Latest / The UNWavering Podcast / Use What You Love to Do Good | Terry Esau '78

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Use What You Love to Do Good | Terry Esau '78 · The UNWavering Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, this is Monty.
0:01
SPEAKER_03: And Cassie.
0:02
SPEAKER_01: And welcome to another episode of the Unwavering podcast.
0:06
SPEAKER_01: And uh today we're very excited to have Terry Esau on our podcast.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: But before we get to having Terry here, Cassie, how did you meet Garrett?
0:15
SPEAKER_03: Oh, thank you for asking.
0:16
SPEAKER_03: Garrett's my husband, and we met here at Northwestern as RAs.
0:21
SPEAKER_03: So we were brother, sister hall first and got to know each other that way.
0:24
SPEAKER_03: We were friends first.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: Was it like, I mean, were you glowing when you met the first time?
0:29
SPEAKER_01: Was it magical?
0:30
SPEAKER_01: Was it in the laundry room?
0:31
SPEAKER_03: I mean, love at first sight for one of us for sure.
0:35
SPEAKER_03: Um, no, it took me a little while.
0:36
SPEAKER_03: It took me a minute, but no, I just the the friendship thrived and he was pretending that he didn't like me, but it wasn't working.
0:46
SPEAKER_03: So um yeah, got to know each other and yeah, I I started asking God for all these really specific things that I wanted in a future spouse, and then it just became very apparent that it was Garrett, and I thought, oh no, not my friend Garrett.
1:03
SPEAKER_03: I wasn't ready.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Tragic.
1:05
SPEAKER_03: Tragic, but he's just the best.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: So well, and now it it just makes everybody sick because you two are so perfect for each other.
1:12
SPEAKER_03: That's true, actually.
1:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're obnoxious.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Northwestern love story for you though.
1:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:17
SPEAKER_03: Good for you.
1:18
SPEAKER_03: Some of us in the room have Northwestern love stories.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: Not me.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: Nope.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, although that might have been a love story, but Northwestern didn't have nursing at the time, so it did not woo my now spouse to this campus.
1:30
SPEAKER_05: Mm-hmm.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: No, we ended up meeting online, actually.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: Classic.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we got introduced by our friend named Harmony.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: E Harmony.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: But it was as romantic as it gets for online dating.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: I went online to delete my account.
1:44
SPEAKER_01: Turns out she was online to delete her account.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: I logged in and all I saw was her photo, and I was just like, Who are you and why are you on here?
1:53
SPEAKER_01: Right?
1:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: Reached out and we ended up having coffee and the rest is history.
1:58
SPEAKER_03: And she's way out of your league.
2:00
SPEAKER_03: Oh, totally.
2:00
SPEAKER_03: So beautiful.
2:01
SPEAKER_03: Yep, that's and so kind.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: It pays to get the upgraded package in online dating where you can date out of your league on purpose.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: And you really did.
2:08
SPEAKER_03: Shout out, Jamie.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: So thanks.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for loving me, honey.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, why do we share all of that story?
2:14
SPEAKER_01: Well, there's a good chance that Terry might have a romantic story to share with us in a little bit, but we'll get to that.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, and actually, why don't we just hit our intro credits so we can get on with this conversation?
2:24
SPEAKER_02: Let's do it.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: Join as we highlight the people, the purpose, and the pulse of Northwestern.
2:30
SPEAKER_02: This is the Unwavering Podcast.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: All right, everybody.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: Our guest today is Terry Esau.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: Terry is a 1978 graduate of Northwestern, where he studied music, and he is also a member of the university's music and theater hall of recognition.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: From small town punk to becoming the jingle king of Minneapolis, Terry has built a career defined by creativity at scale.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: He has written and produced music for more than 2,000 television commercials, but his story didn't stop with advertising.
3:16
SPEAKER_01: A self-described bike aholic, Terry went on to launch the nonprofit Free Bikes for Kids in 2010, a movement that has now placed more than 224,000 bicycles into the hands of kids in need.
3:29
SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: And he's not done yet.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: Terry recently co-founded Free Guitars for Kids, bringing the same model of restoration and generosity to another instrument that shaped his life.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure we'll hear about that in a little bit.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: Putting guitars into the hands of young musicians everywhere.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: Terry's an author, a builder, a creative force.
3:47
SPEAKER_01: He's also a valued member of our alumni community, and we're excited to have him join us today.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: So, Terry, thank you for joining us for the Unwavering Podcast.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: Good to be here.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Monty.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: And Cassie.
3:57
SPEAKER_03: Oh, thank you.
3:58
SPEAKER_03: You guys as a jingle for you.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: Love your love stories, by the way.
4:04
SPEAKER_03: Oh, thank you.
4:05
SPEAKER_03: I love a good love story.
4:06
SPEAKER_03: Who doesn't?
4:07
SPEAKER_03: It's still happening.
4:08
SPEAKER_03: All of our love stories.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: It is.
4:10
SPEAKER_03: So I know that you and Mary, Terry and Mary, met here at Northwestern.
4:15
SPEAKER_03: Can you tell us how you met?
4:17
SPEAKER_00: Well, I was looking for a girl that rhymed.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: No, we were walking up.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: I was coming from Riley.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: She was coming from Nazareth through the tunnel.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: I saw her, and it was like, oh.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: And uh I I did a double take, and I don't know if she even noticed the double take, but I got to the end of the tunnel and I was on the student government at the time, and Jerry Westman was the Dean of Women, Jermaine Westman.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: I immediately went up to her office and I walked in and I said, I just saw a girl.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: I need to go through your files and find out who she is.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, Terry, you know that's against the rules.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: And she got up and she closed the door.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: She walked over to the files.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: This was like in 1975.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: So it was before computer stuff.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: All every student was was on a card with a picture.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: So she opened the file and she goes, Come on, just hurry, hurry.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: So I went through the file until I found the picture of the girl I had just seen in the tunnel.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: And uh and then I called her and asked her out and she said no.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: And then I called her again a week later and asked her out and she said no.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: And I sat down with my college roommates around the kitchen table.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: It was like that felt painting of dogs playing poker.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Do I go for strike three?
5:41
SPEAKER_00: And of course they go.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, why not?
5:43
SPEAKER_00: What have you got to lose except your uh your pride?
5:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh so I did.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: And she said yes.
5:49
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: And we went out.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: There's a little more to the story.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to hear that?
5:53
SPEAKER_00: Please.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say, little does she know she was that close to getting you off her trail.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: No.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: She almost escaped.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: So after about a month or two of dating, I thought everything was going fantastic.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: And I I had tickets to a concert that night or that weekend, and I said, Oh, I I've got an extra ticket to this concert.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: I want to let's go.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, Oh, I can't.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm busy.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, I found out that she had another date.
6:21
SPEAKER_03: Bum, bum, bum.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: And uh so I was like, oh man, desperate times require desperate measures.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: So I uh I got I sat her down and I sang the song from Oklahoma to her.
6:37
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: This was a risky move, but it's the song that uh Will Parker and A sang to Eight O'Annie, remember?
6:44
SPEAKER_00: So she was kind of flirting with all the cowboys, and he sat her down and said, with me, it's all or nothing.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: Is it all or nothing with you?
6:54
SPEAKER_00: You can't be in between, you can't be now and then.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: No happy romance.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: That's a bold move.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: It was a stupid move, but it worked.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: So she she never dated anybody else after that, and uh three years later we got married, and now we have three daughters, we have ten grandkids.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: And they lived happily ever after.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: What a story.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: And true or false, have you ever reenacted this meeting in the tunnel?
7:20
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we have.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: In fact, almost every year on our anniversary, we come to Northwestern, and we don't always do the tunnel thing, but we did that a couple years ago, and she was like, Really?
7:33
SPEAKER_00: Really we have to do this again?
7:35
SPEAKER_00: Do you want me to pretend like I notice you?
7:39
SPEAKER_00: But then we go in, and we were married in the chapel, too.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: So then we often go up to the chapel and we gaze into each other's eyes.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: That's sweet.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: The next time you do that, I kind of want to be there and film the whole thing.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: And we can like do it in like slow motion and set it to some romantic music and like well, probably the Oklahoma song.
7:57
SPEAKER_03: Probably that song.
7:58
SPEAKER_03: I would have done it for me.
7:59
SPEAKER_03: That would be cool.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a good idea.
8:02
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: I actually videotaped I actually videotaped uh one of the tunnel things, and you could just see on her face like this is so stupid.
8:14
SPEAKER_03: That's pretty great.
8:15
SPEAKER_03: Oh my goodness.
8:16
SPEAKER_03: It's sweet.
8:17
SPEAKER_03: That is that's adorable.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: So there you have it.
8:20
SPEAKER_03: Terry and Mary.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: Love.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: At first sight for one.
8:24
SPEAKER_03: That's the key, I think, an important part of a love story.
8:28
SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
8:29
unknown: Yep.
8:30
SPEAKER_03: Oh goodness.
8:31
SPEAKER_03: Well, other than meeting your lovely wife Mary, how did your time at Northwestern shape shape your life?
8:37
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's I mean, it's it's weird.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: So Maxine Woodbridge Posegate was my music theory teacher.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: And this is a we this is weird because on my very first day at Northwestern, first day in music theory class, we walked into music theory room and she looked at us.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: She didn't exactly say this, but I think what she thought was, Welcome you musical illiterates.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh your assignment is to go back to your dorm room, write a jingle about milk, come back tomorrow and perform it for the class.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: That was my first day of college.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, then three years later, after my first three years of school, I was so broke.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: I had no money, and my parents didn't really have money.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: So I decided to take a year off and work.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: And I was teaching guitar lessons in a couple music stores.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: And at my peak, I had 55 guitar lessons a week.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: And most of the time, all I did was teach junior high boys how to play smoke on the water.
9:37
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: It's a good riff.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: Do you okay?
9:39
SPEAKER_00: So you guys know that.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: Isn't it the bump bump bump bump bum battery?
9:44
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: I was a trombone player for Bat Band.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: That was we we had that moment in Bat Band.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: So after nine months of that, I was I was borderline going insane.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: And I I walked in and I quit.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: And I go, okay, I have June, July, August left before I go back and finish my college degree.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: And um I thought, what can I do?
10:06
SPEAKER_00: And I remembered back to my first day of music theory class.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: And I go, huh, maybe I can be a jingle writer.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: I I was a very naive young man.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: So I started walking into Minneapolis ad agencies and said, I'd like to be your new jingle writer.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: And they go, Well, what jingles have you done?
10:23
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well well, I did this milk commercial for music theory class, and they were not very impressed.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: And uh I I went to a few more ad agencies, got the same response.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: So I go, okay, that doesn't work.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: So I got out of legal pad, I sat down in front of the radio, and for three hours I listed every jingle I heard that was awful, that I prioritized, and the number one bad jingle on my list was save big money at menards.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: It was the same jingle 50 years ago.
10:54
SPEAKER_03: I know.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: My sister always sang it, save big mommies at menards.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: That's how our whole childhood, that's what she thought it was saying.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: So I called Menards and I said, you know, I I didn't exactly say your jingle sucks, but more or less.
11:09
SPEAKER_00: And they were insulted because they thought it was brilliant, and in retrospect, maybe it was.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: But I went down my list and it was like, you know, I got the same questions, what jingles have you done?
11:20
SPEAKER_00: And it's like it didn't work.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: So finally I went out and bought a new sport coat and I drove my rusted Chevelle down to Rochester, Minnesota, and I walked into random businesses, and I said, here's the deal.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: I'll go back to Minneapolis and write a jingle for you.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: I'll bring in the best musicians I know of, my college friends.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: And I'll come back next week, I'll play the jingle for you.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: The only thing I ask of you is that if you love it, you'll negotiate a price with me.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: And I got three businesses to agree to that legally loopholed deal.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: And I came up here, recorded.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: I'd never been in a recording studio in my life, went back down there and sold them.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: And so for the next two months, so July and August, I went back and forth to Rochester making deals, and I made more money in those two months than I did the previous nine months of teaching boys how to play smoke on the water.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: So, and what was cool was now I I came back and I finished my music education degree, which I've never used.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: And uh I knew that I had a career in something that fit who I was, and uh it was exciting.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: It was great.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: So one day of class would have done it for you here at Northwestern class.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: It was the first day set.
12:38
SPEAKER_03: Informative time.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's interesting.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: I had a love-hate relationship with Mrs.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: Fosegate one time.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: We were supposed to write this melody with certain characteristics, and I was in bed at night, you know, doing my homework before I fall asleep.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: And I I go, huh.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: Wise men say only fools rush in.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Hey, that melody is exactly what she's asking for.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: And she'll she she's never heard that song.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: I know she's never heard it.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: So I wrote it down.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: And every Friday, she would highlight some of the best work of classmates.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: So she said, on Friday, she goes, Terry wrote this really it's a haunting melody.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: And she started playing it on the piano, but uh the class started singing it along with her.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: And Mrs.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: Bosca, her face, you could just see the blood rise, and she was so mad at me.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: And I I was wondering if she was mad because she admitted she loved an Elvis Presley melody.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: So but I I learned more from her about music, and really she prepared me for my career.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Even though even though I I broke so many rule musical rules, and she goes, Terry, you have to learn the rules before you break them.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: So we uh we had a great but you know, she taught me that there are rules to music that you have to follow, and then you have to selectively break them.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: Well, and she's working with creatives, which is part of being a creative is breaking rules, right?
14:14
SPEAKER_00: One day I I pulled out one of her choral pieces and I said, you know, you told us we can't have parallel fifths, and I go, You got parallel fifths all over this piece.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, we had a love-hate relationship.
14:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
14:26
SPEAKER_03: Do you remember your milk jingle?
14:28
unknown: Oh.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: You know, I still have it.
14:31
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: I have it written down, but not right now.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: Next time.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: I can't remember how it goes.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: Did you write a milk jingle for camps?
14:39
SPEAKER_00: Is that true?
14:40
SPEAKER_00: I I have done multiple dairies.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: I did a um how did that how did that go?
14:46
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: The secret of camps, it's the cows.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: And the cows went uh were singing.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: It was one of the very early where they animated the mouths of cows, and the cows were singing.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: In the middle part of that, it said, We hate to start a battle, but those other cows are cattle.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: Oh imagine those jingles with AI now.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: Oh now you can have those those cows singing in full out choirs.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's a different world now.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: Did they have It's the Cows before you got to that jingle, or did they did It's the Cows stick after the jingle?
15:25
SPEAKER_00: They came to me and said that they wanted to do a TV commercial with animated with cows, and they animated the mouths, and they said, What would they sing?
15:36
SPEAKER_00: So that was my Wow.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: That was my direction.
15:40
SPEAKER_03: You've changed our lives.
15:42
SPEAKER_03: Let's know.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: What's funny is actually I knew this about you, but I didn't know it was you when I was a kid.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: My dad would come home from council meetings, be like, There's this guy in the council, he wrote the jingle for camps.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: I knew that as a kid.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: So exciting, isn't it?
15:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I knew you before I knew you as well.
15:58
SPEAKER_03: You were a chapel speaker when I was a student, and you spoke about your book, Surprise Me God.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: Just shows how old I am.
16:05
SPEAKER_03: So old.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for finding that out, Cassie.
16:11
SPEAKER_03: You challenge us to take the challenge, the surprise me God challenge, and I did.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: You did.
16:15
SPEAKER_03: I did.
16:16
SPEAKER_03: And he surprised me.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: I I act there's this woman who came up to me at this concert the other night, and she goes, I just want you to know you're responsible for the birth of my third child.
16:29
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: Because I read your surprise me book, and we said we should have one more.
16:35
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: We're looking for a surprise.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: And I go, I just want you to know I had nothing to do with that.
16:41
SPEAKER_03: No legal obligations.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right, right.
16:44
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
16:45
SPEAKER_03: That's fantastic.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: Strange.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: Terry, I'm curious.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: So I I've I see the label on you as I look around on online as Jingle King of Minneapolis.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: And it's obvious that you enjoy jingles and you've enjoyed this process.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: You still remember them and the creativity.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm curious when you hear that label, like do you like having that label, or what does that label mean to you?
17:07
SPEAKER_00: Uh it doesn't mean that much.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: You know, it probably means that I had longevity and I stayed in the business for quite a while.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's I mean, my story of how I got into the the business was with persistence.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot I mean, I've spoken in a lot of colleges, and I I say a lot of times being persistent and responsible and not giving up is a lot of what makes you successful in life.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: So um you know, you just keep doing the work and you try your best to do good work.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think I think God calls us to do the best we can and to do good work and be be kind to people, treat musicians and treat even ad agency people sometimes.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: Those people.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: Who sometimes would come to my sessions and they'd stand behind me with their hands on my shoulders and say, No, no, no, I don't want it to go like that.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: That won't change the the score by squeezing my shoulders, but if it makes you feel better.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: No, but it's squeeze a little over here, too.
18:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
18:26
SPEAKER_03: Well, you say the jungle king title doesn't or the jingle king.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Cassie.
18:32
SPEAKER_03: It's a new one.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Don't don't don't edit that out.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: No, we're leaving that in.
18:35
SPEAKER_03: So the Jingle King title doesn't matter to you, but I bet it matters to the Jingle Prince.
18:39
SPEAKER_03: He's probably waiting for that title.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: It's like give me that title.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: Loser.
18:45
SPEAKER_03: Just don't appreciate it.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: So 2,000 jingles.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: So Jingle Prince, if you're listening out there, beat that.
18:51
SPEAKER_01: You gotta start by having 2,000.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: Come on, man.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: So can you list just kind of rapid fire a few companies that you've done jingles for?
18:58
SPEAKER_01: And then what are the odds that you'd be willing to share a few of your favorites?
19:02
SPEAKER_01: Like if you can even come up with a favorite or a few from those lists of jingles.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh what was the first part of the question?
19:09
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I got it.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: What are some of the companies that you've written jingles for?
19:12
SPEAKER_00: So, like uh, I mean, I've done a bunch of commercials for McDonald's and Pepsi and Harley's and Honda's and Golden Grams and any big companies?
19:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:24
unknown: You know.
19:25
SPEAKER_03: Any we would have heard of.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a bunch of car car companies and a bunch of I I don't know.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: It it covers everything.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: I even did something for uh Billy Graham once.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: So it's Golden Graham's and Billy Graham, which is kind of strange.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: I did a Mall of America.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: Well, I did a bunch of Mall of America commercials.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: I did lots of Target commercials.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: I did a Target Christmas campaign with Amy Grant and I did a Sam Goody commercial with Alice Cooper.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: So the whole of the There's quite a range there.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Well So some commercials were rock and roll, some were opera, some were country western.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like when you do all kinds of products, you have to cover a lot of different genres and styles, which is fun.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: I actually have the Mall of America thing cued up.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: Would you want to hear any of that?
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Or Yes, please.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: Oh yes.
20:47
SPEAKER_03: That makes me want to go to the Mall of America.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a place for fun in your life, you know.
20:51
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
20:52
SPEAKER_03: A ride that takes me to the moon.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: I feel like that commercial should be playing before like a drive-in movie theater.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: Like that kind of feels like drive-in nostalgic.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: The drive.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: The snack concession stand.
21:05
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: Walk through the tunnel.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: You might meet your wife.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I've promoted a lot of things that were really bad for us.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: You know, like a lot of sugary cereals and good for the mouth.
21:27
SPEAKER_03: You feel responsible for the state of our society?
21:30
SPEAKER_00: I think I helped cause uh diabetes.
21:33
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
21:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
21:34
SPEAKER_03: I'll send you the bill.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: This is a safe place if you need to talk about this.
21:38
SPEAKER_03: What we're saying is send your medical bills to Terry Esau at And I won't pay them.
21:43
SPEAKER_03: P.O.
21:43
SPEAKER_03: Box.
21:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: We are gonna make a post for our alumni Instagram and Facebook, though.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: A quote from Terry Esau I helped cause diabetes.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
21:51
SPEAKER_03: That's the takeaway.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell I'm trying to think of there was a a Harley Davidson commercial.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: Some of my favorite commercials are ones that never sold.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: And one of my favorite commercials I did was with the Steele family, black the Black Gospel group here in town.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: And it was for Harley Davidson.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: I did a bunch of Harley ads, but this one didn't sell.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: And I thought this was the best one I ever did.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: It was I came up with the line, Harlemia.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: Let's see if this Oh, you have it?
23:24
SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: I know, and what bugs me is they they didn't buy it.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: I was like, why would you not buy that?
23:32
SPEAKER_03: Well, I think the correlation between gospel music and motorcycles is really overdone.
23:37
SPEAKER_03: So it's probably just the market was saturated.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: Saturated.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: And well, I went to them and I said, you know, I think all of your riders, they think Harley is a religion.
23:48
SPEAKER_02: That's true.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: So I go, this this fits, but what do motorcycle riders listen to, though?
23:54
SPEAKER_01: I kind of feel like it's like hard rock or like I could do they listen to country because Harlowia.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: But also, you know, maybe it was just gospel didn't fit with it, you know?
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: It's clever.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
24:08
SPEAKER_03: Like it.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: Maybe somebody is gonna maybe somebody at Harley is gonna hear this now and go, yeah, we're gonna send this to them.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's not too late.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: I know.
24:16
SPEAKER_03: I I They're finally ready.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: Hey Harley, if you're out there, call me.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: Or Christmas.
24:22
SPEAKER_03: Mr.
24:22
SPEAKER_03: Davis.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: The Christmas version.
24:24
SPEAKER_01: Harley Luya.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: Harley.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: But you can change the Harley throughout the year.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: Leonard Cohen might sue us.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
24:34
SPEAKER_03: I think the world's ready for the gospel Harley edition.
24:38
SPEAKER_03: I think we're ready.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Cassie.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: The new Harley edition.
24:41
SPEAKER_01: The new Harley version.
24:43
SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: Well, okay.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: As much as I want to spend all day actually listening to all these jingles.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: I want to.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: I feel like you might have done something else with your life other than jingles.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: Is that true?
25:32
SPEAKER_01: I think we might have something else.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: I hope so.
25:34
SPEAKER_01: I hope so, yeah.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: All right.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: I want to hear about the next season.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: Cassie, can you help us get into this next season?
25:38
SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Yes, please.
25:40
SPEAKER_03: So you may have heard of, listeners, free bikes for kids.
25:44
SPEAKER_03: And here we have Terry Esau in the studio today to talk about the creation of Free Bikes for Kids.
25:50
SPEAKER_03: How did that come about?
25:52
SPEAKER_00: Well, I I'm I'm I call myself a bike a holic because when I was a kid, I had a paper out because I got paid to ride my bike.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: And then my brother and I would build ramps and we'd collect neighborhood kids and have them lie down the street and we'd do bike shows and we'd see how many kids we could jump over.
26:05
SPEAKER_03: Trevor Burrus Like evil can evil.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we usually made it too.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: So that was good.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: But then when I was 16, my buddy and I rode our bicycles from here in Minnesota to the West Coast and back.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: So it's like the bicycle has been and then when I got older, I actually started racing bikes.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: I have a metal plate in my shoulder with nine screws from a crash.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: And so anyhow, but I just started looking around in all of my friends' garages, and I go, and and we still had our, you know, our three daughters.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: We had little bikes sitting in a garage, but they had been outgrown.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: I go, why are we all holding on to these bikes that we've outgrown when there are kids right here in our city who can't afford a bike?
26:47
SPEAKER_00: So uh me and my buddies said, hey, I I went on Care Levin because I had done all of their news theme music.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Can I come on and invite people to donate bicycles to me and my cycling group?
26:59
SPEAKER_00: And uh we did that, and in two weeks we got about 250 bikes donated to us.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: We fixed them up and gave them away, and and I thought, great, that was fun.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: You know, I thought that was a two-week hobby, and then the next year we go, hey, let's do that again.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: And we gave away 700 in some, and the next year we gave away 1,500, and that's when I said, What if I go find a corporate sponsor?
27:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll we'll register as a nonprofit, and that year we gave away almost 5,000 bikes.
27:27
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: So we continued that for a few years, and then I went to the board and I said, you know, we have a unique model that we've created.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: What if we take this to other cities?
27:38
SPEAKER_00: And they said, if you come full-time with the organization, we'll do that.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: So I did.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: And now we're in well, we were in about 20 cities, now we're down a few because of COVID kind of hurt us.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: But now we've given away over 224,000 bikes.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: And uh I have a goal.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: I I say that I want to give away a million bikes in my lifetime.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: And I might have to live to pretty old age to do that.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: But maybe, right?
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: It could happen.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: Could happen.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: What's harder, finding the bikes or finding finding the kids that need bikes?
28:18
SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Oh, it's so easy to find the kids.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we could be giving away a hundred thousand bikes a year, and we still would not achieve the need that's out there.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: The need is far greater than the supply.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: And getting bikes, I mean, we we set the Guinness World Record here in Minneapolis one year.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: We collected almost 10,000 bikes in one day.
28:40
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: So our our model is we collect bikes one day a year.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: We get someone to donate a huge warehouse to us, bring in thousands of volunteers to help clean and refurbish the bikes, and then we partner with schools and nonprofits and churches, and they basically they give the bikes to the kids in their organizations.
28:59
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
28:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was wondering about how how a kid qualifies for a bike or how do they get involved in the Yeah.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: So we don't qualify them.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: The organizations that we choose, because because we choose organizations that are working with low-income families.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: That's scalable too.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: Because that allows you to let them and they're the relate they have the relationship.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: So it's not like it's not like impersonal scalable, it's scalable and they're more connected.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: Monty, you are using my talking points.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what I say.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: So very good.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: Well, that makes sense.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: Good on you, man.
29:29
SPEAKER_01: I think that's good for ministry, and I think it's good for engaging our communities.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know what I love about it is here's an interesting story.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: When we created our bylaws for free bikes for kids, a lot of us on the board were Christ followers.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: And one of the people said, Well, obviously in our bylaws, we're going to say that we're a Christian organization.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: And I said, you know, I thought about it and I go, I don't know if that's a good idea.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: Because yesterday I was wrenching on bikes, and across the table from me was a Muslim.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: Across the table from him was an atheist.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: On the other side of me was a guy who was in jail and was allowed to come out on work's a work program to volunteer.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: So I said, you know, I wonder if if we say in our bylaws that we're a Christian organization, if we're not going to get any of those people who are going to come and work with us.
30:26
SPEAKER_00: And I said, plus, I think what if we just act Christ-like instead of saying that we're a Christian organization?
30:34
SPEAKER_00: I think that's more important.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: And then the other thing is one of my visions for free bikes for kids was, can we create something where people from all different sides of all aisles, whether it's red or blue, black or white, Muslim, Christian, can we create something where everybody comes together to do good?
30:55
SPEAKER_00: Because there's just it seems like there's so little, so few things in the world right now where people come together with very disparate ideas.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's become such a polarized world.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: So I I feel like free bikes for kids is a place where we're trying to help people come together and realize none of us are the enemy.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: We're we're all humans made in the image of God, and we deserve to be loved and respected.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: And we can do good for others together.
31:29
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: So that's that was my vision for it, and I'm sticking to it, I guess.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, you should be able to come together with at the table with people who are different from you to help do something good for the community.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: And there's some things that are all plays, like your community needs these, these are needs, no matter what your background is, and there's still a time for those conversations about differences in life and theology and stuff.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: Right.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: But there's also a time to help a community.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: I know that um President Hornbeek always talks here about in Jeremiah 29, about seeking the welfare and the shalom of the city.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: And like, yes, we do want them to know the gospel, the good news that will save them eternally as well, but we also need to care for our communities.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: I you know, when they ask Jesus, what's the greatest commandment?
32:16
SPEAKER_00: And he said, you know, love God.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and there's a second one, love your neighbor as yourself.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: I my vision for free free bikes for kids and my other nonprofit, free guitars for kids, is that we don't just say we love these kids, we we show them in a tangible sort of way.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: And when you give a kid a bike, uh, you see their eyes light up, and it's like I think they feel seen and they feel loved.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: I I have this dream that someday a kid is gonna win the Tour de France and he's gonna be standing on the podium and say, when I when nobody saw me, when I was invisible, somebody saw me and gave me my first bike.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: And someday there's a young woman who's gonna be standing on the stage accepting her Grammy award, and she's gonna say, When I was invisible, nobody saw me, somebody gave me a guitar.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: And it changed everything.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's that that would be not a terrible tombstone.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: It's a little too many words for my tombstone.
33:21
SPEAKER_03: Okay, it's gonna be a big one.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, we think about changing the world a lot.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: But what you just did for that kid, or even the kids currently without any awards, is you changed their world.
33:33
SPEAKER_03: Monty, you are on today.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: Not true.
33:41
SPEAKER_03: I don't even know why I'm here.
33:43
SPEAKER_03: Um but just powerful.
33:47
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
33:48
SPEAKER_03: So you you were just mentioning free guitars for kids.
33:50
SPEAKER_03: How did that come about?
33:52
SPEAKER_03: You know, once free bikes for kids was in motion, what what happened with free guitars for kids?
33:56
SPEAKER_00: It was all those all those nine months of teaching kids how to play smoke on the water.
34:02
SPEAKER_03: Couldn't get out of your head.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: No, I you know, a guitar has kind of been a friend to me over the years.
34:09
SPEAKER_00: It's like you can pick up a guitar and you can express anger, you can express love, you can express sorrow.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a tool that helps that can help a kid grow up and it can be a friend to them maybe when all the other friends have walked away.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: And I I I am, you know, I mean, music was a huge part of my life.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: I believe that music has a healing power.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: And and when kids can use that music and become creators, I think we're all creative humans.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: You know, God created us with the capacity to invent and create because we're made in his image, right?
34:57
SPEAKER_00: So I think we find this great sense of purpose and fulfillment when we become creators.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: And guitar is an instrument for creating.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: So Yeah, I I I believe in it.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: And and there's all these scientific studies now that show if you learn a musical instrument, it rewires your brain and you become better at math and science and all that stuff.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: So I think there's there's things about learning a musical instrument that that can change us.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: Now, why did you choose guitars and not pianos?
35:33
SPEAKER_01: As a piano player, I feel a little left out.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: I know lots of people that would love to have somebody take their piano, right?
35:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
35:40
SPEAKER_03: Free pianos for kids.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: Free pianos for kids.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: Actually, somebody in the PGA contacted me once and said, Would you be interested in starting free clubs for kids?
35:50
SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: And I said, you know what?
35:53
SPEAKER_00: I used to play golf, and every time I came back from playing golf, I was frustrated.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: And every time I come back from a bike ride, I'm happy.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna do it.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: And I I also said, you know, okay, we give a kid a set of clubs.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: Now what?
36:09
SPEAKER_00: How how can that kid afford to go pay for playing?
36:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, golf is not a very accessible sport.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: No, not if you're you know means restricted.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: And that's who we're trying to serve.
36:24
SPEAKER_03: Right.
36:24
SPEAKER_01: And as a creative, those are probably all obstacles that could be overcome somehow.
36:29
SPEAKER_01: But the but the bikes and the guitars deeply resonate with you.
36:33
SPEAKER_01: Right.
36:34
SPEAKER_01: Right.
36:34
SPEAKER_01: So like there is like a a drive underneath this that is very much your story and your passion and heartbeat that really fueled these when they took off, right?
36:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you know, Monty, when you I mean, God makes us all unique, right?
36:49
SPEAKER_00: We He gives us gifts and He gives us passions.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: And when you can align your gifts and your passions for the sake of the community and for doing good, you you have fun.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that sounds sort of crass, but it's like I'm having fun.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: And it's because I think I'm aligned, you know, I I've I've been lucky enough to align my passions with something that I'm doing that that brings good into the world.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: And I think when we do that, I think I think that's what God intends for us, right?
37:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I do think there's a misconception sometimes that we have to be exhausted for the causes that God gives us.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Well, I'm exhausted quite often.
37:38
SPEAKER_03: But my children.
37:40
SPEAKER_03: No, no, no.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: But but you know, there's a good kind of exhaustion and a bad kind.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: And when when you're exhausted doing good and doing what you love, I mean it's like I'm I'm turning 72 next week.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: And it's like almost all of my friends are retired.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, sometimes they look at me and they go, what are you doing?
38:04
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going, well, if I retired and got to choose what I would do, I think this is what I would do.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: So so so I don't know.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: So maybe I am retired.
38:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
38:18
SPEAKER_00: But you've been retired for a while.
38:20
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
38:20
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference between being uh drained and tired or exhausted.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: Like it's not sucking the life out of you.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: You're you're pouring it up by by choice.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: I wonder, like you're taking something that you enjoy and you're finding a way for it to be the good of community.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: That that seems pretty practical and applicable to almost any passion or hobby we enjoy.
38:44
SPEAKER_01: You enjoy athletics or music or whatever it is.
38:47
SPEAKER_01: There's a way for you to even be intentional with your kids at home to let them in and help them find the joy, right?
38:53
SPEAKER_01: Or help the community or help the church.
38:55
SPEAKER_01: But you're really being selfless with something that you really enjoy yourself.
39:00
SPEAKER_00: But what's weird about it is sometimes I feel selfish because I'm doing exactly what I want to do and I'm having so much fun doing it.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it's like it it almost seems unfair, you know, that I get to do what I love.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: I I'll be honest, I haven't gotten rich being, you know, starting two nonprofits.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: It's like I I definitely have not gotten rich from that.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm still living off of the music career, to be honest.
39:29
SPEAKER_00: So uh but it's great.
39:31
SPEAKER_00: Do we have time for one more story?
39:33
SPEAKER_00: Or I don't know how much time we have.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: You know, you you talked about you getting your kids involved.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: My kids have taught me so much.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: We went to see my youngest daughter, Taylor, was uh going to school out in Seattle Pacific.
39:47
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, Northwestern.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: She didn't come here.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
39:51
SPEAKER_00: And so one summer Mary and I went out to visit her, and she was working in a restaurant downtown Seattle, and we went and had lunch at the restaurant.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: And after lunch, she was done.
39:59
SPEAKER_00: She got a sandwich, she ate half of it, she put it in a one of those styrofoam boxes to take out.
40:05
SPEAKER_00: And I go, Taylor, you know, we're driving or we're going to be driving around Seattle, and it's like it was 100 degrees that day.
40:12
SPEAKER_00: And I said, That's that's gonna go bad.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: She goes, Dad, I know that.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: She goes, I always get a sandwich, I eat half of it, and on my way to the bus to go back home, I find a homeless person, and I go, Oh, what a wonderful daughter we have raised.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: So we're we're walking back, and our car was parked a few blocks away.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, as a dad, I'm looking around.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's Seattle, there's gotta be some homeless people here that she could give it.
40:38
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't see anybody, didn't see anyone until we got across the street from where our car was.
40:44
SPEAKER_00: And there was a guy with a sign that simply said, I'm hungry.
40:49
SPEAKER_00: You know, and I halfway looked up and I go, Thank you, God, you know, just in time.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: And so Taylor walks up to him and she said, I have a half a sandwich I'd like to give you.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: And he turned his back on her and wouldn't take it.
41:03
SPEAKER_00: And in my mind, I'm going, What's your deal, man?
41:06
SPEAKER_00: You have a sign that says you're hungry.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: You were just offered what you want.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, you know, I was I was kind of frustrated.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: And there was a garbage can right on the corner, and Taylor started walking towards it, and I thought, she's gonna throw it away.
41:23
SPEAKER_00: But it had a rim around the edge, and she set the sandwich on the edge of the rim, and she opened up the styrofoam, and then she folded the tin foil from the sandwich so you could see the sandwich, and then without saying a word, she walked across the street to the car.
41:44
SPEAKER_00: And I go, okay.
41:46
SPEAKER_00: This is what God wanted to teach me.
41:49
SPEAKER_00: That we're giving guitars and bikes, but what's more important here is how do we keep the dignity of people intact?
41:58
SPEAKER_00: Because this man, you know, maybe maybe he was struggling with his dignity, and it was like, I don't I don't know.
42:05
SPEAKER_00: But so that's I tell that story quite often now to all of our volunteers before we do a giveaway and say, our job today, do not look down on anybody here.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: You know.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: Show them love, show them uh make sure that they are seen and that they know they're a valued human being and keep their dignity intact.
42:31
SPEAKER_00: So that's that's kind of one of the missions of both of our organizations is how how do we not look like the white savior who's coming in like we're giving a lot of bikes away on Native American reservations now.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: And it's you know we're trying really hard to go.
42:49
SPEAKER_00: How do we partner with you?
42:51
SPEAKER_00: How do we make this something that you're doing for your people and not us?
42:56
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I well, I feel like I preached a sermon there, but it was good.
43:00
SPEAKER_03: It was a word Needed.
43:03
SPEAKER_03: I think humility can be a strength, and it takes a lot of humility to ask for help.
43:08
SPEAKER_00: And these people coming for bikes and guitars, it's asking for help and I I feel like that's kind of what God's been teaching me in these golden years, is that there's an intersection of boldness and courage and humility and love.
43:27
SPEAKER_00: And without love is just noise.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: You know?
43:33
SPEAKER_00: And boldness without humility.
43:37
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
43:38
SPEAKER_00: It it smells funny.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: So I think God is saying, you know, you need to do everything you need.
43:46
SPEAKER_00: You you need to do you as somebody who is looking and seeing that person and actually loving them.
43:54
SPEAKER_00: Not just like, okay, gave away another thousand bikes today.
43:58
SPEAKER_05: Woo-hoo.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: You know?
44:01
SPEAKER_00: So God has a way of of getting under our skin sometimes and going, I I I still have some stuff I have to teach you, young man.
44:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's it's a deeper level of grace.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
44:15
SPEAKER_01: Like he's doing that with you.
44:17
SPEAKER_01: And he's showing you how to do that with the people that we're giving given bikes to, giving guitars to, to get past the surface level of man, their response makes me frustrated.
44:27
SPEAKER_01: They should appreciate this gift.
44:28
SPEAKER_01: Like compared to like, no, wait, like, why were we here in the first place?
44:32
SPEAKER_01: Like, I need to stop, and like, why did they respond that?
44:35
SPEAKER_01: I need to go a level deeper because we do that with the Lord all the time.
44:41
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that the truth?
44:42
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
44:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, you've you've already shared a lot about what drives you and it's it's evident where your heart is and all this.
44:50
SPEAKER_01: Is there anything else you'd like to share about what drives you underneath all this?
44:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, back to the question of Jesus.
44:59
SPEAKER_00: Love God, love your neighbor.
45:02
SPEAKER_00: This this is something that I've been come this is my interpretation, okay?
45:07
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if this is theologically correct.
45:10
SPEAKER_00: I think the best way that we can show love to God is by loving our neighbor.
45:16
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I think I think there's a connection.
45:19
SPEAKER_00: I think he was trying to say there's a connection between those.
45:23
SPEAKER_00: Because if you love I think see, I think God's He sees each of us as mas his masterpieces, right?
45:31
SPEAKER_00: And so when you love his masterpiece, even the one that maybe we think doesn't look that pretty or has issues or feels like our enemy, then we're we're loving God by doing that.
45:47
SPEAKER_00: It's uh Yeah.
45:49
SPEAKER_00: I I think that's maybe the best way we can show our love for God is by loving each other.
45:56
SPEAKER_01: When the love of the Lord is working in us and our desire is to love him.
46:00
SPEAKER_01: Like how can we walk past somebody who needs who needs his love for us to to love him?
46:07
SPEAKER_01: I I I know I can't remember that where it's written in the Gospels.
46:10
SPEAKER_01: I believe it's in the Gospels, but it's talking about like when did I serve you, Lord?
46:15
SPEAKER_01: Well, when you saw those who were naked, you gave me clothing.
46:17
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
46:18
SPEAKER_01: When you saw the hungry, you gave them food.
46:19
SPEAKER_01: Like whether or not it's like the best way to love them, it's definitely a way that we should.
46:24
SPEAKER_01: We should love him and we should love the things he made.
46:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
46:27
SPEAKER_01: It should be a natural way of showing love, right?
46:30
SPEAKER_01: It should be.
46:31
SPEAKER_03: When I I'm no Bible minor, but she's a major.
46:35
SPEAKER_01: She holds this over me all the time.
46:37
SPEAKER_01: Show off.
46:38
SPEAKER_03: You cannot hate your neighbor and love God.
46:43
SPEAKER_03: So I think you're spot on, Terry.
46:46
SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Cassie.
46:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
46:47
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that.
46:48
SPEAKER_03: That's just a little advice from Bible Major.
46:50
SPEAKER_01: So before Cassie gets to our closing question, which we like to use for guests, I want to know whether it's along the same lines that we've been doing or even in just a separate lane altogether, what's a a leadership or life lesson that you've learned that really impacted you that maybe for the person listening it could impact them as well?
47:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think I think uh sometimes leaders I think we look sometimes at people who are loud and aggressive and um so certain as strong leaders.
47:25
SPEAKER_00: I think leaders I think a strong leader is somebody who actually is humble enough to listen and go, I still have a lot to learn.
47:34
SPEAKER_00: And doesn't always feel like they have to weigh in on everything.
47:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, leave space for others.
47:43
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
47:43
SPEAKER_00: I think I I think in America right now, uh I think we're a little confused on what strong leadership is.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: I think we're even confused on what masculinity is.
47:54
SPEAKER_00: But that's that's another whole discussion we probably shouldn't get into.
47:58
SPEAKER_01: But we do have a lot to learn.
47:59
SPEAKER_01: And I think if we're looking back at your story, you have helped scale a couple different organizations.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: You've had a chance to be a leader, and I'm sure it's all been smooth.
48:08
SPEAKER_01: No, it's you're saying you have a lot to learn when you say that.
48:13
SPEAKER_01: That you've learned, you've learned, and we could get into all the stories of you learning leadership lessons.
48:18
SPEAKER_01: But whatever you're leading, for you listening to this, or you have an opportunity to influence, we all have stuff to learn.
48:24
SPEAKER_01: So that's a that's a good reminder for me too.
48:26
SPEAKER_01: And then last question I have before you, Cassie, is and this is going back to uh free bikes for kids.
48:32
SPEAKER_01: You said there's one day that you collect all the bikes.
48:35
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of the model, right?
48:36
SPEAKER_01: I've got two in my garage right now that I want to get to you.
48:40
SPEAKER_01: Is that the only day, or is there something that people can do to like can they go give them to somebody else who then gets them to you on the day, or what strategies have you found and how can people help?
48:50
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
48:50
SPEAKER_00: So here in I don't know where all this is going to.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: Is is this going to the whole thing?
48:55
SPEAKER_03: It's over the world, but thousands of listeners.
48:58
SPEAKER_00: Just mail it to us here.
49:01
SPEAKER_00: Here in Minnesota the Twin Cities, so we we do have a chapter up in the Fargo Moorhead area, too.
49:07
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if people up there will hear this.
49:10
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's usually the first Saturday in October is our one-day metro-wide collection here.
49:19
SPEAKER_00: Now, you know, in in our cities around the U.S., because we're in Atlanta, Detroit, Salt Lake, Portland, San Diego, Phoenix.
49:28
SPEAKER_00: So we're in cities all over, and they're not all on the same day, but they're basically one-day bike collections.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: So if you can hold on to it till then, that would be great.
49:38
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, yeah, maybe you can give it to somebody else to deliver it because we don't we don't own any real estate.
49:46
SPEAKER_00: We don't own any warehouses.
49:47
SPEAKER_00: That's part of the simplicity and beauty of our model, is we get somebody to donate a huge warehouse to us every fall for about two and a half months.
49:59
SPEAKER_00: And so it costs so so we have no overhead.
50:02
SPEAKER_00: Do you know the date for the 2026 or has it already happened?
50:06
SPEAKER_00: No, it's it's the first I didn't look.
50:09
SPEAKER_00: What's the first Saturday of October?
50:12
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's almost homecoming.
50:13
SPEAKER_01: It's the week before homecoming, if you're listening to this.
50:15
SPEAKER_01: That would be October 9th.
50:18
SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Oh, the week of homecoming, yes.
50:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
50:20
SPEAKER_00: So October 3rd then.
50:21
SPEAKER_00: The Saturday.
50:22
SPEAKER_00: This is why I've missed homecoming so many years.
50:25
SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Well, we postponed it for you this year.
50:27
SPEAKER_01: So if you're listening to this, two dates to remember donate your bike on October 3rd if you're in the Twin Cities.
50:32
SPEAKER_00: And then you can go on uh the website.
50:35
SPEAKER_00: So fk.org, freebikes.org, is the national organization site.
50:42
SPEAKER_00: And on there, you'll see a link to all of the cities and the chapters where we exist.
50:48
SPEAKER_00: So by the way, if you want to donate or get involved with free guitars for kids, it's fg4k.org, freeget.org.
50:58
SPEAKER_00: Is that the same day or is that a different time?
51:00
SPEAKER_00: No, we we actually don't collect we don't intentionally collect used guitars because we go, how do we make this new organization more logistically simple?
51:13
SPEAKER_00: And so we have we're partnering with Gibson and Fender and all the major guitar manufacturers.
51:18
SPEAKER_00: They give us all guitars at cost.
51:21
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they give us guitars free.
51:23
SPEAKER_00: So it's we can give away more guitars by just raising money, purchasing guitars, and then we just say, send a hundred guitars to this school in Texas or whatever.
51:35
SPEAKER_00: So I'm actually flying to next week, I'm flying to Tulsa, Oklahoma for a huge music festival there.
51:42
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a Guitar Heroes Music Festival, and it's like the guitar player for Taylor Swift and for Leonard Skinnard and all these celebrities.
51:52
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna be there's 30,000 people who show up at this music festival, and they're actually flying me and a band down on a private jet, which is gonna be kind of fun.
52:02
SPEAKER_00: I've never done that.
52:03
SPEAKER_00: And uh we're gonna be giving guitars away from the stage in front of 30,000 people.
52:08
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
52:09
SPEAKER_00: So, but yeah, if you it costs us around 100 bucks or so to give a kid a guitar, and we give them about a$350 guitar.
52:17
SPEAKER_05: Wow.
52:18
SPEAKER_00: And this is a cool thing.
52:19
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I know this was what we were ending, but we are now, we have just ordered and we're light white labeling our own free guitars for kids guitar.
52:30
SPEAKER_00: So we are making guitars now that are gonna have our label on it, and eventually we're gonna be selling those guitars.
52:38
SPEAKER_00: And when you buy one of our guitars, you help give a kid a guitar.
52:42
SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
52:43
SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
52:44
SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
52:45
SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm there's there's so there's so much that I could talk about that what we're doing, but Cassie, your last question.
52:52
SPEAKER_01: But F FB4K or FG4K, and you can find more details online.
52:57
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
52:58
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
52:58
SPEAKER_03: Well, in case you forgot where you are, you are on the Unwavering podcast.
53:03
SPEAKER_03: And we love to ask each guest what it means to you to be unwavering.
53:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm probably not the a good person to ask that because I think I've wavered a lot in my life.
53:16
SPEAKER_00: But I think tr trying to be consistent to who you are, who God made you to be, to to be to look in the mirror, as Michael Jackson said.
53:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm starting with the man in the mirror, you know, to look at yourself and go, am I I I I always go, I I want to be a good representation of who Jesus is.
53:43
SPEAKER_00: You know?
53:44
SPEAKER_00: And if I'm if I can't look in the mirror at the end of the day and go, I think you know, I I tried my best to represent him well, then I then I think I've been wavering.
53:56
SPEAKER_00: You know?
53:57
SPEAKER_00: So and that you know, how does that look?
54:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh I keep coming back to I saw people today and I I looked at them with respect and dignity and I loved them as best I could.
54:13
SPEAKER_00: I think of the Holy Spirit not as a dove but as a sharp elbow.
54:17
SPEAKER_00: Um if you want, I I tell a lot of this story in a TED talk I did last year.
54:22
SPEAKER_00: If you just go to YouTube and search my name and TED Talk.
54:25
SPEAKER_00: But I see the Holy, and I couldn't say this in the TED Talk because they don't let you talk about God in the TED talk.
54:32
SPEAKER_00: But I see the Holy Spirit all the way through my life nudging me in the ribs, saying, Hey, hey, hey, do you see that person?
54:40
SPEAKER_00: Go talk to them.
54:42
SPEAKER_00: And I I feel like this is the most exciting way to live your life if you maintain tender ribs and let that elbow of the Holy Spirit when because it's very easy to ignore.
54:57
SPEAKER_00: So it's our job, how do I maintain tender ribs so that when the Holy Spirit nudges me, I hear it, I feel it, and then I have a choice.
55:06
SPEAKER_00: Do I want to act on this?
55:08
SPEAKER_00: And I think if you if you feel it and you act on it, you are on your way to being a more, more unwavering human being.
55:18
SPEAKER_01: Well, and if you listen a little bit better the first time, maybe he'll just tap you on the shoulder.
55:23
SPEAKER_00: But no.
55:24
SPEAKER_00: I don't I guess I don't listen well then, Monty, because all of mine are elbows down to the room.
55:29
SPEAKER_01: We've been there.
55:30
SPEAKER_01: Well, the good news is as we look to live with an unwavering love for God's word and an unwavering love for God's world, that we believe in a God who is unwavering and his grace is unwavering for us.
55:45
SPEAKER_01: And without that, there would be no ability for us to continue to look to become more and more like him.
55:51
SPEAKER_01: Listen to him.
55:52
SPEAKER_00: He just nailed it again.
55:53
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they pay me the big bucks to wrap up.
55:55
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's the amazing.
55:57
SPEAKER_01: Terry, thanks for taking some time out of your out of your schedule to join us.
56:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, this has been really fun.
56:04
SPEAKER_01: I've I know we've known each other the past couple years, and I learned more in this hour together with you.
56:09
SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad that we had this chance.
56:11
SPEAKER_01: So thanks for sharing your heart and sharing sharing about it.
56:14
SPEAKER_00: It's been my pleasure.
56:15
SPEAKER_00: I I have so many great memories memories.
56:17
SPEAKER_00: When I when I got here, I drove through through the campus twice.
56:21
SPEAKER_00: And it's like almost shed a tear.
56:24
SPEAKER_00: Like, I have so many great memories here.
56:27
SPEAKER_01: Well, and and you are on record for knowing and confirming that the bike drive is the week before homecoming.
56:33
SPEAKER_01: So we know that your calendar is clear.
56:35
SPEAKER_01: So we'll see you this fall.
56:38
SPEAKER_01: All right.
56:39
SPEAKER_01: For you listening, take a minute, wherever you are, and picture your garage.
56:44
SPEAKER_01: Is there a bike in there?
56:45
SPEAKER_01: Or are there bikes multiple in there that you are no longer using?
56:49
SPEAKER_01: Or do you know somebody, a neighbor, a friend, a relative who has bikes that they don't need?
56:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, today could be the day you could donate it and give it to a kid who really needs a bike.
57:01
SPEAKER_01: So as of today, September 28th, there are a bunch of drop-off locations open in the Twin Cities where you can leave them.
57:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, and there's also locations around the country as well in different cities.
57:12
SPEAKER_01: But some locations um are only open on collection day, which is this Saturday, October 3rd, but some are open all week.
57:19
SPEAKER_01: And you can find out more at fb4K.org.
57:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, so thanks for considering that opportunity.
57:26
SPEAKER_01: And if you're listening to this in a future year past uh those dates, uh the annual bike drop day is always that first Saturday in October.
57:35
SPEAKER_01: So let's help Terry get to his one millionth donated bike school.
57:39
SPEAKER_01: And uh that's only going to happen one bike at a time.
57:41
SPEAKER_01: So thank you for listening.
57:42
SPEAKER_01: Terry, thank you for joining us, and uh, we can't wait to be back for another episode.
57:46
SPEAKER_04: Holding up to your promises, holding up to your promises.
57:52
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening.
57:53
SPEAKER_02: To hear more, subscribe and leave a rating wherever you listen.
57:57
SPEAKER_02: And if you know an alum, faculty member, staff, or student of Northwestern doing amazing things out in the world, let us know at alumni at unwsp.edu, the unwavering podcast, highlighting the people, the purpose, and the pulse of Northwestern.