The Reality of EDM Culture

✨ Wellness in the Wavelength, episode 6 ✨

Morgan Jones shares her personal journey in the EDM industry. The burnout, the doubts, and the moment she thought she might need to leave the scene forever. Stepping away, traveling, and leaning into wellness spaces didn’t pull her away - it helped her make sustainable health choices and brought her back grounded, inspired, and fully present.

We explore how the pressures of the scene affect artists, fans, and workers alike. Pouring yourself into music experiences without space for wellness and curiosity can lead to burnout - but exploring life outside the scene, trying new things, and prioritizing your health deepens your connection to the culture and helps you show up fully in life and in the community.

This episode is a reminder: balance, curiosity, and self-care aren’t luxuries - they’re what let you thrive in every part of your life and the scene you love.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

What's up, hockey's cat and paige here, and welcome to Wellness and the Wavelength episode six. And we are so honored to welcome Morgan.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

Stoked to be on here with you both.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Morgan, can you tell us a little bit more about you and your background?

SPEAKER_03 0:22

Yeah, sure. So I am Morgan Jones. I live in Denver. I have been floating around the music scene, music industry for about 13 years. I have been teaching and facilitating in the wellness yoga space for four years. And so as I have gotten older, I have really developed a passion for blending the two together and seeing how they support one another and how we can hold on to music while also leaning into wellness as we do get older and our bodies shift and want different things in life. So yeah, that's where I'm at right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

I feel you on bodies getting older, leaning into almost 33 years on this planet and many years, early years, headbanging, and I've recovered from that. But also working in the wellness space. I feel it. But I also feel like there's a lot of things that if I had known earlier to take care of myself and have more balance, maybe I wouldn't still feel the pain in my neck and things of that nature. So I'd love for you to dive into what that kind of looked like for you and reflecting on that and how you find balance in both those worlds and like make them cohesive. Because I do think it's hard for a lot of folks that are in this scene to find that balance because there's just always things going on. There's always shows, there's always pop-ups, there's always festivals. And I think it can be very difficult for people to find ways to do that, especially when you are staying in this scene for 10 plus years. The time flies, and you might have a lot of festivals like on your roster that you attended or participated in. But what else?

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Yeah, like now what? Now what? The point where you're like, I've seen all my favorites, I've gone to all my favorite festivals over and over and over and over again. Like, now what? Hindsight's always 2020 though. And starting out, like I was fortunate. I started out very young, got exposed to electronic music, the industry side of things, the business of it, but also being an attendee, playing a lot of different roles over the years. And I loved it. I couldn't get enough of it. I wanted to learn everything about it. I wanted to do every aspect. So I did started out in bottle service and like performing and dancing and stuff like that, and then shifted into promoting and talent buying. And then I was on the East Coast in Charleston, and the scene is a lot smaller than it is here in Denver, but the passion was so big in all of us. And I was like, okay, like this is something at 25 at that time. I'm now 36. I was like, I want to do this forever. I had to figure out how I can do this forever, like, not just for myself, with my friends. Like, I really believed in my friends. And I was like, I gotta go to the heartbeat of it, I gotta find the pulse of it. So I went to Denver, space music capital, and was fortunate enough to land at the black box, bartended there, managed that venue for a couple years, and was in a rhythm of shows four nights a week for years, and just being in that energy that many nights a week, being on that sleep schedule that many nights a week. Like on the East Coast, it was more like weekends were the time you go out. Whereas in Denver, seven nights a week, like you can find a show, there's something to do, multiple venues sold out, thousands of tickets sold, and it's just like a machine, like it never stops, it never sleeps. And as much as you want to do, you can do. And I got wrapped up in that when I first moved here. Became an artist manager, got into working for festivals, vending, vendor coordinating. There's just so many different avenues. But what happens is you start to really get burnt out. And on my path specifically, I'll remember like I love every artist that comes through the black box. I love every artist I get to connect with. And I was having a season where I was like, do I even like this anymore? Like, I'm so tired. I'm tired of the lights, I'm tired of the loud noises, I'm tired of all the people. And I was like, I think I'm just getting old. And I had this like fear moment where I was like, maybe I can't do this forever. And my segue, what I thought was going to be completely out of it, was yoga and wellness. I was like, I spent a lot of years just really crushing my nervous system, headbanging, railwriting, like all of the things. I was like, we're back into myself. And once I got on that path, I realized that it brought me straight back to the music and teaching in music spaces and festival spaces, infusing yoga into venues, because the problem is it's not sustainable to do it when you only dive into the party aspect and the stimulation aspect. Like at what point are we restoring and rebooting our system so we can do this forever? So, yeah, that's how I'm plugged into both. And what made me do that?

SPEAKER_01 5:32

That's that's super interesting, actually, because when I think about my journey, when I obviously just going from like uh being a fan and being an attendee, and then I used wellness as like a modality to be able to give back. And then I started leaning further into the side of like working with promoters and throwing things and like my wellness stuff started to go like a little was like background because I was like, to your point, like every weekend up till four or five, put like doing things with shows, like planning this, planning that. And then as of like the past year, I've been leaning further into back into what really got me into wanting to work with like festivals and things like that to begin with. And I feel so more balanced now in that. So it's like really interesting to hear like the similarity of what you're talking about, how you always find your way back home and you can still do those things, but on your own terms to find that balance. And that's like what I'm hearing you say. And it's really cool to hear that, even though it was like opposite way of directions. I'm like, actually, yes, exactly that.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Yeah, and like talking about the why, like, why do we find ourselves back? What is it besides the music? Like, what is it that we as a collective want and crave so much out of the music scene, out of the music family? And it is just that, it's like a sense of family, a sense of community, and being surrounded by like-minded individuals. And so I feel like I also found that crossover in the wellness space because, like you teach as well, like the yoga space, the movement space, the fitness space, there is a lot of like-minded people working towards the same goal, towards the betterment not only of themselves, but hopefully to be show it better for people around them. And so I source the same things from both communities where, but where like music got so toxic for me was like I was getting sleepy or I wanted to stay up, I was not really the party girl that I used to be. And so I was like drinking more, but then having these awful hangovers and like just crushing my body every weekend. It was like, this is not it, this is just not worth it. And so, like shifting out of that and having something like that made me feel good about myself, which was taking care of myself, which was things, something I didn't do in my 20s because I was prioritizing shows and I would rather spend the money on the festival ticket and not know how I was gonna pay my bills. And now looking back, I'm like, what the hell are you doing? But at the time, you're like, you think it seems worth it, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah, I think it's just like that leading source of just creating community and connection and being with like-minded individuals, and then just seeing just even in today's festival world, just how many workshops are being created and how it's lengthening out into creating more of that community and diving back into the wellness.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

I think it's just so cool to see and needed because the burnout like is so real, like you were talking about. And I mean, I look at my bank account to this day and I'm like, wow, wow. And then you create amazing memories, so like none of it in like vain or regrets, but as someone who also likes to travel for leisure purposes and explore the world, I do be looking at my bank account and I'm like, oh, that looks like I went to eight festivals for a year for three years straight at one point.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

Show me your bank account and I'll tell you what industry you work in. And oh, you're in the music industry. But like it's such it's on such a level, like it's not just the attendees that are funneling all this money out to go and have these experiences, it's also the venues, the talent buyers, the promoters, the festivals, everybody funneling out to feed us these experiences. Everybody's broke. The artists trying to forge rabble and a hotel and the Ubers once they get there, and food, and hopefully a fee worth walking away with. Like it's so hard to make it go and to care for it and see sustainability in it. Like the system is breaking down, but it's also, I think, a reflection of like us, so are we, our mental health, our physical health. We're breaking down right alongside of it. So at some point, there has to be a shift, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Yeah, and I think that I've even in that shift, I feel like I've just noticed and I would see those people who are getting burnt out of shows, the people who are like going to all the shows all the time, they're traveling around the world, they're traveling around the country, spending all this money. I don't know how many people said that they were getting credit cards just for pretty lights return.

SPEAKER_03 10:36

Like people selling their cars to go see Tipper. This is wild activity. I'm sorry, but it's sensible. Are you okay? No, but I mean that twice. Are you still in there? I mean that level two, though. Like, no judgment. I definitely have had seasons where I'm like, whatever, that's fine. Like I fell bankruptcy at 27 trying to throw shows. I was losing so much money, but like I would not stop giving my friends, my community what they wanted because I believed in it so much. And I was like, I don't care, it's bigger than me. We'll figure it out later. Like me at 36, I would be like, somebody else can promote somebody else can like me. Then I was just so passionate about it. But yeah, like I paid that price for years, and then the hours, the nature of the beast, like it's always in bars and clubs where alcohol sales are very prevalent. So and it becomes this normalized thing, especially in cities where it's not just we go out on the weekends, it's an every night thing. It's so easy to get trapped in that machine and realize with friends with substance abuse problems that you can't no longer access, or you just watch them shift. And it's yeah, how do you combat that? And for me, it was like learning the role that I was also playing in it and enabling that I was doing, and being like, no, that's not the example I want to lead by. I want to see my friends take care of themselves. I want to see them live very long, happy, healthy lives doing what they love. But like this path is not it. At some point, we have to pour back into ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

And I think too, part of that is like this sort of hyper independent mindset around like people are grown adults, so they're they can make their own decisions. And I think to obviously some degree that's true, but to some degree too, you're and like you're talking about enabling, right? It's when it become so hyper-independent thinking that we now mask our enabling with their adults and they can make their own decision and it's up to them. It's but you're also playing a role in the things that they're doing. Are you trying to help them? Are you just feeding into it? Are you not? And that doesn't mean control their life or police their decisions, but to your point around like being an example for them and not enabling them, it's like bringing back to what community really is. Like community is not saying they are their own person, they can do what they want, they're in control of themselves, all like that that kind of mindset I feel like has like just infiltrated the scene a lot where now nobody wants to take responsibility for how like they've also impacted somebody's journey. And I think it's just something to be talked about because to your point, for me, it's like I have friends that are struggling. And I'm like, I'm not going to enable them just because like they're grown adults and can make their own decisions. I'm gonna find ways to place myself in ways that I think will hopefully promote them to do better, not just be like, oh, that's so awesome that you like did this and that and saw you shaking your ass. And that was so great.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

Like it's not cool that your friend can't care for themselves. Yes, right.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

And I love, I want to be clear, pop an ass is great, shake your ass. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying, like, when you yeah, shake your ass. Like, we love that. But like I am saying, like, it's different when you can tell somebody is not in their right mind and not in control, and probably would love to see it.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

Yeah, it's scary to watch your friends be out of sorts, it's scary to have to take a trip to the medic tent. It's scary to have to worry about care, like narcanning people. Like, I've had to narc too many people, I've had too many friends overdose, and it becomes like a point where it's not cool and it's not fun and it's not funny, and it really is rolling the dice in a very dangerous game. And it all comes back to what you said like responsibility, nobody wants to take responsibility anymore. But I'm sorry, a part of being a community or building a community is taking responsibility. If you are throwing events, if you manage a venue, if you are even uh the ticket person at a venue, you have a responsibility to the community that you're in to make sure they're safe, to make sure that they are staying responsible. And yeah, you don't get to just skirt it and be like, oh, they're an adult. If you're my friend, then I hope you hold me accountable and that you are gonna assume responsibility because I would also assume responsibility for you. And I think that is just very like lost thing. You're right.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Yeah, and I think just going to your point back to leading as an example, I think it's so important that we have that throughout the scene because I know I personally, in my own sobriety journey, have been impacted by the numerous artists that have been forthcoming about their own sobriety journey and still showing up for this community, but doing it in a way to form connection rather than just a place to just release whatever it is you need, because it is a healing atmosphere overall. And just by leading by example and giving and providing an alternative, because there's a hole that a lot of people come to the music scene that they want to fill. And when we can lead by example and offer these workshops or offer this connection where the music scene and the wellness scene can combine, you offer people a way back into themselves. And by that, we can continue and create a sustainable music scene because everybody is actually taking care of themselves.

SPEAKER_03 16:26

Leading by example and providing avenues. Like it's okay if you're on the path, like it's no judgment no matter where you are. We all, it's a spectrum, we all find ourselves all over the spectrum. Figure it out like we're humans, it's no judgment. And I think for a long time there was like a lot of fear of judgment that was carried in through conversations like these and artists using their platforms to bring it out of the shadows and be like, hey, like this isn't an isolated issue. This is something we all have dealt with at some point, whether it's affected us directly, it's probably at least affected a friend or a loved one or somebody within your three-point circle. And just having those conversations and putting down shame around it because it's not anything to be ashamed of. It's not a personal problem, it's a societal problem. And like you said, leading by example is one way to combat it, and also opening up other paths to say, hey, when you're ready, maybe you don't stay up all night because you want to get up at 8 a.m. and do the workshop, or you want to get up at 6 a.m. and have the sunrise yoga experience. It's there for you when you choose to take that avenue. And it just makes it a lot more accessible to everybody.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

And I think it inspires people to also do it outside of the festival space because I know that uh a lot of times I have facilitated at festivals. Sometimes that's the only, it's like people's first time ever doing yoga, or that's the only place they've done yoga or anything, wellness in any kind of wellness modality, because when they leave, they either feel like they don't fit into whatever your local community is, or they they get scared, they're not sure, all these different things. And I think bringing more of that in consistently and really prioritizing it will help people feel inspired to carry it outside of the festival too, because that's where I see a breakdown sometimes is like people will have these amazing magical experience, like workshop experiences at the festival, and then they go home and they can't really translate it over. And it's amazing that they got to experience it this one venue or this one event. But like, how do you make it more of a lifestyle versus this like pop-up thing that you do? Because that opens up doors to things that you can do outside of music festivals, like retreats or even just group trips with your friends, and then you stumble upon live music. I've done that many times. Like, how do you find that balance where you like realize that you can live the lifestyle you want without shifting to extremes? Like it's not, oh, I can't ever go to festivals or shows again, or I need to only travel and only go on retreats, or vice versa. It's like you can do both, and doing both is how I think you'll be able, like, people be able to find that community again. But I think people feel like they can only have that experience sometimes, like at festivals or at shows, and it narrows the mindset a little bit, and that's where people end up in those kind of unhealthy loops because there is no balance, and they feel like that's the only place they can go to feel alive.

SPEAKER_03 19:33

It comes from the lack mentality in my mind, essentially. Because you had such a great experience at this festival, you obviously feel like there's a lack of other opportunities in the world for you to have an experience like that or even better experience where you wouldn't still be recycling the same experience over and over and over again. It's great. But if you can feel that at this festival, why not get this one a try? Or why not go out of the country and take it up a notch? Like, I love to work and support festivals in the South and the Southeast specifically because that's where I grew up and there was nothing like that. And I was just so mind-blown at this portal of music and art that had opened in East Tennessee and in South Carolina, and I'm like, wow, but that was a lack of mentality. I didn't know there was bigger and there was better and more fulfilling experiences to have until I started shifting out of that box and like doing other travel and like meeting other people of different backgrounds, and like I just learned so much more about myself. Whereas when I was doing the same four to five festivals every single year, there wasn't a lot of growth in that. I was just repeating. And then if you ask me now what was your favorite memory of this festival 2023, I don't know, they can all blur together, but any out-of-country or vacation style trip I've taken. Like I can tell you beginning to end, like how juicy and like it was and how it sucked with me.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

And that probably goes to show because it's a different type of presence. And I feel like when you you can then take that presence into these festival spaces, like I know for sure I want to be more present than ever in any music space that I'm in now. I'm so much more intentional now, things like that because I've shifted a little bit back more towards balance. I'm not going to as many things, I'm not committing to as many things. And it's nothing with not loving the scene. I love the scene, I love the music, but it's because I want to appreciate it for what it is and not be thinking about how tired I am. I don't want to be thinking about what is my next week gonna look like. It's like I can now take the way that I show up outside of those spaces into those spaces because I'm like, wait, no, I really, I really do love this. Like I can be present. I don't need to like do all these extracurriculars. Like I can go to bed on time and like all of those things because I can still feel that same like. Dopamine by copying and pasting the experiences I have abroad and bringing them into the festival space and just being more wise about my decision making and how I show up. And that truly has helped me so much to release feeling like I had this is the best way to do a festival, doing all these different things and popping off. And I don't got to tell you guys. We know the drill.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

And as much as I would like to try to be like, oh, I love pretending like I love sleeping on the ground in a tent with loud music and worrying about somebody on my tent and eating the same Chinese food for three days. As much as I would love to be like, that's the best thing in the world. Surviving. I you know, like I think I was actually just like trying to survive the festival. Like, I wasn't thriving, I would say. But as you get older, like I think you want to be in a hotel bed, you know, you want to go to bed earlier, you want to eat real food, you don't want to listen to people scream at night and get stuck and walked on when you're trying to just enjoy the show and all the things. I sleep in a car now when I go to think you want to not only be more intentional with the things you do in life as you get older, but you want to be impactful, and you do want to step into that leadership role, and you can start looking around and being like, Oh my god, that poor girl, that poor guy, like I remember those days. And everybody has their rodeo with it, but yeah, I wish that when I first started doing festivals, that there was just more outlets for movement and like you said, cat integration of experience. Because also it like we move through things at festivals, like in a heavy emotional way, sometimes heavy energetic way sometimes, and having support and somebody that you can talk to about it, or like the safe zones that are just like calm music, soft curated vibes, tea, like somewhere, someone to check in with you, like that is so important, and being able to move those things physically through your body so that energy and that emotion doesn't get trapped, and then you come back and you have a complete mental breakdown and don't know what reality is and what's not. So it also helps with the integration process.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

I feel like integration, that's that just gets missed on the and so it's a lot of experiences in general, like in life and things that we experience is like we experience these really big things that shift our nervous system, whether they're positive or negative, and we forget about that integration. Yeah, we're just like, oh, I had this amazing time, or I didn't have this amazing time, but your body is still processing all of those emotions, and we don't think about that too much. We're just going straight to like posting our favorite clips of what happened, even though like me and mom were at home in bed, like down bad, and we're like, it was the best time of my life. Like you're like rotting in bed, just rethinking your whole existence because there's no time.

SPEAKER_03 25:05

Your pictures, your captions great, but I've been there, so I know how you actually are feeling post-festival. Come on, let's be real.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

That's also very telling. If all you can remember is, oh my God, I was like so twisted. And no judgment because we've all been there. I was so twisted. I just feel like I had a good time, but you don't really know if you did, and you don't really know who you talked to, and you don't know the friend that like gave you the really cool pin. Like, you can't access any of those amazing memories. Like that integration and actually taking time to reflect can help ship your mindset for the next time when you show up. And I know I pivoted, but I was like, actually, when I was posting those pictures, I'm like, that looked like I was having fun in that picture, but I don't even remember.

SPEAKER_03 25:49

I was actually dissociating in my memory not right for four days because I don't remember any of it. Yeah, how much of an experience at that point are you actually having? And I personally feel like the smaller, more intimate grassroots festivals are easier to stay present for because they're so much more purposeful. That might be a hot take. Sorry, big industry people, whatever. Thinking about like where you're investing your money, who you're investing your money with. We all know what's going on in the world, and yeah, like where are you putting your money and what are those people doing with that money? Look at your smaller festivals beyond existence, picked up, metamorphosis, camp couch coming up, like the showcation, yeah. Shout them out. Like these are people that are real people working with intention and purpose to put on for their community in a safe way, and are also incorporating and not only incorporating, but cheerleading on like yoga and wellness and trying to do their part to infuse wellness into their community while also providing these experiences. Where some of the bigger ones are just like, yeah, no, like it's just a money machine.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

They're like, we might have water stations.

SPEAKER_03 27:14

We don't have water stations or sorry, RIP Solfus, like didn't have security. This is crazy. Like at some point, things become unsafe and just not you have to really use your discernment and you have to be able to know what your values are. I think it's important to know what your values are and to be able to stand on that and be like, no, absolutely, that is not okay. I'm not giving them my money, I'm not working for them, I'm not promoting this, I'm not pushing this onto a community that I love and I care about because it's gonna be destructive, and we're here to create and advocate for change.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Bars, girl. But I think part of that is you, I think are what is it?

SPEAKER_01 28:01

What's the phrase? It's like you're like walking what you talk. Is that like how it goes? You're like walking the walk. Is that what it goes? Someone like that, you're doing that, and I bring that up in terms of like your retreat. Obviously, we're all retreat girlies and love those, but I think by you doing that, especially with how long you've been in the industry and people being able to see you launch your first retreat, which super stoked about. That's an example of being like, Hey, you can come with me at this festival, but you can also come on this retreat. Let's go to Mexico first.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

That kind of like plays into the retreats called Wild Things. And when I was thinking of it, it was like it comes from the place, like, I'm really big on embracing duality and that we can be both. That is probably my biggest thing that I want the world to know is that we can be and we are both. And so it's going to a festival, it appeals to our wild nature. We want to run free, we want to frolic, we want no rules, we want to just be able to look at art and figure out what lights us up and what we like and what we don't like. And it's that felt like the only container I could do that in in my 20s. And then once I started doing retreats and like international travel, I was like, oh, I can be wild by nature in a whole different way. And so wild things was like, let's go to the jungle, let's look at art, let's go dive, let's frolic, let's have everything be optional, figure out what we like, what we don't like, but let's do it in a different environment that's going to stimulate us and encourage us to grow in a different way that hopefully we'll come back and we'll have the stories to tell about it and the memories to hold and like the sisterhood. This one's a women's retreat, like the sisterhood and the long-lasting friendships. Like a lot of the girls, women who have signed up, they don't know each other. I know them and you know them, but like I already know like the bonding experience that's gonna occur. That's what happens at festivals. You meet somebody and you carry that friendship forever. It's still the same thing, different method.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

And I think people really leaning into that is what's gonna shift, shift the scene, shift people's mindset, make people think differently about what they invest in when they go to things. How many things does that duality? I think I said earlier, but I just think sometimes we all naturally end up to fall to an extreme when it's you don't really need to do that. You don't need to have FOMO because you didn't go to eight festivals the same way. You don't need to have FOMO that you didn't get to go to other country eight times one year. It's like intentionally choosing those things and having balance, like that's where the gold is, that's where the memories are, and that's where the growth is as well.

SPEAKER_03 30:38

It is, and how big do you want your life to be? Yeah, I don't know when I'm 80 and looking back, I don't want to be. I say this, I've been to Bonner 11 times. And I love that I can be like, I've been to Bonner 11 times. It was amazing. But also, I could have done something else, at least like eight of them, and like with that amount of money. Like, if I could have all that money back, and like I can't tell you who played what year, and like it's just all one big grandiose Bonnero experience, which is lovely. I'll pull on my shirt and look at the lineup. Like, I don't know. Like, I guarantee you, if I had spent 11 consecutive years going to a different country with that money, I would be able to tell you what I did in all 11 of those countries a lot better than I can tell you what I did on that 100 acres, 11 repeating in a row. I had a great time. But my life could have been a lot bigger in those years had I have expanded my own way of showing up for things like that.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Being able to have these different experiences and being balanced also serves this greater purpose of presence, but then also allows us to like really be like it taps us into the people that we should be investing in, right? There's something to be said about that. The people, our community, like because we have that balance, like your awareness increases. Your awareness increases when you're not in this wormhole. Like when you're taking care of your body and you have that and you're not in an extreme, you start to appreciate things in a much different way. You have more room to go support your homie in whatever way. There's like less pressure to do that, with that being well-rounded equals an open mind, which then trickles down into just like how you support people, how you can show up for people, things like that, because you become so intentional, because you're like, I'm not just gonna go to this thing to get fucked up. You're like, I'm gonna go to this thing and really shout out the opener and support them because I'm can be present. I would want them to feel seen. I want them to feel as good as I feel right now being present. As you grow and evolve and become more aware and more present and not like chasing fake dopamine, you be do really become like the best version of yourself, which then allows you to support these rising artists and like these small grassroots festivals, and in a way that like really matters and your creativity flourishes on like how you can do that because you're not in this like cycle of being hungover, being so tired.

SPEAKER_03 33:11

That really shifted for me when I became an artist manager. That became very clear because when I was just promoting talent buying and even venue managing, I was like, okay, if I want to support my friends, then the way to do that is to just go to all their shows. But I wasn't fully showing up as myself because I was so tired from being at all the shows and just not showing up as the best version of myself. And then when I started managing artists, I'm like, okay, it's like having 12 kids. I can't be at 12 kids' games at one time, like everywhere that they are. You know what I mean? But I was putting so much pressure on myself to show up to every single thing, and I just had to get really honest with myself and be like, I'm doing this a disservice by going to every single thing because I'm not responding to emails I want to be responding to, and like the time I want to be responding to them, or I'm not getting on calls and having meetings as frequently as I would like to do, and just really being like, what is actually working for them and what is not, and like me just being on the dance floor as a vessel with not a lot of intention behind it wasn't really serving me and wasn't really serving them, and so yeah, just having more time and energy and being more aware of what my community needs for me and how to best show up as that. And I think that taking a step back, you can just start to see it more clearly and have a greater awareness around it.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Because I that even just reminded me of ease, even as an attendee, how can you fully support an artist if you don't remember their set? I mean you're hanging with your homies at a house party and someone drops their new song and you don't even remember it because you were too twisted. Like, how can you truly support anything? And again, that's not to be like policing people's intake and their decisions or judging them on anything like that. But I just think it's a question for us to ask ourselves like, how can we, if we can't remember and all that we remember is that we had fun, which is important, but we're talking about like growing the underground and trying to help these artists, we need to remember. We need to be present, we need to be able to talk about how their set was, their new drop, something we saw on Instagram. We need to be of sound mind because you never know where your one comment or who you'll meet that you can talk about that with that will really help that artist. You it's not that helpful to be like, oh, I saw them at so on's. It was so great. Okay, but what was so great about the set? What did it like? That's it. I hear that kind of feedback all the time. It's like they were just so dope. Like they were just it was the best time. And I'm like, I didn't know I don't know really what that means, but cool. And I am happy you had a great time, but I don't know what to do with that.

SPEAKER_03 36:02

Like I think you have to like lovingly check the ego a lot in this industry. And are you just there because you want to be seen and be a part of the buzz and the party? Because, like, also, how are you supporting if all you want is guest lists? Or you're missing out in the green room? Like, you're all you're doing is talking through the whole show, and in the show ends, you're like, Oh, yeah, that was great, guys. Like, what like I watch it happen all the time, and I'm like, You didn't see any of that, and I've been there too. Like, once again, all of this is love, not judgment. We can laugh at ourselves things, but we also like it's important to just ask ourselves these questions. Like, that's how you grow, that's how you become a self aware person in a self aware community, like just having these conversations. It's all love, but yeah, there's some mirror you can definitely look in collectively and be like, all love faux show, faux show, Miss Morgan Jones.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

All right, hockeys, it's been a pleasure as always. Hockeys, ow.