Crowin' around with Professor Louie

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:08] Speaker B: Welcome to the Nathans and Roncast. My name is Michael G. Ronstadt, and we're here with Aaron Nathans and Professor Louis from Professor Louis and the Chromatics. We're excited about this interview because I've known Professor Louis for a long, long time, since going to Common Ground on the hill back in 2008 or 2009. And we've played music together, we've taught classes together, we've everything. So he is one of the best. And I'm really thankful for my friendship with Professor Louis, but I'm also thankful to know someone who is such an amazing musician. And to me, the best accolade is when a person is a wonderful musician, but they also happen to be a great person. And so I know you have other accolades that fit on the bio, you know, so I would love it if our listeners could get a sense of where you came from, you know, just a little bit of that elevator pitch of like, who are you? Just in case someone doesn't know what you've done because you've done so much with so many people that I personally would love to meet someday, you know. So I know that your resume just is stacked, as happens with being in a career of music. So I let you take it away and introduce yourself. [00:01:26] Speaker A: Well, thank you, Michael. Thanks for so many great compliments. I really appreciate that a lot. And you know, just to quote Sun Ra, they once asked him if he came from Saturn. He said, no, I came from Pluto. So, you know, that's, that's. That starts my conversation off, you know, from outer space. But no, I started playing years ago music, you know, and I was fortunate enough to grow up in a town that had a lot of great musicians and music. It was Peekskill, New York. And Peekskill, New York was close to. Is close to New York City, you know, like 40 minutes away. So there was a lot of people that performed, you know, big time and lived in Peekskill because it was a suburbs of Manhattan. And so we were fortunate enough to have a great music department there, school department, even in elementary school, where they asked you, what instrument do you want to play? And you could choose three or four instruments and play them. And then in the summer they would. Because it was sort of a rough town to keep the kids off the street, they would have summer programs so you can go to school all summer long to learn instruments, music programs. So I was fortunate enough to start that way. And from that I got to meet a lot of guys who went on to be professional musicians. And still are. And like, for instance, like in the summertime you would have a school program where you could cut grass because it was suburban. And so I was able to cut Aaron Copeland's grass, you know, so once in a while I would see him, we'd have a talk and Leonard Bernstein might be there and people like that. And, you know, I was young, you know, it was like 12 years old or maybe younger, 13, because you couldn't get a job. But through the school you could do that. And I might ask him a musical question or what they thought, because it was. We were doing music all the time there. It was all based on that. So, you know, we were lucky that we had that kind of exposure. And the music teacher for school outing would take us to go see Count Basie, you know, stuff like that. So we really got a pretty good early start. And it also had a big black population. And in those days, nobody really saw that segregation, at least in the town of Pskill that much. It was more of big families. So everybody was welcome to hang out and see. We go to the local synagogue where I learned how to sing from a great cantor. And same time you could walk across the street and go play a gospel, go hear a gospel group or go play some gospel music. And down the block there might be a jazz club or an R and B club and see some of the greats in that world, you know, so. So that was a good beginning for me. So that's. That's where it started for me. That's where I got bitten by the music bug. Nice, as I like to say, the excitement of that time too. It's a very exciting time because there weren't too many television stations. People were going out, things were much cheaper to do. And the drinking age was 18, so people at 15 had false proof. So you had a wide variety of people coming out to see it. And music stayed playing late. You know, you would play from 9 at night till 4 o' clock in the morning most nights. So it was a good time to learn your music and see great musicians coming through. So that's my start. [00:04:25] Speaker B: You know, Aaron and I, we come from a lot of, you know, various backgrounds of classical to non classical. Aaron's mom sings classically and, you know, in different choirs and stuff. So he picked up the music bug, then ended up doing folk music later. What sets him apart, I think on top of being a great musician and great melody writer, is that his lyrics have so many layers when he's writing. And that comes through because he's you know, he's a newspaper man. You know, I guess I use an old fashioned way to say it, Aaron, but Aaron is just such a, a wonderful, has a wonderful way with words. I come at it from a, you know, I did music in school and then the cello bit me and, and then I never looked back. My dreams of being an astronaut or an architect disappeared. So, so that was kind of, you know, I love how, you know, it just those little things, those influences just make it so that we, you know, we are out there, we have to do this music. And it sounds like you had to do music by when that bug bit you. It's like it's part, it's, it's part of you. I mean, you wouldn't be touring as you are right now, especially like with your new album and just pushing so hard if you, if you weren't trying to do it because you love it, because you have to. [00:05:46] Speaker A: Well, you know, I think, Michael, at the end of the day, for, for everybody in life, it's a calling. So if you're lucky enough to find your calling and your destiny, you can travel that path. Now. You were lucky that you had the great family that you had that really gave you that backbone and the roots of how to be as a person. You know, you're a person before you're a musician, so you really got that and that enables you to move forward. And I really do believe that is, it is a true calling. When I used to, I, you know, one of my roommates when I was on the road was Levon Helm, you know, the great drummer from the band. And that was his only his concept that it's just a calling and that's, that's the way it is and don't question it and just try to do your best. [00:06:24] Speaker B: You. You tour with Ms. Marie? [00:06:27] Speaker A: Yes. [00:06:28] Speaker B: Tell us about Ms. Marie. [00:06:29] Speaker A: Well, Ms. Marie is a great musician. She started in the classical world. She was a classical pianist when she was really young and had, she grew up right in Brooklyn, which was, you know, one of the greatest music places you could have because that's even closer to Manhattan. And she went to, you know, all different schools and studied privately as a piano player and piano performer. Got to the point where she actually played. I can't remember the exact hall when she was young. It was the hall that was next to Carnegie hall with her own concerts. So she was really on the up and up. But what happened was right around that same time, rock and roll started really coming in strong. And all of a sudden she realized she wanted to be a singer and be out in front and be a little more social than the classical world at that time and decided to get out there and play a lot of live music and went to see a lot of good, live, exciting shows. So she got bitten by the live performance bug. And singing, opposed to playing piano and just learning her classics. You know, she. She got a good roots, though. She could play a lot of great classical pieces. And that inevitably helped her with the music that we write, because we write a lot of music together. And so I'll play accordion and she'll play piano sometimes on some of the shows. And also when she's writing or when I'm writing, you know, we can discuss musical tastes and musical chord structures and melodies. She's really strong on melodies because she has all those classical melodies in her head. She learned them all. You know, that's one thing that I went to Manhattan School of Music for one semester, so I got an idea what that was about. You know, she's real good at that. And she's writing, constantly writing, and there's a spark plug to keep it going. And she likes. Fortunately, she does a lot of laughing, so it's really easy to be around somebody who laughs a lot. And she likes being on the road, you know, I mean, it's a little rough, but she enjoys meeting new people and performing a lot. So she's right in there and pretty tough. [00:08:16] Speaker B: Yeah. I remember hearing your voices blend the first time at Common Ground in the Hill, probably 2011 or something. I think you were featured as, like, one of the main acts on a Sunday at the festival at the Farm. And it was amazing because I hadn't heard the whole band yet. And I was like, who's this person? Like, they blend perfectly with Louis. And it was just, you know, I love it when people find those voices and blend. And then when you work together and you're a partnership for so long, you know, you start to have that blend. So you have a new album called Crowing Around. That first track, I have to say elevate Yourself has a line I think. I can't remember. You might have to clear it up, because I didn't write it down. But it's Elevate yourself because the world is kind of. So what is that line there? Because you said it a bunch. But of course, it's in the morning right now, and I can't remember because. [00:09:13] Speaker A: There'S a new world arise A new world arise Elevate yourself because there's a new world Arise. [00:09:18] Speaker B: So I love how you put that. [00:09:19] Speaker A: I think that's the line you told me. [00:09:20] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the line. And I love how you put that. Because as a listener, you could take that many ways, but I took it as the world is going crazy, you know. Exactly. [00:09:31] Speaker A: Well, there's a good. There is that. I mean, we do write. Speaking about lyrical, we do write a lot of lyrics. I've been writing, you know, lyrics my whole life. And with all the songs that we sing, it's always good if there's a story to it or something, you know, meaningful to it. And that one I felt, you know, elevate yourself. I felt this with the invention of all kinds of. That's probably throughout history, people can end up with a low self esteem in themselves because it's hard to move forward sometimes, especially in a creative process. And the jealousies from main acts and the jealousies of promoters and the jealousies of agents and everybody. Sometimes people don't like to see people get ahead so that sometimes people will say things. They don't even know what they're talking about. But as an artist, you might take it as a negative comment or something putting you down. Of course, one has nothing to do with the other and you really have to get above all that. So you got to elevate yourself above that. I'll give you one example. One time I did a commercial or something. Maybe it was a movie and they brought in all the sponsors, you know, they brought in all the sponsors to watch the movie and to listen to the movie and the music in the movie. And it's in a big place in New York, you know, a small movie screening theater maybe holds 75 people. So at the end, you know, the end, the big sponsor that everybody's looking for for the money goes, you know, I didn't hear anything. So of course everybody said, oh, I guess the guy really hated it because, you know, everybody's looking at their creativity work and the musical work. I go, I just didn't hear anything. So he said, well, you know, I wonder what that really means because it's really good. You know, I've always been confident in myself that I do good work. So I said, I wonder what this guy really means. So instead of asking him, I said, well, don't go anywhere, let me sit in his seat and put it on. I put it on and sure enough, there's a cancellation. There was nothing to hear. The room canceled out the music. [00:11:22] Speaker B: Oh, wow. [00:11:23] Speaker A: So everybody thought the guy was putting everybody down when really reality is he really didn't hear anything. [00:11:28] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Okay. [00:11:29] Speaker A: So we put him in another seat and then he went for the whole project and it became a major movie. But that's why, you know, that gave me the idea like, you know, everybody's a little bit different. You gotta really stand up for yourself and check things out before you take somebody serious about their comments. [00:11:47] Speaker C: Was there a moment during your career that you had a similar kind of awakening that, you know, moving from trying to get your see your own name in lights to realizing, no, this is a community? [00:12:00] Speaker A: Well, you really have to continually, I don't think for myself, I'm continually reminding myself that it's a continuing program. It's not just you make a decision and it stays with. I mean, you make the decision that you're going to do this, but every day there's a new triumph and a new defeat. So, you know, you really have to just. That's the thing about elevating yourself, feeling good about yourself, whether you're a musician or not. Just, you know, if you're confident in what you do and you know, you tried your best, that's really the thing, that's all you can really do. Because also when you look at other artists and it is good, you're absolutely right. If your friends and even your friends or whoever you surround yourself are doing well, that's a good, that's a good vibe. The jealousy thing is, is really bad. That's what kills people. And if famous people have that problem, you would think, why would they be jealous? But that's why they run into problems. You know, a lot of well known people run into problems because of that. Because you never, it's never enough, you know, things are never enough for people. They always have to have more, no matter what. I mean, I think it's a natural, a natural way. But you have to understand that it might be enough for you and control that. And what you really want to do is just get better musically because that's all you really can control. I mean, you can try to get ahead business wise and financially wise, but a lot of that's out of your control. Whether you like it or not. A lot of that is time, timing, you know, what's popular. I mean, if you were in the folk movement in 1957, 58, you'd be as famous as Joan Baez, you know, I mean, it's like she was just there at the right time, you know, or Bob Dylan at the right time, at the right place. Of course he figured out that he should Go rock and roll. And people wanted to rock, you know, which of course was obvious at that time because the folk movement had already been out there for six, seven years already. But yeah, so a lot of it is timing and it's completely out of your control as far as how. How much further you get ahead with your career or any of that nonsense, as I like to call it, because anybody at any time can break through because the timing changes. But so every day you got to sort of remind yourself that you got to work on the music, get better at the music and keep. Keep it going and try to stick to the plan and stay focused on what you. What the mission is at the moment, you know, and. And try to not let that overwhelm you. Let. Let you know that stuff overwhelm you. So. So I came to the decision when I played in. When I first started playing rock and roll, no circuits, everybody was pretty open and everybody was just having a good time. So it was a little different. But when I worked with the. In the gospel, I worked a lot in the gospel circuit, the black gospel circuit of quartets and quintets. And that was when I got the real understanding of unity of people. It was more of a healthy competition because you would play shows all day. They would start at 8 or 9 in the morning and go to 11 at night. And each group, there might be 10, 12 groups within the show. Each group would do two songs and. And you come back maybe three hours later and do two more songs. And then maybe eight hours later you come back and do two more songs. And it was a healthy competition to always try to outdo each other. But I always noticed when the groups came back around, they would always congratulate each other, doing better and better. And the idea is to make everybody in the audience completely infatuated and crazed. And that was the job. That was really the job. But that's one thing that I learned about healthy competition. And that was a good positive experience from those gospel groups. That was my first real understanding of that. [00:15:31] Speaker C: So when did you write these songs that are on the new project, on the new record? [00:15:38] Speaker A: Well, a song like Elevate Itself we had around for a while. So I've been writing that song maybe for three, four years. [00:15:47] Speaker C: Is it hard? There's some real. Not optimistic necessarily, but kind of upbeat and positive songs on this project. I mean, is it hard to take songs like this into the world that we've been living in for these last few months of real uncertainty? [00:16:07] Speaker A: Well, the thing I'm most proud of is I think it fits more and more of what's happening, you know, I mean, the message. I think the message keeps getting as things get. The idea of writing all songs to me is that the message moves forward within the times. So I'm pretty proud that now I look back at those lyrics that we wrote, and I purposely did. We did Marie. And I purposely worked on the lyrics to get them into a nice positive mode because I'm not too much of a woe is me kind of record. I'd rather describe somebody else's horrible circumstance, you know, and put that in a record or pose to my own, you know. So when I'm writing from first person, because it is from a first person viewpoint, I like to keep it positive. And what I've learned is, for writing, if I try to keep things positive in a nice story kind of sense, the lyrics only mean more and get stronger and stronger as time moves on. Because I do like to think that I write songs or I like to try to write songs that will live forever and not just for an occasion to have a hit, you know what I mean? Like, so some groups I knew, especially in the, you know, the new wave kind of period of time, because, you know, I lived through that period of time where guys were just writing for that period of time to have hits. Because in those days you needed to have a record deal to get out. You couldn't make your own records. Like, you can now, remember, you couldn't get into a studio unless you had a record deal. So without a record deal, you couldn't record. Now you can record anytime. I mean, we could record right here now and make it into a record. So it was not an issue. But in those days, you had to do stuff, so you wanted to stay within the pop world of what was happening. And that was a total drag because some of that stuff was horrible. And so this way, you know, when you're writing now, when we're writing now, I'm trying to keep it so it stays positive. And as times go on, I'm hoping the songs mean more and more. And it's like, elevate yourself. Like, buy some new clothes for a poor man's back. Hey, my friend, you know, I gotta keep on the right track because there's surely a jones coming, you know, Jones mean, you know, get hooked on something. And, you know, so I think that'll mean something forever, I really do believe, because I don't see the gap of economics or the gap of things getting any closer together. So I think we're on A winning combination still staying in that frame of mind. Not every song is like that, of course, but that's why I put Too Much Fun, the next song, which was written by my good friend Commander Cody and Bill Kirchen. Because I produced that song originally for Commander Cody and Bill Kirchen. I produced it more than once in the studio. And it's just a great, fun song and a funny song. So I thought it would keep things nice and upbeat, including, like, Monday Boogaloo, which is upbeat because that's a true story. Monday Boogaloo is a true story. [00:18:37] Speaker C: I mean, just in the last three weeks, the stock. I mean, I don't want to be. I know that this. This show may come out later, maybe. [00:18:45] Speaker A: When the stock market becomes a millionaire. [00:18:48] Speaker C: Right. But in the last couple of weeks, people have lost a lot of their personal wealth. Is it hard to take a song like Too Much Fun out into the world when people are hurting? [00:19:00] Speaker A: I think I might comment about this. I think that's what people need. They need to forget what's going on. A lot of times at the end of our shows, especially with the Chromatics, when I have the big band, especially Ten Piece band, and a lot of people come up to me and say, man, it's really great. I forgot everything that's going on in my life for the last two hours. So I think that's really what we want to do as going to the entertainment side. See, one other thing about the folk side of things, and that's changed. It depends who you are, but, you know, but I've been in the folk circuit, you know, for years, off and on. I touch all the circuits. And one of the things is, a lot of times people take themselves very seriously. And so therefore, they forget that people are really coming to be entertained, even though they want to learn something or see something musically. But there is an entertainment side of it. And so therefore, taking a song like too much fun and playing it in a folk room, like Godfrey Daniels or Cafe Lena, Right. That's still a folk room, I think. [00:19:49] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:19:49] Speaker A: You know, people, they're like forgetting their lives a little bit. And I think they do enjoy that. Yeah, I do. I do. I believe that. But then you hit them with something else that might have a more of a meaning, kind of. Not that fun isn't meaningful, but something more that might impress that you're aware of what's going on in the world today, you know, so, you know, we got a song, Melody of Peace, that's been played around the world. By symphonies and stuff. And that's a little more serious because you need to have this p. Because, you know, it's not dealing with fun. It's dealing with people having problems in wars. So that's serious stuff, obviously. And so therefore, yeah, I think bringing too much fun out is really good. And having people forget their problems for a while is good. And what's happening today, you know, it'll happen again tomorrow, or, you know, it keeps. Everything keeps cycling around like we're in a cycle. Now that this has been happening before, I just felt that a lot of people just didn't know. A lot of people, they don't study history enough. Because the schools, I think, lacking teaching history, real history, it's nice to know about the Revolutionary War, but they don't get into that history enough, either of that. We were freed up and all that stuff. So, you know. And anyway, that's one of the problems. So people couldn't see what's on the horizon coming up, you know, like, you know what? Just what's happening. They're not seeing what's on the horizon, good or bad. Yeah, and that's big issue. [00:21:08] Speaker B: You know, one of the things I note with your songwriting is that I don't know if it's the majority of it or the majority that I've heard at shows is you have a lot of audience participation. You get people up, moving, dancing, singing with you. You have a lot of repeatable lines and lyrics and melodies that. That really get stuck in the head. The earworms. I'm wondering if that's intentional or. Or if that just happens to be part of your style. To me, when people can write in such a way that just connects on so many levels, it could be a simple song or something that's a little more either way. Like, I notice your songs just, you know, they. They pull at people's hearts when they need to. What led to that in your approach? [00:21:47] Speaker A: Well, I think that's partially. Partially, A little bit how we grew up in the music we grew up with. Because listening to the music that we grew up with, there were things, you know, hooks. You know, that's. You always try to attain a hook for people to remember your songs. So that is one thing that I think is ingrained in me, you know, whether I like it or not. And the other thing is I never really ask an audience to sing along too much, a little bit, But I don't like to put them on the spot. Some people don't like that. And I realize you're Putting people on the spot. But I do like repetition and lyrics and stuff because I feel the songs build to a good pitch when you repeat something over and over and you have a chance to build that, you know, I do like that feeling a lot. And I do like the feeling that people will remember your song if you can, after one or two listens. That's. That's a nice. That's also a nice thing to hear from people. Oh, I, you know, if we only play a show once, they say, oh, I really like that song because I remember that open hand, open heart line. Or, you know, I remember that, you know, and that's a nice feeling that you're communicating because to me, the writing part of it and is your communication. Because if you're not communicating in the writing, even if your performance is great, it still might not communicate to the audience. Because a lot of times the audience. The audience is down and not putting an audience, you know, in any place or not. But they're really sort of into the communication world. They may not even be necessarily listening. They're just communicating with what they're feeling and hearing. You know, it's a feeling part of it, you know, it's what you're doing for the neighborhood, a good vibe, you know. So I do consciously try to come up with hook lines and things that repeat that maybe the titles are not the titles. I do consciously try to do that. There's also a little bit of a commercial value because without making a living, you know, I mean, luckily I'm in the studio, so I can make a decent living there a lot of times. Not all the time, but a lot of times. But when you're out performing, you want to get asked back. So the more people that come to see you, the more shot you have at getting asked back by the promoter because everybody's enjoying it and people are paying money at the door. But you can't let that be your total motivation because then the music then get. Gets hurts because, you know, you're doing everything for another. You're trying to second guess. Second guessing is bad. So. But yeah, so I am consciously. And we are, you know, we write consciously coming up with melody lines that might repeat or maybe a lyric line that might repeat or something that ties the whole song together. [00:24:13] Speaker B: And I really like how when I listen to your recordings, I could be in the car and singing along. And sometimes I've listened to stuff where it has. It's too much there already and I don't have a place to participate as a listener While driving you, you leave a lot of really good space in your production. And I know that you have a recording studio. I've stood there while you were telling me about the reverb plate and how it has moods, and so it's a beautiful space. It's a decorated history worth of recording space also. And so you're behind the console a lot producing other folks. There's certain things you've learned working with other artists that have informed what you do or told you what not to do. Something that you might have noted. [00:25:00] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I'm very conscious of. Like, for instance, you know, when you have a group, and I've always had a lot of groups, you know, and somebody will say, well, I hear this part and I hear that part. And I'll always say to them, I mean, I can't do it when I produce other people. And I am a little strong about it when I'm producing, but. And I always say, well, that's good. You're hearing it. Let's keep it that way. There's no reason to do it because you're hearing it without doing it. And that lets the listener hear it and. And let them imagine it. You don't have to have everything on there. Not everything has to be there. If you're hearing it already, then why put it on? That means somebody else won't hear it. [00:25:39] Speaker B: That's true. [00:25:40] Speaker A: There's a certain point where you have to draw the line where it's incomplete or it doesn't sound right. But if it's sounding right and somebody says, well, I hear this part, it's like, well, that's nice. You're hearing it. Let's leave it that way. And that's a tough way. That's a tough line to draw. That's why producing, though, is to me, because I learned from great producers. I didn't just start producing records. So I started really from the ground floor up. We're talking about going out for coffees for great producers and stuff. But, you know, that's where your learning process gets. When you work with a guy who's a hit producer and not necessarily a number one record, but just a hit producer of great records that became. Even if they just became cult hits, you know, or cult. Some record that you made, when somebody meets an artist and says, hey, you changed my life with that record, even if it wasn't a number one record, you know, I've worked with a lot of artists like that. And so to watch those people and those producers and engineers in the studio, you really learn, you know, you really got to try to study your craft as much as you can. I know you have, because your father was a really good guy for that, you know, I mean, he knew his way in the studio and engineering and, you know, it's great, just fantastic. [00:26:47] Speaker B: You grow up on the studio couch, you take many naps there. It just soaks into you. [00:26:51] Speaker A: Yeah, it does. And if you're smart and you don't think you know everything, you observe. [00:26:55] Speaker B: That's true. [00:26:55] Speaker A: If you know everything, that's good too, because maybe you do. But it's better to observe. [00:26:58] Speaker B: It's more fun, I hope, to not know everything because. [00:27:01] Speaker A: Yeah, right. That's the fight, not thinking, you know everything. [00:27:05] Speaker B: And I've always had a space, you know, I have a good setup and I always sent parts to people and mix stuff for me. But at some point, one of the studios in Cincinnati called me and said, hey, can you be another engineer here? And I said, well, are you sure I'm qualified? And they're like, they liked my ear and the way I did stuff. And I said, I said, sign me up. And was there a for you way back when, when you went from being a performer, maybe recording your own things to becoming like, hey, people are paying me to produce and put something out of their music. And I've, you know, was there a spark there that that happened at some point? [00:27:43] Speaker A: Well, you know, in my case it was more survival because what happened was I started out playing, but we always recorded and we were always in studios trying to get record deals. You know, that's. That was the thing in a real studio. So one time in Manhattan, you can go to every major studio and they would give you three hours of studio time for free to audition for the labels. That's how it used to work. You would have a manager and he would set up auditions for maybe 15 or 20 labels. You get in there for three hours and he got to meet people, he got to watch. Now what happened with me was I definitely had an interest in it and maybe we at one point maybe bought a four track recorder or a two track recorder and had at home and we would demo up our bands. But what happened with me is when the disco era came out, I liked the disco music and I liked the productions of the disco music. But I was not a disco. I was never that slick. I just couldn't put on the sequence suit. And that's what groups were doing to make a living in clubs and stuff. You know, it was the disco. It got so big they even had a burning of disco records in Chicago. So that's how crazy that got. It got so big. So what I decided to do at that point, since I had a little. I decided to go to studios and say, can I work in your studio? And I started off, like, sweeping floors and getting cups of coffee. And started working with people. But it just so happens, since I'm a keyboard player. Synthesizers were coming along. And I was pretty good at synthesizing. I always had a mono synthesizer. Because they didn't have polyphonics in those days. And I always had, like, a mini Moog. Or I had this other one called an ems. Which was the electronic music synthesizer. And it was a really one where it had a patch bay built into it. So you couldn't press a button. But you had to create your own sounds from oscillators. So I learned the oscillation of synthesizers. Actually, there's a movie called Journey to the center of the Earth. Which is the first electronic music movie. You know, big one, where it was. An EMS synthesizer that I had. Was used in that movie, Robbie the Robot. Anyway, if you ever watch the movie, you'll hear this stuff. Anyhow, so when I got in the studio with the disco people. I'd be sweeping the floor, having a couple, you know, getting people coffee. And they get the synthesizer. And the disco groups would say, well, we like to put some of this on. How does this thing work? And it just so happens I was there. I knew how it worked. So all of a sudden I started playing on some pretty big disco records in New York, doing that stuff. And then drum machines came. Well, also, I was really good at cutting tape. Because that was the first job as assistant engineer to learn how to cut tape. So they would want to have a drum loop. Because everybody got tired of drummers at that time. Because the drummers didn't play so much in time. Too much. It was different kind of timing. You had all kinds of different kind of drummers. So you would make tape loops. And sometimes they weren't big enough for the tape machines. So you'd have to put them around mic stands to go around to the tape machines. So you started cutting tapes to certain size, certain lengths. So that the beat would come around the same time every way. So I got really good at cutting tape. And figuring out how to run the tape going around the studio. To keep going across the record heads in the right time. So that was a good one. So I sort of got known in that. And then all of a sudden, I had there Was one studio I worked in where the fellow who was from Ohio, John Hawkins, his name was, had a company called autotech and who built tape machines and mixing boards. Because also you couldn't go out and buy stuff so easily in those days. And he started building them. And I started working for him building tape machines and mixing boards. Actually, we built one that we put in CBGB's and all the records are here. Out of CBGB's was an auto tech machine that this guy built. And he had a commercial studio on 57th Street. So I started working for him. So I started really getting. So I moved on at that point where I could get paid to engineer. And people would say, can you engineer this record? We like the way it sounds. And since I'd started from scratch. And I watched a guy like Tom Dowd, engineer, who became a friend of mine over the years. And I learned from him quite a bit of engineering. Well, I learned a lot of engineering skills because he was one of the best, you know, Aretha Franklin, all that. But so anyway, so it started that way and it got me out of. You know, all of a sudden I wasn't playing music live because it was the disco era. But it got me into the studio, learn that skill. And then slowly but surely that live thing ended. And from there it led me getting engineering jobs with Dave Rubeck and engineering jobs with Livingston Taylor, James Taylor and Artie Trom. Artie Traum was a big influence in my life. You know, Happy and Artie Charm, if you don't, you know, big folk artists. Happy played bass on Bob Dylan's first record. He brought the band up. So anyway, they got me the job with the band. So I started engineering a lot of records for them because they. Or for Artie, who was a really nice guy. And he would get a lot of productions, he really would. So I would engineer for him a lot of Jay and Molly, you know, I engineered a lot of their records and early on, so it was a good way. And then at one point I said, you know, I want to get behind from. Because I had always started out as a performer and playing music and love that lifestyle of hanging out with the cats, as we used to call it. Started getting back into playing live again after. After the disco era. And that's when I sort of joined the folk roots rock. Then when I got with the band, the door really kicked in. You know, that was. That was probably the biggest commercial act. I was everywhere. I was with big acts, you know, in the jazz field and the gospel. Field and the folk field. But the band was big in the rock and roll field, you know, so. So that kicked a lot of doors open for me. [00:33:06] Speaker B: Thank you for listening to the Nathan's and Roncast. This is the end of part one, but stay tuned for part two with Professor Louie. We're going to play his song Elevate Yourself, which is the first track from the 2025 release Crowing Around. [00:33:47] Speaker D: Cause there's a new world arising. Elevate yourself, Elevate yourself. Cause there's a new world arising. Buy some new clothes for a Poland's back. Hey my friend gotta keep on a good track. [00:34:09] Speaker A: Don't wanna lose your mind. [00:34:12] Speaker D: Gotta do what's best. Got a jones coming. It's a hell of a record. Say now. [00:34:23] Speaker E: Elevate yourself. [00:34:24] Speaker D: Elevate yourself. Cause there's a new world arising. Elevate yourself, elevate yourself. Cause there's a new world arising. You gotta the right to use what you got. Now I'm not playing out in the rain, you know the whole world is going insane. [00:34:55] Speaker A: Stop the self destruction. [00:34:57] Speaker D: Climb up to the top. No more indignation. Pull yourself right up. [00:35:05] Speaker E: Higher and higher. Oh, let's all reach the top. [00:35:10] Speaker A: Elevate your sail. [00:35:39] Speaker D: I used to think my life would never change. Thought everything would always stay the same. Positive thoughts take the negative away. Now I'm clearly seeing a bright and sunny day. [00:36:01] Speaker E: Elevate yourself. [00:36:02] Speaker D: Let's go. Let's go. Elevate yourself. [00:36:11] Speaker E: Elevate yourself. [00:36:12] Speaker D: Elevate yourself. Let's stop you frightening magic. Got the right just to see what you got. [00:36:36] Speaker E: Rise up, rise up. New world arising. Rise up, Rise up. New world arising. Rise up, Rise up. New world rising. Rise up, Rise up.