WEBVTT - The Questlove Supreme Pilot: From The Vaults 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.040 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:09.760 All Right, ladies and gentlemen, every story has a beginning, 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:13.600 and you're about to hear that very very awkward. In 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:17.120 the beginning, we shot a pilot for Quest Love Supreme 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:22.000 with our very own Unpaid Bill when the time. Didn't 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.520 know that by the time this centerview was over, he 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:26.680 was going to join the show. 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.120 Yeah. I don't know the genesis of this show. 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:34.920 I think it started with my fandom of Fonte and 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:40.760 the Boss Bills Gordon Cartreil podcast, and then you know, 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:44.920 Sup Steve and I always talked about joining our own podcast, 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:50.200 and I remember the notes from our boss is saying 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:54.200 that it might help to have a voice of a 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:55.040 woman on the show. 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:58.600 So Laia will have joined us, I think. 0:00:58.440 --> 0:00:59.440 By episode five. 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:03.800 So this is episode one, the pilot episode of Quest 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:08.760 Love Supreme never heard before with Unpaid Bill. If my 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:13.200 memory serves me correct, I believe that Fante really knocked 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.160 the ball out of the park and rare form like 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:20.399 Fante was so good. I think that's what made Unpaid 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:22.160 Bill want to join the show. 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:24.440 So enjoy. 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:26.520 This is the first time I'm hearing it with you, guys. 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:29.840 This is the very first episode of Quest Love Supreme. 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:44.440 Hope you enjoyed, ladies and gentlemen, this is the first 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:48.680 episode of Quest Love Supreme. To my left we have 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:53.880 the Grand Imperial, the awesomest, the best podcast Ranter. 0:01:53.920 --> 0:02:02.480 I know, supremely talented. What's going on? What up? Fonta Up? 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:07.960 And also we should acknowledge our resident team of Bill 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:12.840 bring Child Johnson. He's mute right now to Michael Steve Mandel, 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.280 later episodes will also offer his two cents. 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:16.600 How you do? 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:21.960 I'll tell you and later I said, And to my 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:28.840 right we have our very first guest, honored mister Bill Shermon. Bill, 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:33.839 you have a long storied history. And when the show 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.280 gets more professional, then I will have your actual credits on. 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:41.760 But being as though we made this phone call extremely 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:46.360 last minute, Bill was my one of one of the 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:51.560 fortunate eight producers of a small off. 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:54.840 Broadway play called Hamilton. You might have heard of it. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.560 You might have heard it. How you doing, Bill, I'm 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:01.760 good man. That's great. Well, we're glad to have it 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:05.920 has an off Broadway place. I say it was a joke. Guy. 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.360 I was playing in Harlem somewhere at Harlem Church. 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:14.160 All female Okay, you know. Actually I saw. 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:19.000 This play once in Harlem. They were redoing the Nativity 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:23.640 scene and they happened to have I think Felicia Rashad 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.720 was like the Angel and no Felicia Rashad was. I 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:33.280 think Mary and Stephanie Mills singer Stephanie Mills was the 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.440 one of the angels before the whiz. No, this is 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.520 way cost me show. This is like last year. This 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.160 was I'll tell you what this is when the Roots 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:47.360 were mixing ill Adolph half Life, so this this had 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:48.520 to have been nineteen ninety six. 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:50.920 I like the fact that you can chronologically know what 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:53.280 happened in your life by what Ruth record we were 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:54.840 working on or you were working on, which I think 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:56.960 is fantastic because I can probably see parts of my 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.320 life when Ruth records came out that were important to me. 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:03.880 Well, no dates, My memory bank is about what albums 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:06.240 came out, Like I don't. That's how I remember dates, 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.200 not like what's her name, Mary lou Henter from Taxi 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:14.400 that has this, Like you can tell her like April fourteenth, 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:16.440 nineteen sixty two, and she'll tell you. 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:17.680 Exactly what happened that. 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.480 Wow, Like I've tested it a few times when she's 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.440 been on the Tonight Show. But I only remember based 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:28.680 on Prince albums, Michael Jackson records, and what the roots 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:29.720 were doing that year, that's all. 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:34.120 So Yeah, I remember Iladelf. That was I skipped school 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:37.040 to buy Iladelf. But I remember I I. 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.680 Mean you a juvenile, that was Hladelf. 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.359 That was one of the two albums that I broke 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.400 the law, well, other than the records I stole still 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.080 in that you know whatever. But like one of the 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:49.880 first record I can remember breaking the law for was 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:51.280 Goodie Mob Soul Food. 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:55.680 I drove to the mall on a learner's permit to 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:57.040 buy that album from the mall. 0:04:57.400 --> 0:04:59.440 Yeah, like yeah, you know what I mean, Like I mean, 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:06.920 I drove to the ball the several So then on 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.680 on Ill Depth Half Life, I remember the record came 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.560 out and I was a junior in high school. My 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:16.080 homies were seniors and at the time, you know, juniors 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.040 only upper classes would go off campus for lunch. And 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:20.919 so one of my boys, like Yo, were going to 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:22.640 the record Change you get their roots joint. 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:24.000 I said, I'm riding with y'all. 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.960 Fuck that, let's go, And so I went and I 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:28.560 didn't go back to school that next day. 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:30.160 I think I showed I went back for like football 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:33.640 practice or something. But that was it. I was. I 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:37.800 was a truant for wow, I'm it. Yeah, man, I 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:38.320 had to have it. 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:40.360 Have you You could skip school and then go back 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:41.200 to play football. 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:43.880 Yeah, you could because the coaches, like, you know it 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:45.000 was they needed to help. 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:49.279 Yeah, it's cool. Did you have you ever committed a 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:53.159 musical crime that nature to buy a record? No? 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:55.680 I skipped school a couple of times, for sure, as 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.280 we all did. I didn't skip school to buy a record. Really, 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.000 I'm trying to remember. No, I didn't. I mean, I've 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.880 committed many musical crimes in the name of music, for sure. 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:06.040 But that's like a whole different story altogether. 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:08.920 Oh man, I don't know if I should share this 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:09.720 story or not. 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.080 Yes, you should. I think that definitely. That's the whole 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.400 purpose of the ship. I definitely think you share it. 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:18.320 All right, So the worst whipping I ever got in 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:23.840 my life was over nineteen ninety nine. 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.760 Close the time the Times first record. 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:34.200 What I have just set it up for you because basically, 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.120 all right, so there's a song called after high School 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.880 that's on the Time's first album, and. 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.159 You know, it was one of those moments at performing arts. 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.680 Now, I went to the private performing arts from first 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:51.160 grade to seventh grade. 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.279 And so you know, it's in the early eighties. So yes, 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:55.000 it was very much close. 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.919 To what life was like on that on Fame, like 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.560 people would break breakout and song breakout and. 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:03.360 Dance full scale production. 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.520 Yeah seriously, So someone had it was one of those 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:08.359 cliched moments. 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.480 Someone had a big giant boombox and. 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.280 Put the Time cassette in and put it after high 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.080 School on and then we were all doing that Eddie Murphy, 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.920 this is how white people dance dance, you know, the 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:25.120 Carlton right like, and it was a happy moment. 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.320 And then I unfortunately danced a little too close. 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:33.640 To the boom box and caused it to fall on 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:35.120 the ground, Like I ruined that moment. 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:37.520 To think of that rerun Doobie Brothers. 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:42.160 Yeah, shadows, I know a lot of references, a lot 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.440 of you won't get, but just just. 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:45.160 Google it, kids. 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:47.320 Yeah, I feel like we should have like some kind 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:51.040 of like annotations like okay, so Al Dunbard the Doobie 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:52.360 Brothers episode of What's Happening? 0:07:54.680 --> 0:08:01.000 Yeah, he was the bootlegger. So so we. 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.760 Have to add say, okay, so it was the time 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.400 Rerun went to re won't wanted tickets to a Dowie 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:09.080 Brothers concert at their high school. 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:13.360 And you know what I'm saying, And like he was 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:14.040 he was the fact. 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:15.720 He was, you know, the fat kid that had the 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:17.560 like the day he could hide the tape players. 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:20.360 So he was like the original napster of like nineteen 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:23.600 seventy five. So like, so he goes. 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:25.840 And tries to take the ship and this episode, no, 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.239 oh my god, man nineteen eighty. 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:30.080 I was born in seventy eight. 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:32.319 I was right right behind youself, but nah, I Roba 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:34.959 used to watch this every day. So your man that 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.040 played Al Dunball was also the black guy. Theodore Wilson 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.760 who also played He was also carried on Good Times. 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:42.480 I can't remember which one he was on Good Time. 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:45.440 He wasn't He wasn't Lynna. Yeah, the name is Lynna. 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:47.640 He wasn't him. He was like another guy. 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:49.960 He was like, I get him and what's his name? 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:50.720 Mixed up? 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:54.840 How from Hal Williams. Hall Williams was, Who's Lester Jenkins? 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.079 It's oh, what is we going down? The black rabbit hole. 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:00.400 It's not even minute. 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.600 Dunbar coerces rerun to take this this uh this this 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.880 this this deeper rob show with Michael McDonald there in 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:13.480 his full beard and uh he jump up and the 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:16.400 tape player falls out, and so he gets caught like 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:18.160 you know, the Dowbie brothers see him, like, dude, we 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:19.160 thought you was our friends. 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:20.520 How could you boot like I should. 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:24.080 He's paraphrasing it, but it was amazing, like, first of all, 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.280 brothers do this show with a gong, it's on fire 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:30.760 and everything they doing, taking into the streets and then 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:34.040 reruns dancing his ass off, and then all of a sudden, 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:36.000 the tape player just falls to the. 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:37.640 Floor and the show stopped. 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.920 Someone notices it, one of the brothers noticed, and then 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.600 the Doobie brothers just look at him like it's it's 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:45.800 one of those like silent to be continued. 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:49.960 It's like it was like a very special episode, you 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:50.520 know what I'm saying. 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.160 And so so yeah, so they find so they got 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:57.240 they hook up and they go to Shirley's place and 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:01.640 they arrest al Dunbar and that was how was Yeah, it. 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:02.600 Was brought to his resolution. 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:07.240 Mine wasn't that dramatic, but basically to avoid the school 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:11.360 bully from beat me up because I destroyed his his 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:17.760 radio shack tape player. I just thought, well, maybe I'll 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:21.640 just you know, swipe some money from. 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:23.720 Home and I'll replace. 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.240 Right, There's nothing like being caught in a black household 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:28.400 with a black father. 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:32.719 That's real. 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:37.840 It really got. 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:43.120 No, it's even shut off. No, it's real. 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:45.480 It's real because it's just like I don't know what 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:46.960 I think with black fathers. 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:50.679 Man, Like it's just like we was. We were just 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:52.080 before we started taping. 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.240 We was talking about your your nephews, right like Bill, 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.439 his nephews is going through some stuff, you know what 0:10:58.440 --> 0:10:58.760 I mean. 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:00.559 And so he was like, my go to go straighten 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:00.920 them out? 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:02.880 And Bill Sherman was like, man, they could kind of 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:04.559 straighten you out because they Oh. And the things I 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.880 don't understand about black men, I think once you get 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:09.760 to a certain age, you're just not defeating us. 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.080 Because it's like when I'm twenty years old and I 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:13.040 would like fight. 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.080 I would just hit you with my fist, but like 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.600 at like thirty seven, forty fifty, I'm hitting you with 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:23.040 every disappointment I've ever had in life, Like I'm hitting 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:23.960 you with Vietnam. 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:24.880 I'm hitting you. 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:30.080 I'm hitting you with my failt first marriage, I'm hitting 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:33.679 you with every job application that got denied. So for 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.719 you to steal from a black dad when you came 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:40.760 up like back in the day, like oh, man. 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:46.520 Dude, all in the name of Briyan of repairing his 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:52.720 tape player and maybe possibly buying that time except for myself, 0:11:53.000 --> 0:12:03.280 oh woking up at two in the morning. Oh, I 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:07.640 canna laugh at it now, but it was quite the opposite. Yeah, 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:10.160 So that that was the worst crime. Well, I mean 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:12.680 I went through a lot in the early eighties to 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.839 listen to music like I'll share more of that later. 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:22.559 But anyway, Bill, let's talk about your life from black 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:27.920 Fithers to me. Fucking you going through a divorce right now? 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:29.560 So you probably got a lot more in common with 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:30.840 black fathers than you realize. 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:35.600 Are you about to in a little bit true? True? 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:36.120 Uh? 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.000 Is that the reason for the hair changed? No? 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:42.160 No, the reason this comes up a mere And I 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:44.679 made the Hamild's record, and I had really long hair 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.200 and looked like a like a like cool, like a 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:48.319 hobo a cool. 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:52.480 Hope you look hipsterisk okay of the eight producers of Hamilton. 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:54.040 I thought, okay, I have a lot of in comn 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.960 with this guy, like everyone else is a suit that's true. 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.760 Uh yeah, So I cut it all off because it 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.040 was getting long and I didn't I want to look 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:05.040 like a hobo anymore. And then and then I saw 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:06.960 a mirror to think and I said, yoh man, what's up? 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.160 And he didn't recognize me all at all, hilariot. 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:11.800 We were taking a photo with the Hamilton gold record 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:12.800 and he was staying next to me. 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:13.560 Like, hey, how you doing. 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:19.800 I was like, oh, no autographs now, no selfish my head, like, dude, yeah, so. 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:21.080 I didn't recognize you, Bill, Sorry. 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:21.840 It was pretty great. 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:26.480 So actually this isn't your first Grammy, Like what is 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:29.720 in the Heights your first for rate into professional producing, 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:32.920 or like what's your history with with that stuff? 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:34.440 With music? 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:36.120 Start from the beginning. 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:37.800 I grew up playing the saxophone. I was really into 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:42.040 jazz as like a Dexter Gordon Coltrane, Hank Mobley fanatic. 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:43.480 Who was a kid. How old? 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:47.520 Uh thirteen through twenty two? 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:49.520 Okay, do you still play sax now? 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:52.520 Every once in a while, I played to the other 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:54.640 day for my kids. And I couldn't understand that that's 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:56.240 something I did. It was pretty funny. 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:58.680 I'm a little traumatizing myself. I'm like, why didn't you 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:00.559 tell me this? I don't know, it never came up. 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:01.600 Why would it. 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:03.480 Do you play instruments? I mean I can play the. 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.080 Piano, Okay, Well, I was making light of the fact 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:07.320 that you didn't share with. 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:12.600 And I and the kazoo, and yeah, so I played 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:14.480 the saxophone. I went to college. I went to Wesley 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:17.960 and University in Connecticut. I studied jazz for a while, 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:19.680 and then I got into world music. I was really 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.160 into West Africa and got drumming. That was my thing 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.760 for a while. I went to Ghana first semester I studied, 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:27.280 and I played. I played with a bunch of fale 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:29.520 As guys while I was there in Ghana who had 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:32.880 come from Nigeria. This is also a discussion we've never had. 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:36.080 Yeah, I'm like it did. 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:40.560 And in addition to all the other ship that you 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:41.680 know about me, this you might not. 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:41.800 So. 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.600 I met Lynn Manuel Miranda in my junior. 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:46.280 Year of college. 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:48.320 And the great story with that, which I tell all 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:50.680 the time, is his girlfriend at the time was producing 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:52.440 this musical that I was music directing, but I wasn't 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:53.240 really into musicals. 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:54.320 But that's not the point. 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:57.000 And Lynn said, uh, he came up to me afterwards 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:58.400 and he said, you don't know me and I don't 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.320 know you, but we're gonna work together for really long time. 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.040 Did you think it was just a random crazy person totally? 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:06.160 I was like, okay, whatever, smart guy. 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:07.600 So we we we did. 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:09.560 We worked on his senior thesis and some other ship 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:11.480 and whatever, and then we graduated and then we were 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:13.000 gonna put on in Heights. We put on In the Heights. 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.320 That was my first musical. I never had a big 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:17.520 background of musicals. I just like music a whole lot. 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:22.400 And then I arranged orchestrated with Alex Lackmore in Heights 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:24.280 and then we won a Tony and a Grammy and 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.240 all that stuff. And then from there, I also play 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:29.080 in this group called Freestyle of the pre which is 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:33.880 a hip hop improvay which has you know what I'm saying. 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:36.280 He's making up, he's making this. 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:37.760 Follow Yes, this is all made up. This is my 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:39.320 life story, but it's all fictitious. 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.400 Wait a minute, do you know what you guys don't 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:49.200 know at all? Steve, are you back checking you? Guys? 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:52.920 We speak a bullshit. It's probably what you would you would, 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:53.440 you guys, don't. 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:57.840 I've known Steven Mandel, our engineer, for near twenty years, 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:00.800 and anytime there's a pie of f moment for me, 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:05.640 he's there, his smirk, He's totally enjoying the fact that 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.440 I literally am believing everywhere you're saying right. 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.520 Now, huh, okay, you should it's true. Okay style style. 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.600 What you know about this because you were supposed to 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:16.880 come to one of our gigs a long time ago 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.120 when we first met. It's we get suggestions from the 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:20.960 audience and we make up hip hop tunes and Lynn's 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:23.800 in it, and Chris Jackson's in it, and I play keyboards, 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:25.680 and there's beat boxer and we do all this thing right, 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.560 you know, not real. It's not real, but you should 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:29.440 see it. It's pretty cool. 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:29.960 See. 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:32.600 But the thing is is that Da Vid was on 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:35.840 the Tonight Show. No, but David was on the Tonight 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:40.080 Show speaking of hip hop improvisational group that he was 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.160 a part of with the same people. 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:42.640 You just mentioned. 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:53.960 Yeah, that's. 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:51.640 That's the first real thing. 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:54.960 Everything up to now has been alive a little bit. 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:56.880 That's real. It's all real, all right. 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:57.400 So what was the. 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:00.440 Concept of the the hip hop Improvisational. 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.200 Week GETSU justificy on. So it's like they do a 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:04.600 thing called person placer sing. It's like get a person, 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:06.680 one guy gets person, one guy gets placed, one guy 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:08.480 gets a singer, and then we just make up hip 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:09.520 hop tunes about that. 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:13.119 Oh okay, so musical version of whose line is? 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.439 And it's a hip hop version who's lining it anyway? Essentially, 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:16.960 but all the music's made up to it's all What 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.119 was the period of this It's it's ongoing. But like 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.080 when we graduated from college in two thousand and two, 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:24.359 we toured a lot and went around to play a 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:25.440 lot of the comedy festivals. 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:27.480 This is Wesleyan. It's post Wesleyan. 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.000 Yeah, but a lot of the guys are from wesley. 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.520 So like, how I guess my question because I just 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.720 think musicals, I mean, they fascinate me, you know what 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:37.760 I mean, Like I'm not I'm never was a person 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:41.040 that was really big into them, but I my the 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.200 craft that goes into them and just you know, having 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.000 to tell a story through song, like that's that's just 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:46.960 a lot of fucking words. 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:48.040 As a writer, you know what I mean. 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:50.480 So, like, how do you go from just a saxophone 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.920 player to writing musicals? Like how was it something you 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.399 kind of fell into or was it like how did 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:57.399 you find your groove in that? 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.360 Not on purpose? Uh? 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:03.600 I lived on Long Island as a kid. My parents 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:05.639 would bring me to see musicals like every once in 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:07.439 a while. But it wasn't something I was drawn to, 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:11.080 Like I'm not the genre specifically is not wasn't a 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.159 thing that I was into. And I met Lynn and 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:13.800 he and we. 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:14.400 Just did this. 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.000 We did these shows of his because I just liked 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.000 the music and in the heights was all like Latin 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:20.840 music and hip hop and stuff like that and stuff 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:23.760 I know, and and then it just kind of like 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:24.919 if you asked me what I wanted to do when 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:26.720 I was eighteen, it wasn't I want to write musical. 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:28.760 That was probably not even anywhere on my brain. I mean, 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:30.639 I just like, I just like music, and this was 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:32.600 one of the things that I do. And then it 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:34.879 sort of spawned all these other things, which is you know, 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:36.639 similar to you. It's like you do this thing and 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:38.840 does all these other things. You write cookbooks, you know 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:42.119 that kind of shit. And then uh so is the 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:44.080 is the cook book out? Is it not a cook 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:45.879 It's not a cookbook. It's not a cookbook at all. 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.120 I've read it. It's cover to cover twice. That's bullshit, Steve, 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:55.560 don't it's an EXPOA Steve, you're the official judge of 0:18:57.640 --> 0:18:59.480 You're right, yeah, a ref, Steve, A ref. 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:04.479 Okay. 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:08.399 So when the idea of Hamilton was presented to you, 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.440 at what point do you enter the foray as far 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:15.280 as the the genesis at least? 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:17.600 Like well, I probably entered Hamilton the same time you did, 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:19.560 because I didn't work on Hamilton the show. I worked 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:21.399 on Hamilton the record. We probably got the call at 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:23.640