February 1, 2024 • 41 mins
Ever wondered how a hip-hop artist and a bedtime storyteller might change the world? Tim Blessed and illustrator Michael LaRiccia join us to unravel the making of "Planeta Blue Rise of Agoo," a graphic novel represented by Dark Horse Comics, the fourth most prominent comic book publishing company. Through their collaboration, the artists address urgent global issues, infusing a captivating visual story that engages the youth and underscores our shared duty to protect the Earth.
Our dialogue takes a behind-the-scenes look at the highs and lows of artistic collaboration, shedding light on what it takes to chase a dream without the promise of immediate rewards. Tim and Michael's journey through creative self-doubt and networking challenges paints a vivid picture of the resilience required in the unpredictable realm of graphic storytelling. Their experiences underscore a crucial narrative: that every setback is a stepping stone to eventual triumph.
As we wrap up, the conversation flows into the personal triumphs and connections formed through their craft. From the electrifying atmosphere of comic conventions to the heartwarming moments when their message resonates with readers, Tim and Michael's reflections offer a window into the soul-enriching path of content creation. Their diverse artistic and musical influences echo throughout our discussion, leaving you with a rich tapestry of inspiration to draw from. Join us for an episode that celebrates the power of storytelling, the beauty of creative partnerships, and their indelible impact on creators and the world.
Takeaways
- Collaboration between individuals with different skill sets can lead to the creation of a captivating and meaningful project.
- Success is defined by personal happiness, meeting core needs, and achieving realistic goals.
- The most enjoyable aspects of creative work include seeing ideas come to life, connecting with audiences, and making a positive impact.
- Being flexible and adaptable is crucial when facing challenges and navigating unexpected circumstances.
- Having a supportive network and being patient with the creative process is key to achieving long-term goals.
- The book is available for purchase on various platforms, including PlanetaBlu.com.
These are our friends. These are your friends. AND they are living the extraordinary.
For a transcript of this episode, go to www.behindthedreamers.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jennifer (00:24):
Welcome to another episode of behind the dreamers.
I'm your host, jennifer Loading, and we are talking to the
achievers, the creators, themagic makers and the dreamers.
These are our friends, theseare your friends and they are
living the extraordinary Well.
Today, I'm thrilled to have twoincredibly talented individuals
on the show.
One is a seasoned hip-hopartist rap artist with over a
(00:45):
decade of musical expertise.
The other is a versatilegraphic designer, illustrator,
comic book artist and writer.
Together, they've created acaptivating young adult graphic
novel about making the earth abetter place for all living
beings.
So I'm super excited to chatwith them today.
But before I get them on, we doneed to do a quick announcement
(01:05):
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Jennifer (02:51):
All right.
So now we got all that out, Iget to welcome my guests on the
show.
I'm so excited.
I always have to put the littleplugs in because we want to
help people be the mosteffective leaders that they can
be, and so my guests today.
Tim Blest and Michael LaRitiaare the dynamic duo behind the
book Planetta.
I like this blue volume.
One Rise of Agoo.
Tim Blest said the author andMichael is also the illustrator.
(03:14):
Through their collaboration,they introduced us to a world of
courage, compassion, love andsacrifice, and so welcome guys.
I'm so excited to have you onthe show today.
Tem (03:22):
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you for having us.
Glad to be here.
Jennifer (03:25):
And thank you for being patient as I got all that
out.
Tem (03:28):
No worries, that's the name of the game, right Patience.
Jennifer (03:31):
That's right.
That's right.
Well, I am so excited, so Iwant to talk about a little bit
about this book.
What led to the inspiration?
Because you guys bringdifferent skill sets to the
creation of this and so tell usa little bit about the
inspiration behind this.
Tem (03:45):
Yeah, so I've been a storyteller for a while through
music hip hop music and sociallyconscious so most of it very
positive, conscious music.
And I have kids now I have fourand at the time three of my
sons.
I was telling them bedtimestories, like I do with my
daughter now, and they wereoften silly, often about talking
(04:09):
chickens or whatever they werelike it was.
But at some point I startedtelling this story of Planeta
Blue, about these young peoplewho, you know, get whisked away
underwater to Atlantis and getput on trial for what's the
human beings are doing to theplanet and to plant, to animals
(04:29):
and to each other.
And so that story wasn't juststaying in my mind at that
moment.
It kind of went on to wakinghours and I found myself
thinking about that story moreand more and decided to just
write it, just start writing it,and to talk about these young
people that I knew a lot aboutand know a lot about as a youth
(04:51):
worker so not only am I a hiphop artist, I work many years
with nonprofits and was like letme, let me show these young
people as the brilliant youngpeople that they are in this
fantastic sci fi adventure thathas a lot of action and talking
animals, but it's, you know,these animals aren't wearing
(05:13):
clothes, so not Disney type, andthey're dealing with some real
issues like climate change andpollution, and just you know
what happens in zoos and twoseals, right.
So it's like heavy stuff, butin a way that young people can
access it.
It's for young adults, but Isay you know, anyone, anyone
from seven to 70, I think, willenjoy this, and maybe even
(05:37):
beyond, because I'm somewhere inthe middle there and I enjoy
graphic novels and comics, like,like the young people, and so
you know.
So I started writing.
It took me five years because Iwas always doing music along
with it.
That's really my passion.
But you know, at some point Ihad to just put that aside and
(05:58):
focus on it.
So I wrote the, wrote the wholestory out, and then was like
you know, I had a publisher inNew York who wanted to put it
out as long form, but I knew Iwanted it to be a visual
expression of it, mainly becausefor me, who immigrated from
West Africa, reading was was achallenge at first, and so comic
(06:21):
books was my entry point, andso having the visuals there
really helped me engage with,engage with literature and so
when I recorded I was like, Imean, when I wrote it, I was
like I need to get me an artist,find me an artist.
I looked around and luckily Ifound this guy who was amazing,
mr Mike LaRitia, amazing artist,and he really had the vision
(06:43):
and ability in the skills tobring these words to life.
Jennifer (06:48):
That's so awesome, well, and I think the thing that
you know you said you said somany great things there, but I
think, like the resonating thingwith man all of this is the
storytelling.
Right, because it's interesting.
I just built out this totallydifferent.
I've written a book before, butnothing like what you're doing.
Completely different becauseI'm in the coaching space and so
I just built this really bigprogram out and the entire
program I tell people.
(07:09):
It's kind of like thisimmersion experience.
It's not where I tell you thesepoints, it's where I show you
these points.
I'm trying to get my messageacross why you need to know,
like, about these core valueswhich you heard me talk about in
the beginning.
But how do you tell somebodywhat that is without really
giving them an example of whatthat is right?
And so I think storytelling isso powerful to your point.
(07:30):
You know, and having come fromthe space that I did, I was in
Mary Kay for many, many years,like 22 years and some and we
always talked about nobody evercares what you know, really
cares what you sell till theyknow why you do what you do,
right.
So I came from a space wherestorytelling was really what we
did, and so I think it's greatwhen you can find a place, and
(07:50):
whether it be your music, youknow that you've done it for
years in that form.
I do it in my podcast.
You know how we can tell ourstory to other people and get
things out there and show it andcreate those messages that we
wanna send out for the rightaudience that we're trying to
hit.
So congratulations to you bothon that front and I'm totally
get it.
I mean, I get the wholestorytelling thing.
Tem (08:11):
Yeah, no, thank you, and yeah, you know, we always tell
the story of how we met and whatyou know.
It's sad and different.
Jennifer (08:18):
Yeah, share that with us cause.
Ad (08:18):
I'm curious cause you're in the same room right now for our
people that are listening.
Jennifer (08:21):
you're in the same room right now, so you've got to
tell us about this.
Tem (08:24):
Yeah, we are.
Well, it's awesome because weboth Mike and I, went to UMass
Amherst for undergrad and weended up in back in the same
area At different times Atdifferent times.
Yeah, totally totally atdifferent times.
Yeah, I'm Mike's senior, sorespect your elder Mike.
Mike (08:43):
I just want to make that very clear.
It was not at the same time.
Tem (08:46):
Yeah, it was not at the same time.
We did not know each other atall, in fact, when I graduated
was when you were coming.
I was just starting, you werejust starting.
He was a young youngster when Igraduated.
But no, we.
And so I had a friend, alsofrom UMass, who you know knew I
had written this story, and shewas like, hey, I know this
amazing.
I know you're looking for anartist.
(09:07):
I know this amazing artistwho's my neighbor.
And I was like, yeah, okay, youknow an artist who's a neighbor
.
I was like, you know, do yougot something Like, show me
something of his.
And she sent me his web addressand I was just blown away
because his art is just sophenomenal and I was like, I
think he, you know, this is theguy, this could potentially be
(09:30):
the guy, and you know.
So she put me in touch with himand when, you know, we met up,
it was like instantly, you knowchemistry, instantly.
When we talk about core valuesand principles, you know Mike
has and we share a lot of thesame principles, which is really
about, you know, family, about,you know, being honest, being
authentic, being who you are andultimately, for the betterment
(09:52):
of humanity.
To be honest, just to hit itthe nail right on the head, but
also, you know, for the cultureof comics and storytelling.
All the things that wereimportant to me I found in Mike.
But you know I'll let him tellhis side of it because you know,
I don't know.
I think he was trying to, hewas trying to get away, I don't
know when he saw that.
Mike (10:12):
He was just joking, I you know it's funny when we talk
about this when he says it wasmy neighbor.
I only had one house next to meat that time.
On the other side it was thestreet, so the only neighbor I
had happened to be this mutualconnection and you know, it was
a similar situation where theneighbor's like I have a friend
who wrote a book and in my mindI'm like I know lots of people
(10:32):
who have written books, you know, like that could mean anything.
And a lot of times as an artistyou find people who have a
project and they're new at itand they want you to be involved
and it's usually something likewell, you know, I can't pay you
, but if we sell the book youget a percentage, and it's sort
of this sort of gamble.
So, going into that, I was sortof like I really don't want to
(10:53):
get involved in that kind ofsituation, you know.
But when we met and he showedme the project, it was sort of
like I could feel like theenergy behind this work, you
know, and I could see that thiswas something that he was
invested in, that it wassomething he was going to
continue to put energy into andthe work itself stood on its own
(11:15):
.
Like I, you know, he gave methe book, I read it and I was
like you know, this is somethingI commit to, for I mean, this
is not a short book, it's.
You know he gave me about ahundred pages of text, so
translating that to a comic bookis going to be.
It ended up being double that.
So taking on a project that big,it's got to be something that
is worthwhile in a lot of ways,and especially since you know
(11:36):
You're going to be devoting allthis time to itself.
So Our initial meeting I I wason board.
I said I'll do a few pages andand do some concept work.
Let's see what that looks like.
And then, when we found thatthe working relationship was
good Because this is sort of atime for us to test each other
out right- See you know like dowe work well together?
Is this going to be difficult?
It turned out to be good and wedecided we're going to do a
(11:58):
Kickstarter, and then you know,we've ended up here.
That's the expression over allthe details, but it's worked out
very well.
Jennifer (12:05):
I was getting kind of it, I was chuckling I love the
story, by the way.
I was chuckling a little bitbecause I do so much networking
here and I know when y'all weresaying I had this friend,
because I, you know, right, whenyou're in that space, like
everybody's got a friend thatdoes something, and I laugh
because you know, being in thepodcast road, you guys probably
seen this yourself.
Every day Somebody's liketelling me I know somebody that
can help you with this andsomebody's pitching me this and
(12:27):
you know it's always like ohyeah, I know my 20 people to do
that.
Ad (12:31):
You know, but then you meet that one.
Jennifer (12:33):
I think there are those moments, you know, like I
meet so many people and I'm sureyou guys do, and this, clearly,
was a situation where it workedout like right, like there,
well, you had this connector inthe middle that brought you two
together right, and it workedout.
There are those moments, youknow, and I feel like, yeah, you
put yourself the opportunityand the right, you know, put
yourself to make the opportunityavailable and the right people
show up when they're supposed toshow up.
(12:53):
Because there will be thosemoments, you know, where I look
back, even through the course ofmy work, and I'll be like you
know, this person showed up andhad I not been doing this, had I
not been open to theopportunity, they would have
never crossed my path and wewouldn't be here today doing
what we're doing, you know.
So it worked out and I'm gladfor that, for you guys, because
I think that's awesome.
You guys were able to make thatwork and get this thing pulled
(13:15):
together.
But it is.
We've all kind of been in thatplace of are we, is this the
thing that we're supposed to bedoing and is this a Person we're
supposed to be working with?
And.
But you know, I think you justknow.
Tem (13:25):
Yeah, and it takes, it takes some faith, right, you
have to when you embark onsomething.
You know this big this as faras writing a book, like as we
know, you know, a lot of peoplehad this dream of writing a book
.
I didn't.
I didn't know I had this dreambecause music was my dream for
so long, but eventually it waslike, yeah, this, this is a
dream.
How am I gonna get there?
(13:46):
Right, how are you gonna get tothis, the finish line?
Because it is a marathon, right, it's this not a sprint at all,
but you know, I think it'salways important.
I love to share like you have tojust commit to it.
You know, at some point youjust have to say I'm gonna do
this and I'm gonna just and I'mgonna finish it, no matter what
it, what it takes, it might takelong, right, I'm gonna set a
(14:09):
goal, I'm gonna tell, set a timeframe.
However, the important thing isthat it that it actually gets
accomplished.
And I think a lot of peopleMyself themselves, short just
kind of debating, right, I knowa lot of artists who make
amazing music or amazing art,but they just kind of hold it to
themselves because they're alittle timid and putting it out
(14:30):
in the world or don't know theright way.
And I, and I like to say this,there's no wrong way.
You know, as we know now,through, you know, putting
ourselves out I'm anentrepreneur, right and as an
author and a musician, that allof these steps, even even what
we consider failures are, youknow, they just, it's just a
learning process.
(14:50):
And To cultivate that strengthto say, you know, to be
resilient and to say that, hey,I'm just gonna stick this
through, it always pays off.
At least that's what I found out.
You know, at the end of the day, I've learned from it, I've
learned what it is, and and now,having gone through the music
thing, at first I was, you know,just so hungry and just
couldn't wait.
Like you know, we talked aboutpatience, being patient.
(15:12):
I just wanted to be on stage,like, give me the mic, I want to
rap.
But with with the book, youknow, you, you realize like, hey
, a lot of it is the journey andit's become cliche.
Right, it's not a destination,is a journey, but but it's true,
you know, the wisdom behind itis it's true that it is a
journey, and so I've beenenjoying the journey, even the
mundane things is you know,writing emails or promoting
(15:34):
right Like I don't yeah, yes.
Jennifer (15:40):
Michael's like I don't know about that.
Hey, I'm with you.
I just got through talking to aguy in marketing and I was
talking about my podcast and I'mlike he says, yeah, you like
need to put out, like you know,like eight pieces of content per
thing.
And I'm like eight pieces ofcontent, like I'm lucky if I get
one put together.
Oh, my gosh, like right, yougot to know your strengths, you
got to know when to delegate andyou got to be patient with the
process.
You know, I think this is allgood messaging.
(16:02):
I would really love to know andeven Michael, you chime in on
this tell me, because you said alot of really good things here
Some of the other challengesthat you guys went through.
I mean, because obviously you'recoming from you, you know,
still create a space for you,tim, right, still create a space
, but a different creative form.
Michael, you talked a littlebit about taking on this project
.
You weren't sure.
So maybe just some other of thechallenges, maybe I'm just
(16:22):
maybe doing the book itself,like that you guys went through.
Mike (16:26):
Yeah, I mean I can jump in .
I want to go back to the.
The idea of when you're.
The challenge taking on a largeproject is always, you know,
something that is very specificto each situation because you
know when we did the book it wasactually right during the
pandemic, so we actually metbefore the quarantine and then
(16:47):
during that whole period.
You know I was so I ended updoing this project while my
children were home.
So I have two young childrenand you know like I didn't
prepare for that.
Jennifer (16:55):
You know, that's a whole another thing too.
Mike (16:58):
Yes, that and it's so.
I bring that up only becausethere's unforeseeable challenges
that come up with any projectand I feel like if the smart
move, it's just sort of bake insome wiggle room so that you're
prepared if something like comesyour way and you have to be
able to, you know, whatever.
So I think in the sense thattem and I were on such a good
(17:20):
wavelength in terms of ourworkflow and the sort of our
shorthand um Gave me a lot offlexibility and and how I was
working and and you know my paceand everything like that.
So, you know, the challenge ofjust getting the thing done was
essentially the biggest.
And then it was basicallynavigating these worlds that we
weren't too familiar with, whichwere like printing and shipping
(17:42):
and um, doing um, acrowdfunding campaigns and
Things like that.
So sort of learning on the job,yeah, you know, as quickly as we
can.
And then in learning andlearning, I mean learning and
making mistakes at the same time, so, um.
So I think that just comes withany large undertaking and I
feel like the both of us havehad enough life experiences that
(18:06):
we're OK with that and havethat expectation that, ok,
there's going to be things thatwe're going to have to deal with
.
Let's just keep the momentumgoing, problem solve and
complete the task.
Tem (18:19):
So yeah, I think for me, one of the biggest challenges
was when we successfullycompleted the Kickstarter.
There was a date which we setto deliver the book, and it was
really important.
I'm very goal-driven, as Mikeis, and so for us to have these
backers, these folks who pledgedpre-ordered, if you will but
(18:42):
pledged the mount and said, yeah, we believe in this project,
and you said you're going tohave it On this day.
I forget what it was.
I think it was to be talkingabout like April or something.
Mike (18:51):
The tattoo at the moment?
Yeah, no, it's so different.
I never forget it, and I shouldadd because the viewers
probably won't notice that wecrowdfunded the book and now
we're promoting one that's beenpublished by Dark Horse Comics.
So we initially self-publishedand then, over the span of a
couple of years, I guess it waswe've now got a fully like brand
(19:14):
new edition with a new coverfrom Dark Horse.
So congratulations.
Jennifer (19:17):
Awesome.
Tem (19:18):
Yeah yeah, just to say, when we were ready, we did our
side of it and then we sent itout to the printers.
There was a problem with thesupply chain because of the
pandemic, and so and I rememberreally stressing over that,
feeling really bad about it andbeing and then just luckily,
(19:39):
talking to a few people Mikeincluded, but family members and
being like no, I don't want towrite this email and being so
distraught about not meetingthis deadline.
And then they were like man,everyone's going to understand,
we're all going through thisthing together.
We all ordered from Amazon andit comes a week later or
(19:59):
whatever the case is, and so itwas really good just to have
people in my ear having thatsupport.
But then also, when I sharedthat like hey, this is going to
take a little bit longer than weanticipated, people were like
no problem, so proud of you all,and so that was reaffirming and
also just giving yourself thatgrace, Because a lot of times
sometimes we put the stress onourselves that doesn't really
(20:22):
exist, like it's not the worldputting the stress on us, it's
ourselves putting that stress onit, and so giving yourself that
ability to just breathe throughwhatever challenges, whatever
delay, like it's going to arriveon its own time.
And sometimes it's even better,right, because, for whatever
reason, people are anticipatingit even more and excited to
receive it.
So it all worked out and, likeMike said, now we got Doc Horse,
(20:46):
which was for me growing upreading Doc Horse comics, and
Mike and anybody else who's inthe comic book space to be on
that publishing is to me, adream come true.
It's like it's a dream I didn'teven know I had until it became
a reality, which is awesome.
Jennifer (21:05):
So awesome.
Yeah Well, and I think too,listening to you guys, I don't
obviously don't know you guyswell enough to know everything
about you, but you seem likeyour skill sets and your
personalities kind of balanceeach other out.
So Mike kind of mentioned inthe beginning how you gave him
the space to kind of work, and Ithink that's great.
When you're doingcollaborations with people, it's
great to work with people thatare a little bit different.
(21:25):
You bring different skill sets,because I think it just adds
value.
And in this case you guys got agreat book company behind you
and we're able to pull thisthing together.
And something you said, tam,about, I think when we're goal
driven we do we get very set onhow we want things to go and
especially when we have otherpeople on board in the space, we
(21:46):
don't want to let people down.
And I go through.
When you were saying, I couldfeel it because I'm like I know
I've been there before where I'mlike, oh my gosh, I promised
somebody I'm going to dosomething and I can't make it
happen and I'm beating myself upabout it.
And most of the time peopleunderstand right, like they're
cool with it, they get it.
We're all humans.
We're going through things,we're working the best we can,
and sometimes Amazon does suck,like the prime doesn't always
(22:08):
show up on the day it's supposedto show up right.
Ad (22:10):
It is what it is.
Mike (22:11):
So you guys, you made it happen, and that's what matters
I think it also speaks to howyou have to be flexible in
general in your thinking and inyour strategy, because you just
I remember my wife when she wasin grad school and she would
tell me there was a saying forwhen people were doing their
papers and you just have tosurrender them.
Ad (22:32):
Because they'd be like I'm not done, I'm not done, I need
to keep doing it.
Mike (22:34):
She's like in the teacher's bill you have to
surrender the papers At somepoint.
So you have to have thatflexibility to say, ok, I need
other things in my life have tobe attended to and I'm putting
all this unnecessary pressure.
And I think that's somethingI've learned as an artist who
freelances and works full time.
And you have to be able to havethat flexibility so that you
(22:57):
can adjust and pivot when it'snecessary.
Jennifer (23:00):
Yeah, that's good, so good, yes, and you do.
You're right, it's no pointbeing rigid.
Nothing's going to work.
I feel like I've been anentrepreneur for 20.
Long time, since 1997.
Since my oldest, she's now 27.
So we'll say 27 plus years,because I started when she was a
baby and I'm telling you like Ihave so many stories and my
(23:21):
angle is laughing at you aboutthe kids I've had so many
stories of, like you know, kidsknocking on doors, getting stuck
in doggy doors and like thingshappening.
And, yes, you just learnpatience and you learn to just
go with it.
You know what I mean.
But I think a great thing aboutthis is when you show people
that do successful things andthey're able to weather through
all these different things andnavigate.
It just shows great skill andit shows other people that, hey,
(23:43):
you could be some everyday,ordinary person and do these
things in your home right now.
You decide tomorrow you want tostart writing a book, get the
pen and paper out, start doingit.
Whatever you need to do, youknow, when I did mine, I like
had the ideas, but was I didn'tneed to do illustrations or mine
, because it was more of aself-help type thing, but I had
to get somebody to help me getthat into words, because I had
the ideas and the things Iwanted to say, but I'm a doer
(24:05):
and I don't.
I'm not a big wordy person.
Thank God for AI.
Now I love that thing because,man, you could just help me out
with this, you know.
But then we didn't have thatand so I had to get somebody to
help me kind of put thosethoughts.
And you know, and I tell peoplelike the hardest thing for me
putting that book together waslike getting the freaking
outline together, like I had allthe thoughts and the ideas but
(24:26):
it was just getting it in anorderly fashion to convey the
message right.
So I think it's great that youguys came together and were able
to bring these different piecestogether.
You got the illustrator, yougot the person who's got the
storyline.
Pull it together.
And you guys have said so manygreat messages here.
Would love to know what was themost fun in this, like what was
the best part?
Or maybe now, what's the bestpart of it now?
Tem (24:48):
Yeah, I mean there's been a lot of great, but I'll say for
me just having these ideas,because I draw too not as good
as Mike, and so I had theselittle you know kind of sketches
that I did, that I showed Mike,you know, and he bumped them up
, you know, upgraded them, butwas when I would, you know, I
(25:08):
sent him this stuff and then hewould either text or email me
some of these images, you know,and just to see, it was like he
was in my mind, kind of likedrawing out these things, and so
in our day.
Mike (25:21):
that's what AI was.
Jennifer (25:22):
Yeah, He'd put it in the project and I would send it
back Exactly so when peoplelisten to this any year from now
, which is when everything willchange.
Mike (25:31):
It'll be like oh that's what it was like, like.
Tem (25:33):
AI.
This is my AI guy here.
Jennifer (25:35):
He's the AI guy.
Love it, love it.
Tem (25:38):
Yeah, no, it was.
So the best way is surreal.
It was surreal to see theseimages, you know, come to life,
you know, and then eventuallylike the book right, to actually
have a book and to, you know,smell it.
You know I was a book geek asmuch as I'm a hip hop guy.
Like, I still love the smell ofthat print, you know, on there,
(26:00):
whether it's, you know, oldbook or new book, new book
smells good, yeah, and so tohave something go from just an
idea to an actual 3D, you know,physical form is exciting To me.
I get a kick out of it becauseit shows that, you know, each
and every one of us have thispower to manifest these ideas
(26:22):
and to be part of somethingthat's productive or someone
who's productive in societyfeels good.
I think everyone has thatability and that's the thing
that I think is another message.
Like you know, there's nothingspecial about me besides taking
the time to find out what makesme special.
Right, like, we all have ourown special uniqueness, and so
(26:42):
for me it's like, hey, I cantell stories.
I got the gift to gab, I don'thave the fear to go up on stage.
I can tell a story that's, youknow, fantastic and imaginary
and you know, and creative, andso let me lean into that and do
my part in society.
Mike (26:58):
So how about you, mike?
What was I was thinking?
Two things, especially withsomething like this.
It's so immersive when you'recreating it visually, so there's
that sense of like being in thestory.
And I still have just a lot ofmemories of scenes in the story
that, like, I really got into.
There's like a scene wherethey're in this tower and
there's all of these wild boarsrunning up the stairs to attack
(27:18):
them, which was like when I readI was like that's going to be
the most complicated thing todraw Like a spiral staircase
that we can see in twodimensions, with wild boars
running up, and you know.
But when I was drawing that Ijust remember, like I was so
into the intensity of that sceneand so, you know, being in that
story for a while is it'sexciting, it makes you like want
(27:38):
to get up and work on it, youknow, during that time.
But the other thing that Ithink really sticks out to me is
when we go to like a show, likea comic convention, and we see
people react to the book, orsomebody comes up and said I
read it, I really liked it, oryou know, because there's that
feeling of like I always sort oftalk about this where artists,
we have this tendency to likework in a vacuum if we're not
like performers.
(27:58):
So this you're sort of workingin solitary confinement and then
you're not really.
You know, it's just soenriching when people interact
with you through your artBecause you're like, oh, they're
actually kind of like I lovedoing this, but now they love
experiencing it.
So there's this really greatsynergy that happens when you're
(28:19):
able to, you know, connect onthat level.
And I see that the most when wego to sort of these comic
conventions.
We have a table.
People come hey, what's thebook about?
Tem (28:29):
You guys wrote this, you drew this, you know how long you
know, and they're like, theyhave reactions to it, and for me
that just feels really good tojust be like validating yeah
because we've done like schoolassemblies and stuff, and to
have these young people come upand relate and have you know
(28:51):
organizations who buy the booksand then have the kids read it
and then you know, bring us into talk about it, and to have
you know young people say like,hey, this, you know, I know
these characters.
These characters are mean, likethey could see themselves.
Jennifer (29:04):
They could relate.
Tem (29:05):
Yeah, it's great.
And then online, you know, likeeven today, you know it was
cool to just have you knowsomeone post and like, oh,
tracking, they showed thetracker.
They're like I can't wait forthis to come in because it was a
gift for their son.
They can't wait for them to getit.
And they, you know, posted thatand they tagged us on it and
I'm like, yes, let's go.
You know, that's reallyexciting to see people
(29:25):
interacting, like Mike said,with something that was just
this idea or something that wasin his vacuum, and now it's.
You know, it's like watchingyour kid right Grow up and they,
you know, they hit the wholeworld.
Jennifer (29:36):
It's more it's another child.
Basically right, you usesomething you created and you
put it out into the world andyou hope people you know latch
it and take care of it and bringit to life for you.
So, Mike, I really like whatyou were talking about, Like I,
because I'm listening to you andI'm kind of a, I'm a visual I
(29:58):
and I feel things.
So I listen to people talk andI'm like I can see this, Like
I've had artists on here before.
I had this really amazingpainter on here one time,
Amazing, she did murals andstuff and she would talk about
how she would go in her room andplay, you know, play her music
when she's working and she justgo in there for hours and I
could just visualize this likebeing in there for hours and
just like painting and likecreate.
So I could see this like whenyou're in that zone and you're
(30:19):
just like looking at this andyou're trying to create, they
take this thing and make it life, Like right, Like put it into
art.
I'm not an artist like that.
I mean I like to play withpaints and do things, but not
like that.
But I can totally hear whatyou're saying, you know, and to
listen to you, Tim, say okay,this was my, what I was seeing
in my picture.
And then to give it him, andthen he brings it alive and I'm
like yes, this is what I'mtalking about, my AI guy, you
(30:40):
know whatever that is, butanyways.
I love it.
I think it's good.
Thank you for answering.
I do want to ask you guys onereally fun question.
I love to ask this one everyonce in a while because I think
it's just fun from yourperspective like, what does this
look like for you?
But I would love to know fromboth of you how you look at
success.
Like, how do you define successfor yourself?
And it can be about this booktoo.
(31:00):
I don't, you can bring thatinto it, this project.
Mike (31:02):
Well, jen, this is actually something I've really
thought about deeply.
And you know, when I went tograd school for printmaking a
while ago before I, kind ofbefore this life, in my past
life, but I remember that I hada dream that I wanted to become
like a professor, and that wassort of the track that I was on
(31:23):
and I had.
There were a lot of professorsI worked with who I really
admired, who were doing what Iwas like.
This is what I want to do.
I want to be a tenure trackprofessor, I want to exhibit in
galleries, and what I found wasthat, even though a lot of the
professors I looked up to werevery successful, they were sort
of miserable, like you know,there was a lot like I just saw
(31:43):
into their personal life and itwas just sort of like, wow, it's
like Success for me is that I'mhappy.
Right, that's the other wayaround, and I think that what
success looks like changes astime goes on too, you know,
because some people might thinkthat being famous is this mean
(32:06):
success to them, but then whenthey realize that that's not
what it was, and you know thosekinds you always hear about
these kinds of things.
So for me.
I think if I'm meeting my coreneeds, where it's like I'm able
to support myself and I'm happy,then I feel that I've been
successful when I'm doing.
You know, if I set out a goalthat is realistic and I achieve
(32:30):
that goal, then that's also asign of success too.
So I think you know, there'ssort of like different, sort of
abstract ways to look at it forme when I think that's good I
like it that's good, no, that'sawesome.
Tem (32:41):
And, mike, I'll just expand and go a different way because,
I agree, it's all abouthappiness.
You know, at the end of the day, you got to be happy, you got
to feel that what you do ismeaningful.
You know, I always say you know, I came up in the era in hip
hop where, you know, keeping itreal was so important, like
being authentically you, notselling out right Was really
(33:02):
important, meaning that you know, you're not putting, you know,
profits over people or you knowprofits over planet.
It's just.
It's just for me, values thathave been passed down from my
parents and from people who Iadmire.
And so it's really about beingpart of this lineage, of this
culture of like comics, like,hey, this is a comic book story,
(33:24):
this is a story that's meant toinspire, to have people be like
, yeah, I'm that guy that cantap into the superpowers.
And I want, you know, I wasgreat because I went down to
Nashville, tennessee, I wasmentoring some young people down
there and this little girl whoyou know comes to find out she
was, you know, with the rightterm is so excuse me if I say
(33:44):
the wrong term, but she was onthe spectrum and the teacher.
You know, I gifted a book tothe class and this little girl
grabbed this book and justimmediately opened it up and
started like it was almost likeshe was eating it, inhaling it,
devouring it, you know, and shewas just looking at everything
and the teacher, even because wewere like doing something else,
(34:04):
she was like, okay, you canread that later.
She like man, I kind of feltbad.
I'm like no, let her read itnow.
She's like the way that she wasenjoying it.
For me, honestly, like that mywork was done with that book.
At that moment, like I achievedthe ultimate level of success.
And I know for some people like, yeah, right, you want to know.
Like, and I tell my kids, likewe didn't write this book, you
(34:26):
know, because I have adult kids,we didn't write this book to
become millionaires,billionaires, like that's nice,
like we all want.
You know, the more you have,the more you could give is what
I want to.
You know why I want to attractabundance to me.
But it's really for that moment, for that little girl to really
connect to this art form and tosee herself was so profound.
(34:49):
So that was success, in thatexact moment.
Jennifer (34:52):
That's good.
I liked both of them because Icould resonate with both of what
you said.
So it was good I liked both ofthem.
I'm totally with you in thatyou got to be happy and if
you're not, I always say youknow, if you're I use Maslow's
hierarchy needs right, like youget all those things met in
there and you're doing what youlove to do.
I mean, you're going to bedoing okay and you're impacting
people, which is what Tim issaying is making a difference in
(35:12):
the world and with the peoplearound you.
So I think that really that'swhat it comes down to.
I like the way y'all worded itvery differently, but I think
they're very similar and, youknow, kind of finished them out.
So very good, okay.
So I want to ask you guys acouple of fun questions.
I like to do this.
They're just random, off thecuff.
I'll probably ask one.
Ask you, you know Michael askedyou a different one, but I want
to know, okay, tim, where isthe coolest place you've been
(35:35):
able to travel with your work?
Tem (35:37):
Oh, the coolest place?
Oh, man, I'll say Portugal.
That came to mind, you know,new Year's Eve, and Lisbon, with
a hip hop group that also had,like K Vernon, creole music in
it, and so that was pretty funyeah.
Jennifer (35:52):
All right, awesome, michael.
What is your?
What do you love?
What is like the absolute bestthing you love to draw?
Is it this like comic stuff, oris it?
Is there's other things thatyou really enjoy as far as art
goes?
Mike (36:03):
I mean I really enjoy doing.
I mean I love line work, sosomething that's really graphic
like that.
But I love really sort ofcreepy horrific like monster
type stuff.
Jennifer (36:16):
See, I always learn cool things about people.
Mike (36:18):
That's why I love this, so in the book too there were
scenes, there's characters whereLike Tim had to sort of reel me
in a little bit.
Tem (36:25):
Come on back, Mike.
We don't want to scare theyoung adults.
Jennifer (36:29):
Well, I like horror flicks, so you might be speaking
my language.
Everybody's like how do youlike that stuff?
I'm like it's like riding aroller coaster, it's just you
get adrenaline rush.
It's not real, I mean whatever.
Mike (36:42):
But it depends where I'm at mentally.
I like to do like children'sbooks too, yeah.
Jennifer (36:49):
All right, tim, I would love to know, like,
because obviously you're a rapartist, hip hop rap artist Is
there any other music that youlike besides that?
Anything else that you listento?
That's kind of a regular.
Mike (37:01):
All kinds, all kinds.
I do listen to it, mike.
Tem (37:07):
But no.
Classical music.
I love classical music.
Rage is a big genre for me and,believe it or not.
Heavy metal I'm a big fan ofIron Maiden Slayer who else?
Yeah, there's guns and roses, abunch of heavy metal stuff.
Yeah, twisted no.
Jennifer (37:24):
I feel like you would.
Mike (37:26):
I started to wear that gun .
Tem (37:28):
The music as a whole, you know, Cesare ever.
So going back to Kate Verde,you know, rest in peace to Sarah
Tavares, who just passed away,which is a great Kate Verdean
artist too.
So across the board, I love allof her.
If it's good, I'm going to you.
Like it, I like it.
Jennifer (37:46):
It's funny you say that because today, you know, I
don't know if y'all do Spotify,do Spotify and they do like
those year-end reviews.
And so today, I'm looking at mything and I'm like my music is
all over, but today I wasactually on hip hop, 90s hip hop
music today.
And I was downloading, like allthese to add to my list.
Mike (38:04):
It's like my music was all from that.
Jennifer (38:06):
It could be guns and roses, it could be nine inch
nails, and then the next day itcould be Clint Black.
I don't know.
It's all over the place.
Tem (38:13):
I'm curious what 90s hip hop were you into?
Jennifer (38:16):
Oh, what was coming up on there?
I had a.
Well, you know, mc Hammer waspopping up on there.
Too legit to quit.
There was a bunch on thereShaggy was coming up on there
and Snoop Dogg and yeah, ofcourse.
Ad (38:32):
I was looking up.
Jennifer (38:33):
Yeah, it sure makes a lot Like.
I had a birthday party recentlyand people follow me know I
turned 51 this year, so I wentto this dual piano thing and
they had us all come up on stageand apparently somebody must
have known that we were kind ofin that clubbing age or whatever
, because they wanted us todance to Baby's Gap Back.
Mike (38:55):
And jump and see it Jump jump and tootsie roll.
Jennifer (39:00):
And so we all got up there and I was like none of us
were doing any of that, like Iwas like I think we were just
supposed to twerk on that thingbut none of us were doing any of
it.
People got video.
I clipped all the video.
I'm like nobody's even going tosee that one happening.
Tem (39:13):
So anyway, yeah, that thing up is her favorite thing.
Oh, from Jupiter.
Jupiter, yeah, but whatever,that's like the classic twerking
video.
Jennifer (39:23):
Exactly like the old music, right?
Oh, and Run DMC I had a coupleof those on there too.
I was pulling a couple of those.
I like Run DMC, classic,classic, yeah, so I'm with you.
All right.
One last question for you,michael, and then we'll wrap
this thing up.
So when you're working, I wantto know because this is like a
working question when you'reactually drawing, do you put any
music on, or are you totallylike in your zone, quiet?
Mike (39:43):
It's a combination.
You know, I got into the habitof listening to speeches for a
while, so I would listen to.
I actually listened to, likeCorno West, and I was listening
to some philosophers.
What's his name?
Jennifer (39:58):
Saguro is a music guy.
Mike (40:02):
So I do a combination of that and then I'll listen to
music, like I'll throw on somereggae or I like old soul music,
stuff like that.
Jennifer (40:11):
I could totally see you listening to stuff.
I think you're kind of athinker.
I could totally see ithappening.
Mike (40:16):
And the shredding yeah, oldest running's on there and
somebody's great liveperformances of him on Spotify
Very cool we all have our thing.
Jennifer (40:22):
Like that's what I'm saying.
Like when I run I have friendsthat go running.
They don't listen to any musicat all.
Like I have to have and thefaster the music, the better the
workout.
Like, if I have slow music, myruns going to be like you know.
So anyways you guys have beenfun.
I've had an awesome timechatting with you.
I'd love to know.
So if our audience wants to getin touch with you, maybe they
want to pick this book up, get acopy of it, check it out.
(40:43):
Where do we want to send them?
Tem (40:44):
Yeah Well, first of all, it's available everywhere.
You can even order it on Targetand Walmart you know Amazon but
also at the website, soplanetabluecom.
So it's like Planet with an A,so planeta, and then blue
without the Ecom, so planetablue.
Jennifer (40:59):
I like the name of it, by the way Sounds fun, thank
you.
Tem (41:01):
Thank you, yeah, I've been seeing your emails and stuff.
Jennifer (41:05):
So congratulations to you both.
You're awesome.
It's fun to see people you knowdoing amazing things in the
world and trying to make youknow everything better for all
of us.
Tem (41:12):
I love it yeah, sharing the story Awesome.
Thanks for having us.
Jennifer (41:15):
Absolutely.
We do want to say to ouraudience, of course if you enjoy
the show, please head over toApple, give us a review there.
You can check us out on YouTube, hit that subscribe button.
And, as I always say, I say thesame thing every week In order
to live the extraordinary, youmust start.
Every start begins with adecision.
You guys, take care, be safe,be kind to one another.
We will see you next time.
Music.
Welcome to another episode of behind the dreamers.
I'm your host, jennifer Loading, and we are talking to the
achievers, the creators, themagic makers and the dreamers.
These are our friends, theseare your friends and they are
living the extraordinary Well.
Today, I'm thrilled to have twoincredibly talented individuals
on the show.
One is a seasoned hip-hopartist rap artist with over a
(00:45):
decade of musical expertise.
The other is a versatilegraphic designer, illustrator,
comic book artist and writer.
Together, they've created acaptivating young adult graphic
novel about making the earth abetter place for all living
beings.
So I'm super excited to chatwith them today.
But before I get them on, we doneed to do a quick announcement
(01:05):
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Jennifer (02:51):
All right.
So now we got all that out, Iget to welcome my guests on the
show.
I'm so excited.
I always have to put the littleplugs in because we want to
help people be the mosteffective leaders that they can
be, and so my guests today.
Tim Blest and Michael LaRitiaare the dynamic duo behind the
book Planetta.
I like this blue volume.
One Rise of Agoo.
Tim Blest said the author andMichael is also the illustrator.
(03:14):
Through their collaboration,they introduced us to a world of
courage, compassion, love andsacrifice, and so welcome guys.
I'm so excited to have you onthe show today.
Tem (03:22):
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you for having us.
Glad to be here.
Jennifer (03:25):
And thank you for being patient as I got all that
out.
Tem (03:28):
No worries, that's the name of the game, right Patience.
Jennifer (03:31):
That's right.
That's right.
Well, I am so excited, so Iwant to talk about a little bit
about this book.
What led to the inspiration?
Because you guys bringdifferent skill sets to the
creation of this and so tell usa little bit about the
inspiration behind this.
Tem (03:45):
Yeah, so I've been a storyteller for a while through
music hip hop music and sociallyconscious so most of it very
positive, conscious music.
And I have kids now I have fourand at the time three of my
sons.
I was telling them bedtimestories, like I do with my
daughter now, and they wereoften silly, often about talking
(04:09):
chickens or whatever they werelike it was.
But at some point I startedtelling this story of Planeta
Blue, about these young peoplewho, you know, get whisked away
underwater to Atlantis and getput on trial for what's the
human beings are doing to theplanet and to plant, to animals
(04:29):
and to each other.
And so that story wasn't juststaying in my mind at that
moment.
It kind of went on to wakinghours and I found myself
thinking about that story moreand more and decided to just
write it, just start writing it,and to talk about these young
people that I knew a lot aboutand know a lot about as a youth
(04:51):
worker so not only am I a hiphop artist, I work many years
with nonprofits and was like letme, let me show these young
people as the brilliant youngpeople that they are in this
fantastic sci fi adventure thathas a lot of action and talking
animals, but it's, you know,these animals aren't wearing
(05:13):
clothes, so not Disney type, andthey're dealing with some real
issues like climate change andpollution, and just you know
what happens in zoos and twoseals, right.
So it's like heavy stuff, butin a way that young people can
access it.
It's for young adults, but Isay you know, anyone, anyone
from seven to 70, I think, willenjoy this, and maybe even
(05:37):
beyond, because I'm somewhere inthe middle there and I enjoy
graphic novels and comics, like,like the young people, and so
you know.
So I started writing.
It took me five years because Iwas always doing music along
with it.
That's really my passion.
But you know, at some point Ihad to just put that aside and
(05:58):
focus on it.
So I wrote the, wrote the wholestory out, and then was like
you know, I had a publisher inNew York who wanted to put it
out as long form, but I knew Iwanted it to be a visual
expression of it, mainly becausefor me, who immigrated from
West Africa, reading was was achallenge at first, and so comic
(06:21):
books was my entry point, andso having the visuals there
really helped me engage with,engage with literature and so
when I recorded I was like, Imean, when I wrote it, I was
like I need to get me an artist,find me an artist.
I looked around and luckily Ifound this guy who was amazing,
mr Mike LaRitia, amazing artist,and he really had the vision
(06:43):
and ability in the skills tobring these words to life.
Jennifer (06:48):
That's so awesome, well, and I think the thing that
you know you said you said somany great things there, but I
think, like the resonating thingwith man all of this is the
storytelling.
Right, because it's interesting.
I just built out this totallydifferent.
I've written a book before, butnothing like what you're doing.
Completely different becauseI'm in the coaching space and so
I just built this really bigprogram out and the entire
program I tell people.
(07:09):
It's kind of like thisimmersion experience.
It's not where I tell you thesepoints, it's where I show you
these points.
I'm trying to get my messageacross why you need to know,
like, about these core valueswhich you heard me talk about in
the beginning.
But how do you tell somebodywhat that is without really
giving them an example of whatthat is right?
And so I think storytelling isso powerful to your point.
(07:30):
You know, and having come fromthe space that I did, I was in
Mary Kay for many, many years,like 22 years and some and we
always talked about nobody evercares what you know, really
cares what you sell till theyknow why you do what you do,
right.
So I came from a space wherestorytelling was really what we
did, and so I think it's greatwhen you can find a place, and
(07:50):
whether it be your music, youknow that you've done it for
years in that form.
I do it in my podcast.
You know how we can tell ourstory to other people and get
things out there and show it andcreate those messages that we
wanna send out for the rightaudience that we're trying to
hit.
So congratulations to you bothon that front and I'm totally
get it.
I mean, I get the wholestorytelling thing.
Tem (08:11):
Yeah, no, thank you, and yeah, you know, we always tell
the story of how we met and whatyou know.
It's sad and different.
Jennifer (08:18):
Yeah, share that with us cause.
Ad (08:18):
I'm curious cause you're in the same room right now for our
people that are listening.
Jennifer (08:21):
you're in the same room right now, so you've got to
tell us about this.
Tem (08:24):
Yeah, we are.
Well, it's awesome because weboth Mike and I, went to UMass
Amherst for undergrad and weended up in back in the same
area At different times Atdifferent times.
Yeah, totally totally atdifferent times.
Yeah, I'm Mike's senior, sorespect your elder Mike.
Mike (08:43):
I just want to make that very clear.
It was not at the same time.
Tem (08:46):
Yeah, it was not at the same time.
We did not know each other atall, in fact, when I graduated
was when you were coming.
I was just starting, you werejust starting.
He was a young youngster when Igraduated.
But no, we.
And so I had a friend, alsofrom UMass, who you know knew I
had written this story, and shewas like, hey, I know this
amazing.
I know you're looking for anartist.
(09:07):
I know this amazing artistwho's my neighbor.
And I was like, yeah, okay, youknow an artist who's a neighbor
.
I was like, you know, do yougot something Like, show me
something of his.
And she sent me his web addressand I was just blown away
because his art is just sophenomenal and I was like, I
think he, you know, this is theguy, this could potentially be
(09:30):
the guy, and you know.
So she put me in touch with himand when, you know, we met up,
it was like instantly, you knowchemistry, instantly.
When we talk about core valuesand principles, you know Mike
has and we share a lot of thesame principles, which is really
about, you know, family, about,you know, being honest, being
authentic, being who you are andultimately, for the betterment
(09:52):
of humanity.
To be honest, just to hit itthe nail right on the head, but
also, you know, for the cultureof comics and storytelling.
All the things that wereimportant to me I found in Mike.
But you know I'll let him tellhis side of it because you know,
I don't know.
I think he was trying to, hewas trying to get away, I don't
know when he saw that.
Mike (10:12):
He was just joking, I you know it's funny when we talk
about this when he says it wasmy neighbor.
I only had one house next to meat that time.
On the other side it was thestreet, so the only neighbor I
had happened to be this mutualconnection and you know, it was
a similar situation where theneighbor's like I have a friend
who wrote a book and in my mindI'm like I know lots of people
(10:32):
who have written books, you know, like that could mean anything.
And a lot of times as an artistyou find people who have a
project and they're new at itand they want you to be involved
and it's usually something likewell, you know, I can't pay you
, but if we sell the book youget a percentage, and it's sort
of this sort of gamble.
So, going into that, I was sortof like I really don't want to
(10:53):
get involved in that kind ofsituation, you know.
But when we met and he showedme the project, it was sort of
like I could feel like theenergy behind this work, you
know, and I could see that thiswas something that he was
invested in, that it wassomething he was going to
continue to put energy into andthe work itself stood on its own
(11:15):
.
Like I, you know, he gave methe book, I read it and I was
like you know, this is somethingI commit to, for I mean, this
is not a short book, it's.
You know he gave me about ahundred pages of text, so
translating that to a comic bookis going to be.
It ended up being double that.
So taking on a project that big,it's got to be something that
is worthwhile in a lot of ways,and especially since you know
(11:36):
You're going to be devoting allthis time to itself.
So Our initial meeting I I wason board.
I said I'll do a few pages andand do some concept work.
Let's see what that looks like.
And then, when we found thatthe working relationship was
good Because this is sort of atime for us to test each other
out right- See you know like dowe work well together?
Is this going to be difficult?
It turned out to be good and wedecided we're going to do a
(11:58):
Kickstarter, and then you know,we've ended up here.
That's the expression over allthe details, but it's worked out
very well.
Jennifer (12:05):
I was getting kind of it, I was chuckling I love the
story, by the way.
I was chuckling a little bitbecause I do so much networking
here and I know when y'all weresaying I had this friend,
because I, you know, right, whenyou're in that space, like
everybody's got a friend thatdoes something, and I laugh
because you know, being in thepodcast road, you guys probably
seen this yourself.
Every day Somebody's liketelling me I know somebody that
can help you with this andsomebody's pitching me this and
(12:27):
you know it's always like ohyeah, I know my 20 people to do
that.
Ad (12:31):
You know, but then you meet that one.
Jennifer (12:33):
I think there are those moments, you know, like I
meet so many people and I'm sureyou guys do, and this, clearly,
was a situation where it workedout like right, like there,
well, you had this connector inthe middle that brought you two
together right, and it workedout.
There are those moments, youknow, and I feel like, yeah, you
put yourself the opportunityand the right, you know, put
yourself to make the opportunityavailable and the right people
show up when they're supposed toshow up.
(12:53):
Because there will be thosemoments, you know, where I look
back, even through the course ofmy work, and I'll be like you
know, this person showed up andhad I not been doing this, had I
not been open to theopportunity, they would have
never crossed my path and wewouldn't be here today doing
what we're doing, you know.
So it worked out and I'm gladfor that, for you guys, because
I think that's awesome.
You guys were able to make thatwork and get this thing pulled
(13:15):
together.
But it is.
We've all kind of been in thatplace of are we, is this the
thing that we're supposed to bedoing and is this a Person we're
supposed to be working with?
And.
But you know, I think you justknow.
Tem (13:25):
Yeah, and it takes, it takes some faith, right, you
have to when you embark onsomething.
You know this big this as faras writing a book, like as we
know, you know, a lot of peoplehad this dream of writing a book
.
I didn't.
I didn't know I had this dreambecause music was my dream for
so long, but eventually it waslike, yeah, this, this is a
dream.
How am I gonna get there?
(13:46):
Right, how are you gonna get tothis, the finish line?
Because it is a marathon, right, it's this not a sprint at all,
but you know, I think it'salways important.
I love to share like you have tojust commit to it.
You know, at some point youjust have to say I'm gonna do
this and I'm gonna just and I'mgonna finish it, no matter what
it, what it takes, it might takelong, right, I'm gonna set a
(14:09):
goal, I'm gonna tell, set a timeframe.
However, the important thing isthat it that it actually gets
accomplished.
And I think a lot of peopleMyself themselves, short just
kind of debating, right, I knowa lot of artists who make
amazing music or amazing art,but they just kind of hold it to
themselves because they're alittle timid and putting it out
(14:30):
in the world or don't know theright way.
And I, and I like to say this,there's no wrong way.
You know, as we know now,through, you know, putting
ourselves out I'm anentrepreneur, right and as an
author and a musician, that allof these steps, even even what
we consider failures are, youknow, they just, it's just a
learning process.
(14:50):
And To cultivate that strengthto say, you know, to be
resilient and to say that, hey,I'm just gonna stick this
through, it always pays off.
At least that's what I found out.
You know, at the end of the day, I've learned from it, I've
learned what it is, and and now,having gone through the music
thing, at first I was, you know,just so hungry and just
couldn't wait.
Like you know, we talked aboutpatience, being patient.
(15:12):
I just wanted to be on stage,like, give me the mic, I want to
rap.
But with with the book, youknow, you, you realize like, hey
, a lot of it is the journey andit's become cliche.
Right, it's not a destination,is a journey, but but it's true,
you know, the wisdom behind itis it's true that it is a
journey, and so I've beenenjoying the journey, even the
mundane things is you know,writing emails or promoting
(15:34):
right Like I don't yeah, yes.
Jennifer (15:40):
Michael's like I don't know about that.
Hey, I'm with you.
I just got through talking to aguy in marketing and I was
talking about my podcast and I'mlike he says, yeah, you like
need to put out, like you know,like eight pieces of content per
thing.
And I'm like eight pieces ofcontent, like I'm lucky if I get
one put together.
Oh, my gosh, like right, yougot to know your strengths, you
got to know when to delegate andyou got to be patient with the
process.
You know, I think this is allgood messaging.
(16:02):
I would really love to know andeven Michael, you chime in on
this tell me, because you said alot of really good things here
Some of the other challengesthat you guys went through.
I mean, because obviously you'recoming from you, you know,
still create a space for you,tim, right, still create a space
, but a different creative form.
Michael, you talked a littlebit about taking on this project
.
You weren't sure.
So maybe just some other of thechallenges, maybe I'm just
(16:22):
maybe doing the book itself,like that you guys went through.
Mike (16:26):
Yeah, I mean I can jump in .
I want to go back to the.
The idea of when you're.
The challenge taking on a largeproject is always, you know,
something that is very specificto each situation because you
know when we did the book it wasactually right during the
pandemic, so we actually metbefore the quarantine and then
(16:47):
during that whole period.
You know I was so I ended updoing this project while my
children were home.
So I have two young childrenand you know like I didn't
prepare for that.
Jennifer (16:55):
You know, that's a whole another thing too.
Mike (16:58):
Yes, that and it's so.
I bring that up only becausethere's unforeseeable challenges
that come up with any projectand I feel like if the smart
move, it's just sort of bake insome wiggle room so that you're
prepared if something like comesyour way and you have to be
able to, you know, whatever.
So I think in the sense thattem and I were on such a good
(17:20):
wavelength in terms of ourworkflow and the sort of our
shorthand um Gave me a lot offlexibility and and how I was
working and and you know my paceand everything like that.
So, you know, the challenge ofjust getting the thing done was
essentially the biggest.
And then it was basicallynavigating these worlds that we
weren't too familiar with, whichwere like printing and shipping
(17:42):
and um, doing um, acrowdfunding campaigns and
Things like that.
So sort of learning on the job,yeah, you know, as quickly as we
can.
And then in learning andlearning, I mean learning and
making mistakes at the same time, so, um.
So I think that just comes withany large undertaking and I
feel like the both of us havehad enough life experiences that
(18:06):
we're OK with that and havethat expectation that, ok,
there's going to be things thatwe're going to have to deal with
.
Let's just keep the momentumgoing, problem solve and
complete the task.
Tem (18:19):
So yeah, I think for me, one of the biggest challenges
was when we successfullycompleted the Kickstarter.
There was a date which we setto deliver the book, and it was
really important.
I'm very goal-driven, as Mikeis, and so for us to have these
backers, these folks who pledgedpre-ordered, if you will but
(18:42):
pledged the mount and said, yeah, we believe in this project,
and you said you're going tohave it On this day.
I forget what it was.
I think it was to be talkingabout like April or something.
Mike (18:51):
The tattoo at the moment?
Yeah, no, it's so different.
I never forget it, and I shouldadd because the viewers
probably won't notice that wecrowdfunded the book and now
we're promoting one that's beenpublished by Dark Horse Comics.
So we initially self-publishedand then, over the span of a
couple of years, I guess it waswe've now got a fully like brand
(19:14):
new edition with a new coverfrom Dark Horse.
So congratulations.
Jennifer (19:17):
Awesome.
Tem (19:18):
Yeah yeah, just to say, when we were ready, we did our
side of it and then we sent itout to the printers.
There was a problem with thesupply chain because of the
pandemic, and so and I rememberreally stressing over that,
feeling really bad about it andbeing and then just luckily,
(19:39):
talking to a few people Mikeincluded, but family members and
being like no, I don't want towrite this email and being so
distraught about not meetingthis deadline.
And then they were like man,everyone's going to understand,
we're all going through thisthing together.
We all ordered from Amazon andit comes a week later or
(19:59):
whatever the case is, and so itwas really good just to have
people in my ear having thatsupport.
But then also, when I sharedthat like hey, this is going to
take a little bit longer than weanticipated, people were like
no problem, so proud of you all,and so that was reaffirming and
also just giving yourself thatgrace, Because a lot of times
sometimes we put the stress onourselves that doesn't really
(20:22):
exist, like it's not the worldputting the stress on us, it's
ourselves putting that stress onit, and so giving yourself that
ability to just breathe throughwhatever challenges, whatever
delay, like it's going to arriveon its own time.
And sometimes it's even better,right, because, for whatever
reason, people are anticipatingit even more and excited to
receive it.
So it all worked out and, likeMike said, now we got Doc Horse,
(20:46):
which was for me growing upreading Doc Horse comics, and
Mike and anybody else who's inthe comic book space to be on
that publishing is to me, adream come true.
It's like it's a dream I didn'teven know I had until it became
a reality, which is awesome.
Jennifer (21:05):
So awesome.
Yeah Well, and I think too,listening to you guys, I don't
obviously don't know you guyswell enough to know everything
about you, but you seem likeyour skill sets and your
personalities kind of balanceeach other out.
So Mike kind of mentioned inthe beginning how you gave him
the space to kind of work, and Ithink that's great.
When you're doingcollaborations with people, it's
great to work with people thatare a little bit different.
(21:25):
You bring different skill sets,because I think it just adds
value.
And in this case you guys got agreat book company behind you
and we're able to pull thisthing together.
And something you said, tam,about, I think when we're goal
driven we do we get very set onhow we want things to go and
especially when we have otherpeople on board in the space, we
(21:46):
don't want to let people down.
And I go through.
When you were saying, I couldfeel it because I'm like I know
I've been there before where I'mlike, oh my gosh, I promised
somebody I'm going to dosomething and I can't make it
happen and I'm beating myself upabout it.
And most of the time peopleunderstand right, like they're
cool with it, they get it.
We're all humans.
We're going through things,we're working the best we can,
and sometimes Amazon does suck,like the prime doesn't always
(22:08):
show up on the day it's supposedto show up right.
Ad (22:10):
It is what it is.
Mike (22:11):
So you guys, you made it happen, and that's what matters
I think it also speaks to howyou have to be flexible in
general in your thinking and inyour strategy, because you just
I remember my wife when she wasin grad school and she would
tell me there was a saying forwhen people were doing their
papers and you just have tosurrender them.
Ad (22:32):
Because they'd be like I'm not done, I'm not done, I need
to keep doing it.
Mike (22:34):
She's like in the teacher's bill you have to
surrender the papers At somepoint.
So you have to have thatflexibility to say, ok, I need
other things in my life have tobe attended to and I'm putting
all this unnecessary pressure.
And I think that's somethingI've learned as an artist who
freelances and works full time.
And you have to be able to havethat flexibility so that you
(22:57):
can adjust and pivot when it'snecessary.
Jennifer (23:00):
Yeah, that's good, so good, yes, and you do.
You're right, it's no pointbeing rigid.
Nothing's going to work.
I feel like I've been anentrepreneur for 20.
Long time, since 1997.
Since my oldest, she's now 27.
So we'll say 27 plus years,because I started when she was a
baby and I'm telling you like Ihave so many stories and my
(23:21):
angle is laughing at you aboutthe kids I've had so many
stories of, like you know, kidsknocking on doors, getting stuck
in doggy doors and like thingshappening.
And, yes, you just learnpatience and you learn to just
go with it.
You know what I mean.
But I think a great thing aboutthis is when you show people
that do successful things andthey're able to weather through
all these different things andnavigate.
It just shows great skill andit shows other people that, hey,
(23:43):
you could be some everyday,ordinary person and do these
things in your home right now.
You decide tomorrow you want tostart writing a book, get the
pen and paper out, start doingit.
Whatever you need to do, youknow, when I did mine, I like
had the ideas, but was I didn'tneed to do illustrations or mine
, because it was more of aself-help type thing, but I had
to get somebody to help me getthat into words, because I had
the ideas and the things Iwanted to say, but I'm a doer
(24:05):
and I don't.
I'm not a big wordy person.
Thank God for AI.
Now I love that thing because,man, you could just help me out
with this, you know.
But then we didn't have thatand so I had to get somebody to
help me kind of put thosethoughts.
And you know, and I tell peoplelike the hardest thing for me
putting that book together waslike getting the freaking
outline together, like I had allthe thoughts and the ideas but
(24:26):
it was just getting it in anorderly fashion to convey the
message right.
So I think it's great that youguys came together and were able
to bring these different piecestogether.
You got the illustrator, yougot the person who's got the
storyline.
Pull it together.
And you guys have said so manygreat messages here.
Would love to know what was themost fun in this, like what was
the best part?
Or maybe now, what's the bestpart of it now?
Tem (24:48):
Yeah, I mean there's been a lot of great, but I'll say for
me just having these ideas,because I draw too not as good
as Mike, and so I had theselittle you know kind of sketches
that I did, that I showed Mike,you know, and he bumped them up
, you know, upgraded them, butwas when I would, you know, I
(25:08):
sent him this stuff and then hewould either text or email me
some of these images, you know,and just to see, it was like he
was in my mind, kind of likedrawing out these things, and so
in our day.
Mike (25:21):
that's what AI was.
Jennifer (25:22):
Yeah, He'd put it in the project and I would send it
back Exactly so when peoplelisten to this any year from now
, which is when everything willchange.
Mike (25:31):
It'll be like oh that's what it was like, like.
Tem (25:33):
AI.
This is my AI guy here.
Jennifer (25:35):
He's the AI guy.
Love it, love it.
Tem (25:38):
Yeah, no, it was.
So the best way is surreal.
It was surreal to see theseimages, you know, come to life,
you know, and then eventuallylike the book right, to actually
have a book and to, you know,smell it.
You know I was a book geek asmuch as I'm a hip hop guy.
Like, I still love the smell ofthat print, you know, on there,
(26:00):
whether it's, you know, oldbook or new book, new book
smells good, yeah, and so tohave something go from just an
idea to an actual 3D, you know,physical form is exciting To me.
I get a kick out of it becauseit shows that, you know, each
and every one of us have thispower to manifest these ideas
(26:22):
and to be part of somethingthat's productive or someone
who's productive in societyfeels good.
I think everyone has thatability and that's the thing
that I think is another message.
Like you know, there's nothingspecial about me besides taking
the time to find out what makesme special.
Right, like, we all have ourown special uniqueness, and so
(26:42):
for me it's like, hey, I cantell stories.
I got the gift to gab, I don'thave the fear to go up on stage.
I can tell a story that's, youknow, fantastic and imaginary
and you know, and creative, andso let me lean into that and do
my part in society.
Mike (26:58):
So how about you, mike?
What was I was thinking?
Two things, especially withsomething like this.
It's so immersive when you'recreating it visually, so there's
that sense of like being in thestory.
And I still have just a lot ofmemories of scenes in the story
that, like, I really got into.
There's like a scene wherethey're in this tower and
there's all of these wild boarsrunning up the stairs to attack
(27:18):
them, which was like when I readI was like that's going to be
the most complicated thing todraw Like a spiral staircase
that we can see in twodimensions, with wild boars
running up, and you know.
But when I was drawing that Ijust remember, like I was so
into the intensity of that sceneand so, you know, being in that
story for a while is it'sexciting, it makes you like want
(27:38):
to get up and work on it, youknow, during that time.
But the other thing that Ithink really sticks out to me is
when we go to like a show, likea comic convention, and we see
people react to the book, orsomebody comes up and said I
read it, I really liked it, oryou know, because there's that
feeling of like I always sort oftalk about this where artists,
we have this tendency to likework in a vacuum if we're not
like performers.
(27:58):
So this you're sort of workingin solitary confinement and then
you're not really.
You know, it's just soenriching when people interact
with you through your artBecause you're like, oh, they're
actually kind of like I lovedoing this, but now they love
experiencing it.
So there's this really greatsynergy that happens when you're
(28:19):
able to, you know, connect onthat level.
And I see that the most when wego to sort of these comic
conventions.
We have a table.
People come hey, what's thebook about?
Tem (28:29):
You guys wrote this, you drew this, you know how long you
know, and they're like, theyhave reactions to it, and for me
that just feels really good tojust be like validating yeah
because we've done like schoolassemblies and stuff, and to
have these young people come upand relate and have you know
(28:51):
organizations who buy the booksand then have the kids read it
and then you know, bring us into talk about it, and to have
you know young people say like,hey, this, you know, I know
these characters.
These characters are mean, likethey could see themselves.
Jennifer (29:04):
They could relate.
Tem (29:05):
Yeah, it's great.
And then online, you know, likeeven today, you know it was
cool to just have you knowsomeone post and like, oh,
tracking, they showed thetracker.
They're like I can't wait forthis to come in because it was a
gift for their son.
They can't wait for them to getit.
And they, you know, posted thatand they tagged us on it and
I'm like, yes, let's go.
You know, that's reallyexciting to see people
(29:25):
interacting, like Mike said,with something that was just
this idea or something that wasin his vacuum, and now it's.
You know, it's like watchingyour kid right Grow up and they,
you know, they hit the wholeworld.
Jennifer (29:36):
It's more it's another child.
Basically right, you usesomething you created and you
put it out into the world andyou hope people you know latch
it and take care of it and bringit to life for you.
So, Mike, I really like whatyou were talking about, Like I,
because I'm listening to you andI'm kind of a, I'm a visual I
(29:58):
and I feel things.
So I listen to people talk andI'm like I can see this, Like
I've had artists on here before.
I had this really amazingpainter on here one time,
Amazing, she did murals andstuff and she would talk about
how she would go in her room andplay, you know, play her music
when she's working and she justgo in there for hours and I
could just visualize this likebeing in there for hours and
just like painting and likecreate.
So I could see this like whenyou're in that zone and you're
(30:19):
just like looking at this andyou're trying to create, they
take this thing and make it life, Like right, Like put it into
art.
I'm not an artist like that.
I mean I like to play withpaints and do things, but not
like that.
But I can totally hear whatyou're saying, you know, and to
listen to you, Tim, say okay,this was my, what I was seeing
in my picture.
And then to give it him, andthen he brings it alive and I'm
like yes, this is what I'mtalking about, my AI guy, you
(30:40):
know whatever that is, butanyways.
I love it.
I think it's good.
Thank you for answering.
I do want to ask you guys onereally fun question.
I love to ask this one everyonce in a while because I think
it's just fun from yourperspective like, what does this
look like for you?
But I would love to know fromboth of you how you look at
success.
Like, how do you define successfor yourself?
And it can be about this booktoo.
(31:00):
I don't, you can bring thatinto it, this project.
Mike (31:02):
Well, jen, this is actually something I've really
thought about deeply.
And you know, when I went tograd school for printmaking a
while ago before I, kind ofbefore this life, in my past
life, but I remember that I hada dream that I wanted to become
like a professor, and that wassort of the track that I was on
(31:23):
and I had.
There were a lot of professorsI worked with who I really
admired, who were doing what Iwas like.
This is what I want to do.
I want to be a tenure trackprofessor, I want to exhibit in
galleries, and what I found wasthat, even though a lot of the
professors I looked up to werevery successful, they were sort
of miserable, like you know,there was a lot like I just saw
(31:43):
into their personal life and itwas just sort of like, wow, it's
like Success for me is that I'mhappy.
Right, that's the other wayaround, and I think that what
success looks like changes astime goes on too, you know,
because some people might thinkthat being famous is this mean
(32:06):
success to them, but then whenthey realize that that's not
what it was, and you know thosekinds you always hear about
these kinds of things.
So for me.
I think if I'm meeting my coreneeds, where it's like I'm able
to support myself and I'm happy,then I feel that I've been
successful when I'm doing.
You know, if I set out a goalthat is realistic and I achieve
(32:30):
that goal, then that's also asign of success too.
So I think you know, there'ssort of like different, sort of
abstract ways to look at it forme when I think that's good I
like it that's good, no, that'sawesome.
Tem (32:41):
And, mike, I'll just expand and go a different way because,
I agree, it's all abouthappiness.
You know, at the end of the day, you got to be happy, you got
to feel that what you do ismeaningful.
You know, I always say you know, I came up in the era in hip
hop where, you know, keeping itreal was so important, like
being authentically you, notselling out right Was really
(33:02):
important, meaning that you know, you're not putting, you know,
profits over people or you knowprofits over planet.
It's just.
It's just for me, values thathave been passed down from my
parents and from people who Iadmire.
And so it's really about beingpart of this lineage, of this
culture of like comics, like,hey, this is a comic book story,
(33:24):
this is a story that's meant toinspire, to have people be like
, yeah, I'm that guy that cantap into the superpowers.
And I want, you know, I wasgreat because I went down to
Nashville, tennessee, I wasmentoring some young people down
there and this little girl whoyou know comes to find out she
was, you know, with the rightterm is so excuse me if I say
(33:44):
the wrong term, but she was onthe spectrum and the teacher.
You know, I gifted a book tothe class and this little girl
grabbed this book and justimmediately opened it up and
started like it was almost likeshe was eating it, inhaling it,
devouring it, you know, and shewas just looking at everything
and the teacher, even because wewere like doing something else,
(34:04):
she was like, okay, you canread that later.
She like man, I kind of feltbad.
I'm like no, let her read itnow.
She's like the way that she wasenjoying it.
For me, honestly, like that mywork was done with that book.
At that moment, like I achievedthe ultimate level of success.
And I know for some people like, yeah, right, you want to know.
Like, and I tell my kids, likewe didn't write this book, you
(34:26):
know, because I have adult kids,we didn't write this book to
become millionaires,billionaires, like that's nice,
like we all want.
You know, the more you have,the more you could give is what
I want to.
You know why I want to attractabundance to me.
But it's really for that moment, for that little girl to really
connect to this art form and tosee herself was so profound.
(34:49):
So that was success, in thatexact moment.
Jennifer (34:52):
That's good.
I liked both of them because Icould resonate with both of what
you said.
So it was good I liked both ofthem.
I'm totally with you in thatyou got to be happy and if
you're not, I always say youknow, if you're I use Maslow's
hierarchy needs right, like youget all those things met in
there and you're doing what youlove to do.
I mean, you're going to bedoing okay and you're impacting
people, which is what Tim issaying is making a difference in
(35:12):
the world and with the peoplearound you.
So I think that really that'swhat it comes down to.
I like the way y'all worded itvery differently, but I think
they're very similar and, youknow, kind of finished them out.
So very good, okay.
So I want to ask you guys acouple of fun questions.
I like to do this.
They're just random, off thecuff.
I'll probably ask one.
Ask you, you know Michael askedyou a different one, but I want
to know, okay, tim, where isthe coolest place you've been
(35:35):
able to travel with your work?
Tem (35:37):
Oh, the coolest place?
Oh, man, I'll say Portugal.
That came to mind, you know,new Year's Eve, and Lisbon, with
a hip hop group that also had,like K Vernon, creole music in
it, and so that was pretty funyeah.
Jennifer (35:52):
All right, awesome, michael.
What is your?
What do you love?
What is like the absolute bestthing you love to draw?
Is it this like comic stuff, oris it?
Is there's other things thatyou really enjoy as far as art
goes?
Mike (36:03):
I mean I really enjoy doing.
I mean I love line work, sosomething that's really graphic
like that.
But I love really sort ofcreepy horrific like monster
type stuff.
Jennifer (36:16):
See, I always learn cool things about people.
Mike (36:18):
That's why I love this, so in the book too there were
scenes, there's characters whereLike Tim had to sort of reel me
in a little bit.
Tem (36:25):
Come on back, Mike.
We don't want to scare theyoung adults.
Jennifer (36:29):
Well, I like horror flicks, so you might be speaking
my language.
Everybody's like how do youlike that stuff?
I'm like it's like riding aroller coaster, it's just you
get adrenaline rush.
It's not real, I mean whatever.
Mike (36:42):
But it depends where I'm at mentally.
I like to do like children'sbooks too, yeah.
Jennifer (36:49):
All right, tim, I would love to know, like,
because obviously you're a rapartist, hip hop rap artist Is
there any other music that youlike besides that?
Anything else that you listento?
That's kind of a regular.
Mike (37:01):
All kinds, all kinds.
I do listen to it, mike.
Tem (37:07):
But no.
Classical music.
I love classical music.
Rage is a big genre for me and,believe it or not.
Heavy metal I'm a big fan ofIron Maiden Slayer who else?
Yeah, there's guns and roses, abunch of heavy metal stuff.
Yeah, twisted no.
Jennifer (37:24):
I feel like you would.
Mike (37:26):
I started to wear that gun .
Tem (37:28):
The music as a whole, you know, Cesare ever.
So going back to Kate Verde,you know, rest in peace to Sarah
Tavares, who just passed away,which is a great Kate Verdean
artist too.
So across the board, I love allof her.
If it's good, I'm going to you.
Like it, I like it.
Jennifer (37:46):
It's funny you say that because today, you know, I
don't know if y'all do Spotify,do Spotify and they do like
those year-end reviews.
And so today, I'm looking at mything and I'm like my music is
all over, but today I wasactually on hip hop, 90s hip hop
music today.
And I was downloading, like allthese to add to my list.
Mike (38:04):
It's like my music was all from that.
Jennifer (38:06):
It could be guns and roses, it could be nine inch
nails, and then the next day itcould be Clint Black.
I don't know.
It's all over the place.
Tem (38:13):
I'm curious what 90s hip hop were you into?
Jennifer (38:16):
Oh, what was coming up on there?
I had a.
Well, you know, mc Hammer waspopping up on there.
Too legit to quit.
There was a bunch on thereShaggy was coming up on there
and Snoop Dogg and yeah, ofcourse.
Ad (38:32):
I was looking up.
Jennifer (38:33):
Yeah, it sure makes a lot Like.
I had a birthday party recentlyand people follow me know I
turned 51 this year, so I wentto this dual piano thing and
they had us all come up on stageand apparently somebody must
have known that we were kind ofin that clubbing age or whatever
, because they wanted us todance to Baby's Gap Back.
Mike (38:55):
And jump and see it Jump jump and tootsie roll.
Jennifer (39:00):
And so we all got up there and I was like none of us
were doing any of that, like Iwas like I think we were just
supposed to twerk on that thingbut none of us were doing any of
it.
People got video.
I clipped all the video.
I'm like nobody's even going tosee that one happening.
Tem (39:13):
So anyway, yeah, that thing up is her favorite thing.
Oh, from Jupiter.
Jupiter, yeah, but whatever,that's like the classic twerking
video.
Jennifer (39:23):
Exactly like the old music, right?
Oh, and Run DMC I had a coupleof those on there too.
I was pulling a couple of those.
I like Run DMC, classic,classic, yeah, so I'm with you.
All right.
One last question for you,michael, and then we'll wrap
this thing up.
So when you're working, I wantto know because this is like a
working question when you'reactually drawing, do you put any
music on, or are you totallylike in your zone, quiet?
Mike (39:43):
It's a combination.
You know, I got into the habitof listening to speeches for a
while, so I would listen to.
I actually listened to, likeCorno West, and I was listening
to some philosophers.
What's his name?
Jennifer (39:58):
Saguro is a music guy.
Mike (40:02):
So I do a combination of that and then I'll listen to
music, like I'll throw on somereggae or I like old soul music,
stuff like that.
Jennifer (40:11):
I could totally see you listening to stuff.
I think you're kind of athinker.
I could totally see ithappening.
Mike (40:16):
And the shredding yeah, oldest running's on there and
somebody's great liveperformances of him on Spotify
Very cool we all have our thing.
Jennifer (40:22):
Like that's what I'm saying.
Like when I run I have friendsthat go running.
They don't listen to any musicat all.
Like I have to have and thefaster the music, the better the
workout.
Like, if I have slow music, myruns going to be like you know.
So anyways you guys have beenfun.
I've had an awesome timechatting with you.
I'd love to know.
So if our audience wants to getin touch with you, maybe they
want to pick this book up, get acopy of it, check it out.
(40:43):
Where do we want to send them?
Tem (40:44):
Yeah Well, first of all, it's available everywhere.
You can even order it on Targetand Walmart you know Amazon but
also at the website, soplanetabluecom.
So it's like Planet with an A,so planeta, and then blue
without the Ecom, so planetablue.
Jennifer (40:59):
I like the name of it, by the way Sounds fun, thank
you.
Tem (41:01):
Thank you, yeah, I've been seeing your emails and stuff.
Jennifer (41:05):
So congratulations to you both.
You're awesome.
It's fun to see people you knowdoing amazing things in the
world and trying to make youknow everything better for all
of us.
Tem (41:12):
I love it yeah, sharing the story Awesome.
Thanks for having us.
Jennifer (41:15):
Absolutely.
We do want to say to ouraudience, of course if you enjoy
the show, please head over toApple, give us a review there.
You can check us out on YouTube, hit that subscribe button.
And, as I always say, I say thesame thing every week In order
to live the extraordinary, youmust start.
Every start begins with adecision.
You guys, take care, be safe,be kind to one another.
We will see you next time.
Music.
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