Agent Palmer

Episode 114 features Miguel Bolivar a marching band director who is here because I have some things I want to say.

From my blanket apology to start the conversation to discussing all of the bands and the role, it has in forming better habits and music in general to the importance of arts education in high school and much much more…

Throughout the conversation, we discuss:

• Being a band geek
• Marching Band
• Symphonic Band
• Jazz Band
• Pep Band
• Performing and Garage Bands
• Saxophone
• Band is a place to belong
• The Road Not Taken
• The Piano
• Music Theory
• Practice and Playing
• The Band Room
• The Arts
• And much more

Mentioned and Helpful Links from This Episode

Eric Smith is an Author, an Agent, and More

–End Transmission–

–Begin Transcription–

00:00:00:08 – 00:00:32:05
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent Palmer dot com. Don’t copy Xerox’s errors as told in Fumbling the Future. 2023 maybe I’ll catch up later. And yes, Zapata and I are still continuing the conversation, even away from the microphones. This is The Palmer Files episode 114 featuring Miguel Bolivar, a marching band director who is here because I have some things to say for my blanket apology, to start the conversation, to discussing all of the bands and the roles they have in forming better habits and music in general to the importance of arts education in high school and much, much more.

00:00:32:09 – 00:01:05:24
Agent Palmer
Are you ready? Let’s do the show.

00:01:05:29 – 00:01:33:23
Agent Palmer
Hello, and welcome to The Palmer Files. I’m your host, Jason Stershic, also known as Agent Palmer. And on this 114th episode is Miguel Bolivar, who I invited on the show because I wanted to talk to a band director. And Eric Smith, the guest from episode 108, introduced me to Miguel as the two of them grew up together. So I have some things I wanted to talk to a band director about, but after that, we talk about the importance of music in our formative years and how that has developed since.

00:01:33:35 – 00:02:00:16
Agent Palmer
We discussed what it’s like being in a band, from marching to jazz to pep and even garage and performing bands. If you were a member of a band or knew a member of the band, or were just curious why all those kids were hanging out in the band room, you should sit back and enjoy this conversation. But first, remember, if you want to discuss the episode as you listen or afterwards, you can find all related ways to contact myself and my guest, Miguel Bolivar in the show notes.

00:02:00:21 – 00:02:16:36
Agent Palmer
Don’t forget, you can see all of my writings and rantings on Jim palmer.com. And of course email can be sent to the Palmer files at gmail.com. So without further ado, let’s strike up the band.

00:02:16:41 – 00:02:39:30
Agent Palmer
Miguel, all I know about you is that you’re a band director, so I’m going to start by explaining who I am, but not now. I’m going to explain who I was. Right. I was in your marching band. Okay? I was in your marching band. I played, tenor saxophone. And I still classify lower brass as the troublemakers of the band.

00:02:39:35 – 00:03:01:05
Agent Palmer
Okay. That’s. I don’t know if that’s changed, but that’s not correct. Hi. That’s me. And then I was also in symphonic band. It was just that you had to be in that at a certain point. I don’t think there’s any way. I was also in jazz band, and I was also in pep band. I was in all four of the bands.

00:03:01:10 – 00:03:25:42
Agent Palmer
And when I went home in a few garage bands of sort. Okay, so I am, I am that guy. But I’m not just that guy, because when we’re in the stands at the football game, I happen to be one of those cross injured. You know, dimensional beings that likes music, band and the football game that’s actually happening.

00:03:25:55 – 00:03:45:08
Agent Palmer
So like, my band director back in the day used to yell at me for paying attention to the football game that we were at. Okay, I that was my cross to bear. This is who I am now, granted, in full disclosure, I spent two and a half years in high school because of, semester abroad and an early admission to college.

00:03:45:15 – 00:04:05:34
Agent Palmer
So I didn’t spend a lot of time in the marching band and all of those bands I just mentioned. But this is who I was. And I have to say that even in that short time, despite the fact that Pep Band might be my favorite because we were on our own to do as we wished at basketball games, which is a different thing.

00:04:05:34 – 00:04:34:50
Agent Palmer
You know, this is who I am, and I still remember, like show up early, if you’re on time, you’re late, which I also got from my cross-country coach. But that’s a whole different thing. Like, I, I remember, like, core principles of my being that, look, I tenor saxophone that I had still in my house, I haven’t touched it in over a decade, but I just cannot get rid of it.

00:04:34:54 – 00:05:05:48
Agent Palmer
And I feel like part of that is because I there was something instilled in me. And you are the band director. I know, you know, it was sitting across from me. Now that I can say this to you, that there was something from those days like, I know it’s cliche, the whole band getting up at the end of revenge of the nerds, but like, I, I feel like I learned so much in just that truncated time in all those different bands, even the stuff that wasn’t mostly nonmusical stuff.

00:05:05:48 – 00:05:33:13
Agent Palmer
And I just want to say as older me, because I was very obnoxious back then, I want to thank you for doing what you do because it is like the work of the angels, like we we need more band members out there. And I just want to say thank you because I feel like I owe it to all of the band directors I’ve ever had to apologize to someone, right?

00:05:33:17 – 00:05:52:57
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah. It is a thankless job. You know, you work real hard. And I guess, to be honest, like, the whole point of being a band teacher for me as band director is to get that, which is what you’re saying. Just. I learned so many life lessons. I had so many great experiences that I would love all my students to play in the New York Philharmonic.

00:05:52:57 – 00:06:16:12
Miguel Bolivar
We all know that’s not going to happen. I would love for all of them to be super famous musicians. And some of them have gone on tours and have gone to Juilliard Prep and done all that stuff. And that’s also really like I’m proud of those students, but I’m also proud of the ones like yourself who just, like, have the instrument and have a very like, special place in their heart for what their program was like and bought into the culture.

00:06:16:12 – 00:06:35:29
Miguel Bolivar
And even if they were as good as they were there all the time, and they’re like, you know, like, dude, you’re the kid that like, you know, funny enough, makes you come back to your job every day because there’s plenty of other stuff that makes you feel that good, that makes you feel the opposite. Right? It’s like, you know, getting asked to a board meeting like three days beforehand.

00:06:35:29 – 00:06:51:25
Miguel Bolivar
You have to bring your 105 piece marching band somehow there, and all your equipment is spread across the district. That’s not the stuff that makes you want to come back. So, so that’s that’s interesting. And I mean, so you did marching band, which one year you said pep band was your favorite, right?

00:06:51:25 – 00:07:25:10
Agent Palmer
Yeah, yeah. Well, that was just because it was it was not, I guess, sanctioned like it was. It was, like when I, I only did it for two years because it was only in high school, and, I believe it was like one of the assistant band directors was our advisor, but it was up to the, upperclassmen or the senior most upperclassmen, which sometimes was only a junior who was in the pep band to arrange the music or figure out what was on the place.

00:07:25:19 – 00:07:47:35
Agent Palmer
You know, it was very, like, more club based than organized. And I think part of it was, you know, you learn a lot from your peers, and you learned a lot. And it was, you know, as I go down and marching and symphonic are probably equal, but then jazz bands a little bit smaller and then pep band was the smallest one.

00:07:47:35 – 00:08:05:43
Agent Palmer
I was a part of, and I think, I don’t know, there was just that camaraderie because like, let’s be real, everybody who was in the pep band was also in all of the other, like, yeah, like it’s a funnel, right. So there was just something about that that was just like, we’re on our own. This is what we do, you know?

00:08:05:43 – 00:08:37:15
Agent Palmer
And I, you know, I’m a I’m a sports guy too. But like, outside of baseball, my sports, college football. And I remember going to Lehigh University, football games and sitting with friends that were seven, eight decade older than me, who were in the band and sitting in the band section with them. And I think part of it was they had such an a look, I know it’s not the same as high school, but it was.

00:08:37:16 – 00:09:06:26
Agent Palmer
They had such an amazing experience at on those Saturday afternoons, marching in the band and then just playing ridiculous songs from the stands. And there was just something about that that always, I don’t know, I don’t know, like, I, I didn’t know it at the, at the like. I’m this is based on memory and reflection. At the time, I was just an idiot who was like, I like this, you know what I mean?

00:09:06:26 – 00:09:25:44
Agent Palmer
Like, I had no, I, I I’ll be honest, I don’t think I was there. I think when you get students that come back to you, I’m the reason you go to work. But at the time, I had no respect for you. If I, you know, like, I, I can’t lie to you like. Oh, absolutely. I was the kid who was cracking jokes in the back.

00:09:25:50 – 00:09:41:37
Miguel Bolivar
Right? But but you kept coming back, right? Yeah. And that’s showing up and and that’s the thing like that that doesn’t go unnoticed, you know, like, I know, for me, like, I have a couple of kids where they pretend to be super dedicated, but they show up late and they don’t come to things. And I never can find them.

00:09:41:50 – 00:09:53:11
Miguel Bolivar
Like, those are the kids. I’m just like, they’re not really in it. But there’s some kids that are like a pain in my butt, but they’re always there if I need, like if I needed my car wash, I know I could just throw a sponge at them and then figure it out. I mean, I don’t do that.

00:09:53:19 – 00:10:12:25
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, but, like, I just know that they’re hard core and they’re on the team. They just don’t. They’re just they just don’t want to show it. Right. Some of that is just being a kid, right? Like, everyone wants to belong, but does, but wants to be unique. Everyone that’s a group of friends. But they also want to be popular and, you know, not need anybody else.

00:10:12:29 – 00:10:30:13
Miguel Bolivar
So that’s like this very like thin line that I feel like high school is specifically walk, you know, as they decide what they like, what they like and what they don’t like. Yeah. And, and I think they’re afraid to say that sometimes they’re afraid to say, this band is what I like. You know, a band is my thing, you know?

00:10:30:17 – 00:10:35:27
Miguel Bolivar
Because it might not be cool. I mean, in my school, it was cool. Like, I’m actually teaching at my alma mater, so.

00:10:35:32 – 00:11:04:38
Agent Palmer
It was not. It it I, I want to say, because it wasn’t cool at my school up to a point. Now, listen, I wasn’t there. My second half of my junior year, and I wasn’t there my senior year. But from the experience of an underclassman, the seniors, at the very least, when I was a freshman and sophomore, the seniors didn’t care, you know, like, they they were like, hey, I’m excited.

00:11:04:38 – 00:11:29:24
Agent Palmer
I want to go to Penn State and be in the blue band. Like. And they were not apologetic about that. Like the the seniors that I, like, you know, looked up to in essence because because you learn a lot from those section leaders. I think it was there like not caring like they were called band geeks, but it’s like, I don’t, I don’t care.

00:11:29:24 – 00:11:43:39
Agent Palmer
I’m going to go to Penn State and play in the blue band. Like that’s what I want to do. And these were the people that were sitting next to me that were, you know, 1 or 2 years older, but might as well have been like parents, you know, they’re laying it down.

00:11:43:39 – 00:11:45:31
Miguel Bolivar
And I spent so much time with them, too.

00:11:45:31 – 00:11:57:25
Agent Palmer
And and it was their, I don’t know, like their, respect for what they wanted. I think that kind of infused it.

00:11:57:30 – 00:12:20:56
Miguel Bolivar
Leadership is a big deal, especially in band and marching band and all that stuff, but and it’s I picked them very carefully because they either spread like, like a wonderful, like, culture or a disease. Yeah. So, so, so your band director did a good job because it they they’re inspiring people. Regardless of what their attitude is, they figured out how to inspire the underclassmen.

00:12:20:56 – 00:12:40:54
Miguel Bolivar
And that’s kind of how that’s hard to do. In general. Right? Kids, kids are combative when they’re a little younger, right? They’re testing their boundaries. I look at a puppy, right? They gotta go. They’re trying to figure out what the deal is, you know? And it’s it. It’s also mixed into that, like, hormones and mixed into that, like, family stuff.

00:12:40:54 – 00:13:00:32
Miguel Bolivar
Right? Because I’m sure, like, no, no teenager loves their mom and dad at that point. So there’s like a whole rebellion going on inwards and outwards. Right. So like you’re changing, you’re growing. So like all this is happening and then there’s one person that’s in charge of you, they’re saying, hey, play this one funny song. Or like, like pick up your instrument and practice and things like that.

00:13:00:32 – 00:13:10:14
Miguel Bolivar
So try to ride that line either, you know, it’s a special place to ride and some people are really good at it. Some people are not. Some people are drawn to some teachers and some teachers like.

00:13:10:14 – 00:13:18:57
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I mean I just, I it amazes me how the farther I get from it, the more fondly I look back on it.

00:13:19:02 – 00:13:19:49
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah.

00:13:19:54 – 00:13:40:23
Agent Palmer
And look, I went to a very small college on an early admittance. It didn’t have a band. So it, it was over for me. Yeah. You know, when I went abroad the second half of my junior year I was done. Like, obviously I’ve picked up the saxophone since that. Not in a decade but obviously since then, just here and there.

00:13:40:23 – 00:13:56:21
Agent Palmer
But, you know, it was over for me. I, I’d like to think that there’s an alternate world where, like, I probably go like, oh, there’s a pep band here. Yeah, I’ve got a horn. Right. Like, I feel like that’s probably a thing. I would have continued.

00:13:56:26 – 00:14:17:19
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, like an adult. Like an adult band thing, like they do. And, kind of like what they do with, what is it for the the Ravens, they have a marching band and just random people. They just pick up instruments and learn stuff, or they’re drumline or something like that. I’m not sure what they do, but, yeah, it’s, you know, you teach it so the kids sound good.

00:14:17:19 – 00:14:39:57
Miguel Bolivar
You teachers and you can compete because, like, my marching band competes and all that stuff. So, like, I you do for all of that stuff, but you also do it to kind of teach them how to, like, organize by themselves, how to solve problems, how to deal with each other, how to, you know, how to blend in, how to make sure that everything is going to be all right, like it’s, it’s it’s it’s what drew me into it.

00:14:39:57 – 00:14:49:00
Miguel Bolivar
Right? I, I personally, I loved band and I remember I played outside also am a saxophone. It’s so is Eric actually Eric as a saxophone as in the sky band I he told you that.

00:14:49:00 – 00:14:49:58
Agent Palmer
No he didn’t.

00:14:50:02 – 00:15:06:39
Miguel Bolivar
Oh yeah. He’s the most kept secret. He, He. Yeah, he played this guy who actually really good. So, so the two of us, we played in our bands and we had a great time. And then I chose I just was for me, like, once I got into the more band and music stuff, I, as the, the experiment child of my kids.

00:15:06:39 – 00:15:21:49
Miguel Bolivar
Oh, there’s there’s three, I have two siblings. I was the experiment child of the of the three. They were like, they didn’t give the older one the use of instruments. And they’re like, let’s see if the boy, he’s made out of rubber, so he’ll he’ll be fine if instrument doesn’t work out. So I did, and I tried it.

00:15:22:03 – 00:15:37:13
Miguel Bolivar
Right. And, and I love this. I studied on clarinet and went to saxophone and also saxophone saxophonist. And then it just was something that I felt when I played the instrument that I didn’t feel anywhere else. Like I got into some, like, pre-med thing, and I just declined it because I was like, I don’t want to cut people open.

00:15:37:13 – 00:15:49:07
Miguel Bolivar
I don’t I’m squeamish. I don’t want to do any of that. It’s too much responsibility. I just want to play my instrument. So I played my instrument, and then I got some guidance at my school where they were like. The guy was like, look, man, I know you want to be an arranger. I wanted to write and arrange.

00:15:49:07 – 00:15:51:34
Miguel Bolivar
I arranged all the music for my saxophone quartet in high school.

00:15:51:34 – 00:15:52:12
Agent Palmer
Oh, nice.

00:15:52:26 – 00:16:11:26
Miguel Bolivar
Which is funny enough. Still at my high school and still gets played. Oh, cool. Yeah, it’s pretty funny. So, like, we were there and, so I did that and then, and then the one of the guys is like, listen, I’m an arranger, but I also teach you should go get your teaching degree. I see how you earn people like, why don’t you try it out?

00:16:11:26 – 00:16:31:29
Miguel Bolivar
Like, you know, worst case scenario, you don’t like it, but you you end up pursuing your other degree. And it turns out that, like, he’s, that guy wrote, like, won a Tony Award, but he was working in my school district. I didn’t know until after the fact that that was an incredibly gifted. Right. So that I did, and I just went along and started I kept writing for marching band, and I kept, doing the music thing.

00:16:31:29 – 00:16:44:44
Miguel Bolivar
And then, you know, it just till this day, it’s I still perform regularly, like, I’m to have a guy three gigs this weekend. I’m doing a double in Saturday and one on Sunday. And like, when I play my instrument, it just makes me feel like nothing else.

00:16:44:44 – 00:17:28:50
Agent Palmer
I. I think that so I never, took this path, but like, there was a time before my semester abroad when I was seriously talking to my, I think a legit band director, not the assistant director who did a lot of the work with us often. But like the the main band director about his alma mater, which was, I want to say, Lebanon Valley College, because it was it was one of those things where I had told him, I don’t know if I give that much care about music theory, which is a course that I an elective I did take in in high school.

00:17:28:55 – 00:17:48:58
Agent Palmer
But I said, I, I am doing this thing on the weekends and at night with this Tascam port. A studio for these cover bands and rock bands. And I think I want to go for sound design, like sound engineering. Yeah. And he’s like, you could do that at my alma mater. And it was a conversation we had and it it never panned out.

00:17:49:01 – 00:18:08:32
Agent Palmer
I mean, now I run a podcast and I do audio editing and I run a mixer. And, you know, since then in college, I ran sound in, like, theater and stuff, but like, it’s a it was the one thing from like back then, it was the one decision I ever made to like, really didn’t pan out, but kind of ended up anyway.

00:18:08:32 – 00:18:27:52
Agent Palmer
Like, I’m sitting here talking to you, I got a mixer next to me and yeah, it’s only you and me. It’s two channels, but if I needed to plug in anything else, I’m good to go. Like, if I, if I want to go down in my basement, with a few amps, a bunch of guitars and an electronic drum kit that I got down there, I can record, like.

00:18:27:52 – 00:18:28:48
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, yeah, that’s like, oh.

00:18:28:51 – 00:18:54:02
Agent Palmer
I just need bodies, like. And I, I didn’t go to school for it, but like, it was there, like, I, there’s a world where that that’s a thing that I was like, I think I might. And you know, he was like, if you want to do that, you really still should learn theory. And it’s still like the big, like, regret.

00:18:54:07 – 00:19:18:42
Agent Palmer
And I, I’ve been thinking about it recently. Interesting. And I don’t mean recently because it’s the new year and it’s I know I mean, I’ve been thinking about it for the last two years is like to do I pick up the piano, like, do I pick up the keyboard in a way where, like, I don’t need to write anything, but I feel like it’s the only instrument that I kind of want to play that I can’t.

00:19:18:47 – 00:19:34:48
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, it’s it’s a piece of it. It’s a it’s a bear. Like, I’m playing the piano now for my choir, and I have to like, I have to learn that fast so I can read chords I get through, but they call it the mother instrument for a reason, right? And it’s because, like, you can see the theory, like you can actually see.

00:19:34:53 – 00:19:45:02
Agent Palmer
I mean, that’s why they teach, right? Theory on it is because, like, it’s not like a guitar where like it’s like, this can be this or this. It’s like, no, it’s right here.

00:19:45:06 – 00:20:04:53
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah. It’s a way to understand it, you know? So like, you know, you go through it, you go through it and also you. So you can teach the music theory. But I mean, on the other hand, I love music theory. Like, I, I’m like A.P. theory certified. Like I loved all that stuff, like I got for my exam and I barely studied because, like, it was like, really it was like a really like I was like, I like the science behind it.

00:20:04:53 – 00:20:20:06
Miguel Bolivar
That’s the only science I really like. Like, I like science and like math. I was good at it. That’s why they recommended me for that program. But but I, I like the nuts and bolts of music. Like how that’s how that works at all. That’s how this works. And I mean, audio engineering is something that is like super dope.

00:20:20:06 – 00:20:34:15
Miguel Bolivar
And I have friends that do it and they like record people all the time. They’re like mixing and mastering these albums. I get to hear them before they’re done, like, oh, this guy’s releasing this. You want to check this out? And like, oh, that’s dope. So he, like, nerd out, like in their basement. And I hear these, like, fresh cuts of these cool musicians.

00:20:34:20 – 00:20:48:40
Miguel Bolivar
So, like, all that kind of stuff is really fun and interesting too. And it’s a it’s. And now it’s like, to be honest, like musicians nowadays have to have a little bit of everything. But yeah, there’s no like I can’t just play the saxophone really well. Like I have to play saxophone. Well, I have to be doing marketing.

00:20:48:40 – 00:20:55:26
Miguel Bolivar
I have to make sure that I’m doing like all these, like 4 or 5 different things to, like, make it happen, you know, it’s become an industry in that sense.

00:20:55:26 – 00:21:26:09
Agent Palmer
Yeah. I, I, I don’t relish that idea. Like there’s a part of me that at 40 wants to take the hard part away from everybody. Like I want to be like, leave the marketing to me or like, leave the mixing. Just play like, because I’m, I’m also a, a blogger, aside from being a podcaster. And there’s a part of me that wants to just write, and I would love to be able to just write, and I do and like it’s a hobby for me.

00:21:26:09 – 00:21:39:59
Agent Palmer
But like, if I wanted to be a full time blogger, I got to be a full time marketer too. And it’s like, I don’t know, like I, I want to take that away from everybody else, just be like, no, you, you just play like, I’ll take care of the rest. Or like, you know, you just write, I’ll take care of the rest.

00:21:39:59 – 00:22:06:02
Agent Palmer
And I, I think that we’re doing disservice to our artists. And our youth, and I don’t, you know, it’s not like a sweeping statement, but, like, Mozart once he started writing, didn’t have to also promote himself. Right. And it’s just like, I know that that’s one example, but, like, you know, Aerosmith, once they got signed, were done.

00:22:06:06 – 00:22:26:58
Agent Palmer
Like, they could write and tour and any band from the 70s, like, you know, or 80s or even 90s, once they get signed, they tour and they write. And yeah, I understand the music industry was broken. They didn’t make a lot of money, but the one thing that the music industry did for them was they could write and play and like, that’s what they could do.

00:22:26:58 – 00:22:50:49
Agent Palmer
And I feel like we’re, you know, they they get a bigger piece of the pie now, but they’re also taking a lot of energy away from their art. And I that’s the part I don’t like. When I sit back and watch, you know, an artist go on Twitter and be like, hey, everybody come out to my next show and I’ve got these CDs like, that’s fine.

00:22:50:49 – 00:23:05:59
Agent Palmer
When you’re on the mic in front of a captive audience of 30 people at a club, you know, don’t do that on the internet. You should be. Somebody else should be doing it. You should be writing. You should be protected. Like I just there’s a part of me that wants to take that away from them because they’re losing all that.

00:23:06:08 – 00:23:24:04
Agent Palmer
You only have so much energy right now. You say that as a 40 year old old man, crotchety man like, but still you like you still only have so much. And would you, you know, if I were to ask you, would you like to go back in time and do everything yourself, or would you like to go back in time and play and write like, yeah.

00:23:24:09 – 00:23:41:22
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, yeah. I mean it’s it’s a double edged sword though, right? Because we say that. But the, the people that are hustlers are really are really are, you know, they, they get a chance to get their music out and they may not be the most. So sometimes like not even the most talented but I mean hard working. Yeah.

00:23:41:26 – 00:23:57:50
Miguel Bolivar
They rise to the top. Right. So then there’s, there’s it’s a double edged sword. So are we. Are we settling for artists that are working on nine different things at the same time and getting their craft kind of watered down, or are we settling for these hard working people that like, you know, so see these out of the trucks?

00:23:57:50 – 00:24:13:26
Miguel Bolivar
You know what I mean? Like, and that’s what it used to be. Right? So now all electronic. It’s all Twitter. It’s all this. It’s all that. So I mean there’s no right or wrong. And actually nowadays, like we used to be, if you sold at a bajillion records, you were going to make a ton of money. Now, no one sells records.

00:24:13:30 – 00:24:32:44
Miguel Bolivar
Singles is just streams. Right. And you make all your money on tour, which is like crazy, like, I. I know a friend who knows a saxophone player for Bad Buddy, the saxophone player for Bad Money plays one song. He only has one song with him, and I get that at the end. He makes like, like several thousand dollars a show.

00:24:32:49 – 00:24:33:33
Agent Palmer
For one song.

00:24:33:48 – 00:24:41:49
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, yeah, for when he just played for 2.5 minutes and he gets like, I think like, yeah, he makes, he makes. I don’t want to that whole.

00:24:41:53 – 00:25:03:19
Agent Palmer
But like it’s, it’s it’s a pretty good gig. But I mean at the same time you got, rip the guy who was in the E Street Band who played, I mean, I, I feel like there are live shows I’ve seen, like online and stuff where he’ll just step into a song he’s never like he’s not on the record for and just add a part in.

00:25:03:19 – 00:25:29:04
Agent Palmer
Right. So there’s there’s definitely these they and look I, I should probably say because I, I know it’s a disservice to my parents to not say this. I grew up in a music household. So it’s not like I was just like discovering it from friends, like my parents. It’s I don’t like to split them because it’s not right to do.

00:25:29:04 – 00:25:47:33
Agent Palmer
But like, my dad was very stones and my mom’s very Beatles. Oh, okay. Despite the fact that my dad also had Beatles albums and, you know, it’s it’s all nebulous, right? But like, I grew up with what I like to consider the classics. And I grew up in this household where, like, you know, I, I knew about traffic, right.

00:25:47:33 – 00:26:10:33
Agent Palmer
Like, which is, like, and I knew about traffic when I was in those band. The all of those bands. Right. Like, so I was learning like, glad, on tenor sax, not because I was going to play it anywhere else, but because, like, I was listening to it at home. Right. And I was obviously I was, you know, learning to play bass at the time and guitar and like all these other bands and stuff.

00:26:10:38 – 00:26:33:14
Agent Palmer
But like, there were also, concert out. The Last Waltz is probably like, sorry. Like for me, that’s one of those like classic movies for me. And I learned about music in the home too. And the arts, I guess. I grew up in an art household, you know, which is nice, but, like, not everybody gets that, and I understand that, too.

00:26:33:14 – 00:26:50:48
Agent Palmer
And that’s a thing where it’s like, okay, some people don’t have a history, some people need the older brother because it’s not coming for their parents, or they need the section head to go. Like, well, I mean, you want to hear a killer tenor sax solo, like, here’s the thing, because you’re not going to get it anywhere else.

00:26:50:53 – 00:27:09:12
Agent Palmer
But like, there’s a part of that history we need to pass on, like as well. Like I not to jump completely off the rails, but like, how contemporary, how much contemporary or old, I don’t know. Like, I don’t know what you call it. How much of that kind of music do you share with your students?

00:27:09:17 – 00:27:11:59
Miguel Bolivar
You know, contemporary as in like pop or contemporary?

00:27:11:59 – 00:27:30:46
Agent Palmer
I mean, just like, you know, Beatles stone, like deep cuts that they wouldn’t normally hear, like on a Chevy commercial. Now, apparently, you know, like, they just like, you know, like, oh, like, you know, this thing that or, you know, older bands or like, classic Dylan that nobody’s ever heard of. Like, how much do you I so I guess that contemporary you know like not non marching band.

00:27:30:48 – 00:27:31:10
Agent Palmer
Yeah.

00:27:31:10 – 00:27:49:01
Miguel Bolivar
I mean to be honest, like there’s not much time to do it in the classroom, but, my friend is learning to do it in a subtle way. She has a playlist that just is rolling all the time. Okay, so her kid walks into her class, they’ll be like, what is this song? And that that teacher say, oh, that’s Bela Fleck.

00:27:49:01 – 00:28:06:26
Miguel Bolivar
Like he plays like, you know, you know, I’m saying, or, or they’ll say like, oh, that’s a crazy set. I was like, oh, yeah, I played with him on that. But, he’s from Japan. And like, she just, she has like a really clever way of installing that in there like that. Yeah. I can’t do that because I’m going from building to building.

00:28:06:26 – 00:28:25:59
Miguel Bolivar
So I, I travel as a, as a teacher so I don’t get the chance to do that. But she’s found and a lot of teachers employ that because then you never know they’re they’re always listen. Kids are always listening. It’ll be one thing that is perked their ears up and they’ll hear about it. And the the joy with that is that then they’ll go home and they’ll just YouTube the crap out of it.

00:28:26:00 – 00:28:41:02
Miguel Bolivar
Okay, in there, just type in that person’s name and they’ll just go, what’s this one? And what’s that one? And then they’ll come the next day. And I like, like I showed kids like like I’m, I’m doing Freddie Freeloader as part of the jazz band. And the kid was like, so I heard six versions of it. And the Miles Davis one is the original one, I know.

00:28:41:07 – 00:28:57:31
Miguel Bolivar
But then I also heard it, and then they’ll go down the rabbit hole of the internet or Spotify and find all these different versions of that one tune just. And so like, that’s like a good way to do it and incorporate in the class. But otherwise I don’t get a chance to really be like, this is this album.

00:28:57:36 – 00:29:06:37
Agent Palmer
Do you get the question, like, do people ask about your music? Like, because I’ll be honest, I don’t think I ever asked my music teachers or band directors about their musical taste.

00:29:06:37 – 00:29:25:48
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah. I mean, sometimes you do. Sometimes they’ll ask me if I like a certain artist, like political instability, like do like Bad Bunny or say they said, like, I’ll do like Drake, just say things like that. And I’m like, yeah, listen to the music. Like, I think there’s like merit in it that I did. And I’ll like, give a very, like, somewhat political, sometimes my personal opinion or how I feel.

00:29:25:53 – 00:29:38:23
Miguel Bolivar
But I think kids are interested in that because they want to. It kind of tells them, like, if you’re hip or not, you know, I mean, like, I used to with it. Yeah. Because, you know, because you’re old, you know, you’re old then after you graduated college. So you know what I mean?

00:29:38:23 – 00:29:54:18
Agent Palmer
Yeah. No, I trust me. I know that there was at least one band assistant that was like, literally if if 25, I’d be shocked. And it’s like, yeah, that’s that’s an old person, right? Like you’re sitting in class like. Like it’s not even eight years. Like it’s not even a decade between you and you’re like, that’s an old person.

00:29:54:20 – 00:30:08:30
Agent Palmer
That’s like, don’t trust that person. All right? Okay. Yeah. Look at that point, they’re not I, I don’t know how it works out in other circles, but like in the band or in the band room, it felt like anybody who had a degree was like up there out.

00:30:08:32 – 00:30:24:59
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they have responsibilities. We don’t want to talk to them. Yeah. And but but yeah. No, I mean they, they do. And sometimes I’m able to like say hey I like that artist too. But did you know that that sample that they use in the song, you like is really from this album. And so you find ways to tie it in?

00:30:25:12 – 00:30:43:57
Miguel Bolivar
Okay. Yeah. Like what the. You know what I’m saying? Like whether things have come from because now they’re sampling 90s tunes in most rap and most hip hop, it’s all 90s tunes that I grew up with are now the samples for these new songs that are coming out now in the 2020. Right. 20, 2023, all that stuff. So it’s like it’s really wild to see the circle go round so fast, right?

00:30:43:57 – 00:30:56:04
Miguel Bolivar
Like because I think when we were growing up right in the 90s, where we were harkening back to the 60s and the 70s like it was a long time ago. So like we’re talking like, you know, like, 30 years, but like, I guess it’s 30 years.

00:30:56:04 – 00:30:59:22
Agent Palmer
It’s 30 years now. Yeah. I mean, it’s because it’s a loop.

00:30:59:27 – 00:31:05:14
Miguel Bolivar
It’s. Yeah. And but the access kids have to music is way better than they know.

00:31:05:18 – 00:31:31:08
Agent Palmer
Yeah. I mean, that’s the other thing too. I mean, I know you can talk about the artists and how they have to tour now for it, but like, I think my appreciation for music would be vastly different if it was more than what I could afford to buy, what I could choose on my five free Columbia House things, or like, you know, you know, what my parents had in either.

00:31:31:08 – 00:31:55:21
Agent Palmer
I mean, because at that time, my parents still had a vinyl collection, a small cassette collection, and a CD collection. Right. But like, everybody had that, and there was a lot of overlap where it’s like, I still have this cassette and this vinyl, but I bought it on CD for Better Fidelity back when that was a thing. And so it’s not like we had 300.

00:31:55:32 – 00:32:29:49
Agent Palmer
It’s like, no, you got like, you know, you got you got 100 of each. And you’re probably like, variance is probably like, you don’t have 300 different things to choose from each other. All right. Okay. So and I remember burning CDs and I remember the radio played up massive, you know, influence on all of us, but, it’s it’s one of the things I liked about band was while everyone else in the school was like, what’s on TRL?

00:32:29:54 – 00:32:46:26
Agent Palmer
What’s on MTV? We were all like, so-and-so burns this, like deep cut from some rush bootleg, and we’re just passing it around the band room, right? And it’s just, yeah, you know, it. It was still like a blank cassette that it was like, no, there’s something on this, like, listen to this.

00:32:46:30 – 00:32:47:54
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah.

00:32:47:58 – 00:32:51:56
Agent Palmer
And so that’s kind of like we’re it’s almost our own little world.

00:32:52:01 – 00:33:14:07
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think there’s something cool about that, I think. Right. Something nice about that. Like the fact that, like, it was that CD you made at that one time and, and there’s something like how you share music and how it’s like word of mouth and like speakeasy kind of. And that’s how, like music always was, right?

00:33:14:12 – 00:33:32:25
Miguel Bolivar
And it kind of still has that, you know, even though the accessibility is different. But, like, have you heard of this indie pop star? Have you heard of this person that’s coming up? Have you heard of this stuff like that? Like some of my students knew who Bad Bunny was before he was a big deal. He, like, was doing local shows in the area that I was living.

00:33:32:25 – 00:33:50:55
Miguel Bolivar
Right. So like, they like they and they knew about him before they knew him when kind of stuff. And like there’s different like ways, but like I think that whole like that, that, I don’t know that like, hey, have you heard, like of this guy, this, like, these guys give her a Thundercat, the bass player. Yeah. That’s why yeah, I like, I mean, I went to see him live is insane, but, like, you know, when you like.

00:33:50:55 – 00:34:04:48
Miguel Bolivar
Oh, have you heard of this guy? Oh, he’s so cool and this and that. And then they’ll just, like, just jump in, so I don’t know. And and and being able to listen to all that music that these kids have now it’s I’m so jealous of like they can just look up like what the what India’s top five.

00:34:04:53 – 00:34:08:01
Miguel Bolivar
You know, charts are and you can just like look them up and and hear them.

00:34:08:09 – 00:34:40:42
Agent Palmer
And it’s it’s not even that like I as a as a bass player slash guitarist I’m a rhythm guitarist. Right? I can’t solo to save my life. Just for every anybody wondering and and that drum kit in my basement is for basic beats. I couldn’t solo to save my life either. But, like, you know, it’s one of those things where, like, I had a friend who was really, really good, and it was like, I want to learn this song, and I don’t have five bucks for the newest guitar mag, and I don’t have five bucks for a back catalog guitar mag.

00:34:40:47 – 00:35:02:45
Agent Palmer
Right. You know, the internet guitar tab was not the library. It is. Hey, it’s like I have one friend with perfect pitch. Can you help me learn this song? Or, like, I and I know there were some people in my class, that would ask, like the assistant band director, if he could help at least identify chords and stuff.

00:35:02:45 – 00:35:25:47
Agent Palmer
And it was one of those things where. He, you know, maybe in the first five minutes of class, you get him to talk about, you know, contemporary music or even something from the 70s that we had just discovered, like, because, you know, everybody’s always, you know, we talk about the cycle, but like, everybody’s always rediscovering stuff. Like so high school is when people are finding the Beatles often.

00:35:25:51 – 00:35:37:29
Agent Palmer
And so like, you know, it’s just that thing. But if you don’t have a friend with perfect pitch and at the time, if you didn’t have money for the magazine that the tab was in, you’re not learning that song. Like you just.

00:35:37:42 – 00:35:58:44
Miguel Bolivar
Know. I mean, a but I mean, I must say, that’s where music theory comes in, right? Because there it’s like a, there’s like, like a formula to those chords and you kind of like know where they are. But, but yeah, it’s tough. Like, I mean, the arrangements that I made for my band, like for my group, stuff like that, all of it was luckily because I could find Midi files and stuff like that.

00:35:58:44 – 00:36:08:41
Miguel Bolivar
I find I’m trying to think back, and then I would dissect them and rip them apart because I knew the theory like, oh, really? That’s this chord, really? That’s this. And I should just reverse that. Right. But but yeah, I don’t know.

00:36:08:48 – 00:36:16:13
Agent Palmer
I have a loose memory of like 1351 4 or 5. Yeah, yeah. You know, it’s it’s.

00:36:16:18 – 00:36:16:53
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, it’s.

00:36:16:54 – 00:36:23:11
Agent Palmer
I like I know it’s not all there but like, it’s still kind of there. Yeah.

00:36:23:11 – 00:36:44:08
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah. Like they say it’s like riding a bike. Right. You never really forget, all this kind of stuff. But then that’s the beautiful thing about, I think about music also, like, I see all these videos of these older people that don’t remember their kids, but they do remember how to play the piano. Okay. And these people that don’t remember, like, how to like and music therapy is now a thing because of that, like helping people speak again.

00:36:44:23 – 00:37:02:04
Miguel Bolivar
There’s people that like, you know, and all that, that the power of music to do that and transform and to I mean, I don’t know, that’s, that’s one of those qualities that I think has it’s just stuck in you. That’s why you learn the alphabet, right? Everyone is A, B, C, d. You know, all these songs that you remember when you were little.

00:37:02:13 – 00:37:20:46
Miguel Bolivar
And you can sometimes when you hear a song, you could pinpoint where you were when you heard it. Yeah. Like, you know, I mean, like all those things, like, I mean, it’s just such a crazy. It’s just it’s a crazy thing. And there’s a reason why it’s transcended time, right? There’s a reason why we can still listen to the Beatles and listen to and find something new about them as you go on.

00:37:20:46 – 00:37:32:51
Miguel Bolivar
Right. Music that transcends. It’s like. Yeah, that those are the classics. Those are the hits. Those are. Those are what every composer wants. You know what I mean? Music that goes through time, right? That will that will withstand the power of time.

00:37:32:56 – 00:37:53:51
Agent Palmer
So, I before I forget to ask, when I say, like, all right, I’m going to go play. Like I have a range of instruments. I still actually play. I guess the tenor sax is now a collectible for me. I don’t, I just, I don’t know I don’t know if I’ll be able to ever get rid of it, but, you know, I have a choice.

00:37:53:51 – 00:38:13:29
Agent Palmer
You know, it’s it’s acoustic. Electric or one of my many basses. And I know that inherently. And I think a lot of the people around me like my partner, she knows that, and what have you. But if I was like, Miguel, what do you want to, like, go play for a half hour? Like, what are you picking up?

00:38:13:34 – 00:38:23:27
Agent Palmer
Like, what’s your what’s your go to? Because I obviously I just listed a bunch of instruments and obviously I could pick up any one of them depending on how I’m feeling. But like, what’s your goat like, do you have a go to.

00:38:23:40 – 00:38:40:54
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah. So I go, there’s definitely saxophone. That’s like my primary instrument. I still play it all the time. That’s like my that’s my big instrument. I think, depending on the gig, I’m, I have all four. The alto, tenor and the berry and soprano. I used to play in a quartet and I play a lot of Latin music gigs.

00:38:40:54 – 00:38:56:51
Miguel Bolivar
So I play with like people that come through town, like, I don’t have enough time to find gigs. People just call me because they need someone for like the weekend kind of thing, you know? Yeah. So. So yeah. So what I play in a couple of wedding bands, that kind of stuff. So. But alto like alto, tenor sax, those are the ones that I’m usually playing the most.

00:38:56:51 – 00:39:14:24
Miguel Bolivar
I do like playing Barry a lot because it just has such a big fat sound. So I don’t get called from any of those gigs. So it’s only just for breakfast. It’s like just for fun most of the time. And then so yeah, but that’s my main instrument, like the choral instruments, I never really they never really stuck on me for whatever reason.

00:39:14:24 – 00:39:36:51
Miguel Bolivar
So like guitar or, but like, I can play all the bands just fine and I can get around on the piano. I could, like, read a lead sheet. I play a lot of, like, hand percussion to have percussion, too. And actually, I’m marching to drum corps, so I know my concert percussion really well too, so. But my go to is definitely saxophone, so I try and like my worst instrument is probably flute.

00:39:36:51 – 00:39:40:32
Miguel Bolivar
I’m terrible at flute. I should not see that and advertise it, but that’s what it is.

00:39:40:33 – 00:39:46:45
Agent Palmer
Well, how are you? How are you on the other brass stuff like trombone, trumpet, tuba like trumpet.

00:39:46:55 – 00:40:02:44
Miguel Bolivar
To teach with because it’s very. So I sound okay, I sound, I sound like a, like a mediocre high schooler on trumpet. Okay. Because because I, because I’m, because it’s easy to teach with. I just pick it up and play, I suppose a saxophone. You like what to read? You got to figure out what’s going on.

00:40:02:45 – 00:40:16:19
Miguel Bolivar
You got to leave it around. I don’t like leaving it out just because it gives a kid positive. But a trumpet is. It’s a it’s a mental. It’s like to run over the vehicle for it to be bad. You know what I mean? It’s, I don’t mind it being out here. I mean, so, so. Yeah, but, but, yeah, I get it.

00:40:16:23 – 00:40:26:26
Miguel Bolivar
I get it right on trumpet. The best, and trombone. And. But I get around on those guys just fine, okay? Just like a mediocre high score. I’m better than my students for now. All right? You know.

00:40:26:31 – 00:40:53:17
Agent Palmer
I mean, that’s I mean, that’s a good place to start because you want. I mean, the other thing is, like, you always want them to be like. I remember my middle school music teacher more than any who was versatile on everything. I think we all know one of those teachers. And it was just like, that’s, you know, I’m five minutes early for my saxophone lesson, and he’s up there like just blowing on a trumpet, like just like it’s like, what is?

00:40:53:22 – 00:41:02:04
Agent Palmer
Oh, going, all right. This is just not fair. Like, okay. And like my friends coming in next for a drum lesson and it’s like, all right, okay, I get it. Like, that’s.

00:41:02:09 – 00:41:16:52
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, that’s I mean that’s what you learn, right? And that comes with a time like I had to sit and practice the trumpet. I remember I started teaching fourth grade is my first job teaching fourth and fifth grade. Band and trumpet players are better than I was on trumpet. But so I just I was a they wouldn’t make fun of me too.

00:41:16:52 – 00:41:29:13
Miguel Bolivar
They’re like, oh, you can’t play that. No. I’m like, no, I can’t play that. Oh not yeah. The practice like really good. Like, you got so good. I was like, it’s called practice. Yes. You guys don’t know. You guys just don’t know how to do it right. Like as you get older you’re like, oh, I can skip all those other steps.

00:41:29:13 – 00:41:30:03
Miguel Bolivar
I know how to do all that.

00:41:30:03 – 00:41:40:28
Agent Palmer
Yeah. I just you know what? I’ll be honest. I don’t know how much I practiced at home, like, I, I it’s just.

00:41:40:32 – 00:41:58:06
Miguel Bolivar
All the time, though. That’s that’s what get you. Got you good. Yeah. Right. You’re playing all year round, right? From marching that all the way to peppered. You played every all year. And my bad. You know I’m, I’m saying so like if you keep playing, you can live off those chops for what you’re doing. Like, if you were going to audition at a college, it would be different.

00:41:58:21 – 00:42:05:21
Miguel Bolivar
Or an audition for a band or like the it would be a different game. That’s fair. Right? But I think if you’re playing all the time, that’s half of the battle.

00:42:05:25 – 00:42:23:06
Agent Palmer
Yeah. I mean, I never really thought about the fact like, no, I’m I’m definitely playing all the time. And it’s just like, like with, you know, those after school activities just kind of they, they add up, right? Like, even if you’re fooling around for a little bit, like at a certain point you’re in the band room, everybody’s got their instruments.

00:42:23:17 – 00:42:31:59
Agent Palmer
No matter how much you’re fooling around, even for a student led thing. You all have your stuff there. Like you might as well play something.

00:42:32:00 – 00:42:36:43
Miguel Bolivar
Something. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, kids live in the band room. That’s like a thing, like.

00:42:36:48 – 00:43:00:43
Agent Palmer
I mean, look, and. And you’re in this age group with me where we were hanging out in the band room when blues Traveler for really broke, and there was always one kid who knew the harmonica solo one. There was always like, maybe two, but there was always one kid in, like, every band room that I’ve ever talked to people about that like, could actually play that solo and everybody be like, come on.

00:43:00:43 – 00:43:18:57
Agent Palmer
And the other one was there was always one trombone player who could play the trombone, line from Wrong way from sublime. Like there was always one kid that could, like, do the popular contemporary music in the class and was just like, all right, that’s cool. Well, that’s,

00:43:19:01 – 00:43:33:59
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah. Yeah, I you always have a couple of the I don’t I know right now my trumpet players are playing the harmonica parts of Piano Man. Like I was like, what are you doing in music? I gotta learn it. It’s like, why do you have to learn this? Like, I don’t understand and I don’t know, I just feel like I do.

00:43:33:59 – 00:43:47:42
Miguel Bolivar
I feel like I got this harmonica and why not? And I was like, yeah, whatever. He’s a he’s a funky kid. And like, this kid is a good trumpet player, but he’s and he goes into all sorts of music, like music is like lit, lit up his life quite much so. So, yeah. So like he’s he’s trying to find new things.

00:43:47:42 – 00:44:12:20
Miguel Bolivar
But yeah, that’s the thing. Like people forget that it’s a reinforced activity. Right. So like when you’re around it a lot, you might not think about all the times you practice, but you went to band rehearsal, you were in band class, you were at an extracurricular band. That’s how you get good like the more you play. That’s why I encourage all my students to just, like, do as many things as possible inside and outside of school, because the more they have their face of the instrument, the better they’re going to get.

00:44:12:22 – 00:44:32:13
Miguel Bolivar
Like the progress is going to be there. You know, they would, they say, like the 10,000 hours a week is a proficient. Right. But that’s what I tell them. Like you’re like, we I don’t I don’t have more fingers than you or more brain cells or, or my I don’t have these refined, like, crazy skills that allow me to play, you know, like the instrument I might have, like a maybe like a natural affinity to it.

00:44:32:13 – 00:44:40:13
Miguel Bolivar
Great. But that’s that’s just made me practice more like I just have more hours on this instrument than you do. And if you put in those hours, you’re going to catch up.

00:44:40:14 – 00:45:00:01
Agent Palmer
Well, and and it’s a lot easier to put in those hours in the social setting of, like a jazz band, a pep band, than just sitting in your room with a sheet of music which look great. Don’t get me wrong. Like you do have to sit in your room with a sheet of music at some point. Yeah, but the more times you get to play without that, the better.

00:45:00:07 – 00:45:01:01
Agent Palmer
Like you you are.

00:45:01:02 – 00:45:20:13
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, it’s way more fun in a group. And the social aspect, like I found out about this through the pandemic, like a lot of my teacher friends are like, man, what I miss most is all the competitions that my band does. There are I know that’s the reason why these kids want to join. And like, we don’t get to do them then and, and then then they, they allowed, like, partial, like band class to partially come in.

00:45:20:13 – 00:45:41:53
Miguel Bolivar
So like, it was adaptations, half class was half class. And they asked the kids, would you want to come in half class and perform and play right, spread out and stuff. And they’re like, man, my, my half or whatever. Like his, his cohort didn’t have as good friends. So he, he chose to he chose to go to just purely virtual band class because he only wanted to be in band because of his friends.

00:45:42:06 – 00:46:06:01
Miguel Bolivar
So I said, man, isn’t it crazy that you’re discovering like the social aspect of band is what really keeps them there? And he he didn’t get it. He was like, what do you mean? Yeah. And I was, you know, like I was like, no, but that’s what it is. It that social aspect keeps in there, right? Whether you’re there to like, you know, like, because you’re, you know, hanging out with this one girl you liked or you’re there because you like, you know, like you look up to someone.

00:46:06:01 – 00:46:20:06
Miguel Bolivar
You’re the guy who made the really cool. They’re really great players, or you heard them play and you want to be a part of that. You know, whatever it is, like the social asset, the people keep you coming back. You know, some of my best friends, like Eric was in band and my friend Darlene was in band, and we’re still friends to this very day.

00:46:20:06 – 00:46:37:38
Miguel Bolivar
Like we visit each other and all all of our like, milestones, like we’re all on all of them. So they were my band friends, you know, like, and that’s kept us together for a 30 years at this point. You know, for some of us. So it’s crazy. It’s it’s it’s a good it’s a good thing. I think it’s a great outlet.

00:46:37:38 – 00:46:56:08
Miguel Bolivar
It’s a shame is the first thing that gets cut in public school. And, you know what I mean? Like, for the arts. Like, it just feels like it. It’s where some people literally find home, you know, in, and and or or a sense of belonging. And they just, like, ripped that out of, of, of their schooling.

00:46:56:08 – 00:47:31:08
Miguel Bolivar
So, I’m fortunate to be in a place it’s not like that if we want more of it, which is great, but I hear some very like some horror stories of some stuff getting cut and things like that. And I think about these poor kids, like, who might not have an outlet, who might not have that connection with their bad teacher, who might not get to experience what you and I both experience, which is like that, that culture that I don’t know, that that I don’t know, like it’s, it’s it’s a, it’s a, it’s like an intangible that I think is, I think necessary and necessary for all kids because it won’t be sports

00:47:31:08 – 00:47:51:23
Miguel Bolivar
all the time and it won’t be math all the time, and it will be sad. You have to take those classes. You know, band is an elective. Art is an elective, right? Photography is an elective. These are those things that they get to choose a few things they get to choose when they’re in high school. So that’s the same with removing them from, you know, from kids, an intern.

00:47:51:23 – 00:48:07:08
Miguel Bolivar
They don’t get the experiences of listening to all this music and like, listen to all this stuff. They just get stuck, which I never really found, how people can live under a rock and not, like music or anything like that, but they they exist like I have. I know people who don’t like jazz, and I’m like, what?

00:48:07:13 – 00:48:21:22
Miguel Bolivar
So America’s only contribution to music at all? Like. And then like, what do you mean? I’m like, it’s literally the only thing created in the USA in music. And you don’t like it? Like I don’t understand. So I mean, that’s it’s not.

00:48:21:22 – 00:48:29:42
Unknown
That it’s there.

00:48:29:47 – 00:48:55:18
Agent Palmer
I’ve spoken before about how the arts are important, and you just heard Miguel talk about how the arts are important. You can’t spell humanities without human, be it band or painting or poetry. The arts and humanities can not only be a lifelong passion for some, but can be opportunities to get to know ourselves. It doesn’t matter what avenue in the arts is your thing, and you don’t have to create it, you can just consume it.

00:48:55:23 – 00:49:26:42
Agent Palmer
The point is that personally and culturally, our relationship with art matters. But don’t get too caught up in the race. You don’t have to enjoy everything. You don’t have to be up on all of it. Just consume what makes you happy. I myself am spending more time with the album, as in listening to an album from start to finish, no singles, no shuffle mode, and I’ve been enjoying just getting reacquainted with an art form and music that I legitimately, completely lost touch with.

00:49:26:47 – 00:49:48:24
Agent Palmer
So what are you going to do? Thanks for listening to The Palmer Files episode 114. And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays. If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion. You can find all related ways to contact myself and my guest, Miguel Bolivar in the show. Notes. The music for this episode was provided by Henno Heitur.

00:49:48:36 – 00:50:06:38
Agent Palmer
Email can be sent to this show at The Palmer Files at gmail.com. And remember, you’re home for all things. Agent Palmer is Agent palmer.com.

00:50:06:42 – 00:50:14:36
Agent Palmer
You.

00:50:14:41 – 00:50:41:27
Agent Palmer
Need.

00:50:41:32 – 00:50:43:54
Agent Palmer
All right. Miguel, do you have one final question for me?

00:50:43:59 – 00:50:56:12
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah. So if you would have gotten the music out, what would have been your dream gig? Like what would have been what you what would what to do and not feel like I.

00:50:56:17 – 00:51:23:50
Agent Palmer
So my gut instinct is to say, I want to be the guy on the other side of the glass. Like that’s my gut reaction is like, I want to be the other guy on the other side of the glass, you know, have people come into my studio and record, I can help Mike mop, you know, in a in a perfect like brain dream scenario, there’s like a side room with, like, instruments galore where I could be like, all right, let’s.

00:51:23:54 – 00:51:47:46
Agent Palmer
Okay. You want to play an acoustic song? Here’s seven different acoustics for you to try. Let’s see which one sounds better. And maybe we can layer them like just that, kind of that kind of. There was, there was an element. No. Look, I got my start on small task compared to studios in basements. Right. We were talking about like, we’re talking RadioShack mics, you know, not not the greatest.

00:51:47:51 – 00:52:17:43
Agent Palmer
I think there was one XLR mic between all of our my friends. I owned it, but everything else was off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean, I come from that and so like the idea of having a clean big board and like a sound proofing, you know, just that there’s an immense thing. And I am despite the fact that I host this show, I’m a I’m more of a behind the scenes guy.

00:52:17:48 – 00:52:45:33
Agent Palmer
I would rather be wearing black in the stage crew than be on the stage. I, you know, so I there’s a I think there’s a part of that. The other thing which I’ve only recently discovered because of this podcast is I don’t mind editing. As far as, like, manipulating sound in that kind of way. But I, and I think you need to know that while you’re recording.

00:52:45:33 – 00:53:04:39
Agent Palmer
I mean, there’s a part of me that as a, I don’t want to say perfectionist, because I’m not. And the proof that I’m not a perfectionist is that I release this show every two weeks like clockwork. If I was a perfectionist in some of these shows, I’d still be working on like, I don’t know how that.

00:53:04:44 – 00:53:20:55
Miguel Bolivar
The mixing and mastering guy, that wouldn’t be you, right? You would. You are, you know, it’s funny that you say this, but it’s very like the I find that the dynamic that we have right now is what I would have if I was. What? I’ve been to recording studios. Yeah. Would be in my ear and I’d be all right.

00:53:20:55 – 00:53:30:25
Miguel Bolivar
I’ll take that again and go. That was just terrible. Okay. All right, I got you. Yeah. Like this or like this. And then there’s, like, jokes back and forth like that. It’s very similar to this podcast. It’s funny.

00:53:30:25 – 00:53:53:33
Agent Palmer
It’s, it’s it’s very much, I think what I would like, I don’t know, I mean, I guess it’s one of those, like, independently wealthy things, like, I’d open a studio and just invite people because, like, I don’t know, a lot of people that would just want to record stuff. But I feel like if you opened it and was like, all right, it’s just like an hourly rate and you get me like, no, like one of those.

00:53:53:33 – 00:54:33:26
Agent Palmer
Do you think that’ll be cool? And I think the the other thing is, like, the more you do it like that, this is, 114 I think, if my math is right. So, like, I’m getting better at this and the process for editing and manipulating audio is, you know, I think I’m getting better and like, so I think there’s some of that, but I, I don’t know where this came from, but like, I like the idea of helping people not you know, I look at it, I played in bands, you know, I like I like the cover bands and rock bands and I, bassist for some of them.

00:54:33:26 – 00:54:57:43
Agent Palmer
But I was in a two man band in college. Yeah. Which was me on guitar singing and my roommate drummer, who also sometimes sang right, like and There’s Nowhere to hide. So it’s not like I’m afraid to be out front. I just prefer to help you go out there and do the thing. Like I’ll shine the spotlight and run the sound.

00:54:57:48 – 00:55:17:09
Agent Palmer
You know, my natural state would be to shine the spotlight on somebody else. And I think that’s that’s kind of where it’s like, I just want to be the guy on the other side of the glass like that. Yeah. That’s cool. Like, I’ll fiddle with the dials. I’ll even fiddle with the the amps in the room, but you can start recording once I’m out of the room.

00:55:17:13 – 00:55:40:31
Miguel Bolivar
I mean, that’s it’s, that’s very giving of you. I think that’s I thing that’s really nice. I mean, a part of the reason why I like playing especially even in cover stuff or pop stuff, is because when you play someone’s favorite song and they’re, I’ve had 3 or 4 drinks at the wedding and they point at you because you’re playing the solo that they remember from Play Time of Our life, you know, like, yeah, back home.

00:55:40:36 – 00:55:57:52
Miguel Bolivar
And they’re just like, all pretending to play the saxophone next to you and they’re wasted at the party. It’s like, feeling like no other. Like you made somebody’s day. Yeah. That’s incredible. You know what I mean? It’s an incredible feeling. So, I mean, that’s that’s similar to what you’re saying. Like, you know, it’s it’s like, has that cathartic catharsis.

00:55:57:58 – 00:56:20:35
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And I, you know, I’ve, I’m still. You know, with Ub40, I mean, I feel like I’m still 20 in my mind’s eye and at, even if I was 40, in my mind’s eye, I still feel like I’m trying to figure my out, like, figure my place in the world still.

00:56:20:40 – 00:56:21:47
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah.

00:56:21:52 – 00:56:41:53
Agent Palmer
And I think anybody who says they’ve got it figured out is lying to you. Right. And at the very least, they’re probably just lying to their selves to more than you. But like, I, I’m, I’m all right with the fluidity of it. Like, if I, if I get to do that, cool. And if I don’t, I can do it in my basement.

00:56:41:53 – 00:57:01:16
Agent Palmer
Still, I don’t have glass, but like, I still have all this stuff. Like I said, I got a mixer right next to me. We can hook up some stuff. You can come over whenever you want and we can just, you know, you can lay down some tracks. That’s fine. And I and I, I guess I say this by also saying this, I have, one of my father’s, like, I’m.

00:57:01:20 – 00:57:21:43
Agent Palmer
I have a lot of friends, and I, I use the term loosely because it’s, you know, people I’m friendly with, but also people I want to hang out with, that are my, my parents age, you know, so they’ve got decades on me. And one of them, when I had lunch with him was like, yeah, I’ve been writing songs for 20 years.

00:57:21:43 – 00:57:42:17
Agent Palmer
I’m like, I want to help you record them. I want to help you figure out how to. And look, it’s been, now almost half a year. Like it was very warm. It was very summer when we had that lunch. But, like, every time we’ve spoken since then, which is not, you know, maybe monthly. I bring it up.

00:57:42:22 – 00:58:18:21
Agent Palmer
I’m not. I’m not going to let it go. I want to I want to help make this happen. And I, I, you know, whether it will or won’t, you know, life will decide. But I’m not going to it’s not going to be because I forgot. And if if, if you had said the same thing, I feel like, you know, I might have been, like, all right, well, you know, let’s do let’s I don’t know, I just there’s a part of me that feels like if I can help people do the thing, then get out of your own way, help the person do the thing.

00:58:18:25 – 00:58:19:39
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Fair enough man.

00:58:19:39 – 00:58:39:23
Miguel Bolivar
Like, yeah, dude, I think that’s great. I think that’s beautiful. I mean, I think it’s if everyone did a little bit of that, you know, just a little bit of that. Yeah. This is just, this was just kind and was able to just say, hey, you need a little bit of this as opposed to letting them suffer as opposed to letting them sit in whatever it is and make things worse.

00:58:39:28 – 00:58:46:57
Miguel Bolivar
You know, just that little bit of that nudge would probably elevate. So many people’s well-being everywhere.

00:58:47:03 – 00:58:54:24
Agent Palmer
And, and there’s there’s also an element of finding out, like if it don’t work, it don’t work like I’m.

00:58:54:29 – 00:58:54:43
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah.

00:58:54:43 – 00:59:10:47
Agent Palmer
So what if it doesn’t work? It doesn’t work. That’s fine. Now, you know, it’s cool. Like I’m not, you know, I’m I didn’t tell I didn’t tell this guy. We’re going to record your album and it’s going to set, like I said, no, we’ll just put down some tracks, you know, setting expectations like this. This is a hobby.

00:59:10:47 – 00:59:34:03
Agent Palmer
We’re going to have some fun. We’re going to hang out and maybe record a rhythm track in like four hours of cracking jokes and like, maybe even doing some music jokes and playing like cover songs. It’s fine. Yeah. We don’t, you know, we’re we’re not on the clock. We’re just having a good time. And if over the course of the next year or two, we put together a few songs, great.

00:59:34:08 – 00:59:39:46
Miguel Bolivar
And what do you think is stop them from doing it? Is it just time or coordinating it, or are they afraid or.

00:59:39:48 – 01:00:02:11
Agent Palmer
I don’t know, we didn’t actually get into the like psychology of it, but if I was to guess, I think part of it is a time aspect. He’s semi-retired now, but I think the other part of it is, and this is the thing I have learned, he needs a me like he needs somebody who’s going to be like, hey, do you want to hang out and do this?

01:00:02:22 – 01:00:20:01
Agent Palmer
Like, even if I don’t bring the microphones and the mixers and the computer to, like, even if I don’t bring any recordings, they’re just like, hey, let’s maybe, maybe share some of that stuff. Well, he’s he’s done it for himself. He’s never shared it with anybody. I think the first step would be sharing it with somebody. And the second step would be like, hey, let’s lay it down.

01:00:20:06 – 01:00:37:33
Agent Palmer
But, you know, there I have I have a weekly blog, but there’s still plenty of stuff I’ve written that I’ve never shared with anybody, but there’s also nobody I’ve had lunch with. It’s like, hey, maybe you should share that with somebody. And then once somebody says that to you.

01:00:37:38 – 01:00:38:32
Miguel Bolivar
Then it opens that up.

01:00:38:34 – 01:00:40:17
Agent Palmer
It opens it up.

01:00:40:22 – 01:00:41:57
Miguel Bolivar
I wonder what his music’s about.

01:00:41:57 – 01:01:02:20
Agent Palmer
I don’t know, I don’t know, this is this this I look, I’m very, very excited about it. I’m very excited about it. So, when I see him in a couple weeks, actually, yeah, it’s going to be, more reminders. I just won’t let it go. Like, at this point, I’m in.

01:01:02:25 – 01:01:20:32
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, it’s a composer’s nightmare, right? To like, because when you write music and you share it, you like, it’s very, very vulnerable, right? Because you don’t know what they’re going to think. Yeah. They’re going to judge you or judge the music. If you think it’s good or bad, you’ve got to like kind of like period. Like just you just buckle down and just hope that it’s right.

01:01:20:37 – 01:01:35:56
Miguel Bolivar
So but yeah, that’s so that that could be part of the trepidation. Like, oh, what if he thinks it sucks? Or what if he thinks it’s like, cliche? Or what if he thinks instead of that, or or, you know, whatever. Like, yeah. So maybe some of that. But that’s so funny. I think that but I think that’s great.

01:01:35:59 – 01:01:57:52
Miguel Bolivar
I mean, whatever, like, you know, you create a safe space. Yeah. And see if it turns out and if not worst case scenario like nothing happens. But at least you talked about it maybe gives them a step further to writing another song or you. Yeah, man. Yeah. That’s a that’s great. I think that’s cool. I think it’s a really good, thing, like, that’d be a pretty sweet gig.

01:01:57:57 – 01:02:00:55
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I’m excited for it. It’s going to be great.

01:02:00:59 – 01:02:23:36
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah. The whole week comes through with those tunes. That’d be crazy. Maybe surprises that people have hidden in there, like, you know, like some of the stuff even Eric has been like, oh, this is this is the circular file. Like, this is where I keep everything that like and, I mean, I write music too, and there’s, there’s plenty of hard drive things that have failed because and it’s good and like they have these will never see the light of day, you know, like that kind of thing.

01:02:23:38 – 01:02:24:49
Miguel Bolivar
Dude.

01:02:24:54 – 01:02:46:40
Agent Palmer
Since oh man, I want to go back. I gotta, I gotta figure this out since mid-October, I’ve had a, a riff of some kind in my head that I, it’s not that I can’t musically figure out where to go, but, like, I know the options and I’m like, I don’t know what to do with this.

01:02:46:45 – 01:02:47:21
Miguel Bolivar

01:02:48:15 – 01:02:59:24
Agent Palmer
But every time I pick up the acoustic, I play it a little bit because I’m like, maybe today’s the day. I’ll admit I don’t like I don’t know there. And I’m like, I don’t know what’s going to happen with it, what’s going on and who knows.

01:02:59:33 – 01:03:04:02
Miguel Bolivar
Like you could do like Beethoven would do if every little riff he would do, you’d write it down on like, a piece of paper.

01:03:04:13 – 01:03:17:54
Agent Palmer
And yeah, there’s a part of me that’s like that. Like I, I it’s still months now, still in my head. But like, there’s a part of me that’s like, well, you know, you get busy. Don’t think of the guitar for a while and you be like, what was that?

01:03:17:58 – 01:03:23:27
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, that’s the worst. Cool. And now it’s gone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that’s what I’m saying. Like.

01:03:23:40 – 01:03:28:04
Agent Palmer
Right. Okay, fine. When we’re done, I’ll lay it down. Just get it out, you know?

01:03:28:16 – 01:03:43:27
Miguel Bolivar
Yeah, yeah. And then. And then you can always just save it. Yeah. What Beethoven would do is then, like, if he gets stuck, he would go back to his notes and go like, oh, wait, I can base this movement off of this. And he would circle it. So you would find like things and he would circle and put like violin concerto and circle it.

01:03:43:27 – 01:04:01:16
Miguel Bolivar
And we put like, you know, Symphony three, their movement. And it gives like pretty I mean also genius whatever. But still I mean that’s still I mean, it may be something may be worth it to you to keep it in like your voice memos in your phone, and then you maybe come up with another link and then realize that that link goes with that one.

01:04:01:20 – 01:04:02:44
Agent Palmer
Could be.

01:04:02:49 – 01:04:03:33
Miguel Bolivar
Who knows, right.

01:04:03:33 – 01:04:05:09
Agent Palmer
So you think about.

01:04:05:14 – 01:04:06:53
Miguel Bolivar
That music teacher. So try to help.

–End Transcription–

This transcription was processed by PalmerTech 3.1 and may contain errors for HUMINT (human intelligence).