Episode 11: Lachi on Disability Culture, RAMPD, I Identify as Blind, and Building Community in the Music Industry

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joey Stuckey (00:00):
Welcome once again to the Stuck on Sound Podcast.
And I was so excited because mydear friend Lachie is with me
today.
And we have many, manyinteresting things to talk
about.
Um, so and as you know, uh I'mverbose, and luckily Lachie is
as well.
So we can we can we can gab.
Welcome to the program, myfriend.

SPEAKER_01 (00:20):
Hey, Joey, thank you so much for having me on here.
I'm really glad to be here, andcongrats on this new podcast.
This is great.

Well, thank you so much.
We've been meaning to do thisfor years, and and and finally
what tipped me over the edge wasI decided to get my lawyer to
come on and and con talk to meabout AI and the law.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I was like, okay, let's justkeep rolling.
Let's keep going.
Just keep going.
That's right.
So listen, you you are um youare unique in many ways as a

(00:46):
friend of mine.
And one of them is the fact thatI really don't have many blind
friends.
Really?
And um, yeah, I don't.
Because when I grew up, um therewas no sort of hub, there was no
sort of sure.
Sure.
You know, and and I just went tothe public school system just
tough it out.
And uh, but you uh are are oneof the few blind friends I have,

(01:06):
and I'm one I must tell youbecause I wanna I want to start
off hot and heavy with the book.
Sure.
I identify as blind, and yes, Imust I must tell you that it it
it was uh such a reallyinteresting read and to to to
read about all the things you'vedone, to read about your you
know your thoughts on things,and I encourage everyone to go
grab a copy.

SPEAKER_01 (01:28):
Please, please, and not to just to humbly brag, the
audiobook is really, reallygood.
Um it's got music in it.

Yes, that's what I was gonna say.
The audiobook, no, they're bothgreat.
Okay.
Sure.
If you can see to read theprint, go, you know, no, no, no,
no harm in getting the print.
But if you but even if you are acited person, I would recommend
the audiobook.
I really would.
I really would.

SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Well, I read it.
I read it, I narrate it.

That's the point.
Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 (01:53):
I narrate it.
And it is um, it was on abestseller list on Libro, and it
has won a Kirkis award.
Nobody's really given awards tothe print book, so that's why
I'm like, you know what?

Well, they all hail the audiobook, is what I
said.
Um but but it all but I would Iwould actually submit to you
that you're not actually readingthe book, you are performing the
book.
Sure.
The character that you're thethe the energy, the pacing, the
some of the some of the sort oflike silly voices.
I mean, it's it's all there.

SPEAKER_01 (02:26):
I am the consummate entertainer.
I cannot help myself.
Like even when I'm just bymyself, I'm entertaining myself.
That's what I do all the time.

Well, that's no that you know what that's an
interesting point because sureas a really sick child with a
brain tumor, and I mean I wasreally in the hospital the time,
my parents taught me how toentertain myself, and I am now
doing that for a living.
I basically entertain me andcharging you.

SPEAKER_01 (02:48):
Yeah, but but you're so right.
Like, I'm like, I'm up herehaving a good time.
If you want to be a part of it,give me money.

Absolutely.
There's nothing wrong with that,man.
Players gotta play.

SPEAKER_01 (03:00):
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I gotta say, Joey, so but Igotta I want to agree with you.
Actually, growing up, I didn'thave a lot of blind friends
either.
In fact, um, you know, I justwasn't bl I don't know how to
put this in a like a reallydelicate way, but I just wasn't
disabled enough to really hangout with the quote disabled side

(03:21):
of things.
And obviously I wasn't sighted,so I didn't really fit in, fit
in with the side of things.
So I took a lot to music and youknow, writing and things like
that.
And it wasn't until I got mucholder and I started actually
finding success in the musicindustry that I had realized,
like, I can't be the only one.
Um, and you know, that was inthe 20 teens.
And, you know, so a lot of thestories in the book are when I

(03:42):
already started coming to therealization that I wanted to
build community and startedfinding friends and finding
other folks and realizingthere's a lot of folks like me
who are just masking or tryingto dial dial it back or dial it
down.
And I'm like, no, let's go out,let's paint the town red, and
then anyone who has a problemwith it can go sit in a corner
and shove it, right?
Like, you know, let's have fun.
So that's my story.

I'm sticking to I I have come up against the uh
not blind enough or too blindscenario as well.
And what's really interesting isthat you know, a sight of people
go, Well, I think you can seethem like if you think I can
see, uh, then let me drive yourcar and we'll prove it.

SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
Yeah, and let's try it out.
Like, okay, you don't want mebehind the wheel.

Yeah, yeah.
This is well, we we in my 20s,we did we did, I did drive a
little bit, but but it was uh itwas back roads.
And uh we all we all came to oursenses before anything bad
happened.
So I was like, you know, but thethe sad part about it is and and
I I don't drink and and um andnever have for a lot of reasons.
I think blind and drunk are notnecessarily good combos, but

(04:42):
these but mainly it's because Itake a lot of medicines I can't
do that with sure sure.
I must say I went off with somefriends uh that night in the car
that I'd that I'd driven, and weended up to get back on the
right road.
My one friend had to end updriving through a Burger King
drive-thru the wrong way.

SPEAKER_00 (04:59):
Oh no.

And I thought, you know, maybe I was good enough
after all.

SPEAKER_01 (05:04):
Yeah, maybe it's not that hard.

Like if you have it.

SPEAKER_01 (05:09):
If the majority of like Americans can do it.

If the roads weren't curved, it'd be fine.
Um I want to talk about um, andyou know how much I love origin
stories, and and that's I I justwant to talk about like your
pathway to getting into themusic business, like the early
years, we'll call it.
But it's yeah, I really I reallylove that conversation.
And and and uh I would love youto just tell me a little bit
about that.

SPEAKER_01 (05:32):
You know what?
I so I've always been intomusic.
Um, you know, my mom said whileother babies were kicking
against the womb, I was playingthe keys against the womb.
Not sure how she got a keyboardin there, you know the deal.

My wife can tell you that.
She's gonna be a presidentpractice nurse and midwives.
So we can I'll ask her how thathappens.

SPEAKER_01 (05:48):
Okay, well, yeah, we'll figure it out.
We'll get it sorted.
And my mom's not a liar, so umso um but early on I really
loved music, and like I justtold you, you know, I couldn't,
I didn't really fit in witheither side of the situation, so
I didn't have many outlets toshare myself with the world or
to really have the world shareitself with me, other than
music.

(06:09):
So music was just always a partof my situation.
And um as I got older, Iremember in high school, because
and by the way, I was super shy.
No one will ever believe me, butI was super shy, I never spoke.
And I remember in high school, Isigned up for the talent show.
And this is funny, I didn't putthis in my book, but I should
have.
I signed up for the high schooltalent show, and I was like,

(06:31):
actually, I don't want to dothis.
I don't even whatever.
And then the list the next dayshowed that I was accepted to
perform at the talent show.

SPEAKER_00 (06:40):
And I was like, oh no.

SPEAKER_01 (06:42):
So I didn't want to do it, but then I was too afraid
to back out.
So it's like I was too afraid toback out and too afraid to do
it.
Like that's how likeneurodivergent my ass was in
high school.
And yeah, and I remember I wasgonna try to play sick, but I
was even too like, I didn't getthe cojones to even do that.
So I finally so I get to theschool and I kind of waft my I'm

(07:07):
just like guided around all theway up until the day, the the
moment, the minute, the second.
They call me up, I get on thepiano, all the lights go off,
and everything just dissolves.
All the fear, all the whatever.
I'm playing the piano.
I'm singing a song.
This is like the first timepeople in high school have ever
heard my voice.
And I'm singing a song that Iwrote about how I feel like I

(07:29):
don't belong.
And the chorus goes, Don't youhate it when you feel you don't
belong?
Right.
And I say it over and overagain.
And by the end of the song, Ithe lights turn up and I come
to.
You know what I mean?
I'm like, oh shoot, like, wait,I do now realize what I was
doing.
Um and the audience is clappingand cheering, and they're

(07:50):
relating and they're crying, andpeople are coming up to me and
saying how amazing and how likeI said the words that they
didn't know how to say.
And that's when I kind ofrealized, like, this is me.
This is I live here.
Whatever this is, whatever Ijust did, whatever this feeling
is, I live here.
And you can take me anywhereelse, but I'm going to come back
here because this is home.

(08:12):
Um and you know, I ended up, youknow, I went to school, like to
college.
I ended up getting a day job, etcetera, et cetera.
And then I got signed to um a da major deal very early on, and
that was the worst.
Um and you know, they were theywere pimping me out as like a

(08:32):
the blind singer, blind singer,right?
Right.
And I couldn't stand it, I hatedit.
And you know, when I tell peoplethat today, they're like, but
Lachi, you say blind you're ablind singer all the time now.
And I'm like, but I say it frommy own power, right?
Exactly.
Um, and they were kind of usingit as some kind of shtick or a
selling point or a charity vibeor whatever.

So a niche market boy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (08:55):
Yeah, I'm like, guys, so I leave that deal,
which took me four years.
We could talk about the legaleseof that.
Uh took me four seconds to signthe deal, four years to get out
of it.
Um, and you know, I did my ownthing for several years where I
was an independent producer,songwriter, and backing
vocalist.

(09:15):
Um, and I built my ownaccessible studio because I was
having issues with accessiblestudios.
But as I got more confident andstarted getting my own phone
calls, I got signed again to amanagement deal.
And I just got bigger and betteropportunities.
And I realized like I can't keepmasking, like I can't keep
pretending I'm not blind becauseit's affecting my job.

(09:35):
You know, I'm tripping overwires, I'm bumping into the
glass, you know, vocal booth.
Or like a producer will have thescreen up and say, should I cut
here or here?
And I'm just like, there,wherever, I don't know.
And then all of a sudden I don'thave a vocal, you know, yeah,
exactly.
So I started having toaccommodate myself, advocate for
myself.

(09:55):
And it wasn't even a like picketfence, like you need to be
accessible.
I just did it because I wantedto do better at my job.
Um, totally.
And and then, you know, that'skind of when I had that epiphany
as I got, as I found success,and I was no longer too afraid
to really just be in front of mydisability.
That's when I realized, whoa,other professionals who are

(10:17):
either mid-level or like pastentry level, right?
They're like actualprofessionals.
To get to where they are,they're probably masking two.
So let me find all those people.
And that's how ramped startedand a few other things.

That's that is that is awesome.
I have a question for you.
That that first song that youwrote and sang, uh, um, did you
ever record that?
Because uh you're you just sangit to say that was lovely.
I I love it.

SPEAKER_01 (10:40):
Oh, you know what's so I have not.
And I I just had you know whatno one's ever actually said that
you heard it here on uh the JoeyStucky podcast, folks.
Absolutely.

We're always scooping.

SPEAKER_01 (10:54):
I haven't thought about recording it.
I maybe, yeah, okay.
I'll look into it.
I'll look into it, but we gottahave you on guitar.

I'm I'm there, I'm there, and and this this time I
won't be wearing the Speedo.
So oh my God.
I feel like well, maybe you feelthis way.
If I can't see you, you can'tsee me.
That's just how I feel aboutthese things.
Um my sweet wife tells me allthe time, stop rolling your
eyes, people can see that.

SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
I have I'm so bad at facial expressions.
Like if somebody says somethingthat I think is gross, I'm just
like, huh.
Or like if I think they're aliar, I'm like, uh-huh.
Aren't they?
You realize that we can see you.
Yeah, I know.

It's hard, it's it's honest to God, hard to
remember.
Uh and I will I will I will justsay, just I'm gonna I'm gonna
scar you for life now.
Um, I will say that I had alittle cat, uh uh her name was
Lulabel, and um, she liked tohave bath time.
So she would jump into the sinkand when I'd go take a shower,
and I'd let the water just dripon her ever so slightly, and

(11:54):
she'd we'd have bath time.
And I could literally say toher, Come on, Lulu, it's bath
time, and she'd get up andfollow me in there and pop in
the sink.
And I got out of the shower oneday and thought she was so cute,
and I said, I'll just take apicture here.
And I did, and I decided to sendit to my wife, because you know,
I'm a blind man taking pictures,and so I decided to send it to
my wife, say, hun, is this isthe cat in focus?
I'm getting ready to post thison Facebook.
And she was like, uh, the cat isin focus, but there's also a

(12:16):
mirror in front of you, and youhave it on no clothes.

SPEAKER_00 (12:18):
Oh yikes! Oh my god, I was like, thank you, God, that
I tested.
Yeah.
It's like, hey, everybody, lookat my kitty cat.
It's like, whoa, hey, oh, hey,oh, hey.
Oh, yeah.
How'd you know it was the nameof him?

Anyway, the thing is, I I I love this.
I love so you did start on thepiano.
That was the that was yourinstrument of choice.

SPEAKER_01 (12:38):
That was my instrument of choice, but I've
always been I see myself a lotmore as a singer and songwriter.

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 (12:44):
Uh the piano is where I go to sing and
songwrite.

Um you're you're in a long line of uh of of
fabulous blind piano playersthen, because Yeah.
It's weird to me that they, Imean, don't get me wrong, I love
Ray Charles and I love CDWonder.
I really do.
But as a blind guitar player,they all say, Oh, will you come
play piano?
I will not.

SPEAKER_01 (13:06):
Yeah, but you know what?
There's there's there's a lot ofreally great blind guitarists
too.
Like, let's not act like thereisn't.
Um exactly, you know what Imean?
And also one of the reasons thatactually one of the reasons Ray
Charles had become a pianist wasbecause there were so many blind
guitar players back in his time.
And maybe they they weren't big,but they were just you know

(13:29):
strewn around.
So he wanted to do piano, and loand behold, he helped sort of
uphold the trope, you know,blind Tom.

SPEAKER_02 (13:36):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (13:37):
But you know, I I jumped on the piano because it
was, you know, uh to be honest,my mom fell into the trope and
was like, my daughter's gonna bea genius.
And she was getting me likeBeethoven and Chopin's ADs and
stuff like that.
And I was doing it.
I was playing, you know, I wouldplay all of the, you know, boop.

(13:59):
Um, and then I so I am, I I wasclassically, I guess, in a
sense, ear-trained because Ican't read the notes.
Um I didn't I did start out withthe Beethovens, the Mozart's,
the the Chopans, and I wasplaying all of that and
fingering and all of that.
But I really got into jazz, andwhen I got into jazz, I started
to shift to really appreciatingthe jazz vocal.

Uh just who's your favorite jazz artist?

SPEAKER_01 (14:24):
My favorite jazz vocalist, no, my favorite jazz
singer.

SPEAKER_02 (14:27):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (14:28):
It's gonna be Billy Holliday, and I know that sounds
maybe a little cliche, but I Iher, the way she vibratoes is
kind of the way I vibrato.
Oh, interesting.
You know, that kind of thing.
Um and and I loved how she, inthe face of, you know, it was a
lot of segregation at the time,and she would just go ahead and
sing right through it and, youknow, sing about the really hard

(14:49):
topics.
And that also really propelledme because these days, you know,
I'm just openly singing aboutdisability and neurodivergence
and like my lived experience.
And so I always appreciate theartists of your that were during
the difficult times singing thesongs as songs of freedom, songs
of justice, et cetera, etcetera.

Absolutely.
And Lady Day was uh is anamazing so much emotion comes
through her singing.
That's what that's what justmystifies me.
I mean, it's not that she's justtechnically great.
You know, it's it's this wholething of like you you feel every
note that she sings, it'samazing.

SPEAKER_00 (15:26):
You feel it.

Well, so let's let's jump into uh that you fact
that you've got a new album out,um and and it's it's it's all
happening, it's all happening in26.
So it's happening.
It's it's a little bit of adeparture for you as far as um
genre, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 (15:44):
Um, you know, I've always been a bit of a genre
chameleon.
And over the last uh starting inabout 2023, I really settled
into focusing on, you know,whether it's pop, you know,
electronic dance music, pop rap,um pop over dance music, kind of
staying in that realm of almostcommercial friendly music.

(16:07):
And starting in 2023, I had asong called Lift Me Up, which
was a song about Judy Human, andit went viral.
And so I was like, oh, okay, Iguess.

She in the video, or am I misremembering that?

SPEAKER_01 (16:18):
She it was an in memoriam because she had passed
away several beforehand.
But we did have her picture likeat the end and said, you know,
in memoriam.
But a bunch of folks withdisabilities were a part of that
song.

SPEAKER_02 (16:28):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (16:29):
And that was when I realized that I could really
just openly sing songs about mylived experience, about
disability or blindness orwhatever, set it to pop and it
still be competitive.
Right.

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 (16:40):
Because I just I get tired.
So there's two things, right?
There's a lot of folks who golike, well, I I don't want
anyone to see my disability.
And then they go so hard in thatdirection that it feels like
they're ashamed of themselves,right?
Right.
Then there's the other side ofit where it's like, I deserve to
be famous because I'm disabled.
So I even if I sound like crap,you guys gotta like it.

(17:00):
And I'm like, you know what?
I get to, I should be able tosing about my lived experience
and still make competitivemusic.
And so I went on that kickstarting from 2023 after that
song went viral.
It had charted on radio, like itwas toe-to-toe.
So in 24, I started, you know, Idid Mad Different with Amazon
Music, which was more pop songsabout my lived experience.

(17:23):
And then in 2025, I leaned intothe rapping and I started
rapping about, you know, life onhard and I deserve everything,
throw it in the bag and all ofthose, you know, bitch, I'm a
professional.
Oh, can I cuss on here?
Um, yeah, absolutely.
And and so those songs just backto back went viral.
So summer of 2025, I was justviral, viral, viral, viral,
right?

(17:43):
And I was people were cominginto my DMs, you know, just like
Siza and you know, Bob the DragQueen, like real, just regular
celebs were just like, we loveyou, and started following me.
And I was like, what?
What's going on?
I'm just a girl with a canesinging songs.
And so but the thing about itwas is that I was getting people
to talk about it.
I was getting people to, youknow, talk about these things,

(18:03):
and then you know, then the bookcomes out, and the book is
another just layer of humor andfun and celebration, but also
people are learning stuff,right?
And so the natural nextprogression was me realizing,
like, okay, well, I really hadstarted ramped because I wished
that my younger self had thatwhen I Googled music and like

(18:24):
blindness or music anddisability.
I had started glam canes becauseI really had wished my younger
self wished she had that, likethe ability to have a really
cool cane while she so shedidn't feel so weird.
I wrote the book for my youngerself.
It's a book I wish the y myyounger self had to learn about
some role models, learn aboutsome history and not feel so

(18:45):
ashamed.
So I was like, let me make analbum for my younger self.
And so uh I decided I wanted tostill speaking of genre, the
album is still very pop, trap,it's got hip-hop elements, it's
got electronic dance elements,um, but it is made, it's
family-friendly, it's all ages,it's made for kids.

(19:05):
So it's yeah, essentially achildren's album.
And I wanted it to be an albumthat celebrates disability and
neurodivergence set to bops sothat young folks and their
parents and their teachers andtheir families can really talk
about these things and in anaccessible, fun way.
And you know, these kids arelistening to Cardi B and Megan

(19:26):
the Stallion, right?
So I'm not here to make somewheels on the bus ass BS, right?
So exactly.
We're here to make some somefun, fun, educational, but you
know, still accessible music.
Um and then I really wanted tomake sure that it was in
community with a ton ofdifferent folks who generally
make um music for kids and folksfrom the disability community,

(19:51):
from the ramped member network,such as yourself.
Thank you so much for being apart of one of the songs on the
album, which is calledMagnificent.
Um the Fuller album comes out inJuly.
And this the single just droppedand it's called Fidget.
Um wow.
And so one of the songs, yeah,it's called Fidget.
So you guys go check it out,it's out there.

(20:12):
Um, and we will be droppinganother single, and then we'll
be dropping the album in July.
So we're really excited aboutit.
It's and it was signed toPlatoon, which is a really
amazing label under Apple, andum just I I believe we have 70
collaborators and about 55 ofthem.
Yeah, 55 of them haveneurodivergence or disability.

(20:34):
So it's also about giving rolemodels, you know, creating the
role models kids need to see.

I am so excited by this because you know, starting
with educating children on youknow, diversity um is is
fantastic because uh you youtalk a lot about identity in the
book and you're very, very, verydeep um understanding of that
and some really poignant thingsuh that you that you put in the

(21:02):
book that we mentioned at thetalk that we did at the Braille
Institute.
So you and I were together forthere.
But but the thing is, I mean, ifyou you've got to get the
children involved, um that wasthat I think that's one of the
things that, you know, as ablind person, when I was a guy,
a kid, you know, uh there werethere was some some tough times
of other kids relating to me.

(21:22):
Um there was some there was somebullying a little bit.
Um I mean, I think this iswhat's so brilliant about your
record.
I mean, you as you as as youaptly say, you're not playing
down to the children.
That's because children are alot smarter than people give
them credit for.
Yeah.
And um that's right.
So I love that.

SPEAKER_01 (21:40):
Well, you know what's so weird, and now I'm
gonna take like a tangent veryquickly, but like, you know, you
know how we so in the book Italk a lot about um
pathologizing like as a weapon,right?
Right.
So let's say, for instance, likeyou're almost um saying, like,
let's say, oh, women are weak,so that's why they should be
paid less, or something likethat, which is a sound.
Saying like women, you'repathologized, saying almost

(22:03):
women are have a disability justbecause they're a woman, right?

SPEAKER_02 (22:06):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (22:06):
Um, and then I I go through this whole long list of
like how that's done to blackpeople or brown people or
indigenous people, right?
And then I my whole thing isit's like, you know, just be
proud of having a disabilityinstead of using disability as a
weapon.
But I had come to this epiphanythe other day where I was like,
it actually turns out thatpeople with disabilities
actually do it to an even uh anext class, right?

(22:30):
We're not actually the bottom ofthe barrel.
We say that we don't like to beinfantilized, right?
Like, don't talk to me like achild, don't talk to me like a
kid.
But like children and kids arealso humans.

SPEAKER_02 (22:44):
Oh, they are.
They are.
Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 (22:46):
So we're sitting here, so like, don't treat me
like a kid, don't treat me likea child.
And I'm like, don't even don'ttreat a child like a kid.
Talk to a kid where they're at.
And that's what I'm doing.
Like, you know, when and this isvery um poignant in the blind
community.
And this is not you, you know,when you talk about how you
didn't have a lot of blindfriends and then you were just
kind of tossed into publicschool, which I myself was also

(23:06):
tossed into public school, andyou kind of had to duke it out.
Yeah, it's it's a blessing in away because you came out the
other end just you know,learning how to like kind of
beef up and stand up foryourself instead of being
coddled.
And there is a a lot ofcoddleness in the blind
community when they're younger,and so that when they're adults,
you know, they don't quite havethe social skill of not having

(23:30):
been coddled, right?
Well, absolutely.

And so this is why Yeah, it's it's a systemic issue
really with with uh the youngergeneration in general, like the
the the coping skills are absentfrom a lot of people.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, I have dear friendsthat I love with all my heart,
uh, but I just think, oh my God.
Yeah you you you are either ontoo much medicine or not enough.

(23:53):
Uh but but you know Joey.
I'm kidding.
I'm kidding.
But but in all seriousness, Imean it it really is a systemic
issue.
And you know, the the children,um the more you treat them uh
equal footing, you know, thebetter it's gonna be.
My parents always gave me uhsome degree of control of my own

(24:13):
life as is as much wasreasonable for a child.
I mean, you know they gave meagency as much as it was
reasonable for a child.

SPEAKER_01 (24:20):
Agency is the right word, absolutely.

Yeah.
And and you know, I spent a tonof time in the hospital and all
this kind of stuff.
And you know, there were somethings that we just couldn't do,
but you know, there were thother things we could.
But the the thing that was soincredible about my parents is
when I was a kid, there was, youknow, there's no ADA, there was
there was really no supportnetwork.
Okay, sure.
And and so we just you know wewe just sort of had to figure it
out.
There wasn't really a choice.

(24:43):
And I do think that that's madeit I do think that in in
fairness, it's made it easierfor me to to um to cope with uh
adversity in general, which likeuh, whatever, just another day.
Just just just you're you'relike me, like hey, listen, you
know, I'll just go kick somemore doors in the day.

SPEAKER_01 (25:01):
Yeah, but really, you know what I mean?
And um I'm out here breakingglass ceilings while bumping
into glass doors.

So that is a beautiful that's a t-shirt.
Patent bending, that's at-shirt.

SPEAKER_01 (25:11):
I like that one.
I'm gonna go ahead and writethat down.

Well, I want to talk real quick.
Uh I want to talk about glamcanes because we mentioned glam
canes, but I think this isgenius.
Tell me, tell everybody aboutglam canes.
This is so cool.

SPEAKER_01 (25:22):
Yeah, no, glam canes are bejeweled canes, um, glam
canes.com.
Everybody go check it out.
Uh, but they're they're at itscore, they're bejeweled canes
that are just gorgeous, whetherit's a blind cane or a walker or
a uh quad cane, et cetera, etcetera, because I believe that
blind folks and all cane usersdeserve to be fabulous no matter
what.
And these aren't yourrun-of-the-mill, like, oh, how

(25:44):
cute your cane is painted.
No, these are these go with ballgowns, these are red carpet
canes, these are canes for agraduation or a concert.
But the reason I made these, thereason I am so excited about
glam canes is when I was young,right?
Uh, I was told I needed a cane.
My mom bought me a cane.
I was like eight or seven orsomething, and I remember I had
enough vision to still be ableto ride a bike.

(26:05):
I remember taking the cane andrunning over it in the driveway
because I was like, I am, I amalready wearing the big goggles.
Die! I'm wearing the biggoggles.
I have the large print.
I'm sitting in the front,everybody's already staring at
me.
I don't want to use the cane.
I said, no.
I had enough.
But meanwhile, you know, I was,you know, walking into lockers
and thinking they were theclassroom, right?

(26:27):
I was, you know, hugging old,hugging old friends and
realizing it's a tree, you know,that kind of thing.
So I love it.
So the thing was I actuallyneeded a cane.
And like I had said earlier, youknow, it took me a long time to
finally realize that like I'mactually hindering myself by not
using this tool of independence.
It's a tool of independence,actually, not a tool of

(26:49):
weakness.
So I started using the caneafter like uh missing a few hand
waves that cost me a deal orthat cost me a gig.
And so I started using my plainJane White cane, and you know,
things got better because I wasable to navigate and this and
that.
However, as my confidenceboosted, as I was getting more
gigs and being more visible, andnow I have this thing that's an

(27:12):
extension of my bodyessentially, right?
I was like, it needs to match.
Like I'm wearing these ballgowns, I'm going to these galas,
and this white and red canedon't match it.
So I I started uh glamming upthe canes and you know, and
eventually, you know, other ofmy blind friends, you know, the
Molly Burks and the HobbingGurmas, they were like, Oh,
where are you getting those?
And I was like, I'm just makingthem.
And they were like, Can you makeme one?

(27:32):
I'm like, sure.
So I started making them andhanding them out to folks.
Then more and more folks werelike, make me one.
And I was like, All right, youknow what?
Okay, everybody, calm down.
I need to sell these.

It's what a burden to have a brilliant idea, you
know?

SPEAKER_01 (27:45):
Right, exactly.
And it was so, and Joey, thecrazy thing was this people were
like, Oh, no one's gonna buythose.
Blind people have no money.
And my first thought was like,Well, I'm blind and I have
money, so there's gotta be atleast another one of me.

Absolutely.
At least one.
Yeah.

unknown (28:01):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (28:02):
And you know what was so funny is that we've been
selling out.
It's still word of mouth.
We still have not done anational campaign just because
I've just been doing thing tothing to thing, right?

SPEAKER_02 (28:12):
Right.
Um, right.

SPEAKER_01 (28:13):
But we've all been word of mouth.
We have been selling out.
That's why we've been able toupgrade to also doing quad canes
and walkers.
And it really makes my heartsmile to see young folks going
to Swifty concerts, going toBeyonce concerts with their glam
canes, going just to work,seeing guys in a black tux with
a black cane, um, seeing uhthere.

(28:34):
I saw a picture.
There was three uh gay guys onPride with a glam cane that was
all colors, right?
Oh wow.
Yeah, very, very fun.
And very cool.
It's a symbol of you know, nolonger being uh contributing to
our own erasure, right?
It's a celebration of identity.
It is saying, hey, I'm worth it,I belong, and um I'm ready to

(28:57):
go.
Like I have confidence.
So don't mess with me.
I'm here.
I'm not sure.

Looking the way you want to look, you know, and
and I mean it's and feeling theway you want to feel.

SPEAKER_01 (29:08):
Yes.
Yeah, absolutely.

It's really, it's really empowering, and I think
it's I think it's so sowonderful.
I mean, to be honest, it's avictory if I get out of the
house with clothes on.
I mean, I just wear whatever mywife tells me to wear.
You know, I so I I don't know.
See, I'm not I'm not afashionista like you, but I but
I do appreciate it.
And I feel like, you know, I Ido feel like it's nice to be
able to to have this this youknow your cane, which is a very

(29:31):
important tool for mobility andand and and autonomy.
Um it's very important to beable to have that represent you
and for you to be able to speakabout who you are, you know,
through the accessorizing of thecane.
I think that's absolute genius.
I love it so much.

SPEAKER_01 (29:46):
Um Well, we need to hit up like we need to chat
offline.
You need to give me your height,your cane height.
We need to get you glam canedup.
Um we'll do it.
So we'll do it.
So that we get a picture of youand your cat in the glam cane,
but make sure you're wearing ashirt.

I mean, no promises, Lachi.
Naked Joey's a happy Joey.
Anyway, uh let me ask you, letme ask you this.
Um, by the way, um everybodyjust you know, everybody calls
you Lochie.
Uh and and there's a reason forthat.
But I must say to you that I'vealways thought of, I was like,
oh, wonderful.
She's like, you know, Madonna.

(30:21):
Or, you know, it's it's thisit's this one, yes, this thing.
Like you've got the built-infame factor already just in the
name.
Well, thank you.
I mean, it's just it's just itjust rings.
It rings like a celebrity, isall I'm saying.
Um but anyway, but I thinkthat's so cool.
But the other thing that uh Iwant to talk about, and we've
you've mentioned it in passing,but I want to make sure we let
people know what ramped is.
Oh and and how they can check itout.

(30:44):
Because if you are uh I had areally interesting experience
early in Ramp's uh um you knowbirth, if you will, of a student
filmmaker uh who had no money,but that's okay.
Uh a student filmmaker made afilm about um uh a couple and
one of them was in a wheelchairand the other one's not, and

(31:06):
they made a little five-minutefilm about it, and and she just
said, I just thought it would bereally cool if you know someone
um from the disability communityalso did the music.
And uh I said, I was like, youknow, what's your budget?
There is no budget.
Okay.
Well, here's the deal.
I I'll I'll I'll whip you upsomething quick and dirty.
Unfortunately, she only neededlike ending credits and like one
song kind of in the backgroundin the middle.

(31:27):
I'm like, yeah, I'll tell youwhat, I'll do it for you, it's
no big deal.
Um so so uh you know, it took meall of like 30 minutes, maybe.
And um so I still don't knowsure, but I liked the fact, and
this is what I'm kind of gettingto, when people are seeking out
there some some some disabledartists, Ramp is a wonderful hub
for that.
Um I'll let you take it and tellthe origin of Ramped.

SPEAKER_01 (31:49):
Well, like I said, when I started um in the music
industry and I re I had thisepiphany that there's got to be
other professionals who aremasking like I am, and they're
just kind of in the shadows andthere's no community.
Um, I remember I started out, Idid a panel with the recording
academy, and this is 2021,right?
So people were starving forvirtual content during COVID.

SPEAKER_02 (32:07):
Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (32:08):
And we did a panel with the Grammys and their
leadership.
And I brought a couple of otherfolks with disabilities on that
I had just found from around.
Um and we talked about how uminaccessible the industry was.
It was a great panel, it endedup going kind of viral.
And then people started DMing meand hitting me on email going,
we want to be a part of yourmovement or a part of your
organization.
And at that time, I was like,Well, we don't I don't have a

(32:29):
movement or an organization.
I'm just some kid, right?
And uh, but what that did was itput a fire under my butt to
actually put this thingtogether.
And I had the acronym ramped inmy head before I even like did
anything.
And I was like, this acronym isway too good.
It stands for Recording Artistsand Music Professionals with
Disabilities, R-A-M-P-D.org.
And the first thing I did was Igot on Clubhouse.

(32:51):
You remember Clubhouse, theaudio only.

SPEAKER_02 (32:53):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (32:54):
And I went and I found as many people as I could,
and also recommendations ofpeople, you know, that I could
find that were musicprofessionals or music creators
with disabilities.
And I spoke to all 50.
You were one of them.
I didn't find you on Clubhouse,but I I'd found you, we had met
at like a Grammy's party theyear before.
That's right.
Um and I I asked a bunch ofpeople, like, what is it, you

(33:15):
know, that you want to seedifferent in the music industry?
And by and large, you know,people said representation or
accessibility and visibility andall that, but by and large,
people said, you know, they feltlike they were the only one
doing it, that they were theonly disabled person, you know,
navigating the music industryspace.
And I was like, How are there 50only?
So that's true.
So my first thought was, let'sget together.

(33:36):
Um, and that was kind of all shewrote.
We started getting on Zooms, westarted um putting together some
plans, some ideas, somecoalitions, and um people were
getting wind of what we weredoing.
The Grammys was like, hey,what's going on over there?
Um and eventually we uh werepartnered with the Grammys um to
consult on the first, you know,for the Grammys 2022 uh to be

(33:58):
more accessible.
And having the Grammys be ourfirst partner got us a lot of
visibility.
We got Forbes and Billboard andNew York Times, and that brought
in more members and morepartners.
And Ramp then kind of blew up.
And right now, what Ramp is isit answers several questions.
It's a it's a global network ofmusic professionals with
disabilities, not just artistsand musicians, but also let's
say if you're an agent or amanager or you work at a label

(34:21):
or you're an executive directoror et cetera, et cetera, um, you
are welcome.
And you know, of course,disability, neurodivergence, the
full spectrum of disability, thefull spectrum of music.
And it answers the question of,well, where are they?
Right?
So we have a public directory,so it answers that question.
Um, and then number two, Rampedalso does consultations and

(34:41):
trainings and things of thatsort to also make the music
industry more disabilityinclusive for the global network
that we're cultivating.
And the network is also, we havea community membership, so
anyone can join that, but wealso have a professional
membership where we peer vet.
Because we want to make surethat we can start to highlight
some of the folks that areprofessionals out here instead

(35:02):
of constantly being met withcharity model narratives, right?
Folks going like, oh, all let'shelp the poor disabled musician,
or using us as props, or usingus as, you know what I mean,
feel-good inspiration porn.
I want us to be I love thatterm, right?
Let's go.
I want us to be hired ascompetitors.
I want us to be opening forbigger acts, but I also want us

(35:25):
in the boardrooms.
So I'm a national trustee of theRecording Academy.
Joe, I know you are uh on theboard down in the Atlanta
chapter.
And I want to start seeing moreof that, not just in the
Grammys, but all over the musicindustry.
So we do a lot of leadershippipelining um in Ramped as well.
Uh, we do um music songwritingcamps, which by the way, Joey,

(35:47):
we got to somehow get youinvolved in the next one.
Um we do disco houses, which areparties, networking parties
where music industry and and andramped member network come
together to integrate and makedeals and talk to each other.
We have uh had mentoring folkscome in and speak with us from
the industry in the past.
So ramped is out here doing alot.

(36:07):
So if you are a music industryprofessional, and by music
industry, I mean liveentertainment, I mean sound
design.
And by professional, I mean acreative or an educator or a
techie, and you have adisability, a neurodivergence, a
chronic condition, a mentalhealth condition, come join us
at rampt.org.
We're waiting for you.
We are you we are your home.
We're here to welcome you.

(36:28):
But also, if you are an entity,a music industry entity, live
entertainment entity, a venue,et cetera, and you want to
partner with us on how to makecultural change, we don't slap
wrist.
We're not the wrist slappers.
There are other organizationsthat do that.
Um we work on cultural andsystems change and and stigma

(36:48):
change.
That's what we ultimately wantto break around.

Yes, absolutely.
And I think you have you havereally hit on something
important here, which is thatyou know to to make change, you
have to be you have to have atable, uh, you know, seat at the
table in in the room.
And and and that's why, youknow, you you know you making
sure that you're on therecording academy uh board, that
you're that you're on an AESboard, that you're you know all

(37:13):
these things are really, really,really important.
Because you can't make change,it's or I should say it's harder
to make change on the outside.

SPEAKER_01 (37:19):
It can be done, but it can be done, and and that's a
thing, because sometimes whenyou do get in those rooms, a lot
of times the reason why peoplethere's an issue with getting in
the room, sometimes you get inthere, you get comfortable, or
you get the perks, and so youstop working as hard, right?
Right.
Or perhaps you get in the room.
Yeah, you get in the room andyou start to advocate and then
you start to get the look,right?
So you're like, oh, maybe Ishouldn't advocate so hard.

(37:42):
So, but I I gotta say, the thisis why I advocate very
specifically the way I do.
I use entertainment, I usehumor, I use music, I use
fashion, I use smiles because Idon't actually think I'm gonna
be able to make change from theoutside and do the picketing and
all that.
That's just not me.
And I don't, you know, otherpeople can do it and do it well.
It's just not me.
I also don't know that I'm gonnaget hired and you know be the

(38:05):
change from the needlework onthe inside.
I know that for me, the best wayfor me to make systemic change
is for me to get the peoplebenefiting from the system
excited to change.

Absolutely.
That is a very insightfulcomment.
That makes a lot of sense.
It really does.
And and and the thing that I wasgonna say to you is um like I I
also want people to know, Imean, yeah, you have so many
attributes, so many differentthings that you've done, and I
really admire that, and I likethe idea that you're saying yes

(38:36):
to a lot of things, because Ithink life's about that.
And I think, you know, for me asa brain tuber survivor, you
know, and someone that's alwaysdied, almost died a bunch of
times, I think saying yes is abig deal.
One of the things I want totouch on uh is you know, you
have also uh in your in in yourearlier days, you you decided,
well, I'm gonna I can sing, Ican do this, I can also model.

(38:56):
And so it's it's in the book.
It's in the book.
It's in the book.
I just I just thought that wasso cool.
Uh and you know it never it itwould never occur to me to to
model.
I'm about I'm about I'm about 80pounds too fat for that.
But anyway.
But well, you got the height.
It's oh yeah, oh, I do have theheight.
And I got the swagger.
I got the movement dagger.

(39:17):
I mean, I so you know, but but II just thought that was so
interesting, and I was justwondering, um, this is a this is
uh this is a podcast for nerdsby nerds, so we like to deep
dive.
How did you come up with thatidea to be modeling and and and
were you able to see enough atthat time to kind of understand
like what kind of look you weregoing for?
Because I I struggle with likeyou know, I've been I've been

(39:39):
blind my whole life, and Istruggle with like like a look.
Like I so I just I just turn itover to my wife.
I'm just like, you know, ifshe's if she's okay with how I
look, it's probably right.
But I don't really have a senseof like style per se.
So how did how how did that allwork for you?

SPEAKER_01 (39:53):
Yeah, you know, I wasn't actually into looks or
style um when I was younger, andit started with me getting my
nails done.
So nothing else.
I started just painting mynails, and I don't know why, but
I like the way it make made mefeel, even if I couldn't really
like see them.
I just felt like a little likehey, you know, and it was
something I kind of did for me.
Yeah.
Um, and you know, yes, I wouldstart to get more like

(40:17):
compliments.
Oh, your nails are pretty.
And but it wasn't I didn't do itliterally for the compliments,
it just made me overall feelmore confident.
Um and then I started doing thenext thing.
I started you know wanting tolike wear, you know, pumps, but
not like crazy heels like I donow quite yet.
And then I just but then I alsolike so my cheat is that like if

(40:41):
I get a really nice cute littleshirt um and it ends up like
working, I'll just get like 17of that shirt in different
colors.
So that's my cheat.

I like that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_01 (40:53):
It makes a lot of sense.
So I have a bunch of like thesame shirts, a bunch of the same
pants, a bunch of the sameskirts, and then it's people
think I'm wearing all sorts ofdifferent outfits.
It's like the same shape.
Nobody knows.
Um then it's like the best isthe heels.
I have like these seven-inchheels that I wear, and I have
them in all sorts of differentcolors.

I didn't know that.
That's a bad that's a big heel.

SPEAKER_01 (41:11):
I'm always in heels.
So and I can't even walk upflats anymore.

unknown (41:14):
Why?

SPEAKER_01 (41:15):
I'm always in heels.
And so and I and I love itbecause I love clomping down the
street, right?
And then the people in front ofme have to turn around and then
they see the cane, and so theyhave to dive.

SPEAKER_00 (41:26):
That's right.

SPEAKER_01 (41:27):
So that's why, you know, yeah.
Listen, cane versus babystroller, cane wins.
I love it.

Um, that too.

SPEAKER_01 (41:36):
There's a movie there.
That whole title is the title.
Um but I really, I really likestarted um doing that.
But it was interesting becausewhen I started putting myself
out there for modeling, um, theagencies were like, oh, you
don't look disabled enough.
And I'm like, what?
The the disabled agencies, likethe disability agencies were
like, you don't look disabledenough.
And then the, you know, thenon-disabled agencies were just

(41:57):
like, oh, your look isinteresting, but we're not
really going for that, right?
Because obviously, you know,disability.
Yeah.
So I didn't fit in either boxagain, like from childhood.
So I again had to make my ownlane.
And Glam Caes was a part ofthat, you know, my own fashion
line.

Now, do you and and this again, this is uber
nerdy.
I just I'm just curious now.
I mean, do you do your ownmakeup?
Do you can you contour?
Can you blend?
I mean, how does that work?

SPEAKER_01 (42:23):
I do not do my own makeup.
Um, there are some blind girlsthat do.
Um, I can.
I I have.
Actually, I have, but I have amuch better makeup artist that
it puts me to shame.
Um, my makeup artist name is uhArthur Gwynn.

I know.

SPEAKER_01 (42:36):
So Arthur does my makeup, Arthur does my makeup,
and it's so crazy because whenArthur started doing my makeup
in 2021, when my makeup artiststopped coming in because of
COVID, uh, he learned how to doit off of Reddit.
So Reddit taught him.
Yeah, he would take pictures ofit and put it on the makeup
addiction subreddit, which islike the largest makeup, you
know, website.
And they would say stuff like,ew, she looks gross, don't let

(42:58):
her go outside.
Like, try again.
So I'm like, no.
So then they coached him intobecoming a great makeup artist.
And now every time we post, wego viral.
We have the highest um grossingor whatever highest viewed
makeup uh picture online onReddit.
How cool we when we are walkingdown the street, we get chased

(43:19):
down like continuously by peoplewho recognize us from Reddit.
Uh they'll be like, oh my God, Iknow you.
And I'm like, wait, you know mymusic?
They're like, no, I know youfrom the makeup.
You do music?
I'm like, oh.

Well, there you go.
Whatever laugh all the way tothe bank, I say.

SPEAKER_01 (43:32):
Exactly, right?
So, you know.

Yeah, I'm I'm content to be recognized for
something for anything, right?
Yes.
And I I told my wife, I said,you know, Joey would be uh laugh
his way all the way to the bank,we'd be in a one hit wonder, got
no problem with it at all.
Sure, sure, not at all.
You know, but that I that is sofascinating because I've often
wondered, you know, like youknow, I've 'cause I know because
of of my sweet wife, um, she'salways telling me how lovely you

(43:57):
look and how you're just dressedin the nines and and Just you
know, she's like, Oh, she looksgreat.
And I thought I was alwayswondering, I was I wonder how
you do makeup if you can't seeit, because it seems like a hard
challenge.

SPEAKER_01 (44:07):
Um he does the he does the makeup, and then you
know, we I use um differentsources for getting like dresses
and whatnot.
So we I mean I have my ownstylist now, like we're you
know, we big time now.

Um nice, nice.
Move it on.

SPEAKER_01 (44:22):
Nice, but move it on up.
But I gotta say, like, let'ssay, for instance, if we wanted
to use a quick rental like aservice to get like a quick
dress to go on a carpet, um Iget I get the size I want.
I always make sure that it islike easy to put on and put off.
I prioritize comfort.
Like I want to make it look likeI'm uncomfortable, but actually

(44:43):
be comfortable.
Um interesting.
Because you want to look like,oh wow, she really how did she
get into that?
I'm like, I don't know, I justdidn't know.

That that is absolutely that was so that is
so cool.
Well, you know, the other thingI want to say is you've done um
you've done so manycollaborations uh as a as a
singer and uh and and as anartist and and you know and in
in lots of different genres,which I think is wonderful.
I've got a recording uh uh thatyou did for me um that has not
been released yet due to thefact that I was waiting on a

(45:15):
friend of mine to bring me to toput something on it, and then it
just got to be like, okay, I nownow I don't have time to mix it,
but it's coming.
Uh it's it's it's in the canon,but it it's it will it will be
released into the universe uh atthe appropriate time, but it's
coming.
But but the thing is, like, I Ijust wonder like was that
collaborative process?
I mean, you have to really trustthe other person, yeah, you

(45:36):
know, to to to to bring who theyare.
Um because it's it's so tricky.
So what how how what is yourfavorite collaboration?
What what do you what what doyou think you know what do you
think about that?

SPEAKER_01 (45:47):
I've collaborated with so many amazing people like
Apple to App from the Black IPs.
He and I had done diseducation,that was really, really fun.
Um I've collaborated with uh Idon't know uh Black Caviar on
Black Girl Cornrose, which wasmy song about um and Evie Odley,
who won RuPaul's Drag Race.

SPEAKER_02 (46:05):
Oh yeah, very familiar.

SPEAKER_01 (46:06):
Yeah, that song was about audio description, our
self-description, Black GirlCornrows.
Um I've I've written with SnoopDogg.
I've like I've done a really abunch of really great things,
but I actually have to say myfavorite collaboration has been
just this overarching projectthat is magnificent, just
because there are 70collaborators.
Um that's pretty impressive,yeah.
And and a lot.

(46:26):
And there are four producers,you know, myself, Lucy
Calantari, Andrew, and Polly,the four of us produced it.
So having like four peopleproduce the entire album, that's
already a lot of cooks in thekitchen.
But it was really it was sogreat to be super collaborative
with everyone.
I love to collaborate.
I came up on collaborating as uhan electronic dance music top
liner and vocalist, and as asongwriter, that's just what you

(46:49):
do.
That's just the job.
Like I I got I cut my teeth onbeing in rooms.
And half the time, half thetime, my job that I actually
love the most is being thefacilitator, not even the
writer.
Like, let's get everybody tofeel good.
Let's get everybody to feel likeno idea is a dumb idea so that
everyone can just go ham andjust let all their crazy fly.

(47:11):
And when you can have thathappen, you end up with gold on
the sheet.
Um and so collaborating is justmy bread, my butter, my it's
always what I love to do.
And I mean, listen, I love to bealone too and just write to my
piano, especially, you know,with a little glass of wine or
whatever, you know what it is.
But to be able to take my livedexperience and someone else's
lived experience, I mean, thisis why we're here.

(47:31):
This is why we exist on thisearth, is to create something
new with others.

So it's all about lifting everybody up.
And I think that's so music,music is the best thing to do
that with.
And the other thing I was gonnasay, you know, the other thing,
you mentioned this, you know,being in the room um with people
and and just getting to know newpeople, hear new stories, as
well as sharing your own story,of course, which is great.
But do you think in in thisworld of the internet, um, do

(47:58):
you think it's still importantto be uh if you want to have a
career in music, to be in one ofthe hubs like New York,
Nashville, LA?
I mean, how much how much isthat important, do you think, as
an artist?

SPEAKER_01 (48:09):
Uh I think it is um if you want some of that energy,
if you if you need the energy,you want to come to one of those
hubs.
That's if you need that energybecause that energy is real.
Like that is a real thing.
Um, and and don't shell don'tsell Atlanta short.
Atlanta's a hub, Chicago's ahub, um, London's a hub.
Um, but that energy is there.

(48:29):
So I'm not going to discountthat.
But I will say it's notnecessary.
I mean, the way we collaboratethese days, you can fly stuff
back and forth, you can, youknow, this and that, and you can
get on these Zoom calls with a amanager that doesn't leave the
house, right?
So you know what I'm saying?
I know a lot of what, you know,when I was coming up, I was
managed by UK um management.

(48:52):
You know, we never actually saweach other in person, right?
You know what I'm saying?
So that's a thing, especiallypost-COVID.
No, you don't got to leave thehouse, you just gotta be good.
Um, you do have to stillnetwork, though.
You still gotta go to certainplaces, even if it's online
places, to meet people becauseyour network, your community,
you don't ever want to send outyou never want to send anything
cold if you don't, if you canavoid it.

(49:13):
Never want to send out a coldEPK.
You always want to send itthrough your network because
your network is gonna know whereto place you.
They're gonna, you know, andthen you're gonna be able to
give back to that network andcultivate it.
But you don't necessarilyphysically have to be there.
But I will also say the energyis real.
You know, the New York energy isreal, the New York hustle is
real, the LA handshake is real.
So the Nashville work ethic isreal.

(49:35):
So yes, yes.

Yeah, I I I totally yeah, I totally agree
with that because I mean, uh,you know, as a studio person
myself that makes you knowliving doing studio stuff
primarily, I think that thebeing the producer, the
engineer, and the sessionmusician pays for my habit of
being an artist.
Uh you know, so uh but but Imean but in all seriousness, I
mean, yeah, we we work withclients all over the world
because we can trade files.
And that being said, though,there is something about being

(49:57):
everybody being together andbeing in a place where things
are happening and you know, andand being surrounded by that
kind of momentum because that'sthat's kind of the trick is to
get where the momentum is there,and then you just sort of hop on
board, yeah.
You know.
So I like that.

SPEAKER_01 (50:11):
But I never want, but I never want, but again, you
know, don't let it be ahindrance if you can't get
there.
Absolutely.
Like there's it's there's gonnabe money involved and time
involved, etc.
And if you don't have that, thatdoesn't mean that you don't have
opportunity.
I say like as long as you areskilled, like if you have your
trainings up, your chops up, andyou are willing to put yourself
out there, the opportunity willcome.

(50:34):
The opportunity is everywhereand it'll come.

Yeah, I I totally agree with that.
What what was what was yourwe're we're getting close on our
on the hour that we've we'vebeen allowed, but what was your
first major, in your mind, firstmajor watershed sort of break
that that let you know one, youwere in the right business, and
two, that you had a way to putfood on the table.

SPEAKER_01 (50:54):
Ooh, you know what it was?
Um, I actually some of the waysI make some nice coin is
speaking.
So I do a lot of speakingengagements.
Um, but it's funny because, youknow, I uh when I first started
doing all this stuff, obviouslyI wanted to do music and I was
doing a lot of like you were oryou are production work, you
know, in the studio, liketrading files back and forth.

(51:17):
And I was making a ton on that.
I was fine, I was paying mybills that way.
However, um, I started getting abunch of speaking gigs as I
became vocal about, you know,inclusion, disability, and all
those things.
And then I had thought tomyself, like, I don't know that
I want to be like a speaker,right?
I want to be a rock star.
So I so I would start bringingmy keyboard to the speaking

(51:40):
gigs.
And so they'd say, like, hey,can you speak for 45 minutes?
I'm like, yeah, but it's goingto be a concert.
And they're like, sure,whatever.
And so I had this one, I hadthis really, I got invited to
Disability Inn back in 2023.
And I was doing my first tourthat I put on by myself with my
own like money and cash orwhatever.

(52:01):
And I was calling it theDisability Pride Tour.
And one of the stops wasDisability Inn.
And that was in 2022 or 2023.
I think it was 2023.
And it was like a big crowd of abunch of suits, right?
Because it's it's a corporategig.
And I show up in this amazingdress, they had a piano for me,
and I just blow the house down.

SPEAKER_02 (52:22):
Nice.

SPEAKER_01 (52:22):
I'm like, this is like the biggest gig I'd done
for the most important people,right?
These are all the CEOs of allthe top corporations, and it was
their like accessibilitydepartments, their diversity
departments, their HRdepartments.
So it was like essentially anaudition for all these places.

Yeah, yeah.
100%.

SPEAKER_01 (52:38):
I blew the lid off the joint.
Yeah, and and it was music andit was storytelling, it was
fashion, I was cheeky, I washumorous.
And then from that pointforward, I mean, they all
started booking me.

unknown (52:47):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (52:48):
And that was when I knew like live performance,
combining humor, just thefashion, just all of it.
Like, let's give them all of it.
So it wasn't just music, it wasall of it.
And that was probably one of thefirst times when I realized,
like, this is not just aboutmusic, this is about
entertainment.

I love that.
That is so cool.
And and I I think that's I thinkthat's a beautiful story.
And and you know, I I've alwaysum I've always felt like um, you
know, the speaking and theentertaining like and the
performing kind of go together.
I I'm I'm a chatter anyway.
So I like I like the chat.
So so uh from from for for myshows, I mean, not all of them

(53:26):
depends on if it's a showcaseand you gotta go to a two songs,
get off or whatever, that'sdifferent.
But uh for my shows, you know,it's about 70% music, 30% bad
jokes, and uh and it's just youknow, it's just just and and um
all the jokes were at my ownexpense, you know.
I'm not making fun of it.
I'm not gonna get beat up afterthe show if I can help it.
Um so you know, but I mean, butit's it's really it's really a

(53:48):
beautiful uh thing.
I mean, that's a sympatico sortof approach to entertainment,
and I love that.
And also, you're not onlyreaching people through the
entertainment and and andthrough the speaking, but you're
you're able to slip in new ideasand change people the way people
think about things um uh throughhumor and through music, which
is really great.
I mean, that's that's the wholethat's the whole point.

(54:09):
You're able to start, you know,working in like ideas.
And I've always felt as anartist, and I take this a little
too seriously, I'll admit it,but I always felt that we had a
duty to to all to share newideas and put them into the into
the cultural consciousness, andthen also to to be preservers of
history, uh, which I'd like toclose with that, because uh you
educated me on a lot ofdisability history in your book.

(54:32):
Uh and and and I think foranyone, I mean this it's
fascinating.
It's fascinating.
I would love I would love foryou to to to tell one more time,
and I know I've probably toldI've asked you to tell this
story a many, many times, butthe the the story with Judy
Human and with and and with thehow the Black Panthers were a
major part of this incredibleopportunity.

(54:53):
It's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 (54:54):
Yeah, well, Judy Human was a huge mentor of mine,
and um, she is a wheelchairuser, and she was the one who
really led that sit-in that ledto eventually led to the ADA um
back in the 70s.
And a lot of folks praised Judyfor it, and I praise her too.
She's my dear friend and mentor,and she passed away in 2023, and
you know, we made the song LiftMe Up that celebrated her and

(55:15):
went viral and things like that.
But um, I always want to makesure that we educate folks on
Brad Lomax, who was um awheelchair user as well, who was
heavily part of that movement,who brought the Black Panthers
in to make sure that that sit-inlasted 28 days.
I mean, there were other sit-insto try to get that bill passed,
and they all died, right?
They all died after like a daybecause everybody was disabled.

(55:38):
And we need shit like oxygen andwhatever.
Yeah.
Um, but the Black Panthers camein and gave food, blanket
supplies, and security, right?
Um, and so if it weren't for theBlack Panthers, if it weren't
for Brad Lomex bringing in theBlack Panthers and convincing
them that this all sort ofmainly white movement also
affected black folks, that wewould have the ADA today, that

(55:59):
we wouldn't have the enforcementof captions, curb cuts, all of
these things that we umappreciate today happened
because of a coalition betweenblack and white and black folks.
And so I tell people never toforget about Brad Lomax and his
uh contribution.
And so that story and a ton ofother stories are in my book.
I identify as blind, um,histories, stories of people of

(56:22):
the past and today, um, a lot ofhumor, a lot of jokes.
I just want people to be able totalk about these things without
feeling a fear.
Um, and I think that's ourbiggest thing.
So that's what they're doing.

It really is.
And I have to say, if I recallcorrectly, uh Brad Lomax has
mentioned in the song I playedguitar on.
So that was one of the Yes, yes,on purpose.
Yeah, yeah.
I just, yeah, I just I'm such afan because I never knew that
history.
And I think for anyone, whetheryou're disabled or whether
you're not, I mean, learningabout some of this history, and
of course learning about thefabulous Lachi as well is an

(56:53):
absolute must.
So I identify as blind as thebook.
The music can be foundeverywhere.
Um, and uh, you know, for theright price, she'll come to your
home and sing, right?
So that's the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 (57:03):
Joey.

Yeah, yeah.
No, I'm sorry, that's me I'mthinking of.
I forgot.

SPEAKER_01 (57:07):
Yes, that's you're thinking of.

But listen, my friend, what a pleasure, what a
privilege to just spend a littletime in your company as always.

SPEAKER_00 (57:14):
Absolutely.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.

I'm so excited for all you're doing.
It's absolutely fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 (57:19):
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.

Thank you, my friend.
Take care and thanks for joiningus on Stuck on Sound.

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Episode 11: Lachi on Disability Culture, RAMPD, I Identify as Blind, and Building Community in the Music Industry

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