Phill 0:05
To say that me and this guests go back is an understatement. From reading Nintendo Power magazines in the cafeteria in middle school together, to riding our bikes the arcade at the mall, to figuring out Killer Instinct ultra combos in the basement apartment my mom and I lived in, to the annual New Year's sleep over birthday parties at his house, to playing street football––tackle on the sidelines–– on Montauk Avenue. The list goes on and on. I would like to welcome a hero I call by their first name, Paul.
Paul L 0:39
Let me tell you that that street football was literally like in between our houses. I still remember. It was like the most amazing thing when I realized, "This guy lives around the corner for me."
Phill 0:54
Yes, yeah. Yeah, it was dope man.
Paul L 1:00
Like we went from jump ball to all of a sudden Hey, let's play football in the street, which is fine, you know play football in the street, but it's like no, we got to do something rough 'cause two hand touch doesn't work.
Phill 1:15
Yeah, yeah. We gotta step it up, man.
Paul L 1:20
So, we ended up inventing called what was it "wraparound"?
Phill 1:23
Yeah. Wraparound. Yeah.
Paul L 1:25
The two second wraparound right?
Phill 1:27
Yep. Yep.
Paul L 1:28
And then that just kind of evolved to, "Well, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna wrap you. I'm gonna tackle you." And then it evolved to, "Okay, if you're if you're like on the side by grass."
Phill 1:40
Yes.
Paul L 1:41
"Then it's okay. You can tackle." Then that evolved to like, "Okay, he's like, a good six feet away. He can go down. That's good." We were amazing. Let me tell you.
Phill 1:57
I am shocked that like none of us ever got like super injured like he got like scrapes and stuff but like no knocked out teeth. I think what- I think like yeah, Matt got
Paul L 2:10
Oh, yeah, when
Phill 2:11
he got it.
Paul L 2:12
He like put his temple into the curb. Yes. Yeah, yes. spent like a good day, "Like, is he dead?" Until he showed up to school the next day. And it was like, "Oh my gosh, he's alive. We didn't kill that boy oh my god."
Phill 2:28
I remember like other kids in the neighborhood would try to play with us and they be like, "Nope. You guys got issues, man."
Paul L 2:36
Yeah, they had that one game initiation and the said, "Nah. Nah, moving on. We can."
Phill 2:43
Yeah. And like, yo, like props to Tom man. Remember Tom like, he was he was a good sport, man. He would like come and visit and stuff and he was like, "Yeah, I'm game, man".
Paul L 2:54
That was like, one of the only reasons to come hang out with us too, is that and hanging out with Gregg which video he meant he's gonna come play football.
Phill 3:02
Yep, yep.
Paul L 3:03
And we'll jack this kid up. I don't even remember where he lived. It wasn't around us, but we jacked him up.
Phill 3:11
I think was Ian right Ian just had a bloodlust.
Paul L 3:15
He just jacked him up. I wonder what happened when like he went to school on Monday. You know, and it's like, he goes to like the friends he sees in school Monday through Friday, and it's like, "H"ow'd you get beat up over the weekend? And why is it happening very weekend?" "Nah, man. This other the crew I got"
Phill 3:36
"Just playing with my friends, man."
Paul L 3:38
"You don't know them. They're crazy."
Phill 3:41
Yeah.
Paul L 3:43
"I'm not gonna bring you around them. They- nah"
Phill 3:45
"They got issues. They got issues." Yeah, it just evolved-, you're right, man. It just just progressively you know, because I think it was this like getting over the fear and after a while, man, because I think too, like when it snowed it was always tackle, right?
Paul L 4:00
Yeah, yeah, we used that excuse.
Phill 4:05
And they were like it was more fun that way so- and those that one house that didn't have a curb it was just like that little slope. Is that house still around?
Paul L 4:15
Yeah, everything yeah, everything's pretty much still as you remember it. Um, yeah, nothing's really different. I mean, obviously people move in, move out or whatever, but but like, that block is just like, it's a jewel. Oh my god, every time you drive by you look down and get those memories of like, "Okay, watch me throw it. I'm gonna throw it over those those wires.
Phill 4:42
Yes.
Paul L 4:44
That's could be the touch back. Then we got to the point where it was like, we couldn't even be on like the same teams. We had fixed teams.
Phill 4:54
Yes, yes,
Paul L 4:55
because we paired everybody off. We played so much. We sort of realized like, "Okay, if we put this guy we put this guy and we put these three people together.
Phill 5:06
Yeah, it's a rap
Paul L 5:07
It's a rap. It's a mismatch. So it's like, "Alright, Phil, you got to be on this team. Gregg you got to be here."
Phill 5:16
That's right.
Paul L 5:16
So like there were times like we never played with each other. We always played against.
Phill 5:24
That's so true, man. It was- that was so much fun, dude, like that- Like, I always think about, like, every time I go back home, I tried to like, you know, ride through the old neighborhood. And always pass Mantuak Ave. I'm like, Yo, man. Yeah, make it? Yeah, like, the best memories definitely was like, like summer, like basically the first week of summer vacation like it was on, you know what I mean? Like, every day, man, we were just like, boom, boom, we're gonna either try to go to some park and play ball- basketball, or we're going to play football and then like, we'd always stop at Gregg's place. remember his AC we would like cranked it up and our backs would freeze.
Paul L 6:03
Yup. You know, just realize now we will probably like, I mean, this might just be a kid thing. but, we would just like, I guess immune to being hot. You know? 'cause it's like I'm sitting around either that or global warming is like real and faster than they're saying it is.
Phill 6:24
Yeah. Yeah,
Paul L 6:24
you know, cuz it's like, cuz I'm just like sitting around and I'm just like, yo, it's really hot. Yeah. It's really hot. It's like 90 degrees. I'm like, "Yo..."
Phill 6:38
It hits different.
Paul L 6:39
Yeah,
Phill 6:40
Like maybe it's the age.
Paul L 6:41
Yeah, I'm like, "Yo, I played sports in this.
Phill 6:45
Yep. Hours.
Paul L 6:47
Yes, hours. It was like one o'clock. Let's go five o'clock. Let's Let's go in. And now I'm like, "Yo, it's one o'clock. The sun is at its highest point. So it's like, "It's Is this how does this gonna be? I'm not going anywhere. uhh uhh."
Phill 7:04
I be getting- yeah me because I you know work from home now. And yo this heat you know it hits different man. I'm just like I I started like standing up and working because- it'll put me to sleep, man. Yeah yeah but uh but yeah, maybe it's is something different 'cause yeah, we would go hard man I remember playing from basically like, I don't even remember eating lunch man
Paul L 7:32
No. no. It was official It was like, "We're gonna meet at my house we're gonna meet at your house wherever at one o'clock, right? and everybody's there. We just go and play."
Phill 7:46
'till sundown so yeah, like, eight o'clock- seven/eight o'clock.
Paul L 7:49
Exactly. And now I'm just like, "Alright, it's two o'clock. I got I got make a sandwich or-"
Phill 7:58
Ain't trying to make any- ain't trying to make any sudden movements, you start breaking a sweat gotta take a shower.
Paul L 8:04
Yeah, yeah, now it's just no air conditioning on. I don't leave the room I will find some work to get done at this point.
Phill 8:12
Yep, yep. Oh man, we have so many good memories, dude. Yeah, man. I'm gonna try to you know, eventually get everybody on you know so we all probably have like collective you know kind of archive of different memories man
Paul L 8:30
Oh that's that's the five hour special right there.
Phill 8:34
It'd be good. But but yeah dude yeah man so like I said before you know this kind of podcast is just you know a chance for you know my students or teachers to use whatever for the- you know people have the opportunity to practice listening to this a regular conversation and then it's all it'll be transcribed and put on the website and stuff so yeah people get access to it and stuff. So yeah thanks for doing this, man.
Paul L 9:01
Absolutely.
Phill 9:02
I appreciate it. So yeah, man, um, yeah, like let's just kick it back to like when we first met. I think it was South Middle (School), right?
Paul L 9:05
Oh, yeah, South Middle. Yeah. Yeah, man. I remember it's one of those things where like, you kind of realize you have a friend in common.
Phill 9:22
Mm hmm.
Paul L 9:22
You know? 'cause I remember well, I remember like, way back when it was like, orchestra. Mm, right, like seventh grade orchestra. And I'm like, Okay, I'm the kid that's playing the violin. I looked over and I'm like, "Who's that dude playing the cello?"
Phill 9:39
Yeah.
Paul L 9:40
Like, "He's pretty cool.", right? And then and then like, you go to lunch class and you realize like, "Oh, you hang out with Gregg too? you know? And then like, the rest is history. Yeah, it's you know, it's that like, fate is weird like that. You know, like you just go from being in your own circle too, all of a sudden, like the Venn diagram, combines, and all of a sudden, it's like now I'm hanging out with this guy.
Phill 10:09
Yeah, yeah.
Paul L 10:10
And then it's like I'm hanging out at this table and like, we're doing jump all.
Phill 10:15
Jump all! Yes!
Paul L 10:19
My God...
Phill 10:20
Can you explain what a jump all is? I was just gonna bring this up.
Paul L 10:24
Yeah. So and this is wow, like well, first of all, of course, you know, when you're like, you know, 12, 13, 14 years old you got like this incredible metabolism so all you eat is junk food, right? But my friend Greg, you know, mutual friend Gregg. He had like, his mom always bought him like the most immaculate junk foods known to man. Yeah. Doritos, Oreos, Entenmann's Yeah, I mean, we live yet we live by the old Entenmann's factory. That's gone now, by the way.
Phill 10:26
Oh, wow.
Paul L 10:54
Yeah, that's gone. And so like, Greg never like you eat his sandwich for lunch, but he would never get to his junk food. And, you know, this is back when like lunch tables it's just like six people to a table. So he put himself like right in the middle. And it's like, "Okay, what what junk food Do I have today?" You just kind of just grabbed the bag, just like hold it in the middle of the table and just drop it.
Phill 11:30
We were just like Hungry Hippos, man.
Paul L 11:34
We were just like climbing over each other for like, a snack bag of Doritos.
Phill 11:39
Like fruit rolls ups.
Paul L 11:41
Just like, "Yo, I don't want school food, give me give me that- give me that Oreo co_okie.
Phill 11:48
Yo, it was like it was Gregg- I think Kevin too.
Paul L 11:49
Kevin. Yeah, he did that. Yeah. And that was like that was the badge of honor man.
Phill 11:55
Yeah, man.
Paul L 11:56
It's like, "Yo, jump the jump all for the day."
Phill 12:00
Holy shit, man.
Paul L 12:02
And I remember, like, it got to the point where like, sometimes he would just get mad and just like throw it in disgust.
Phill 12:09
Yeah.
Paul L 12:12
"Ah, these guys. These guys and my god damn candy. Here! Take it!"
Phill 12:17
Gregg, man and he's our friend too. I feel so bad.
Paul L 12:22
Love that guy. Gotta love that guy, he's a hell of a guy. I gotta tell you.
Phill 12:26
Yeah. Yeah, man. He was the hub man like his house, man. Like, yeah, man. He was like the glue, man. Like it was just a good rally point. You know what I mean?
Paul L 12:36
He was the center of everybody. Yeah, because he was he was like, Okay, I'm not gonna get myself all the way out Matt's house, you know, two miles away or whatever.
Phill 12:48
North Brentwood.
Paul L 12:49
Yeah, North Brentwood, like nobody's gonna go that far. So you know Gregg was the one that was like right in the middle. There's like, "How long does it take you to get there?", "Ah, walk in 15 minutes." How does it take you to get there?" "Ah,walk in five minutes.", "Perfect." Yeah, man, we were straight.
Phill 13:05
New York Avenue.
Paul L 13:05
Every body was sraight.
Phill 13:07
I remember he lived on NY Ave. right on the corner.
Paul L 13:09
Yeah.
Phill 13:10
Yeah, man. Yeah, man, we should have a Gregg episode and then yeah, I was talking to any heart I just remembered he won prom king.
Paul L 13:16
He did. Yes, that was the greatest- that was- oh, man, you want to talk about political campaigns, man. That was- that still shocks me to, like, to this day. Now, mind you, like like when you know like Gregg back in that day. He was like, you know, the stereotypical nerd.
Phill 13:40
Mm hmm.
Paul L 13:40
You know, like when you watch TV shows, you see the nerd it's like, that was Gregg.
Phill 13:46
He even has red hair, man. I mean, come on.
Paul L 13:48
Um, yeah, yeah. is you know, red hair glasses. You know, the whole thing. So yeah, and we just have this campaign, "We're like, yo, Gregg for prom king."
Phill 14:02
And everybody was down with it. It was like, "Yeah, why not?"
Paul L 14:04
Everybody went with it and sure enough guess who wins prom king? And boy that sash...
Phill 14:13
He kept it.
Paul L 14:14
Yes, he did. I bet you still has it, too.
Phill 14:18
Yeah, man, that was so great, man. I didn't go to prom. But um, I definitely camp- I voted for him and I got a lot of people to vote for.
Paul L 14:24
Oh, yeah, everybody voted for him. We campaigned so hard for him. You had no choice. you have no choice.
Phill 14:33
And he was the most popular guy like, you know, like everybody knew Gregg. Yeah, like and like his sports- Like, you know- Yeah, now I have- you know, have him on eventually. But it's sports knowledge was just this like unstoppable, man. He knew he knew so much about like all the statistics I wonder. I don't think he's into that anymore. Yeah, yeah, man. He just was on it.
Paul L 14:55
Like it's, it's it's almost like Like always, you know how people always say like, Why can't we vote on the internet? And it's like, 'cause you would have a cat as President.
Phill 15:05
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Paul L 15:06
Everybody is going to vote for the cat.You know, I mean, it's that's kind of what we did. It's like- It's like you put the you put the vote out open to like the regular people. We're gonna give you you know, Gregg for prom king. There you go.
Phill 15:20
There you go, man. Yeah.
Paul L 15:22
Or what was the other one the boat were they like named boaty mcboatface.
Phill 15:26
Oh, yes. Yeah,
Paul L 15:28
You know? You give it to the people, man. Sorry. Yeah, people will go surprise you.
Phill 15:34
Yep, yep. Gotta love it, man. But yeah, man to jump alls and orchestra and yeah, I think we really connected through video games, man. I remember like, Star Fox man. You remember that? Like that was like, "Yo it got that special chip, man."
Paul L 15:55
Super Nintendo, man. Super Nintendo changed the world.
Phill 15:58
It did, man did man and Yeah, and I remember and that's why I say thank you, man. I remember Secret of Mana. I had come out and you had it and you I could never- we couldn't afford it man. Thank you so much for lending it to me. I remember summer vacation I went to your house and I was like, I was like, "Yo, man can I get Secret of Mana?"- I wasn't sure if you lend it to me. I thought your mom or dad would say, "No" but no you didn't like I really appreciate that man though. I was like, "Yo, this game is awesome!" and then we would play together and stuff and Yeah, dude.
Paul L 16:29
Like there were certain games that like everybody got to run on, you know? Like like I remember it was like Mama was like that was the one like You got it. That thing like Gregg got it at one point. And then like Jeff go- and I was like, "How Jeff get this?"
Phill 16:45
Yeah, and it circulated around.
Paul L 16:47
Yeah, like we just had certain games It was like everybody was gonna get get a run on this and then it's like, "When am I getting my game back? When am I- Where is it? Who's got my game right now?" I remember I finally got it back and I was like, "Why is my game erased? Where is my save?"
Phill 17:05
Oh yeah. I think- It must've- had to have been Jeff, man. It have to have been Jeff.
Paul L 17:08
Yeah, Jeff was last one-, I remember Jeff was the last one to have it and I remember I got a packet I was like, "Where's my save? I had all the level nine weapons where's my save?" Oh my gosh
Phill 17:23
Yeah man. Oh yeah man I remember that man. And then um yeah Final Fantasy, too and uh and then the I think um yeah the game that that that did is all in though I think was Final Fantasy six man less and I was trying to explain to like some of my students and just about like, before the internet like that- like, you know, I don't know I'm put it internet it- but like the whole- the meme right? This whole meme everybody understands this kind of shared/inside joke thing. Like we created so many, like, slang words and so many memes based off of like Final Fantasy VI, like just names of characters would describe a situation like- like "Yo son, got ATMA weaponed." "I'm about to cast METEO on thede motherfucker like
Paul L 18:18
Yo, we got it. We got X-Zone out of this
Phill 18:20
Yes. Exactly.
Paul L 18:24
Final Fantasy IV we had the TARGET DISRUPT.
Phill 18:27
Yes. Yeah. We had so much dialogue- like we created like a sys- And I can imagine people listening to us like, "Yo, what the hell are these kids talking about?" Like, "Who is SABIN?" Like, "What's going on here?"
Paul L 18:48
And You're like, "It's the guy that suplexed the train?"
Phill 18:51
Yes.
Paul L 18:52
"What?! Suplexed the train?" "Yeah"
Phill 18:55
"Cast Phoenix down what's going- what are you talking about?"
Paul L 18:58
"What do you mean? What? What is this? What what is all this stuff?" Yeah, but now it's like "Yeah, I'm gonna 360 no scope and"
Phill 19:07
"no scope." Yeah, yeah
Paul L 19:08
and your like, "What? I don't play Call of Duty, man. I'm over here. Leave me alone. I don't know that stuff."
Phill 19:15
Yeah, man. It's nuts man. Like, because it was literally like, just just us and you know, like, you know, it's our school was huge compared to a lot of people I've met over the years just you know, working abroad and like your 700 people in in our graduating class
Paul L 19:32
Yeah in our graduating class. Yeah. And it's no bigger now. Like they actually got to the point. You probably never even seen it. But like remember, senior year we had the bond.
Phill 19:45
Oh, yes, yes.
Paul L 19:45
Remembter that? The bond and like I remember. I remember what- the bond It was. It was basically just, you know, a government loan. Right? Like I think it was supposed to be like $40 million or whatever as a government bond to build stuff. I remember that was like the first vote I was able to- like, old enough to actually partake in. So I remember I was like I voted for the budget. We got the bond and like we were all running around like, "Yo got the bond. We got the bond. We're not gonna see any part of this!"
Phill 20:19
"We're never gonna see anything."
Paul L 20:21
Buy nah, I see it now like to school, like the high school is probably twice as big as what it used to be. It's huge now.
Phill 20:30
That's great.
Paul L 20:31
Like where we used to walk in, in Ross, like this another like, like main lobby alcove in front of that.
Phill 20:42
Really? Wow.
Paul L 20:43
Yeah. And it goes off to like two more hallways of more classrooms. It's- It's literally it's like twice as big. That's dope, man. It's it's massive. What else they took all the music classes. Remember how we used to be like, by the time janitors office.
Phill 21:01
Yeah.
Paul L 21:03
They took all of that and like now they have like their own separate wing.
Phill 21:07
Oh, nice.
Paul L 21:08
Like next to next to the library.
Phill 21:12
Okay, yeah, yeah.
Paul L 21:12
So they have like every music class is in there now like everything is over there.
Phill 21:18
Wow.
Paul L 21:18
Actually no, I think- No, no theory is there. Yeah, everything is in there. So it's massive.
Phill 21:26
Wow.
Paul L 21:27
It's huge man. Like I remember I first went back in there the first time I ever went in there and actually got lost. I got lost.
Phill 21:36
It's like, "I grew up here, man."
Paul L 21:39
'Cause I'm sitting here thinking like, "It's automatic, you know? Oh, science. Yeah, that's easy. He walked down. He walked through five corners and go upstairs." No, you have to walk through a hallway to get back to what you remember. Then everything. It's Yes, it's a different world. It's a huge building.
Phill 22:01
Wow. Yeah, I got it. I gotta try to make make it back there next time I get back, 'cause like, you know, I-Yeah, I think all of our teachers have probably gone by now.
Paul L 22:12
You know how I did see, I saw Miss Murphy once.
Phill 22:15
Oh, OK I remember Miss Murphy.
Paul L 22:16
I saw Miss Murphy. Yeah, yeah I think she's at the Freshman Center.
Phill 22:21
Okay.
Paul L 22:21
I remember I saw her once. But yeah, she's still teaching. Remember Laurane?
Phill 22:28
Yeah, yeah.
Paul L 22:29
She teaches fifth grade now.
Phill 22:31
Oh dope.
Paul L 22:32
Yeah, she was actually my daughter's fifth grade teacher. My dad
Phill 22:36
That must've been a trip man.
Paul L 22:37
It was. I remember going back to school night and I'm just like, I like I went to Leah and I'm like, "Yeah, I went to school with your teacher. Like, we go way back. We go way back." It's crazy because yeah, like everybody that you grew up with. Now all of a sudden, like, you know, they're, they're the people in in power.
Phill 23:01
Mm hmm. Yeah. That's a trip, man. That's awesome. So So yeah, dude. I mean, um, yeah, man just, yeah. Like when I work, I do like to writing and you know, like, grading and stuff. And so and it's all language based. So, I, I can't listen to music with lyrics because it just Jacks it up, right? I can't process right. So, so, um, I listened to lots of, you know, background music. And, you know, for the past, I don't know, you know, two years or so. I just listened to video game music. You know, like old school stuff, like, um, you know, and it's, it's like really soothing and lots of memories, man, I and every time I listen to, to Zelda, the from the SNES man, Link to the Past. I always think of you man. Because like, I remember like, and then I was like, "Yo, man, Paul-", that, like all the games that we play to me. played a lot of games but like you were just like Zeld- like Ian was okay and so he was Mega Man yeah you were so like you were Zelda dude right like that was you I was um I was definitely Final Fantasy 'cause I cut school to play Final Fantasy.
Paul L 24:15
You cut school- Yeah, you cut school for like a week for that game. Final Fantasy VII came out and we're like, "Yo Where's Phill?" And I remember we were like in like your shot of like teachers we didn't want to say out loud that like he's home playing Final Fantasy VII so we were just like, "I don't know I think he's sick I don't know." Meanwhile it's like I get home I get off the bus and I'm like, "I got to see what Phill's up I got go see where he's at."
Phill 24:46
Because like it started- like on the Monday I actually legitly had- was like a cold (I mean I couldn't went to school anyway but) and then I just milked it, man. I was like, "Yo mom. Like, I'm gonna graduate. I'm passing like, don't worry."
Paul L 24:59
"I got gotta see what Sepharoth was up to real quick."
Phill 25:01
Yeah, man. Oh yeah man but um-
Paul L 25:06
These summons are taking too long. I'm still doing Knights of the Round I can't go to school yet."
Phill 25:14
Those summons are no joke.
Paul L 25:16
Yeah.
Phill 25:17
Like a full on minute. Like a minute summon. But yeah, dude so you know, so like did video game- because I come yeah so I want to tie this to you know what you ended up you know doing is like music like you've been always into music so like did video game music have like an impact on like, you know what, like your interest in music and like your music skills because like I remember- I'll just preface with this, like, you know, you're good at music but like you're also a pretty smart guy like I remember you were like in the highest math classes and stuff as well. But um, yeah, so like, I know that you probably had teachers, you know, trying to get you to do more physics and whatever, but you've always kind of, you know just was feeling music. Yeah, so did that the video game music have like anything to do with that or it just was something else?
Paul L 26:08
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I remember, like, NES DuckTales
Phill 26:15
Mm hmm.
Paul L 26:16
Right, right? Remember how it had like the Moon Theme? I remember like that game. And I remember that was actually like the first game I ever beat in a day.
Phill 26:24
Wow.
Paul L 26:25
You know, it's like, the first time I ever played- like I just beat it and I'm like, "I payed $50 for this. I beat it in a day, like, what was going on?" I remember like, that was the game where I was just like, "Okay. I want to do something in video games. It's either gonna be you know, music or it's gonna be graphics or whatever." Right? And then like, I remember senior year where it's, it's "Okay, you're about to go to college. You got to pick something to do." So my first choice Believe it or not, was actually art.
Phill 26:58
Oh, wow. OK.
Paul L 26:59
Like I got- Yeah. I want to I actually wanted to go to school for art, I was gonna do computer graphics.
Phill 27:03
Okay.
Paul L 27:03
Um, you know, cuz I was like, right around the time, like the first Toy Story came out, you know? So so I was just like, you know, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna get a, you know, computer graphics degree and I'm going to go, I'm going to work for Pixar. And I'm going to, you know, make movies. Then I remember my brother. One day, he just like, he's like, "Yeah, you remember my friend Mike?" And I'm like, "Yeah." he's like, "Yeah, Mikey, he went to art school too. And, you know, he had a, you know, he had a unique art style and the whole thing just like you, and he hated it, because his teachers were always just like, we don't like this style. We don't like this. We don't like this. We need you to do this." So that kind of scared me off of art and, you know, pushed me on that music side.
Phill 27:52
Mm hmm.
Paul L 27:53
And, you know, and sort of the rest is history is, you know, jump on the violin. Keep playing the violin. playing the violin keep playing the violin. And then, you know. Oh, now I'm about to go into the whole life story now, here we go...
Music 28:44
Antonio Vivaldi - Winter (Full) - The Four Seasons
Phill 28:47
Go for it.
Paul L 28:47
Yeah, here we go. Um, yeah. So then, you know, go to go to college, go to a music school, right graduate with a degree in Music Ed. And then I'm just like, I don't like being a music teacher, you know, like, like, I didn't really see myself being, you know, like the public school music teacher, I just didn't see that it wasn't me. You know, because at the end of the day, like, I'm somebody that just like, I need to do my own thing. You know, like, like, I can't like you can give me rules, but I'm gonna say, "Okay, that doesn't make sense. I could do it better."
Phill 29:21
Yeah, I remember was, yeah, I remember that. Yeah, yeah. So yeah,
Paul L 29:25
yeah. So So I remember I like I got to the point where I was just like, Okay, I'm gonna get my master's in music technology. And then just, you know, learn the boards and learn all of that stuff. Because I was at the point where I was just like, I'm not gonna be a music teacher. Like, I'm gonna- actually, like, at one point, I said to myself, I'm gonna work in radio and be a DJ.
Phill 29:47
Okay.
Paul L 29:48
You know, like, it was like, it was like a complete left turn. And I resisted so hard trying to like, you know, be the classical violinists that I always was and like, I remember when I was getting my masters actually started like at first doing jazz.
Phill 30:10
Oh, cool
Paul L 30:11
Like, I was- I joined a jazz band and the whole thing is like, I mean, there was there was sort of like this weird buzz that people were like, "Oh, yeah, that Paul guy. Yeah, yeah, he plays violin. He's incredible. You know, he should be over here." But I didn't want to do that. Like, you know, I wanted to be over here doing my you know, my tech thing. Yeah. So I jumped to the jazz band. And I remember-
Phill 30:32
Hold on and your dad's a drummer?
Paul L 30:33
Yeah, yeah. My brother too. My brother to both of them are drummers.
Phill 30:37
Oh wow. Okay.
Paul L 30:38
Yeah, both of them are drummers. My uncle plays piano and harp.
Phill 30:43
Oh, dope.
Paul L 30:44
One of my cousins is like this major Viola player. She like played with JayZ on Saturday Night Live. I mean, it's it's-
Phill 30:53
It's in the family man. It's in the blood.
Paul L 30:53
Yeah, yeah, it's a sick like I could I could go. I remember at one point I think my uncle like He told me like, what like, I think it's like my fifth cousin was Prince. And I'm like, "Huh? the purple one?" he's, like "Yeah, yeah, yeah...", 'cause it was this weird thing how like, on my mom's side of the family, like we're not Little we're Balfour.
Phill 31:17
Okay.
Paul L 31:17
And then the Balfours before them they were the Nelsons.
Phill 31:21
Mm hmm.
Paul L 31:22
So like you know like if you sort of go way back in the tree and you know make a make a right instead of making the left you get to the ones who settled in Minnesota yeah and it's funny too because I tell people and they're like, "Yeah what does that get you?" I'm like, "Nothing... nothing, I'm not in the will I'm not gonna cut I don't have access to his uh, his back catelouge
Phill 31:49
His archive man. Yeah, man. He is a huge archive, yeah.
Paul L 31:53
So yeah, so
Phill 31:54
Anyway, yeah, sorry. Go on, yeah, my bad.
Paul L 31:56
So yeah, so I go for my masters and like I was ust like, "I'm gonna I'm gonna be this jazz guy." Right? And I remember like the, conductor of the jazz band. He pretty much tried his best to get me out of there.
Phill 32:12
Really?
Paul L 32:13
Yeah, he I mean, like you. He didn't say it, but you could just kind of tell right? It's like- It's like at first he gave me like alto sax parts because naturally it's like, okay, violin alto sax, you got to transpose. Meanwhile, what he didn't know is when I was you know, in Potsdam, I was playing in a Latin jazz band and all I played four alto sax parts.
Phill 32:35
Oh, yeah 'cause it's like a B flat thing, right. And you have to like go up.
Paul L 32:40
Yeah, you gotta transpose a minor 3rd basically. Yeah. But um, you know, so it's like this- this is no big deal. I transpose all the time, right? So piece of cake. So then- so then it's like, "Okay, I'm gonna give you flute parts." right? Because flute it's like everything is going to be upper-upper register "you're gonna struggle" "No, I'm not going to I struggle with that." Then. it's like, okay, I remember, like, game- I forgot what tune it was we passed the 3 tune he passes out. He's like, "Okay, you're gonna take a solo on this one." And I'm like, "Yeah, no problem. I studied improv."
Phill 33:14
Yeah.
Paul L 33:16
I remember. You know, I shredded this solo. And after rehearsal, he goes to me, he's like, "Look, I just don't have music for you go play in the orchestra." In my head. I'm just like, "God, no, I don't want to do this. I just don't want to" but you know, I jump back in and the rest is history, right? Yeah, that took me back on like the classical train again. And, you know, here I am today. 2020. It's like concert master two different orchestras that conduct by own orchestra and you know, big deal.
Phill 33:52
That's so cool, man. Yeah, and this because this you know, like, I remember when you were teaching Where was it? Like North Babylon or something, right? Yeah, worse. Yeah. And I remember even then you're like, "Yeah, ma. I'm not really feeling it. I'm not feeling it." And then a couple years later that I went back and I really wanted to go see- see you. Be the Yeah, yeah, you were either playing for the orchestra you would you would like, yeah. I mean, you were conducting at that time, I think. Yeah. Yeah. It was like, when did you first time-
Paul L 34:26
That's probably me when I was playing, because, yeah, 'cause I didn't start conducting really probably for about, I guess, like, five, six years ago.
Phill 34:33
Okay. Okay.
Paul L 34:34
You know. But yeah, it was weird, because I remember like, that was at that point, like, when I was in North Babylon, and I was just like, "I'm gonna place a bet against myself, that I can do something better than I can do something, you know, that I really want to do." right?
Phill 34:50
Yeah.
Paul L 34:50
And so like, Here I am now, you know, doing everything that I in some ways I never thought I would do. Yeah, you know, it's like I never thought I'd be a conductor. This. I was a Violin as well as in college. In I never thought I'd be a concert master of an orch-Here I am doing. It's- life is crazy like that. It really is
Phill 35:13
It is man. That's so cool, man. Yeah, man. So can you just like explain exactly like for the people that don't know? I, you know, I have a vague idea what that entails but yeah, can you just go on and kind of explain?
Paul L 35:27
Oh, okay. Yeah, so I mean as a conductor- I mean if you kind of think of it orchestras are like, you know, rock bands with like 10 times as many people. You know like the Beatles you have 4 and all of a sudden in an orchestra you have 40, right? And one thing you discover is that people can't count. You know, people can't count. People have no like sense of like sort of internal rhythm, internal tempo, internal pulse. You know, like you ever watched like a game show like you didn't like the end of Family Feud in a sense, you know, every shot claps in a rhythm. And then like that one person who's like, off to the races, going a million miles an hour?
Phill 36:09
Yeah.You need a drummer.
Paul L 36:09
Yeah. So I mean, that's, that's, that's kind of in a way what like, what the conductor is kind of like, you know, like, their job, you know, not only to make sure everybody's marching to the beat of the same drum. But then also like, they got to play the music the way I want it to be. You know, like, I remember at one point I kind of described it to somebody is like, I'm sort of, you know, the artist and like, the musicians or, you know, the paintbrush, the pain and all of that. So it's like-
Phill 36:42
It's like, yeah, you control like, the crescendos and when things are like, yeah, you know, allegro all that stuff. That's, that's dope.
Paul L 36:49
Yeah, 'cause it's like, yeah, cuz if you leave people to kind of do whatever they want, then they're just gonna say, you know, "This is how I listened to it on YouTube, you know, two weeks ago, so It's gonna sound like this." And so I got to come around and say, "No, my tree is going to be painted this way."
Phill 37:08
Mm hmm.
Paul L 37:10
Yeah. So it's like, you're playing like they might play one tempo and I'm like, No, I want faster. Or you know, they'll go they'll go faster. I'm like, No, I want slower. Yeah, they play loud. No, I want softer I need to hear this thing. You know, you know, it's it's, it's entirely and maybe it's just kind of like, like just sort of like my I guess lust for power. Like I'm in charge man. Come on. Do what I want to do
Phill 37:43
Got the Infinity Gauntlet, man.
Paul L 37:46
Yeah, I got all the stones. Sorry, you got you got to do what I want. No, but I mean it's it's it's it's really exhilarating to you know, this is like not only do you get like exactly That tree that you want painted. But then you get to share that painting with other people. Yes, yeah. Oh my god. Like I tell people all the time I'm like, you know people because people always ask like, do you get nervous? You know, do you worried? Do you you know, do you pet like, like, are you? Are you freed? This isn't? No, I'm on stage. I'm home. Let's get to work. Yeah,
Phill 38:23
yeah. That's dope,
Paul L 38:24
man. Like, remember earlier we were talking about like, you know, playing football. It's like 95 degrees, and we didn't care. Yeah, yeah, this is the same thing. It's like you could be 100 degrees outside and I'm just like, dripping sweat. I don't know. I don't care. Like, this is great stuff that we're doing. Yeah,
Phill 38:43
yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Man. That's so cool, man. It's so dope, man. Like, yeah, man. Yeah, missus I can you talk about it, man. This makes me happy man just like yells Yeah, man, Paul's doing it. And then you said you're also a concert master. So what exactly is that? Can you explain that a little bit to us.
Paul L 39:00
The easiest way to describe it if you kind of take your orchestra you have your own your, well, there's two ways we can describe it. You know, the orchestra is made up of like the percussion, brass, wind strings and all of that. The strings are the ones that sit in front. You know, they're they're also kind of looked at as like the prima donnas of the orchestra or whatever, right? I don't know. I mean, this also is a musician jokes. But then you also have like, within like the violin section in the orchestra, like they're broken into two different sections. Sometimes more.
Phill 39:38
I remember?
Paul L 39:38
Yeah, right. Like always like, Well, you know, for us, it was like the first violin so the good guys the second violins when they're not so good. Yeah, but like, you get to a point where and you know-
Phill 39:49
Everybody's good, right?
Paul L 39:51
Yeah, you get to a point where everybody's good and it's like, Okay, the first violins are playing the root of the chord and you're playing the sixth Okay, okay. Right. Or like, you know, in middle school it's like the cellos are the guys that play the PA. Mm hm. You know? And now it's in you know, and at this level, it's like, well, the cello could have the melody too.
Phill 40:13
Yeah, I mix I just want to play the melody and I would and the teachers we get that man I'm so sorry, Mr. mill. hyzer. You get so mad at me black you I'm so bored. Playing a while. Yeah, I saw red. How's he doing?
Paul L 40:28
Yeah, this is looking pretty good. I mean, people tell us like telling me like he's barely able to hold up his Viola or whatever. But I remember the last time I saw him, I was like, he looks the same.
Phill 40:39
Oh, good.
Paul L 40:40
But um, yeah. So so you know, you have your first violins and your second violins. And then like, you go within the first violin section. And first off, I mean, it's just like a big sort of like power struggle, right? Like everybody wants to kind of sit up front, because that means that you're better than everybody that sits behind You
Phill 41:00
Yeah, I actually just finished watching the umbrella. Academy umbrella was umbrella Academy. Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's you know, but one of the main characters is trying to get first violin.
Paul L 41:13
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's Yeah, it's a huge rank thing, the higher you go. And I mean, a lot some of it might have to do with like, like professional orchestras, you know, like, you kind of get paid more or more like you actually get to play as a service. You know? I'm sorry, I don't have a part for you got to go. Yeah. But I'm way up in the front. It's like that first chair, when you kind of look at that one chair that's to the left of the conductor. Yep.
Phill 41:42
I remember on the outside, you know, closest to the, to the audience. That's the concert master.
Paul L 41:51
For them, like depending on where you are, you can have all sorts of different roles. You know, like for me and one orchestra And might be like, I got to be kind of, you know, the Assistant conductor and like, the conductor takes a week off, then I got to get up and subforum Okay, yeah. Or, you know, for most orchestras, it's also like, doing, you know, what we call doing the bowing? Yeah, when you look into an orchestra, you always see that like, the string players, their bows are all basically going the same direction. You have to
Phill 42:24
remember that Yeah, yeah, right. upstroke down. Yeah, yeah, go down
Paul L 42:27
low. Right. Yeah, like the square with the bottom cut out. The V, right. Yeah, so it's like, it's, you know, the concert master and then also like the first chair of all the other sections, it's their job to do the bowings and make sure everybody bow goes the same direction. Some, in some situations, like, the concert masters also like the guy with the watch. Okay, in other words, it's like, I gotta, you know, look at my watch and say, okay, we need a break. Yeah, okay, cuz I mean, you know, rehearsals can be long, right? You have like, two hour, two and a half hour three hour rehearsals. So, you know, the concert master might be the guy to just look at his watch and say, yeah, we're dying here we need 10 minutes
Phill 43:14
Kind of like the union leader.
Paul L 43:16
Yeah, yeah, in a way. Yeah. I mean, I've done that a lot too, like, in one orchestra I played with were- like, the conductor I had like this guy, you know, he was just like, super high energy. And if you didn't stop him, he would basically do a rehearsal from like, 7:30 at night until you know, 11
Phill 43:40
Wow.
Paul L 43:41
And so, you know, I'm the one that kind of just looks down at my watch and I'm like, "Alright, it's 8:50 we need 10 minutes.", "All right, it's 10 o'clock. We gotta go home." So yeah, like it's- a lot of it kind of depends on the orchestra and what the conductor gives the concert master the jobs to do, you know to assign to them. But I mean, you can kind of think of it as like they're the captain on the floor. And so yeah, so that's me it's like, I mean, I mean the guy on the podium that everybody's watching or I'm the guy sitting playing the violin that everybody's listening to.
Phill 44:25
Yeah, man. It's that Prince blood, man you got know, it's it's dope man.
Paul L 44:32
I'm gonna wear my raspberry beret.
Phill 44:35
You gotta a perm, man. You gotta your hair permed ou. Pop your collar, man.
Paul L 44:39
Mmhmm, no wonder why I like pancakes so much.
Phill 44:44
Oh, man, but dude, man, that's so great hearing man. And it's- Yeah, man. It's so awesome that you know, you're able to accomplish that. Yeah, now that you're talking about everything. Yeah, definitely. Remember when you first started teaching you were like, "This, isn't it?" I remember That. Remember that? I think we were like, I think I was at your house with your parents and we might have been after that. And maybe we were chilling in the backyard or something on your house. But anyway. Yeah, man, I remember you were just like, "Yeah, man. This isn't it for me." And I was like at the time, you know, and I was like, "What the hell is you gonna do, man?" and then you figured out what you were gonna do, man? That's great, dude.
Paul L 45:18
I mean, I told you it's it's sometimes you got to place a bet on yourself. You know, and then I just went with it. And um, I won.
Phill 45:26
Yeah, man. That's great, dude. So So yeah, man. Um, that's that's really awesome, man. And I think you know, you know, it's really cool that um, you know, I spoke with people from Brentwood so far on this podcast and it's like, yet did go into Brentwood have any anything to you know, like that it did help with with this or did it give you some kind of something to aspire to? Or because everybody mentioned something about the Brentwood music program with just the environment of it being a very culturally diverse place.
Paul L 45:59
Yeah, it's, it's in some it's a gift in some ways. It's a curse in other ways. I mean, like when I was getting I was getting my undergrad- when I was getting my bachelor's I remember, you know, you go to a music school, and, you know, 60/70/80% of the kids there. They're starting music in like, 3rd grade/4th grade.
Phill 46:23
Yep, yep.
Paul L 46:24
Right? We didn't start till seventh. You know, we didn't start till 7th- They still don't start till 7th.
Phill 46:31
Wow.
Paul L 46:32
Right. And so it's, you know, you have that like four year catch up period that you've basically got to do in a semester.
Phill 46:40
Mm hmm.
Paul L 46:40
All right. So I mean, that's sort of a curse about it. But then you get to like the gift where it's like, nowadays, you know, you talk to people that like, "Oh, where'd you go?" And you're like, "Oh, yeah, I went to Brentwood when you like, Oh, yeah, that's that's that. That's where they got the music department. It's huge there. Yeah, it's huge. Right now. Like all you guys need. Have you know the Green Machine and like yeah there's that like one of the best marching bands in the country and I mean they really are the best marching bands in the country yeah like they're always went I think they just won like the state championship i think is like last year the year before. But uh yeah it's it's it's it's it's a gift and a curse because like I said, you know, when you know when you when you kind of go out and it's like you think you know everything and then you realize that there are people that are just way beyond your paygrade and all of a sudden you're like, I know nothing.
Phill 47:37
Yep, you get that that Jon Snow action going on.
Paul L 47:41
Exactly, yeah, "You know nothing Jon Snow- you know nothing Paul Little, go practice your violin. What are you doing? Why are you playing on that? Go buy a new vio-." I actually did buy a new violin in my freshman year. Wow. Because I remember my teacher was just like, "Yeah, you need something better."
Phill 47:58
Wow.
Paul L 47:58
Like it's- I mean, I still have like the same violin I've had for what, not 20 years now. But you know, it was like I said, it's just sort of that like culture shock of being, you know, almost in like that Brentwood bubble where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you cameYeah. Where'd that come from now?Yeah, and then you know you kind of venture out from that little Brentwood bubble and off of Long Island you go to the other side of New York State and now it's just it's a completely different world where not only, you know, are you like sort of the bottom of the totem pole. But then you also realize like nobody knows any kind of like, slang or pop culture stuff. I remember the weirdest thing I was in my dorm and there's this one guy who just like live down the hall from me. And this was back when like, remember like Martha Stewart was hanging out with Busta Rhymes?
Phill 49:05
Yes.
Paul L 49:06
Right? Like before Snoop Dogg she was hanging out with Busta Rhymes and like, I think they went to the Video Music Awards and and Busta Rhymes was like, "Martha that what the deali? What the deali, Martha?" And this guy, he lived down the hall for me. He comes comes over to my door, I had the door open it's like you know, late August so it's still kind of warm, knocks on my door. He's like, "What does that mean? 'What did that dealio?' what does that actually mean?" and I'm looking at him like...
Phill 50:05
"Are you joking?"
Paul L 50:08
You know, but then that's that's when you realize it's like, you know, Long Island/New York City. It's a completely different world from you know the rest of New York. It's so different.
Phill 50:20
That's hilarious, Oh man.
Paul L 50:25
"What does that mean? 'What the dealio?'
Phill 50:28
I bet- I can imagine the look on your face. You're like, "Are you serious right now?"
Paul L 50:30
I did, I did
Phill 50:32
"This a racist joke you're trying to make that's falling flat?"
Paul L 50:36
Yeah, like, "What am I missing? Like, where the cameras? Where the cameras?" And I remember like, I was like, "Yeah, it's a slang. It's like 'What the deal with the deal'", right? That was like when when DMX came out, you know? And he was, "Grr, what the deal?", right? So I kind of put like, I put like a little bit of DMX in it when I talk to him. I was like, "You know, it's what it means. It's like 'What the deal?'". He goes to me, he's like, "Why don't you just see 'what the deal?' or 'What's the deal?'" and I'm like, I'm sitting here looking at him in my mind. I'm like, "Are you Sienfield?" Like, "What do you mean, 'what's the deal?', just let it go.
Phill 51:18
Let it go, man.
Paul L 51:19
Let it go.
Phill 51:19
Just accept it.
Paul L 51:20
You know, I say soda you say pop, it's all good.
Paul L 51:24
Yeah.
Phill 51:27
Just let it go.
Trying to find a deeper meaning.
Paul L 51:31
He did! Like he must have spent like a good minute or two just standing in front of my door. We were going back and forth. Just talking about "what the dealio?" Nothing else, nothing missing. And you know, I was probably playing, speaking Zelda, I was probably playing Majoris Mask at the time, too.
Phill 51:54
So I want to get back to my temple.
Exactly I'm like, yeah, I'm wanna get back and play my game. I don't feel like resting time, you know? And I'm having this conversation about "What the dealio?"
Oh man, that's hilarious, man.
Oh gosh.
Dope, man, but Yeah, dude, we've been talking about almost almost an hour, man. 50 minutes.
Paul L 52:15
Hey, this is round one we can go all night.
Phill 52:18
Yeah, yeah, man. Yeah, just you know this not to switch gears but um, I definitely wanted to, you know, have you back on to talk about video games but um, yeah, that's like the remainder of time, man. Yeah, man. So, how have games- cause like, you know, I think that is what has been consistent through our friendship for what, 30 years now?
Paul L 52:39
30 years, three decades, what like four presidents. Was it 4 ,what? Clinton, Bush,
Phill 52:53
Obama and now Trump.
Paul L 52:54
Yeah, 4 presidents my gosh.
Phill 52:56
Hopefully five,
Paul L 52:58
Hey, I'll do my job.
Phill 53:04
But uh, but Yeah, dude. Yeah, so yeah, you know for for presidents; how many consoles like
Paul L 53:13
Oh my gosh, I mean we started talking about Super Nintendo and that was brand new. Now we're sitting here with Nintendo Switch. Here you ready? I'm gonna go full circle the last game I played on my Switch was Secret of Mana.
Music 53:28
Paul L 53:44
Yeah yeah 'cause because they came out with the release with all three Mana games. So yeah- so like I ran- it has um Final Fantasy adventure, right? The Gameboy one, Secret of Mana, and then they have the what's it like? Seiken Densetsu 3 or whatever they called it, they renamed it Childs of Mana. Now I got all three of them on one card and I'm like, "Yo, I have to own this. I have to play Mana again.
Phill 54:14
That's awesome.
Paul L 54:15
So, it's amazing. Really back to where I was when I was, what, 13 and I'm sitting here like, "I don't remember this game but i remember this game." And then the next part is you realize, like, "I was playing this game 27 years ago. 27 years ago, this was new. 27 years."
Phill 54:40
Wow, man, that is Wow, man. What, what a testament to the the games though I mean because like, there's like that this is like a serious kind of that music from like adolescence gets stuck, I wrote a paper on it, but anyway, like, we- it's like the nostalgia thing like music from certain periods in our life like from 15 to like 19/20 the songs that we listened to like we remember the lyrics like it's just you know, it gets imprinted in our head.
Paul L 55:17
Mmhmm, the first cut is the deepest.
Phill 55:20
Yeah, yeah. And I wonder like with if it's the wet like that with games but I don't know but I think that like those games are so good because even now I get the itch to play Super Metroid, you know, I get the itch to play Mana, you know what I mean? Like they were just really well crafted games- 'cause I even went back and I was like okay maybe I'm looking through the lens of rose colored glasses- looking through the past rose colored glasses But no, they actually just fun, well design you know games.
Paul L 55:53
I mean, they're really good stuff but like I remem- like, what's funny too is you know going on like the whole first cut the is whole deepest thing or, like, whenever- what drives me crazy is when like people say like, the best Final Fantasy is VII. You know? And I'm like, "No, it's VI. You're off by one. Sorry." Right? and then you have people like, "Oh XV is really good." And I'm like, "No, it's not. It's just not."
Phill 56:27
I couldn't get into it, man.
Paul L 56:30
I'm surprised I finished that game. That was that game was a mess, an absolute mess. I mean, that's that's a two hour podcast right there, talking about how much of a mess that game was.
Phill 56:42
Yeah, but let's- Yeah, definitely, man. We should do some like retro, you know, game talks a game reviews. That'll be fun dude.
That's our next show.
Yeah, man, we got that history. I mean, but uh, but yeah, man. Yeah, man, and I think we were talking about XII like, it's like the most underrated, you know, one of the most underrated games.
XII was the last good one.
Last Good one, yeah.
Paul L 57:06
I will die on that hill if I have to. XII was the last good one. Even that was like 2002?
Phill 57:15
A little I know- that I came out- when I was in Japan 4, 2004.
Paul L 57:19
Yes, 16 years, they haven't made a good Final Fantasy. I don't know.
Phill 57:28
But yeah, but But yeah, man, so Yeah, dude, like, thank you for sharing so much about like, you know, you know, you're come up as you know, as a musician and everything and, um, yeah, so is that all you're doing now is just you just just straight doing conducting and just playing an orchestras. Are do anything else musically, or?
Paul L 57:49
Yeah, it's living the musician's life as much as I- as much as you can like these days because I mean, you know, COVID basically at this point, shut down, like every orchestra so now it's like do everything you possibly can online right? So it's like teaching lessons instead of having things in person now you got to do it online, you know any sort of like jams or you know playing with friends or anything like that you want to do, now it's instead of like, a groups of six people now it's two people you know, or maybe now instead of like, I call a friend who and it's like, "Hey, I need you to play a cello track for me." Now, I don't want to call them and it's like, "I'll recorded myself. I could play it myself. I'm good enough."
Phill 58:42
Yeah, yeah.
Paul L 57:49
Like I remember when this whole thing first started. The first thing I said to myself, I was like, Okay, the people that can stream" right? and do as much as they can online like their daily gonna be the ones that are gonna have the advantage. So that's that's kind of where I've been going lately. It's doing as much like streaming online, recording, things like that. You know, starting the YouTube channel that kind of stuff.
Phill
Yeah, awesome, man. Yeah. So like, yeah, if it's cool, like, could I could I like put that on this website like, you know where people can check a check out your stuff and everything.
Paul L
Yeah, yeah, I'll give you the links. Absolutetly.
Phill
Okay, cool. Yeah. That's dope, man. And are you doing any any writing or anything or anything in particular?
Paul L 59:28
I do when I get the itch. I do when I get the itch, you know, like, right now my, my big thing is, like, just like, like trying to figure out, "Okay, what kind of things can I record? And like, throw it on YouTube and and make it popular?"
Phill 59:46
Mm hmm.
Paul L 59:46
You know, so it's like, you can't play you know, a Tchaikovsky quartet. Right, right? Like, I mean, it's great. It looks even crazier when you realize it's like there's 4 people that are all the same person playing all four parts, but then you realize it's like, "Okay, no, this is YouTube. Like, that's not what the kids want." You know.
Phill 1:00:08
Yeah. Yeah.
Paul L 1:00:09
So it's like the- like, you know, like, I'm looking at a lot more of like pop stuff and yeah, video game stuff too. So like, I find Like, right now, all the stuff I'm writing are just like arrangements. Okay, you know, like arrangements that I can just like, record afterwards. But like, like writing original stuff. I just, you need, like, you need that itch, you know? Right?. You know, like, you can't just kind of sit down and there it is. Right? Like, yeah, you just got to kind of like, it has to come to you. Right?
Phill 1:00:44
Yeah, yeah, definitely, man. Um, yeah, definitely can relate man. Yeah, but that's That's dope, man. So, so yeah, man, just like, you know, just teaching online and yeah, just kind of thinking of new arrangements. Some. Yes. I've really been big a lot. I think recently not maybe recently now, maybe for the past year or two because things move so fast is like these like kind of chill hop/video games sample stuff. Yeah. But I've recently been. Yeah, like, as you said, I've been recently hearing a lot more like full on arrangement. So it's not even cutting the actor original tracks, but people just re-composing stuff. And yeah, so I was like, Oh wow.
Paul L 1:01:26
Nexct level. I think of it this way, it's like, our generation is making this stuff now.
Phill
Yeah,
Paul L
You know, so it's like, you know, back in like the mid 90s. Nobody would have ever cut a sample from like, Tetris.
Music 1:01:45
Ozma [Korobeiniki (Traditional Russian Folk Song)]
Paul L 1:01:45
No, yeah, yeah.
You know, now it's like you're listening like, "Oh, yeah, that's from the Gameboy B mode, song C, that's where that sample comes from. Oh, I got that. I see-", you know, and it's, yeah, our generation is making stuff now. It's crazy.
Phill 1:02:02
And I think influencing a lot of younger people as well. Because like, yeah, you know, I work with we're college kids. And they're like, you know, into like- that, like people like, I mean, I guess it's- it never went away. But like lots of people are like, "Oh Sonic!" and stuff and I'm like, "Well, you like what?" Like-
Paul L
"You like Sonic, really? Ok."
Phill
Like, yeah, I love these old games. I'm like, yo, like, Yeah, dude is weird. Like, they, they I was talking to one student, and she was kind of explaining about how she's getting better at speaking English. And she's able to notice more English around her. And I was like, "Oh, yeah, kind of like when Neo was in the Matrix, and he's seen all the ones and zeros and stuff", right?, just as a reference. And she was like, "Hmm?", and I was like, "You know, the Matrix." She goes- she looks on her phone and she goes, "This came out in 99', I wasn't born yet." I was like, "Oop-"
Paul L 1:03:10
Old reference.
Phill 1:03:14
That that caught me off guard. She is she was deadpan. She was like, "Oh, yeah, I never seen I wasn't born yet." Like, damn. But, but yeah, you know, but yeah, like a lot of a lot of younger people though. They're like finding the stuff that, you know, I guess our generation thought was interesting and cool. And, you know, I think it resonates with a lot of them as well. Yeah, so it's pretty cool seeing that. But all right, yeah, yeah, man. Yeah, I was just talking for about an hour and stuff. So yeah, man, this camp is flew by man. It was like 10 minutes, man, a Hey, and it's so much more we can talk about man, Supermax prisons.
Paul L
Yeah, there's so much yeah, that's interview part two, right there.
Phill
Yeah, man, I would love to have you come back on and yeah, we can just like talk more about games and just you know, reminisce and stuff and yeah, man. That'd be awesome man. But um, but yeah, Yo, dude, thank you so much. Thank you, Paul. And just Yeah, thank you for being a hero that I call by their first name, bro.
Paul L
Absolutely. You're my hero. You're my friend. You're my brother.
Phill
Yeah, same here bro.
Music 1:04:27
Contraband [The Legend of Zelda: Main Theme - Contraband VGM - ゼルダの伝説]
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