#115. Carol Ryder on Humboldt Light Opera Company, Voice Teaching, and Finding Her Path in Music

Carol Ryder talks with Scott Hammond about growing up in Fortuna, studying first in nursing and political science, then finding her way into voice, opera, and teaching. She describes how a performance at Humboldt State changed her course, what she learned studying in Germany and at the Merola program, and how that work eventually led to the Humboldt Light Opera Company. It's a grounded conversation about local roots, formative experiences, and a life shaped by music. 

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Carol Ryder

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, and all those out to see, it's Scott Hammond and the 100% Humboldt podcast with my very special new best friend, Carol Ryder. Hi, Carol. Hi, Scott. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:42

I'm good. I'm glad we're best friends.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

We barely know each other, but we're besties already. And I just want to get to know you. Tell tell us the Carol Ryder story. First of all, what do you do? What's your day job?

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Well, uh, I run the Humble Light Opera Company. I'm the administrator and artistic director for and that's a pretty big job now. But I'm retired, quote unquote.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Right. I know about that.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Yeah, yeah. And also I I teach a lot of voice still and voice classes and direct and things.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

So voice, dancing, acting?

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Not dancing.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Mostly voice. Voice. Yeah. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Yeah, that was my primary uh since we came back to the county. That was mainly what I've done is teach voice.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

You're located in Sunnybrae, right? In Arcana.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Yeah. Wow.

Humboldt Roots And A Major Pivot

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Tell so tell me about the background. Where do you where'd you grow up? Where'd you go to school?

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Well, I would say I'm 100% humble. Oh, yeah. My parents both grew up in the Ewe River Valley. So I live I grew up in Fortuna. Born in Scotia. How many people can say that?

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Not a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

$50. I cost$50.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Wow. Bargain.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Yeah. But yeah, I grew up in Fortuna and um lived there, of course, until I went to college. And then I moved up to Arcata and um went in out of Arcata.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

What'd you study at Humboldt?

SPEAKER_02 1:59

I studied, well, it was a long story. I started in the good ones are. Yeah. I started in nursing because I love science. Right. And um, but sick people just didn't quite do it for me. So two years into that, I went into political science. Oh wow. And um really enjoyed, you know, the polling and statistics and understanding where trends were. But then I um worked on the McGovern campaign. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

George.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

And that was a very dissolutioning time. So I learned that maybe not all politicians are honest. And that so that was really tough. So then I um in my winter quarter of that last year, I think quarter system, not semesters. Yeah, that's right. I loved it. So you got to have, yeah, you got to have a lot more classes.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

But at that winter quarter, I went to an opera and I heard Jim Stannard sing the flower song from Carmen. And I was gobsmapped. It's just like I had never heard anything so beautiful in my life.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

So that was that here was that at Humboldt State, Van Doozer or whatever?

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Yeah. Uh it was actually on the Fulkerson Recital Hall.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Uh hi Julie Fulkerson.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Shout out. Shout out.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Yeah, shout out. Her dad was amazing. I loved I love Charlie. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Um He was an instructor. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Was he a voice guy or everything? No, no. He was piano and orchestra. Okay. He was the most amazing teacher. Yeah. Uh he really uh saved me as far as ever touching the piano again. Because he he learned he taught me that it was fun. So he was a great guy.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

He um she was telling me that uh with all the talent in that family, they never pushed her. And and yet she's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Which is probably the right way.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Yeah, it is, I think.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

You know, all those poor kids have been pushed into soccer and sports and all the things and just walked away.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

I don't do it because my dad wanted me to.

unknown 4:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Oh. Exactly right. Yeah. Yeah. We've uh we our daughter is uh uh I think an amazing vocalist. And I think it's because we didn't push her into it. Nice. She fell into it and loved it.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

And so she worked with you all or is she elsewhere?

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Uh she's actually up here. She went to school back east, and then she when she graduated, she came back home and works with the company and teaches voice. It's very nice. So it's lovely.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

I have a daughter that was a voice major at Humboldt as well. Oh, really? She's quite the cigarette piano player.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

And her what's her name? Her name is Kalia.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

I know Kalia. She studied with me.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Get out of here.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Get out of here. Dark hair. She did. Dark hair. I liked her a lot. She was really, really awesome.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yeah, she's a sweetheart. She uh she married Chris, and now they are professional painters. They indoor indoor ex-door. Uh-huh. Outdoor.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

Uh-huh. I've seen her. She is. That's always nice to see old students happy. I like her.

unknown 5:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Good. She's okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Keep her around for she's keeping me around. I don't know. She's keeping who. So you went to Humboldt State and graduated in PolyCyphers. Polycifers.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

And then, of course, it was cheap back then. So you could go ahead and get a second major, so I graduated in voice. Oh wow. And um then I went to Europe for a while.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

I want to hear about the Well, it was made me to study.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

And um This was a Grateful Dead Europe trip.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

No more like the soprano dies at the end of the opera tour. Okay. That's cool. So it was mainly to study classical music and and the German language, because that's the language of um so much art song and opera is done in German. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

So you were primarily in Germany?

SPEAKER_02 5:54

I just I mainly was in Germany, yeah. And it was a f it was fun because I really learned a lot about uh professional opera. Because at that point, you know, you have these defining moments in your life. And that was one. I was like, I don't want to do that. There's no heart to that.

SPEAKER_04 6:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

You know, they're just kind of getting up there and singing and didn't do much. So when I came back, I asked my voice teacher, Jim, if he had my blonde baritone. And he did. And so I ended up, um, Bill and I uh met, and so I ended up coming back here and getting a master's in uh directing and acting in musical theater.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Wow. J was it Jenny Crandall and George Crandall? She was a theater teacher.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Cranston?

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Cranston, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Crandall's another guy. He was a runner. He's a journalist. I think he's journalism.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Um it was mainly uh Gene Basemore and Jerry Beck.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Uh were my primary teachers. So I learned a lot there. Then I went to San Francisco Opera to the Maryland program for a while. Wow. And um there I learned about professional opera from that standpoint. And it was uh like one guy said that this group, there was only four of us that were in the directing program. And one guy said, Well, we asked what his concept was. Because of course, you know, we grew up on you've got to had a concept for your piece. And he goes, What concept? I was told I had a bunch of fat singers who couldn't act. And it was like, it was like, okay, I don't have to do this either. And the guy said, You know, you're good at what you do, but you have to lose your idealism. Uh and I thought, well, okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

I like that.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

It's it just more and more it went to community theater, which is what I'm doing. And this is what I've prepared for, I think.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

How long were you in the city then with the company?

SPEAKER_02 7:53

It was uh it was just a four-month thing and down there, and then we moved from there to Santa Barbara to study and um Wow and were there for about five or six years, and there I um worked on my voice, did some directing, and but mostly I learned to learn to arts administration.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Wow, okay. Santa Barbara's cool.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Oh, I love Santa Barbara, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Yeah, my wife's from Ohio.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Ohio.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 8:23

Oh. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

We um we we've been back two novem Novembers in a row.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

So we go down to a little uh for anniversary thing in Glendora and then roll over to Ohio, which is pretty cool. It's a pretty little town. It's a really cool, it's got such a cool vibe and fun. Santa Barbara's pretty.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Yeah. And we we were very fortunate in where we lived, and it was before it really grew up.

SPEAKER_04 8:47

Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

And so we lived down right downtown for a while. Wow. And then we uh lived out by um in um whatchamacallit? Montecito.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Very nice.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Yeah. We worked at a church, so we had a little apartment uh cottage in Montecito.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

So what'd you do with the church?

SPEAKER_02 9:05

That's where the Well Bill was uh Bill uh Bill worked for the church as kind of a catch-all guy, you know, and um security and that kind of thing. And then I um did the children's choir and then we both sang in their choir.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Very nice.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

And so it was a really awesome uh situation. What was the name of the church? It was All Saints by the Sea Episcopal Church.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

All Saints by the Sea.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Mm-hmm. I like that. Mm-hmm.

unknown 9:30

Cool.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Just down the street from Julia Childs.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Oh, right. Yeah, she's right up there. So Ojai is famous for uh for Nick's main man, um Johnny Cash. He lived up there for a long time.

SPEAKER_04 9:43

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Lee Major, six million dollar man.

SPEAKER_04 9:45

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

And then Joni's dad lived in this uh kind of communal cottage thing that was called the um the Oha Valley, was it the colony? Anyway, they would have a central campfire.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

And at night this guy, uh Kenny, would come and play guitar.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Oh, Kenny Loggins. Kenny Loggins.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

And Dona, his girlfriend, and they would hang out at the it was called the Lodge back in the day. It's kind of in some disrepair now, but it was um visited kind of a neat hey, Kenny's cool. Look at his ove, she plays pretty good guitar, huh? Mm-hmm. Here, watch him do Footloose. Wait. Wait a minute. He hadn't written it yet. But then Loggins and Messina and they had the ranch up at wherever that was. And uh yeah, I like the Central Coast. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I we really enjoyed living there. And um we knew it was not gonna be our permanent place.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

So what brought you guys back to Humboldt?

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Well, first we went to Manhattan.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Oh, of course. Yeah. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Yeah. Well, that was really I really enjoyed it a lot. We d we were fortunate in where we lived. And um Bill was doing a lot of auditioning, a lot of work. Um, he was getting a lot of things that would take him out of town, and that wasn't his most preferred idea is to go on tours. So um, but uh I I was very fortunate and got a job like, you know, in two weeks uh for the roundabout theater, which was a repertory theater that was off Broadway at that point. Now it's on Broadway. And it was a fantastic job. I learned so much. I bet. You know? And um one of my jobs was to keep the founding artistic director out of the office. So that was Please.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Make sure he's gone, okay?

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Because you know, he was different. I want to go. Everybody says center of the universe.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Uh-huh. Well, that's wonderful. I mean, i it was this was the late 80s, and so it was kind of sketchy.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Right. It was sketchy back then, dude. Very sketchy.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Because it didn't really turn around like it in the Broadway district until 92 when Disney came in. Okay. You know. But it was pretty sketchy.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

What's it cost to do a show today if we were to go see a matinee or like a big show, like it c several hundred dollars. Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Well, it it kind of depends upon the show, you know, but and where you're sitting. But anywhere between 175 to it can go higher than that by far.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Aaron Ross Powell So we see a lot of shows up at the Brit Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon. Jackson Brown, and we've seen, you know, December's whoever. And uh top of the top of the show is like 92 bucks. You think you're really getting ripped off. And it's like a prime seat. And then I priced some seats at the sphere in Las Vegas because we're going in a couple weeks. And it's just the Wizard of Oz. It's not the Eagles. It's the movie. Six hundred and forty-two dollars a seat. I'm going, hey Joe. Hey Joni, you want it? Oh, look, we just saved$1,200 by making a good decision. It's like wait. That logic, yeah. Yeah. I it's like I I thought, you know, a movie would be I mean I don't know, it could be like the Brit, a hundred bucks. I'd probably do the movie. The movie, but it's in the sphere. It's in the big oval uh. So anyway, I don't know if that how life-changing that would be. Anyway. So uh then you went to Manhattan, then you came back to Humboldt, or did you go somewhere else?

SPEAKER_02 13:25

No, no. Um we were you know, le things change, and then um we were expecting our our baby. And uh we had to make a decision whether we wanted to bring up a little girl in Manhattan.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

And if we did, then she would never have any innocence. And I think innocence is really important. I like it. Yeah. So we came back, uh we had our house in Sunnybrae, so we just came back to Sunnybrae and um figured out things from there. And I went in um uh I got to teach up at Humboldt and then at CR and Bill's a piano technician. Okay. And so we've made a really fine life.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Very fine.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

So it's really cool. I love it. And you do how old's your daughter now?

SPEAKER_02 14:12

30, almost 36.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Wow, we have one of those. Yeah, yeah. Kalia, I think. Calia, how old are you? I have no idea. Jody knows that she could answer like in a second. I'm going, I don't know. She's in her 30s. 30 someplace. 30 someplace. Yeah. Or 40 someplace. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

I don't, yeah. Cause let's see, I've been retired since 2015, so 10 years. So it would have been from Humboldt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

So were you full-time at Humboldt?

SPEAKER_02 14:40

No, I wouldn't call it that. No, although it was a lot of units, you know, 13, 14 units, but they don't call it full-time. But uh what was good about it is I just got to teach. I didn't have to go to any meetings, oh nice.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Do you remember Hubert Kennemer? Oh, of course. Hubert, man, he taught music appreciation.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Of course. Oh yeah. Oh yes. I took I took a music appreciation from Kennemer.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Oh, he taught he he he got all the freshmen.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Yeah. Yeah. And the quarter system. So let's compare uh notes on how much a quarter of education costs. I I remember I think sixty-seven dollars a quarter just just to be there. And then it was books, which was another uh maybe a hundred bucks. Maybe. Maybe.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Depending on the class.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

I think when I started, I don't know when you started, but I'm pretty old.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Um I was 78 to 82.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Yeah. I was 69 to 70 something. Something. Yeah. Thereabouts. Depending upon my degrees. But it was like 37.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Oh, wow. When I started. But the quarter system's superior, because you're right, more variety. So we were at a c program called Cluster. Do you remember that? It was the non-ed uh it was a jet general ed program, uh, no you no test, no grades, pass fail.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

No.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

16 units for hippie children.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Such as moah. And it was cool because you got a really good education and uh it was interdisciplinary and uh doggone it. You had to show up, but you had to participate, show up and be present and get the stuff done, or you don't pass. But it was a hippie-dippy way of getting three quarters uh most of your GE in three in one year. Which is kind of wild. So I don't remember that.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

I must I missed that.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

It was really cool. They did away with it because it's too hippy-dippy crunchy.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

I was in my master's in 79.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

So I was gone 78.

How HLOC Took Shape

SPEAKER_00 16:38

So you taught Humboldt then you started Humboldt Light Company.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

Humboldt Light Opera Company starred in started in 73.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

73.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Uh-huh. And it uh that was my first time ever on stage. It was life-changing, you know, obviously. You know. Um never thought I would do something like that. Actually, what happened was somebody dared me and said I was too shy to go into a voice class. And I was like, nobody tells me what to do. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Not my mom or dad or boss.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

That's good. Exactly. So um anyway, so it was uh uh and then from there, Jim Stannard was an amazing tenor. And it just happened. It was just the time that time period in Hummel County where there was so much happening vocally, especially in classical voice. And so it was an amazing experience because I got to sing a lot with Jim and do and practice, you know, five, six, seven hours a day. Coach. Because I loved it.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

So one might say, and I can't resist this, you found your voice.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Oh key scatter.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

I had to get that one in there. It's kind of that I think it's that dad DNA joke thing. You know, the dad, the corny joke. Um some of which are just never understood. And I'll be the only one laughing at my joke. Again. I know I hate those. So so we'll we'll we'll get to the um light opera company in a minute, but I want to talk about you. So uh who are you and what do you want? What kind of question is that? Super, super general. That's my it's my deeper thinking question. It's it's sources from Joni's father, who was an uh athlete and a pharmacist and uh a really amazing guy that died a few b years back. Um but he he figures if you know who you are and what you want, the rest is just getting answers to those.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

Yeah, I've known who I what I wanted to do for a long time. Okay. And I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do. Cool. I wanted, you know, by the time that I got through the Maryland program, I went, I am going to run the light opera company someday.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Nice. You know. And who had it before?

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Uh it was Jim Stannard. Okay. It was his company. The founding artistic directors. Um, he retired in '98, I think.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Who was that?

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Uh Jim was a vocal voice teacher up at Humboldt and uh amazing tenor. Gotcha. And he really, you know, the thing is, is that at that time when you think of the 73, that there wasn't much going on in the county. Right. There wasn't how many all these theaters. There really wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

It wasn't a big art scene other than people.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

But there was quite a bit happening and starting to happen because so blue lake, you know. Um Del Art Delarte started close to their old town.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Bar and Grill in Old Town. Singing. There's art there.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Rock and roll stuff. Rock and roll. Robert Cray and everybody.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Well, I don't know anything. I seriously don't know anything about rock and roll. Okay. I grew up from Fortuna. So what are you going to say? We had one radio station.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Oh, wait. That's a great point. Yeah. Yeah. One radio station. And the reason I know that you're 100% humble for it's everybody in the world that sees it's Fortuna. Fortuna. Fu Fortuna.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Fortuna.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

I'm going to point out on my prop over here. You ready? Ready, Nick? So this is uh where we're at in Eureka, right here. Fortuna is down in here. This is the 101. This is the Bay. Yeah. 299. This is the way up to the Brit Festival in Oregon. So a little geography for those. Thank you. Yeah. A little geometry for my friends. Well, Fortuna. Fortuna. So you were kind of that's kind of a country cowboy-ish.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Yeah. Okay. Actually, my my dad was very involved in uh he was on the rodeo board for 50 years. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. And uh What was his name? Tom McCorder.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Oh, totally. So you're McCorder.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Yeah, I'm a McCorner. How are you related to Shane? Uh it's my cousin, my cousin.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Oh wow. And Shannon.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Yeah. How about that? I know both of those guys. They're the McCorders on the hill. We're the other McDonald's.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

So their dad is your dad's brother.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Okay, got it. Ben.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Yeah. So so the McCorders, his actually dad's dad was part of the team that started the rodeo in Fortuna. Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

So that's a rich history.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

We got to do that for 50 years.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

New Don Brown State Farm. Oh, wait. I have my State Farm button on. Weird. Who brought that? Um He was a legend. I I often tell his story. I was a new guy at 53, just wet behind the ears, you know, and new to the industry. My dad was an insurance salesman legend in Oceanside, California. And I thought, I'll I'm 17 and stoned and you know, whatever. And I'll I'll never do that. That's stupid. You know, go on Camp Pendleton and sell life insurance to Marines.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

That's how dumb. What a chump. And at 53, guess what? The DNA took over, and uh like a good neighbor, here I am. And uh part of that training was with Don Brown. I showed up in my my suit and my little satchel, and he goes, Get in the get in the go go change your clothes. We're going kayaking. And he already had his two cherry wood kayaks on his rack, his subaru, went to uh down to Hookedon Slough near Fortuna and had a Zen kayaking. Experience that transcended insurance. And he gave me some really good insight on how to do life.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

And it was uh It's one of those moments.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

It was one of those moments. Yeah. I like that. Let's highlight that.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Yeah.

Aha Moments That Redirect Life

SPEAKER_00 22:44

So let's talk about some of those moments. I've never thought of that. I like that's that's gonna be one of my questions.

SPEAKER_02 22:51

It is well, it is. You have these moments where you go. Uh-huh. Ah. That's interesting. I'm not gonna that's that's a direction I I'm not gonna take, or that's a direction I want to take. And you do you have them all through your life, I think.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

And it makes it makes a lot of sense. It's like when I retired from Humboldt, um, it was like uh I was gonna go into um tutoring because I just I love to teach. I love to teach. But so I was going into tutoring and I was walking by what became our space, and there was a for rent sign. And the company had never in 41 years had a place.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Had a storefront.

unknown 23:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Yeah. Never had any anything we were changing, or we our costumes were in somebody's attic or somebody's garage or in some horrible, you know, rental unit where you're going like this, and you go, if I don't come home, you know, I'm lost in there.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

I mean the store change.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

And we'd had no place to rehearse, nothing. And so we was walking by this, and it was like, oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

And that changed that was like it changed a lot of lives.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

The aha moments, yeah. I wonder if we called them out and thought about them and we quantified them and they made them a thing, we'd see more of them. Could be. The reticular activator of the brain starts to when you start thinking about buying a white Mustang, like a shell a Shelby, you start seeing everybody and their brother has one. It's weird. Hey, I want a Prius. Hey, look at all the Prius. Oh, the Prius is Christmas. There's so many of them. Prius and Subarus, folks. It used to be Volvos in Arcata.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Oh, yeah?

SPEAKER_00 24:37

When I was in school, everybody had a Volvo. Oh, that's a cool oh, look at that wagon. Ooh, wow. I bet that's a cool car. Maybe not. Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

I had a Mark IV.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

Sweet. Mustang? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

No, no, no, no, no. It was a little Mark IV. A little one of those little tiny little cars. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Yeah. The little ones.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

How'd you like it?

SPEAKER_02 24:56

It was loud.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

And now it's a Prius that's way quieter. Way quieter. A little too quiet. I'm surprised I wrote Patrick Cleary's Prius, and I was really impressed. Quiet, performing. But it was spacious. I'm I'm like, man, I'm on an airline here, first class.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Hi, Pat. Do you know Patrick? You probably do. He's um anyway. Um you know Julie Folkerson. So there's some uh getting back to what you uh what are other aha moments in your life? Do you recall any?

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Well, like I said, that when I went to hear that aria, that aria was an aha moment.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

And uh in Germany or in New York?

SPEAKER_02 25:37

One in um when I heard Jim sing.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Oh, here.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

When I was in Pali Sci. I would be dead if I was still there. I couldn't handle that stress. Yeah, yeah, right. That was a big one. And I think um when I oh well, the one in San Francisco, when he goes, You're gonna have to lose your ideals. I was like, no, I'm not. Wow. You know, those are those are huge ones, I think. Yeah. You know, and then the the fact that I found the space when I did, and that was a big change, you know. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

I'm I'm gonna think on those for a while because I I know we all have them and they're important directive sort of moments.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

Yeah, and I remember the I remember distinctly the last time I went into the hospital as a nursing student.

SPEAKER_04 26:26

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

You know, I remember those I remember weaving what those people look like.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

And I went, not doing this tomorrow morning, not going back.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

This is it.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

This is it. Love the sciences, but that's not the science. Yeah, that's not for me. And I just totally appreciate nurses because it I can't even.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Oh my gosh. Shout out to all medical people. Yeah. They're amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Not my favorite place to be anymore.

unknown 26:53

No.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Yeah. I found I was just too empathetic, you know. It's just like everything hurt.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

And how they do it, I don't I don't know. It's amazing how they endure and come back for more. And yeah. But those aha pivotal moments where I'm going, oh, yeah. I think I'll marry Joni. This is great. Yeah. This feels good. You know, I think I'll have another child.

unknown 27:16

Aha.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

Aha. Not necessarily an instant decision, mind. I guess if you're an adopting, it could be.

SPEAKER_04 27:24

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Yeah. So um I had an uh I have one. So when I was training at State Farm, um, it's arduous at best. It's harder, way harder than a degree. And they're very um vetting and very um crazy about your background and all your training, and there's four licenses. And let's just say it's a real pain in the ass. And it's it's hard. And you you it's it's not med school or the bar, but um I had a vision uh once uh early on that it's it uh just a a vision, uh a picture, a mind picture that it's a long hallway and there's no going back, there's no windows to jump out of, there's only one door, and it's you know, it's a hundred feet away. When you go through that door, you get there. And so one day, my last interview in Sacramento, guess what hallway I wound up in? I a literal hallway.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Oh my god, like just one door. Pivot, pivot, pivotal moment. I go, oh sh-holy shnikes, this is this is what I saw in my mind in my brain. And I go, through those doors, and I go, thank you, Lord. Okay, cool. I could do this. I could do tough things. And this is gonna be one more final interview, and it went smooth, and I was just myself. And and um, but it was it was pivotal to go, okay, this feels right. Something is confirmational and transformational in this moment to go, okay. And of course, it's really terribly, wonderfully, beautifully hard since then, and as as all good things can be. So uh hey, I'm done talking about me. You talk about me for a while.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

I'll talk about you now.

What Humboldt Gives And Takes

SPEAKER_00 29:06

No. We don't even know each we're best friends, but we don't know each other well. So let's talk about Humboldt for a minute. What do you like about living in Humboldt County?

SPEAKER_02 29:16

I like I like the of course the environment is beautiful, the the sweetness of the people. You know, the innocence. Like you just say the innocence.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

I like innocence.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

You know, and you know, even though today's innocence is much different than it was in the 50s, it's still there's a sense of innocence. And the people that I work with, I teach have taught a lot of young people. And, you know, they they have that innocence when they leave here, and you can choose to lose it.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Yes. Give it away.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

That's the thing. You have to get a choice. And that's what I like about Humboldt. It gives you that choice.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

I like that. You can retain it.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

And I like the commun I like the sense of community. You know. Um, I think uh uh particularly in Arcata, there's just this beautiful community. And I know other places too, but there's uh just everything is just uh there's a sense of looking after each other. Yeah. And you don't, you know. New York has a uh surprisingly nice. People are surprisingly nice in New York.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

But it's a different East Coast nice.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

It's a different thing. And that's what I like.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

Yeah. I love all those East Coast guys. They're pretty fresh forward.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Yeah. Yeah. There's a little edge to them. Yeah, and we're all mellow.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

Hey, give me a mocha.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Yeah, I know. Oh my gosh, when I moved in New York, they said, whatever you do, don't say you're from California.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Really?

SPEAKER_02 30:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Don't say that stuff. Yeah. You'd get in trouble.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Yeah. And I go, well, why? You know?

SPEAKER_00 30:50

We don't like your kind around here.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

They think all you do is do lunch.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Right. Do lunch.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

And then then it'll be on the phone and um this one person. Do lunch. So you're not from New York, are you? I go, no. And they go, You're just too nice to be from New York.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

But I think new New York people are nice. They just don't have time to take a mellow. Lunch. Lunch.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Let's do a two-hour lunch, bro. Yeah, they um I have a friend Phil that lives right up the street. He's from uh the East Coast, and I tease him all the time. And you know, you know, and he he goes, Yeah, no, there's that element of that hurry, that kind of edgy curt we find it curt and kind of rude California, but that's who they are. Get it done. I'm not I'm not I just want a coffee, man. I'm here to get in and get out. Goodbye.

SPEAKER_04 31:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

I guess that's not mean. That's just you're in a hurry. You know.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

It's just different, different paces of life.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

You know, when I try to pull that move as a Californian as from San Diego, that doesn't go well for me. I just always goof up the hurry guy. And it always plays the hurry guy always plays as a mean or rude guy. And I I don't want to ever be that guy. So it's like, oh well, why are you such a jerk? I I'm in a hurry. Um just did one of those recently, so I it's fresh in my mind.

SPEAKER_04 32:14

Oh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Right before this podcast, by the way. Oh, oh. I'm kind of in a hurry and I don't want and and it came out of my mouth, I don't want to be here. And the lady looked at me, she goes, I never say stuff like that. She goes, I don't want to be here either, mister. And I go, Well, huh? And I, of course, I got to backtrack it and return to innocence and joy and forgiveness, and we were good and love you mean it bye. And uh we got all we got squared away. So anyway. Hey, uh more about you.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

But you wanted to uh back on Humboldt. What I love is be able to look out my window and see all the trees. You know, see a green. We in in New York we had one one, well, we had two windows, but only and one of them had a branch in it.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

Oh, whoa.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

Wow. Green was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

But here you could go to almost any window in the county and look out and go, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

It was so beautiful. All the green, all the color. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Humboldt County, the courthouse upstairs. They got killer views. Really? 365. I mean, some of the like the fifth floor up at the records. Killer views. I mean like, whoa, this is Manhattan for Humboldt. So what do you not like about Humboldt? Anything you don't care for?

SPEAKER_02 33:34

Well, um perhaps what I don't appreciate as much is everybody knowing your business.

SPEAKER_04 33:41

Ah. Kind of comes with it though, right? It does. It does.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

And I I don't mean that to be a negative. It's just that all of a sudden you go, what? How do you know that?

SPEAKER_00 33:52

Yeah, how would you know anything about How do you know that? You don't even know me, man.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

I didn't fall up here in the first place. So that's probably the main thing. I don't you know, I would love there to be it it to be closer to a major airport or you know, be closer to the city or something, but uh we are we're a quarter mile due east of the w airport.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Right over here. I'm pointing at it right now. Um literally I hear the jet fire up. It's really interesting because you could the rhythms of life, right? So I can be sleeping in my bed and we keep big window open, and I hear the it's a jet starts like a car. They start it with a key, I think. And it fires up and I hear the the early sounds of it. Oh and then the engines all fire up. So there's a six like a six ten plane or six oh eight, and they fire that bad boy up right at round six, and they're and they're off and running, so I can kind of set my watch to it almost. Provided it made it in the night before for you Fog fans who've been turned around at 1010 at night and just had some cuss words come out of your mouth that you didn't know you had.

unknown 35:07

Yeah.

Best Days, Meaning, And Legacy

SPEAKER_00 35:08

Doggone it. Doggone it. I hate this stuff when it happens. So hey, time for the quiz. Are you ready? Uh oh, we do have some uh we'll see. Okay, you ready? Uh you haven't seen the show, so you don't you don't know. Yeah, I have who knows what he's gonna ask. I can I can make up some new questions here. Uh what's your best day? What what's the best day of your life? What one are your best days?

SPEAKER_02 35:33

When I married Bill. Oh, hey.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Shout out to Bill. Hi, Bill.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

Hi, Bill.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Is Bill still what does he do now?

SPEAKER_02 35:40

He's a piano technician. He's a singer, he's an amazing man.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

Wow. Sounds like it.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

Been married since 81.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Me too.

SPEAKER_02 35:49

That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

What's your what's your anniversary date?

SPEAKER_02 35:52

Uh May 16th.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

Got us by a month. June 27th, 81. Close to Santa. Actually, honeymoon in Santa Barbara. We got married down at Portsokal Wedding Chapel. Oh, really? San Pedro Harbor, wedding's on the hour. My mom was a half hour late, so they had to kind of speed up the service. Had a great, you know, we had this great potluck reception. It was a potluck in a park, bro. We were happy as clams, got up to Santa Barbara, just newly wedged, just having a great time. I remember it dearly.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Okay. But we went we went from uh we didn't get a honeymoon because we went to m Jackson, Mississippi. Sweet. Depends upon your definition, I guess. Oh gosh. Yeah, Bill was in a program there, and so we went there and they thought we were brother and sister. I was like, Oh thanks. Okay. Okay. And over there they said, Oh, Bill, you're a tenor. And I went, I want a divorce. I'm not going to be married to a tenor. Tenor.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

A tenor. A tenor.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

Oh no. Jackson. That was fun. That's the uh Johnny Cash song, right? Uh Nick, I can't I can't used to be able to see Nick sometimes. Anyway, he's still there. I'm confident that the film's rolling. Um also. Hey, if you're just joining us, it's uh my special new best friend, Carol Ryder, here on the 100% humble podcast with Scott Hammond, and we're in the uh studio's world's headquarters of uh Growing Pains uh podcast. Uh uh by yours truly, Nick Nick Flores, who's amazing. This is number 115. He's got like 230, 280, I don't know, a million. His are a little longer than mine. Mine go about 59 minutes. His anyway. Question number two. Okay. Are you ready? Yeah. Worst day. Worst day. What's a bad day? What was a no good, very bad day for you?

SPEAKER_02 37:42

Boy. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

No recall on the bad day.

SPEAKER_02 37:53

No.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

No.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

Think of one on the way home, probably, but it yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

Yeah, no, I mean, you know, worst day, uh dude moments, you know, that aren't fun, but worst day. Can't think of one.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Good, I love it.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

You know, I'm kind of a Pollyanna, self-professed. It's okay.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Yeah. My uh my Texas business coach calls me kind of a rainbow unicorn California dude.

SPEAKER_02 38:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

Come on, lighten up, Pete, dude. Come on, bro. Smoke another bong load, man. Do something. No, I love Pete. Pete's a beautiful, brilliant guy. We all need a Pete to kick us in the teeth.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Us optimists.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

Yeah. Do you do you grow up in Oceanside?

SPEAKER_00 38:38

I grew up in Nash City, which is a suburb of San Diego. Kind of the underbelly, lower middle class shipbuilding and everything, Navy.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

Um were your parents part of the uh military?

SPEAKER_00 38:51

No, my mom raised me on her own. Only child, single parent. Um I roamed the streets as a hippie feral child smoking weed at a very tender age. And um uh she worked at we played at the apartment all day and had a great time. I actually worked a couple summers before I came to Humboldt. Other than that, we're at the beach, bro. As you New York friends would say, long lunch, huh? They're doing lunch again. Yes, we are. We live for lunch. Live for lunch. So uh by the it counterintuitively got to Humboldt and got sober. Met Joni, met Jesus, met sobriety, got the liberal arts degree at Humboldt with not one but about five minors and you know, followed the path. And you know, yeah, let's go to Humboldt and get sober because they have the best weed in the world. That makes perfect sense. So counterintuitive, you know, pivoting, pivotal moments.

unknown 39:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

So uh number three, what's uh what's life-giving and what's soul crushing for you? Soul in life that gives you what gave me what gives you life every day or what boosts your floats your boat?

SPEAKER_02 40:05

What floats my boat? I mean, uh besides I really love my husband and his daughter and son-in-law, I it's it's the company. Nice and the community that's there. And teaching. I love to teach. Nice. I love that. And I love all that, all the part of teaching. I love watching people change. And I'm right now I teach um uh privates, but I also teach some classes through our live life program through the company, and they're all seniors, and these people, lots of them, come in at 70, 75, 80. I don't sing.

SPEAKER_04 40:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

Why don't you sing? Well, my sixth grade teacher told me I couldn't. My mom said I couldn't sing. It's like you can't sing, and that's that's that's floats my boat. I love that a lot. Could we sing a quick song?

SPEAKER_00 40:57

I would too. You know, we had Brett McFarland played uh that's how we do it in Humboldt here. He's the outlaw country guy. He he led this the show with playing his guitar.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

My daughter Khalia loves that opening. She they what they rewatch it all the time. Um I love that life giving so you can bring somebody to life in a passion.

SPEAKER_02 41:15

And it's so exciting. It's exciting to watch them all of a sudden, oh, oh, it's just it's just a muscle I have to work. Yeah. It's just a muscle I have to learn to listen and stop listening to my I can't, you can't.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

And it's sad sometimes. You can.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

Who should kill that voice? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

Yeah. And especially when you think about, you know, people in their seventies and they go, Oh, what a sad thing to be telling yourself you can't do something.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

Why not?

SPEAKER_00 41:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:47

If you don't try it now, when are you gonna try it?

SPEAKER_00 41:49

I just get curious and find out.

SPEAKER_02 41:51

Yeah. So that I I think that that really floats my boat.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

That's our motto at 665. Let's get curious. Let's go. Let's see. What are they thinking about? Let's find out who are they and let's talk to them.

SPEAKER_04 42:02

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Because you could do that everywhere with relationships or singing or golf or heaven forbid pickleball. Pickleball.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

Do you do pickleball?

SPEAKER_00 42:11

I do. I haven't done it for a minute, but it's fun. Kind of dig it. You know what I'm good at? I collect vinyl now.

SPEAKER_02 42:19

Ah.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

That one you just gave.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

Yeah. Well, that was part of my big collection that Nick got my very valuable JFK vinyl, but uh Pig Floyd, Led Zeppelin stuff. I don't like what I used to like. They were like like hardcore stuff and makes Joni mad when I turn it up. So I'm gonna go with Judy, Judy Collins.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

Okay. And I can I can relate to your wife because that can I tell you what quick Judy Collins?

SPEAKER_00 42:47

Yeah. Judy's going, turn it down. Snaking me dead. So we saw Judy Collins at the Brit Festival about five years ago. Wow. Steve Stills, who wrote Sweet Judy Blue Eyes for her. And then we saw her solo, and uh, she was 80 already.

unknown 43:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

And she did her own um her own set. It was uh still does, so she tours. And she hit a note and she's again 80, 81 maybe. And it's a 3,000-person outdoor venue. I don't know if you've been, it's quite the place. It's it's a small Hollywood bowl surrounded in oak trees. It's it's stunning. Peter Britt donated this to the city.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

We went to a concert there once. It's really amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:35

But it was a showstopper. She hit a note and I she was singing Clouds or which, you know, I don't know what song it was. And everybody froze. Everybody that was drinking wine, talking, and you know, just carried on. And silence hit the bowl, and it was beautiful. And we're going, that was a pivotal moment. Boom. Oh, I can remember that. I'll remember that forever.

SPEAKER_02 43:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

So um, yeah, lovely.

SPEAKER_02 44:02

She's remember all the sensual things about, you know, the clouds and how it felt like. And it brings back everything.

SPEAKER_00 44:09

Isn't that weird? Yes. Time's time slows down and holds still. Well, cool. Uh, one more question. You get the day off.

SPEAKER_02 44:17

Do I get the day off?

SPEAKER_00 44:19

You do. Well, you I'm giving you the day off with any number of things you could do from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. has to be in that county over there. And uh money's not an object. What would you do? With that nine hours, what does that look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 44:33

To take a day off?

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Yeah. What would you do in Humboldt?

SPEAKER_02 44:40

Wow, that's interesting. I'd probably go someplace where trees were really green, not necessarily redwood trees, but leapy trees. Yeah. Where that was n nice and windy, a little windy, you know? Not too steep.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

I think a Redwood Valley, maybe or I don't know. Mm-hmm. There's places like that.

SPEAKER_02 45:02

Yeah. Yeah. I really my my dad grew up in Yager Valley. Do you know where that is?

SPEAKER_00 45:07

Is that Soham?

SPEAKER_02 45:09

Yeah, it's uh no, it's out by Bridgeville. It's a little north. Okay. You go in the back way back to um Neeland. Um it's really pretty. It's really pretty. All the oak trees and the leafy. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

Yeah, it's pretty country.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

Remote. But if I were to go if I had a day off and I could go anywhere, I would go to Verona, Italy.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

Oh, okay. That's not an Humboldt. We have a little Verona somewhere. We can pretend Verona would be cool. What's in Verona?

SPEAKER_02 45:42

I just loved Verona. My uh Bill studies Italian. And so um we've been over a lot for him to go to school, which is great, because then I get to do I taught my how to myself how to draw and to paint. Oh, cool. So each time we went over, I just focused on something different. Because I don't have that time here. Right. And um uh but anyway, I just uh Verona is just a tiny little place. Uh-huh. And it's a uh pedestrian, very pedestrian. You know, there's no cars basically, except for a little bit further out. But you just encounter so many different time periods from Renaissance to medieval to on and on. So I just it's just a good beautiful place. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

I love it. We get to go to Florence, Italy in June.

SPEAKER_02 46:33

Good. When June?

SPEAKER_00 46:35

June, we go to Barcelona and then across to Florence.

SPEAKER_02 46:37

Oh, Barcelona.

SPEAKER_00 46:38

Barcelona. Barcelona is a beautiful city, too. And Valencia. Yeah. Oh, that that's a beautiful place. And that I don't think we're going there, but I wanted to say it.

SPEAKER_02 46:45

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 46:46

Valencia.

SPEAKER_02 46:47

Barcelona. When when I was in Germany studying, there was two guys in my class that were for Barcelona. And they were so funny because the way they pronounced their German was kind of different.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

Oh, really? They had their accents. Yes. Well, they had a little lith in there.

SPEAKER_02 47:09

It was really funny. It was great. I always remember that. Barcelona. Lopez Copeto.

SPEAKER_00 47:17

Those things we remember, right? It's like those things that that stand out. It's so funny. I don't know if I'm weird, but I just have those those one-off things. We'll laugh, Joni and I'll be talking. Remember that one thing? Oh yeah. Oh, why was that so weird? Remember we went through. Oh yeah, that guy. What was that about?

SPEAKER_02 47:37

Um but what are you gonna do in Florence? Are you staying there for a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 47:41

Yeah, a day. Today? It's a cruise.

SPEAKER_02 47:44

Oh, it's a cruise.

SPEAKER_00 47:45

Yeah. And then Marseille and um what's the island? It starts with an M. Mallorca.

SPEAKER_02 47:54

Mallorca. Oh. Somebody said that.

SPEAKER_00 47:57

Super, super cool.

SPEAKER_02 47:58

Uh-huh. Um Yeah, I had a student whose parents redid houses there.

SPEAKER_00 48:03

It just really looked cool. Rad. I haven't been there. Spain looks good though. I like tapas. I know that much. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

Do you have to stay with your cruise?

SPEAKER_00 48:12

A little bit. While you're on the boat, you do.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

Well, yeah. Oh my gosh. I just read about this couple that found it cheaper to go on cruises all the time than have a place.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

Wow, that's retirement.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

Is that crazy?

SPEAKER_00 48:26

They live somewhere expensive and they found cheap cruises. Something.

SPEAKER_02 48:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:30

And so they can just cruise all year?

SPEAKER_02 48:32

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Well, I hope I hope you have fun. It's uh hopefully you can get away from your tour group.

SPEAKER_00 48:39

Yeah. I think that's usually the DMO because the tours sometimes kind of rip off.

SPEAKER_02 48:44

Well, it's just you herded around. We're pretty it can be a beautiful city.

SPEAKER_00 48:48

We're pretty rebellious, curious, and independent.

SPEAKER_02 48:51

Oh, independent. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:52

We don't go make an adventure and meet people and that's the fun, the organic thing. When you're sitting with somebody, you're going, wow, who are you? What's this? What is even going on? This is cool. Uh-huh. You're this is well, this is why we came for somebody to tell that story or to whatever. So to that discovery. And sometimes it happens in interesting places.

SPEAKER_02 49:14

It does. Yeah. It'd be great. I hope you can get away from the tours. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah, because it's uh, you know, just to sit and to sit in a coffee shop in Italy is so fun.

SPEAKER_00 49:24

I bet it'd be rad.

SPEAKER_02 49:25

Because it's so you you know, you're sitting doing an American thing, you know, taking forever. Right. Right, especially California. And you're taking forever. And these guys came in, you know, and you know, they're gone.

SPEAKER_00 49:38

Chow.

SPEAKER_02 49:39

Uh they're out of there. And it's just like, wow. But I guess that's why, especially with Smain.

SPEAKER_00 49:44

Yeah. The demonas is gone.

unknown 49:46

Done.

SPEAKER_00 49:47

That's true in Amsterdam. They only had the little coffees.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

Yeah, they just have tiny.

SPEAKER_00 49:52

Sorry, you there's no small anywhere. There's there's really small and then there's demonitas.

unknown 49:58

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:59

Tiny. Yeah, you gotta wear it. It's just a couple shots and they're out of there.

HLOC Programs And How To Join

SPEAKER_00 50:02

So before I ask you all the concluding questions around legacy and what you want to be remembered for, I'll ask you this. Tell you want to shout out a little bit about the the company and and tell us how to find you all. And what if I had a mind to come and get singing lessons or hang out with. Happy. Happy to. What are your services? Where could we you be found?

SPEAKER_02 50:24

Well, we're a multi-service company. I like that. Because of our space, we're able to have a lot of classes. So we have a huge Kit Co program, which is was started in '98. And so it's really a big program. Tell me more. Uh well, let's ask we we have classes in um uh singing and movement and acting. We were very focused on education and process rather than product. And so we uh only do a show every two years, but we have a big review coming up. We've got about 125 kids. Wow. And then from age three to eighteen. And so they're all different levels of classes.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

What's the show that you're gonna do? What's the project? The one coming up?

SPEAKER_02 51:06

Uh the that's the just a review where all the classes do something. Okay, at the facility. Then the uh show will be in February of next year, and we're not sure exactly what one that will be. But it's a it's a good training place for kids. You know, Fiona came, my daughter came up through that, and there's a couple other of the teachers in the program that came through that. A lot of people that work for us on stage, the bit for the adult company came through KidCo. Oh, that's cool. And so it's fun. And then in the some and then we have classes for uh the um long life learner people, the the boomers.

SPEAKER_00 51:43

So that's advanced maturity people.

SPEAKER_02 51:47

Yeah. Um, and those are those are really awesome.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

People like us in their 50s.

SPEAKER_02 51:53

Yeah, yeah. No, it's the people that are uh pretty retired because they're doing the day. And so there's all kinds of classes. I've got the two voice classes that and then it's movement classes and tai chi and breath classes, you know, yoga classes. There's um there's has been writing classes, some psychology classes kind of, you know, trying to help people with stress. Wow. Uh and I don't know. There's just all kinds of it's really a cool program. That's pretty diverse.

SPEAKER_00 52:22

You have a lot of diverse stuff.

SPEAKER_02 52:23

Yeah. And then there's the boomer troupe, and that's um people that are of boomer age. And so they're the last show was I think the youngest was 70 and the oldest was 84.

SPEAKER_00 52:35

Wow. The kid was 70. Good job, junior.

SPEAKER_02 52:41

And and that's a that's uh a troupe where uh it's living history. So we choose a topic, we give them prompts, and then we create a script. And so it's good for them because they're telling their own stories, uh-huh, but then they have to memorize. Oh. And there's in music. And then we have the guys' chorus, that's just men. So if you like to sing, it's Wednesday nights, and then we have the women's chorus, and then we have our production company.

SPEAKER_00 53:11

So my father Bob was in the Seattle Sea Chordsman, quite a singer. That's awesome. Barbershop guy. Barbershop guy, cool. Loves. Do you sing? I sing like a bird.

SPEAKER_02 53:20

I bet you do.

SPEAKER_00 53:21

Yeah. The joke is could you sing over the hill in Far Whip, please? You ever heard that one? Another dad joke, and it's all yours. Oh, okay. The other is um, hey Carol, what'd you do with that money? And you would say, I don't know. What money?

SPEAKER_02 53:40

What money?

SPEAKER_00 53:41

The money I gave you for singing lessons. These are all digs digs at poor singing skills that could be better.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

And they all can be better. Trust me.

SPEAKER_00 53:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:53

Trust me.

SPEAKER_00 53:54

I want to sing. I'm gonna I'm gonna sing something real quick.

SPEAKER_02 53:57

Okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 53:57

I want to I usually sing feelings. Or um I was singing it today. That's funny. Because I gave a friend a Barry Manilo album.

SPEAKER_01 54:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 54:06

In my vinyl collection. Nick gets JFK or Johnny Cash.

SPEAKER_01 54:10

Somebody else gets Barry Mandalo.

SPEAKER_00 54:11

My friend Jamie got Barry Mandalo.

SPEAKER_01 54:13

I'm so sorry. I'm not one of your best friends. You gave me a Barry Manil. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 54:18

We're working on it. No, she loves Barry, and so I find Barry stuff and I get her berry. Good, good quality berry. Not sloppy vinyl, like the primo. Oh. So nothing's that's excellent. Yeah. So um, where was I going? Oh. The other song I like to sing is um trailers for room roulette, uh King of the Road by Roger Miller.

SPEAKER_04 54:38

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 54:39

Very classic.

SPEAKER_04 54:40

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 54:41

So I'll probably spare you that. So anyway. So how do you want to be remembered? Carol? What are they gonna say at your uh your gathering?

SPEAKER_01 54:54

What kind of question is that? This is no gathering.

SPEAKER_02 55:02

Uh I want to be remembered as someone who cared about people.

SPEAKER_00 55:07

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 55:09

Yeah. But it's true.

unknown 55:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:11

I'm a Pollyanna.

SPEAKER_00 55:12

That's good. We need more.

SPEAKER_02 55:13

We do care. You know?

SPEAKER_00 55:15

So in sales, which I have a profound background in, they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

unknown 55:24

What?

SPEAKER_00 55:25

They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. So it's a it's it's polyannic and beautiful because it's not just sales, it's relationship. And you you're not gonna buy from somebody who doesn't care about you. Why buy that Prius from some jerk? That's very true. But he might care about you and actually find out what you need and be part of your Prius family.

SPEAKER_02 55:45

That's very true.

SPEAKER_00 55:45

Yeah. And I've been lost. Yeah, my hot tub guy.

SPEAKER_02 55:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:49

Hey Matt. What's up, Matt Walker? Yeah. Um, whoever I know that Matt cares about me and my family so whatever that provider might be, do they care? And I don't care what you know. I I'd like you to be competent, but I'd like you to like me. First. You can be incompetent, but if you love me, I am fine. Yeah. But if you like me, I'll buy anything. Um maybe not.

SPEAKER_02 56:16

Well, yeah, I mean, but that's that that goes over to teaching too. They're not going to do anything unless they know you care.

SPEAKER_00 56:23

No, you like you, trust you.

SPEAKER_02 56:24

Yeah, yeah. But they can trust.

SPEAKER_00 56:27

Yeah, I like that. Because you're in you're in their hands and they're in your hands rather.

SPEAKER_02 56:30

And well, maybe both. And you have to you have to be able to trust who you're working with.

SPEAKER_00 56:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:35

You know, to in order to do your best work.

SPEAKER_00 56:38

Right. Is your motivation me and am I important? And I I think um I like that a lot. I think it's a good thing to live by.

SPEAKER_02 56:46

Yeah. Because just you.

SPEAKER_04 56:54

Right.

SPEAKER_02 56:54

You're not pressing anything down. It's just you. And when you don't you don't feel good about it, because you don't, you know, the you have to trust who you're working with.

SPEAKER_00 57:05

And it's also practicing. You can't sing King of the Road by s out of scratch. You gotta practice. You can't run a marathon tomorrow. No. I'd be on the side of the road crying somewhere. But if I train, I could probably do something.

SPEAKER_02 57:18

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 57:19

Couch to 10K is classic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:21

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: I keep saying to tea people, it's about it's about health, it's about breathing, it's about um stance, it's about athleticism, it's about hearing, it's about really concentrating.

SPEAKER_00 57:33

Posture. And I like the fact that you're right, singing is is pretty raw. It's pretty you, it's pretty out there.

SPEAKER_02 57:38

It's out there.

SPEAKER_00 57:39

You put yourself out there. What a delight. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_02 57:42

Well, thank you very much for having me, Scott. Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me. Thanks to meet you, best fan.

SPEAKER_00 57:46

And you, yeah. My new best friend. So uh yeah, I I I want to learn more. So, real quick, how do we get a hold of you? Is there a website? Um Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:53

Hloc.org.

SPEAKER_00 57:55

Say it again.

SPEAKER_02 57:56

hloc.org.

SPEAKER_00 57:59

Hloc.org.org. And you can find we could find you in Sunny Brave Arcata, which is in California.

SPEAKER_02 58:05

Very easy, right? Like buy coffee break.

SPEAKER_00 58:07

Plenty of free parking.

SPEAKER_02 58:08

Uh lots of wonderful parking because it's flat.

SPEAKER_00 58:11

Coffee break, formerly owned by Carlos Caceres. Yes. Hey Carl, what's up? Well, thanks for joining us. Hey, if you uh enjoyed the show, we'd like you to make comments, like us, love us. Uh, you could send money. It's it's actually welcome. Uh reviews are positive reviews are appreciated, right?

SPEAKER_02 58:28

Yeah, positive.

SPEAKER_00 58:28

Pollyannic reviews. We like those the best. And thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time. Scott Hammond with 100% Humboldt signing off.

SPEAKER_02 58:36

Hi, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 58:37

Thank you.