Evan Read, Musician, Composer, Founder

00:00
If you gamify life, you almost take the weight of that risk out.

00:14
Welcome to another episode of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Robb. Thank you so much for tuning in. I certainly do appreciate that. Thank you for the folks that have shared the podcast, some of the posts that I've put up on Instagram @chewingthefatbr. If you follow me, thank you so much for sharing. Doesn't cost a thing and I really do appreciate it. As well as the folks that have bought me a coffee at ChewingtheFatBR.com. Thank you for supporting this podcast. I really do appreciate it. I've got a great guest sitting across from me now.

00:41
I've worked with this young man during a musical event, I guess it was probably 2019 or so, please welcome Evan Read. Robb, thanks for having me. Hey Evan, it's the dramatic pause. Yeah, Evan, you were my musical director in 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee with the Riverfront Theater Company.

01:08
I think it was, was it 2019 or so? Or was it a little earlier than that? Somewhere around there. Yeah. It was a group that, theater group here in North Augusta, South Carolina right across the border from Augusta. And Ryan Abel had kind of given me, it's one of my dream roles, William Morris Barfèe.

01:31
was one of my dream roles and he was like, hey, we're having auditions, you should come try out. I did, got the role and then got to work with Evan as musical director and it was probably one of the highlights of anything that I've ever done in the theater. Not only having you and your musicianship and your just care of us as singers and actors, but also working with Richard Justice as well before. Unfortunately, we lost him to COVID, but.

02:00
Evan, was music always a part of your life? It has been since three or four years old. And I'm not exaggerating there, to the point of making a bunch of noise with pots and pans in the kitchen, annoying parents all the way to now and never going to leave me. Is it still the pots and pans in the kitchen? I mean, is it every once in a while? Every once in a while. It depends on how angry I get at...

02:29
working on a piece of music that I can't play. Yeah. Now, Evan, were you from the Augusta area? I am. I am originally been here for, was raised here, made friends, family here and moved away in 2019 to Los Angeles and then now I'm in Chicago, but Augusta is always home. Yeah, yeah. You're, speaking of music in your life, not like that, your uncle.

03:00
Um, Alan, your uncle Alan, uh, I didn't realize it, realize it till several months, I think after we had worked together on Putnam County, um, that he was your uncle. Uh, Alan and I, uh, kind of ran in the same circle in one of his bands, uh, way, way back, uh, in my late teen years. Um,

03:28
called Last Generation. Of course, he's amazing. Another amazing musician. Maybe it's just something with the Reads. I don't know. It's just... I don't know. I don't know. My dad may have skipped that. Don't tell him I said that. Okay. No, you're right. He's an incredible drummer, incredible musician overall. And I've actually learned a lot from him. It's incredible that you guys actually know each other. It's a small world. Yeah. I think he played bass.

03:57
in last generation because Jamie Jones was our drummer. But yeah, it was... Guy plays everything. Yeah. Yeah. And an amazing technician in a studio too, for mixing sound and stuff like that. So I definitely can see... It's not a surprise to know that you're related because of the talent that you have and that he has. So from pots and pans in the kitchen, did you play an instrument in...

04:27
school or did you play several through elementary school and going up into high school and stuff like that? Yeah, I started with piano as a lot of folks do, taking lessons starting around nine or ten years old, but even before then tried to teach myself. Thankfully, had some grandparents that could play a couple of hymns on the piano that would try to...

04:54
try to educate me on how to play to the best of their ability. And I started taking lessons formally around 10. And I studied with this awesome teacher named Carrie Hurst. And she no longer lives in Augusta, but she really formulated my musical education on the piano. And I continued that all through high school, middle school, played trumpet.

05:21
in middle school. I still play trumpet now and you catch me playing a few shows here in Augusta and Chicago, New York sometimes on the trumpet. It's something I enjoy doing. Saxophone, guitar, probably not drums as less as the pots and pans. I'll leave that one to my uncle. But yeah, music's always been a part of my life.

05:49
try to keep up multiple instruments. Anyone who tells you that plays multiple instruments will tell you that it's pretty hard to keep all of them up and stay proficient at them. So yeah, it's a constant struggle and balancing. One day you feel like you're going to play this one, and the next day you feel like you play the other one. With playing brass instruments especially, you've got to keep your chops up. And it's something that's really important.

06:17
Not so great at, especially when focusing on the piano, but it always comes back to me and it's something that I will continue to do for the rest of my life. Yeah, that's really cool. I played trumpet in middle school for four years and then I went to choir and drama in high school. But it was, it's probably one of the biggest regrets of my life is not keeping up.

06:46
not keeping up my chops. And probably about four or five years ago, I bought myself another trumpet. I was like, okay, I'm gonna get back, I'm gonna get back up on the horse because there's the language of music and the expressiveness you can have in music is different than I think any other language form that is out there. Absolutely. In how you can just the way that you

07:15
play a series of notes or the way you even form notes and the pressure and all of those things that go into that sound is just, it's so connects to like what's inside the player, but also inside the listener. And so that's something, like I said, that I wish I had kept up with and I really need to, if anybody's looking for a late Christmas gift for me, some lessons would be amazing.

07:44
So maybe Rob, I can help you with that. Can you do some trumpet lessons? Yeah, I know. I love that. And you know, there's this famous clip out there. There's Wynton Marsalis has given a chat and there's a student that asked him, do you think the music is for the listener, for the player? And he replies back, well, the music's for the listener, but the first listener is always the player.

08:13
That really stuck with me throughout playing anything and tackling things that I thought were incredibly challenging. And I asked myself, why am I trying to play this? I can't do this. I can't do this. And then I just think about why I'm actually doing it. And it is for that reason. It's the universal language. And also the cognitive functions that your brain develops as a musician.

08:43
set you up for other areas in your life to make you more successful as well. Yeah, absolutely. So did you go to college for music? Was that a major? Did you decide to do something else? No, I didn't go. Oh, didn't. Didn't go. Okay. Nope. Okay. Much to my parents dismay at the time. A lot of long late night chats at the dinner table with that one. Yeah. So just right into the workforce.

09:10
I did. Well, it's kind of foray into when I was in high school, I started this nonprofit theater group here in Augusta and spent most of my time doing that and ran that a little bit after I had graduated and then I decided to take off and move and conquer another city. Yeah. Yeah. For the folks that

09:38
or like, you know, trying to make that decision. What was ultimately that driving force that allowed you to like, you know what? I'm gonna follow my heart. I wanna, you know what I mean? Cause I think that's hard for some people. We talked about before we started recording, you know, the time that it took me almost a year to just start the podcast because you gotta take that first step and you kind of put those things in front of you that are blockers that maybe you're hoping keeps you from doing something. So how was it for you to- Definitely. To, you know.

10:08
make that move and take that step. I look at life like a game, really. And there's points on a leaderboard. And this might sound a little extreme, but I really tend to think that things that happen to us, like things are neither good or bad, they just are what they are. And if you gamify life,

10:37
and go into that with that mindset, you almost take the weight of that risk out of the equation. Really strange way, I know, to think about it, but that's how I've been able to do things that would scare me. And there is definitely some element of fear, of course. But in the grand scheme of things, I know that it...

11:07
Like if I had moved out there and totally failed and had to move back home, like it was a chapter, it was something I tried to win and maybe this wasn't the right one for me and I'll win the next one. So that's sort of the mindset that I went into with it. I went out there with zero expectations, also zero people that I knew. So that was also pretty scary.

11:37
But again, it's just even something as mundane as trying to make friends in a new city and something like that, right? Where you might get rejected, you know, again, it's a game. It's a game. And that's sort of how I am able to detach from the results a little bit. Yeah. But even when you're saying that it's scary and there's a bit of fear in it, that fear can be exciting and exhilarating because it is, it's new. Definitely.

12:06
It's like you don't know what's around that corner. And that's a great way to put it, whether it's good or bad, is there's something around the corner. I want to find out what it is. Right, and that excitement, right? That's there to serve you. Yeah. Your fight or fight responses, right? Like that is a tool that we have in our arsenal to survive. Yeah. And you should use it, not cower behind it. That's awesome. So what did you, you went out to?

12:36
Los Angeles, what did you find there? What was that? A whole new world. It was fun. It was exciting. It was stressful. It was overwhelming. It was bad. It was good. It was all the things. Yeah. Thankfully, I had about a year and some change before the pandemic hit.

13:06
So I got a chance to see what this incredible city was like before everything kind of took a pause. And a lot of people really struggled during that time. But pre-pandemic LA was really something and made some very, very close friends out there in all kinds of walks of life.

13:35
and have exposure to people from many countries and religions and ethnic backgrounds and speaking like different languages and just this melting pot of diversity that I didn't I won't say changed who I am but helped me further refine who I want to be. Yeah. I mean, it's your you're the you know,

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quote unquote foreigner in that situation because you're coming from Augusta, Georgia, where you see a lot of the people that look like you, you see a lot of the people that kind of have the same thought process and things like that. So to be exposed to that type of thing, I can only imagine that it does open you up to literally the rest of the world and the rest of these other possibilities that you hadn't even thought of. Hadn't even thought of. And this goes from what's possible with from a...

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musical perspective, you know, opening up and having exposure to different ideas that you're not going to hear down at the Metro coffee house or, you know, even on the radio, just these really niche outlets that are there. So like, there's that extreme, but then there's also like, real stuff like money. Yeah. And, you know, politics and all this

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all this new ideas and sort of things that you do get exposed to that, again, it's not really meant to change you, it's meant to further refine like, okay, now I have a better sense of who I am. Yeah, I love that. I love that. So what did you find yourself doing there most of the time? Yeah, well, for the first year, I was doing like freelance consulting. So my background professionally really is...

15:32
like marketing strategy for tech companies. So I was doing some freelance consulting out there at the time. I had a few clients based in LA, so I was able to get some FaceTime with them. And that was nice. Spent all my extra time exploring the city, really trying to figure out where I wanted to live. I was renting out a bedroom for like $1,800 a month there. So I was like, yeah, I got to figure out.

16:00
where I'm going to settle. And really just trying to make friends and settle in. And then about a year into living there, I joined a tech company there based in Santa Monica. Started with them when there were about 10 employees. Left there when they were at almost 400. Wow. Worked with them for about three years.

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sold some real estate on the side too out there. So did a lot of hustling, so to speak. Tech company experience was really incredible because I got to see what a hundred million dollars in venture capital can do for a business. Wow, yeah. Yeah, that was a whole other, this could be a whole other podcast in itself, but made some incredible friends through that process and spent a lot of time.

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working with those people, especially with LA traffic. Yeah. Just stuck in traffic for, you know, 30 hours a day. Oh yeah, well, no, we would go and like get in the office at nine or 10 in the morning and stay until nine or 10 at night because rush hour just wasn't worth trying to take the two hour, four mile ride home. Right, right, yeah.

17:24
But yeah, so other than that, then I got involved in some jazz stuff out there, played for several different like bars in Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, like sort of like West LA side, played had a tremendous time, did a couple of studio gigs out there too. Nice. Then right before I left here.

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this in this past May to move to Chicago, I did a concert candlelight concert where we had a string quartet and some incredible vocalist and did this in association with a nonprofit called Broadway West and their mission is to revive the theater district in downtown LA. There are an incredible amount of theaters in downtown LA that are just sitting empty.

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or haven't been, their doors haven't been opened in 40 or 50 years. They are working on a tremendous undertaking of getting the lights back on in all those houses. And so we did a benefit concert for them in the spirit of Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was a incredible experience and just a treat to play in downtown LA by candlelight with some of the best singers and musicians

18:51
I've had the privilege to work with. I've seen similar things, like even here in town. I think that there's like a candlelight concerts, like at the Sacred Heart, where they have like a quartet and a piano player. Beautiful venue. And just by candlelight, we don't mean like one or two like candelabras, I mean it's like.

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5,000 candles all on the floor and all around and it's just bathed in this soft glow and this amazing music. That's really, really cool. Really special and I'm glad to hear that it's come to Augusta as well. That's awesome. So what made you decide to go to Chicago then? Just more what's behind the next turn? Yeah, I think I get...

19:45
bored and curious. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe the boredom is. Maybe, I don't know. It's something that I want to do now, that I'm young and single and I don't have a family yet. This is something that I've felt that, and not that there's anything wrong with that, but just at the stage of life that I'm at right now, it's not what I want.

20:14
I wanted to try out Chicago. Big reason for moving there is obviously the music. Chicago is incredible. We've got, especially like CSO and so many other organizations there that just are world-class. Ultimately though, like one of my decisions to leave California was this certain thing that I really value in a city, like public transportation, cleanliness, things like that. I just think Chicago does.

20:44
So much better. Don't tell LA I said that. But Chicago gets a bad rap. But really has been an incredible time. I haven't spent too much time there. Spent four months in Europe this past summer, right after I had moved there. So I wouldn't wrap up here in March and be heading back up there and hopefully get reacquainted. That's awesome. So what's the? What's?

21:13
What are you looking to get into there? I mean, connecting with CSO or another nonprofit? Or what are you looking to do? Yeah, I definitely want to get more involved in the theater community there. There are something like 70 or 80 theater groups in Chicago, in the city of Chicago alone. Oh wow. That's not including the greater Chicagoland area. Incredible quality productions.

21:42
I know it gets its name as a second city, but I don't know. I beg to disagree on that. So definitely want to get more involved in the theater scene there. I do have some tentative plans with the CSO that I can't really talk about. But there might be some stuff coming up with that too. Now I know that just recently you released an album.

22:12
of an album, an EP, with four or five tracks available to stream, purchase at any of your digital outlets that you subscribe to. Rhapsody's and Red and Green. Correct? So if you have a chance, look that up on your Apple Music, your Google Play, or go to iTunes and purchase it.

22:42
firm believer of when you have people you want to support. Yes, there is something great about being able to support them through the free avenues of sharing a post and those type of things or sharing a song that you streamed, but there's also something special about saying, hey, I'm gonna commit, I'm gonna pay you the five bucks to buy this album as well. So definitely look for Rhapsody in red and green.

23:10
And I think you got that album, right? I did buy the album. I love it. Thank you, Rob. Where did you record that? I recorded it in Chicago. It's a recording studio down on Michigan Avenue. They had this Steinway model. It was an incredible experience. Yeah. But it's so much fun recording it. It was a lot of trial and error with the music.

23:41
Music all is, you know, memorized. I don't write anything down. It all comes from how I'm feeling at the moment. And as any artist will tell you, after 40 takes of the same song, because you didn't get it right, it makes it very hard to feel. Feel anything other than frustration. Yeah, yeah. So I got it done though, over about a day and a half period. The work is...

24:10
I really love jazz and also like the romantic era of classical music. So these are all songs that are really important to me have meanings as I'm sure they do for all of us. They're arranged a little differently though because it's a hybrid. It's you know with Keith Jarrett, Matt Rachmaninoff kind of.

24:39
style and that may not be everybody's cup of tea, but it's what I was feeling at the time and You were just telling me about you know, you had this music on your hard drive for several years and never wanted to release it and Finally did and that's kind of how this came about too. I was feeling you know finally feeling in the in the festive spirit and decided wanted to do this and push it out and

25:10
If anything comes of it, great. If not, on to the next. Yeah, but I mean, it's out there for people to find, for people to enjoy. And it's just you and the piano. That's it. It's just you and the piano. It's in the really great arrangements. I know I've added a few of those tunes to some of my holiday playlists. I have a holiday mix that I have on.

25:34
Apple music that I'll add tracks to every year and then just shuffle through. So it got added to that. But also I have a, because I listen to Christmas music pretty much year round. I'm one of those people, but it's kind of my happy place. There's not a lot, there are Christmas tunes that have like a sad undertone to them, maybe, or reflective, but none of it's usually very like heavy.

26:05
You know what I mean? So for me, it's always a little uplifting, but I have a holiday sleep playlist that I put on. So like when I go to sleep, I just say, so you made the holiday sleep album as well. Well, maybe you'll get me up to a penny from my streaming revenue. That's right. From your hundreds of thousands of a cent for your streaming. Yeah, you definitely don't do the streaming for the money. And again, that's another reason why it's like, you just buy the album.

26:32
It's a five dollar investment. You would have spent that on, you spent more than that on a Starbucks coffee, you know, a whatever, peppermint mocha, something like that. So go ahead. Right. How about this, anyone who buys the album the next 30 days, I will buy you a Starbucks coffee. There you go. That's awesome. So any other?

26:56
works like that or is that just kind of how it comes along? You just, you get the mode and you're like, you know what? I'm gonna find a studio and I'm gonna go and I wanna just lay down some tracks. Yeah, I have a few ideas. The execution of them is not as consistent as perhaps I would like it to be. That being said, I don't wanna force it. Yeah. And it's a fine balance, right? Because...

27:25
You can keep putting it off and putting it off. There does come a time, I think, and if you're an artist that you do feel like, okay, it's time to release something. And it comes from several factors that play in it, but it's really like a feeling. Right now with the way my life is, I'm not gonna be releasing anything anytime soon, but probably in the next year or so, I'll do something else.

27:54
And it just, the timing has to feel right, otherwise the music's not right. That's kind of how I look at it. Yeah, you know, and that's something I tell people when I used to like teach, you know, whether, how to use like, they ask me, how do you use garage band or photography or writing or acting or anything like that? Sometimes you just have stuff inside you that you need to get out. And you can't do, you don't want to keep it inside. You want to share it. And it's, and when the time's right,

28:24
you'll write it down, you'll create the song, you'll release the track, whatever it is, and you'll share that. Whether you're getting it out, getting it out is good for you personally, again, because there's an sense of accomplishment for that. But then also, there's somebody else that it may resonate with, you know, that's feeling similar to how you were when you got that song. Exactly. And you know, that's a part that I've kind of struggled with too is...

28:53
You know, as you were saying, music is such an impactful thing for a lot of people. And it means different things to different people. But what is, I think, universal is that if you have something that you need to share, you should, you actually have, I think you have an obligation to share it because there is someone out there who really needs it. Yeah. So don't be stingy. They're selfish with your talents. Yeah, for sure.

29:23
You mentioned spending some time in Europe. Was that for fun, for research, for a little of all of the things? A little of all of the things. Where were you at? I went with a really great friend of mine. We did 14 cities over basically a three month period. Was a trip of a lifetime. That's awesome.

29:52
did everything from playing concerts to going to weddings, and meeting random people on the street at five o'clock in the morning, walking home. I mean, it was just one of those incredibly formidable trips. I would say we started in London and then moved over to Lisbon, did some parts in the south of Portugal.

30:22
popped over to Italy, some cities there, then popped over to Spain, spent some time there, back to London. I mean, it was a lot of traveling, especially working US hours remotely from Europe was also challenging. And it became, I will say the trip was a lot of fun. I did get to do a lot of things, but the wear and tear.

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on you mentally after doing that for a couple of weeks is it does start to creep up on you. Especially, you know, being in a country where you don't speak the language. I'm fortunate enough to speak some Spanish, but and, you know, especially in like Portugal, you know, it's challenging. So yeah, that that was an incredible trip. My friend and I always we wanted to go and.

31:19
We had another friend that was having a wedding and it was supposed to be just like one week. And then we're like, well, maybe we should go here. And then maybe we should go here. And it turned out to be like a three week or three month expedition. And got to play, played at the Steinway Hall in Milan, which was really, really a treat. And then we spent quite a bit of time in London too. They had incredible concert venues there. So yeah, it was a great trip.

31:49
I had that planned before I decided to move to Chicago. So a little inconvenient with the timing, but nevertheless, awesome experience. Yeah, and it's amazing when you're there and how many different countries you can visit so quickly and so many different cultures that you can be exposed to so quickly. Because we think, oh, it's Europe, it's a whole, you know, a lot of Europe is smaller than the United States. You know what I mean? It's like, you know, you can...

32:19
You can get from one end of like, you know, England, and like from one end to the other, like four or six hours. Right. Right. Whereas like you can't get across Texas in six hours, you know? You can't even get through Atlanta in six hours. That's just the traffic. Yeah. Yeah, no. And it's like hopping to different countries. There is like hopping to different states. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Um, no, incredible, incredible time. And, you know, I really value friend making friendships.

32:48
and different parts of the world. Because you are, if you continue to travel, you're gonna see them again, but you also get, again, it's that perspective, right? Yeah, yeah. Constantly growing when you are around people who don't think like you. Yeah, yeah, and I can't imagine the exposure also as a musician to the other music of the world. We talk about music being a universal language, but there's other styles of music, there's other, you know, you know.

33:18
rhythms and instruments and all this other stuff that you get exposed to that you may not see here. Anywhere else. Yeah. I will say though, no matter where we went, I always tried to hit up a good jazz spot or something and anybody played anything with John Coltrane and everybody just knows. Everybody knows. That's awesome. Evan, what's bringing you joy right now?

33:46
The struggle. Oh wow. The struggle. Yeah. Yeah, you know, for me it's the journey. The struggling. The joy in the journey, yeah. Struggling beautifully is easier said than done, but this year has been incredibly complicated for me, and I'm sure for a lot of other people too. I've had issues pop up that.

34:13
I wasn't expecting, you know, taxes, legal stuff, you know, hiring people and family things. And this year has been moving and traveling and all kinds of stuff. Stuck on an airplane for 18 hours. So just struggling well is actually what is bringing me joy. And it's both an art and...

34:43
science. Yeah, to that. Yeah. I love that. What what would you say is the the best tip you could get to someone that's that's going to attempt to struggle well.

34:59
I think the point of it is you need to know why you're struggling in the first place, having clarity. There are obviously some things that you cannot pick to struggle with. Health issue. I'm lucky to be healthy and still young and full of energy. I don't struggle with that. I think that...

35:28
probably have a separate set of advice and principles, but for most people who are just going about their lives, trying to make something of themselves, finding your clarity on what the reason is you want to struggle is most important. For some people, it's their family. Some people, it's money, they want to be financially free. Other people, they want to impact people. I think the...

35:58
Whatever your why is behind the struggle is something that you have to be rooted in and remind yourself of every day. Now, I would be lying to you if I said that I did this every day, but I should be. I have a little document on my computer. I use this tool called Notion. I don't know if you've heard about it, but really interesting way to make documents and things like that. It's my vision map.

36:28
And like I said, I don't look at it every day, I should. But it's sort of a letter to myself in the future. And not just, it really actually doesn't focus a lot on what I've done and accomplished. It's more of how I feel when I wake up. Like my goals for how I wanna feel going to bed and when I wake up.

36:57
when I interact with people, setting intention, when interacting with others, like what do I wanna get out of this interaction and what do I wanna give to this interaction? Used to have the goal list and a big whiteboard above my bed and said I'm gonna achieve this by this age. The more I have been in this world and the older I get the...

37:26
the less I'm concerned about that and more about, you know, setting up the goals for what I want my life to feel like. So that's what I would say is have your clarity, have your vision and however you need to remind yourself of that. And not only remind yourself, I should say visualize it, actually feel it.

37:56
tool in your arsenal that will carry you through.

38:05
This is the second segment of the show. This is where we dive a little bit deeper into you and your mental health journey I'm someone who believes that the more we can talk about these things the The easier the burden becomes upon us whether it's a day that you just don't feel like in that a bed or you just want To stand in the shower or it is diagnosed depression or anxiety Knowing that there are other people going through it I think

38:34
It robs some of the power from depression because depression was to tell you that you're alone So knowing there are other people out there like you Helps so for you, how do you keep the darkness at bay? Yeah, this is an interesting question because I I've struggled with this a lot too personally and I Definitely don't feel like I'm immune to it by all means but

39:02
I would say in the last several years, it's gotten better. It used to be something that really, really, really bothered me. It's diagnosed with anxiety, depression, all the things. And now I feel that I've been able to get into a little bit better space with that. And I think there's a, as I reflect back on that journey of healing, there's a few things that...

39:33
played a role in that. And number one, I think kind of goes back to what I mentioned earlier, which is setting intentions with everything that you do. It's very easy to go throughout your day that turns into week, that turns into month, that turns into year, without being intentional about what you're doing. I...

40:02
I personally think that's the case because I'm just speaking from my experience. And at some point you feel empty or something's missing, shell of a person, whatever you want to describe it. And by carrying intention with everything that you do, you force yourself out of that. So I think that's sort of guiding principle.

40:31
The other thing is forward moving momentum. And this kind of comes down, it's a little bit of tough love here, but it kind of comes down to discipline. You will find that a lot of people complain about a certain situation in their life. There's just nothing wrong with that. But if it's the same thing over and over and over and over again,

41:00
at some point you have to take accountability. Yeah. And being willing and open to that accountability, I think is also for your benefit because it's hard, like waking up at five, I'm saying you have to do this, but as an example, waking up at 4.30 in the morning or five in the morning every day and going on a five mile run, like doing that.

41:28
every day consistently, it's really, really freaking hard. But what's on the other side of that is you're more resilient, you feel better, and it's just in that example. So I think having discipline for yourself and others and holding yourself accountable is also a key part of this.

41:57
I'm not one to really sugarcoat or play soft here. I think, you know, at this point, you really have to have a hard look at yourself consistently. And I do this like once every couple of months. I keep a journal every day. And I'll go back and actually read and look at like thought patterns that I've...

42:25
I've had and identify things that are not helpful, not serving me. Why am I thinking this way? And try to unpack that. And you could do it alone. You could do it talking to a friend. You can talk to a doctor or your pastor or whatever. Right. That's the point is you got to do it. And you can refine your mind over time. Yeah. By.

42:54
looking at feedback loops and adjusting to that data. So I take a little bit of a scientific approach to it, but I found that it's helpful for me so far. Yeah, I love that. I love the thought of starting your day with intention, starting whatever you're about to go into with intention, instead of just going into autopilot. Because I think the more you go into autopilot,

43:24
the easier it is for you to stay on autopilot. And then you start to wonder why is nothing changing. Because you're just walking through life. You're not doing anything intentional to, like you said, change the situation that you're in or whatever by being intentional, taking action or like I said, thinking differently. Waking up 30 minutes earlier than you normally do.

43:54
You know, 4.30 is a bit of stretch for me. Don't worry, me too. But, you know, if I had an extra 30 minutes in my morning that I didn't feel rushed to get to work, maybe I approached my day more relaxed and more open to how the rest of that day is going to go. Maybe it allowed me to take the time to set those intentions because now I have an extra 30 minutes or whatever.

44:22
And that's just it, Rob. I think it's having that extra time to set those intentions. And I had a really good mentor of mine who he was the CEO of this company. And I worked with him. It was like one of my first jobs. And we actually had an office in Franklin, Tennessee. And I would drive up there every so often to.

44:50
go there and spend time with the team. Anyway, there was one particular day where he and I were in a bunch of meetings, like 14 or 15 meetings, back to back, high stress, environments. We had investors coming in and all this stuff going on.

45:10
I remember like in between every meeting, even though he was already a little bit behind, it would like take a second, decompress, 30 seconds and just walk in and actually be able to be present. Now, I don't think everybody can do that, but just that little practice, bits and pieces of that I think we can adopt into our lives before we are.

45:39
before we step into the office in the morning. Or I even, I know I do it when I play too. Like if I've been on calls all day, helping companies with their marketing, right? And it's a lot of money involved and it's stressful. And if I go and sit down on the piano and try to play, like I sound like shit. Right. So, just taking five, 10 minutes to.

46:08
Decompress right it I like to write it down. Yeah You know clear the mind get it out on paper and then you can go on to your next thing and Try to be as present as possible. I love that I think that your Bosses exercise of doing that in between all of these meetings. I think that's something that Was beneficial to him, but also to that next group he had to meet

46:37
because that's unfair for that group to have to deal with whatever baggage he drug over from the previous meeting. Maybe the previous meeting didn't go well. And now he's approaching this new meeting with a bad attitude or whatever, but to be able to reset, hit the clear button, start again. Here's another opportunity to have a great meeting, to have a great outcome. And these people don't deserve to have.

47:07
this other garbage that had nothing to do with them brought into what they're trying to accomplish. And I think we can do that when we meet people that may frustrate us, whether it's, whether you're in customer service, you know, heaven help all of the retail workers this holiday season, because I mean, you know, it's the time of cheer and joy and mirth, unless you're talking to a retail worker, because you know, most retail workers get talked to like garbage at this time of year, so.

47:35
And they don't deserve that. So as the retail worker, if they can take a moment, breathe in and approach that next customer instead of bringing that other garbage from the other customer to this other person who might be just absolutely lovely and happy to be there and happy to be served by this person. Precisely, precisely. And if you walk around your whole life like that, you miss out on opportunities of meeting people who can really help you in your life, I think.

48:10
Alright, Evan, this is the third segment of the show. It's time now for the Fast Five! The Fast Five! It's time now for the Fast Five! Fast Five! Sorry, I'm still working on things. Maybe I can get you to write a little... Maybe I can write you a jingle. Do you think you could write me a jingle or something? The Fast Five! I'll work on it while I'm here. Right, while you're here, among the other millions of things that you have to do.

48:34
The Fast Five is powered by Poddex. It's an app created by my friend, Travis Brown. You can find it in any of your Google Play or App Store. It was created for podcasters, but the great icebreaker questions. So if you ever have to talk in front of a group and you wanna do something to break the ice, check out Poddex. As a matter of fact, if you go to chewingfatbr.com slash poddex, it'll take you directly to where you can download the app. But I am going to ask you five questions, completely at random.

49:04
No pressure, no wrong answers, just the first thing that comes off the top of your head. You ready? Let's go. All right. Question number one.

49:13
Okay, you've done some traveling, but where is one place you hope to visit before you die?

49:21
Buenos Aires, Argentina. Yeah. Why? I think there are places in the world that are very impressive for tourists, right, people? Your Londons, your New Yorks, or major cities of the world. And not that Buenos Aires is not a major city,

49:52
You also have places in the world where no one's heard of them. They're absolutely incredible. But Buenos Aires has, from what I hear, some of the most incredible architecture, history, stories to share, beautiful culture, beautiful people. There's a lot of political turmoil going on there right now. But.

50:21
I'm hoping that as soon as that's done and it is the right place to go, that'll be it because the number one reason I think is Martha Algarich, who is one of my favorite concert pianists is Argentinian, so I've always wanted to go there. That's awesome. I love that. Great. Question number two.

50:49
What's the most annoying bill you have to pay?

50:57
Typically on a normal day, it's my extra data for international travel. Um, but particularly this month it was, uh, paying off a car that I don't even own anymore. Oh, wow. Yeah, that would be, yeah, it was been pretty annoying. That's a real annoying. I was going to say for me, it's like.

51:27
I feel like car insurance is an annoying bill to have to pay because it doesn't work like health insurance. I want it to work like health insurance. It's like, hey, the tire went bad on this. Can I just pay a deductible and get a new tire? No, that's not how car insurance works. Question number three.

51:46
So as you're moving to Chicago and you're home based out of that area, is there any local dish or food product from here in Augusta area where you grew up that you miss when you're in Chicago?

52:00
Yeah, Waffle House. No Waffle Houses in Shytown? No. No, Waffle House. Also, pretty much anything from the Village Deli. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. The place is, you know, there's a bunch of delis in Chicago, right? But I don't know, Village Deli does it right. Yeah. It's a different type of deli up in Chicago, for sure. But yeah, I do love the Village Deli. All right, question number four.

52:31
If you could meet any musician living dead, who would it be?

52:40
Oh, this is a hard one. Yeah. You're not going to lie and modify the question just because it's you.

52:52
I think without a doubt.

52:56
It has to be Rachmaninoff. Yeah. A pianist. Yeah. Well, a pianist, composer, and then I don't want to reduce him to just that. Just put him in that one box. The genius. Yeah. Awesome. What is it? What, I mean, so you're meeting him. Is there a question you want to ask? Is there, or does it just want to be in the presence? I think just, well, yeah, to be in the presence would be absolutely incredible. But I think I want to ask, what's wrong with you?

53:26
How messed up do you have to be in your head to come up with these crazy music? But it's some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. And I just want to know what's going on in his head. Yeah. Or did you have like six fingers on each hand? What was the wingspan on your fingers? It's like you had like a 14 inch reach between your pinky and your thumb. That's awesome.

53:57
All right. And question number five.

54:02
What's the best compliment you ever received?

54:08
Um, you make me feel seen. Oh, wow. Well, yeah, that one really stuck with me and I've, I've tried to emulate that. Um, ever since. Cause it, it, this is a sense of fulfillment that, that you get from that. When someone says that to you, I, no one has ever said anything like that to me before, and, uh, I actually got this from someone I didn't even know that well.

54:38
on a second kid in my, well not a kid, young adult in my, one of my classes that I was in one time and you know, no one really talked to them all that much. And to be honest with you, I was like lost in the class, I couldn't figure out what was going on. So I was always asking questions, but like a couple days before school ended, that's what they came up and said to me and.

55:07
And it's stuck with me ever since. I love that. That's great. Well, Evan, that's our Fast Five. And that is the show. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it so much, Robb. It's been a blast. Yeah, this is great. I'm glad we were able to do this before you head back out to Chicago. If folks want to keep up with you and your music and your journey, what's the best way for them to do that? Best way is probably my website, which is Evan A. Read, R-E-A-D.com.

55:36
The reason why it has the A is because the EvanRead.com was way too expensive. Somebody had already grabbed that up, right? Okay, so I'll definitely put the link to your website in the show notes so the folks can keep up with you. I'll also probably put a link in for your album Rhapsodies in Red and Green because it is beautiful. Thank you, Robb. Absolutely. And again, thank you so much.

55:59
for being here. I love what you're doing. I love you and I wish you nothing but success. I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Absolutely. And if you would like to support this podcast, I'd appreciate it if you bought me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com. But until next time, I look forward to the moment we have to sit a spell and chew the fat.