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EP28 - Good Vibes with Kevin Chase! · Oh And One More Thing

• 0:10
  Some old friends facing our fears, laughing through the
• 0:13
  chaos and drinking some beers. So here's to the laughs, the
• 0:16
  crows and the cheers. All the awkward moments.
• 0:19
  And we're still here. Because in the end, we're just
• 0:21
  doing our thing. It's our crazy life. 01 more
• 0:25
  thing. One more.
• 0:33
  Thing Oh, hey everyone, I'm Rob. Welcome to Oh, and one more
• 0:35
  thing. Hey, I'm Brian, we're back for
• 0:37
  another new season. That was the holiday break.
• 0:40
  It was fantastic. Christmas was great.
• 0:42
  It was cold, but it was fun. Yeah, what'd you do for
• 0:45
  Christmas? I got the whole family together.
• 0:46
  We actually had to do it a little bit after Christmas
• 0:48
  because Nurse Nikki had a work Christmas holiday this year, so
• 0:51
  we had it on Saturday. OK, OK, so I got.
• 0:53
  Everybody together on presents had a good time, had a had a
• 0:55
  breakfast brunch. That's nice what you guys do.
• 0:57
  We just had our small family over, that's all.
• 1:00
  We did all the holiday stuff with the relatives earlier.
• 1:02
  So that's all done with and good.
• 1:05
  Fun. Yep.
• 1:06
  And so New Year's was quiet again.
• 1:07
  That's kind of kind of how we like it.
• 1:09
  We don't go out anymore. Yeah.
• 1:10
  Hey, did you notice our new intro?
• 1:11
  Yeah, that it's shorter. It's shorter, yeah.
• 1:13
  'Cause nobody wants to hear us talk anymore, so we just got rid
• 1:15
  of that. What?
• 1:16
  Come on. We're a talk show, Rob.
• 1:20
  I know, but obviously. People want to hear us talk.
• 1:22
  Yeah, it was long. It was long anyway.
• 1:25
  So before we get started on today's show, I want to
• 1:28
  acknowledge the fact that the last show we did for the
• 1:30
  holidays, we forgot to talk about Halloween.
• 1:32
  I know we did. That was I.
• 1:33
  Mean, are you kidding? I know.
• 1:34
  So we know Halloween is a big holiday for a lot of people, so
• 1:37
  we're going to dedicate an entire show to Halloween in this
• 1:39
  coming October, so stay tuned. Right.
• 1:41
  OK. But for today, I am so excited
• 1:44
  we have a guest. I'm so excited to have this guy
• 1:48
  here. He is a choreographer
• 1:50
  extraordinaire, but a very, very good friend of ours, a fantastic
• 1:54
  human being. So glad he took time out of his
• 1:56
  busy schedule to hang with us. Kevin Chase.
• 1:58
  Hi, guys. How are you?
• 1:59
  Hi. Kevin.
• 2:00
  Fantastic. Thanks for being here, Kevin.
• 2:02
  Good to see you guys. It's been a while.
• 2:04
  It's been a while. It's been a while, yes.
• 2:05
  We've been out of the business for a couple years.
• 2:07
  So yeah. So how do we know Kevin, Brian?
• 2:10
  I think it's from Show Queer. I think most people we know are
• 2:13
  from Show Queer Brian. Entire friend group.
• 2:15
  I mean, that's how we bet. It's true.
• 2:17
  So as many of you know, Brian and I were trailer show choir
• 2:21
  trailer dads for. Trailer dad Quite.
• 2:22
  A few years where he drove all the equipment and stuff around
• 2:25
  for each competition. I think I met most of my
• 2:27
  buddies. There, I met all my buddies
• 2:28
  there pretty much. And Kevin is a choreographer for
• 2:32
  lots of groups, but specifically for us, for Waconia's power
• 2:35
  company, yeah. So that's how we got to know
• 2:36
  Kevin on on a regular basis and. He hangs around a lot.
• 2:40
  Hangs around with us, right? Yeah.
• 2:42
  So super excited you're here. So we're just gonna kind of slap
• 2:44
  some questions at you. Love it.
• 2:46
  Let's go. So we're just gonna throw some
• 2:47
  questions, see how it goes, and you just cool.
• 2:50
  Alright. OK, so let's start off with
• 2:51
  this. You grew up in Bemidji.
• 2:53
  I did. So that's pretty far north from
• 2:55
  here. Tell us a little bit about that.
• 2:57
  Number one, so grew up in Bemidji, work a lot in
• 3:01
  Minneapolis, but I live in Des Moines.
• 3:02
  Three very different. So that's a lot.
• 3:05
  Of space. Yeah, it is.
• 3:06
  Yeah. And actually, it's a different
• 3:08
  world. I'm not kidding.
• 3:10
  Like just in Speaking of like winter alone, Des Moines versus
• 3:13
  Minneapolis, completely different.
• 3:15
  Des Moines versus Bemidji. Like gotta be night and day.
• 3:19
  If I recall, my mom or someone could check me on this, but I
• 3:23
  think the rule was if it was -32 two or warmer, then the rule was
• 3:29
  you are standing at the bus stop, right?
• 3:32
  Right. No question.
• 3:33
  Yeah. You are waiting outside at the
• 3:35
  bus stop. Yep.
• 3:36
  Doesn't matter how long that driveway is, right?
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  If it was colder than -32 then you were allowed to wait in your
• 3:42
  house and the bus would stop for you.
• 3:44
  But you're still going to school.
• 3:45
  It's beyond of course I walk closing school.
• 3:48
  No, no, no, not like now I think I think they're they close a lot
• 3:51
  more than they used to. Yeah, probably more precautions
• 3:54
  and. Zero out there.
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  They're closing schools and I'm like, what?
• 3:56
  That's not when I was a kid. No, never.
• 3:58
  Yeah, I once actually speaking to show choir.
• 4:00
  I was doing a rehearsal in Mississippi, and I'm in my hotel
• 4:03
  room, curtains closed, whatever, And I get a call from the
• 4:06
  director. We have to cancel rehearsal
• 4:08
  today because of the snow. And I'm going snow, OK, snow.
• 4:12
  So I open up the window or the curtains of my hotel and I look
• 4:15
  and there's like a dusting and I can see the green.
• 4:19
  I can still see the green in the grass.
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  Yeah. But it's, you know, it's just
• 4:22
  different regions handle that stuff so differently.
• 4:24
  Yeah, but. But Mitchie's cold.
• 4:26
  And I say that as somebody who, as Rob noticed when I walked up
• 4:30
  to the house today, I'm in shorts.
• 4:31
  I am currently in shorts. And it's very much when.
• 4:34
  It's what, like 8° out maybe. Yeah, yeah.
• 4:36
  Something like that. And I will be in shorts tomorrow
• 4:38
  and likely next week and likely on Christmas Day.
• 4:40
  We'll see what happens. There you go.
• 4:41
  Yeah, you. Know it's funny.
• 4:42
  My mom is gonna visit us for Christmas.
• 4:44
  She lives in Arizona. She visits us for Christmas.
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  She lives in Arizona. And she was giving us a heart
• 4:47
  time that Oh my God, she's gonna be like 10 below when I'm there.
• 4:50
  Mom, you lived here for 50 freaking years.
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  But how you get acclimated to your new to?
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  The new seat the. Area yeah she has no clue
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  anymore like what it's like so she's yeah she was in for a
• 4:58
  world her she got. Here.
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  But I like Mary. Yeah.
• 5:01
  Yeah, Bemidji's great. I love Bemidji.
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  You know, it's small town. Yeah.
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  You know, like in a in a Waconia versus like an Edina or Waconia
• 5:09
  versus Minneapolis, right. Bemidji is a small town.
• 5:12
  I think that comes with good things and bad things.
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  You know, I think Bemidji is a growing and evolving city.
• 5:19
  And I am somebody who got a lot from the city of Bemidji
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  especially, you know, we'll get into it eventually.
• 5:25
  How I kind of got my show choir start.
• 5:26
  OK. So I feel like a responsibility
• 5:28
  to give back to Bemidji in the the way that, but Midgee gave to
• 5:32
  me in the way that it still is providing for me opportunities
• 5:35
  and whatnot, Right. Yeah, that's cool.
• 5:37
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 5:38
  So let's just jump right into that question.
• 5:39
  How did you get started in court Being a choreography director?
• 5:42
  It's pretty interesting. The short version of the story
• 5:45
  is it was two years after I had graduated and you know how
• 5:49
  alumni, you know, even like Waconi and stuff, alumni will
• 5:52
  sometimes come back and watch a dress rehearsal or watch
• 5:55
  something. And so I came back over MEA
• 5:57
  break. I was at Concordia College at
• 5:59
  the time in Moorhead, MN. I came back over MEA break just
• 6:03
  to stop by and like see what they were doing again.
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  It's been 2 years since I've graduated and see April James,
• 6:10
  the choreographer, who was my choreographer and still is a
• 6:12
  great friend of mine. I bop in and nobody's at the
• 6:15
  school. It's just Chris Fettig, the
• 6:17
  director sitting in his office. And I went, hey, what's up?
• 6:22
  And he goes, Oh my God, what are you doing here?
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  And I was like, oh, I just came to say, hey.
• 6:27
  Well, April James had missed her flight.
• 6:29
  And that was back in the day, you guys, we learned the whole
• 6:32
  show. You know what a show is?
• 6:33
  Yeah. Yeah, a whole show in a
• 6:36
  Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Oh.
• 6:37
  My God, 'cause that's a lot. So for people who don't know,
• 6:40
  that's a lot of information to pack.
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  In for the kids, for the directors, for the
• 6:44
  choreographers. That's a lot of work.
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  And it was like 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM all three days.
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  So you're, like, tired. You're just.
• 6:51
  Yeah. Beat choreocamps are so tired,
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  so exhausting. So I come to Bemidji and he's
• 6:56
  like April, Miss, miss her flight.
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  She's coming back into town a day late and we still have to
• 7:02
  get the show done. And now we've lost a day, right?
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  So he says, will you stay and learn the show with the kids and
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  help them? And truly my first impression
• 7:10
  was no like. What you wanna do?
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  Yeah, I felt like what? Like, I'm so removed from show
• 7:17
  choir, and I don't wanna be that, like, nerdy alumni who
• 7:21
  just can't let it go. We all know those people.
• 7:23
  Sorry, it's true. Yeah, Ben, finally I said OK,
• 7:27
  sure. Like, OK, fine.
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  I remember going to the Paul Bunyan Mall, I 'cause I didn't
• 7:33
  have tennis shoes with me. I didn't have like any like
• 7:35
  athletic clothes. It just was normal.
• 7:37
  For a visit, that's. Absolutely.
• 7:39
  So I do the weekend with the kids, I learned the choreo, and
• 7:42
  I go back to Concordia. Everything's back to normal.
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  Whatever. Long story short, I was a vocal
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  performance major in college, so I went to college to be a
• 7:51
  singer. I was.
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  Gonna ask you that. What did you go to college?
• 7:53
  For that's what I originally went for and when I auditioned
• 7:56
  at, when I was at Bemidji High School, I auditioned for the
• 7:59
  Vocal Performance Scholarship at Concordia, which is a 10, $1000
• 8:02
  scholarship and I got that scholarship.
• 8:04
  Ohh. Wow, congratulations.
• 8:06
  They made it very clear they were accepting me on my vocal
• 8:09
  merit and not my academic merit. That's a whole nother story.
• 8:14
  But so I go back to Concordia doing my thing, find out, you
• 8:18
  know, I find out my vocal cord is paralyzed.
• 8:20
  Oh no. And so I went to a specialist
• 8:22
  and we did with this whole long journey of life sucks.
• 8:24
  And and basically the way that I found out was the Doctor Who I
• 8:28
  thought maybe needed some better guidance on how to be a
• 8:31
  supportive medical professional literally said this.
• 8:34
  Well, better pick a new major. That's how the information was
• 8:39
  delivered to me. And I was like, devastated,
• 8:41
  truly. I was like, Oh my God, I want
• 8:43
  like, blah, blah, blah, whatever.
• 8:44
  So Chris Fettig, the director of Vocomotive Bemidji High School,
• 8:48
  reaches out to me. My mom did daycare for his kids
• 8:51
  and he goes, hey, I hear you're having a hard time at college.
• 8:54
  Things aren't going the way you want to.
• 8:55
  Would prefer for them to be going.
• 8:57
  Come home, take classes at Bemidji State and be my
• 9:00
  assistant director. So I was an assistant director
• 9:03
  before I was really a choreographer.
• 9:05
  Choreographer, Assistant director for the.
• 9:08
  Show choir for vocal motive. Yeah.
• 9:10
  The next year we started La Voce Balo from scratch.
• 9:14
  OK, so I was a director and a choreographer for La Voce Balo
• 9:18
  in 2004. Then all of a sudden I'm
• 9:21
  choreographing the middle schools 2 show cars up in the G
• 9:25
  Middle School. Then I'm all of a sudden the
• 9:27
  director and the choreographer of the theater program doing the
• 9:30
  musicals, and it just kind of turned into this thing.
• 9:34
  And then the next thing I know, Aaron Olson, director of Waconia
• 9:39
  High School, as you guys know, yeah, reaches out and asks me to
• 9:42
  choreograph for The Current. OK, 2008.
• 9:46
  So Waconia the Current is the first show choir that I've ever
• 9:49
  choreographed outside of Bemidji.
• 9:52
  And the current is it was the Waconia's JV team.
• 9:54
  Yep, Yep, Yep. But how did Aaron get to know
• 9:56
  you then to to do make that call?
• 9:58
  So Aaron and I first met each other through the scene of just
• 10:02
  competitions and like, you know, you direct there's mingle and
• 10:05
  Chad and you know, whatever. Alright, so we we had met each
• 10:08
  other through there, but Aaron just told the story to power
• 10:11
  company, actually Bemidji and power company or Bemidji and
• 10:14
  Waconia used to get together and do like an exchange show.
• 10:17
  OK, where like we would come to Waconia on the way to a
• 10:21
  competition, right? We would stop do our show for
• 10:23
  them. They would do our their show for
• 10:25
  us and we would just have this like fun exchange one year we.
• 10:29
  Sharing of ideas, kind of a idea.
• 10:30
  But also just like giving the kids opportunity to perform
• 10:33
  their show one more time for an audience.
• 10:36
  Get to practice session. Yeah, a little, yeah.
• 10:38
  Kind of get the nerves out a little bit.
• 10:40
  Whatever. And I remember once after
• 10:42
  Bemidji performed for Waconia, Aaron walked up on stage and
• 10:46
  talked about me to both Waconia and Bemidji and said he had
• 10:49
  never seen Bemidji so clean and so put together and like, whoa,
• 10:54
  Kevin is doing a great job in his new role with Bemidji,
• 10:57
  right? And then the next thing I know,
• 10:58
  I'm choreographing the current. That's cool.
• 11:00
  Yeah, that's cool. Yeah.
• 11:02
  So, you know, a lot of a lot of what I have shared in the past
• 11:05
  about my appreciation, my gratitude, my history of show
• 11:10
  choir for sure was born in Bemidji.
• 11:13
  But also like Waconia has a big piece of that.
• 11:17
  Yeah, show choir at heart and love for me, you know?
• 11:19
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so how many groups are you
• 11:21
  doing now going forward to today?
• 11:24
  I think this year I'm doing 23 which is down from 25 I was I
• 11:29
  was stuck at, not stuck. That's the wrong word.
• 11:32
  Just couldn't get rid of them right.
• 11:35
  I was at 25 for quite a few years. 27 happened once and I
• 11:40
  was like too much. Can you sustain that?
• 11:42
  To be honest, I don't know that you can, right?
• 11:45
  That's. A lot for one person to travel
• 11:47
  around and do all those different.
• 11:48
  Shows, yeah. And I'm finding the longer I do
• 11:50
  this, the longer I understand it's actually not just about the
• 11:53
  choreography of it all either, right?
• 11:55
  It's the hours traveling or it's the hours coming up with the
• 12:00
  idea. Yeah, that all factors in other
• 12:02
  than just the show itself and helping the kids create the
• 12:05
  show. It's all that time upfront.
• 12:08
  And it's a lot of time, and you guys know this too, as trailer
• 12:11
  dads working on lighting or hauling and organizing.
• 12:16
  I mean, these shows happen because a lot of people put a
• 12:19
  lot of effort into them, but they don't happen without people
• 12:22
  like you guys or the parents and the volunteers.
• 12:25
  I mean, it's a lot. It's a lot for sure.
• 12:27
  So was there any other significant jobs in your history
• 12:30
  that helped you in this current profession that kind of drove
• 12:34
  you that direction or is it really kind of stumbled upon of
• 12:36
  the way it sounds? It pretty much was a stumble.
• 12:39
  The the jobs that I had before choreography and show choir.
• 12:44
  I was a manager of a hotel, OK in Bemidji.
• 12:47
  And then I also was a server and a bartender and a manager, key
• 12:51
  manager. They called them at Applebee's
• 12:53
  OK in Bemidji. So like I worked in food service
• 12:56
  most of my life as a server. My first job ever was being a
• 13:00
  dishwasher at a truck stop, which is so not my vibe.
• 13:06
  But then I became a server at the truck stop and I was the
• 13:08
  first mail server they ever let serve the tables 'cause it's a
• 13:12
  truck stop. It's a very yeah, unique, you
• 13:14
  know, whatever. And I was by far one of the like
• 13:17
  most popular and successful servers.
• 13:19
  Yeah. But I think if you're good at,
• 13:21
  if you're a good person and you work hard at your jobs, I think
• 13:25
  you can be successful at many different things, you know.
• 13:27
  Yeah. But I will say the hotel of it
• 13:30
  all, the Applebee's of it all customer service is, I mean that
• 13:33
  is something you, you gain a lot of experience from dealing with
• 13:36
  a lot of different kind of people.
• 13:37
  Working with people, yeah really provides a lot of direction and
• 13:41
  eye opening experiences to do this sort of job.
• 13:44
  Yeah. And, and now I work, you know,
• 13:46
  in a different kind of customer service way.
• 13:48
  Like, I work with a lot of of people.
• 13:50
  I work with a lot of different directors, learning how to
• 13:53
  interact and connect with and teach hundreds and thousands of
• 13:57
  different kids every every year. Right.
• 13:59
  So I think the the cool thing about the Applebee's job, and I
• 14:02
  probably took advantage of it a few times, but they were so
• 14:05
  amazing to me. But Minji Applebee's shout out,
• 14:08
  they were so amazing to me with my show choir schedule, if like
• 14:11
  anything had to change, I would call in and be like, hey, I'm
• 14:14
  really behind on something and I got to get some work done on
• 14:16
  this backdrop. Can someone cover?
• 14:18
  Like, they were always so amazing and supportive.
• 14:20
  That's cool. And then they actually had
• 14:22
  reached out to my mom, the Applebee's of Bemidji.
• 14:24
  You remember back in the day when Applebee's had all the,
• 14:26
  like, stuff on the walls? Yeah.
• 14:28
  It's different now because, you know, dust and.
• 14:31
  Right, health code violations, whatever.
• 14:32
  Yeah. They wanted to have a section of
• 14:34
  the Bemidji Applebee's wall dedicated to me.
• 14:37
  Oh, shut up. Which is really cool.
• 14:38
  It's cool. Really cool.
• 14:40
  It really. And that's why it was a special
• 14:41
  relationship in his community and supporting the arts and all
• 14:44
  that. Yeah.
• 14:45
  But my mom, knowing me, reached out to me and told me about it.
• 14:49
  Was supposed to be secret and she's like, I know you.
• 14:51
  You need to know. Ahead, you need to be the one
• 14:53
  approving what pictures are going on the wall.
• 14:55
  Yeah. And so then I flipped it.
• 14:56
  And instead of just having, like, a chunk of a wall, it was
• 14:59
  almost like the space of this entire one side of this room,
• 15:03
  really. And I made it all about the show
• 15:04
  choir program and all about. About you.
• 15:07
  Absolutely. Now before there are a few
• 15:08
  things about me. Sure.
• 15:09
  That's what they asked for and I gave it to them.
• 15:10
  Whatever. Whatever.
• 15:11
  Yeah, but it was about all the show choir kids I got to work
• 15:14
  with and the musicals and right and all that.
• 15:16
  So. So it was a really cool
• 15:18
  experience. But yeah, they were a amazing to
• 15:20
  me. Is it still up today?
• 15:21
  No, So funny story when they, when they switch to not having
• 15:26
  all the artifacts up on the walls again for cleanliness and
• 15:29
  all that. My mom, because Applebee's
• 15:32
  called, they're delivering the wall today and I was like, OK,
• 15:36
  so all of that stuff is actually still at my mom's house, I
• 15:39
  think. So you have a.
• 15:40
  Shrine at your mom's house. It's under a bed somewhere, or
• 15:44
  in a closet or a storage room somewhere.
• 15:46
  Get that stuff put up on the wall, I'll.
• 15:47
  Have to look for it. I'll send you some pics when I
• 15:49
  go home for. Christmas.
• 15:51
  Yeah. So that kind of brings it back
• 15:52
  to that. The whole show choir mm hmm.
• 15:54
  Process like so 2325 groups. You know that a lot of kids.
• 15:57
  One of the most impressive talents to me is how you go
• 16:00
  about remembering the names of everyone of the students that mm
• 16:02
  hmm, talking about that, how does that work?
• 16:04
  How do you do that? How is that?
• 16:05
  How did that happen? How?
• 16:06
  How do you make it happen? You make it happen by #1
• 16:09
  understanding that it's important to learn the names of
• 16:14
  your students #2 my choreographer, April James, used
• 16:18
  to do the same thing. And I remember a vivid memory.
• 16:21
  We were working together at Show Choir Camps of America in
• 16:24
  Tiffin. OH, we're sitting in this room
• 16:26
  and at show choir camp. Did any of your kids ever go to
• 16:28
  show choir camp? Yeah, I thought at least.
• 16:30
  Yeah, I thought so. It's like 70 to 80 kids in a
• 16:32
  show choir. You know, a normal high school
• 16:34
  show choir, 56, 6040, maybe 65. So I'm, we're sitting in this
• 16:38
  circle and I'm watching April do these names and she's going
• 16:42
  through them memorizing, memorizing.
• 16:43
  And I was like, how Right. How is she doing this?
• 16:47
  Yeah, I'm watching her doing it. But when I'm watching her doing
• 16:50
  it, I'm so focused on her doing it that I'm not learning the
• 16:52
  kids name. Sure, yeah, sure.
• 16:53
  And I'm the like counsellor of her group at SCA.
• 16:57
  So when I started being a choreographer, I started doing
• 16:59
  that. And the first time I did it, it
• 17:02
  took me way longer than normal. But the only way it works for
• 17:05
  me, as I sit all the kids down at the start of a rehearsal,
• 17:08
  they tell me their name. First names only.
• 17:10
  Guys, if you if you start throwing in last names, too much
• 17:14
  information. Yeah, yeah.
• 17:15
  First names only. How many years you've been in
• 17:17
  this group? And then it's always a random
• 17:19
  fun fact. Like a couple weeks ago, one of
• 17:22
  our random fun facts with a group was like, what are you
• 17:24
  grateful for this month? Or what's your favorite food
• 17:27
  you're excited to eat at Thanksgiving?
• 17:28
  Some silly kind of whatever, right?
• 17:30
  Sometimes it'll pertain to the show.
• 17:32
  If I don't do all those things, somehow it doesn't go as well.
• 17:37
  So you think I need time? You're.
• 17:39
  Using word association and some fun fact that you'll remember to
• 17:42
  remember their name. Yes.
• 17:43
  And at the end, so like let's say it's your favorite candy at
• 17:47
  the end of doing all of the names, I could also tell you
• 17:50
  probably right, 25% of not only your names, but also maybe what
• 17:54
  you said for your favorite candy, right.
• 17:56
  But as we're going down the row, I'll do like 5 or 7 at a time.
• 17:59
  And then I go back and then I say the names out loud to the
• 18:02
  kids and I say, OK, so and so, so and so, so and so.
• 18:05
  Are we. Good.
• 18:05
  Yep. Cool.
• 18:06
  Next 7. And then I just keep building
• 18:08
  it. Right.
• 18:08
  What I'm doing is memorizing. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
• 18:11
  Not only their face and their name, but I'm also memorizing
• 18:14
  the order. Yeah.
• 18:15
  If I memorize the order as we're working through it, then even if
• 18:18
  I stumble, like sometimes a kid will get up and, like, go to the
• 18:21
  bathroom in the middle of it and I'm like, please, nice try.
• 18:24
  Yeah, I know that. Yeah.
• 18:26
  I know Justin was sitting right there.
• 18:27
  And the kids are like, what? Yeah.
• 18:29
  Or they're like, sometimes the kids will like swap when I, you
• 18:32
  know, they're trying to. Trick me, you know?
• 18:33
  Absolutely. They try to get me all the time,
• 18:36
  but usually I'm on top of all that.
• 18:38
  I just find that the joke I make to kids 'cause like, when I come
• 18:41
  back to a show choir, I don't always remember their names when
• 18:44
  I come back. Right, 'cause I've been with
• 18:46
  hundreds of other kids. Yeah.
• 18:47
  So I'll do a name refresh or I'll, like, talk to them and
• 18:50
  watch it, and I'll have a blocking chart pulled up on my
• 18:52
  iPad and I'll go, OK, this is so and so.
• 18:54
  And I'm refreshing my brain as I go, right.
• 18:56
  I just find that it's important to know their names, connect
• 19:00
  with them, however I can connect with them.
• 19:02
  But my joke is, how am I gonna yell at you when you're doing my
• 19:05
  choreography wrong if I don't know your name, Right.
• 19:07
  Exactly. That's that's kind of my aim,
• 19:09
  right. Funny, you know, little delivery
• 19:11
  with the kids. But I find it's important.
• 19:13
  And it's important because very early in my career, I remember a
• 19:16
  a girl coming up to me going my choreographer never learned how
• 19:20
  to say my name correctly. OK, that's the other thing about
• 19:23
  it. Yeah.
• 19:24
  I memorized the names, do my best with the sayings.
• 19:27
  Yeah. But the spellings, you guys
• 19:30
  Sure. The spellings.
• 19:31
  Now everyone's throwing a GH in somewhere.
• 19:35
  Yeah. A silent F or, you know, yeah.
• 19:38
  It's insane. Yeah.
• 19:39
  Yeah. But I find it's important and
• 19:40
  it's something that I think matters to the kids.
• 19:43
  And it's just a good way to start rehearsal and, and kind of
• 19:46
  get, get comfortable with each other and.
• 19:48
  Yeah, yeah. And it's all behind the scenes
• 19:49
  too. It has to help a little bit that
• 19:50
  you do have a blocking chart and that you do.
• 19:52
  I mean that helps also. Visualize it, but also imagine
• 19:54
  trying to do my job well as a choreographer whose job it is to
• 19:57
  put kids into spots. Yeah, wherever is best for the
• 20:01
  show, for them to be right. And I don't know their names.
• 20:03
  Yeah, right. You know that.
• 20:04
  That's so interesting, too. It's like back when I was in
• 20:06
  high school in theatre class and we had go meet at the stage.
• 20:10
  I never realized this at the time until now.
• 20:13
  I'm adult, but the director had to learn who we were.
• 20:16
  And so we asked to play a game where say your name and say how
• 20:20
  you're feeling with the 1st letter of your first.
• 20:22
  OK yeah. So it's alliteration.
• 20:24
  And so he would go through and we'd have to repeat everybody's
• 20:26
  name and their feeling all the way around.
• 20:29
  And like, that was how he was learning.
• 20:31
  Yeah. And I the time would have no
• 20:33
  idea, yeah, that was happening. Yeah, but also probably a great
• 20:36
  icebreaker for the kids. Yeah.
• 20:37
  And then, like, I bet some kids were like, I'm feeling sad.
• 20:40
  And it's like, oh. And then you're like, oh, I
• 20:42
  should, like, talk to that person in rehearsal or.
• 20:45
  Right, I'm feeling whatever. Yeah.
• 20:47
  And some of them are probably silly and fun.
• 20:49
  And it just gives you a good environment for the start of a
• 20:52
  rehearsal. That's really cool, yeah.
• 20:59
  Hey Brian, I was just outside trying to enjoy the yard and the
• 21:01
  mosquitoes are driving me nuts. Oh, you got to call Spring Green
• 21:04
  for that, Rob. Spring green?
• 21:06
  I thought they just did my fertilizer and weed control.
• 21:08
  Oh, they do that, and our lawn looks amazing because of it.
• 21:11
  But their mosquito control is a game changer.
• 21:14
  We can actually use our patio. You know how bad the state bird
• 21:17
  gets in Minnesota? I'm pretty sure that's the loon,
• 21:19
  but point taken. So they do lawns and.
• 21:22
  Mosquitoes and total home pest control.
• 21:24
  My house is completely mouse free.
• 21:26
  They even do liquid aerations and lawn insect control.
• 21:29
  Wow, I'm only using them for half of what I could be.
• 21:31
  You should fix that. Go to springdashgreen.com and
• 21:34
  get a personalized quote today. That's spring dashgreen.com.
• 21:38
  And tell them. Oh, and one more thing, Sanchea.
• 21:41
  Back to all your groups, how far do you travel?
• 21:44
  I have. Three that are like, you know,
• 21:47
  it's like when you pack the car and you're like and you put the
• 21:49
  address in and you see the arrival time pop up.
• 21:52
  I have three that are far Aberdeen, SD, New London, WI and
• 21:58
  Bemidji from Des Moines, right? I mean, it's about yeah, 6.
• 22:02
  It's a all three of those are about 6 hours and 45 minutes.
• 22:06
  OK, so that's a. That's a.
• 22:08
  Hall. That's a hall you're.
• 22:09
  Doing a lot in Iowa area, Des Moines area, right?
• 22:12
  I do a lot more now. Yeah.
• 22:14
  I moved to Des Moines in 2000, 18 OK, So I've lived there since
• 22:19
  2018. And, you know, it's like the
• 22:21
  whole if you build it, they will come it somehow when when
• 22:24
  choreographers move to cities, they just start getting more
• 22:27
  work in that city, you know? How could they not, you know?
• 22:31
  Yeah, but those are my three. OK?
• 22:32
  Those are and those are far drives.
• 22:34
  That's like a that's a day. That's all you know.
• 22:36
  What's What's the farthest you've gone?
• 22:39
  Probably either Picayune, Ms. OK, very small city in
• 22:44
  Mississippi. Never even heard of it.
• 22:46
  Yep, love that city actually. They were so sweet.
• 22:49
  Otherwise, I did, I've choreographed like a show choir
• 22:53
  review show and I've done Arizona, Allstate in Scottsdale,
• 22:57
  Phoenix area. Yeah, OK.
• 22:59
  Yeah. So that's.
• 23:00
  A drive for that one. Definitely not.
• 23:02
  No, I have. I have judged in Toronto.
• 23:05
  Oh, I don't know if they still do it, but they used to have a
• 23:09
  competition called, I think it was called Show Car Canada or
• 23:12
  like Canada Nationals or something.
• 23:15
  And how weird of all times that I went, the one time I went and
• 23:18
  judged it to Tina Grace was there.
• 23:19
  Oh, really? You know what I mean?
• 23:21
  It was like, well, Minnesota and Minnesota, yeah, it was crazy.
• 23:23
  But yeah, that that's probably the furthest I've gone for
• 23:26
  anything show car related. Yeah.
• 23:27
  What's what's? Harder choreographing
• 23:30
  choreography, more judging for sure.
• 23:32
  Choreography. I can't even believe I paused to
• 23:34
  think about that. But there's just so much more
• 23:36
  prep, prep time in the choreography of it all, 'cause
• 23:39
  like sometimes when you know, I'm going to a rehearsal from
• 23:43
  3:00 to 9:00, let's say I'm going to teach a song from 3:00
• 23:45
  to 9:00. I've already spent probably
• 23:47
  about five hours prepping, coming up with the ideas, making
• 23:52
  the blocking charts, processing, having my game plan, having my
• 23:55
  Lesson plan kind of ready. Judging is tricky in the fact
• 23:59
  that we're being asked to be critical.
• 24:02
  But one of the beautiful things about show choir is celebrating
• 24:05
  all the different ways. You know, you guys know this.
• 24:07
  There's so many different kinds of show choir.
• 24:10
  There's so many different styles of show choir, so it's hard
• 24:13
  sometimes to compare apples and oranges and bananas together and
• 24:17
  say this is the best fruit, you know?
• 24:19
  Yeah, right. But judging days are long.
• 24:22
  They're really long. I mean, some of those
• 24:23
  competitions and, yeah, I mean, you guys know that.
• 24:25
  Yeah. Some of the judging
• 24:26
  competitions, you're in your seat by 7:38 AM and you're not
• 24:30
  leaving there. Crossing your fingers until
• 24:33
  11/11/30 sometimes. I mean one of the competitions I
• 24:38
  judged 2 years ago, I think it was like 1 something in the
• 24:41
  morning when I left and I know I'm leaving before the kids are
• 24:44
  leaving. Right, right, right.
• 24:45
  So it's just different. It's, it's different.
• 24:48
  It's a different pace. And if you if you do your job
• 24:51
  well as a judge, I think your brain's exhausted because you're
• 24:54
  constantly, you know, keeping tabs of what's going on during
• 24:58
  the day and trying to remember what the group did at 9:00 AM
• 25:03
  and what the group is another group is doing at 2:30 3/30.
• 25:08
  And trying to consistently keep them on the same level scoring
• 25:12
  field to have the best, most unbiased and good judging there
• 25:16
  is. But yeah, I mean, they're both
• 25:18
  hard. But I someone just asked me how
• 25:20
  many competitions are you judging this year?
• 25:22
  And my reply was 4. And that's four too many.
• 25:25
  But that was my reply. I also find it's kind of hard
• 25:30
  after the show choir season, which basically for me is the
• 25:32
  end of June. OK until Thanksgiving is like
• 25:35
  the choreography. Choreography.
• 25:37
  OK, now you're. Planning it.
• 25:39
  Yes, planning it yeah, we're talking 16 hour days with
• 25:43
  rehearsal, with prepping, with getting everything ready yeah,
• 25:46
  12 hour day, 14 hour day, whatever.
• 25:48
  That's a normal, right choreography day.
• 25:50
  Now we're just like cleaning and working on things and I'm
• 25:53
  teaching 3 to 9, you know, that kind of stuff.
• 25:55
  But it's, it's all, I mean, it's all hard.
• 25:58
  I think if you are doing it right and putting the effort
• 26:02
  into it. But with the judging, it gets
• 26:04
  exhausting after the choreography season and cleaning
• 26:08
  season, right? Sure.
• 26:09
  People who are judging, a lot of them are professionals in the
• 26:12
  industry or retired choir directors.
• 26:15
  And they're like, OK, it's it's show choir season.
• 26:18
  And I'm like, shut up. I've been doing this since the
• 26:21
  end of June. Do you know what I mean?
• 26:23
  Yeah. So that's kind of hard.
• 26:24
  Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of hard.
• 26:27
  Well, it's a change of mindset too.
• 26:28
  It's less physical and now it's a lot of now mind thinking and
• 26:32
  watching. And yeah.
• 26:34
  Critiquing it is less physical, Brian, and that is why I was at
• 26:37
  the Waconia Anytime Fitness last night after rehearsal, because I
• 26:42
  also see that change. My body is no longer dancing for
• 26:46
  681012 hours a day and now it's like, oh, OK, I I gotta now stay
• 26:53
  in shape physically in a different way.
• 26:55
  But yeah, that's. Right.
• 26:56
  You know, you're on a middle-aged podcast.
• 26:57
  Yes. Yeah.
• 26:58
  We can relate as as you get. Older, your body just recovers
• 27:02
  quickly. Absolutely.
• 27:03
  As we talk about a lot, Brian learns a lot of things on this
• 27:06
  podcast about what he's not doing.
• 27:08
  OK. Yeah.
• 27:10
  All right. So you mentioned earlier your
• 27:11
  prep, you do 5-6 hours of prep before you start your actual
• 27:14
  rehearsal for the day. Is that how you typically will
• 27:17
  create a show? Is it the day of or do you have
• 27:19
  like pre planned ideas or like how does that work for you?
• 27:21
  I'm in a place now in my career where I pretty much I'm involved
• 27:25
  in the show design for all my shows now.
• 27:28
  So when I'm show designing in like the spring, let's say like
• 27:31
  February, March, April, May, really hitting show design hard.
• 27:35
  It doesn't take me as long to choreograph anymore because
• 27:39
  those shows are already in my head.
• 27:41
  I've already had the vision for the show.
• 27:43
  If I create the show and I'm picking the songs, I've already
• 27:46
  thought about what I might do with it.
• 27:48
  But wait, what was that question?
• 27:50
  The original question? I think I just feared.
• 27:52
  Yeah, no, that's OK. We're how do you Yeah, OK, pre
• 27:56
  planning, yeah. So because I think I'm so
• 27:59
  already, I, I start like I wake up in the morning and I start a
• 28:03
  new song, but I'm not starting that new song from not knowing
• 28:06
  the song, from not knowing anything about the show.
• 28:09
  I'm starting it with this is what the song is intended to be
• 28:12
  in the show. This is maybe we I know we're
• 28:15
  going to have a prop or this is what we're wearing for it.
• 28:18
  So I am a morning of choreographer.
• 28:21
  So I will get up like a normal summer day, get up at 4:00 or
• 28:26
  five AMI get myself 30 minutes to get ready.
• 28:29
  And then so let's say I get up at 4:00.
• 28:31
  At 4:30 the iPad is out. I've got my little mixed up
• 28:34
  Celsius drink and I'm ready to let go.
• 28:38
  And then I'm choreographing and coming up with ideas and
• 28:41
  planning all the way probably until like 11, and then I break
• 28:45
  and then I go teach. So when you're talking about
• 28:47
  help our listeners understand here, when you're talking about
• 28:50
  show design, that's more of the show design versus choreo,
• 28:53
  that's 2 completely different things.
• 28:55
  Very. Different things.
• 28:56
  Laying out the show as in what happens here, here here in a
• 28:59
  progression versus the dance steps.
• 29:02
  Yep, Yep, OK. And the, the, the show design
• 29:05
  part of it is picking the theme, picking what the overall message
• 29:09
  might be of your show, right? Picking the songs.
• 29:12
  But I also then go through and I layout how I want the music to
• 29:17
  be written. O when the when the sheet music
• 29:19
  comes to the kids, most of it has been laid out by me where I
• 29:23
  go. I want to do verse one and
• 29:26
  chorus 1 of this song, and then I want to cut to this other
• 29:29
  song. And you like medleys and
• 29:30
  mashups, whatever. Sure.
• 29:32
  So that also gives me a step forward for when I'm going to
• 29:36
  start choreographing the song and it's all in my Google Docs.
• 29:38
  Yeah. So I can go through my Google
• 29:40
  Docs and go, oh, that's right. This is where I wanted to do
• 29:43
  this idea or whatever. Yeah.
• 29:45
  So my daughter Elise was telling me about layering so that you're
• 29:47
  you are doing that, you're layering when you want that song
• 29:51
  and how does it's going to mesh together and the temple changes
• 29:54
  here etcetera, etcetera. That's cool.
• 29:57
  Yeah, And you know, some choreographers are involved in
• 30:00
  those things. Some directors take the reins on
• 30:02
  all of that, right, Right. And there are some people on.
• 30:05
  One of them is one of my best friends, Adam Peters, who has
• 30:08
  worked with Waconia before now. Now people are show designing
• 30:11
  and going, hey, I've got this great show.
• 30:14
  Let me pitch it to you for a group.
• 30:16
  Let's figure out what group it would be best for.
• 30:18
  Or, you know, it's almost like there's like show design teams
• 30:21
  now, right? Which I think is cool because I
• 30:24
  mean, the more, the more help you get.
• 30:26
  Everything's better when people are collaborating or
• 30:29
  collaborating and bringing new ideas to the table.
• 30:31
  But it's kind of cool that like there's there's this whole new
• 30:34
  wave with show choir of like freelance people paving their
• 30:37
  own path kind of right now. And and then like becoming, you
• 30:41
  know, doing show design and going and being a clinician and
• 30:44
  working with groups who also now are kind of judging and whatnot.
• 30:48
  But yeah, the choreography of it all, if I didn't, if I didn't do
• 30:52
  any of that other stuff, I would be waking up every morning
• 30:55
  going, OK, what's this song? Or I would be looking at it the
• 30:59
  night before, you know. And there are some things that I
• 31:02
  choreograph in advance, especially if I'm, like working
• 31:04
  with an assistant like Alec Schultz, Waconia alum.
• 31:07
  Well, he's more of a nighttime choreographer and I'm more of a
• 31:10
  morning choreographer. So finding that compromise, if
• 31:12
  you're going to work together, sometimes we will make up more,
• 31:16
  more stuff at night, you know, it just depends, right?
• 31:18
  Yeah. So sometimes I suppose a song
• 31:20
  probably dictates some of the dance moves.
• 31:23
  Absolutely. Yeah.
• 31:24
  Song show. Yeah.
• 31:26
  Style. You know, I have a fall
• 31:28
  together. Yeah.
• 31:29
  Like Milton, Milton, WI, where you guys have been before.
• 31:32
  They're doing Toy Story this year.
• 31:33
  Oh, fun. I already know what vibe I'm
• 31:36
  gonna go with because it's Toy Story, right?
• 31:39
  We're gonna be come to life toys.
• 31:41
  There are certain looks that are gonna be just the vibe, you
• 31:44
  know? That'll be cool.
• 31:45
  That's cool. Yeah.
• 31:46
  I think it'll be fun. Yeah, I was gonna ask you what
• 31:47
  you do in the offseason, but you don't have an offseason.
• 31:49
  You know. And you really don't.
• 31:51
  You really must be a. Bit of time.
• 31:52
  And that's, and some people would hear this and go, well,
• 31:54
  that's your fault, Kevin Chase. Like that is your own doing.
• 31:57
  And you know what, to those people I say, you are not wrong.
• 32:01
  Like that is my own doing, but it's what's made my shows better
• 32:07
  and it's what's made I think my career more successful than
• 32:11
  maybe it would have been 'cause I am an all in fully submerged
• 32:15
  choreographer in my shows. I do have an offseason.
• 32:19
  I mean, you know, the judging part of it all.
• 32:22
  Like I just was looking at my schedule.
• 32:23
  I think February I have like maybe one rehearsal scheduled
• 32:27
  and then it's like 2 weekends for competition.
• 32:30
  So like, I do have off time, but the show design does take a lot
• 32:35
  of time. I mean, these shows show choir
• 32:37
  is on a whole nother level. And I mean, it's just continued
• 32:40
  to grow and evolve. And it's like we're doing these
• 32:43
  production numbers and you go see some of these amazing show
• 32:47
  choirs. And I would put some of those
• 32:49
  show choirs on a Broadway stage. I mean, yeah, there are so many.
• 32:53
  There's so many great show choirs all over the country who
• 32:57
  are just killing it. But it takes a lot.
• 33:00
  A lot. It definitely takes a lot, yeah.
• 33:02
  So if it wasn't for show choir and obviously sort of fell into
• 33:05
  that genre and that choreography, what do you think
• 33:09
  you'd be doing? So interesting because like, you
• 33:11
  know, the whole, like I said, the hotel and Applebee's of it
• 33:13
  all. You know what got me to move to
• 33:16
  Minneapolis? Because I moved to Minneapolis
• 33:17
  in 2010 from Bemidji and it was to pursue being a show choir
• 33:22
  choreographer. Like, that was a move that I
• 33:24
  made. It was like a pack your bags,
• 33:27
  pack your dreams. Yeah, get out on the road,
• 33:30
  Grandma, Grandpa wiping away their tears because they're
• 33:32
  thinking their their grandchild, who is like one of their own
• 33:36
  children is going to be a starving artist and, you know,
• 33:39
  not be able to fend for themselves and and whatever.
• 33:42
  Yeah, moving, moving to Minneapolis, just like started
• 33:45
  the whole catalyst of it, of it all.
• 33:48
  Yeah. Would you do any show choir for
• 33:50
  or not our choreography for like theatre, musical theatre, that
• 33:53
  sort of thing? I'm gonna answer this very
• 33:55
  honestly. I have before you have when I
• 33:58
  was at Bemidji, because I did the theatre program.
• 34:00
  So I was the director and the choreographer.
• 34:02
  Sure, I've choreographed a couple musicals in the Des
• 34:04
  Moines area. The hard part about choreography
• 34:07
  musicals is they don't really do like choreo camps.
• 34:12
  If they did choreo camps, I would be open to doing more
• 34:14
  musicals. But I do not want to go for two
• 34:18
  weeks and teach choreography from 3:30 to 5:30 every day
• 34:23
  after school for a musical. And I'm going to say this.
• 34:26
  It's not all about the money. We don't do all of our work for
• 34:29
  a paycheck. I find that musical theatre
• 34:32
  choreographers aren't compensated as well as show
• 34:35
  choir choreographers. Yeah, but that might be the
• 34:38
  difference of, you know, musical theatre.
• 34:40
  It's a school activity, so there is a budget established for that
• 34:44
  where show choirs are creating their own budgets and creating
• 34:48
  their own paths. Yeah, right.
• 34:49
  Gotcha. So I was doing some sleuthing on
• 34:52
  your Facebook for a while. That's how I found out some of
• 34:55
  these questions asking. But Bermidji did a show choir
• 34:58
  30th anniversary school reunion and it was on the Lakeland News.
• 35:03
  They reported the story. So how much did that mean to
• 35:06
  you? It's very interesting.
• 35:08
  It was equally stressful as it was amazing and beautiful and
• 35:14
  one of the one of the really, truly like.
• 35:17
  The more I process it and I and watch it since then, really such
• 35:21
  a beautiful experience because I'm working alongside my high
• 35:25
  school choreographer who I worked with at Bemidji ANYWAYS.
• 35:29
  And then look up to. Her.
• 35:31
  Yeah, absolutely. Him, yeah.
• 35:32
  But yeah, absolutely. And in walks all these alumni,
• 35:36
  some of them who were my students, like as a director and
• 35:39
  a choreographer, and then this other batch who I was on stage
• 35:45
  with. OK.
• 35:46
  That's what really got me. The people I remember, you know,
• 35:50
  there's people like Anna Collins walking in who was like my first
• 35:54
  partner in one of my first choreo camps of Bemidji.
• 35:57
  And she was so amazing and I looked up to her so much.
• 36:00
  And then in walks Anna Carlson, who I was a captain of vocal
• 36:05
  motive with. And like it just was these two
• 36:09
  different worlds colliding. And then it's like these people
• 36:12
  coming up to me and introducing me to their children.
• 36:15
  And then which made me feel old also a little bit.
• 36:18
  And like, I want, I want to introduce you to my partner.
• 36:21
  I want you to meet my husband, like all of these things.
• 36:23
  And I was just like, whoa, I mean, talk about a full circle
• 36:27
  moment that I was in the room with people from really like the
• 36:31
  early years of Bemidji show choir from like 199495 to last
• 36:36
  season, you know what I mean? All on stage together.
• 36:40
  It was beautiful, it was amazing.
• 36:42
  It was so much work. It was so much work.
• 36:45
  And I think now that we've done it, the next one, I think we,
• 36:49
  you know, it's, it's hard. How do you you just start
• 36:52
  reaching out and trying to collect information for hundreds
• 36:56
  and hundreds of people? You know, I will say one person
• 36:59
  did sign up and it was a little confusing on the form.
• 37:02
  But like we're all seated and it was like, I'm looking around the
• 37:06
  room and I'm like, one of these things is not like the other.
• 37:09
  And there was a very elderly gentleman who was sitting in the
• 37:13
  seat and we're like, I think he thinks this might be something
• 37:16
  else. I think he thought it was just
• 37:17
  more of like I was in quiet, sure, but wasn't ever in show
• 37:21
  choir. Do you know what I mean?
• 37:22
  So that was kind of funny, but it was cool.
• 37:24
  It was really special. My nieces and nephews got to
• 37:28
  watch me on stage for the first time, which I think is kind of
• 37:30
  cool, sure, because they only see a certain side of me.
• 37:33
  So it was cool that they got to see me in that role.
• 37:36
  I had a lot of lovely family from Kansas who came up for it.
• 37:40
  And my mom and I hosted and provided, like, the social
• 37:44
  gathering afterwards. So after the concert, we still
• 37:47
  got to all get together and spend time together and talk.
• 37:50
  And it was it was. It was absolutely a lot of work.
• 37:53
  It was a lot of stress. But, like, aren't some of the
• 37:56
  most wonderful things that way? You know, that there's so much
• 38:00
  love and effort put into it. And it was really special.
• 38:03
  It was a really special performance.
• 38:04
  Yeah. Cool.
• 38:05
  Yeah. So some more Facebook stalking.
• 38:07
  OK, I love it. Right.
• 38:08
  So you mentioned you want to go see Dolly Parton Vegas.
• 38:13
  So she changed her show. It was going to be when was it?
• 38:15
  It was going to be December 25. It would be December, but now
• 38:17
  it's going to be in September. September, it got moved.
• 38:19
  So you called it a bucket list moment.
• 38:21
  Yes. Tell us about that.
• 38:22
  Dolly Parton for me, I don't know.
• 38:24
  I don't know if it's just her like electric, positive and
• 38:28
  accepting attitude. I don't know if it's the music.
• 38:31
  I don't know if it's listening to Coat of Many Colors and
• 38:34
  feeling like an outcast as a little boy growing up in
• 38:37
  Bemidji. I don't know what it is.
• 38:38
  There's something about her that I just resonate to.
• 38:41
  And I've always said her and Céline Dion have always been my
• 38:45
  like, top 2, but I always feel so guilty when I pick a top one
• 38:49
  between between the two of those.
• 38:52
  So what's funny is I'd always said I wanted to see her in
• 38:55
  whatever capacity. And it's the kind of thing where
• 38:59
  I don't need it to be amazing. I don't need it to be this big
• 39:02
  event. That woman could walk out on
• 39:05
  stage, grab her guitar and go LA and walk off stage and I would
• 39:11
  go you're good encore, you know, but also really encore because
• 39:16
  I'd like to hear more than one note.
• 39:17
  But I don't know. I just I respond to her.
• 39:20
  So it's, it's really weird. I had seen the ad, you know,
• 39:22
  Facebook, of course, all these things pop up.
• 39:25
  I'd seen the ad, seen the ad and I was like, well, that's kind of
• 39:27
  cool. Vegas.
• 39:28
  That's a fun little place to go. And then my mom sends me a text
• 39:32
  and she sends me a screenshot of the ad she saw on Facebook.
• 39:36
  And she goes, Dolly, we should go.
• 39:38
  Just a very general comment. I called her back the next day
• 39:42
  and I said, what do you have on these dates?
• 39:45
  She says nothing. And I said, I'm booking Dolly
• 39:48
  because I had this thought where I was like, you know what?
• 39:50
  Why do we wait so long to have the experiences?
• 39:54
  And maybe there is something about getting to that middle age
• 39:58
  bracket of life where you're going TikTok is going the clock
• 40:01
  and I work my butt off for my my money and my opportunities and
• 40:07
  whatever. Like, why not treat yourself and
• 40:10
  just do those fun. And to get to do it with my mom,
• 40:14
  who there's only so many opportunities.
• 40:15
  I have to take trips with my mom so.
• 40:19
  I called the Bloomington Kennedy director because I was scheduled
• 40:21
  for rehearsal that day and I said, listen, normally I will
• 40:25
  run these by you, but I'm letting you know.
• 40:28
  I'm letting you know Alex Schultz will fill in for me and
• 40:31
  I'm going to Vegas, You know, I'm gonna go to Vegas with my
• 40:33
  mom. Everything was booked, flights,
• 40:35
  hotels and tickets, whatever. And then the whole cancellation
• 40:39
  of it, all right? And I didn't accept the
• 40:43
  rescheduled tickets because I just felt like what if those
• 40:48
  dates really don't work for me and like my schedule sucks to
• 40:52
  create 25 different schools trying to organize it all.
• 40:56
  And I was like, what if scheduling Dolly in September
• 40:59
  really screws up my schedule and really, like, effects one of my
• 41:04
  show choirs, right? And also, who knows what's going
• 41:08
  to go on with Dolly in September with health issues, all that.
• 41:11
  Yeah, who knows if my mom will be able to make that work.
• 41:13
  So I didn't reschedule it. And I'm just letting the
• 41:16
  universe lead me in whatever direction it's going to be.
• 41:19
  And if I never see Dolly on stage, that's cool too, you
• 41:22
  know, so, so it was kind of interesting.
• 41:25
  You have this life moment where you're like, I'm going to do it.
• 41:28
  I'm going to do this bucket list moment and I'm going to take
• 41:30
  life by the horns. And then it's like, just
• 41:33
  kidding. That's actually not going to
• 41:34
  happen. And it's like, well, that's all
• 41:36
  the universe, you know, it's just like, it is what it is,
• 41:38
  right? So.
• 41:39
  So you've obviously seen 9:00 to 5:00.
• 41:42
  The musical well. Movie, movie, musical, whichever
• 41:45
  1 you want. Movie more so, yeah.
• 41:47
  So you were either a toddler or not born yet when it first came
• 41:51
  out in 1980, right? Born in 83, correct?
• 41:53
  There you go. Yep.
• 41:54
  So is that you've seen it and, and what do you think about
• 41:59
  that? How does that kind of It's a fun
• 42:01
  movie and she does a great role in it.
• 42:06
  Dolly is really successful when she's playing something related
• 42:11
  to who she is as a real person. If you watch her role in Nine to
• 42:15
  Five, if you watch her role in Steel Magnolias, she's just
• 42:22
  really being Dolly. You know what I mean?
• 42:24
  Someone was just talking about this, how certain people are
• 42:27
  really successful with certain acting roles or whatever.
• 42:30
  But even when you look at a Meryl Streep, yes, she's playing
• 42:33
  different characters and has different accents, but like it's
• 42:35
  still Meryl somehow. There's still, there's Meryl
• 42:39
  that. Person in there absolutely.
• 42:40
  Bodies who we all think she is. Yeah.
• 42:42
  Yeah. That's so cool.
• 42:43
  Yeah. But you know, when Dolly agreed
• 42:46
  to do that, she said that she had to write the song and that,
• 42:50
  you know, she plays the washboard with her acrylic.
• 42:52
  Nails, yeah. In that, in the music in the
• 42:54
  movie. She's a businesswoman.
• 42:56
  That's crazy. She's a businesswoman for sure.
• 42:58
  Yeah. I mean, yeah, especially as the
• 43:00
  woman in the music industry to go in and say, yeah, I'll take
• 43:04
  this role in a movie. However we're going to.
• 43:06
  You're going to let me write the theme song.
• 43:08
  I mean genius, genius. OK, so you know, we're talking
• 43:12
  about sleuthing on Facebook. I came across a quote.
• 43:17
  If better is possible, good is not enough, and that's
• 43:20
  attributed to Ben Franklin. It is called to strive for
• 43:23
  excellence and continuous improvement rather than being
• 43:26
  content with being meeting the basic standards.
• 43:29
  So what does that mean to you? So I actually was introduced to
• 43:32
  that quote at show Car Campus of America.
• 43:35
  And there was just this guy doing this workshop.
• 43:38
  I couldn't even tell you his name.
• 43:39
  I wish I could. And he just said the quote And
• 43:42
  for some reason I was sitting on those steps and I was like, huh.
• 43:45
  Like it really resonated with me.
• 43:47
  As I think more about it, it became this thing that I started
• 43:50
  like sharing with my show choirs.
• 43:53
  But I think more than anything, maybe at that point in my life,
• 43:55
  I also resonated with the quote and like a, I got to push myself
• 44:00
  and I got to like put some more effort in and if I want to be
• 44:02
  successful and take care of myself.
• 44:04
  And so it just became this like really nice way to wrap
• 44:08
  everything up at the end of my choreo camps.
• 44:10
  And I would share it with some, not all.
• 44:13
  And then slowly throughout the years, it was Muscatine, IA was
• 44:18
  the first time I ever got it printed on a bracelet.
• 44:21
  And I had a rehearsal with those kids and it was a little rough
• 44:24
  and they just needed like, some extra love.
• 44:27
  And so I left feeling like we did a really good job.
• 44:29
  But then I ordered these bracelets and I sent them to
• 44:31
  them in the mail and they received them and they were, you
• 44:34
  know, so touched and whatever. And then it just kind of became
• 44:36
  this thing. And then it kind of became this
• 44:39
  like extra special thing I would do with some groups once in a
• 44:42
  while. And then all of a sudden I'm
• 44:45
  like going to schools. And now they've got like,
• 44:47
  posters made of it. And I'm seeing like, if better
• 44:50
  is possible, good is not enough on people's posters in
• 44:52
  classrooms. And I just left, I just left
• 44:55
  Lewis Central High School. It's on the back of the
• 44:57
  rehearsal T-shirts, you know, like stuff like that.
• 45:00
  So it's a quote that I've shared a lot with my groups.
• 45:03
  Yeah. It's catching on.
• 45:04
  Yeah. And I and I've, I have, I have 3
• 45:06
  or 4 different students who have sent me tattoos with it on their
• 45:10
  body. OK, so they're really.
• 45:11
  One of them, one of them, a dear friend of mine now asked me to
• 45:15
  write it in my handwriting. So it's my handwriting on his
• 45:19
  arm. Wow.
• 45:20
  And I was like, Are you sure? Have you talked to your mom?
• 45:25
  Like I was really nervous about it.
• 45:27
  Interesting. I knew.
• 45:28
  So knowing that this topic might come up in the podcast, cause a
• 45:31
  lot of people do know me for that quote and sharing it with
• 45:34
  groups and whatever. And I have probably ordered
• 45:37
  thousands of those silicon silicone bands at this point.
• 45:41
  Now, interestingly enough, I have chosen to not implement
• 45:47
  that quote into my seasons anymore.
• 45:50
  And part of me at first it it started becoming expected.
• 45:55
  Kids were starting to like, we would like end a choreo camp and
• 45:58
  they would go what we don't get bracelets this year.
• 46:01
  And I'm like, sometimes it was just supposed to be this fun
• 46:04
  special thing. Once in awhile it it did become
• 46:07
  a quite regular thing with Waconia Power Company at Camp
• 46:12
  Courage when we started going to this resort.
• 46:14
  Well, that's a strong word, but do you know what I mean?
• 46:17
  Definitely not a resort. Not a resort, wilderness,
• 46:20
  campground, whatever cabins, whatever you want to call it.
• 46:24
  And then it just became this fun thing that we started doing at
• 46:27
  this at this retreat, you know of it all.
• 46:30
  But then when kids started asking for it and making
• 46:33
  comments that they didn't get it, I was like, oh, this is like
• 46:37
  changing the whole intent behind it all from the beginning.
• 46:41
  It kind of run its course by then.
• 46:43
  I think so too. And there also came a point
• 46:46
  where I thought the mental health of it all, we're in such
• 46:50
  a different place now than we were 1012 years ago, 15 years
• 46:55
  ago. And is it the right message for
• 46:57
  me to be standing in front of a kid saying if better is
• 47:00
  possible, good is not enough. No matter what, you should
• 47:03
  always be better, right? Fine line between, you know,
• 47:07
  where is the line between pushing ourselves past our point
• 47:10
  of comfort zone, right? To grow, to evolve, to get over
• 47:14
  negative situations in life, right?
• 47:16
  But also recognizing some days 75% is your 100, you know, or
• 47:22
  some days our best looks different every day, you know?
• 47:25
  So then I found myself I was sharing the quote and still
• 47:28
  doing bracelets and then going but also I want to say this also
• 47:33
  be mindful of mental. And then it became this whole of
• 47:36
  I felt like I was having to give this like post talk with it.
• 47:40
  And then it just slowly, I never ordered any more bracelets.
• 47:44
  And Waconia actually got my last batch of the original, the
• 47:49
  original bracelets, the original fonts.
• 47:52
  And then also I the I tried this like new company and it was
• 47:56
  something about after seeing the same font on a bracelet for like
• 47:59
  10 to 12 years and then seeing this other font, I was like, oh,
• 48:04
  this feels like a knock off like it doesn't it?
• 48:07
  It didn't feel like what it it what it once felt like it.
• 48:10
  Came from China. Yeah, So I just, I just, I just
• 48:14
  very much, I've just slowly let it organically dissipate.
• 48:20
  I still think it's a great quote.
• 48:22
  I still think we can all benefit from pushing ourselves sometimes
• 48:26
  and we all need that reminder. I still have a bracelet that has
• 48:29
  it on it at home and I I think it's still a great quote.
• 48:32
  I just don't use it as one of my things as much anymore.
• 48:36
  OK. What you saying those things
• 48:37
  that these things are collectible now?
• 48:38
  Yeah, so you got. Yeah, see, there you go. eBay.
• 48:41
  So. Not eBay.
• 48:42
  I I happen to know a good choreographer.
• 48:44
  Yeah, that's right. I.
• 48:45
  Know. I will say there are not many
• 48:48
  people in the country who are not students who've ever gotten
• 48:51
  1. I realized, yeah, I know that
• 48:53
  you have. I called the I'm allowed in, but
• 48:55
  remember Jan? I know that.
• 48:57
  I gave her one once at a rehearsal.
• 48:59
  Yeah, that's cool. That's super cool.
• 49:01
  Yep. So Kevin, you demonstrated a
• 49:03
  kind of do good or good vibes attitude.
• 49:05
  Can you help us understand your life philosophy?
• 49:07
  This is interesting. This was the most interesting
• 49:11
  thing of looking through. If I can say behind the scenes,
• 49:13
  you sent me an e-mail with some questions we might talk or text
• 49:16
  with some questions we might have a heads up on.
• 49:18
  Right, I added this one today. OK.
• 49:21
  But as we were like, as I was looking through your things,
• 49:24
  show course, show, course, show, course, show choir, and then it
• 49:26
  became like positivity and kindness and inspiration and
• 49:30
  good vibes. And I was like, oh, it's kind of
• 49:33
  like, cool to take a step back and get like, people's
• 49:38
  perspective of you and like how you are viewed by quote UN
• 49:41
  quote, the world. Yeah.
• 49:42
  Well, OK, so you say that now. Yeah.
• 49:44
  And these questions sort of evolved because of my wife, Amy,
• 49:49
  who says you're a background and who you are as a person outside
• 49:54
  of choreography led me into these questions.
• 49:57
  Interesting. Yeah, that's how she sees you.
• 50:00
  Which is lovely. And honestly, I got emotional
• 50:03
  when I first read the questions where I talked to one of my best
• 50:06
  friends about this and I was like, Oh my God, God, I'm going
• 50:08
  on this podcast. They sent me some stuff, but
• 50:10
  like, whoa, it just kind of made it kind of made me reinforce the
• 50:14
  good that I maybe really try and attempt to do.
• 50:18
  I think there's this quote, hurt people hurt people.
• 50:20
  Do you know what I mean? Hurt people also really try to
• 50:24
  help and heal other people. I am a product of a lot of crap
• 50:28
  from childhood, a lot of maybe not so great experiences growing
• 50:31
  up. And we all have our stories.
• 50:33
  We all have our trauma or whatever.
• 50:35
  I've always just been such such a sensitive soul to people
• 50:41
  hurting or people being left out or people being treated
• 50:45
  unkindly. I remember once in middle
• 50:49
  school, I'm sitting in the cafeteria.
• 50:51
  I'm an eighth grader and my sister was a 6th grader.
• 50:54
  We were in the same building for that one year.
• 50:57
  And I see one of her friends walk into the cafeteria with a
• 51:00
  tray and it's like early school year with school year just
• 51:03
  starts. And I'm watching her walk around
• 51:06
  looking for somebody to sit with.
• 51:08
  And I'm watching this poor kid. The worst experience.
• 51:11
  Yes. It's like the getting picked
• 51:13
  last in gym or it's, you know, this kid is walking around with
• 51:16
  her tray. And I know her, but I don't know
• 51:18
  her well, but she is one of my sister's friends.
• 51:20
  And I just see her face and I see her body language.
• 51:24
  I'm an eighth grader. I went to the bathroom and I
• 51:26
  cried in lunch. I went to the bathroom and
• 51:30
  physically cried in the stall because I felt so bad for this
• 51:33
  girl. So I've always just felt the
• 51:36
  like pain of the world and the the bull crap of it all and like
• 51:42
  just wanting people to be happy. But I think that comes from when
• 51:46
  you've lived a life of struggles or not being happy or being
• 51:50
  bullied or being picked on. Like, of course, you don't want
• 51:53
  that for anybody else, you know? So do I think positivity and
• 51:59
  good vibes and all that stuff is like, really important to put
• 52:02
  out into the world. Yeah.
• 52:05
  Especially now and you know, there's always going to be
• 52:09
  climates going on in our country and things going on.
• 52:12
  But like I say this a lot, like I just my religion and my love
• 52:17
  and my philosophy and the way that I try to live my life is
• 52:20
  just rooted in love, whatever that means for people.
• 52:24
  Love is being generous, love is donating to organizations.
• 52:29
  Love is being there for somebody.
• 52:31
  Love is love is an Instagram post in the morning.
• 52:34
  And sometimes even for me, I'm like, I get to a point where I'm
• 52:37
  like, now I'm just searching for an Instagram post to post
• 52:40
  because that's what I do. Sometimes I'll post positive
• 52:42
  messages, but then you have a random person who reaches out
• 52:46
  and like, sends you a message going.
• 52:48
  Thank you so much. I really needed to hear that
• 52:50
  today. Yeah.
• 52:51
  So I don't know. It's it's it's interesting
• 52:54
  because I think a lot of my students in show choir would say
• 52:58
  Kevins really hard on us, Kevins really strict.
• 53:01
  And like, we sometimes get a little nervous when Kevins
• 53:05
  coming back in town, but then I think they'd also go.
• 53:08
  But he loves us so much and he cares about us so much and he
• 53:11
  pushes us so much and he laughs with us and he connects with us.
• 53:16
  So right. You know, I think there's both
• 53:18
  of those things that. Adult figure that's helping them
• 53:20
  see that hard work that they're putting in really results in
• 53:25
  something great. Yeah, absolutely.
• 53:28
  So I don't know. I just think, you know, I think
• 53:30
  I think, well, another quote is I think John, John F Kennedy,
• 53:35
  everyone can change the world and everyone should try or
• 53:38
  something like that. So like that's how I try to make
• 53:42
  my to make my difference, whether I'm in front of a group
• 53:45
  of students, live in person or not, or I'm just posting
• 53:48
  something positive. But also, I think some of the
• 53:52
  things that I put out into the world, I'm putting them out into
• 53:54
  the world because I resonated with them.
• 53:57
  I I read something in the quote that made me feel like I could
• 54:00
  get up and go a little bit better that morning.
• 54:02
  Yeah. So why not share it with others,
• 54:04
  right? Well, and everybody's on their
• 54:05
  own personal journey, and that's probably your journey of keeping
• 54:08
  yourself happy and optimistic is doing those.
• 54:11
  And what people don't realize is that you're putting it out there
• 54:13
  for yourself. Yeah.
• 54:15
  It helps you. Yeah.
• 54:16
  As well as helping others. Yeah, Absolutely.
• 54:19
  You know what, We are on our own all.
• 54:20
  Everyone's on our on our own personal journey.
• 54:22
  And I come to realize recently that about learning gratitude
• 54:27
  and being mindful of that situation.
• 54:28
  So I started a gratitude journal and it helps me every day that I
• 54:31
  write in it, just remind myself that, hey, you know what, things
• 54:35
  are good. Yeah.
• 54:36
  And be happy for those things. Yeah, I just read something like
• 54:39
  a couple days and of course, you know, Thanksgiving just
• 54:40
  happened, so gratitude posts all over social media.
• 54:44
  But it was the, like, every morning, you should get out of
• 54:48
  bed, look out the window and just cite to yourself one thing
• 54:53
  that you're grateful for. You know, it sounds so cheesy,
• 54:55
  but why not, right? You know, Like, I mean, all, all
• 54:59
  of us sitting here probably wish we had certain things like other
• 55:02
  people or whatever the case may be.
• 55:04
  But oh, my God, we have a lot. We have a lot that a lot of
• 55:07
  other people don't have. And so that is a reminder.
• 55:11
  Yeah. To be grateful and to be.
• 55:13
  Yeah. I get out of bed and I can
• 55:14
  barely walk and my knees creak and I can barely make it to the
• 55:17
  bathroom too and. Talk to me.
• 55:19
  I mean, that's my life right now in this season.
• 55:22
  It's your future right here. But honestly, it's very real.
• 55:26
  There is something about the 40s because I'm 42 now.
• 55:30
  Oh my gosh, you're so young. Well, am I?
• 55:32
  I'm not sure it does. There there are.
• 55:36
  You can be as healthy as you want to be.
• 55:38
  You can be as proactive with supplements or doctor's
• 55:42
  appointments and procedures, whatever.
• 55:45
  But like, the body ages, you know?
• 55:47
  So I think there's something to be said about that.
• 55:49
  I'm getting to a place where, you know, I'm in my early 40s
• 55:52
  and it's like, OK, you just start to view things differently
• 55:56
  and you have a different, I guess, you know, people always
• 55:58
  say with life experience, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 56:01
  You know, it's probably well. You're always learning
• 56:03
  absolutely show called menopause, which is the male
• 56:06
  version of menopause, and you just learn so much about it.
• 56:09
  So go out and listen to it. Well, one of your episodes
• 56:12
  should be menopause and you should educate the listeners on
• 56:16
  actual. About what women go through?
• 56:18
  Absolutely. That's a good idea.
• 56:20
  That'd be cool. Write that down we'd.
• 56:21
  Have to have women on our podcast.
• 56:22
  Yeah, that'd be fun. Our wives.
• 56:23
  Our wives, right? I'm sure they'd be happy to talk
• 56:26
  about that. I would.
• 56:27
  They would love it. No, they wouldn't.
• 56:29
  That's funny. So you've obviously had some
• 56:32
  role models in your life in helping you become this
• 56:36
  purposeful, positive person. Is there anything you can help
• 56:40
  us understand who that might have been and where that came
• 56:42
  from? You know, I really have been
• 56:45
  blessed with some amazing educators.
• 56:48
  I mean, I remember, you know, like my 7th grade music teacher,
• 56:52
  Janet Weaver, Chris Fettig, my high school teacher, all these
• 56:55
  people that have given me opportunities, but I also
• 56:57
  learned a lot from in the music setting.
• 57:00
  But I don't know, and I know it's cheesy.
• 57:02
  A lot of people say these kind of answers, but like my mom is
• 57:05
  truly a survivor and has gone through some really tragic.
• 57:10
  So when she was pregnant with me, my biological dad passed
• 57:13
  away in a car accident while she was pregnant with me.
• 57:17
  So that and it was he passed away two weeks after they got
• 57:21
  married. So I mean, it was like, I mean,
• 57:23
  talk about you're a young single mom and now you're like raising
• 57:27
  this child. And she said something about
• 57:30
  like, I didn't know whether to send out thank you cards for the
• 57:33
  wedding or thank you cards for the flowers for the funeral
• 57:36
  first, like which one, you know? And so I think about somebody
• 57:39
  like her who's really been through a lot and she's so
• 57:43
  positive. She's always the like ray of
• 57:46
  sunshine at all of the family get togethers.
• 57:49
  She's the one like fostering, hey, when someone walks in the
• 57:53
  door and she's excited to see them and whether or not that is
• 57:57
  always how she feels on that day, either it's authentically
• 58:01
  who she is or she chooses to wake up and have gratitude like
• 58:05
  we were talking about and go, I'm happy to be alive, I'm happy
• 58:09
  to have my family, and I'm happy to be a grandma with my
• 58:13
  grandkids and have a good job and life is great.
• 58:16
  So why not act accordingly? Well.
• 58:18
  And she has the perspective of living through that tragedy.
• 58:20
  Absolutely. Helps her view today, yeah.
• 58:24
  Sure, and she is never, never more proud of me than when she's
• 58:30
  at a show choir competition. I'll bet she loves.
• 58:33
  She goes to Bloomington Gold with me every year now, pretty
• 58:35
  much. She loves going to a show choir
• 58:38
  competition. She loves hearing my name.
• 58:42
  It sounds so stupid, but it's true.
• 58:44
  Yeah, she loves and is so proud when they say choreographed by
• 58:47
  Kevin Chase because when an MC doesn't say it, she like leans
• 58:50
  in and she's like, they did not say your name, you know.
• 58:54
  So I think, I think, you know, there's a lot of people, but
• 58:57
  like who has been one of my better role models collectively
• 59:00
  through my whole life. Then I'd say my mom for.
• 59:02
  Sure. There you go.
• 59:02
  That's great. Yeah, all.
• 59:04
  Right. What?
• 59:04
  What do you think is right now one cause or issue that's
• 59:07
  closest to your to your heart right now and why?
• 59:10
  We kind of touched on it a little bit, but like, like I
• 59:13
  said, everything I think is rooted in love for me.
• 59:15
  And you try to have positivity and inspiration put out into the
• 59:19
  world. I just think our world right
• 59:22
  now, whatever you believe in, whoever you vote for, whatever
• 59:26
  you stand by, we're just like so divided right now.
• 59:32
  Do you know what I mean? And I understand some of that
• 59:34
  division because I have made choices in my life to set some
• 59:38
  boundaries with some people, whether I'm I'm following them
• 59:41
  on social media or it's family members whose values and beliefs
• 59:45
  do not not aligned with what's important to me.
• 59:47
  So for me right now, I think we just like, we got to like just
• 59:51
  be kinder to everybody and have more empathy.
• 59:55
  But having conversations, I think so much is lost when you
• 59:58
  don't communicate with people and then people have their
• 1:00:02
  assumptions and people have their assumptions.
• 1:00:03
  And then there's people out here in the world going, well, I
• 1:00:06
  don't believe that so and so should XYZ.
• 1:00:08
  And it's like, have you ever talked to 1 human in the so and
• 1:00:12
  so camp? Have you ever talked to one
• 1:00:14
  person? Who maybe has lived this life
• 1:00:17
  experience that you are so against or you are so whatever.
• 1:00:21
  So I don't know. I think people just need to come
• 1:00:23
  together and hear each other and be open to just being kinder and
• 1:00:28
  being more loving because it is heavy.
• 1:00:30
  I mean, the world is heavy right now and I feel that sometimes,
• 1:00:34
  you know, certain things are happening politically or pop
• 1:00:37
  culture, whatever it might be. And you can feel it.
• 1:00:40
  You walk into a room of kids and you can feel that like there are
• 1:00:43
  it's unsteady sometimes. There are some things going on
• 1:00:46
  in the world that rattle people, you know?
• 1:00:48
  Right. Yep.
• 1:00:48
  So I don't know, sometimes I'm like, we're gonna get through
• 1:00:51
  this all and it's every. And then sometimes I'm like,
• 1:00:54
  huh, hope we get through this all, you know?
• 1:00:57
  But then I guess, you know, with love also comes hope.
• 1:01:00
  I think hope is a good thing. And so I just, I just hope we
• 1:01:03
  all move forward, right, and come together.
• 1:01:06
  And, you know, I think humanity is so interesting because it's
• 1:01:09
  these big life events that bring people together, whether it's a
• 1:01:13
  death or whether it's a school shooting or whether it's some
• 1:01:17
  tragic thing that happens in a city.
• 1:01:19
  And now we're gofunding and we're the communities rallying
• 1:01:22
  together. That's when humanity is so
• 1:01:24
  beautiful. And we lose all of that when all
• 1:01:27
  these other things kind of get get mixed up.
• 1:01:30
  Absolutely, Yeah. Kevin, thank you very much for
• 1:01:32
  being here. You've talked a lot, so I'm
• 1:01:35
  going to talk for a little. I'm going to talk about.
• 1:01:38
  You go, Rob. Talk about Kevin and cool.
• 1:01:41
  Why I love Kevin. OK, so I I have some stories to
• 1:01:43
  share. So, so one of the unique things
• 1:01:46
  about the Waconia show choirs and they do camp courage and
• 1:01:48
  camp courage is, like I said, remote wilderness retreat in the
• 1:01:52
  middle of October when the leaves are falling.
• 1:01:54
  It's cold in Minnesota in October.
• 1:01:55
  It's beautiful. Come on, it's.
• 1:01:56
  Beautiful. But it's cold.
• 1:01:58
  And the last year I was there and one of our days, all the
• 1:02:01
  kids were running around and like, we're gonna jump in the
• 1:02:03
  lake today and we're all like, no, we're not doing that, dude.
• 1:02:08
  It's it's cold. And they kept going, kept going.
• 1:02:10
  And finally go up to the director, Aaron, and said you'll
• 1:02:12
  do it, right? He goes, well, you guys get 25
• 1:02:14
  people out. Do it.
• 1:02:15
  They had 25 people that bought instantly.
• 1:02:17
  Instantly. Yeah.
• 1:02:18
  And then he's like, oh, what did I get myself into?
• 1:02:20
  And they kept going and finally get to the end of rehearsal and
• 1:02:23
  Kevin goes, all right, here's the deal.
• 1:02:25
  If you guys, I'll do it. I will get robbed to do it.
• 1:02:27
  And we'll all go in there with you.
• 1:02:28
  Mm Hmm. Nobody in this earth could get
• 1:02:31
  me to jump into a lake except for Kevin.
• 1:02:33
  I love it I. Guarantee it.
• 1:02:34
  If everyone looked at me and said you're gonna jump in the
• 1:02:36
  lake, I said yeah. Nobody.
• 1:02:38
  I'm doing the polar plunge. We did the polar plunge.
• 1:02:40
  Basically, it was that, yeah. It was.
• 1:02:42
  It was. Cold.
• 1:02:42
  I know it was it. Was cold.
• 1:02:43
  It was cold so. But I loved.
• 1:02:46
  It yeah, it it was fun. It was so fun.
• 1:02:48
  And like, that's so not me. Truly.
• 1:02:50
  That's so not me. Yeah.
• 1:02:52
  But like, what a great memory for those kids.
• 1:02:53
  And it was fun. It was funny.
• 1:02:56
  It was fun. It was this funny thing that
• 1:02:58
  bonded us all together, because that actually was terrible.
• 1:03:02
  It was so cold, so cold, but it was so fun.
• 1:03:06
  It was fun. It was super fun.
• 1:03:07
  Yeah, but look at that, we did it this now you guys are still
• 1:03:09
  talking. About it, right.
• 1:03:10
  And before he even set a few sentences into what you were
• 1:03:13
  saying, I knew exactly where we were going.
• 1:03:15
  Right, 'cause it's, it's like singed in my brain, right?
• 1:03:17
  Good and bad. Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:03:21
  Second thing I have is again, my daughters last year, Kayla, and
• 1:03:25
  a picture got taken of her on stage.
• 1:03:27
  So at the end of the competition they won is on the first
• 1:03:29
  competition that season they won.
• 1:03:30
  She's holding the trophy. She's got a huge smaller face
• 1:03:33
  and I'm coming up to high fiber and somebody grabbed a picture
• 1:03:35
  of that. I posted that in Facebook and
• 1:03:38
  the first person to comment on it was Kevin and give this
• 1:03:41
  beautiful quote to how fantastic it was.
• 1:03:42
  And I printed that and that's out currently on my desk and
• 1:03:45
  it's my daughter's reminder. That's so cool, I mean.
• 1:03:47
  That's just it's so the positivity from that just it
• 1:03:50
  just blew me away and brought. To your eyes.
• 1:03:52
  And I just absolutely loved it. That's so sweet.
• 1:03:54
  Thank you for sharing that. That's a reminder of like, when
• 1:03:57
  you feel something, say something.
• 1:03:59
  You know what I mean? Yep, absolutely.
• 1:04:00
  There was a show choir mom the other day.
• 1:04:02
  She posted something on Facebook and I was like, Oh my God, what
• 1:04:04
  a great mom. I should have sent her a
• 1:04:07
  message. And I will now.
• 1:04:08
  I will. I'm gonna do it.
• 1:04:09
  You're gonna go back and do it. But like, yeah, yeah, lift the
• 1:04:12
  people up around you and, you know, share your share your love
• 1:04:15
  for them. I mean, I just like you and
• 1:04:17
  everybody listening to know that you don't just impact the kids
• 1:04:20
  that you work with. I mean, you impact people around
• 1:04:21
  you, you impact the parents and that's it has a lasting
• 1:04:23
  impression on everybody you come into contact.
• 1:04:26
  That's so sweet. Well, that's well, I thank you
• 1:04:27
  for saying that. And it comes back to me.
• 1:04:29
  But I think that's what feels me to keep going and to keep doing
• 1:04:32
  this. I mean, yeah, I started doing
• 1:04:34
  this quote, UN quote, professionally, technically 2004
• 1:04:38
  and then 2010, right. This is a long time to be doing
• 1:04:41
  this job over and over and over. Yeah.
• 1:04:42
  So that's also what fuels me and to like, know that you're making
• 1:04:46
  a difference and and keep, you know, keep trying to.
• 1:04:48
  Yeah, that's cool. And the last thing I have is
• 1:04:50
  when, Brian, I started this podcast, we posted it and you
• 1:04:53
  were one of the first people to respond and said, that is so
• 1:04:55
  cool. I love that.
• 1:04:56
  So excited for you guys. And I sent you a message right
• 1:04:58
  away. Yeah, and said, hey, Kevin,
• 1:04:59
  you'd be a guest. Absolutely.
• 1:05:01
  Yeah, yeah. We scheduled this a while ago.
• 1:05:03
  For sure. Like, yeah, months ago, Yeah.
• 1:05:06
  And I'm, I'm excited you've been here.
• 1:05:07
  That's awesome. It's good to see you guys see
• 1:05:09
  you too. Yeah, fantastic human beings.
• 1:05:11
  Thank you so much for your time and.
• 1:05:13
  Appreciate it so much and. It's love seeing you man.
• 1:05:16
  Awesome. Thanks for having me.
• 1:05:17
  Absolutely. All right, everyone, as always,
• 1:05:19
  please follow us on the Soldiers at 011 More Thing Pod on
• 1:05:21
  Facebook and Instagram for highlights and news of our
• 1:05:23
  upcoming shows. And if you have any show ideas
• 1:05:25
  or just want to give some feedback, send us an e-mail at
• 1:05:27
  011 More Thing, pod@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you.
• 1:05:31
  Plus we do saw some merchandise T-shirt caps.
• 1:05:33
  If you're interested just send us an e-mail.
• 1:05:34
  And Kevin, as a guest today, you are getting a T-shirt.
• 1:05:36
  Yeah, yeah, right. Woohoo.
• 1:05:38
  Oh, and one more thing, life is a lot like show choir, full of
• 1:05:41
  harmony, rhythm and courage to step out on the spotlight.
• 1:05:44
  So keep on singing, keep dancing, and never stop moving
• 1:05:47
  to the beat of your own story. That's right.
• 1:05:48
  Bye everybody. See everyone, Kevin, you teach
• 1:05:51
  me how to dance, right? Of course it's like 2 minutes.