Latest / Uncluttered and Unfiltered: The Podcast For Women Over 50 / BONUS EPISODE: OUR CONVERSATION WITH SINGER MARIA DE CRESCENZO

Transcript

BONUS EPISODE: OUR CONVERSATION WITH SINGER MARIA DE CRESCENZO · Uncluttered and Unfiltered: The Podcast For Women Over 50

• 0:04
  Welcome to Uncluttered and Unfiltered, the podcast urging
• 0:08
  you to let it go and don't look back, with nationally acclaimed
• 0:12
  professional organizer Christine Stone and self-proclaimed Hot
• 0:17
  Damn Mess radio and TV personality Eden Kendall.
• 0:21
  Welcome everyone to Uncluttered and Unfiltered with a podcast
• 0:24
  for women over 50 with me. Eden and Christine Stone is here
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  and we have a special guest today.
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  So we're just going to to jump right in and we've been teasing
• 0:33
  this. We talked about her for a couple
• 0:35
  of episodes now. Actually, I want to say we've
• 0:38
  talked about this woman three different times.
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  First, when her well, let's bring her into the mix.
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  It's Maria Decrycenzo and she is well, we're going to give you
• 0:48
  her bio just a moment. But let me let me go back to why
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  we had talked about her so many times.
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  The first time was Christine went to see Casey in the
• 0:57
  Sunshine Band and she came back from the show last year and said
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  yes, yes, of course he was great.
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  Yes, of course the show was great.
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  But the one woman I could not take my eyes off the entire time
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  and then googled and found out she's our age is Maria.
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  And so then then we talked to Casey and your name came up
• 1:17
  there. And then after we saw you and I
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  understood why she was obsessed, we talked about you again and
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  teased everyone that we would have you on the show.
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  So welcome. Thank you so much for having me.
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  I'm honored, and now I know why my ears were ringing so much.
• 1:35
  Exactly. Exactly.
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  So for let's start with you, Christine.
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  Tell Maria everything you've learned about her from
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  researching her. Like, my goodness, people love
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  to know what's out there about them.
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  And you can tell us what's right and what's not right.
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  Yes, well, first of all, we have a mutual friend in common and
• 1:53
  I'll talk about her afterwards. But the funny part of the story
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  is I put you in one of my stories in the fall and a friend
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  of mine who we're mutual friends with said, Oh my gosh, I know
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  her. I can't.
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  But you know, it's so it's such a small world because I grew up
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  in Miami. So that also fascinated me of
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  the whole story of how you did you.
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  Did you grow up in Italy? You did not.
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  I was born in Connecticut and my dad OK in 1971, my mom and I
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  went back to Italy for a few years.
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  I actually bounced back and forth quite a few times.
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  But ultimately my dad moved to Miami and I came and visited and
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  then stayed for a while, bounced back and forth.
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  So ultimately, Miami has become my second home, but I've been
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  here since kind of 1971. Wow, I just started in
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  Connecticut and then ended up growing up in Miami.
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  So. See.
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  We have that in common as well. Look at that.
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  So we what we know about you right now is you're on tour with
• 3:05
  Casey and the Sunshine Band and you have been with them for how
• 3:09
  long? We started with Casey in
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  February of 1988. He's a long time.
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  You could. Do the math.
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  Yes, exactly. Exactly.
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  And And Chris, what else have we learned about Maria?
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  Well what I wanted to know is how did you 2 meet?
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  Funny story. So obviously being a musician in
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  South Florida, he was a household name.
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  And I had lots of people who also were musicians who kept
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  going to him saying you have to hear Maria sing.
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  And he's like, I already have girls, I don't need another one.
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  And ultimately, he came into a bar that we both frequented.
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  And that's how we met. And we met and he heard me sing.
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  And a few weeks later, he was doing a show at Bouvier Park in
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  Fort Lauderdale. And I was, it was a Sunday
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  afternoon. I was in bed watching the game,
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  reading the paper. And he called me and said, one
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  of my girls can't make it. Can you fill in?
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  And about two hours later, he came by in a limousine with a
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  cassette tape that he played for me so that I could learn the
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  music on the way to the gig, which was about 45 minutes away.
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  And when yes, I'm Ready came on, he said, Oh, and by the way,
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  you're doing a solo on this song.
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  So. So we made it finished.
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  No, no pressure. So we made it to the gig and I
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  think it worked out because I've been with him pretty much ever
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  since. Wow.
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  So when he said Are you ready, you literally have to say yes,
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  I'm ready. I.
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  Was ready, I was ready. And I'll tell you what, from
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  that, from that first show up until now, I'm still just so, so
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  shocked in a way. But but it just means so much.
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  I looked out into the audience at that first show and
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  specifically saw a grandmother wearing a sequinned skirt with a
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  little girl who I presume is her granddaughter.
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  And they were both just singing along and shaking their booties.
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  And, you know, it's just something really, really
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  special. This music has just it's, it's
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  just so inclusive of all the generation.
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  It's really beautiful thing. So you're a triple, are you?
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  Are you a triple threat? Like did you act too?
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  Or because you're obviously a dancer?
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  Because we've seen you dance, we know you're a singer.
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  Is there any? No, I'm not.
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  No, I laugh. I I tell her.
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  I tell everybody. It cost Casey $100,000 to teach
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  me how to dance. Yeah, no, I was, I was a
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  rock'n'roll chick. I would get on stage and my
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  thing was strutting like Pat Benatar, you know, just struck
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  back and forth on the stage. I mean, I could shake my hips a
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  little bit, but dancing was not my Forte at all.
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  So when Casey started hiring these wonderful choreographers,
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  God bless all of them, They, they had their hands full with
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  me. But you know, thanks to them and
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  a little perseverance and a lot of patience, that's what you
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  see. So I have to know so the the
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  other girls that are on the stage with you.
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  So do you ever feel like I'm my I'm 65 years old.
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  I have to be in bed at a certain time or I get tired or I take
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  naps. Do you ever feel like, you know,
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  you're just in a totally different kind of headspace than
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  they are? I'll be honest with you, the
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  girls with whom I'm working right now are unbelievably
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  gracious to me. I consider myself on stage
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  sometimes a Comic Relief because all three of these young ladies,
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  I mean, Anika has been on Broadway.
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  I mean, these are really trained, professional dancers,
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  and I'm trying to keep up with them.
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  So I think most of it is my insecurity and my feeling of,
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  you know, how I look or how I'm performing.
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  So I think a lot of it is self examination.
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  But the young ladies with whom I work, they're like, they're
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  always so encouraging. They're like, Oh my God, you're,
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  you're doing great. You look great.
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  And I go to them for advice, like, how am I moving on this?
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  And, and they're very gracious with their time.
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  They spend time with me. They're like, they want me to
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  look good too. And it's such a beautiful
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  feeling to work with women who are so willing to empower you in
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  your in your weakest moment, let's say, you know, I think.
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  That's probably one of the reasons we really were looking
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  so forward to talking to you, Maria, is you are in a situation
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  where you are surrounded by some younger women who are Primo
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  gorgeous dancers. You're gorgeous.
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  You're up there moving. And I would have never known you
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  didn't start out as a dancer as well as a singer.
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  I mean, obviously your voice is, you know, why you're the main
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  vocal background singer and you have solos.
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  But I think in every walk of life, the women that listen to
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  this podcast, we are surrounded by a lot of people younger than
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  us. And it's so easy to fall into
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  that feeling of, you know, am I holding my own?
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  Are they secretly thinking like, come on, you know, your time is
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  up? And so we were really curious if
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  you if you ever had those kinds of thoughts in your head.
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  Of course. And kudos to Casey for keeping
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  me around because let's face it, he could, he could hire a much
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  younger person who can sing just as well and perform just as
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  well. But I have to give him credit
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  for, you know, I got it. I just have to give him credit,
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  you know? I don't know why, but he does
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  and I'm grateful for it. Well, we know why because you
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  bring so much to the show, but not anybody.
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  Yeah, but no, you're right. Anybody who is not being a just
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  who is understanding that their audience, that there is a place
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  for everybody on that stage. Well, how often are you on the
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  road? So we do about 60 shows a year
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  now, and I laugh because they don't pay me for the show.
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  They pay me to get there. It's traveling is becoming more
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  and more difficult and challenging.
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  You saw my little. Yeah, you saw my little puppy
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  dog. So and I live in West Palm Beach
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  and we fly out of Miami. So for me, it means waking up
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  and we're always on the earliest flight out, obviously because
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  there are fewer chances of delays.
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  And so I'm up at 1:00 in the morning out of the house by two.
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  I drive down, I drop off my little girl at her dog sitter
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  and then make my way to the airport and get on a flight.
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  Hopefully it's a direct flight. Sometimes it's not.
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  Sometimes it's even more than one or two flights and you get
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  to where you're going and and then you do sound check, try to
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  grab a bite to eat if you can, you close your eyes for a few
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  minutes. Usually you can't, but then you
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  do the show and typically they book two and three shows
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  back-to-back. So again, you get back to the
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  hotel, let's say 11 till midnight.
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  By the time you get showered up, you repack your bag and you get
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  yourself together for the following morning.
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  Then you're up at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning to do it all over
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  again. So it's, it's a, it's grueling
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  my, my biggest thing with, with young people who want to get
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  into singing and want to tour and all that, I try to explain
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  to them that it's not just your vocal talent OR your dancing
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  talent. It's not just what you do on
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  stage. It's how you, first of all, how
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  you respect your body as you're traveling because of all of the
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  other demands that are made on you.
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  But it's also discipline and being able to do all that
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  without being a bear to work with.
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  How do you? How do you handle those trips?
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  Are you, do you pack a lot or do you, because you're in costume
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  on stage, obviously, do you just kind of do some athleisure?
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  Wear. And you know, just.
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  My friends make fun of me if I'm going on a work trip.
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  I have one bag for all of my costumes.
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  We travel with our own costumes so I have one bag for all my
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  costumes and a tiny little bag because all I bring are jeans
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  and T-shirts and maybe a sweater.
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  It's easy peasy. Don't take me on vacation
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  because I will pack 12 bags, bring 30 pairs of shoes for a
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  five day stay. I can't pack for a vacation.
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  I am outing myself. That's the God's honest truth.
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  That's that's me as well. And you're talking to a
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  professional organizer in Christine.
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  That's her, that's her whole life is she starts packing a
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  month in advance and she has she has everything ready to go to in
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  A to go bag. She's got one of those bags that
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  like if you needed to get out in an emergency, she could go and
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  go bag a go bag, a go bag, but it's for vacations.
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  But she's always ready. Listening to your schedules and
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  your traveling. Yeah.
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  I mean, I am so impressed. I'm.
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  I'm 63 and I'm tired just listening to you.
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  I mean, I can't imagine doing what you do and then getting on
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  stage and performing. I mean it.
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  That's just unbelievable. That's an inspiration to all
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  women over 50 and 60, because I just find.
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  I'll add another. One energy.
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  I'm going to add another one to that because for the last few
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  years I also performed with a rock, a classic rock band, Mr.
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  Nice Guy, here in South Florida. So I can't name how many times I
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  would come off of a trip and drive directly to a gig and do a
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  rock'n'roll show for three to four hours and then go home.
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  So and yeah, everybody was like, how you do it?
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  And. And that makes me feel really
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  good. And of course, you know what,
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  What do they say? Rolling Stone gathers no Moss,
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  so. That's right.
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  If you yeah, time can't catch you if you slow down while it
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  can, obviously it always wins. But the is there any like secret
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  you have? Do you like?
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  Vitamins. Supplements, vitamins, sleep.
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  Honestly, the, the only thing I need to do, I mean, of course
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  I'm getting older so the aches and pains are getting, you know,
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  but the biggest thing I have to do is I have to honor my body.
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  So when I come off a trip, let's say I get home on Sunday,
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  regardless of what time I get home, I, I don't answer the
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  phone. I'm done.
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  I'm I sleep, I rest, even if it takes till Tuesday.
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  And that's kind of what I have to do for my body.
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  Not everybody's the same, but I kind of feel that works for me.
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  The rest, the having nice meals without having to rush, those
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  are the things that nourish me when I get back off the road.
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  So when when you get home do you have to go to a chiropractor,
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  get a massage? Like I would think your body
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  would just be aching. It is and yeah, it is.
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  But I, I don't do any of those things with any regularity.
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  I mean, I'll chiropractors are not my favorites.
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  They've helped so many people for me.
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  They're, you know, they've not worked for me, but massages,
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  I'll take a massage any day, but I don't.
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  But I can't get them as much as I should probably.
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  Well. I'm, I'm totally impressed.
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  I mean, I, I, I, she knows I'm such a homebody.
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  So just to hear everything you do just to get ready for shows,
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  when you come back, you go to another gig.
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  I mean, your energy is amazing to me, just amazing.
• 16:20
  Maria, can you see out into the crowd at a venue that's like a
• 16:24
  When we saw you recently, it was at the Florida Theatre in
• 16:26
  Jacksonville. Could you see into the crowd
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  other than if like you turn the house lights on?
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  I too, but I I don't know if this is just me.
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  I have a really hard time with facial recognition once you're
• 16:40
  in the crowd. I try to find my friends.
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  It's like I I look for them, but unless there's a spotlight
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  straight on them, I have a really hard time recognizing
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  faces in the audience. But I see them all just as a
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  collective, and it's a beautiful thing, yeah.
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  It does feel like you all are experiencing a beautiful thing.
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  It, it, it feels like a real give and take with the audience
• 17:07
  at that show, not just because Casey speaks it so much, but you
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  all at, you know, even on the encore, you know, just the way
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  you're like really looking into the audience.
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  And I feel like there's just this given, given take that's
• 17:20
  happening at that show more so than others I've seen.
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  We feed off of the audience. If we have a great audience, we
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  Oh my God, we walk off stage just filled with excitement and
• 17:36
  joy because it was a great that was a great show.
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  What a great audience. I mean, we say that Austin more
• 17:43
  often than not. There was one time we someone
• 17:46
  booked us. This is decades ago, but it's a
• 17:50
  funny, funny to me. Someone booked us for a, Oh my
• 17:57
  God, an accountant convention, and it was all men.
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  And we get out there and these guys are looking at US1 guy was
• 18:06
  in the front screaming free bird, and the rest of them were
• 18:08
  in the back corner at the air. So we're in the back corner just
• 18:14
  networking, passing out business cards.
• 18:16
  We were, it was like, Oh my God, this is the worst thing ever.
• 18:20
  Nobody wants to hear us. There's no girls to dance with.
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  Like, what are they going to do? So yeah, no, that was like the
• 18:28
  worst one. But most of the time, we love
• 18:30
  our audiences. Our audiences are on their feet,
• 18:33
  and we thrive on that. And the more they give us, the
• 18:36
  more we feel like we have to give.
• 18:39
  It's definitely a symbiote exotic relationship, you know?
• 18:42
  So were you a Casey fan before you started working with the
• 18:47
  group? OK, you should not have asked me
• 18:49
  that. Oh, you were more rock'n'roll.
• 18:52
  She's a rocker. Yeah, and I was.
• 18:57
  Huge. But in all honesty, in all
• 18:58
  honesty, I loved Casey songs. But but there was a movement at
• 19:05
  the time because this electronic music was taking over the
• 19:09
  organic, the organic nature of rock'n'roll.
• 19:15
  So I have to. And hey, he knows this.
• 19:17
  Yeah, I was part of the disco sucks movement, but mostly just
• 19:23
  because of that, because the electronics were taking over and
• 19:26
  they weren't using musicians, you know?
• 19:28
  And but, but even though I did that, but I was still loving KC,
• 19:33
  Donna Summer, the E GS. I mean, I loved the music, but
• 19:39
  it was just, it was more of a principal kind of thing.
• 19:41
  And Casey still laughs about it. I know a lot of a lot of stories
• 19:48
  aren't true on the Internet, but how true is it that you were
• 19:52
  discovered singing in your car at a gas station?
• 19:56
  It's true it. Is can you talk walk us through.
• 19:59
  That so I was convinced that I was going to be a singer.
• 20:02
  I wanted to be a singer all my life.
• 20:03
  I came out of the womb singing. And wherever I could sing, I
• 20:08
  sing. If I was walking the streets,
• 20:11
  going from one place to another, I was singing.
• 20:14
  I was in my car, I was driving a gremlin.
• 20:18
  Don't tell anybody. I remember that.
• 20:22
  So I was in my car and I went to AU Totem, which was like a 711
• 20:30
  of back in the day. And I pull in and I believe it
• 20:34
  was working for the weekend was playing, but don't quote me on
• 20:37
  that, but I think it was a song like that.
• 20:40
  And I pull into the parking lot with the windows open, of
• 20:43
  course, radio blasting and I'm singing along with it.
• 20:47
  And I go in and I make my purchase.
• 20:48
  And at the time, the only place you could you could play video
• 20:53
  games was either in a bar or at these convenience stores.
• 20:58
  So I went over and I started playing Galaga or Miss Pac-Man,
• 21:03
  whichever one I felt like playing that day.
• 21:05
  And I sat in there for a good 45 minutes.
• 21:09
  Well, when I finally walk out of the store, I see a young man
• 21:13
  sitting down next to my driver's side of the car, leaning up
• 21:17
  against my car. And he goes, I go, hello.
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  Excuse me? He goes, was that you singing?
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  And I'm like, well, it was me and lover boy.
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  Yeah. Why?
• 21:27
  And he says, do you want to join a band?
• 21:29
  I'm like, yeah, I do. We made a date, and we went to
• 21:34
  his guitar player's house to rehearse.
• 21:37
  Now the problems begin because of because I, I was raised so,
• 21:41
  so much time, because I was raised in Italy for so long, my
• 21:45
  musical knowledge of American Music was kind of chunky.
• 21:51
  Like I knew some songs, but I didn't know others.
• 21:53
  So I mean, I knew of Led Zeppelin, but I didn't know who
• 21:57
  any songs. So the guy says, can you know,
• 21:59
  do you know Zeppelin and I go, how does it go?
• 22:03
  And at that point, the guitar, yeah, I yeah, I had no
• 22:07
  knowledge. And so at that point, the guitar
• 22:11
  player said girls Can't Sing rock'n'roll, we're done and
• 22:16
  she's out. But the guy who discovered me
• 22:20
  felt so bad that he put me in touch with a Top 40 band who was
• 22:24
  looking for a singer, and that's how I got my start.
• 22:27
  The band was called Savage and my nickname was Mia.
• 22:33
  So it was Mia Savage. I know it was stupid, but it
• 22:36
  was. Nice, very 80s sounding.
• 22:39
  Very, yeah, very 80s sounding. Did you guys do play it like a
• 22:43
  lot? Say that again.
• 22:45
  Did you play at a lot of hotspots in South Florida?
• 22:48
  Is that what we did? We were playing at places like
• 22:51
  Big Daddy's we were playing at. I went there many a times.
• 23:00
  Who knows, you might have seen me there, so I probably.
• 23:04
  Did. We were playing a lot of the
• 23:07
  little local places and then that band kind of disbanded and
• 23:11
  I went with another band called Bamboozle, Three Piece Power
• 23:15
  Trio. We did great.
• 23:17
  We are playing at a place called Pieces of Eight.
• 23:19
  We did that for a while and then I joined a band called Viva and
• 23:26
  we were playing the Country Club circuit, which was fun and I
• 23:30
  loved playing with that band because we did a little bit of
• 23:33
  everything. We played the country clubs.
• 23:35
  So we would start the night with Barbra Streisand and like some
• 23:41
  light Motown. And then we would go into the
• 23:43
  second set and we would do some some dance stuff like the Stevie
• 23:48
  Wonder stuff and and that. And then we would move to the
• 23:51
  third set, which was more the dance stuff, the Taylor Dane,
• 23:56
  the the electronic music stuff. And then the 4th set was ZZ Top.
• 24:02
  So it just ran the gamut of music.
• 24:05
  So I loved that variety. And then after that, I think I
• 24:10
  played with one other band for a minute and then I decided there
• 24:15
  were some issues with club owners and nobody wanted to pay
• 24:19
  and they were demanding and it, it just got a little wonky for
• 24:23
  me. So I quit and and I just took a
• 24:27
  sabbatical from music for a while and that's when I met
• 24:30
  Casey. Everything happens for a reason.
• 24:32
  It does. What do you?
• 24:33
  Think you'd be doing if you weren't doing this?
• 24:35
  What could you What? What's your second passion?
• 24:40
  You're going to laugh, but I am intrigued by construction.
• 24:45
  I love. I know, isn't that crazy?
• 24:48
  I love building. I love park and tree.
• 24:50
  I love seeing things built. I love knowing how things work
• 24:54
  and I might have gone into something of that nature.
• 24:58
  Interesting. Wow.
• 25:00
  Well, there's always a lot to see getting built down in South
• 25:02
  Florida. And of course, you're touring,
• 25:04
  touring the world. Have you have you done a world
• 25:08
  tour? I I'm assuming that I think you
• 25:10
  guys have, Right. You've done a lot touring the
• 25:12
  entire globe. Yeah, it it's an amazing,
• 25:17
  amazing thing to get to talk to you because you just really do
• 25:21
  light up that stage and you really.
• 25:22
  Do make an impression on the both of us.
• 25:24
  So we really appreciate you taking the time.
• 25:26
  And what people don't know is that in the midst of all of
• 25:28
  this, your little baby fur baby is has just been checked in to a
• 25:34
  cardiology appointment. So that's on your mind and
• 25:37
  you're still willing to stop what you're doing and chat with
• 25:40
  us. So we really appreciate it.
• 25:43
  And inspiring women over 50 to just, yes, age is just a number.
• 25:50
  And I'm telling you when I saw you up on stage the very first
• 25:54
  time, I'm like, she's unbelievable.
• 25:57
  And I don't know if it's just because I, you know, in my mind,
• 26:01
  I feel like when you're over 50, a lot of areas are like, you
• 26:05
  can't do that anymore. You can't do this anymore.
• 26:08
  And I feel like you can do anything.
• 26:12
  When I look at you up there singing and dancing around and
• 26:17
  staying up past my bedtime of 830, you know, I look at you and
• 26:22
  I'm like, amazing. I'm humbled.
• 26:25
  By that so funny and just so you know, Maria, we said the same
• 26:30
  things about Casey. It's we're not sexist about
• 26:32
  this. We're not over here saying like,
• 26:34
  how can she stay awake? We're saying it about him too.
• 26:36
  We're like, dude, good for you, good for you, how are you in the
• 26:41
  morning? He puts all of us to shame like,
• 26:46
  OK, I am so humbled by the fact that you're impressed by my
• 26:48
  level of energy. He puts me to shame.
• 26:51
  He makes me look like I'm sleepwalking.
• 26:53
  I'm telling you, he is on top of it.
• 26:55
  He no listen, we go he gets up a little bit later than I do
• 27:00
  because he's closer to the airport, but OK, we'll grant him
• 27:03
  that. What couple, 3 hours.
• 27:06
  We get to the airport, We're we're on the same plane.
• 27:08
  We get to the same place. If we're in a casino, for
• 27:11
  example, I'm going upstairs, I'm going to bed, I'm going to lay
• 27:14
  down. I'm going to get a little rest.
• 27:16
  He's in the casino playing. He's not getting a rest.
• 27:18
  He's in the casino. Then we do sound check after
• 27:21
  sound check, I'm going to go lay down or I'm going to go grab a
• 27:23
  bite to eat. He might go grab a bite to eat,
• 27:24
  but then he's back in the casino.
• 27:25
  He's not sleeping. Then we do the show and there he
• 27:29
  is. And that's what you're seeing.
• 27:31
  He puts us to shame. Can I tell you?
• 27:35
  Yeah, he is an incredible human being.
• 27:40
  He really is, honestly, I mean, I, I cannot say enough wonderful
• 27:45
  thing and we talked about all our experiences.
• 27:48
  It's Casey and the Sunshine Band shows on that exact thing, how
• 27:52
  he has so much energy and puts on such a great show.
• 27:56
  And really all of you look like you so appreciate everyone being
• 28:01
  there. And I think that's part of what
• 28:03
  you see, that you really are enjoying what you do.
• 28:08
  We do. And I'll be honest with you,
• 28:09
  when I look out into the audience and I see women of a
• 28:12
  certain age and they're looking at me and I know what they're
• 28:16
  thinking. And it makes me proud.
• 28:19
  It really makes me proud to think that I'm, you know, that
• 28:22
  they're. Yeah, I'm up here.
• 28:25
  I'm up here. Life is not over.
• 28:27
  Stop thinking that, you know, you have to be.
• 28:30
  We're, we are not our mothers, 50s and 60s and 70s.
• 28:34
  We're younger. We, we crave more from life.
• 28:40
  We yeah, there's just so much more to life than wearing a
• 28:44
  muumuu and going to, you know, going to bed at 5:00 in the
• 28:47
  afternoon. So it's inspiring to me when I
• 28:51
  see these ladies, especially at the end of the show when they
• 28:53
  point at me and they're like, wow.
• 28:56
  And I'm like, yay, thank you. And that's you too.
• 28:59
  That's you too, so thank. You, especially all, all of us
• 29:05
  out there in our sparkles, you know, it's like, give us a
• 29:08
  reason to get dressed up and go back in time a little bit.
• 29:11
  It's fantastic. Maria, we want to respect your
• 29:14
  time. So we're going to draw this
• 29:17
  episode to a close right now. And if you thought for a minute
• 29:21
  that being in your 60s was a reason that you can't do what
• 29:24
  you want to do, you can let that go.
• 29:27
  And don't look back.