Can the vibrancy of Brooklyn, the warmth of family ties, and the dynamism of the advertising world all come together in one fascinating conversation? *
Absolutely, and Lourdes, a senior integrated producer in advertising, is here to share her incredible journey. From her roots in the Bronx to her cherished life in Brooklyn, Lourdes recounts the importance of family, friendship, and community, diving into touching stories including a memorable visit with her 96-year-old aunt in Puerto Rico. Tune in for a heartwarming dialogue that brings the essence of home and belonging to life.
Curious about the fast-paced world of advertising and how one can thrive within it? Lourdes’s career story is nothing short of inspiring. Learn about her unique transition from fashion production and bartending to a flourishing role in advertising. She sheds light on the importance of inclusivity and diversity in the industry and reveals how managing creative projects across various mediums can drive innovation. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone looking to break into or excel in the advertising world.
Lastly, Lourdes’s musical adventures and love for playing bass and drums also take center stage, adding another layer to her multifaceted persona. Join us for a fun, eclectic discussion that blends professional wisdom, personal reflection, and a pinch of humor.
*Please be patient with us as we improve our recording and editing techniques and equipment. Every conversation we have had with our guests have been too rich and wonderful to not share. We appreciate you all hanging in there as we continue to learn and grow.
Lourdes Vasquez' Links
Website
Mentions:
Bunny Rat
Follow us on Instagram! People at the Core Podcast
Email us! peopleatthecorepodcast@gmail.com
Can the vibrancy of Brooklyn, the warmth of family ties, and the dynamism of the advertising world all come together in one fascinating conversation? *
Absolutely, and Lourdes, a senior integrated producer in advertising, is here to share her incredible journey. From her roots in the Bronx to her cherished life in Brooklyn, Lourdes recounts the importance of family, friendship, and community, diving into touching stories including a memorable visit with her 96-year-old aunt in Puerto Rico. Tune in for a heartwarming dialogue that brings the essence of home and belonging to life.
Curious about the fast-paced world of advertising and how one can thrive within it? Lourdes’s career story is nothing short of inspiring. Learn about her unique transition from fashion production and bartending to a flourishing role in advertising. She sheds light on the importance of inclusivity and diversity in the industry and reveals how managing creative projects across various mediums can drive innovation. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone looking to break into or excel in the advertising world.
Lastly, Lourdes’s musical adventures and love for playing bass and drums also take center stage, adding another layer to her multifaceted persona. Join us for a fun, eclectic discussion that blends professional wisdom, personal reflection, and a pinch of humor.
*Please be patient with us as we improve our recording and editing techniques and equipment. Every conversation we have had with our guests have been too rich and wonderful to not share. We appreciate you all hanging in there as we continue to learn and grow.
Lourdes Vasquez' Links
Website
Mentions:
Bunny Rat
Follow us on Instagram! People at the Core Podcast
Email us! peopleatthecorepodcast@gmail.com
From the Greenpoint Palace Bar in Brooklyn, new York, writers and bartenders Rita and Marissa have intimate conversations with an eclectic mix of people from all walks of life about their passions, paranoia and perspectives. Featured guests could be artists or authors, exterminators or private investigators, or the person sitting next to you at the bar. This is People at the Core.
Speaker 2:Hey, rita Marissa core, hey rita, I want us to have a song, like to sing our own song as a intro.
Speaker 4:We both our special guest could probably write us a song.
Speaker 2:Speaking of our special guest, when I asked our guest what their job title was, she said she was a senior integrated producer working in advertising. Don't worry, we will have her explain what all that means. We know Lourdes as a smart, funny and creative person who oozes warmth and kindness, is quick to give a hug or break out and dance, and you can talk for hours about snacks and condiments and music and books. And she brought snacks to eat before crunchy, ones that we ate before we recorded so we wouldn't mess it up with chewing sounds crunches, crunches please welcome lord.
Speaker 4:Yay, hi guys and full disclosure.
Speaker 5:She's like my dearest, loveliest friend too, so I'm really happy to be here yay so you are, I think, our second new yorker yeah where were you?
Speaker 2:where'd you grow?
Speaker 5:up. Uh.
Speaker 5:So when I was a like a baby toddler, we were in the bronx and then we moved to yonkers oh and then maybe when I was in the 7th or 8th grade, we moved from yonkers to rockland county, which is right above westchester. It's like an hour north of the city, um, but I always had family in manhattan and the bronx, so I was always coming down also. It's like an hour north of the city, um, but I always had family in manhattan and the bronx, I was always coming down also. It's like taking the train made it really easy and, like any kid that grew up in that like area of the suburbs of new york, like that's what you did on the weekends you came down. So, um, I lived in la for a few years. After college I went to suny new paltz, upstate, new york, um, la was. It was like two years and then, like, I came back here and now I've been living in Brooklyn for probably like the last 16 years oh wow. And in Greenpoint in the same apartment for the last 12 years.
Speaker 2:Oh shit, 12 years yeah.
Speaker 5:I'm not leaving, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:She's not going anywhere.
Speaker 5:Yeah, oh, I mean really like, or just a good relationship, good relationship with the, with the landlords, so it's like. I mean also, like I paint my own walls, like I don't call them for any, like I think over the years I've maybe called them like five times you know, so it's just like we both have like a really good thing and and like also, it's like the neighborhood's really sweet, you know.
Speaker 5:It's like there's still kids playing outside, there's's old people. The palace is walking distance. This is an extension of my living room. As I like to think about it, I just show up and sweat and I feel comfy.
Speaker 2:We both do, I think.
Speaker 5:It's just like oh yeah, this is home. Being a New Yorker, it's been great to see just how many of my friends have stayed, or the new friends that I've made, that I've like they're not going back to their states and it just feels like now I've built like a second family all over again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, that's beautiful you're a new friend of mine and I'm very excited to grow our friendship. Oh my gosh. Of course I'm like so stoked um, but you, you have family in Puerto Rico, right? Yes okay, I mean your last name, vasquez yeah, is. Puerto Rican yeah where that comes from, because I have Vasquez family that are Mexican. Isn't that fun? It's, yeah, it's like I mean.
Speaker 5:Thanks, bannard, I know I was about to say I feel like you're probably Filipinos with like a Vasquez last name as well you're just like absolutely.
Speaker 5:um, yeah, my, my family. They live in bayamon and alta and I was just there recently with my mom and like met such wonderful old people. Like that just made me feel like I'm gonna be okay getting old because they were so rad right. Like you know, I I don't speak spanish fluently. I understand more than I can actually speak, so a lot of the like relationships that I made when I was there the last time it was just based on vibe, Like my auntie Tirosa.
Speaker 5:She's 96 years old and we couldn't I think we maybe had like sentences to say to each other, but at the end of the day, we both like joking, we both like dancing and she was just really sweet. So it's like she was sitting in her rocking chair on the front porch and I was just like sitting on the floor next to her because I just wanted to be close to her and like I gave her these yellow heart sunglasses that she would not take off the whole time and then like the music was coming on and she's like shimmying and like me and her were twirling each other around and then, even when I was leaving, like I was dancing, walking down the path and she was dancing like waving at me and oh, there's the fucking movie scene.
Speaker 2:It was just, it was so cute.
Speaker 5:My mom, she's over there right now she she had to go back again for a family thing, um, and she said that they keep asking her like where's my? Little like where's my dancing partner? You know, so I'm just like if I lived in puerto rico, I would see her like every week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, oh, I love that Did you grow up going back and forth, or is it kind of like a vacation relationship?
Speaker 5:I think it's as of late vacation relationship that I want to evolve into Like I want to go back to Puerto Rico once a year now. I was a kid there a few times with my mom and then, for whatever reason, reason like we didn't really go back there um for years. Money shit yeah, it's just like, okay.
Speaker 5:And then, um, after hurricane maria, uh, I was my 35th birthday and I was like I want to bring money to the island. So it's like playing for like a group of friends to go and rent a house. I was like, if this is the best way to like how I want, I want to go to an island and chill out anyway, so let's like go to our island, you know, and that was a great experience. And then me and my sisters we went last year and it was like we all felt like we belonged there. I don't know how else to explain it, it's just like it's something that like got hooked in us, you know.
Speaker 5:And then my mom, she, she was happy that we took a sister's trip because I think it allowed us as these you know, we're not from puerto rico so I think it was really important for us to like go there and and make our own relationship with the island and the people, without like having our money, even though we kept talking about her the entire time. It was, it's just, I think we needed to search that for ourselves and then it was naturally. We fell in love and felt right. So then this past March went with my sisters, my mom, I have an older brother and his son is 30, so my nephew came oh wow, so like it was it was his son is 30, yeah yeah, so junior, today's junior's birthday yeah, he's, uh, he's 51.
Speaker 5:This isn't live, yeah no but it was just like it felt like um but like, um, he, yeah, so he's. So he's 11 years older than me. I'm 39 junior had his son when he was like 21 or something. So anyways, uh justice came and then it was just it was kind of like we all like, uh, justice came, and then it was just, it was kind of like we all like let go of our reins.
Speaker 5:It was just like mom, take us wherever you want to take us, show us whatever you want to do, like, and it was really um important for me to mom in her true form I think, like as a woman getting older, like I'm starting to understand things more from her perspective, or like why she made the decisions that she did and like you know, it's like, and being in New York, like she moved here when she was seven years old and she had my brother right away, and like all the heartache and things that she had to go through in the Bronx and like, um, to go there and see her so light and like, yeah, like only speaking Spanish, like seeing her joke, the way that she naturally like she's actually very funny.
Speaker 4:She's in her natural environment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she gets to be a person, not just a mom.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think it's. I think we're now all at this point where we see our parents, we remember our parents at this age, the age that we are now. Right. And you know generations have changed much. I was just thinking about my mom like fuck. When she was my age she was divorced. She had a 20 something year old living in mexico. Her son was about to go off to college. Like she was at a job that she'd been at for decades. Like what, what a fucking different universe that she occupied.
Speaker 2:Um, it was just a trip and then you know giving more forgiveness and not holding on to like guilt that I feel for acting as an ignorant child or young person. Um, but it's, it's. It's to see her parents in that and how beautiful that you got to see her happy and yeah, it's, it's, it's.
Speaker 5:it was really um, it was a really important. So now I made connections with hair. It's cool to. I met also like a cousin who's 50 and his wife she's a designer. So it was just cool to like, oh, look more like you're creative, I'm creative, let's talk about it. So yeah, I look forward to going back more. That's awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, speaking of creative, what is your job? I?
Speaker 3:don't want to, I don't want to like focus too much on it, but I just have a little explanation.
Speaker 5:Everything sounds cool, like yeah, yeah um, okay, so, uh, I guess in any sense is like sort of the. It's like the cheerleader of the, like one who's helping be the maker of the things, so I think that's like one. To think about it. Any um, specifically integrated producer means like working across different mediums, not just space or in a chin. Um, it's kind of like I'm able to touch all those projects. So it's like you see producers out there that they focus only on film and they're just doing commercials, video content, that's it. Being digital, that's like websites, that's activations, that's kind of more in that sort of space. And then print is when you're thinking about your, you know, paper, out-of-home billboards, photography, that sort of room. So I'm able to touch all those and it's really fun because it's never the same day. Yeah, and in like being a senior producer, I guess also it's like the level of I'm talking basically to everybody on the top up.
Speaker 5:I'm client facing. It's like not just about trying to make creative solutions but trying to problem solve for, like the client thinking about budgets, thinking about schedules, um, you know, putting my own creative lens, like if I'm thinking about directors that I want to bring to my creative team, I'm the first person to vet it. So it's like I go out there, I talk to different reps that you know that represent these directors. I watch their reels. It's like, okay, well, you want somebody that's really performance based, that's really good with dialogue. That's what I try to search. So it's like I'll create like a list of like 30 or 40 names of reels and part of the job and maybe my favorite part of job is like watching all of them, because it's just like all right, oh, wow, this person was really good talking to camera. Okay, this person was really good like directing their talent, doing x, y and z. And I'll curate the smaller um list, also keeping in mind diversity yeah um, women directors.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, for sure. Like it's, it's, um it's again. It starts with us like if I'm, if I'm putting together a list, I always make sure that I'm checking those boxes and not in like that negative way of just checking. It's just more like, uh, this is important, so we need to make sure that we have them represented in whatever list that I hand off to the creatives to see and digest, or maybe that's it like.
Speaker 5:It's like I don't think I've ever felt disrespected or anything. It's my work ethic has always spoken really loud, you know, um, but don't get me wrong. When I'm in there, I'm definitely feeling like I'm Puerto Rican and I'm a lady and I just have to I have to almost work three times as hard to just like prove the worth at first.
Speaker 5:And then after that everybody trusts my you know my instinct my decision-making, everything but it, it, it's um, um. It's going back to like the diversity thing when we're considering directors. It it actually doesn't stop there. When I'm trying to think about post houses to do the edit on my work, I'm looking for um, minority or own post houses um and like and again it's.
Speaker 5:It's a similar idea of when you're bringing directors to your creatives. You look at editors from these different houses and you curate a list. So I'm also like putting that in mind. So I just think that it's important that we try to give people chances and keeping them in the mix and just talking about them and just being open. Of course, it's easy to go to the same director, the same production company, same edit. That worked well before, Like there's a formula there, right. But how do we make the creative better if we're not trying to venture out and, you know, find new people and different people Bring in new perspectives.
Speaker 5:Exactly that's what I was looking for, yeah, so, yeah, I mean there's there's the creative levels, there's the levels of me feeling like I can do something, about people seeing diverse options that I really like. Um, I also really like uh being the person to help uh have people think about music. Um, something that happens in advertising, or at least commercials that I've seen, is not every time. People will think about music in the upfront, but, uh, if you don't have the right music, you're not going to feel the right thing.
Speaker 4:Yes, oh yeah, I mean.
Speaker 4:I had a just off the side of it. I just thought of this right now, but my first apartment actually was with um. It was a house, but the first time I moved really moved out of my parents house and he I'm just remembering this now what he did music for car commercials and was very, very successful at it. You know we had like a home studio and everything, but it really is I mean car commercials kind of changed the aspect of music and advertising really. I mean, think about that right, like once we started adding the beatles to volkswagen and and just like watching my roommate who you know has is passed away now but um, just sitting there making music, just watching this car drive and drive and drive, like I think music is a huge aspect, no, it should be.
Speaker 5:It should be, and so I had this music company come to an agency. I worked at once. It was probably the best presentation ever. They showed a piece of film with no music and they were challenging us.
Speaker 5:They were like all right, we're going to show it with no music and then with three different types, and then we're going to discuss it after about what you felt. So when you're watching this film, it was, you know, one minute nothing. It just felt like, all right, here's somebody running, exercising on a gray day, and then there was a track that was more, um, you know, in minor keys and was a little sadder. So now you're starting to think that this person is having sort of like a sad run, right?
Speaker 5:yeah, crises he's, this is his yeah and then there was um, a track that was like uh, like a uplifting, like rock track, and then there was something that was more like um, like techno or you know that sort of digital sound yeah and it's it's really true.
Speaker 5:It's like how did you want the viewer to feel with the product and the commercial and the music is that thing that sweetens it. So, um, I don't know. As a musician too, it's like that music is always really important. I'm always thinking about it. But, like the fact that I can talk to my creatives about different pieces of music and the importance of it and trying to get ahead of it, I feel like makes all of the work stronger yeah, so, oh, definitely, I think so too.
Speaker 4:I mean, all right, it seems. So how um have you been in advertising for? Like, how did, how long did it take you to get to where you are now To be? Seniors yeah. I mean, I know you've worked so hard.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so I think I've been doing that for 11 years. Okay, I used to like in my 20s I was working in fashion production and I was bartending and waiting tables and I was just like I like to make things, but fashion production wasn't for me. So I had a friend who was working in advertising as a creative director. He was doing something with like Nike, michael Jordan stuff and I was like, what are you doing, you know? And he's just like, oh, we're using Photoshop X, y and Z. And I was just like I like Photoshop.
Speaker 5:I was just like, all right, if I'm going to change my career, I really want to know what I'm getting into rather than just looking something up. It's like word of mouth and a you know connection teach more, absolutely, than anything. Yes, so I think I was like meeting with account team. So they're the ones that cater directly to clients. Um, there I was talking to project managers, I was talking to producers, um creatives, and trying to come up with my own idea of like what advertising was and which route I wanted to go into.
Speaker 5:And out of those talks of um with these people like, oh, I definitely want to continue being a producer, I want to be the maker of things yeah so, um, I met somebody at an agency and, um, she could see it in my eyes that I was like serious about this and I think it probably took me eight months. She was like email me every two weeks. If I don't respond, don't take it personally, I'm really busy. She's like I want to help you get a foot in the door, um, and so I had. I did that for months. And then there was um I, there was an interview for a very junior producer role, but I wasn't ready for it. Like, looking back now, like it was, it was an experience. Okay, I met with the head of broadcast. Um, me and him we're friends now, uh, and we joke about this today. That like I was. I was just so green and nervous, I think you know, of course, of course um and uh and we joke about this today that like.
Speaker 5:I was.
Speaker 5:I was just so green and nervous, I think and uh, and he's just he told me keep staying in touch. He's like I can tell. He's like maybe right now is not the right time. So, um, what was it? January of 2013. Um, my wife, she reached out and she's like there's a freelance office assistant job. Do you want it? And I was just like yeah, I, I mean truthfully. That's like the advice I'd give like any like young person. It's just like if you can get a foot in the door, yeah, and just prove yourself and start to know people and network naturally and just show that you're a hard worker, like that's your first step so you already showed your character by being consistent and persistent, you know, and and being humbled to know that you're ready for something, but saying how I'm here, I'm, I'm available for that.
Speaker 2:That first lesson, you know, and oh, it's the long game.
Speaker 5:It's a long game. It's just like for me when I was, you know, when I was in a career. It was just like, um, I was to stay positive, I was putting on the line I'm getting my master's degree you know like any of our friends or anyone that I've seen that's gotten a master's degree.
Speaker 5:It's like you're studying late hours, there's years that you're putting in, and that's kind of what I was thinking. I was just like all right, because if you can also remain positive during those early years of just late nights and the craziness, then it's actually it's a good combination to have the craziness, then it's it's actually it's a good combination to have. Uh so so I did the office assistant job for a few months, and then I was raising my hand for anything anybody needed me to do.
Speaker 5:And then they hired me to be a studio manager full time. So they had an internal studio. So that's that was my first step into being like integrated. It was like hiring editors, hiring photographers, like animators, retouchers, whateverers, whatever. Um, I did that for probably a year and a half and then the head of broadcast I mentioned, he saw me hustling and he was just like he's like, well, if, if you want, I can start kicking like small edits to you if you, you know, if you, if you're able to handle all your workload. And so I was just like, of course I can't, you know. So I was kind of double dipping into helping, but I didn't. Again, the master's degree lens, it's just like.
Speaker 5:I'm just gonna learn as much as I can. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. I'm just like, all right, let's do this. So I, I did that for a little bit and I became an associate producer. Uh, did that for a few years, then I became a producer and that's when I really started doing shoots, and then I became a senior producer. And where I want to go next is I want to become an executive producer. I'm starting to do roles like that right now, like many people, and being a part of like all the positions you know. Anytime somebody needs me to look at a scale budget, get creative.
Speaker 1:I think I'm trying to practice of what got me into this industry now, so that way I can like continue, yeah, um, but it's never the same day.
Speaker 5:I love being part of creative stuff, making things worse with my personality, yeah, um so, yeah, that's what I do.
Speaker 2:I love it. I really feel like I have a better standing for that. And now I'm like oh, I'm gonna. I know me too, that's really looking.
Speaker 4:I was like I mean that's a beautiful thing about, though, and no matter what you want to be, be with, or just a hustle, right at the end of the day you head and you human connection.
Speaker 2:So it's personal integrity and it's hard work and it's hustle and it is a little bit of luck. The more you put yourself out there, the greater chance you have to connect to more people. And there are so many people who are key, if we all look back, who are key people in moving us to be where we want to be and to have what we have. And we don't operate in the void, especially in New York. You can't void people and we don't operate in the void, especially in New York. You can't avoid people. But the beauty is is that there's always these, you know, little unicorns, little gems, little little helping hands who, like you, are doing that now for others you know that you can.
Speaker 2:You can trace all of these other people who were helping in making decisions of. This is what I want, this is what I don't want. Or to help you get a foot in the door no, no, that's the um.
Speaker 5:What is it? Is it the pay it forward or pay it back? Yeah, like forward, pay it forward. Um, I think about that person that I mentioned to you. That was my contact at the agency, where she was like email me every two weeks. Yeah.
Speaker 5:And if she didn't believe in me, maybe I would have gotten here another way. But it's, it's the little unicorns of somebody seeing the fire in your eyes, exactly, exactly, and it's like, truthfully, like for me. Anytime that there's, you know, anybody in the industry that wants to talk about work, that's a female that wants to talk about work, that's a producer wants to talk about work, I always try to make myself available because it's just I. I just feel that vibe in me of like, yeah, let like.
Speaker 5:That's how I got here, let's network exactly talk to the good people you know and mentor.
Speaker 4:Right, you know so many. I wouldn't be where I'm at today if it weren't people that were willing to take this little wounded bird under their wings. You know like so I've changed my career so many times and there was always just the grace of one person. I was like let me help you do this, Let me help you be the best that you can be at this. You know so. I think that's beautiful and I love that and I love you. I love you too, Yay, so let's go into music a little bit Now. We know your career and it's amazing.
Speaker 2:We're both a little jealous right, I know, that sounds rad, that sounds creative and power.
Speaker 4:We'll just start our own attitude Make a difference. Did I ever tell you guys. I went on a date once with this guy that was a creative director and came to to his apartment and like halfway through the date he's like guess how much I pay for this apartment and I was like what, what are you talking about? And he goes it's twelve thousand dollars a month.
Speaker 2:And I was like wow, you pay too much of course I went on like three or four more dates with them it didn't work out, but I'm like bragging rights if it's like under a, g, yeah, like, oh yeah, oh yeah, that's bragging rights right, not that you overpay, yeah, the more that you pay.
Speaker 4:But I always disassociate that with his career, just in the sense of you know what I mean. He was like so braggy about everything.
Speaker 5:Yeah, you're like, you know how many lunches.
Speaker 2:I could buy with that. I know exactly I could sponsor a child and savvy struthers and lose 20 cents a day.
Speaker 4:We should do a whole other episode on just dating in New York one of these days. I mean, I think that you would have to be the one asking us questions, Marissa.
Speaker 2:I am fascinated. I mean, I've been with my partner for 17 years now almost 17. It's pretty insane. My partner for 17 years, now almost 17 it's pretty insane. Um, but yeah, so I'm fascinated at the, at the new world of online dating, but also in new york, like it's a different beast. You know where I grew up, everybody fucked everybody that they went to high school with, or like the neighborhood town. It wasn't a lot of variety.
Speaker 4:Um, it's it's a lot it's a segue for that one that's a whole another episode music we're talking about music, that you are a musician.
Speaker 2:I know that you've been getting into playing drums, but I know you actually know how to play some other stuff.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I've been playing bass since I was 23. Like, talk about that. You know those unicorns in life, right? So I was living in LA. I had boyfriends that were bass players.
Speaker 4:I was always drawn to the bass, but like I never played it, were you drawn to the bass players too? I remember, yeah, I remember.
Speaker 2:I was always a lead singer. I was lead singers, singers and then the drummers were my best friends oh, I love yeah that's cute I think that was a drummer's shtick.
Speaker 4:Was there always the lead singer's girlfriend's best friend? That's kind of their jam, you know.
Speaker 5:I think I feel like everything that I ever see. Um line, they're always cracking jokes at the bass yeah, that's true, but I but it's like, it's like you have like the lead guitarist like shredding all over the place. I'm like whatever. And I'm like looking at the bass player guy, I'm like okay, that's sick. Um, until I was like I want to be playing yeah, exactly um, so again.
Speaker 5:But when I was in la and I was bartending, there was this couple and they were angelinos know, they're probably 10 or 15 years older than me, but from the punk scene, los Angeles, and he was bass player in punk bands and he would come in. I'd make Manhattans for the two of them and we would just talk about punk music. So it was that's, I think, where I grew. You know, being a New Yorker, you know about the New York punk bands, but going to the west coast and then actually meeting people that were in the west coast punk scene really changed, um, my view of music, or maybe not changed the view but maybe expanded it yeah exactly, thank you, um, so we would just like talk about it.
Speaker 5:He was telling me, and then I, oh, I think I want to go buy a bass. He was like he's like, do you know how to play? I'm like no, he's like well what? You can't buy a bass yet he's like why don't you?
Speaker 5:come over, Kiki will make a pasta. They're super Italian, very cute, Like. Their little girls were adorable. He's like but just see, if you like it and I can lend you a bit blah, blah and I was just like. All right, I mean, I'm broke, so I should definitely try this out before I'm like putting money into this. So I went over and the first song he ever taught me was Come Together by the Beatles.
Speaker 4:Nice.
Speaker 5:Very simple but very prominent good bass line.
Speaker 2:Yeah, simple but very prominent, good bass line. Yeah, it is. It's a great bass line I can hear it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so um, and I got it. I remember him being like kiki come here, like to his wife, and she comes in. He's like do it again. And like I picked it up really quickly and that I it's, it's. I think that was also like oh, this is something that I naturally feel like I can do too, like that's very cool yeah right so that's. That's very cool yeah.
Speaker 5:Right. So that's, that's kind of how that all started. And then I moved back to New York, um, me and some girlfriends. We started a band called bunny rat, Um, and wait, what was?
Speaker 2:it Bunny rat. Bunny rat. Do they exist?
Speaker 5:in. I think it's I, I have to. I think it's I have to. I have to double check there's some things like on YouTube. Yeah, it's, it was just. You know, we were really um influenced by x-ray specs. Uh, lunatics, um bikini kill, um like uh, so those are females.
Speaker 5:But then it was also like suicidalicidal Tendencies, um of that like just like fast thrash, like I loved Circle Jerks, loved the Descendants yeah um, and then after that band you know was no More, I joined a friend's band and now for for Bunnyrat, I wrote all the bass lines and, like, came up with all the music. So that was a that was always really fun, wow, but it was cool to go now to another band. This is my friend Jason's band, cool Head. Um, and he uh, got a bunch of musicians together and he wrote the music. So now here's me taking somebody's piece and playing it live, which is also like awesome very cool.
Speaker 5:Like I was, I'm like here for all of it, right, and his style reminded me a bit of uh, you know of, like that prince, sort of like funk dance, where I was just like okay, like I'm playing thrash now I'm playing some like weird funk stuff sure right, let's go um and then after that band no more, then I probably like a couple years um.
Speaker 5:Then I picked it back up again and then I was playing music with another friend and and that band like was more influenced by Sonic Youth, joy Division, dinosaur Junior, those sort of bands. And then the pandemic happened and then nothing happened with the band. But coming out of that it's been another resurgence where I felt like this was going to happen, not just for me but for a lot of like artists in general, that like artists we re react. You know, like when something is happening it's like we're, we take those emotions and we try to like put it into crafts and like try and make something else of it with with feeling, um. So now I am playing music again and learn bait, learned drums this summer and I've been playing every weekend, which is so exciting.
Speaker 4:I love it. She's basically a one-man band now.
Speaker 2:I love it. What was it? Bobby McFerrin, who had all the instruments strapped to him and played all of them? Or?
Speaker 4:is that just a subway guy? No, I think he used his mouth. I think he just made music with his. Oh, it was just his mouth. Okay, he used his mouth.
Speaker 2:I think he just made music with his mouth. Yeah, what did he? But there is a subway guy who does play the drums and the piano and I'm sure there's a lot of them, that's also giving me what was his name?
Speaker 5:and mary poppins yes, love him.
Speaker 4:Uh, yeah, he was playing all the instruments, he was playing all the instruments he had like, yeah, the harmonica, he was a very talented human.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's just. Oh, I love him in Mary.
Speaker 5:Poppins yeah, so it's. That's where I'm at with music right now. Yeah, it's exciting.
Speaker 4:I love it. Well, you guys, it's question time.
Speaker 2:Is it question time? It is question time. Can't do my drum roll, because you'll get mad at me for making vibrations.
Speaker 4:You can do your drum roll. Because you'll get mad at me for making vibrations. You can do your drum roll. Maybe we should have the drummer do it. Oh yeah, fun fact did you guys know, jeff on a totally different drum roll thing, um jeff buckley, when he recorded that, um hallelujah, that last record, he did most of the drums on a pencil, on a mic.
Speaker 1:What.
Speaker 4:He would just tap away yeah, recording. I think it was all eight track. Oh shit, eight track. No, probably four track. I don't know, I can't remember, but yeah, I remember I played in a band with this guy and he was like, yeah, all the drums he just made with his hands, that's so cool.
Speaker 2:I know Isn't that cool. I could definitely master that type of drumming.
Speaker 4:I'm a fidgeter, so I feel like a fidget with rim it. I'm a Russian Jew with no rhythm, Otherwise I would have been a great stripper. I think about that all the time. I just have zero rhythm. I could have made so much money.
Speaker 2:But you're a musician too, though.
Speaker 4:I am a musician.
Speaker 2:but yeah, you just go with the flow, I guess.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but punk rock I didn't really need to have that much rhythm. You know we were always compared to like Refused and stuff. Oh, that's so cool which Refused has a lot of rhythm, but I don't, Anyways.
Speaker 2:Anywho, anywho, anywho, okay. Okay, what's our? Question In what ways are you a difficult person to have a relationship with? That's our question.
Speaker 4:That's mean Okay, I mean it's about honesty.
Speaker 2:Know thyself.
Speaker 4:All right. What's your answer, marissa?
Speaker 2:I oh gosh, okay, I wasn't ready to go first. Um, I am emotional, I get defensive. And it's interesting because I get defensive and my husband is the one person who always has my back and I feel like I work out some of my defensiveness, which is, ie, insecurity, but he's patient and works through that with me. But I think that I get reactionary and because it's someone who's so intimate and in my space I can take out all the things that I reserve for society on him and I've learned through the years.
Speaker 2:I quickly recover and recognize when I'm doing it. I just don't always stop it before I do it and I'm trying to work on that. But, um, yeah, all the things that you hide from everyone else, like the person that you spend so much time with and who knows everything about you, is most forgiving but also gets some of that, yeah, it gets like the the the most of it, correct?
Speaker 4:how about you, princess?
Speaker 5:my love, I love you. I'm trying to think like, um, uh, what would make it?
Speaker 5:I have to say it's, it's a little it's a tough one because it's like I feel, for any guy that I have, I have terrible anxiety and terrible depression and and um, it's, it's uh, I'm pretty when it's when those mental things aren't happening. I'm a very go with the flow sort of person and I'm very, I want everybody to just be themselves and I'm and I'm very happy, quiet and just like enjoying everybody's time. But when those things come on, I it's a, it's a tough thing. I think for someone who's dating me, it has to deal with, um, because where that stems from, like excuse me, on stems, but where that maybe bleeds into is just like you know, little things of like being out, like, uh, the anxiety is kicking in.
Speaker 5:I have to probably flee and that's what it feels like fleeing, so that way I can be okay and um that's.
Speaker 2:I know it's not easy for a partner to have to deal with and when they stick around for a while and understand it's not personal and that it's your self-preservation, like I have the same shit. I'm like Ken, I can't or we've been and I need to bow out because I'm just I'm feeling I call it internal. I'm feeling very internal. I can't share this right now and I need to protect this. And he's really good. Like in crowds and things. I was like I'm going to have a panic attack. We need to leave now and I trust him and he's big enough that I can hide behind him and he like bodyguards me safely to a situation. But we've worked that and I've gotten better. I'm like I'm just feeling sad today. I'm feeling very anxious. I don't have a thing I can name, but I'm just letting you know if I pop off, it's because I'm I'm something's something's over me and until it works out, I'm just going to be really raw.
Speaker 5:Yeah, no, I like that term internal Um, I also have to say that it must be really hard to be with me because sometimes in the morning I like to put on um 90s house music while I make my scrambled eggs. So if you're sleeping in the other room and you come into my party of one it could be a little jarring. I think about that a lot, like because I live alone right now, and it's like the freedom.
Speaker 4:So that's my answer yeah, I think that's a great answer. I mean, yeah, I'm moody and I'm on antipsychotics, yeah, hey.
Speaker 1:It's a real thing and I have a bulldog that really likes to hump and drool.
Speaker 4:So that I guess right now not really dating, but right now that would probably be. The biggest obstacle is my moodiness, and actually not very moody now that I say that out loud. I mean, I just uh, same issues, I mean I think lord has summed it up perfectly, that's why she's one of my closest friends. I mean, exactly every single thing you said is how I feel except waking up to a dance parties.
Speaker 4:You're not exactly that kind of morning person. Yeah, I'm not a morning person at all. Call you up, call you on that one, not a morning person.
Speaker 5:A guy called me this morning and he was just like what are you doing? And he's like did I wake up? And I was like no, I'm cutting vegetables and listening to this remix of a David. Bowie song and he goes. Okay, so have a good night. Sorry, you can't. You can't see me, whoever's listening, but I'm doing dance moves with my hands. Yeah, she did a personal wave roll um.
Speaker 2:I love it I love we have time for one more um we well?
Speaker 4:no, I think we have to move on to um fuck kill b for everyone instead of fuck kill mary. We've swapped out to b because Our favorite section.
Speaker 2:Fuck kill be For everyone. Instead of fuck kill marry, we've swapped out to be because you want to be and embody the person. So it's a different level of challenge. Rita always comes up with three juicy ones, so what do you got for us today?
Speaker 4:Okay, today I have.
Speaker 5:We're so silly, I love it.
Speaker 4:John Hamm.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 4:Adam Sandler, jim Carrey.
Speaker 5:If you remind me of the three, again, it's Mary Kill, fuck, kill Mary.
Speaker 2:I mean fuck kill B. Sorry, fuck kill B. Oh, I got mine, I got mine. I got mine too, may I? Yes, I mean fuck kill B sorry, fuck, kill B.
Speaker 3:Oh, oh, oh, I already know mine. I got mine, may I? Yes?
Speaker 4:our guest of honor, please.
Speaker 5:John Hamm can get the business I would F him he's a babe okay the next one is kill. Yeah, I'm gonna kill Jim Carrey I. I think if I had to deal with his face every day, I don't know how I'd do it. Anyways, I'll move on.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 5:The last one I want to be Adam Sandler. I want to wear mesh shorts and eat pickles in the streets of New York and make great movies, and make great movies, and play basketball.
Speaker 4:Yeah, he plays basketball with Timothee Chalamet. He just like hangs out in his mesh pants, that's all of. Timothy Chalamet. He just like hangs out in his mesh pants and he makes cute kids. No, they're so cute, he's a cute wife.
Speaker 5:It's just like it's all adorable. And don't get me wrong, like Jim Carrey is great, like I'm thinking about Ace Ventura when he, what is it he's in? What was that punk band, the metal band that was playing? Anyways.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah it's, it's just like he's, he's.
Speaker 5:He was always part of my comedy, but if I had to like, put him in the categories, that's kind of me.
Speaker 2:I think he's very talented. He's also a painter, he's very interesting, but I know he deals with depression and and mental issues. Um, unlike a more than normal person with issues kind of thing. I find adam sandler quite obnoxious.
Speaker 2:I really do most people do but I want his success and he's a person who can never walk down the street and not be noticed, but he's a zero fucks kind of dude. So I'm like I would be a zero fucks, I would want to be a zero fucks kind of person. I don't know if I could, so I think I'm gonna do the same. I'm gonna fuck John and I'm probably gonna kill Jim. He's, you know, unstable. I'm gonna edit that out.
Speaker 4:No, I mean like he's so bad, most of my life is censoring Marissa.
Speaker 2:I'm a terrible liar.
Speaker 4:I love it. Well, I would kill Jon Hamm. He's super handsome, but that's you know. I would fuck Jim Carrey because I bet I love that emotional thing about him. He's so emotional.
Speaker 1:There's something going on that I bet is amazing, and then obviously be Adam.
Speaker 4:Sandler because I love that emotional thing about him. He's so emotional. There's something going on that I bet is amazing. And then obviously be Adam Sandler because I love his wife, I love his children, I love his career, I love him.
Speaker 5:I love this idea about Jim Carrey that I didn't think about before when I was just answering from the gut. But the idea of fucking him is really Because he's a really good character actor. That's what it means Because he's a really good character actor.
Speaker 4:That's what it means.
Speaker 2:And he's a really good physical comedian, I am the world's best lover character.
Speaker 4:I bet he's very sensitive and very sweet.
Speaker 5:I mean, you're thinking about changing, you're thinking about coming to my side, aren't you?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I can tell. I can tell you think you're coming to my side, aren't you? Yeah, you can tell. I can tell you think you're coming to my side.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I guess I'm going to the dark side, baby, I guess. Okay, wait, can I ask one question? Yeah, if you had to fuck Jimmy Carrey in any movie role, which one would it be?
Speaker 4:Cable Guy. It's my favorite movie. I love Cable Guy so much.
Speaker 5:That's great answer.
Speaker 4:He's love he's love.
Speaker 5:I was kind of obsessed with Once Bitten Ooh, classic. Yeah, he's a vampire.
Speaker 4:Yeah, have you never seen Once Bitten. No, oh, it's great. Mega hot, mega hot yeah.
Speaker 2:I feel like Truman Show's revealing of the soft parts.
Speaker 4:What about Eternal?
Speaker 2:Sunshine.
Speaker 4:Oh yes what about eternal sunshine? Oh yes, imagine if I'm like dumb and dumber. I just I just started watching that last night and the dog started barking, so I didn't turn it off because wilbur was freaking out but um yeah, oh, that would be.
Speaker 2:I mean, and then jeff is such like a serious actor, like that movie is just uh oh I mean man in the moon brilliant, brilliant film. He did amazing well, I just yeah, I think he's just a tortured person and, like when you know, comedy is your, your mask, your shield, your armor and yeah, I just, you know, speaking of the mask would you fuck the mask, marissa?
Speaker 4:no, all right, on that note, we're done. Thanks, all right love you why do I say things?