Life to the Max Podcast
Southern Flavors and Community Spirit: Duke Seward
What if the secret to extraordinary barbecue lies in the heart of Mississippi? Join us for a savory conversation with Duke Seward, the culinary virtuoso behind Duke's Blues N BBQ. From cherished family recipes to the essence of Southern hospitality, Duke takes us on a flavorful voyage that starts in Greenville, Mississippi, and leads to his celebrated barbecue haven. We uncover how the influences of his parents and family, along with the vibrant culture of the blues, shaped Duke's award-winning barbeque.
Cooking isn't just a skill; it's an art form. This episode reveals the transformative journey of a passionate chef who found their calling in the kitchen. Listen to heartfelt stories of family roots and traditions, as well as the importance of community service inspired by Southern warmth and generosity. The episode also touches on how food and music act as universal languages that bridge gaps and create lasting memories.
Stay curious and embrace kindness as we highlight the value of lifelong learning and giving back. Through reflections on relationships, personal milestones, and philanthropic efforts, we celebrate the contagious spirit of community events like Duke's Blues and BBQ Fest. Don't miss this episode that celebrates resilience, human connection, and the joy of spreading love through food.
What if the secret to extraordinary barbecue lies in the heart of Mississippi? Join us for a savory conversation with Duke Seward, the culinary virtuoso behind Duke's Blues N BBQ. From cherished family recipes to the essence of Southern hospitality, Duke takes us on a flavorful voyage that starts in Greenville, Mississippi, and leads to his celebrated barbecue haven. We uncover how the influences of his parents and family, along with the vibrant culture of the blues, shaped Duke's award-winning barbeque.
Cooking isn't just a skill; it's an art form. This episode reveals the transformative journey of a passionate chef who found their calling in the kitchen. Listen to heartfelt stories of family roots and traditions, as well as the importance of community service inspired by Southern warmth and generosity. The episode also touches on how food and music act as universal languages that bridge gaps and create lasting memories.
Stay curious and embrace kindness as we highlight the value of lifelong learning and giving back. Through reflections on relationships, personal milestones, and philanthropic efforts, we celebrate the contagious spirit of community events like Duke's Blues and BBQ Fest. Don't miss this episode that celebrates resilience, human connection, and the joy of spreading love through food.
What's up, guys? It's Quadfather. I just wanted to say thank you for all the support that everybody has given me with the podcast throughout the years. It means the world to me, and you guys give me a breakfast every single day I wake up, so thank you so much. That being said, this episode is very special to me and my community. I'm so blessed to have teamed up with Duke Seward and the Chase, the Vlog Foundation, and to sponsor Duke's Blues Barbecue Fest. This weekend we'll be hanging out in Carpenter Park in Carpenter's Mall, enjoying some great live music and great food. It's free entry, no charge, because everyone deserves the taste of love. If you would like to support the cause, the dates are this Friday, saturday, sunday, june 7th to the 9th. I'll definitely make sure to leave a link in the description below for more information on Duke Blues Barbecue Fest. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this episode. Thanks, guys. Oh, it smells delicious. Already in lunch break we are checking out a barbecue restaurant in East Dundee.
Speaker 3:Duke's Blues and Barbecue.
Speaker 1:Restaurant is serving up recipes passed down through generations. Chef Duke Seward joins us with his family's favorite pork loin ribs. I can smell them already out here.
Speaker 2:It smells good All right, this is Mississippi recipes, right yeah?
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah, so everything is Mississippi recipes, so we're originally from Greenville. Yeah, yeah, so everything is Mississippi recipes, so we're originally from Greenville, mississippi. Okay, queen of the Delta, and these recipes they were passed down from my mother and father my mother's Maryland Seaweed and my father's Tansy and I just pretty much kind of took it over the years and added a little bit of myself into it and then you know, we started up a restaurant, Duke's Blues.
Speaker 1:I can't rap to this. Yeah, you can rap All right.
Speaker 2:All right, let's do this. All right. Yeah, me and Max, we're getting paid Every day. That's what we say. Let him hate, hold on, uh, let him hate Hold on, uh, ay, ay, ay uh, me and Max, we getting paid.
Speaker 3:This is kind of hard. What's up, man, my name is Duke. I'm the owner of all the Duke's Blues and Barbecues and Taste of Love a non-for-profit and I'm just here with my boy, mox. Sorry, I'm a little late, man, I had to do all the blues. All right, all right, good.
Speaker 1:My wife to the max, Just like my podcast. Alright, we're back with another episode of Life to the Max. I'm here with Duke Seward. Duke, say hello to the crowd.
Speaker 3:Hello everybody, how y'all doing.
Speaker 1:So, duke, you're very well known around Elgin area, from what I've been told, because your barbecue just smacks. Your barbecue food is amazing. It's delicious.
Speaker 3:Thanks, Max.
Speaker 1:And I was wondering what's the name of your restaurant?
Speaker 3:Duke's Blues and BBQ and Duke's Catering.
Speaker 1:So you do both catering.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So we started when I was in the city. We started as a catering company and then from there we pretty much when I came back out this way, we started doing some farmer's markets and things of that nature. I grew up out this way. We're originally from Mississippi.
Speaker 1:Greenville, mississippi, oh, so yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but yeah, we started in Chicago as catering and then we brought Dukes out here.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So is this like a family-owned restaurant?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so it is, it is so everything is family-owned family recipes that I've learned over the years from, like my mother and father my dad he taught me how to grill Him and my Uncle Nip God bless his soul. My Uncle Nip, he was a veteran, you know. He passed away.
Speaker 1:Very first service.
Speaker 3:Indeed, indeed, he was a good dude. But my father I spent a lot of time with him because when I was a kid, a lot of my friends would come over because my dad would grill every weekend. So he was like you know, let me teach you the way we barbecue down south. So it's always kind of been something that's there. But you know, I just took it up when I was living in Chicago.
Speaker 1:I mean I could tell man, you have Southern hospitality Every time you walk into my house. You've only walked in like twice from when I've seen, but like when I met you, I needed a turkey for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1:And I was like I don't want my family cooking turkey, I'm done with that. I was like Mom, mom, find someone who makes turkey. And she found you yeah, your turkey is amazing, amazing, and I think I've had your turkey for the last four years yeah, yeah four years and uh so do you often. Is that like your family's recipe as well?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so actually the turkey recipe is, um, my father's and myself we actually um put that recipe together Cause when I grew up it was like we grew up a very traditional with like holidays you know what I mean Like a set of like uh, it was a couple of things that's kind of been a little bit different, like um, we call it dressing, stuffing. It's like cornbread dressing, but it's, you know, but it's like equivalent to like stuffing. You know what I mean, but it's just, you know, a little bit a little different. You know what I mean, but similar concepts.
Speaker 3:But my mom, she always used to bake the turkeys in the oven and then she went. I never really understood how to bake turkey in the oven because it always comes out dry and it's kind of like it gives you cotton mouth. I feel like no meat should give you cotton mouth after you eat it. You know what I mean. So my dad and I we started playing around with it when, I don't know, probably about 15 years ago, we started smoking turkeys, you know, and then I was like you know, it's still moist, you know what I mean and like juicy, and it still has like good flavor, like all the way down to all the meat.
Speaker 2:Delicious Most Thanksgiving turkeys are all dry. But yeah, when I had Thanksgiving last year with Max and that turkey, it was surprisingly and it was very substantial.
Speaker 3:I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Definitely next year we're all going to tune in to Duke Caboom and get that turkey, indeed.
Speaker 3:Indeed, I appreciate that. That's awfully kind of you.
Speaker 1:So delicious.
Speaker 2:Shout out to you and your dad figuring that recipe out Indeed, indeed.
Speaker 1:It's amazing. So you're a super popular guy around here, right? I was wondering, when it comes to being a restaurateur, is it a small community if you are a good restaurateur?
Speaker 3:You said is it like a small?
Speaker 1:Like a niche community, like when you're a restaurateur, because you're a successful restaurateur and you were talking about Cafe Robot. Oh, I got you, got you, got you. Yeah, like it's a spot for you.
Speaker 3:As far as the community goes. Yeah, I think it's one of those things. I think it's kind of like a respect thing. I think, after you've kind of been doing it for a little bit, I'm like the new kid on the block because I'm like the youngest one, so it wasn't always how young are you? I'm 38, but I mean, compared to the guys, it's kind of been doing it for a long time, you know what I mean like you know, um shout out to my boy, bob Karras.
Speaker 3:He owns all the squires and the rookies and all that stuff too, you know. But uh, him and I we talked not too long ago but uh, it's like one of those things too, like you know, since I'm like the new kid on the block, you know, it's kind of like for me it means a lot for, like you know, people who have been doing it for like 30 plus years, to have like a lot of respect for me. You know what I mean and kind of like what we're doing and and also just I enjoy people watching us um kind of grow from like ground up. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:I could tell you know, I could definitely tell every time, uh, like you talk, it's like about giving back to the community, which is amazing, like that's. That's all I keep hearing is giving back to the community. You know, like you just came from a teacher committee or something yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So like, um, it was like a teacher's appreciation of the day. So we had a few schools or whatnot, but we did about today alone. We did about 500 teachers. And what do you do? They order different things. We did a lot of brisket today. Probably did about 13 briskets, about like 120 pounds of pork and about 100 pounds of chicken and about 75 pounds of rib tips, and then we had sides and stuff too.
Speaker 2:What started your fascination with cooking as an adult? What made you make that turning point, to turning it into something as a lifestyle?
Speaker 3:I think life man. You know, I think, like I said, you know I was telling Max. You know I was an artist. You know I've always had a strong love for art. You know, I think pretty much when I was living in Chicago I had to. I was kind of going through like a career change. Is that what I kind of call it? You know, trying to figure it out. I don't want to call it a midlife crisis, because I was in my 20s.
Speaker 2:We all hit those crossroads sometimes you know, but it was you know.
Speaker 3:but I had to, kind of you know, I was trying to figure out what it was that I wanted to do. I've always been curious in it. You know what I mean. Like, once I stopped doing artists heavily and then started writing, like poetry, I was looking for something, because I'm big on energy and I'm big on how things make me feel and how I project things to make other people feel. So I was kind of always looking for that feeling again. And then, once I got into started kind of playing around with some cooking, my boys were coming out into my house Speaking of which, I want to give a shout out to my boy, shy Hunter, little Black Chef down in Greystone Tavern. So he did Taste of Chicago in 2013, and that guy gave me confidence.
Speaker 2:He's one of my dear friends um and that was your original inspiration. No, my mom and dad was inspiration.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that was like the first. No, no, that was just a guy that was like man, this is good and they're coming from somebody who cooks for a living, right, you know what I mean, because I think we all kind of have that thing, like you know, I think it's everything's good at the house when it's free and all of your boys are eating it, but then it means it's something different once somebody's like man, this is really good and this is what they do for a living.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean, so you said you were an artist before, but when? You made that transition to culinary. You could also say that's an art form too.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I mean you're still an artist. Some would say that. But some would say, when you get into culinary, then they start using that big C word. Person's a chef man. No, I'm not a chef man, I just appreciate the beauty of cooking.
Speaker 1:You're a barbecue master.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but it's not even barbecue. I love making steaks. I just love cooking. If my wife was standing next to me, she would say I cook every night at the house. But I make everything from scratch. I make enchiladas, I make pasta from scratch, I make chicken, alfredo stuffed shells, a lot of steaks, pork chops. I just like to eat.
Speaker 2:So you got into it. It sounds like you're saying you simply got into it just because you love to do it. Yeah, so what also made you inspired to take the route of making everything nonprofit and just giving back to the community? And I know you said you were big on energy, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:That was kind of the way I was, kind of I was brought up that way. To be honest with you, you know my mother and father, you know I think everything kind of starts with the parents, you know, and I watched them do it so much as a kid. We didn't have much really growing up, you know, but I would always watch them. If somebody needed something, they'll try like their best, as long as it wasn't affecting, like, the well-being of their children and the household, and they'll try to help them, like, you know, my mom and dad used to. When we first moved up here we didn't have a car right away, you know what I mean. So my mom and dad, like they, used to ride their bicycles to work, you know, and then they'd ride their bicycles to the grocery store for like two months until we was able to get a car. And I just remember how happy my mom was when we first got our first car up here in Illinois.
Speaker 1:It's all over.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3:And I just always remember, you know, she was just so happy. You know, and and and and it was just like, whenever she can help somebody, if it was like giving somebody a ride, giving a neighbor a ride, or you know what I mean. Or taking, or taking somebody up the streets like the laundromat, you know, um, she would do that and I would just watch the people get so happy. And I was like, you know, because my mom would always let me know that, like you know, she would always remind me that we all need each other. You know, as a kid and I think that's kind of transpired into me as an adult, you know what I mean. So it's not really like it's just what I do, just the way I was brought up, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Mean like, even if I wasn't doing this, I've always been given, you know oh yeah it just now, just it just now, like on a bigger scale, I suppose sounds like you had a strong family.
Speaker 2:I admire that is it all?
Speaker 1:is the hospitality different here than it would be down south? Uh?
Speaker 3:yes and no.
Speaker 1:I think that that depends on the person probably.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it depends on a couple different factors. The one thing I really enjoy about the South is that everybody waves to you. You know what I mean? The South. Yeah, like in the South, everybody waves to you. They don't even know you, man, howdy, buddy, no, no, no. You talk as a wild, wild west, you don't come with.
Speaker 1:I'm saying you talk about Wild Wild West. You know what I'm saying. I'm sorry, max got me playing.
Speaker 3:Red Dead off the clock. You know what I'm saying, he said howdy partner.
Speaker 3:No, man, it's more so. Like you know what I mean. Like if you're like walking down the street or just riding your bike or this, or just sitting on the porch, like people are driving past, they'll wave to you. You know People driving past, they'll wave to you. You know people make eye contact down south or they make more eye contact. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:I think that's the biggest difference I've noticed as far as, like the hospitality up here and down and down south is that and more so. It's like the eye contact and acknowledgement of a person if they're coming across, their presence. But as far as like hospitality as a whole, like I've always been brought up, even up here, from like all of my guys, like parents, that's like my, their parents are like my parents, because that's the way we all grew up in the community. Like you know, I go to my buddy's house and their mom would have a hot plate for me at the house if I was coming over. You know I didn't have to get invited, they just said just duke around, here's a hot plate, type of deal and vice versa. You know what I mean. Like my mother and my father, my partners were at my house and my buddies came over for whatever to play video games or just hang out. They would make sure everybody ate. You know what?
Speaker 2:I mean.
Speaker 3:And I think that's the biggest thing. I think that's the kind of way that was always around me, you know, and I think that really taught me a lot, Like my mom would always. If my mom had a plate of, it could be 10 people in the house and it could be two pork chops. You know what I mean? Splitting it up.
Speaker 2:Everybody getting a piece of pork chop.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm saying? Yeah, and that's kind of like, and that's just the way I was raised and brought up and that's just the way I try to continue to be.
Speaker 2:That's awesome what you mentioned before and on that note of just constantly with the acts of service and helping people out and just having that hospitality like Max mentioned, would you say that there's more within the community of acts of service in the South or here, or equal, or just off your experience? What would you say?
Speaker 3:Well.
Speaker 1:I know you're not trying to like throw shade like I'm like. You know the North or whatever. We're just wondering we're just wondering because, like, like when did you come up? Here Was your family.
Speaker 3:I was little little. I spent the majority of my life, pretty much all of my life up here in Illinois. We always went back home, though, you know what I mean, it wasn't just like. I think a lot of times people, whenever they leave the place that their family's from and that they're from, they typically always go back only for like funeral or sad stuff or like funeral or weddings. You know what I mean? Yeah, but we always went back home. You know, like my buddies growing up, they'll be going to Disney and going to California for vacation and all these fun places and they're like Duke, where are you going?
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 3:I would say you vacation and all these fun places, and they were like Duke where are you going?
Speaker 1:And I would say, you know, going back to Mississippi. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but uh, you know, but I have uh more appreciation, more appreciation for it now as an adult than I did as a kid, cause you know you, you know Mississippi's fun, you know I mean it's. It was fun for me Um, always going back because, uh, I got a lot of family down there. But to answer your question, which one had more hospitality, up here or down, I would say from where I sit in my life I would say it's about equal Really. But I think that's just because of the people that have always been around me. You know what I mean, yeah, good vibes.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:So it's kind of like I don't know if that's really like an accurate assessment for like.
Speaker 2:No, that makes total sense. You attract people who kind of represent you, your product, your environment. It goes both ways.
Speaker 1:So if you're always giving and always doing stuff for the community, then you're going to be surrounded. You're going to become surrounded by people who have a similar mindset. Do you know what is amazing about food? It brings people together.
Speaker 3:Do you know what I mean? I do.
Speaker 1:It really does. And what were you about to say?
Speaker 3:No, I was just saying I agree. I always it's funny you say that I always used to tell folks that I think the two common things we all shoot or share as human beings is we all got to eat something and we all snap our fingers to a tune. You know what I mean. So, and I think once you understand that common area that we all kind of live in, you can work everything else out. You know what I'm saying Because I tell folks all the time people, they'll crack jokes and they'll say, duke, why do you have a vegan option or something like that. And I say, well, vegans eat too. You know what I mean. And my brother's a vegan, my niece is a vegan, his wife is a vegan. You know what I'm saying. So I like to like to when I'm cooking, even when they come to my house for the holidays, I want to make sure that they're happy. You know what I'm saying. And um, and I think that's the same thing with like music, you know?
Speaker 1:I think that um it's just about to bring that up, music yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:I think, like you know, we all listen, or tap our fingers or or tap our feet to something. You, whether it's gospel, whether it's country music, whether it's blues, whether it's rock, whether it's hip-hop or R&B, and I always try to say that everybody tells the same story, it's just through different eyes. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now, blues is supposed to be more of a sad sound, right, like a little bit. Like you know, I'm in my blues like that's why they started blues. So what? What made you, uh say duke's blues barbecue, like what? What made you do that? Is it because you love blues?
Speaker 3:good question. Yeah, that's both, um, because I'm from, uh, greenville, mississippi, the of the Delta, where the blues started on Nelson Street. Yeah, so blues has always been heavy in my family. You know, like all the guys used to kind of come down there and play, so like they used to have juke joints. Juke joints is equivalent to what speakeasies would have been up here, and my daddy would always tell me stories as a kid, you know what I mean would be like, you know when, when he'll be on nelson street, him and his, his little brother, my uncle jerry, or just a few of his partners or whatnot, he, um, he he'll say, like everybody be pulling up. Like you know, you got, like buddy guy, a bunch of baseball players at the time, and everybody and everybody had cadillacs. Yeah, and everybody had cadillacs. But that that's the thing, though, too, it was the South right, so you had all these folks at the time, because, I mean, obviously it was during a time when the world wasn't.
Speaker 1:Civil rights act. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Everybody wasn't really kind of what you talking about.
Speaker 3:You know everybody wasn't together but it was always cool because my dad would tell us stories and he would always say like a juke joint is kind of like. You know it's always like a house with like a hardwood floor. You know what I mean. And like you go in there for a good time and you drink a little bit, you know you get a couple nips on something and Listen to blues.
Speaker 3:Yeah, listen to blues music, music like live blues musicians, man, and you just hang out, man, you know what I mean that's, uh, you know that's a really sweet story.
Speaker 1:Like not sweet story, it's. It's awesome that your dad was able to experience that and uh shed light on the you know positivity during the circumstances of the Civil Rights Act. I mean, now I'm not going to say it's better or worse, but I do think that progress has been made.
Speaker 3:I would say you know what I mean. I think that we made progress, man, to be honest. I mean I think we still got some work to do as a whole, as a people, always do but you know the job's not done, but I definitely think that there's some progress. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, 100%. So you are, I was wondering. So you're basically a businessman, you have your food restaurants and your catering and everything. So what brought you to that success? When you were a kid, when did you say I'm going to be a successful barbecue master? Basically, because that's what you are.
Speaker 3:I never really did, I never really had an age for that or whatnot, to be honest, which I'm still trying to figure it out man you know. But I think that's the beauty of life, though I think that, like I always try to tell folks, man, like the moment I'm I'm not curious, the moment I become bored I'll stop doing it. You know what I mean and right now I'm.
Speaker 3:That's the one thing I always encourage, even the kids when I speak to, the kids at the high schools that I speak to is stay curious, man, always stay curious, stay open-minded and always be open to learning. You know what I mean. It's like you know, because I think sometimes I think generational gaps and I think sometimes where, like the ball gets dropped. I generational gaps and I think sometimes where, like the ball gets dropped. I think sometimes, when we get to a certain age, we're like well, a 14 year old kid or a 13 year old kid can't teach me nothing Like you can learn from a five year old kid if you listen, you know what I mean, and I think that with that mindset I'm always open.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm saying. Like I have conversations with my daughter who's four. She's on turn five on June 8th. Her name is Eddie Rose Laverne. Uh, and then, uh, little Duke is gonna turn one on um May 25th, and then I heard, he just walked indeed, indeed.
Speaker 3:So I'm looking forward to the conversations I get to have with him. But the conversations I have with her is always because I think sometimes, like you, sometimes like we were talking about how we all look at the world through different lenses. Right and right now, the world to her is really colorful, and the world to me may not be as colorful because we're at different points in our life. So sometimes you got to be reminded of that color. You know what I'm saying? Hell yeah.
Speaker 1:Just like your shirt, man, yeah, man.
Speaker 2:The that color. You know what I'm saying. Oh yeah, just like your shirt. Yeah, man, the the beauty about, like, when I bond with kids, like I've always found myself, naturally, like just having fun with the kids and and a lot of people, a lot of adults, a lot of parents. I'm not gonna tell you how to parent, because that's the quickest way to get into an argument, but you know we get so caught up in like trying to give them direction. Do, do things this way, do things this way. But when you, when you, with the adolescent kids, like, especially the ones that aren't even comprehending the shit you're directing them to do, like you just need to find a way to get to their level and step into their world.
Speaker 2:And you know what, all of a sudden, things are brighter when you're, when you're like cool as hell. A five-year-old would be like dude. He's treating me like he's. I definitely have a blast with some cool kids, but then there's some brats that I'll fucking throw off the corner of the table.
Speaker 3:There's always going to be some brats in the batch man. You know what I mean. There's always going to be some brats. It sounds like you've been super family.
Speaker 2:Family oriented it. Um, there was a quote that popped in my head earlier when you were talking about the acts of service that your mom was doing after she got her car. Um, let's say if you want to make someone happy for a week, go buy a watch. If you want to be happy for a month, buy a car. If you want to be happy for a year, go buy a house. But if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make a difference in someone else's big friends. I'm I'm not going to lie. When I met Max and he asked me to be his assistant, that was the strongest quote in my head.
Speaker 2:I was like I'm going to make a difference in this motherfucker.
Speaker 3:That's what's up, man, and that's what it's about too. My wife and I, we both share the same energy, man, we both feel that same way, the same way which you just kind of spoke on. You know, we're always trying to help people. Man like um, we've been best friends since we were 14. Her name's Rhiannon, um, kind of like the Fleetwood Mac song, you know what I mean. But, um, it makes it easier for me to have a partner like that.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm saying. Because it's kind of like she gives just like I give. You know what I'm saying. So it's kind of like she gives just like I give. You know what I'm saying. So it's kind of like, even with the way that her brain's structured, because she's kind of sometimes she's so focused on the end goals because, I mean, she's really smart, beautiful and just really determined and sometimes she has to stop herself because she'll get tunnel vision if she's doing something, but she'll stop no matter what. It could be the biggest thing that she has going on in her life. You know what I mean. I would watch this since we were kids and she'll stop to help somebody else out. You know what I'm saying. Like she'll put herself second to somebody else's needs if she sees that that person needs something. You know, and I think that that's kind of like, um, she's also helped me kind of, but make sure, um, I don't lose sight of that too.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean so you say you're that way because you've seen your mom and dad?
Speaker 1:yeah, that way. Yeah, you're super humble man, honestly like super humble, and it's crazy that you're super humble because you're also super popular around here you are. You're about to be on wgn news yeah, yeah, oh nice, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I'm gonna be on wgn on the 27th. I'm in once we get back from putin khanah. We're going to putin khanah for my mother's birthday, yeah I took my mom there too for her 40th birthday. Man, I've never been to putin khanah. What is it like?
Speaker 2:It's nice they sell so much stuff. That's how they make money, that's their hustle, right. I ain't knocking them Cigars, but bro cigars, whether it's little bracelets the kids make, or flowers the kids just plucked, or other dudes hustling fake cigars that they rolled up with trash and gravel Bro.
Speaker 2:I respect the hustle, bro, but when I'm sitting there on the beach with my eyes closed tanning in the sun and then I get a tap like hey, you want to buy this Bro? Get the get away, bro. It got to the point where it's no thank you, it went. No, thank you for the first day and hey, no thank you the second day. Hey, nah, man, nah. The third day and the fourth day was like bro, go, no. You know it was so bad. I don't know why it triggered me so much, but I had a bad dream about it where I was like shouldering, like walking through a crowd of people trying to sell me shit, and I'm just fucking getting through dominican republic trying to dude yeah, so be prepared to reject or or bring a bunch of singles and pay for things if I got it and I can give it away, man you know Good answer, good answer you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:You are giving. Yeah, there's going to be a lot of giving.
Speaker 3:Max ain't giving that much man you know, that's one thing the wife does, man, she does a phenomenal job budgeting, so it's just like, hey, we got this amount of money, this percentage, to give budgeting.
Speaker 2:So it's just like, hey, we got this amount of money to give. That's awesome Whenever we take trips. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Because you're 100% correct. We've been to different islands together and I don't like to stand on a resort. I like to get out and be with the people. You know what I'm saying. No matter where I go in the world, I want to be with the people. So if the people are over here, I want to go check them out. I want to see what they're doing. I want to see what it's like to live a day in their life. You know what I mean, Because that also helps me to continue to grow my vision.
Speaker 1:Have you ever done any mission trips or anything like that?
Speaker 3:I'd like to consider my life a mission trip.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 3:You mentioned a vision life a mission trip, oh my god you mentioned a vision.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but what is your vision? Oh man, I got a few. I got a few. So when you travel and you're trying to, you're trying to yeah, man, that vision I do, I do.
Speaker 3:I uh, I think a lot and sometimes, like we talked about perspectives, right, you know, I can go somewhere and and be around with somebody that may not have anything you know what I'm saying Like it might be a bum on the street, you know, but I sit down and have a conversation with them, you know what I'm saying and sometimes that kind of helps, like oh, like a ding, kind of clicking, like oh, that makes sense. You know, I like to look at it, just been uh, as guys work. You know I like to. I'm on guys time so I might as well look at guys work you're.
Speaker 2:It's easy for every individual to get those blinders on, especially when they're hustling, especially all those entrepreneurs, especially the people that are never satisfied when they're building their empire, you know or especially the people that get caught up in the nine to five for 20 years until they retire, that they never were happy with. You know it's easy to get those blinders on and just think that your life is the only problem, you know, or this problem is the only problem, until you know, you hear someone else's story and and you realize that there's so many different lanes in life that having those blinders on is almost self-destruction like. You need to keep your eyes open and you need to realize that there's so many different angles to this life and life is very, very complicated and there's so many ways. Precious to it is to find those little things and find that happiness and find things that are bigger than your current situation.
Speaker 1:It doesn't take money to find that, nah nah, nah, I mean like, I don't mean hijack your interview, but look at me, man. Like you know, my life was taken. Not my life, but like a lot of part, a big part of my life was taken when I was in the military just doing what I had to do you know I wasn't like running streets.
Speaker 2:I wasn't doing anything bad, but you know things happen.
Speaker 1:You just gotta. You know I wasn't like running the streets, I wasn't doing anything bad, but you know things happen. You just got to find outlets. You know, like give back, like you were talking about give back. What I try to do is give back with the podcast. I'm not that great of an interviewer but you know like it's Nice.
Speaker 3:I think you're doing a phenomenal job, big boy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's uh. Yeah, it's tough, but I want to get better and better at it you know, and the big thing is is giving back to the community and letting them know like we can go down the rabbit hole. We can talk about you know this 1960s, and then we can talk about the present and we can talk about your perfect world. You want and I want that perfect world too, man, and hopefully it's like the same thing, because my thing is giving back with my voice.
Speaker 2:That's all I got right now, man.
Speaker 1:I can't move. You know, I had to learn this life when I was 20 years old man. Yeah, 20 years old man. I had to learn all these new things, like things I never even thought of. You know, and I'm grateful to talk to people like you your philanthropy is like incredible man. It really is and like go back to that.
Speaker 1:It's all about finding an outlet, finding something that makes you happy, and I think your mom played a huge role in your philanthropy just by the car, because she was giving she, she worked her, she worked her tail off to get that car right, riding her bike and stuff.
Speaker 3:People don't know about that it was my mom and dad, both of them man. Both of them taught me the way man they did it together. They also showed me what like a strong couple kind of looks like. So I always wanted to kind of find a mate that kind of embodied what I saw in my parents and that's what I found in my wife. You know what I mean? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Nice.
Speaker 1:So let's not be grim anymore. You got a fest coming up called Duke's Blues Fest. Talk about that. Hold on.
Speaker 2:I had a question earlier. We're going to get right into that. I was going to ask you about your parents. You say that you do these generous things because you've seen your mom and dad doing it. Yeah, but I find it hard to believe that every single time you do something nice for someone, you're only doing it because your mom and dad did those things.
Speaker 3:No no no, no.
Speaker 2:I'm leading up to the question, so I wanted to ask you you know, like what do you feel when you do something nice for someone? Or like what kind of drive does it give you? Or like you know, like what are some emotions that go through your head, just inside, that usually people don't?
Speaker 3:The emotions that go through me. I mean love, man, you know what I'm saying. Like love, I just I think that's something I think we're lacking in the world man is love. I think that sometimes when you do something, man, like you don't got to know the person.
Speaker 3:And you know, I had a few of my partners, man, growing up, and they used to kind of, you know, bust my balls and give me a hard time. They were like, oh man, there goes Duke giving a dollar to the guy on the home, or like giving a dollar to the bum on the street or giving this to them, and they were like, man, you know that he's gonna do this or do that with it. And I was like, man, I don't care, man, that's between them and god. All I know is, you know, when I shake the person's hand or said, hello, how you doing, or whatnot, or give him a cheeseburger or whatever, or whatever the decision situation may have been, um, we shared a moment in that moment. You know what I mean and I think sometimes I tell folks, man, like you never know what a person's going through in life. You know what I'm saying. And sometimes a person can be on their last string man. And then just by smiling at somebody or shaking a person's hand or sharing a story, or sharing a story man.
Speaker 2:Giving some food.
Speaker 3:Giving some food man, or sharing a cold drink man with somebody. It may seem so little to some people, but stuff like that never seems little to me. And if a person, when a person gives me something, it could be a bottle of water, man, I'm thankful. You know what I mean. Yeah, I'm thankful, man. Man, I don't take nothing for granted. You know what I'm saying. I think I just try to remind myself of that too and I try to pass it on to people that surround me. Like you know, you got to love. You got to love, love hard and love strong man. And I'm not saying everything in life is going to be peaches and cream, you know what I'm saying, but you just got to keep pushing forward for that love man. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Second question, on this note, you know you provide all these acts of service. It's naturally in you, yeah, and how do you feel when?
Speaker 3:people provide those acts of services for you. It's cool, man, like I, really. It's one of those things. Sometimes I'm taken back. You know what I'm saying. You know, like I remember, man, man, my wife and I it was probably about 10 years ago we wanted to provide Thanksgiving dinners to 20 families. I said I'm going to feed 20 families. And I told people, I said, man, I put it on Facebook. I said, I don't care where you're at, you know what I mean. You send me some families that are in need and I'm going to get them a turkey, a ham, some full pans of food. Y'all going to have a Thanksgiving the way you should have a Thanksgiving. You know what I mean. Y'all going to have a Thanksgiving the way you should have a Thanksgiving. You know what I mean. And we did that for Christmas too.
Speaker 3:But that year, man, we went to West Aurora and it was a Hispanic family man. It was probably about, I think, the husband and wife. They didn't really speak too much, their English wasn't that well, but it was kind of like broken and whatnot. But they're real nice people, man, and they had seven kids. And I remember we just showed up to their house because they had a three-bedroom house it was a ranch house, you know in Aurora and all the kids gave me a handmade card, said Thank you, mr Chef. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:And I still got the cards, man, I was taken back from that, you know what I mean. Like that, that just kind of it made me feel like it's a reminder that, hey, we're all small man, you know what I'm saying. It's a reminder that, hey, we're all small man, you know what I'm saying. You know, it's kind of like that meant so much to them and it meant so much to me to be with them in that moment. You know what I'm saying and I thought that was really cool you know, and I think that stuff like that keeps me going.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, yeah, hell yeah. Love is free, fellas. You hear all this Love always wins. You hear all this Acts of services don't cost a thing. Love always wins All it takes is time and love, Big facts and that return, that gratification you feel inside your soul. It's priceless.
Speaker 3:All right, let's get to the fest.
Speaker 1:Max, let's get to the fest, the main event we got a photographer in the back tiger woods fellas, this is my boy, justin.
Speaker 2:Hey, justin, nice to meet you guys we're gonna keep the interview rolling and we'll get acquainted. We got we got 21 minutes of the podcast. Justin, thank you for coming, but uh, yeah, let's get into the main event yeah, main event, so duke's event, so Duke's Blues Fest.
Speaker 3:Yeah so Duke's Blues and Barbecue Fest. That's also presented by our nonprofit. We have a nonprofit in which my wife and I started because we wanted to give back to the community. And then people were like man, you know, like all these acts you guys do, you can start a nonprofit for that and then people can donate money to you. You know, you know stuff like that and I was like man, that sounds phenomenal. Um, so we started that a few years back. Man, we give out scholarships through like a non-profit. Um, we provided when covid hit, we gave all of the uh restaurant workers in East and West and Dundee, some in Carpenter'sville. Everybody got a check, everybody that was in need got a check. You know what I'm saying. And that was something we did through our nonprofit, which was hella cool. And then we started this Blues Fest and it's free because growing up as a kid, like I was saying, we didn't have much, but I never missed anything.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm saying Because my mom and dad they bust their ass, man. We never went without anything. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:We never missed a meal. We didn't have much, but we never missed anything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:But I remember that feeling. We used to go down to the Taste of Chicago when I was a kid and it's going back and forth to Chicago and out to the flea market and stuff and I remember my dad only had X amount of money, so sometimes he'd make that tight call Like man, I really want to go to this festival. But, man, if it costs $5, $10 a person to get in there, man, that's meal money. You know what I'm saying. So maybe we can't go this year or something like that, in which that's cool, you know what I'm saying. But I also think it really would have been a good experience for him to take us to some of those other places. You know what I'm saying. But sometimes you got to make that call Like man, do I pay for the submission or do I buy them something to eat after we walked, you know, downtown Chicago for an hour or so? You know what I'm saying. And um, and I remember that feeling, so, so growing up I was like man, you know what, and my wife used to have the same thing too. Her dad, um, he was a firefighter in Carpentersville. Ever, ever since, you know, um, he's part of my fat five. You know, I also give him credit too. You know, he, he um helped me through my teenage years as far as like, because he was a phenomenal artist and I was an artist too, an artist too. So we used to kind of connect. He kind of showed me some different avenues, you know some things to kind of approach.
Speaker 3:But when we started the fest I said, man, this is all free. You know what I'm saying. It it's like you can decide to buy food if you want to, but as far as coming into the festival, come to the festival, man, there's no admissions or nothing. That's beautiful. You know what I'm saying. Because if you come into the festival, I don't want you paying money to get into the entrance.
Speaker 3:I want you to pay money if your daughter wants some cotton candy, or she wants a cheeseburger, or you know a hot dog, or you know, if daddy wants to get a cold beer, you know a date night, I want y'all to spend your money on that. You know what I'm saying. And with our nonprofit and with the sponsorships, you know, and once again, thanks to all my sponsors for the Dukes and Blues Fest, it's been a blessing, but that helps us to make sure that we have enough resources to kind of take care of everything else Take care of the musicians we got coming out, take care of my sound guy, take care of my security. Taking care of everything you know. That's amazing yeah.
Speaker 2:I love how you said that People aren't just, it's not just a fest anymore. This is something he created because when he was a kid his dad sometimes couldn't get in from the admission fee. So, he evolutionized and he did it his own way and he said you know what? Everyone's getting in for free, Everybody's coming in, that's power.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks, man.
Speaker 1:That shit, dude, I love that, All right thanks, man, I want to clap too, but I can't Come on click with the clap Click with the clap.
Speaker 3:Nah, that's too Nah.
Speaker 1:Max, I can dig it, man. No, that's just wonderful, man, honestly. And it all happened because of you witnessing it as a kid and you're like I'm going to change.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I'm going to change.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that's what it's about. You know, Change is good. You know what I'm saying. I think that we all struggle with change. Change is not always bad. You know what I'm saying. I think if I had to define change, I would say change is misunderstood. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%, because sometimes things change and people don't agree with it, and some people do.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But that's life, I mean, that's how it's always going to be, unfortunately, but hopefully going forward and all the people listening can understand that love always wins. Giving back it feels more amazing than anything else?
Speaker 1:yeah, from this whole podcast, that's all I literally heard from you man, giving back, giving back, giving back. Your family giving back, giving back, and then you like trying to make changes so people can enjoy the things that like admission tickets and all this other stuff. You're so humble but you're so popular at the same time, like I said, you have like a meeting, like an interview with WGN coming up right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. You know, on the 27th I think it's going to be exciting. You know what I'm saying. I think it's. You know I think it's going to be exciting. You know what I'm saying, I think it's. You know this is my first time on like live news. You know, I've been in the newspaper quite a bit. People have wrote up some nice articles about me, you know, and I'm thankful for those too. You know, but I think going to WGN is kind of cool because I like to hang around, you know, at diet bars with a few old timers and everybody loves WGN. So it's like, you know, it's life exciting. Hey, dude, you're going to see me on the big screen, you know what.
Speaker 2:I'm saying, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, I like how your story is basically based on you growing up and seeing you and your family just giving back and life is rewarding you, life is returning the favor for you.
Speaker 3:God is good, man God is good.
Speaker 1:It's nice to hear. What's rewarding to you is not a new car or a new house or a new watch you know like Derek was saying. It's making a difference.
Speaker 3:And also like you know something that you know. I think people sometimes lose sight of man. Like life can be a lot sometimes, man, but it's a blessing to wake up and open your eyes up. You know what I mean. It's a blessing to wake up and open your eyes up. You know what I mean. It's a blessing, I think. Sometimes, even with your situation. I really admire you Because I think that sometimes a person could have just gave up you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:Been a situation Because I remember for me I used to be an athlete and things like that nature and I was around different athletes and and I know for us like for for somebody to get injured, you know, like you know you rip, you blow out your knee or your shoulder you know what I mean or you hurt your back and that's a big, a big like. It brings you down because you're so used to having that right, so it's taken away from you right, and that puts a lot of people into a down spot. And then in your situation you got into the bad accident that put you in this situation and you're still striving and pushing forward and like giving back and I really appreciate the sponsorship that you gave us to give back to, like our nonprofit, you know, to help off with the blues fest and like, like, honestly, man, I think that you have a heart of gold. You know what I'm saying. Like I think that you're a real. I told your mom when I first met you you're a good dude man. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:Like you're a good dude man. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:I appreciate that man. You're a good dude man. You know what I'm saying. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you and hopefully you know me. Giving back to you is going to give back to other people and then other people are going to have some bellies full, Right, you know what I mean. Got to feed the babies? Yeah, feed them. Give back to other people and then other people are going to have some bellies full, right, you know I mean gotta feed the babies.
Speaker 3:Yeah, feed them.
Speaker 1:You gotta feed the baby, so duke seward, seward, seward duke seward uh duke seward, if you can look into which camera, just go look into that camera and say you're living a life of accident and give a message to the people. Indeed.
Speaker 3:Message to the people.
Speaker 2:Not too much pressure.
Speaker 3:Nah, that's not right. Man, be kind and stop sometime. Say hello, greet a stranger, shake somebody's hand who you don't know, and just no matter what, just keep spreading the love. You know what I mean yeah and uh life to the max, to the max you've been living life to the max and Dave, I'm working on it, man, I'm working on it, you're working on it. You've been living life. So, actually, and Dave, I'm working on it, man.
Speaker 1:I'm working on it. You're working on it, you've been yeah, very nice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, duke's Blues and BBQ Fuss. So, uh as uh. June 7th and 8th um, we're still working on the 9th, but 7th and 8th for sure it's gonna be Friday June 7th and Saturdayth for sure it's going to be Friday June 7th and Saturday June 8th. And the music lineup that we have is phenomenal. We have New Blue, cherie Reed, mama Bear from Mattis Award and Mama Bear. We have Nick Jimmy Nick and we have so have Nick Jimmy Nick, and we have so many, so many more more beautiful, beautiful, beautiful musicians, man, and I just love to listen to them play. Man, I'm like a big kid. When I see somebody playing me, playing instruments, I get all googly inside.
Speaker 3:Nice, that's deep rooted from Mississippi from Mississippi Queen of the Delta, queen of the Delta.
Speaker 1:Queen of the Delta, yeah, and you can catch me there, because I'll be there for sure.
Speaker 3:And Dave.
Speaker 1:Let's see Quav Arthur's going to show up to Duke Blue's.
Speaker 2:BBQ Fest. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Let's see what's rocking. Hopefully there's going to be some good barbecue, because you know.
Speaker 3:Hey Max, there's going to be some good barbecue.
Speaker 1:Hey.
Speaker 3:Max, I'm going to make the barbecue extra special. For you, big boy, extra salty. For you, big boy, extra special, I'm going to make sure that the barbecue is to the max, to the max.
Speaker 1:So for everybody listening, we'll leave the link in the description below of the Duke Blues BBQ Fest. And this has been Life for the Next Podcast. I'm paralyzed from a neck down, breathing through a machine, but that doesn't stop me from following my dreams and doing what I love to do. I don't got any excuse to not have a shishirin.