Joey’s Song
Joey's Song raises money to fund research into treatments and cures for epilepsy. We host concerts featuring Rock Roll Hall of Famers, Grammy winners and Top 40 artists. On the podcast we talk with our artists, industry leaders and our key contributors to find out what makes Joey's Song so important to them.
To learn more about Joey's Song visit us at Joeyssong.org and follow us on social media @joeyssong on all the popular platforms.
Joey’s Song
Steve Paulet - Groovy Woods Studios
What happens when a finance professional discovers a hidden talent for refurbishing vintage stereo consoles? Meet Steve Paulet, the driving force behind Groovy Wood Studios, who turned his pandemic-born passion project into a thriving business. From repurposing his old Navy stereo equipment to creating exquisite, functional art pieces, Steve’s journey is nothing short of inspiring. We'll also stroll down memory lane, reveling in the nostalgic allure of mid-century consoles and discussing their revival and rising demand in today’s market.
But there's more! We embark on a musical voyage through Steve’s eclectic tastes – from the timeless jazz and the Beatles to the legendary vibes of Chicago Transit Authority, David Bowie, and Led Zeppelin. Hear how today’s music scene, with influences from younger generations, has reignited a passion for discovering new tunes. The episode takes a heartfelt turn as we delve into stories of music’s healing power, including touching moments at Joey’s Song events that underscore the unifying magic of music. Join us in celebrating the joy and camaraderie fostered through music, and learn how you can support the fight against epilepsy with Joey’s Song.
Visit www.joeyssong.org to learn more about Joey's Song and the work we do and get details on our next set of shows. Also be sure to follow us on all popular social media platforms with our handle @joeyssong
Joey's Song is a federally registered 501(c)3 charity that raises money to fund research into treatments and cures for epilepsy. Joey's Song is 100% volunteer with no paid staff, so we are able to convert more dollars into life saving research.
Our Joey's Song family of artists include Rock N Roll Hall of Famers, Grammy and Emmy winners and Top 40 hitmakers.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Joey Song Podcast. I'm your host, mike Gamal. For those of you that are new to Joey Song, we're a 501c3 charity that raises money to fund research into treatments and cures for epilepsy. We also direct funds to support patient services and community programs as well. Our fundraising vehicle is music. Every year, we hold a series of concerts that feature Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, grammy winners and Top 40 hit makers. These amazing artists all come to Madison, wisconsin, each January for a festival that we call Freezing man. You should know that every one of the artists that plays at our event donates their time and talent. None of our performers take a penny to join us. We have no paid staff. We are a 100% volunteer organization. The next Freezing man is scheduled to take place January 8th through the 11th 2025, with six amazing shows scheduled over four days. To find out more about Joey's Song, you can find us at our website, joey'songorg, or follow us on social media, where all of our handles are at Joey's Song.
Speaker 1:Hey everybody, welcome to the Joey's Song podcast. Today we are talking with one of our longtime sponsors and supporters, steve Paulette. Steve literally owns the coolest business on the planet, bar none. You will not convince me of anything else. Steve owns something called Groovy Wood Studios and you've got to hear about it to believe it. He has been a longtime supporter of Joey Song and is a dear, dear friend of the organization. So stick around for my conversation with super cool business owner, steve Paulette. Hey everybody, welcome to the Joey's Song podcast, and you heard in my little pre-recorded intro. There I'm talking with my friend, steve Paulette, who has been a longtime sponsor of Joey Song through several of his businesses, one of which we're going to talk about because it is easily the coolest business I have ever heard of in my whole life. And when I first met Steve I was so stinking jealous and I watched it from afar. And we'll get into all that, but I'll try not to have a bad attitude going into this. Steve Paulette, welcome to the Joey Son podcast.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me, mike. I appreciate it, it's great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we're in the middle of this business. I've got to start here because it's so damn cool. Sure, please tell the folks and I want to tell the backstory, because you haven't been doing this you were in finance in New York for a long time. Please tell everybody about the business you built.
Speaker 2:Yeah sure, four years ago well, I guess it's five now at the start of COVID, sitting in my house wanting to pull out my old stereo equipment. So I had something to listen to in my living room and I looked at it and it's the stuff I bought with my first Navy check back in 1984. It's JBL speakers, denon turntable. And I looked at it and I didn't have any place to put it and I thought, oh man, I'm going to go grab one of those old mid-century consoles, gut it, throw this in there.
Speaker 2:I did just that within the week, grabbed the console off of Facebook for 20 bucks, put my Navy equipment in there I call it my Navy equipment because I had this great attachment to this stuff and started listening to it and it sounded amazing and it looked way cool. So, and started listening to it and it sounded amazing and it looked way cool. So by the end of the week I have a few friends, neighbors, looking at it and say this is really dynamite. This is really a thing you know and I didn't know, that was my reaction when I first heard it.
Speaker 2:So I immediately kind of shifted for this little side hustle of buying a console every week, putting equipment into it or refurbishing it or rebuilding it. And when you know, by the end of the summer it's this thing that's clicking and I'm selling five or ten consoles a month. And I was like oh gosh. So by fall I got into here Sherman Terrace and it just took off and, yeah, I call it Groovy Wood Studios. I sat down one day. What am I going to call this thing? It needs a name. It's not Steve's Wooden Toys, steve's Navy Equipment.
Speaker 1:Steve's Radio Shack, so I wrote on a blackboard.
Speaker 2:Groovy because of the grooves and the genre of hippiness, and it is wood. And to me it's a studio because every single piece is a piece of art and I just love them for their architectural content and I ran with it. Groovy Wood Studios has just been a thing ever since.
Speaker 1:You know, we all those of us of a certain age all grew up with one of those. I had one, my parents had one, one of those consoles, and back at a certain age all you had was records to play and while I had the little tinny one in my room, obviously the speakers were much nicer on that big console. So when mom and dad wouldn't be home it was a real treat to be able to take my queen night at the opera record and listen to it through those big blaring speakers. And it had the arm and it would fall down and all those wonderful things about it. So again in our generation those were ubiquitous. We all had one of those darn things, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, and for for a while there it was kind of touch and go, as I was finding a few of them in in garages and estate sales, and then all of a sudden we wouldn't find them. I'm driving all around the midwest and now they're being cleared out of basements again and either headed to landfill and we rescue them or I. There's still so many of them out there in the world that haven't been dumped yet. So yeah, to me that just points to it. It's still a thing. It's just people looking at bringing them to me to retrofit for them, and I've got a few in the shop right now. In fact, that's half my business is fixing them up for people that bring them to me, as opposed to us just now buying them and redoing them now, when you do it, do you try to make them?
Speaker 1:I'm assuming you're just to be. It depends on what the client wants. But are you trying to keep it original or are you update? You know, like are there CD players tucked in there and all that kind of stuff as well?
Speaker 2:So yes, and I base it on two things. The console speaks to me as to what it's capable of doing. Going forward, the original components are going to work and be great. Will they exceed the customer's expectations? If you will, and that's the other half of the picture. What do they want? I think half of the consoles, and I did over 800 consoles in the last four years. Amazing, put your mind around that I can't either.
Speaker 2:I look at the spreadsheet of customers and deliveries and it's unbelievable. But half of that went out as totally original and the other half went out as customized hybrid and some of them went out as totally new modifications, where we put in all new amps, all new speakers, all new everything, and the only thing original is the wood around it. So it really turns into what is the customer want. A lot of times they bring it to me as to well, what can we get away with? And I think by and large they go out as a hybrid. Some of the old components work work and some of the new components come in and, as you mentioned, yeah, cds are still a thing. Yeah, um, we grew up in a track sound horrible, but I have a great collection of a tracks they sound horrible.
Speaker 2:They're horrible to work, yeah, and, and even cassette tapes were bad and you had to have a number two pencil to be able to manage the cassette tape world. But people in the nostalgic end of it want that nostalgic gear. So I'm putting in 8-track tapes and certainly reel-to-reel is a thing, and my brother listens to reel-to-reel all the time.
Speaker 2:I listen to reel-to-reel here 2% of the time. That's our divide, and I have customers that are somewhere along the spectrum. Certainly the vinyl resurgence in America, if not the world, is what's been driving our business as well as the resurgence of mid-century, but the vinyl resurgence is amazing.
Speaker 1:You know the thing I remember because we all again of a certain age. You had an 8-track player in your car, if nothing else right. And I know on the handful of 8-tracks exactly where the song would stop mid-turn, to go from track one to track two, or two to three, or three to four. You knew it was coming up and you just wait for it and that was you know. You try to explain that to kids these days and they just don't know the hardships we went through to listen to our music.
Speaker 2:And see our music. I can listen to a record in my mind without ever putting one on and I know track by track, in the order they go, and anyone our age typically does that Absolutely Kids nowadays just stream one by one and their playlists are all built. But even like you said, whether it was a cassette tape or an 8-track tape or vinyl, we know what was next. I can play Meet the Beatles from front to back and know every single track in my mind.
Speaker 1:And that was just.
Speaker 1:I don't want to turn this into two old guys yelling at clouds here but I was having a conversation with somebody the other day and trying to explain the beauty of vinyl, was also the thrill of opening it up and reading the liner notes too right, going through and reading the thank yous and who did what and so-and-so, played on this and all that stuff. And we always knew that the new records always came out at least I did because I was much of a dork always came out on tuesday, so you knew to head down to the record store on tuesday. You are a dork, oh yeah, huge, enormous, and I had a bunch of them with me that I grew up with and we'd head down, and because you wanted to get it on that first day, well, and there's that, that experience.
Speaker 2:So you know this because when you walked into the front of our building you notice a big difference right away. This past few months we opened up Groovy Vinyl and that was to bring back the full connection of music with the consoles. Consoles is one thing, and I always enabled my customers by selling them some vinyl that I had in my collection, and I met a retired schoolteacher who was looking for something to do and he's a huge record collector. So I said, hey, let's just go off and do this. Got a couple thousand records, put it out front and Groovy Vinyl launches off. So now I really get to tie back that part of the business which I only made when I'm delivering a console and I'm finally given the chance Now it's amazing to sit and watch these people come in and they go through the whole ethereal experience of pulling a record out of the stack.
Speaker 2:Pulling a record out of the sleeve doing the flip. Oh yeah, looking it over and it's like, oh, I do miss that. Yeah, I mean I'm a consumer of records as well. Yeah and um, I mean we do give everybody that comes through the door our little pamphlet that has all the record stores in the area on it, because we want them. I can't have every single record right. I want them to go to the other stores and get more records and you know, that's the kind of peace, love and joy we experience we try to spread.
Speaker 2:It's very groovy. Well, it is. And you know what? I put every single one of my records, even my personal collection, up for on yeah and sale. And people were coming in. I heard these were your records. I I said, well, great, only a couple thousand of them were mine. I said there's only a few records I'm not selling and that's the one that Butch Vig signed for me, the Nirvana album. That's a Joey song. I have that on my wall. That's not being sold.
Speaker 2:I had them signed too One's at my son's in his room in the army in fort wachaka in uh arizona yeah yeah, yeah. So, uh, you know there's a few albums I'm not selling, but everything else has been out there. And when people ask me, how can you do that, yeah, it's like I'm just spreading that love while I can, because what am I gonna die? I'm gonna have all these records. So I mean people that are collecting records.
Speaker 1:We've been getting a lot at at estate sales and I just kind of feel like I don't want to be that guy yeah, no, that makes complete sense and that it, like you said, it ties in that whole idea of the console with the media right, the razor blades and the razor kind of concept that's why they come in.
Speaker 2:I mean they're experiencing it. So I just kind of foaming making that picture.
Speaker 1:Now do you sell them a nickel that they can put on the on the arm, in case the record skips too I actually put in new turntables and have that well-adjusted. Okay, just checking.
Speaker 2:No nickels required. I guess I should have that posted. Maybe there's a T-shirt there. I think there is Groovy vinyl and groovy woods, no nickels required.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about music. You and I are of the same generation and you've mentioned a lot of my Northern Stars already. Right, the the same generation and you've mentioned a lot of my northern stars already. Right, the beatles, and I know, as I walk through bowie's in there and all that other stuff, what are, if you had? This is a terrible question. I can't believe I'm going to ask this. If you had to put your mount rushmore up, well, who would be on your mount rushmore? You can be at a bands or individual artists well, yeah, so my inspirations go way early back.
Speaker 2:My sisters were big into music. They played every single instrument in the band and orchestra. As soon as I turned 11, I was given a trombone at Christmas. I really wanted a trombone. I was really liking jazz. So you don't know me and my jazz affection, but when you walk in you see my trombone hanging in the back window.
Speaker 2:There's a reason and it's pointing towards John Coltrane and the saxophone on the wall. That gives you a little bit of a picture. But you know, in 64, the Beatles came along and blew my mind. The next day I'm outside in the front yard with the garbage cans turned over, banging them on the sticks yelling you and Ringo man, I love you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just screaming, and all my friends' mothers are looking at me thinking I'm so cute and I knew that chick's dug me at that point Of course. Of course.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So obviously I was big into Beatles and, oh man, big into Chicago Transit Authority, CTA, not just Chicago and immediately got turned on to David Bowie, way early on, for a wide variety of reasons. That's why you see him on the wall. Oh man, I'm about as eclectic as they get. I'll leave out classical music, you know, but I'm big into Miles Davis, for sure.
Speaker 1:I was going to circle back to jazz, because we'll let that go. Oh yeah, when.
Speaker 2:I was getting an MRI on my knees last year and you know, it was 4 in the morning and the guy puts on the headphones and says, what do you want to listen to? And I said, well, miles Davis would be great. So they, you know, I'm half sedated, but they, I get pulled into the tube and he's got something else on. So I'm literally knocking on the tube, I make him pull me.
Speaker 2:I said, listen, I don't know what you put on, but that's not Miles Davis yeah, if we're gonna do this for the next hour and a half come on kind of blue or nothing pal so, uh, oh gosh, I don't know. The list goes on and on. There's a stack, so will, and I have each our own stacks out there that we call our choice for the for each month. Yeah, and in there right now is bowie and uriah. Heat and fog.
Speaker 1:Hat was my first concert oh yeah, it was my second.
Speaker 2:Okay, it was my second, and well, they were leading off for Bach Maturna Overdrive and that was like my favorite at that time. I had the embroidered jacket of Bach Maturna.
Speaker 1:Overdrive.
Speaker 2:Of course, couldn't get past Led Zeppelin and oh man, the list goes on and on. We can be here for two or three hours, in fact, I think Will. My partner in the groovy vinyl part decided we're going to just do a podcast because we talk about this at least weekly when happy hour starts, yep and take our deep dives into the things we like and then the things we discovered that week all right, so let's take this in a different direction then.
Speaker 1:Since you still got one spot on mount rushmore, you didn't fill music that's being made today. Who are you listening to, or who of the folks that are making music and they? Can be older bands but that are still putting out new material. Is there anyone that particularly speaks to you?
Speaker 2:So you know, I have a couple of Airbnbs in town groovy Airbnb with consoles in it and I have bands that stay there quite often as they're playing at the Sylvie and other venues in town. So every time they stay there I get online and I start watching them so I get a little exposure to that side of it. We have a record listening party tomorrow for a new release from California Honey Drops, and I do like that bluesy folksy. I didn't used to, but I'm just trying to expand my mind on it. You know, I don't know if there's anything that I remember that's overly popular, that people would even know, but boy, I've got a slate in my, in my playlist of stuff that I've happened upon in the last six months or so. Yeah, but I'm way fond of.
Speaker 1:I have finally, after about 10 years of crossing my arm and determining that no good music is being made anymore, thanks to having a 22 year old son who's a musician, has introduced me to so much and I feel like I wasted all those years of being sure that good music stopped in about 95, right, you know um kind of stuff. So I I'm just always curious for folks again of our generation that have those same touch points that I do what it is today, because I've circled back and for me it's a lot of what you would call alt-country is the wrong word but the Jason Isbells and the Sturgill Simpsons and those kind of folks that are making country music but with Chris Stapleton, all that stuff, and maybe that's old enough feeling to me, but there is good stuff out there still being made.
Speaker 2:For sure. We come across it all the time. And then the other thing I enjoy about my newborn life, now that I have this vinyl store out front, is we do deep dives. Quite often We'll just throw on something for the heck of it. International blows my mind. It's amazing how much good international music is out there in Spain and France and Italy. I mean, we've heard it over the past, but now, reigniting that, it's pretty amazing. We'll just sit there and say gosh, how have I not listened to?
Speaker 1:any of this in so long that whole world beat kind of stuff that's out there.
Speaker 2:Oh it's crazy. The.
Speaker 1:African filicute and all those people out there. That yeah, yeah for sure. And that's the beauty of music and the worldwide aspect of it. There's always something you haven't heard.
Speaker 1:I remember back when I was in college Now I'm going to really go down a wormhole with you here Remember when Willie Nelson had the movie Honeysuckle Rose, Do you remember that? And at that point I was a rocker. That was the music that I listened to. And I read a review in cream or you know one of those magazines that you listen to of the album and it said good music is good music regardless, you know. And it went through and it said willie nelson makes good music. And I kind of started to realize that if you're bigoted towards you know two, if it doesn't have two guitars, a bass, and you know a screaming lead singer, it's not good. And that opened up my eyes to doing all that stuff as well. Going, you know, and there's crappy music in the genre you like too. So just because there's crap in something else doesn't mean there's not good stuff in there too.
Speaker 2:Right. Well, our parents would always say what the hell is that?
Speaker 1:crap, you're listening to. Turn that record down.
Speaker 2:My father would always say your radio is broke, let me buy you another one. But I lived the same moment you did In 78, I graduated high school in New York and I go down to school in Texas. So I come out of the heavy rock side of it. In fact I was just talking with Will saying we used to go to our bars you know where Armand is in New York and we'd see Twisted Sister before they were really Twisted Sister I, before they were a really twisted system. I said that's the rocker side that I grew up with. And then all of a sudden in 78, we got Saturday Night Fever, going on the disco era, and I end up in Texas and they don't gently take me to country western bars. There is just nothing else.
Speaker 1:They have two kinds of music country and western. Both types of music country and western.
Speaker 2:In fact, that's what my stacks are called over there. We don't call it country West. This is both types yeah, and you know I was immediately indoctrinated into all the country. Western stars the Statler brothers yeah, and and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and and. Okay, maybe if we turn this into a video podcast.
Speaker 1:That'll be session number two.
Speaker 2:There are pictures of me in that and with a shaved head because I was in the Corps of.
Speaker 1:Cadets, oh gosh man. Oh my goodness, that's a door. I'm glad we just opened up.
Speaker 2:I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 1:All right. So let's take it now the reason that we're here today, joey's son. So For me, you're the ideal person to talk to, because it combines your business and your passion together Absolutely, and I just I know the answer to this, but I want everybody listening to listen to this. So why is it that an event like Joey's song resonates with you both personally and professionally?
Speaker 2:If I never met you, I would be doing this, I just would. I just feel like this is like part of that vibe and groove, except I didn't have a cause that steered me and spearheaded me into it, except for you know, I don't want to say love of people, but you find a cause, a cause will come.
Speaker 2:You know, if you believe in something, a cause will come to you. But then when I met you and some of the people on your staff, it was like there it is. I want to do this, but I'm not going to come gangbusters on your door like I'm going to be in your face every single day. Let me start with some sponsorships and do everything I can do that you ever asked me to.
Speaker 2:I think pretty sure you know anyone that ever came to us like would you do this, Would you do that? I was like not only would I do this, and that it's whatever else.
Speaker 1:I can do, this and that, yeah.
Speaker 2:Whatever I can do yeah, you know I believe in your personal cause for this, I believe in your authenticity for it and then to do it with something that you know music cures a lot of things. I took a council down to Texas a year ago. A friend of mine was recovering from cancer and we weren't sure he was recovering then. Yeah, but I said I think music cures cancer and I brought him a console. And I brought him a bunch of records, 50 of my favorite records Dark Side of the Moon, alan Parsons Project, half my Bowie collection and wouldn't you know he got over cancer now.
Speaker 2:He had great doctors and all the rest of that. But I just looked at it like, while you're at home fighting, recouping whatever it is, here's your console, yeah, and here's your music, yeah. And he hasn't returned the albums yet.
Speaker 1:That shows he's in really good shape. He's in really good shape.
Speaker 2:No for sure, we joke about it all the time, but I always say music cures all, by and large. This we know. It's that common language. The very first day I came into Sherman Terrace I had the door open and I'm playing music. I'm sitting outside recouping from moving 28 consoles that day and a guy walks up. That was nonverbal and I don't know what the rest of his life was about, but he sat there in front of my door and air guitared and he looked at me. That's amazing and it was kind of like gave me this. I know this song, yeah, and we just had this conversation yeah, with air guitar in this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we spoke and off you went. I just sat there like I'm on the right thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, when you get that day one man, that a that's the bluebird flying in the window. I mean, that's well. You know. You mentioned the cause and everybody involved, and you know, one of the things that we talk about with Joey song is what we do is deadly serious. How we do it is not right.
Speaker 1:What we're trying to do is stop the suffering, stop people being upended, stop young lives being lost, but we do it in a way, I think, that befits the spirit of having music at the core of it, which is that, that freedom that comes with it, which is that, um, I'm going to say laissez-faire, but kind of in the moment nothing matters in a good way, kind of stuff that music brings, like your friend down in texas, the reason you can feel like it has a cause and effect, kind of stuff is because when you're in that moment that we've all have it, no matter what kind of music you like, we all know where you go oh, this is the great part, right?
Speaker 1:Whatever it is that you're listening to, it's this guitar solo or this vocal when you're in that moment, nothing else matters, and I think that's that's important. When you're trying to eradicate things that are not pleasant, like epilepsy that takes lives, or cancer or any of the other great causes out there. So I I think you're spot on with what you're saying and I wish I could say that it was some grand plan that I had, but butch and I stumbled into this and I'm okay with with that too. So do you have now you've been to a couple? Do you have a favorite memory of the Joey Song events?
Speaker 2:Oh, there's so many, you know, so if I rattle off the top five, that's fine. I love meeting Butch, having him bless a couple of my albums, love meeting Charlie a few times oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Him remembering me screaming over the balcony the year before bidding on the tackle box. So it's getting a chance to be up close and personal with them. I really loved this past year and how that kicked off and how that played out. I think it was just a beautiful moment that year. As I told you this past year, congratulations, it was an amazing event and I I don't even begin to fathom what's going on in the upcoming year. I keep looking at the podcast and your announcements. Yeah, but last year was so special and, uh, my friends will not long forget that yeah, yeah, there's.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of those one in a, one in a million moments and if folks are listening to this podcast, they know what we're talking about. But I wish everybody would leave with those kind of memories that you talk about, because that's it, it's the camaraderie, it's the feeling, it's the oneness, the stage and the audience. And it helps when people up on stage are really talented and it's not you and me up there singing, because that wouldn't be good. That would clear out a room.
Speaker 1:Well, steve Paulette thanks for taking the time to chat. I am so envious of Groovy Woods. You cannot believe I've expressed it to you before. If you are listening to this and you are of a certain age and you can tell by the musical references we've made what that is, check out Groovy Woods, because it is uber cool. So, steve Paulette, thank you for your support. Thanks for taking the time to chat today. Mike, thanks for being you man. Well, that's what I'm stuck with. My wife would disagree with you on that, but fair enough. Thanks everybody. Stay tuned for another episode next week.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us for the Joey Song podcast. Remember to visit our website, joeysongorg. Follow us on all our social media handles which are at Joey Song. We'll see you guys at the show. Oh geez, sorry about the record. Scratch, wait a minute. I forgot one thing. If you want to help us spread the word about Joey Song and our podcast, there's a few things you can do that are real simple that will help us. One of the things you can do is follow the show wherever you get your podcast, give us a five-star review I mean, why wouldn't you? And write a review. All of these things help our podcast and our cause get more traction and seen throughout the community. And if you wanted to tell a few friends about Joey Song in the podcast, that would be great as well. And, of course, you can visit joeysongorg and follow us on social media. All of our handles are at Joey Song. Okay, I think that's it. We will see you guys at the show. Thank you.
