Phil Little Mission: Celebrating Freedom and Unity

What if art and music could reshape perceptions and unite communities? Join us as Phil from All Voices DSM shares his inspiring vision of "Curating Change" through their powerful Juneteenth event in Des Moines, Iowa. This celebration is more than music and performances; it's a movement to highlight the beauty and strength within the African-American community, challenging the often negative media narratives. Discover how entertainment can be a catalyst for education, unity, and inspiration, embodying the motto "changing the world with a stage and a microphone."

Representation matters, and in this episode, we discuss the vital role of storytelling in preserving and passing down cultural legacies. Phil emphasizes the importance of amplifying voices from everyday individuals, not just the highly successful, to create an inclusive historical record. We explore how transparency and shared wisdom can bridge generational gaps, empowering future generations to embrace their heritage with pride. The stories we tell today shape the leaders of tomorrow, and every narrative holds the potential to inspire.

Lastly, we celebrate the vibrant community art showcase, featuring a diverse array of talents and mediums, including contributions from a globally recognized artist. Excitement fills the air as we anticipate the event that will instill pride and showcase the rich culture of our community. Special shout-outs to the behind-the-scenes heroes, including Phil's daughters, wife, and mentor Pastor Bradley, whose support and dedication make All Voices DSM a beacon of positive change. Join us for an episode that champions the power of community, storytelling, and the arts in driving transformative change.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

What's up my good people? Welcome to the CJ Money Way show. Today I have on the show my man, phil, that's throwing a joint-teeth event in Iowa, all Voices DSM. Hey, what's up, phil man. How you doing today, bro, what's?

Speaker 2: 0:17

up CJ, how you doing. Thanks for having me. It's an honor to be on your show.

Speaker 1: 0:22

I appreciate it, man. So you know you guys have an event coming on. But before we start, man, just tell us, before we get started, in your words, what is the meaning of Curating Change?

Speaker 2: 0:35

So Curating Change is the. We have an art exhibit. It's a pop-up art exhibit, and what Curating Change is bringing artists, like-minded artists, through their art, through their platforms, to start to make changes in our community in a positive manner. We want to utilize our platforms. We want to utilize our artwork, our talents, our gifts for the purpose of curating and creating positive impact in our communities.

Speaker 1: 1:20

So, with this event that's taking place on Juneteenth, tell us where is it taking place, what time and what type of artists would you be having on stage?

Speaker 2: 1:30

So so so. So it's a twofold event. We have 17 musical performers, we have two poets, we have two motivational, inspirational speakers as well, and the event is taking place here in Des Moines, iowa, at Western Gateway Park. What that is is our downtown area is going to be blocked off for the event. We will have the performances on the stage and we will have the art exhibit in what's called here our John and Mary Papa John Educational Building, which will be right next to the stage. So it's an outdoor event for the musical side, but the art exhibit will be taking place in the John and Mary Papa John Center Education Center, and they're both a part of the Iowa Juneteenth event event.

Speaker 2: 2:41

The Iowa Juneteenth event is an event that wants to really focus in on the three R's, as they would like to call it Remembering our history, releasing the past and reshaping our future. And my motto for this event is shining a light on our beautiful community. We want to do this by art, we want to do this by music, by motivational and inspirational speaking, just to get across a message in our community that not only are we powerful people, we have the ability to do powerful things.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Man, you know that's interesting. It's got a lot of people, a lot of things going on with this event, man. So, with that being said, like doing things of this nature, wanting to do things for the community, reach out and make positive change, what has been your motivating factor, or what has inspired you to want to do things of this nature?

Speaker 2: 3:59

There's been many, many different things, but I'll try to and that's an excellent question, cj, but I'll try to, you know, keep it within where I don't get too out of bounds. That's a topic I can talk about all day. Well, one of the things that has always concerned me a lot of my life is that we, as african-american people, we get, uh the publicity we get on our communities, in our communities, our neck is negative uh publicity. Uh. We don't get much positive uh feedback from what takes place in our communities, although we do have a lot of positive things happening, but nobody's talking about these things. I'm always and have always been a firm believer. In fact, our motto for All Voices DSM is changing the world with a stage and a microphone. I truly believe we can look at ourselves differently as a community and also as a reflection to other people. We can use a stage and a microphone to create and show a beauty that comes from our community. Our communities are beautiful communities. There's a lot of positive things that happen, but a lot of times all we hear about is the shooting that happened on 9th Street or the shooting that happened over here, or such and such who got 40 years. You know we have so much more going on in our communities, and not only do we have them going on in our communities. I want to take the opportunity to highlight and to really shine a light on those beautiful things.

Speaker 2: 5:57

And a lot of people may say, well, you're only doing it through entertainment. Entertainment gives us the opportunity to come together and rejoice. It gives us the opportunity to come together and laugh. It gives us the opportunity to come together and embrace. And not only does it give us the opportunity to do these things, it also gives us the opportunity to educate. This is why I make sure I have motivational speakers that talk to our young kids, that can express to our young kids that, hey, look at me, I have made and I am a very successful person. We have a lot of successful people and we need to shine a light, and we could do this by mixing entertainment, mixing art and mixing education. I like to call it edutainment, as as uh krs1 used to call it back yeah, yeah I mean, that's interesting points and and facts.

Speaker 1: 7:03

Like you say, we do gravitate to the negative things, to the negative aspect of what's going on in our community.

Speaker 1: 7:12

That's what's going to be on the news. This is the things that they try to exploit, and so you know, to the same extent, like this is what I'm trying to do this podcast for is to put a highlight on those and their journeys. You know what I'm saying, Like where we came from, or what people came from, and to what they're doing now. You know life has its challenges and so you want to give people the recognition to say, hey, look, you know, this is what we're doing over here and I think that's a good thing that you guys are doing up there in Iowa and I thank God that we will have the opportunity to come in and be with you guys this year and I'm looking forward to that. Yes, I'm looking forward to it, man, Looking forward to meeting some of your artists and and everything of that nature. Tell me, man. So what is the sole purpose of this event and what are you looking to get out of it? Awareness-wise.

Speaker 2: 8:12

So one of the things that you just kind of mentioned is we are interviewing some of the artists. We really want to tell their backstory. We truly believe the backstory is just as important as the performance. I think that's one of the things that you are big with your podcast. One of the things I love about your podcast is you telling the backstory.

Speaker 2: 8:39

A lot of times we only see a person when they get to that successful point, but they don't get an opportunity to talk about those struggles that it took for them to get to that point. Some of our goals in this is to talk about how people got to that point, got to that point One that, again, because we only hear negative things, it's easy to figure out how to get to a negative point, but it's so important for us to pass our stories down and talk about what it takes to get from point A to point B, and that is some of the things I really want to focus on. Not only do I want to focus on telling the story, I want to take this and expand it as far as I can. I want to go to the schools and utilize the stage and the microphone to create change. I want to go in to some of the cities, like Peoria, illinois, who's having a great deal of gun violence taking place, eventually Chicago, illinois, who has a great deal of gun violence. Eventually Gary, illinois, and I want to take a platform to shine a light on our people. I think if people see more positive things coming out of our community which they're there, they're just not in the highlight Then we can start to gravitate and we can start to change the narrative a little bit, because a lot of times I think our young people and I don't think it's a large portion of young people, I still think it's a small minority, but a lot of our young people all they see is the gang banging.

Speaker 2: 10:34

All they hear is, uh, the, the crazy music. And don't get me wrong, I listen to a lot of actually crazy music, so I ain't dogging it that way either. But at the same time, if all you hear is shoot them up, bang, bang, that kind of conversation in music and on film and in games, then it's real easy to gravitate to that lifestyle. But we do have a lifestyle where people are doing wonderful things. My daughter just graduated from college we don't talk about those kind of conversations Just graduated from college with double major, got a job before she even got out of college, making 70 grand a year. I ain't never even thought about making that much money. You know what I'm saying. But those are the kind of conversations that we need to start taking place. Start taking place about conversations with these young geniuses that we have in our community. Our young people are doing wonderful things. They're mobilizing, they're starting podcasts. They're doing wonderful things and it's time to really start highlighting the wonders in our community.

Speaker 1: 11:53

In my opinion, yeah, because you know, like you say, there's a lot of things that you can highlight in people's success, but what about the things that got you there? Yes, so you know, like, one of the reasons that I did this because and I say this all the time is that I see the shacks, I see the kevin harris, I see the lebron james and now his wife starred in one. You know, now everybody's starting a podcast and, yeah, people, people go gravitate to them because of the name, of the name value. But one thing that I recognize with that Kevin Hart said, you know, the women empowerment. You know they got a lot of platforms that a lot of people, especially a lot of them celebrities they only bring on celebrities.

Speaker 2: 12:43

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:44

They're only talking about their lifestyle. You know what I'm saying. Like like somebody like me or somebody like you know whoever, we can listen to them and be like man, you know. But like what is it really edified in me, though? You feel what I'm saying, I really get out of that about? You know y'all going traveling all around the world and how you got 50? Yeah, it's motivation, you know to want to reach for the stars, but what about the ground level? You?

Speaker 2: 13:15

feel what I'm saying like what about?

Speaker 1: 13:18

about those of us that's on the ground level, that's trying to get to that point, but not there, and because we're not there, we won't be. You won't hear our stories on any of these, on Oprah, you know what I'm saying. You won't hear any of our stories on the View or things like that. And so, like you know, I'm agreeing with what you're saying and I'm feeling it. We need to have more outlets of people, especially of color, that cares, you know, about the younger generation, so that they can pass it on about our gender, about our culture. Period, you feel what I'm saying because, like, we're not being highlighted enough from the successes that you know saying come out. Like I was interviewing this one lady and she said that, you know, she called from gary and she said that they said that nothing good would ever come out of gary, indiana, and so her whole mission has been to prove people wrong, because something good has come out of Gary and there's a lot of good that comes out of Gary.

Speaker 2: 14:28

And that's.

Speaker 1: 14:30

her sole mission is to help as many people as she can to succeed, and we need more people like you. We need more people like her. I interviewed a guy that's from Compton.

Speaker 1: 14:43

You know, he's doing the same thing that you're doing with the mental health things and going out and empowering. And I told him I said man, you know, I got a cousin that's doing that and you know, maybe I'll try to link you guys up. I said, because it's bigger than just ours, it's bigger than just Compton, it's bigger than just hours. Absolutely it's bigger than just confidence.

Speaker 1: 15:04

And it's a lot of, and you'd be amazed at how many people are actually doing the same things that you guys are. Actually, I was watching the NBA yesterday and the NBA has a mental health thing, you know. So it's big man. So I appreciate what you're doing, man. I admire what you're doing. I pray that you continue doing it, man, because sky's the limit for people that has a heart for the people.

Speaker 2: 15:27

Well, it's funny. You said that about the young lady whose mission was to show that there's many positive things coming out of Gary. For many years I thought and said every Black man should write a book. I've since changed that and now I really believe everyone should write a book. Everyone should be able to tell their legacy. We should not continue to allow other people to tell our legacy. Uh, I think that's kind of where things have gotten miscommunicated. First of all, nobody knows your story. Like you, you're the only one that can tell your story and it's important for that story to be told, if nothing more than for your seeds, your people, if nothing more. However, the story should break up or should shape up to something even much bigger. It should shape up to a community, it should shape up to a neighborhood, it should shape up to a city, a state, and it should be a part of what takes place during that time period of life. Our story has gotten broken for many reasons, of course. Racism, slavery, many other things have broke down that story.

Speaker 2: 17:02

At some point in time we got to get back to telling our story. Nobody can tell my story better than me and it's important for us to tell those stories. I don't care if you can't read or write. We have so many opportunities you can get out of the phone or you can record your voice. It's about passing down the stories. Many cultures pass those stories down. Our stories got broken and it's important for us to get back to telling our stories and to nobody else to your seed it's important for them to be able to continue to pass that down. That got broke in the black community. The story ain't been passed down for years and we got other folks telling our story and they ain't telling the truth.

Speaker 1: 17:55

Yeah, no, definitely you know. And, like you say, not only are they not telling the truth, but, as we do with our own stories, with our own lives, at times as I was listening to you we leave out certain elements and certain things out too. Yes, absolutely you know. So there are things that's going on within we'll have to do that with on another one man, you know it's, it's the generational thing, you know, and so there's some things that I may not know about great, great granddaddy, or I may not know about granddaddy, or even my own father.

Speaker 1: 18:38

You know, and so yeah, no, you're absolutely right, there's some things missing, and so, like you say, if we don't talk about it, if we don't talk and share these things and then so there are some things in my life that's void because my daddy didn't share it with me, or my daddy didn't share what my great granddaddy did or my granddaddy did, and so we have to be more transparent nowadays because, if you don't, you know, I was just telling all my son this yesterday. I said, at the end of the day, especially when you become a father because he's going to have a kid in um september say it's no longer about you. Right, not only are you responsible, you're not only not responsible for yourself now, you're responsible not just physically but spiritually for that child, because you are the covering. You know you're the head, not the tail. Forget what society talking about. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 19:40

You're the head, not the tail, forget what society's talking about.

Speaker 1: 19:41

You know what I'm saying. You're the head and not tail, and that child is under your protection. Of course, it's going to always be under the mother's protection, that's right. But as far as the spiritual aspect of it, you are the protection not only for your child, but when you get married, you're the protection for your wife. You are the head of the household, contrary to what society is trying to push on us today.

Speaker 2: 20:14

That's real talk. Look, my wife takes care of many, many things. I often call her the head, and what I mean by that as her being the head, is she takes care of the money, she takes care of everything. But in terms of me leading my family, I lead my family, I lead them in the direction that they not to say that she doesn't, yeah, but my responsibility is to say, hey, I see you trying to go over there. Let me lay out a path for you to see if that is going to work for you.

Speaker 2: 20:58

And if not let's come back to the drawing board. You know what I'm saying. And this is when they're younger. Of course, they're growing now, so they've already, you know, passed that stage. But when they're young, when my seed is starting to sprout, I have the opportunity to decide. Okay, let me give you a vision of some different paths for you to take, and it's for me to be able to break that information down and provide that guidance for them. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 21:33

Yeah, and don't get me wrong, their mother, she's the nurturer, she's the one that's going to make sure that they get all that they did, she's going to be the one that's watering and she's going to. I'm, I'm now going to be the one that is going to kind of guide and lead, of course with her, with her blessings as well. Yeah, but I'm trying to, you know. Hey, let me, let's, let's, get you to where you're trying to go at this early age. You're absolutely right. We, as fathers, unfortunately, we don't get the respect that we need or deserve. And let me scratch need we don't get the respect we deserve, and I'm okay with that. Need we don't get the respect we deserve, and I'm okay with that. Okay, I'm okay because I know that my duty and my job.

Speaker 1: 22:29

I ain't gonna get a whole lot of pattern.

Speaker 2: 22:30

Yeah, that don't get a lot of fair fair yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, I understand that and I'm okay. I accept that role because that's the role that I have to go, you know, and so I got accepted. You know, my Father's Day gift ain't the same as the Mother's Day gift. I ain't telling it about him.

Speaker 1: 22:57

Hey, and this is for people to grow on. I hope somebody get this message out of this conversation, because you said something that I was just telling my son yesterday too. When you know your place as a man, you do not ever have to feel intimidated. Do not ever fight for the attention of your child. You see what I'm saying A mother is going to be a mother.

Speaker 1: 23:27

We know what the, you know the standards are. You know what I'm saying how it's supposed to be, you know daddy, child, wife. However, you know what I'm saying it is always. Know that. We know what it is, but it's always gonna be the other way around and you have to just accept that. You know, as long as they treat you accordingly, I'm not here to fight for my child like like, get on, get into it with my wife. Be like, oh well, you fixed his plate first, come on. You know what I'm saying, literally. You have people that try to go by this pecking order and you know what I'm saying. And that's exactly. No, I'm the head of the house. I get my plate first, come on.

Speaker 1: 24:16

Let's fight for it. We know what the pecking order is. It may not always go that way. Like you said, I know I'm the head, but who's truly the head? My wife the head, because, like you say everything, she takes care of everything. You know I get her the money, she pays the bills, and it's not taking nothing away from her. It's not taking nothing away from me. That's just the structure of my household.

Speaker 2: 24:47

You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1: 24:48

But some people get bent out of shape if they feel as though they're not doing everything because I'm the man. But see, here's the thing, Phil, and I'm going to leave it at this. You may want to point on it. Here's the thing, Phil, and I'm going to leave it at this. You may want to point on it. Here's the thing you want to be the man in certain situations, but when you're supposed to be the man, you're not.

Speaker 1: 25:09

Mm-hmm you want to claim to be the man, but in certain situations you run away from that responsibility. Come on, man, you can't have it both ways, right, right, if you're gonna be the man, be the man all the time. You can't run when it's time to actually be the man but did, but you want to sit around and see. That's the problem too. When you got men that always say, well, I'm the man, you got to keep saying that you the man, then really you not.

Speaker 2: 25:36

Who you tell them. You know what I'm saying, really, you not?

Speaker 1: 25:42

You get that on the head, man, because a real man ain't got to sit around there and drilling into his wife's head or drilling into his girlfriend's head that I'm the man. No, they already know you, the man, and they going to respect you as the man. The reason they're not respecting man, I know we went all off of Juneteenth, that's not a problem, we're conversing, we're conversing. It's no problem, but to know because when they don't treat you like a man, it's because you're not acting like one.

Speaker 2: 26:11

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 26:14

And so they treat you accordingly. And it's no different how we may treat somebody that we come across. If this is how you coming across to me, I'm going to treat you accordingly.

Speaker 2: 26:24

Right, absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 26:26

And it's the same way in relationships.

Speaker 2: 26:28

No, you're absolutely right. No, I agree 100%, absolutely right.

Speaker 2: 26:35

So yeah, so that's just a nugget for y'all out there listening man Hold on CJ, I got to say we done, went off the rail a little bit and that's okay, because you always dropping nuggets and I respect that. We get caught up so much on how things are supposed to be laid out and how things are supposed to be done out and how things are supposed to be done. It's okay to go off the rail, it's okay to have conversation, it's okay to talk. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I'm a firm believer that communication is everything, man, and and we don't have to say, okay, if, if you ain't talking about this, we need to do it another time. I think a lot of times people think that way.

Speaker 2: 27:23

We're only going to talk about this, man. If something else come up in the conversation, it's only natural for us to talk about it. So because I done checked out your podcast with many different stories and I love how you chime in and you talk about things that's not on the platform. That's okay and that's beautiful to me, man. So I just want to say you keep doing that, cuz.

Speaker 1: 27:48

Yeah, I appreciate it. You know it's funny. You said that I had somebody they wrote a review for me and he say shout out to you, trey. And he said you know, the conversation's cool. He said, but it seemed like, you know, sometimes he just the questions don't fit something on the answer. And so here's my thing to that.

Speaker 1: 28:14

Like I read people's bios, you know what I'm saying, and so there's many facets to people's lives, and so me and you might be on here talking about Juneteenth, but, in the same sense, a lot of things. Like you say, juneteenth is about education. You know what I'm saying. It's about artistry, it's about education, it's about the motivational, it's about education, it's about the motivational speaker to inspire people, and so those are different facets. Just to juneteenth. Juneteenth is one thing, but you, but you have different parameters.

Speaker 1: 28:48

Okay, it's just like a bulletin board. You know what I'm saying. You got your main topic and then you got your bulletin points, and so a lot of times when you, when you having conversations, it's so much about a person and with my platform and what I try to, what I'm trying to do, is I want to dig in, I want to dig into your journey. Yes, so you're talking about your book is just one part of your journey. How did you get to the point to inspire, to write a book? What was you know saying? What was the process? I want to dig deep into your life, to your journey, so that other people can be inspired. You know that may be going through the same thing that you're going through, but if I'm just talking about the same thing at, because for one I one thing I know, there's two and here's another thing.

Speaker 2: 29:38

Trans, another thing I noticed too, just like how me and you talking what's a person say what they gotta say and they ended they through with that yeah yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I feel you and and it's it's funny you mention that because we went around and we interviewed quite a few people as well for Juneteenth we really feel the backstory is just as important, or more important than the performance even, and we really have an interview and we really get to hear man, the nuts and bolts of what built this person and how they got to where they're at today, and man, that's so valuable to me. I really believe one of the things that I have had the opportunity to do is we interviewed all our motivational speakers, we interviewed our hosts, we interviewed some of the young people who's going to be a part of the event, and just to hear their stories. Man is so powerful. We also had the opportunity to step outside of some important people in our community to talk about Juneteenth and other things. The Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent is named Dr Ian Johnson His name Dr Ian Johnson and we had the opportunity to interview him and man, he told this remarkable story. He's a two time Olympian. He's the first black person who's been hired on to the school superintendent in 120 years. School superintendent in 120 years. Just to hear those stories, just to hear what's and then, how it all related to Juneteenth, how he put it in. All of that became relevant about Juneteenth and this event. I mean those kind of stories are important for our communities to hear. It's important for our communities to hear. It's important for our communities to hear what our people are doing to become successful. For so long that story doesn't. As you said, you hear the podcast of Kevin Hart and they don't talk about their climb. Mm-hmm of Kevin Hart and they don't talk about their climb. That climb is important, man. Hear that climb.

Speaker 2: 32:23

I really wish I was able to as a promoter, when I wasn't able to form what I wanted to do from my mouth, but I knew what I wanted to do in my head. I really wish there was somebody that say, as a promoter, hey, this is what I do and this is how I got here, here and here. That would have had a light bulb go off in my head right away and, man, it was a struggle, knowing what was inside of me and I wasn't even able to verbalize. It was something that had some internal effects on me. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, so it's important to be able to voice your story, even if that story is for one person. You know what I'm saying and that's why I think it's so important to talk, and I love your show because you don't mind talking.

Speaker 1: 33:27

Hey, you know what it is, phil, because when I, you know, first I started, I started by myself and then the Lord put it on my spirit, you know, to get people's journey. So I started doing things with, with friends and people that I knew and I reached out to or whatnot. What I learned from it, what it showed me was and this is something that I wanted to do, and I continue to do it, even with strangers is to have a friendly platform as if, although today we just met, when somebody hear this podcast or somebody see it on YouTube, you would think that we've been friends or been knowing each other for months. You know, that's just the atmosphere that I want to try to set. You know, I want the person that's coming on the show, that's talking to me and giving a story we're going, we're just having a conversation. You know this barbershop talk, right right right. Beauty shop talk, or whatnot, and so because I think when you do that, in a lot of times what I've got when I talk to people and then I get them feedback and we just having a conversation it makes them more comfortable Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 34:37

So now I'm open to say some things that I probably wouldn't have said, you know, because I really didn't think about it like that, right, you feel what I'm saying Exactly. Well, I hadn't thought about that in a long time, you know. So now it's opening up things, like man, it really brought something out of me, and so that's. I know everybody do things differently, man, but and you learn things as you go along the way, man, so that's just something that I, you know that I'm picking up on. I'm still learning, but I appreciate you, man, giving a shout out to the show and enjoying it, man. So I know we've been out here for a while, we went off track, but it's all good. So, um, my last question, man, we ended on this, so are there any other projects that you have in the works that we could be looking forward to after the juneteenth event?

Speaker 2: 35:27

yeah, so so I'm in the works right now. Uh, so Now. So in November, we were the first that went into our homeless shelter and threw a concert there, and it was a benefit concert that we did. The event took place inside the homeless shelter, took place, uh, inside the homeless shelter. Uh, we are working on, uh, doing another benefit concert in august. When we did the benefit concert in november, it was kind of a last minute thing uh, I, I worked part-time, overnight, weekends, uh, at the shelter and, and I said homeless and I don't really mean I should say people without a house or houseless people uh, homeless definitely gives it a negative view and it's not a negative term is somebody who is, uh, unfortunately, had a situation where they no longer have a house or a home. Um, but we, when we did that event, we raised quite a bit, but I wasn't quite satisfied with what we raised, and we're going to do another one in August. I'm actually thinking about doing this once every six months or so.

Speaker 2: 36:56

One of the things that we got when we did this event is all the performers at this event. They walk away with something that they wasn't expecting. Whenever you give and lend yourself to somebody who is less fortunate and you get the feedback from those people. It touches you in a way that you can't even put in words. And you know we did. We gave away a bite and it was just a beautiful, beautiful event. To where we came in and, for you know, two and a half hours, those people were able to forget about their condition at the time and they were able to enjoy themselves. Not only did we give away a bike, but we gave away meals where people could go and eat at restaurants. And when you don't have a house or you don't have a car and you're living in a shelter, those kind of things are important, and those are the kind of events that All Voices DSM do.

Speaker 2: 38:26

We do events not to I mean, you're probably not going to catch us in a club doing an event.

Speaker 2: 38:33

We want to do an event that's really going to have an impact on people, really have an impact on our community, and, like I said, we want to take entertainers to do this because they can bring something out of people, and so that's one of our events that we're looking to do in August. We're also working on the second Mike Revolution. We missed the May time period, but we're also working on getting that set up and that's probably going to be in September or October for the Mike Revolution and it's going to be the Mike Revolution 2, the mental health awareness event, where we bring entertainers together, we bring therapists together, we bring mentors together and we have a good time on stage and we talk about how to cope with your mental health, we talk about the importance of removing the stigma in our communities with mental health and but but we still celebrate, we still rejoice, we still laugh, we still dance, because those things are still important to do while we get the education.

Speaker 1: 39:56

Yeah, so whenever you have these events, man, you know know, come on on the money way show and promote them. Man, you know, it's all love.

Speaker 2: 40:04

I appreciate you you know well, you know I'm always knocking on you, but but before we and I know we're about to close I gotta give some shout outs. I not only do I have to get his shout outs, I want to go into a little bit more depth with the entertainers too. Uh, I talk and I'm not going to talk about all of them, uh, but I do want to kind of discuss and talk about, uh, some entertainers. First, I must uh talk about the person who brought me on and her name is duana bradley. She is this powerful, powerful black woman in our community who is a superhero and what I mean. She wears a cape, even though you can't see the cape. She's flying throughout our community doing wonderful, wonderful things and I really, I really appreciate her bringing all voices DSM along, her bringing all voices DSM along. She is a person who I love as a person and she has done wonderful things for our community and I can't say nothing but wonderful things about her. So I just want to give her a shout out and give her some love, because she's going to make a difference. She is making a difference and she's going to have a solid impact for years to come in our community.

Speaker 2: 41:27

The entertainers, and I'm going to start with the musical entertainers. I can't mention them all, although I am a fan of every last one of them, but the one I have to mention, one of my hosts. Her name is Casey. She is actually an artist that works with All Voices DSM, along with her brother, makai. This is a wonderful brother and sister dynamic entertainment musical group. They write their own music, they sing their own songs. Makai does a little producing. Makai is 16 years old and they got a lot of different tracks. She's hosting and also is going to be singing.

Speaker 2: 42:08

We have some wonderful gospel groups that's coming out to be performing Hope, elam and I can't remember Sister Teresa Whitfield's gospel group that's coming out, but she's coming out to perform. I'm excited about her performance. Then we have a dynamic poet, paul Cram the poet, which is a wonderful, wonderful poet. And then we have some great, great musical acts. I got this young group of kids that called the name is Voices of Prophecy. They go around the country singing and performing on corners and they make good money doing it. They're phenomenal, phenomenal singing group. I also have the People's Band who the leader of that is Casey and Makai's dad. Then we also have some wonderful other acts. I got to mention Shereen Callister. Shereen Callister and the Feel Right Band. Shereen Callister was a finalist in season 14, the Voice. She's a phenomenal singer, phenomenal artist. The band rocks.

Speaker 2: 43:22

Then we got another uh band coming out of central iowa by the name of miles ahead, featuring kindle, and then we have uh neba and the soul stars. Now neba is a band I've been following on for eight years. I finally got the opportunity to book these guys. These guys are. Their music is very fitting for our community.

Speaker 2: 43:48

It's very uplifting, very positive and when you walk away from their music you're going to feel good that you're Black and there's not a lot of artists that's doing it. Back in the day there used to be a lot of them. We ain't seeing a lot of artists that's doing it. Then, back in the day there used to be a lot of. We ain't seeing a lot of that, no more. But they make you feel good that you black. You walk away like, oh man, look at that pretty black, look at that. You look at all of the men. Look at that, look at that pretty black. That's the kind of band they are.

Speaker 2: 44:17

Then artists, our artists got some phenomenal artists on all mediums. We got video producers. We got the curator of this event. She is one who was invited to the UN to speak about her artwork. She is a phenomenal artist herself and she was one who picked a lineup of artists that is remarkable. You all will get a chance to see some of the films, some of the documentaries that's going to be coming out Well, I shouldn't say documentary, because it won't be a documentary, but we will be documenting the event. You will get a chance to see some of the films and some of the pieces that go along with this event. It's just going to be a remarkable event and the bottom line is it really is going to highlight our community. It is going to pass on some pride in our community and some pride with our culture.

Speaker 2: 45:21

So I'm excited about being a part of this. And then I got to get a shout out to my daughters All Voices DSM, which is a family business, and my daughters and my wife have do wonderful, wonderful things. They're behind the scenes a lot, but I gotta, I gotta shout them out because, uh, without them there would be no All Voices DSM. So, uh, but uh, I think I, I kind of uh, spit everything out. Oh, I gotta also always give a shout out to my mentor, pastor Bradley. He is the dude that I go to when I'm feeling down and he pumps me up. He's a dude that I go to when I don't have much of direction. He gives me direction. So I just want to make sure that I honor the people that have chose to be a part of this event. I really want to make sure I honor and give them their necessary due, because it's past due for them to get it, and I end on that cuss.