"The Black Man Talking Emotions Podcast" Starring Dom L'Amour
"The Black Man Talking Emotions Podcast" Starring Dom L'Amour
Exploring Culture and Cuisine with Sam Niehaus
Dom L'Amour speaks with good friend Sam Niehaus AKA @samuel_henry_niehaus about Moving across the country, working on yourself, my struggles with being a Vegan and so much more.
What sparks a monumental life change? In today's episode, we explore just that with Sam Niehaus, who left the familiar streets of St. Louis for the rugged beauty of Denver. Sam's story is a testament to the transformative power of embracing new adventures—from snowboarding down Colorado's powdery slopes to soul-rejuvenating hikes through Mesa Verde. His move wasn't just about changing geography but about nurturing a newfound love for the outdoors and rekindling his musical passions by joining a local band.
Engaging on social media isn't just a modern necessity; it's a lifeline for musicians and cultural enthusiasts alike. In our conversation, we unpack the significance of digital support in amplifying artistic voices and fostering a sense of community. Sam and I touch on the enriching experiences that come from stepping beyond one's comfort zone, highlighting how diverse adventures can expand our understanding and appreciation of different cultures and our own country. Leadership, in many ways, is born from these very explorations, and seeing friends grow through such journeys is truly inspiring.
Our chat takes a delicious turn as we reminisce about the culinary gems of St. Louis, from savory pork steaks to the mouth-watering delights at local spots like Venice Cafe and the Gramophone. We also tackle the personal challenges and rewarding aspects of transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, sharing stories of family dynamics, societal judgments, and the joys of discovering new foods. Wrapping up, Sam and I reflect on our individual paths to happiness and success, emphasizing the importance of supportive relationships and the relentless pursuit of our passions. This episode is a heartfelt celebration of growth, community, and the beauty of embracing change.
Opening quote: Robert Breault
Opening and Closing Theme song: Produced by Dom L'Amour
Transition Music from Mad Chops Vol. 1 and Mad Chops Vol. 2 by Mad Keys
and
from Piano Soul Vol.1(Loop Pack) by The Modern Producers Team
Featured song: "It's True" Preformed June 24th 2014 by The Strange Owls in St. Louis at the Gramophone. Featuring Dom L'Amour on Vocals and Sam Niehaus on Drums.
Cover art by Studio Mania: Custom Art @studiomania99
Please subscribe to the podcast, and give us a good rating. 5 stars please and thank you. Follow me on @doml_amour on Instagram. Or at
Yeah well, first things first I can open my mouth and speak up.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you know, say like, hey, like I've lived in St Louis, I lived in I'm putting in quotation marks the hood. Like I've seen it. I'm lucky, I understand, like as a white man, like I have the jackpot here in the United States, so what I need to do is at least open my mouth because people will listen to me. I am an ambassador, the way I look at it.
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, and anyone else who is listening. My name is Dom L'Amour and you are listening to the Black man Talking Emotions podcast. On today's episode, I speak with my guy, sam Niehaus, about moving across the country, working on ourselves, my struggles with being a vegan and so much more. Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
Speaker 1:I gotta say what an honor and a privilege it is to be able to do this. This is my first.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm excited. It's going to be fun to have you, because I know you're going to have a great perspective on everything and damn, I just miss you.
Speaker 1:It's good to see you. Yeah, likewise.
Speaker 2:Well, let's jump into it, then there's no need to play around. Let's just get to it. She was good to see you. Yeah, likewise. Well, let's jump into it, then there's no need to play around.
Speaker 1:Let's just get to it, let's go, let's rock and roll.
Speaker 2:Since you left St Louis, you've been on this journey of self-discovery. You've been on this journey of kind of you're trying new things. You're in this new atmosphere. You go snowboarding, you do so much stuff Yoga now I hear, and I'm just fascinated on what kind of drove you in that direction. Did you feel like you had to leave St Louis to kind of discover yourself? Did you just want something new? What got you on this journey? What got you really branching out and doing different things?
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I think St Louis was, it is and always will be home. I mean, my best friends still are there, some of my best friends. I have great friends out here in Denver as well. But I felt a little stuck. You know, there's not really much to do per se in St Louis Eating and drinking is great, yeah. But I mean, as you know, like I felt a little like there were some bad habits forming. I was bored man. You know, I got out here and I had been traveling out to Denver or Colorado at least once every year, whether or not it was just to see a show or to be on tour.
Speaker 1:I came out here one summer and I caught up with my friend Justice Lacewell. We were in a band together in college. We went to a show, we went to Red Rocks, we saw Motet and Modestky, martin and Wood and Wolfpack. It was a great show. And we went back to his jam spot afterwards and we started jamming and he was just like dude, I need a drummer in my band, do you want to move out? And I was like yeah, I'm not doing shit in St Louis, you know, let's go. So I finished up a contract at work and moved out in the summer. It was near the end of summer. What was that like 2017, I believe, yeah, landed here, like I'm on my feet, you know, and I got a good job going for me. Now we're still making music and playing for love. It Like good group of friends out here. You know, as soon as I got out here, I immediately hit the mountains. I mean, I was driving up in the mountains and hiking and trail running every weekend. You know climbing, you know doing 14ers out here.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think I always knew I loved the outdoors, but now I could like really do it and harness it and like see some cool stuff, man. I mean, the mountains out here are beautiful.
Speaker 2:It's so different too. Like you know, we grew up in Missouri and they say the Ozarks, and you have these old mountains, these old, small, but they are more like hills, and you get this beautiful landscape. You can really find some incredible hikes and in waterfalls and all this great stuff. In Missouri you can't. But out of all the states, I always say Utah was maybe the prettiest state I've been to. But Western Colorado was incredible.
Speaker 2:Yes, everything we did in Western Colorado when Adrian and I were traveling cross country was just mind blowing and incredible. And I had an opportunity to go through Western Colorado before, but it was during the wintertime, so we took the route through Wyoming instead of going through western Colorado because of the snow. So when I got the chance to drive through it, I jumped on the opportunity I had to and it was drop-dead gorgeous. Mesa Verde was an incredible adventure for us as well, just seeing all of the landscape, seeing some of the towns that people live in, all the ranches, everything landscape, seeing some of the towns that people live in, all the ranches, everything. The sunset in Colorado was some of the most beautiful paintings I could have ever seen in person. It was incredible.
Speaker 1:It's incredible. Where else, where were you, mesa Verde? And where else?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did Mesa Verde. We were going to do Black Canyon, so we stayed in a small town near Black Canyon. Didn't get a chance to do it, but just drove through that national forest, yeah, along the river. What's the river called? Again that? Uh, yes, the gunnison river. Yeah, yeah, we were driving along that. We took so many stops on the side just being like, hey, let's just stop on the highway here and it's so amazing and that's like some.
Speaker 1:For some people, that's enough. That's all you need to do, just to experience that and witness it. It's breathtaking for sure. Yeah, and that's a beautiful area too, gunnison.
Speaker 2:Yeah, For most people that move from St Louis, people that I know that I've spoken to about this I feel like we kind of have the same mentality. I'm curious if it's the same with you. I've been everywhere. I've been able to live in Connecticut for a little bit. I've been able to live in LA, Chicago.
Speaker 2:Now I'm in Georgia and as a kid I was always told Dominique, St Louis will always be here. You can always come back. Just like you said, that's home. We can always go home. I can always find time to go back to the Green Tree Festival. I can always do that. But, with that being said, some days I feel bad. It's never because of St Louis, it's always damn. I'm missing time with my grandmother. I'm missing time with my mother. I'm missing time with my little brothers. I come home one time and little John is this tall, but then I come back and he's this grown man who has a deeper voice than me. It's like I miss those interactions most, but I'm not ashamed for leaving St Louis. I feel like it was one of the best moves for me to grow.
Speaker 1:Like you said, you feel trapped sometimes, I think, you know, looking at some of my friends back there and you know, god love them and I love them. But I feel like there's a little bit of this aura, you know, whenever I go back there or they think about me and they're like wow, sam, sam got out, he escaped.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, I feel like not a lot of people get those opportunities, especially in the Midwest. I know a lot of people that I love them, so I'm not going to sit here and say that they're stuck, but in a way they are a little stuck.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know they're, they're there and I do feel I came out here on a crusade and I was thinking, you know, maybe we would wind up on this topic. I felt a little traitorous when I left. It was right around the time of Mike Brown.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that was a big thing for all of us living in the city. You know like we all hit the streets and protests, and but that was right about the time that I left too, there was a thought that crossed my mind. Where I was, like I'm getting out, like I'm running you know, there's a problem that I know that especially that you're very passionate about I was like, well, I feel bad. I feel like I'm kind of just dipping out and like letting you guys fix the problem.
Speaker 2:Well, the thing is, you feel a way that most people that are like white people don't usually feel that way from St Louis. So, like you're better than most, I always, always admired you because, like you said, you are down for the cause and invested. That's something that you don't get a lot of from other people in the city. I remember that like it was yesterday, because I was about to leave St Louis, too, the night that they announced that they weren't going to do anything to the officer that killed him. I remember there was two huge protests there was one in Ferguson, of course, and then there was one on South Grand, and I lived on South Grand, so I was looking outside my window and people were marching up and down the street and I remember that, like it was yesterday, where it was like the whole city had this weird reaction.
Speaker 2:Some people were so terrified of what was going to happen and secretly, they started sending emails to different companies to hey, close early today, make sure people get home so that everyone is safe, because something might happen tonight, an announcement might happen tonight. They weren't. They were so vague on what was going on and, like you said, every time I leave and I see Black Lives Matter. I think about that started at home. That started with the stuff that was happening on the streets back in St Louis, but for me it was. I never felt like I was running from it, no matter what, everywhere you go. That's kind of the scenario. It isn't just in St Louis, sure right.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, like I said, when I moved out here, I kind of got on a little crusade. You've spent time here in Colorado. There is not much in the way of Black culture out here, or at least the way that I know it and you know it, living in Atlanta. That being said, I think there's a lot of ignorance. The definition of ignorance is just simply not knowing, because there is hardly any black culture out here, but at least it's pretty much the West Coast.
Speaker 2:When I think of Denver it felt very West Coast kind of feeling. But the difference was the diversity wasn't there. You go to LA or you go to San Francisco. It's very diverse but it still feels like a West coast city. It's just in the mountains, you know. So it makes sense that they're more progressive, but also they don't really have the conflict. So they might be progressive but they don't have the things going on which sometimes you look like you're looking at the world from like this snow globe where you're in this wonderful place and it's like everything's great but we should be doing stuff to help out there. But how can we what? What should I be doing? You know, I'm saying that's.
Speaker 1:That's kind of the way I'm thinking it might be like for you yeah, well, first things first I can open my mouth and speak up yeah and you know, say like, hey, like I've lived in st, I lived in I'm putting in quotation marks the hood, like I've, I've seen it, I'm lucky, I understand, like as a white man, like I had the jackpot here in the United States. So what I need to do is at least open my mouth because people will listen to me. I am an ambassador, the way I look at it. I work with a lot of Trump-ish people, a lot of rednecks, if you will, and I've had to ask them. Very recently.
Speaker 1:I asked a coworker of mine to not use certain language in front of me. I was very stern with him and he shut up, he listened to me and I think it's that ignorance. But nobody's had to struggle with that. Yeah, nobody's, you know, really witnessed it. And yeah, when I asked him, I was like dude, I was like don't say that in front of me, like you shouldn't say that, period, whether or not you're in front of me or not. But you know you're a grown man, so you know you're going to do what you're going to do, but stop, not, okay.
Speaker 1:And he did and I think maybe something popped in him and he realized he was like well, yeah, he's right, I'm like well, yeah, if you know I'm right, then why are you doing it?
Speaker 2:Stop. But it's the culture you know. Usually in those scenarios and, like you said, he might be ignorant to it, so he's never heard from a first-person perspective anything from an African-American. Really, it's always outside sources and usually when you get somebody that's talking that jazz to you about something that you don't know anything about, they're throwing some sauce on it. It's always like that. So some dude who's like oh, I knew there's one black feller or this guy and he did that.
Speaker 2:And the next thing, you know, this person who's never experienced anything outside of their own culture, is living through that person's perspective and that person's perspective might be flawed and the disease continues to spread. And I've said this before on the pod. But Malcolm X, he always regretted this one moment in his life where he had a white lady come up to him and ask him what can she be doing to help in the process and with civil rights, with everything? And he looked at her and said nothing and walked away. But he wrote in his autobiography that he wished he had said talk to your people, because that's your duty. They'll listen to you. In your culture, you should be informing them on the things that are incorrect and I truly believe that I always feel like I have to take a little time to say something on my Facebook or Instagram or whatever I'm on, you do a magnificent job.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it, man.
Speaker 1:So much.
Speaker 2:It's necessary.
Speaker 1:Just like what you just said. You know, like we got to just open your mouth, I don't go as far into speaking up about it as you do. That's not something I use social media platform to do. You know, maybe it's something that I could, or just I mean it's something as to do. You know, maybe it's something that I could, or just I mean, it's something as simple. As you know, I follow you on Facebook and Instagram, like. All I have to do is hit share.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:When I see your posts. You know that's not hard to do, it's pressing a button.
Speaker 2:But you know, like you said, most people don't use social media for certain reasons. Like, if I get on social media, I'm usually looking to find some type of information. I try my best to avoid the drama and once again, some people just scroll. That's the thing. Like, there's a lot of people who I talk to and they're constantly like man, I keep up with you on everything and I'll go looking through and I'm like they haven't liked any of my posts but they were telling me about these posts and it's not because they don't like it, it's not because they don't care, it's just they see it, they keep scrolling. They're not thinking oh, I got to push harder and that was great. I'm happy to see Dominique working. Happy, this, you know.
Speaker 1:That's the struggle of being a musician man. It's like yes. Like.
Speaker 2:Oh, how's your band doing? You know I'm like well that you feel like you ran away from St Louis. I don't think in my perspective you did. I feel like for me like it was always get out of St Louis for my family, get out of here. There's much better places in the world. But even then I was never scared or afraid of my hometown. I love my hometown. Every time I come home is great. But musically, every time I would be in the city doing stuff and I'll meet somebody who's been performing outside of St Louis or someone who is deeply in the industry and have influence.
Speaker 2:They always said the same thing Yo, you need to be in New York, and LA Always heard that you need to be somewhere better than this place, and so it tricked me into believing that my hometown wasn't enough. And of course, back then I felt like, in a way it kind of was. We saw Nelly, everyone saw Chingy. They saw these huge rappers become successful, but they didn't get successful because they were in St Louis. They got successful because they moved to Atlanta or they moved to New York, like they left St Louis. So we were always told get out of here. Sure, get out of here. And so we were always told get out of here, sure, get out of here and someone as talented as you.
Speaker 1:It made sense that you were going to leave. Oh, thank you.
Speaker 2:I'm tired of that. No, it does To me. That's why I don't look. I didn't look at like with the Mike Brown thing. Yes, I agree with that.
Speaker 1:I always make sure to emphasize that, make sure you understand Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'll make sure to keep. People ask me about the hometown. I tell them what it is that I feel, and I feel like that's all you can do, but your hometown has no grip on you. I honestly think no one in America should feel like they have to stay in America or this is the only place for us. It's not, it's not. This world is crazy big. There's so many places to see, and if you truly sit at home every day saying America's the greatest place in the world, yet you're not willing or interested in leaving to see what there's to offer outside of America, how can you truly talk that way about your country? How can you truly appreciate your country if you don't go somewhere where they are in poverty, where somewhere where they actually aren't able to communicate with technology or they can't get fresh water? If you aren't willing to go see that with your own eyes, how can you truly know?
Speaker 1:That's what we're talking about here. That's the ignorance. It's literally just not knowing for lack of experience.
Speaker 2:But also for lack of wanting to. That's the part that breaks my heart. There are a lot of people who could care less. Why? Why should I leave America? I know we're the best. What Uh-huh, yeah right Well you say that while you're drinking Irish whiskey You're like oh, I know America's the best, I don't need to go to Ireland.
Speaker 1:What, what are you talking about dude Irish whiskey, for sure, uh-huh, yeah Well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it baffles me, but once again I'm just proud of you and happy to see that you're on your discovery. I feel like every time I get a chance to try to advance anything within my own being, within my own mentality, within my learnings, I try and I see people like you and it makes me happy because I know that I have friends who are willing to look into other aspects of the world, try new things, explore new places, and that's important. I think that's one of the most important things we can do as humans, because we're not here forever. So when you produce another child or you're putting yourself in a position where you're in control of people as a boss, or if you're a person who's supposed to be a leader, if your experience is just a small little bubble and you have no experience outside of that, how can you really lead? How can you really know what there is to offer? How can you truly push anything onto someone without having the experiences yourself?
Speaker 1:Man, I don't think you can. I mean I'd be in. But what are we talking about here? Like leadership roles in what way? I mean you've moved a bunch. I mean I've hung out with you in Chicago when you lived there. I've hung out with you in LA. Remember having some good times in LA Good times I mean.
Speaker 1:So you know, when you're moving, moving is hard, yeah, and you really your world is kind of turned upside down. You know you have to like sell a lot of your stuff. You really have to kind of be malleable in a way, Figure it out as you go, and that was, that was a big part. You know you're talking about like personal growth. For me that was a big thing. I realized, I think, when I moved out here a lot of those bad habits that I was talking about kind of followed me and I quickly realized, you know, I was like moving to a new place like you got to learn, you got to adjust and be quick and think kind of outside the box on like how to do things. But if you have problems, if you have personal problems, they will follow you. You're not going to just move away from a problem.
Speaker 2:Nope, you got to do the work. You got to do the work on yourself.
Speaker 1:You got to think quick. You know it helps you just think critically and about yourself and you know how to socialize properly. And you know working systems, working new systems, being around different cultures. You know, like I now I'm definitely not fluent in Spanish, but I was like you know, it's like some working words. You know working Spanish phrases and words to help me communicate at work. Never would have learned that in St Louis.
Speaker 2:Which is crazy because, like South Grand is a big Mexican like area, there are a lot of Latino restaurants and performance areas and different things in that part of the city where you know, if you wanted to, you could just completely avoid it. So, like you said, you won't really learn the culture, you don't feel the need to, unless you live somewhere like the coast or you live in Texas or somewhere where you have a lot of people coming in looking for work. How will you truly experience or even need that unless you took spanish in in high school, you know? So I totally agree with you. It's very difficult to be somewhere like st louis where, if you talk to people, it's a very diverse city. That's that's the way they talk about us. We have a lot of Bosnians, we have a lot of different African-Americans. Of course we have a very big population of Asians. Of course we have so many people in St Louis. Yet it's so easy to live in St Louis and never interact with them if you don't want to, and mostly the people who are not making as much money tend to kind of be pushed together, and so you get that experience.
Speaker 2:And me, growing up on the South Side, you know, for me it's weird going back home because I lived off of Jefferson and Cherokee, so Benton Park, and back then it was not how it is now. You know, it was very much a black community, at least what I experienced when I lived there. Everyone's black around my neighborhood. I didn't see white people down there. Now I go down there and it's like so many white people down there. It's crazy, you know, but it's it's.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things where I feel like, in a way, like you said, I was fortunate to be in that community and to see those people living, to be around this area that I was always told was so dangerous.
Speaker 2:But I lived there. There were robberies, there was a lot of bad stuff going on drugs, I saw that stuff. I will fully admit that I won't say it was some paradise. But, with that being said, when you live it, when you're around it and you know how to navigate it, it's not as dangerous as people make it sound. And that's something that I feel like was a benefit to me because, no matter where I live, I just saw a friend talk about this on TikTok earlier. She was talking about how she moved to New York and her mother was so big on hey, I need to give you a weapon because when you get to New York it's going to be so dangerous, it's going to be so dangerous, and she's from the south side of St Louis. She said she moved to New York and realized oh, there's no place more dangerous than where I'm from.
Speaker 1:Yeah, really Right.
Speaker 2:And since I grew up in that area, since I was around it, I understood the signs, I knew how to navigate it. I understood not to. You know, bring attention to myself. I understood. You know, be respectful. Don't look people in the eyes if they're doing their thing.
Speaker 2:Mind your own business, right yep so you get this whole different perspective, so that when you move, it's easier for you to navigate, it's easier for you to learn, it's easier for you to grow, which is so important. And when you stay ignorant, when you stay put down and and create these illusions in your brain, it's hard for you to learn, it's hard for you to grow, it's hard for you to learn, it's hard for you to grow, it's hard for you to do anything different because you aren't willing to, because in your head you think, if I do anything I'm going to die. And then you go there and you're like, oh, these people are so nice to me.
Speaker 1:It's mind-blowing. I lived in Benton Park too for a little bit. We had that house dubbed Xanadu, and those were some kind of rough times there. We had a lot of people living in that house, and I was there for about a year maybe.
Speaker 2:Dude, I just love that Cause I lived right there, like I said, right off of Indiana, in Cherokee technically, but it was just a block away from Jefferson. You walk down the street, you're at Anheuser-Busch and Limp Brewery and all that stuff. That's the dream. I could smell the beer when you walk outside, and this is a true statement. I used to think that that was the way that neighborhoods smelled. So I was confused when I would go to Kirkwood and stuff and be like it smells different here, because I never knew, I didn't even think about the fact that I lived near a brewery, one of the biggest breweries in the world. You know, I didn't know that, you know. So it's one of those places where it was just very unique and you learned how to now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right here.
Speaker 2:I just I loved it. Sam and I go way back. I sat down and thought about it. We've been working together musically for 18 years that is crazy to say out loud, and I've known him for longer than that we've we are at two decades, I believe.
Speaker 2:Since we met. He was a year above us, so he was always the older one, but always had nothing but love for Sam. Sam never was negative. He was never an asshole to me. He never treated me any way other than like a great friend. He's an amazing person and I feel like every time I get a chance to catch up with Sam it's like no time has passed. We fall right back in line. When he met my wife, it was just a thrill because I got to introduce her to him. It was during the pandemic, so it was kind of a weird time, but he made us feel comfortable, even though it was like the first time we interacted with people outside of our own bubble. And he just has so much joy and is so excited about life. It just makes me so happy that he's in my life and I'm happy we have to do this together. I wanted to make sure that during this portion of the podcast, instead of later on, I shouted out his band make sure to go check out their new single. That's on Spotify now and also it's on Apple Music as well Justice and the Limits, which is spelled J-U-S-T-U-S and the limits. Go support them, make sure to listen to, make sure to listen to it. Make sure to listen to it whenever you get a chance to. And I just appreciate y'all checking this out and I appreciate y'all listening to the podcast. Hope all is well. Much love to you all.
Speaker 2:Bud Heavy is nothing's better than a bud heavy. I was just talking to somebody about this, so this is so off topic. They were talking about how I went to Ireland and I was telling them having a Guinness in Ireland, everyone say it's so much better. And I'm like it's not that it's better, but it is the experience. You go to a pub and there's a grandmother with her grandchild and her son and everybody's sitting at the bar. And it's like these, there's a baby sitting at the bar. Are you drinking guinness with them? That's just something you can't do in america. And they were just like is there anything like that in america? And I was like yeah, I lived in st louis and if you went to big daddy's and got a bud heavy, it tastes better there than anywhere in the world. They're like no way.
Speaker 1:You know. They have a pipeline from Anheuser-Busch to Busch Stadium right.
Speaker 2:It's the best dude Come on. I know that's a lie, but they do deliver the Budweiser straight to Big Daddy's. It's down the street, it's always colder, it's always crisper. There's no better. There's always colder, it's always crisper. I'm like there's no better. You're not wrong. There's no better.
Speaker 1:I mean, what are we going to do in St Louis? You know like we're going to go to a Cardinals game. We're going to hang out at the Oyster Bar, we're going to drink a bunch of Budweiser, and I don't know when else would we go? I would like to see Venice Cafe again. I love.
Speaker 2:Venice. I would love to go see a city game because the soccer team there seems so much. It seems like so much fun to go to those games.
Speaker 1:That's what I've heard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll see it, and I think, oh, I would love to go back.
Speaker 1:And they're good.
Speaker 2:I would love to do that. I would love to get a sandwich at the gramophone yeah always go into the loop is fun.
Speaker 2:Catch a concert at the pageant, maybe? Uh-huh, that would. That would be dope. The pageant loved it. Uh, schlafly's, give me a. Uh, you know, whatever time of the year it is, if it's later in the year, I always like to get like a raspberry coffee stout from the tap room, one of their seasonals, whatever. Oh yeah, oh yeah, I could go. Oh my god, I've never done this. I could go on and on about like a trip to st louis, like we? Um for my wedding, my mother purchased like these tours on the trolleys, so we did these trolley tours and there's this place in lafayette square where you can get some coffee. It's like good coffee, but they have the best gooey butter cake in St Louis and I like that is such a St Louis thing. It's like, oh my god, gooey butter cake.
Speaker 2:Yes, I needed it Pork steaks, toasted raviolis my pops brought me pork steaks here from St Louis and I had them in the freezer forever. I was like oh, I can't wait to cook these pork steaks.
Speaker 1:People don't get it Right occasion right.
Speaker 2:Dude. Only See, when I lived in Chicago I went to this Mexican grocery store. So the Mexican dude in the back he would always be like he remembered me. He always appreciated that I supported them because I would go grocery shopping there. They were always cheaper, they were always really nice. I was broke so I was like I'm just going to get some rice and some beans and I'm going to be fine. So I would go in there and he would make special cuts for me because I would say do y'all have pork steaks? And he was like I don't know what you're talking about. And I like showed him example of it. He was like, oh, I can do that for you. I was like cool. So he started cutting pork steaks for me specifically and he would have three pork steaks for me every time I would come in.
Speaker 1:It was the coolest. Now he's got a thing going.
Speaker 2:For me. He didn't sell it for anybody else, I bet, really I bet he did, or hopefully if he tried one at home, but he used to do it for me and it was the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 1:That is really cool. What else? So when you went there, I mean you get pork steaks like your cut of pork. What else would you get?
Speaker 2:Well, all right. So if I had money yeah, if I had money they had the best chorizo in the city Like fresh chorizo that they made and actually tubed in the place so fantastic. They like fresh chorizo that they made and actually tubed in the place so fantastic. They made tacos and everything there too, so you can go in and get straight tacos. So the el pastor tacos and the carne asadas were fantastic and their pollo was really good as well. I enjoyed. You know the soda. You know all of the sugar cane, and the mexican soda was always better there yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So I always enjoyed getting that and the tortillas they made in-house. So little stuff like that. Where now growing living in Atlanta, I can't believe I was so fortunate to have that little gym in that neighborhood. Because you moved to California and you live in St Louis or wherever you're at. Because you moved to California and you live in St Louis or wherever you're at, you don't think about how well, as a kid, as a guy bachelor, I'm just trying to eat something. So I'm not thinking fresh foods, I'm not thinking best, I'm just like give me some and eat it. But I was eating fresh ingredients. I was eating very clean food because they were making it in-house and I just I never.
Speaker 1:And it was cheaper too.
Speaker 2:Oh, and it was cheaper. So I never understood what I was doing until I left and realized oh, that was a gem. So now, when I'm here in Atlanta, we got J-Mart, which is my favorite Asian grocery store. I only go there for my ramen noodles and this, and that because I'm very particular about ramen now, but I grew up with the 10 cent ramen and it was dried, but now I'm like I only buy frozen ramen, because the frozen ramen just tastes different. I go to the Mexican restaurant. Uh, there's a Mexican grocery store around the corner from us as well, and they do the same things that the Mexican one did in Chicago, and it was. It's just so much better when they make it in house getting fresh tortillas, getting fresh flour tortillas, getting that incredible guacamole that they make there, their green sauce or their red sauce, whatever. Getting it from them they make it in house, you're supporting a local business and, on top of it, you're eating cleaner. How can you beat that?
Speaker 1:It's when everybody wins.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Why are we not doing that all the time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that goes back to what I asked you off originally, the idea of finding ways to grow, finding ways to improve your own wellbeing, your life, until I moved to California and living in St Louis and Chicago, chicago, chicago, granted, I was eating cleaner, but I still was a bachelor not thinking about my health at all, just eating whatever I could eat. By the time I got to California, I started to really look at my body and say what? What feels good, what feels bad? How can I improve it? What can I do? Oh, stop eating all this processed food and actually eat raw, good food, stuff that I know that I can grow at home, finding ways to truly put good things into my body. That will benefit me.
Speaker 2:And for me, my discovery, different than yours, leaving St Louis helped with that very much, but also having the family I have my grandmother, before she passed away, loved to grow and garden and I always used to watch her. I didn't think of it too much when I was younger, but she always ate salads and clean tomatoes and we would go apple picking with her. She was very particular about the food she was eating because she was diabetic, and for me I didn't think about it until I left where I'm like oh, I used to eat this all the time with my grandma. Oh, my ex-girlfriend. She used to grow tomatoes and they just taste different when they were grown, instead of getting them from the grocery store. And how can I continue to do this? Oh, go to farmer's markets. Oh, support this local business. Oh, okay, this is going to be better for me. This is something that's helping me. It's not something selfish. Yeah, it might be a little expensive at the farmer's market, okay, but that's worth it If I'm trying to look out for my wellbeing, if I'm trying to eat healthier, if I'm trying to do more for myself. And, of course, la.
Speaker 2:I was a vegan for a little bit, so I started to eat cleaner. I was doing yoga, I was more active I. So I started to eat cleaner, I was doing yoga, I was more active, I was pushing myself into a better direction, and that never would have happened to St Louis. St Louis is the reason why I don't think I'm a vegan still, because my parents and family pushed me away so much when I was a vegan. Talking about how you're pushing your own culture away, I heard that. I heard you're. Oh, really, oh, my God, dude, when I you're pushing your own culture away. I heard that. I heard you're oh really, oh my god, dude, when I tell you this is a horror story.
Speaker 2:When I was a vegan, the reception I got was so devastating to my mental it was hard for me to keep being a vegan because I felt like everywhere I want someone always had something to say. People would tell me oh, vegans always got to tell people that they're being vegan, that they're vegan, and I remember this happening once when I was at a restaurant saying, do you have anything that has dairy? Or there's an animal product and this and that? And instead of them being like looking out for me, they were looking at me like, oh, there he goes, talking about being a that.
Speaker 2:It's like I have to, because if I eat anything here that has dairy in it, I'm gonna have a sore stomach all night. Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna feel like crap all day tomorrow. Yeah, I have to be like I'm not doing this because I want you to feel less than anything, because I'm a v, and I'm doing it because I need to take care of me. This is something looking out for my well-being and you're upset about that. So going home was very hard what business is it of theirs?
Speaker 1:I mean what you're putting in your body, my family.
Speaker 2:I have family members who they told me their love, their love language, was making food, was looking out for family members. So if I come home and I'm like, hey, I can't eat any of your food, they were like you're telling me that? Yeah, yeah, they yeah. They were taking offense. They were looking at me saying you're doing this and you're telling us that we're wrong and you're right. And I was like, no, I'm not doing that, I'm just looking. And so, like the mental beating I took from the bullying and from the different things and, like I said, some people were just joking. Some people would come in and be like, oh, you're vegan. And it was like jokes and I saw that. But jokes on top of real criticism of someone told me that I was gonna. I don't even have kids right now. That's the worst part. When I was a vegan five years ago, someone told me your future children are going to be deprived of their culture because of your eating habits. And I'm like yo, like what? Whoa?
Speaker 2:like, like that's like not even you are you are that culture, like dude you choose to do is fine like you define, that I mean when I, when I tell you and I and I don't talk about it much anymore you kind of brought this out of me and I'm going to speak freely, because I always tell people I speak freely on the pod. But that was one of the hardest life changes that I gave up on, because I truly enjoyed being a vegan and the reason why I didn't approach it like some other people. Do Some people be like I'm not going to eat meat, I'm not going to do this, I'm not going to do that? And then they'll become a vegan and they're like I just miss cheese so much and I just eat meat so much. This, this, that.
Speaker 2:Up until the point, I moved away from LA and I was a vegan. I only just ate vegetables, grains, nuts, different type of recipes. I put together Tofu. I didn't really do substitute meat because I was like I don't want to be this guy who's like eating fake meat because I don't know. I want to just eat clean. So my diet was more vegetables, more actual food, rice food, rice, quinoa I actually ate that stuff.
Speaker 2:I didn't eat impossible meat. I didn't eat too many substitute meats at all. Field roast has a really good sausage thing. That isn't. It doesn't taste like meat, it's just a great little vegetable sausage that I love eating, and there was a restaurant called Follow your Heart in LA that had like substitute meats and stuff. So I tried it out from time to time, but my main meals were very focused on vegetables and different combinations of things, and the things that I follow were eat different colors and I became this huge fan of Pinterest because Pinterest helped me be adventurous with it. I got to try different variations I put together. I ate beets for the first time. I never had beets in my life.
Speaker 3:Beets are amazing.
Speaker 2:You know, and it was a great, great meals that I did with beets and different things like that, and so I enjoyed the adventure. I enjoy truly caring about what I was putting in my body Every time I went to the grocery store. I allowed it like extra 30 minutes because I wasn't just going in grabbing shit and leaving. I was going in looking at the back of the packages and seeing what the hell is in this. Oh, this thing. That's something that they make in areas where they cook animals and dairy. It's possible there's dairy in this. That was just off of the belt. I'm not going to eat that. Oh, I'm going to eat this, because there's literally three ingredients in this meal. You know what I'm saying. Like I would go and you would buy locally more.
Speaker 1:Well, that becomes. It becomes a challenge for you. Now Going to the grocery store is it's a new? It's a new thing, new thing you know talking about getting outside of your comfort zone. It's now like you have to look for new ingredients and like challenge yourself. You have to like be perceptive on, you know, like you're saying, reading the back of the box or the bag yes you know, and it that is a learning experience.
Speaker 1:Just literally stepping into the role and then having to figure it out as you go, it's, it's so good for your brain and then not to mention, like dude doing the vegan thing is amazing.
Speaker 1:I'm not a vegan or vegetarian, by any means yeah I have some friends out here that are and definitely that culture, as you're calling it much more accepted out here in Denver. We're a little more yogi, we're pretty hip and we're kind to ourselves, which is great. But the chances that I get to eat a vegan meal if I go to a restaurant and there's a vegan option, 95% of the time I'm going to get that I will do that. I'll splurge, like you were saying. When I go home to St Louis, I'll eat whatever I don't care.
Speaker 1:I go there about once a year. So fine, great. And you know there's holidays around here. You know, like it definitely wasn't a vegan on the Super Bowl, I'll tell you that. But yeah, any chance that I get, and I do tend to feel much better, I'm lighter, the poops are good.
Speaker 2:Dude poops are amazing. As a vegan, that's pretty great right. It just came out. It was no fight, nothing. It was incredible.
Speaker 1:You got one healthy a day, like that's. Like that's what we're talking about and that's interesting. You're telling me that I didn't know you went through that spell in la.
Speaker 2:Well, I didn't. I didn't tell a lot of people why I stopped. Everyone in la was used to it. So the people and friends I had out there when they would be like, oh you're vegan, okay, cool, we'll take care of this, we'll make this for you. It was nothing, it was great and I really I had a great support system there. It was really family. Back home, I don't think my family realized how much their words meant to me. So I was in a position where the people that mattered the most were the ones who were the most negative about it, and it really made it hard for me to do it for myself, because I wanted them to approve of it.
Speaker 1:Is that why you stopped?
Speaker 2:Oh, more than likely, because, like I said I started, well, it was a combination of things. Well, it was a combination of things, adrian. My wife is pescatarian, vegetarian kind of area. She is rarely in that area. She eats her cheese and dairy and fish, but she never was a full vegan. So when you're with somebody and you're making dinner every night and they don't care about if they want cheese or butter, it's very hard for you to make food and they're like I'm going to put some butter, I'm going to put some cheese on. It's like, okay, I want cheese now, I want butter now. It's in my face, you know, and my favorite breakfast in the world is eggs, bacon and some toast like or some fruit like you know, that's, that's that's.
Speaker 2:So it was very difficult to have someone that was buying eggs again in the household or someone who was putting together toast with butter on it. It's like, god damn it, okay, I'm, I'm doing it. And slowly some things were like, you know, like I used avocado oil butter, or I use, like coconut, greek yogurt, so like some of that stuff still carries on where I still use it, but, like I said, there's a full stick of butter in the refrigerator and you can't find your butter. It's like, all right, all right, I'm just going to use this butter. Or I have some coffee and it's like, oh, there's no oat milk in the refrigerator but there's whole milk here. Fuck it, I'm going to use the whole milk. It gives no foam anyway.
Speaker 2:So it was hard because, like I said, living with her wanted to make sure she was eating what she wanted and I was like, as a vegan, there was a whole recipe book that I had in the back of my head that I couldn't impress her with because, you know, I couldn't cook my whole food anymore because I didn't eat it anymore. So it deteriorated from that. And then moving away from LA to Atlanta, now living in the South, and then, you know, being in St Louis for a couple of weeks and it just, it's just difficult. It's difficult, yeah, and you know, if I ever become a vegan again, it's going to be a secret, I'm not going to tell anyone A secret vegan Dom the.
Speaker 1:Secret Vegan, like your superhero name.
Speaker 3:Secret Vegan. Thank you. I cannot get this feeling out of my head. Been that way since I rose from my bed, saw you dancing. You were dressed in red. Come to me. You know. You heard what I said and now you know. It is true I want you baby. It's true, I need you honey tonight. I feel the earth to ignite. You mesmerize me with the way that you move. It's got me feeling like I'm in a groove. I saw you look and it was in a moment's glance. I've been submitted in this circumstance and now you know it is true I want you baby. It's true. Tonight I need you. Tonight I feel the air To ignite.
Speaker 2:This track takes us back to June 24th 2014. Sam and I used to work in a band called the Strange Owls and this was one of our gigs at our month residency we had at the Gramophone in St Louis in the Grove. So this was our fourth and final, I believe, of that residency. We did maybe one more show there and then they took their stage and moved it down the street to the Atomic Cowboy. This was our tune, it's True, written by Ryan Benfall, who's playing on the piano. I wrote the last verse of this song, he wrote the first two verses and, of course, sam's on drums. We have Andrew Allen on guitar and we have Jamie my God, jamie, so much love to Jamie on bass. It was so much fun playing with this band and we got to do so many different types of gigs Around St Louis and, once again, like I said, playing with Sam.
Speaker 2:Since high school. I've done shows with him in the past five years. We continue to work together. We've known each other so long. I've seen him grow up from a kid to a man, and likewise with me. I've seen him grow up from a kid to a man, and likewise with me, so I wanted to share a little bit of that with y'all and share a little bit of our journey with y'all through our music, and I just hope that y'all dig in everything. So we're going to get back into this once again. If you want to listen to any of my other music, you can check me out on all streaming platforms. You can check me out for more information at domlamorecom, where you can get anything and everything. Dom.
Speaker 3:L'Amour, heading my way. I'm thinking just about exactly what to say. You turn around and I just beg you to stay. You look at me and you know it's all today. And now you know it is true, I want you, baby. It's true. It's true, I need you honey too. Tonight I feel the air. Do it now. Tonight, I feel the air Till we die.
Speaker 1:You were in St Louis recent.
Speaker 2:I went to meet my goddaughter, nova and Joe, and then my best friend Chris had his baby Jade as well. So I went to meet those two kids Awesome. And I went fishing with some friends in St Francis County. So I was home recently. Yeah, I go home a lot more than I did when I lived in LA. Like LA, like you said, it was one year, one time a year, but now that I'm in Atlanta I can just drive home. So it's, it's if I can get home. I've try to get home just to see my mother and my grandma. What is that like a nine-hour?
Speaker 2:thing yeah eight and a half nine hours.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that sounds about right. That's not too bad.
Speaker 2:Before I go to this last subject, my grandma told me one thing she had a dream that one of her friends passed away and no one went to the funeral. That really happened, that part. Then she had a dream that she felt like none of us was going to show up for her for her funeral and I'm like that's impossible. We'll be there for you and once again, like I said it, just a lot of things kind of weigh on me where I'm like I gotta do more to be home and to see my family.
Speaker 1:So right, that's crucial. I have one surviving grandparent, my grandmother and I'm starting to think about that. I'm like I need to like get home yeah and see her or write to her or something you know do like one of those cheesy things, if you will.
Speaker 2:You know, like write, write somebody of that generation like there's nothing cheesy about looking out for your family nothing cheesy about the world to them, you know, and it's, I mean, not something that we do a whole lot anymore.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think I'm going to hopefully try and exercise that here.
Speaker 2:Last subject. I'm going to kind of blindside you with this, oh boy.
Speaker 3:Let's go.
Speaker 2:You and I were in a band, of course, in high school and Tim Katowski asked me to be in a band in choir and I remember doing the Battle of the Bands with Jowl and it was this huge thing for me because I'd never done anything like that and I kind of wanted to not do it. I think I told you this before Tim was asking me and I was like, well, I only do Jimi Hendrix music because he was the only Black artist I could think of. That was in rock, like a rock and roll.
Speaker 2:And I said that and Tim was like like, oh, we only play jimmy and james like it, so happens right yeah, and so it was like, okay.
Speaker 2:So that week before the battle of the bands, I memorized those four songs uh, purple haze when cries mary fire, hey, joe, yes, and then we won the battle of bands. Granted, we more than likely cheated, but we won. No, we didn't. No, no, no, we more than likely cheated, but I always view those group you, tim Frodo, ben y'all helped me become a professional, like that was. After that, we did the creepy crawl and that was my first paid gig, and whenever people ask me, when did you become a pro? I was like I got paid at the creepy crawl in 2005. That was my first gig. You know, I always look at it like that and I will always say, from that moment to now, that I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now without y'all helping me, y'all helping me, y'all pushing me, y'all making it fun.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:I always appreciated that, always enjoyed working with you. You made it hard for me to work with other drummers because how good you are behind the sticks and I was always curious, like for you, looking back on Space Moose, strange Isles, all the bands we did. Hey, joe, that was the first name.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:How do you feel those experiences with that band pushed you to where you are musically now.
Speaker 1:Wow, I'm thinking about some of the criticisms I received. Some of our members, some people that we worked with, were a little more critical than others and I think in that journey they learned how to give that criticism constructively. But for me, I was always willing to listen to other people's opinions. Granted, I can switch it off and I can play the way that I want to. However, I do think in listening to my bandmates criticisms, I learned that you need to learn to play other people's music. Youtube and Google is an incredible tool for us and our generation, you know, and if we use it correctly, that is a great way to go and self-educate, and that's mostly what I did. I took lessons in high school. For the four years of high school, I took lessons almost every week. I think Jim Ryan, wherever he is today, mad props to him and he really steered me in the right direction. I think he saw what kind of drummer I was going to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:He catered to that and he taught me a lot of Jimmy, a lot of like old punk, like Blink-182 or Green Day or Led Zeppelin. But I was willing to listen to those criticisms. Andrew Allen he said the only way you're ever going to get better is if you learn how to play other people's music and don't play it the way that you would play it.
Speaker 1:play it the way that they played it yeah and then you learn that you get it down and then you kind of just forget about it and you move on and it becomes part of your self-consciousness, just becomes part of your repertoire. I mean, the more you know, the less you know. Right, like I could sit here and google and youtube, all these different licks, like I can read drum, sheet, music, time signatures, every fucking lick that you learn.
Speaker 1:For every one that you learn another 10 pop up yeah so like how do you stay again, stay malleable and learn how to learn even to this day, like I'm playing reggae music and I'm still learning how to do that justice. He's offered plenty of criticism recently. Big ups to justice.
Speaker 1:He's a good songwriter and he's he's offered a lot of insight on how to play reggae yeah that's not something I have a background in and I'm grateful to be in his band, for sure, and to listen to him and listen to some of his musical influences, which were not my own, has been an incredible learning experience, and I could go back to when I was playing in Acoustics Anonymous. We were playing bluegrass. Yeah, we were playing bluegrass.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Traditional bluegrass doesn't have drummers. So I was kind of making my own way in that regard, Although there are some forerunners to that. You know there are some drummers and bluegrass bands. But I was learning a whole new genre and I did my best to like really do it justice, you know, like dive into it, like make it a part of you. And I'm doing my best out here with the reggae thing. We're not playing as many or as much shows as I would like, but we're all adults and you know we we've all got things going on. Mark, our bass player, he's getting married this summer. Justice has a kid on the way this summer. So like people have lives and they have things that they need to do and take care of, I get it, man. Like next thing, we know it's going to be me getting married or yeah right or having a kid, and I'm going to need the time.
Speaker 1:So I'm still receiving that constructive criticism and just yeah, listening to other people has come has been great. You know. That's that's kind of where I am. You know, my musical journey is definitely. It's changed for sure from the days you know we'll say the strange owls. I would say I was playing music to like make it big. You know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I loved the lifestyle. I mean I still do. It's fun being the center of attention. It's really cool.
Speaker 2:I want to make sure that I shout out because I said the original band, the guys I said earlier, were all in hey Joe, but shout out to Ryan Benthal, jake Zanglin, andrew Allen for sure, that's my guy. Andrew has worked with me on every album I worked on and he's one of the best guitar players I've ever worked with. Phenomenal performer Love Andrew Jamie. Shout out to Jamie on bass, doing what Jamie always does.
Speaker 1:I just saw him a couple weekends ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we work with so many other artists, of course, like Green Bean and different people like that, but those are the core members. They deserve to shout out for sure absolutely Matt Hanley like I said, we work with so many people.
Speaker 2:They all deserve the praise from me, because I truly don't think without them. Showing me how good we could be working with them really helped me see. Oh, you know, if you put your heads together with some incredible artists, you can make some incredible things. Sure, and I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now if it wasn't for those days in Mark's basement rehearsing getting stuff on paper recording stuff on cassette.
Speaker 2:We had cassette tapes that we were recording songs on yeah I just I thank all of y'all for that experience and for that encouragement and, yeah, appreciate you, man yeah, no, back at you, dude.
Speaker 1:you and your lovely wife, adrian, are amazing hosts, by the way. And yeah, I definitely think about you. Know, sometimes I fantasize. I'm like you know what, one of these days I'm going to own a mansion in the mountains and there's going to be a studio in it. Yeah, what I'm going to do is I'm going to have a party and I'm going to invite every single musician that I've ever played with, and we're going to invite every single musician that I've ever played with and we're going to have a month long recording session.
Speaker 1:That is my ultimate fantasy. I'm just going to tell everybody bring all your original shit. You know we'll have, we'll get all the gear and we're just going to press record and see what happens.
Speaker 3:You know press record and see what happens.
Speaker 2:You know we made it to the end of the episode. Once again, thank you very much for being here. It's always good to see you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, my first. This is my first podcast ever.
Speaker 2:Indeed. Yeah, it's going to be a good time.
Speaker 1:You're my guy for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man. Final question. I always ask the same question how do you feel?
Speaker 1:I feel really good. My job is cool. I don't like to define myself or anybody based on their work or how they make money, but unfortunately, money is important. I'm in a good space there, though I'm doing shop work, so I'm working with my hands. I'm working on automobiles. I'm in a good space there, though I'm doing shop work, so I'm working with my hands. I'm like working on automobiles. I'm learning a lot there. I've been dating, which is great. I've met some very, very wonderful people. We're playing music.
Speaker 1:We got some really good recorded songs coming out with Justice in the Limits. We recorded five tracks. We have them all mixed and mastered. We're kind of just waiting on artwork now. I got my own place. We recorded five tracks. We have them all mixed and mastered. We're kind of just waiting on artwork now. I got my own place. I live by myself. I have two cars. You know like, and again like, material wealth isn't everything, but things are good. Man. Like I got good friends. Like I'm blessed to have a guy like you hit me up and do this podcast. Know, we've known each other since high school. Yeah, how cool. You know like that's super dope. I got friends with kids on the way. This summer. Jamie's got a kid coming this summer, if you didn't know. Crazy, that's crazy. I truly am very grateful for life right now.
Speaker 2:Cheers to that cheers to you, man things are good.
Speaker 1:You know like we've worked our way through some dark times and you know you come out of that better and stronger than you were before. And that's any advice that I could give to anybody like stay positive, mind your manners, mind who you're hanging out with, and things tend to work themselves out for me. In my experience. It's not the same for everybody, but great support, good, loving family. Never been in jail, you know it's pretty good. So how about you? I mean you're living the dream man. You got a place, you got a lovely wife, like what's next?
Speaker 2:I to answer the feeling. I feel amazing and, yes, I'm in a great place. We're trying to work on a family. Of course, I'm performing every week, I'm writing every week, I'm trying to put a new album together. Now and I'm meeting people, I'm get to a place where the thing that I love the most, other than family, can be my bread. You're right, I'm already in a place where I'm living off of music and performance is the main income. I would love to get to a place where music and performing, traveling, really is a place of comfort comfort. I feel like a lot of people like us. We kind of get the short end of the stick where everyone that meets you, everyone that hears you perform not everyone that's exaggerating.
Speaker 2:I guess People who are touched by you, people who come to your shows, people who admire you, tell you just how great you are, tell you the things that you could do, or tell you that you're doing those, or say you're living the dream. And you put yourself in this position where, mentally, you're like it might look like that, but I feel like I should be doing more, or I should be getting more, Things should be better, or I should be getting paid what I'm worth or this and that. But instead of thinking that way, I've been finding ways to really step back and appreciate the good and appreciate the blessings and see that what I'm doing is beneficial to the people that matter the most. And with that, I will continue to pursue it. I will continue to push forward. I'm going to continue to do this podcast and continue to truly put myself in positions where performance and hosting and entertainment is the goal and only thing I'll do and people know me from that.
Speaker 2:But as of now, I'm still in an amazing spot. I can't complain about anything. I'm going to finish up with you, go up and eat some great food with my wife and have a night with her, and that's all I need and the fact that I'm in a place where I understand that and I feel that that's the biggest blessing. I think big bro in New York. I remember once I was telling him you know, I'm trying to get an agent. He was like if you're?
Speaker 1:trying to get an agent.
Speaker 2:You should have one by now. I don't think you're doing enough and that hurt me. That stuck with me for so long and I finally got a chance to be like Tommy. That's someone with a different perspective. That's someone who experienced the world differently than you and was connected with different people. You are doing the work. That's the part that's hard. A lot of people might see you and think are you doing enough, or maybe you should try this or this and that. But it's like I see the work I'm doing, I know the work I'm doing. I understand that if someone hit me and said, dominique, I need you to do a gig tonight, I'm so sorry. This is so last minute. Can you put the band together? Can you get songs together? I know that I've prepared myself so well that if someone were to do that and give me two hours, I could put a band together and do a show in two hours. I know that that's not because I'm good or I'm just naturally talented. That's because I've worked my butt off.
Speaker 1:Right. I'm just naturally tired. That's because I worked my butt off Right and I can't be angry with that. I was talking with some musicians around here one night and you know, there's always kind of where you're saying there's always the mentality of like, oh, when am I going to make it? When am I going to make it? When am I going to make it? And somebody was saying that to me the other night and I looked at him and I go like, maybe you have made it, maybe you're already there. You are doing it. You are a product of your. Now, what are you doing? You're doing a podcast. You're an entertainer. Like this is going to go on Spotify. You know this. This like you have made it. Now, the bread that's got to come with it.
Speaker 2:Right, that's the difference, yeah, but but I agree with you. I agree with you, I do, I. I have a lot of friends who, like, tell me, I have people who tell me I'm gonna. I feel like I want to stop saying a lot, or so many, or everyone, I, I, you know, there are.
Speaker 2:There's a good number people, but I'm not going to keep saying everyone. But I have groups of people who are friends or family who really do say yo, you're doing exactly what you said you wanted to do. And it's hard for someone who wants so much or someone who wants to push for more to step back and look and say, oh, I am doing exactly what I want, you know. But that's the goal for me this year. I want to be more efficient and I want to be more understanding of my surroundings. You can't control things you can't control. I'm doing everything I can on my end and eventually, hopefully, the right people see it, or?
Speaker 1:maybe this is it.
Speaker 2:And am I okay with that? I can't possibly say that yet, but also I understand that I'm very happy now.
Speaker 1:What else do you need, and?
Speaker 2:that's something I got to accept.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean, you're crushing it Also, you know what else? One thing that I've learned is that fortunes can change like that in an instant yeah you know, like for better, for worse.
Speaker 1:So you know you may turn a page and tomorrow you're gonna wake up and you're gonna be like wow, like there's the bread. You just keep putting in the work, man, everything else is going to take care of itself. Like I was saying earlier, that is kind of a mindset that I've adopted recently as we've gotten a little bit older here. We're not old, we're still young men by all means. But there was kind of a recent realization that I've had with my mortality, if you will, being like wow, we, we are not gonna be on this earth forever yeah and we're not getting any younger.
Speaker 1:So like, let's take some chances. You know, let's learn how to mountain bike. Let's learn how to snowboard. You know, let's play a little more music. Let's do it here, here, now, no complaints. You know, love of life, man.
Speaker 2:I want to thank you for listening to the Black man Talking Emotions podcast. The open and quote credit goes to Robert Brio and I know that's not the french pronunciation, so don't at me and shout out to sam for being on the pod. Follow sam at samuel underscore. Henry underscore kneehouse, which is spelled n-i-e-h-a-u-s. On instagram and go to spotify and listen to his band justice in the Limits new single Hard in the City. Justice is spelled J-U-S-T-U-S. Make sure to support them. Man, please subscribe to the podcast, share the podcast and give us a good rating. Five stars, please, and thank you. You can support the show by clicking the link at the bottom of the episode description. Also, tell me your stories about these subjects at D-O-M-L. Underscore A-M-O-U-R on Instagram or at DomLamorecom. I'm Dom Lamore, much love.
