Latest / The Scene Projects / Tony and Elisabeth Cortes on MOP-V: Music, Veterans, and Community Outreach

Transcript

Tony and Elisabeth Cortes on MOP-V: Music, Veterans, and Community Outreach · The Scene Projects

• 0:01
  Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I am your host, Bubba Starts.
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  And with me today from MOP V, Tony and Elizabeth Cortez.
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  Welcome to the show, guys.
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  Hi.
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  Thank you.
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  Well Thank you.
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  You guys are right in the thick of two, two things that I care a whole lot about, music and
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  veterans.
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  And I'm just thrilled talking off camera with you about your organization.
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  But before we get into all of the things that you're doing now, we wanna get to know you guys
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  a little bit.
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  So share a little bit of your story and, how Mont V came to be, and then we'll kind of pick
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  it up from there.
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  Sure.
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  Sounds good.
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  Mhmm.
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  Well, Elizabeth and I are both army veterans.
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  I joined before September 11, and she joined because of September 11.
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  We met in Germany.
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  And, we fell in love and got married, started a family.
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  We went to Iraq together.
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  And I guess it's a little out of order chronologically, but that's what we did.
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  And then, when we started a family, you know, she got out of the army, and I stayed in and
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  ended up retiring in '21.
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  And, we retired in Maryland where where we got to kinda meet a lot of, a good group of
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  veterans in our local area as well as a good group of musicians.
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  And we were looking for ways to kinda deal with some of the, excuse me, to kinda deal with some
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  of the, you know, problems or issues emotionally that could be caused by service
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  that both of us experience and is not unique to us by any means.
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  So, as Elizabeth played guitar since before I knew her, and, I was learning and really just
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  to help my son practice.
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  So I was learning before I knew it.
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  I I I knew chords and was playing songs too.
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  So we decided, you know, we needed something and music.
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  When I pick up my guitar, I feel good.
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  Right.
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  People around me don't like it, but I like it.
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  You know?
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  And so we were at a dinner or lunch one time and just kinda spitballing some ideas, and we
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  came up with this idea for Mont B, which is the music outreach program for veterans.
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  And then as we said before, MontBeek is a play on words.
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  So we had to wear these mock suits in Iraq.
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  So there's mock four.
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  It's for, chemical warfare.
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  So we thought about that there is still a war going on even at home with veterans' minds with
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  traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder.
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  And a lot of them struggled communicating their emotions.
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  Like, sometimes it's hard for them to go to a vet center to talk to others, so we wanted to
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  create a new way to be able to help veterans communicate through music, whether it's writing
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  or playing an instrument.
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  It could be the guitar, the piano, And so utilizing, you know so we called it Mock B,
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  which is a protective cuttering for us out here since we're no longer in Iraq for our minds.
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  It's kinda like shielding that and to be able to communicate through music.
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  So that's how we came up with Mock b.
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  First of all, thank you both for your service.
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  We so appreciate you.
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  As you can tell behind me, Operation Combating Veteran Suicide, our nonprofit partner with the
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  scene projects.
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  Veterans are very important to us, And a lot of these veterans, 22 a day, that are committing
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  suicide are dealing with exactly the kinds of things that music can heal.
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  It can give us purpose.
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  It can allow us to express our feelings and all of these things inside of us that really have
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  no other outlet besides music.
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  I'm a musician myself.
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  I've been playing you know, I picked up concert band playing drums in fifth grade and quickly,
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  you know, found a guitar in eighth grade and started writing my own music immediately.
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  So I know I know what songwriting has meant to me in my life.
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  And in those darkest hours of my life, whether it was when I was experiencing homelessness or
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  drug addiction or any of these things, which is all of those things are probably a reason I
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  identify with veterans in that community so much, because I've lived through a lot of the
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  same things.
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  I I have never been to war, but, you know, I've been to prison, and prison is probably a lot
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  like boot camp.
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  Right?
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  So there there's a connection there, for me, and, I just so appreciate the the idea that you
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  had, but then also the wherewithal to continue to build this community around music for
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  veterans.
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  It's absolutely incredible.
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  So all the kudos to you for for continuing to do that.
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  I I know you mentioned Maryland before and kind of being in that Northeast corner of The United
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  States, but you've recently moved now.
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  You said Gulf Shores, Alabama.
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  I'm assuming lots of military around there.
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  I know the South is full of bases.
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  And so, obviously, you're finding a veteran community down there.
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  Are you working with some venues to to put on live music and different shows like that as
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  well?
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  Right.
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  So we've been out here for about two and a half months, but I've I already gone out, and
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  communicated with, the American Legion, Post ninety nine, and Gulf Shores, and they're
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  wanting to have a meeting to start maybe doing an open mic over there.
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  Alberta VFW in Alberta, Alabama, Alabama is about twenty minutes away.
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  They're willing and wanting to work with us too and learn more about music outreach program for
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  veterans.
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  I communicate with local artists like Kat Rhodes and The Truth and Brian Morris, and her
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  daughter was in the military and served two tours, and she's a big supporter of music
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  outreach program for veterans as well.
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  So, we're gonna get involved with the Arts Council, the Gulf Shores Arts Council, and, see
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  if they they have grants and stuff.
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  And, just like we were doing in Maryland, we were underneath the five zero one c three
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  underneath the Cecil County Arts Council, and we're looking to get involved more with the
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  community out here.
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  So we are working with other organizations to reach out and set up a chapter here separate
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  from the one in Maryland.
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  So The one thing we learned the most is that these organizations that are veteran based that
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  really love veterans, like the VFWs and the American Legions, are best asset, not just
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  recruiting members, but even to showcase.
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  You know?
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  Right.
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  Yep.
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  And that's we've
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  One of my first shows was at a VFW.
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  So the the even our local I grew up in Deadwood, South Dakota.
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  Our local VFW had a, we actually did a battle of the bands, and it was a fundraiser for our
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  baseball team.
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  So I know that around the world that these organizations and these buildings are sitting
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  there, I would say, mostly underutilized at this point because the culture has kind of
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  shifted away from those organizations a little bit.
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  Now there are so many, you know, veteran, you know, veteran five zero one c threes out there.
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  You have these big ones, wounded warrior projects and things like that that have kind of
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  become behemoths in the charity world, but I don't necessarily know how many, you know,
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  actual veteran lives that they're able to touch.
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  And I think that's something that's been missing because the VFW is focused on a local
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  community where veterans are actually able to get together and and to not just share war
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  stories.
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  That's not what it was about.
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  It was about having a community of people that have known what you've been through.
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  Like I said, I haven't been to war, but my my grandfather, on my mom's side was a Vietnam War
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  veteran.
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  My grandfather on my father's side was a Korean War veteran, several of my cousins.
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  And, you know, I've had a lot of family that are in that veteran space.
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  And especially what we found working with OCVS now is that there isn't as much of that inside
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  of the communities as there once was.
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  While there are plenty of resources online and out there in the world, it hasn't really ever
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  it's shied away from physical communities and not just the cities and towns, the actual
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  people that make up the community.
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  Yeah.
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  Absolutely.
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  I think that's there's a lot of them that make up the community, and it goes back, and we
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  still have Vietnam vets that are still struggling that really enjoy playing the
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  guitar.
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  And and you know that during that time, they didn't have as much support.
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  So even getting the Vietnam veterans that are left involved with this program, and they're
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  involved in the community too.
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  The word spreads fast, and it helps them, and it will help others.
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  And, hopefully, we can continue to grow our chapter grow MOPV throughout the nation and
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  work with other nonprofit organizations like Guitarist for Heroes or any organization that
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  supports the veterans.
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  So we're here to balance each other out.
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  We're our comrades.
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  We're brothers and sisters in arms.
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  We need to always empower and support one another.
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  We're competition with with other charities like ours.
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  We wanna wanna be support for each other because we have a common goal.
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  Right.
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  Well and it seems like so kind of the the function of of MOP V is really to be the
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  connector, the one who can bring the veterans together the with you know, if it's a music
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  teacher or it's a a venue to to set up and to bring people in for an open mic and play.
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  You guys are kind of the main connector for all of these people that are otherwise just kind of
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  floating out there on their own.
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  Is that a pretty fair assessment?
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  Yes.
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  It is.
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  You
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  are a network, the the best kind of social network.
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  How can people get involved with you guys?
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  They can go to our, Facebook page and follow us, and it's, capital m o p and then dash
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  capital v on Facebook.
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  Yeah.
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  And invite us on there.
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  Website is also on there.
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  So you can just click over to our website.
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  And then, also, there's a link to the Cecil County Arts Council.
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  So so, because Music's an Art, we're able to work under their umbrella.
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  We didn't have to wait for all of
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  our
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  paperwork to get working.
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  So so we were able to get going while the paperwork was in process, and they've been a
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  great partner for us with fundraising and all and we use their insurance, all kinds of stuff.
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  So Give us they're able to stay, apply for grants for us as well.
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  Yep.
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  And we're we're gonna try to do that out here in Orange Bees too because the more help that
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  we receive, the more veterans that we can help.
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  Right.
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  Because it is a nonprofit.
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  So raising funds, we have t shirts that we some merchandise that we, you know, give away and
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  sell.
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  And it we just want people to we want our name to get across the nation and know that there is
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  a way to communicate your emotions through music and playing and writing songs.
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  So
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  Well, I am thrilled that I can be some part of that promotional effort.
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  I have a lot of other things on my mind right now because of the work that we have done and
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  the network that we have.
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  We'll talk a little bit more off camera as well about how we can help you to to amplify this
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  beautiful signal that you guys are broadcasting out there.
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  It's just so wonderful.
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  It's so needed.
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  I mean, obviously, you know, you see the the projects have a a close tie to our veterans,
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  and the goal has always been to take this from local South Dakota out and throughout the
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  world.
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  Our founder is actually missus South Dakota International, so she has a pretty large
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  platform of her own.
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  And we're just looking forward to continuing to meet organizations like yours that align with
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  not just our values, but align in actually getting out and helping veterans on the ground.
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  We are very boots on the ground people here as well.
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  So we're gonna connect with you on the Facebook page.
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  We'll be sharing that out there and everything as well and helping you grow that community.
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  Is there anything else you'd like to say before I let you go today?
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  No.
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  Just just as engineers always say, we say, which means let us try.
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  So let us try and help and be supportive of other veterans.
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  So engineers, SAONs.
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  I love it.
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  Well, guys, thank you so much for being part of the scene.
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  Thank
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  you.
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  Thank you.