June 7, 2024 • 52 mins
What if the secret to extraordinary barbecue lies in the heart of Mississippi? Join us for a savory conversation with Duke Seward, the culinary virtuoso behind Duke's Blues N BBQ. From cherished family recipes to the essence of Southern hospitality, Duke takes us on a flavorful voyage that starts in Greenville, Mississippi, and leads to his celebrated barbecue haven. We uncover how the influences of his parents and family, along with the vibrant culture of the blues, shaped Duke's award-winning barbeque.
Cooking isn't just a skill; it's an art form. This episode reveals the transformative journey of a passionate chef who found their calling in the kitchen. Listen to heartfelt stories of family roots and traditions, as well as the importance of community service inspired by Southern warmth and generosity. The episode also touches on how food and music act as universal languages that bridge gaps and create lasting memories.
Stay curious and embrace kindness as we highlight the value of lifelong learning and giving back. Through reflections on relationships, personal milestones, and philanthropic efforts, we celebrate the contagious spirit of community events like Duke's Blues and BBQ Fest. Don't miss this episode that celebrates resilience, human connection, and the joy of spreading love through food.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
What's up, guys?
It's Quadfather.
I just wanted to say thank youfor all the support that
everybody has given me with thepodcast throughout the years.
It means the world to me, andyou guys give me a breakfast
every single day I wake up, sothank you so much.
That being said, this episodeis very special to me and my
(00:31):
community.
I'm so blessed to have teamedup with Duke Seward and the
Chase, the Vlog Foundation, andto sponsor Duke's Blues Barbecue
Fest.
This weekend we'll be hangingout in Carpenter Park in
Carpenter's Mall, enjoying somegreat live music and great food.
It's free entry, no charge,because everyone deserves the
(00:55):
taste of love.
If you would like to supportthe cause, the dates are this
Friday, saturday, sunday, june7th to the 9th.
I'll definitely make sure toleave a link in the description
below for more information onDuke Blues Barbecue Fest.
Without further ado, I hope youenjoy this episode.
(01:16):
Thanks, guys.
Oh, it smells delicious.
Already in lunch break we arechecking out a barbecue
restaurant in East Dundee.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Duke's Blues and Barbecue.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Restaurant is serving up recipes passed down through
generations.
Chef Duke Seward joins us withhis family's favorite pork loin
ribs.
I can smell them already outhere.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It smells good All right, this is Mississippi
recipes, right yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
yeah, yeah, so everything is Mississippi
recipes, so we're originallyfrom Greenville.
Yeah, yeah, so everything isMississippi recipes, so we're
originally from Greenville,mississippi.
Okay, queen of the Delta, andthese recipes they were passed
down from my mother and fathermy mother's Maryland Seaweed and
my father's Tansy and I justpretty much kind of took it over
the years and added a littlebit of myself into it and then
(02:09):
you know, we started up arestaurant, Duke's Blues.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I can't rap to this.
Yeah, you can rap All right.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
All right, let's do this.
All right.
Yeah, me and Max, we're gettingpaid Every day.
That's what we say.
Let him hate, hold on, uh, lethim hate Hold on, uh, ay, ay, ay
uh, me and Max, we getting paid.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
This is kind of hard.
What's up, man, my name is Duke.
I'm the owner of all the Duke'sBlues and Barbecues and Taste
of Love a non-for-profit and I'mjust here with my boy, mox.
Sorry, I'm a little late, man,I had to do all the blues.
(02:55):
All right, all right, good.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
My wife to the max, Just like my podcast.
Alright, we're back withanother episode of Life to the
Max.
I'm here with Duke Seward.
Duke, say hello to the crowd.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Hello everybody, how y'all doing.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
So, duke, you're very well known around Elgin area,
from what I've been told,because your barbecue just
smacks.
Your barbecue food is amazing.
It's delicious.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Thanks, Max.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And I was wondering what's the name of your
restaurant?
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Duke's Blues and BBQ and Duke's Catering.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So you do both catering.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yeah, yeah.
So we started when I was in thecity.
We started as a cateringcompany and then from there we
pretty much when I came back outthis way, we started doing some
farmer's markets and things ofthat nature.
I grew up out this way.
We're originally fromMississippi.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Greenville, mississippi, oh, so yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah, but yeah, we started in Chicago as catering
and then we brought Dukes outhere.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
That's awesome.
So is this like a family-ownedrestaurant?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah, yeah, so it is, it is so everything is
family-owned family recipes thatI've learned over the years
from, like my mother and fathermy dad he taught me how to grill
Him and my Uncle Nip God blesshis soul.
My Uncle Nip, he was a veteran,you know.
He passed away.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Very first service.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Indeed, indeed, he was a good dude.
But my father I spent a lot oftime with him because when I was
a kid, a lot of my friendswould come over because my dad
would grill every weekend.
So he was like you know, let meteach you the way we barbecue
down south.
So it's always kind of beensomething that's there.
But you know, I just took it upwhen I was living in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I mean I could tell man, you have Southern
hospitality Every time you walkinto my house.
You've only walked in liketwice from when I've seen, but
like when I met you, I needed aturkey for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
And I was like I don't want my family cooking
turkey, I'm done with that.
I was like Mom, mom, findsomeone who makes turkey.
And she found you yeah, yourturkey is amazing, amazing, and
I think I've had your turkey forthe last four years yeah, yeah
four years and uh so do youoften.
(05:41):
Is that like your family'srecipe as well?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah, so actually the turkey recipe is, um, my
father's and myself we actuallyum put that recipe together
Cause when I grew up it was likewe grew up a very traditional
with like holidays you know whatI mean Like a set of like uh,
it was a couple of things that'skind of been a little bit
different, like um, we call itdressing, stuffing.
(06:06):
It's like cornbread dressing,but it's, you know, but it's
like equivalent to like stuffing.
You know what I mean, but it'sjust, you know, a little bit a
little different.
You know what I mean, butsimilar concepts.
But my mom, she always used tobake the turkeys in the oven and
then she went.
I never really understood howto bake turkey in the oven
because it always comes out dryand it's kind of like it gives
(06:29):
you cotton mouth.
I feel like no meat should giveyou cotton mouth after you eat
it.
You know what I mean.
So my dad and I we startedplaying around with it when, I
don't know, probably about 15years ago, we started smoking
turkeys, you know, and then Iwas like you know, it's still
moist, you know what I mean andlike juicy, and it still has
like good flavor, like all theway down to all the meat.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Delicious Most Thanksgiving turkeys are all dry
.
But yeah, when I hadThanksgiving last year with Max
and that turkey, it wassurprisingly and it was very
substantial.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Definitely next year we're all going to tune in to
Duke Caboom and get that turkey,indeed.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Indeed, I appreciate that.
That's awfully kind of you.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
So delicious.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Shout out to you and your dad figuring that recipe
out Indeed, indeed.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
It's amazing.
So you're a super popular guyaround here, right?
I was wondering, when it comesto being a restaurateur, is it a
small community if you are agood restaurateur?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
You said is it like a small?
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Like a niche community, like when you're a
restaurateur, because you're asuccessful restaurateur and you
were talking about Cafe Robot.
Oh, I got you, got you, got you.
Yeah, like it's a spot for you.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
As far as the community goes.
Yeah, I think it's one of thosethings.
I think it's kind of like arespect thing.
I think, after you've kind ofbeen doing it for a little bit,
I'm like the new kid on theblock because I'm like the
youngest one, so it wasn'talways how young are you?
I'm 38, but I mean, compared tothe guys, it's kind of been
doing it for a long time, youknow what I mean like you know,
um shout out to my boy, bobKarras.
(08:13):
He owns all the squires and therookies and all that stuff too,
you know.
But uh, him and I we talked nottoo long ago but uh, it's like
one of those things too, likeyou know, since I'm like the new
kid on the block, you know,it's kind of like for me it
means a lot for, like you know,people who have been doing it
for like 30 plus years, to havelike a lot of respect for me.
You know what I mean and kindof like what we're doing and and
(08:33):
also just I enjoy peoplewatching us um kind of grow from
like ground up.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I could tell you know , I could definitely tell every
time, uh, like you talk, it'slike about giving back to the
community, which is amazing,like that's.
That's all I keep hearing isgiving back to the community.
You know, like you just camefrom a teacher committee or
something yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
So like, um, it was like a teacher's appreciation of
the day.
So we had a few schools orwhatnot, but we did about today
alone.
We did about 500 teachers.
And what do you do?
They order different things.
We did a lot of brisket today.
Probably did about 13 briskets,about like 120 pounds of pork
(09:33):
and about 100 pounds of chickenand about 75 pounds of rib tips,
and then we had sides and stufftoo.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
What started your fascination with cooking as an
adult?
What made you make that turningpoint, to turning it into
something as a lifestyle?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
I think life man.
You know, I think, like I said,you know I was telling Max.
You know I was an artist.
You know I've always had astrong love for art.
You know, I think pretty muchwhen I was living in Chicago I
had to.
I was kind of going throughlike a career change.
(10:08):
Is that what I kind of call it?
You know, trying to figure itout.
I don't want to call it amidlife crisis, because I was in
my 20s.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
We all hit those crossroads sometimes you know,
but it was you know.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
but I had to, kind of you know, I was trying to
figure out what it was that Iwanted to do.
I've always been curious in it.
You know what I mean.
Like, once I stopped doingartists heavily and then started
writing, like poetry, I waslooking for something, because
I'm big on energy and I'm big onhow things make me feel and how
I project things to make otherpeople feel.
So I was kind of always lookingfor that feeling again.
(10:42):
And then, once I got intostarted kind of playing around
with some cooking, my boys werecoming out into my house
Speaking of which, I want togive a shout out to my boy, shy
Hunter, little Black Chef downin Greystone Tavern.
So he did Taste of Chicago in2013, and that guy gave me
confidence.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
He's one of my dear friends um and that was your
original inspiration.
No, my mom and dad wasinspiration.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, yeah, that was like the first.
No, no, that was just a guythat was like man, this is good
and they're coming from somebodywho cooks for a living, right,
you know what I mean, because Ithink we all kind of have that
thing, like you know, I thinkit's everything's good at the
house when it's free and all ofyour boys are eating it, but
then it means it's somethingdifferent once somebody's like
man, this is really good andthis is what they do for a
(11:33):
living.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You know what I mean, so you said you were an artist
before, but when?
You made that transition toculinary.
You could also say that's anart form too.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah.
So I mean you're still anartist.
Some would say that.
But some would say, when youget into culinary, then they
start using that big C word.
Person's a chef man.
No, I'm not a chef man, I justappreciate the beauty of cooking
.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
You're a barbecue master.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, but it's not even barbecue.
I love making steaks.
I just love cooking.
If my wife was standing next tome, she would say I cook every
night at the house.
But I make everything fromscratch.
I make enchiladas, I make pastafrom scratch, I make chicken,
alfredo stuffed shells, a lot ofsteaks, pork chops.
(12:18):
I just like to eat.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So you got into it.
It sounds like you're sayingyou simply got into it just
because you love to do it.
Yeah, so what also made youinspired to take the route of
making everything nonprofit andjust giving back to the
community?
And I know you said you werebig on energy, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
That was kind of the way I was, kind of I was brought
up that way.
To be honest with you, you knowmy mother and father, you know
I think everything kind ofstarts with the parents, you
know, and I watched them do itso much as a kid.
We didn't have much reallygrowing up, you know, but I
would always watch them.
If somebody needed something,they'll try like their best, as
long as it wasn't affecting,like, the well-being of their
children and the household, andthey'll try to help them, like,
(12:58):
you know, my mom and dad used to.
When we first moved up here wedidn't have a car right away,
you know what I mean.
So my mom and dad, like they,used to ride their bicycles to
work, you know, and then they'dride their bicycles to the
grocery store for like twomonths until we was able to get
a car.
And I just remember how happymy mom was when we first got our
(13:19):
first car up here in Illinois.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
It's all over.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And I just always remember, you know, she was just
so happy.
You know, and and and and itwas just like, whenever she can
help somebody, if it was likegiving somebody a ride, giving a
neighbor a ride, or you knowwhat I mean.
Or taking, or taking somebodyup the streets like the
laundromat, you know, um, shewould do that and I would just
watch the people get so happy.
And I was like, you know,because my mom would always let
me know that, like you know, shewould always remind me that we
(13:50):
all need each other.
You know, as a kid and I thinkthat's kind of transpired into
me as an adult, you know what Imean.
So it's not really like it'sjust what I do, just the way I
was brought up, you know what Imean.
Mean like, even if I wasn'tdoing this, I've always been
given, you know oh yeah it justnow, just it just now, like on a
bigger scale, I suppose soundslike you had a strong family.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
I admire that is it all?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
is the hospitality different here than it would be
down south?
Uh?
Speaker 3 (14:20):
yes and no.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I think that that depends on the person probably.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Yeah, I think it depends on a couple different
factors.
The one thing I really enjoyabout the South is that
everybody waves to you.
You know what I mean?
The South.
Yeah, like in the South,everybody waves to you.
They don't even know you, man,howdy, buddy, no, no, no.
You talk as a wild, wild west,you don't come with.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I'm saying you talk about Wild Wild West.
You know what I'm saying.
I'm sorry, max got me playing.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Red Dead off the clock.
You know what I'm saying, hesaid howdy partner.
No, man, it's more so.
Like you know what I mean.
Like if you're like walkingdown the street or just riding
your bike or this, or justsitting on the porch, like
people are driving past, they'llwave to you.
You know People driving past,they'll wave to you.
You know people make eyecontact down south or they make
(15:08):
more eye contact.
You know what I mean.
I think that's the biggestdifference I've noticed as far
as, like the hospitality up hereand down and down south is that
and more so.
It's like the eye contact andacknowledgement of a person if
they're coming across, theirpresence.
But as far as like hospitalityas a whole, like I've always
(15:29):
been brought up, even up here,from like all of my guys, like
parents, that's like my, theirparents are like my parents,
because that's the way we allgrew up in the community.
Like you know, I go to mybuddy's house and their mom
would have a hot plate for me atthe house if I was coming over.
You know I didn't have to getinvited, they just said just
duke around, here's a hot plate,type of deal and vice versa.
You know what I mean.
Like my mother and my father,my partners were at my house and
(15:52):
my buddies came over forwhatever to play video games or
just hang out.
They would make sure everybodyate.
You know what?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
And I think that's the biggest thing.
I think that's the kind of waythat was always around me, you
know, and I think that reallytaught me a lot, Like my mom
would always.
If my mom had a plate of, itcould be 10 people in the house
and it could be two pork chops.
You know what I mean?
Splitting it up.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Everybody getting a piece of pork chop.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, and that's kind of like,and that's just the way I was
raised and brought up and that'sjust the way I try to continue
to be.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
That's awesome what you mentioned before and on that
note of just constantly withthe acts of service and helping
people out and just having thathospitality like Max mentioned,
would you say that there's morewithin the community of acts of
service in the South or here, orequal, or just off your
experience?
What would you say?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Well.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I know you're not trying to like throw shade like
I'm like.
You know the North or whatever.
We're just wondering we're justwondering because, like, like
when did you come up?
Here Was your family.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
I was little little.
I spent the majority of my life, pretty much all of my life up
here in Illinois.
We always went back home,though, you know what I mean, it
wasn't just like.
I think a lot of times people,whenever they leave the place
that their family's from andthat they're from, they
(17:25):
typically always go back onlyfor like funeral or sad stuff or
like funeral or weddings.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, but we always went backhome.
You know, like my buddiesgrowing up, they'll be going to
Disney and going to Californiafor vacation and all these fun
places and they're like Duke,where are you going?
Speaker 1 (17:43):
And.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I would say you vacation and all these fun
places, and they were like Dukewhere are you going?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
And I would say, you know, going back to Mississippi.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yeah, but uh, you know, but I have uh more
appreciation, more appreciationfor it now as an adult than I
did as a kid, cause you know you, you know Mississippi's fun,
you know I mean it's.
It was fun for me Um, alwaysgoing back because, uh, I got a
lot of family down there.
But to answer your question,which one had more hospitality,
(18:11):
up here or down, I would sayfrom where I sit in my life I
would say it's about equalReally.
But I think that's just becauseof the people that have always
been around me.
You know what I mean, yeah,good vibes.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
So it's kind of like I don't know if that's really
like an accurate assessment forlike.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
No, that makes total sense.
You attract people who kind ofrepresent you, your product,
your environment.
It goes both ways.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
So if you're always giving and always doing stuff
for the community, then you'regoing to be surrounded.
You're going to becomesurrounded by people who have a
similar mindset.
Do you know what is amazingabout food?
It brings people together.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Do you know what I mean?
I do.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
It really does.
And what were you about to say?
Speaker 3 (19:00):
No, I was just saying I agree.
I always it's funny you saythat I always used to tell folks
that I think the two commonthings we all shoot or share as
human beings is we all got toeat something and we all snap
our fingers to a tune.
You know what I mean.
So, and I think once youunderstand that common area that
(19:22):
we all kind of live in, you canwork everything else out.
You know what I'm sayingBecause I tell folks all the
time people, they'll crack jokesand they'll say, duke, why do
you have a vegan option orsomething like that.
And I say, well, vegans eat too.
You know what I mean.
And my brother's a vegan, myniece is a vegan, his wife is a
vegan.
You know what I'm saying.
(19:49):
So I like to like to when I'mcooking, even when they come to
my house for the holidays, Iwant to make sure that they're
happy.
You know what I'm saying.
And um, and I think that's thesame thing with like music, you
know?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I think that um it's just about to bring that up,
music yeah, you know what I'msaying.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
I think, like you know, we all listen, or tap our
fingers or or tap our feet tosomething.
You, whether it's gospel,whether it's country music,
whether it's blues, whether it'srock, whether it's hip-hop or
R&B, and I always try to saythat everybody tells the same
story, it's just throughdifferent eyes.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Yeah, now, blues is supposed to be more of a sad
sound, right, like a little bit.
Like you know, I'm in my blueslike that's why they started
blues.
So what?
What made you, uh say duke'sblues barbecue, like what?
What made you do that?
Is it because you love blues?
Speaker 3 (20:36):
good question.
Yeah, that's both, um, becauseI'm from, uh, greenville,
mississippi, the of the Delta,where the blues started on
Nelson Street.
Yeah, so blues has always beenheavy in my family.
You know, like all the guysused to kind of come down there
and play, so like they used tohave juke joints.
(20:57):
Juke joints is equivalent towhat speakeasies would have been
up here, and my daddy wouldalways tell me stories as a kid,
you know what I mean would belike, you know when, when he'll
be on nelson street, him and his, his little brother, my uncle
jerry, or just a few of hispartners or whatnot, he, um, he
he'll say, like everybody bepulling up.
Like you know, you got, likebuddy guy, a bunch of baseball
(21:18):
players at the time, andeverybody and everybody had
cadillacs.
Yeah, and everybody hadcadillacs.
But that that's the thing,though, too, it was the South
right, so you had all thesefolks at the time, because, I
mean, obviously it was during atime when the world wasn't.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Civil rights act.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Everybody wasn't really kind ofwhat you talking about.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
You know everybody wasn't together but it was
always cool because my dad wouldtell us stories and he would
always say like a juke joint iskind of like.
You know it's always like ahouse with like a hardwood floor
.
You know what I mean.
And like you go in there for agood time and you drink a little
(21:57):
bit, you know you get a couplenips on something and Listen to
blues.
Yeah, listen to blues music,music like live blues musicians,
man, and you just hang out, man, you know what I mean that's,
uh, you know that's a reallysweet story.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Like not sweet story, it's.
It's awesome that your dad wasable to experience that and uh
shed light on the you knowpositivity during the
circumstances of the CivilRights Act.
I mean, now I'm not going tosay it's better or worse, but I
(22:36):
do think that progress has beenmade.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I would say you know what I mean.
I think that we made progress,man, to be honest.
I mean I think we still gotsome work to do as a whole, as a
people, always do but you knowthe job's not done, but I
definitely think that there'ssome progress.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, yeah, 100%.
So you are, I was wondering.
So you're basically abusinessman, you have your food
restaurants and your cateringand everything.
So what brought you to thatsuccess?
When you were a kid, when didyou say I'm going to be a
(23:20):
successful barbecue master?
Basically, because that's whatyou are.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
I never really did, I never really had an age for
that or whatnot, to be honest,which I'm still trying to figure
it out man you know.
But I think that's the beautyof life, though I think that,
like I always try to tell folks,man, like the moment I'm I'm
not curious, the moment I becomebored I'll stop doing it.
You know what I mean and rightnow I'm.
That's the one thing I alwaysencourage, even the kids when I
(23:48):
speak to, the kids at the highschools that I speak to is stay
curious, man, always staycurious, stay open-minded and
always be open to learning.
You know what I mean.
It's like you know, because Ithink sometimes I think
generational gaps and I thinksometimes where, like the ball
gets dropped.
I generational gaps and I thinksometimes where, like the ball
gets dropped.
(24:08):
I think sometimes, when we getto a certain age, we're like
well, a 14 year old kid or a 13year old kid can't teach me
nothing Like you can learn froma five year old kid if you
listen, you know what I mean,and I think that with that
mindset I'm always open.
You know what I'm saying.
Like I have conversations withmy daughter who's four.
She's on turn five on June 8th.
Her name is Eddie Rose Laverne.
Uh, and then, uh, little Dukeis gonna turn one on um May 25th
(24:34):
, and then I heard, he justwalked indeed, indeed.
So I'm looking forward to theconversations I get to have with
him.
But the conversations I havewith her is always because I
think sometimes, like you,sometimes like we were talking
about how we all look at theworld through different lenses.
Right and right now, the worldto her is really colorful, and
the world to me may not be ascolorful because we're at
(24:57):
different points in our life.
So sometimes you got to bereminded of that color.
You know what I'm saying?
Hell yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Just like your shirt, man, yeah, man.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
The that color.
You know what I'm saying.
Oh yeah, just like your shirt.
Yeah, man, the the beauty about, like, when I bond with kids,
like I've always found myself,naturally, like just having fun
with the kids and and a lot ofpeople, a lot of adults, a lot
of parents.
I'm not gonna tell you how toparent, because that's the
quickest way to get into anargument, but you know we get so
caught up in like trying togive them direction.
Do, do things this way, dothings this way.
But when you, when you, withthe adolescent kids, like,
(25:28):
especially the ones that aren'teven comprehending the shit
you're directing them to do,like you just need to find a way
to get to their level and stepinto their world.
And you know what, all of asudden, things are brighter when
you're, when you're like coolas hell.
A five-year-old would be likedude.
He's treating me like he's.
(25:48):
I definitely have a blast withsome cool kids, but then there's
some brats that I'll fuckingthrow off the corner of the
table.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
There's always going to be some brats in the batch
man.
You know what I mean.
There's always going to be somebrats.
It sounds like you've beensuper family.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Family oriented it.
Um, there was a quote thatpopped in my head earlier when
you were talking about the actsof service that your mom was
doing after she got her car.
Um, let's say if you want tomake someone happy for a week,
go buy a watch.
If you want to be happy for amonth, buy a car.
If you want to be happy for ayear, go buy a house.
But if you want to be happy forthe rest of your life, make a
difference in someone else's bigfriends.
(26:22):
I'm I'm not going to lie.
When I met Max and he asked meto be his assistant, that was
the strongest quote in my head.
I was like I'm going to make adifference in this motherfucker.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
That's what's up, man , and that's what it's about too
.
My wife and I, we both sharethe same energy, man, we both
feel that same way, the same waywhich you just kind of spoke on
.
You know, we're always tryingto help people.
Man like um, we've been bestfriends since we were 14.
Her name's Rhiannon, um, kindof like the Fleetwood Mac song,
(26:54):
you know what I mean.
But, um, it makes it easier forme to have a partner like that.
You know what I'm saying.
Because it's kind of like shegives just like I give.
You know what I'm saying.
So it's kind of like she givesjust like I give.
You know what I'm saying.
So it's kind of like, even withthe way that her brain's
structured, because she's kindof sometimes she's so focused on
the end goals because, I mean,she's really smart, beautiful
(27:18):
and just really determined andsometimes she has to stop
herself because she'll gettunnel vision if she's doing
something, but she'll stop nomatter what.
It could be the biggest thingthat she has going on in her
life.
You know what I mean.
I would watch this since wewere kids and she'll stop to
help somebody else out.
You know what I'm saying.
Like she'll put herself secondto somebody else's needs if she
(27:40):
sees that that person needssomething.
You know, and I think thatthat's kind of like, um, she's
also helped me kind of, but makesure, um, I don't lose sight of
that too.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
You know what I mean so you say you're that way
because you've seen your mom anddad?
Speaker 1 (27:52):
yeah, that way.
Yeah, you're super humble man,honestly like super humble, and
it's crazy that you're superhumble because you're also super
popular around here you are.
You're about to be on wgn newsyeah, yeah, oh nice, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
So I'm gonna be on wgn on the 27th.
I'm in once we get back fromputin khanah.
We're going to putin khanah formy mother's birthday, yeah I
took my mom there too for her40th birthday.
Man, I've never been to putinkhanah.
What is it like?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
It's nice they sell so much stuff.
That's how they make money,that's their hustle, right.
I ain't knocking them Cigars,but bro cigars, whether it's
little bracelets the kids make,or flowers the kids just plucked
, or other dudes hustling fakecigars that they rolled up with
trash and gravel Bro.
(28:43):
I respect the hustle, bro, butwhen I'm sitting there on the
beach with my eyes closedtanning in the sun and then I
get a tap like hey, you want tobuy this Bro?
Get the get away, bro.
It got to the point where it'sno thank you, it went.
No, thank you for the first dayand hey, no thank you the
second day.
Hey, nah, man, nah.
The third day and the fourthday was like bro, go, no.
(29:07):
You know it was so bad.
I don't know why it triggeredme so much, but I had a bad
dream about it where I was likeshouldering, like walking
through a crowd of people tryingto sell me shit, and I'm just
fucking getting throughdominican republic trying to
dude yeah, so be prepared toreject or or bring a bunch of
singles and pay for things if Igot it and I can give it away,
man you know Good answer, goodanswer you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
You are giving.
Yeah, there's going to be a lotof giving.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Max ain't giving that much man you know, that's one
thing the wife does, man, shedoes a phenomenal job budgeting,
so it's just like, hey, we gotthis amount of money, this
percentage, to give budgeting.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
So it's just like, hey, we got this amount of money
to give.
That's awesome Whenever we taketrips.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Because you're 100% correct.
We've been to different islandstogether and I don't like to
stand on a resort.
I like to get out and be withthe people.
You know what I'm saying.
No matter where I go in theworld, I want to be with the
people.
So if the people are over here,I want to go check them out.
I want to see what they'redoing.
I want to see what it's like tolive a day in their life.
(30:09):
You know what I mean, Becausethat also helps me to continue
to grow my vision.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Have you ever done any mission trips or anything
like that?
Speaker 3 (30:19):
I'd like to consider my life a mission trip.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
You mentioned a vision life a mission trip, oh
my god you mentioned a vision.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Yeah, but what is your vision?
Oh man, I got a few.
I got a few.
So when you travel and you'retrying to, you're trying to yeah
, man, that vision I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
I uh, I think a lot and sometimes, like we talked
about perspectives, right, youknow, I can go somewhere and and
be around with somebody thatmay not have anything you know
what I'm saying Like it might bea bum on the street, you know,
but I sit down and have aconversation with them, you know
what I'm saying and sometimesthat kind of helps, like oh,
(30:59):
like a ding, kind of clicking,like oh, that makes sense.
You know, I like to look at it,just been uh, as guys work.
You know I like to.
I'm on guys time so I might aswell look at guys work you're.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
It's easy for every individual to get those blinders
on, especially when they'rehustling, especially all those
entrepreneurs, especially thepeople that are never satisfied
when they're building theirempire, you know or especially
the people that get caught up inthe nine to five for 20 years
until they retire, that theynever were happy with.
You know it's easy to get thoseblinders on and just think that
your life is the only problem,you know, or this problem is the
(31:34):
only problem, until you know,you hear someone else's story
and and you realize that there'sso many different lanes in life
that having those blinders onis almost self-destruction like.
You need to keep your eyes openand you need to realize that
there's so many different anglesto this life and life is very,
very complicated and there's somany ways.
Precious to it is to find thoselittle things and find that
(31:57):
happiness and find things thatare bigger than your current
situation.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
It doesn't take money to find that, nah nah, nah, I
mean like, I don't mean hijackyour interview, but look at me,
man.
Like you know, my life wastaken.
Not my life, but like a lot ofpart, a big part of my life was
taken when I was in the militaryjust doing what I had to do you
know I wasn't like runningstreets.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I wasn't doing anything bad, but you know
things happen.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
You just gotta.
You know I wasn't like runningthe streets, I wasn't doing
anything bad, but you knowthings happen.
You just got to find outlets.
You know, like give back, likeyou were talking about give back
.
What I try to do is give backwith the podcast.
I'm not that great of aninterviewer but you know like
it's Nice.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
I think you're doing a phenomenal job, big boy.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, it's uh.
Yeah, it's tough, but I want toget better and better at it you
know, and the big thing is isgiving back to the community and
letting them know like we cango down the rabbit hole.
We can talk about you know this1960s, and then we can talk
about the present and we cantalk about your perfect world.
(33:05):
You want and I want thatperfect world too, man, and
hopefully it's like the samething, because my thing is
giving back with my voice.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
That's all I got right now, man.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
I can't move.
You know, I had to learn thislife when I was 20 years old man
.
Yeah, 20 years old man.
I had to learn all these newthings, like things I never even
thought of.
You know, and I'm grateful totalk to people like you your
(33:43):
philanthropy is like incredibleman.
It really is and like go backto that.
It's all about finding an outlet, finding something that makes
you happy, and I think your momplayed a huge role in your
philanthropy just by the car,because she was giving she, she
(34:07):
worked her, she worked her tailoff to get that car right,
riding her bike and stuff.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
People don't know about that it was my mom and dad
, both of them man.
Both of them taught me the wayman they did it together.
They also showed me what like astrong couple kind of looks
like.
So I always wanted to kind offind a mate that kind of
embodied what I saw in myparents and that's what I found
(34:33):
in my wife.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
So let's not be grim anymore.
You got a fest coming up calledDuke's Blues Fest.
Talk about that.
Hold on.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
I had a question earlier.
We're going to get right intothat.
I was going to ask you aboutyour parents.
You say that you do thesegenerous things because you've
seen your mom and dad doing it.
Yeah, but I find it hard tobelieve that every single time
you do something nice forsomeone, you're only doing it
because your mom and dad didthose things.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
No no no, no.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
I'm leading up to the question, so I wanted to ask
you you know, like what do youfeel when you do something nice
for someone?
Or like what kind of drive doesit give you?
Or like you know, like what aresome emotions that go through
your head, just inside, thatusually people don't?
Speaker 3 (35:22):
The emotions that go through me.
I mean love, man, you know whatI'm saying.
Like love, I just I thinkthat's something I think we're
lacking in the world man is love.
I think that sometimes when youdo something, man, like you
don't got to know the person.
(35:43):
And you know, I had a few of mypartners, man, growing up, and
they used to kind of, you know,bust my balls and give me a hard
time.
They were like, oh man, theregoes Duke giving a dollar to the
guy on the home, or like givinga dollar to the bum on the
street or giving this to them,and they were like, man, you
know that he's gonna do this ordo that with it.
And I was like, man, I don'tcare, man, that's between them
and god.
All I know is, you know, when Ishake the person's hand or said
(36:05):
, hello, how you doing, orwhatnot, or give him a
cheeseburger or whatever, orwhatever the decision situation
may have been, um, we shared amoment in that moment.
You know what I mean and Ithink sometimes I tell folks,
man, like you never know what aperson's going through in life.
You know what I'm saying.
And sometimes a person can beon their last string man.
(36:25):
And then just by smiling atsomebody or shaking a person's
hand or sharing a story, orsharing a story man.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Giving some food.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Giving some food man, or sharing a cold drink man
with somebody.
It may seem so little to somepeople, but stuff like that
never seems little to me.
And if a person, when a persongives me something, it could be
a bottle of water, man, I'mthankful.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, I'm thankful, man.
(36:52):
Man, I don't take nothing forgranted.
You know what I'm saying.
I think I just try to remindmyself of that too and I try to
pass it on to people thatsurround me.
Like you know, you got to love.
You got to love, love hard andlove strong man.
And I'm not saying everythingin life is going to be peaches
and cream, you know what I'msaying, but you just got to keep
(37:12):
pushing forward for that loveman.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Second question, on this note, you know you provide
all these acts of service.
It's naturally in you, yeah,and how do you feel when?
Speaker 3 (37:27):
people provide those acts of services for you.
It's cool, man, like I, really.
It's one of those things.
Sometimes I'm taken back.
You know what I'm saying.
You know, like I remember, man,man, my wife and I it was
probably about 10 years ago wewanted to provide Thanksgiving
(37:53):
dinners to 20 families.
I said I'm going to feed 20families.
And I told people, I said, man,I put it on Facebook.
I said, I don't care whereyou're at, you know what I mean.
You send me some families thatare in need and I'm going to get
them a turkey, a ham, some fullpans of food.
(38:15):
Y'all going to have aThanksgiving the way you should
have a Thanksgiving.
You know what I mean.
Y'all going to have aThanksgiving the way you should
have a Thanksgiving.
You know what I mean.
And we did that for Christmastoo.
But that year, man, we went toWest Aurora and it was a
Hispanic family man.
It was probably about, I think,the husband and wife.
(38:36):
They didn't really speak toomuch, their English wasn't that
well, but it was kind of likebroken and whatnot.
But they're real nice people,man, and they had seven kids.
And I remember we just showedup to their house because they
had a three-bedroom house it wasa ranch house, you know in
Aurora and all the kids gave mea handmade card, said Thank you,
(39:02):
mr Chef.
You know what I mean.
And I still got the cards, man,I was taken back from that, you
know what I mean.
Like that, that just kind of itmade me feel like it's a
reminder that, hey, we're allsmall man, you know what I'm
saying.
It's a reminder that, hey,we're all small man, you know
what I'm saying.
(39:22):
You know, it's kind of likethat meant so much to them and
it meant so much to me to bewith them in that moment.
You know what I'm saying and Ithought that was really cool you
know, and I think that stufflike that keeps me going.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
That's awesome, yeah, hell yeah.
Love is free, fellas.
You hear all this Love alwayswins.
You hear all this Acts ofservices don't cost a thing.
Love always wins All it takesis time and love, Big facts and
that return, that gratificationyou feel inside your soul.
It's priceless.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
All right, let's get to the fest.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Max, let's get to the fest, the main event we got a
photographer in the back tigerwoods fellas, this is my boy,
justin.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Hey, justin, nice to meet you guys we're gonna keep
the interview rolling and we'llget acquainted.
We got we got 21 minutes of thepodcast.
Justin, thank you for coming,but uh, yeah, let's get into the
main event yeah, main event, soduke's event, so Duke's Blues
Fest.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Yeah so Duke's Blues and Barbecue Fest.
That's also presented by ournonprofit.
We have a nonprofit in which mywife and I started because we
wanted to give back to thecommunity.
And then people were like man,you know, like all these acts
you guys do, you can start anonprofit for that and then
people can donate money to you.
You know, you know stuff likethat and I was like man, that
(40:42):
sounds phenomenal.
Um, so we started that a fewyears back.
Man, we give out scholarshipsthrough like a non-profit.
Um, we provided when covid hit,we gave all of the uh
restaurant workers in East andWest and Dundee, some in
(41:03):
Carpenter'sville.
Everybody got a check,everybody that was in need got a
check.
You know what I'm saying.
And that was something we didthrough our nonprofit, which was
hella cool.
And then we started this BluesFest and it's free because
growing up as a kid, like I wassaying, we didn't have much, but
I never missed anything.
(41:23):
You know what I'm saying Becausemy mom and dad they bust their
ass, man.
We never went without anything.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
We never missed a meal.
We didn't have much, but wenever missed anything.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
But I remember that feeling.
We used to go down to the Tasteof Chicago when I was a kid and
it's going back and forth toChicago and out to the flea
market and stuff and I remembermy dad only had X amount of
money, so sometimes he'd makethat tight call Like man, I
really want to go to thisfestival.
(41:55):
But, man, if it costs $5, $10 aperson to get in there, man,
that's meal money.
You know what I'm saying.
So maybe we can't go this yearor something like that, in which
that's cool, you know what I'msaying.
But I also think it reallywould have been a good
experience for him to take us tosome of those other places.
You know what I'm saying.
But sometimes you got to makethat call Like man, do I pay for
(42:16):
the submission or do I buy themsomething to eat after we
walked, you know, downtownChicago for an hour or so?
You know what I'm saying.
And um, and I remember thatfeeling, so, so growing up I was
like man, you know what, and mywife used to have the same
thing too.
Her dad, um, he was afirefighter in Carpentersville.
Ever, ever since, you know, um,he's part of my fat five.
(42:39):
You know, I also give himcredit too.
You know, he, he um helped methrough my teenage years as far
as like, because he was aphenomenal artist and I was an
artist too, an artist too.
So we used to kind of connect.
He kind of showed me somedifferent avenues, you know some
things to kind of approach.
But when we started the fest Isaid, man, this is all free.
You know what I'm saying.
It it's like you can decide tobuy food if you want to, but as
(43:02):
far as coming into the festival,come to the festival, man,
there's no admissions or nothing.
That's beautiful.
You know what I'm saying.
Because if you come into thefestival, I don't want you
paying money to get into theentrance.
I want you to pay money if yourdaughter wants some cotton candy
, or she wants a cheeseburger,or you know a hot dog, or you
(43:25):
know, if daddy wants to get acold beer, you know a date night
, I want y'all to spend yourmoney on that.
You know what I'm saying.
And with our nonprofit and withthe sponsorships, you know, and
once again, thanks to all mysponsors for the Dukes and Blues
Fest, it's been a blessing, butthat helps us to make sure that
we have enough resources tokind of take care of everything
(43:46):
else Take care of the musicianswe got coming out, take care of
my sound guy, take care of mysecurity.
Taking care of everything youknow.
That's amazing yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
I love how you said that People aren't just, it's
not just a fest anymore.
This is something he createdbecause when he was a kid his
dad sometimes couldn't get infrom the admission fee.
So, he evolutionized and he didit his own way and he said you
know what?
Everyone's getting in for free,Everybody's coming in, that's
power.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Yeah, thanks, man.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
That shit, dude, I love that, All right thanks, man
, I want to clap too, but Ican't Come on click with the
clap Click with the clap.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Nah, that's too Nah.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Max, I can dig it, man.
No, that's just wonderful, man,honestly.
And it all happened because ofyou witnessing it as a kid and
you're like I'm going to change.
Speaker 3 (44:43):
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to change.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
And that's what it's about.
You know, Change is good.
You know what I'm saying.
I think that we all strugglewith change.
Change is not always bad.
You know what I'm saying.
I think if I had to definechange, I would say change is
misunderstood.
(45:06):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Yeah, 100%, because sometimes things change and
people don't agree with it, andsome people do.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
But that's life, I mean, that's how it's always
going to be, unfortunately, buthopefully going forward and all
the people listening canunderstand that love always wins
.
Giving back it feels moreamazing than anything else?
(45:41):
yeah, from this whole podcast,that's all I literally heard
from you man, giving back,giving back, giving back.
Your family giving back, givingback, and then you like trying
to make changes so people canenjoy the things that like
admission tickets and all thisother stuff.
(46:02):
You're so humble but you're sopopular at the same time, like I
said, you have like a meeting,like an interview with WGN
coming up right.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
You know, on the 27th I thinkit's going to be exciting.
You know what I'm saying.
I think it's.
You know I think it's going tobe exciting.
You know what I'm saying, Ithink it's.
You know this is my first timeon like live news.
You know, I've been in thenewspaper quite a bit.
People have wrote up some nicearticles about me, you know, and
(46:35):
I'm thankful for those too.
You know, but I think going toWGN is kind of cool because I
like to hang around, you know,at diet bars with a few old
timers and everybody loves WGN.
So it's like, you know, it'slife exciting.
Hey, dude, you're going to seeme on the big screen, you know
what.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
I'm saying, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
Yeah, I like how your story isbasically based on you growing
up and seeing you and yourfamily just giving back and life
is rewarding you, life isreturning the favor for you.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
God is good, man God is good.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
It's nice to hear.
What's rewarding to you is nota new car or a new house or a
new watch you know like Derekwas saying.
It's making a difference.
Speaker 3 (47:30):
And also like you know something that you know.
I think people sometimes losesight of man.
Like life can be a lotsometimes, man, but it's a
blessing to wake up and openyour eyes up.
You know what I mean.
It's a blessing to wake up andopen your eyes up.
You know what I mean.
It's a blessing, I think.
Sometimes, even with yoursituation.
I really admire you Because Ithink that sometimes a person
(47:55):
could have just gave up you knowwhat I'm saying.
Been a situation Because Iremember for me I used to be an
athlete and things like thatnature and I was around
different athletes and and Iknow for us like for for
somebody to get injured, youknow, like you know you rip, you
blow out your knee or yourshoulder you know what I mean or
you hurt your back and that's abig, a big like.
(48:16):
It brings you down becauseyou're so used to having that
right, so it's taken away fromyou right, and that puts a lot
of people into a down spot.
And then in your situation yougot into the bad accident that
put you in this situation andyou're still striving and
pushing forward and like givingback and I really appreciate the
(48:37):
sponsorship that you gave us togive back to, like our
nonprofit, you know, to help offwith the blues fest and like,
like, honestly, man, I thinkthat you have a heart of gold.
You know what I'm saying.
Like I think that you're a real.
I told your mom when I firstmet you you're a good dude man.
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1 (48:59):
Like you're a good dude man.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
I appreciate that man .
You're a good dude man.
You know what I'm saying.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
I appreciate you and hopefully you know me.
Giving back to you is going togive back to other people and
then other people are going tohave some bellies full, Right,
you know what I mean.
Got to feed the babies?
Yeah, feed them.
Give back to other people andthen other people are going to
have some bellies full, right,you know I mean gotta feed the
babies.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
Yeah, feed them.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
You gotta feed the baby, so duke seward, seward,
seward duke seward uh dukeseward, if you can look into
which camera, just go look intothat camera and say you're
living a life of accident andgive a message to the people.
Indeed.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
Message to the people .
Speaker 2 (49:49):
Not too much pressure .
Speaker 3 (49:50):
Nah, that's not right .
Man, be kind and stop sometime.
Say hello, greet a stranger,shake somebody's hand who you
don't know, and just no matterwhat, just keep spreading the
love.
You know what I mean yeah anduh life to the max, to the max
(50:17):
you've been living life to themax and Dave, I'm working on it,
man, I'm working on it, you'reworking on it.
You've been living life.
So, actually, and Dave, I'mworking on it, man.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
I'm working on it.
You're working on it, you'vebeen yeah, very nice.
Speaker 3 (50:25):
Yeah, duke's Blues and BBQ Fuss.
So, uh as uh.
June 7th and 8th um, we'restill working on the 9th, but
7th and 8th for sure it's gonnabe Friday June 7th and
Saturdayth for sure it's goingto be Friday June 7th and
Saturday June 8th.
And the music lineup that wehave is phenomenal.
(50:46):
We have New Blue, cherie Reed,mama Bear from Mattis Award and
Mama Bear.
We have Nick Jimmy Nick and wehave so have Nick Jimmy Nick,
and we have so many, so manymore more beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful musicians, man, and Ijust love to listen to them play
(51:10):
.
Man, I'm like a big kid.
When I see somebody playing me,playing instruments, I get all
googly inside.
Nice, that's deep rooted fromMississippi from Mississippi
Queen of the Delta, queen of theDelta.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
Queen of the Delta, yeah, and you can catch me there
, because I'll be there for sure.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
And Dave.
Speaker 1 (51:28):
Let's see Quav Arthur's going to show up to
Duke Blue's.
Speaker 2 (51:35):
BBQ Fest.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
Let's see what's rocking.
Hopefully there's going to besome good barbecue, because you
know.
Speaker 3 (51:40):
Hey Max, there's going to be some good barbecue.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (51:43):
Max, I'm going to make the barbecue extra special.
For you, big boy, extra salty.
For you, big boy, extra special, I'm going to make sure that
the barbecue is to the max, tothe max.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
So for everybody listening, we'll leave the link
in the description below of theDuke Blues BBQ Fest.
And this has been Life for theNext Podcast.
I'm paralyzed from a neck down,breathing through a machine,
but that doesn't stop me fromfollowing my dreams and doing
what I love to do.
I don't got any excuse to nothave a shishirin.
What's up, guys?
It's Quadfather.
I just wanted to say thank youfor all the support that
everybody has given me with thepodcast throughout the years.
It means the world to me, andyou guys give me a breakfast
every single day I wake up, sothank you so much.
That being said, this episodeis very special to me and my
(00:31):
community.
I'm so blessed to have teamedup with Duke Seward and the
Chase, the Vlog Foundation, andto sponsor Duke's Blues Barbecue
Fest.
This weekend we'll be hangingout in Carpenter Park in
Carpenter's Mall, enjoying somegreat live music and great food.
It's free entry, no charge,because everyone deserves the
(00:55):
taste of love.
If you would like to supportthe cause, the dates are this
Friday, saturday, sunday, june7th to the 9th.
I'll definitely make sure toleave a link in the description
below for more information onDuke Blues Barbecue Fest.
Without further ado, I hope youenjoy this episode.
(01:16):
Thanks, guys.
Oh, it smells delicious.
Already in lunch break we arechecking out a barbecue
restaurant in East Dundee.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Duke's Blues and Barbecue.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Restaurant is serving up recipes passed down through
generations.
Chef Duke Seward joins us withhis family's favorite pork loin
ribs.
I can smell them already outhere.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It smells good All right, this is Mississippi
recipes, right yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
yeah, yeah, so everything is Mississippi
recipes, so we're originallyfrom Greenville.
Yeah, yeah, so everything isMississippi recipes, so we're
originally from Greenville,mississippi.
Okay, queen of the Delta, andthese recipes they were passed
down from my mother and fathermy mother's Maryland Seaweed and
my father's Tansy and I justpretty much kind of took it over
the years and added a littlebit of myself into it and then
(02:09):
you know, we started up arestaurant, Duke's Blues.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I can't rap to this.
Yeah, you can rap All right.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
All right, let's do this.
All right.
Yeah, me and Max, we're gettingpaid Every day.
That's what we say.
Let him hate, hold on, uh, lethim hate Hold on, uh, ay, ay, ay
uh, me and Max, we getting paid.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
This is kind of hard.
What's up, man, my name is Duke.
I'm the owner of all the Duke'sBlues and Barbecues and Taste
of Love a non-for-profit and I'mjust here with my boy, mox.
Sorry, I'm a little late, man,I had to do all the blues.
(02:55):
All right, all right, good.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
My wife to the max, Just like my podcast.
Alright, we're back withanother episode of Life to the
Max.
I'm here with Duke Seward.
Duke, say hello to the crowd.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Hello everybody, how y'all doing.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
So, duke, you're very well known around Elgin area,
from what I've been told,because your barbecue just
smacks.
Your barbecue food is amazing.
It's delicious.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Thanks, Max.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And I was wondering what's the name of your
restaurant?
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Duke's Blues and BBQ and Duke's Catering.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So you do both catering.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yeah, yeah.
So we started when I was in thecity.
We started as a cateringcompany and then from there we
pretty much when I came back outthis way, we started doing some
farmer's markets and things ofthat nature.
I grew up out this way.
We're originally fromMississippi.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Greenville, mississippi, oh, so yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah, but yeah, we started in Chicago as catering
and then we brought Dukes outhere.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
That's awesome.
So is this like a family-ownedrestaurant?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah, yeah, so it is, it is so everything is
family-owned family recipes thatI've learned over the years
from, like my mother and fathermy dad he taught me how to grill
Him and my Uncle Nip God blesshis soul.
My Uncle Nip, he was a veteran,you know.
He passed away.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Very first service.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Indeed, indeed, he was a good dude.
But my father I spent a lot oftime with him because when I was
a kid, a lot of my friendswould come over because my dad
would grill every weekend.
So he was like you know, let meteach you the way we barbecue
down south.
So it's always kind of beensomething that's there.
But you know, I just took it upwhen I was living in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I mean I could tell man, you have Southern
hospitality Every time you walkinto my house.
You've only walked in liketwice from when I've seen, but
like when I met you, I needed aturkey for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
And I was like I don't want my family cooking
turkey, I'm done with that.
I was like Mom, mom, findsomeone who makes turkey.
And she found you yeah, yourturkey is amazing, amazing, and
I think I've had your turkey forthe last four years yeah, yeah
four years and uh so do youoften.
(05:41):
Is that like your family'srecipe as well?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah, so actually the turkey recipe is, um, my
father's and myself we actuallyum put that recipe together
Cause when I grew up it was likewe grew up a very traditional
with like holidays you know whatI mean Like a set of like uh,
it was a couple of things that'skind of been a little bit
different, like um, we call itdressing, stuffing.
(06:06):
It's like cornbread dressing,but it's, you know, but it's
like equivalent to like stuffing.
You know what I mean, but it'sjust, you know, a little bit a
little different.
You know what I mean, butsimilar concepts.
But my mom, she always used tobake the turkeys in the oven and
then she went.
I never really understood howto bake turkey in the oven
because it always comes out dryand it's kind of like it gives
(06:29):
you cotton mouth.
I feel like no meat should giveyou cotton mouth after you eat
it.
You know what I mean.
So my dad and I we startedplaying around with it when, I
don't know, probably about 15years ago, we started smoking
turkeys, you know, and then Iwas like you know, it's still
moist, you know what I mean andlike juicy, and it still has
like good flavor, like all theway down to all the meat.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Delicious Most Thanksgiving turkeys are all dry
.
But yeah, when I hadThanksgiving last year with Max
and that turkey, it wassurprisingly and it was very
substantial.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Definitely next year we're all going to tune in to
Duke Caboom and get that turkey,indeed.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Indeed, I appreciate that.
That's awfully kind of you.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
So delicious.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Shout out to you and your dad figuring that recipe
out Indeed, indeed.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
It's amazing.
So you're a super popular guyaround here, right?
I was wondering, when it comesto being a restaurateur, is it a
small community if you are agood restaurateur?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
You said is it like a small?
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Like a niche community, like when you're a
restaurateur, because you're asuccessful restaurateur and you
were talking about Cafe Robot.
Oh, I got you, got you, got you.
Yeah, like it's a spot for you.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
As far as the community goes.
Yeah, I think it's one of thosethings.
I think it's kind of like arespect thing.
I think, after you've kind ofbeen doing it for a little bit,
I'm like the new kid on theblock because I'm like the
youngest one, so it wasn'talways how young are you?
I'm 38, but I mean, compared tothe guys, it's kind of been
doing it for a long time, youknow what I mean like you know,
um shout out to my boy, bobKarras.
(08:13):
He owns all the squires and therookies and all that stuff too,
you know.
But uh, him and I we talked nottoo long ago but uh, it's like
one of those things too, likeyou know, since I'm like the new
kid on the block, you know,it's kind of like for me it
means a lot for, like you know,people who have been doing it
for like 30 plus years, to havelike a lot of respect for me.
You know what I mean and kindof like what we're doing and and
(08:33):
also just I enjoy peoplewatching us um kind of grow from
like ground up.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I could tell you know , I could definitely tell every
time, uh, like you talk, it'slike about giving back to the
community, which is amazing,like that's.
That's all I keep hearing isgiving back to the community.
You know, like you just camefrom a teacher committee or
something yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
So like, um, it was like a teacher's appreciation of
the day.
So we had a few schools orwhatnot, but we did about today
alone.
We did about 500 teachers.
And what do you do?
They order different things.
We did a lot of brisket today.
Probably did about 13 briskets,about like 120 pounds of pork
(09:33):
and about 100 pounds of chickenand about 75 pounds of rib tips,
and then we had sides and stufftoo.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
What started your fascination with cooking as an
adult?
What made you make that turningpoint, to turning it into
something as a lifestyle?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
I think life man.
You know, I think, like I said,you know I was telling Max.
You know I was an artist.
You know I've always had astrong love for art.
You know, I think pretty muchwhen I was living in Chicago I
had to.
I was kind of going throughlike a career change.
(10:08):
Is that what I kind of call it?
You know, trying to figure itout.
I don't want to call it amidlife crisis, because I was in
my 20s.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
We all hit those crossroads sometimes you know,
but it was you know.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
but I had to, kind of you know, I was trying to
figure out what it was that Iwanted to do.
I've always been curious in it.
You know what I mean.
Like, once I stopped doingartists heavily and then started
writing, like poetry, I waslooking for something, because
I'm big on energy and I'm big onhow things make me feel and how
I project things to make otherpeople feel.
So I was kind of always lookingfor that feeling again.
(10:42):
And then, once I got intostarted kind of playing around
with some cooking, my boys werecoming out into my house
Speaking of which, I want togive a shout out to my boy, shy
Hunter, little Black Chef downin Greystone Tavern.
So he did Taste of Chicago in2013, and that guy gave me
confidence.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
He's one of my dear friends um and that was your
original inspiration.
No, my mom and dad wasinspiration.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, yeah, that was like the first.
No, no, that was just a guythat was like man, this is good
and they're coming from somebodywho cooks for a living, right,
you know what I mean, because Ithink we all kind of have that
thing, like you know, I thinkit's everything's good at the
house when it's free and all ofyour boys are eating it, but
then it means it's somethingdifferent once somebody's like
man, this is really good andthis is what they do for a
(11:33):
living.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You know what I mean, so you said you were an artist
before, but when?
You made that transition toculinary.
You could also say that's anart form too.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah.
So I mean you're still anartist.
Some would say that.
But some would say, when youget into culinary, then they
start using that big C word.
Person's a chef man.
No, I'm not a chef man, I justappreciate the beauty of cooking
.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
You're a barbecue master.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, but it's not even barbecue.
I love making steaks.
I just love cooking.
If my wife was standing next tome, she would say I cook every
night at the house.
But I make everything fromscratch.
I make enchiladas, I make pastafrom scratch, I make chicken,
alfredo stuffed shells, a lot ofsteaks, pork chops.
(12:18):
I just like to eat.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So you got into it.
It sounds like you're sayingyou simply got into it just
because you love to do it.
Yeah, so what also made youinspired to take the route of
making everything nonprofit andjust giving back to the
community?
And I know you said you werebig on energy, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
That was kind of the way I was, kind of I was brought
up that way.
To be honest with you, you knowmy mother and father, you know
I think everything kind ofstarts with the parents, you
know, and I watched them do itso much as a kid.
We didn't have much reallygrowing up, you know, but I
would always watch them.
If somebody needed something,they'll try like their best, as
long as it wasn't affecting,like, the well-being of their
children and the household, andthey'll try to help them, like,
(12:58):
you know, my mom and dad used to.
When we first moved up here wedidn't have a car right away,
you know what I mean.
So my mom and dad, like they,used to ride their bicycles to
work, you know, and then they'dride their bicycles to the
grocery store for like twomonths until we was able to get
a car.
And I just remember how happymy mom was when we first got our
(13:19):
first car up here in Illinois.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
It's all over.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And I just always remember, you know, she was just
so happy.
You know, and and and and itwas just like, whenever she can
help somebody, if it was likegiving somebody a ride, giving a
neighbor a ride, or you knowwhat I mean.
Or taking, or taking somebodyup the streets like the
laundromat, you know, um, shewould do that and I would just
watch the people get so happy.
And I was like, you know,because my mom would always let
me know that, like you know, shewould always remind me that we
(13:50):
all need each other.
You know, as a kid and I thinkthat's kind of transpired into
me as an adult, you know what Imean.
So it's not really like it'sjust what I do, just the way I
was brought up, you know what Imean.
Mean like, even if I wasn'tdoing this, I've always been
given, you know oh yeah it justnow, just it just now, like on a
bigger scale, I suppose soundslike you had a strong family.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
I admire that is it all?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
is the hospitality different here than it would be
down south?
Uh?
Speaker 3 (14:20):
yes and no.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I think that that depends on the person probably.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Yeah, I think it depends on a couple different
factors.
The one thing I really enjoyabout the South is that
everybody waves to you.
You know what I mean?
The South.
Yeah, like in the South,everybody waves to you.
They don't even know you, man,howdy, buddy, no, no, no.
You talk as a wild, wild west,you don't come with.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I'm saying you talk about Wild Wild West.
You know what I'm saying.
I'm sorry, max got me playing.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Red Dead off the clock.
You know what I'm saying, hesaid howdy partner.
No, man, it's more so.
Like you know what I mean.
Like if you're like walkingdown the street or just riding
your bike or this, or justsitting on the porch, like
people are driving past, they'llwave to you.
You know People driving past,they'll wave to you.
You know people make eyecontact down south or they make
(15:08):
more eye contact.
You know what I mean.
I think that's the biggestdifference I've noticed as far
as, like the hospitality up hereand down and down south is that
and more so.
It's like the eye contact andacknowledgement of a person if
they're coming across, theirpresence.
But as far as like hospitalityas a whole, like I've always
(15:29):
been brought up, even up here,from like all of my guys, like
parents, that's like my, theirparents are like my parents,
because that's the way we allgrew up in the community.
Like you know, I go to mybuddy's house and their mom
would have a hot plate for me atthe house if I was coming over.
You know I didn't have to getinvited, they just said just
duke around, here's a hot plate,type of deal and vice versa.
You know what I mean.
Like my mother and my father,my partners were at my house and
(15:52):
my buddies came over forwhatever to play video games or
just hang out.
They would make sure everybodyate.
You know what?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
And I think that's the biggest thing.
I think that's the kind of waythat was always around me, you
know, and I think that reallytaught me a lot, Like my mom
would always.
If my mom had a plate of, itcould be 10 people in the house
and it could be two pork chops.
You know what I mean?
Splitting it up.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Everybody getting a piece of pork chop.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, and that's kind of like,and that's just the way I was
raised and brought up and that'sjust the way I try to continue
to be.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
That's awesome what you mentioned before and on that
note of just constantly withthe acts of service and helping
people out and just having thathospitality like Max mentioned,
would you say that there's morewithin the community of acts of
service in the South or here, orequal, or just off your
experience?
What would you say?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Well.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I know you're not trying to like throw shade like
I'm like.
You know the North or whatever.
We're just wondering we're justwondering because, like, like
when did you come up?
Here Was your family.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
I was little little.
I spent the majority of my life, pretty much all of my life up
here in Illinois.
We always went back home,though, you know what I mean, it
wasn't just like.
I think a lot of times people,whenever they leave the place
that their family's from andthat they're from, they
(17:25):
typically always go back onlyfor like funeral or sad stuff or
like funeral or weddings.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, but we always went backhome.
You know, like my buddiesgrowing up, they'll be going to
Disney and going to Californiafor vacation and all these fun
places and they're like Duke,where are you going?
Speaker 1 (17:43):
And.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I would say you vacation and all these fun
places, and they were like Dukewhere are you going?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
And I would say, you know, going back to Mississippi.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yeah, but uh, you know, but I have uh more
appreciation, more appreciationfor it now as an adult than I
did as a kid, cause you know you, you know Mississippi's fun,
you know I mean it's.
It was fun for me Um, alwaysgoing back because, uh, I got a
lot of family down there.
But to answer your question,which one had more hospitality,
(18:11):
up here or down, I would sayfrom where I sit in my life I
would say it's about equalReally.
But I think that's just becauseof the people that have always
been around me.
You know what I mean, yeah,good vibes.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
So it's kind of like I don't know if that's really
like an accurate assessment forlike.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
No, that makes total sense.
You attract people who kind ofrepresent you, your product,
your environment.
It goes both ways.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
So if you're always giving and always doing stuff
for the community, then you'regoing to be surrounded.
You're going to becomesurrounded by people who have a
similar mindset.
Do you know what is amazingabout food?
It brings people together.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Do you know what I mean?
I do.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
It really does.
And what were you about to say?
Speaker 3 (19:00):
No, I was just saying I agree.
I always it's funny you saythat I always used to tell folks
that I think the two commonthings we all shoot or share as
human beings is we all got toeat something and we all snap
our fingers to a tune.
You know what I mean.
So, and I think once youunderstand that common area that
(19:22):
we all kind of live in, you canwork everything else out.
You know what I'm sayingBecause I tell folks all the
time people, they'll crack jokesand they'll say, duke, why do
you have a vegan option orsomething like that.
And I say, well, vegans eat too.
You know what I mean.
And my brother's a vegan, myniece is a vegan, his wife is a
vegan.
You know what I'm saying.
(19:49):
So I like to like to when I'mcooking, even when they come to
my house for the holidays, Iwant to make sure that they're
happy.
You know what I'm saying.
And um, and I think that's thesame thing with like music, you
know?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I think that um it's just about to bring that up,
music yeah, you know what I'msaying.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
I think, like you know, we all listen, or tap our
fingers or or tap our feet tosomething.
You, whether it's gospel,whether it's country music,
whether it's blues, whether it'srock, whether it's hip-hop or
R&B, and I always try to saythat everybody tells the same
story, it's just throughdifferent eyes.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Yeah, now, blues is supposed to be more of a sad
sound, right, like a little bit.
Like you know, I'm in my blueslike that's why they started
blues.
So what?
What made you, uh say duke'sblues barbecue, like what?
What made you do that?
Is it because you love blues?
Speaker 3 (20:36):
good question.
Yeah, that's both, um, becauseI'm from, uh, greenville,
mississippi, the of the Delta,where the blues started on
Nelson Street.
Yeah, so blues has always beenheavy in my family.
You know, like all the guysused to kind of come down there
and play, so like they used tohave juke joints.
(20:57):
Juke joints is equivalent towhat speakeasies would have been
up here, and my daddy wouldalways tell me stories as a kid,
you know what I mean would belike, you know when, when he'll
be on nelson street, him and his, his little brother, my uncle
jerry, or just a few of hispartners or whatnot, he, um, he
he'll say, like everybody bepulling up.
Like you know, you got, likebuddy guy, a bunch of baseball
(21:18):
players at the time, andeverybody and everybody had
cadillacs.
Yeah, and everybody hadcadillacs.
But that that's the thing,though, too, it was the South
right, so you had all thesefolks at the time, because, I
mean, obviously it was during atime when the world wasn't.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Civil rights act.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Everybody wasn't really kind ofwhat you talking about.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
You know everybody wasn't together but it was
always cool because my dad wouldtell us stories and he would
always say like a juke joint iskind of like.
You know it's always like ahouse with like a hardwood floor
.
You know what I mean.
And like you go in there for agood time and you drink a little
(21:57):
bit, you know you get a couplenips on something and Listen to
blues.
Yeah, listen to blues music,music like live blues musicians,
man, and you just hang out, man, you know what I mean that's,
uh, you know that's a reallysweet story.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Like not sweet story, it's.
It's awesome that your dad wasable to experience that and uh
shed light on the you knowpositivity during the
circumstances of the CivilRights Act.
I mean, now I'm not going tosay it's better or worse, but I
(22:36):
do think that progress has beenmade.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I would say you know what I mean.
I think that we made progress,man, to be honest.
I mean I think we still gotsome work to do as a whole, as a
people, always do but you knowthe job's not done, but I
definitely think that there'ssome progress.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, yeah, 100%.
So you are, I was wondering.
So you're basically abusinessman, you have your food
restaurants and your cateringand everything.
So what brought you to thatsuccess?
When you were a kid, when didyou say I'm going to be a
(23:20):
successful barbecue master?
Basically, because that's whatyou are.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
I never really did, I never really had an age for
that or whatnot, to be honest,which I'm still trying to figure
it out man you know.
But I think that's the beautyof life, though I think that,
like I always try to tell folks,man, like the moment I'm I'm
not curious, the moment I becomebored I'll stop doing it.
You know what I mean and rightnow I'm.
That's the one thing I alwaysencourage, even the kids when I
(23:48):
speak to, the kids at the highschools that I speak to is stay
curious, man, always staycurious, stay open-minded and
always be open to learning.
You know what I mean.
It's like you know, because Ithink sometimes I think
generational gaps and I thinksometimes where, like the ball
gets dropped.
I generational gaps and I thinksometimes where, like the ball
gets dropped.
(24:08):
I think sometimes, when we getto a certain age, we're like
well, a 14 year old kid or a 13year old kid can't teach me
nothing Like you can learn froma five year old kid if you
listen, you know what I mean,and I think that with that
mindset I'm always open.
You know what I'm saying.
Like I have conversations withmy daughter who's four.
She's on turn five on June 8th.
Her name is Eddie Rose Laverne.
Uh, and then, uh, little Dukeis gonna turn one on um May 25th
(24:34):
, and then I heard, he justwalked indeed, indeed.
So I'm looking forward to theconversations I get to have with
him.
But the conversations I havewith her is always because I
think sometimes, like you,sometimes like we were talking
about how we all look at theworld through different lenses.
Right and right now, the worldto her is really colorful, and
the world to me may not be ascolorful because we're at
(24:57):
different points in our life.
So sometimes you got to bereminded of that color.
You know what I'm saying?
Hell yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Just like your shirt, man, yeah, man.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
The that color.
You know what I'm saying.
Oh yeah, just like your shirt.
Yeah, man, the the beauty about, like, when I bond with kids,
like I've always found myself,naturally, like just having fun
with the kids and and a lot ofpeople, a lot of adults, a lot
of parents.
I'm not gonna tell you how toparent, because that's the
quickest way to get into anargument, but you know we get so
caught up in like trying togive them direction.
Do, do things this way, dothings this way.
But when you, when you, withthe adolescent kids, like,
(25:28):
especially the ones that aren'teven comprehending the shit
you're directing them to do,like you just need to find a way
to get to their level and stepinto their world.
And you know what, all of asudden, things are brighter when
you're, when you're like coolas hell.
A five-year-old would be likedude.
He's treating me like he's.
(25:48):
I definitely have a blast withsome cool kids, but then there's
some brats that I'll fuckingthrow off the corner of the
table.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
There's always going to be some brats in the batch
man.
You know what I mean.
There's always going to be somebrats.
It sounds like you've beensuper family.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Family oriented it.
Um, there was a quote thatpopped in my head earlier when
you were talking about the actsof service that your mom was
doing after she got her car.
Um, let's say if you want tomake someone happy for a week,
go buy a watch.
If you want to be happy for amonth, buy a car.
If you want to be happy for ayear, go buy a house.
But if you want to be happy forthe rest of your life, make a
difference in someone else's bigfriends.
(26:22):
I'm I'm not going to lie.
When I met Max and he asked meto be his assistant, that was
the strongest quote in my head.
I was like I'm going to make adifference in this motherfucker.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
That's what's up, man , and that's what it's about too
.
My wife and I, we both sharethe same energy, man, we both
feel that same way, the same waywhich you just kind of spoke on
.
You know, we're always tryingto help people.
Man like um, we've been bestfriends since we were 14.
Her name's Rhiannon, um, kindof like the Fleetwood Mac song,
(26:54):
you know what I mean.
But, um, it makes it easier forme to have a partner like that.
You know what I'm saying.
Because it's kind of like shegives just like I give.
You know what I'm saying.
So it's kind of like she givesjust like I give.
You know what I'm saying.
So it's kind of like, even withthe way that her brain's
structured, because she's kindof sometimes she's so focused on
the end goals because, I mean,she's really smart, beautiful
(27:18):
and just really determined andsometimes she has to stop
herself because she'll gettunnel vision if she's doing
something, but she'll stop nomatter what.
It could be the biggest thingthat she has going on in her
life.
You know what I mean.
I would watch this since wewere kids and she'll stop to
help somebody else out.
You know what I'm saying.
Like she'll put herself secondto somebody else's needs if she
(27:40):
sees that that person needssomething.
You know, and I think thatthat's kind of like, um, she's
also helped me kind of, but makesure, um, I don't lose sight of
that too.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
You know what I mean so you say you're that way
because you've seen your mom anddad?
Speaker 1 (27:52):
yeah, that way.
Yeah, you're super humble man,honestly like super humble, and
it's crazy that you're superhumble because you're also super
popular around here you are.
You're about to be on wgn newsyeah, yeah, oh nice, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
So I'm gonna be on wgn on the 27th.
I'm in once we get back fromputin khanah.
We're going to putin khanah formy mother's birthday, yeah I
took my mom there too for her40th birthday.
Man, I've never been to putinkhanah.
What is it like?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
It's nice they sell so much stuff.
That's how they make money,that's their hustle, right.
I ain't knocking them Cigars,but bro cigars, whether it's
little bracelets the kids make,or flowers the kids just plucked
, or other dudes hustling fakecigars that they rolled up with
trash and gravel Bro.
(28:43):
I respect the hustle, bro, butwhen I'm sitting there on the
beach with my eyes closedtanning in the sun and then I
get a tap like hey, you want tobuy this Bro?
Get the get away, bro.
It got to the point where it'sno thank you, it went.
No, thank you for the first dayand hey, no thank you the
second day.
Hey, nah, man, nah.
The third day and the fourthday was like bro, go, no.
(29:07):
You know it was so bad.
I don't know why it triggeredme so much, but I had a bad
dream about it where I was likeshouldering, like walking
through a crowd of people tryingto sell me shit, and I'm just
fucking getting throughdominican republic trying to
dude yeah, so be prepared toreject or or bring a bunch of
singles and pay for things if Igot it and I can give it away,
man you know Good answer, goodanswer you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
You are giving.
Yeah, there's going to be a lotof giving.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Max ain't giving that much man you know, that's one
thing the wife does, man, shedoes a phenomenal job budgeting,
so it's just like, hey, we gotthis amount of money, this
percentage, to give budgeting.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
So it's just like, hey, we got this amount of money
to give.
That's awesome Whenever we taketrips.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Because you're 100% correct.
We've been to different islandstogether and I don't like to
stand on a resort.
I like to get out and be withthe people.
You know what I'm saying.
No matter where I go in theworld, I want to be with the
people.
So if the people are over here,I want to go check them out.
I want to see what they'redoing.
I want to see what it's like tolive a day in their life.
(30:09):
You know what I mean, Becausethat also helps me to continue
to grow my vision.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Have you ever done any mission trips or anything
like that?
Speaker 3 (30:19):
I'd like to consider my life a mission trip.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
You mentioned a vision life a mission trip, oh
my god you mentioned a vision.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Yeah, but what is your vision?
Oh man, I got a few.
I got a few.
So when you travel and you'retrying to, you're trying to yeah
, man, that vision I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
I uh, I think a lot and sometimes, like we talked
about perspectives, right, youknow, I can go somewhere and and
be around with somebody thatmay not have anything you know
what I'm saying Like it might bea bum on the street, you know,
but I sit down and have aconversation with them, you know
what I'm saying and sometimesthat kind of helps, like oh,
(30:59):
like a ding, kind of clicking,like oh, that makes sense.
You know, I like to look at it,just been uh, as guys work.
You know I like to.
I'm on guys time so I might aswell look at guys work you're.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
It's easy for every individual to get those blinders
on, especially when they'rehustling, especially all those
entrepreneurs, especially thepeople that are never satisfied
when they're building theirempire, you know or especially
the people that get caught up inthe nine to five for 20 years
until they retire, that theynever were happy with.
You know it's easy to get thoseblinders on and just think that
your life is the only problem,you know, or this problem is the
(31:34):
only problem, until you know,you hear someone else's story
and and you realize that there'sso many different lanes in life
that having those blinders onis almost self-destruction like.
You need to keep your eyes openand you need to realize that
there's so many different anglesto this life and life is very,
very complicated and there's somany ways.
Precious to it is to find thoselittle things and find that
(31:57):
happiness and find things thatare bigger than your current
situation.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
It doesn't take money to find that, nah nah, nah, I
mean like, I don't mean hijackyour interview, but look at me,
man.
Like you know, my life wastaken.
Not my life, but like a lot ofpart, a big part of my life was
taken when I was in the militaryjust doing what I had to do you
know I wasn't like runningstreets.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I wasn't doing anything bad, but you know
things happen.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
You just gotta.
You know I wasn't like runningthe streets, I wasn't doing
anything bad, but you knowthings happen.
You just got to find outlets.
You know, like give back, likeyou were talking about give back
.
What I try to do is give backwith the podcast.
I'm not that great of aninterviewer but you know like
it's Nice.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
I think you're doing a phenomenal job, big boy.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, it's uh.
Yeah, it's tough, but I want toget better and better at it you
know, and the big thing is isgiving back to the community and
letting them know like we cango down the rabbit hole.
We can talk about you know this1960s, and then we can talk
about the present and we cantalk about your perfect world.
(33:05):
You want and I want thatperfect world too, man, and
hopefully it's like the samething, because my thing is
giving back with my voice.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
That's all I got right now, man.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
I can't move.
You know, I had to learn thislife when I was 20 years old man
.
Yeah, 20 years old man.
I had to learn all these newthings, like things I never even
thought of.
You know, and I'm grateful totalk to people like you your
(33:43):
philanthropy is like incredibleman.
It really is and like go backto that.
It's all about finding an outlet, finding something that makes
you happy, and I think your momplayed a huge role in your
philanthropy just by the car,because she was giving she, she
(34:07):
worked her, she worked her tailoff to get that car right,
riding her bike and stuff.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
People don't know about that it was my mom and dad
, both of them man.
Both of them taught me the wayman they did it together.
They also showed me what like astrong couple kind of looks
like.
So I always wanted to kind offind a mate that kind of
embodied what I saw in myparents and that's what I found
(34:33):
in my wife.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
So let's not be grim anymore.
You got a fest coming up calledDuke's Blues Fest.
Talk about that.
Hold on.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
I had a question earlier.
We're going to get right intothat.
I was going to ask you aboutyour parents.
You say that you do thesegenerous things because you've
seen your mom and dad doing it.
Yeah, but I find it hard tobelieve that every single time
you do something nice forsomeone, you're only doing it
because your mom and dad didthose things.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
No no no, no.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
I'm leading up to the question, so I wanted to ask
you you know, like what do youfeel when you do something nice
for someone?
Or like what kind of drive doesit give you?
Or like you know, like what aresome emotions that go through
your head, just inside, thatusually people don't?
Speaker 3 (35:22):
The emotions that go through me.
I mean love, man, you know whatI'm saying.
Like love, I just I thinkthat's something I think we're
lacking in the world man is love.
I think that sometimes when youdo something, man, like you
don't got to know the person.
(35:43):
And you know, I had a few of mypartners, man, growing up, and
they used to kind of, you know,bust my balls and give me a hard
time.
They were like, oh man, theregoes Duke giving a dollar to the
guy on the home, or like givinga dollar to the bum on the
street or giving this to them,and they were like, man, you
know that he's gonna do this ordo that with it.
And I was like, man, I don'tcare, man, that's between them
and god.
All I know is, you know, when Ishake the person's hand or said
(36:05):
, hello, how you doing, orwhatnot, or give him a
cheeseburger or whatever, orwhatever the decision situation
may have been, um, we shared amoment in that moment.
You know what I mean and Ithink sometimes I tell folks,
man, like you never know what aperson's going through in life.
You know what I'm saying.
And sometimes a person can beon their last string man.
(36:25):
And then just by smiling atsomebody or shaking a person's
hand or sharing a story, orsharing a story man.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Giving some food.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Giving some food man, or sharing a cold drink man
with somebody.
It may seem so little to somepeople, but stuff like that
never seems little to me.
And if a person, when a persongives me something, it could be
a bottle of water, man, I'mthankful.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, I'm thankful, man.
(36:52):
Man, I don't take nothing forgranted.
You know what I'm saying.
I think I just try to remindmyself of that too and I try to
pass it on to people thatsurround me.
Like you know, you got to love.
You got to love, love hard andlove strong man.
And I'm not saying everythingin life is going to be peaches
and cream, you know what I'msaying, but you just got to keep
(37:12):
pushing forward for that loveman.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Second question, on this note, you know you provide
all these acts of service.
It's naturally in you, yeah,and how do you feel when?
Speaker 3 (37:27):
people provide those acts of services for you.
It's cool, man, like I, really.
It's one of those things.
Sometimes I'm taken back.
You know what I'm saying.
You know, like I remember, man,man, my wife and I it was
probably about 10 years ago wewanted to provide Thanksgiving
(37:53):
dinners to 20 families.
I said I'm going to feed 20families.
And I told people, I said, man,I put it on Facebook.
I said, I don't care whereyou're at, you know what I mean.
You send me some families thatare in need and I'm going to get
them a turkey, a ham, some fullpans of food.
(38:15):
Y'all going to have aThanksgiving the way you should
have a Thanksgiving.
You know what I mean.
Y'all going to have aThanksgiving the way you should
have a Thanksgiving.
You know what I mean.
And we did that for Christmastoo.
But that year, man, we went toWest Aurora and it was a
Hispanic family man.
It was probably about, I think,the husband and wife.
(38:36):
They didn't really speak toomuch, their English wasn't that
well, but it was kind of likebroken and whatnot.
But they're real nice people,man, and they had seven kids.
And I remember we just showedup to their house because they
had a three-bedroom house it wasa ranch house, you know in
Aurora and all the kids gave mea handmade card, said Thank you,
(39:02):
mr Chef.
You know what I mean.
And I still got the cards, man,I was taken back from that, you
know what I mean.
Like that, that just kind of itmade me feel like it's a
reminder that, hey, we're allsmall man, you know what I'm
saying.
It's a reminder that, hey,we're all small man, you know
what I'm saying.
(39:22):
You know, it's kind of likethat meant so much to them and
it meant so much to me to bewith them in that moment.
You know what I'm saying and Ithought that was really cool you
know, and I think that stufflike that keeps me going.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
That's awesome, yeah, hell yeah.
Love is free, fellas.
You hear all this Love alwayswins.
You hear all this Acts ofservices don't cost a thing.
Love always wins All it takesis time and love, Big facts and
that return, that gratificationyou feel inside your soul.
It's priceless.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
All right, let's get to the fest.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Max, let's get to the fest, the main event we got a
photographer in the back tigerwoods fellas, this is my boy,
justin.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Hey, justin, nice to meet you guys we're gonna keep
the interview rolling and we'llget acquainted.
We got we got 21 minutes of thepodcast.
Justin, thank you for coming,but uh, yeah, let's get into the
main event yeah, main event, soduke's event, so Duke's Blues
Fest.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Yeah so Duke's Blues and Barbecue Fest.
That's also presented by ournonprofit.
We have a nonprofit in which mywife and I started because we
wanted to give back to thecommunity.
And then people were like man,you know, like all these acts
you guys do, you can start anonprofit for that and then
people can donate money to you.
You know, you know stuff likethat and I was like man, that
(40:42):
sounds phenomenal.
Um, so we started that a fewyears back.
Man, we give out scholarshipsthrough like a non-profit.
Um, we provided when covid hit,we gave all of the uh
restaurant workers in East andWest and Dundee, some in
(41:03):
Carpenter'sville.
Everybody got a check,everybody that was in need got a
check.
You know what I'm saying.
And that was something we didthrough our nonprofit, which was
hella cool.
And then we started this BluesFest and it's free because
growing up as a kid, like I wassaying, we didn't have much, but
I never missed anything.
(41:23):
You know what I'm saying Becausemy mom and dad they bust their
ass, man.
We never went without anything.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
We never missed a meal.
We didn't have much, but wenever missed anything.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
But I remember that feeling.
We used to go down to the Tasteof Chicago when I was a kid and
it's going back and forth toChicago and out to the flea
market and stuff and I remembermy dad only had X amount of
money, so sometimes he'd makethat tight call Like man, I
really want to go to thisfestival.
(41:55):
But, man, if it costs $5, $10 aperson to get in there, man,
that's meal money.
You know what I'm saying.
So maybe we can't go this yearor something like that, in which
that's cool, you know what I'msaying.
But I also think it reallywould have been a good
experience for him to take us tosome of those other places.
You know what I'm saying.
But sometimes you got to makethat call Like man, do I pay for
(42:16):
the submission or do I buy themsomething to eat after we
walked, you know, downtownChicago for an hour or so?
You know what I'm saying.
And um, and I remember thatfeeling, so, so growing up I was
like man, you know what, and mywife used to have the same
thing too.
Her dad, um, he was afirefighter in Carpentersville.
Ever, ever since, you know, um,he's part of my fat five.
(42:39):
You know, I also give himcredit too.
You know, he, he um helped methrough my teenage years as far
as like, because he was aphenomenal artist and I was an
artist too, an artist too.
So we used to kind of connect.
He kind of showed me somedifferent avenues, you know some
things to kind of approach.
But when we started the fest Isaid, man, this is all free.
You know what I'm saying.
It it's like you can decide tobuy food if you want to, but as
(43:02):
far as coming into the festival,come to the festival, man,
there's no admissions or nothing.
That's beautiful.
You know what I'm saying.
Because if you come into thefestival, I don't want you
paying money to get into theentrance.
I want you to pay money if yourdaughter wants some cotton candy
, or she wants a cheeseburger,or you know a hot dog, or you
(43:25):
know, if daddy wants to get acold beer, you know a date night
, I want y'all to spend yourmoney on that.
You know what I'm saying.
And with our nonprofit and withthe sponsorships, you know, and
once again, thanks to all mysponsors for the Dukes and Blues
Fest, it's been a blessing, butthat helps us to make sure that
we have enough resources tokind of take care of everything
(43:46):
else Take care of the musicianswe got coming out, take care of
my sound guy, take care of mysecurity.
Taking care of everything youknow.
That's amazing yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
I love how you said that People aren't just, it's
not just a fest anymore.
This is something he createdbecause when he was a kid his
dad sometimes couldn't get infrom the admission fee.
So, he evolutionized and he didit his own way and he said you
know what?
Everyone's getting in for free,Everybody's coming in, that's
power.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Yeah, thanks, man.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
That shit, dude, I love that, All right thanks, man
, I want to clap too, but Ican't Come on click with the
clap Click with the clap.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Nah, that's too Nah.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Max, I can dig it, man.
No, that's just wonderful, man,honestly.
And it all happened because ofyou witnessing it as a kid and
you're like I'm going to change.
Speaker 3 (44:43):
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to change.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
And that's what it's about.
You know, Change is good.
You know what I'm saying.
I think that we all strugglewith change.
Change is not always bad.
You know what I'm saying.
I think if I had to definechange, I would say change is
misunderstood.
(45:06):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Yeah, 100%, because sometimes things change and
people don't agree with it, andsome people do.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
But that's life, I mean, that's how it's always
going to be, unfortunately, buthopefully going forward and all
the people listening canunderstand that love always wins
.
Giving back it feels moreamazing than anything else?
(45:41):
yeah, from this whole podcast,that's all I literally heard
from you man, giving back,giving back, giving back.
Your family giving back, givingback, and then you like trying
to make changes so people canenjoy the things that like
admission tickets and all thisother stuff.
(46:02):
You're so humble but you're sopopular at the same time, like I
said, you have like a meeting,like an interview with WGN
coming up right.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
You know, on the 27th I thinkit's going to be exciting.
You know what I'm saying.
I think it's.
You know I think it's going tobe exciting.
You know what I'm saying, Ithink it's.
You know this is my first timeon like live news.
You know, I've been in thenewspaper quite a bit.
People have wrote up some nicearticles about me, you know, and
(46:35):
I'm thankful for those too.
You know, but I think going toWGN is kind of cool because I
like to hang around, you know,at diet bars with a few old
timers and everybody loves WGN.
So it's like, you know, it'slife exciting.
Hey, dude, you're going to seeme on the big screen, you know
what.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
I'm saying, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
Yeah, I like how your story isbasically based on you growing
up and seeing you and yourfamily just giving back and life
is rewarding you, life isreturning the favor for you.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
God is good, man God is good.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
It's nice to hear.
What's rewarding to you is nota new car or a new house or a
new watch you know like Derekwas saying.
It's making a difference.
Speaker 3 (47:30):
And also like you know something that you know.
I think people sometimes losesight of man.
Like life can be a lotsometimes, man, but it's a
blessing to wake up and openyour eyes up.
You know what I mean.
It's a blessing to wake up andopen your eyes up.
You know what I mean.
It's a blessing, I think.
Sometimes, even with yoursituation.
I really admire you Because Ithink that sometimes a person
(47:55):
could have just gave up you knowwhat I'm saying.
Been a situation Because Iremember for me I used to be an
athlete and things like thatnature and I was around
different athletes and and Iknow for us like for for
somebody to get injured, youknow, like you know you rip, you
blow out your knee or yourshoulder you know what I mean or
you hurt your back and that's abig, a big like.
(48:16):
It brings you down becauseyou're so used to having that
right, so it's taken away fromyou right, and that puts a lot
of people into a down spot.
And then in your situation yougot into the bad accident that
put you in this situation andyou're still striving and
pushing forward and like givingback and I really appreciate the
(48:37):
sponsorship that you gave us togive back to, like our
nonprofit, you know, to help offwith the blues fest and like,
like, honestly, man, I thinkthat you have a heart of gold.
You know what I'm saying.
Like I think that you're a real.
I told your mom when I firstmet you you're a good dude man.
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1 (48:59):
Like you're a good dude man.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
I appreciate that man .
You're a good dude man.
You know what I'm saying.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
I appreciate you and hopefully you know me.
Giving back to you is going togive back to other people and
then other people are going tohave some bellies full, Right,
you know what I mean.
Got to feed the babies?
Yeah, feed them.
Give back to other people andthen other people are going to
have some bellies full, right,you know I mean gotta feed the
babies.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
Yeah, feed them.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
You gotta feed the baby, so duke seward, seward,
seward duke seward uh dukeseward, if you can look into
which camera, just go look intothat camera and say you're
living a life of accident andgive a message to the people.
Indeed.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
Message to the people .
Speaker 2 (49:49):
Not too much pressure .
Speaker 3 (49:50):
Nah, that's not right .
Man, be kind and stop sometime.
Say hello, greet a stranger,shake somebody's hand who you
don't know, and just no matterwhat, just keep spreading the
love.
You know what I mean yeah anduh life to the max, to the max
(50:17):
you've been living life to themax and Dave, I'm working on it,
man, I'm working on it, you'reworking on it.
You've been living life.
So, actually, and Dave, I'mworking on it, man.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
I'm working on it.
You're working on it, you'vebeen yeah, very nice.
Speaker 3 (50:25):
Yeah, duke's Blues and BBQ Fuss.
So, uh as uh.
June 7th and 8th um, we'restill working on the 9th, but
7th and 8th for sure it's gonnabe Friday June 7th and
Saturdayth for sure it's goingto be Friday June 7th and
Saturday June 8th.
And the music lineup that wehave is phenomenal.
(50:46):
We have New Blue, cherie Reed,mama Bear from Mattis Award and
Mama Bear.
We have Nick Jimmy Nick and wehave so have Nick Jimmy Nick,
and we have so many, so manymore more beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful musicians, man, and Ijust love to listen to them play
(51:10):
.
Man, I'm like a big kid.
When I see somebody playing me,playing instruments, I get all
googly inside.
Nice, that's deep rooted fromMississippi from Mississippi
Queen of the Delta, queen of theDelta.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
Queen of the Delta, yeah, and you can catch me there
, because I'll be there for sure.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
And Dave.
Speaker 1 (51:28):
Let's see Quav Arthur's going to show up to
Duke Blue's.
Speaker 2 (51:35):
BBQ Fest.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
Let's see what's rocking.
Hopefully there's going to besome good barbecue, because you
know.
Speaker 3 (51:40):
Hey Max, there's going to be some good barbecue.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (51:43):
Max, I'm going to make the barbecue extra special.
For you, big boy, extra salty.
For you, big boy, extra special, I'm going to make sure that
the barbecue is to the max, tothe max.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
So for everybody listening, we'll leave the link
in the description below of theDuke Blues BBQ Fest.
And this has been Life for theNext Podcast.
I'm paralyzed from a neck down,breathing through a machine,
but that doesn't stop me fromfollowing my dreams and doing
what I love to do.
I don't got any excuse to nothave a shishirin.
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