Interview with Loren Boyer

Today on the Bear Cave, we're interviewing our dear friend, Loren Boyer. Loren is the host of Niceville open mic entitled TV Dinner Theater every 1st Friday night at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Emerald Coast.
 

Transcript

Speaker 1  (00:04)

Okay! hi there, I am Kal and my pronouns are he and they and 

Speaker 2  (00:12)

I'm Bear, James, but everybody calls me bear and my pronouns are he and him. 

Speaker 3  (00:20)

And I am Loren, my pronouns are unused, mostly 

Speaker 1  (00:32)

And this is the Bear Cave, this is our very first episode with another person, right? And we'll, you know, yeah, Loren runs a wonderful institution that is actually the place that Bear and I met and so we really thought that it would be a good place to start. Start at the very beginning. Shall we and so so Loren, why don't you tell us a little bit about what you do 

Speaker 3  (01:05)

Well I do a lot of things? I um, I tried to be a filmmaker, I tried to produce music. I played a lot of music when I was living up in Boston and um and then the movie thing kind of fell apart and I spent way too much money and 

Speaker 1  (01:30)

I hear movies are expensive. 

Speaker 3  (01:32)

That's a, they are expensive, especially if they're interesting movies and then nobody cares, so you know it happens. They're called independent. That means nobody gives a s*** about your little movie, yes, so that happened to me. 

Speaker 3  (01:50)

Try taking it to the afm, whatever, but then I came back to Niceville, where my parents are, and I was feeling very depressed and down like a total failure. 

Speaker 1  (02:04)

And that's in Northwest, Florida, for the folks at home. 

Speaker 3  (02:08)

It's in the panhandle, the sort of the taint of Florida, yes, yes, yes. 

Speaker 1  (02:16)

Redneck Riviera, everyone. 

Speaker 3  (02:17)

Yes, exactly, but, uh, I was like. Well, how can I make this cultural wasteland a little more like the places that I really liked being like like Cambridge or Philadelphia and I was like, well, there needs to be like a real open mic here and by real, I mean, like a notch above the The grumpy teenage poetry, I don't think it was going on which I mean teenagers need to express. 

Speaker 1  (02:55)

So there's a place for that there's time and place for that, and we all developmentally need it. 

Speaker 3  (03:00)

Yeah, I know I'm I was once a teenager. I understand but there's more. There is more and more people need to feel safe and be able to express themselves whatever that is, as it's as long is everything's day is cool and I had a friend who just opened a restaurant and he had a stage. 

Speaker 3  (03:24)

And I was like, well, okay, this is happening every month, no matter what. 

Speaker 1  (03:29)

Wait so the the uh, the open mic that you have now is not at the same point. 

Speaker 3  (03:34)

It's not at the same place. 

Speaker 1  (03:36)

Well, I'm learning stuff here. 

Speaker 3  (03:37)

It was originally at a place called cafe Bienville oh yeah, which has moved since so I've heard it started. It's run by Matt who is a wonderful fellow and AI actually met him at the unitary universalist fellowship, so it's sort of all connected in a and he was open this restaurant and He met me in if we hit it off. I guess because we both had beards, you know, happens and and eventually I had to leave there, because he was paying people to work and serve drinks some food and he wasn't getting any of that money back nobody was buying any of the drinks for food, I see. 

Speaker 3  (04:30)

No matter how much I encourage people to okay, I understand that I cannot support the venue. I get it. That's fair and I don't 

Speaker 1  (04:41)

Tape your local weight staff. 

Speaker 3  (04:43)

That's right, that's right. 

Speaker 2  (04:44)

Get a lot of money. 

Speaker 3  (04:46)

That's right, that's right, and certainly support your local restaurants. Chain restaurants are the spa of satan. 

Speaker 1  (04:56)

I'll go chair. 

Speaker 3  (04:59)

So anyway, I just took of a wild woman decided I had asked the UU 22 let me do my thing there and they were like, yeah, yeah, you know, as long as you clean up back for yourself and don't let anything bad happen well, as long as you leave it that big you got A. Great. 

Speaker 2  (05:23)

I took a shot in the dark. Yeah, so but I believe in doing yes. 

Speaker 3  (05:26)

Yeah, exactly and I was like. 

Speaker 1  (05:28)

It's like sometimes you just gotta do the thing. 

Speaker 3  (05:30)

And II came close to stopping, but at that point I really felt like like this open mic with more important than me. 

Speaker 1  (05:40)

Did you have a lot of folks that were coming at that point? 

Speaker 3  (05:42)

Yeah, okay. And regulars and some people who I mean we were. When we first started at the U, U, we were, we were serving box wine and um, buying it ourselves and having people donate money to go buy it, sorry and and the problem with that, is it, it attracts people who really Need alcohol? 

Speaker 3  (06:09)

Because box? One is absolutely terrible and 

Speaker 1  (06:14)

It definitely can't be that is 

Speaker 3  (06:16)

So the people who really want box wine are the ones that need to be drinking all the time and that diminished some of the the charm I think of the the event so we had to stop doing that and they disappeared magically. 

Speaker 1  (06:37)

Fancy that? Yeah? Yeah. 

Speaker 3  (06:39)

Yeah, but it was already happening at the UU and and people have had me signed forms and and pieces of paper, saying that I'm not going to do this or I promise to do that and so forth, but nobody's taught me. 

Speaker 1  (06:59)

Excellent 

Speaker 3  (07:00)

And we've actually created a wonderful community there. 

Speaker 1  (07:04)

You have you really have I, uh, I had never been to an open mic before, that I had even remotely considered participating in. I had been to one open mic before and I was there, because my partner was testing out a new song that they were. I've been playing many, many years ago, but I haven't been to any open mics up until you know, the past few months when I've been coming to eurozone, that I started hearing about more and more open mics that were in this area and I was like, actually this is really enjoyable. 

Speaker 1  (07:41)

And II get it just fantastic rush from then I'm there's to something about a hot mic. I wrote a poem about it. I'll get to it eventually, like actually reading it, I think that's that, but I it's addictive, right? 

Speaker 1  (07:59)

And III was very surprised by that and I was very surprised by how easy it was for me to get back into writing poetry after not like I had done it like a couple times and then stopped for it several years and and never ever imagined reading it anything that I did out in front of anybody. But then II saw everybody everybody else was just like Getting up and talking about whatever they wanted to talk about and I actually, if you're getting up and reading during my first open mic, when I was very late, I was like an hour late and there was traffic, it was very bad and bear's poem was one of the last ones that that was on during the open mic session, and this was kind of a weird 1, the first one that I went to cause it was a combination open mic, and then another organizate local organization, you partner with them to have a karaoke night. 

Speaker 1  (09:05)

As well after the open mic, which I understand that that's not really gonna be like a combination thing anymore. Probably. 

Speaker 3  (09:14)

I don't think they understood. They had never been to one of the the TV dinner theaters. 

Speaker 1  (09:22)

It's a different vibe. 

Speaker 3  (09:23)

Yeah, and they thought that they could just sort of like tack it on and and it didn't work got and II toldhamoo it wasn't going to oh and then Cynthia, my beautiful wife, she she said, you know, you can't just be exclusive like that, you know, we don't really, really don't know anything about these people. Okay, okay. Okay, and see if they like they actually had a good time. 

Speaker 1  (10:01)

Yeah, I mean. I had a good time doing the karaoke course you know, and like I think that there is a lot of value in that karaoke like event, but maybe just yeah. 

Speaker 3  (10:09)

But they didn't, it, didn't get there quite a drive, I think that's the technical term. 

Speaker 1  (10:17)

And but, but, you know, I just III poetry is a different thing than I ever thought that it was and I'm learning that and it's wonderful. I am so excited to learn this and it is thanks. I'm not bad if I do say so myself sometimes I am pretty bad but like for the most part, I feel good about it, and I'm back. 

Speaker 3  (10:42)

Yeah, sure, yeah, yeah. 

Speaker 1  (10:44)

Um, let's return in the Mac up in here so I don't so so I, you know, I reached out to bear afterwards and I was like, Hey, we should be friends in the way that you know, adults in their late 30s in the 40s do and we became friends on Facebook. 

Speaker 2  (11:04)

This is a cool person like I can't really fly from him. We became fast friends, and since then I've learned so much from Manny's gal, you're you're my mentor. 

Speaker 1  (11:17)

No, I'll shut up. You are 

Speaker 2  (11:20)

A conventional report you might be, but you're teaching me so much. 

Speaker 3  (11:24)

If people can mentor each other, yes, it's very positive. 

Speaker 2  (11:27)

Thank you. 

Speaker 3  (11:28)

It really is. 

Speaker 1  (11:30)

Yeah, it's become a really wonderful friendship and connection in the community that I appreciate a lot and I and Barry, you've also been a gateway to other open mic communities like that. I have started to you know, attend and and get comfortable and it's it's, it's it's TV dinner theater is wonderful, you know. 

Speaker 3  (11:55)

There's so many other there are 

Speaker 1  (11:56)

A lot of others around here and I just, you know I feel kind of like a kid in the candy store right now. It's really fun. 

Speaker 2  (12:04)

With multiple communities and I love coalition, community building my marches cultivate relationships and so I've been doing that since day one and it has what I do is and I this wound up in the article and weekly in April, I said, you surround yourself with Jean pieces people in different fields that you don't you who know better than you that you could learn from? And that's how you stay on the cutting-edge and grow as an artist. And that doesn't apply to even folks who aren't artists were creatively inclined, it is surround yourselves with the kind of network that would a it, will that the inner circle will support you as a friend at the outer circle of acquaintances and networking folks, you can really learn something from both of those circles. 

Speaker 3  (12:54)

And that's one of the the real benefits of hosting an event like this. Hey, we don't know what's gonna happen, so there's always that exist, the tension and excitement before everyone, you just you just never know, yeah, I mean, even if you knew exactly who's going to be there. You don't know what's going to happen. 

Speaker 1  (13:15)

Somebody could get up and tell you about chickens. 

Speaker 3  (13:17)

Exactly, anything can happen. And after COVID, you know, it took a little while for things to get moving again, but then these people started showing up from Pensacola, and I'm like, why are you driving all the way over here? 

Speaker 2  (13:33)

No I don't. 

Speaker 1  (13:34)

Because you're the cool 

Speaker 4  (13:34)

Okay, where are you from? 

Speaker 3  (13:36)

If I'm all the way over here for this event. 

Speaker 2  (13:41)

You know, you took the space that you were given and you cultivated a community within it and around it that's not just based around the church that was worth the drive to Come to Because It's one of my All Time Favorite Open Mics When You and Cynthia have a huge hand in that the Cynthia, well, like I said, she reminds me of like a good like a she's a good mom type. The person she records everybody, she's so proud, you know, it's so supportive, I love it and we love to learn from you guys and take our cues from y'all and I love getting up there and reading my poetry and I wouldn't to make you know that drive if it wasn't a space that I felt comfortable and safe then, and you had a huge hand in doing that. 

Speaker 1  (14:30)

And so how did you hear about it? Friday night TV dinner theater? 

Speaker 2  (14:33)

Actually, it was will 

Speaker 1  (14:34)

Okay, will is a very good friend of a nurse, yeah? 

Speaker 2  (14:40)

It looks like my brother like you are that becked we hadn't seen will in a while. We'd have to see him today I was a huge boost. 

Speaker 1  (14:46)

It was great to me. I enjoyed it very much. He's a he's a doll 

Speaker 2  (14:50)

I just I can't wait for y'all to be buddies. Oh my God, it's gonna be great. I don't want to sit here and talk, I can talk about will for the next hour. 

Speaker 3  (14:57)

I'm not good too. 

Speaker 1  (15:00)

We love you, will 

Speaker 2  (15:01)

I will would be my ride like one time Randy brought me up when he couldn't but what would be my ride up there and we would pick up chase and be like, all right, can we get a theater and we freestype? We put on a freestyle the whole way up there. 

Speaker 1  (15:15)

It really is. 

Speaker 2  (15:16)

Because my husband yes, brandy, and so by the way, we're doing this at the Bear cave in itself, which is when I call my house and someone who lives in my Home Office and I just cannot wait to get off the ground with this. I'm in it with both feet and that is how you get something like this story, this pastor and I'm a passionate guy, cal's passionate guy. 

Speaker 1  (15:37)

D***, there's passion abound. 

Speaker 3  (15:40)

Compassion flows through me as well. Yes, I can. 

Speaker 1  (15:45)

Yeah, you know, it comes out in your shirts, which is 

Speaker 2  (15:48)

A question about that, actually, where do you get your shirts? 

Speaker 3  (15:53)

Uh, it's this obsessive need to to find things I had my home. I have a problem with thrift stores with and it's up. 

Speaker 1  (16:06)

If only a problem with the wrong perspective is always saying, you know, we should go for a thing at some point. 

Speaker 3  (16:12)

And yeah, and it's a moderation thing I think that makes it work it's like I have to get rid of as much as I get which which happens sometimes, but you know, anyway, but that's where I get my shirts. I got this one in the in Oregon. 

Speaker 1  (16:30)

Nice on your recent trip. Wait to see my. It's a good one see my daughter 

Speaker 3  (16:35)

All right, congratulate, and I realized I didn't pack enough shirts. We gotta go to a thrift store. 

Speaker 1  (16:42)

Oh, no international. I'm sure you hate it. 

Speaker 3  (16:46)

I know I know I was like what 

Speaker 1  (16:50)

So for context, Loren always has amazing shirts. 

Speaker 2  (16:54)

I think I want so many of them, and I'm a guy who appreciates fashion, yeah. 

Speaker 3  (16:59)

Well good good, I mean I can't help it. I'm and I hate just looking like, like you know, a cookie cutter person, it's it's it's always upset. 

Speaker 1  (17:11)

There are enough Josh mouse, yeah. 

Speaker 3  (17:13)

Exactly in a, in a world where you have the option of being yourself, why not? 

Speaker 2  (17:20)

Yeah, it's a really good shirt or the outfit, and it makes you a conversation piece. 

Speaker 3  (17:25)

That's right, that's right. 

Speaker 2  (17:27)

I always come up to see well. What's Loren wearing now? What's he gotta be wearing when we get 

Speaker 3  (17:34)

How is it that I know that? 

Speaker 2  (17:35)

We're basically going to play on the guitar. 

Speaker 3  (17:40)

I might play anything against yet. 

Speaker 1  (17:42)

A new R ML d multi-talented artist, so let's talk about the stuff that you do so. You play guitar right? Do you play any other instruments 

Speaker 3  (17:52)

Well, I'd i'd like to say that I play all sorts of instruments, I collect instruments. 

Speaker 1  (17:58)

What's the last one that you collected? 

Speaker 3  (18:00)

That was the last one I had. It's called an erhu I'm sorry. 

Speaker 1  (18:05)

Sorry, I don't know what that is. 

Speaker 3  (18:07)

Yeah, exactly. It's a um, sort of a Chinese or Vietnamese fiddle sort of thing, okay. Yeah, it has a resonator box at the bottom, alright b, yeah, and I can probably not make it sound the way it was intended, but it's a lot of fun to make noise with great and I, uh, hello, analog synthesizers that you can. 

Speaker 3  (18:36)

Plug all sorts of chords into those are those are great and there is string instruments. I like a lot, but ultimately, it's, I got sucked into the the free improv movement before I had the opportunity to actually learn how to play corn store keys or anything in particular and they were like, if you express yourself with an instrument. It's so much more valuable playing something. 

Speaker 3  (19:10)

This sounds like something else, or somebody else's song. 

Speaker 1  (19:15)

That's that's, that's a good point. 

Speaker 3  (19:19)

So all sound is valid, so whatever you you are expressing, whether it's it's anger or or joy sadness, whatever it is, it's you expressing it through that instrument and penso, and they they really believe that strongly. I mean, that's like it's almost a uh, like a religious. There are lots of like weird religious ideas where I was living up in Cambridge like vegetarian vegetn vegetarianism, there's a religion up there, which people don't quite realize down here, but it was like I lived with vegetarians in a in a it is. 

Speaker 1  (20:05)

It's very religious for folks who adhere to that lifestyle. 

Speaker 3  (20:10)

And if I had meat in the fridge, they would yell at me and throw it out on the street, wow. 

Speaker 1  (20:17)

Wow, as previous vegan like you know, there was a girl in my early 20s. She was a vegan so then all of a sudden, I was vegan. 

Speaker 3  (20:30)

So I mean. 

Speaker 4  (20:31)

And uh? 

Speaker 1  (20:32)

Uh, weirdly enough and 

Speaker 3  (20:34)

That is one of the ultimate commitments 

Speaker 1  (20:36)

It is, it is, you know, II stuck with it for about a year and a 1/2, but that's pretty serious like throwing somebody else's food out into the street. I Hey, don't beat that guy. 

Speaker 2  (20:47)

We had nobody touched it and I meet without yourself. 

Speaker 3  (20:51)

That's right, that's right. 

Speaker 1  (20:53)

That's right, kids consent. 

Speaker 3  (20:54)

It's everyone has to find what would make sense for them. And when other people are trying to Badger you into something, no good. 

Speaker 1  (21:02)

It is, it is not good. 

Speaker 2  (21:03)

I forgot what it is because I've known it climate vegans, and I've known vegans to wear. They thought they were better than me. 

Speaker 3  (21:13)

Yeah, and it was, there's ahead of it. 

Speaker 2  (21:15)

And there's that's where, like I'm okay with whoever you want to be, but when you start bullying other people, because you're a thing, it's like what you know, the bad crust. 

Speaker 1  (21:25)

And because they're not 

Speaker 2  (21:27)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're trying to you know, and I'm I don't. I don't believe in that you know, do your thing? I don't wanna, I definitely? 

Speaker 2  (21:33)

Don't want to yuck. Anybody's young, but don't tell me how to live 

Speaker 3  (21:37)

And that's the weird religious aspect of it is it's like it's like, well, can I interact with you without without being just like you or you know, can I tell me? 

Speaker 1  (21:49)

Can you do that? 

Speaker 3  (21:50)

How can I can I eat a ham sandwich in this house without everybody freaking out? Oh well, I have apparently not. 

Speaker 2  (22:00)

It's already dangerous, it really is. 

Speaker 3  (22:03)

Yeah, yeah, it is and and II think the more people who are vegan on this planet. The better I think I'm vegan. The lifestyle is very positive 

Speaker 1  (22:15)

Sure, you know I was in it well, of course, because there was a very cute girl, but also because they do a lot of for the environmental aspect of it. You know, I was like well, factory farming takes up a lot of space in the ozone now, so maybe I will not contribute to that for a while and you know, I later on decided to try and fight the systems of oppression that I was, I had not quite fully articulated on a more systemic level as opposed to You know? An individual level, and so I kind of left all that behind, and now I eat cheeseburgers, and it's great, but I And also you know, my kids were very little, you know, II have 2 adult kids, they're 18 and 20 and yeah, yeah, and it was really difficult trying to keep other people from feeding them, meat and dairy and things like that because the problem like it's not that I was purist. 

Speaker 1  (23:17)

It's just that if you put that kind of stuff into a body that is not used to it the bottom will not react very well and so like you have to after you go full vegan, you really have to kind of Step back into meat and dairy in like eggs and stuff in a cautious and slow mannered. Otherwise, it's going to be a really difficult time for you so. 

Speaker 3  (23:49)

I still can't drink milk like really. Yeah, like I just can't do it anymore. Yeah, like my sinuses, I go, nuts and and my my throat, it flares up at unfortunately, I cough for an hour and I'm like, this is not worth it, yeah. 

Speaker 1  (24:03)

Yeah, what about cheese? 

Speaker 3  (24:07)

For some reason, cheese does it never bothered me, okay? 

Speaker 1  (24:10)

Well, that's good. I mean they have different levels of plantos, so that does make kind of sense, but yeah, just like straight up milk, I also sometimes have issues with it so that that that the tracks with what I know, yeah, why were we talking about? I don't know. 

Speaker 2  (24:27)

But a vegetarian? 

Speaker 3  (24:28)

Oh oh anyway, I was I was talking about. See. I'm a Rambler 

Speaker 1  (24:33)

When you get 3 ramblers in a room like this is why we did a podcast in the first place is because we just keep talking and talking and talking. 

Speaker 2  (24:41)

I'm talking about the areas of being a religion up 

Speaker 3  (24:45)

Yeah, well, I was, I was, I'll say, there's lots of above, uh, these sort of sort of alternate religious courses up there like the music I was playing was one of them and I actually kind of liked it because of the, it's sort of tied in with with like surrealist art with me, which I was always a fan of and this idea that You're taking something which you think, you know and distorting it and changing it and um, I mean one of the performance and they're always performing. I always like every time someone opened the doors to a gallery or a coffee shop. 

Speaker 3  (25:36)

These people would would come in there and and I mean there are so many people And whether they concern themselves jazor just noise or whatever they're always doing things up there, which I loved, you know how is the fence going on? I just had to say, I wanted to be part of it, because they they weren't try to be, she's noddy about ability so it was sort of anti-western music It has nothing to do with talent has to do with expression, gacha and so, which is cool. Yeah, yeah, and so one of the performances I did I had to read. 

Speaker 3  (26:16)

I had to read Finnegan's lake while sitting in a, I've been a chair, well, 2 saxophones, blue in each year and the sort of the challenge was How long could I could actually read it without just screwing up? And that was the end of the piece 

Speaker 1  (26:38)

How'd that go? How how far did you get? 

Speaker 3  (26:44)

It's pretty good because that 

Speaker 1  (26:45)

That's that's fair. 

Speaker 3  (26:46)

Sure, because they were making as much noise as they could. So yeah, I did. 

Speaker 1  (26:50)

It doesn't I'm just having a little nightmare in my head about us. 

Speaker 4  (26:54)

That's that's right. 

Speaker 3  (26:56)

And the audience was watching me as much as they were listening to everything else because it created an immediate tension, yeah, which is, which is part of performance. Yeah, yeah, you create that attention in the audience of life. What's what's gonna happen What's gonna do? 

Speaker 3  (27:14)

Is he going to lose it 

Speaker 2  (27:17)

But I know you have a captive audience. 

Speaker 3  (27:21)

Exactly, so you know, self torture ISIS part of the artist. 

Speaker 2  (27:30)

How long that I wrote in my youth called ode to tortured artist? Yeah, and like it's absolutely filthy, but it's very true like we do the work, but we do ourselves like dirty like the worst so and the thing you said about is the realist art and how we sort of take what is known and twisted it, and first of all, that's Our in general is you learn the rule like as a poet. It's like you learn the rules and then you know once you know the rules, you can bend them. 

Speaker 2  (28:03)

No, you can put it on its head, but you have to know what the thing is and what the the sort of the standards and the rule are for it in order to To subvert a form or a media, you have to know how it was originally and how it goes. 

Speaker 1  (28:21)

We were talking about this earlier at waffle house, actually that you have to know the rules you have to care about something an art form or a piece or something like that enough to learn the rules in order to know which ones are appropriate to break and when. 

Speaker 2  (28:40)

I came up with the poetic form that I the Jew that I created the 2 poetic forms is I knew about enough about octad's food there's a slide octap that I made and I knew enough about cess deaths just like quickly learning for a while there and then took to create the infinity systep, and so that's the artist journey is, you can't sit out there first you can't start out experimental, you have to you don't have to start with form, but you have to know the rules into it. Move to this one. 

Speaker 3  (29:12)

I don't want to support 

Speaker 1  (29:14)

And that's early, some of them thank you. 

Speaker 2  (29:15)

Thank you for anything 

Speaker 3  (29:17)

You have to know the paradigm before you can subvert it. 

Speaker 2  (29:20)

Right? 

Speaker 1  (29:20)

That's right, absolutely, so 

Speaker 2  (29:23)

With that, with that said, my question towards to sort of segue or heaven, wait when we can we go back to the open link, right? My question to you is what is yet to describe your hosting style? What would you say it is to me, it's very sort of open-minded and lax. 

Speaker 1  (29:43)

But little self blazing, hold on 

Speaker 2  (29:44)

Absolutely. You know what I'm saying like you have control? 

Speaker 3  (29:50)

Right, II don't. I don't want to put too much pressure on anyone getting up on stage because getting up on stage, it's a challenge for 1st of all, that's for sure, yeah, well, probably for anybody to a degree. I mean, there's people who are better at it because they do them more, but um I want to create sort of this this aura, of Of comfort Uh huh so they have, if just for a for a second, they can forget that they're getting up on stage and maybe doing something embarrassing, yeah, just to get them into whatever they're doing, whether it's reading a poem and don't overthink it. 

Speaker 3  (30:33)

We're playing music yet. It's a distraction, so that's that's my style, it's If I'm being self-effacing or or making a stupid joke or something, it's to draw attention away from them for a moment, so that they're not just standing there, staring up into the distance. 

Speaker 1  (30:57)

Or shuffling their papers or you know? Yeah. 

Speaker 2  (31:01)

Yeah, I want to just say a quick note of thanks to the folks who just come to listen, we need folks like you and certainly. It's okay not thinking what you guys are vital to the scene as much as we are. 

Speaker 1  (31:14)

Yeah, thanks for playing. 

Speaker 2  (31:16)

We love it. Thanks for listening. I need an audience 

Speaker 3  (31:19)

Yeah, well and everyone who gets on stage me is an audience. I mean, it's not a stage if there's no audience, right? 

Speaker 1  (31:26)

And for those of you who came from and this is this is something that applied to me for a long time, from a fairly quiet or maybe conservative homes where you where it is considered rude to be loud and you know, rowdy or anything when somebody gets up on stage you get loud, okay, you hoop, you holler, you you let them know that like you are rooting for them. 

Speaker 2  (31:55)

We clapped in poets up in half. 

Speaker 3  (31:56)

Oh yeah? Yeah? Yeah, especially the good ones 

Speaker 1  (31:59)

That's better sleeping, good. 

Speaker 2  (32:00)

I don't even have you seen, not her nonsense? 

Speaker 1  (32:03)

No no no like you want to whistle you wanna you want to clap really loud, just do it, just don't don't think about it too hard and so yeah, I would call you more of a facilitator honestly, you know, you know, like you do you kind of try and stay in the background? I think and let the people be The Star of the show. 

Speaker 3  (32:27)

Well, I won't. 

Speaker 1  (32:29)

Except for Lynn, you were up there on stage because Loren does get up and read some poetry and everything. 

Speaker 3  (32:35)

That's just because of it, I have very little self-control, you know. 

Speaker 1  (32:39)

I really appreciate that about you. 

Speaker 2  (32:42)

A second question alright, to pivot further is, how does your your experience hosting radio? That's right to hosting an open mic or hosting in general and give us a little background on that. 

Speaker 3  (33:00)

Well, you're you're referring to the the radio shows that I hosted, I worked at wvfs in Tallahassee, as well as at Florida state, and then when wow, when I went to Boston, a friend of mine said, Hey, you've had experience, we're looking for people. And mit, nobody wants to be on their radios station. Mit has a radio station. 

Speaker 4  (33:33)

Yeah, yeah, cool. 

Speaker 3  (33:35)

If I can tell everybody I've worked at nyt, all right? And I'm like, yeah. 

Speaker 1  (33:41)

So what kind of content were young? 

Speaker 3  (33:43)

Well, both of the shows were psychedelic music which I liked because I interpreted that is what you're not expecting to hear on the radio and so I would play everything from John Fahey to strange world music and by that I just mean it's very non-western musics and whatever. I felt like. At the moment and then I would I have to get on the air and somehow justify it between the tracks, which which is probably how III got to that the style of being on stage because it really has this sort of like fly by the seat of your pants, sort of quality and some people. 

Speaker 3  (34:41)

Didn't like my approach to the radio, but other people would That's what they would call on and they've said you have the best radio to show ever on. You know, please please keep doing this. 

Speaker 1  (34:54)

Yeah, you know, sometimes. 

Speaker 3  (34:55)

It's good to have at least a few people who are 

Speaker 1  (34:57)

Sometimes you won't be for everybody, but the people that you're for you're really for so, so if you know, if something really speaks to you, but it might not speak to literally everyone, just keep doing it to keep affecting it and you know there will be a set of people who really, really love it. 

Speaker 2  (35:16)

But yeah, no matter what how niche it is, there's folks out there, that's gonna be freaking stuck that somebody like them is doing their d*** thing and they're going to want to support you. 

Speaker 1  (35:27)

Right? We live in the age of the internet so those people can find you so much easier now. 

Speaker 3  (35:32)

Yeah, and this is before all of that, you know way back in the Stone age. The Stone age, you know 

Speaker 1  (35:41)

Yes, yes, to all. 

Speaker 2  (35:43)

If it does that fly by the city of pants style and itself to how you host an open mic, and what's different about it? 

Speaker 3  (35:50)

Well um, first of all, I'm i'm interacting with people in a in a live setting on the stage, so there is absolutely no preparation except what I can think of well look the person before is reading their poem or doing or their performance. And I sort of like look and I'm like, oh okay, this is it, this is what I know about them. Let's see. 

Speaker 3  (36:17)

You know how I can introduce them to everyone else like what I was I was referring to as a, I'm a scambion. I just thought that was that was hilarious. 

Speaker 1  (36:33)

And that's a scambia county for in Florida, for everybody who lives in our little corner of the world. 

Speaker 3  (36:40)

But it also sounds like some sort of it's like tribe of warriors or something. 

Speaker 2  (36:43)

Well, to me, it sounds like it's shellfish, but maybe that's okay. We have a champion that sounds delicious. 

Speaker 3  (36:49)

Yes. 

Speaker 1  (36:50)

Put a little bit of garlic and butter. 

Speaker 2  (36:53)

Yeah, kidding me. 

Speaker 3  (36:55)

I'm gonna go to one next time. Yeah, yeah, fried green tomatoes in the skin. 

Speaker 1  (36:59)

Oh I am on a fried green tomato cake. Let me tell you right now. 

Speaker 2  (37:02)

I'm going to Gambians. 

Speaker 3  (37:06)

Yeah, I'm lucky to be with fried green or scambience. 

Speaker 1  (37:11)

It's a privilege of an honor yeah. Uh, so um, so you do write poetry? I do, yeah, like a bunch of process. 

Speaker 1  (37:21)

How do you go about that. 

Speaker 3  (37:24)

Well, um, the yeah, my grandmother and my father, we're up for both published poets and my my grandmother, she was a poetry teacher at Mills college. Wow Exactly no pressure, but there was So she would be like write a poem, it's this form, let's do it, yeah, I don't I think I have something called oppositional defiant disorder. 

Speaker 1  (37:56)

Me too. I was gonna do it until he told me to yeah. 

Speaker 3  (38:01)

Yeah, I would. I would take the form and be like I'm just not gonna keep all the syllables in there. I don't have fun I can't see if everyone notices and sometimes she noticed and she'd be like, why are you doing this? 

Speaker 3  (38:14)

You know and other times you would and I'd be like ha. And what it did was it just got me used to writing? And so I would learn the forms, not an a, it's a classroom setting that wasn't been graded or anything, but but you were And and it's not even a matter of liking to write poetry, it's like it's a language sort of end and sometimes like after a s***** day at work or but I just feel like everything's falling apart like I'll be like, oh okay, you know, there's my poetry. 

Speaker 3  (38:57)

Book, maybe that's all mean. Focus my thoughts and feelings. 

Speaker 1  (39:03)

That's a very healthy outlook, Laura. 

Speaker 3  (39:05)

Yeah, and it doesn't mean there's going to be a good poem at the end. Well, it doesn't mean that at all that might be, but it helps me. 

Speaker 2  (39:16)

For me, it's like guys with shirts like Lawrence are rule breakers. I was in my concerns myself that you want to make out since I showed to open mic. 

Speaker 3  (39:25)

Yes, if some of them are these around for them? Phenomenal, yeah, it's trans and and rebels are really doing the only people worth paying attention to. That's true. 

Speaker 1  (39:34)

Yeah, we are, in fact, the cool kids. Yes, yeah, so so so you you got into writing poetry really young then, so how young is that. 

Speaker 3  (39:51)

My my father passed away when I was 4 years old and my my grandparents and my my mother and her new husband I really disliked each other, and so they decided they were going to have shared custody of me and I would spend the school year in Florida, the summers with my grandmother and Cape Cod. 

Speaker 1  (40:19)

Aha, okay, alright. 

Speaker 3  (40:22)

And so already my world got sort of up ISIS dichotomized or overworse. 

Speaker 1  (40:30)

It is now. It should be language is an evolution. It's good. 

Speaker 3  (40:33)

It's an evolution, yeah, so anyway, I would I'd be hanging out with my grandmother and we'd be going to like a Renaissance fair and then we go to to Provincetown, where I actually saw my first pride parade, and it, it totally blew my mind. 

Speaker 1  (40:51)

I have been told that the thrived parades in Provincetown are legendary. 

Speaker 3  (40:56)

I've never seen any like it, they're they're absolute. I mean, there's thousands of people on the side of the road, watching these huge floats, and I mean it's so much better than at any parade. I've seen elsewhere, I mean any kind of parade, really? 

Speaker 3  (41:15)

Yeah, and 

Speaker 1  (41:17)

Gay people have more fun. 

Speaker 3  (41:19)

I'm going to say that and it was just exciting and visually stunning, and then I'd come back to Florida. You know where's where's all the gay people? 

Speaker 1  (41:29)

Oh, we're here, we're just terrified. 

Speaker 3  (41:33)

It's like it's like they were there, yeah, but they were hiding, yeah, yeah and yeah, and you know it always kind of created this like like a knees with me where I'll be like II know things R are kind of fake end and there's truth there, but it's it's hiding, and Hey, it's not just about About pride, grades, or anything else, but but just in general, it just created this attitude where I'm like, what is really going on. 

Speaker 1  (42:08)

What kind of looking underneath the hood, searching for whatever is underneath the hood? 

Speaker 2  (42:12)

What community is there longing for somebody to be like I get it? 

Speaker 3  (42:17)

Yeah, exactly. And it's like like on the on the Emerald coast, there's a there's a huge who was population here, the they're trying to legislate out because it's a it's a vacation, right, you know, they think that if you even admit that there's homeless people here it people are gonna wanna come down from Alabama. And and spend there, they're harder and cash on vacation, rentals or yeah. 

Speaker 1  (42:50)

And if you're not familiar with the anti homeless legislation that has been enacted in our most recent legislative session, and this is the year 2024 of our Loren Boyer. We usually go do that. You should go and check that out and I hope it drives you to action in your own little corner of the world because it should. 

Speaker 3  (43:14)

Yeah, or at least gets you really upset. Yeah, it should be very upsetting. 

Speaker 2  (43:19)

It's creating a homeless people like a cosmetic issue because I'm on next door and people complete explain so much about how, like ugly, like homeless people make an area, but I'm like, these are folks that are finding it hard to get jobs because they don't want to hire homeless people how do you get? Close clean. How do you screen? 

Speaker 2  (43:43)

Take it, where do you can? Where can you take a shower? It's why libraries are so important 

Speaker 1  (43:49)

If you are homeless, get a gym membership odd spend whenever money, you can get a gym membership, you got a place to shower. You gotta, you know here? I saying to brush your teeth in and whatever but a locker so 

Speaker 3  (44:06)

It'll make the gyms a lot cooler. 

Speaker 1  (44:08)

It's true. 

Speaker 2  (44:09)

Mr so, when I lived in Dallas, my husband and I are third degree odd fellows, and I wish there was a lot for year, it sorts of eternal organization. It's kind of like the masons, but way way up. 

Speaker 1  (44:22)

Oh because I don't know what that is, I have no exposure, it's really 

Speaker 2  (44:25)

I have to order bottels goes back to like the 16 or 1700s. Wow, and flt is our motto, that's uh, that's basically it's uh, friendship, love and truth. 

Speaker 3  (44:39)

Wow. 

Speaker 2  (44:41)

Like los Faro's tattoo lot more sport, baby forever and we do a lot of great community service, shout out to so Dallas, we do a lot of community service and helping out. There are weird like hand signals and stuff like that, but most of them. 

Speaker 1  (45:01)

Everybody's got the worst. 

Speaker 2  (45:02)

I do remember a lot of poet frien