Latest / The Big Gay Radio Show / EXCLUSIVE: EMM Talks Black Diamond and Activism Ahead of Crowbar Performance

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EXCLUSIVE: EMM Talks Black Diamond and Activism Ahead of Crowbar Performance · The Big Gay Radio Show

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  The views expressed on the Big Gay Radio Show may not
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  necessarily reflect the views of the Nathan B Stubblefield
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  Foundation or those of the staff for management of WM and F
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  Tampa. Listener discretion is advised.
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  Your weekly dose of queerness, culture and community starts
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  now. Live from the 88.5 Studios in
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  Tampa. It's the Big gay radio show.
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  Welcome to the Big Gay Radio Show.
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  My name is Chris Gorman. I'm your show twink here, joined
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  by the vivacious Vince Wagon. What up?
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  What up? And the electric trans queen of
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  radio, Miss Esme Russell. I'm here.
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  I am so glad you're here. I am beyond glad that you are
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  here. I'm here.
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  Well, almost wasn't here. Yeah.
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  Well, when you going to do this interview, I say, well, this,
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  I'm going to leave. And you said for what?
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  No. Where are you going?
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  No, we need you. We need you.
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  I'm. Glad.
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  Well, Vivacious Vin, you have something going on tonight.
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  That's really cool. I do.
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  I kind of want you to tease this.
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  What, who? Who do we have in the studio
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  right now? Listen it is every artist's
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  dream to open for a bigger artist so I am so excited and
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  not only is this a great artist, this is an artist that is pro
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  LGBTQ plus. This is an artist that uses
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  their platform to like share what like actual love and joy
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  and peace could potentially look like and chaos.
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  So like I respectfully, this is beautiful.
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  I'm so excited to have you here, y'all.
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  We have M in the house and they are on the they're presenting
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  their Black Diamond album and I am actually going to be opening
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  for them tonight at Crowbar and I'm so excited about it.
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  I need to calm down. Actually, let me just tear it
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  down too. Yeah, you might be fangirling a
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  little bit too hard right now. I did.
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  Say that ahead of time. I did say that I prefaced it
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  that my brain is fanboying a little bit so I do need to calm
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  down. Well, as you said, welcome M
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  into the studio. Thank you so much for coming.
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  Thank. You for having me, I'm very
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  honored and there's no such thing as being over hyped.
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  I'm so happy that you're hyped. I love you.
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  We are so happy that you are hyped as well 'cause honestly, I
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  got an e-mail from Sam that that you guys were able to do an
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  interview with us and I got so excited 'cause I remember you
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  promoting the event because you were opening for them.
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  Yeah. We're so excited.
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  Definitely very happy to have you in the studio.
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  So real quick for those who do not know, who is M?
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  I'm an artist, I write my songs, I produce my songs, I create
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  worlds and universes and have a shit load of fun doing it.
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  That's awesome. Well, Vin, can you go ahead and
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  go ahead and run this a little bit.
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  I want you to throw throw this down a little bit since you're
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  the the main 1 opening here. OK, so I, I want to start first
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  from like inspiration of music and I'm sure that you've gotten
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  these questions in the past. Personally, I really enjoy how
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  you write your, your album is shameless.
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  It is powerful. I want to ask what your roots
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  are of inspiration? Like what drives you to create?
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  I think being misunderstood. I have level 1 autism, which is
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  like the most mild form of autism, but I definitely grew up
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  feeling I was undiagnosed most of my life and felt very
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  misunderstood and just like I didn't fit and I wasn't being
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  understood or heard. And the way that I usually
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  process that was by creating. That's amazing.
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  And honestly, something that I love is that, you know, it seems
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  like everybody in this room is has some sort of
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  neurodivergence. Honestly, Esme is ADHD.
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  I'm ADHD Vin, you've said that you are on the on the spectrum
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  as well. So I, I, I, I love the
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  representation here. Actually, our voice over artist
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  is also he's on the spectrum. He's a, he went to the DePaul
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  school for dyslexia and learned a bunch of different things.
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  So I always want to go out and promo the, the DePaul school.
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  So how has you know you, you have 200,000 monthly listeners
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  on Spotify. How has your success?
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  How? How have you felt the success
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  has been? I'm very proud.
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  You know, it's weird because you're always proud of yourself
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  in so many ways, and then in other ways you're always like,
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  oh, I have such a long way to go.
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  So it's both. It's like holding both
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  simultaneously. It's tricky.
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  That's that that that makes sense.
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  And honestly, Vin, you mentioned the the album that you're
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  promoting. I listen to the entire thing
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  throughout and something that I loved about this album is that
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  it's like it's so succinct. It's it's sequential.
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  Literally the one song goes was directly into another and I love
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  that. And honestly, I, I will say the,
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  the, the, the song mastermind, I will be honest, I, I did
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  envision myself doing a little drag performance as Meg.
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  I, I feel like you might, you might like that one because
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  it's, it's very, it's, it's, it's a good song.
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  It's, you have such a, a unique way of writing and and I'm very
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  glad that you highlighted that then.
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  Yeah, I I do. Your music is enjoyable and
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  especially in the scenes here in Tampa Bay.
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  I actually eat my Acid was the first song that I heard from you
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  and I heard a drag artist use it and in one of the talent shows
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  down in Saint Pete. So you're meet you're you're
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  acknowledged and you have fans. We're excited to have you here
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  in Tampa Bay. I do want to ask though, I do
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  want to ask because you are. So you, the way that you speak
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  protects your community and I really love that.
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  I really respect that, Chris and miss Esme knows more than
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  anything that I'm like pro creating safe spaces and
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  creating spaces where people can be authentic and be themselves.
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  I what is like, what is the push for community right now?
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  Like what is like if you could tell something to somebody in
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  the in the community right now outside of your music, like yes,
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  you're creating this, this is your like way to share with
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  people, but there are people listening to us right now and,
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  and what could you say to them that are not going to be able to
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  make it to your concert tonight maybe.
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  The reason I make music is to help people have self worth and
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  remember their power. So I would just say like
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  whatever you are going through in your life right now, because
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  we all go through things, that the light that is inside of you
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  is more powerful than whatever you're facing.
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  And sometimes it doesn't feel that way, but that's what's
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  actually true. Try to remember that that's
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  what's true. I got chills, honestly, when you
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  said that because it's a very, it's a, it's a hard, it's, it's
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  an easy message to say, but it's a hard message to take.
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  You know, I, I, I've myself have struggled with depression,
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  especially over the last couple weeks because I've been going
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  through the last little bit of the, the semester at school.
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  And, you know, I, I, it, it's easy to get lost.
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  It's very easy to get lost. But I, I'm very glad that that
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  you're with us specifically before your performance at
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  Crowbar. What can people expect out of
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  your performance? I don't want to gloss over that
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  you've been going through a hard time, so I love you.
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  I'm sorry to hear that, but I hope that you.
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  Don't make me cry, girl. Girl, because you're not alone,
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  because we all have our our seasons, you know?
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  But you're so loved. I hope you know that.
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  I'm gonna cry. I forgot the question.
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  It's something about crowbar. Well, what can people expect out
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  of your performance? Yeah, I did kind of gloss over
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  it. Yeah, I know it's important.
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  I don't need to feel like it doesn't matter because it does.
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  We hear you. Thank you, Crowbar.
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  The show's very iconic. Everyone's like, what is this
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  doing at a club? It belongs in a much bigger
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  stage. So I just didn't want to shrink
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  the show just because we're at a club.
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  So I, I tried to still make it like as if I was opening for an
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  arena act. And I think people really feel
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  that. And there's just so many years
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  in passion and dollars and energy and love that's gone into
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  the show. And I think everyone really,
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  really feels that. That's what everyone says
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  afterwards. It's like, wow, this is like a
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  fantastic show. So we're really proud of it.
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  That's amazing. No, I, I, I had that exact
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  thought process that this needs to make sure that it gets on
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  that big stage. And I can't wait to see you sell
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  out Raymond James. I feel like, I feel like that's
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  on your horizon. Yeah, I'm manifesting it for
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  you. I I feel it.
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  But make sure you go ahead and invite Vin to open too, because
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  yeah, definitely. Please consider, I hope you
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  enjoy what you see tonight and I hope that you consider it for
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  sure, but I do think that crowbar may be too small of a
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  space for how great of a time we're going to have tonight.
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  We are going to slay on every stage, no matter the size.
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  And I my understanding is that there's only very few tickets
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  left. So if you're still wanting to
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  go, there is very few tickets left.
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  You need to go get your tickets now.
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  Yes, we sold out three of our shows this past week, so
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  definitely grab your tickets so. Going back to your, to your
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  roots, basically, where did you start out?
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  I'm from Traverse City, MI, which is right on Lake MI.
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  It's a very small town. When I grew up there, there was
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  14,000 people. Holy cow.
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  Yeah, really small. And now I'm in Los Angeles, so
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  come along with. Awesome.
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  Well then what? What?
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  What else do you have to talk about?
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  Honestly, I don't really have very much to talk about because
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  I'm excited. Yeah.
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  I'm curious where your brain is. Well, my brain's going fast, so
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  I'm not familiar with you. So I wanted, I want you to
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  describe your music to me. And after you do that, what you
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  do like your music, I want you to describe it.
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  And I also would like to know how your writing process is.
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  How do you what kind of mindset do you get into do you do it at
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  home alone? Do you smoke pot?
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  Do you what is it that you do so you can write because writing is
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  not easy and it's. I know that Dolly Parton has
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  written countless of songs right, like thousands of songs
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  she's written and I have an after that I want to ask my
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  final question would be on in this questionnaire is what do
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  you do with do you do you write songs that you'd ever use?
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  Yeah, all the time. OK, so you there are songs you
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  don't get So, so, so my first question is what is your music?
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  How, how would you describe your music?
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  Is it rock influenced? Is it what is it?
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  I mean I'm trying to visualize. It's the inspo for this album.
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  Black Diamond was funk music PHONK.
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  If you've never heard of it, it's an emerging underground
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  instrumental genre and it's like a very gritty and it was created
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  for drifting cars. And I was like, I think that
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  that would be so dope to mix into pop music.
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  So all my sessions I went in and I said this is the vision, this
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  is what I want to do. So it has this like, feeling
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  energy of like punk rock and rage, but it's still pop music
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  and it's still very danceable. So You Can Dance to it.
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  Very much so. Very much definitely.
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  Oh. My.
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  Gosh, and it's all in the character in a character,
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  because I write in character. So every album has a character.
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  So when you say you write in character, what does that mean?
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  What do you do? I have a created character
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  called Black Diamond and she's like a super villain and it's
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  kind of like drag meets cosplay and all the songs are written
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  from her perspective in my universe.
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  Are you in her drag when you're writing or do you just Or is it
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  more it's more in your mind? I'm not physically in drag when
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  I'm writing, but I'm writing from her.
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  Perspective from her perspective.
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  She's a psycho. Well, you know.
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  What? You know what RuPaul says?
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  I mean, we're born naked and the rest is drag.
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  Yeah, that's true. That's true, yeah, Yeah.
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  I I do, I wanna go ahead and, and, and jump a little bit, you
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  know, further, if you could go ahead and and compare yourself
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  to any really artist out there, what would you go ahead and
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  compare yourself to? That's the hardest question in
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  the world. I don't know.
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  You're very unique. I'm very, that's what.
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  I was going to say it's hard. It's not easily comparable.
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  I haven't really seen somebody with the vibe that you have and
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  I, I, that's why I kind of wanted to ask.
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  It's a good problem. I'm so inspired by so many
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  artists because there's so many incredible women to look up to,
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  so I don't know I, I who? Are your inspirations.
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  Oh my God, everyone that I think anyone that survives the music
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  industry is a star. Like I think that's amazing when
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  you so hard. When you perform, do you perform
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  as you are now covered and or or do you sometimes show more of
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  your face? I usually show my face.
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  OK, 'cause I was gonna say you have a really beautiful face.
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  Thank you. So that so I was gonna say so I
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  was gonna say I hope she shows her face.
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  No, 'cause you're very beautiful.
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  I when I looked at you, I said wow, this is a really beautiful
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  girl. Thank you.
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  So which, which you know, positive or negative, but you
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  can take it out if you want. And the business that you're in,
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  looks are important. I mean, I just, I, I, I wish to
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  tell you that it didn't matter and it probably won't to the
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  real hardcore fans like people that really love you.
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  But it's nice when you walk out of people go, wow, she looks
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  good, you know? It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt
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  time. Sometimes it can make things
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  hard, like a lot of my friends who are just stunningly gorgeous
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  in LA. Like sometimes they actually
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  have a harder time because people don't take them as
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  seriously. They think that everything's
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  handed to them and like executives try to sleep with
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  them. Like so it can cause problems
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  even though because off the top you'd think, oh, that's going to
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  make your journey easier, but it actually doesn't always.
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  So it kind of depends on the person I guess.
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  How long have you been doing this?
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  Music. Yeah, I released my first song
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  in 2016. I've released a mixtape that I
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  produced and wrote and mixed and master and did everything myself
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  on my bedroom. And before that I was in the
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  industry just getting signed and dropped and screwed over 12
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  different ways for almost a decade.
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  Wow. Yeah, so long time.
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  You've you've, you've really been fighting hard.
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  Very hard. This is not like a game.
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  This is. You're taking this very serious.
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  Yes, this is your 17 of grinding for me.
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  Wow. So you're fully independent?
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  Yes, that is just even cooler. That's even cooler to me.
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  Ah. Well, hard work pays off.
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  Which makes you really dangerous in the business when Yes.
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  Very much so. When you write your own music,
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  you're fully independent and you're building your fan base
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  yourself. Just with social media, your
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  travels, whatever you're doing, it puts you in a power position
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  at some point. Eventually.
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  Somebody's going to say, look, this girl is generating some
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  money here. I think that's it.
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  And also they're just got to look at me and be like this,
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  which is just not going to give off like you.
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  Might as well just. Work with her because I'm
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  clearly not going anywhere I. Admire your tenacity.
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  How old are you? I don't know.
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  Well, that's OK. That's that's a good.
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  That's a good. I don't remember.
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  That's so fun. So Mariah Carey says she doesn't
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  celebrate her birthday. Yeah, at all.
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  I'm 760. Two, yeah, she says.
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  I don't celebrate my birthday because then we're fixated on
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  that day and it's another. Then the next year, they're
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  fixated on that day. She goes, I don't want to sell
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  it. So she does not celebrate her
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  birthday at all. Yeah.
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  And there's so much misogyny tied into it for women, like if
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  they're too young or too old or too fuckable or not.
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  Yeah, it just, it's terrible. Well, I could tell by your neck
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  and your skin. Honey, you're very young.
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  Thank you. I could tell you that right now,
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  you, you may not be 15 years old, but you're young.
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  She could be a vampire. She's young, she could be a
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  vampire. Vampire don't say it, you'll
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  start the Internet already think I'm so evil.
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  Yeah. Well, something that I really
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  like is that you have somebody by the name of Veronica Fox and
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  Apollo Infinity in addition to Mr. Vince Suasion.
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  Those are all, you know, drag performers that we that we have
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  had on the show, actually. But I, I kind of want to ask,
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  you know, why do you think it's so important to, you know,
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  support these local individuals, these drag performers?
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  I just think it's important to meet and understand the
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  community that you're in and to feel connected to them and for
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  them to feel connected to me. And I, I think it's just, if I
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  could just come in with another person from LA or from New York,
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  it's kind of like it's not as personal.
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  Absolutely. You know, something that is
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  amazing about Miss Esme Russell is that she has been a performer
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  in this area for 50 years this year.
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  And so I I guarantee you, you have a lot of stories as may
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  have. I was, I was thinking if I would
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  have had I done her show, what would I have done?
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  And I know immediately what I by looking at you, I know exactly
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  what I because I have a number, a gothic number that I do that
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  is very, it's very dark, but it's, I can't, it's got a circus
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  kind of a but a dark circus team.
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  Well, my dancers are dressed as clowns.
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  So that's like and. I on point.
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  So I wear kind of like a Morticia type of dress and it's
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  all very gothic makeup and black lipstick.
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  And and I was thinking that would be the it's actually
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  called Dreams by Grace Slick. Sickening.
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  So and I thought, wow, what a great number to do for that
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  show. But you know, obviously I'm not
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  going to be there, but I was just saying if, if, if ever come
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  back to do again. Well, I was going to ask.
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  You contact me to the radio because I'll do it I I only do
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  it once a year actually, so but I would do it for your show I.
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  Would be honored. I was going to ask you Esme, you
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  know, being a performer for 50 years and specifically in this
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  area for so long, have you seen many other, you know, larger
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  performers, larger artists go ahead and and bring in like drag
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  performers. So Christina Aguilera did
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  because my drag daughter Amanda performed with her in her
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  concert. There was like a part of her
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  song that she did, and the girls came down the runway and they
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  modeled and she sang and they danced around her.
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  So I know Christina Aguilera did.
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  I know Gloria Estefan years ago had drag Queens in her and her
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  everlasting love number because in her video she has drag Queens
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  so she had drag Queens impersonating her so cool so and
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  I know Cher has used drag Queens.
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  Cher does used to do back in the day.
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  Elgin, Kenna, the famous drag queen, you should impersonate
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  her. Come out and she'd walk to the
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  crowd and the crowd thought it was Cher.
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  And they'd go crazy screaming, and then Cher would appear at
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  the top of the staircase. Yeah.
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  And then Reba has done it as well.
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  Reba McEntire had a girl that would impersonate her in the
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  audience, and the crowd thought it was Reba.
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  And then Reba would appear on stage.
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  It was very. So Queens have done it.
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  But locally, I think that Christina Galera, Gloria, I
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  can't think of anybody else. But.
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  Some legendary names though. Yeah, Christina Galara
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  definitely was like, it was a big deal to have those.
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  And she had a lot of them. And she and she specifically
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  said I want girls with titties. No, she did.
• 18:21
  She said I want the drags with the titties, with real titties.
• 18:24
  So she wanted the real, like, real girly girls, you know?
• 18:27
  So, yeah, yeah. Can I ask you a question?
• 18:30
  Of course. You said something in the
• 18:31
  beginning that was significant for me and I it's it's like
• 18:36
  still in my brain. So you said in the beginning you
• 18:38
  were like, you're doing so well, but you still have so far to go,
• 18:42
  right? I like what is your process in
• 18:48
  choosing your openers And I, and the reason why I asked this is
• 18:51
  because when I learned about you and I learned that I was going
• 18:54
  to be opening for you, well, I was like this much excited.
• 18:57
  And then I did my research and now I'm like this much excited,
• 18:59
  right? And then I looked at you, I
• 19:01
  looked up your openers and you have some great openers
• 19:04
  throughout your entire tour. What is your process in choosing
• 19:08
  them? Because I don't feel like I'm on
• 19:11
  your level. You know what I mean?
• 19:12
  Like I, I'm, I'm over here. Like I still have so far to go
• 19:15
  and I'm still. Vin, I hate to tell you, but
• 19:16
  you, you are absolutely on their level.
• 19:19
  You are a performer in its entirety and I've seen you
• 19:22
  perform on big stages, specifically Saint Pete Pride
• 19:24
  and you, you've killed the game. Thank you.
• 19:26
  Honestly, I really. Appreciate.
• 19:28
  That, you know, just, you know, you're awesome.
• 19:30
  But don't undervalue. Thank you.
• 19:32
  Thank you. I needed that.
• 19:33
  I appreciate that. Well, I mean, I think this is
• 19:36
  healing and therapy all for all of us today for sure.
• 19:39
  But yeah, what is your process like?
• 19:42
  We usually research like locals and we, there's the three of us
• 19:47
  that are in here, we sit for hours and hours and hours and
• 19:49
  look for locals that look like they're doing interesting things
• 19:52
  and that align message wise and vibe wise and then we reach out
• 19:56
  so. Well, I mean, Vin, you deserve
• 19:58
  it just based off of the amount of interesting things that you
• 20:01
  do specifically with Emerge and Project No Project No Labels.
• 20:06
  So you know, just. Out here trying to save lives.
• 20:09
  Keep being, keep being good. I mean, you know, I'm I'm proud
• 20:12
  of you, Thank you and you know, I'm grateful that you have you
• 20:15
  have blessed our area with with your talent.
• 20:18
  Truly. It is.
• 20:19
  It's truly honestly like when I when, because I've talked, I
• 20:23
  talked to Vin just before, because you guys had a the
• 20:26
  cancellation before, just before that cancellation, and I told
• 20:31
  him how excited I was to see that his name was along this in
• 20:35
  this, you know, lineup. And that's honestly something
• 20:39
  that we we should really see more of, especially from these
• 20:42
  larger artists, because you know, you're nothing without the
• 20:45
  smaller person. You need to have smaller
• 20:48
  artists. And it's if your goal isn't to
• 20:50
  expand and grow your community, you know you got the wrong goal,
• 20:56
  so. So we have y'all to thank just
• 20:58
  as much for choosing the opener. So thank you so much for
• 21:01
  choosing our openers. I really appreciate it.
• 21:04
  So, M, what if you can think of any, you know, individual out
• 21:08
  there that you could collaborate with?
• 21:10
  Who are you thinking? Today I love Doji so much.
• 21:15
  That's a. Dream she's.
• 21:18
  From Blake High School right in Tampa.
• 21:20
  Doji, if you're listening. She's from here.
• 21:22
  Yeah, she's right here, and that's great.
• 21:24
  See her in high school when you drive.
• 21:26
  Maybe someone that knows her is listening.
• 21:28
  I'm sending all the good vibes. The manifestation, the man.
• 21:31
  If you're listening, I. Just think as a human too, like
• 21:33
  she's very like, we think very similar.
• 21:35
  Like she's very spiritual and deep and I just love her so
• 21:38
  much. I can definitely see a Dochi
• 21:41
  verse in one of your songs. Absolutely.
• 21:43
  She needs a hook girl. I got you.
• 21:45
  Yes. I see.
• 21:46
  That I see that. I love that.
• 21:48
  And so obviously, you know, the easy way to go ahead and and get
• 21:52
  out of this question is just obviously arena, but what is one
• 21:55
  of those venues that that you've that you want to go to and want
• 21:59
  to perform in? Oh, there's so many, but I'd
• 22:03
  like to play the Hollywood Bowl just because it's iconic.
• 22:05
  I'd like to play Red Rocks, of course.
• 22:08
  Nice. I'd like to play Crypto Arena, a
• 22:10
  lot of places in LA that I've driven past a billion times and
• 22:13
  just like, oh, I want to play there.
• 22:16
  It'll happen, It'll happen. But at every city we like look
• 22:19
  for the stadiums and arenas and we're like, we're going to come
• 22:21
  back and be there. Yes, you know, we manifested
• 22:24
  every city. Well, I mean, I'm manifesting
• 22:26
  Ray J for you. I think that you're gonna go
• 22:29
  ahead and I I'm looking forward to seeing sold out M right on
• 22:33
  the news headlines. I cannot wait to.
• 22:35
  See, it'll be a new stadium, 'cause I'm seats over there just
• 22:37
  so every time I go there, it's like my, you have big hips and
• 22:42
  big titties. I don't fit in those seats.
• 22:45
  I mean, I'm just trying to push my hips into those seats.
• 22:48
  And my friends always joke. They say, girl, I said no, it
• 22:51
  doesn't matter. I don't, I don't fit in these
• 22:53
  seats. They always remind me of the
• 22:55
  what is that? The movie theater, the, the big
• 22:57
  screen, the giant screen. What do you call that?
• 22:59
  IMAX. IMAX, so that the IMAX theater
• 23:02
  has these little tiny. So if you're skinny and you
• 23:05
  ain't got no hips, yeah, great. But girl, I said that thing.
• 23:08
  I'm like this. And then once I'm in, once I'm
• 23:11
  in, you cannot move. It's like in a normal seat.
• 23:15
  You can move left or you can move right a little bit.
• 23:17
  I can't move. So I would like to see a Raymond
• 23:20
  James, but hopefully they have bigger seats.
• 23:22
  Not for you, because you're good, but but, but just for the
• 23:27
  regular people that come and sit there, you know?
• 23:30
  But damn. Well, then you know, going ahead
• 23:34
  and performing an opening for this, obviously you know you're
• 23:38
  are excited, but what would you go ahead?
• 23:40
  What are you performing? What is What are people going to
• 23:42
  see from your opening? OK, so I want to.
• 23:45
  He's going to tap dance and do singing in the rain.
• 23:48
  Oh, I was, I was, but I read. I don't think Chris a concert is
• 23:55
  going to be about singing in the rain.
• 23:57
  Well, I changed my set list last.
• 23:59
  Night don't scare. Me I.
• 24:00
  Did Please don't scare me. So this letter, I just actually
• 24:04
  just sent it to y'all this morning, but there's like an
• 24:07
  edit in a document from the White House about the way that
• 24:12
  they're addressing protective measures for radically pro
• 24:17
  transgenderism, right? So I read that for the first
• 24:21
  time yesterday. And because I read that, I
• 24:24
  changed my setlist. So now my setlist is chaotic and
• 24:30
  it's going to be beautiful. And also, like, literally, fuck
• 24:35
  Trump. Fuck ICE.
• 24:36
  Fuck everybody that is thinking that like everything that we're
• 24:40
  doing. Like, fuck anybody who thinks
• 24:41
  I'm a terrorist right now for just being trans.
• 24:44
  Fuck anybody who thinks that I'm a terrorist for wanting to
• 24:47
  create these safe spaces, for wanting to protect all of
• 24:51
  humankind. It just so happens that our
• 24:53
  humankind is the most in danger right now in the United States.
• 24:57
  And like so I so I changed my side list.
• 25:00
  So it's actually interesting that you bring that up because
• 25:02
  it's it's bizarre to me that people out there think that the
• 25:07
  individuals like trans individuals are wanting to be
• 25:10
  exclusionary. When I, I, I pitched the, the
• 25:13
  scholarship with come out Saint Pete and Saint Pete College and
• 25:18
  I explicitly said that it needs to be for LGBTQ individuals and
• 25:23
  their allies. Because at the end of the day,
• 25:25
  you know, we're only as strong as the community that is behind
• 25:28
  us. And straight people are part of
• 25:30
  the community. Allies are part of the
• 25:32
  community. We can't go ahead and be
• 25:33
  anywhere without allies. So I'm glad that you that
• 25:37
  you're, you know, going to have that message, but the only way
• 25:41
  that we can go ahead and, you know, get past this hate is by
• 25:45
  loving people. And I think that that what
• 25:47
  you're going to do is, is you're going to be the you're going to
• 25:49
  continue to do your message of love as you always have in your
• 25:52
  performances. OK, admittedly I was going to be
• 25:54
  really sweet to end it, but now I'm just pissed So love and
• 25:58
  pissed off so. Righteous rage is love like
• 26:01
  righteous rage, just the perfect.
• 26:03
  Way to say that. Thank you.
• 26:04
  It's it's it's this. It's light work even though it
• 26:06
  doesn't feel like. It thank you.
• 26:08
  Thank you for saying that. It's actually really interesting
• 26:10
  that you brought it up because, you know, there's people who say
• 26:14
  that if you're critical of America, you, you hate America.
• 26:17
  That's not the case. You know, I, you know, there's a
• 26:21
  lot of things that America stands for.
• 26:23
  That's what you know, the right wing has been doing just to just
• 26:26
  to silence us. But but in reality, that's a
• 26:28
  ridiculous statement. You know, we, we, this country
• 26:31
  has given me more, I mean, I, I feel more free than at least
• 26:34
  like in than the people in North Korea and.
• 26:37
  As an immigrant and, and some like I was, I'm very grateful to
• 26:41
  be here in the United States and have these privileges that in
• 26:45
  back home in my country, a lot of people don't have it.
• 26:48
  Doesn't mean that I can't point it out and talk about how
• 26:51
  bullshit certain things are. I have.
• 26:52
  Every right now, as an American citizen to point out where human
• 26:56
  rights are being compromised exactly so well.
• 26:59
  Em, I kind of want to, you know, and I forgive me if this is too
• 27:03
  political, but you know, So what, what if what's your
• 27:06
  perspective on what's been happening specifically?
• 27:09
  Obviously, you're in Florida, Alligator Alcatraz with
• 27:12
  immigration and everything. What is your perspective on this
• 27:15
  Ben? It's heartbreaking and
• 27:17
  infuriating. Oh, I completely agree.
• 27:20
  Incredibly disturbing. Very much so, yes.
• 27:23
  It's it's something out of a horror movie.
• 27:26
  Yes, it is. It's, it's, it's insanely and
• 27:30
  it's crazy that, you know, the courts go ahead and flip flop
• 27:33
  the way that they have because you have 1 lower court say it
• 27:37
  needs to be shut down and then the appeals court goes ahead and
• 27:39
  says open it back up. And now it's just in a constant
• 27:43
  state of confusion and the the people who are suffering the
• 27:47
  most, the immigrants, they're just basically being thrown
• 27:49
  around like their fucking cattle.
• 27:51
  What I do appreciate though about your music is that you are
• 27:56
  shameless about Speaking of with what you believe in.
• 27:59
  You speak so confidently about the real the reality of misogyny
• 28:03
  in this country and I have so much respect for your power in
• 28:08
  the way that you I've goosebumps talked about this.
• 28:10
  I don't know if y'all can see this, but like I, I respect the
• 28:14
  way that you choose to use your platform to speak on your
• 28:19
  beliefs and to create awareness and consciousness with your
• 28:23
  audience. Like you have an audience that
• 28:25
  is conscious and that is so cool to be able to say.
• 28:28
  I think so I, I respect that a lot.
• 28:31
  I honor that a lot. And I also believe that that's
• 28:34
  why my head is really blowing it up.
• 28:35
  Like, Oh my God, I'm opening for this person.
• 28:37
  This is crazy. Like like.
• 28:40
  I just think like impact is sometimes more important than
• 28:44
  anything else. Like, you can be very famous and
• 28:46
  not be very impactful, yeah. For.
• 28:49
  Sure. And I think that having even if
• 28:51
  smaller following, even if it means you lose followers, even
• 28:53
  if it means you're more hated, but you're, if you're impacting
• 28:56
  the right people in a deep way, it's very much the reason that
• 28:58
  we do this. I respect that integrity so
• 29:01
  much. I, I know that a lot of people
• 29:03
  have gone ahead, especially in the music industry, been told
• 29:06
  that if you keep your voice silent in certain issues, you're
• 29:08
  going to go further. Has anybody gone ahead and and
• 29:11
  had that point to you that if that you're too outspoken?
• 29:14
  Oh yeah, all the time. Yeah, I believe that I.
• 29:17
  Just I don't care. I don't care.
• 29:20
  I I was talking to somebody the other day who was saying that
• 29:22
  they went to a Madonna concert and she spoke of about something
• 29:26
  during an election. She said to vote for Obama and
• 29:28
  that half the arena left when she said that.
• 29:31
  And I was like, I just fucking love her for that.
• 29:33
  Like yo imagine the courage to just not even care about they.
• 29:38
  Already paid the ticket, she went.
• 29:40
  She went to Russia and they told her not to wave a gay flag, that
• 29:45
  the flag should not come out on the stage or to talk about gay
• 29:50
  people at all. It was during a time when the, I
• 29:57
  guess it's a group called Pussy something Pussy Riot.
• 30:01
  They were they were already in there.
• 30:03
  They had already been imprisoned at that time.
• 30:05
  They were in a in a Russian prison.
• 30:07
  So she went there and she pulled out the flag, but she didn't
• 30:13
  pull out the little flag. She pulled out a flag that
• 30:16
  covered the entire back of the stage, Massive.
• 30:19
  And then she got on the mic and she talked about gay rights and
• 30:23
  that we need to fight for them, that, you know, gay people are
• 30:26
  just like straight people, yada yada, yada.
• 30:28
  The crowd went crazy. And then she went backstage
• 30:31
  during the interim. I get a little break that she
• 30:32
  had and they said you're probably going to be arrested by
• 30:35
  the end of the concert, so be prepared.
• 30:37
  Is this what was in her dock? So, yeah, so she had to finish
• 30:40
  the concert thinking in her mind, they're going to arrest
• 30:43
  me. I'm going to a Russian prison
• 30:45
  now. I'm going to be arrested, which
• 30:47
  is scary. She did it anyway, and she ended
• 30:54
  the concert and they didn't arrest her.
• 30:56
  She went back to our hotel. She thought, well, maybe it'll
• 30:58
  be at the hotel. Maybe they're waiting there.
• 31:00
  She got to the hotel. Nothing.
• 31:01
  She said, well, maybe it's at there.
• 31:02
  So imagine the rest of the trip. She's thinking, well, at any
• 31:05
  moment this is going to be, they're going to get me at the
• 31:08
  airport. They didn't they she she left,
• 31:10
  she went back home. It is courage.
• 31:13
  It is because let me tell you, those countries don't play.
• 31:16
  And that's not, that's not just walking, that's not just talking
• 31:20
  the talk, that's walking the walk.
• 31:22
  Oh, absolutely. Madonna has always walked the
• 31:25
  walk. Anybody who doesn't know of
• 31:27
  Madonna's stance, especially on the LGBTQ community, I mean,
• 31:31
  she's been fighting for the AIDS, the HIV AIDS community for
• 31:35
  decades, since the. 80s way before it was cool.
• 31:38
  Yeah. Yeah, I was checking to see
• 31:41
  because I wanted to make sure that this was this was true
• 31:43
  before I went ahead and said it. But in in 1989, Madonna included
• 31:49
  a pamphlet titled The Facts About AIDS in every copy of her
• 31:53
  Like a Prayer album. Those are the small little
• 31:56
  activism that we really need within the community, and
• 32:00
  especially from straight artists that aren't necessarily, you
• 32:03
  know, they, they benefit from the community, but they're not
• 32:06
  100%. They're not gay, but they're
• 32:09
  allies. And that's what we need.
• 32:10
  And that whenever I say, you know, we need allies in this
• 32:13
  world, we need people like Madonna, We need people like M,
• 32:15
  we need people like Vin who are actually fighting for the good
• 32:18
  in the community and good in the world.
• 32:21
  And there's too many people that go ahead and stereotypicalize
• 32:25
  the entirety of the LGBTQ community.
• 32:27
  They, they, they go ahead and, and make us, you know, this
• 32:31
  broad analysis of, of who we are.
• 32:34
  When in reality, I mean, Vin, you're an entertainer, but as an
• 32:37
  individual, I work in forensic architecture.
• 32:40
  I literally, we can't be two different sides of, of the coin.
• 32:46
  So, but we're we're together because of the LGBTQ community
• 32:50
  and and our allies. And it wouldn't be, we wouldn't
• 32:52
  be here without the allies. So again, thank you for for what
• 32:57
  you do. And again, I can't thank you
• 33:01
  enough for, you know, highlighting local artists.
• 33:05
  That's something that. I can't thank you enough.
• 33:07
  I will. I will.
• 33:08
  Consistently, like anytime that I see somebody who actually
• 33:12
  cares about letting the little person grow, that's something
• 33:17
  that that that fills my heart with joy.
• 33:19
  No, you can't say this because it equally benefits us.
• 33:22
  Like you pull in locals who would have no idea who I was
• 33:25
  without you. Like it's just as much great for
• 33:27
  us as it is for you. So we're very grateful.
• 33:30
  Absolutely. Teamwork is the dream work.
• 33:33
  Well, Vin, I think that's the end of our our time here.
• 33:36
  But one more time, where? Where can we see M?
• 33:40
  So M is going to be at Crowbar tonight in Tampa and Ybor City.
• 33:45
  The concert starts at 9:00 and I believe doors open at 7-8 eight.
• 33:51
  There we go. Awesome.
• 33:52
  Well, M thank you again. This has been such an amazing
• 33:56
  interview and honestly you, you did almost make me cry a little
• 34:00
  bit. So I, I thank you for the, the
• 34:02
  validation and the appreciation, you know, and Vin, thank you so
• 34:07
  much for joining us today. It's been amazing to have you.
• 34:10
  Thank you Esme, any last minute thoughts as the the ancient
• 34:14
  elder legendary queen that you are?
• 34:18
  Tiny. No, I don't like the word
• 34:20
  ancient, but. So much stuff, how he did that.
• 34:24
  That word, man, that's that word.
• 34:25
  Fucks with me all the time. Wise.
• 34:27
  How about wise? Why?
• 34:28
  Why legendary? I like legendary.
• 34:30
  Legendary is good, but you know, wise man.
• 34:33
  I don't wise is good too but that that ancient.
• 34:37
  You're riding in the car with him on the way home, right?
• 34:39
  She's. Gonna be funny hey, but if we
• 34:41
  believe Buddhist then we've been here a long we've been doing
• 34:43
  this for countless and. Centuries.
• 34:46
  That's. True over and over.
• 34:48
  And over just. Reset.
• 34:50
  Yeah, it could. It could explain a lot of
• 34:52
  things, don't you think? Yeah, I love the cosmic egg
• 34:54
  theory. I think, I think it's very
• 34:56
  possible that we have all done this before.
• 34:59
  So my, my, my continued response to everybody is it's a sidebar
• 35:04
  to everything we've talked about today is if you want things to
• 35:07
  change, we have to become the change.
• 35:10
  And you got to vote. And you can't let them distract
• 35:12
  you. You can't let them.
• 35:14
  You can't let them convince you that your vote doesn't count.
• 35:17
  Check your voting status. Check your voting status.
• 35:21
  That's it. That's the most important thing
• 35:22
  right now. It.
• 35:23
  Really is because. We got to end this, this, this
• 35:25
  assault on equal rights, on, on, on race, on, on women, on
• 35:32
  everybody, everybody immigrants. Look to the the way that they're
• 35:35
  trying to gerrymander everything in their favor.
• 35:37
  They want to try and win because they know that if you give
• 35:40
  people the ability to vote, you give people the the the strength
• 35:44
  to actually make their voice heard, they're going to kick
• 35:46
  these current people out of office and they're going to be
• 35:49
  out of job. If you want change, you got to
• 35:50
  become the change. Let me plug this really quick
• 35:53
  too because all of these things are happening right now.
• 35:55
  Mental health does matter. It is mental health awareness
• 35:58
  month. So with that said, I want to
• 36:00
  shout out really quick to the dear self You are worth it
• 36:03
  program through Project No Labels.
• 36:05
  We are able to provide 3 free sessions and a low cost sliding
• 36:09
  scale to high quality mental health support.
• 36:11
  So thank you so much to Cypress Wellness for being a partner
• 36:14
  with us, and thank you, Rainbow Family Wellness for being a
• 36:17
  partner with Project No Labels as well.
• 36:18
  And I'm a lost cause. Mental health is not.
• 36:23
  I hope it works on other people. It does not work.
• 36:26
  And Happy Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
• 36:30
  And Autism Aware. And Autism Aware.
• 36:33
  Month. I can't remember.
• 36:35
  I don't know where, what month it is, I don't know what day it
• 36:37
  is. Every every month should be
• 36:38
  autism awareness month because honestly, we there the, the,
• 36:41
  the, the, the, the silent autist is out there.
• 36:44
  You know, they're the people who, who don't necessarily
• 36:47
  there. There's a lot of people who who
• 36:48
  think autism is 1 specific way when in reality, as shown by
• 36:53
  this room, you know, it's very, very.
• 36:55
  Different always said that I believe I'm on on some kind of
• 36:57
  spectrum there I mean there's. Yeah, you are.
• 36:59
  You said you're what, a level 1 is what you said.
• 37:01
  I feel like I'm in that block too.
• 37:03
  Like I, I have we, I have antisocial, but I but I work in
• 37:07
  the public eye. Come on, that's not normal.
• 37:10
  A lot of autistic people are queer and non binary and gender
• 37:16
  fluid. Yeah, so.
• 37:17
  It was last month, but we're still celebrating.
• 37:20
  It was, my brain is like just mushy because we've been on
• 37:24
  tours along. I'm sorry.
• 37:25
  What day is it? Literally don't even know.
• 37:27
  Is it Tuesday? So actually that great, great
• 37:30
  point. Tuesday.
• 37:31
  Have you ever messed up the location of where you're at,
• 37:34
  like on stage? I would be like Mini and I'm in
• 37:38
  somewhere totally different. Oh my gosh, it's so embarrassing
• 37:41
  it. Happens to every person that
• 37:43
  works on stage. Yeah, I know that when I've been
• 37:45
  when I've been touring as a showgirl like especially, but I
• 37:48
  would win pageants and I had to tour.
• 37:50
  I would always forget I go highway Daytona because
• 37:52
  everybody doing and the guy we over the side, we're in Miami.
• 37:55
  Oh my God, do you know what? Do you know what Beyoncé does
• 37:58
  that I love? It's so clever, she says.
• 38:00
  Where am I tonight? Oh, that's why she does.
• 38:05
  That's like that is like. That I'm so smart but.
• 38:09
  That is like the baby thing. Have you ever heard the baby
• 38:11
  thing? So what?
• 38:12
  Barbara Walters, when she was alive, she said she would,
• 38:15
  everybody would bring their babies for them to see.
• 38:18
  She said it's a pretty baby. She'd look at the baby, she'd
• 38:20
  go, my God, what a beautiful baby that is.
• 38:24
  Is it a boy? Right.
• 38:25
  But if it was an ugly baby, which there are ugly babies,
• 38:28
  she'd go. She'd look in it and she'd go,
• 38:31
  Oh well, that's a baby. Cold.
• 38:37
  No, kind of generic. It's a generic.
• 38:40
  That's a baby. That's.
• 38:42
  What it is, that's what it is. So.
• 38:47
  Yeah. So where am I?
• 38:48
  Yeah, That's good. That's funny.
• 38:50
  That is smart, Beyoncé. Very smart.
• 38:53
  That's gotta be why she's doing it.
• 38:54
  I will. I will always go ahead and make
• 38:56
  sure to to highlight when it comes to on stage.
• 38:59
  I don't even think this is a fumble, but I think that it's
• 39:02
  still one of the funniest stories that I've ever heard.
• 39:04
  It's a man, Ruffles. No, it's a man muscles.
• 39:07
  Oh, it's a man. My name, my stage name is Esme
• 39:10
  Russell. So this is Queen at another club
• 39:11
  who hated me. So she goes, Has anybody been
• 39:14
  over there to the other side of town to see?
• 39:16
  It's a man muscle. Rude.
• 39:17
  Isn't that me? Rude.
• 39:19
  Oh my God. But all these years later, back
• 39:22
  then, I used to hate give me. Their name I just want to chat
• 39:24
  but. Oh, she passed away got a long
• 39:26
  time ago, 40 years ago. But here's the thing.
• 39:28
  Now, thinking back, I think I in in her memory, I always go girl,
• 39:32
  that was funny girl, even though she's getting I go girl, I got a
• 39:38
  big girl. You are letting me have a.
• 39:39
  Bitch that. Is fucking funny as shit, right?
• 39:43
  That's creative though. Esme Russell.
• 39:46
  It's a man muscle. It's funny.
• 39:48
  And I was a young queen, so you know.
• 39:50
  It's the same as Mr. Vin when the protesters at Saint Pete
• 39:53
  Pride's Family Day called him Mr. Sodomite of Newport Richey.
• 39:57
  Sodomite of me. Oh yeah, I'm a gay man.
• 40:00
  It's great. But I'm but I'm thinking sodomy
• 40:03
  girl. Yes, we're starting a.
• 40:06
  New pageant are you? Mr. Sodomite, 2026.
• 40:09
  Come on, nobody mad at no sodomy girl.
• 40:13
  Well, again, and thank you so much for for coming in and
• 40:17
  hanging out with us. I absolutely love your music and
• 40:20
  I hope that everybody listening goes ahead and tunes into your
• 40:24
  new album, comes out to see you at Crowbar.
• 40:26
  And when you're playing Raymond James, I'm going to be there and
• 40:29
  I cannot wait to see you. Thank you, I'm very grateful.
• 40:33
  We are grateful for you Vin Esme.
• 40:36
  Thank you guys so much for for being here.
• 40:40
  Am I allowed to say my social media so I can?
• 40:42
  Absolutely, yes, please do. Just so you can find me so you
• 40:45
  can see if you even like my music.
• 40:46
  It's EM in real life. Yes, absolutely.
• 40:50
  Y'all are going to love it. You are going.
• 40:52
  To y'all are not ready for music, brace yourselves, you're
• 40:54
  going to love it. It's it's fucking awesome.
• 40:57
  It's good, good fucking music. Honestly.
• 40:59
  It deserves so much more attention.
• 41:02
  It deserves, honestly worldwide recognition.
• 41:05
  Timing is everything. Timing is everything.
• 41:08
  It's it's going to happen really soon, but if you haven't heard
• 41:11
  it already, you are loved, you are appreciated and we thank you
• 41:14
  so much for your support of the Big Gay Radio Show and WMF
• 41:17
  Community Radio. Have a great one.
• 41:19
  We'll see you next time. Bye.