallenge and that's why I'm
doing it and I've just got tolean in and get through this.
And so I love that story of howyou shared it, of just like you
know, prayed and listened togospel and just got in and said,

(16:26):
you know, I'm going to lean inand do this and say, yeah, I
love the way you phrase that.

Speaker 4 (16:32):
Yeah, it represents that, and I love the fact that
that you had this supportnetwork right Called home and
you said, look, I'm thinkingabout doing this and making this
really important decision.
And your mom laid it out andsaid look, yes, I'm not going to

(16:53):
say no, don't do it.
But at the same time, option Bis the following, which is
obviously what you decided that,okay, I'm not doing that, so
I'm going to do what I need todo, take the right action, which
is, you know I guess it soundslike you got rid of all the
distractions and all the all theyou know, put yourself in a
different mindset and put in thework.

(17:14):
And obviously you know, you,you, you, you.
You completed the task that youset out to do.

Speaker 5 (17:22):
And I never felt like I belonged.
I didn't thank you.
Thank you Nobody collapselawyers, but I was.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
I was miming applause .
For anyone listening.
They're like what's going on,what's going on.

Speaker 5 (17:35):
But no, but no one like, like I never felt like I
belonged, right I?
I, during law school, I didn'tfeel like I belonged until they
until graduation.
Well, I earned it.
So a lot of times you get intoa new endeavor and you're like
I'm waiting for that momentwhere it's like ah, this is it.
Usually that moment doesn'tcome and you have to push

(17:58):
through something uncomfortableanyway.
Like you don't get theseepiphany moments all the time.
Sometimes you get it At the endof a pursuit.
For me, I never.
I never felt like.
I always felt like I waswatching other people.
I never felt present in whatwas happening.

(18:21):
So I had to remind myself that,no, this is for you.
You have to understand this issomething that you can do and
that you will do, so, yeah, Wasthere something specific or that
made you not feel like youbelong?

Speaker 2 (18:43):
Or was it just a sense of like everybody's
smarter than I am, or yeah, itwas.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
It was.
It was the feeling thateveryone was smarter.
Everyone seemed to have have alegal connection to someone like
.
Dc is a really really town.
You know what I mean.
It was like oh I know, SenatorBob, I know, and it's like, who
do you know?
And I'm like no one, I moved toyour two law school.

(19:09):
I had an undergrad, I had goneto DC and I'd gone to American
University in Howard for aprogram at college and I was an
intern in DC and I said tomyself I'm going to move here
because I love this city and Istill love DC.
But I didn't know anyone.
I just I didn't even havereally an acceptance letter to
law school.
When I left college and movedand my parents were like, what

(19:31):
are you going to do?
And I said I'm going to be inlaw school.
They were like well, where'syour acceptance letter?
I was like it's coming.
You know, I got to apply and Ihad already applied, but then I
studied abroad but I just hadfaith like it's coming.
So when I had to be in DC andmy parents are just like fine,

(19:51):
like I love them, they weregreat parents, they're the
parents I needed.
Because I didn't have anytangible proof, I just moved
Right and thankfully I gotaccepted.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Minor detail.

Speaker 5 (20:08):
Minor detail I just.
I live my life, I'm going to go.
If I feel it, I'm going to go,I'm going to do it, and then the
details will work themselvesout.
Sometimes has been great andsometimes has been not so great.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
So I totally get the, that feeling like an outsider
perspective, especially in lawschool, and I don't know, it
might have something to do withthe whole like being like
creative or having this, this,this, this capacity for doing
you know other things, but thenalso knowing that, look, art is

(20:47):
kind of you know it's, sometimesit works, sometimes it doesn't.
And you know you do have tomake a living, you do have to,
you know, survive and all ofthat.
And you have this like sort ofsplit personality thing that
you're always dealing withversus people that are gung ho,
and I guess it could be lawschool, it could be medical
school, whatever professionalyou know thing you're trying to

(21:08):
do.
But it's like one track mind.
It's like they know whatthey're good at and they're
going for it and they'll use youknow skills and connections and
ability and hard work.
Obviously you know, but I thinkfor some of us it's it's it's
this battle between what you'resupposed to do versus what you

(21:28):
really want to do.
But you know it's like this artbusiness juggling act that you
have to do, oh, yeah, and thenand yeah, yeah, it's difficult,
but again, I'm glad you gotthrough it.
I mean you did what you neededto do.
You know, you buckle down andyou put in the work and then you
said yeah.

Speaker 5 (21:47):
I said yeah, it was between and I wanted to go to
film school after college.
I had been doing theater fromhigh school, like theater saved
my life because I was.
I went through a period ofdepression as a teenager and one
of my mentors was a theaterperson, a professional actress,

(22:09):
and so she would just take mealong to stuff.
I don't even remember how wemet to be honest, that's how
long I've known her and so I wasdoing theater and I did theater
in college and theater fed meright.
I loved it.
It was just, you know, I lovedit.
And I told my dad I call himand say, hey, this is another
moment.
We were not listening to Joe.
I said, dad, I'm a major intheater.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
He said no, you're not.

Speaker 5 (22:34):
No, no.
I said no.
I looked at the, I can do it.
He said you can't live offtheater.
Do you know any actresses?
That?
Because the actor that mymentor was actually a teacher
and she did theater on the side.
So that was kind of okay.
But when I said I want todevote my life to this, no, so I

(22:57):
was like I meant politicalscience and theater, like I'm
going to do both.
He was like, oh, that's great,that's great.
So artistry wasn't really, eventhough there's a bunch of
artists in my family is notrespected.
They would much rather say thisis my cousin, the lawyer, this
is my cousin.
No one ever said so.

(23:18):
It's still chartering thatunknown territory and still
saying yeah, because now I'm acreative, I'm both, I'm a layer
of things, I'm not just onething.
So yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
And I think this, this theme has, has resonated
and come up a few times, notjust with you but other guests
and even ourselves this feelingof having a calling for creative
work for, for the arts inwhatever way that manifests for
you and our lives can takesignificant detours as we either

(23:52):
fight that urge to create ormaybe aren't supported or, you
know, life says hold my beer andthrow some you know crap at you
, but ultimately I feel like wecome.
We come back to it at somepoint because it feels like a
calling and it's a brave worldbeing a creative.
There's a ton of risk andfailure and putting your like

(24:13):
heart out into the world whichcan bring on just entirely new
perspectives, which, which feltlike law school also, was for
you just to do world a newperspective.
I'll transition us to oursecond song, because it has a
little bit to do with that.
What's a song that opened youup to an entirely new
perspective and how did thathappen?

Speaker 5 (24:37):
I see a new dad.
I might be saying it wrongbecause I'm trying to be fancy.
When I do that, I'm messing up.
I would guess it like this isthe song I was still doing the
legal work, like contract work,and my soul was like drawing up
right, like I was trying to pushforward in law, like I had been

(24:59):
a prosecutor.
I had done all these things,like I was like I'm going to
find happiness doing law and inthe back of my mind I was like I
don't think this is going tomake you happy.
But I felt ashamed to because Ihad gone on this path and
started this narrative and now Iwas going to turn around and
say, hey, I changed our mind, Iwant to be creative and I had

(25:23):
already like shook the family alittle bit with going to
seminary.
I said, oh, I have a call toministry.
They were like you know, not alot of women.
You know my aunt is a minister,but she was.
She was even like really, butyou're a lawyer, so you know it
wasn't, it wasn't this yaymoment.
So I was walking down thestreet and I had been writing

(25:49):
during my I'm just, I'm notgoing to make, I'm not going to
say doing breaks.
While I was doing this contractat work, I was writing a
screenplay, okay, so it wasn'tdoing breaks.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
It wasn't like oh my God, I was doing this.
I was doing this, I love this.

Speaker 5 (26:07):
I was like, but I finished it and I had never
finished a screenplay, and Iwalked outside and I was playing
YouTube and this song just cameup in a, you know, in a scroll.
It wasn't like I knew thisgroup or anything like that.
And this song shifted for me.

(26:27):
I said you know what I'm goingto make?
This movie.
I'm a filmmaker, writer I'mgoing to do I don't know how I'm
going to do it, I don't knowwho's going to do it or who's
going to be in it, but I have acompleted story and this is the.
This is the day.
It was a word, so it's a warday for me, and I took a picture

(26:48):
of it.
It's called bloom of love.
I took a picture of the book.
I wrote it in and it was someflowers.
I put it in the flowers and Itook a picture and this song was
playing.
So awesome, just a great moment.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Oh my goodness, let's take a listen, yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
Oh, I love that beat.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
It's a good beat.

Speaker 5 (27:53):
You have to be like driving a car in a foreign
country on winding, like it'ssomething like that.
But I happen to be walking downL Street and I was like, oh.
I was like, oh, I'm a writer,this is this is it.
This is it for me, like, Idon't know how I'm going to get
out of this legal part, but I'mgoing to do it.
So, yeah, it was great.

Speaker 4 (28:15):
Was this around the time?
Like, is this one good?
Because this story to me, Ithink so, you know when when
part of your introduction to mewas on one of these like these
kinds of projects, and you know,and and that's what I remember
is like, yeah, you introduceyourself as someone who's a
lawyer, who's doing, who's donea few things Tennessee, I

(28:35):
remember and then you're like,yeah, by the way, I wrote a
screenplay.
So was this, was this aroundthat same time?

Speaker 5 (28:42):
This was around that time.
It was around that time.

Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah.
I'm just like I'm a writer, Iwrote a screenplay.

Speaker 5 (28:56):
I wrote a screenplay and I think you are the only one
.
You are my dear friend, butthis year where the only ones I
had told and I told you becauseI didn't know you so you
couldn't be like what you werelike oh, what a great response.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
Yeah, around that time.

Speaker 5 (29:17):
And I had been newling.
So in law school, when I shouldhave been studying, I was
writing stories in my booksbecause the cases were so
interesting.
I was like, oh, that'd be agreat story.
Like how did they get here?
Yeah, when I should have beenlike listening to him.
But I tell people, the giftsthat you have, they're not going

(29:40):
to go away.
This is why people are in jobsthat they hate.
This is why life seems to bethis like long road, and it's no
.
Life is because you'resquashing the light, doing
something you're not supposed tobe doing.
We're doing something thatmaybe is either time out for it,
you're not supposed to be there, or you've pushed yourself.

(30:04):
You're a square peg in a roundhole, and that happened to me.
Like I was supposed to practicelaw, that was a part of my life
, but then it was time to shiftsomething that was already
within in me.
But I was, I was a lawyer.
Right, I walk in.
I'm a lawyer, I'm walking, I'ma writer.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Like you know yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
Oh, I'm not like.
I'm like having a moment withthis story, and I'll tell you
why.
Because you know sometimes thispath, like we don't know why
we're on the path, you know.
But when you said that, likeyou're doing the lawyer thing
but you're also, like you know,being exposed to all these
stories and you know things thatare happening in people's lives

(30:52):
, like one, what a just sourceof inspiration for story writing
.
But then two, I was like she'sgoing to manifest this for
herself and then, as a lawyer,she's going to negotiate the
most kick ass contract for thesale of that screen.
And then I had to ask you, Iwas like, are you going to put
this song in the score of themovie when it happens?

Speaker 5 (31:15):
I, you know what First I receive all of that.
So thank you, I'm taking thatin.
I am manifesting because I haveso many stories that in some of
them are for sale.
Whoever wants to contact me?
Yes, but I would love to workwith them and create, because
now I'm a fan of them, rightLike now.

(31:36):
I just like, hopelessly, like,listen to all their stuff and I
want to go to one of their shows.
Either, I'll put it in a score,because I have a story about a
mechanic who solves mysteries.
I said I wasn't going to say itbecause somebody take it I'll
be mad, but anyway.
But he solves mysteries and he,because he was a World War II

(32:00):
vet, that's how he gets overinto Europe and he can fix
anything and he, you know,murder happens and he's always
around and all that kind ofstuff.
But this song I don't know howthis song will fit, but it's
almost like when he's in thechase to get the bag.
It's this.
I always see this song.
So, I definitely will use it.

(32:21):
I just finished which I'll plugat some point shamelessly Bloom
of Love, which is thescreenplay I wrote.
I just finished a full featurelength movie of it Last month.
Wait, what month is the subject?
The end of last month we?
Just filmed it.
All these months are runningtogether.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Oh yeah, listen, I know Like wait a minute, what
time is it?

Speaker 5 (32:49):
But I did, I just finished it.
So that's gears inmanifestation.
You know, I had to get the crew, I had to get the cast, I had
to get you know the locations,but thankfully I was able to do
that.
So, yeah, that story is not forsale.
I already finished that one,but I got plenty more.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
I love this, and by the way you will.

Speaker 4 (33:12):
We will definitely be doing lots of plugs at the end
or throughout as the discussiongoes.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
So yeah, this is your story and we'll link anything
we can link in the show notes sopeople can find it too, if
there's oh, that's awesome.

Speaker 5 (33:30):
Thank you, yeah, but I received that.
I keep manifesting now toowning my own studio.
There's a building in town thatI just I.
It's my building.
I don't know, I can't evenexplain it to people I can tell
them.
Yeah, that's my building andthey're going to give it to me.
They're going to give it.

(33:50):
I don't I can't even explain toyou why I know that, but it's
my.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
Yeah, when you know, you know that's going to come in
handy for that transaction.

Speaker 5 (34:03):
Yeah, right now it is .
Listen, it's a great skill tohave, I'll tell anyone.
But you don't have to be a onetrick pony.
You can do many things.
But for the longest time Ithought I got to quit law and
just do this.
Well, I don't have to work init nine to five, but I can keep
the skill that I have.

Speaker 4 (34:24):
Yeah yeah, yeah, by the way, especially for the, for
the creative types, I think, atleast having that background
and law and kind ofunderstanding how that stuff
works, I found it super helpful.
I mean, you know, I'm notcompletely out of it and things
like that, but I've definitelyit does help you sort of

(34:44):
navigate situations and also Ithink it helps like prioritize
stuff, things that are trulyimportant, versus things that
are not, things that are youknow, that are like liability
type issues or things that willput you in jail or things that
will cause fines and things likethat.
Yeah, I've been known to, like,you know, navigate those

(35:09):
situations and go you know what.
Maybe don't do this, but dothat instead, and that a lot of
that comes from just just basicunderstanding of law.
Helps in politics too, butthat's for another time.

Speaker 5 (35:21):
Yeah, but no, but you have to understand.
You know business is an art aswell, because if you structure
it right, when you're done, likewhen you want to take a break,
your art will take care of you.
If you engage in the businesscorrectly, so it's, and you have
to have people around you thatsee it as an art, that see it as

(35:43):
a beautiful.
A contract can be a beautifulthing and take care of your
interests.
It's art.
The language can take care ofyour interests and it can also
stop you from being exposed to alot of things people taking
your content, taking your images, not a doing.

(36:03):
You know they got six songs inthe chat.
You're like wait, wait, hold on, like wait a minute, so you
have to protect those things.
But all of that still isencompassed in your gift, and
it's encompassed, it's not oneseparate thing.
It's like oh, the business, no,no, no, no.
The business can be beautifulbecause the fruit of that

(36:25):
business is still art.
It's still protecting what youcreated.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
Yeah, you know, they're always.
That's such a beautiful pointbecause people, always people
think that it has to be, youknow, either art or business,
and no it, like it can be, itshould be both.
And, by the way, the you knowwhat we think of as successful
popular artists.
You're right, you have a teamaround them of people that help

(36:56):
them make really good businessdecisions, because art is just
going to be out there, but inorder for it to do the best that
it can to reach the most numberof people that it can and to
provide a living for the artists, like you have to equate the
business back into it.

(37:17):
So no, you're absolutely rightabout that.

Speaker 5 (37:20):
And starving artists is not anything anybody needs to
be in this day and age.
That is an old idea and old.
You should not be starving whenyour gifts will open doors for
you, will make room for you.
It is something that willsustain you.

(37:40):
That is, that is not whatshould be happening.
You should be able to live youshould be able to live.
Oftentimes we take for granted.
Why is it that companies cantake your gift and your thing
and they make money, but youcan't?
So something's wrong with that.
Something's wrong with that.
You have to look at thebusiness side of things and find

(38:03):
people who find beauty in thatand not grieve, and that's, to
me, a key I found I found abusiness manager and people I
work with who are just like IWant your art to go further and
that's why we're gonna take careof the business parts of it
with you, not for me.
Not for me, because I need tobe in on it with me.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
We have yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely I think.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
I think, june, what's what's um, so awesome about
your story is is just the rangeof skills and talents and things
that you feel drawn to.
There's that saying you know,jack of all trades is a master
of none, but there's like moreto that quote.
Right, the full quote is, butoftentimes better than a master
of one, and I think that thatencapsulates you, right, this,

(38:55):
this Person with a wide range ofjust talents and passions and
skills, which is which is justamazing as we, as we transition
a little bit to your, to your,to your next song.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
I didn't realize this whole time it was I was missing
a third of that quote.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
Yeah, cuz I mean I've been, you know, accused of that
as well and and then certainlyhave like struggled with.
That is like you know, am Ijust?
It's like you know, c plus saida lot of things, but you know
what.

Speaker 5 (39:33):
But you know what, raza?
I Tell people life is not asprint, it's a full journey.
Right, and even in parts of ajourney you need different tools
for different parts.
So if you're just using onetool, you're not gonna get the
most out of the journey.
You need to be flexible, youhave to be nimble, you have to

(39:55):
pick up things and learn.
Things doesn't mean you have tonow.
Let me tell you there's somethings I really didn't need to
do at that time.
I used to sell insurance.
It's just a random.
I was talking to somebody oneday.
He was like you would be a greatsalesperson Maybe I would, and
I was selling insurance.

(40:15):
That was not the right time todo that.
It was, you know, but what Ilearned was I love talking to
people.
That's what I got out of thatexperience, and also, we all
need to have insurance.
But I got from it what up.
You know you really have to.

(40:37):
You have to not be.
You can't be afraid of Jumpingin a new Discipline or something
that is outside of your realmof Comfortability.
Right, and that's where it'sfor me, and Really my sister is
like this too.

(40:58):
So maybe I don't know mybrother's like no, I'm not gonna
do it.
But we're like let's go, let'sjump, let's try it.
And To me, that's a strengththat I have, because I don't
want to die with any gifts leftinside of me.
I Want everything gone.
Gone.
Just she did with they.

(41:18):
I'm gonna, I'm gonna becremated, but if they erect
something for me, I want a bunchof commas.
I want a bunch of commas.
She did this.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yeah, yeah, I'm trying everything.

Speaker 5 (41:32):
Because one I never know who I'll meet.
Like I met Raza, I met you, Imet Carolina.
I'm a David.
I never, I will never, knowthat.
And my life is richer.
My wealth lies in my friendsand the people that I meet.
So I never want to say I don't,I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna
miss out on something, sure yeah.

Speaker 4 (41:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
I love it so much because you're you know you're
in good company here.
We are we are, that we've, we've.
We've worn so many differenthats and all those things.
And and what I love about theway you are framing your story
with it is All too often we likethink, oh, I went to law school

(42:19):
and then I was a lawyer andthen after a few years I
actually know I left that andsold insurance and then really,
you know, no, I want to writescripts and that's what I do.
A lot of times when we bouncearound like that or we do these
different things, like all of ushere of on the you know Podcast
, we can tend to think that wemade a wrong choice.

(42:41):
Right, if I, if I chose lawright out of the gate and then
ended up moving away from that,I somehow made a wrong decision.
And the way I love your storyis because it's it's not about
being a wrong decision.
It's like no, that was that,was it for that time, and I
learned things from it, gotthings from it, and that's
helping me now in this, thisother endeavor.

(43:04):
You know, I just yeah, I lovethat.

Speaker 5 (43:07):
Yeah, yeah, no wrong moves.

Speaker 3 (43:12):
No, it's whatever is is in that season of your life,
like even the mistakes teach yousomething, right?
Even the things that you'relike, well, that was, that was
unfortunate.
Like you still walk away with,like what I learned?
You know this, this and this,or I learned not.
Yeah, do that again, or that'snot for me, or you know, but you
never know until until you giveit a shot, right.

Speaker 5 (43:32):
You have to give it a shot.
Yeah, I am, so give it a shottype of person.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
I love that.
I'll move us along to to yournext, to your next song in in
your life score here, thinkingabout just kind of the, the
storytelling that we've beentalking about, your passion for
it, your your sort of drawn tothat, to that world, and stories
really can transport usinstantly to specific times or

(44:02):
places in our life.
Music has that, that ability aswell.
So for your next song, whichone is it that that when you
hear it you are just instantlytransported to a specific time
or place and on the backsidemaybe we'll talk about where
that song takes you.

Speaker 5 (44:20):
I'm gonna go with Marvin Gaye pride and joy, and
every time I hear this song I'mgonna try not to get emotional,
but I don't know what's gonnahappen.
I think of my dad and I thinkof my dad and my mom.
So we were at a family reunionand my dad, we didn't know this.

(44:41):
They were like now it's timefor the talent portion.
My dad's like oh, by the way, Iwrote us down like we're gonna
get up and we're gonna have atalent.
And I'm like Like what talentdo we all have?
We're gonna sing this song.

(45:04):
Like other branches of familythey can sing, and I mean
professionally.
We skip this branch alltogether Can't do it, can't even
mom really good.
So they play this song.
And my dad was like lip sync,and you know he loves his song.
So we, so we're proud and joy,and then we're doing some moves,
which is just amazing.
It's amazing that we're in sync.

(45:28):
We're doing the Pride and joywhere together and my dad is
doing the Marvin Gaye Lee andlike what is happening right now
?
What is?
But he never told us we weregonna do it because he knew we
would have been like no, and so,like everybody's script, it was
only on the fly.
It was solely like hey that'samazing.

(45:51):
Let's get there early so we can,you know, watch, you know, get
good seats or whatever.
Because it was like at thislittle like this restaurant or
whatever, I'm not get thereearly, it's family who even
cares.
So we were there and we werewatching people like get
themselves together and they're,you know, got all this stuff
they're gonna do.
And when they start callingpeople and my dad turned us and

(46:14):
this was right before theycalled us he says hey, I signed
this up.
They're gonna call us.
And what about the time?
We're like what are we gonna do?
But they called us and my dad'slike come on, come on, he gets
up.
And what are you doing?
They like go, you know, it'sjust like, you know.

(46:35):
And he's like pride and we'rejust in it.
My mom's singing, my mom is sonot this person, you know, she's
just not and we're.
But we're just like get up, doit.
And for some reason I remembermy dad Really concerned about
what we were wearing.
He was like let's kind of matchalong.
Why don't we match?

(46:57):
Like?
Because he knew we have to getup and sing and how it's gonna
look.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
He was setting it up from the beginning.

Speaker 5 (47:09):
My mom always.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
It wasn't adorable at the time, kelly, to but my mom
he's an scheming to have you alldo this like fun thing.

Speaker 5 (47:18):
And it was so fun and my mom always, my dad, always
up to things, just he was alwayshad these.
I did like let's do this, let'stry this, and my mom was like,
oh, oh, my dad's a really, oh,really, and it, she'll do it.
So After we finish, everybodywas clapping and I was like what

(47:39):
just happened?
This is that song.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
That's, that's awesome.
Let's take a listen.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
And it's called pride and joy, which just you know
like he's great, I have hispride and joy, like show off
with him with.
How do you feel listening to itnow?

Speaker 5 (48:33):
I'm mixing you on a like I miss my dad so much every
day.
I'm gonna go mess with mysister and see if she remembers
this like I do.
But it makes me One proud tohave grown up in the family that
I did, with the parents, that Idid, and I try to live my life

(48:54):
where I will still be there,pride and joy.
My dad's past and, you know, mymother's older, but even
Regardless I try to.
My ethos is to forever Be theirdaughter and to be their pride
and joy, whether they can see meor not.
And so every decision I make Ithink, okay, well, my parents,

(49:17):
they have to go to church.
Would they be ashamed to Set upand say, hey, juice doing my
mom would never stand up, butstill I tried to.
That that's just a marker in mylife that I try to to balance
things with To all, because mydad has said some things to me

(49:37):
where he was like I'm very proudof who you've become.
And For any daughter if you have, you know, daughter so I don't
know about sons but fordaughters to get that from your
father, it, it made me and I gotit at several points in my life

(50:00):
when my dad could have, likeshut down my imagination.
He could have, you know, heshut it down in terms of film
school.
I think I would have been great, but still, he, he really
encouraged me and he always letme know I was loved and I
because I was a different kid,like I wasn't, I Was singing

(50:21):
outside, I was, you know, I wasjust different and I can
appreciate that.
But he always said or showed meI was as bright and joy.
So moves that I make, I try tolive by that.
You know I really do.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
Yeah, that's so.
That's so great.
It's a great to hear Um and andand, uh, I mean I have a
daughter and uh, I'm a father,so I I'm certainly taking, you
know, mental notes, but also, um, you know, not not everyone Is

(51:01):
is in, is in that position, youknow, um, that, uh, that that
that feels sort of thatreciprocal nature of of um, of
Not just appreciation butsupport and just understanding,
and and and um, and the factthat you got to you know
experience that and you stillremember them.
You know he's like you said,you still are our Duke.

(51:22):
The decisions that you'remaking and the actions that you,
that you take, you still have,you know, both your parents or
dad on in the back of your mind.
Um, so, yeah, that's reallygood to hear.
Yeah, thank, you for sharingthat.

Speaker 3 (51:36):
Yeah, yeah, thank you for sharing like what a
beautiful, beautiful memory.

Speaker 5 (51:41):
Pairings are important.
I I don't think they One.
They get the the respect.
You know it's always we look atthe parents and something goes
wrong.
But for me in my life what Ineeded, the parents that I
needed.
I had, because I couldn't haveparents that were like don't do
this, don't do that.
They had to like Almost, let mefail at things Like my mom

(52:04):
would be like okay.
It would either be a horribledisaster and she'd be like now.
You knew that, what you know andmy dad would be like well, just
try it, because I had a lot ofanxiety growing up, uh, but
theater helped me deal with that, because I was afraid of making

(52:26):
a mistake or, you know, gettingin front of people and not
being able to speak, um, which Iknow you're like what, but yeah
, I was like you know, if youcan imagine it, and my dad to
deal with the exact.
I was just a ball of anxiety, uh, growing up because it just
felt everything felt uncertain,like, oh, should I do that?

(52:48):
Oh, and instead of like once Iwas inside thinking about going
outside, I was like, oh, I couldgo outside, I could play with
so-and-so, or I could ride mybike or maybe I could, and my
dad literally Open the door andpush me outside, because I'm the
type of person I will sit andthink and think in scenario in

(53:11):
scenario and that's how I kindof learned to swim.
We were on this high divingboard.
I have a ton of that stories.
I was on this high diving boardand you know, back in like the
80s it wasn't you know, it wasjust kind of like everybody
jumping in.
I mean, I made it, that's thething.

(53:31):
But I was so afraid I got tothe end and I was like whoa,
because it was 12 feet, and Iwas like eight, like Maybe
that's a great idea.
It's very hot.
Thank you, karen, it's hot.
And my dad, I remember himwalking around the fence going
jump in, jump in.
I was like Uh-uh, this is toohigh, I'm too little and it's

(53:54):
too far, I don't know.
But he picked me up and hethrew me in, and so I'm not the
greatest swimmer, you know, butI just remember in my life a lot
of points my dad would just sayjumping, and it's gonna be okay
, uh which which works for me.

(54:20):
It works for me so you know, and, and my parents Parented me the
way I should have been parented, so it's different for ever
again.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
Yeah yeah, yeah, no, I like that in a sense of like
talking about the anxiety of youknow, we we tend to Be so
fearful of failure, right, oh,that it keeps us from doing
stuff, and the way when, whenyou were describing what your
dad would do and and things likethat, it's it's almost like he

(54:54):
was showing you that, like, ifyou go do it and you fail, it's
actually not that big a deal.
You just got to get out thereand and do it, in a sense, right
.
And so it's that thing of beinga parent and knowing when to
give that little bit of a pushwhen you know you know it's
gonna be okay versus Okay, no, Idon't want to push you too hard

(55:15):
to, like you know, push youover the edge or something like
that.
And yeah, yeah, I like that.

Speaker 5 (55:21):
I just couldn't be like Forced.
You know what I mean.
Like for me.
I'm not a person who respondswell to like you better and it's
I need people to guide and tosay it's up to you, but you know
why not, and that's kind of howmy parents, like I, never grew

(55:43):
up with a curfew because myparents knew me.
I'm coming home Like I don'twant to be far away.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
Right right.

Speaker 5 (55:54):
I didn't, they didn't have to in.
My dad would always say I don'thave to tell you what, the way
she knows, like I never worethings that were just.
You know.
I'm saying like my parents knewme enough to say I don't have
to give her these stringentrules, I don't have to force her
to do.
What they did have to force meto do was to Open my mind and

(56:19):
try things.
You know.
They mean like in terms of, ifI read something, I say, oh,
this, I would like to try this.
Well, and I would start listingreasons why I couldn't.
Their answer was well, yes, youcan and I'll take you.
That's fine.
It's not even.
Or kiss the boss at home, orlike that.

Speaker 3 (56:37):
You does that make sense when I'm saying yeah it
does, and sometimes, whenparents Kind of kind of give you
the space to make that decision, it can also feel a little bit
like and if you mess up, we gotyou like.
Because you know, sometimesparents can, they've got their
own fears that they sort of likeproject onto their kids and
like well, if this goes wrong,like X, yz of horrific things

(57:00):
are, and so then as the kidyou're like well, then you know.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
Abort mission, like you know, right, no.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
But if you kind of, if they model for you this, this
, you know, hey, just try itlike it's okay, it can make you
feel like all right, well, if Ifail which you will, and and you
know multiple points in lifelike it seems like they're gonna
be okay with it and they gotyou and and there you're like
safe home base right.

Speaker 5 (57:26):
And also Carolina and I, which I'm I'm so much in
agreement that I'm gettingchills.
But it's like you feel likethey got you and my parents
talked to me.
They didn't talk at me, theydiscussed things with me.

(57:46):
It was like college and youknow, I knew I was going, my
mother had gone to college, soyou know my sister always talked
about it, but I didn't really Iwas like college.
You know.
I mean college to me was I usedto watch a different world.
All the times I thought that'swhat college is like.
After 30 minutes you know we'dhave a problem, and then it fits

(58:08):
and then we'll we resolve itRight.
So because I, I almost myimagination does not turn off.
It's never turned off, it'snever stopped, it's never paused
, it's never, it's always going.
And sometimes there's like alive track which I yeah, it just

(58:29):
is so.
But my parents will talk to melike, do that's not how stuff
works, like that's not you know.
So you know, go places andpeople clap.
You know, you know things likethat they would have.

Speaker 3 (58:45):
There's no live audience.

Speaker 5 (58:48):
That's Like.
I grew up on facts of life, soyou know facts of life and then
they like turn away, like yes.
Oh.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
Oh my god, that's amazing.

Speaker 5 (59:06):
And I would like do that.
If I do, it would be like whyare you turning away?
You think, oh point.
And so, yeah, my parentsAnchored me, brought me back
down.
We had a conversation.
I still do that.
Sometimes my sister tells me Ithink.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
You're like I'm waiting for the applause like
where's my?
I'm my live studio audience.

Speaker 5 (59:34):
When I worked as a prosecutor and we were in staff
meeting and I told them I didthis beautiful soliloquy, it
just was, you know, which I doall the time.
And I told them I said you know, let me just stop right here.
After I say these things, Iexpect an applause.
And they looked at each otherlike Is she for real?

(59:55):
I was like I, I do expect that.
And one of my co-workers who Ilove, south grair, if he ever
watches this, thank you.
He went.

Speaker 4 (01:00:06):
Nice, there you go.
So I do.
That's who you want.
You don't have to do it.

Speaker 5 (01:00:12):
I'm just saying.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
I don't know where that went or where that came
from.

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
Yeah, that applause you.
I love that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:21):
I love it, love it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:22):
Oh, my goodness, um oh, june, we could talk to you
forever, but we got let's, let'sfinish out your questions here,
because really you're like.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
Right, let's just go on and chat.
Right, maybe we split it upinto two episodes if we need,
but we don't want to lose thegood content.

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
Right, we're gonna go , we're gonna roll Um you've
done a lot, june, like you've,you've been a super busy bee
throughout your life.
Um, what's a song thatsometimes, just like, really
connects you to, to an activitythat that you might have done
could be a book, a location, atrip, something.
What's that song for you?

Speaker 5 (01:01:01):
Carolina, I really want and, by the way, I love
your name.
Everybody I know that has thename caroline, carolina care,
like they've been so importantin my life, like one of my Aww.
In in my, in my movie, the momis played by caroline, who I
absolutely love.
Um, so that's why I'm likecarolina, I'm supposed to be

(01:01:23):
here.
Um, uh, I'm gonna say laurenhill, everything is everything,
and it is because it's severalpoints of my.
First of all, I'm a lauren hillfan.
I feel like I will work wellwith her If she's watching this
at any point in her life.

(01:01:44):
Contact me.
If you just want to talk, we'llgo get coffee or where I'll fly
to wherever you are in theworld, um, but I'm gonna say
that.
Um, but I was in, uh, I wasstudying abroad when I was in a
senior Fourth year in college,and you know you really aren't

(01:02:07):
supposed to study abroad yourlast year of college because
you're getting ready and allthis kind of stuff.
But I had to go to thepresident of the college and ask
him for permission to leave andoh, yeah, because you, you
can't.
I left in the um Springsemester and I graduated in the
spring.
So when I came back.

(01:02:28):
Uh, they just had one of myfriends had my robe.
Like I got back the day ofgraduation, uh, because I just
got it.
You know, college to me waskind of my own deal, like I made
it what I want and I wanted tobe abroad at that point.
Um, so I went to college inMinnesota it's an important
thing I had.

(01:02:49):
Um, so I went to Ghana, westAfrica, to study the slave trail
.
Uh, there, which is super heavy, like I'm like let's study this
right.
Yeah, it was super heavy to doand I didn't realize the
emotional toll that would take.

(01:03:09):
So I found Kendra's spirits inthis remote village named
Commenda and I connected withthe homestay family and we kept
in touch for years and years andyears.
So I had to leave.
They cried and I cried.
They were like come back to usand I was like okay, but so in

(01:03:32):
this program they give you much.
I don't even know if they dothis anymore.
They give you a lot of moneyand they tell you now go live in
Ghana and come back and tell uswhat you learned.
So you get a move where youjust live on your own.
They're like good luck, theydon't help you get a place.
They don't help with any ofthat.
So I decided to do a play callWelcome Home, and I just

(01:04:05):
remember that, oh my God, theplay was so horrible.

Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
Anyway, you see, it don't you.
You've been meant for thestorytelling.
You see it right, it just keepspopping up.

Speaker 5 (01:04:14):
Oh my gosh yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
I'm on my path now.

Speaker 5 (01:04:18):
So I had to go back to the village, but you know I
didn't.
You know there's no Uber kids,or you know kids don't
understand.
It was just like.
You know, wasn't all this phoneand all that for?

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
the young people who are watching.

Speaker 5 (01:04:35):
So I went to like this taxi stand and I asked this
guy hey, if I give you somemoney, will you take me to
Commender, which was?
I was in a car and Commender'slike three hours away, and he
looked at me and he was like,okay, so he was around like my

(01:04:57):
age, so it's me and him in thistaxi, low car, and we just I was
like let's get something to eat.
So we got like some food frominside the road and I gave him
some money and we drove forthree hours and we were playing
Lauryn Hill.
Lauryn Hill it was a tape atthat point, but CD, yeah, it was

(01:05:21):
a tape, if you can remembertape, take it out and turn it
over and put it back.
Yeah, others, the B side, whichis still good, and I remember
driving by the coastline becausewe had to go through Cape Coast
and so it was a cry.
I came close to the commandowas on the end.

(01:05:41):
And then I remember this song,everything is everything.
And this guy didn't know me andhe didn't speak that much
English.
So you know, I just you knowI'm kind of motioning and you
know all this kind of stuff.
But when I put on the music Iwas like pointing to the radio.

(01:06:02):
He was like okay.
And then I put in the music, hewas like, oh, hip hop.
And I was like let's go.
And we, yeah, and that's amoment in time where I'm just
like every kid's going to beokay, what will be will be.

Speaker 1 (01:06:21):
Let's take a listen.

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
All right back in that cabin Ghana.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:07:13):
To lock my hair.
To lock my hair is a lock.
You can't see it good.
But that also was a pivotalpoint, because Lauren was so
gorgeous and I was like oh, andeverybody's like no, you're
going to be a lawyer, you'regoing to be in corporate America
.
What are you doing?
And I said everything.
I didn't say everything, but inmy mind I didn't ever say that,

(01:07:33):
but in my mind I'm like no, I'mgoing to be my authentic self.
And I've never had a problem injobs and you know all that other
stuff.
So that was a good thing,lauren, if you're watching, girl
, I lock my hair because of you.
I still got them, you cut yours, but that's fine.

(01:07:53):
And also, yeah, I drove toremote village in West Africa.

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
Wow, yeah, I love it that she's going on tour again
just because Lauren Hill to mehas one of the most just
beautiful voices.

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
It's so beautiful I'm going.
I don't care what time she getsthere.

Speaker 5 (01:08:23):
I have to take off work the next day.
Whatever I'm going to go, Ijust feel like that project that
she did is such a moment intime Like I remember where I was
, what I was doing, and to me itwasn't the old hip hop because

(01:08:44):
I, like, I love hip hop, right,but Okay, I couldn't do the
gangster rap, I couldn't listento that, because what I mean, I
don't live.
I didn't live that life, likeyou know, shoot what, like no.
I didn't live the super wealthybling, all that kind of stuff
Like no, you know.
So where do I fall in love?
Where do I fall in this?

(01:09:05):
I love the music, but where is?
My story within this genre.
Where is it?

Speaker 1 (01:09:11):
I couldn't find myself anymore.

Speaker 5 (01:09:13):
So I stopped listening to rap for years.
My sister loved it, but Istarted listening to and it's
you know, I started listening tolike enigma and you know stuff
like like that, without words,because that's where I was Like
you know I was going into adiscipline when everyone talked

(01:09:34):
all the time.
So in my music I didn't reallywant to hear a bunch of talking,
I just wanted to hear soundLike just just give me music
yeah.
My mind's resting that.
So, but in this moment I tunedback into it because after
Lauren Hill, there were a lot ofBahamida, there were a lot of

(01:09:58):
rap, female rappers that cameout and were just storytellers,
you know, and I'm tuned outagain because now a lot of
female rappers are more sexualand things like that, and that's
also not me.
So you know, it goes in waves,but I try to, and the reason why
I'll always be a Lauren Hillfan is because she taps into her

(01:10:22):
personal story and she bringsyou along in this journey
lyrically, and so I'm, I'm forthat.
Like she's not, like I got abunch of cars and I, you know, I
don't have a bunch of cars.
You know, I have one highperformance vehicle, that is it.
And for me, I think that, um,yeah, I'll always be a fan of

(01:10:50):
hers and I'll always find myselfin her music.

Speaker 1 (01:10:53):
Mm, hmm, oh, david.

Speaker 3 (01:10:57):
You're muted.

Speaker 2 (01:10:59):
Uh yeah, back in who you know, you're muted.
We had to get one of thoseright back to the pandemic time
when everybody was on zoom andmeetings and stuff.
Anyway, um, uh yeah, no, I, I,I appreciate the way you
described Lauren Hill's musicand sort of placing it in the

(01:11:21):
larger.
You know we're in the, you know50 year anniversary of hip hop
and things like that, and so youknow, just just hearing how it
fit for you and how you sawyourself fitting into the genre
and what spoke to you, um, thatwas cool, I like that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:11:42):
It's exactly right too.
I mean, I think you knowthere's obviously there's so
many different um, there's somany different artists that are
out there and and and and.
But you're right that we, Ithink we, we relate to different
artists In different ways, andand and um, kind of you know
what they, what they talk about,what, what, um, what they're

(01:12:03):
about, what the persona is, whatthe lyrical content is, what,
what the music is.
And yeah, I think Lauren Hillfits you to a T, you know from a
, from a listener, you knowperspective, um, it's like it's
chill, it's, it's melodic, it's,it's um, it's introspective,
it's deep, it's real, um, youknow it's huge.

(01:12:25):
It's about how we really feel,how she's really feeling, um and
uh.
Yeah, there's definitely noflash, no, no bling, uh to be
had and uh.
But but a lot of realness, alot of pain.
I remember some pain in some ofher songs too.

Speaker 5 (01:12:46):
Yeah, and I think that's what I feel most sad
about for like my niece'sgeneration, is that there's the,
the artists that are beingpushed, because I try to find
different artists for them tolisten to that are that are not
so much with things with.
I got this.

(01:13:07):
I got the body, I got the hair,I got the lash, I got you know
all this, but they're like thisis what I'm going through, and
it might suck today and it mightbe this, but this is what it is
.
That's the timeless music thatI want them to gravitate toward.
That's the concert you'll standup for you.
If you don't have seats, likeI'll just stand here.

(01:13:27):
I'll just listen, because to methat that's how you get a
marker.
There's songs that you're in aclub or whatever.
It's going to move the crowd,but it's not going to move you
spiritually.
To remember this, you know it'sit, you're.
Those are the artists to methat are timeless.

(01:13:49):
That's why they can be 50 or 60years old and people will come
to see you.
They will get a large chair andsit out there in the heat and
let you do what you do, becauseyou've moved me.
I remember where.
I was you know, you know what Imean.
That's, that's what I loveabout you know, music and about,

(01:14:10):
you know, some of the newerartists.
Some of them are good, you know.
But I like there's an artist,laura Mubala, that I didn't put
on there.
There's so many I was going toput on there, but she to me, is
like I love Nina Simone andshe's my Nina Simone, so I like
follow her career and she, to me, just sings from her heart,

(01:14:32):
from a place, and it's not allsad, it's just some things.
And I'm like, yeah, you, I cantell you wrote this and it
wasn't like he or sing this, youknow.
And that, that, not only itchallenges me to be that type of
creative, whereas I could justdial it in like, oh, I just put

(01:14:54):
this here.
It should be a love story, itshould be.
No, I want to writeauthentically and listen when my
character speak to me, mycharacters.
They do speak to me, which Itell people.
I don't know how I explain it,except I have conversation with
people that aren't there, youknow.
But you know, that's how mycreativity comes to me.
But in me doing that and mebeing authentic that way, I feel

(01:15:19):
like this these stories willlive with people and that's what
I want.
I want you to be able to watchthem with your family and your
mom and your dad and not be like, okay, let's fast forward this
part, but, you know, stay in.
Stay in the story, stay in itand meet these characters and
see how you feel about them andin the backdrop of your life.

Speaker 4 (01:15:44):
So it sounds like that's the difference.
I think we're on the same pagewhen we look at there's
entertainers and then there'sartists, right Right, and
there's two different things.
And I think, like, for example,like Lauren Hill is definitely
she's in the artist category,right, she epitomizes an artist

(01:16:05):
and then you know there's otherfolks that are great
entertainers, but it's moreabout the production and the
show and the glam and the glitzand everything.
But it's entertainment.
It's not really artistry.
Not that there's anything wrongand not to take anything away
from it, but I think there's atime and place for both, Right.

Speaker 3 (01:16:29):
Well, I think I think as a genre there's, there's
still sort of a, a figuring outof sorts of where, you know,
female artists fit within thegenre, right, when you look at
artists like like Lauren Hill orlike Queen Latifa, all the way
to like Missy Elliott, likegifted storytellers, and then

(01:16:49):
the differences between the moreentertainers show, I mean, it's
a business at the end of theday, right, people are trying to
sell albums, sell records andsell but I.
I feel like.
I feel like in hip hop, womenare still trying to figure out
how to be those breakthroughstoryteller artists, and I think

(01:17:10):
there's still too few of themthat we know about.

Speaker 5 (01:17:13):
Right, and I I have a funny Queen Latifa story and I
I was going to tell it very it'squick.
I went to see Queen Latifa.
She was touring with Common andthey were at the Wolf Sheva and
so I'd never seen Common liveor anything like that.
And he is amazing.
Let me just say, if you ever,if he's ever on any bill, just

(01:17:36):
sit there and he's just, he's anentertainer and an artist, he's
both.
But I was there to see QueenLatifa.
I was like this is great Common.
But by the time he finished Iwas in tears because he did
Gloria at the end.
You know the ghost of the Selmasoundtrack.
I was like glory, glory, youknow all this.
And so at the end, it was Queen.

(01:17:59):
Latifa.
Now, I went to hear you and itwhy that is the sole reason I
went.
But I forgot she does jazz, soshe started with the jazz.
She didn't like Chicago and shewas like give it a big fuck.
What is happening?
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:18:19):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (01:18:20):
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know what is
happening.
So I will say this if you're ahip hop artist and you're a
female, you've got to be, andthat's, I think, her staying
power To me.
You have to be flexible, youhave to do a lot of, because
there are people who are waitingto see her, that wanted to hear
the jazz, that wanted to hear,you know, Chicago, that wanted

(01:18:42):
to hear.
So she had all these differentfans and it was an eclectic
bunch of people.
So because I was like, is shenot going to do you and I T1?
Because you know she has to dothat.
If you see this is the point forthis purpose and she did do it.

(01:19:02):
But by the time she got to itwas such a beautiful,
beautifully orchestrated moment.
By the time she got to it wewere all kind of together Like
you didn't know what she wasgoing to do next.
And so I think, you have to havebe true to yourself but have a
have a skill at changing andgetting into different flavors.

(01:19:22):
I don't think you can just be aone track.
I don't know, I'm not amusician, but I don't think you
can be just a one track.
Pony doing hip hop, I reallydon't think, because there were
people who were like, oh, shedoes rap and I'm like see, but
it's rap.
But they knew, like Dana Owensand her jazz stuff, you know

(01:19:47):
because she has a couple ofalbums with that.
So, but you're right, kelly, andI agree with you.
I think it's.
It's always changing to.
For me now it's just too sexual, it's just too more of one
thing.
And I think that's going todamage the self-esteem of young
girls who, if they're like 11and you're trying to do lashes

(01:20:10):
and all this kind of stuff, likeit's a problem.
So I'm old school R&B.
I'm an R&B and hip hop rightnow and, of course, pop music,
because I listen to that all thetime and my nieces hate it, but
I still do it.
But I think that you still haveto find your place as a great

(01:20:33):
rapper.
Her name is Chica.
She does really good.
I'm not a huge fan because Idon't listen to all of her stuff
, but I like some of her stuff.
She's very adapted storytellingand I think that's what's
missing.
People are afraid to sharetheir stories, but that's where
you get the connection.
That's the point.

Speaker 2 (01:20:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:20:56):
Share the story.

Speaker 3 (01:21:00):
I think you make a fantastic segue into our next
song, which is, which is justlike gifted storytelling and the
writing of some of these things, and it's kind of a song for
part B, because you had anotherartist in the notes you
submitted to us and it was.
It was an alternative song.
Do you remember what you putdown?
Also tied to an activity?

(01:21:23):
It was a Lannis Mortis set.

Speaker 5 (01:21:26):
Oh yes, oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (01:21:28):
Yeah, we'll do it.
We'll do it.
A part B, the other side of thetape.

Speaker 2 (01:21:35):
That's right.
We're going to flip the tapeover Yep.

Speaker 5 (01:21:39):
So a Lannis Mortis set, which I completely forgot.
So thank you for reminding meAnytime I hear, isn't it our
first of all, a Lannis Mortisset rule the nineties, in that
that era would jagged littlepill, like if you didn't know.
Jagged little bit if you can'tremember where you were when
everybody decided we're angry,we're going to wear it's kind of

(01:22:02):
like a top from the gap andsome regular cargo pants and
that's it.
Then I don't know how old youare, but you're not my age and
like a neck cap and we're good.
So when I heard this song, firstof all, this was my freshman
year at college and away fromhome, I went to college with my

(01:22:26):
sister, who's a year ahead of me, and but it was also like going
to college by myself becauseshe would be like leave me alone
.
And then I went to see her forlike a couple weeks.
So I went to the Sabus AdolphusCollege it's the same Peter
Minnesota, very small liberalarts Lutheran College.
And so I'm coming from Memphis,tennessee, and now I'm in St

(01:22:50):
Peter and it's the totalopposite of everything Midwest,
oh yeah.
Midwest syrupy sweet Midwest.

Speaker 3 (01:22:59):
Cold freezing.

Speaker 5 (01:23:00):
you know, and it's you know, my, my first semester.
They closed school for, I think, two days because they were
like don't come outside, it'sjust too cold.
And I said where am I, whoa,and why am I here?

Speaker 2 (01:23:16):
What did I just do?

Speaker 5 (01:23:18):
What did I just do?
You know why.
But my so my choices afterfreshman year were to come back
to Memphis and, like my mom toldme she always would say this to
me like, just kind of come backand get back in your life,

(01:23:39):
which would make my bed, likeyou know, work somewhere for a
couple months, then go back.
And I said early on, I'm notcoming home, I've moved away and
I'm going to live away.
So I got a internship withinroads and they put me at the
same Paul companies, then thesame, I think it's like

(01:24:00):
travelers now, and I had to likeinterview for it and all this
kind of stuff competitive, supercompetitive for some internship
.
But I had to like find a placeto live.
It was a very adult time in mylife where it was like what is
the stuff you're made of?
Are you just going to go backhome?
Because, you're tired of tryingto figure it out.

(01:24:20):
Are you going to figure it out?
So I found a place to live.
I lived on the college of StCatherine's by my.
It was the first time I everlived by myself.
I had a job.
I had to get to work.
I had to take two buses to inthe Twin Cities because it was
actually in St Paul and it wasin Bloomington.

(01:24:41):
So it was outside of St Pauland I was so proud of myself
because I would run out of moneyand not tell my mom.
I would just wait till I gotpaid.
I would just like eat thingsout of the vending machines and
I would like to apologize to thepeople at St Paul companies on
the third floor.

(01:25:01):
You're in Bloomington.
Yes, I ate your lunch.
Yes, I did, because I wasstarving.
I didn't know how to budget mymoney, so I would sneak.
I worked on the second floor,but I would go to the third and
fourth floors to eat your lunch,whoever you are.
Who had those Linguine lizards?

(01:25:22):
I ate them.
I apologize.
One time I tried to put it back, but again I got hungry and I
went back and got it.
So I apologize, I ate it.
Oh my goodness, it sustained me, and I did also drink a soda in
there, and I didn't even likeit because it was diet, but I

(01:25:43):
was just hungry.

Speaker 2 (01:25:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:25:48):
So this song reminds me of the time where I decided
to live as an adult not liketaking people's stuff.
But I will be honest, I'm onlysorry because people think of it
as silly, I think of it ascommunal.
If you put something in a workfridge, come on.

(01:26:11):
That's how I feel, cause I'vehad people take things from me
and I'm like that's part of thegame, that's how it goes.

Speaker 2 (01:26:19):
Don't put it in there .
If you don't want it, don't putit in there.
I just love the.
You know, we tend to alwaysthink if someone takes your food
in the communal fridge it'sjust someone being an asshole or
something like that.
I love the way you explained it, cause if, like now, I'm just
always going to assume thatsomeone, someone needed the food
, right Someone, and like that,just changes the view of it so

(01:26:43):
much.

Speaker 1 (01:26:43):
Right, like hey, I'm glad my food could keep you
going?

Speaker 5 (01:26:48):
And if I I'm looking at this way, if I said, david, I
am so hungry I have like 50cents until Friday and today is
Tuesday, all I have is a buspass, 50 cents and a go get it
attitude.
May I have your lean cuisine inthe refrigerator.

Speaker 2 (01:27:07):
I'm going to go get your lunch.

Speaker 3 (01:27:09):
Me like take, take, take take everything, take it.
Yeah, and that's not a go.
If I knew there was like acollege intern, hungry, take it.

Speaker 5 (01:27:17):
Let me tell you something I was starving, and I
still remember how hungry I was.
I got like weak because I wasthat hungry, because I didn't.
I couldn't figure out how tolike get my groceries and make
it last, and you know that'ssomething you're figuring out as
a young adult, young adults.
I get it.
You're starving, you're hungry,I get it.

(01:27:39):
The point is, thankfullythere's some people who decide
to bring a bunch of linguinesand put them in a freezer, and I
felt like this is God helpingme.
I can't put it on God, though,because you know I didn't ask
that part.
I guess it was wrong, but itsustained me, and when I I

(01:28:01):
interned I'm not just trying tothrow this out there, but when I
was in DC, I interned at theWhite House and the best thing
they had was sack lunches in therefrigerator for interns.
I don't know if they still doit, but by God you still need to
, because, interns, you'restarving.

Speaker 2 (01:28:19):
They don't have enough money.
Yes, yes.

Speaker 5 (01:28:23):
This song reminds me of that Absolutely.
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:28:26):
Let's listen.

Speaker 3 (01:28:27):
Let's take a listen, write that down, feed your
interns.

Speaker 5 (01:28:30):
Feed your interns, All right here we go.

Speaker 2 (01:28:32):
Alanis Morcette ironic, I got it as a knife.
It's meeting the man of mydreams.

Speaker 1 (01:28:40):
And then meeting his beautiful wife and finishing it
ironic, Don't you think?
A little too ironic?
And yeah, I really do thinkit's like writing On your
running day.

(01:29:00):
It's a free ride On youralready paid.

Speaker 3 (01:29:06):
it's a good advice, such a dumb day to take, and who
would have thought it's bigger.
I can't think of a more perfectsong for like adulthood and
just it was so many.

Speaker 5 (01:29:26):
I'm running irony yes , because my mom told me to
video for that song.
It was her in a car talking toherself.

Speaker 2 (01:29:35):
Yeah, like driving yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:29:38):
Right, she was so great, she's all the different
people.

Speaker 5 (01:29:41):
Yeah, and then at the end the car either just stops
or run out of gas and she's, andI'm like, perfect.
It's ironic.

Speaker 4 (01:29:49):
It's ironic, it's ironic yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:29:53):
And I want Alanis Morcette when she watches this
podcast, because I believe thisis a very wonderful idea and
concept and you all work welltogether, which is another thing
that you really need I believethat she you're welcome when she
watches this.
Alanis, stop being upset thatthat was your biggest

(01:30:17):
blockbuster album, whatever.
Like you know, I don't want youto feel like, oh, I need to
make another one.
Or let me tell you somethingthat album has ushered a lot of
people into adulthood.
We were angry oh yes, weweren't watching Sandy Morning
Cartoon anymore and all of thetechnology started changing

(01:30:40):
really, really fast.
It was email, it was you know,facts, it was all this stuff
with in my generation.
But we entered into theworkforce.
It was like email, we ain'tdoing that anymore, we're doing
it.
Scan, we're doing it.
It was just boom, boom, boom,yeah.
And you became at least for me,I became like well, is this a
dump truck?

(01:31:00):
I thought it was fun, I thoughtit was hanging out, you know
this is what I've been hopingfor.

Speaker 2 (01:31:07):
Wanting to grow up for this, right, right.

Speaker 3 (01:31:10):
And you began to live .

Speaker 5 (01:31:11):
Exactly Real life hits you in the face.
Actually it probably punchedyou on the nose, but you know,
whatever, and to me, if she goesaround and tours on this, it's
going to start like I'm going,I'm going twice.
So tour with this, do somet-shirts, because I love

(01:31:34):
t-shirts, and don't be upsetLike, don't feel like, oh, I'm
going to hear wonder.
This album is a time capsulethat I bought this CD so many
times because all the songs areawesome which is so rare.
for music.
Usually it's number three,number five, maybe number seven.

(01:31:55):
I don't know why I want to CD,but yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:31:59):
It's just those.

Speaker 5 (01:32:00):
I don't know what happens, but with this Aladis,
if you're watching, please tour.
Thank you, I just want to saythat I'm going to speak into
this music video Again.

Speaker 4 (01:32:16):
I'm thinking I wonder if some of your screenwriting
and cinematic interests werealso starting to brew around
that time.

Speaker 5 (01:32:26):
Yeah, I was so.

Speaker 4 (01:32:29):
Because you remember parts of that video that I don't
remember at all.
I remember her, you know, likethe multiple personality thing
in the car, and I remember hersmiling because the video before
that this was, it was all Likethe angry stuff.
I think the other single wasthe you ought to know.

Speaker 5 (01:32:46):
You ought to know, yeah that was real and I don't
know why it was so angry, but itwas still.
I don't know.
It's a great breakup song, butit's not a lot of great breakup
songs that don't even violence.
But I, I was attempting towrite, but I would always put it

(01:33:08):
down.
So at this point I was moreinto acting, because I didn't
think people would want to hearmy stories.
So I Was like in differentthings in college and stuff like
that, and when I would get itThey'd like you agree, you
should write?
And I'm like no, no.
And this is the point where Ireally realized that Creativity

(01:33:33):
is a gift and not everyone hasit.
There are some people who don'thave an imagination, and it's
not bad.
I'm not saying like oh, it'scan't, but there are some people
who just don't have that.
They can't make a story up.
They can't, you know sure theycan't make a thing.
You know they can't sit andthink, oh what, I'll do a

(01:33:56):
podcast and I'll have this andI'll do like some people can't
do that.
And so I actually had aprofessor to tell me this is a
gift, so don't take it lightly,it's not going to run out, it's
not going to.
You know, you don't shake it in.
Oh, you did three things.
It's over, it's always in you,but don't treat it with that.

(01:34:19):
It's not something you shouldprotect and something that you
should be careful with.
If that makes sense.
Sure, you know.
Yeah, I learned that duringthis time in college because I
would do different.
You know little studentproductions.
You know student productions.
It's like be angry.

(01:34:40):
You know we're just bad, butit's a part of college.
You have to just rage againstsomething.
I don't know anything.
But the machine yes, and justyour, your place in the world,
right, Because in 20, you got itall figured out.

(01:35:02):
I'm going to do this.
This is what it is Wellactually about.
18 is like I know everything,and as you progress it's like
how it says you start gettinginto the muck and mire of
emotional choices and decisionsand you really start losing some
of that night, Timothy, andsome of that.

Speaker 1 (01:35:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:35:25):
You full joy that you used to have at not knowing
things, at not knowing how thesoft?
Is made In part of your life.
But now the bills come in yourname.
You know you're getting intoserious endeavors of marriage
kids and it's getting real.
It's getting real.

Speaker 2 (01:35:47):
Yeah, yeah.
And so, when you were, whenyou're younger, you don't ever
think should I, should I bespending my time playing drums
or writing music or writingscreenplays?
But you know, as an adult,you're like oh, you know, I need
to put my time here, I need todo this, I need to do that and

(01:36:07):
yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:36:08):
I need to make some money.
That's usually you, you shiftfrom you know it'll be OK to
when it's payday, Like you kindof you.
For me it went from this ohit'll be all right, like you
know, I can get some food as arefrigerator to why don't I have

(01:36:31):
enough money?
So it's almost kind of like asad point too, because I think
for me I'm a spiritual person,so my lens is God.
I believe God is like he has tolike remind us of the joys of
life.
That's why there's love, that'swhy there's friendship because,
we would be claws, we just belike money, money, money, money,

(01:36:52):
money or cars or you knowwhatever.
So he has to Pivot us so thatwe don't miss the beauty in this
world.
And to me, creatives remind usthat you're not supposed to be
just your job, you're notsupposed to be just someone's
husband or dad, like.

(01:37:13):
You're a person, you're a humanbeing that has something to
create, to contribute, and it'snot.
You're not just a provider, ok,you're not just a.
You're a person, Person thathas many layers.
In those layers give way tohelping, helping other people

(01:37:36):
grow, but not just because ofwhat you do is because of who
you are, and many times I'velost sight of that.
I've, you know, been.
I'm the lawyer, I'm the, but Ido my best work, either if I'm
writing or I'm learning orwhatever, when I remember I'm a
person.
How does this make me feel?

(01:37:59):
How does and it's hard because Iasked my brother-in-law.
So a couple of years ago mymother had a stroke and I moved
back to Tennessee to help her.
I thought she really doesn'tneed my help.
She tells me all the time andwhen I moved from DC I moved
home and I was so.
It's been about two years.

(01:38:19):
So I asked, I was asking mybrother-in-law.
I said, hey, do I seem joy foryou?
Because that's how people wouldremember, like, talk about me.
And I asked him.
I just, it just came up in mymind.
I was like I'm a same joyfuland he said you have to be
joyful for some time.
And I said Uh-oh, well, first.

(01:38:43):
Uh-oh like what?
Yeah, because Life, watching mymother be sick, be sick,
watching my father pass away,watching these life issues, it
drains me of that carefree.
Now I'm like I need to spendmore time.
I need to do this, I need to dothat, I need to have the money

(01:39:04):
to take our own trips, I want todo this and just like that
expands the joy energy that Ihave.
But what brings it back is thisis talking to people, is
connection, is remembering thatI have a voice and I'm not

(01:39:24):
running out of time.
I'm using my time with the bestway.
I know how the best.

Speaker 3 (01:39:34):
Yeah, 100%.
Yeah, we.
All we can do is is the best wecan.
I think I've I've lovedlearning so much about you and
and your story and your range.
You're like just the superinteresting and eclectic person
with all of these gifts andpassions.
It does lead us to our lastsong for you, which is a hard

(01:39:57):
pivot from the other genres andmusic that you that you've, that
you've shared with us, and it'sassociated, actually, with a
perfect moment when everythingjust felt right.
I'm going to preface by sayingthat, as the host, we are dying
to talk to you about this songand where it came from.
So go ahead and just give usthe name, david will play it and

(01:40:18):
then we'll talk about it on theother side of the clip.

Speaker 5 (01:40:20):
So this is Tom with me on this little short journey.
It's Friday, the 13th.
The series, the themes it'sjust the theme song.
So when I was growing up, mymom used to have these things
called girl night.
My dad worked at night and mymom would obviously be home with
us.
It was me, my sister and mybrother was older at the time,

(01:40:43):
so he was out doing I don't evenknow what.
It was gone, so my mom wouldbring him ice cream and she'd be
like girl's night.
She would always say that, andwe would get in her bed and we
would watch these shows thatwere probably too adult.
Not that I look back at it likewhat do we watch it?
But that's the, that's what youdid.
You just you know, whatever.

(01:41:04):
These ratings were more of asuggestion like hey, you
probably should be, you know,whatever.
So this song whenever I hear it, I think about a carefree time
where I was with the women whoshaped me, who I love the most
my sister and my mom.
Yeah, my sister and my momeating ice cream in her bed was.

(01:41:26):
My dad had no idea we wereeating ice cream in the bed and
just enjoying then and gettingscared out of my minds and my
mom going you can sleep in herebecause at that point it's very
scary, and so I was just to me.

(01:41:47):
this is a part of my childhoodwhere everything was fine, like
I didn't have to worry about,you know, stuff like bills,
getting older and all this otherstuff parents getting older,
caregiver none of that was in mymind.
This is June.
This is a young June, justenjoying the present moment of

(01:42:13):
where I was.

Speaker 3 (01:42:14):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:42:15):
Nice, all right, let's take a listen.
And this was such a good findin the sense of like you went
deep with this that we've got topull it up on YouTube because I
couldn't find it on Apple Musicand stuff like that.
So give me a second while Ipull up the screen.
Did we mention the series.

Speaker 3 (01:42:34):
It is the Friday, the 13th series theme song.

Speaker 1 (01:42:39):
Correct so not the movies.

Speaker 3 (01:42:40):
There was a series at one point.
Yeah not the scary movies.

Speaker 5 (01:42:43):
They were very scary.

Speaker 2 (01:42:46):
Yeah, all right, here we go.

Speaker 1 (01:43:20):
I know.

Speaker 2 (01:43:23):
Boy Nice.

Speaker 5 (01:43:25):
Yeah, it's, it's, it's.
When I hear it, I just think ofus all together, smushing
together and my mom going.
It's just a show, because thetheme song even now makes you
like, oh, but, oh my.

Speaker 1 (01:43:38):
God yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:43:40):
Yeah, it's like you know and that's what you watch
and it's like this is crazy, butit's my mom.
It's just that moment wherewe're going to do like girl chat
, we're going to do girl talkand you know, she just listens
to our ridiculous day of tenyear old.
However, I was at that time,that was like 10.
But whatever I was talkingabout, that was so important I

(01:44:00):
had to say, yeah, it's just amoment in my life where I'm just
like everything was great, it'sfun.

Speaker 4 (01:44:10):
So when we first saw that song on the list, we're
like, ok, what?
I think that was the first andand I was trying to you know,
I've, I've, I've, I've yourconnection to the show is
through me.
So I was actually trying to,you know, think if I could maybe
provide some context orbackground.

(01:44:31):
And then we were thinking, well, maybe has something to do with
with with, you know, the worldof cinema and and and, and you
know, sort of exposing ouraudience to maybe like the
horror genre or some inspirationfrom you know, jason, and you
know, and now, completelyironically, it's such a

(01:44:54):
wholesome, it's such a wholesomecontext that we had never,
never expected and and it's socool actually.

Speaker 5 (01:45:04):
I know I wasn't going to put it in love that.

Speaker 1 (01:45:07):
I was like.

Speaker 5 (01:45:08):
I want to be truthful because I'm glad you did.
I'm so glad you do it, I likeif I'm having a like a hard day,
I will listen to just that.
It's on YouTube where it's justa theme song and I was like, oh
, let's just connect to this.
So I will hit it and I willjust be listed to it.

Speaker 3 (01:45:25):
I'm like, ok, all right, the movies I listen to
these are all, yeah, the littlenooks and crannies of our lives
that, like you know, make us whowe are, and all of our just
like yummy little tidbits.
You know I love this stuff.
I'm so glad you included it.

Speaker 5 (01:45:43):
Yeah, and I, my sister, I let her listen to it
too, because she's I live withmy sister and she's like Army
Band, all this stuff.
And she breaks out into a lowgirl's smile Every time I play.
I'm like Adria listen to thisLike she's an Army girl.

(01:46:03):
So she's like yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:46:09):
We both are funny too .
Like we also never know what,what is a girl's night and just
like a time for you to just, youknow, just watch some TV, just
a random Friday night.
Like at the time you probablynot thinking much of it, but
like it's amazing.
What sticks with you yearslater is that, as we like,
reflect in retrospect like thatwas a special time.

Speaker 2 (01:46:29):
Those were like sacred little nights where we
had these little traditions thatseemed silly but like just
stick with us throughout ourlives, yeah, and as a parent,
you know you, it's so easy to belike, no, we don't have time
for that right now or whatever,just like get ready for bed or
something like that, and likerealizing to slow down with the

(01:46:52):
young, you know the people thatare around us, because those
moments are going to be thoseones and they might find
themselves, you know, decadeslater on a podcast telling the
story right, and so so takethose times out, like I would
think like.

Speaker 5 (01:47:05):
This is what I was running through the woods.
Somebody was after me, but it'slike a wholesome no, like all
movie time in my life.
Yeah, but as I would encourage,I'm not a parent, I'm a super.
It's what my niece called mewas.
I love, but love it what, whatshe, what?

Speaker 2 (01:47:26):
what.

Speaker 5 (01:47:26):
I try to tell my sister because you know she
parent is active, like you're init, you know you got to stay on
the scale, you know.
But I try to tell her, likedon't miss the moment.
Like when her daughters arelike talking about something,
she's like, okay, I'm like don'tmiss this moment, because
they're trying to, this is amoment for them.

(01:47:48):
So it's always my prayer andeverything for parents that you
don't miss the moment thatthere's.
There's a moment where it'sjust it's almost like a seems
like a throwaway moment, like a,but this is a pivotal part of
their development and you andgood parents rarely miss it Like

(01:48:09):
.
you know cause I used to doabuse in the college, the
children law, which is horrible.
But you know, good parent, Ican look at kids and say and can
tell like, okay, they're beingparented.
You know what I mean, and notjust like you know you're there
so I got to feed you, but you'rebeing actively loved and guided

(01:48:31):
, so I tell it, and then she'lltell me something like you don't
miss them up, but it's fine.
I try to tell my brothers, mybrother in law, that I was like
you know.
It's the little, it's thelittle, small things.

Speaker 1 (01:48:46):
It's, you know, family trips?

Speaker 5 (01:48:47):
Nobody ever really remembers those.
Yeah, I mean for the most part.
Well, June we have.
We have come to the end of theyear, we have come to the end of
the year.

Speaker 3 (01:49:00):
We have come to the end of the year.
We have come to the end of theyear.
We have come to the end of yoursix song journey, and so I love
to ask here because this is aunique experience in the way we
talk about ourselves in ourlives, right how does it feel to
hear your life reflected inthese six songs?

Speaker 1 (01:49:25):
Hi, hi, it feels.

Speaker 5 (01:49:32):
How does it feel to hear my song?
It feels like I've lived life,like I know I have quite a bit
more to go, but it makes me feellike I'm so proud of my journey
.
Like what cause it?
It helps me think back to whereI was like when this, all this
happened.
I'm like, oh, my.
God, I'll never make it out ofthis.

(01:49:52):
Oh my God, I'll never make youknow, I'll never eat again or
I'll never, you know.
But it makes me proud to havelived the life that I live.
It makes me feel like I've dugin my feet on a lot of things
and that I'm very proud of likethe friends that I have, of the

(01:50:12):
life that I lead and have led,and to me it makes me feel whole
.
I don't.
I don't know if that makes sense, but as I listen to it, it
makes me feel like I'm whole,like I'm not missing anything,

(01:50:32):
because the things I wanted totry I tried and I've connected
with some people that are justhave lifted my soul, just lifted
me up, and remembering that isa beautiful moment that I think

(01:50:54):
most people need to experience,like I think this podcast is so,
because I had to go back tofind the songs and the ones that
didn't make it, you know, wasalso an experience for me.
Like no, I don't remember that.
Or you?
know, you know, I think thatthis is very powerful, because

(01:51:18):
now I want to embrace even morewhat I'm doing in my life, like
I want to be present in whereI'm going and what I'm doing
even more.
So that's what this podcast hasbeen a gift, and giving me that
time to just remember andreminisce so good, yeah, so good

(01:51:41):
.

Speaker 1 (01:51:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:51:43):
And I know I appreciate that.

Speaker 5 (01:51:45):
I'm a preacher and I'm a lawyer.
You got to be like zoom, Thankyou.

Speaker 1 (01:51:50):
Like you got, it's okay, I don't feel, I don't feel
bad.

Speaker 3 (01:51:54):
I object.
Listen to you, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:51:58):
No, june, I appreciate that so much because,
you know, when I got the ideato start this podcast, it was.
It was kind of at firstthinking of myself Like this is
my part of my healing journeyand part of my what's next.
And so to hear you say thatthat the experience you had was

(01:52:23):
good and allowed you to reflecton your life and be like no, I'm
doing what I want to do and nowI'm motivated and energized to
keep getting out there and doingit is just it's wonderful to
hear, because that's exactlylike what I wanted to get from
doing this.
So just, you know, thank you somuch for being a part of it and

(01:52:46):
sharing yourself with us today.
It's been, it's been great.

Speaker 5 (01:52:51):
Well, I want to say thank you for having me.
Thank you Rosa, david andCarolina.
If I say never, I feel like Ikeep changing how I'm saying it.
It's Carolina, carolina, it is,it's Carolina.

Speaker 3 (01:53:02):
It's Carolina, I'm saying it right.
That drives me crazy.
I'm looking American.
Okay, I have to say people'snames twice.
Sorry, kaiser, for.

Speaker 5 (01:53:10):
Nasty.
Okay, this was a beautifulexperience and I just really
pray and hope you all realizethat you have something and when
it gets to be a little bit oflike, oh, you stay in it, you
know, because that's a part ofcreativity you get.

(01:53:31):
You have to hit a block becauseit has to show you what to do.

Speaker 2 (01:53:35):
There's going to be the top the struggles.

Speaker 5 (01:53:37):
It's the struggle.
And when you get over on theother side of that, like you
have me, who's just going toshare this with everybody?
You know it really.
It shows you that it's.
It's a piece of art that isreshaping something in people.
Right, it's a piece of artthat's moving a conversation and

(01:54:03):
I think COVID the gift that itgave us.
It was a lot of things, but thegift that it gave us, it
reconnected us to conversationbecause we couldn't go talk, we
couldn't be in front of people,we just had to sit and talk.
And so I think this podcast isis a gift of that and I hope you

(01:54:28):
.
I hope you continue on and andyou know get great guests and
keep moving with it.
So I bought this outfit forthis podcast.
So I'm going to shout out close, mentor.
And cut over to the sea becauseyou asked me to, and I will do
that because you're wonderfulladies working there.

(01:54:49):
It was like podcast, but isn'ton camera.
Yes, it is, so that's why Ineeded that.
Oh all right.

Speaker 3 (01:54:57):
Love that we appreciate you so much.
Thank you so so much fortrusting us with your story and
the music of your life as we, aswe prepare to sign off in just
the couple minutes we have left,you know folks might want to
get in touch with you or knowwhat you've got going on next,
because everybody's now investedin your journey.

(01:55:19):
So tell us what you got goingon, what people might be
interested in and how they cancontact you if they'd like.

Speaker 5 (01:55:24):
So you can reach me at true bliss televisioncom.
It's on all social mediaplatforms.
It's true bliss television andthat is our logo.
You can't see it really, it'sthe green hearts and bloom of
love is coming out a fullfeature link.
It's family friendly.
It's a nice rom com in the samevein of hallmark, but with

(01:55:51):
people of color that are notlike the sassy shopkeeper were
actually in the story and youcan watch that.
It's going to be available onto be Amazon Prime and our
YouTube channel eventually.
So you can subscribe to ourYouTube channel to follow us and

(01:56:13):
you'll just get the updates asit comes along.
You will be able to watch thesecond movie, which is recipe of
love, which will be start.
We'll start filming that inJune.
So every you know we're justgoing to start dropping our full
feature links and it's justrelaxation TV.
It is no cursing, it is nosexual innuendo.

(01:56:37):
It is something you can watchwith everyone and at the end is
a positive story.
The girl gets to God, the guygets to girl.
That's it.
It's no, I wish they would have.
It's none of that.
It is very, very nice.
So I appreciate this time to tojust talk to you guys and write

(01:57:01):
alone about my life.
I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:57:05):
Yeah, well we have absolutely loved having having
you on.
We will get all of thatinformation also linked in the
show notes.
So to all our listeners orviewers, if you're watching on
YouTube, you know, go down inthose show notes and click those
links and, and you know,support June and what she's,
what she's doing.
I lost my train of thought fora second, got to wrap up, I got

(01:57:32):
to send this off.

Speaker 3 (01:57:33):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (01:57:35):
I got to send this off, all right, everybody.
Thanks for listening.
If you like and subscribe, ifyou've liked what you've heard,
share it with a friend, bringother people into this
conversation Because, like Junehad mentioned, you know, it's
about connecting, it's aboutcommunity, it's about
conversation.
So don't don't hoard us justfor yourself.
Share us with your, your group,and with that we will see you

(01:57:58):
next time.
Thanks for listening.

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Ep. 6 - From Law School Struggles to Film Making Triumphs: A Musical Journey of Self-Discovery

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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. 6 - From Law School Struggles to Film Making Triumphs: A Musical Journey of Self-Discovery