SPEAKER_00 0:34

Welcome to the Better Two podcast. I'm your host, Donna. Today's guest is Alex Alexander. And he is a musician that is based in Nashville. But that's not where he originally started. No, he was originally a member of Fast Susie. You know the intro and outro music I have. Um, he was part of their band, and about two years ago I interviewed the whole band, and he was the drummer. But now he lives in Nashville and no longer a Chicago-based musician. And we talk about his journey to Nashville, his new music, and so much more. So tune in. Hi, Alex. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Hey, I'm doing good. Thank you so much for having me on the show.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Thank you for coming back. You made a appearance with Fast Susie, and I know Fast Susie is not really functioning as a band anymore. And but I still do have their music, so the the two tracks I do have still open the podcast. But you've really changed your your whole thing. You were living in Chicago at the time, and now you've moved to uh Nashville, correct?

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Yeah, I'm in Nashville right now, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

And you not only are a solo artist, you are in a mu you are in a band as well. So tell us about why did you make the change? Why did you leave Chicago? Because Chicago is known for its music as well, even though Nashville is a much bigger hub. Why did you make the change?

SPEAKER_01 1:46

I would say um I have been playing in bands in Chicago, I mean, like my entire life, and I am um I was curious about what the you know what it would be like to be in a different music hub, especially like music city, you know, like Nashville, and and uh just see what it would be like. Now I had visited a few times and uh it was awesome, you know, and then and then uh I did decide. I said, you know what, let's let's give this a shot, you know, let's go there and and and try it out. And since then, now I've been there for about two years here for two years. Um I've learned a lot. Uh been playing um, I mean, almost daily, and there's so much difference between you know how shows even work in Nashville versus they are or they're in Chicago. Like in Nashville, all the shows are four hours long, and you just have to you just you're up there on stage performing, you know, just songs for four hours, it's tough. I mean it it it whoops you into shape real quick. Um and uh so it's it's a lot it's a lot different. Now there's you know here in Nashville, I'm blending you know, covers and originals at at different shows. So I I prefer the all-original shows, but if you know a lot of times I'll end up doing covers and originals versus Chicago, which is pretty much just original, which I did prefer. Uh, but it's just a different scene, you know.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

And how many times do you get somebody to shout out? They want to hear Free Bird.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Every day. Every day. Of course.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Um, even in the 90s, I had a friend who was in a band that I used to go uh go to our shows, and yeah, everybody would holler out, Free Bird! It's like, really, dude? Okay. So the tradition still lives on.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

It does. It does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

So what I listened to you have three tracks on SoundCloud, and they are very diverse. One has a very much on the on the waves, kind of had this Pink Floyd vibe to it to me.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Is that any of your inspiration?

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Uh, kind of. Uh, it was I'd say a little bit more. I was kind of thinking like more sort of like Neil Young when he was doing some of the crazy horse stuff, and I, you know, and I love that. Um, and it was just this ridiculous. I had this dream and it was insane. It was about, you know, those like little bottles with the ship inside of it, you know? And I had a dream that I was looking at a bottle and it was a shipwreck, though. So the the ship was cracked and all the guys were freaking out inside of it, you know. And then it was this horrible thought that I had, but like they were created to always be in that state. It was kind of a freaky dream. And then when I woke up, I just kind of had that idea. I already had that guitar riff, kind of that dum, and I was like, yeah, let's let's work on this. And I wrote it about that. But it is kind of it's it's not it's not a super commercial tune, but I think it'll be I think it's a fun one.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Yeah. But I think with with the way music is consumed now, I don't think it necessarily has to be commercial.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Sure. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Because there are so many avenues now for you to listen. And and I mean that's a blessing, it's also a curse, as we know, because you don't make that much. But you get to share your music. And that that's that's a gift in itself.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

So I I I love the fact that you had a dream about it. And and some people would be sitting there saying, Well, it's a dream, but dreams can be such inspiration. And when you wake up and it's still fresh, and you can mark it down and write it down and and then pursue the creative process with it. That's a that's an amazing gift and amazing talent.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

So what else kind of, you know, when you look at what music you want to create, where do you want, you know, you're Nashville, and everybody when they think Nashville, they think country. But that's not necessarily true, is it?

SPEAKER_01 5:51

No, no, no, no, it's not. Um, and I think it's because so many people are coming to Nashville right now to where it's it's kind of becoming a bigger mixing pot than it was maybe at the beginning, you know, and uh there's definitely a super strong country scene here, but um, you know, I even in like Chicago, you know, maybe maybe pop was was popular, but I was only hanging with the rockers, you know. Right. And we have such a strong community. It's the same here in Nashville, you know, there's there's those rock people and they they love the sound of it and the guitars and all kinds of stuff. So yeah, it's I've been able to kind of find my scene here as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Yeah, so and you, you know, when you talk about finding your scene, because when you were with Fast Susie, you were the drummer, correct?

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

And yes, we know you can go on Instagram and see some of his clips for drumming, and they're awesome. Um, but that's not what you're primarily focused on now. I mean, I see the the guitars behind you. So in your own music, are you playing everything?

SPEAKER_01 6:50

I am. I play yep, so I play about six, seven instruments, and uh like when I go to the studio, I record everything myself, even the vocals, I like layer them and yeah. It's interesting. Um, I haven't had a band uh for like two years. So when I would go to the studio, it was just all me. And it was just kind of it was uh it was a free process because it was just kind of in my head I could just kind of come up with things and do them, you know, and that was great. Um yeah, I think I came up with some pretty interesting stuff.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

I think uh so well I I told Rich you were coming on the show, and he was just like, he is an amazing talent, and he's always talked up talked about you as being this amazing person, amazing drummer. So he still thinks that you're a big deal, a very big deal, which is good, which is good.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

When we and definitely when I was listening to Home and City, Home in the City, that really reminded me of more of a classic rock song. It really did.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah, yep, absolutely. I wanted something just kind of right down the middle, just a good rocker, you know, just something that people would easy to listen to on the radio, easy on the ears, not complicated. Um, and that song I wrote uh when I was in Chicago and I was thinking about making that move. So that song is just kind of about the journey of doing it and coming here and trying it out. Um and uh yeah, I've gotten I've gotten good response from that song, definitely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

So when you made the move, did you do it by yourself?

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Yeah. So it's go ahead. It's an interesting, it's an interesting thing, uh, being here. Um P the even the way of life is different. The grocery stores, the you know, the everything. So um I miss home. I miss Chicago will always be my home. And I think it I think it will be where I end up. But uh I do like it here.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Well, that's I mean, I'm from New Orleans, and you know, I look back, I love Italian beef, so I'm sure Italian beefs you might yeah. And in New Orleans, you know, we have roast beef sandwiches, roast beef po-boys. And while those are awesome, and I love roast beef pooh boys, it's not an Italian beef. It's it's night and day in the sandwich. So there's certain things that you miss, like the certain foods and and just the attitude. I mean, the attitudes of people uh in every location, because not only did I move from I went from New Orleans to Shreveport, Shreveport to Dallas, Dallas to Indiana, Indiana to Chicago, back to New Orleans for almost a year, and then back up here. But I've lived here for all for 35 years, I think, somewhere in there, 30, 40 years. So somewhere in there it is at this point. Yeah. New Orleans is still my birthplace, and I still miss some of it, but Chicago's my home. So I mean, and that's the thing. Once you become comfortable enough, if Chicago is still calling to you, then yeah, Chicago's your home. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I I did that thing. I I moved, I'm I was moving with a friend up here though. But I'm when I left left that last left New Orleans, I uh I packed up my car and drove up here. And that was it. And it was like, okay, I have no job, I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I'm doing it. And the same thing when I moved from Shreveport to Dallas. Me and my friend moved, we stayed with their cousin for a bit, and then we got an apartment. So, I mean, you unf you doing it by yourself is even worse, but I understand that whole trajectory of I hope I land on my feet. I hope I'm making the right choice.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yeah, absolutely. I think you know, the other thing for me too is I I've always been a band guy, you know, um, and uh I love being in bands. It is definitely where I feel most at home uh being with a band. But I also have my own story and my own stuff, and I feel like it I needed that to be shared as well. And uh especially um like I have an I have a song and actually an album now, uh The Interstellar Radio, um, which is a completely different sound that than my normal stuff. And uh that I don't feel like I could have expressed in a band. Uh or or it would have maybe I would have needed a second group to to kind of get that across. But um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Well, and I mean I that's what I was gonna ask you about was the inspiration for the Interstellar Radio.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Interstellar radio um came from a couple beers and me sitting in my room. And I'm gonna be honest, and that is where that kind of came up with. I had this idea, I always knew I could sing kind of in a higher range, too. I feel like, you know, I and I love so many different styles of music. I'm you know, rock is my home base, but I love to kind of dip into different genres. And uh this stuff, it came. I mean, I was living at home in Chicago, and I was just in my room, and I would just keep on coming up with these songs that sounded spacey, you know, and then I would take them and and just kind of move, put them to the side because they didn't really fit anywhere. Well, then all of a sudden, you know, I I feel like I wrote that Interstellar Radio song, and it really tied the other songs to it. It just kind of made sense to me. I was like, whoa, I kind of have a concept album thing going on right now. I kind of have this like this thing, and uh yeah, so that you know, that's kind of how that whole thing went down. Is that I don't really think I was, you know, I didn't write the songs thinking to try to sound like something. It just sort of was me in my room. And and the cool thing is those songs, all those songs on the Interstellar Project, uh, that I did all just by myself in my own room. It wasn't a studio. So it was just me with a uh 58 microphone and you know, not not the greatest quality recording instruments, but I think what it turned into was really fun, you know.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Well I hope people like it. Well, and that's the thing, you you are being true to who you are, true to what you want to create. And that's you know, that goes back to the time we live in, gives us the affordability to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

You know, the big the biggest thing was when Tone Loke recorded um Wild thing in his closet in the late 80s, that was like unheard of. But now it's like that you have the capability at your fingertips to make what you want to make.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Um, so when you play live, do you hire out guys or do you how do you do that?

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Um, yeah. Yeah, I ended up getting I either get a couple guys or I just go and do it acoustically, you know. Um it doesn't sound the same as like the records sometimes, but it's it I think it gets the job done definitely enough for people to understand, you know, what it is.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

So what would be your dream gig to play?

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Dream gig to play, like like venue to play?

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah. Yeah, we'll say venue first and then we'll say collaboration second.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Okay, uh well crazy enough, when I was growing up, my dad, it this it was almost like rock and roll school in a way. My dad, every time a concert would come into town, he would take me to Tinley Park and we would go to the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater, which is now the Credit Union 1 amphitheater, and we would go there. I mean, it felt like every other week I was seeing a con everything, everyone from Santana, the Doobie Brother. I mean, Maiden, I I was there watching them. He took me to every single place. So that arena was really like a it was like school for me. So to play there, I think that would be the coolest place. Just because it's like so personal to me, if I could ever be on a stage like that, that would just blow my mind. But of course, I mean, everything from Madison Square Garden and all that other stuff, you know, that would be I mean, come on. Well yeah, I think a personal like if I could right now play anywhere in the world, it would be on that stage in Illinois.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Well, yeah, it's that and and I'm sure that moment when you would go to Soundcheck or before Soundcheck when you would walk out on stage and just stand there and look at the seats and see that had that full circle moment of I used to be a person out in that crowd and now I'm here.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

So collaboration.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

If I could work with anyone in the world, dead or alive, all McCartney.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Okay, why?

SPEAKER_01 15:33

I'm like the biggest Beatles fan in the universe. One of them. Um, and uh I think man, we could come up with something kind of kind of cool together. Ringo is my that's my guy. You know, I I wanted to be Ringo star growing up. That's all I cared about. I was like, I'm gonna drummer, I'm gonna be Ringo. But now that I have I think it would be cool because Paul plays so many instruments, and so do I, and we both have that kind of ear for melody. I think it would be cool to do that, would be my answer.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Okay. Yeah. So I know on Bandcamp you only had one track from the Interstellar Radio. Is there other places where people can find that?

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Yes. Um, they can find it on Spotify, uh, they can find it on uh Apple Music, um, they could they can find it on there's a there's a ton of streaming services, uh YouTube as well. Um so uh yeah, they could definitely listen to that. It's it's it's it's funny. I have like little skits in it too, and all kinds of just you know, just fun stuff.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

So since you do all of your own music, I have to ask this because it is such a hot button topic now. How do you feel about AI in the music industry?

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Oh my gosh. Um, I am not I'm not into it.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

No, you're fine with me. I'm just asking.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Okay, I I no, no, I I'm gonna say no. I think it's uh yeah, I find it cheating. I really do. I have been, I'm not saying any names, but I have been uh standing next to plenty of artists who have shown me what it can do uh on the songwriting side of it and other things, and it's so scary, and it can there's I understand that it can also be used as a tool and a great tool in different aspects of things, but I think in it's that's just not my I don't think I approve of it just because it's it's so crazy. I okay, one of the things that I was telling uh my friend the other day, I was sitting here and I was listening, I was doing something in the back, I was like fixing guitar strings or whatever I was doing, and I had uh an album on YouTube just playing, and it sounded cool, it was something I'd never heard before, but it was kind of like a space rocky kind of 70s sort of sounding, and I love that stuff. But I was it was playing, and I let the whole thing, and I never even looked at it, and it was the like the video paused and it said, Are you still watching? And I went over to it and I said, Yeah. And then I looked at the comments and it said, This whole album is created by AI. There's not a person at all on the whole thing I was just listening to, and it was like, okay, that's very scary. So I think uh I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Well, no, see, I'm in the same boat because I'm an author and I'm a podcast host, and both of those things now can be opted out by AI. Now, AI right now, from what I understand, is still writing pretty crappy books, but eventually, and and the thing is, yes, a machine can create all this, but you're losing something. You're losing the passion, you're losing the the drive, the commitment, the the blood, sweat, and tears of it.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Exactly. Yeah, I mean you would you lose all the heart and soul behind it, and you know, because a lot of those songs, they take time or they take rewrites, or they take all that effort and energy, and there's like real meaning behind them. And then when a when the AI thing just does it like that, and it's so that gross about it.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

I don't know, it's just very well no, I mean I I see people that are like, I wrote a book. I I there's one woman who I saw on Facebook this week. She started a book Saturday and allegedly she's on chapter 14 now. And I write fast, I can write, I've written 6,000 or 10,000 words in a day. I can write pretty quick at times, but 14 chapters tells me that you most likely are prompting a book, so you're not really a writer. You know, you're you're not writing. And and that's the thing. It's like if you're doing it because you want to say, I wrote a song, I wrote a book, the truth of the matter is you didn't. You you prompted, you're a prompter. That's what you are. Right. Yeah. It's an unfortunate thing because people don't see it that way.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

I think it's so important as far as you know, on the musician side, the one thing that they can't take away from us is live performance yet. So that's kind of I think where, you know, the art of playing live or the art of I don't know, there's gotta be something on the writer's side of it too, like writing books and stuff where it couldn't touch it, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

No, there's a big lawsuit because um Anthropotic, they actually bought a bunch of books, cut the spines off, and then fed them in to be scanned to AI. Uh authors that they actually had the violation have a chance to get $3,000 per book because of it. And there's a bunch of companies that have trained their AI with this stuff. And it's like, and this is what's funny, because uh on the writer side of it, you get people saying, well, this has to be AI written because she ran her hand through her hair. Firstly, that's normal human behavior. Secondly, AI was trained on human writing. Right. So there's a there's a big witch hunt for authors that they're going after that this is AI. I wouldn't doubt that in the future it wouldn't become with recorded music either. I I I wouldn't be surprised. But the thing is, and and the funny thing is they'll they'll say, I put this in in uh an AI program to see if it was AI, you know. Well, yeah, of course it's gonna come back and say it was because it was trained. So it's just it's a weird time we live in, and I mean I'm not even gonna get into the other aspect of what's going on in the world because it I feel like we are living in some kind of upside down world that I have no idea where we're headed. So yeah. So where do you when do you play now? Do you play Bigger venues? Are you playing smaller venues? What and what has been your favorite venue to play since you made the transition?

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Interesting. Well, um, I I do play kind of all around uh the the state at least. Um and then uh I've been doing some other stuff which has been out of state as well. Like uh I played in uh Kansas City, which I was so awesome. Um I mean what I what I have loved is going and meeting the different rock scenes and seeing the different cities and just how they act or how they their clubs, their things that they call home, and it's so interesting and so cool. Um it's different, but it's so similar. Like the people are so similar, you know. I love that. Um, but here, I mean I've played all kinds of places like Tootsie's Orchid Lounge was I mean, that's a legendary place. That's really cool. Um I've played uh yeah, I mean, uh now I was playing on Broadway on the real busy street a lot um for like a year nonstop, like daily. And then uh, but now I'm to the point where I'm just kind of you know preparing for shows, doing better performances now, uh, and then and and playing less out because I want the the shows to be quality for the people that come in. Um yeah, but I do have like some stuff that I'm excited about in the future here, and uh you know I'm working on a band in the background here, and I got my own stuff. And the Interstellar Radio as well. I want to play out, so I want to you know definitely start getting some gigs and doing that, whether it's local or out of state too. Or in Chicago. I still have a I mean I have a lot of uh places and connections where I could get show plenty of shows in Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

So well, and it's very important that the thing you said there about qualin quantit quality over quantity. I mean, you can go, you're not gonna build a good reputation if your shows are kind of mishmashed. And and dare I say, if you put on a good show and you you delay it a little bit, you're gonna have people that are hungry for more.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

So you build a reputation where, oh, they're gonna be playing again tonight. Well, we can't if we miss it tomorrow tonight, we can go tomorrow. It's not that big a deal. So, you know, do what you gotta do to create that vibe and that name and and keep pushing through. Um so the band that you're working with, is this your band or is it somebody else's band?

SPEAKER_01 24:32

It's my group. Uh well, it's you know, our group we've been putting together. Um, I have this uh basically my partner, I have a writing partner from uh Chicago when I grew up, and and him and I, we've been in projects for years. Um and uh we have this chemistry that's just unbelievable. And so we just kind of you know, we were talking back and forth as if you know, if we should start a group, if we should kind of go about this, and and uh now we're we're kind of working it up. Right now it's sort of I mean this is early, early stages, but um I know it would be very special uh if it if it does come to to play. So absolutely. So it's kind of like I got the you know, sort of two things going on. I um I have the my music and the stuff going out, and you know, we'll see hopefully that that also does well. But if like I've always said, you know, a band is kind of where my home is. So if that ends up working out, you know, we're gonna be alright.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

So are you looking to get signed?

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Looking to get signed? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, if we can't, I mean I want to go to the top. I mean, that's been my goal since I was a little kid, and that's again the reason why I left Chicago. Um just to see if I could uh you know, meet anyone who could get me to that next level. Um the other thing is too, I mean, I was young when I was in Chicago as well, so I never really was old enough to get into the clubs I needed to get into to talk to the people I needed to in Chicago. So I I you know um there's still a wonderful scene in Chicago that is also unexplored for me. So I'm just kind of like in an ocean with a real good ship that hasn't broken yet, so we're just gonna figure it out. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Well, then you had that dream.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

Yes, I had that dream.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

Well, and then the thing about it is even a broken ship, if you're a survivor and you can keep going, you see that the pattern, even though the boat is broken, if you can grab on a piece of the wood and stay afloat.

unknown 26:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

And and that's maybe that's also a metaphor for you because you you took this risk of leaving all that you knew, the ship, the ship that was home.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

And then you you know took a chance.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Absolutely. And the thing is in Chicago, I mean, I all the connections and groups that I've played with, uh, you know, I've I've kept such a good relationship with everyone. Um so it's always there. You know what I mean? So if I decide to go back, I'm gonna feel just perfectly fine. But it makes me feel more comfortable in a way to stay out in the middle of the water too, because I always know that there's a home base for me. So it it it it lets me be a little more risky in a way, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

What's your favorite instrument to play? Drums. Drums.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

He answers the drums, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Second favorite? Guitar. Because see, the thing is it's hard because I'm a songwriter, so being a guitar player is like very helpful uh musically. I can go and perform. I mean, this is the great thing. I mean, I've done hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of of uh acoustic gigs now, and if I couldn't have just played the guitar, I mean I would have been in some trouble. So I think uh drums are still my favorite. Like if I if I could pick one, you know, it would it would be the drums. Uh but uh I love playing the guitar and uh yeah it's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

What's your favorite cover to play?

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Probably Crossroads by Eric Clapton or Robert Johnson, actually. But yeah, yeah, I'd say that. It's uh it's a good rocking one. It's kind of the one that if I get called up on stage and they're just like play something and I freeze, you know, I just know that's the one, you know. I just kind of go in there or um I play a lot of blues stuff. Like I I'm a big uh collector of uh like vinyl records, that's like one of my things. And I collect these old like uh you know Mississippi Delta blues records from like 1927 through like 41. And uh I love I love that stuff. Um and so I end up I play a lot of that uh here in Nashville and it blows people away. You know, when I pull out a song that was written, you know, super early in time and they've never heard it, but I give it a little bit of a flair so that it you know it it can uh what am I trying to say, it can work well with the other songs on the set list, you know. Just uh so yeah, that's been fun. Um that's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

And then uh I mean everything from Fleetwood Mac to Jimi Hendrix to you know everything, Van Halen even, Beatles.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Well that's the thing that when you can introduce people to music that they've never heard, and you know, I'm sure they might think it's unless you're announcing it beforehand, they might think it's yours.

SPEAKER_02 29:24

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

So I'm gonna I'm running out of time shortly. So is there anything that we haven't discussed that you want to add?

SPEAKER_01 29:35

Um yeah, there's a lot of stuff. A lot of music that is uh written. There's a lot of stuff already recorded. Um there's there's a ton of uh of stuff as well as on like on my YouTube channel. I mean, I what I'm trying to do is I'm really trying to build a brand. So it's not it's more than just my music. Um I talk about uh like uh rock music on my uh YouTube channel. I have like I review records, I do all kinds of stuff. Um so there's a lot of music coming out. I'm gonna be playing a ton of shows. Um we got a lot of stuff on the calendar. A band is coming, you know, my own music is got so I mean there's gonna be a whole lot of stuff um that's gonna be coming out, and I'm really, really excited for it. And I'm just so thankful that you let me be here and talk to you on the show, and I think that's just so cool of you. And I know last time we talked, you know, I was with the with Fast Susie and everything. So I think this is pretty cool that uh to talk to you now, like this way too.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

So you're welcome to come back anytime, and I thank you for coming on. Of course. Absolutely. So definitely check Alex's music out and his Instagram and his YouTube channel, because I think you're gonna see a lot of different facets of his personality. He, you know, Rich told me a long time ago when I first interviewed Fast Susie that he thought, even before I interviewed Fast Susie, that he thought Alex had a lot of talent. And I'm glad that he was willing to take that risk and step out of his comfort zone and sail away. And the only reason to make the sailing statement is because of the his vision of the ship. And that's the thing. Sometimes when we break away, we we don't know what we're we're gonna do. And we don't know where we're going. You know, the one thing I didn't really elaborate when I said I moved to Dallas, when me and my friend moved to Dallas, it was because we were gonna be in a band. Yeah. Uh now I write about rock bands. I don't ever I have not I mean, I've played on stage before, but not to the level that Alex has or some other people. But it was the whole thing of I have my guitar, I have some stuff, and I have a dream, and I'm going to do this. And I think that's the thing. When we're younger, we have those dreams and we think anything is possible, and that is an amazing gift because we're willing to step out of our comfort zone and pursue our wildest dreams and wildest fantasies, unless we talk ourselves out of it, because you know, I've done that too. But I think it's a gift to be able to do it. And I think as we get older, we kind of lose that hunger because our own mortality sits in. We, you know, we realize that every day is a gift and and maybe we don't have time to do everything. And that's uh that's something we have to move past because every day is a gift. And you know, the the old adage of, well, they went out, you know, doing what they love. Sometimes that is that is something that m a lot of people can't say. To be able to experience what you love to a certain level and then it's gone. We need to be able to experience life to the fullest. And wishing and hoping and and wanting to do something and not getting it done, we're always gonna lack. We're always gonna wonder. It's like one of my biggest dreams is to go to England, and right now with everything going on in the world, I don't think I'll get there. But I can't give that hope up. I can't give that hope that I will never go there. I have to believe that somehow, some way, that dream will come. If it's meant to. And that's the thing. And it's funny because the book that I released in February, the tagline, you know, sometimes we always see well, you know, kind of like we we you can't always get what you want, but you get what you need. And sometimes we think we want something so badly that it's gonna make our life so much better, that it's gonna be the best thing ever. And then we realize that we actually got what we needed. And, you know, I would say that kind of about my my marriage. You know, I was looking around the world at other things and other people. But when I look back at my marriage, I got a very fulfilling marriage with somebody who supported me and loved me. And he didn't fit the mold, he didn't fit the norm of what I thought I wanted. So sometimes as we hold on to those dreams, we have to be willing to have some wiggle room to allow things to unfold and to trust and have faith. Because even like the podcast, when I started this, I had no idea where it was gonna go. And while I'm still pretty much in the same place I was when I started it, I still have had some amazing experiences. It's not so much about me going, Well, I want a million subscribers. It would great, it would be great. But it's about doing something I love and getting to have conversations with people that I would never have imagined. So it's a blessing and it's a wonderful thing. And the people that have tuned in religiously on a regular basis, even when I disappear and they come back, I am so grateful for you. Even though you never comment or anything, it's okay. I still am grateful to know that you're listening. And that means a lot to me. So I appreciate you guys and understand that. I'd like to thank Fast Susie for the intro and outro music. I'd like to thank you guys for tuning in whenever you're listening morning, noon, or night. I really, like I said, do appreciate you guys. And if you like the show, you know, leave a review. Leave a review, tell somebody, tell some one of your friends. If you want to see somebody on the show, let me know. Maybe I can get them on, maybe I can't. Who knows? But we appreciate you, and that's the thing. And I want you guys to know that I'm open to suggestions. And if there's a topic you want to know more about or something else, send me a question. I have social media, I have a website. We are open to the possibilities. So on that note, I thank you for listening, and I and I hope you have a wonderful day, morning, evening, noon, night, whatever. Great weekend. And I'll catch you next time, guys. Bye.