Lori Branch with Social Media Curator Lisa Calloway | VintageHouseShow.us Pod/Web/Radio

0:00You're tuned in to the Vintage House Show, home to the original stories of the history of house music, as told by the legends, pioneers, and icons, hosted by Kevin Mega McFall, Lori Branch, and Lauren Lowry.

0:30All right, check, one, two, hey.

0:50What's up, everybody? You are listening to the Vintage House Show on Street Beach at WNUR 89.3 FM in HD1 Evanston, Chicago. Vintage House preserves and celebrates Chicago's house music pioneers and architects, and promotes today's house music artists. I am so excited. I'm your host, Lori Branch, and today I'm excited to welcome house music documentarian Lisa Calloway and her collaborator David Merritt. But, you've also been listening to the sound, this fantastic vinyl mix, all vinyl, by Ortega, a.k.a. Boom Boom Booms.

1:29Sorry, I messed up your name, Ortega, but he's fantastic. Booms Boom from Brazil. And you can hear his mixes, including this one on SoundCloud. He had some of his great remixes on Bandcamp, so definitely follow Ortega. Thank you so much for the vinyl. I love vinyl. Y'all like vinyl cards? Oh, yeah. Come on, that's the bomb. Alright, so we're going to get started in a minute, and we'll bring up Ortega's mix back up on the end, but if you want to hear the whole entire thing, you can check it out on his SoundCloud page or the Vintage House SoundCloud page as part of our podcast, which will be up next week.

2:07Alright, I am excited. Alright. Alright, I am excited. I am excited. This has been a long day coming. I have to say to y'all that I've been following Lisa. Lisa, she follows us, but we follow her, too.

2:29Ever since you started doing the Chicago House page, your Chicago House music group page. And I'm like, okay, this is cute. Like, people started joining, and then, like, all of a sudden, I'm like, damn, there's like 1,000 followers. Now there's 2,000 followers. But Lisa is, you know, quickly sort of making a name for herself as a house music documentarian along with David. And I see Lisa in the foreground, but I know David's in the background. No, no, no. I'm just saying it's generally speaking.

3:00Oh.

3:02Generally speaking. Tell me, I want to, well, first of all, let me give you your proper introduction. So Lisa is a licensed clinical social worker, which is very interesting. We're going to get into that, too. But she is also, importantly, what we're here today for, she's the administrator of the Chicago House music group page. And she's a house music historian. David, your role is also as administrator. What's your role with the group page? My role with the group page is to make sure all the equipment is right.

3:36Oh, he's their technical director. Yes, I am. That's what you want to call me. I do that, and all type of management skills on that. Okay. He does all the above. All the above. And then I noticed on your page that Elizabeth, who I love, Elizabeth Lopez plays a moderator role. Yes. She is wonderful. Yeah. So I want to talk, well, let's, I want to get into the page. But first, I want to get into you guys and talk a little bit about your history. So, Lisa, let's start with you. You're from Chicago.

4:08No. Yes. Well, I was born in South Carolina. Okay. But I've been here since I was 10 months old, so. I would say you're from Chicago, then. What do you know about South Carolina? It's cold right now. I don't go that often. But, you know, South Carolina is a beautiful place. Yeah. Is that where you're people from? Yes. Are people from South Carolina? From South Carolina and probably New York, too. Okay. Very good. What part of New York? Actually, I don't know, but my father's family is from New York. Yeah, they're from New York. Okay. And David, what about you? Me, I'm actually from Alabama.

4:40Alabama. I should have guessed by your accent. I was like, it sounds a little bit south of the south side. Okay.

4:48A little more south than the south side. All right. That's what's up. So, I've been pretty much in Illinois. For your whole life? Most of my life. Okay. That's good. From the dirty south. Why do they call it the dirty south? Because, you know, we got dirt roads still. Okay. In certain places. You still got dirt roads. Ah. Not just regular dirt. That dirt be red. Okay. You know, and that's, you know, that'd be shocking to some people when you go to another

5:19state and you'll see red dirt. It's like, dad. That's still that way. Now, what part of Alabama are you from? Oh, Birmingham. Birmingham. Okay. And Montgomery and Alexander City. I have a terrible confession. I've never been to Alabama. Never been? I want to go to Alabama, but I just haven't made it yet for some reason. So, I'm trying to convince my family. My wife is a little, like, she doesn't like the south. She grew up, like, different parts of the south. All over the world, really.

5:50But she spent a lot of time in the south and she was like, I just don't like the south. But I don't, I mean, it's full of history. You know, it's our history. It's like, we got to go. So, anyway, I'm coming to Alabama eventually, y'all. One day. One day real soon, I'll be there. So, Lisa, the full-time, you work full-time as you're in a private practice. Yes. Treating people with mental health challenges. Yes. Talk a little bit about that before we get into your house music. I'm a licensed clinical social worker.

6:20I've had my own private practice since 2003. Okay. I work with all populations, couples, families, individuals. I treat anxiety, depression, trauma. I also do a lot of critical incident debriefings. Okay. What does that mean? If there's an incident, like a death of an employee. Okay. It could be a layoff, it could be, I said downsizing should be a better word.

6:50Yeah, so, so. And then, you know, basically just any issue that could happen in the workplace, a workplace shooting. Oh, wow. So, you know, I'm imagining just the state of the world right now, you must be dealing with a lot of trauma. Yes. Yes. Oh, my goodness. I have great respect for anybody in the mental health field because that's a tough field. And it's very much needed, you know. I don't think we have enough mental health professionals. I agree. All right. So, we're recruiting. We need you all, all you young, smart people, going to this field.

7:23I used to recruit for public health. Now, I'm recruiting for mental health. All right. So, and you went to school here, University of Illinois, hey, hey, and Western Illinois. I know some folks at both of those places. University of Illinois is a cool school. So, was that the one in Champaign or in, oh, Chicago, you got it. Chicago, Gene Adams. Of course. Where else would you go for that, right? All right. So, let's get into the house music page. I want to know where, when and where you both entered this house music scene.

7:54Just, you know, what drove, what drove you to it? You're from, I'll say you're, you're a Chicagoan. You grew up in Southwest, North? Oak Park. Oak Park. Okay. She's from Oak Park. That still counts. Oak Park. I mean, home of WBMX. I mean, so. She's like schooling me. She's like, wait a minute.

8:12It really counts. BMX. All right. So, tell me about your entry into house music as a listener, as a purveyor, as a, before you got into being documentarians. Yes. Um, I became a house hit, um, in 1983. Okay. Maybe even 82. Right. Um, it was really popular in Oak Park. Okay. And, you know, my parents were strict, so I didn't get to go out, but we definitely listened to WBMX on, I believe it was originally Friday nights, but it moved to Saturday nights.

8:45Yeah, I think so. So, so that was your, was your first exposure listening to WBMX? It was. Okay. And then later, hanging out with friends at the Music Box, La Mirage. Oh, you're too young for all that.

9:01But, um. Talking about the Music Box. Oh, and the Power House. Power House, of course. That's where. A lot of people talk about the power plant, but. No, the Power House is that infamous video that has been circulating with Steve Hurley and Roy and, you know, when they were dancing and Keith Nunnally. That was at the Power House. Yeah. Yeah, so yeah, I remember that very well. So, when you listen to WBMX, do you remember the DJ that first got you hooked? Or was it all of them? It was probably Farley. Probably Farley. West Siders really love Farley.

9:33See, I'm calling her West Side, even though she's from Oak Park. I lived on Austin. It's the same. Yep. Across the street. And so, it was West Side, definitely. West Side, Oak Park, same thing. I mean, literally one street, you know, and you're. I lived right at the cutoff. Okay. So, pretty much on the West Side. Now, did you go to high school over there? Yeah, I graduated from Oak Park River Forest. Okay, okay. All right. I was about to ask you what year, but we won't go there. I don't mind. Okay. It was in 87.

10:041987. So, that's great. So, you were right sort of in a smack dab in the middle of life when Chicago House was really starting to take off. Like, the late 80s were like, we just got a glut of producers that started doing stuff and tracks records and all of that. That must have been exciting. It was, definitely. I remember that era because I was not DJing at all. I was more like supporting. I was like in school. I wanted to be a producer. And so, I was trying to be behind the scenes.

10:35I was like, I'm not DJing. Don't call me a DJ anymore. It took like a few years off. But it was a very prolific time for Chicago. Like, the late 80s. David, is that where you came into the picture? Now, you're from Alabama. So, you've got a different path. Yeah, I'm from Alabama. But, you know, I grew up here in Illinois. Yeah. I grew up in Bolingbrook. Oh, get out of here. I ran the suburbs. Where? Okay. Okay. That's hilarious. My parents have been in Bolingbrook for 35 years. Oh, my God. I probably know them. You know New Hope Baptist Church?

11:06Yes, I do. My dad was the pastor of that church. Oh, branch. Uh-huh. Why didn't I put it together? See? Oh, it's too far. It's too far. It is too far away. Oh, my God. I think I know your dad. No. I know your family. You probably should. When you said merit. Mm-hmm. You know about us. I know about y'all. Your family went to my family's church, didn't it? Yes, for a while. For a while. Then y'all went over to Bird's Church.

11:37No. No, no. We went to a different church. Okay. You like Bird's Church. I love Bird's Church. Wow. How about... Okay. Well, we'll have to talk about that later. Yes, we do. That's a connection. Yes, we do. Okay. But I started out listening to the radio. Yeah.

11:55Farley was probably the first one that I heard. So Farley was ground zero for a lot of people. Yeah, he was. You know, big influence. Big influence at the time. Yeah. You know, I started wanting to do what he was doing. Yes. So I had my receiver and I had a turntable. Uh-huh. Didn't know about the pitch yet, but I learned real quick. Okay. So I had a receiver and a turntable. I was like, okay, okay. Then I moved up to the tape deck. Pause mix.

12:25So you moved up to the tape decks. Pause mix. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course. Then I messed up and let somebody hear it. You messed up and let somebody hear it? Let somebody hear the pause mix. Yeah. What was the pause mix of? Mama used to say, uh, Junior. Right. Mm-hmm. Were you repeating some portions of it? All of it. All of it. I think everybody remembers their first pause mix. Yeah. The song that you used. Yes. You got to because you put a lot of time into it.

12:56That took a lot of time to get that exactly right. Having two tape decks. Two tape decks. Rewind it. Play it. Rewind it. Play it. Stop. Oh, so you were, you were like really mixing. Oh, yeah. See, we were doing the pause mix, like with one tape deck, you know, like play it over, play it over, play it over. Okay, now play this part. Now play that part. Uh-huh. Yeah. We just wear that poor little tape out. No. But see, I put it all together and you kept playing it over and over until I put it all into a mix. Oh, my goodness. See, you got a sophisticated. But then, but from there, I grew from there.

13:28I'll bet. You know, then I turned into, they called me Davey D back in the day. Okay. You know. Davey, where were you spinning? I was spinning at Main Street. Okay. There was a skating rink in Romeoville. Romeoville. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I spent there. I held that down. I spent at the clubhouse in the Western Woods Clubhouse. Okay. Deacon Ridge. So you all, you were out in Bolingbrook before, like most black people were out there.

13:58Oh, yeah. I mean, it's not like it's tremendous. I think I was the first. A lot of black people there now. You were the first. I think I was one of the first. Y'all were the pioneers. Y'all were the settlers. Right. You know. So it was, it was a trip. But, you know. That's great. Yeah, well, we have to talk afterwards. We'll have, we'll trade some Bolingbrook stories because, yeah, I got a lot of Bolingbrook stories. So let's get into the Chicago House Music Group page. And then we'll talk about all of Lisa's favorites because she has a lot.

14:29The reason that I asked Lisa to come on the show is that, I mean, everywhere I went, she was there doing it. And I'm like, okay. So she must have, and I love going, you know, seeing the Facebook feeds because it's like you see what's happening. You know, I've often, I've been on your page. I'm like, oh, okay. Oh, okay. I like that track. You know, like, we'll talk. We'll get into that. But what made you want to start the business of, for lack of a better term, what made you want to start this gathering place?

15:02Initially, it was because I constantly was telling my patients, do something that you love to do. And I was like, you know, I should take my own advice. And so I started, you know, posting pictures to a particular group. Okay. I joined a couple of groups, I always continue to gravitate back towards Chicago House Music Group page. And just, I had been actually videotaping since probably 2015 or before that with the third,

15:33I'm going to start with the, I can't remember the name, but it's the Grand Ballroom event. Over there on Cottage Grove? No, um, the, at the hotel.

15:46And, uh. What year was that? I don't forget the name of the ballroom. It was probably 2012 or 2013 was the last one. It was at, near O'Hara. Oh, oh, the three ballroom parties. The three ballroom, okay. Yes, yes, yes. Three ballroom parties, right. And so I. Rosemont area. Yeah, got it. Okay. And so I started videotaping as far back as then. I've been able to retrieve video from 2015 and just got really interested in, you know,

16:16videotaping. At first it was just to show my, my family and my sorority sisters what I was doing on a particular event. Okay. And so, and then after I joined this group in, um, well, three years ago, I started posting video to it. Right. And then I was asked to consider becoming the administrator at that point. And so. Of the page that you have now. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yes. So who started it? The page was started by David Yusuf. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. That is. Yeah. And he's actually not in Illinois.

16:48He's in California. Okay. And so, and he just asked me if I'd be interested. And I initially said, well, I don't know what that means, but I'll try. So what does it mean to have a page? Well, I mean, I, I, I, I mean, I said at the beginning, you know, you've got like over 10,000 members. Mm-hmm. Uh, so these are people who bought, who opt in, who you have to approve to be a part of this fan group. So, like, let us know what, what does that mean exactly? Well, when I joined the page, we were somewhere between 65 and 120 members.

17:22Okay. I started tracking it at 120. Okay. And then, um, I was able to grow the page to almost 10,000 within under three years. Yes. And basically, um, they're a fan group of house music. Okay. And so people who just love house music. And so what's the advantage of like, I mean, are there any, is there anybody you turn down? Like if someone says, I want to join your group, I, you know, what's the screening process for, for this group?

17:52Some people, when they're joining because of the word house and they're really trying to sell real estate. Oh, yeah. You turn them down. Yeah. And so I make them aware that, you know, this is about house music and, you know, not about trying to sell homes. Interesting. And what I have to do sometimes is remove people from the group. Ah, okay. You know, usually I will accept everyone, but if they engage in, you know, certain behavior, then I will remove them. I, I, I've got to know why somebody would get removed from that page.

18:24Um, you, you don't have to name any names, but like, give me an example of, of a behavior that would warrant removal. Really? Yeah. Or selling drugs. Selling drugs. Selling anything. What? Without permission. And someone constantly being negative about anything that's going on. Okay. People attacking other people. Yeah. People attacking other people. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I've seen that. I know a couple of those guys. Mm. So, I'll talk to you. And then usually I'll give a warning. Uh-huh. And then I'll even put them on, um, like, restriction.

18:57Okay. So they can't post without approval. Yeah. But if it's constant violations, then, you know, you're not a good fit. And I can understand why, why, uh, DJs, uh, promoters would want to be a part of it because you are a, you have a growing audience. And so they, that, that gives them an outlet to promote themselves in a way. And you're smirking. You're smirking because. Because it was such, um, a challenge getting DJs to join initially. Really?

19:27Yeah, I would wake up at, like, five o'clock in the morning and see, um, a particularly DJ's name, I'd wake him up, like, look who joined, you know, just the excitement about it. But, you know, it was slow initially. Really? So that's the. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I guess people get invitations to do things, but then after a while, uh, I'm sure people would reach out to you, like, I want to be a part of this. Yes. Part of this club. Mm-hmm. As it were. They sure do. So, I want to talk about your, your ideas, you know, as a historian, you know, so this

20:00is something that evolved over time, um, a short period of time, because you've only been doing this for, what, 12 years or so? No. Longer. The page? The page, only three years. Or videotaping. No, the videotaping. Oh, as far as videotaping. You started out in, like, 12, 2012, 13? I would say that. It was about 12, 13, but it wasn't to this magnitude. No, no, no, no, no, no. It was just for keepsake memory type of stuff. Yeah, and then, and then you decided to create a community, or to expand a community.

20:31Right. Around like-minded folks, because it feels to me like a, you know, I talk about, like, what DJing means to me when I was younger. It was like my source of money, you know, it was my, most, you know, a big part of my income. Um, and as, as I've gotten older, income is important, and, and I don't, you know, want to poo-poo that, but it really has become more my artistic expression. Like, it's a way for me to stay connected to the community, you know, express art in the way that I do. How do you see this, what, what role does this have in your lives?

21:04You want to answer that first? Hmm.

21:09Well, starting to create this, uh, was, uh, attention reliever. Okay. So, there was so much going on that we needed something to relax. So, we would go to a party. Mm-hmm. We'd videotape. We'd come back, we'd watch it. Mm-hmm. Have a good time. We had a good time at the party. Party was good, you know. Okay. Well, then, it turned into something that we did every weekend.

21:40Mm-hmm. So, we would go out on the weekends, and then it quickly turned into something that, hey, there's something going on here on, on Monday, then there's something going on over here on Friday, and it's just going to go on Saturday, here on Sunday, and then, and then when the summer hits. That's a lot of going out. You got all these picnics going on. Listen. And you're trying to hit all these different picnics, and it was, it was great. Read it by the day. It was, it was great doing it. Had a lot of fun.

22:11It actually brought the energy back in to both of us. That's great. Because I was coming off of sickness, and she's coming off her mother passing, and, you know. God bless you. I appreciate it. Yes. And I was sick for a long time, and then sitting here, two depressed people, let's pull out something together. House music will do that. And that's what it did. That's what it's doing.

22:42So it's a stress reliever. It was a way to sort of heal yourselves in sort of a way. And also, I mean, listen, community can do that, and having a purpose in community can do that. Like, I mean, you have a functional, a thing, a service. You know, I call it like a service. You know, because you are. It's a ministry of sorts, right? So it's less about generating revenue, although I'm guessing that the revenue piece, does that have, does that enter into it at all? Is this a way that people can make money? Well, we're not making money right now.

23:12We are working on that. We're working on that. Because the cost of doing it, you know, anything from gas, parking. I can imagine. Any and all of that. So I'm just moving into a professional status on Facebook, where now they're starting to pay something. It's like a penny a star, but, you know, it's a star. So, yeah, I've been trying to figure out how to do that.

23:43She's like, I'm trying to like leave directions. This is what you do. I say, when I see Lisa, she'll give me a tutorial on how to leave stars. So a way to get, to boost the post and to get Facebook to notice you is by doing these stars. Yes. So explain that to people who are your fans and who are out there. I'm going to ask you all, if you're listening, you know, go to, and you have Facebook, go to the Chicago House Music Group page. And I don't think you have to join in order to watch the videos, or do you?

24:15Well, actually, the videos are initially posted to my individual page, and then transferred over to the group page. Right. So if someone wanted to just help boost that, should they try to join the group page? Well, I would love both. Okay. So you go to Lisa Calloway. We want to keep growing our group members, but they can start with Lisa Calloway. Start with Lisa Calloway. And I'm going to actually post the group page again to the page. All right. And she'll post the group page. So if you're listening or if you're watching, make sure you're part of this audience, because

24:47it really does help promote Chicago House Music. I don't know if you're exclusively doing Chicago House. I don't know how you will have time to do anything else as much as you did last year. I recently started posting to TikTok and to YouTube. Okay. Yeah. But you're doing, but you're primarily focused on Chicago House, right? Yes, and I do post to some other pages, but Chicago House Music Group page is our primary. That's what's up. That's what's up. I want to mention one thing.

25:17Yes. How I actually started doing this was I decided that I was going to celebrate my birthday. Okay. And I think I initially posted that I was going to celebrate all month or something like that. And one of my sisters said to me, well, why not all year? Now, I'm not sure if she meant that. I think she was being sarcastic. But I was like, okay, no, it was all month because initially I said I was going to do all week. And she said, why not all month? And so we did exactly that. And then all month turned into where we're at now.

25:48All three years. Yeah. So I'm doing, you know, several events every week. I think our record is five a day, maybe six, five. Yeah. That's a lot of running around. Yeah. You need to raise some money, you know? We do. I need to be doing some more spending too. There you go. I need to get back out. Okay. Come on now. Put some more tracks out. Yeah. You know, it's hard to make money in this business. I tell you, it's like, you got to tour. You got to make, although I hear AI is people doing AI tracks are making a killing, but

26:23that's a topic for a different day. Right. Don't you want to mention your tracks? You can mention whatever you want. Of course. Well, you know, I don't know. People don't know. Well, you will know that I am the voice of No Name.

26:42We made a song called Jason's Revenge. Okay. And it started with Jason's watching. And I am that voice. And then we did Hypnotic House. Okay. We did Love Tracks. Nice. Which my partner Sean Chagag had his sister Barbara do the vocals in that song. Okay. And then we did No Name, Living on the Dark Side. Nice.

27:12And then that was one of the last tracks we did as No Name. Well, we'll put those in the, well, let's, do we have, can we have links or do you have links to those that we can put in our feed here? I can get that for you. That'll be great. I can get that. All right. So definitely, and where can people find this music?

27:32Wow. See, I'm going to have to start posting that type of stuff. Actually, it is on, it's in YouTube. So you can post it on the group page? I can put it on the group page. There we go. Another reason to go there. Right. David's Tracks. I can put my tracks on the group page. Which I have. But see, and yeah, she is. That's good. She is. All right. So let's get into, let's get into the events. Because that was, you know, one of the things that, I mean, first of all, thank you, Lisa,

28:06for quantifying. I asked Lisa a simple question. I said, listen, I want you to, like, just tell me your top events. Because you've seen so much. Like, if anybody can say what's good, you know, really objectively, it would be you. Because you've seen a lot. You experience probably more, more of these events than anybody I know. And, you know, what would stand out for you. And bless her heart, she sent me, like, literally every event. And I'm like, oh my God, this is a book. So, so I'd have some notes.

28:38But before we even get into the actual events, I did want to ask you, what is it that, you know, you, you, you capture these events, you post the videos, you edit, you do all of this. You know, what is it that captures your attention most? I noticed that you like to tape everything. You tape the conversations people are having. You, you're, you're taping the DJs. You're taping the dancers. I think I know, I feel like I know the answer to this, but I want, but I'm on a test my own ESP.

29:10Is that what it is? What do you, what, what draws you in first?

29:17People being natural. So, okay. That's vague. Okay. You'll be naturally smoking weed. Sometimes. All the time. Sometimes I pop it on video. And then if someone says, hey, you know, can you not post that, then I won't post it. Okay. But some, I mean, it's, it's legal. So people really don't care anymore. All right. So say more about that. So you walk into a room, let's say it's, it's just a party where there's a couple hundred people there. Hey, Lisa, you know, you, you got your camera out.

29:48What are you going for first? I'm going for people enjoying themselves. Okay. And so, you know, sometimes I make it a point to, well, I was going to say, I make it a point to start with the DJ. I don't, I'm not always able to do that. So it's just whatever's going on in the room. Yeah. People genuinely feeling, you know, the feeling house music. And I've noticed that you will focus on an individual sometimes when you see a person who is just like lost in the music, like you kind of hone in on, on that person. And it, it, it really works because I think people like to watch that.

30:22They like to see people sort of like lose control a little bit, you know, I do. See, I thought so. So what, when, when people, um, I noticed that, uh, when you do posts there, there are some, some posts that get a lot of traction and there's a lot of questions on it. Like what, what are the, what are people commenting on? What are they saying on these posts? Like, can you name that track? Yeah. I saw that a lot. I'm not Shazam.

30:53She's like, I'm not a DJ. And I'm not a DJ. I try to provide if I can, but you know, so, but, so that's a big question. Tell them to Shazam it. You can Shazam it from your phone. So, and not always, cause some of those are original tracks. Right. Right. Yeah. I saw that on one of the posts that you posted with me and you're like, look, several people have answered this question. Like, quit asking me who made the track. And then the maker of the track post is my track. It is not released.

31:24And it will not be released, but thank you. I said, I said, I think that you are probably responsible for a lot of Shazams and downloads. You know what I'm saying? I mean, as a, as a DJ, if, if I'm producing a song, I, they should be flattered. You know what I'm saying? If it sort of makes it there, you've got an audience of at least 10,000 people. So, you know what I mean? That's, that's a pretty, that's a big deal as far as I'm concerned. Okay. Let's get into the events and I'm going to go backwards to, I'll start from the end of

31:59the year and we'll go to the beginning of the year. You named a lot of things. Now, before I even go there though, how many events did you do just last year? Cause we're just talking about one year. I don't know. If you had to guess. About 200. Wow. But how do you have time to see patients?

32:18She's like, I make, I make time. Yes. But I have to admit, I've kind of, um, I focused more on the page this year. Um, but now I'm going to have to do more of a, or last year, I'm going to have to kind of do an equal thing because, you know, you're missing, I'd be able to survive. Well, yeah. I was going to say, you're missing your patients or paychecks? Both. But I love my patients. Well, I like my patients, so, most of them. She went from love to like to some, okay?

32:51Some can be a challenge. Well, you know, that's a tough field. Yeah. That's a tough field. I give you many props for that. And I do a lot of mandatory referrals. Mandatory referrals. Okay, so like the courts, like, what does that mean? Um, it could be the courts. It could be, um, their employers. Employers. Okay. All right. So you need to, you need to see these folks. Right. Well, they need to see me. Or they need to consider whether they're going to continue working for their company. Okay, so I'm going to digress for just one hot second because it is Oscar season.

33:22And some years I'm into it and some years I'm not. This year I'm particularly into it because there's more black actors and black movies and directors that are involved. So that makes me more interested. And I watched this crazy movie, Um, If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You. Sounds interesting. As a mental health professional, I would be very interested in your opinion. Is anybody else interested in the Oscars? I am very curious. I am. This year, um, I love all forms of art.

33:54But I'm also interested in how well the movie that we just, I just watched, um, two days ago for the first time. Which one? Um, Sinners. Oh, you just watched Sinners? Yeah. What did you think? I thought it was interesting. Yeah. Um, I need to watch it again because I have some questions. So. What questions do you have? And nobody agrees with me. I was trying to figure out why. We're talking about Sinners. Well, I was trying to figure out why the part where, um, the woman comes back. Yes. Holding a baby.

34:24To let him know. I'm like, okay. And I was still trying to figure out. So is this cousin person, was that really maybe his child? That was his child. The, the cousin? The, the, the older guy that they were trying to keep saying. Oh, now, now, I need to watch it. When he was on his knees. Oh, that's his wife and his baby. Right. But, you know, they hadn't had a baby before she was killed. They were, they were passed away, both of them. Right. So how, so I was trying to figure out how did they have a baby if they're both deceased or, um.

34:55No, no, no, they had a baby. The baby was gone. The baby, the baby, exactly. Before. The baby had gone before, before he was, even came back to the city. Right. It died? Yes. Remember when, when he saw each other in the shack. Okay. And he was, she was talking about the roots and all that. He was like, well, how come you didn't, how come that didn't save our child? Okay. I missed that part. That is a crucial. I need to watch it again. Crucial element. Honestly, that was one of my favorite scenes. I, Wumi, Wumi, what's her name?

35:27Wumi, the, the actress who plays the wife. She's, I just love her in everything she does. She's my avatar on, on Prime Video. You know how you have your, she's my avatar. Okay. Anyway, uh, you'll know her when you see her. All right. So let's get into the parties. So you had a lot of events, uh, end of the year, end of the year, a lot of cool things. Um, I was going to rattle some off. Um, there was piggies, barbecue and wings and you can stop me. The reunion Haven, Revels Supper Club, St. Patrick's House, Bourbon on Division.

36:01I was there. Was that the one I was at? Jean. I was like, okay, yeah, I remember that. So December was a good, a good month. Anything stood out for you? Like end of the year events. And why? So before December, before January 1st. Yeah. Okay. So, Haven. Yeah. Definitely. So, um, and that was the reunion. I mean, amazing sound system. Yeah. Yes. To the team. Great people. Uh-huh. Really wonderful vibe.

36:31That's great. Who was the DJ there? Um, well, DJ Emmanuel. Yeah, that's my boy. Okay. Their tag team. Oh, you got it right. Yeah. Um, their tag team was off the chain. What do you think about tag teams? I enjoy them. They're nice. I enjoy them. Yeah. Initially, I thought it was more of a battle. They test each, where each other going to go. Yeah. You see. And then it also, see who's going to stay in that genre. Mm-hmm. The longest.

37:01Okay. That's interesting. You see. Now, if it, if it kind of turns into a battle, kind of, you know. Yeah. You say, okay, what you going to play? Yeah. I'm going to put this down. Now, where are you going? Yeah. Okay, where are you going? Yeah. And then, all of a sudden, you know how you be playing, and all of a sudden, you go into something else. That's like, oh, man, why you, why you stop? Yeah. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So, you know, that did not happen. You were going to say, Lisa. You did not. I know, since you've been in some.

37:33Tag teams. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. What do you enjoy, Bob? Oh, listen, she's turning the tables. See, that's what she does. I, you know, I kind of like to stay in a similar vibe with whoever I'm playing with. Otherwise, it feels like a battle. Like, it's like, how do we personalize it? So, it's my vibe and your vibe. I think, like, there's a couple people who I love. I love, I tag team with my good girls all the time, and we mix it up.

38:03But, like, when I do Alan King, we've done, Alan King and I have done tag team a couple times, and I've also tag team with DJ Alicia, you know, a few other folks. And I really do like certain DJs that I just, I vibe with. And we have a different style, but it's like, when we get on that track, we're kind of like, okay, here's how we're going. And it sort of stays in the same groove. Right. Now, that's my perception. What do you notice? I agree with you. I mean, I love watching you with Alicia and with Alan King.

38:37Oh, see. I got the sale of approval. And then, you know, I do enjoy battles as well. I haven't seen a lot of those lately. Yeah. But I have to admit, I do enjoy. Yeah. Battles, it's interesting because you don't see them as much, at least I don't. You go to 200 parties a year, you know, I go to 20. But I think that when we were younger, like, in the early, that's all you did. That's all you did. Like, everybody was doing, every party was a battle. You know, like, it was. We used to battle for equipment.

39:08It was just, it was relentless. Like, okay, it's another battle. And it wasn't serious. It's like, you know, it'd be like, okay, 10 DJs. What are y'all going to do? You know, you'd play for 20 minutes and then they'd crown a winner. But whatever. Okay. So, December was Haven. Haven wins for December. Okay. Now, let's get back. Let's get into a couple of other things. You really enjoy DJ TJ. He's a 22-year-old who likes to spin house music. So, DJ TJ. I haven't heard of him.

39:38I hadn't either. He's a newcomer coming up out of, what's the town? Well, he spins it in Countryside. At Countryside. Countryside. At Rebel, yeah. Okay. Which used to be Cabin on the Green. Oh, okay. Or Cabin in La Grange. Or in La Grange. Okay. Cabin in La Grange. And he spins house music, like, classic stuff, mix. Yes. Okay. He's pretty decent. I think we always get that attention. When you see a young person doing classics, it's like, oh. Right. You want to see where he's going.

40:08They know some old people. So, they know how to appeal to their crowd. His parents are incredible. I mean, they're basically his promoter. Oh, wow.