Skip Happens Podcast - Every Boot Has a Story!

Artists Are Blurring Genres, And We’re Asking What That Means For Fans, Radio, And Award Shows

• Skip Clark

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SPEAKER_03:

We're live. Welcome from the Gary's Get It Done. Gary these days been lying in his bed name. Working on the same car going on decade.

SPEAKER_02:

We have Gary in the house tonight.

SPEAKER_03:

Scribbles on junk now.

SPEAKER_04:

We're playing the song again. Listen, listen.

SPEAKER_03:

Never really noticed, but now let's mention it. What else? There ain't a lot of boys named Gary these days. Born with a cigarette, glue to the face. Fix about anything a hammer can't handle. Save an on a moment, cause a Gary don't gamble. Ain't a lot of girls going by Debbie anymore. But they got the same katoon for another portion. Hello, everybody. Skip happens.

SPEAKER_04:

And uh, you know, I always say every boot tells a story, but that's when I'm interviewing the artist. But we also um Mr. Ray and myself come together to uh, you know, if it's happening, we talk about it. It's like another extension of Skip Happens, and Miss Ray's in the house. I love the song, by the way. It's Gary, right? Stephen Wilson Jr. And it's Gary. You know, you you had a chance to meet Gary. I mean, uh, well, now you're not Gary.

SPEAKER_02:

I did have the chance to meet Gary. He's in the house tonight. Um, my new name. I had an opportunity to meet Steven Wilson Jr., and so did you, which was so awesome. We got to meet him, we got to see him perform a little bit. He did a phenomenal job. Great performance.

SPEAKER_04:

He did because he he touches on like the Nirvana song. You were talking about the Nirvana song.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. So when we were there, he of course performed his own songs, which are all phenomenal. You should go check them out. But he did this rendition of Something in the Way by Nirvana. And I don't know if anybody in the audience also listens to Nirvana, but I listened to Something in the Way at least once a week. It's a great song. And when he's like, I'm gonna sing something in the way, I was like, like Nirvana? And you know, you're like, and who would have thought that, right? And he he sang Nirvana, but it was this country rock twist that I was not expecting, and I actually was so impressed by that performance. I looked him up on Spotify within the same week and added it to my playlist because I was like, wow, this is so good.

SPEAKER_04:

That was the show with Hardy, yes, and uh Stephen Wilson Jr. And they had an opener there that night, but uh that was a great show. You know what? I think they they they did it right when they put uh Steven Wilson Jr.

SPEAKER_02:

on the bill with Hardy because you know what, Miss Ray, they they kind of have that same thing because Hardy can go very rock edge, Hardy can I was just gonna say that they kind of have that harder edged country side to them, and they talk they're kind of rougher around the edges, you know, and they talk about that and they express that in their music. And I don't know, I just think that that's it's cool, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

It's so cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It's so cool, it's so cool, and it's cool to see those two worlds kind of mesh, you know.

SPEAKER_04:

And we were talking about that before we went out with the lights in the camera, about um, you know, how it's uh it's a whole different ballgame now, so to speak, where you know, the meshing of the genres of the formats coming together and a lot of crossover. I mean, what was country is not just country anymore. What the hip hop rap? Um, just saw Neo singing a country song.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. Yeah, and we see rappers kind of stepping into the country world going vice versa. Um, Big X the plug, that Mexican OT. They they're kind of having their own country twist or artists collaborating, uh, like rappers collaborating with country artists, and then that happening vice versa, like the country artists engaging with with the rapper, like Jesse Murph and yes, Cole Wetzel. Yes, and too.

SPEAKER_04:

Yep, yep, exactly. And and we we saw was it no? That was a whole nother show. No, it was Cole Wetzel was there that night, right?

SPEAKER_02:

He was, he was there opening for Hardy as well. What a great show! I hope that I I wish I could relive that crazy.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_02:

So I wonder if that idea of like artists kind of being versatile and kind of needing to genre bend has always been present. Do you do you feel that like I I feel like it's really common now. We see it with Taylor. She went country.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02:

We see it with Beyonce, she went pop to um to country.

SPEAKER_04:

There was a lot of pushback on that though. When Beyonce did that, uh that's true. I thought it wasn't a bad, a bad move because now she is exposing a lot of her fans to the country side of things, and it also works the other way around.

SPEAKER_02:

So that's true.

SPEAKER_04:

That's what happened there. So I didn't have a problem with that. I know a lot of diehard country people is like, well, why is she in here? What the hell is she doing? Why, you know, but she grew up in Texas. She come on, let's just a lot of these artists. Uh, just because they've been putting out music, uh, a different genre, does not mean they they didn't grow up on country. I mean, you never know. You don't know, you know. Neo's a good example of that. He said he was brought up on country, but look what he's been doing until now. So, same thing.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, I mean, I can attest to that as well. I grew up as a little girl. My dad was listening to 92.1 The Wolf. He was a diehard country fan, still is. And I grew up to really not be very keen. I love that genre, but not like as it was when I was younger, but not anymore. It's not, you know, so I'm gonna just shift and and change. And I think that that's really interesting.

SPEAKER_04:

What do you um you have sisters?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, are they country or do they kind of yes, and that's my sisters are very country, so I'm really the only one that leans kind of more against it. It's not that I'm I'm not a and why do you think that is? I don't know, and I think that's an interesting concept, how like two parents like parents can raise different kids, you know, and I think that that might be where that that comes from is just different people and different interests, and um well, they have their friends, right?

SPEAKER_04:

Not the same friends. I imagine you have your friends, your sisters have their friends and what they're being brought up on and the music they're listening to, correct? Yeah, cool. Hello, Chuck. Thanks for having us on. And uh Chuck's doing, by the way, um, they're doing a really cool thing. Uh, hopefully, it's covaction. I hopefully I got it right this week. Cove action. So he's doing uh not to break away from what we're talking about, but he's got like this um the advent calendar, but every day is a different flavor of scotch, and he he's going on his podcast every night and doing that. I think they must be in day four now. So yeah, well, yeah, obviously. So it's pretty cool what you guys are doing, you and Laura.

SPEAKER_00:

We're gonna have to check that out.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, absolutely. But getting back to the music, um, you know, the whole genre bending and all that that's going on is is more now than it's ever been.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_04:

And I I don't it's not just with country, I mean it's all across the board. It's everybody's going every which way, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And we know I don't think you had um had touched on it. Has that always been present? Or do you think Beyonce kind of opened opened the floodgates, if you will, kind of was like the first one to really open our eyes to that.

SPEAKER_04:

I think it's always been present, but I think it really took a leap when she she did that. Okay, and uh now, you know, like I mentioned this a few minutes ago, you know, you get you see Neo, and uh we got Shabozy. Look at Shabuzy, you know. You look at him and you go, he's a country artist.

SPEAKER_02:

That's another great example.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I know he's a good example. I mean, he's got some great music out there, as a matter of fact. Um I'm watching Chuck is posting, love country fusion, you know, and that's what we're talking about because it's all coming together, yeah. Um, but uh Stephen Wilson Jr. on the CMA Awards performed with Shabuzy. Yes, they were both out there, so that was interesting too, you know. So it kind of shows you that it's all over, it's all over the place in a good way.

SPEAKER_02:

Do you think that um award shows are still relevant? Do you think like the CMAs and the Grammys, do you think they still hold value current day?

SPEAKER_04:

I think they do. Um, they say the CMA awards are the biggest night in country music. I I firmly believe that they get the show off. Uh what I don't know too much about, and uh I don't know if I really want to go there, but um the feeling is that people are getting and artists are getting awards when there's other artists that have done more. Or how is that working? Are the record labels doing something? Are they, you know, I mean, there's this something going on, but uh I love the show, and I think you know country fans are gonna love the show, they're gonna see their favorite artists. Um, and they're all in attendance and they're all on the red carpet. Well, almost all Morgan Wallen wasn't there, but he's he's got like uh chip on his shoulder about the CMAs, and I get it, I totally get it. Doesn't mean he's not a great performer, doesn't I mean look what he's done. Um, album sold, I mean, record breaking. He's got how many songs on the wolf? I mean, it just keeps going and going uh with him, but yet now he what he doesn't get like entertainer of the year, he doesn't, it's like what it just kind of makes you think a little bit. Not that yes, you know, and I love the other artist as well, but I'm just saying, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Me kind of thinking more towards the Grammys, I I definitely I mean, I'm just thinking I think they definitely hold value for sure. I mean, I mentioned first episode how Doji was the third woman to win like album of the year as a rap category, um, as a rap artist, and like that to me holds value. And then I know when the Grammys were released, I think um, I believe they came out last month. I looked at that list, I was like, okay, so who's album of the year? Who's this? I think it's because it's a great way to recap who are the top artists of the year and like the uh the songs of the year, you know, you kind of can like reminisce on like, oh my gosh, do you remember the song of 2025? Or this, you know, just I think that those are that's what holds value with with awards.

SPEAKER_04:

So I before I I went on online and got myself list. You've got yours written down.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I've uh yes, we're different.

SPEAKER_04:

This is this is kind of funny though, when you think about it. She's got like uh you know, lined paper, the old style tablet written in ink, made notes about what we were gonna talk about. Tell me, we go on AI, nice neat. Now, you would think it would be the other way around, yeah, just because of who we are and the difference between us, but it is and kind of looking at generations and accessibility and how they would kind of lean more towards.

SPEAKER_02:

I think it's it's interesting how how you went more technologically, if you will, and I went more like pen and paper. I was just spitballing ideas. I was like, What are we doing?

SPEAKER_04:

It's crazy. So I went online and uh I've got uh, you know, like I asked, who is America listening to right now on Spotify? And he gave me the top 10 artists in the United States. All right. At number 10, it's Kanye West. All right, number nine, Tyler the creator. Now the guy sells out shows in seconds. Let's be real about that.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, have you seen him perform? His shows are phenomenal. He's one of those artists that like he puts his whole body, heart, and soul, everything into it.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh, was it Za? Is it S C A? Zaza? Uh oh no, no, number eight. I'm sorry, I went ahead of myself here. Uh, number eight is our country boy. I gotta say this. Uh, Zach Bryan, still holding strong. Zach Bryan. Uh Za S Z A.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, Siza.

SPEAKER_04:

Sizza Sizza. Uh oh.

SPEAKER_01:

Skip, she was in my top five for Spotify wrapped. Uh-oh. I love you could have butchered that way.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, from what I'm reading, though, she's absolutely owning RB. Everything that I'm seeing is that Sisa is actually doing that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I gotta write the girl of RB right now. She's oh my god. This last year she went on tour with Kendrick Lamar.

SPEAKER_04:

Um amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing. You know, I have seen her, I just wasn't sure how to say that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you you have a face, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Exactly. I do. How about the weekend? The weekend was number six. Uh, he's breaking still streaming records the weekend. Uh, at number five, he's gonna be at the Super Bowl, and uh, there was a lot of controversy about this, but uh and I love it, Puerto Rican. Uh, we're talking about Bad Bunny basically shuts down the internet anytime he drops something. If a new song comes out, they're all over it. It's no wonder that he's at that's awesome that he's gonna be at the Super Bowl. Yeah, I may have somebody watching this going, what are you kidding? No, we didn't want him, we wanted Taylor. And there was rumor for a little bit that Taylor Swift was gonna be at the Super Bowl. Now we know that's not happening, as far as we know. All right, Kendrick Lamar at uh number four. Okay. Um Pulser uh Pulitzer a prize, and still one of the best doing it. Um, that's what I made note there. Uh Morgan Wallen at number three. Here we go.

SPEAKER_02:

He comes out with lots of songs, you know. He's he's constantly pushing out music, he's one of those artists that is above and beyond consistent. So I'm not surprised he's in top three at all. Okay, and his no surprise then no, not for me. I think I think he also he's got that magic. He you whether you love him or hate him, he just comes out with these mainstream hits that people are like, I I really resonate with that.

SPEAKER_04:

Country fans, they show up big for him. It doesn't number two spot. How about Drake? It's like a streaming machine. This guy just can't go wrong, right? I mean, huge. And uh, here we go. The number one most streamed artist T Swift Taylor.

SPEAKER_02:

Are we surprised?

SPEAKER_04:

No, or not. Um, shocking absolutely nobody with that statement, and uh, that would be the top 10 right now. Um, the top 10 streaming. That's what I got off that. That was pretty cool. Made my little notes next to it.

SPEAKER_02:

Are any of those artists in your playlist?

SPEAKER_04:

Uh yeah, one Zach Bryan. Okay. Uh Morgan Wallen, of course. Yeah, those are the two. Out of that, those are the two that we're playing. Um, you know, obviously, we're not doing the Lamar and the Tyler, the creator, not on, you know, not on the wolf or Kanye West, but yeah. But I did, I worked at our sister station uh moving. We were playing Kanye West. I remember doing that. I mean, that was a little different for me to be doing that, but uh, I was doing middays on that radio station and it was uh you know talking about Kanye West.

SPEAKER_02:

I remember you don't say it. I'm gonna say it. We have to say just because you just messed up Siz's name. I think it's important for people to know that that Skip does this sometimes. That's why we need phonetics. Didn't you one time?

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, yes, I did, I did messed up Kanye because I it was earlier in his career, so let's not hold Skip. Yeah, well, you know, doing country 99% of my career, absolutely love it, love the format, love the music. I love the way you know we're talking here in the crossover. I think that's great. And to be honest with you, I can listen to almost any type of music. I just you know, you never know what my mood's gonna be. I'm gonna listen to it. But um, yeah, so I uh I think I called him Kenya, Ken, Ken, Kenya, Kenya, Kenya West, then Kenya, uh Kenya, and I'm like going, okay. And then I remember going, that's not it. So that was that was a long time ago. Look how long he's been around. But uh, you know, if you're not familiar with the format and the artist, I totally get it. Yeah, and so I get it. I have people that mispronounce the country artists when they hear a song and they come up to me and I'll go, oh, you mean you know, so yeah, exactly. So that's kind of crazy. That's kind of crazy. It happens though.

SPEAKER_05:

It happens, it does.

SPEAKER_04:

What do you get with it? You just embarrass the hell out of me.

SPEAKER_02:

That I I I didn't mean to. I I think I didn't mean to. I just think it's so funny. It is see, you know, because I I do it to country artists. You do, she does. Sometimes I look at their names, I'm like, what the heck? Or when um our other sister station or brother station, the dinosaur, those artists that are from like the 60s, 70s, and 80s, there's some of them that I'm like, I don't know how to say this.

SPEAKER_04:

How would you know that though? How would you unless I don't even know, you know, your mom and dad, but still your mom and dad are pretty young. So how would you know that? I mean, I'm a big like I say, I love all kinds of music, and it what really would put me in a good mood is through um I listen to a lot of the older stuff sometimes, and uh you may hear it coming out of my office once in a while when I'm like, I need to a little pick me up, yes, you know, and then Becky will go, I remember that from the clubs. So, and then we're talking about 80s, so yes, oh my god, that was crazy, crazy stuff though.

SPEAKER_02:

Crazy stuff that's so funny. Aside from radio, what's your favorite way to like listen to music? Like favorite medium of listening to music. Oh my would it be like in a club through a speaker? No, like would it be no?

SPEAKER_04:

I don't do the club thing.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, and I don't even know how would it be live music?

SPEAKER_04:

I love live music.

SPEAKER_02:

Do you like live music?

SPEAKER_04:

I love live music, you know, even though I DJ'd weddings for god knows how many years, I love music is a whole different experience, it is, and I have a lot of respect for the musicians, and uh we get involved with the Sammy Awards every year, which is the Syracuse Area Music Awards, and uh being able to see some of that and be with the artist and see what they put into it, it means so much. It's live music. Gotta love that, gotta love that. Um, it's not AI, it's the real artist, if you know what I mean. Yeah, um the real magic. But uh, I think the but you know, I go on on my computer. Um, I get a lot of music from, you know, I'll listen, I'll go through YouTube on a Sunday morning. That's what I do. I'm down here in my boxers and a t-shirt, and I'm like on my other computer. Just uh it kind of, you know, I'm listening to a lot of the the new music, and uh yeah, I mean, and sometimes I'll hear something and go, I gotta get that on the wolf, I gotta get that on the radio. Um, then I kind of look to see what labels you know they're working with, and you know, I'll talk to the label and find out if a lot of the music that you do hear, a lot of the the new music that is so good, um, they're not releasing a lot of that to radio. You get it on the internet, you get it by uh different uh digital service DSPs.

SPEAKER_02:

Like TikTok. Yeah, TikTok is a great example of people getting asked. I was gonna go there music.

SPEAKER_04:

That's where yes, way ahead of the the game for radio. Exactly, 100%. 100%. Absolutely. So I would say, you know, I I think the radio, I mean, it's a proven fact. That uh for most people, the radio is where they discover new music. It's the radio. It's somebody like me. I go a little bit deeper for the reason I want to find out what's out there and what's coming and what can I get on and get on as soon as possible.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. And I'm not sure if we touched on this um in one of our previous podcasts, but streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, they follow algorithms and same with TikTok. They do follow algorithms, so they're pushing out content and music that you're engaging with more often with. And radio doesn't do that, it's just it's going and throwing you a whole bunch of different things just to give you a whole different experience. So I I I can uh see where you're getting that, yeah, and see where that's true.

SPEAKER_04:

And and I don't like that idea though, because now these people aren't being exposed to a lot of the yeah, the other stuff that's out there. And for example, Steven Wilson Jr., how many people you know, how many people really know him? You know what I mean? Yeah, I know and uh it got a kind of real live DJ radio still rules, it does, absolutely. And one thing I will say, and there's a big controversy now. I know we talked touched on AI last time around. I'm not gonna go there um real deep, but I will say that, for example, the radio station that I'm at, um, we're real DJs, you're we're human, we're in there every day. We're not using AI voices to do a radio show. Uh, there are some stations that do that now. Um, we play nothing but the real artist. You're not gonna hear, and there was some talk here not too long ago about uh, you know, the number one listen to song on Billboard was this guy that never existed existed, and a song that was made up with AI. So that that's to me, it's bullshit because the artist you're taken away from the artist and his craft. Um, but uh I can tell you, I know with our radio station, we're real, we're real, it's real all the way around. Uh Big D and Bubba in the morning, they're real. Yeah, granted, they're not in Syracuse, they're in their own studio in Nashville, but we talk to them every day, we tell them what's going on, and they're creating original content, and exactly. And then you got Marissa all day, all day long, talking about everything that's going on in town. You got me in the afternoon, you got B dub at night, and overnight's you know, it's back to back. And our late females, how cool is that?

SPEAKER_02:

I think that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04:

I don't know, it's great, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

We're working on really marketing that that's something that's in the works. Um, so if you're watching, now you know you're gonna really come out with that because we think that that's amazing. Um, and we really want to highlight these phenomenal ladies, you know, and that doesn't happen enough. Yeah, you know, and uh for it's I love the female talent, I love hearing that on the air, just to give a good balance when it comes to the radio station with the guys and the girls, and it just kind of balances it all a whole bunch of different perspectives and and the the ages of the ladies, the experiences that all of the ladies go through are all different, they all have different stories and things going on in their lives. So you're getting insight on different people's perspectives that I think is really, really cool. And to kind of um, I kind of wanted to touch back on the real people at the radio station. And something that I didn't realize until I started working in a radio station was the support that a radio station directly has with the artists and creating real events like concerts, like live concerts, and how like you make a safe environment when we do showcases. You know, you're there really working to make sure that like there's support for the record label, you know, like if something needs to be done, if we have to adjust, if we got to change a graphic on a TV because it looks wonky, we're gonna get it done before you even realize because that's what needs to be done. And I think that's something that we don't really accredit to radio as much anymore because I think we're so you're so overshadowed when it comes to live events by Ticketmaster and and Live Nation that you're you forget that there is a local factor um that's really important to making these events actually happen.

SPEAKER_04:

Let me ask you this. Um, I'm gonna put this up on the screen here. This is this is pretty cool. So um do you think AI music could become its own genre?

SPEAKER_02:

That's uh that's a really great uh great question.

SPEAKER_04:

It is a very good question. I don't have an answer. I hope it doesn't. Because I just hope it doesn't, it's not human.

SPEAKER_02:

I I don't know because AI's really just I think AI is still so unknown. And I think from our understanding, maybe it's my I don't know. Maybe it's my understanding, it's it's stuff that's already been experienced or knowledge that we already know. So to break out and have something new or a new genre. I don't know how that could happen if it's based off of things that have already happened, if that makes sense. I don't I don't know. We don't know if AI is capable of creating this whole new unheard thing. I think that's that's the really scary and unforeseen thing.

SPEAKER_04:

Chuck is saying Queen saw this happening back in '84. So I don't know. That's wow. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I was gonna um segue into digital concerts. You baby, digital, yes. So Skip and I were talking about um Roblox, which is a gaming uh software for all ages, how there are games that recreate uh like digital concerts. And I was like concert experience, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So I was like, uh, you're kidding. Well, how does that work? Whatever. And you said, look, I I'm gonna show you, and this is what this is what she showed me. Let me see. Hopefully, it'll come up. So uh here we go. So this is let's see if it'll play. So this is um this is roadblocks, all right?

SPEAKER_02:

Right. So this um I think you gotta go to the other tab up top.

SPEAKER_00:

I gotta go where up top all the way up top.

SPEAKER_02:

Um the left up up.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, we are uh like pushing buttons here and nothing's gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so this image, pretend it's playing. Um so the figure in the back, the really tall figure is Lil Nas X. And throughout the video, it shows uh little characters, the smaller figures, those are people that are gamers, like they're engaging with the game, and then Lil Nas X isn't there in the beginning, and then all of a sudden he shows up and he goes through a whole soundtrack of music and performs, and all these people get to like jump, they get to engage in the chat, and they get to experience this digital concert. This is cool.

SPEAKER_05:

I just I'm trying to get we had it going before. What did I do?

SPEAKER_02:

I think on the tab, you have to go to yes, and then press play there.

SPEAKER_05:

You think of course not?

SPEAKER_02:

Can't nobody tell me nothing, and then Lil' Nasdax is the artist.

SPEAKER_04:

I got you now. Oh, you know, let me try to do this. Go back here. I guess I should just hand you the keyboard. Yeah, uh, but uh oh my gosh, we'll fix that next time. We'll leave that. That's freaking great. So you get a you get a good example of what uh you know what that is, and uh that's the first time I've done that, by the way. Uh oh, what happened? Oh, there's my camera. Never mind. I should hand you the keyboard. Uh but uh you know, these new cameras I have, they they follow you. So if I was to go like this, I think my camera would go over to there.

SPEAKER_02:

And then if I want to go over here, you know, I have the same camera, but mine doesn't like me as much as it likes.

SPEAKER_04:

So if I wanted to stop, I can just go like this and let's see if it flashes and it's not gonna do it because we're live on the air. Of course, it's not gonna do it. That's why we call this skip happens. But, anyways, but yeah, exactly. So that's roadblocks, you know, that would be cool because we all know how much tickets are. You want to go to a concert, it's hundreds of dollars.

SPEAKER_02:

Let's go for travel. There's a lot of time that goes into a concert. I mean, I am one of those girls that takes an hour and a half, two hours to get ready for a concert. I can't help myself. So, to just be able to go to a Roblox concert, I can wear sweatpants, have my hair in a bun, not do my eyebrows and have the same experience um just digitally. And it, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04:

It makes me wonder if if that could be a you know, I could come down in my box with shorts and my t-shirt, like I said when I listen to music. I could watch a concert.

SPEAKER_02:

I wonder if you could watch Morgan Wallen, like a digital Morgan Wallen concert. I wonder um if they would do those. I know they do um like live servers, so it's not like a game.

SPEAKER_04:

We have to look that in just up there because I like to talk about that, but uh, I don't have all the info here in front of me now. And what you're telling me, you know, who knows if I hit a button here, I might lose everything. So uh I I don't want to go there.

SPEAKER_00:

We don't want that, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

But that's cool. So it's roadblock roadblocks R-O-B-L-O.

SPEAKER_02:

R-O-B-L-O-X. X roadblock.

SPEAKER_04:

I got it. That's cool. It's been around a while though.

SPEAKER_02:

It has, it's actually a super, super popular game. It's a lot of people engage with it, and it's actually more popular among um kids.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, that's not me.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's for all ages. If you're a gamer, I think it's definitely it's free. You can have free games which you really can't find. You know, Fortnite, you have to you have to pay money for the console, you gotta pay money for the software, you gotta pay money. It's very expensive.

SPEAKER_04:

So my kids, grandkids have been telling me about that. So it's like ask them what they want to do. Tell them to play Roblox. Yeah, I will know that I'm sure they probably already know about it.

SPEAKER_02:

So just keep reverting them back there.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I know. That's that's cool though. That that's good to know that uh anybody watching this, go on, check it out. Let me let me know. Let us know what you think about that, which would be uh like really cool. So yeah. I'm trying to see what else here. Yeah, good old days. No, no, but yeah, roadblocks. That's cool. That's cool. Uh many, maybe satellite radio is a format. Um, there with that's the same gentleman that uh asked about uh do you think AI will have its own you know format? Well, maybe satellite radio. Now that is that's a possibility, but you spelled satellite wrong. But that's okay, it doesn't matter because I would spell it the same way as as Miss Ray.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, exactly. But uh no, I mean that yeah, I mean, you know, we're terrestrial radio. I don't think it'll ever happen on that, but satellite I might because they have so many different uh channels and opportunities to get different types of music out. So yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02:

It is yeah, and kind of I'm sorry, I'm just thinking kind of about how that person asked about AI being a genre and how within this past year there was an artist artist who was signed for millions of dollars with a record label, and the artist is is AI generated. Um I hate saying that. I have to know I hate saying that and not having the name. But you can I know it was like three million, it was like uh more RB artist, but it just it makes me wonder about the originality. And are people drawn to originality nowadays, or are they more drawn to just uh background noise or something that blends in?

SPEAKER_04:

Coming up, growing up, I wanted the real deal. I wanted originality, I wanted creativity. To me, that's what matters. I don't know, maybe you're right. Maybe nowadays everybody's like, oh, whatever, it sounds good, I'll listen to it. Not knowing everything.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. You think I don't know. I think I think that there's a personal, I always think this. I always think that there's like an internal, a personal preference, and then a societal influence. You know what I mean? There's something that you're personally interested in, and then there's something that society or like your friends, for example, influences you to like and how those two worlds kind of mesh and become blurred. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Wow, you got me thinking now. It's like that hurts.

SPEAKER_02:

So yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh, she puts up with me every day. She does, she does. If if only you knew, and I'm sure. Uh yeah, well, as we go on with the Skip Happens podcast, you're gonna find out more and more and more of what goes on, and uh, we have a lot of fun. But basically, it's you know what we do for a living right now with music and and giving uh hopefully it's a good entertainment value for you with radio, regardless what radio station it is. But if it's terrestrial radio, it's so very important that you get the most out of it, and uh some of it's being taken away. So, and I hope it doesn't all go away. Who knows? Who knows what's gonna happen? So, yeah, but then we got we got the podcast, it's a new way of doing things.

SPEAKER_02:

It is, and I also wonder if radio will kind of die down and then come back alive. Um, you know, radio's not the only um media that's kind of struggling nowadays. Local newspapers are also very, very much struggling.

SPEAKER_04:

Um well we know that because you know, we have Syracuse.com. That is, you know, that's where we get our you know, local news now. I mean, they're part of the newspaper, but uh we used to get well, we used to get the paper. We're gonna show our age here. We used to get the paper all the time, then it went down to just a few times a week, then it went down to just Sunday only. Now everything's uh, you know, we subscribe online. Yeah, get it online. And uh, even though Facebook, I don't know how relevant it is right now, but um there's a lot of news that you know comes through Facebook. But then again, you get your alerts on your phone, you get your school closings on your phone. You don't that's another thing that's been uh, you know, with radio, I can recall spending half the morning show reading school closings. You know, I mean, maybe you know, for you, it maybe you don't don't remember or you didn't know, but uh back in the day, if it was a day like today where we had a lot of snow, it'd be like, Oh, okay, somebody's gotta answer the phones, they gotta take the school closings, they gotta, and we'd have a list like three, four, five, six pages long, and uh every few minutes we would have to read to school closings, and they always started with Altmar Parish, Williamstown, because that was a and then by the time we got to and when I used to listen for that, I went to West Genesee.

SPEAKER_02:

Was there another way it was at the end? I didn't mean to interrupt. Is there another way to get that information, like closings or delays at that time other than radio?

SPEAKER_04:

No, that's why that's why local radio was so important, right? And traffic accidents, and we had uh traffic group reporters, and we had all that. You don't see that now. You get you get everything on your phone, and and I'm not complaining about that. I think that's great. I think it's great. You know, we don't the the school closings. If one you if you my kids are gone now, but when you get up in the morning, you see the scroll on the bottom of the screen.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, everybody see the camera loves to follow Skip.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, but is it following my hand or is it following? Oh, it must be following me. Let me just I'll I'll continue in a minute. Hang on. That's not gonna work. I know that you know what you laugh at me, but that actually tells the camera to stop.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I know it's just funny. Stop.

SPEAKER_04:

No, exactly. Stop. Um, but it's all the hand gestures that uh make it happen. What was I saying? No, I was talking about um oh the the scroll on the bottom of the screen. You get up. Is there something with that word? Didn't it do this before?

SPEAKER_01:

What?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, see, didn't it do that before? So, anyway, so I can talk. Maybe I can scrunch on.

SPEAKER_02:

There we go. There we go. We just lost Gary for a second.

SPEAKER_04:

I know, Gary. Hang on, hang on. We're gonna do this. We're gonna do this. I'm trying to tell it to stop. And when it sees my hand, this camera's really cool. If you don't know what we use, I mean I've had several different cameras here in the pod zone, but uh, these are uh Insta360s, they're webcams, but they are very high-end webcams, and as you can see, it's so smart it's gonna follow me. If I was to get up and walk from this table, it would follow me all the way around up the door and out the up the stairs and out the studio door.

SPEAKER_02:

Isn't that so cool?

SPEAKER_04:

Is it awesome? That's the sign of the times. Yeah, so there you go. But uh no, with the school closings, you see it at the bottom of the screen now. But uh, if you listen to radio, you really don't, you don't, unless it's a very small town. I know here locally, I don't know of anybody that's doing them. I could be wrong, but uh I don't know that's doing them. So and now everything, uh, when my son was going to school, we'd get the alerts right on our phone. So, you know, North Syracuse would be on a one-hour delay, two hour delay, or they're canceled for today, you know. Yeah, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I think that it's interesting to kind of look at that and then also kind of flip sides and think about how there's like a vinyl revival going on, you know, vinyl are kind of becoming more popular and people are um going back to them, listening to them. I myself am also doing that, you know. I I have a lot of vinyls, I listen to them on a on a player, and I think I have friends that also are starting to do that that are buying them because of the the art that's on the vinyl.

SPEAKER_04:

Yep, and the color of the vinyl.

SPEAKER_02:

That too, like the aesthetic of a vinyl is is really coming back, and I think that that's interesting because I feel like there was there must have been a time where you felt like vinyls weren't gonna come back where you were like there was, yeah, there was. I don't know. I um we still kind of feel that way about CDs.

SPEAKER_04:

We're like no, we use them as decorations now. That yeah, hang them from the tree, or you can hang them from the mirror, the car, or the truck, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

It's kinda uh I don't know. When I listened to vinyl, I just it's like a whole experience for me. The crackle of the the sound. And I was listening to um the other day I had a um I had someone let me borrow a John Bellion Beethoven blues rendition. Oh my gosh, which um was a jazz, it was a jazz rendition. And I listened to it on uh streaming, and then I listened to it on vinyl. And what do you think I liked better?

SPEAKER_04:

The vinyl.

SPEAKER_02:

I loved you're not gonna the vinyl so much better. I felt like I was experiencing like Pinocchio, like Disney's Pinocchio. I was like, I feel like they had to have recorded it from like used a microphone and not like put the audio in like how you would normally do it nowadays, which is really do you know what I mean? Like I I know.

SPEAKER_04:

And you know, the quality from a good pressed vinyl record. You can't beat that. I mean, if you got a good player and you got a great album, man, I'll tell you, it's pretty awesome. Pretty awesome. Uh, good night, Chuck. Thanks. Uh, thanks for having us on, by the way. He says it's got to run. See you guys next time. Absolutely. Um, but uh uh what's it, covaction?

SPEAKER_02:

Covaction. Covaction. We messed that up one. I know.

SPEAKER_04:

I was calling COVID vacation or something. I don't know. Because they travel all around the world. I don't know. Maybe someday they'll take us with them. We should do the podcast.

SPEAKER_02:

We should do a collaboration podcast.

SPEAKER_04:

We should. We should. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

Music and food.

SPEAKER_04:

That could be dangerous. That could be dangerous. I don't know. But uh, if you have ideas, of course, you can always let us know as well. Um, but uh yeah, this is really cool. Uh, one thing I do want to mention. Um, I was supposed to be talking to Grayland James last night on the podcast, uh, but he had a conflict. So we have if you follow Skip Happens and you follow my interviews with the artist, uh, he's been rescheduled for next Tuesday night, eight o'clock. Graylin James, water at a wedding fair.

SPEAKER_02:

Tune in.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, it's gonna be a good show. Yeah, it's always good. It's always good, but uh yeah, it's always good. It's interesting talking about the music and all that, so you know it just and your thoughts being uh what they are, and my thoughts being what they are. It's but they all come together. This is that's what it's about, Miss Ray. It's what it's about. Yeah, it is, and uh, you know, we're at that time of the year, and uh I don't know, is uh your notes? Are you gone through your notes? I um I have to ask because she'll go, you didn't talk about this.

SPEAKER_02:

No, we we really hit on like a lot of everything you were busy today. I was I mean there were um what would be your anthem?

SPEAKER_04:

Oh no, yeah, we talked about this.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, what would be if you had a song to describe you, what would your your anthem be?

SPEAKER_04:

Uh is it uh oh my god, don't forget about me, don't forget me when I'm gone. I don't know. You wouldn't even know. I'm trying to think. Oh, glass tiger. What I'm trying to the the group was Glass Tiger. Don't you forget about me or something? No, no, was it? I don't know. Something like that.

SPEAKER_02:

Don't you forget about me?

SPEAKER_04:

No, it's not that that not that one. No, this is real rocky. Um very rock edge, and Brian Adams sings a verse in it as well. I'll play it for you tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I wish I knew.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I don't know. What about you?

SPEAKER_02:

I I would have to say Pursuit of Happiness by Kid Cuddy. Have you ever heard that song?

SPEAKER_05:

I know what you're talking about, yes.

SPEAKER_02:

You do?

SPEAKER_05:

I yeah, I can't say I listen to it every day, but I I know I know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_05:

Um, yeah, tell me about the song.

SPEAKER_02:

It's just talking about like living for you, doing what makes you happy, and just kind of wanting to always do things that that fill your cup and give you gratification, you know.

SPEAKER_04:

You know, I didn't mean to cut you off. I'm sorry. You're good. I just ramble sometimes, but uh, I see Don Goslin is watching Don uh with Valerie music. Um, Don's on the edge of retirement, he's he's going good. He's like, Okay, I've had enough of this. But I would love to ask somebody like him. Don't spend radio, he went out with records. Um, Don, if you're still watching, what song would describe you? I'm just really, really curious. Tell me, all right. Tell us if you're still there. If not, I get it. Barley hung up on us. Barley said, I've had enough of this crap. So, but yeah, and don't forget if you're watching this, make sure if you have not subscribed to Skip Happens, uh, you go to Skip Happens on YouTube, subscribe because it it'll help Miss Ray and myself out a lot. Um, of course, we're gonna be doing this uh every week and or as much as we can. So, but we do need to take care of this little split in the screen here. I know, you know, we gotta figure that out. We gotta figure that out, but uh just technical difficulties. That's all that's why Skip Happens.

SPEAKER_02:

That's what it's called.

SPEAKER_04:

Skip happens, yeah. So um we'll see if Don responds or not. But um is your let's talk about this real quick. Uh, your family ready for the holiday. I know that we're doing this, it's like early December. So uh all good. A tree up.

SPEAKER_02:

We we still well, we have two trees. We have like one in our den, which is um, we do that tree for like separate presents, like for Christmas Day. Oh, and then, or maybe it's vice versa. I don't remember what we switch it up every year. It's um one Christmas tree is for like our family, which is before Christmas, and then one tree is for um like Christmas Day for our immediate family.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, cool. See, everybody looks at that. We have are they real, first of all?

SPEAKER_02:

One of them is um real, that's the one that's like in our living room, and I'm the reason that we we get a real tree. I'm a firm, firm believer that it's not Christmas unless you have a real tree. We always went out. I grew up, dad chopped down the tree. My sister and I know you drag it out, dragged it, and it it was just a whole it was a whole experience, though it looks a little different. You know, we're not chopping down trees anymore, we're just going to the Christmas tree farm, picking one that looks well take down one$75 later.

SPEAKER_04:

You've got it home.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, which is yeah, my parents must love me a lot because that's how much like a fake one costs.

SPEAKER_04:

You cannot uh so the smell of a real tree, you cannot beat that. Yeah, you know, but nowadays they have the little scents, the things you plug in the wall and you like a pine thing. A pine thing. I know we have fake. We have one, two, three, four. And uh four trees. Yeah, we have a pencil tree in the in the family room. You may have seen it on your way down to the studio. Um, but that tree has the ornaments on that tree, are all like family ornaments, if you know what I mean. They're from Zach ornaments. My dad used to, my dad used to love the paint ornament. I don't know what it was. He he loved to do little crafty things with the ornaments. We have a lot of those on the tree. My mom, uh, family, just family oriented for my daughters as they went through school. Now they're you know, they're on their own. But uh tree is strict, yeah. That the ornaments on that tree is strictly family. On the big tree up in the living room, it's uh, you know, all the formal ornaments, you know, the balls. Did it again? Did you see that?

SPEAKER_02:

I did, I did, but I was also thinking about how every time I come in the house, the tree upstairs looks like a Christmas story Christmas tree.

SPEAKER_04:

Because it's fake.

SPEAKER_02:

No, because it's a little too big, it's got what do you mean too big? Are you saying my tree is too big? You know, all right.

SPEAKER_04:

We can't put a star on it.

SPEAKER_02:

I know, um, yeah, this ray, and it's but it's it's fine. I was telling, I was talking with your wife earlier about how like it's not even that big of a deal because it's so big and full, and you guys have the little um like strands on it, and it's so full with ornaments that it doesn't even matter.

SPEAKER_04:

She she decorates that, she doesn't allow me to touch it. The only thing I can help her with is with the uh the little, I don't know what she pulls around the beads that see. Oh, it's following my hand. I gotta put my hand away. Um, yeah, so no, I'm not allowed to touch it. It's her deal. So, anyways, okay, just thought I'd ask. That's cool. All right, well, we're good. We're good, you know. It's been great. How about you?

SPEAKER_02:

Are you getting ready for Christmas?

SPEAKER_04:

Besides the Christmas trees, you see me in the studio every day on Amazon.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm just saying, and I almost got all my Christmas shopping done. No, almost everybody in my yeah, see, I did pretty good this year. Normally, I I usually do one big haul and I regret it later. Yeah, so this year I really was like, I want to be better, I want to space it out a little bit more, and that is the way to do it.

SPEAKER_04:

That's a good thought. Like that's the way to do it. I thought in the middle of summer, I'm saying, you know what? I'm just gonna start getting things hiding, you know, hide the presents, put them away. What's the date? December, you know, early December, and here we are. Skip has one gift.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I was just gonna say, how many gifts do you have? Two?

SPEAKER_04:

Like it's the it's I did the same thing. It's the Amazon box that showed up at the radio station. Because that's that's what I do. It's like it's oh yeah, that's it. Anyway, so that's our life. That's that's the way it is. And uh, Miss Ray and uh of course myself, Skip Clark, and uh, this is what we call skip happens, just everyday discussion. Uh, if you got something you'd like to hear us uh talk about, just you know, get outlined, let us know.

SPEAKER_05:

That's all we'll talk about it, talk about everything, and uh yeah. So what do you think?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I got I got something I'd like to talk about. So kind of talking about I feel like the theme's been like real people this uh episode, and except for Roblox. Except for Roblox.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02:

But I kind of want to touch on how artists create these parasocial relationships. Do you know what I mean by that? So what I mean is um with their fans. So basically, like artists come out with this music and fans interpret them and think that they know these artists, and then they form this relationship where they they like understand the artist based on their music. But do you think that the music defines the artist?

SPEAKER_04:

Not entirely, but I think for country music, the music that they put out, and if they have a hand in writing it, I think it reflects a lot of what they go through in their personal life.

SPEAKER_02:

And what about the fans? Like kind of looking at the fans, do you think like it's I don't want to use the word healthy, but like I don't know. Do you think that we should be creating these relationships where we become really influenced by musical artists in that way?

SPEAKER_04:

Music is a universal language. I mean, there there is absolutely so much that I hear a song and I connect with the artist by thinking, wow, that song's about me. Wow, how did he know? But you know what?

SPEAKER_02:

I've had that moment where I thought that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_04:

We're all human, and it's like they they go through experiences just like we go through experiences, uh, you know, relationships and different things that happen in our lives, and that's that's with country music, we call it the soundtrack to your life. It is really when you think about it, and that's how when you hear a song, and sometimes that's how you get connected to an artist. Um I know with Tyler, uh a friend of mine, he talked to um Kelsey um Hart. No, Kelsey um wait a minute, who was it? Who do we have here?

SPEAKER_02:

Kelsey Hart.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, I am right. Kelsey Hart. And uh Kelsey gave him some great advice, and it this came through his music too. And uh Tyler will always he's connected to him because of that. He's a fan because of his music. He connected through a song, and uh it's pretty cool. He was going through a rough thing.

SPEAKER_02:

That's like the medium of connection.

SPEAKER_04:

I think it is, I think it is. Yeah, yeah, I think so. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_02:

That does make sense.

SPEAKER_04:

So I think there's that connection there with the with the music and and personal life.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, you know, and what do you go ahead? When we say music, I think that there's a lot that goes into the word music. You know, there's the the instrumental, there's the words, there's an emotion, like a an overlying emotion. Like we know that faster-paced music is probably gonna insinuate something like happy or getting you pumped up, but if something's slower, it's it's to mellow you out. Um I guess my question is is what do you think that there's a certain one of those that defines music, or do you think all of them combined makes music?

SPEAKER_04:

I think all of them combined makes music. Okay, it all depends. I think it's it's all over. I mean, you're right. There's uh there's faster music, there's harder music, and it depends on what you know what your mood is and what you want and what you've been through. And uh, and then there's uh, you know, the instrumentals. There's wow, there's some really, you know, I love a steel guitar, and that just kind of puts me in a like a really like I say this, I don't want to sound cheesy, but like a romantic mood. It's like this is so cool.

SPEAKER_02:

Um I I get it. I when I listen to a bass guitar, I feel indestructible. I'm like, yeah, like yeah, like I'm like, I don't know why that or um a saxophone or a trumpet, like yeah, a sax one of those sexy, yeah. Like they they have these kind of exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

They create certain feelings and have certain like I hear I hear a trumpet in a I think of uh you know, um I just think like like groups like Chicago and Earth Wind and Fire, and that where they had a lot of big brass section, and it really brought the sound of the music out, and it wasn't you know, a lot of it was instrumental, it was just so cool, so cool. So, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, good questions there. I know, I know. Look at you digging into all that, but uh yeah, that's what we do here. So it's skip happens, and um, you know, don't forget next week, uh, it's the ninth, and uh, I'll have Grayland James on, Nashville Artist, Water at a Wedding. Go listen to the music. It's been out, Water at a Wedding's been out for a little bit. Um, but yeah, and we also had them in town. We brought him in to uh for our listeners with the wolf, and uh, I think we're the only country station that actually brings the artist in for you, so it doesn't cost you anything to go. Just keep that in the back of your mind. If you're from central New York and you listen to country, if you're in another part of the country, I don't know. Tell you, you can listen online, but you're gonna have to fly in.

SPEAKER_02:

Come visit, come visit, come visit. You might not want to right now. We're covered in snow, but but that's what happens. Maybe more so you, because you're in the in uh what they call it, snowbell, which is actually it's quite flipped right now, which is so interesting with Lake Effect and you didn't have this in uh um no, it's actually calmer in in there at home.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, we were worried about you because we talked about the podcast today, whether or not you make the trip in, but obviously everything was good. And when I came home from the radio station, everything was was good.

SPEAKER_02:

Roads were worse more towards your house, which is interesting because it should be worse at my house.

SPEAKER_04:

And it probably will be knock on wood, knock on the table. There you go. All right, everybody, I want to say thank you for watching. Uh, thank you for listening. Um, you know, let us know what we can do better, do less of uh it's skip happens. We we talk about anything. Uh, we got some good stuff coming down in the near future, and don't forget, um, I usually uh try to get the artists down with us as well. And uh I know I do a lot of those interviews, and maybe once in a while Miss Ray will be in on those, or um, you know, maybe my buddy Tyler. I don't know. But uh yeah, we're looking forward to that. But uh, thank you for watching. You you got anything else you want to add?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, I I don't know. Hi, mom. Hi dad. Yeah, hey everyone. Um, no, I think we touched on everything. I think this was an awesome episode. I think we touched on touched on some really great stuff.

SPEAKER_04:

I love it. I love it. Absolutely. Thanks for watching.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks for watching.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, Miss Ray. Yeah, I can't point over there. There she is, even though she's like three feet from me, but my arm disappears. Hey, can I make my arm like there it is?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my gosh.

unknown:

What?

SPEAKER_05:

See? Come on, come on, there it is.

SPEAKER_02:

I wish my arm was still in there.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, there it is. All right. Well, thanks for watching, everybody. Have a great night, and uh, we'll be back with you next week. Uh, watch, stream anytime. Tell your friends about it, share it, do whatever you gotta do, subscribe to youtube.com slash at skip happens podcast. Have a great night, everybody. Bye.

SPEAKER_01:

See you.

Head Shot

Skip Clark

Host