Speaker 1: Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic
Speaker 1: episode was produced by the team at Pandora. What's up, y'all?
Speaker 1: This is QLs classic. My name is Questlove. One of
Speaker 1: my favorite people ever, Sila Escabido. This is from twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: December thirteenth. Yeah, man, Sheila is you know, has killed
Speaker 1: the game for the last well, you know, four or
Speaker 1: five decades. It's one of the greatest drummers. And this
Speaker 1: is modern music. She's really really made a name for
Speaker 1: herself from her humble beginnings playing with her family of course,
Speaker 1: her time with Prince, and her time after Prince as
Speaker 1: a percussionist and session musician and a solo artist in
Speaker 1: her own right. It's definitely a fun time. She's a
Speaker 1: great storyteller. Let's get into it. This is Chila e
Speaker 1: quest Loves Supreme PLS classic from twenty seventeen. All right, okay,
Speaker 1: here you go. Who already?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: What two? Three?
Speaker 3: Supremo Suprema roll called Suprema Suprema.
Speaker 1: Roll called Suprema Supremo. Roll call Supreme Supremo roll? Some
Speaker 1: call me eyeball? Yeah, w nineteen jobs? Yeah, everybody stop
Speaker 1: on the one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I knew I was going to mm hmmm find docs.
Speaker 1: How you doing, Sheila?
Speaker 2: Good God see you still I didn't know, but that's
Speaker 2: what we would do.
Speaker 1: Damn it, good God.
Speaker 5: My name is Sugar Yeah with Sheila E. Yeah, if
Speaker 5: we got married, Yeah, I'd be sugary.
Speaker 1: Supreme roll so Supreme roll boss. Milla wanted to be
Speaker 1: a percussionist.
Speaker 3: Yeah when at the age of six, sore Sheila bound
Speaker 3: some sticks you supreme rolls.
Speaker 6: Yeah with Queen Sheila.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this ain't gonna be quick because I want to
Speaker 4: talk about dookie sick.
Speaker 5: A roll call.
Speaker 1: Suppreme.
Speaker 2: My role called My name is Sheila. Yeah, I am
Speaker 2: the queena. Yeah, a cushion.
Speaker 7: Yeah, no discussing supremo Supreme Supreme.
Speaker 1: Wow. I actually I wanted to say that I don't
Speaker 1: think there's any word in the English language that rhymes
Speaker 1: with Sheila.
Speaker 8: You gonna say dookie, Okay, No, Sarah, there's there's there's
Speaker 8: no word that Sheila might be the most unique Namela.
Speaker 1: No, I'm serious, Like I literally for at least two
Speaker 1: hours last night. Yeah, there's nothing a rhymesa it.
Speaker 5: Took you two hours?
Speaker 1: Then I just said, I gentlemen, feel a sneakers Okay,
Speaker 1: so next episode I'll rhyme it with Fila. Anyway, Ladies
Speaker 1: and gentlemen, who I will say that, Yeah, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep my composer. If you were probably to compile and
Speaker 1: gather uh probably the modern rock top three list for
Speaker 1: drummers or percussionists, I guarantee you that our next guest,
Speaker 1: uh well, no doubt always be placed on that list.
Speaker 1: Her name and her legacy, I believe is synonymous with
Speaker 1: uh drumming excellence, band leader excellence and truth be told
Speaker 1: as many times as I've ever name dropped as influences
Speaker 1: either Tony Williams or Clyde Stubblefield or John Starks or whoever,
Speaker 1: uh truth be told pro Probably you know Sheila E
Speaker 1: is my drumming hero. Like I've I've done many hours
Speaker 1: practicing and studying and practicing and practicing, and you know
Speaker 1: she never ever gets her props. I mean as a
Speaker 1: as a session ah, as a session musician. The roster
Speaker 1: is endless, from from George Duke to Marvin Gaye, the
Speaker 1: Lionel Richie Dinah Ross to Kenny Loggins to Phil Collins
Speaker 1: to Jennifer Love Hewitt, Quincy Jones. We know this homework. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the list is endless, and you know even in the
Speaker 1: art as an artist in her own right. I mean
Speaker 1: she has an amazing uh diverse discography lasting over the
Speaker 1: last four decades, from Alms with her father pescaveto of
Speaker 1: course to the Grace of all Time with Prince and
Speaker 1: again it's it's absolutely endless. Uh. Your new project, which
Speaker 1: I believe is iconic, Yes, formally called Boy versus Girl
Speaker 1: or that was I thought it was initially.
Speaker 2: Called No No, No, that was that was another record
Speaker 2: that was after Prince pass.
Speaker 1: I see, so Girl, Me's Boy. I'm sorry, but your
Speaker 1: new how iconic is in the stories now and everyone
Speaker 1: from Freddie Stone to put Collins and everybody's on this record,
Speaker 1: even Ringo star ladies and gentlemen. Please welcome she the
Speaker 1: quest left Supreme.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Shout shout out to Fante, who's kicking himself right now.
Speaker 1: He's like me when the shock episode happened. Sorry, everyone
Speaker 1: has to and Bill Sherman and yes, I'm paid Bill.
Speaker 5: He's always kicking himself, kicking both.
Speaker 1: Of you guys. How are you today show? I appreciate
Speaker 1: you doing this for me on know that you've been
Speaker 1: up since zero clock in the morning.
Speaker 2: That's true. Two hours. Hey, anything for you.
Speaker 1: You know. But I also I was telling them that,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not saying that the sleepless streak you pasted,
Speaker 1: but you're you're the queen of this. You've done many me.
Speaker 1: I learned it from y'all, Like you know, who needs sleep. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, I'm just saying, but I appreciate you for.
Speaker 2: Being no, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: That's awesome.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm looking at the clock and realizing that my
Speaker 1: intro took seven minutes.
Speaker 6: It's only right, though you talk, It's only right.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well I want let's let's start right into it.
Speaker 1: For those that don't know about your history. Could you
Speaker 1: tell our audience where you were born?
Speaker 2: Oakland, California, Oaktown, Califuna Area, born and raised. Uh, My
Speaker 2: dad Pete Escavito, still playing, still alive. My mom Janita
Speaker 2: Marie guard Deer Escavte, still crazy. They had their sixty
Speaker 2: first anniversary yesterday, sixty one years being married. That's a
Speaker 2: miracle right there. What sixty one years? Yeah, and Pops
Speaker 2: are still playing percussion and playing with his band, and
Speaker 2: so it's awesome. I have two brothers, warning Peter, Michael,
Speaker 2: and his sister Zena, and and about five billion family
Speaker 2: members and I'm not exaggerating.
Speaker 1: Cousins and the's nephews forever. Every week you meet somebody,
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, I'm your cousin from No, no, that
Speaker 1: is true, and you just gotta believe him.
Speaker 2: No, it's mostly true. We find I'm not even joking.
Speaker 2: It's most right, Britt, It's mostly true every time. I mean, seriously,
Speaker 2: I go somewhere. Okay, you got to prove it. Okay, Well,
Speaker 2: my mom da da da da da. So I'm your
Speaker 2: third cousin. I'm like, wow, you do look like that
Speaker 2: is okay, You're right, it's both sides.
Speaker 1: Have been so lucky. All my cousin situations have not
Speaker 1: you know, worked out well.
Speaker 6: Plus I have all kinds of funky mixes in your family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which is yeah, we have everything and everybody. Yeah, Mexican, Creole,
Speaker 2: Puerto Rican, Cuban, Filipino, Japanese, German, French.
Speaker 1: Related to y'all literally are the world.
Speaker 2: We are the world.
Speaker 1: Literally, yes, we is so okay. You'd said that you're
Speaker 1: Oakland born and raised, so I gotta ask you, you know,
Speaker 1: because I go out to Oakland a lot. Well, I
Speaker 1: guess fever missed if I didn't say that Pandora or
Speaker 1: our parent company right right, is located in Oakland, which
Speaker 1: which is why I'm out there often, and I'm often
Speaker 1: told by people that, you know, the Oakland of twenty
Speaker 1: seventeen is definitely not what Oakland was or the Bay
Speaker 1: Area in general. So what are you what are your
Speaker 1: feelings of the the current metamorphosis of what Oakland has
Speaker 1: become from what it was to what it is now.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, right now, it's pretty pretty challenging because
Speaker 2: all of the tech you know, and companies like Pandora
Speaker 2: and different things like that, and Apple and everything else.
Speaker 2: A lot of the people who are building all of
Speaker 2: these things have moved the people, some of the people
Speaker 2: out of the way and places where they used to
Speaker 2: live that they can't afford it anymore. So, I mean
Speaker 2: there's some places in the hood I can't believe that
Speaker 2: are a million dollars and they're not even worth thirty
Speaker 2: five thousand dollars. So the money's gone up as far
Speaker 2: as pricing housing, So a lot of people are having
Speaker 2: to move out of the Bay, you know, further out
Speaker 2: into like Valayo or even past Richmond, but Valayo, Sacramento,
Speaker 2: different places like that, Fremont, mial Pedis because they can't
Speaker 2: afford it. And then at the same time, like my foundation,
Speaker 2: we're partnering. We partner with five in Oakland. We started
Speaker 2: Elevate Oakland with Elevate Hope. So there's like three of
Speaker 2: us together just trying to keep music and arts and
Speaker 2: the schools in the Bay because we just don't have
Speaker 2: enough help, especially in the hood in the community where
Speaker 2: they really need us, and they're ending up dividing the schools.
Speaker 2: Instead of it being one school, they're dividing it to
Speaker 2: two and sometimes three schools because there's too many kids
Speaker 2: and not enough teachers. So a lot of the teachers,
Speaker 2: they're really good teachers, don't want to go in the community,
Speaker 2: and we get small pickings from choosing a great teacher
Speaker 2: who would like to come and help our students. So
Speaker 2: I've been you know, it's changed a lot even for us,
Speaker 2: like what we've been doing to help some of the
Speaker 2: schools and stuff and try to keep the kids and
Speaker 2: get them involved in music and arts because the music
Speaker 2: and arts have been take you know, a lot of schools.
Speaker 2: We hire a lot of the Bayery musicians, you know,
Speaker 2: and if they're in town, we hire them to do
Speaker 2: artists and residents. So they come, you know, to to
Speaker 2: fod to six times in a month for like a
Speaker 2: couple of months if they're available, and we pay them
Speaker 2: to help assist the teacher and teaching classes and Afro
Speaker 2: Cuban hip hop whatever it may be. So that changed
Speaker 2: we were we didn't do that early on. There was
Speaker 2: music in school when I was growing up, you know,
Speaker 2: and now there's there's that need. There are a few
Speaker 2: charter schools and stuff, but a lot of the kids
Speaker 2: there there's nowhere for them to go, so we need
Speaker 2: to fix what's happening. So to me, that's changed tremendously.
Speaker 1: So you're saying that during your time period in school,
Speaker 1: it was typical for music appreciation class and lessons like
Speaker 1: you can't go to a performing art schools.
Speaker 2: No, well we couldn't afford it either. No, No, we
Speaker 2: just learned in school. We have music in arts in school,
Speaker 2: but I mean most of my learning music was in
Speaker 2: the house watching pop play.
Speaker 1: So okay, yeah, so I mean describe that because you know,
Speaker 1: there's rarely arts that are here that come from that environment.
Speaker 1: What is it at least, why is it important for
Speaker 1: music in the school systems?
Speaker 5: Like how.
Speaker 1: When did they like remove that probe? Like the idea
Speaker 1: of taking the arts away? Was it like the mid
Speaker 1: eighties the.
Speaker 2: Lad Wow, I don't even really know, because if it
Speaker 2: seemed like it was about the eighties, I don't know
Speaker 2: for sure. I just noticed that there was a whole
Speaker 2: generation of kids that wanted to learn, and we found
Speaker 2: out that they weren't learning, and they were asking where
Speaker 2: could they go get classes or be taught? Can I
Speaker 2: get a trumpet? And that's when we started raising money,
Speaker 2: like in the nineties, or let's just raise some money
Speaker 2: so we can get the kids instruments. Well then we
Speaker 2: got the instruments, Well, who's going to teach them? You know,
Speaker 2: Well there weren't. They're not enough teachers to teach. So
Speaker 2: then again going back to well let's get some of
Speaker 2: the local musicians, maybe we can have classes with them.
Speaker 2: We went beyond not We didn't go to the superintendent
Speaker 2: of schools and things like that or the district. We
Speaker 2: ended up at that point even in two thousand, we
Speaker 2: ended up going to the schools personally and talking to
Speaker 2: the principals. Hey, we just want to help. Can we
Speaker 2: help you If you guys say yes, we'll just come in.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't we were going to go to
Speaker 2: Sacramento and deal with the whole Supreme Court thing and all.
Speaker 2: It's like, well, no, if you just allow us to
Speaker 2: come in, we'll help. So I think it was around
Speaker 2: eighties or so, and then we started helping in the nineties.
Speaker 2: And again growing up with my parents, Pops always had
Speaker 2: percussion around the house, and you know, and we'd go
Speaker 2: to facilities since I was young and play the foster
Speaker 2: care facilities, the jewy facilities, anything where there were kids
Speaker 2: where they didn't have a lot of help, or they
Speaker 2: would live somewhere you knowerod periodically at these facilities and
Speaker 2: then go home on the weekends or whatever. Some of
Speaker 2: the kids have been abused. So, you know, Pops, even
Speaker 2: though we didn't have much, we would go there when
Speaker 2: I was young, like eight nine years old, and we
Speaker 2: were doing that most of our lives. That's how we
Speaker 2: grew up giving back to the community back then.
Speaker 4: It sounds like the organization that you have is a
Speaker 4: great model for a lot of other major cities because
Speaker 4: I was thinking when you were speaking, the nineties was
Speaker 4: a period when it's happened in most major cities, Like.
Speaker 6: Music was let out of schools.
Speaker 4: That's why the Grammys started their organization and whatnot. But
Speaker 4: do you ever think about like expanding that because there
Speaker 4: are a lot of I just thought it. But that's
Speaker 4: a great idea to have people who have already succeeded
Speaker 4: from the area start an organization for you know, music
Speaker 4: for children.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're trying to build a curriculum now so that
Speaker 2: it works wherever we go. And instead of saying we're
Speaker 2: going to elevate Oakland, we want to elevate San Francisco,
Speaker 2: elevate La elevate Copped, and elevate whatever is. Just elevate
Speaker 2: whatever city. But we have to raise the money. So
Speaker 2: we took a break and trying to raise the money
Speaker 2: so that we can start all over again and and
Speaker 2: get a good board of people and and begin at
Speaker 2: the beginning. So this is the beginning. So and it's
Speaker 2: funny because Phill I'm ready.
Speaker 9: I'm ready.
Speaker 2: I wasn't in the already.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah, you didn't know.
Speaker 6: In a way, there's always more Philly, there's always more
Speaker 6: you can do.
Speaker 1: There's always more, yeah, because I'm coming down the pocket
Speaker 1: with that, so it's kind of hard to do. It's
Speaker 1: kind of hard to do without a sponsor.
Speaker 4: I'm just on the board. I'm just still adding to
Speaker 4: the idea.
Speaker 6: She listened. You know a board, Yeah, a board.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, we start a board and.
Speaker 9: I will.
Speaker 5: Okay, you need to do more like you.
Speaker 1: I will.
Speaker 6: I just don't have the fund, but I definitely have
Speaker 6: the energy. You got the energy and didn't mean to
Speaker 6: cut you off, you did, so.
Speaker 1: What uh, what's your What was your first musical memory?
Speaker 2: Five years old? Playing with my dad? Actually I don't
Speaker 2: remember playing with them as much as I remember getting
Speaker 2: dressed to go play. I was five years old at
Speaker 2: my grandmother's house and my cousins were mad because they
Speaker 2: couldn't go to the club. They're like, well, Sheila's five,
Speaker 2: how come she gets to go. My mom was explaining, well,
Speaker 2: she's gonna play. So I'm getting dressed. I had on
Speaker 2: this white dress with the little white uh socks and
Speaker 2: then the black pant le pant and leather shoes, and
Speaker 2: I remember my mom combed my hair. We got in
Speaker 2: the car. We went to the gig, which is still
Speaker 2: there at the places. It was called Sands Ballroom right.
Speaker 5: On gig you were five, Yeah, gig.
Speaker 2: For real, Like my first gig was five, and I
Speaker 2: remember it like it was yesterday. But anyway, yeah, Sands Ballroom.
Speaker 2: So we go there my mom. We get out of
Speaker 2: the car, and I could hear my dad playing. There
Speaker 2: were these windows up at the top, so you can
Speaker 2: hear the music coming from the place. And as she
Speaker 2: was walking me up the stairs, I can hear the
Speaker 2: music getting louder and louder and louder. And then they
Speaker 2: opened the door and we stood at the door and
Speaker 2: my dad saw us, and they ended the song. And
Speaker 2: then he said, ladies and gentlemen, I want to bring
Speaker 2: up my daughter, Sheila Escavito. She's gonna come and play
Speaker 2: with us. And then I just remember all the people partying,
Speaker 2: like the Red Sea. It was so weird. It's like wow,
Speaker 2: and I'm just looking at everyone. Wow, this is amazing.
Speaker 2: And I remember him picking me up and I was
Speaker 2: gonna play Congress. So the Congress were pretty big, and
Speaker 2: so he stood me on a stool and then I
Speaker 2: don't remember anything else, and he said I was killing it,
Speaker 2: but I don't remember.
Speaker 4: Five year old hand on congress, like I'm just making
Speaker 4: a loud sound. I remember my father's a drummer too,
Speaker 4: and I remember trying but it didn't come out loud
Speaker 4: as I wanted it too, because my hands were too small.
Speaker 6: That's crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say as a drummer, I
Speaker 1: mean I started off from bongos, but really it's well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, it wasn't like there was a drum set
Speaker 1: in the house, but there was like one bongo in
Speaker 1: the house, and I mean I played it a lot.
Speaker 1: But the wear and tear on your hands.
Speaker 2: Especially, no, bongos are horrible to play.
Speaker 1: Why did you choose that?
Speaker 2: I chose congas, not bongos. They're different.
Speaker 5: Still tell him that the difference boos, I don't know.
Speaker 1: He was doing listeners shut up each other. No, but okay,
Speaker 1: so why I didn't know that there is a wear
Speaker 1: and tear difference on your hands.
Speaker 2: Between my god?
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, so explain the difference.
Speaker 5: Then.
Speaker 2: The difference of the bongos are really small and because
Speaker 2: of the drum heads, I'm gonna put this dumb the drumheads,
Speaker 2: they're smaller playing bongos. You're gonna play with half of
Speaker 2: your finger where your finger, uh, your knuckle, you know,
Speaker 2: so that first part of that finger, that's how you
Speaker 2: get that really high snapping sound on the bongles. So
Speaker 2: you're playing everything just you're just playing this, and it
Speaker 2: hurts after a while. Your finger is swollen. I mean,
Speaker 2: my brother's hands used to be so swollen from playing.
Speaker 2: So I would play them too, but they hurt, and congas,
Speaker 2: you end up using more of your hand. I mean,
Speaker 2: you can do that on the bongos, but the sound
Speaker 2: of what you want to get for bongos is really
Speaker 2: the tips of your fingers, and that hurts.
Speaker 4: You have beautiful hands with somebody who does that, thank you.
Speaker 4: And I was looking at your palms, like, look at that,
Speaker 4: no marks, no scars, that's let me suck.
Speaker 2: Is techno soft technok.
Speaker 10: You get treatments on your hands, like to keep them
Speaker 10: softer or anything along those lines.
Speaker 2: No, I do use lotion, but.
Speaker 1: In every household and every.
Speaker 2: Housele now uh no. You know, when I was playing
Speaker 2: every single day, like with George Duke and with my
Speaker 2: dad playing Congress, just mainly playing that as my instrument,
Speaker 2: my hands were bleeding. I'd have to use rage of
Speaker 2: blade to cut the calluses and it was painful. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I remember like this wall right here, This
Speaker 2: is like a concrete wall, and before this shows with
Speaker 2: my dad and with George Duke, because we would play
Speaker 2: every night, I'd have to bang on the wall before
Speaker 2: we went on stage until my hands got numb so
Speaker 2: I could get through the first like two songs, and
Speaker 2: then he'd do a ballad and I have to start
Speaker 2: all over again. It's like so painful, but I loved it,
Speaker 2: not the pain, but the you know, the satisfaction of
Speaker 2: being able to play percussion is.
Speaker 10: Just And when when did you hear of the existence
Speaker 10: of these things called sticks that you can use instead
Speaker 10: of your hands?
Speaker 2: It's not any better.
Speaker 1: Without without going to see the unspoken situation with the
Speaker 1: roots right now? No no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is that you know, is it
Speaker 1: is it? Is it taboo or unspoken or cheating?
Speaker 10: I think it's taboo and cheating if I use those
Speaker 10: things are meant to be played with your hands.
Speaker 2: Why are you answering the question?
Speaker 6: I want to know?
Speaker 1: This is my favorite already.
Speaker 2: No, No, I'm asking because I want to know. Do
Speaker 2: you play.
Speaker 5: We've all used bongos.
Speaker 4: No, she doesn't know your background, like you're a superstar engineers,
Speaker 4: that's what she's asking about.
Speaker 10: I mean, I know the answer is no, but I've
Speaker 10: seen and recorded.
Speaker 5: I've seen and recorded both types.
Speaker 10: People use sticks and don't use sticks, And it's just
Speaker 10: my I guess my opinion that bongos and congress are
Speaker 10: supposed to be played with the hands, and sticks are
Speaker 10: for other percussive things like drums.
Speaker 1: But I well, my question was I always wanted sticks
Speaker 1: because there's a certain loud dynamic that I like when
Speaker 1: sticks hit bongles, just for it, for it. And I
Speaker 1: think it's mostly because of whenever Prints programmed the rim
Speaker 1: shot to be that conga sound, that's the sound I
Speaker 1: always was going for in my head. So thus it
Speaker 1: was like, well, I can't get that with the hand,
Speaker 1: but you keep that with the stick. So that's always
Speaker 1: been my default move. Of course, to the dismay of
Speaker 1: every percussionist watching us, Oh why Y're cheating, Why your
Speaker 1: man is cheating?
Speaker 9: Not not?
Speaker 1: You know that sort of thing. So is it really?
Speaker 5: Is it?
Speaker 9: Truly?
Speaker 1: Because even when you're you're you're at your your setup
Speaker 1: with Timbali's and whatnot, and you're in your your cow
Speaker 1: thoughs it's not like you're gonna put them down.
Speaker 2: And then yes I would.
Speaker 1: So you're saying that is absolutely cheating.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, but I agree with them as well. Let
Speaker 2: me tell you why. Because in traditional music, like traditional
Speaker 2: meaning Latin jazz, also things like you're gonna play bongos
Speaker 2: with your hands, they would kill you if you so
Speaker 2: playing there's no sensitivity to the instrument. Is just going
Speaker 2: to be one tone. You can't get the different tones
Speaker 2: and the feel with sticks. Now, however, when disco music
Speaker 2: came out and more pop music, you would end up
Speaker 2: using sticks, you know, for a different sound. I've done
Speaker 2: it on recordings, but it depends on but I've done
Speaker 2: it too, but it depends on you know what music
Speaker 2: you're gonna play with it. But definitely they were made
Speaker 2: to play with your hands and not sticks.
Speaker 6: Final answer, final answer.
Speaker 2: That is my final answer.
Speaker 10: The real answer to your question, which was why did
Speaker 10: I chime in?
Speaker 2: It's because on this day right there, like talking is
Speaker 2: the most talking, No I want to hear.
Speaker 10: I already said it. I was right, as it turns out,
Speaker 10: Thanks you for I'm a purist. You know you can
Speaker 10: sticks on those things. But you're more famous actually in
Speaker 10: my head for using sticks.
Speaker 1: You know, you just do me. You've been engineer for
Speaker 1: like twenty years. You're just telling me this now.
Speaker 10: But you're I mean, you're more of a drummer, you know,
Speaker 10: than a percussion than a congo bongo player like I.
Speaker 1: Was about to do.
Speaker 6: You play the over thirty.
Speaker 1: You know what, I have the ability to, but until
Speaker 1: I master the sound of I cannot claim that and
Speaker 1: I do not know how to.
Speaker 2: What is that?
Speaker 3: It's like when you rub your fingers. When you rub,
Speaker 3: this a vibration thing. Okay, I've never been able to
Speaker 3: do anything. It's like learning the whistle or like when
Speaker 3: you wolf whistle.
Speaker 6: When on the actually on the drum, you can guess.
Speaker 1: It's a vibration with your fingers. That was what was
Speaker 1: the song?
Speaker 2: Dun't dunt dunk dunk dude. Yeah, Scorpio Scorpio. You practice
Speaker 2: YouTube of course, of course.
Speaker 1: Okay, so how long did you? Because we're big on
Speaker 1: just the one thing I want to convey to my
Speaker 1: listeners is the amount of practice, yeah, that you have
Speaker 1: to put into to master your craft. So in general,
Speaker 1: were you just always jamming in the house or like,
Speaker 1: how much time would you personally practice just isolated and
Speaker 1: that sort of thing, or was it like you had
Speaker 1: to go and practice.
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, no, Actually, like when I played that beat,
Speaker 2: it was if you know, my dad's congos were there.
Speaker 2: The song came out, we got the forty five, and
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, that's dope, let me try that.
Speaker 2: You know, we would just do it, or we'd play it,
Speaker 2: you know, jamming, jamming with bands, or out in the park,
Speaker 2: you know when the street drummers, we'd all get together
Speaker 2: and just play outside. I hate to say that I've
Speaker 2: never practiced today in my life, and I'm sorry for
Speaker 2: those who need.
Speaker 1: I believe you. I believe that you've jammed a lot
Speaker 1: of hours, like and that was your practice, yeah kind
Speaker 1: of yeah, just like the Roots before Foullin. The Roots
Speaker 1: never practice as a band like we just you do
Speaker 1: three hour shows for three hundred and sixty five days
Speaker 1: out the year. Then it's right.
Speaker 6: So you just jam with your family and now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just jamming and stuff. Yeah, but to sit down
Speaker 2: and say I'm going to learn a rhythm and a
Speaker 2: part so I can get better, I'm sorry.
Speaker 8: No.
Speaker 1: See, my parents made me practice to keep me from
Speaker 1: going out on the streets.
Speaker 2: And they did the right thing.
Speaker 1: Right, But I'm saying, like, but you grew up in
Speaker 1: the household with other musicians, so I'm certain that it
Speaker 1: was more like a jamming thing.
Speaker 2: It was. Well, yes, that.
Speaker 1: Weird though, I mean, is it also I I I'm
Speaker 1: not not that I'm big on jamming, but there's something
Speaker 1: very vulnerable about a jam session that makes it very
Speaker 1: hard for me to do in front of people. I know. Okay,
Speaker 1: so the first the first day of taking the Tonight
Speaker 1: Show gig, and it's just the eight of us facing
Speaker 1: each other, sort of like the circle we're in now.
Speaker 1: It was the hardest thing in the world to do. Like,
Speaker 1: I stopped the session after five minutes and called my
Speaker 1: manager like, I don't know what to do, Like, what
Speaker 1: do you just just start playing a song? Like, because
Speaker 1: I think it's it's a it's a vulnerable, intimate thing almost.
Speaker 1: I hate to be creepy with the metaphorical thing, but
Speaker 1: I mean it's like intimacy, and you know, the thing
Speaker 1: is that you have to be on I mean, we're
Speaker 1: on good terms with each other as a band, but
Speaker 1: it's it's sort of like I think that you also
Speaker 1: socially have to be in tune with the person that
Speaker 1: you are playing with in order to get that the
Speaker 1: desired results. And so it's I think that's it's hard.
Speaker 1: So it means that you were able to jam or
Speaker 1: borderline envious, that you're able to like play with your family, like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we grew up like that, So I mean,
Speaker 2: anytime the opportunity, if they were sitting out, let's go play,
Speaker 2: all right, We started getting into this whole thing and
Speaker 2: then taking solos and going into different rhythms and like
Speaker 2: just jamming the house.
Speaker 1: In the backyard outside, absolutely in.
Speaker 2: The house in the backyard, at the parks, down at
Speaker 2: Berkeley College and on telegraph all the time. We were
Speaker 2: at down on the streets just jamming. And the mission
Speaker 2: in San Francisco. Yeah, yeah, for real.
Speaker 6: Where are you? Your brothers and sister like oldest, youngest,
Speaker 6: how does.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm the oldest, My brother Wan, my brother Peter, Michael,
Speaker 2: my sister Zina.
Speaker 4: Because I was wondering why you got I was like,
Speaker 4: how does she get picked out of everybody to go
Speaker 4: jam with dad?
Speaker 2: And do the direct They played too.
Speaker 6: They played It seemed like you guys had a special
Speaker 6: relationship or your dad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was first answer question.
Speaker 1: So how unusual in your childhood was it? For I
Speaker 1: know that drums are normally associated as a more masculine music,
Speaker 1: uh instrument to play, So how unusual was it? Like
Speaker 1: did you get any ribbing whatsoever? Tease like you played
Speaker 1: the drums? Yeah? No, or like why don't you play
Speaker 1: piano or why don't you play guitar?
Speaker 2: Like or people?
Speaker 1: Well, I'm just saying, was there anyone to discourage you, like, well,
Speaker 1: that's not a young lady shouldn't be playing, Like do
Speaker 1: you have a grandmother that said, like, she shouldn't be
Speaker 1: playing the drum.
Speaker 6: Can't wear a dress and play the drums?
Speaker 2: Oh no, my family. No one in the family ever
Speaker 2: said anything.
Speaker 9: So it was a supernatural to supernatural.
Speaker 2: No one ever said my parents, my uncles, cousins, they
Speaker 2: all play. No one ever said you can't play because
Speaker 2: you're a girl, because everyone would pick up something and
Speaker 2: just play. My mom plays guido, she plays a little
Speaker 2: bit of congas, she tap dances. She's sayings. You know,
Speaker 2: it's just an entertaining family. And every time we go
Speaker 2: to a party, even with the family, we'd put on
Speaker 2: Jackson five Temptations whatever, James Brown, and we just start
Speaker 2: imitating people. So we grew up like let's let's who's
Speaker 2: going first, and the and the the way to get
Speaker 2: to the party. Well, in the party, as soon as
Speaker 2: my mom would starts singing Da d everyone start running
Speaker 2: to the living room, it's like time for that's the
Speaker 2: INTROTI oh yeah, oh yeah. Then my mom would break
Speaker 2: right into tap dance and then we'll see who's gonna
Speaker 2: play what record and start dancing. So I was never told.
Speaker 2: Never ever until I left uh the house and started
Speaker 2: performing with other artists did people say things. But even
Speaker 2: in school, no one really said, oh, you know, you
Speaker 2: can't play because you're a girl. I don't. I mean,
Speaker 2: it was always cool. It's like, you know everyone was
Speaker 2: in school was like stope.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean on the other side of the corn,
Speaker 1: like did they make a big deal of it because
Speaker 1: you were dope or you know, it was like yeah,
Speaker 1: every time you play, like like it's a novelty thing
Speaker 1: that we're watching or whatever. Because yes, I think with
Speaker 1: the exception with the exception of what's her name, I
Speaker 1: think her name was Cookie. There was there was a
Speaker 1: Jersey based group in the seventies called Ecstasy, Passion and
Speaker 1: paindess uh, the mom deep sample, the realist do do
Speaker 1: do Do Do Do Do Do Do? I'll play it later,
Speaker 1: but yeah, there's they were. I mean, they had a
Speaker 1: they had a run from like seventy three to seventy six,
Speaker 1: but they did like three appearances on Soul Train. So
Speaker 1: oh wow, that's the first time I saw like a
Speaker 1: woman playing.
Speaker 2: Drums, but she was actually playing drums. Yeah, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I gotta check it out.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I was going to say, did you have
Speaker 1: anyone that you looked up to that was yes, the
Speaker 1: car and cooking? Yeah, did you have anyone that you
Speaker 1: looked up to that was a woman that was playing
Speaker 1: drums when you were coming up at all?
Speaker 2: The only woman that I saw play ever, especially drums,
Speaker 2: was Karen Carpenter when her and her brother had their
Speaker 2: variety show. Yeah, and she was killing it, you know.
Speaker 2: And as soon as I saw around television, I turned
Speaker 2: to Pops and said, how come I don't have a
Speaker 2: TV show like nine or something? What do you mean?
Speaker 2: I said, I played drums. I played just like her.
Speaker 2: How come can't we just get a TV show? He goes, sure,
Speaker 2: you can. I mean it was never like no, you
Speaker 2: can't play because you're a girl that no one else.
Speaker 2: That was never said.
Speaker 1: But in your formative years, did anyone think like, yo,
Speaker 1: there's no one that we know of that can fill
Speaker 1: in the slot and you'll be the first to like
Speaker 1: ye at that time would have been revolutionary. So I'm saying, like, right,
Speaker 1: anyone thinking like dollar signs.
Speaker 2: Like no, we did. Actually, as a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: when I first started playing and sitting in with other
Speaker 2: bands and they wanted to pay me, I thought it
Speaker 2: was disrespectful to pay me because I know it's kind
Speaker 2: of weird. Yeah, I thought it was disrespectful because I
Speaker 2: loved it so much. It's like, don't pay me for
Speaker 2: something I really love. I'm just I just want to
Speaker 2: do it, like this is my passion. I don't And
Speaker 2: then Pop was like, come here.
Speaker 1: He took me in the kitchen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he took me in the kitchen, open the kitchen door, refrigerators,
Speaker 2: like we need some food. You gotta it's okay to
Speaker 2: get paid, It's okay. And I'm like, oh, okay, all right, cool?
Speaker 6: Were you at that moment?
Speaker 2: Fourteen?
Speaker 1: So I was going to ask at what age were
Speaker 1: you when you were like a total Jedi master, as
Speaker 1: in like I could close my eyes and know.
Speaker 2: I haven't got you. I haven't gotten there yet.
Speaker 1: Good answer, Good answer. Now I ask you again, this
Speaker 1: time just dropped.
Speaker 2: No, I'm so serious. I'm being honest.
Speaker 1: I'll ask you, at what age were you when other
Speaker 1: musicians took you? Totally serious as in I want her
Speaker 1: for At what age were you when you started?
Speaker 2: You know, they still sometimes don't take me, sister, can't
Speaker 2: get a call for a gig nowhere me. I'm telling you.
Speaker 4: This because you're They're like, I can't afford I was like, oh.
Speaker 1: I could have called you.
Speaker 2: See that's what happened.
Speaker 6: That's not nothing to do with that's that.
Speaker 1: That's because we're afraid of you.
Speaker 6: You're at a mountain top and now it's about of climbing.
Speaker 2: Is like, yeah, no.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know you're not owning the superhero thing,
Speaker 1: and I know that artists hate the fan worship thing,
Speaker 1: but your your existence is kind of a big deal.
Speaker 2: So no, thank you. I mean I understand it now,
Speaker 2: But seriously, when when growing up, I mean, I didn't
Speaker 2: get it, and I don't think we realized it even
Speaker 2: Pops until later on it's like, okay, well wait a minute.
Speaker 2: You know that wasn't ignoring you.
Speaker 1: That was more like we're not worthy. There was one
Speaker 1: time I think I was going to call you for
Speaker 1: a things and it's only because I saw that you
Speaker 1: did was it loving you? Right? And I saw your
Speaker 1: credit and then I was like, oh, oh, she would,
Speaker 1: she would come down to earth and mess.
Speaker 6: At what point in your life were you thinking like this?
Speaker 4: Because you said, you know now you understand now why
Speaker 4: people weren't calling, But like at.
Speaker 2: Because until I started speaking with people, it's like, you
Speaker 2: know how you doing? Oh? You know? Like and then
Speaker 2: I was like, wait a minute, you know, I'll come
Speaker 2: and do a session. You would, I mean.
Speaker 6: And Stevie wanted to play the piano and no.
Speaker 2: Listen, this guy, this dude, this producer called me. I
Speaker 2: could have slapped him through the phone. He called me
Speaker 2: and he said, hey, Sheila, I just want to know something,
Speaker 2: all right, okay, yeah, what you need I'm doing. I'm
Speaker 2: producing this record on this girl. I want to know
Speaker 2: how to get the Sheila und do you know anybody.
Speaker 1: But you're on the phone with her right now?
Speaker 2: I did. I said, wait a minute, how can you
Speaker 2: my sound you want to you want me to refer
Speaker 2: you to somebody else? Dude.
Speaker 1: Okay, here's another thing, and we're skipping we're skipping the
Speaker 1: line here. But I believe that the the number one
Speaker 1: weapon of the Purple Cloud period or just that period
Speaker 1: with Prince, the number one weapon was mystery and anybody
Speaker 1: associated any at least in my eyes, Like you know,
Speaker 1: when I was ten, eleven twelve, like seeing you guys,
Speaker 1: it was like it was some untouchable. We're too I
Speaker 1: don't mean arrogant, like we're too good for.
Speaker 5: That, but you know, a different world.
Speaker 1: Yeah, even though like that we are the world perception like, oh,
Speaker 1: we never do that, like in our minds, we're just
Speaker 1: like you guys would only do your music and you're
Speaker 1: laughing at us mere mortals like oner.
Speaker 9: Brand kind of like that.
Speaker 2: But we weren't gonna say no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: we you know what the it's weird. It's like it's
Speaker 2: like being in this room, all of us sitting here,
Speaker 2: we just start playing and jamming and next you know,
Speaker 2: four days later you might have cut another record. I mean,
Speaker 2: it was just like we love being in a studio
Speaker 2: and after being with everyone, you know, all the time,
Speaker 2: you kind of forget that there's a world happening, There's
Speaker 2: something's going something is going on. At one point, Prince
Speaker 2: and I just we felt like we're in a bubble,
Speaker 2: and until we woke up at the end of Purple Rain,
Speaker 2: it's like, wait, what just happened? We didn't even we
Speaker 2: didn't understand it at all.
Speaker 1: Okay, so now I know that you're available for session work.
Speaker 1: Was it the important thing?
Speaker 2: Yes? I am.
Speaker 1: So. What was your very first gig as a profession
Speaker 1: professional percussions?
Speaker 2: Pops playing his percussion player got sick. He had a
Speaker 2: band called that Techas signed to Clive Davis. They were
Speaker 2: touring out with Temptations, Stevie, Wonder, earth Wind and Fire.
Speaker 2: Pops's percussion other percussion player got sick and I said,
Speaker 2: I'm fifteen, Pops, I know all the music you know.
Speaker 2: Let me play this show.
Speaker 9: And it was like coach.
Speaker 2: He was like, no, you can't do it. And I
Speaker 2: was like, Pops, come on, why. He said, you're only fifteen.
Speaker 2: You can't you know they're out on tour with all
Speaker 2: these bands. No, you can't do it. You're only fifteen
Speaker 2: years old. And I said, moms, Pops won't let me
Speaker 2: play in the band. Well, thank you. So I got
Speaker 2: my way, and so I played that show in San
Speaker 2: Francisco for I think it was then Mayor Moscone, I think,
Speaker 2: and it was for three thousand people, and the band
Speaker 2: was killing, like you know, fifteen years old. Like I've
Speaker 2: been playing with these a couple of other bands and
Speaker 2: they were like knockoffs of Santana music. So we knew
Speaker 2: all that stuff. And my dad was in Santana right
Speaker 2: before having the band ass Teca, and that band ass
Speaker 2: Teca was formed with when Santana's band broke up, Carlos
Speaker 2: broke up his band half the band with my dad,
Speaker 2: Neil Sean, Lenny White on drums. All those people were
Speaker 2: for a journey or huh okay yep. So they were
Speaker 2: playing with my dad in Azteca, and so you got
Speaker 2: this caliber of musicians in these people playing with an
Speaker 2: eighteen piece, you know, five six horns, three singers, three
Speaker 2: percussion players, to keyboard players to guitar players. I mean,
Speaker 2: it was insane and all this music and it's like
Speaker 2: I wanted to play in that band, So I got
Speaker 2: to play in the band. And it just brings you
Speaker 2: if you're set in a place where it's going to
Speaker 2: force you to go somewhere you've never been before. You know,
Speaker 2: I wanted to make sure that I was there representing,
Speaker 2: and I mean I went for it. Well. You know,
Speaker 2: my dad turned to me at one point and he said,
Speaker 2: you know, I want you to take a solo, you know,
Speaker 2: like he's gesturing to me, you know, play from your heart.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm so scared. I closed my eyes and
Speaker 2: I started playing a solo and I black. I felt
Speaker 2: like a blackdown. I just left the planet. And next
Speaker 2: thing I know, I remember looking up in the sky.
Speaker 2: I was up in the sky like floating, looking at myself,
Speaker 2: playing in the looking at the entire room with my
Speaker 2: dad looking at me. I'm looking at him, and the
Speaker 2: crowd is just starting to roar it and I saw
Speaker 2: it like from above. It was so weird. And I
Speaker 2: when I finally with my eyes, did I realize, like
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, you know, like in a movie
Speaker 2: and you hear the music like coming back in out
Speaker 2: of nowhere. That's how I felt. And then I started
Speaker 2: shaking because I got scared, like wait, did I just
Speaker 2: find what happened? You know? And I felt like it
Speaker 2: was an out of body experience and my hands were shaking,
Speaker 2: and at the end of my soul, I looked at
Speaker 2: Pops and I was I just started crying while I'm
Speaker 2: still playing. And then I heard the roar of the
Speaker 2: crowd and just like and it just got loud and
Speaker 2: there was a standing ovation and I was like, I
Speaker 2: don't even know what's I was just looking. I was
Speaker 2: just crying like crazy. When we ended the song, the
Speaker 2: show stopped, went backstage, and I was like, Pop's daddy, Daddy,
Speaker 2: I'm going out on tour with you. This is what
Speaker 2: I want to do.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to do.
Speaker 4: I know, and I know what I know this is
Speaker 4: It was that the first thing, the last time you
Speaker 4: had that feeling at that moment.
Speaker 2: No, that was the beginning of my purpose. That was
Speaker 2: the beginning. And Pops looked at me and then we
Speaker 2: hugged and we just started crying. He's like, I don't
Speaker 2: even know, how do you know all this? I was like,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I think I was watching you on
Speaker 2: like a sponge. I don't know. We had no idea,
Speaker 2: like all of a sudden, just kind of jamming with
Speaker 2: a local band for six months and then I went
Speaker 2: from that local band to professionalism. I don't know.
Speaker 1: So, Okay, this is definitely the I.
Speaker 10: Gotta get a nice Techa record, bro man.
Speaker 2: There's two of them. You have to hear it. It's amazing.
Speaker 2: Seventy six five something like that. Seventy five four.
Speaker 1: Okay, So you as a drummer and as a musician.
Speaker 1: I was going to say that the one thing that
Speaker 1: I think that you won't ever able to be, that
Speaker 1: you'll never be able to avoid is the solo. Now
Speaker 1: that's the dividing line between you and I because think
Speaker 1: I've made a life and a career on the most
Speaker 1: minimalist kind of approach to drumming.
Speaker 2: That's a huge gift to have. It's a it's a
Speaker 2: dangerous gift and a big responsibility.
Speaker 1: I know it's a dangerous gift. But the thing is
Speaker 1: is that in my age and as I get older,
Speaker 1: like okay, so when I was in my twenties and
Speaker 1: my thirties or whatever, especially uh, the way that my
Speaker 1: arms are now with uh.
Speaker 9: When you carbletonnel and everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's so painful now to take solo. So
Speaker 1: it's like I'm taking them less and less on youtubes.
Speaker 1: How are you, especially when most of your solos have
Speaker 1: to have this you know this this climatic uh uh,
Speaker 1: climactic applause from the audience. How are you able? Like
Speaker 1: do you not? Do you have a fear of soloing
Speaker 1: or no? Just but it's always expected of you, Yesela,
Speaker 1: and the music stops like go ahead, and.
Speaker 6: Yours has to be extra acrobatic, like it's always.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to be You're not even zero to ten.
Speaker 1: You have to go from zero to utter bond. You
Speaker 1: gotta go to zero autobond in like five minutes. And
Speaker 1: I'm just saying not even physicality or with with with
Speaker 1: with age, whatever, but maybe there's just some nights you
Speaker 1: don't feel like turning it on and like, but that's
Speaker 1: pressure because you have to go from zero to a gazillion.
Speaker 1: It's expected of you at least two minutes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting because I don't I don't think of
Speaker 2: it as an I've got to be on on and
Speaker 2: off or I don't feel like it. I've never put
Speaker 2: myself in that position to feel like that. So I
Speaker 2: love doing what I do and if people ask me,
Speaker 2: I would love to do it, but I wouldn't walk
Speaker 2: into a room to say I'm not gonna walk in
Speaker 2: there because I don't feel like it. Then I should
Speaker 2: have showed up. I never want to put myself in
Speaker 2: that position say okay, I gotta turn it on. No,
Speaker 2: I'm excited. If someone asked me to play, I would
Speaker 2: love to. So there's no on and off switch you
Speaker 2: asked me, It's always on.
Speaker 6: Can I just I'm not fast forwarding?
Speaker 4: But I just have a quick question on that note,
Speaker 4: because I just watched you do the view and in
Speaker 4: my mind I said, she would not do this performance
Speaker 4: unless you have full hundred percent like comfortable. They would
Speaker 4: say yes and you could do everything that you wanted
Speaker 4: to do. Is that like an example of that moment
Speaker 4: because it was kind of amazing and groundbreaking, so many
Speaker 4: the things.
Speaker 6: That you did within it.
Speaker 2: Thank you. It was it was a it's interesting. It
Speaker 2: was a fight. It was a fight. Yeah we had
Speaker 2: it was a fight, and I'm grateful ended up turning
Speaker 2: out good. But I always tell everyone, you know, no
Speaker 2: doesn't mean you can't do it. No doesn't mean you
Speaker 2: shouldn't a lot of time, no means opportunity, And I
Speaker 2: was like, this has just been insane. The things that
Speaker 2: we had to do and change. And I mean it was,
Speaker 2: you know, from one thing to another, and I just
Speaker 2: kept saying, but no, this is the message. We have
Speaker 2: to send a message. I have to stand for. This
Speaker 2: is what we're trying to send this message, and we
Speaker 2: need the flag and it needs to be upside down,
Speaker 2: you know. And I need to put the the images
Speaker 2: in the back where people can see what we're talking about.
Speaker 2: I need doctor King's speech, I need Kennedy's speech, you know,
Speaker 2: I need Obama's speech. You know. So it was a
Speaker 2: definite fight. But you know, again how things turned around.
Speaker 2: We were only supposed to just play the music, and
Speaker 2: then it turned into two questions, and then there's then
Speaker 2: once they understood what we were trying to do, then
Speaker 2: they were behind us one hundred percent, and we're glad
Speaker 2: that they understood what we wanted to do. And then
Speaker 2: it turned into let's move you to segment five and six,
Speaker 2: and it's like, oh, now I get to explain what happened.
Speaker 2: But never give up, you know, never give up. And
Speaker 2: know me as opportunity man, I wasn't coming through that
Speaker 2: front door, but I came through that side door, you know,
Speaker 2: And I wasn't going to give up, but I still
Speaker 2: got there and it was better than it was going
Speaker 2: to be initially.
Speaker 5: Sorry for those of us who don't watch the view
Speaker 5: on a regular.
Speaker 4: Basis, to move your neck like that when you say
Speaker 4: the word okay, then watch the view.
Speaker 10: I just I don't watch most of the time. So
Speaker 10: what can you just tell us what the performance was?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you can go on Sheila YouTube channel to
Speaker 2: watch it too, or my Facebook. Yeah, Shelia drummer, she
Speaker 2: let's watch. No, the beginning of it is I did
Speaker 2: the funky national anthem. I call it so the national
Speaker 2: anthem with some things, and I had speeches in in
Speaker 2: the song as well.
Speaker 4: She kneeled while she played.
Speaker 10: With the speeches samples of the actual speeches or was
Speaker 10: somebody else?
Speaker 2: No, it was the actual Like I got the okay
Speaker 2: from doctor King's estate and family to use his images
Speaker 2: and his speeches on my record. That was huge because
Speaker 2: they just don't do that for anybody, for anybody.
Speaker 1: It was super political.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was funky national anthem. I got it, Dan,
Speaker 5: you gotta have me a funky okay.
Speaker 4: When I reposted it, I was like, it was nice
Speaker 4: that they allowed you to show your love and your
Speaker 4: frustration for this country.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1: Okay, So in performing I know that today, especially with
Speaker 1: it being the call to personality and based on celebrity
Speaker 1: that gets people approval. I know that in the seventies
Speaker 1: you actually had to be good and great and you
Speaker 1: had to entertain, not just perform, but you had to entertain.
Speaker 1: So what was this the level of preparation, especially with
Speaker 1: Azteca and then eventually you went to George Duke and stuff.
Speaker 1: What was the level of preparation that you guys put
Speaker 1: into doing shows? Like were you guys looking at other
Speaker 1: acts that were on the bill and like, yo, we
Speaker 1: gotta blow them off the stage? Or you know, were
Speaker 1: their headline acts that were like okay, can you guys
Speaker 1: not you know, I'll just you know, do something normal And.
Speaker 2: Right now, I don't know that. I don't remember with me,
Speaker 2: once I said I was going to become a professional musician,
Speaker 2: did was there a competition? I think that there was
Speaker 2: competition early on with the other bands, the local bands,
Speaker 2: We're gonna be better than them kind of thing. But
Speaker 2: once once I became a professional musician, it wasn't about
Speaker 2: we have to be better. The preparation was like, as
Speaker 2: Pops told me all the time. In order for you
Speaker 2: to feel good about what you're doing and what you're
Speaker 2: playing and walk out there with confidence. The only way
Speaker 2: to do that is know what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 2: And if you prepare and listen to the music, learn
Speaker 2: you know all the breaks, and you walk in, you
Speaker 2: play the show. You're gonna enjoy yourself and you're gonna
Speaker 2: play and not have to worry or be afraid. So
Speaker 2: I was always prepared. I always listened to the music
Speaker 2: whatever I needed to listen to to make sure, especially
Speaker 2: if I had it ahead of time, I would learn
Speaker 2: the music so I'd walk in. And that was part
Speaker 2: of the issues with some of the other male drummers
Speaker 2: was I'd walk in prepared and they wouldn't know anything,
Speaker 2: and they're just like pissed off of.
Speaker 1: Me, really, because you're because she did the job.
Speaker 2: I did the job with a smile.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad we didn't come up and see it.
Speaker 1: I would have heard, Okay, actual proof where the cuts
Speaker 1: in the Huppy song. So how I know that Because
Speaker 1: George Duke came from the school of uh Frank Zappa.
Speaker 1: But I also know that in the mid seventies he
Speaker 1: was trying to get more into his funk thing at
Speaker 1: I mean, we're his shows. I've never seen like any
Speaker 1: of the tapes of his seventies shows on YouTube. I
Speaker 1: mean there will be like a clip or two, yeah,
Speaker 1: but it'll just be you know again like dookie stick
Speaker 1: or you know, just like one of his his groove
Speaker 1: based songs. But how much of his fusion stuff that
Speaker 1: he incorporate in his seventy shows by the time that
Speaker 1: you joined his band.
Speaker 2: Oh a lot of it. The dope thing about George
Speaker 2: was he played so many different genres of music because
Speaker 2: he played the fusion a lot. He did play jazz,
Speaker 2: we played a lot of Brazilian music, we played the
Speaker 2: funk music. I mean, he played everything in the show.
Speaker 2: So he allowed me to He never told me what
Speaker 2: I needed to play or even what he wanted me
Speaker 2: to play. He just always said, Okay, you got your
Speaker 2: house full of stuff, whatever you feel like fits in
Speaker 2: that song, just play it. So he allowed me to
Speaker 2: grow as a musician. That doesn't really happen with people.
Speaker 2: You know, everyone's a lot of times you need to
Speaker 2: play this and you need to play that, and be
Speaker 2: specific on what you're playing. But he just allowed me
Speaker 2: to express myself freely like always and that was.
Speaker 1: Huge for these early gigs. Were you also your own
Speaker 1: tech and your own rodie Like I know that times
Speaker 1: have changed now it's like I have a writer those things,
Speaker 1: but now those things exist Back then.
Speaker 2: Uh, I had a tech later, but no, I was
Speaker 2: when I was playing the clubs in the Bay Area
Speaker 2: with the different bands, I put my drum set, Timbali's
Speaker 2: and congas in a voval myself, load and unload and
Speaker 2: set everything up and then do the same thing every night.
Speaker 1: So you transport it in a car.
Speaker 2: In a car, That's what I say.
Speaker 1: Those are hills where you live, Like how did you
Speaker 1: get those? Like how did you transport?
Speaker 2: Yeah? They were here, they were hells. But no, I
Speaker 2: I had a voval and so I put all my
Speaker 2: gear in a voval, not unless I use At one
Speaker 2: point moms got a van, but that was I never
Speaker 2: hardly use a van. So I was my own tech.
Speaker 2: Absolutely sometimes I get help. And then later on with George,
Speaker 2: he did have a tech. Uh so he did do
Speaker 2: a lot of the workers as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, after George Suke, it was did you do a
Speaker 1: stint that I don't know if you did a stint
Speaker 1: with Algibo or not, or I don't know if he
Speaker 1: was just opening.
Speaker 2: Or we well, we played on the same bill. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so we all jammed together. Yeah, we did shows together.
Speaker 2: I wasn't officially in this band. What we played together?
Speaker 1: Damn? Okay, because I thought that you would have been
Speaker 1: on the live in Europe. Look at the Rainbow. It's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite albums.
Speaker 2: Of it and I someone else asked me that, and
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. I have to listen to it because
Speaker 2: it could be me. We were in Europe doing those
Speaker 2: shows a lot together on the same bill, so I
Speaker 2: don't know. It's it's it's all a blur. I'd have
Speaker 2: to listen and see, or it could be No, I
Speaker 2: don't know. I was gonna say it could be Paulino.
Speaker 1: Okay, I don't know.
Speaker 5: Were you on a lot of George Duke albums or
Speaker 5: just part of his work?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Resilient, Love Affair and uh the Game Master of
Speaker 2: the Game, Follow the Rainbow, and about four after that
Speaker 2: I just don't remember the names of.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm on the verge of going headlong into him.
Speaker 2: He's amazing, incredible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh you love it because.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm coming in through the jazz way. Actually yeah, like.
Speaker 1: No, Havadilla's stuff is based on like George stuff, so
Speaker 1: you will love it instantly. So uh, I know that
Speaker 1: you did stints with Uh, you're Diana Ross? Period? Was
Speaker 1: that in the seventies or in the.
Speaker 2: Yes, it was in the early seventies.
Speaker 1: Do you know if that? Are you part of the
Speaker 1: I know that she had two live albums out in
Speaker 1: the seventies, one was uh, there was one in the
Speaker 1: seventy seven, which I know there's multiple percussionists when you're
Speaker 1: doing these shows. Are you the lone percussionist on a
Speaker 1: majority of these shows?
Speaker 9: Are you sharing with?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Mostly?
Speaker 1: Were you and your brother in a package or no?
Speaker 2: Those shows? Well with Diana Ross, that's a different story.
Speaker 2: I didn't even make the record because I quit after
Speaker 2: this second gig.
Speaker 1: Okay, I was gonna say client wise, pre pre your
Speaker 1: your solo career. Who who was a client that was
Speaker 1: easy to work with? I mean, I don't mean the
Speaker 1: complexity of the music, but just a comfortable environment that
Speaker 1: you enjoyed, that you like the music versus high end. Yeah,
Speaker 1: versus high end? Uh, you know, politics of either a
Speaker 1: band a band leader not being cordial or being hard
Speaker 1: on you or whatever, or just because a lot of times,
Speaker 1: you know, I know that with the artists, like even
Speaker 1: if the artist is is wrong, they're right.
Speaker 9: Yeah wait, that's throw me off.
Speaker 1: That's not the one and and you know, blaming you
Speaker 1: easy to point you out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well that was Dyana Ross. That's why I quit.
Speaker 2: She came to play Circle Star Theater, which is one
Speaker 2: of the the dopest places playing in San Francisco at
Speaker 2: the time, and everyone played there. Shaka Rufus played there.
Speaker 2: I mean everyone, oh Jay's it didn't matter. So all
Speaker 2: the artists would come and play that play. So they
Speaker 2: hired me to play. And it's in the round, so
Speaker 2: it turns in. The stage turns throughout the show, so
Speaker 2: half of the stage was pit for the orchestra. And
Speaker 2: then she's on top of the main floor and so
Speaker 2: you know, I told everyone in the Bay area, shoot,
Speaker 2: I'm playing with Diana Ross. And all my people came. Well,
Speaker 2: she didn't like people screaming at me.
Speaker 4: Oh no, oh, get a one off, like okay, I
Speaker 4: won't do it the second time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was you know, I mean, and they announced
Speaker 2: the people in the band and everything, and then but
Speaker 2: you know, she was very angry, and so then she said, well,
Speaker 2: I'm getting too much Well she didn't tell me that.
Speaker 2: She told the musical director she's getting too much attention.
Speaker 2: She needs to cover up from her neck all the
Speaker 2: way down.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: But they told me to wear black. I mean I
Speaker 2: just I had like a sleeveless blouse on. It was black.
Speaker 2: Everyone should wear black. And I was like, okay. He said, well,
Speaker 2: she wants you to cover up your arms. I said
Speaker 2: I can't because I'm playing and you know, it's like
Speaker 2: this is going to get in a way.
Speaker 6: I wanted you to cover that pretty face.
Speaker 11: I shouldn't say that.
Speaker 2: That's okay.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, So only two shows.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I played the one night and then he said,
Speaker 2: missus Ross wants to talk to you and for tomorrow's show,
Speaker 2: but she wants you to cover up. And I was like, well,
Speaker 2: you hired me for my musicianship, right, he said yeah.
Speaker 2: I said, well I'm doing what you need to do,
Speaker 2: right he said yeah. I said I can't play with
Speaker 2: the sleep It's going to be too hard. He said, okay,
Speaker 2: well she would like to speak with you. Okay, So
Speaker 2: I stood out the side of stood at the door
Speaker 2: of her dressing room and she could see me in
Speaker 2: the mirror. She was just staring at me, but she
Speaker 2: was talking to her friend. Yeah, uh huh. So I'm
Speaker 2: standing and she's just talking. I'm standing there. She could
Speaker 2: she could see me in five minutes, ten fifteen, then twenty,
Speaker 2: then almost going on thirty, and I said, oh, I'm leaving.
Speaker 2: So I turned around and her friend saw her because
Speaker 2: Diana kind of you know, looked to the side, and
Speaker 2: her friend turned around. She said, oh my god, you
Speaker 2: were amazing.
Speaker 1: I loved you.
Speaker 2: You were so amazing, and diyie, oh, yeah, that's all
Speaker 2: our percussionist. Blah blah blah. So I walked out of
Speaker 2: the room and the guy said, well, you know, I
Speaker 2: just want to make sure when you come tomorrow that
Speaker 2: you're going to be covered. I said, no, that's not
Speaker 2: gonna happen because I quit. He's like, not, we in
Speaker 2: the two shows that night. So there was the two shows,
Speaker 2: but the next night I didn't even show. I said, no,
Speaker 2: I'm not coming. He goes, no, no, no, wait, what
Speaker 2: you're quitting? I said that absolutely. I said that's just wrong.
Speaker 2: I know what she's doing. And she and then I
Speaker 2: got really angry. She made me wait there in the
Speaker 2: dressing room. Right, she looked at me purposely and like
Speaker 2: dogged me and like hit you.
Speaker 1: So you weren't afraid of no, no, no, not comming you
Speaker 1: for that, But at that time in your early career,
Speaker 1: you weren't afraid of burning the bridge.
Speaker 2: No, she was wrong.
Speaker 1: He So that makes the we are the World sessions super.
Speaker 6: Between. Wait, what's the time between we are the World?
Speaker 2: And that's a lot of different, and it was different.
Speaker 6: There was never a breakups after the makeups to break ups.
Speaker 2: No, it was I was she left Corvino when I
Speaker 2: played with her, and then.
Speaker 1: I was she did talk to her sessions.
Speaker 2: You con't my favorite.
Speaker 1: But did she know it was? Yes, I don't worry.
Speaker 4: And I bet you were playing with sleeves by then,
Speaker 4: so like, oh I can do.
Speaker 6: I swear some of them suits? It was some sleeves.
Speaker 6: It was some sleeves, Shila.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: After that, I laughed, we kind of we didn't say nothing,
Speaker 2: but we laughed, like you come sit over here, you
Speaker 2: know it's all good. Okay, that's my girl.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: I love me some Diana Ross.
Speaker 1: So I gotta know I know that you were on
Speaker 1: the Midlight Midnight Love Tour. Okay, just to make sure. Okay,
Speaker 1: So the the nineteen eighty the documentary, No no, no, the
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty Manto Jazz Festival. That is not Chila playing,
Speaker 1: but I thought it was he has a crowd. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: this I'm talking to Marvin. Yay. Now, I'm sorry you
Speaker 1: never seen it. Okay, I thought this whole time, I
Speaker 1: thought it was you. When I looked this morning, I
Speaker 1: was like, that's not Sheila. When did you? When did you?
Speaker 1: You've only joined for the Midlight Night Love Tour.
Speaker 2: Yeah, very and eighty two, the very his very last tour.
Speaker 1: I saw. It's not much footage is online, but I
Speaker 1: know of a promoter that had a really good Uh
Speaker 1: at least there was a radio City of Music Hall
Speaker 1: show that he did and it's it's there. And I'll
Speaker 1: say that of all the Marvin shows that I saw,
Speaker 1: it was a little weird. I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: based on the newer material or whatever, but I mean
Speaker 1: there's a point where like even when he does sexual healing,
Speaker 1: like he does a strip tease thing down to his
Speaker 1: underwear and he just for this particular performance, he didn't
Speaker 1: look comfortable. And then when the promoter told me like, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is like one of his, I think he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: this's like his his he would only have eleven more
Speaker 1: performances left, and there's like his last ten performances of
Speaker 1: his life. What was it you did the whole duration
Speaker 1: of that tour?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the whole tour and my brother and one of
Speaker 2: our friends. So there was three of us playing percussion,
Speaker 2: three of you, and we had duplicates of each, three
Speaker 2: pairs of Tenbali's, three pair of congress, three pair of
Speaker 2: bongos chimes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what what was it like to to do that tour?
Speaker 1: Just knowing what you know of what happened to his
Speaker 1: life and stuff, and I mean not skied to personal
Speaker 1: in his life, but what what was it like? Because
Speaker 1: even when I watched it, it just.
Speaker 2: It's weird because I thought we started at Radio City.
Speaker 2: That was the first gig, wasn't it.
Speaker 1: Well maybe I don't know when he does, but he
Speaker 1: said like this this is the last eleven something. Maybe
Speaker 1: it was eleven months or whatever, but I know that
Speaker 1: because we were out that was his last tour. I
Speaker 1: definitely know that it was the.
Speaker 2: Last tour, definitely because after we got home was when
Speaker 2: he passed away.
Speaker 1: He started in New York. It starts in New York.
Speaker 2: I think we started at Radio City.
Speaker 1: It's crazy.
Speaker 2: I could swear.
Speaker 9: No, no, I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1: He could, but I'm just saying that. Usually like agents
Speaker 1: like to start you off in right Kansas or somewhere
Speaker 1: where you can.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know, And maybe we did. I just
Speaker 2: remember because some stuff went down at that gig. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it was pretty interesting. He was amazing. I mean it
Speaker 2: was weird. What I mean. Of course the women loved,
Speaker 2: you know, him dropping his pants into some boxers with
Speaker 2: some designs on him. But man, there were times when
Speaker 2: he was singing. I almost missed my cue because I
Speaker 2: was a fan of going, oh my god, look at him.
Speaker 2: I mean, I was tripping. He's at the piano, like really,
Speaker 2: when he got into it, he got his rhythm going.
Speaker 2: As far as knowing what songs were coming up, it
Speaker 2: was amazing. He just blew us away.
Speaker 6: How often did those moments happen?
Speaker 4: And that's that's interesting that you would get this because
Speaker 4: you worked with like so many great people as though.
Speaker 2: Exactly now this was at the kind of at the
Speaker 2: very beginning because it you know, I mean, I grew
Speaker 2: up listening to Marvin gay and all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: I'm in the band. And that was one of the
Speaker 2: dopest conga drum beats. Everyone wanted to play. Doom Doom
Speaker 2: got the mother right. So playing that conga beats, like
Speaker 2: I'm playing it with Marvin Gaye like this story. I
Speaker 2: don't know if I told you this before, but the
Speaker 2: story when we were in rehearsals, like my brother didn't
Speaker 2: have the gig, Peter Michael. So I'm playing and I
Speaker 2: kept telling him, come to rehearsal, you know, I think
Speaker 2: I can get you the gig. So he kept showing up.
Speaker 2: So Marvin thought he was in the band for real,
Speaker 2: like during rehearsals, no one, he didn't even know. And
Speaker 2: so he's playing. He's thinking that there's three of us playing.
Speaker 2: So I'm playing. Uh, we're all playing at rehearsal, and
Speaker 2: everyone's kind of just sitting down playing, you know, chilling.
Speaker 2: So the three of us we start doing like the
Speaker 2: Michael Jackson dance, the Jackson five danced. We start, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: the two step. We started doing that, and we started
Speaker 2: getting into it. So then the horn players look like, oh,
Speaker 2: we can dance too, so then they started throwing down.
Speaker 2: Then the singers are like, well, we can do something.
Speaker 2: So all of a sudden, that's how everyone just started dancing,
Speaker 2: because we started dancing first, and especially playing what's going on?
Speaker 2: I mean, you can't help but not dance. So I'm
Speaker 2: playing that beat and it's really it only consists of
Speaker 2: that boom boom back dun. Well it got good to me,
Speaker 2: and I hit that low jump and went dun dun
Speaker 2: goad got dude, you know I hit that low jump.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 2: He's a very soft spoken man. How you doing? She
Speaker 2: like he whispers when he talks. His back was to
Speaker 2: us he's singing that song. I hit that extra drum beat.
Speaker 2: There were twenty four at least twenty four to twenty
Speaker 2: six people in the band. He put his hand up
Speaker 2: and yelled with his back to us. I'm like, hold
Speaker 2: on stop. And it was a trip because I don't
Speaker 2: think anyone had heard him yell like yeah, and all
Speaker 2: you hear is you know, stick's falling, and you know, like,
Speaker 2: what the heck does happen? And it's like, you know, right,
Speaker 2: And then he turned around and he and he has
Speaker 2: his mic in his hand. He said, somebody played an
Speaker 2: extra beat, and I'm like, oh my, you could hear
Speaker 2: my heart pounding. I was so scared. I was like,
Speaker 2: my heart's gonna pop out of my chest. I'm frightened.
Speaker 2: And all I could think it was to blame it
Speaker 2: on Peter Michael. So so I just went like this.
Speaker 2: I was like, I better say something before no one's okay, sorry,
Speaker 2: mister gay. That was my brother, Peter Michael. So that
Speaker 2: the hand raised, Yeah, I raised my hand. Excuse me,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, but I'll make sure that he doesn't do
Speaker 2: that again. And then Peter Michael put his hand in
Speaker 2: it and he goes, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So
Speaker 2: he took it and he's like okay. So at the
Speaker 2: end of all of this, Peter Michaels rehearsing with us
Speaker 2: for a couple of weeks or whatever. We get ready
Speaker 2: to leave and Peter Michael's walking to go home and
Speaker 2: he says, I'm gonna drive back to oak because we're
Speaker 2: rehearsing here in La. I'm gona drive back to Oakland
Speaker 2: and the road. Magic River says, hey, man, go get
Speaker 2: your suit, your tuxed will get fitted for your tuxedo,
Speaker 2: and he's like, for what, He goes, you're going on tour.
Speaker 2: He goes, I'm not in the band, and then he said,
Speaker 2: yes you are. He said, yes you are, and Marvin said, yeah,
Speaker 2: you go get your suit. And he didn't know that
Speaker 2: Peter Michael wasn't in the band. He's like, make sure
Speaker 2: you get your suit and you look nice. And so
Speaker 2: he got hired as he was leaving because Marvin thought
Speaker 2: he was in the band the whole time.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, who's do you know who the MD was
Speaker 1: at the time.
Speaker 2: It was his cousin, nephew. What was his name? If
Speaker 2: you told me his name, might say, okay, yeah, he
Speaker 2: wasn't Like well wait a minute, Nobody said what.
Speaker 1: The hell was he doing it in the first place?
Speaker 1: That many musicians Yep, okay, you brought up. You brought
Speaker 1: up a point. Even when you said with the Askteker,
Speaker 1: you mentioned at least seventeen eighteen nineteen people, how did
Speaker 1: y'all get paid?
Speaker 2: We did? Really, we got paid well. I mean as
Speaker 2: Teka was opening for earth Wind and Fire and Stevie
Speaker 2: and Temptations, so they were making money and that back
Speaker 2: in that day, you know, they were getting paid so.
Speaker 1: You could you could still make a good living.
Speaker 2: Actually as a as a side person.
Speaker 1: Yeah, at no point during this part of your journey
Speaker 1: are you thinking, Hey, I gotta be out in the front.
Speaker 1: I got to be my own artist, and I gotta
Speaker 1: you were just fine with being a team member, and.
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely I love being a team member. And the
Speaker 2: crazy thing about it, even being a team member with Marvin,
Speaker 2: he would still say she I want you to go
Speaker 2: take a solo. I'm like, okay. So he'd go change
Speaker 2: and then the three of us would do this drum
Speaker 2: thing that we made up, and I'd take a Timbalish solo.
Speaker 2: We throw the sticks up and do this whole thing
Speaker 2: until he come back in a new outfit.
Speaker 1: Okay. And I'm always going to refer to the solo
Speaker 1: because it's very important. When you bounce the stick on
Speaker 1: the floor, you throw up in the air and you
Speaker 1: turn around do the pure wet and you catch it
Speaker 1: behind your back.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Has it ever dropped?
Speaker 2: And I still yes, it has dropped. But here's the
Speaker 2: thing is when I was.
Speaker 1: You play it off well or something like what I've.
Speaker 2: No I see, here's the thing. I'm gonna give away
Speaker 2: some of my secrets, please, thank you the ball. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So here's the thing. It's I when I realized every
Speaker 2: time I wanted to make sure it's like she you know,
Speaker 2: you can't freak out. I don't want to drop the stick.
Speaker 2: And I was like, you know, I don't want to
Speaker 2: drop the stay every time I throw it up. So
Speaker 2: most of the time I caught it. Once in a
Speaker 2: while I miss it. You'd hear the audience go, ah, well,
Speaker 2: you're playing in front of twenty thousand people. And I
Speaker 2: threw the stick up one time and I missed. I'm like, shoot,
Speaker 2: you know, and you hear ah. And then I threw
Speaker 2: it up again. I said, I'm catching a second when
Speaker 2: I missed it, I was like, seriously, But the all
Speaker 2: got louder. Oh. And then the third one they're like, oh,
Speaker 2: she looked, come on, and then I looked, oh, they
Speaker 2: want me to win. So the fourth one, I picked
Speaker 2: it up, and I mean, I threw it up and
Speaker 2: I caught it, and they're like, the roar was louder
Speaker 2: than the first roar because they they wanted to be
Speaker 2: with me and cheer me on. I was like, I
Speaker 2: get it. I get it.
Speaker 1: See you're making me feel bad. For not taking more risks.
Speaker 1: I did that once once once all it took. I
Speaker 1: did so and I was watching you did the thing
Speaker 1: when you bounced the stick off the floor or whatever,
Speaker 1: and the shit hit me in the face and I
Speaker 1: was like, never again, you got that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that hurts, and it's happened before.
Speaker 3: I used to try it, like in bank class in school,
Speaker 3: and you just stay on the floor.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like I never knew.
Speaker 6: How youre a science to the balance.
Speaker 3: That's why I like between watching her and Jerome bent
Speaker 3: and do it. Yeah, I wanted to know how to
Speaker 3: do it.
Speaker 1: Do it with ease and they bounce off the floor,
Speaker 1: spin and they kept it like it was nothing. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I practiced that thing for least thirty seven minutes back backstage.
Speaker 1: I was then, because backstage is marble floors bouncing right
Speaker 1: your drum sets on a run. Somebodyn't think about.
Speaker 6: To make up your own move. That's Sheila move, all right?
Speaker 1: So I know that you moved to Linel Richie right
Speaker 1: after Mark correct.
Speaker 2: I was actually uh touring with Marvin playing Chills at
Speaker 2: night and flying back to la during the day to
Speaker 2: rehearse with Lionel for that next tour.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 5: You the linel the first line of album tour not.
Speaker 1: Uh technically, well it's or canceled. Yeah, cancel because you're
Speaker 1: I forgot. You're in Running with the video.
Speaker 6: Yes, she's the leader video.
Speaker 1: You're not here right now? I finally know something important. Wow, yes,
Speaker 1: is the lead and Running with the Night video.
Speaker 5: And so you did the cancel down tour?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: Yes, cancel?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes she did.
Speaker 2: That's okay.
Speaker 1: Sorry, I'm just amazed that I knew something that wasn't
Speaker 1: here to steal my shine on my own show.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 5: So you're on the album too, I don't remember.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I came in before.
Speaker 1: Yes, before I did. Speaking speaking of are you there
Speaker 1: or were you not there? Can you settle the debate
Speaker 1: of if you are or if you're not on? Don't
Speaker 1: stop till you get enough?
Speaker 9: Oh?
Speaker 2: Good question.
Speaker 1: I've heard that you confirmed that you were on. I
Speaker 1: heard you. I heard it was a rumor. I don't
Speaker 1: Is that a rumor?
Speaker 9: No? Uh, that's not a rumor.
Speaker 2: No it is no, it's no, it's is it fake news? Okay?
Speaker 2: Look what happened was Quincy called me and said he
Speaker 2: wanted me to play something on this song that Michael
Speaker 2: had written with some kind of he didn't know what
Speaker 2: percussion thing it was going to be right, So I forget,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I want to say it's Westlake. I
Speaker 2: can't remember what's too he was in La Westlake. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think it was west Lake. So I go there
Speaker 2: and I'm one known for not using normal percussions. I
Speaker 2: makeup stuff. I use different things, bachelor's hair brushes, chopsticks,
Speaker 2: you know, just whatever bite of an apple put on
Speaker 2: the snare. I'm telling my secrets. Yeah, uh huh, I
Speaker 2: know you're gonna rewind that one. But so I go
Speaker 2: into the studio and it is like trying to figure out, Okay,
Speaker 2: what what works here? What he's what? They're trying to
Speaker 2: tell me he need he needs something. So I took
Speaker 2: water bottles and I want real bottles, not plastic. We
Speaker 2: didn't happen, but water bottle and I tuned it to
Speaker 2: the song, and I used my that metal piece for
Speaker 2: the triangle that I played the triangle with. I used
Speaker 2: that for the sides and went gan. So I tuned
Speaker 2: it to the to the song. That's it. But what's
Speaker 2: so So what happened was they kept changing Who's gonna
Speaker 2: play on what you know? That thing went on forever
Speaker 2: trying to get it done, and they forgot I played
Speaker 2: on it, and they're like, no, I think it was
Speaker 2: Paulino or maybe it was what.
Speaker 1: Well, you're not the first person to get gagged on this, right,
Speaker 1: So I.
Speaker 2: Was just gonna say feeling games too. So I'm waiting
Speaker 2: for the record to come out, and the record comes off.
Speaker 2: I was telling me what I played on Michael's first record,
Speaker 2: blah blah blah blah. So I go to Leopolds in
Speaker 2: Berkeley and Michael's doing a signing. So he says, I'm
Speaker 2: going to be there at Leopold's. I want you guys, come.
Speaker 9: Okay.
Speaker 2: We go to Leopolds, We meet him there and I
Speaker 2: get the record and I was like, my name's not
Speaker 2: on the record. He's like, huh, my name is not
Speaker 2: on the record, man. So I just have to tell
Speaker 2: the story.
Speaker 5: Damn Michael, who did the credits for that?
Speaker 1: I did because I always forget people. That's funny because
Speaker 1: he did it in store at Leopold's. Because I believe
Speaker 1: there's there's footage of him the same day that he
Speaker 1: did that in store at Leopold's. There's footage of him
Speaker 1: visiting in Oakland club that very night and the DJ
Speaker 1: plays don't stop tea good enough, and he gets on
Speaker 1: and like he grabs the microphone and dances a little
Speaker 1: bit in front of it, like it's it's that night
Speaker 1: in Oakland that that same that same period. Wait a minute,
Speaker 1: he let you guys know, I know this is weird
Speaker 1: because you've played with everyone, but I'm kind of freaked
Speaker 1: out that, like you were even on speaking terms with
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson.
Speaker 6: It was just me, But I thought it was like
Speaker 6: something people, because that's kind of uncommon. Wait, so did
Speaker 6: y'all talk about each other? And did he say?
Speaker 2: Did he?
Speaker 6: And did he asked you?
Speaker 1: Were he?
Speaker 6: And why are you talking to him?
Speaker 1: But he wasn't. He wasn't Michael Jackson. I mean, was
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson. He was still Michael Jackson.
Speaker 2: But yeah, but I met them when they were I
Speaker 2: met them with George Duke in the seventies, so I
Speaker 2: met the whole family when they were playing in Europe.
Speaker 1: So they were still approachable.
Speaker 9: Yes, okay, absolutely.
Speaker 2: They wanted me to teach Randy how to play percussion,
Speaker 2: so I went to the house to try and and
Speaker 2: then the parents were like, we don't want to know Mexican.
Speaker 2: I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: Something, but I'll let it go. But I kidding.
Speaker 2: No, No, they wanted me to come and, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: teach him how to play?
Speaker 1: So, yeah, can you teach him how to play? Because
Speaker 1: people ask me all the time, No, yes, I say,
Speaker 1: I say yes, man. I've seen every one of their
Speaker 1: mom asked me. And the most I'll do is I'll
Speaker 1: do a play. I do not know how to or
Speaker 1: I don't know if I have the patients do.
Speaker 2: But there's another secret.
Speaker 1: When's the last time you gave a lesson? Can you
Speaker 1: teach them how to play? Okay?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've done some.
Speaker 1: I don't mean like when you're going to a school
Speaker 1: and whatever and you're like, okay, you hold the sticks
Speaker 1: and it's like, I mean, like a real Okay, I'll
Speaker 1: be there at four o'clock and then I sit down
Speaker 1: and your jackson, you're paradiddling need to Deafinitely.
Speaker 2: I don't know any so I don't. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: know a lot of that stuff. Anyway, you know. I
Speaker 2: taught like people at some of the women conferences and stuff,
Speaker 2: and we talk about my book or what everything I'll say,
Speaker 2: but I can also teach you how to play drums
Speaker 2: very simple. It's really simple. And everyone's going no, no, no,
Speaker 2: I want to play, and I don't know how to play.
Speaker 2: So I have a drum set in the room for
Speaker 2: these conferences, and all I do is this is this
Speaker 2: is the trick right here. And because it's mind over matter,
Speaker 2: you can sit down. You're going my feet and my
Speaker 2: hands are gonna How am I going to separate my
Speaker 2: brain to do well? If you're walking, you're walking opposite
Speaker 2: like this, your your your hand and your feet are
Speaker 2: walking opposite of each other. So if you walk like
Speaker 2: that on the drums, high hat kick, high hat kick,
Speaker 2: I can do it like this and every if you
Speaker 2: just walk on the drums, immediately everyone plays doom, got doom,
Speaker 2: got doom. Got It happens in three seconds.
Speaker 4: I'm going through some emotional things in the corner because
Speaker 4: my dad is a drummer, and for all my first
Speaker 4: ten years of my life, I wanted to be a
Speaker 4: drummer and he just never taught me. And I had
Speaker 4: to look at you on TV, and then I had
Speaker 4: to look at our look at Terry, and now that
Speaker 4: was he could have at least just shown me that
Speaker 4: you know the way to hold the sticks and it's
Speaker 4: still hard. Yes, you weren't teaching, what you say.
Speaker 6: Did you hear what he said? You don't teach.
Speaker 1: You never asked. I mean, you wouldn't have done it,
Speaker 1: would have taught it. Can at least give me the
Speaker 1: honor to reject.
Speaker 4: You teach me how to play the drums.
Speaker 1: But I just had an epiphany, and I'm dead serious.
Speaker 1: You are going to be my percussion teacher. Okay, I
Speaker 1: do not feel like I'm a complete drummer until.
Speaker 2: All right, So you take your bottle water. We're here.
Speaker 6: You get your bottle of water. Bill Hannim water.
Speaker 1: You just wait. Not all you have bottles. I'm thirsty,
Speaker 1: heard me calling. I'm not thirsty, but I gotta get
Speaker 1: rid of this. I don't want to destroy Electric Lady
Speaker 1: Studios right now.
Speaker 2: But you have to drink some of it because it's
Speaker 2: too full to to make a sound. There you go.
Speaker 6: You're not supposed to do that.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be the next I watched watch.
Speaker 6: You you holy For those that.
Speaker 1: Are listening at home, there breathing earlier, we say breathing.
Speaker 1: This is a boss water commercial, right, now is based
Speaker 1: using bottles of water.
Speaker 6: But she didn't do that. But she didn't. You encourage me, woman,
Speaker 6: you're doing good. I just mean that this is a.
Speaker 2: Mere failing wait away from the mic first of all,
Speaker 2: just may.
Speaker 1: Do it away from the mica, because this is why
Speaker 1: I can't whistle in the mic when i'm.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you're gonna hear nothing but error.
Speaker 1: Oh you're right.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, you do it like the shut up,
Speaker 2: you get away from the mic. They're just mad at you.
Speaker 1: You just this is pressure.
Speaker 6: It's not we're not looking. Go ahead. You said you
Speaker 6: don't like it when other people looking.
Speaker 2: No, don't make a sound first, just make a sound
Speaker 2: with the bottle.
Speaker 1: Yeah you did, Bill, Okay, you want there you.
Speaker 10: Stop trying to do headhunters and just.
Speaker 1: Just a can we tell the prince heres now? Please?
Speaker 2: No, you have to hit a different notes than the
Speaker 2: note in the bottle.
Speaker 6: There you go, There you go like Bobby mcfern type.
Speaker 2: Yes, there you go. Good job.
Speaker 3: I am now that we've edited half of that out.
Speaker 1: I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
Speaker 2: It's okay, wow, thank you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do feel lightheaded.
Speaker 5: That's your first lesson how to get high?
Speaker 4: That's interesting, though, Sheila, because you talked like a mere
Speaker 4: already talked about carporal tunnel and stuff, and you seem
Speaker 4: to have very healthy hands and wrists.
Speaker 1: You talked me about the rice trick. I did that.
Speaker 1: You did what she told me to go to Traded
Speaker 1: Joe's or to a place that has like just one
Speaker 1: of the big ass industrial sized rice bags. Put it
Speaker 1: in my freezer and then put my entire arm in it,
Speaker 1: and uh, exercise, exercise, mold. Do you warm them before
Speaker 1: you go on stage?
Speaker 2: I do a little bit now, fifteen minutes, just just
Speaker 2: back and forth with the sticks on a pillow or
Speaker 2: couch or chair or something, and that helps. Yes, absolutely see.
Speaker 1: I thought, in in tune with with our James and
Speaker 1: too many Miles Davis stories that that would kind of
Speaker 1: be like eating before you get to the restaurant or.
Speaker 6: WoT.
Speaker 2: Well, I learned the hard way, like maybe you have.
Speaker 2: I mean I never warmed up before I played, so
Speaker 2: I've got injury after injury and it's like, okay, you
Speaker 2: need to stop and you need to warm up. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, my my wrist was messed up. I couldn't
Speaker 2: pick up a toothbrush to brush my teeth, my elbow.
Speaker 2: So I had a p r P done.
Speaker 9: Which does that work?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 2: My god?
Speaker 1: Look I'm doing a p r P in like a month.
Speaker 1: Oh does it work?
Speaker 2: I'll tell you. Wait, who's well? We can talk after I'll.
Speaker 6: Give you my.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But i'll tell you now. I have the dopest doctor here.
Speaker 2: He moved here New York. Yes, he did mine and
Speaker 2: everybody I think, So, what's his name?
Speaker 1: You know what? I think? We see this? We see okay, uh,
Speaker 1: there there's a doctor in Brooklyn. I see your photos
Speaker 1: up in there, Stevie Wonder's photo.
Speaker 2: Like then it would be him.
Speaker 9: He's amazing.
Speaker 1: African? Is African?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: What is he?
Speaker 2: He's not African.
Speaker 6: I think he's like the opposite the way she's looking.
Speaker 2: Like it's Caucasian.
Speaker 1: Yeah no, I mean this is the doctor's office. So
Speaker 1: many doctors have done. But PRP is, I guess in
Speaker 1: a way to describe it is when they take your
Speaker 1: blood out of you and then feed it back like
Speaker 1: they have.
Speaker 2: To spin it first. Yeah no, no, they spin it
Speaker 2: and clean it and then they get the good blood
Speaker 2: as it spits out in like three or four or
Speaker 2: five different bags automatically. In this machine and then they
Speaker 2: take the good blood and then they mix it and
Speaker 2: they shoot it back in the area and you end
Speaker 2: up growing new tissue. That's what it does. So I
Speaker 2: grew new tissue in my elbow and my wrist. I
Speaker 2: did have it twice, because sometimes you do. I just
Speaker 2: want to tell you take a pain pill before you
Speaker 2: do this, because I'm no, I'm not scared, and I'm
Speaker 2: not scared. That's fine. I am okay, that's the simple parte.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: The pain is that your blood going back into that area.
Speaker 2: Is it hurts? Like I can't even explain. I filmed
Speaker 2: my whole thing. I haven't all on film yet.
Speaker 1: The uh, well, I only know about it because at
Speaker 1: the tonight show, a lot of those camera guys there,
Speaker 1: it's wearing terror for them to do that a lot.
Speaker 1: So at least four or five of them have gotten.
Speaker 2: But how are you going to do this when you
Speaker 2: need at least three weeks off?
Speaker 1: That's I'm waiting for Christmas? Yeah, Christmas break to do.
Speaker 2: It and you literally you can't do Where are you
Speaker 2: having it done in New York? No? No? No, I mean
Speaker 2: is it your wrisks?
Speaker 1: I'm doing it on my knee.
Speaker 2: Oh Yeah, that's good. My mom had it done on
Speaker 2: her knee too, same for our same guy.
Speaker 6: So you want to get.
Speaker 1: Talking about blood and everything.
Speaker 2: I never heard of it, but it's important because really,
Speaker 2: in order to sustain what we do for real, we
Speaker 2: get I have. I had a torn uh in my
Speaker 2: shoulder all this stuff. My back went out in nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety from wearing heels.
Speaker 6: I wanted you to talk about that because wearing.
Speaker 2: Heels and it shortened my calf muscle wearing heels playing
Speaker 2: for years and years and years, my back gave out. Uh.
Speaker 2: And when it gave out, I was partially paralyzed for
Speaker 2: like two months, sorry, two weeks, and then it took
Speaker 2: four months and three doctors, three or four doctors to
Speaker 2: get me to walk an entire block like I had
Speaker 2: to start learn how to walk all over. Had I
Speaker 2: had a cane must have been determined. I was in pain, pain, pain.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to take.
Speaker 4: You are a trailblazer in pain because there was nobody
Speaker 4: else that you could probably vibe with because nobody else
Speaker 4: is wearing heels, playing kungaz bong, goes.
Speaker 2: And eggs exactly.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what I was freaking out on some women.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it messed me up.
Speaker 6: Yeahs right, but he didn't. His surgery was after yours,
Speaker 6: right like you had George before he did.
Speaker 2: Well, I didn't have surgery.
Speaker 9: You didn't know.
Speaker 2: They wanted me to have surgery in my back and
Speaker 2: I said no, I think let me try to walk
Speaker 2: on and do this health wise, you know, by myself
Speaker 2: and with the doctors. And it worked. Yeah, so it
Speaker 2: took a long time.
Speaker 1: Now what those I'm sorry. I started with line and
Speaker 1: then we got off.
Speaker 2: I don't know what happened.
Speaker 1: Were those? Was that a good tour for you or
Speaker 1: did you? Marvin? No? No? After I mean after was
Speaker 1: it night and day? Or I mean.
Speaker 2: Was it a good tour with linel?
Speaker 9: Oh?
Speaker 2: Amazing? For me? It was the first time, uh, realizing
Speaker 2: when someone makes that much money what that really means.
Speaker 2: And so then you start touring on a private plane.
Speaker 2: Hot cookies when you get on the plane, blankets, dranks, chicken.
Speaker 6: I was worried. I wasn't good.
Speaker 4: I was scared to eat fried chicken in front of you.
Speaker 4: First impressions. By the way, can I get adding this
Speaker 4: this this video with the line on Richie video just
Speaker 4: a quick quest quest left supreme one degree separation. Michael
Speaker 4: Peters godfather Michael Peters.
Speaker 1: I was going to say, how long did it take
Speaker 1: for you guys.
Speaker 6: Told the story about Disneyland taking the Disneyland?
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, the rapper Prodigy from Mob Deep, that's his
Speaker 4: god this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I was gonna say, how long did it
Speaker 1: take for you guys to I mean, were you throwing
Speaker 1: off about being the lead lady.
Speaker 2: Or I didn't want to do it because Blind was
Speaker 2: like my brother and he says okay, and Michael Peter's
Speaker 2: not there, like Okay, she have to learn this dance
Speaker 2: step and I'm like, okay, what are we gonna do?
Speaker 2: And the dance steps that Michael Peter how, I'm like,
Speaker 2: who does that? Like yeah, like how am I going
Speaker 2: to extend the arm with the leg? And then look
Speaker 2: at Line like we're in love? That's my brother. Like
Speaker 2: so we kept laughing and in between takes we couldn't
Speaker 2: even get it together, and Line was like, don't look
Speaker 2: at me like that, like it's your fault.
Speaker 1: Don't look at me like that did direct that video?
Speaker 2: Yes he did?
Speaker 9: Wow, Yes he did.
Speaker 1: It was dope.
Speaker 5: You must have been in the All Night Long video too.
Speaker 5: There were like five thousand.
Speaker 2: We all look alike and I'm gonna mess with you.
Speaker 1: No, actually I thought initially I thought, who was the
Speaker 1: lead in Hello video? She was all my children?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I forgot her name.
Speaker 6: It wasn't. That wasn't the same chick from Thriller.
Speaker 1: I thought, oh no, that was that was Oh no, no, no, okay,
Speaker 1: why do I know this? Her name was Laura Carrington.
Speaker 6: Why do you know that?
Speaker 1: Because I stopped much in the eighties. Her and Old
Speaker 1: Ray like those names, they were the original video joints.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Uh No, But I thought
Speaker 1: when I saw the Running with the Night video, I
Speaker 1: was like, yo, she grew hair out a lot like
Speaker 1: I thought it was continuation, like oh they were dating
Speaker 1: now off the college campus and now she got her
Speaker 1: site back? What right? Exactly exactly?
Speaker 5: But that album, that album was very Latin leaning.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the can slowed down, cancelo down.
Speaker 5: There was there was a lot of percussion on the album.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was some. I played percussion on one or
Speaker 2: two of Linel's records, and I don't remember if it
Speaker 2: was that one or not, but which I do have
Speaker 2: to look and see. But he did he loved having
Speaker 2: a percussion in the show. And the cool thing about
Speaker 2: line again that was so different from the Marvin Gaye tour,
Speaker 2: but musically and then what they were doing, I mean
Speaker 2: they had, uh, all these people putting together the show.
Speaker 2: It's like a big major thing, you know, and you know,
Speaker 2: private planes and cookies chicken chicken and uh, you know,
Speaker 2: you've got clothes made for you and everyone's you know,
Speaker 2: everything is coordinating, and you're going, wow, this is Yes,
Speaker 2: it's the big times. My first time ever experienced in that,
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh, this is what it is. Okay,
Speaker 2: I think I want this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, Shela.
Speaker 5: I think I may roll with you for a while.
Speaker 3: And this guy okay, okay, let's throw me.
Speaker 1: Under your bus. So wasn't being positive.
Speaker 5: I love being.
Speaker 1: His name. His name is Sugar, all right, So Steve, Basically,
Speaker 1: we're here an Electric Ladies studio.
Speaker 6: Because a good story to tell.
Speaker 1: This is where no, I'm trying to make it sustinct
Speaker 1: and fastest watch watch watch Okay. Uh I wasted twelve
Speaker 1: minutes right there. Okay, So we're in Electric Lady Studios
Speaker 1: because for five years this is where we recorded D'angelo's Voodoo,
Speaker 1: which Steve was one of the Angel ten. Yeah, trust me,
Speaker 1: we spent a lifetime with d Angelo. So after the
Speaker 1: Voodoo record, and I guess you know, you started getting Yeah,
Speaker 1: you worked on Black Besides, which took fourteen years to make.
Speaker 1: But by that point, you know, everything fell off the rails.
Speaker 1: And he became my full time engineer. And I think
Speaker 1: Steve is probably the first white person in history to
Speaker 1: have diabetes. He basically after.
Speaker 5: The first white person.
Speaker 1: Got it. How he got how he got it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: because of my soul food diet.
Speaker 5: It Lord, I moved to Philly. He moved to Philly
Speaker 5: basically just eating every meal with him. Yeah, and and
Speaker 5: I got diabetes.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And there was a church street that what was the
Speaker 5: name of the church house?
Speaker 1: Prayer house to prayer Stevie wonder l version of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the House of diabetes. Definitely.
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness, do not feed your white person too
Speaker 4: much that what happened to you?
Speaker 1: Glins food after Okay, so I know you're asked this
Speaker 1: a billion times, So I want to take a different approach.
Speaker 1: Can you tell me a random, normal print story, No,
Speaker 1: like a very normal story, Like, but what is normal.
Speaker 1: Oh that time that our volkswagon broke down in the
Speaker 1: middle of the four oh five and we had to
Speaker 1: to the supermarket.
Speaker 6: He ran out of toilet paper.
Speaker 1: Let me get this sorry. Wow, I'm pretty sure that
Speaker 1: the world half of your fans know how you met
Speaker 1: Prince at backstage at his show in the seventies.
Speaker 2: Same place where I played with Diana Ross.
Speaker 1: Okay, the same theater, Yes, the same show. No, okay, wait,
Speaker 1: what was he doing going to see Algebra?
Speaker 2: Well, we were both at the Algiro show, Great Theater
Speaker 2: in Oakland, Berkeley.
Speaker 1: I'm impressed.
Speaker 2: That's when we first saw put at each other and went.
Speaker 1: So you were there to see Algebra? You were there
Speaker 1: playing with.
Speaker 2: Both No, we were both there to see Algira. But
Speaker 2: I think I was playing with George then. But but
Speaker 2: we were both there watching Algerrol on stage, see from
Speaker 2: each other, and we locked eyes and it was over.
Speaker 1: Princeton strike me as a cat. That was like, yo,
Speaker 1: I gotta see Algebra.
Speaker 2: He loved and he loved all that music.
Speaker 1: It's weird to me because, at least from what I know,
Speaker 1: like I feel like if from people I know that
Speaker 1: you're either a total student or a total leader, and
Speaker 1: oftentimes leaders aren't too they're more aloof or not aware.
Speaker 2: I totally disagree. Let me tell you why no, because
Speaker 2: you can be both and that's what makes it awesome.
Speaker 2: I'm going to continue to be a student left life
Speaker 2: forever because I'm never going to learn everything, and if
Speaker 2: every single day I learned something, so I'm always a student.
Speaker 2: Prince was the same way, and I'm a leader. Prince
Speaker 2: was the same way. He was a student. He wouldn't
Speaker 2: say it, but he's a student because every time we
Speaker 2: came in with something different, he's learned the stuff he
Speaker 2: had never even heard before, you know. So, I mean
Speaker 2: he was he became a student if he's in a
Speaker 2: situation with other people that he's not played with, or
Speaker 2: you know, we bring in music that he's never I
Speaker 2: mean when he first met my families, like what kind
Speaker 2: of music is this? Latin jazz? Dang, this is dope?
Speaker 1: You know that's the first time you heard it?
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, So he he was always a student in
Speaker 2: a way. Never had to really say it, but he
Speaker 2: was always learning, which is why he every time you
Speaker 2: can tell if he was hanging with this group of
Speaker 2: people or that group of people, his music changed the
Speaker 2: influence from being a student. I think he was always
Speaker 2: a student and he was also a leader, And I
Speaker 2: think you can do both. That's my take on it.
Speaker 1: No, I never thought of that can do both.
Speaker 6: It sounds like we all should be both.
Speaker 2: Yes, we we yes, all of people.
Speaker 5: Okay, I love ald.
Speaker 6: Steve after all?
Speaker 1: Really Okay?
Speaker 6: In this Love Get Alive dead last.
Speaker 5: He locked eyes with Aldiau And then what happened.
Speaker 1: That I got that Steve? So in meeting? How long
Speaker 1: did it take for him to really convince you that
Speaker 1: you should be your own artist?
Speaker 2: And for him to convince me yes, Oh, it.
Speaker 1: Was assuming that he was the one that told you
Speaker 1: you need to be your own artist.
Speaker 2: Well he wasn't the only one. But I had been
Speaker 2: writing a lot of my own music when I was
Speaker 2: a teenager, and whatever money that I made at clubs
Speaker 2: or whatever, I would take that money and go buy
Speaker 2: a piece of gear. And I said, I'm going to
Speaker 2: learn how to record. I'm going to be an engineer.
Speaker 2: I'm going to learn how to produce. I'm going to
Speaker 2: learn how to write songs. So I started with a
Speaker 2: two track, then I started with a four track. You know,
Speaker 2: and you keep duplicating, like then you hear more hissing
Speaker 2: and more, you know, to get to that point, what
Speaker 2: is what am I listening to? So I kept buying gear,
Speaker 2: and so I had tons of tapes of songs that
Speaker 2: I'd written when I was with Marvin gay Prince Prince was.
Speaker 2: I forgot what record he was doing then nineteen ninety nine, right, yeah,
Speaker 2: So nineteen ninety nine, during the Marvin Gaye tour, he
Speaker 2: was sending me flowers, and then you know, coming to
Speaker 2: some of the shows Lionel, Ritchie and eighty three, then
Speaker 2: he started coming hanging out. He's like, man, you're always
Speaker 2: backing everyone else the same thing. You get a solo
Speaker 2: with everybody. Every time I see you're playing with you know,
Speaker 2: don't you want to do something? I said, yeah, I do,
Speaker 2: but I'm you know, when the time is right. And
Speaker 2: so during me playing percussion with Line on eighty three,
Speaker 2: then towards the end of Lionel's tour, he said, you
Speaker 2: want to do a record? I said sure, He said, okay,
Speaker 2: let's do one. I said, okay. That was it, just
Speaker 2: like that, and we went into the studio and a
Speaker 2: week later we were finished with Glamours Life Record.
Speaker 1: Wow, you recorded it in that in less than two weeks.
Speaker 2: You have it's only like six songs.
Speaker 5: I get it.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, but you also have to be focused.
Speaker 2: We didn't sleep again.
Speaker 1: You remember Prince was doing the song to day, so
Speaker 1: you got six songs on the record.
Speaker 5: That's six days.
Speaker 2: We had two studios going at the same time, so
Speaker 2: we had senses sound.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I admire his especially in hearing that the output
Speaker 1: between eighty two and eighty seven, his kind of bull's
Speaker 1: eye like ability to I mean, you know, when you again,
Speaker 1: when I'm you're younger, you just think that, oh, this
Speaker 1: magically happens. But it's like the rareness of someone to
Speaker 1: write something effective. I mean, I gotta go through thirty
Speaker 1: songs before I think like one's half decent to use.
Speaker 1: This is someone that's just.
Speaker 2: Like, well, he really believed that every single song, every
Speaker 2: single song that he wrote, he believed was a hit.
Speaker 2: Well it wasn't, but he believed that, so he just
Speaker 2: kept writing. So it didn't stop him to go, well,
Speaker 2: this is not a great song. So you know, but
Speaker 2: again you're you're writing songs and it just kept going.
Speaker 2: In the archives, I mean, I think even.
Speaker 1: If they weren't singles. I mean, they were still.
Speaker 2: Great, so yeah, just the ideas. And some of them
Speaker 2: weren't all great. I know some people are not gonna
Speaker 2: be having me saying it, but it's the truth. They
Speaker 2: weren't all great. Uh uh Nope. Some of the ones
Speaker 2: him and I recorded, just him and I that are
Speaker 2: in the vault about two hundred.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I can think of one that I didn't
Speaker 1: really like. I'm sorry one friend. No, no, I'm one record.
Speaker 1: I wanted to get to that later though.
Speaker 2: Okay, no, but I mean he but that was so
Speaker 2: this is the incredible This man was an incredible songwriter,
Speaker 2: and he he never wanted sometimes he would but like
Speaker 2: he never wanted to use the same sound all the time.
Speaker 2: He would just experiment. There were no rules. And that's
Speaker 2: the thing is musicians tend to we put ourselves in
Speaker 2: the box, you know, and say, well, we need to
Speaker 2: mic the drum set this way. No, we don't. We
Speaker 2: need to use this mic because I heard that this
Speaker 2: is the snare mic. Well you really don't, you know,
Speaker 2: Well let me I used to kick drum mike and
Speaker 2: I'm gonna sing a lead vocal on it because it
Speaker 2: sounds different.
Speaker 1: You know, go ahead, Can I ask uh for the
Speaker 1: Sunset sound sessions doing that tenure? Do you remember what
Speaker 1: brand the drums were there? If I could get the
Speaker 1: answer to that, my life would be super complete.
Speaker 2: Drum machine.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, I don't mean the Lend drum. Oh, I'm
Speaker 1: talking about you know, the occasional songs that you did
Speaker 1: cut that had live drums on them.
Speaker 2: Oh, everything I used there was Yamaha okay, all right,
Speaker 2: the maple custom maple okay, that's and pisty symbols battle
Speaker 2: right there, and pin stripe hands drum heads really yeah.
Speaker 1: Pin stripes ye, not coated white?
Speaker 2: Uh huh?
Speaker 1: Why did you put for pin stripes? I mean did
Speaker 1: it matter to you? Was it just like, oh, it's.
Speaker 2: There, or was it like I changed I changed them
Speaker 2: out sometimes, but most of the time it was because
Speaker 2: it had a funk thing, you know, with the pin
Speaker 2: stripe and then sometimes putting a pillow inside the kick
Speaker 2: drum and then putting a little bit of tape or
Speaker 2: something on the snare is just tight.
Speaker 1: Even on the snare. It never occurred to me once
Speaker 1: to use the pin stripes there.
Speaker 5: Do you remember how they mike the len drum.
Speaker 9: You are.
Speaker 1: For those that are scratching their heads at home. You
Speaker 1: can't really mind that.
Speaker 10: Actually that's not even fair to because a lot of
Speaker 10: people put things like that through an amp.
Speaker 5: And then kay, I was.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to get to to get I
Speaker 1: know that the dryness of the line drum, the dryness
Speaker 1: of the line drum naked sounds very dry. How many
Speaker 1: do you know? What was the effects process of getting reverb? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Just this the sound like those patches. M you gotta
Speaker 1: please tell me. This is the closest. This is the closest.
Speaker 1: Remember that is like what what?
Speaker 5: What reverb stuff? Did Prince use?
Speaker 1: That's what I want to know.
Speaker 2: Other engineers as well? Have they told you? I mean
Speaker 2: for me, yes, Look we're talking about Susan. You talk.
Speaker 1: You have to talk to Susan. I'm certain that she'll
Speaker 1: reveal it. But but you've got just for the sake
Speaker 1: of that sound being preserved.
Speaker 2: And here's the other thing with the drummers, the line
Speaker 2: drum machines, because we have both of them, the big
Speaker 2: mon I call it the mothership, the big one and
Speaker 2: then the smaller one. But we had are the line
Speaker 2: drum machines modified, so we had a m B switches
Speaker 2: to do different stuff on the lim machines, which I
Speaker 2: still have.
Speaker 1: What customized modified?
Speaker 5: Do those have effects on them? Yeah? We got her.
Speaker 1: Must be in the Okay, so those claps, it's.
Speaker 2: Those Those claps are dope.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, how did you build those claps? Slowly? Sip water?
Speaker 1: You know I'm a.
Speaker 2: Student, man, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding for the bus.
Speaker 1: Let me off the hook. She'll tell you.
Speaker 2: Offline maybe, yeah, I'll tell you offline.
Speaker 1: Seriously.
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 1: That's just the head claps. That's the only thing I'll
Speaker 1: ask about the drums.
Speaker 6: She's gonna tell you that is the key.
Speaker 1: To Yes, it is you want to give the secret
Speaker 1: to tell you. She's gonna tell you. Have you heard music? Yes,
Speaker 1: So she's gonna tell you.
Speaker 2: I use those same claps right now on my show,
Speaker 2: I should hope.
Speaker 1: So, like, those are very iconic, they are, but louder
Speaker 1: than hell claps. They can be achieved. Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get this from another I'm gonna get this from another angle.
Speaker 1: So when you're doing this live, which I know this
Speaker 1: is a a a nightmare, at least two duplicate to duplicate.
Speaker 1: How many drum machines are you guys taking on the
Speaker 1: room with you in case one breaks down or in
Speaker 1: case a button is missed, or me right now or
Speaker 1: before now before I'm talking pre pro tools, pre oh,
Speaker 1: you guys invented pro tools in my mind.
Speaker 2: We did? For real, we did. So what I did
Speaker 2: was I had a Yamaha drum set. I had eight
Speaker 2: ten twelve fourteen sixteen eighteen tom and I had two
Speaker 2: twenty inch kick drums. I had a Piccolotle snare of
Speaker 2: fourteen inch, and then I had a eight ten twelve
Speaker 2: fourteen sixteen eighteen crashes with a couple of splashes, a
Speaker 2: sixteen in, a fourteen inch pang, and a twenty inch
Speaker 2: ride and a sixty inch right that real big one.
Speaker 2: I don't even know what size that thing is. And
Speaker 2: with each which, each tom that I had, I put
Speaker 2: triggers in the in each tom, so which so that
Speaker 2: I could trigger any sound that I wanted, not just
Speaker 2: on the snare, but on all the toms. Then I
Speaker 2: had switched is put on each tom that had an
Speaker 2: a switch and a be switched, so in case a
Speaker 2: trigger went out, I just click it and I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna lose anything. So I got my B plan. I
Speaker 2: always got to have a B planned.
Speaker 1: So the way that triggers are sensitive and the way
Speaker 1: that monitors are, your monitors really can't be that loud
Speaker 1: or have that much vibration because it might offset the triggers.
Speaker 2: Correct, yes, and no that we didn't have that problem?
Speaker 2: Would they modified that for me?
Speaker 1: And how loud were your monitors we're using in ears or.
Speaker 2: We didn't have in ears? Then we have monitors.
Speaker 1: I tried triggering once again, I do something once and then.
Speaker 2: That you give up too easy?
Speaker 1: Well, no, it's just a nightmare because you know I
Speaker 1: at the time when I was using monitors before in
Speaker 1: the ears, anytime I my kick drum, it would set
Speaker 1: off the entire right. It was just a nightmare. And
Speaker 1: I know, like even with the way that Rob had
Speaker 1: those those lights going, oh yeah, surely like if like
Speaker 1: you must be bullseye and no to press like what
Speaker 1: have you missed the nineteen ninety nine Q to press
Speaker 1: button number eight?
Speaker 9: Right?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: No, no, I have. I had triggers on each drum and
Speaker 2: then I had pads. Uh it might have been a rolling.
Speaker 2: I don't know, it might have been Yamaha, but I
Speaker 2: had modules in a rack. Then I had a different
Speaker 2: trigger on my snare. And with the trigger, there was
Speaker 2: an on and off switch for the handclaps that I
Speaker 2: triggered all my snare. Those claps are on my snare,
Speaker 2: so I triggered. There's an on and off switch for that.
Speaker 2: Then there's an on and off switch for the Lend
Speaker 2: machine and everything that I just told you that I built.
Speaker 2: That my text built, but this is what I needed
Speaker 2: to make this happen. We built a duplicate one just
Speaker 2: in case that one went down. So then I had
Speaker 2: another switch that would then switch all the programs. Every
Speaker 2: time I went to the next song. They weren't switching,
Speaker 2: I was switching it. So I had like ten petal
Speaker 2: on the floor. One was off and on switched just
Speaker 2: for the snare to have hand claps or not. One
Speaker 2: was a switch to change all the programs. One is
Speaker 2: to turn the entire drum Lend drum machine off. And
Speaker 2: then I've got two double pedals because they didn't make
Speaker 2: a double pedal then, so I had two separate pedals,
Speaker 2: and I had the high hat. Yeah, there were so
Speaker 2: many pedals down there, and I was it was like
Speaker 2: me playing in the base organ Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was so on, assuming that everything wasn't one
Speaker 1: hundred percent perfect. I mean, what's your panic level if
Speaker 1: something gives out like okay, it's time to do hot
Speaker 1: thing and you press the button and it doesn't start, well,
Speaker 1: you would naturally play it on drums. I'm behind it rhetical.
Speaker 2: Right, Well, that was the that was why we had
Speaker 2: a B plan. So if that machine didn't work or
Speaker 2: didn't trigger, they just automatically switched to the secondary entire
Speaker 2: rack of everything dramatically.
Speaker 1: For those that are listening right now, this might be
Speaker 1: is this going over your head right now? I had
Speaker 1: a question a followed question. I'm not even the subject.
Speaker 1: I've already forgotten it. I just got it.
Speaker 5: Some people might not understand.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that what she's describing to me right now,
Speaker 1: like I'm not breathing right now, because just.
Speaker 5: Sound like a lot of pedals breathed dog breathing.
Speaker 1: Just the level of I don't know if I can
Speaker 1: handle that.
Speaker 2: No, it was. It definitely was a lot. But that
Speaker 2: was what I came up with to do because I
Speaker 2: was his MD, and it's like I was there most
Speaker 2: of the time, just him and I as he recorded
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff, and it's not like we have
Speaker 2: pro tools. We had one hundred and fifty tracks, so
Speaker 2: we had twenty four tracks, and if we slaved another one,
Speaker 2: we'd have forty eight maybe. But you know, so where
Speaker 2: it says bass and he's playing bass, he just put
Speaker 2: another sound in the middle of something, and I'd have
Speaker 2: to grab that little sound for one or two bars
Speaker 2: or a phrase and take it and sample that so
Speaker 2: I can play it on the drums because it was
Speaker 2: on the bass track. But no one would know that
Speaker 2: because they weren't sitting there with him. Oh so I
Speaker 2: was punching him in like stuff that he couldn't punch
Speaker 2: himself in as far as playing guitar solos or lines
Speaker 2: or whatever. If he couldn't do it. I was his
Speaker 2: engineer for a lot of the stuff.
Speaker 10: So you would sample stuff from tape that he had
Speaker 10: played and then and then assign it to a drum
Speaker 10: and then play some other Wait a.
Speaker 1: Minute, even in overdubbing, he would play it on top
Speaker 1: of pre existing tracks because we didn't have I'm spitting
Speaker 1: out what you just told me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So even if like there's a keyboard part that says,
Speaker 2: keyboards left and right, but at the same time he
Speaker 2: would just punch in some other weird sound instead of
Speaker 2: going through another track. He just punched it in the middle.
Speaker 2: And there were tons of that throughout a song. So
Speaker 2: when you hear stuff coming in and out, it's because
Speaker 2: he punched it in there, and it's only to happen
Speaker 2: at that place, at that sound, and you'll never hear
Speaker 2: it again.
Speaker 1: Because it's my life's dream just to sit and analyze
Speaker 1: one of those tracks in the vault, just to see
Speaker 1: how things are mixed or just the other world. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's like Rubik's cube level of confusion, because I mean again,
Speaker 1: now we have technology and our computers that you can
Speaker 1: have a gazillion tracks.
Speaker 10: But yeah, I think what what she's saying he was
Speaker 10: doing was like when you run out of tracks, you
Speaker 10: have to go to a track that already has something
Speaker 10: on it and find a space where that thing isn't playing,
Speaker 10: like the pianos the universe.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 9: He didn't have to not even go with.
Speaker 1: The Sempty track. We didn't have, we didn't believe in
Speaker 1: Simpty back.
Speaker 5: All right, you got if you're locking.
Speaker 2: Up the machine and I'm sorry, if we're getting two
Speaker 2: technical on something.
Speaker 1: This is what this shows. For This shows for nerds.
Speaker 2: Me up becoming Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Okay, So I have a question.
Speaker 3: So you were talking about the all the pedals and
Speaker 3: stuff and the triggers and all that. How forgiving was
Speaker 3: prince of technical screw ups? You know, if something went wrong,
Speaker 3: like did he get mad at you? Or who did
Speaker 3: he get mad if something if a lyn drun didn't
Speaker 3: get were impatient or impatient?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Like but like did he see did he see that
Speaker 1: as your fault?
Speaker 9: Uh?
Speaker 1: Like if it was, if it was if there's a short.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like if it was a bona fide technical like
Speaker 3: if something was wrong with the mission.
Speaker 2: He sometimes he would just say, whatever is going on,
Speaker 2: somebody fix it, walk out of the room and come
Speaker 2: back and hopefully it was fixed. Yeah, I see that.
Speaker 1: We're still not breathing.
Speaker 2: Yeah it was. I'm telling you. It was a lot
Speaker 2: for me. And then at the same time, not just
Speaker 2: you know, some of the times I had to press
Speaker 2: either the limb machine to stop on the end of
Speaker 2: before the down so I could hit the down with
Speaker 2: the kicked I mean I was, I know, you got
Speaker 2: to hit in all of this, but at the same
Speaker 2: time taking this uh you know, the collaps off where
Speaker 2: they needed to be in the middle of a phrase
Speaker 2: sometimes and it was always on the up while I'm
Speaker 2: still playing and singing.
Speaker 6: And doing choreography, and you're like, it's okay, superwoman, that's
Speaker 6: what's up. Yeah, she is a superwoman, super genius.
Speaker 1: So this is where I don't know if you're aware
Speaker 1: of this. So so there's a term speaking of black
Speaker 1: Messiah that that D and I always used, and well
Speaker 1: the term was Michael Angelo. Oh okay, So I don't
Speaker 1: know if I ever told you the story. So basically
Speaker 1: there was there was a law period in our relationship
Speaker 1: where you know, we didn't rap with each other for
Speaker 1: like a couple of years, and he was still working
Speaker 1: on this record. So we mended our relationship and I
Speaker 1: came back to the studio and he's like playing me
Speaker 1: cuts of what he's been working on so far, like
Speaker 1: all three of them, and by this no I'm playing
Speaker 1: by this time, like he'd got James Gatson to uh
Speaker 1: to drum on these joints, and I was sitting you know,
Speaker 1: part of me was like trying to be like encouraging, like,
Speaker 1: oh man, it's really funky, you know, because again it
Speaker 1: was incredible ass funk I was listening to uh, But
Speaker 1: in my mind I was on this. Yeah, in my mind,
Speaker 1: I was seven with rage, like damn, I'm not on
Speaker 1: this ship. And for me, in my head, I was like, damn.
Speaker 1: The only songs i'll I'll be able to play on
Speaker 1: are the Michael Angelo songs, which in di'angelo speak, because
Speaker 1: the way that Roman sixteen hundred is is sequenced, that
Speaker 1: would be Sheila's second solo. Yeah, for those that are listening,
Speaker 1: A love Bazzar is such a monstrous song the way
Speaker 1: that it's positioned on the album that there's really no
Speaker 1: way for me to separate and make Dear Michael Angelo
Speaker 1: its own song without thinking that Dear Michael Angelo is
Speaker 1: just a three minute movie preview to what's about to
Speaker 1: come around the corner, kind of like the first half
Speaker 1: of slimin Family Stone Stand like, okay, this, we know
Speaker 1: this part of song, but we know the part we're
Speaker 1: really waiting for is the last minute of the song
Speaker 1: where they start like funking out. And but whenever I
Speaker 1: sequenced the record, I always used Michael Angelo the lovelzart,
Speaker 1: like it's almost like an alley setup shot to the
Speaker 1: slam Dunk. And I thought, well, damn, I can't get
Speaker 1: Jimmy Gatzon off this record, but at least I can
Speaker 1: try to work on all the Michael Angelo's the setup songs.
Speaker 1: And so that's where the charade song on on Uh
Speaker 1: Black Messiah comes into play, Like that was our tribute
Speaker 1: to dear Michael Angelow because you know I was not
Speaker 1: on Sugar Daddy and Salty about that.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so that no, that that song means a
Speaker 1: lot to us. I don't know if you hear that often.
Speaker 2: I never, no, thank you, that's awesome. Wow.
Speaker 1: It's also hard to figure out where the one is
Speaker 1: in that. I gotta ask for toy box because I
Speaker 1: know that humor is a big part of the presentation.
Speaker 1: But how how how easier heard is it to do
Speaker 1: skits or that sort of thing like in front of
Speaker 1: like as you're recording it. I mean, it's one thing
Speaker 1: to hear and like, oh okay, by that point you
Speaker 1: used to the comedy skit or the comedy section of
Speaker 1: a certain song. But how hard is it to do
Speaker 1: like and and map and plan, because it's like you
Speaker 1: have to take a sixty four bar break to to
Speaker 1: insert this in the song, Like are you guys mapping
Speaker 1: it out one by one? Like all the lines of
Speaker 1: you're just.
Speaker 2: No, we're just going for it. Okay, yeah, just going
Speaker 2: for it.
Speaker 1: I see.
Speaker 2: So a lot of times it wasn't planned. We're just
Speaker 2: playing in whatever ended up happening, is what it was,
Speaker 2: and then.
Speaker 1: You built it around there yeah I see, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: all right. And fourth for songs like Mercy.
Speaker 2: For the Mercy for the Speed of Mad Clown in
Speaker 2: the Summertime?
Speaker 1: Yes, how many? Is that a band effort? Like who's
Speaker 1: playing on?
Speaker 4: That?
Speaker 9: Is the whole band?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: That was recorded live like Love Bizarre was, And.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm trying to get everything else. So I want
Speaker 1: to get the crush groove right now.
Speaker 2: Tell you better hurry because I gotta go.
Speaker 6: I can you tell me where the pink jacket is though?
Speaker 2: In my closet?
Speaker 9: Okay?
Speaker 6: Thanks?
Speaker 1: Crush groove Bill? Do you oh?
Speaker 3: I thought, you know, helping you move along the crush groove?
Speaker 3: Oh okay, crush groove, Crush.
Speaker 1: So yeah, Michael, how did how did Michael Schultz choose you? At?
Speaker 1: Like were you.
Speaker 2: I was out on tour on Purple Rain. I have
Speaker 2: no idea. Management said at the end of Purple Rain,
Speaker 2: we had been out for a year or something, that's like,
Speaker 2: we want you to go to New York and audition
Speaker 2: for a part in the movie. And I'm like, what, okay.
Speaker 2: So they said, we just want to see if you
Speaker 2: have chemistry with this up and coming actor Blair. Okay.
Speaker 2: So of course I was exhausted. I had just cut
Speaker 2: my hair because we had been on tour. I was like,
Speaker 2: I'm so tired, but I'm going to come here and
Speaker 2: try it. I came here. I was stressed, and it's
Speaker 2: so dumb because I've seen it somewhere. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I think it was on YouTube or maybe it was
Speaker 2: in my archives of stuff that I have. But we
Speaker 2: did a what do you call it? Audition? I think
Speaker 2: I saw it there. If it's not, I have it.
Speaker 2: If not, I have it, But I thought it was
Speaker 2: on there. But if you see it in my profile
Speaker 2: because I was stressed out, this big pimples it was.
Speaker 2: It was a thumb growing out of my nose. It
Speaker 2: looked like and I was so nervous. That bothered me
Speaker 2: more trying to act like, please don't look at my
Speaker 2: nose while we're auditioning here. But anyway, we did the audition,
Speaker 2: it was fine, and they said we want you to
Speaker 2: come back, and so we kind of worked it out.
Speaker 2: And it was interesting still because in the middle of
Speaker 2: the filming of this, I quit, uh, And I usually
Speaker 2: don't quit, but I quit.
Speaker 1: You quit the movie.
Speaker 9: I quit the movie in the middle of filming.
Speaker 12: Yes, sir, wait sleeves, sleeves too much, too little, sleeves
Speaker 12: have haunted.
Speaker 1: How long did it take the film?
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't know. Four months, three months, I don't.
Speaker 2: It didn't seem like it was that long.
Speaker 1: Was it a is it fine? Memories of it like,
Speaker 1: oh the good old or was it just like whatever? Oh?
Speaker 2: No, it was messed up. It was totally messed up. Now.
Speaker 2: What happened was while we were filming it, Uh, I
Speaker 2: guess there was an East coast West coast thing happening.
Speaker 2: I didn't know anything about it, you know, because early Wow,
Speaker 2: I had been on I had been on tour, and
Speaker 2: I came in and it's just like, who's this West
Speaker 2: coast wanna be rapper coming in as what I was.
Speaker 9: Because the Bronx.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, because.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying that's how it went down. It's like, wait,
Speaker 2: what do you And I'm saying, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2: I don't even know what you're talking about. Well, we're
Speaker 2: here in New York and you're just wanna be rapper
Speaker 2: and I'm like, no, I'm a musician, you know. So
Speaker 2: a lot of them hadn't heard kind of is like.
Speaker 2: And then plus being out on tour, I came in
Speaker 2: with and again you would call it ontourage now, but
Speaker 2: I mean I had road manager and the wardrobe people
Speaker 2: and we were just on tours. So everyone came with
Speaker 2: me making sure everything was cool. And you know, I
Speaker 2: used to being on tour and wherever we go it's
Speaker 2: like wherever I laid my head is my home. So
Speaker 2: you know, like we're sitting in this room, you gotta
Speaker 2: have vibe, you know, lamps and you know, pictures.
Speaker 9: My family they'd never seen that before.
Speaker 1: It seemed high end.
Speaker 2: The very I mean, you know, the fat boys were
Speaker 2: in the other room with some cafeteria chairs and a table,
Speaker 2: and I came in with the rug. I mean again,
Speaker 2: you talk about the writer. I mean it's like and
Speaker 2: I want a popcorn machine and I want to for
Speaker 2: real and they're like wait, and they peaked in my room,
Speaker 2: like what's the They were cool, but some of the
Speaker 2: other rappers were so mean to me. And and then
Speaker 2: not only that, the fans, not even the fans because
Speaker 2: they weren't my fans. The peep the extras in the movie.
Speaker 2: While we were shooting Love Bizarre.
Speaker 1: At the at the club, at the Funhouse or.
Speaker 2: Yes, at the Fever, Yeah, we're we're we're we're filming
Speaker 2: that part, and everyone's like, you know, yeah, kind of
Speaker 2: halfway moving and was like whatever, and I'm singing love
Speaker 2: Bazarre and then at the end they're supposed to go, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know she's they just stood there like there's nobody clap,
Speaker 2: and the extras nobody clap.
Speaker 9: You got new York New York is they were It
Speaker 9: was so many.
Speaker 1: They're protective and they're very caddy.
Speaker 2: And and yeah, so they just they had the directors
Speaker 2: had to say, wait, cut, hold on, do you guys
Speaker 2: know where shoot in the movie, Like for real, you
Speaker 2: guys got a clap We're shooting the movie. So anyway,
Speaker 2: it just got crazy.
Speaker 1: For the Holly Rock scene too, that was a.
Speaker 2: Little bit weird too, because actually I had prints come
Speaker 2: for that and so he was there. Yeah, he was
Speaker 2: there for that for a second. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, I didn't know that it was.
Speaker 2: And then and then at the end when we were
Speaker 2: shooting the part where we were all dancing at the
Speaker 2: end of the movie. Yeah, at the end of the movie. Uh,
Speaker 2: it was kind of crazy because some of the other
Speaker 2: rappers were pushing us off the stage and everything and
Speaker 2: moving us out the way and it was just dumb.
Speaker 2: I'm like, they were just hating on us.
Speaker 5: And I was like, but that boys were nice, right, cool?
Speaker 5: What was on their ride?
Speaker 1: Damn? I feel bad for wearing this ll sweater? Now?
Speaker 2: Was cool? Was cool, I'm.
Speaker 1: In.
Speaker 4: But you know, in retrospect, now, I'm sure the next
Speaker 4: project they did, they upgraded their rider because they was like, oh,
Speaker 4: we can get this.
Speaker 6: I had no idea. Yeah, we go disorderly kill you.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 11: Wow.
Speaker 1: Damn. I'm kind of disappointed that that wasn't a good
Speaker 1: filming experience because that film meant everything to us.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I mean I came back and you know,
Speaker 2: it was cool, but it was weird. I mean, and
Speaker 2: the other ones that were really mean to me who
Speaker 2: are well known people now and what they do and
Speaker 2: it's like, wow is their name?
Speaker 1: Ryan would fun p RB.
Speaker 2: No, I got that one.
Speaker 9: Us go.
Speaker 2: Cold. Curtis is cool now? He was? He was. He
Speaker 2: was really cool and he turned around to address everybody's like,
Speaker 2: come on, y'all, you know we're supposed to be shooting
Speaker 2: a movie. Come on, what you're doing? He was really cool.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, for the greater good, I appreciate you doing
Speaker 1: that movie.
Speaker 2: I had. I had a good time. I mean, all
Speaker 2: in all, I had a good time.
Speaker 6: Was that your first East Coast West Coast situation?
Speaker 4: Because I not for nothing that I was always curious
Speaker 4: about the West Coast Latin jazz scene versus the East
Speaker 4: Coast Latin.
Speaker 2: Right, and then that was a whole other issue. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the Latin jazz and jazz and then salsa right the
Speaker 2: East Coast against the West Coast, big huge thing happening.
Speaker 2: Absolutely that was also a rival with the East Coast,
Speaker 2: said the West Coast US Latin jazz artists and musicians
Speaker 2: don't play as well as the East Coast.
Speaker 4: Plus it's different countries we're talking about too in situations
Speaker 4: and all.
Speaker 2: Kind of But I mean it's really it all goes
Speaker 2: back to this rhythm called the clave, and and in
Speaker 2: Layman's term is really like the two and the four
Speaker 2: where we clapping on the funk, but this is called
Speaker 2: the clave and that's their their their clock, and so
Speaker 2: it's how you play it. So yeah, so interesting.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm trying to move past the purple period to
Speaker 1: your sex symbol post sex symbol period of your career
Speaker 1: where you're totally out of the folder left, Like what
Speaker 1: was what was it like to make the decision to
Speaker 1: really leave and explore music that you wanted to do
Speaker 1: without the tutelage of what you what you came to
Speaker 1: the world as, at least in our eyes, Like, what
Speaker 1: was that like for going to do Prince's Bid? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I after a while, it's like I
Speaker 2: didn't like the direction he was going in and I
Speaker 2: didn't like all the cursing, and I just the music
Speaker 2: was getting crazy, and I'm like, no, it does I'm
Speaker 2: not having fun. If I'm not having fun, you know,
Speaker 2: I need to leave.
Speaker 3: After we forget to ask, well, we did, but actually
Speaker 3: I just wanted to ask, did you have any problems
Speaker 3: with singing Scarlett Pussy?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: Okay, because I was wondering if that was if that
Speaker 1: might have been something that you.
Speaker 2: Know, kind of no, no, no, when I did that
Speaker 2: that was supposed to be on my record and it
Speaker 2: turned out so good.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 3: That's actually segue. I wanted to ask about the record
Speaker 3: that didn't come out. Yeah, can you tell me anything
Speaker 3: about the song three Nigs watching a Kung Fu Movie?
Speaker 3: Because that title has just been stuck in my head
Speaker 3: for forever.
Speaker 2: Prince called me when I was in Oakland and three
Speaker 2: Nigs United in West Yeah.
Speaker 1: That was on the Black album, but there was I
Speaker 1: guess a sequel that was coming on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was me. He called me, goes, I don't
Speaker 2: have a title for a song. I said, okay, Three
Speaker 2: Niggs United in Wiscompton or whatever it was, it goes, Okay,
Speaker 2: that sound good?
Speaker 1: Okay? It was so he literally made the Black Album
Speaker 1: just to have party music at your birthday celebration.
Speaker 2: That was yes and no. I mean we were we
Speaker 2: were recording you know, that music mostly at his house,
Speaker 2: in the studio at his house, and then one day
Speaker 2: he's just like, we can't let this go, we can't
Speaker 2: release him like it's the dopest record you are you
Speaker 2: kidding me? He just stopped the truck. No, we can't.
Speaker 2: And of course you know one of them trucks got
Speaker 2: through or I don't know how many truck Yeah, a
Speaker 2: lot of people got the record anyway, Sure it did. Yes,
Speaker 2: how many you have? But yeah? Okay?
Speaker 1: But yeah, leaving it, I mean you felt more of
Speaker 1: a sense of independ.
Speaker 2: Well again, no, it's not that. It was more of
Speaker 2: I felt something was missing musically, and so something missing
Speaker 2: musically for me means well why am I doing it?
Speaker 2: That passion was dwindling away because I wasn't excited about
Speaker 2: showing up, you know and playing. It's like I don't
Speaker 2: like the direction. I don't like what's happening, So I
Speaker 2: said I got to leave.
Speaker 1: Well, this led her to something that we do really
Speaker 1: have in common. You were a late night band leader
Speaker 1: for the Magic Hour? How how how was that experience
Speaker 1: at least as a late night band leader?
Speaker 2: Like, it was actually pretty dope. I mean I was
Speaker 2: ready to do it. To me again, you're going to
Speaker 2: be a musical director for television. It's all about timing.
Speaker 2: So it's like it's to me, I thought it was
Speaker 2: a no brainer, and I just visualized what I needed
Speaker 2: to do. It's like, okay, what's common sense. It has
Speaker 2: to happen. And I was cool with it. So your
Speaker 2: brother too, I enjoyed it. Yeah. I brought my brother
Speaker 2: and my band and.
Speaker 4: Now he's because right, your brother was a music director
Speaker 4: for a TV show.
Speaker 2: As well, Martin Short and Wayne Brady. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, Peter, Mike Martin Short show.
Speaker 2: No no, no, not that one.
Speaker 1: You scared me. Peter Michael was under my no, my floor,
Speaker 1: and I didn't know about it. What the hell?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: Okay, but but I'm just gonna say the Magic Hour thing,
Speaker 2: I mean it was. It's interesting. It didn't last as long.
Speaker 2: I mean Magic have problems trying to, you know, figure
Speaker 2: out how to be a host. That's a hard gig.
Speaker 2: That's not easy at all.
Speaker 1: Have some troubles with that. This show. The first few
Speaker 1: episodes of kind of yeah, the first few, this is
Speaker 1: probably our first fifty episodes. This is probably are rough
Speaker 1: this episode right now, it is not okay, So I
Speaker 1: have I have two more questions. I'll let it go.
Speaker 1: The co Ed prop project, Well, that happened in the future.
Speaker 3: You want to explain what Coed is? Oh, chronicles of
Speaker 3: every dealer, Well, explain it to us. But what's the
Speaker 3: co ed prop co ed project? Well, let's let Sheila explain.
Speaker 1: Could you tell us what the co ed project is?
Speaker 2: Well, we got there, okay, Chronicles of every Dudy. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we were h me kat Dat Dyson who plays guitar,
Speaker 2: Ronda Smith who plays bass, and Cassandra who plays keyboards
Speaker 2: and uh Cassandra Neil and we would have different guest
Speaker 2: artists playing and performing with us. That was the idea.
Speaker 2: And let's just go out and play and put an
Speaker 2: all girls band together, which is something I always wanted
Speaker 2: to do anyway, So I don't know if we're going
Speaker 2: to do anything. I had to disband it because all
Speaker 2: the things that I didn't want it to be and
Speaker 2: how women should be supportive of each other and we
Speaker 2: get along and you know, write some good music. It
Speaker 2: just kind of got funky. It's like, this is what
Speaker 2: we said we weren't going to be so not that
Speaker 2: is so raw. No, it's no, it wasn't a devi thing.
Speaker 2: It's just really uh just not all on the same
Speaker 2: page of what we wanted to do musically. You know,
Speaker 2: we all we have to be on the same page.
Speaker 1: Okay, I lied, So there's two point five questions. No,
Speaker 1: because you are a band leader. How and I've heard
Speaker 1: maybe a rehearsal too, where you and LEVI maybe had
Speaker 1: some words. That's how nerdy we are here.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, rehearsal tape.
Speaker 1: We believe that. Yes, so you heard it too. No,
Speaker 1: But the thing is is that I was I was
Speaker 1: impressed that you won the kind of the debate or whatever.
Speaker 1: But how hard is it for you to put your
Speaker 1: foot down, plant your flag and really make people respect
Speaker 1: your gangster as far as you know, this is our plan.
Speaker 1: Because this leads to what you organized for the for
Speaker 1: the BT tribute, I know that must have been the
Speaker 1: hardest thing in the world for you to do.
Speaker 9: I just mostly, but just.
Speaker 1: From a technical aspect, for you to really take it there.
Speaker 1: I know that you had to draw the map, draw
Speaker 1: the blueprint, and execute it. How hard is it to
Speaker 1: band lead into to be the bad guy? To be
Speaker 1: a bandleader, You've got to be the bad guy, and
Speaker 1: I hate being the bad guy. I wouldn't be everyone's friend, right, So,
Speaker 1: how how hard is it to do it?
Speaker 2: Right now? It's not that hard. It wasn't that hard
Speaker 2: when we did the bet to put that together. I
Speaker 2: have such an amazing group of musicians and people around
Speaker 2: me that we love what we get to do. There's
Speaker 2: no drama anymore, and man, what a great place to be.
Speaker 2: I have to say, there's no drama. There's no arguments
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. It just doesn't really happen anymore.
Speaker 2: If it does, it's once in a great while, but
Speaker 2: hardly at all. And putting together the BET thing, you know,
Speaker 2: first trying to understand how I was going to do
Speaker 2: it and figure it out and then say, okay, then
Speaker 2: who can do this with me? I knew my band
Speaker 2: was going to do it, but who else was I
Speaker 2: going to bring into play? Well, some of the people
Speaker 2: I did ask were already booked for other things because
Speaker 2: it was the last minute. You know, this was unexpected
Speaker 2: first of all. And then you know, some people just
Speaker 2: said no, left me hanging like they didn't even call
Speaker 2: me back.
Speaker 1: But you got it's because it was the timing. It
Speaker 1: was no one knew you know what I mean, It
Speaker 1: was no, but it was a brave thing for you
Speaker 1: to to do. And I have to I don't know
Speaker 1: if I even texted you or after, but yeah, that was.
Speaker 1: That was a great job.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're about to let it go. Do you have
Speaker 1: one last question? This is our last question. I swear
Speaker 1: you're gonna go.
Speaker 3: You've accomplished quite a bit as a musician, and I've
Speaker 3: been reading your book, The Beat of My Own Drum,
Speaker 3: which is in stores now, and you talk about how
Speaker 3: when you were a child you actually had some aspirations
Speaker 3: of being an astronaut and you were quite an athlete too.
Speaker 3: Which of those two do you think you would have gone,
Speaker 3: like gone into had music not worked out for you?
Speaker 2: Or oh definitely athlete? Yeah were you?
Speaker 6: I saw the Olympics and you had Olympic hopes?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely. Mom's my mom is a tomboy, and
Speaker 2: all her brothers and their sisters, they would, you know,
Speaker 2: compete all the time. So all of them doing that,
Speaker 2: they just you know, I learned all of that from
Speaker 2: from my mom competing and being an athlete. She wanted
Speaker 2: to start her and her sisters wanted to start their
Speaker 2: own women's basketball team and baseball team. And so she's
Speaker 2: my mom's always like, you know, you can do whatever
Speaker 2: you want to do. And she's that person's like, don't
Speaker 2: tell me, I can't do something kind of person. So
Speaker 2: I wanted to be. I was in track and field,
Speaker 2: and I was breaking a lot of records in junior
Speaker 2: high and high school running track, and then also played
Speaker 2: on a women's soccer league team for five years undefeated.
Speaker 2: We were undefeated, and I h trophies for the most
Speaker 2: goals and stuff like. So you couldn't even catch me.
Speaker 2: I just couldn't catch to me. Just that was just
Speaker 2: how it was.
Speaker 5: Running with the night.
Speaker 2: Huh wow, I love it. Yeah, that's what I would have.
Speaker 2: I would have. I always tell you when it was
Speaker 2: like I wanted. I wanted to be the first girl
Speaker 2: on the moon and then astronaut, and the second thing
Speaker 2: was to win a gold medal in track and field
Speaker 2: and Olympics. But I got a gold record. I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm cool with that, you know, I got something. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and been around the world. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, like when you're talking to someone and you're
Speaker 1: trying to keep the conversation going on, like you you
Speaker 1: hang up, you hang up, Okay, it's time to hang up.
Speaker 6: It's so funny because.
Speaker 1: Yeah, trust me, there's like nine more hours of technical
Speaker 1: questions I have about drumming and me but I.
Speaker 2: Know we can come I can come back, you can
Speaker 2: get to.
Speaker 1: Talk about gone country.
Speaker 6: What are y'all doing? And then we got like a
Speaker 6: para drum behind us. I don't know what we're doing tonight?
Speaker 1: Is you just you have no finess? Whatsoever? Do you
Speaker 1: you have.
Speaker 6: To get there before? She was like sleeping, you have
Speaker 6: zero to get this?
Speaker 2: Okay, no, no.
Speaker 1: I'm not passing the messages, see sending me over to.
Speaker 6: Okay, my bad, I'm sorry. We are communicators.
Speaker 1: Yes, you're right exactly. Anyway, I like probably say goodbye, Chilia,
Speaker 1: I thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you for coming on left, don't forget to go
Speaker 2: buy Iconic.
Speaker 1: Yes, please by now. Yes it is available now okay, uh,
Speaker 1: sort of go off script with the show instead of
Speaker 1: playing our theme, Can we just have a thirty second
Speaker 1: dance on drama off? That's all went, thirty seconds? Dance
Speaker 1: thirty just the song.
Speaker 6: I'm shutting up?
Speaker 1: Can we shut our micaelf please chield for thirty seconds?
Speaker 1: Can we do this? Please do what? Yes? Can we
Speaker 1: have a dance on drum off for thirty seconds?
Speaker 2: What's a dance on drum off?
Speaker 1: You know? I love that you have such an illustrious
Speaker 1: history with drumming that you don't even remember your classic
Speaker 1: the dance on. Yes, it doesn't even have to be that.
Speaker 2: Just do that because the triggers it's the sound. Yes,
Speaker 2: I do. It's not going to sound the same.
Speaker 1: We don't need the glass breaking and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Just for thirty seconds. All right, can we do this?
Speaker 2: Can you play it first?
Speaker 1: Sexual suicide?
Speaker 6: Can we do Can you play it first? Can you
Speaker 6: play it first?
Speaker 2: Yes, all right, let's go.
Speaker 3: Let's go, so everybody a mirror is going to go
Speaker 3: behind it right now. Thank you, good night, thank you.
Speaker 1: This has been an amazing episode of Quest Love Supreme
Speaker 1: on behalf of the entire Supreme team. I'll see you
Speaker 1: guys later and I'm gonna go die now. Thank you
Speaker 1: until next time. Good night. Quest Love Supreme is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. This classic episode was produced by the
Speaker 1: team at Pandora. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.