Hustle with Rob Ferre

DJ, public speaker and game show host Rob Ferre talks about the self-determination to go out there and work it out until you find the opportunities you want in your entertainment career.

You can find out more about “In the Telling” at lizzylizzyliz.com

Or check out the “In the Telling” Podcast channel on YouTube for bonus content including last week's release of socially distant "Hamlet: Zoom."  

Theme music by Gordon Vetas

Thanks for listening!

Episode extra, Rob Ferre's concept for a TED talk on synchronicity

Transcript

spk_0:   0:00
find what you love doing, but be authentic and true to yourself, because that way you'll find the most enjoyment.

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The voice you just heard belongs to Rob Ferree. Well, if you're just

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joining us, Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Robert Frey from Salt Lake City, Utah. I grew up here. I went to East High School, famous for what is called High School Musical and all throughout elementary school, middle school high school. I did theatre. So as a theatre kid

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who joined me in a conversation about intentionally forwarding and entertainment career networking, hustling and most importantly about authenticity and relationships, I'm your host. Lose Christianson. And it's all in the telling Welcome to Episode

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35 with My Guests. Rob Ferree in the telling just wrapped up Four Weeks of Arabian Nights, an original radio drama miniseries, and now we are back with our regular programming

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in depth conversations with storytellers, artists and entertainers along the Wasatch Front, talking about their process, Kraft and passions. The first time Rob for a was ever on stage is a really good example about the drive to learn experience and perform that is indicative of Rob's entire career.

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We're gonna go back in the way back time machine in second grade, I went to Ballet West at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City, and I saw a performance of Cinderella, and I saw two young boys holding the train of the Queen as she walked in during this ballet and I leaned over to my friend and I said, They're so lucky. I want to do that. Here's the crazy thing that has been like who I have been all my entire life. I see people do stuff and say, I want to do that. Not a year later or two years later, I was on that stage at Capitol Theatre, performing in Bali West performance of Anna Karina, which is a very sad story. Yeah, but I was the son of Anna, Corin Una. But that was my first stage performance and I did that in third grade. That was an awesome opportunity.

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I want to do that a short sentence, but it aligns exactly with my approach to so much. I see a thing. I want to do the thing I do the thing maybe not very well at first, but that's what a lot of my other episodes air about how to do the creative thing. Well, this episode is a little bit different, though it's going to be about the work around the creative thing. In short, this episode is about hustle.

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So back to who I am today. I graduate from high school. I went to Southern Utah University in Cedar City and I went there because I felt my calling was to be there where the Utah Shakespearean Festival was founded. And I wanted to be in that. So I went there with him in hopes of getting a minor in theater. I didn't pursue that, but I But I did later Pavitt and went into TV and broadcast Like I saw that I was like, Ooh, I want to do that. So I did radio and I did T. V I had my own talk show. It s you. Ah, friend of mine approached me, said we should do this talk show and I did it for two years. It was called s you. You live And it was an awesome opportunity. We produced our own late night style TV talk show where I did a monologue. We brought a guess We did sketches. It was awesome. And we had the most famous person we had on that show was Clint Howard, which is Ron Howard's little brother. And it was awesome time. So I graduated 2003 and I was looking for a job in broadcast communications and I couldn't find anything. And I was really desensitized to do news like news was like, the only thing. And so what did I do is I packed up my bags and I went across the country toe work for Walt Disney at Walt Disney World doing the the college program. So for those of you who don't know this, you can work for Disney under what is called the college program. And they have two internships, one where they put you on the front lines and one where you can work within your field. I didn't know there was a difference. So when I arrive expecting to have this really cool job, I get my letter that has my job. And so it tells you where you're gonna work. And I worked. I was working MGM studios. My cool. This is where they create this stuff. This is they actually produced the Mickey Mouse Club there, and so it's and that's a working studio. Little did I know that that working studio was no longer working. It was more of a theme park. When I found out that I was at MGM Studios, I got excited. And then I found out I was an attraction, something cool. What attraction? And I found out that I was working in the attraction of the parking lot like This is an attraction. It was attraction slash operations. So I was in the operations of the parking lot,

spk_1:   4:58
a background in theater and broadcasting and now working in the parking lot. But here's the thing about Rob. He's going to make something of working in the parking lot, not because he knows exactly what that's going to do to his career for the next 10 years, but because Rob is a full throttle. Make the most of it have a good time kind of guy. And despite the disparaging comments that sometimes come up in regards to the training and education of artists and entertainers, Rob has a useful set of performance skills. The coolest part

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about it is I got to drive the tram from the parking lots to the front. Then I also got to be the guy who got to spiel, as we say spiel giving the speeches on the back of the tramp. Some of them are automated, but I got to do that. And so I wanted to take every opportunity to create fun enjoyment. And so I created my own scripts experiences as people loaded onto the tram and went around the bend, and I would point out the bushes and the different parking lots. And I'd be like, Ladies and gentlemen, please lower your head. Watch your step. If you don't lower ahead, please watch your language. This is a family theme park, and so I wanted to create into something fun and unique.

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Hustle isn't just about making the best of what you have, though. I think it's about goals and having a vision of what more you want to be doing or what more you want to be capable of.

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So I went on the jungle cruise ride at while Disney World at Magic Kingdom, and I went on that ride and I was inspired. Have you ever been on that ride? I

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did as a kid, but it's been a long time.

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OK, so for those of you who have not been on it, it's just this cheesy ride where you're looking at animatronic animals and going through different show seats, and basically they're just making fun of it. Like the The ride at first was seriously had equity actors. And then it evolved into this big joke. And now everybody is in on the joke as we look at animatronic animals and go look at that butterfly with that mechanical wingspan that goes from a whopping 12 inches to a whopping one foot. You know, things like that. We show up the backside of water. Look out for that alligator over there. That's Ginger. Look out because she snaps Ginger snaps anyway, s o. I saw I was on that ride, and I was inspired by that ride right, and I and I created my own jungle cruise experience on the tram. And then once my college program ended, I looked at the jungle cruise and said, I want to do that and I got the job at the Jungle Cruise three weeks after I applied for a job and I got a job there. But before I graduated from the college program, I performed in the night of many stars or too many stars. Talent show And I performed my world famous Polish magic show

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his world famous What now?

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So let's go back to the way back machine. Fifth grade I saw performance and May man named James. Uh, James Arrington. Um, he performed a one man show called The Farley Family Re Union.

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Oh, yeah, I got

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you. Remember this?

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I don't know.

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So I saw it live. And then we bought the video cassette in the middle of his performance, this one man show where he plays everybody at this family in place. The grandma, the grandpa, the returned missionary, the the the the ad, The little kid that says the prayer, all these different things. And they're in this finally family reunion. There's this magic show and it's called the Polish Magic Show. It's just terrible. Imagine show with finger trips. Yeah. Not bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I saw it. I emulated it. And I've been doing that magic show all my life in that magic show I performed at talent shows all throughout my life. and I performed it at the night of many stars and the guy who was deejaying. That event saw me. His name was Elliot Hanson, and he approached me at a college program event two weeks later where I kept requesting songs. I said, We got to do this song. We got to do this dance And he took me under his wing. I started working for him. So after the college program was over, I went to the jungle cruise, and then I started working at Electro Magic with my mentor, Elliott Handsome, or I became a theme park deejay.

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Never at any point in the telling of his story did Rob mentioned that he wanted to be a deejay before he was a deejay. But that's where you got because of a silly talent show magic performance he'd been using since elementary school and because of being engaged in the music and on the dance floor at the party where someone recognized his abilities and snatched him up.

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My first job as a D. J. Was not in a club but working in the queue line a men in black at Universal Studios. So while people waited in line outside, sweating, complaining, waiting to get inside the building. I was entertaining them, and so I also worked at the Spider Man ride. I worked at Mills Drive in Diner, and I did private events after hours and then also worked at Downtown Disney with Elliott. I worked it, Ah, Seaworld doing events there. And so he really trained me. And so and then about a year and to me, living in Orlando. This is circa 2004. 2005. I got a job at the Nickelodeon Hotel. But the thing is, once I arrived to Lando, I thought all these things were happening like the Nickelodeon studios were going in. Universal's working back lot, MGM Sears. All that stuff. It's died down, but I still found something, and the Nickelodeon Hotel was built, and they took all the people that were at the Nickelodeon Studios, where they used to do slime time live back in the day, and they took them all over to the hotel. So I started working there. That's where I got my start as a game show host, but I also was the deejay for the night time show, and so I was there for about two years and it was such an awesome opportunity.

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Okay, And now we add learning and working as a game show host.

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There were days where I would do a shift at Nickelodeon in the morning doing their breakfast game show. And then in the afternoon I go do a shift at Universal Studios, and then I do a night time shift at Disney. I also worked at the Haunted Mansion.

spk_1:   11:32
So why, when I think of Rob, do I think of hustle now? I'm not talking traditional definitions of hustle and our industries. Maybe the definition from the Urban Dictionary makes the most sense. Rob has quote the courage, confidence, self belief and self determination to go out there and work it out until you find the opportunities you want in life. End quote.

spk_0:   11:56
So it was a fun opportunity to work for Disney work at Universal Studios at the Nickelodeon Hotel, but I got to a point where I was like I felt like I reached my ceiling. I was spinning my wheels. I didn't know what other opportunities there were for me. Plus, there was this girl I was dating. I'm like I must pursue her and follow her. And I must go back to Utah and take all the knowledge and amazing things that I did it while Disney World and bring it to Utah. So I moved back and I started my business in 2007. My deejay business at the time. When I started it, I started it right before, You know, the recession. Great time to start a business. I also dabbled in education. I wanted I

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thought maybe I could be a teacher. No, that might

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be something people want to learn about. And, uh and so I became a substitute teacher, and I learned quickly that I am better entertainer than educator. I swore to kid once, and I was like, Yeah, this is probably not for me. I don't get are educating kids. So over the years I built my business, and then I started bringing DJs onto my platform. And now you know what? 13 years later, you've been best of state for our digits services for 55 years in a row. We do tons of events a year, and it's a lot of fun, and I have lots of different DJs, but along the way. I've found some other things that I love to do because I'm the kind of guy once again going back to earlier. I'm the guy that looks at things and go. I want to do that. I want to be like that And I started going to deejay conventions.

spk_1:   13:38
I have to interject here. Last month I was viewing a webinar from a Tony Award winning producer on Broadway, and he was talking about how to make the most of your quarantine. Time is a theater producer. It was a long webinar, and the part of that information that was useful was really solid information. Some of what people paid good money to hear this producer suggest, comes out naturally in the interview I have with Rob. And since I want you to hear what I heard out of Rob's story, let me give you the context. I heard it with. One of the first things this producer emphasized was learning, learning to do new stuff, to do the stuff you already do better or even just differently. If you've got the time and interest, there are far more opportunities of quality toe learn from master artists storytellers and entertainers for free or at a discount than prior to this pandemic, a side effect of so many people not being able to do the work they usually dio.

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I went to a deejay convention and I started meeting other DJs from around the world and and and I wanted to start speaking at these conferences. So I started speaking at these conferences and I saw other other presenters and seeing the possibilities of what I could do because, like just to be frank, it's not about deejaying for me. For some DJs, like Oz, the music, it's the mixing it so that no, for me, it's about being in front of an audience. It's, ah, it's, ah to platform to perform and to make money. So that's some of the hardest things people like me, you know, maybe people who are performers who have this in their lifeblood. They can't quite make a living on it, you know? I mean, to be perfectly honest, you know, people who are performers do it on the side or their hobbyist, where they find something else to complement. That right, it's It's really hard if you're not like this viral sensation or You're living in Hollywood to make it living as a performing artist. And so deejaying was one way for me. But then I started applying and speaking at D J conferences. And then once I started getting on stage at those conferences, I was like, Oh, I'm good at this. I enjoy this. So I wanted to get into more speaking. I also did assemblies for schools, and so I was really pursuing the speaking engagements. And then I found what was called an essay, the National Speakers Association.

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So now Rob's going down the path of public speaking. Did you catch the gem in that part of the story? There was more of I want to do that. So I'm going to do that and continually learning as he goes. But there was also this beautiful nugget of self actualization. Rob realizes that what he loves about all the things he does is the live audience and realizing that opens up his work to a greater breadth than if you just stayed with one application of it, just theater or just deejaying. Rob knows what he wants out of his work, and he's good at finding that in multiple types of work, Okay, back to the National Speakers Association.

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And that happened on accident, like all these things that, like all these trails and different things that happened, I swear there like, but I you know, whatever. They you have these paths that lead you to where you are. But I swear I was like accidents, you know, For example, I joined this group called Corporate Alliance, so I don't know anything about the corporate world, but I joined this group. It is this this networking group and I found that group through another group, which was a networking group for weddings. And I got an email in on a whim. It was called women and Weddings. And some guys to you're invited to this wedding networking event. What is wetting? Networking. And so I go to the wedding networking rent, and I started them seeing, indeed, doing those events. And then I met this other lady who introduced me to this one lady who said, Go to corporate alliance and I go to corporate allies and I start running about the corporate world and, uh, mixing and mingling with people there and I start doing more corporate events, and I start developing my corporate game shows called The Best Game Show ever. And then I met my friend leader Green, who was a makeup artist. But I had no idea that lead awas a speaker, and we didn't event together. I was asked to emcee my first gala by a friend that I met Ellen's door through corporate Alliance England said, I believe you could do this with Michael. I've never done before. He's like and he just smiles like you could do this And it was a gala for building schools and hospitals in Haiti. For kids and things like that. I was like, Wow, this is cool. And then my friend Lita, who was a makeup artist, she spoke at that event, and I was like, Wow, you are, like, legit. She's like, I know, but she's funny. That's leader for you. And I started following her and and, you know, we're on Facebook friends, and then I see in December, I believe of 20 15 or 2014. I think it was, I think it was December 2014. She posted picture of her playing the nose flute at an event, and I'm like, Wait, where

spk_1:   18:51
did you learn how to play? Who's teaching

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you how to play the nose flute? And I'm a big nose flute aficionado. I could go grab it here in a minute. Weaken. I can play my nose food, but I'm like knows fluting. That's the only instrument I can actually play of them pressing buttons on a deejay mixer. And she's like, Oh, we did way did this. Ah, Esa what's N s a. The National Speakers Association? So this was in December, And then in December, January 2015 I went to my first essay event. Now is a My people know when you find your tribe, you have those moments. I have those moments, like 20 times over, you know? So anyway, I go to an essay, and I like, ah, speakers, people who like to be on stage and give messages. I don't have a message, but I want to speak. And so I went and I went to my first meeting and I joined the next week. And so ever since then, I've been developing things I've been masterminding, I've been looking for mentors, have been constantly educating myself Southern Utah University, their mantra, their motto, Whatever it may be, it's called learning lives forever. And I am constantly doing that. I am constantly taking workshops from people. I'm constantly getting coaching from people, and the reason I do this is so one that I can learn and to so I could have access

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access. This is where Rob's desire to learn evolves into a natural networking. At this point in the interview, Rob had suggested so many people that I ought to interview that were people he admired and could connect me with. That was becoming really clear to me. This is what networking should really be, not a contrived situation of who do I need to know to get in such and such door? But this kind of grateful association or enthusiastic recommendation and all in the name of Let's learn stuff. Let's meet amazing people and see what we can dio.

spk_0:   20:52
I was still people. If if

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you want to get

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into any type of performance, or what

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do you

spk_0:   20:58
want to do? If you want to be a performer, are a entertainer, Find somebody who could be your mentor. If I'm going to give somebody something that they can take away an actual line of find a mentor, and I've often had people say to me, Well, how do you find a mentor, uh, fine ones that are actually offering workshops or classes approach? People say, You know, Liz, I I admire what you do. I really think what you're doing is amazing. I would love to learn more about what you do. Is there? Do you do we do any type of coaching? And the great thing about it is when you actually pay for it, they're more invested in you because you invested in that as Where does it may see? Because a lot of people who are mentors appreciate you giving advice. But once you pay for something, you are invested in that mayor invested in you, you know, and I invested in training and coaching with Jason, and we were great friends, and we were able to cultivate that friendship through that. But there's also a better respect and investment. And so any time you invest in something either be an entertainment or whatever you do, people will give back, and now you have access, you can text them, you can call them and say I have a problem I have in this. So I have gotten through my entertainment life because I have invested in people and they believed in me and they often suddenly referrals or we work together. We collaborate together, and that's what this is all about, being able to collaborate with people that are your heroes. And that's an amazing thing. Surround yourself with amazing people, and that's what I did. That's what I've done it like. I am surrounded by so many people that are better than me and are more smarter may and more talented. I always say to people, If you're the smartest person in the room, you need to get out of that room and find a new room, okay? Cause if I am top dog and I'm always constant like a and I'm the I'm the craft, whatever, then you're in the wrong room.

spk_1:   23:04
But what about being surrounded by people who are better than you? What about trying something you've never done before? Just because you want to do it, it's

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intimidating is it's hard because I had to start over. You know, I I got into a place in the mobile deejay industry where I feel really confident where I am with my business. And then I started over in the speaking industry and I still feel like I don't have it yet and so but I am constantly going to these conferences. I'm getting coaching and I'm trying to become better. And I think for those people that are feeling stagnant, life find a different place to play, you know. But that's the thing is always trying to take risks. I'm always trying to get out of my comfort zone and do different things. You know, during the Corona virus time, I was able to go out and do social distancing dance parties because I was I didn't want to be cooped up in my house. I wanted to connect with my community and I can connect via Facebook, I guess, or virtually. But I wanted to do something live because I wanted to share my talent, not necessarily share my talents, but share what brings me joy to others, which is music and dance.

spk_1:   24:17
Rob gave me a preview of the Ted talk he wants to give some day. It's good stuff and you can hear it at the end of the episode is the episode extra. It's about the amazing synchronicity of music and dance. I think that's one of the things about you That I think is so much fun and really interesting is that you have a genuine sincerity, just like a real enthusiasm and a drive that even if you're not the academic type of the scholastic type of whatever, but that doesn't stop you from a mastering a thing.

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I love being able to share in being able to let people be inspired. But what I have

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been inspired by,

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I don't think I'm like the most inspiring person. But I love to share what has inspired me to help people find their path. Being in this community in Utah, there's so many people that I love and I look up to, and it's fun just to be inspired by others and being able to create those friendships and being able to collaborate with them. You know, you know, you meet somebody kindred spirit Erica, and that's what this is all about. Community creating community and building community and collaborating with people. And it's just something that I love and I'm passionate about, so I

spk_1:   25:28
definitely would have put you in the camp of Richie Steadman and a few others in terms of your ability to hustle, which which I don't. I mean, I guess there's maybe for some people negative connotations to hustle. But I recognize the value of that and also am incredibly intimidated by the connotation that I have with that word. I think networking is scary. I think I'm all about going after something that I'm interested in learning how to do it. But on a business approach to that, that gets a little like it's a little tricky for me. I'm really good about that on an academic or a passionate level, but not on a networking kind of business. Little. So the original Xom insights into that. I mean, you break it down in a way that makes it not what I thought it would be in terms of like, OK, I need to meet that person so that I can accomplish this goal so that I can make this money and be invited to be this being and for you, obviously are your backstories organic, but you make it sound low pressure completely authentic and driven by Justin Enthusiasm in a sincerity that for me takes all of the crap out of it. But all of the stuff that I don't want

spk_0:   26:43
to dio right? So there's one word that it all boils down to. And the bird word is relationships but creating authentic relationships, wanting to learn from people. So you know, everybody's hustles very different in building those relationships. I'm trying to figure out how to create that relationship. You know, there are a lot of gatekeepers, you know, Custalow for some people, is maybe a dirty word. Whatever. And sales like sales that I don't like sales. But a friend of mine and speaking industries names feel girlish. Jack, Good friend of mine. He talked about his like, Rob, you are in sales. You don't even know it. You're constantly selling yourself. And so part of my quote unquote hustle if we call it a hustle, is being intentional with how you interact with people, how we treat people, how I'm remembered how I made them feel right. And people often say that in the speaking industry they

spk_1:   27:39
may not

spk_0:   27:39
remember everything you said, but they will remember how they felt, you know, Same with with a performance. There was a show that I saw at Hale Centre Theatre was called Strictly Ballroom, and I loved the movie. But I remember the feeling I felt after leaving that theater. And I'm like, Ah, this is what I feel you know And my wife and I, We go to Broadway every year. We go see five or six shows were Broadway nuts, and we know how we feel after those shows, and that's what you're doing. Part of the hustle is leaving people with good feelings, good vibes, a genuine spirit about you sharing a part of yourself. But I'm also very intentional with my social media. What I put out into the world. There was a day where I walked out of my office in a huff. My wife said to me, What's wrong with somebody wrong on the Internet again? And I was like, Yeah, you're she's right. I'm being stupid and I got in an argument over politics with somebody that I admire. But I don't admire his politics, and I just quit and I quit fighting tonight. What I put out to the social media universe was just positivity and fun. Today I just posted me reading a story book online for Boondocks. We're reading. What does the Fox say to kids? Virtual thing. But I'm trying to put out positive things into the universe. So people eventually saying, I see what you're doing online. Now you're top of mind awareness

spk_1:   29:12
and in the vicinity of our conversation about social media and top of mind awareness, the other valuable take away that I got from the producers, Webinar was echoing in my head. He talked about how nobody is buying anything right now. Don't sell. Consider instead what you can do for free create what you can afford to create for free, because you're not going to be able to sell anything even if it's worth buying. And if you could create for free right now, well, that naturally helps out with top of mind awareness. So for those of you

spk_0:   29:52
who want more gigs, be top of mind of people. So put out things like here I am doing this thing here is one of my coaches. This is somebody admire. Look what else this person is doing. No, only highlighting yourself but highlighting the people you've surrounded yourself with and the people that you admire. Yesterday I put a post up of my assistance, the person who I met in college through improv in theater, who introduced me to my wife at a theater. I was doing improv act. Put things out into the universe. So, like as we're talking about the hustle, how are you gonna make a career out of this? Tell people what you do and what you want to be doing.

spk_1:   30:34
This is something I stumbled on a handful of years ago. 1 January I put out this long bucket list thinking I would work on it over the rest of my life. A couple of friends reached out after seeing it and said, Hey, I can help you with that or I wanted to do that to Let's do that together this year. As a result, I did a bunch of those things, including aerial silk and running a spartan super race, and I did them that year with the support of my friends. I may never really have gotten around to doing some of those things, but not only did I do them, I did them sooner and and better and having more fun than I would have without putting those goals out there

spk_0:   31:14
when I started doing the social distancing dance parties, other DJs, right?

spk_1:   31:19
Who? I want

spk_0:   31:19
to do that like Well, what? What

spk_1:   31:21
is your

spk_0:   31:21
motivation? Right? What is your why? You know, it all goes back to Simon Cynic, the why you know the why or define what your why is once he asked me that I was like, What is your purpose? Do you want to make money? Because I understand making money. But my my, why was it was to spread joy. And I only take donations, you know? But I was able to go to communities and connect with my community in a different way in a unique way. And I know people people are asking me like, Rob, you should be doing this. You should be doing these social. You should do these online virtual dance parties. And I was like, I could do that or I could do this where I go to a community and actually interact with him from six feet away. But interact with them nonetheless

spk_1:   32:08
and recycle back. Rob knows what he's about. And that's why live performance is the thread through the whole myriad of work that he's done. Hustle is really robbed of icky connotations when it's built on doing. The thing you see is your foundation, the thing you personally want or need to do. I think it

spk_0:   32:27
is doing it in your most unique way that is authentic to you, right? We see a lot of imitators, a lot of people trying to find that magic bullet or tryingto find that that secret sauce. You know, every and I've asked that question to other people like Ah, good friend of mine, Mr John Pets. And he is a M C. Magician, entertainer, speaker, and I'm watching him like I want to do what you do. What is the secret sauce? And he's like, You know what, Rob? There isn't it's It's this. It's just years and years of hard work.

spk_1:   33:01
What's your ultimate value based way of deciding what you're going to do and why you're doing it?

spk_0:   33:07
That for me was figuring out what is right for me, you know, being authentic to myself in my entertainment and to who I am. Whenever somebody performs on the stage and you get those vibes and you're like, Ah, the energy like that's for me. That's where I come from. My energy is from people. I have to be in a room. I'm sucking their energy to feed my energy to perform right. That's what need. That's what's so hard about doing things virtually during the Corona virus time. You know, doing everything virtually was a little bit harder, but that is what it's for me. So back to your original question, doing things that are authentic to you. So my wife always says to me like, I don't like that word that such a buzzword authentic. But I don't know a better way to say it. Yeah, like that proved me right. And so if you're doing a thing and you always you always see, that's like Dave ship Hell, this thing about Dave Chappelle. He got offered gods and gods money. I think it was to do his third season of Chappelle's Show, and he walked away right because he just couldn't do it. He's his heart wasn't in it. He just felt like that was not true to himself. And it's always interesting when you see ah, performer entertainer. Walking away from the stage is like

spk_1:   34:21
what they were so amazing.

spk_0:   34:23
But they get to a point like my heart's not in it anymore. That's the thing is do something that is true to you. And that's why I love speaking. Now, Um, I still love deejaying, and I still love being in front of honor nights. But to be perfectly honest, I just want to be on the stage in front of people. So whatever that medium our platform is, I can I can use. And that's what I love doing game shows. I love giving away money. I love hearing the roar of the crowd, a love having the energy of people.

spk_1:   34:53
Thank you to my guest Rob for a oh, thank you so much for letting me interview you, especially over Zoom, which is not my typical way of doings. You do it in person, I dio. Yeah, I have a really mobile kit, and so people don't want to come to my studio. I can go to them.

spk_0:   35:09
Thank you for this opportunity for me to share.

spk_1:   35:11
Last week, in the telling released a socially distant film production of Hamlet on YouTube. Check it out as an example of what theater artists can get up to in a time when theatrical productions air untenable and you know we need to practice our craft and nobody is buying anything anyway. You can find out more about in the telling at Lizzie. Lizzie Liz dot com or check out the in the Telling Podcast channel on

spk_0:   35:33
YouTube for bonus content. Theme music by Gordon Venus in the Telling is hosted and produced by me, Liz Christiansen. Thank you for listening. Maybe if people are listening this two years later. But I have this Ted talk that that has yet to be given. It's called musical empathy and how we can bring together through the medium of music. Music is the universal is a universal language, like If I were to play a certain song here, certain parts of the world, they would know that same song. You know, they may not understand my politics. They may not understand my religion. It may not understand my beliefs, but they will understand my groove, the music that I play. So I have identified certain songs all around the world that bring people together. You know, if I were to play a song in the United States And if I were to play sweet Caroline, everybody would have the same reaction if I were to go. Sweet. Caroline,

spk_1:   36:33
Bob, Bob, Bob.

spk_0:   36:35
Exactly. Everybody does that around the world, not the around the world around the United States's where the United States think very goto Africa. I doubt they would do that, but I've identified different songs in different grooves that people can sing along to, like there's one type of connection that we don't really see in any other type of connection. In music, music is synchronised IQ. If we were to start singing Happy Birthday together, we're now singing and vocalizing the same words at the same time, the same notes if notes are relative. But we could be doing that. And it's synchronised IQ. And that type of communication connection, I believe, really only happens with music in on a mass level. I mean, dancing is the same thing, so it turns into it. You know, music and dance, right? So these are things that I'm passionate about, so I'm trying to do my case studies and becoming an expert in No, I'm not much of, ah scholastic type, but this is what I'm working on, and these are things that I'm passionate about, and I love to be able the opportunities to share those things because I've seen other people get Ted talks, and I said to myself, I want to do that.