As I sat down with Jeremy of Cherokee Street Ceramics, his hands, etched with the lines of a craftsman, unfolded a tale not just of clay but of his metamorphosis from musician to ceramicist. His story, set against the backdrop of St. Louis's rich cultural tapestry, reveals how the therapeutic touch of pottery shapes more than just plates—it crafts the narrative of a city and its dining tables. We trace his journey through the textures of artistry and community, as his plateware becomes the silent witness to the culinary masterpieces of local chefs, and his craft echoes the rhythm of a life once spent amidst the beats of blues and soul.
The kitchen, often the heart of our homes, beats with a rhythm of its own—where the clink of a spoon against a bowl or the sizzle of a pan sings in harmony with our family tales. Jeremy and I explore this symphony of flavors and memories, indulging in the nostalgia of childhood treats like fruit leathers while savoring the evolution of our palates. It's not just a conversation about the food we eat; it's about the moments that season our lives, where Jeremy's dual paths in music and ceramics resonate with the vibrant culture of our St. Louis community.
This episode culminates with a reflection on the essence of creativity, whether it's the strum of a rhythm guitar or the spin of a potter's wheel. Jeremy imparts wisdom for young artists, underpinning the importance of passion and the readiness to embrace change. We then wander down the winding roads of life's diverse avenues—from the circus tent to the soulful St. Louis music scene—discovering the pivotal role of empathy in knitting together the fabric of community. Join us for this enriching dialogue that's as steeped in the spirit of St. Louis as it is in the rhythm of an artist's life.
As I sat down with Jeremy of Cherokee Street Ceramics, his hands, etched with the lines of a craftsman, unfolded a tale not just of clay but of his metamorphosis from musician to ceramicist. His story, set against the backdrop of St. Louis's rich cultural tapestry, reveals how the therapeutic touch of pottery shapes more than just plates—it crafts the narrative of a city and its dining tables. We trace his journey through the textures of artistry and community, as his plateware becomes the silent witness to the culinary masterpieces of local chefs, and his craft echoes the rhythm of a life once spent amidst the beats of blues and soul.
The kitchen, often the heart of our homes, beats with a rhythm of its own—where the clink of a spoon against a bowl or the sizzle of a pan sings in harmony with our family tales. Jeremy and I explore this symphony of flavors and memories, indulging in the nostalgia of childhood treats like fruit leathers while savoring the evolution of our palates. It's not just a conversation about the food we eat; it's about the moments that season our lives, where Jeremy's dual paths in music and ceramics resonate with the vibrant culture of our St. Louis community.
This episode culminates with a reflection on the essence of creativity, whether it's the strum of a rhythm guitar or the spin of a potter's wheel. Jeremy imparts wisdom for young artists, underpinning the importance of passion and the readiness to embrace change. We then wander down the winding roads of life's diverse avenues—from the circus tent to the soulful St. Louis music scene—discovering the pivotal role of empathy in knitting together the fabric of community. Join us for this enriching dialogue that's as steeped in the spirit of St. Louis as it is in the rhythm of an artist's life.
Hey, what's going on? Beautiful people, welcome back to the Rated TK podcast. Today we have an amazing guest with us. This guy has literally made some of the best plateware known to mankind that I know of. You've seen his plateware. You may not have known who was behind it, but he provides plateware for some of the top restaurants in St Louis. Today we have Jeremy from Cherokee Street Ceramics. Jeremy, welcome on the podcast. Hey, right on. Thanks so much, oh, yeah. So tell people a little bit about you. How did you get into this whole like plateware thing and like, how did you get into it?
Speaker 2:Right, well, that's kind of a long story, I mean. So ultimately, I was exposed to a lot of stuff growing up, ceramics being one of them. My mom turned me on to that and my dad turned me on to music, and so for the 20 years leading up to COVID I was a musician professional musician playing around town, and just before COVID I started doing some more ceramics as a way to kind of like get off the stage. Basically, you know, go to my basement, do my thing. Kind of like get off the stage, basically, you know, go to my basement, do my thing. And in that time I started meeting some people that had restaurants around town and it was just like one thing led to another.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I you know I particularly like plateware because it's a thing you use daily.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:It's like the music we played was for the folks and the plates are for the folks, you know, and so that's, and it's just been a tumbleweed ever since, and for the last three years we've just been cranking them out.
Speaker 1:Dude, that is so awesome. How does it so you have literally like I mean, it's like everyone that you sell to their restaurant turns to gold, like it's crazy.
Speaker 2:It's so crazy, whenever I see like you post.
Speaker 1:I'm like, dude, their restaurant is like phenomenal, is like phenomenal and like that's why I wanted. I was like, do we have to get his artistry in rated? Like I wanted you to be a part of this experience. I wanted people to know about you. I thought it was phenomenal. I found out about you, um, through some friends of mine Nick Bogner, uh, bernie from a car like and they were like he's the best to do it. So I'm like, okay, let me hit him up. And here we are six months later at rated and the play, where it's still being used on the daily basis and we freaking love it. So tell people a little bit about, like, your journey with music and the artistry, because I know I know your story, but the people don't really know your story, right, yeah?
Speaker 2:So I started playing music in St Louis when I was 25. So well over 20 years ago now, and and I really, my music was St Louis music, you know. And so St Louis music is blues music.
Speaker 2:It's soul music, it's jazz, um, and for me it was blues music, and I was gone for a long time and when I came back I only knew a couple of people still in town and those were, you know, elder blues musicians. And so, and I was a listener, I wasn't like I had a guitar. My dad taught me how to play some chords, yeah, but I didn't know music, gotcha, and so basically we just learned on the streets 20 years ago and the old guy's like oh, you have a guitar.
Speaker 2:I'm going to beat you to death with it.
Speaker 2:You know, and we go home crying from the gigs, we're like oh and um and really playing a lot of St Louis music, because to me it's the most. I mean it's the most. Yeah, yeah, st Louis music is um. I mean, I don't know as much about the food, but when it comes to music, I can tell you that we have one of the greatest lineages of all time, ever, ever, yeah, um. We just haven't necessarily written it down exactly right. So our people are Johnny Johnson and Chuck Berry and Fontella Bass and Miles Davis and Albert King.
Speaker 2:And the list is so long, yeah, and so when I started playing, most of those people were still alive, gotcha, and so we'd go to their houses. We wouldn't miss a gig. Oh wow, there's this guitar player, benny Smith, who was kind of like the guy I looked up to, and he was Ike Turner's guitar teacher.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, he just played every Wednesday at the Venice Cafe. Wow. And so once he found out I had a guitar, it was over, and so the group I played in mostly was called the Bottoms Up Blues Gang, and it was a female singer and a harmonica player, and I played acoustic guitar.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 2:But we were like an electric acoustic kind of thing, gotcha but we were like an electric acoustic kind of guy, okay, and then we spent um three or four months a year in new orleans and a couple months out west, and then we come back here, um, you know, and then I ended up um working with the st louis blues society and I ran the big muddy blues festival and there's like just so many people you know, and uh, so I was like, well, let me go back to the clay, which is something I was doing before. Music, yeah, I lived out west and it was a great meditation, you know, it's just you and the wheel, yeah, and it's quiet and like, the only people you have to compromise with are the clay and the kiln gods.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly so yeah, and so it's been a natural evolution in that way for me to step off of the music scene, especially since so much has changed and almost everyone that taught me how to play is dead. We've been to too many funerals, and that's not true. There's a lot of guys right now who are alive.
Speaker 1:They're like, hey, man, they're going to be watching this. Like I'm not fucking dead. What are you talking about? But, they're in their 60s and 70s and 80s.
Speaker 2:Now you know and um and so that's, and I feel really like blessed to have been around those people and learn not just music but life. And you know community, and st louis got a strong community. You know um and so, uh, also because of that, I know a lot of people in the industry and so, um, like I think with um, like with nick, we knew one of the bartenders who was like hey, you should meet my friend jeremy, kind of thing you know what I'm saying and so um, or like uh, colleen, at milk toast, right you know, like she was at the venice cafe where I played every tuesday night, you know?
Speaker 2:yeah, so these are all like, we all make a lot of kinds of arts and I think a lot of people do a lot of different things, but we have to put all our energy into one. Yeah, so we don't get to curate Like I figured. Ceramics was over for me, you know, like it was a good time. I learned from some good people and now it's the thing that kind of like I do every day, all day long.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly, and I think that's great and I think that that's a lot of things, that's a lot of. That's a key point that you made that I think St Louis is really well known for, and I think it's a fusion of food and music and how they kind of go hand in hand Because, like, when you think of a core memory, you think of two things you think of smells and you think of sounds, and those are like the two things that food and music does for people. It provides that experience. So, like I can literally point out right now the time that me and my grandma were cooking, listening to Anita Baker, while smelling the food that she was making. So like that kind of it's a core memory, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:So like what was a memory for you that you can think of growing up as a child? That was like music and food, like what was that experience or what was that moment? Whether it was like your mom was pulling something out of the oven or just something like that that had to do with food, there was just it was always around, I mean it's music and food, or two Um, and I would add ceramics to that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um are the oldest human, you know like it's old world stuff inside of us, you know like way back when someone had to like go down to the river and carry the water in a ceramic jug, it's true, back to the village and they were humming yeah, yeah, yeah Right, so they're making food with it, like, so for me, like I mean, it was always around our house. We had music around the house all the time. Yeah, like my dad played guitar and was always on the radio, like if we're in the car.
Speaker 2:We had the little eight track player you know, Um, and my mom is a good cook, Like she's like and she loves it. It's her thing, you know, and it's um. It hasn't rubbed off on me as much as my brother, Um but I I mean, yeah, you can, mom's a good cook.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was, what's your favorite dish that she made? Oh man, um, I know that's a hard one, cause I'm trying to think of my favorite dish my grandma would make and I can't think of it right now.
Speaker 2:I feel like, and also those answers change over time as we get older, like the thing I look forward to now. You know, I mean, mom's got like the veggie chili and the like veggie soup down. Really, she'll make it in gallons, we'll just freeze it.
Speaker 1:Are you serious, you know, but she can bake she?
Speaker 2:you know she has, but she can bake. She has a lot of recipes from her grandmother that we do latkes during the holidays, oh yeah, and so her potato latkes. We don't really celebrate the religious holiday as much as her latkes.
Speaker 1:Really, are you serious? And we've got to go over there early.
Speaker 2:And she's got my great-grandmother's grating things and if you don't bleed, then you didn't do it right. So I would say her latkes. I look forward to those every single year, yeah, yeah, and so you know. And again, there's always music when there's people in the house, and if you're making food for a lot of people, then it's just on, exactly.
Speaker 1:And then, like, even for us here, like we cook to a rhythm, like when you're chopping something, it's like, it's a rhythm Like you know, there's a rhythm to what we do. You know what I mean, and I think a lot of people don't really notice it, but like even the music that we play here, there's a rhythm, there's a beat to it, whether it's Jorge shaking drinks, like he's shaking it to a rhythm, you know what I mean. So food and rhythm like it's in that, it's in that, even when you're you're doing you know, ceramics, there's a rhythm to it, like there's a beat. Whether you realize it or not, there's a rhythm to all of those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like there's at the root of all of that is process. Yeah, yeah, and so, like the all of us, you know, if you're lucky enough to have, like folks who are cooking during the holidays or whatever, and we were kids like the sound of my mom's mixer is in the back of my head exactly like the dishwasher or like when something goes over you know, and all those sounds are like I guess there's like a symphony in the kitchen.
Speaker 1:No, seriously, in any kitchen, yeah yeah, I feel like we should put together, like the, the, the soundtrack of the kitchen. Yeah, the sizzles, the pots, the pans top, like all of that. I feel like it would be fire. No, I think that's great. We are going to jump into one of these snacks that you brought.
Speaker 2:Oh, all right.
Speaker 1:So typically what I do is I have the guests bring on a snack, either a childhood snack that they love to eat when they were a child, or something that they currently love to enjoy, so I'll let you decide which one we jump into first.
Speaker 2:We should probably do the first one from the kids, which? I also had to check in with mom about, because like I remember, but I'm like no, hold up, she remembers better than me yeah, yeah and so it was fruit leathers, and I still love fruit leathers yeah like. Well, which ones did I eat? And so I did a little research and I found these ones, and these are the ones that I remember as a kid.
Speaker 1:Ah, okay, so we'll put the link down in the description if you guys want to try these fruit letters at home. What's your favorite flavor out of the four that we have?
Speaker 2:I tried all four when I got them and it's apricot.
Speaker 1:Really yeah, because that's the one I was looking at. Apricot anything is just phenomenal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's an underrated flavor.
Speaker 1:It is no, it seriously is. So we'll bust this one up and we'll give it a shot. See what we're looking at. So we're looking at so. Typically, why I have people bring this on is because our palates develop over time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so like something that you may have liked as a kid, maybe you may not like it now, and so that's why I have people bring on a snack that they would grow up eating yeah compared to if it's something they would like now I think my mom tried to be healthier growing up and so these ones don't have that like fruit roll-up feel, you know like it doesn't feel like you're just gnawing on sugar. Exactly, they tear well you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, they do. They feel authentic, they feel like real fruit. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Someone dried them out and put them in plastic.
Speaker 1:Exactly, yeah, let's see, yeah, yeah, and these are all so these. So we have apricot, raspberry, strawberry and sour apple.
Speaker 2:This is great yeah, I remember them as kids because you would take them to the park. They're easy to you don't have to cook them, throw them in the bag or at the pool or whatever no, these are perfect because they're not they hold up.
Speaker 1:Well, first of all and my mouth is watering as I, as I mean that means I like it. No, this is great. And so what? I've been telling people of kind of like, breaking down the different steps and tiers of like rating food, because we all realize we don't realize it, but we all do it. Naturally we rate everything, whether it's a smell or whether it's you, you know, a plate Like. We all look at stuff and people are like either I like this or I don't like it, and so the first thing that I always approach whenever I rate something is the appearance. What does it look like? So like for me. I know for a fact that there's probably not food coloring in this. This is probably just the natural color of the fruit and like. That's a huge plus for me because I know that it's going to be natural. It's freaking amazing. You get sour notes, you get like a pinch of salt, you get the sweetness like it's perfect. You almost feel like a little pulp afterwards, yeah, yeah that's what I was gonna say.
Speaker 1:There's a little bit of pulp left in your teeth, a little like this. There's things there that makes it feel authentic. You know what I mean. So, compared to when you had this as a kid, what would you rate it on a skeleton?
Speaker 2:oh, I still love it. Yeah, yeah, I like like pulling like, like like a whole piece off, you know, and then like rolling it up and just like sucking on it for a while, yeah, just let it kind of, yeah, just mess around in your mouth for a while so seriously yeah, I still love it.
Speaker 1:I gotta get this a nine out of ten. Seriously, yeah this is great, I love this, mm-hmm, I'm gonna order some of these now, yeah I love this this is phenomenal. So what was it like for you growing up? Did you have brothers, sisters, cousins, relatives? Who did you? Who'd you grow around?
Speaker 2:well. So I grew up in st louis, almost my entire family grew up, uh, in new y, really. So my parents came here, gotcha, and then so, like, as far as cousins and grandparents go, we'd have to go. You know, we went once a year to New York and then they would, you know all everyone would come there and that's where we'd all hang out and um, and that's where I like. So, um, like I come. You know, we're like, we're Jewish, but we're not super religious Jews, gotcha, in some ways the food is what makes us Jewish.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so going to New York and knowing the difference between a New York bagel and a St Louis bagel, is real.
Speaker 1:There's a huge difference.
Speaker 2:They're actually two different kinds of food.
Speaker 1:I was going to say, yeah, they shouldn't even be categorized as the same things.
Speaker 2:Like scallion, cream cheese or those kind of foods are things I got there. We grew up in new city here, um, and with mom and dad, you know what I mean. It was kind of like what we could afford at the time, like we had a lot of different kinds of ramen, like a lot, um, but when it was good food, you know, like it'd be good food, yeah, but yeah, I mean we kind of I had a good, I have a brother, I have a younger brother who's like the best of all of us.
Speaker 2:Like he's just an incredible human being and we all picked up that good stuff and we had the love and you know, like trials and tribulations, of living yeah yeah, exactly. Like that's going to happen. But I got really lucky. I had really loving parents and a brother who I look up to, even though he's two years younger than me.
Speaker 1:No, that's awesome. I physically look up to my little brother now.
Speaker 2:So I'm like how tall I'm like how did you grow that tall?
Speaker 1:Like it's crazy. Yeah, how was that possible?
Speaker 2:Exactly no I love that.
Speaker 1:I think that's great because, I mean, it was the same way with me growing up. It was like whatever my mom and grandma could afford at the time, but it felt like we were living luxury. It felt like we were living lavish, because that's just what they made it feel like they created an experience around food and so I was like I want to provide this experience for other people, cause not a lot of people grew up having it and I was very blessed and lucky to have that experience. I'm like how do I provide this experience to other people and how do I provide an experience? When people sit at these tables, they feel like they can take a load off, they feel like they can forget about whatever bad day they went through and just make it feel like it's around the food, like it brings a core memory to them. Like we had a guest the other day. We have a short rib on our menu right now and they almost like teared up because they're like my grandma used to make a short rib and served it with collard greens. Like it feels like I'm a child again, like that's the experience that we wanted to provide.
Speaker 1:But obviously every great chef, like any other artist needs a great canvas, like any other artist needs a great canvas, and so that ties us to the plateware and it's like um, we, we. I personally build my dishes around the plateware first, so I build it around the plateware, I talk with the farmers to see what they have access to, and then from there I get my inspiration. And so to work with someone like you that's an amazing artist when it comes to the plateware and be able to provide those things for us has been incredible. So what is what is the experience or journey like for you when it comes to gaining inspiration for your craft?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's a good question, um, so okay, so I, I compare music and ceramics all the time because they're they're so similar. Yeah, you know, um, and I, I imagine that being a chef is like this too, as far as process goes, and you have good nights and bad nights.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:But in my group I was the only rhythm guitar player.
Speaker 1:There was no drummer really.
Speaker 2:It was just a guitar player, so I played with my thumb and my fingers and you kind of could play both sides of it, and one of the things I loved about that position is that I'm basically the support staff, I'm the plate for the. You know like I still have to have a little flair once in a while, but for the most part my job is to lay it down so everyone else can trust it and build their thing on top of it. Yeah right, and so that's like a plate in that way, like you still want to be a solid plate. You know like sometimes you want a little flair, yeah, but if the plate is in the way of the food, then you're doing it wrong. Yeah Right. And so I bring a lot of those lessons of like not needing to be the person right out front but the person supporting that person.
Speaker 1:Exactly Creating that harmony. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then we all do it together. Like I mean, dishware and food go hand in hand literally, otherwise you're eating out of your hands.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly, that's it.
Speaker 2:So, whatever it is that you eat off of, you know like those are the things, and I think there's a relationship there that I just like continually explore, yeah yeah, no, I think that's great.
Speaker 1:I love that and I love the fact that, like, everything is not the same you know what I mean. Like every piece may have the same inspiration, but it's going to be different, and it's the same way with food. Like, we can get a strawberry is it a strawberry? Yes, but does it look the same? No, and it's just organic and I love that about it. I love that about all the plateware and things that you create, because it's all organic and I love that. And we were talking earlier about the process of the plateware and like how you don't use a mold, you hand shape every piece and it's very intentional the way that you do it and I think that that's freaking phenomenal. Thank you, it's hard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I bet yeah, it's a lot of measuring, you know like it's a lot of being on time, just like with music.
Speaker 2:Um, within that, though, it takes away a lot of those uh like when you're not trying to be like really big, yeah, yeah, and then you can just be with it. You know, and yeah, like I imagine with strawberries too. Just like with some of this clay. Like when you look at the clay, sometimes there's like these little dots in it or something. Well, go all the way back to wherever it was mined and the factories that made the clay, or put it all together, like there might be a few more of those pieces of stone on that side of the clay and so you cannot replicate it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know so definitely that again, being okay with that is what I'm after. It's like well, it is what it is but still like it's intentionally not caring you know about that end of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I love that. So for any young artist or and it doesn't even have to be around ceramics or music, but just any young artists out there that's trying to get, that's one trying to be, um, creative and innovative in their space, um, but that's just getting started that really may not know what avenue they want to stick with long term, because, as artists, we pivot a lot. We pivot whether it's the industries or whether it's the way that we approach it, or whether it's working for ourselves or working for someone. It all changes over time. What's a piece of advice that you would give a young artist that's out there right now that may not know exactly what they want to do, but they know that they want to create.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I would say two things. First of all, stay way out of debt. Just stay out of debt. Just stay out of debt. Like, whatever you can do, keep your nut as low as possible, because that gives you the ability to be flexible. Exactly right if you owe or if you try to think you need more than you can pay for. Yeah, you won't ever have time for art exactly because you gotta hustle it yeah.
Speaker 2:So I would say that's always something I wish people told me early on. Yeah, um, and then you know. The second thing is I would say like you don't got to pick what you got to do forever, but you got to pick what you're going to do next. Yes, and whatever you pick do it yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, like, I played music every night for 20 years, you know, and when I chose to change, I didn't hang on to the other side. You know, like you just take a trail as long as it goes and then you go on to the next one, and if some people are going to play that, that they're going to play music their whole life and play for 60, 70 years, and that is an incredible thing, and it's not better or worse than someone who does a different thing every year.
Speaker 1:As long as, whatever you do, you put everything into it. Yeah, yeah, no, I think that's great advice and I think that's what a lot of that's what they don't teach us in school. It's like they don't teach us that in school. So it's like it's great to hear that, because I believe the exact same thing. Whatever you put your passion and heart into, as long as you're showing up and give it 150%, you're going to succeed in whatever it is that you want to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you might even find that you put all your energy into one thing, only to find out that that's what you had to do is to find the person who would show you the thing you actually wanted to do Exactly. So you gotta walk it with all your everything, yeah, and keep your bills down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good advice. Keep your bills down, kids. For real, I learned that way too early. Keep your bills down. Kids, for real, I learned that way too early. Keep your bills down. No, I think that's great. We're going to jump into this other snack. Tell us a little bit about what else we got over here.
Speaker 2:Okay. So during COVID also I got married, which was kind of like a fun thing to do in the middle of a pandemic. I know right, and my wife Leslie, who is also a professional musician and she also runs a piano school and is just a lovely human being all around, has really dove into the baking. It's something she kind of always played with, but COVID gave us the space and time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
Speaker 2:Was it a COVID hobby that turned into? She was doing it beforehand, so I don't want to say it't want to say, but that gave us the space to play. Yeah, you know, like um. So baking, and I bet you know in some ways like being a chef, um, and with ceramics, is like you don't know how you did until the very end. Yes, right.
Speaker 1:So I actually started as a pastry chef, okay, but that's why I left it, because it's like you don't know until the end. With cooking it's a little bit easier, like you can taste as you go, you can add more salt, you can add more vinegar, but, like with baking, if your ratio and your math is not right yeah, you're gonna find out very soon right, so that's the same with ceramics.
Speaker 2:Like, yeah, if I leave an air bubble in something I won't know until two weeks later when it explodes in the kiln, exactly right, yeah, um, so with covet, I think there was enough time to kind of like, try, like okay, so these are her millionaire bars, yeah, and she's made them dozens of times now, you know, and there was good ones and there was bad ones and then there's the ones where she did everything right and they still turned out bad because the oven gods were like no, yeah you know, yeah, um, and so uh, like we're talking about snacks and like I don't buy too many, like Doritos, yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:So what we've been eating around the house are her snacks and they are really good. Yeah, and these ones are cool because they're small, so like you can walk by the table like ten times.
Speaker 1:And just keep grabbing a little bit.
Speaker 2:Just grab a little one yeah, yeah, so, yeah. So that's where these came from.
Speaker 1:Well, let's dig in, let's try them. They look phenomenal by the way.
Speaker 2:So tahini, caramel, chocolate and I think it's almond on the bottom.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Dude, why am I buying?
Speaker 1:Doritos? Why? That's a very great question, mm-hmm, dude, dude. Yeah, I mean, this is phenomenal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean. So these are my adult snacks. Yeah, these are my childhood snacks. Dude, these are great. Yeah, I don't want to put it down. It's also, I think, a little warm in here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it's like gooey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's perfect.
Speaker 1:when they come right out of the fridge, they have that nice snap yeah, yeah, no, dude, that is well if she ever wants to switch career paths so we can go in business together don't tempt her oh my gosh dude, that's phenomenal yeah, I'm uh lucky yet again. You scored with that one Way above my weight class. Yeah no, that's amazing. So what do you?
Speaker 2:guys like to do. That's a shared hobby that people may not know about. She and I yeah, oh, that's a good question. We're pretty much an open book Really. Yeah, if you took a look, you would know, yeah much an open book anyone really. Yeah, if you took a look, you would know. You know. Yeah, um, I mean, we like. So I think st louis is fantastic and like almost every level where it falls short for me is like you don't always have a great view ah, you know like I like the mountains I, I like the desert, I like the oceans, yeah, um, and so we kind of like set it up where we work really hard at the thing that we love to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then we get out, you know, and we just get real quiet and sit in the mountains or whatever, but that's again. You can see that I mean like as far as secret, so I don't know what kind of that might be a different podcast, but you know, I mean we like to have our hands in the earth. You know like we're out there, we have our little back South City backyard and it's growing crazy and you know like, for the most part, we just like try to create a view that gives back to us, yeah, yeah, which is a seasonal thing, right, so it's processed, no matter how nice your backyard is in the middle of February in St Louis.
Speaker 1:it's just dead. Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:But we love to eat together, you know. We love to play music together. Yeah, we love to travel together, like we pretty much. We made it through all of COVID without much friction at all.
Speaker 1:if that says anything. Yeah, that's huge I think we're good. Yeah, do you guys cook together?
Speaker 2:Not that much Really. Yeah, do you guys cook together? Not that much. I mean, there are things where, like she makes one thing and I make the other, like when we do dumplings right like she'll put the dumplings on and I'll do the um, the like the greens in the big stir fry gotcha, you know so like I'm a stir, like everyone should stay in their lane.
Speaker 2:Like I can do, stir fries, I can do ramen, you know um, but when it comes to like, uh, like meat, she does all the meat you know um, which we don't do that much anyway. Um, so like, yeah, we do cook together, but we're tending to cook two different dishes that go together. That comes together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no. I think that's great and I think that's kind of like kind of works, like with your relationship with restaurants. It's like you guys are working on different things, but they come together at the table for the guests to experience one thing in harmony.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean so, like, let's look at the dining room table and what's on it. You know you can hear the music in the background and you got the vessels of whatever kind that you have, you know, because, like, like you know, ceramic pieces are are wonderful, but they mean nothing compared to your great-grandmother's broken coffee mug yeah, yeah, right, so like let's like we put the meaning into them. You know, and then you have the food, and you have the, the color or the flowers, like exactly. I mean, it's so human.
Speaker 1:It is, it is yeah. No, I think that's phenomenal. So like, if, if you were, um, if you were to switch career paths, what would you be doing again?
Speaker 2:yeah, I know right oh man, there's another like three dozen things I'd like to do if I had like 20 years for each of them yeah, yeah like the one thing I have learned over my you know, however, I'm almost 50 now. Almost 50 now. Like, is that Are you really? Yeah, I'll be 49 this year.
Speaker 1:Holy crap, I had no idea, yeah, so Wow.
Speaker 2:I've had many realities already, yeah, and there's like it's really cool when you do stuff like intensely for a short period of time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that is as worthwhile as doing one thing for a really long time and you just never know what you can build until you can build it, and you need that time, you can't hurry and get to be like there are no St Louis music legends that got there overnight. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like no matter what, you have to live your whole life as that, exactly. And so if I hadn't, I mean I like the road. It's the one thing I lost with music, like when music when I couldn't tour, or, and before that I was with the circus and before that I was on my own road, and so, like with ceramics, it's not like I just I'm not on the road as much yeah, so yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I feel like there's a time with an RV or, like you know, a a little camper or something. Yeah, where I get back on the road.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's, and then, however, you make the living around it.
Speaker 1:Gotcha.
Speaker 2:I'm a person that's like find the thing you like to do and then find a way to make money at it. Yes, Make sure you do the second part.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly, because if you get stuck, then you're going gonna be doing something you don't like, right, you're gonna yeah, no, I think that's great advice. I gotta tap into the circus thing. Oh yeah, let's talk about it we can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's talk about it. Well, all right. So I finished school out in washington state, um, and through this crazy turn of events, I had a friend that was living with a clown here in st louis and I was living out of washington state. That's a funny statement. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:Like I said like, and I'm just giving you, like, the bare bones here, but the short version of it is I finished school out there and, um, and I had called to talk to a friend here and I ended up talking to her roommate who was a clown in a circus, and I went, like Kate can get me a job with the circus, you do, you know, and so I ended up there's this um, there's only a few of them left, but they're like old mud shows, so they go to a different town every day. Oh well, for like eight or nine months, right? So, um, this one was called the cold pepper merryweather circus. It's still around, um, I think they're based out of oklahoma, now, gotcha, so they so, basically, it's a big tent, you know, and at the time they had animals and elephants and high wire and they would pull into it, pull into a town before sun and set up the tent and do two shows that evening and tear it down and then go to the next town.
Speaker 2:holy cow, for like nine months with no days off. Wow, um, I would travel. So I was not a performer then. I I traveled two weeks ahead of the show and um did seven towns every five days Gotcha Right and met with the sponsors and walked the lots and did promotion and hit the radios, gotcha. Because, often these little circuses are fundraisers for, I don't know, the Kiwanis Club of West Nowhere, Missouri.
Speaker 1:Yeah right.
Speaker 2:And so you'd meet with them and they would sell tickets and get a percentage and that kind of thing, gotcha.
Speaker 1:And again makes it. You meet with them to they would sell tickets and get a percentage and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Gotcha Again makes it a community event. Yeah, and so I would just. And this is all pre cell phone.
Speaker 2:Right, so I had my little paper map and I just stop at the truck stops to call the people to set the appointments and then figure out how to get there, you know. And so I just crawled across the country, you know, for nine months and right at the end of it my RV blew up in Texas. Are you serious? It was. I beat that. I mean it was not roadworthy when I bought it, Okay, Like, and I had like duct taped the thing and got it across the country. Jesus, oh, wow. And I came back. That's when I came back to St Louis and I was about 25. And that's when I met Kerry Liston, who was the singer in Bottoms Up, and Adam, the harmonica player, and also there was a magic moment happening in St Louis at that time, musically, and so we were birthed out of that and I never went back on the road with Circus. I ran an office for them for a couple years out of my apartment. But I mean again, you have to choose. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so, yeah it was it was a a amazing thing to like just this. An amazing country, you know like. The actual physical country is gorgeous and desolate and far away. If you don't know how far away you're going, you don't have a cell phone. You know Exactly Um, so when you were out there, or you were out of gas in the middle of desert, you were out there. You know Um, and so I I really enjoyed that and and I got the band on the road as soon as we could you know for that same reason.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, yeah, so that, yeah, I just saw that they're opening like in March or something, so really, yeah, their next. That is so cool. It's really cool, like it's I like communities like small and large that work together for a common purpose. Yeah, and so that's a kitchen staff, it's a circus crew, it's a band, you know, and whenever I see I don't know, I just really enjoy that.
Speaker 1:I love that and I agree with you on that. Like seeing people that are able to work cohesively together to achieve one goal is like it's so inspirational, like it's huge, like people are able to set their egos aside, they're able to set their things, their problems aside and just work together as one. You know, it's so crazy that you don't see it often much, but when you see it it's like Holy cow, like they are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I mean even these small, a small kitchen like yours or a small circus like that, yeah, like that. That's the bigger side of it. Like I see it happening on the streets, I see it at the supermarket, when someone drops their keys or like okay, like all the checkout people are gone. We all have to figure this out together exactly more snowstorm right like, and all of a sudden we're shoveling our neighbors driveways.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all that other stuff that didn't matter to start with yeah, it gets thrown away because we have to get to water or we have to do this again like a real human thing. Yeah, when we can take out all the other stuff, like, and we all just work together for common goal with, it works almost every time.
Speaker 1:It, does it really, does it really?
Speaker 2:does yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 1:So, with you being born and raised in St Louis and have traveled across the country, what's one thing that you wish that St Louis could do better?
Speaker 2:Huh, I'd say he's uh, uh, we already talked about the music and we already talked about, like, the food and all that kind of thing. But the truth, like I wish St Louis would tell his own story. You know, um, and the story like we just take it on a musical tip, but we can take it on all of the different parts of it is um gold.
Speaker 1:Like parts of it is gold.
Speaker 2:Like I mean, like you look at you know, the reason people think of Chicago and Memphis, or whatever, as blues cities or as music cities is because they told you they were music cities.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, and it seems to me that in this city we have every bit of story that New Orleans has, you know, but we've never used it as an economic commodity or for pride. Yeah, you know, and I mean, we're just talking on the music side of it, but again, apply it to everything. Yeah, right and um, but we live in a city that, for whatever reason, cannot get out of its own way. I mean, well, we know some of the reasons, right?
Speaker 1:you know, yeah, um, but like it's so easy it is right, like it's so easy, and it's it's so easy that you almost think like why, why are they not doing it?
Speaker 2:And it's ours, nobody else can have it. Yeah Right, it's not. Like it's like there's oil under the city and no one's dug it up to sell it. Yeah, you know, and every time I mean we go into this, but, like every time we start working in that direction, about seven years later it just falls out. About seven years later it just falls out and we haven't built any of the structure, like well I mean. So again, like I get you.
Speaker 2:I could rant for hours on this but you know, like you know, we have one of the greatest blues, r&b, soul uh stories in the world. Yeah, right, and I was at the you know bookstore in st louis recently and there's a whole wall of st louis books and there's not one about st louis blues music, you know.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, like there's one that came out a while back that is out of print. Yes, henry townsend and johnny johnson's books are out of print and there's a, a newer one. That's um, just a lot of information, not a real easy read. There's nothing on the wall. Like Chuck Berry is there, or giant I mean, and you know like we all have different favorites, but like this is a real easy thing, like in, like in new Orleans, it doesn't matter who you are, you'd be old and rich or poor and young, and like you have music and food in common, you put those two strangers in a room in another place and they'll have trombone shorty in common yeah, beans and rice in common, you know, and we have all those things in St Louis, yeah and um, instead of, and instead of using those things to bring us together right to you know, I guess if you were like thinking from the government side to bring tourism in, to give us money for our own stories, exactly which?
Speaker 2:is what I mean. Again, gold, no one's used it. Yeah, you know what I mean. Then we'd have this thing where we're all on the same side, exactly you know what I mean? Yeah, and so, like I know, we have a lot of problems and also, among all those problems, we have some of the most amazing people I've met anywhere. I completely agree problems. We have some of the most amazing people I've met anywhere. I completely. You know, I put my life on the line for them. They would do the same. Yeah, like um, but this one thing where we could tell our story, you know all of it, yeah, without being mad because it happened, because none of us were there none of us were there, but we're here now, right so anytime we have a mic, we should be telling this story.
Speaker 2:I agree, um, and we should all be proud that it's ours. Yeah, because no matter who you are in, St Louis Albert King is part of your heritage. Yeah, you know whether you know it or not, right it just is like like like Louis Armstrong is to New Orleans and unborn child down. There is a Louis Armstrong person and like here too for Albert King, or for Benny or Ike or Tina, like take your pick Like it goes on, and that music is being played every night of the week here.
Speaker 1:I agree it is.
Speaker 2:For free. Yeah, you know almost. So, yeah, that would be the thing I would. I've been waiting for I don't know. I guess I really opened my eyes in my late teens here yeah, so for 30 years. And then you talk to the guys that are 70 and 80 now and they've been waiting for 60 or 70 years no one, you know and we get these little blips but holistically, our story of music and food and the history of the united states and all the things that come with that, yeah, you know, put that on paper, put it in documentaries, give people it's jobs's jobs and pride, like the two things we need, right?
Speaker 1:So that's I could like. Dude. That's some amazing insight, cause I never thought about that. We are not telling our own story. That we have, we have it. We don't, no one has to pay for it, we don't even have to like, embellish, like.
Speaker 2:I mean, I know Austin had a bunch of great musicians through it, but it's nothing compared to St Louis.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like or any of these other new music cities Like, and then when you go to those places, those people aren't from there.
Speaker 1:No, they're not.
Speaker 2:Everyone here is from here, yeah, there's been influenced by this music from here and is passed down because there's so little recording, right. There's no archive, right, exactly. So, like, literally, I know these licks because this guy taught me licks and the guy before him invented the lick. Exactly so like that's how it gets passed down here and I wish that more people could. It could be passed down to.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, that's some amazing insight. I love that, dude. This was great. I appreciate your time. I think this was phenomenal. Just one, one more bit of advice to anyone that's watching just what do you? Just what do you have advice, you know, I don't know if I have enough gray hair yet to be just tossing advice out.
Speaker 2:You know, uh, you know, hey, look, I just say, um, you know, have some empathy for the person across from you always, yeah, yeah. I mean this has nothing to do with art or food. I mean this is where we talk about that. Stuff is around art and food and music.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:But you know, just know, there's some people going through stuff you have no idea about and you're back there honking your horn. Yeah, yeah, you know, and so just try, just do your best.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, like, like just to have a little empathy. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it makes my day better. I agree, yeah, and it makes you. It makes not only that person feel better, it makes you feel better for doing that. You know what I mean? No, I think that's great. Um, jeremy, where can people find you?
Speaker 2:um, so uh. You can contact me through CherokeeStreetCeramicscom. I'm available on Instagram and Facebook. I only do a handful of shows a year, so I'm at like once a month at Tower Grove Market in South St Louis. I'll be doing a couple of larger art shows this year. Oh nice, but for the most part, the way to do it, I don't sell a whole lot online.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you really got to be, you got gotta come find me or come set up a studio visit, gotcha, awesome. Well, this was an amazing podcast interview with Jeremy. We were just here chatting. Uh, you guys can find his information down below. Jeremy, thank you again for your time. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thank you for everything.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, awesome. You guys can find all of his information down below. Thank you guys for tuning into another rated Tk podcast. We'll see you guys in the next video. Peace.