The Sound of Gold with guest Dave Blitstein, owner of Swampgrass Willy's

0:01 This program is designed to provide general information with regards to the subject matters covered. This information is given with the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial, legal counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek the services of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas.

0:51 Hi there, welcome back to the Sound of Gold. It's good to be back this week, and I'm so excited to be here. I absolutely loved doing this show. This show is for our music. It's all about music, musicians, music venues, music teachers, and music studios, anything pertaining to music. And I have this passion to not only be here to represent the Sound of Gold and to represent myself and my home studio by my piano, but more so it's to shine the light on all the musicians out there. There's so much talent out there. There's so much talent that we hear when we go to venues. There's so much talent, you know, all around us. There's always sound, there's always I don't think there's a day that passes where if I'm out and about there's not music playing in the background somewhere, and especially the venues where we have live music. It's just such a treat. And I mean there are the big concerts that I grew up with and that they still have. However there are smaller venues and so you don't have to pay several hundred dollars to go to a venue to watch a show from a local band. And I have one specific place in mind that I absolutely love and it's almost like a special treasure in our town in South Florida, because

2:23 there is this place called swamp Grass Willies. And if you've been, you know, and if you haven't, stay tuned in to listen more because Swanphress Willies. I remember my daughter growing up and a lot of her friends performs and played there, and that was my introduction to Swanpgress Willies. And it's just it's like I keep coming back to place for music and also to be in the audience. I'm so, so so excited to invite today my friend Dave, who owns swamp Grass Willies and who has owned I think now for over thirty years. So Dave, please join me, Please join me.

3:06 Thanks for having me. I am doing well. Thank you for being here, and I'm so excited to share so much more about swanp for Us Willies. I feel like I've been living in Florida for over thirty years, but I feel like in some ways I know nothing about Swamp for Us Willies, even though I've been there. There is so much that you do, Dave. There's so much that you that your facility provides and makes possible to the music community, local and whoever else is coming in. You just have this beautiful soul that is open to welcome music to be happening all the time. Please share book, Please share those Dave.

3:51 We are live on television and we are also on radio. So for those that are listening, how could people find you you or find Swamp Coursse Villies. But see, we are in Palm Beach Gardens in the Promenade Plaza. There's a large public's in there between Lighthouse and Burns Road, huge plaza, a lot of parking which works. Out well for us. Yes, and yeah, it's very easy to get to. If you're coming from the south, take ninety five to North Lake. If you're coming from the north, I would take it to PGI and we're right right in the middle. There's so much I want to ask you, and swamp course villies. I'm starting there because it's just such a jewel and gosh, there's so much I can say about it, and I know there's so much more you can tell about it or tell us about it. However, for my music friends out there that are listening and that haven't been there or are wanting to come and see you, before I get into asking you questions specifically, please hear with our audience a little bit about your journey and how music is such like at the heart of your of your drive, and why you do what you do.

5:02 I mean, that's like a loaded question. I think. You have some time. I grew up with a sister that was an actress and a singer and songwriter, and I used to I grew up in New York City, and I used to watch her play on Bleaker Street at a lot of the bars down there, the Bitter Rent and the Red Lion, and I just I loved watching her. She was I don't have any music talent whatsoever, yet she has everything and to watch her perform is incredible. But I also watched her get taken advantage of a lot of owners, the bar owners, and they asked her to work sometimes and not such fun circumstances. And I always thought, if I had the opportunity, I'd try to make things better.

5:48 And when Swarm Crass presented itself to where we could do the live music, and we have a great sound system and great sound people that have worked with us throughout the years, we provide a good service. We really want to get every. Local band to play because the best thing they could do is get real experience. You know, bands that maybe are starting out, many have done their first gig with us and have gotten too big for us, and they move on. And that's the greatest thing that we can hear. When a band says to me, he listened, We've just kind of outgrown you. That's that's really the best thing that I can hear. And we've had quite a few of those. So it's been been fun to watch. Yeah, it's it's been a fun it's been a fun time we started doing something. And I'll tell you an interesting story.

6:28 We had a band play two weeks ago called five cent with and it was a reunion of a band that played there twenty years ago when they were I think fifteen years old, okay, And so we do a lot of these all aide shows on Saturdays to give these kids some opportunities to get experienced, and many of them have gone on to be become some of our busier over twenty one bands that play on you later night Saturday nights and Friday. It's been like a farm system for us, and it's worked out well. And to see just what happens after in the amount of bands that worm from some of these bands, it's it's it's it's wild to see how it all comes together. That is so wonderful. And I love that you're so open to to help. It's almost like you are. You are the first step. You create, a first step to like, let's see you shine, Let's get you, let's get you propelling in that direction.

7:23 They gotta they gotta work the kings out, you know. And uh, for what it's worth, we have a we have a fun stage and uh it allows some kings to be hidden and some flaws to be hidden and so people can notice it in the band and then correct what they want to and then when they perform at a bigger at a bigger venue, they they know. Exactly what to do. I'm sorry, it's been wild to see just the progression of some of these bands now. I don't know if this is new or maybe because it's uh. It was my visit to your place after a long period of time not visiting. My husband and I had gone and my goes, oh, they have food here because it's a bar like restaurant area. But I think from what I knew back like ten fifteen years ago when I had gone, I don't know. And it's not smoking. I think back then it was smoking. It's nonmo and and we were just surprised that there's food there.

8:22 So for those of you that want to check it out, right, you. Guys have Oh yeah, our food and our food is our food is fantastic. We you know, I I everything's made in the house fresh. Our blue cheese is made fresh power. You know, all of our sauces are made fresh. We bake our wings. It's great, bar feet and I stand behind all of it. We actually sometimes we've indoor dash it to our house late when we want something. It's funny, you know, we'll have to we'll have to try out the menu. How should people contact you directly if our listeners out there, our viewers, if they would like to step it up and perform.

9:06 Well, they could either call my cell number, which I will give out freely five six one six zero two nine five zero nine, where they can email me at w I L L Y S MK at aol dot com. Either way, I'm very reachable and I love to get new bands, and all the time I try to rotate at least one of two new bands each month, and I try to run with that, and we do a lot of events where I'll pair up bands together. Sometimes we'll be four or five bands. And if somebody comes with an idea of something that may be different, I'm open to all ideas. Now, let's say for those musicians out there that are listening that are thinking about contacting you, and I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I kind of am because this is like one of the biggest questions.

9:54 If somebody's been out there performing and they're wanting to add to their genre of places and want to include swamp where us willies. Do you pay your musicians or is it just like a donation? No, we do pay. We Through the years, our our pace structure has changed. I liked what they did in New York City when they used to charge a cover and the cover goes to the band. It allows the band to promote hard, and if they're successful with their promotion and bring in a good crowd, they make quite a bit of money. And I'm a big believer in that. I think that it's important that bands understand that, yes, well we want you to come into play. We also we have to keep the lights on a little bit and we have to have some people in there eating and drinking. But there are certain bands that I know exactly what they will bring to the table, and those bands I do guarantee money too. Sometimes I do a mixture of a door plus a guarantee. It really depends on the situation because it's got to be a win win for everybody. And you don't want a band to walk away and feel, hey, you know, I didn't get what I do. And you see, if they bring quite a few people, you wanted to get what they deserve and we offer you know, we'll certainly offer bar tabs where they can eat and drink as well. And there's a lot of incentives that could be added to this, so the bands really can do very well. We've had bands come in there and sell merchandise and make money from the door and leave with, you know, a couple of thousand dollars.

11:20 Nice. What from the time, from all the years that you've been open, do you remember any specific band that is like a very big deal today? You know, again, that's a loaded question, because what's a big deal? You know? I could tell you there's a band called Box Elder that is a is a Jupiter favorite that's been around, you know, for years and years. I believe they just played an acoustics set recently, and they're phenomenal musicians. They have a great vibe to them, and they are one of my favorites. But I mean, I could name right off the top of my head. I could tell you Mike Sanchez from the Curve was one of my favorites of all time, the guys from Darmada and one of my first bands ever, Blindside Southside Dub was an all age band that then went on to become an over twenty one band, and these kids were phenomenal. I would say the best name for a band that we ever had was probably Jigglo Big and the Barflies, which they were a SKA band.

12:20 They were a lot of fun. There was another band actually years ago named Black River Circus that they they unfortunately. Didn't last too long. They had a death, unfortunately, but they were lights out phenomenal grade. They would have gone on too huge things, huge things. But we've had a. Couple of bands that were all age bands that went on to become Disney bands. I believe it was a band called the Ready Set. But you know, interestingly enough, another band that came to mind called Junkie Rush. They were a band out of Orlando and they were all music teachers and when I tell you, they were music teachers with an edge, and they were a. Lot of fun. That's awesome. Do you have a specific genre that is played at your at your place? Is there like a you keep it in range?

13:10 So yes, I guess we do. I don't, really, I don't. I wouldn't want to say that I censor it that way, but I don't. This place is too small to really have some of these louder scream o bands. I guess not that I don't like that because I appreciate that music. It just is a little too tight for that in here. So I would say that that's probably the only style that I wouldn't say plays too often. But we do a lot of alternative. We had reggae, you know, classic rock. We pretty much do it all. We've had country. There's a great new artist out there named Briant Thomas actually who who's really good, and he's he's country rock.

13:50 You know, we we do it all here, we do it all. That's awesome. That's awesome, And I love how you say. You know, I've had another venue. The owner, Charlie was his name on here, and he pretty much said, kind of what you're saying, like it's a give and take, Like you know, if you want to show up and I'm here to support you as a band, but you kind of ofto have to support me because also because like you said, there's the lights, there's you know, you're you're supplying the ac the place, the space. So it's like it has to be a give and take. You you know, if the band, If the band plays and and they don't really draw too well, I don't get too turned off by it because I think that you can build. It's how I see them promoting any effort that they give. Not only not only that, but the show itself if they're if they're playing and they're playing to an empty room, it's harder than playing to a you know, a full room. So the band themselves have have to be able to put on the act of hey, I'm playing for a full room all the time.

14:54 And if they can pull that off and then they promote hard and they I'm going to give them an awful lot leeway to do much better and we can grow together. That's awesome. That's awesome, and what I love about what you provide for the community. And I will have I think in August I mentioned earlier. I will have Rick Rothschild School of Rock on my on my show here, and I'm really what's that. He's one of my favorites. Yes, and and he brings so much to the community. However, you know him very well and you support the kids coming in so like you don't have I've been there with the younger crowd, and I've been there with an older crowd. You don't have a specific like age bracket.

15:39 And that's what that's what's wonderful about Swamp Forrest Bullies Like it's it goes from one range to the other, and sometimes it's just intertwined, you know, like we're all equal. It doesn't matter what our age is. We just all love the music and we're here for that absolutely. And so what I mean everybody that comes in here. Sometimes you're seeing a seven year old kid playing and people go crazy. Sometimes you see a sixty seven year old guy playing and the crowd goes crazy. It's fun. And what inspired you to kind of start with? Not start, but where did you begin with? Like, hey, let me give this younger kids at school, music school, let me give them a chance. What triggered your inspiration to help them?

16:26 I kind of remember exactly what it was. I remember the that time. We had been doing music for a couple of years and one of the band members asked if they could bring their kids in. And we have to be careful, we have to be but we but we had a couple of kids in and I happened to talk to the kids and one kid was playing like pretendently the drums on the table and another one was playing their guitar, and I said, you guys play and they said yeah. I think one tie was like thirteen, almost fifteen, and they just formed a band. And they said, they said, know we we kind of played in the garage. I said, well, let's fool. I said, have you ever thought about playing in a place like this? And they said, what do you mean? I said, I'll tell you what. I said, why don't you put together?

17:08 You know, your band get about an hour of music together? Do you have any other friends that have bands? And they're like, well, yeah, we have, we have a couple of friends that have bands. And so the first time we did we did a three band showcase, I guess, and it was great and it was packed. And I'll tell you it went on to the to the point where I had a gentleman named Alex Checkman who used to book for me, and he was fifteen years old. And this kid used to do shows for me two to three times a month. He had seven and nine bands playing. And this kid went on too, I mean, he made a lot of money for himself. But he went on to work for Sony and make websites and become one of the larger companies for bands to buy merchandise from. And I mean quite the entrepreneur. Entrepreneur. Yeah, And that's kind of how it started. You know, these these kids wanted this, they were hungry.

17:54 For all I did was give them a place to play in a little bit of structure and how. To do it. Now, you you yourself off. When you were younger and growing up in school, did you take any instruments or did you have music friends. I did. I held miserably at drums, piano, and guitar. I gave it my best, but I don't have that talent my sister does. But I did have a lot of friends that played guitar, that played drums. I did have some friends that were bands when I was younger, and I grew up in the city, so you know, it wasn't. Uncommon to go somewhere and go to a warehouse. And listen to some music, and it was an interesting upbringing.

18:35 I saw a lot of music that that maybe others weren't pretty too. Okay, Now, I love the fact that you mentioned there's a cover charge, and usually I think I think the last time we were there, it was like a ten dollars cover charge, which is more than reasonable. We were looking at I'm not going to say names, because everybody makes you know, needs to make a living, and they we all earned what we've kind of put out. Some concerts are so overly priced, even for the like the common man that's working the nine to five job five days a week or sometimes six days a week. You know, we all want to have good time, we all want to get out, we all want to be a part of a social scene at you know, not every day, but sometimes specifically on the weekends when we have downtime.

19:24 We want to be in a social crowd. We want to hear music, we want you know, we want to have a good time, and so you make it possible. Yeah, if you don't feel like spending twenty five dollars for a beer and you know, forty dollars for a mixed drink, we could certainly, we could certainly show you a good time. By the way, the ten dollars cover is only for under twenty. One during the all age shows. Otherwise I do five dollars all the time. I really try not to charge more than five, which I which you know, one hundred percent of it goes to the band. We try to make it reasonable. It's it's more like a tip guests for the band, and and we appreciate that people do pay it when they come in, but you know, we try to we try to show them the good time and the bands we have are all entertaining. At our drink prices are pretty comfortable, or people can overlook the five hopefully.

20:15 Yeah, and it's not a big deal. I brought it up because the last time we went, that's what it was. But like you said, it's not the same every time. My point is is that even like I don't it's not called let me see the West Palm Beach Venue, it's not called Chris's anymore. The place it's it's where they have concerts for some reason. I'm driving. Epic. Yes, so the last the last time I went, and I don't mean to get off track too much. I was so surprised. Now they're charging an additional You don't know this when you buy your tickets. You know, you buy your tickets, you pay your tax, you buy a chair, or you don't buy a chair. And now they're charging twenty five dollars for you to park.

21:01 Well, that's nice for them. It's just it's crazy to go to go out now is expensive and we're just a neighborhood place where you can come in and always feel safe and you'll always have a good time and you won't spend that much. You know, you come out and really enjoy yourself and not break the bank. And that's why we're lucky. A lot of the people that you know frequent this place come in a couple of times a week, and uh, very loyal to us, very loyal to our staff and and and a lot of it is our staff the reason these people come back. So I'm very fortunate people are very very loyal to us. Well, I always say, what you give out, you get back. It's it's all I believe in karma. So so you've you've earned earned it back, Dave, and and thank you for for having this place. Mok Forsbillies. And it is you know, you walk in and a lot of people I think have that idea of oh it's a bar, like no, I'm not going to hang out there. That's not, you know, my thing. How Ever, it's it's not that it's the community just everybody welcoming you and wanting to have a good time. It's it's harmful.

22:08 And that's something also that music embraces. Music creates that, you know, the vibe that that good music creates is family and loyalty and camaraderie and you know, being comfortable and relaxing. Yes, and from what I remember, you do have a pool table. We have three three pools, sorry, my bad, three pool tables. So yeah, that makes it even more fun. Oh yeah, I mean when I when I made this place, I try to create it to where if I'm a bar guy and if I went out, what. Would I like to do? And I like to play pool. I like to play some of these video games we have, you know, golf and and things like. I like to good jukebox, I like darts, I like a good you know, all of our beers on ice because the first the first step of a beer is the most important. If you get a warm ship when you crack it open, you're not gonn I want to drink through it. So are it all stored on ice and ice cold? And you know, this place is what I would want to go do if I.

23:10 Absolutely And you've been going strong. You've been in business how long? Over thirty years. Since nineteen ninety six? Nice, very nice. So for my listeners out there and my viewers, I'm kind of laughing underneath my breath. I have dave, I have cats, and I have one. She's the grandma of my group. And she usually sits here, but right now she has a toy, so there is I'm sure for those listeners you're hearing some cat going, it's because she's walking around with a toy. So it's just I just sometimes have to laugh. So this is my my comedy crew. Here are my cats. But they make it interesting.

23:51 When I have a show, so built built an audience, Yes. Build an audience. Or they're they're vocal they're vocalists. I guess that's it. That's it. You're they're the laugh track on the back of the sitcom. Yes it so. Dave is your sister local and she's still she is. She lives here in North Palm and she she stopped doing she stopped singing for a while, but she's recently got back at it. She's looking to do a little acoustic duo with a friend of hers. So I'm looking forward to see how that that project pans out for I think we. Can tell her a good place to try and perform.

24:32 She'll get a shot. Yeah awesome. And again for my listeners out there, Dave, please share with us how to get in touch with you. You can reach me by phone at five six one six zero two. Nine five zero nine whereby email. At w I L L Y S M K at aol dot com. Okay, it's as easy as that. And Dave, you're still you're so welcoming and so embracing and so easy to talk with. For my music friends out there, listeners out there that are wanting to like step it up and you know, take the step, even if it's the first time. You know, Dave, we spoke a few times, and I'm just letting my audience know that you're just you know, you're very open to accept people and conversation and I appreciate you, and I appreciate your time, and I know that all my listeners out there will appreciate connecting with you because you know, it's you have that pay it forward attitude. And it's not about how much money you're making at the bar or how much money you know you're taking in. It's about how can we support each other, make it fun for everyone involved, and so everybody gets a little something in return.

25:46 And I'll sell you there's a lot of great musicians out there that not only play music, but organize a lot of you know, charity events, benefits, things like that, and you know, a food drives. You know, a lot of. These musicians locally really the terrific people. You know, it's more than just music sometimes with these guys and girls. I don't want to just not just guys. It's it's the community is pretty amazing. Lake Worth has a really great music community that the Jupiter North Palm Gardens area does as well. And there's some good venues around here. There's some good place to play. Now, do you does your I don't know how this works, but you know, like there are lots of different fairs I've lived in Florida, like every few months, I mean the summer, we kind of tape it down, but does slap restabilities get out there to have like vendor space to help advertise what you offered.

26:41 We have in the past. We we used to work closely with the Buzz years ago. We've worked with the Gator, We've worked with the kV J Show, you know, and done things with them throughout the years. We we did a U. I had another another business and with that we did something during Christmas called Rocking Christmas and we had a bunch of bands on stage for that and it was a toy drive and it was great. We do a really great event here in November. It'll be November seventh. This year, we do a big tribute to the veterans and really tribute to to all the people that have allowed us to do what we're able to do right now. If it wasn't for these people that risked their lives, we wouldn't have the freedom to talk as candidly as we are right now. And so we we we're going to do something this year even bigger and better, and we do have music for that as well. It's something really special. But we do do some some some advertising and some sponsorship and work with the local terrestrial stations as well. And I'll tell you it's a shame that the Buzz went under because that was a fun station.

27:48 They did a lot of everything. But there's a new station called Jack right now that's pretty fun too. Jack. Thank you for. I believe that's what it is. I've never heard some of the rotations that I've heard. I mean, they went from Carly Simon, you know, to Metallica. It was wild. I've I've never heard rotation like that before. And I think they went to the Red Hot flee Peppers after that, and then it might have even been like Nat King Cole, so it was it was all over. Well. I have a couple of questions, what other events do you have happening this year that you can share with our audience? Big events or is it just. The month of September. The month of September, it should be a lot of fun.

28:31 We're celebrating our thirty year anniversary in September, so I think every weekend in September is going to be filled with a lot of fun music and some good times. And some mini events. We will be doing an outdoor event, as I said on that Veterans Day we used to do something here called Swampfest outside where we had a multitude of bands playing outside and we raised money from Little Smiles Charity. Yes, the charity we're working. With in Veterans Day is CBSC, and we really try to link up with Cancer Alliance, Saint Jute's. We work closely with a lot of the nonprofits, but we do like to do one or two outdoor events a year.

29:11 The last couple of years, especially with COVID, made it a little bit more difficult, but we're getting back into it. I love it and smackbers bullies for those that are listening or just tuning in. Is in Palm Beach Gardens and is in the Promenade shopping center. Is that? Am I right? Yes? It is yep. And what are your. Eleven in the morning till three am every day? Okay, so seven days a week you're open? And how often do you have music? So right now we have music two days a week on Fridays and Saturdays. We used to have it as much as five days a week. Okay. But again, you know, this COVID thing that happened kind of changed the dynamic a little bit of how people went out here. Almost six years later, I think people are still trying to find themselves and hey, how do I go out post COVID? You know, I still think it's it's a little bit of a thing in the works.

30:05 But we used to do it five days a week. We did it so much so I had a state of the art recording studio on art In swap grass tools, the equipment, better microphones than you can imagine. It was pretty It was pretty neat. It was pretty neat. That's awesome. That's awesome. And do you think you'll get back to doing for offering live music? Maybe? A third night I do. I could see us possibly going towards maybe an open jam. I like to rotate and open jam in there every year, maybe for six months. Yeah, yeah, I do that. But I could see us doing another day we didn't do some of music sometimes on Sunday afternoons. You know, I'd say at least twelve to fifteen times a year right now?

30:49 Do you also still have the karaoke on Thursday nights? So we're doing karaoke now on Friday and Sunday. Friday and Friday and Sunday. So Friday is kind of a fun night because Friday we have a we have music from six to nine and then we go right into karaoke. So it's it's a really fun stepping stone to get into karaoke. And Sunday night's been our staple for thirty years. Nice. Nice, No, I got up last night and embarrassed myself up there. So the Dave, you have kids who do any of them play instruments? And do they play at your venue?

31:30 I'm sorry my children, yes? And then you know what no is? It's an okay answer. I have music is my life. I've been playing since I was five. I've been teaching for over twenty years. My daughter wants nothing to do with music, so saying no is okay. Yeah, they they do not play any instruments. We've tried a little bit here and there. There have been some lessons, but I will tell you they are karaoke queens. They will absolutely get up there and will rock that stage for karaoke and. And we have a good time with that. Yeah, they do do a nice job with that. I will say, that's awesome. That's awesome. Karaoke is a lot of fun and it's it's easy. You don't need an instrument. Well, your voice is your instrument. And it's very supportive, carries fun.

32:20 I mean, you can really hide hide your flaws very well. I had a lot of flaws last night, so hopefully they were hidden pretty well. But it is a lot of fun and some of the I'll tell you, some of the these singers that we get in are lights out. I mean the songs they sing and the way they sing them, I'm blown away by it. I mean, these people should should truly be doing this in a band. Well, maybe you're giving them the opportunity to step it up. Maybe this is just a stepping stone for them. We've we've had a couple. I mean, there's a buddy of min named Jim Brogan who great karaoke singer and had a number of really fun bands too, and he's he's one of my favorite people in the music industry.

33:02 I'm urging him to get back into it. He took a little break from it, and hopefully he'll, uh, he'll get back in because he is fun. He is entertaining nice now for our music listeners out there that want to connect with you and want to perhaps set something up to play your venue, how far in advance are you booking or are you just booking like months or like six months or three months. I have some bookings through the rest of the year right now. I do. I do book generally about between two. And three months out. I try, but. I you know, every now and again you get a cancelation, and every now and again you want to you know, you have a band that wants an opener, you know, so you know, we can work work bands under the schedule pretty quickly sometimes.

33:48 And let's say let's say I contact you and say, Dave, okay, I want to play your venue. Do you say, okay, leave me a demo. Let me hear what you've got. Let me do you have some YouTube liks? How do you go about saying yes or no? It used to be, you know, you used to get a demo disc, but that's kind of you know, I guess that's showing my. Age a little bit. But now they'll send me some some videos or a digital press kit. So you know, a lot of times it's it's either emailed to me or just texted to me, and I get to listen, and it's a lot easier now than it used to be. I'll tell you that. Sure, sure it is, definitely is with technology. Well that's good to know. So I have a big audience out there that they they call me the instant composer. I play in the moment. I pick up energy from you.

34:39 I pick up energy for my audiences out there as well as I'm here in my music studio and my home music studio. I don't have any seat music. I don't have anything memorized. I just kind of feel channel in and feel what I play. So I would like to it's a Monday. It's a Monday, late afternoon right now on the coast, and midday in the west. Coast and wherever they you are tuning in from around the world, it's still Monday. Unless you're in Australia, it could be Tuesday, and so I would just like to take a couple of minutes out just to play something. It's the end of our Monday here and it's been a busy Monday.

35:20 If you're driving, enjoy if you are at a space and a place where you can sit back and close your eyes for just a couple of minutes. May this bring you some peace in your Monday day evening. And this is I get to play for you.

36:04 A m. Yeah, just.

37:09 Acicula sounds terrific.

38:28 Thank you, thank you. That was just a brief Monday Medley. I mentioned this thank you on my last show. I used to for several years. I used to have online performances for several hours once a week, every week, and now my schedule is a little bit more demanding, so I don't do that as much as I would love to. I just I love playing. So thank you for for being my my live audience, and for those out there, thank you for tuning in and listening back to you. Dave, Dave and swamp Grass, Willie's and Palm Beach Gardens. I know we've mentioned it a few times, and just for the sake of those that are just tuning in, please share with us again how we find.

39:09 You and five six one six zero two nine five zero nine or at w I L L. Y S MK at aol dot com. Nice and you're open seven days a week, and you have food and you have drinks there and is your food available like all the time or specific times. It's it's available till two thirty in the morning, Okay, And. Then I was talking over you. Please share with us again the time that you open. We open eleven am and we close it three. Three eight every jay. That's that's so great. That's like, it's such a great like go to place.

39:49 You know. One of the one of the cool things that we're on the hospital electrical grid here, so whenever the storms come, we've been fortunate enough to get up and running quickly if we ever went down at all. And one of the not that it's a good thing, but one of the nice things that we've been able to do throughout the years is that because we are open and we have our ice machine working, we're able to help out people that just don't have that ability. You know, we can put things in our refrigerators, or we can cook their food that you know that they're going to put in coolers, and we're a type of place where people feel comfortable doing that and they could come in and we could really help out. And it's again, there are so many days throughout the year that I am humbled and overwhelmed by the loyalty and the relationship we have with the local community here.

40:39 I mean, we're fortunate. Places don't last for thirty years if it wasn't for the fact that people are kind and loyaltized. Right well, as I mentioned earlier, and I truly believe this, everything is karmic. What you put out you get back. And you've done so many wonderful things for the community, you may be it possible, especially for the younger generations, to have the opportunity to perform. Not a lot of places do that, and you make it possible, you know, like you're like, yeah, show me what you got, and that's so great. And really, I mean I've thought about this myself and I'm like, well, you know, how could I do this? How could I do that? Well, give me the opportunity and let me step into it. And that's what you do. You open the door to say, here's an opportunity, let's see what you got and let's see, you know, how we can work together and we can support each other. So it's it's selfless, it's it's priceless and it's selfless. It's just I'm so glad that you're in my community.

41:41 Thank you. And I can't stress this enough. I you know, I have a staff that. Has been with me a long time. A lot of the people that work with me have been around me for years and years and years, and they are the biggest reason that we are as consistent as we are. And they make it happen. You know. I I am much more behind the scenes. Now than I ever have been, and these guys are still still doing what they need to do and they know how to do it. So I want to give my. Staff a couple of props here because they really they make it happen so nice. And they are super nice because I remember being over there recently and yeah, easy to talk to, like what do you need and they just make you feel very comfortable.

42:21 It's not awkward at all. Again, they get it. The people that work here. They like to go to bars. They know what it's like to go to a bar, and they know what their expectations are, so their expectations are what they're going to live up to. They do a nice job. So tell me, Dave this weekend, what's going on at swamp Where's Willies? If I tell you that, I have to look at my calendar for that because they can't remember. It's been a very crazy day for me. Well, you have karaoke Friday and Sunday six to nine. We were doing something interesting on Wednesdays. It has nothing to do with music. By the way. We're doing a ping pong tournament here, which is a little different, and we're starting out about nine o'clock. And then we've got Diamond Tooth Little playing on Friday at six pm till nine pm and then followed by karaoke, and then we have a band named Finesse that is playing on Saturday. And Finesse is the band that anything that they make goes directly to the charity that they choose for that particular gig.

43:24 They never take any of the money, They. Apply it directly to it to whatever nonprofit they want. They're phenomenal people. I mean, they're really terrific people. Again, it's kind of who you surround yourself with and you're better for it, you know, and you know special people. Nancy gets too off the subject of being the bar owner. You provide a place for music. And I have friends that are musicians and you know they've been out, but they have this concept, maybe from the eighties, like oh, I want to be really popular, and maybe maybe all musicians, including myself, are a little bit like this. We want to get popular and make lots of money. However, the more I don't want to say older, but the more I grow and the more I learn, it's not about the money. Yeah, it's not about the money. It's what you can what you can do with what you know to help other people grow, and that is priceless. I mean, I mean, we need to make money, We need to pay the bills, we need, you know, to live. We need money for food, for gas. We're all human, we all have this survival these survival skills and these needs. However, when we really sit down and think about it, it's again, it's not about the money. It's about what are you providing?

44:47 What are you what are you providing? To earn what you what you kind of need or want. But also it's a give and take. Is it going to take any there's different me, there's different you know, there's different bands that that are doing this, as you said, for different reasons. You know, everybody, you know, everybody wants to be famous, I guess, and everybody wants to be a you know, a celebrity and a superstar, you know, especially. If you're in this business. But I'll tell you some of the best bands that I've seen play here are the bands that one hundred percent are not in it for the money. They are in it to host the best party that they could host. And they want to party with their friends, and they want to have fun, and they want to get up there and just everything that they can be. And those are the most fun bands to me. You know, they're just they're they're hosting their their own private party and that's all.

45:39 I love that. It's awesome because then there's no there's no expectation, it's just I'm giving you all I got. I love that we're just about at a time. Dave, thank you so much for making the time today to be on the show. Swamp Grossivillis, Palm Beach Gardens. Come on out, check them out and and yeah, you will not be disappointed. And they are open seven days a week, and so pick a day and just go. Come on, Bode. Thank you very much, Pa, thanks for having me on. Yes you bet, you bet. Thank you so much, and tune in for my audiences out there. Tune in next week to find out who my guest is. Every guest I have is very special, very unique. I'm not going to say who it is next week, so tune in and you'll find out. Thank you so much and