Growing Destinations
Your go-to source for insightful discussions on destination development. The Growing Destinations podcast delves into the strategies, challenges, and successes that drive community growth. Each episode features in-depth conversations with local and national experts, uncovering universal themes and innovative practices that can be applied to any city or region.
Growing Destinations
The Trombone Trailblazer
John Sievers of Rochester, Minnesota is a talented trombonist and a key figure in Rochester's vibrant music scene. He's a front man for several bands and hosts monthly jazz jams. Recently honored with the prestigious Sandy Keith Downtown Impact Award, John has been recognized for his significant contributions to Rochester's cultural landscape. His story is one of creativity, community and connection.
The Growing Destinations podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Learn more about Minnesota's third largest city, which is home to Mayo Clinic and features wonderful recreational and entertainment opportunities, by visiting experiencerochestermncom.
Speaker 2:One thing that always amazes me is like the power that music has in a movie or something like that to change the way that you're feeling. And I think that's one thing that's kind of universal about music is that it has a big effect on our emotional states. You know, things like tempo, harmony, melody all those things have a way of making you feel something, and that power of music to make you feel something is something that I think makes it universal.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast, where we take a deep dive into destination development and focus on a wide range of topics, from tourism and entertainment to economic development and entrepreneurism and much more. I'm your host, bill Von Bank. Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with a truly multifaceted guest. John Seavers of Rochester, minnesota, is a talented trombonist and a key figure in Rochester's vibrant music scene. He's a frontman for several bands and hosts monthly jazz jams. Recently honored with the prestigious Sandy Keith Downtown Impact Award, john has been recognized for his significant contributions to Rochester's cultural landscape. His story is one of creativity, community and connection. John Sievers, welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast. Thanks for having me. Glad to be here, john. We have a lot to talk about today, specifically around music, but before we do that, can you share a bit about yourself and your background?
Speaker 2:I grew up in Davenport, iowa, as part of the Quad Cities and actually I met my wife there as well, beth, and we were kind of high school sweethearts and we moved up here to Rochester when she got a gig at the Mayo Clinic and that's kind of what brought us to town here. She's a clinical nurse specialist there and clinic and that's kind of what brought us to town here. She's a clinical nurse specialist there. And once we moved here we had a couple of beautiful children, eleanor and Abigail, and all of us are kind of just excited to be part of the Rochester community.
Speaker 1:Well, you have a passion for music, which is evident in everything you do, at least from my perspective. When did you first discover your love for music?
Speaker 2:I grew up in a very musical household. My mother who, unfortunately, celeste, is not with us anymore was a pianist and we had like two pianos at my house and we had pretty much like every instrument under the sun in our house, everything from like tenor saxophones to hammer, dulcimers and organs and just everything. And so I was kind of just exposed to a lot of like actual live music performances. My dad plays guitar and then, you know, so I was kind of just exposed to a lot of like actual live music performances my dad plays guitar and then, you know, I got involved in like the school music program. So in the summer of fifth grade I started to learn how to play trombone, and actually the reason why I play trombone is because my parents found a trombone for $25 at a garage sale, and so it was like amidst the arsenal of instruments at our house, and so that's what I picked, and I haven't looked back and haven't regretted it.
Speaker 2:I've enjoyed it. It's always nice to have an instrument that is versatile and can be used in lots of things.
Speaker 1:You've been a key figure in Rochester's music scene for some time. What drives your continued passion for performing and being involved in the local music community? That experience.
Speaker 2:I remember in high school I played in this band called the Tonsil Snails. It was like a rock band and we had like a horn section with it and you know we'd I was on student Senate in high school so we'd hire ourselves to like play at the school, dances and stuff. I mean just like being in that sort of situation just made me really fall in love with making music and being part of a group of people who are doing something together collectively and that's like really made me kind of love music. As a trombone player Like you, can't really make music without others being part of that process and just like that. That collective nature of creativity is something that I really love about music and the way that it brings in people that maybe would have never crossed paths with each other otherwise, but it brings them together and allows them to communicate in a way that's just for me exciting and exhilarating and that's like what makes me really passionate about music, and Rochester has a lot of it.
Speaker 2:We do, and I don't know if that's always recognized, how much we have of it, but there is a lot of music here and there's like some really interesting and discreet musical pockets. I mean, one thing that I've been doing for I think it's almost been 15 years now is this monthly jazz jam, and I'm always surprised at the people who I've never met before, that show up at this jazz jam and then they get out their instrument and they are just incredible musicians. And then you know there's a huge blues scene here, which is another pocket, and there's a lot of young bands that are coming up. There's hip-hop, there's traditional Irish music, there's all different sorts of music here. I mean, I'm just always stunned by the amount of music that's in Rochester. Tell us about the band that you front.
Speaker 2:That's kind of a tough question because I front a couple different bands. The band that I've actually been fronting the longest in Rochester is called the Deceivers and it's spelled like my last name, so D-S-I-E-V-E-R-S, so it's kind of a play on that. And that group is a jazz group and it can range from being just two of us, like me, and a courting instrument, like oftentimes piano, or it could be a trio or a quartet. So that's the group that I kind of maybe play with the most.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of other groups I play with as well, one of which lately I've really enjoyed is Loudmouth Brass, and I enjoy making music with that. It's kind of more like a pop New Orleans group, so it's instrumental but we do like originals but also pop covers in kind of a New Orleans street style and that's a pretty high energy band. I really like that. There's all kinds of other projects that I'm involved in as well Just getting ready to be part of a album release for a band called Amateur which is coming up at Thesis Beer Project shortly. So I'm excited about that. And basically, if there is a way for me to be playing trombone, I usually am excited about taking it and jump on any instance of availability that I can to do that Music is often described as a universal language.
Speaker 1:What do you think it is about music that makes it such a powerful voice in connecting people and communities?
Speaker 2:I think that it's kind of hard to just get through daily life without an interaction with music. It's all around us in ways that we don't even necessarily think about. I mean, one thing that always amazes me, like the power that music has in a movie or something like that to change the way that you're feeling, and I think that's one thing that's kind of universal about music is that it has a big effect on our emotional states. You know, things like tempo, harmony, melody all those things have a way of making you feel something and that power of music to make you feel something is something that I think makes it universal. So even if you don't necessarily understand the words to a song because it's being sung in another language or something, oftentimes you still get that emotional content that the song has, and some of that's definitely culturally learned, but there still is some universality in like that emotional effect that music has.
Speaker 1:in my opinion, as both a musician and an English professor, how do you see the relationship between language and music?
Speaker 2:For myself, I think the things the two, language and music are closely connected. So I have a doctoral degree in English literature from the U of M and my PhD dissertation was all about siren music and how it was being used by Elizabethan poets and authors to talk about their interactions with both their patrons and New World exploration, which is a mouthful. But in doing that kind of research, I'm looking at how language and music interact in a way that creates meaning and the two play off of each other. Some of us listen to instrumental music, but most of us like to listen to music that has lyrics. I mean, those two things just go together and they make meaning together. So I definitely think that they're closely related things.
Speaker 1:Tagging onto that, looking at your dual roles as both a musician and a professor, what do you think the arts, whether music or literature, contribute to personal and community development?
Speaker 2:For me, personal and community development in a lot of ways, I think, depends on happiness. I think that individuals and communities develop the best when they can find a way to be happy. I think that, like both kind of discovering new things and play are essential parts to happiness, and I think that creativity is the key behind both of those. You have to be creative in order to play well. You have to be creative in order to discover new things, and I think music is a way to encourage you to be creative, and the arts is a way to encourage you to be creative, and so those things help develop our community, because it lets people find outlets to play and to discover new things, and that's what, in my opinion, leads to community growth Because you are so active in the music scene.
Speaker 1:How do you balance your time between performing booking acts, teaching and engaging with the community?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's difficult, I mean, and you know, throw on top of there, just like, you know, getting the groceries and hanging out with my wife and seeing my kids and making sure that I'm nurturing them. I mean it's hard to do all that stuff and there's definitely days where I think like, oh you know, two months ago, when I agreed to play these three gigs today, I probably should have maybe pulled back on one of them. But you know, it's just a balancing act and you do it because or I do it because I love it. Right, you know, I mean, I like all those things. I like giving other musicians the opportunity to play, so that's where the booking comes in. You know I like nurturing people and their creativity. That's where the teaching comes in. You know, I really like performing with other people. So I'm fighting to give as much time to all those things as I can and it's not easy, it's difficult.
Speaker 1:Well, you've likely faced challenges in your musical journey. We've just spoken to some of that. Can you share some of the obstacles you've encountered and how you've overcome them while maintaining your passion for music?
Speaker 2:One obstacle that I went through in my journey was I went to my undergraduate college, northern Iowa, thinking that I was going to be a music teacher and halfway through that program I was like you know, I love music, but I don't think I'm ever going to be the person to teach someone how to play bassoon. Like that's just not going to work for me. So I switched gears and I you know I at the time I made a promise to myself. Like you know I. At the time I made a promise to myself, like you know I. You know I'm not going to be a music teacher, but I am still going to find a way to make music be a part of my life. So that was like one kind of adverse thing.
Speaker 2:More recently and people in the community maybe remember this I came home late from a gig one night and I didn't take my trombone out of the trunk of my car and didn't lock my car and someone actually stole my trombone and I put a little post on social media saying hey, someone walked away with my trombone.
Speaker 2:They also walked away with a suitcase full of deceiver t-shirts, which I don't know what they wanted with those, but they probably didn't know what was in the suitcase. But so my trombone was like gone for six months and I've had that trombone since I was in college, so it's been like kind of an extension of myself and I was definitely like that was traumatic for me. And then eventually it came back to me, which I never thought would happen. Like six months later my buddy of mine who's working in a pawn shop said John, your instrument just came into the pawn shop and then a couple days after that the police dropped it off at my house and I got it back. I guess my opinion is that when you're facing adversity, all you can do is just try to make the best of whatever situation that you're presented with. And that's easy to say on a microphone and hard to do in real life, but you just try to stay as positive as you can and if you put positivity out into the world, hopefully it comes back.
Speaker 1:And in my life so far, I've been lucky, and that usually has been the case. What are some of the most memorable?
Speaker 2:performances you've been part of. I've been part of some really interesting performances here in Rochester. I was lucky enough to perform with Martha Reeves and the Vandellas actually a Down by the Riverside concert. They were one of the headliners and they hired a local horn section. So Martha Reeves is, just like you know, a very important person in the soul music. Everyone has covered music that she's played. So that was super cool to be part of that. And actually Prince was in the Rochester Civic Center for a religious convention at the time and wanted to meet Martha Reeves and like came out during the sound check to meet her. So that was pretty, that was pretty exciting.
Speaker 2:Actually, another down by the Riverside concert that was cool that I got to be part of was the 10,000 Maniacs played and they hired a horn section locally and I got to play with them, which was an awesome opportunity. I said I was the 10,001st Maniac, which was kind of cool, but you know I really do like some of those big attention sorts of performance opportunities are great. But I also really love, just like you know, sitting in with a local performer who's letting me sit in with them, or being at the jazz jam at Forger Brewery and you know, meeting someone for the first time on stage and making music with them those are super exciting and memorable to me. I love all those sorts of experiences.
Speaker 1:Beyond performing, you've been involved in booking and organizing musical events. What is it about these behind-the-scenes roles that appeal to you?
Speaker 2:What really appeals to me about booking music is just giving people an opportunity to perform. I really love music and I feel like I have quite a few opportunities to perform and I've worked hard to make those opportunities for myself. But also it's difficult sometimes to have those opportunities, so I like to try to provide opportunities for others to do that. So that's kind of really where the booking comes into play. And also I'm really an advocate for like jazz music.
Speaker 2:For instance, when I started the Rochester Jazz Festival, that was one of the first times where I was like booking music and part of the impetus behind that was I was trying to find a way to create more opportunities for jazz in town. Right now I'm really excited about 1928 Cocktails and Bites, which is upstairs from Bebop, and I've been booking some jazz there as well and I'm just like excited to have more opportunities for this kind of music that maybe doesn't get as much attention as I'm just like excited to have more opportunities for this kind of music that maybe doesn't get as much attention as I would like it to certainly. So it's like a way to promote and provide different sorts of performers and different sorts of types of music and ability to have a showcase Really. That's kind of what is driving me in that.
Speaker 1:The Rochester Downtown Alliance recently recognized you with the prestigious Sandy Keith Downtown Impact Award. The award is given to those who inspire urban growth and community development. How do you see live music contributing to the vibrancy and growth of Rochester?
Speaker 2:I was humbled and shocked to receive that award and I kind of felt like I was getting a pat on the back just for doing what I love to do.
Speaker 2:So that was nice and greatly appreciated by me.
Speaker 2:I think like live music and the arts in general, not just live music.
Speaker 2:My wife is a visual artist, she's an encaustic artist, both my children are involved in the arts, but I think that live music in particular, you know, brings people together, like I've said, and it brings them downtown, it gives them a reason to enjoy their life and to celebrate and it makes them go to businesses that maybe they wouldn't know even existed but they're drawn to because of the live music opportunities that are there. I've been having a lot of fun this summer working with the Rochester Downtown Alliance and Fresh Roll Arts to organize some kind of like pop-up music performances in Peace Plaza, called Music on the Plaza, you know, and we're having music there every day of the week and it's amazing and every time I'm down there I just like look around and see all the people who are out on their lunch break maybe enjoying this type of community activity together and it's the music that's kind of holding the glue, that's holding that together in my opinion Looking ahead, how do you envision your relationship with music evolving?
Speaker 2:I hope that I, in some capacity, way, shape or form, will be working with music my entire life. You know I'm always trying to find new opportunities for myself to share music. One of the things I've been doing recently that I'm super excited about is I've been just sharing some local southeastern Minnesota music on Kathy Werzer's Minnesota Now show on NPR, and that's something that I've just been excited about, like saying, oh, here's some music that maybe you haven't heard and introducing it to a wider community. So that's like one of the ways that I've been growing recently. In terms of what's going to happen next week, I don't know, but I hope there's something exciting and I'm looking forward to whatever it might be.
Speaker 1:Most likely. If it's music, you're part of it. John Seavers, it's really great to hear and feel your passion for music and community in Rochester, minnesota. Thank you for being our guest on the Growing Destinations podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for having me, Bill. It's been a pleasure and I hope everyone who's listening has a great rest of the day everyone who's listening has a great rest of the day.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in to the Growing Destinations podcast and don't forget to subscribe. This podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Find out more about Rochester, minnesota, and its growing arts and culture scene it's international culinary flavors and award-winning craft beer by visiting experiencerochestermncom.
