#275: Tony Miceli (Jazz Vibraphonist) (pt. 2 of 2)

Today we release part two of our interview with Tony Miceli. He’s a jazz vibraphonist who has performed and taught all over the world. Under the umbrella of Miceli Music, LLC., he hosts the sites www.tonymiceli.com and www.vibesworkshop.com -- a virtual meeting place and teaching tool with 4,000 student and professional members. Tony is also the co-creator of the World Vibes Congress, a formal gathering of players who share the desire to bring public awareness to the vibraphone. If you want to get a glimpse into what it takes to be a successful working musician, you'll want to hear what Tony has to say! This interview is sponsored by @steveweissmusic

Transcript

Artistic Entrepreneurship in the Music Industry

NIck Petrella 0:03

Hi everyone , Nick Petrella here . This episode is sponsored by Steve Weiss Music , percussion specialist since 1961 . If you're looking for a rare piece of sheet music , a specialty gong or anything percussion , Steve Weiss Music will have it . Please visit steveweissmusic . com or click their link in the show notes . That's S-T-E-V-E-W-E-I-S-S music . com our percussion series .

Announcer 0:35

Sponsor . Welcome to the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast . Making Art Work . We highlight how entrepreneurs align their artistry , passion and vision to create and pursue opportunities to capture value in the arts . The views expressed by guests on the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast or its hosts . The appearance of a guest on the podcast , the venture they represent or reference to any product or service does not imply an endorsement or recommendation by the podcast or its hosts . Any reference to any product or service does not imply an endorsement or recommendation by the podcast or its hosts . The content provided is for entertainment and informational purposes only and does not constitute business advice . Here are your hosts Andy Heise and Nick .

Andy Heise 1:36

Petrella Hi Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast listeners . I'm Andy Heise .

NIck Petrella 1:42

And I'm Nick Petrella . Tony Miceli is with us today . He's a jazz vibraphonist who has performed and taught all over the world . Under the umbrella of Maselli Music LLC , he hosts the sites Tony Miceli . com and VibesWorkshop . com , a virtual meeting place and teaching tool with 4,000 student and professional members . Tony is also the co-creator of the World Vibes Congress , a formal gathering of players who share the desire to bring public awareness to the vibraphone . His extensive portfolio career includes teaching positions at the University of the Arts , temple University and is a lecturer at the Curtis Institute of Music . We'll have his websites in the show notes so you can learn more about Tony , the vibraphone and more . Before we begin , I'd like to thank our friend Dan Sullivan for connecting us with Tony . Thanks for being on the podcast , tony .

Tony Miceli 2:32

Hey , it's great to be here . I'm looking forward to it .

Andy Heise 2:36

So when you're thinking about you know you started the website , you've started several different projects Are you thinking in your mind like what does the audience want ? Who does the audience what ? Who is the audience ? What do they want ? Or are you thinking about like , well , this is who I am , this is my artistic , you know expression . How do I go out and find an audience for that and then create the project based on that ?

Tony Miceli 2:59

Well , I , I think everything . And when I was younger I was , I was kind of a jazz snob and I played with these musicians and all we would do is get together two , three times a week and play all night long . I'd get there at 9 , and I'd be driving home at 6 am , so we would just go , go , go , and it was all about the music . And so I think part of me , everything I do , is so I can keep playing . I just want to play the vibes and hopefully one day I'm behind it , I just drop dead , like that's how that'll be complete for me . I don't want to not play it , you know , and have 10 years where I'm not playing the vibes , and so that's the impetus of everything to do . I knew when my dad gave me the money that I was going to make vibes workshop . I was going to record myself , put stuff up on YouTube and maybe people would see it , and they did so . But I also think and I think , since this is percussionists I can talk about mallets and answer your question . Sometimes I see my students playing and I go . I was in the audience . You use soft mallets . I couldn't hear you Get harder mallets . Oh , I love these mallets , I go , great , I'm glad you love those mallets . I wasted 15 bucks to come into this club to see you play and I couldn't hear you , and so that's so .

Tony Miceli 4:31

I do think about the audience . When I do a concert , I do think about what can I do ? That's interesting , Hopefully with , without you know , without doing something that I think is silly or sure Ridiculous . Yeah , so I think we have to think about the audience if we want to make money right , because why , why should I , why should somebody come ? I think that's it . We can be entitled . Sometimes musicians can be entitled and think I'm great , why isn't there anybody here ? I'm thinking nobody wanted to come , nobody knew about it , or they heard your music and didn't like it . So what ? What do you expect ? You're great and we just come and listen to you , your music and didn't like it . So what do you expect ? You're great and we just come and listen to you . Go , oh , you can't hear it . I was going to make noise .

NIck Petrella 5:10

Yeah , the compression you know with percussion too , when you're in a small practice room , you've got that wall right in front of you . You're only playing to three feet in front of you and it takes a real maturity to realize that . No , you're playing for 25 to maybe 50 yards away .

Tony Miceli 5:28

That's right and you know I always tell my students there's two sounds . There's the sound when you hit that you hear , and the sounds that goes out in the audience . And they're not the same sound . You might play with hard mallets and out in the audience the sound might be beautiful . So , yeah , that's important . And the audience the audience is important . You know .

Andy Heise 5:53

We have to consider them yeah , and I I love what you said at the very beginning . Like all the things you do is so you can play . Right , that's the , that's the end goal . Is that so that I can play ?

Tony Miceli 6:06

That's all I wanted to do . I just wanted to do things to play . I didn't want to . For me , I felt like if , if I got well , my dad wanted me to get a teaching degree . And somebody said , well , the great thing about having a backup plan is you have a backup plan . And then he said the bad thing about having a backup plan is you have a backup plan . And then he said the bad thing about having a backup plan is you have a backup plan . So in one sense , I didn't want to have a backup plan . So when I got out , I had to play and had to figure out ways to play .

Tony Miceli 6:36

And I think if I would have had a backup plan , I would have done it , because two times in my life I was going to do something else . Like just things got so awful . I was so depressed that I was going to do something else . Like just things got so awful . I was so depressed that I was going to go . One time I was going to be . I went and took an insurance salesman test and I aced it . Like the guy brought me right in the room after I took the test and he said this job is made for you . And then he said to me he said you know , in two years you're going to be making a lot of money and you're not going to care about music anymore . And I just went and I just walked out of his office , so two times I was going to make a left turn .

Tony Miceli 7:15

Yeah , I just want to play . I get up every day , I practice 63 , practice every day . And that's what I want to do . So the things I do , I want to help me play , for instance , the Weiss Festival . I do that every year and I do that for Steve Weiss . That's my primary reason , but I make sure I play in it every year . And somebody said to me well , you shouldn't play in it . I said , yeah , I should , I'm doing it . I want to play . Why wouldn't you ? Why wouldn't I ? It's not like I'm coming out of there making 75 000 for doing it . I'm going to play in it and I'm going to honor steve weiss .

Andy Heise 7:51

Yeah yeah , can I ? Can I ask what the other left turn was that you almost made ?

Tony Miceli 7:57

yeah , well , I was good , I was good with computers and when in 1982 my grandmother gave me money to buy a Mac 512K , so my whole day was practicing , sitting behind a computer and just learning stuff . I learned Pascal , learned BASIC , and then I learned Excel and I learned all the programs with a couple buddies of mine . And next thing I know from talking to guys in the bar , I was getting calls from people about how to do things in excel and this and that . And then I I saw an ad in the paper . They needed somebody to help do catalogs . And I knew page maker because I just learned it to make posters and things .

Tony Miceli 8:37

And I went out there and I I beat 26 people out who had degrees to do this and I was doing some part-time stuff for this guy's company making catalogs . So then I thought , well , maybe I'll head this way and I just kept no , and so I just used that when I was broke I went there and that lasted for a couple years and then it ended . Uh , it ended . So that was the other time , because I do love computers , I love programming , I love it .

Andy Heise 9:11

I'm not good at it , but I love it yeah , and it got to keep you playing it got to keep me playing , right , yeah when you're approaching new projects and you uh a partner or collaborator . What do you look for in that collaborator ? Is it something new and novel that they're doing , or is it just about ? Would this person be fun to work with ?

Tony Miceli 9:34

Yeah , I just think you work with people . You work with people and you're sitting on a break talking with that person and next thing you know you're emailing that person and then you have a project . I have a project I did with a buddy of mine , dan Monaghan , who's a fabulous , fabulous drummer here in Philadelphia , and we did a gig where we took all the Django tunes and all this stuff from Paris and we kind of what do they call it ? Reimagined it . We reimagined it . And then there's this great , great guitar player legend . His name is Vic Joris , great guy . He died a few years ago and we did a gig with Vic and Vic's kind of a star like he was . He gave Paul , he was giving Paul Simon guitar lessons . So he he's , he's like a , he's incredible , um , and then we did the gig and at the end of the gig Vic said , boy , we should record this . I looked at Dan he's my buddy and Dan said yes , and so then we re , we recorded it . Um , so that's how those things , things start .

Tony Miceli 10:41

And then , incidentally , that sat for a couple of years . I pulled it back out , I started writing to record labels because I didn't want to put it out myself , and then I wrote to a really good jazz label that Vic was on called Steeplechase , and I said of course , you know Vic's gone . I have this CD . It might be one of the last things he did , if not the last thing he did . So four years later he writes me back and says yes , let's put it out . So that just sat . So that's the other thing with projects . Yeah right , they sit there and then you go whoa , let's bring this one out .

Building Relationships for Musical Success

Tony Miceli 11:17

But you just make friends . I have a longtime collaboration with a violinist , diane Monroe . We just hit it off . She's like my sister . And violinist Diane Monroe , we just hit it off . She's like my sister and we've played together for about 20 years now just vibes and violin , and we love each other and she's incredible and just yeah .

Andy Heise 11:34

That's good so you have those relationships and then you begin to imagine , hey , how might we be able to create something ?

Tony Miceli 11:40

Yes , and the important part is you have these relationships Right . So you have to figure out how to get along with people . And I had to figure it out because I don't think I was very good at getting along with people . You know two wives , a long-term girlfriend they all kicked me out . So I don't think I'm very good at getting along with people . But I really try hard now and I see people recognize that and I apologize . That's the other thing I learned After years of couple therapy say I'm sorry , so I can call somebody up and say , hey , that was not cool what I said last night and that goes a long way . So yeah , it's all about relationships . I think . Sure , that's great .

NIck Petrella 12:22

So , Tony , I visited the vibes workshop site and there's a lot of great information on there which you might describing the business model , and I mean I assume it's a subscription model- yes .

Tony Miceli 12:33

So it's a , it's a subscription model and what I wanted to do was make a community . You know , back when I don't think people were , you know , 13 , 14 years ago and I wanted to make a community for Vibe players and so I built it . I was spending about 8 to 12 hours a day on it . I remember I had the first person who signed up His username is Barry K and so every day I made a . I remember I had the first person who signed up his username is Barry K and so every day I made a lesson so I wouldn't lose Barry K , because I thought , if I lose Barry K , then there's nobody . And so he was there alone for about three months . Then it was the second person and we just started putting up lessons .

Tony Miceli 13:13

And then I decided early on that if you were a pro like when I saw Gary Burton he was paying for the membership . So he was paying . At the time it was $19.99 a month . I wrote to him . I said I know you have the money . I said but you're Gary Burton , you can't pay , I'll just let you on , and he was fine .

Tony Miceli 13:39

So when these guys would come on , I'd see them . When I saw Mike Manieri , come on . I was like , hey , mike , you can just have full access and Terry Gibbs . So those guys came on at the time and they were talking , but Gary Burton was writing long posts about things and doing it . So I opened it up to the pros in the beginning and we had lessons and then people just start talking and now there's probably over 20-something thousand posts about the vibraphone and it's got to be . We're probably at 2,500 lessons about the vibraphone . We have a huge , we call it the virtual book and there's just not even all the lessons are in there . But there's probably 1500 lessons in there , categorized and , yeah , and the people came and it was great , it plateaued and now it's dipped a little bit . So I have to get back into hustling and putting the word out .

NIck Petrella 14:38

Well , that was really smart . I mean because they became your brand ambassadors . Yes , they did they ?

Tony Miceli 14:45

they did and they were sending their students , um , and all that . And I know now that sometimes teachers come on there and print out things . I know a great five player that just did a workshop and she was on Vibe's workshop . She printed out just five days' worth of material to do in a workshop . So that's kind of cool for me to realize that there's enough information on there for somebody to go to , for teachers to use it , and then hopefully they tell their students to sign up and pay for the site . Just don't take the information and do it and not mention the site . So yeah , yeah

Evolution of Music Technology

Tony Miceli 15:29

over your career .

Andy Heise 15:29

What have been some of the most significant changes in the music industry or in the in the jazz world that you're particularly involved in ? Uh , that have maybe impacted you for better , for worse .

Tony Miceli 15:40

Well , I think that the first big change was technology . So I remember getting I think it was the first sequencer on the Mac . It was called Total Music and then I bought a drum machine and then I started buying synthesizers . And then somebody I used to be in all the arts councils in this area and one of them paid me to go around and do workshops to show teachers and musicians these instruments . That's cool . So that was a big . I knew that was a big change coming and I remember the first time that was a big . I knew that was a big change coming and I remember the first time and I got yelled at many times by people saying why are you here with this instrument ?

Tony Miceli 16:24

You're taking work away from me . And a drummer said that to me one time . He says why are you sitting here telling me about this drum machine when you're going to take work away from me ? I said , first of all , I'm not going to take work away from you because I'm not out there doing stuff in studios . And I said , secondly , if you learn how to program the damn machine , you'll have work .

Tony Miceli 16:44

You know this is work . This is like drawing pictures in the 1800s of the buildings on fire for the newspaper and then there's this daguerreotype comes out . You know , yeah , right , right , and it replaces you . When it comes to business , when it comes to that , we're we're going to be replaced time and time again , but we just it's like the ai thing yeah , oh , it's going to replace me . No , learn how to use it and you'll do it . So that was the first thing . Um , I think what came next , because of technology , was people not being out as much , and so I watched jazz clubs and places to play , kind of go away or change . You know , I just remembered that early on when I saw a big tv in this place , I was playing and sports was on . They were playing sports games . I thought , oh , and everybody was looking that way . I thought , oh , this is , this is going to be a problem uh , so realize what your competition is yeah , yeah , yes , so .

Tony Miceli 17:50

So the question is how do you , how do you keep people interested ? How do you get people to turn this way ? It's really hard with now , you know four tvs in a club and you're in the corner , yeah , so , and then I think , um , uh , well , you know what ? The other big change is age , because as you get older , everything changes . You know I I just remember being midlife sitting in with a bunch of musicians and talking and saying something you know off color , and all these guys looking at me like you're my dad , what did you just say ? And going , oh , there's a difference between us . And so that's grown over the years .

Tony Miceli 18:40

9-11 changed everything . And the internet that was huge , that's technology , but that really changed everything . And I'm glad I learned how to do it , because I watched some of my friends not know how to do it , sure , and suffer because of it . And then when COVID hit , they bottomed out Like I just saw musicians , boom , you know , and luckily they got the money each week and could hang on , but without technology . People were calling me wanting to learn how to do Zoom calls , yeah , and then they were doing it like on their phone , giving lessons , and the students wouldn't stay because it sounded horrible and by the time covid hit , I had done online lessons since 2008 or something , whenever skype came around right , that's right . So I knew how to make it a little better , because Skype was horrible .

Tony Miceli 19:37

And , incidentally , I wrote to Skype . My son works for Google . I wrote to Google and I said fix the audio , let me downgrade the video and upgrade the audio . You will make money off of musicians because we can all teach online then . And Skype wrote me back and said no , their focus is on voice and business meetings . And Google told my son no , we're not interested in this . You know , because he gave him a letter and checked in .

Tony Miceli 20:04

And then COVID hits . And then Google says we have three months to up our game with our video end . And everybody does it . And Zoom comes along and did exactly what we all needed Yep . And then everybody's online with a mic and audio interface . And now we're making money teaching people online and figuring out how to do it and having the computer up and putting things in logic , quantizing it , printing the sheet out , emailing it to somebody in four minutes yep . Then saying this is your sight reading exercise , read this back to me . So it's kind of cool to me . Technology , I think , helps us . It doesn't hurt us if you go with it . Yeah , yeah .

NIck Petrella 20:51

In terms of market size . The jazz idiom is one of the smallest in music . It may be the smallest . Do you see that growing in the future , and what should young jazz enthusiasts be doing to promote that art form ?

Tony Miceli 21:05

Well , no , you know , even talking , there's a great saxophonist named Dave Liebman and he just says jazz was always jazz . I mean , it was just a small part of the market . And then he talks about , uh , what was it called ? The five spot , where the loneliest monk used to play and there'd be lines around the corner . But he said this was a really this was a small club . So you think , like there's a thousand people inside and there wasn't . So I think , I think it's always been small , maybe somebody I see some of these charismatic players come along , uh and do things and I think , okay , maybe maybe it'll boost it up a little bit . But I do think , even if it's small , even if it's the smallest , I think it will always be there , because the musicians I think play jazz do it for just one reason they do it to play jazz and they want to play jazz and in a way , jazz musicians are entrepreneurs and their get back isn't necessarily money , it's getting to play the music and they have to make a living . So I think it's . I don't think it's going to go anywhere , but we have to . We have to really work hard to keep it the lowest thing , like just to keep it the smallest market in music . We have to work really hard to keep it there right and not andxistent . And so , I don't know , maybe somebody's going to come along that'll change it . I mean , guys like Wynton , marsalis and all that . I think they bumped it up a little bit and then the big bands come back for a little while and all that .

Tony Miceli 22:53

I always tell my students that no matter what you do , if you're going to use music you have to make an event and you need two things to have an event . You know , a concert is a concert , it's in a hall , but if you're going to play in a club , the two things are music and booze and food . If you're going to play outside , then the two things can be outside and it it's a beautiful day and this is a beautiful setting . Outside it's lunchtime , you're in front of a building in a park and everybody comes out to eat lunch . But we kind of need you always have to think about that that second thing to make it an event .

Tony Miceli 23:32

And if we can , you can make it an event , as we know from hippies . You know , you bring in , you bring in kool-aid and put acid in it . Everybody comes out . Now we have an event , as we know from hippies . You know , you bring in , you bring in kool-aid and put acid in it . Everybody comes out . Now we have an event and it grows and it becomes this thing now I'm don't do the kool-aid thing .

NIck Petrella 23:47

Yeah , I just want to make make it clear that that was not a suggestion no , that was an example yeah , and a historical example a historical example say no to drugs .

Tony Miceli 23:57

the only thing that'll happen you'll be 50 years old and you'll look back and then be like , why , why did I get involved with that stuff ? So , uh , but yeah , so I . I think it's difficult and I think it is the smallest market and yet we still go out there and do it . Yeah , yeah , yeah .

Andy Heise 24:18

Tony , we've reached the part of the interview where we ask all of our interviewees the same three questions , and the first question is what advice would you give to others wanting to become an entrepreneur ?

Tony Miceli 24:30

An entrepreneur in music or just an entrepreneur ?

Andy Heise 24:33

Yeah , so yeah , entrepreneur in the arts , yeah .

Tony Miceli 24:38

I think I hope they have a desire to play . I mean , there's people that are just entrepreneurs and they're just in music to make money , and I get it . It's a little difficult to deal with those people because their thing is money , so their thing is , how much money can I take from you ? But I hope you love what you do and then you just have to seek opportunities . I think just an entrepreneur is somebody that's out , that's looking at everything . I think just an entrepreneur is somebody that's out , that's looking at everything .

Tony Miceli 25:04

I think somebody called me an opportunist once and they said it in a negative way and I said I'm a vibe player . Of course I'm an opportunist . I look at everything and I think , oh well , I could turn that way , we could play there . You know , my sister just bought a , bought a coffee shop , just a coffee shop , and I it's like I want to . Bought a coffee shop , just a coffee shop , and I it's like I want to see this coffee shop . Maybe I could get a bass player to come down and play . Yeah , I don't care where I'm playing .

Tony Miceli 25:29

But back to your question . No , that is , that is great . Yeah , you have to look out and see the world and see where you can fit in and be an opportunist , look for opportunities and then hopefully play great music for people , of whatever kind of music you're playing . And then you have to figure out how to get some money back out of it so that you can survive and you can make it into a business . And it's interesting to see all these people that do , and it's interesting to know that for every casey cangelosi there's probably a hundred people .

Tony Miceli 26:06

Yeah , that it didn't happen , and that's not to discourage you , that's just to say you better . I mean , I think of casey as an entrepreneur and a mofo on the , on the , in the percussion , on the percussion instruments . Just unbelievable . Warren Wolf , I mean , he's unbelievable . You watch him play , whether you're a non-musician or a musician , and you just go oh my God , yeah . So I think if you have a lot of those qualities , you don't have to be Warren Wolf , but you just have to have that desire , love for music , want to play and win-win I think is important , yeah , and play great music , yeah .

Andy Heise 26:51

Is that a that's great ? No , that's amazing . Yep Thanks .

NIck Petrella 26:55

What can we do to ensure the arts are more accessible and reaching the widest possible audience ?

Tony Miceli 27:01

and reaching the widest possible audience . Well , it's interesting because you say that , because one thing that's not on my resume and you talk about relationships . I had a friend when I was a teenager and for reasons , she moved in with my family for a few years and we became best friends then and we became best friends throughout our lives . We would in the our lives . We would in the beginning we would get in touch every five or ten years . Right , I would get a photo back , a picture from her back in the day , and there she is with Mick Jagger . I would get another picture and there she is getting off the Doobie Brothers plane , and so she was a concert promoter . Then she goes into business and I talked to her what are you doing ? I'm in business , she told me , telecom . I didn't know . And we keep in touch over the years and she comes to me and she's talking to me one day and I realize , oh my God , she has made a fortune . And she says I want to start a nonprofit and I want to go back to music . So her base is in costa rica . It's called global academy of inspirational arts and she asked me to join it with her . So she she's going to put money into music around the world , but the center is going to be in costa rica where she's going to have a school , a studio .

Tony Miceli 28:21

So I think there's those ways to help the arts . You know , I always thought , well , it's kind of government's job to kind of help the arts , because we're in the cities . You know , these theaters are in the cities . But I think everybody has to help the arts and I think we have to not lose sight of quality . And if you bring quality to something , I think know a really , really great musician seems to work , no matter what a piano player . You know these great guys . So I think if we bring quality , what we do and yes , I get it dressed nice , look good , yes , all that stuff be charismatic , yes , I think that'll help help because there will always be people interested in , like I call it , the glassblower syndrome . You know , you see a glassblower , there's always 10 people sitting there watching a good , because it's like , wow , oh my God , look what he just made . So I think if you're out there and you're a great musician , somebody's out there going oh my God , listen to this . This is incredible and I think that's what keeps it going .

Tony Miceli 29:32

I was going to say more so , but that's pop music . For me that's a whole different thing . But I think the arts people want to see . What's her name , the pianist that just played Flight of the Bumblebee , ying Yang Yu Zhuang ? I forget it , but nobody gets to that video and passes by it . Nobody gets to her playing Flight of the Bumblebee and just goes next . I don't care if you know nothing about music , you just go . What what's going on there ?

Andy Heise 30:05

I think those are the things that help keep it going yeah , lastly , what's the best artistic or entrepreneurial advice you've ever received ?

Tony Miceli 30:18

uh , what's the best artistic advice ? Well , I think it was boy . That is tough Because to me it was this guitar player I played with when I was young for years . It's like he was like a guru and I was like a you know disciple back then . But he just said always put the music first . He said always you can't sacrifice for that . And that stayed with me because if it wasn't for him I don't think I would have been competent enough to do the things I did .

Tony Miceli 31:06

Who knows if I'm great or not . There's plenty of people that probably think I stink and there's probably people that think I play good . But he just taught me the music is always first , and that's what I did , and then everything kind of centered around that . So I think that for me that was good advice to be an entrepreneur , to just not not lose sight of the product . It's like you know you buy stuff off Tik TOK now and it comes to your house and it looked really cool , and then you get it and you go this is a piece of crap , what the ? I don't want to be that . I don't want to be that person making , making garbage and somehow making a lot of money off it . I want to be the person . Well , if , if I have to be , I am the person , not making tons of money off of it , but always trying to do a great job .

NIck Petrella 31:56

Yeah , yeah , that's great . Well , thanks so much for coming on . It's it's great to hear your story and I really like your tenacity to hustle . I think that's a great point .

Tony Miceli 32:05

Well , this was great A great experience , great questions and I had a great time . Thanks , tony Yep .

Announcer 32:15

Thanks for listening . If you like this podcast , please subscribe Visit artsentrepreneurshippodcastcom to learn more about our guest and how you can help support artists , the arts and this podcast . Please subscribe Visit artsentrepreneurshippodcastcom to learn more about our guest and how you can help support artists , the arts and this podcast .