Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Atron Gregory Full interview
Transcript
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- 1:24Speaker 1: Making Conversation, I'm your host rou Sean McDonald. Each Money
- 1:27Speaker 1: Making Conversation talk show is about entrepreneurship and entertainment. I
- 1:31Speaker 1: recognize that we all have different definitions of success. For
- 1:34Speaker 1: some it's a sizeable paycheck. Mine is just helping people
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- 1:39Speaker 1: live their very best life. These are my passions and
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- 1:44Speaker 1: you to stop tripping over those smaller challenges, you know,
- 1:46Speaker 1: the little hook up them, the hiccups that you have
- 1:48Speaker 1: out there. Stop they're bigger obstacles out there. Don't don't
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- 1:56Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the path that is being
- 1:58Speaker 1: laid out for you to be six that'stful. The Moneymaking
- 2:01Speaker 1: Conversation interviews provide relatable information to the listener about career
- 2:05Speaker 1: and financial planning, entrepreneurship, motivation, leadership, overcoming the arts, and
- 2:09Speaker 1: how to live a balanced life. June his Black Music Month.
- 2:13Speaker 1: My guest is a legendary artist, manager, executive, producer, and
- 2:17Speaker 1: the music executive. His talent credits include a diverse array
- 2:21Speaker 1: of artists including Tupac Shakur, Stanley Clark, n w A,
- 2:26Speaker 1: Digital Underground, and the world Class Wrecking Crew. He continues
- 2:31Speaker 1: to manage both Shock Ge leader of Digital Underground, as
- 2:35Speaker 1: well as the group the and the catalog of my
- 2:38Speaker 1: Man Johnny Guitar Watson. Wow, please welcome to my man
- 2:43Speaker 1: to the moneymaking conversation. You've got a lot of talk
- 2:44Speaker 1: about what you cannot have a conversation with somebody that
- 2:47Speaker 1: has Johnny Guitar Watson in two parks in the same
- 2:51Speaker 1: conversation and ray Sean McDonald well does not get excited
- 2:54Speaker 1: about that. Please welcome to moneymaking conversation, my man, Adrian Gregory,
- 2:58Speaker 1: how you knowing, sir? Doing good? Thank you for for
- 3:02Speaker 1: expending this invitations to money making conversations. I absolutely appreciated.
- 3:06Speaker 1: And uh yes, Johnny Guitar watching the two in the
- 3:09Speaker 1: same conversation along with Stanley Clark and the Solo Piano group.
- 3:14Speaker 1: There's a there's a lot going on on multiple varieties
- 3:17Speaker 1: of genre. Well, you know, first of all, you know
- 3:20Speaker 1: I'm talking about the past. We're gonna talk about the
- 3:22Speaker 1: current because you gotta go on currently, you know. But
- 3:24Speaker 1: but you know, when you when you when you meet
- 3:26Speaker 1: it your talent to I know that I managed Steve Harber,
- 3:30Speaker 1: currently managed to manage Steve hard from two thousand officially
- 3:33Speaker 1: from two thousands sixteen, I currently managed Steven A. Smith.
- 3:36Speaker 1: So you're a talent, and so as as a talent,
- 3:40Speaker 1: as a manager, it takes a lot, especially when you're
- 3:43Speaker 1: dealing with personalities and it's kying to. I always tell
- 3:46Speaker 1: people just kind of stay ahead of the ignorance when
- 3:48Speaker 1: you're managing people, because you never know what's running through
- 3:51Speaker 1: their mind or what's gonna happen the next day, especially
- 3:53Speaker 1: with social media out there and they can just start posting.
- 3:56Speaker 1: So back in the day you got to do a
- 3:57Speaker 1: press conference. You know, if you want to come out
- 3:59Speaker 1: there to start talking today, then you just wake up,
- 4:03Speaker 1: not even wake up, they just roll over in bed,
- 4:05Speaker 1: just start type. You know, which means as a talent,
- 4:09Speaker 1: talk about what it takes to be a manager, but
- 4:12Speaker 1: more important, what it takes to be a manager, and
- 4:14Speaker 1: not trying to put you on the spot, but you
- 4:16Speaker 1: had so many diverse, so unique, so many different new,
- 4:19Speaker 1: unique talents. Talk about that experience, Well, first of all,
- 4:24Speaker 1: I'd like to say, um, I watched First Take every morning,
- 4:27Speaker 1: so I appreciate what you know. But but but to
- 4:31Speaker 1: answer your question, what it takes to be a manager
- 4:34Speaker 1: and so on, the words with artists is to really
- 4:37Speaker 1: understand them, to talk to them, to get to know them,
- 4:40Speaker 1: not not just handling their business. Handling their businesses it's
- 4:43Speaker 1: really the easy part, but getting to understand who they are,
- 4:47Speaker 1: how they operate, what they think, being able to understand
- 4:52Speaker 1: what's important to them, and not not necessarily what's important
- 4:56Speaker 1: to business or what's important to you, but what's important
- 4:58Speaker 1: to them. Because now, I mean I've managed Shocked shot
- 5:02Speaker 1: g for what thirty years now, and just recently he
- 5:07Speaker 1: said he said to me, I trust you, And I'm like, wow,
- 5:12Speaker 1: that that was something because I know what's important to him.
- 5:16Speaker 1: I know if someone comes to me and want him
- 5:19Speaker 1: to do something, I can almost tell them yes or
- 5:21Speaker 1: no without going to him. But but you always go
- 5:25Speaker 1: to your artists. You don't make a decision without going
- 5:28Speaker 1: to them first. Even if you think you know what
- 5:30Speaker 1: the answer is, it's it's not your place to make
- 5:32Speaker 1: that decision. Is that their place to make that their decision.
- 5:35Speaker 1: So it's it's really really important to understand who they are.
- 5:39Speaker 1: And as you know, I also represent the Johnny guitar
- 5:42Speaker 1: watch and catalog as an example, it's important to understand
- 5:45Speaker 1: what the family wants, what's important to the family, what
- 5:48Speaker 1: they'll what they'll accept, what they won't accept. But with
- 5:51Speaker 1: the same token, you still talk to the family regardless
- 5:56Speaker 1: of what the offer is, regardless of what you're thinking is,
- 5:58Speaker 1: regardless of what you think, you may know about what
- 6:01Speaker 1: their thoughts are, because their thoughts can change, and and
- 6:04Speaker 1: so it's important to know what it's portant important to
- 6:07Speaker 1: know what they want. But it's always important to take
- 6:09Speaker 1: everything to man. There's nothing I don't take to to them,
- 6:13Speaker 1: and because of that I have I have their trust.
- 6:16Speaker 1: We don't always agree, and that's okay because at the
- 6:18Speaker 1: end of the day, is their catalogs or their career.
- 6:22Speaker 1: And you suggest things soon that's what your job is.
- 6:24Speaker 1: To suggest things to them, give them alternatives if you
- 6:27Speaker 1: don't If you guys don't agree on something, and then
- 6:29Speaker 1: have a discussion about it, and at the end of
- 6:31Speaker 1: the day, you're you represent them. So when you finished
- 6:35Speaker 1: with the discussion, if what they want is is more,
- 6:39Speaker 1: is more important than what you think is right. It's
- 6:41Speaker 1: all about what they want. It's really important to say
- 6:43Speaker 1: that because and also you gotta have answers. What you
- 6:46Speaker 1: can't do is manage somebody and keep saying I don't
- 6:49Speaker 1: know or let me let me check. You really have
- 6:52Speaker 1: to be on top of your game. Correct. Oh, absolutely,
- 6:55Speaker 1: you have. You have to go. You have to go
- 6:58Speaker 1: in the business in general, and this is money making
- 7:00Speaker 1: conversations in general. You have to know the answers almost
- 7:04Speaker 1: before they're asked of you, before you ask the question.
- 7:07Speaker 1: And it's it's like, it's not gonna be absolute. You
- 7:10Speaker 1: need to do the best you can to be prepared, studied,
- 7:12Speaker 1: research about whatever topic you're gonna be talking about. Yeah,
- 7:16Speaker 1: Steve always, he's always you know everything. I go, Yes,
- 7:19Speaker 1: I do, because if I don't know everything, then we're
- 7:21Speaker 1: gonna have a problem because you're gonna ask me. So
- 7:23Speaker 1: that means that you know because people always ask me,
- 7:26Speaker 1: what ro do you watch? You watch television that much?
- 7:29Speaker 1: I go? I watch a lot. I read a lot.
- 7:31Speaker 1: I just know that I can't shut down because as
- 7:34Speaker 1: a manager your information, you have to be a trail plazer.
- 7:37Speaker 1: You have to be able to advise, you have to
- 7:39Speaker 1: be able at least have a conversation by so many
- 7:41Speaker 1: different layers, especially based on the type of talent that
- 7:44Speaker 1: you're representing. And that's really the key to all of this,
- 7:47Speaker 1: and so is that you have to be I'm not
- 7:51Speaker 1: trying to say you have to be super smart, you
- 7:53Speaker 1: just have to be knowledgeable. Yes, knowledge well, and that's
- 7:56Speaker 1: and that's exactly what you're saying. You have to you
- 7:59Speaker 1: have to read a lot. You you have to consume
- 8:01Speaker 1: a lot of information, whether it's whether television, radio, podcasts, now, um.
- 8:08Speaker 1: You know. For for myself, I've been around a long time,
- 8:11Speaker 1: so I've been on a huge learning curve over two
- 8:14Speaker 1: or three two or three years with this whole digital age,
- 8:17Speaker 1: and it changes daily, It literally changes daily. So the
- 8:21Speaker 1: conversation you and I are having right now, if we
- 8:23Speaker 1: were having a specific conversation about some type of marketing
- 8:26Speaker 1: promotion or or show or anything of that nature, by
- 8:31Speaker 1: the time went off the conversation, it may have changed already.
- 8:34Speaker 1: It really has. It really really telling the truth there
- 8:36Speaker 1: for a fact, I remember just just a story because
- 8:38Speaker 1: he's like me. We we transition. We started when you know,
- 8:42Speaker 1: just email, when the emails, you know, we grew up
- 8:45Speaker 1: in the cell phone era and then the Internet. But
- 8:47Speaker 1: I remember when uh, Steve Harvey that we was we
- 8:50Speaker 1: had a deal. We went up to New York two
- 8:52Speaker 1: thousand and five, two seven, and WBLS up there in
- 8:55Speaker 1: New York, and then we moved to Atlanta. And between
- 8:57Speaker 1: two thousand and seven and two thousand nine was when,
- 9:00Speaker 1: you know, social media was starting to grow. And I
- 9:02Speaker 1: kept noticing that, you know, all the CNN or whoever
- 9:06Speaker 1: on news had their little handles, their little handles, you know,
- 9:09Speaker 1: follow me, follow me. And I was still resisting because
- 9:12Speaker 1: we had like a nine hundred thousand fan club email base,
- 9:15Speaker 1: so that was working for me. That was working for me,
- 9:18Speaker 1: and so but I just knew that this social media
- 9:22Speaker 1: had to happen. And and the reason I bring that
- 9:25Speaker 1: up because it was in two thousand and twelve. The
- 9:27Speaker 1: reason we got our talk show was because I grew
- 9:31Speaker 1: his social media, and I grew on social media so
- 9:34Speaker 1: much that it competed with Dr Phil. You know, Katie
- 9:37Speaker 1: curic All our competition. The only person that was beating
- 9:40Speaker 1: us in social media at the time was Llen Degenerous.
- 9:44Speaker 1: And so so that's what you're saying right there, you're
- 9:46Speaker 1: saying Richane, you know, you not only have to know
- 9:49Speaker 1: what you need to know right now, you have to
- 9:51Speaker 1: be willing to change. And also when you change, you
- 9:54Speaker 1: have to be willing to see what what that what
- 9:57Speaker 1: that change is gonna impact your your customers. So when
- 10:00Speaker 1: he said he trusts you, that says a lot because
- 10:02Speaker 1: guess what, it's a lot of things that are going
- 10:04Speaker 1: on out there that can question him whether you're up
- 10:07Speaker 1: to date or whether you are you on point? Are
- 10:09Speaker 1: you start? So you still wired into the changes. That's
- 10:11Speaker 1: a blessing man, that's a compliment to your talents. Well, well,
- 10:15Speaker 1: thank you, and you're absolutely right. You do have to change, change,
- 10:18Speaker 1: adapt and grow and when you don't know something, don't
- 10:22Speaker 1: be afraid to reach out and ask. I mean, I
- 10:25Speaker 1: consult with a lot of different people in a lot
- 10:27Speaker 1: of different areas because it's it's you know, there's so
- 10:30Speaker 1: many things that are going on, whether whether you're dealing
- 10:33Speaker 1: with the law, what you're dealing with with uh uh
- 10:37Speaker 1: ledgers and accounting, whether you're digital dealing with the digital media,
- 10:41Speaker 1: digital media and social media, you have to be willing
- 10:45Speaker 1: to to not know. Also, you have to be willing
- 10:48Speaker 1: to reach out to people who know more than about
- 10:51Speaker 1: something than you do. And that's important, and that's important
- 10:54Speaker 1: as a manager. You cannot be afraid to not know
- 10:58Speaker 1: when so when you go back to your client, you say,
- 11:02Speaker 1: I can share this information with you. This is what
- 11:04Speaker 1: I've found out because I've reached out to someone who
- 11:07Speaker 1: knows what they're doing. They work on this every day
- 11:09Speaker 1: because we can't work on every little thing every day,
- 11:12Speaker 1: so we have to reach out to people. But you know,
- 11:15Speaker 1: the interesting part about your career and the brand Atrian
- 11:18Speaker 1: that you've produced is that, I know, man, when you
- 11:21Speaker 1: have black talent, a lot of people don't want to
- 11:23Speaker 1: mess with your talent. You know, they either have reputations
- 11:27Speaker 1: or they feel that they have limited growth potential or
- 11:30Speaker 1: and then as you grow that brand and other people, oh,
- 11:33Speaker 1: I see now start to try to take advantage of
- 11:37Speaker 1: their relationship or manipulate the relationship to their advantage. And
- 11:40Speaker 1: then we have black music, mom, you know, which we
- 11:42Speaker 1: know to recognize the role of black music. When you
- 11:46Speaker 1: hear Little Richard his death recently, and and you reread
- 11:50Speaker 1: the Franklin and all these legends that are out there
- 11:52Speaker 1: that are pastors and are still alive, the Paddle La Bells,
- 11:55Speaker 1: the Old J's, you know, all the individuals still like
- 11:58Speaker 1: that producing great music. What's the hoarding of June being
- 12:01Speaker 1: Black music month before we go to the next break? Well,
- 12:05Speaker 1: you know, I think it's important that we focus on
- 12:10Speaker 1: black music, but as I really personally, I don't like
- 12:15Speaker 1: Black Music Month. I think every every month should be
- 12:18Speaker 1: black music about absolutely, you know. You know, especially I
- 12:22Speaker 1: think it was last year rap took over, which is
- 12:26Speaker 1: a print primarily black art took over all of music
- 12:30Speaker 1: as far as as far as value, as far as
- 12:33Speaker 1: amount of sales and streams, et cetera. And so, you know,
- 12:37Speaker 1: I think it's important to have focus and take time
- 12:40Speaker 1: so everyone focuses on it. But I think you need
- 12:41Speaker 1: to focus on it all year round. I think they
- 12:43Speaker 1: need to needs to be events all year round focusing
- 12:47Speaker 1: on black music. Absolutely. We're talking to my man Atrian Gregory.
- 12:51Speaker 1: We're gonna be right back, Uh. I want to ask
- 12:53Speaker 1: him about Tupac, and then we're gonna go Martin. I
- 12:56Speaker 1: just got it. I can't be talking to the man
- 12:58Speaker 1: who had two pack in his hands and not and
- 13:02Speaker 1: not just saying who I consider the greatest rapper of
- 13:04Speaker 1: all the time Rushan is putting yourself out there because
- 13:07Speaker 1: I believe that be right back with Atroan Gregory money
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- 15:08Speaker 1: dot ai. This is ro Sean McDonald and you're listening
- 15:11Speaker 1: to money making conversation on the phone was Atrian Gregory
- 15:14Speaker 1: um legendary manager, talent manager. I would not even put
- 15:18Speaker 1: my class myself in the class of him being a
- 15:20Speaker 1: manage because this roster because I'm gonna just telling you
- 15:23Speaker 1: someone you when you're managing people, it's really you have
- 15:26Speaker 1: to be their friend. There, their parents there, the emotional
- 15:31Speaker 1: leader there, there the confidant. You have to be when
- 15:34Speaker 1: they're down. You have to always stay up, you know,
- 15:36Speaker 1: and when they come to you for advice, you have
- 15:38Speaker 1: to have answers. You can't take anything personal. When they're
- 15:41Speaker 1: having a bad day, you can't take that personal. But
- 15:43Speaker 1: you also have to guide them in the direction of
- 15:46Speaker 1: I was seeing the best opportunity for them. You can't
- 15:49Speaker 1: make solo decisions. Is their career. Your ego could never
- 15:52Speaker 1: get so big to say I made them. I always
- 15:55Speaker 1: tell people, hey, I'm great at what I do, but
- 15:57Speaker 1: if I didn't have the talent in front of me
- 16:00Speaker 1: to be able to do what I did, you wouldn't
- 16:01Speaker 1: even hear or even know of Rushan McDonald. So a
- 16:04Speaker 1: tupox corp um like the reason why why do the wish.
- 16:09Speaker 1: Why do you say that he's one of the greatest,
- 16:12Speaker 1: uh political speeches, socially rap, socially conscious, rap, uplifting rap.
- 16:19Speaker 1: I consider Brenda's Got a Baby one of the great
- 16:22Speaker 1: one of the all time great rap songs. Keep your
- 16:25Speaker 1: head up, um, how do you like it? One of
- 16:29Speaker 1: the great party songs. Um. Just just just an array
- 16:33Speaker 1: of music and talent from a young man who left
- 16:36Speaker 1: this world far earlier than we that I wish or
- 16:40Speaker 1: anybody would have liked to have seen. So just talk
- 16:42Speaker 1: to us about managing of talent as unique. He was
- 16:45Speaker 1: an actor, poet, and h a vision area. Talk to
- 16:50Speaker 1: us right quick, Atrian, Yeah, I think that boy that
- 16:55Speaker 1: that that's a lot. And he was actually all of
- 16:57Speaker 1: those things. And he came from a panther family, as
- 17:02Speaker 1: as some people may know, and so they they spent
- 17:07Speaker 1: a lot of time studying and learning and teaching him.
- 17:10Speaker 1: So he had a wide variety of of ways of
- 17:16Speaker 1: looking at things. That's why you could have Brent's Got
- 17:18Speaker 1: a Baby, you could have Trapped, you could have how
- 17:20Speaker 1: do you want It? You can have all those different songs,
- 17:23Speaker 1: you know, and and in this time it is just
- 17:25Speaker 1: so interesting to me because I remember when Tupac was
- 17:30Speaker 1: accosted by the cops and and experience that we had
- 17:34Speaker 1: then and and you know, he was accosted by the cops,
- 17:37Speaker 1: he was slammed on the ground, he was beaten up, handcuffed,
- 17:41Speaker 1: and then we had to go to court to prove
- 17:45Speaker 1: prove a jaywalking ticket at jaywalking tickets. And you know,
- 17:51Speaker 1: black young men really have to understand that the power
- 17:56Speaker 1: of the police. And I know they're trying to change
- 17:58Speaker 1: some of that now and and and absolutely needs to
- 18:00Speaker 1: be changed. But the cop came over to Tupac and said, hey,
- 18:04Speaker 1: he walked across street, you're jay walking. And Tupac, being expressive,
- 18:08Speaker 1: was just moving his hands and saying, why are you
- 18:10Speaker 1: askling me about this? Where you're hassling about this? And
- 18:12Speaker 1: the guy didn't like a young man standing up for himself,
- 18:16Speaker 1: But that's what that's what a panther kid does. And
- 18:18Speaker 1: Tupac was absolutely a panther, black panther kid from from
- 18:22Speaker 1: from that space. And so I just think it was,
- 18:27Speaker 1: you know, important that his family taught him what what
- 18:31Speaker 1: they taught him so that so that he could then
- 18:34Speaker 1: go on and be who he was able to become,
- 18:37Speaker 1: you know, through through a lot of people's support and
- 18:40Speaker 1: including myself. That's amazing. Now, I was looking to through
- 18:45Speaker 1: your bio and your catalog and information and different names
- 18:48Speaker 1: popped up. A name popped up that may be the
- 18:51Speaker 1: same name I know, And I love this young lady,
- 18:53Speaker 1: Stephanie Frederick. Yes, yes, St. Stephanie Frederick is an awesome person.
- 18:59Speaker 1: ACTS spoke to her this morning. Um, she's an executive
- 19:03Speaker 1: producer producer. Um. Year years ago she was a on
- 19:09Speaker 1: on air. Um uh Texas I'm from Houston, Texas. Yes,
- 19:18Speaker 1: and um, yes, Stephane. Stephanie is absolutely great. She has
- 19:21Speaker 1: she has a great company, F GW Productions. Uh. They
- 19:26Speaker 1: do a lot of things. Even when when she does
- 19:28Speaker 1: the Oscars. Every year that stephanitiely does Oscars, she brings
- 19:32Speaker 1: a young person to just tell her. How many people
- 19:36Speaker 1: do that? Just hang out with her and experience that
- 19:38Speaker 1: experience of experiencing the Oscars, what it's like to work
- 19:41Speaker 1: in that world, what it's like to be on the
- 19:43Speaker 1: red carpet. I mean, how many people do that within
- 19:47Speaker 1: their company? I mean I think that's just incredible. Oh,
- 19:50Speaker 1: you know, I've been knowing stefinitely. Uh. When I have
- 19:53Speaker 1: to go way back to like ninety two when my
- 19:56Speaker 1: comedy club, hip hop comedy stopped and she used to
- 19:59Speaker 1: come there, and you know, she was on Fox News
- 20:01Speaker 1: at the time, and uh, you should tell me I
- 20:04Speaker 1: could be great, I could be special. So I know
- 20:07Speaker 1: the value. I know that person that you're talking about,
- 20:09Speaker 1: how many people, not many? And I know that you
- 20:11Speaker 1: know she she's a firm believer of paying it for
- 20:14Speaker 1: and she does not allow a male dominated industry to
- 20:18Speaker 1: stop her from being great. And that's when and I
- 20:21Speaker 1: just had to bring that up. I saw you one
- 20:23Speaker 1: of the one of the individuals, one of the people
- 20:25Speaker 1: on your roster, and that's important that you again another
- 20:28Speaker 1: diverse roster again. You don't hang and say this is
- 20:31Speaker 1: who I can only be. I can be more. Now
- 20:34Speaker 1: let's talk about mellow moods. What exactly is that mellow moods? Well, so,
- 20:41Speaker 1: so what happened a few years ago, just to give
- 20:43Speaker 1: me a little a quick history. I um, I started
- 20:48Speaker 1: putting out some more rap records again, and realize that
- 20:52Speaker 1: I've gotten a little older. I don't you know, I'm
- 20:54Speaker 1: not anymore want go hang out in the clubs. But
- 20:59Speaker 1: I love music. It's just it's just my love. That's
- 21:02Speaker 1: what I do. So I wanted to find something that
- 21:05Speaker 1: I could do that was that was good and that
- 21:09Speaker 1: brought peace and harmony to people because not a little older,
- 21:13Speaker 1: you know, I need I need to wake up listening
- 21:15Speaker 1: to pock And and Stanley Clark and a lot of
- 21:18Speaker 1: other you know music that I like to listen to
- 21:21Speaker 1: digital underground, but in the evening, I need something to
- 21:23Speaker 1: go to sleep to. So it's all, there's all to
- 21:27Speaker 1: go to sleep. Pipe, It's all to go to sleep.
- 21:30Speaker 1: It is so so Melal Music is a collection of
- 21:34Speaker 1: three pianists that and and African American pianists. And I
- 21:38Speaker 1: went to them and they're all jazz pianists. They're they're
- 21:40Speaker 1: either teachers or or touring musicians. And I said, I
- 21:45Speaker 1: want you to do something it's a little different for you.
- 21:48Speaker 1: Play a little less notes um and something to relax to.
- 21:53Speaker 1: And no one in our culture is doing this that
- 21:57Speaker 1: I that I've found as as an actually producer, as
- 22:00Speaker 1: a company or as pianist, because everyone wants to show
- 22:03Speaker 1: how good they are. And they're awesome pianists. I mean
- 22:05Speaker 1: one of one of them is the pianists for the
- 22:09Speaker 1: count basis for what is now the count Basie Orchestra,
- 22:11Speaker 1: So I mean, they're awesome pianists, so I just have
- 22:14Speaker 1: them play a few less notes and play something that's
- 22:16Speaker 1: nice and relaxing for people. And UM the name of
- 22:20Speaker 1: the groups of solo piano group because it's a collection
- 22:23Speaker 1: of artists and I'm putting different artists in there. As
- 22:26Speaker 1: we speak. I have a young lady that um is
- 22:30Speaker 1: working on her masters in classical piano. She just did
- 22:32Speaker 1: something so um she'll be on our next album that
- 22:36Speaker 1: will be August, coming out August thirty one. So you know,
- 22:40Speaker 1: I'm just working on doing something just a little bit different,
- 22:43Speaker 1: little little pieceful, especially in this time. We really need that.
- 22:47Speaker 1: And UM, you know that that's that's pretty much it. Well,
- 22:50Speaker 1: you know they always tell people, you know, what is
- 22:52Speaker 1: your legacy? You know, because you know we we we're
- 22:55Speaker 1: getting this business atron and and you know we wanted
- 22:59Speaker 1: these just we want to make money. First of all.
- 23:01Speaker 1: Our goal is to make money. And then as you
- 23:04Speaker 1: when you look at your body of work, it's fantastic
- 23:06Speaker 1: body of work, and go, what am I leading? Man?
- 23:09Speaker 1: What is my voice? Is the that is my voice
- 23:12Speaker 1: being heard? Are am I leaving a part of it?
- 23:15Speaker 1: And that's what it sounds like you're doing with this
- 23:17Speaker 1: particular project because of the fact that it's not a
- 23:19Speaker 1: one off. It's ongoing. Correct, Absolutely, it's ongoing. We put
- 23:24Speaker 1: our first album out several weeks ago. Our second album
- 23:27Speaker 1: is coming out at the end of August, and we
- 23:31Speaker 1: have three singles before that. And like you said, it
- 23:35Speaker 1: is legacy. I started with World Class Wrecking Crew, the
- 23:38Speaker 1: Nine in the Night I worked. I was the tour
- 23:41Speaker 1: manager for n w A. You know, put the digital
- 23:44Speaker 1: Underground records out, the two Pac records out, MC smooth
- 23:47Speaker 1: and some and some other work records. And you know,
- 23:50Speaker 1: now now as I'm a little older, I'm doing something
- 23:53Speaker 1: a little different. But that's all right there. But that's
- 23:56Speaker 1: all right though. And don't forget I'm the executive producers
- 23:59Speaker 1: sounding seks last two album. So so you know, I
- 24:03Speaker 1: work on a wide variety of music. You know, I work.
- 24:06Speaker 1: I work with Stephanie as you mentioned earlier, and you know,
- 24:11Speaker 1: I think it's important to have that wide variety as
- 24:13Speaker 1: you grow and as you change, because everyone grows and changes,
- 24:17Speaker 1: and you know, running around in the clubs is not
- 24:20Speaker 1: not the same as it was for me thirty years ago. Right,
- 24:23Speaker 1: and I want to think that absolutely, and I want
- 24:25Speaker 1: to make a note about that because that's why I
- 24:26Speaker 1: brought up Stephanie Frederick. Because Stephanie Frederick is a is
- 24:29Speaker 1: a content creation, she's video, she's vision that has nothing
- 24:33Speaker 1: to do with music. You know, music can be introduced
- 24:36Speaker 1: introduced into her work. And our clients include Universal Pictures,
- 24:39Speaker 1: Warner Brothers, Paramount, and Disney. That lets you know the
- 24:43Speaker 1: body of work that that you are, that you have,
- 24:46Speaker 1: you have, the you have, you know this this this
- 24:49Speaker 1: the solo Piano project that you have right now that
- 24:52Speaker 1: that's going called the Solo Piano Group Project and it
- 24:55Speaker 1: is out now May eight then in August roughly. I
- 24:58Speaker 1: want to ask you, with the pan dim it going
- 25:00Speaker 1: on in zoom uh streaming and being so popular, have
- 25:03Speaker 1: you done anything with the team through using zoom or
- 25:07Speaker 1: anything with the pandemic times that that could be uplifting
- 25:10Speaker 1: and motivating for the people to who are locked in
- 25:13Speaker 1: us still basically locked in whin the new normal right
- 25:16Speaker 1: now with this COVID Nateen, that doesn't mean our lives
- 25:18Speaker 1: are going to change. Yeah, so um, I do it.
- 25:23Speaker 1: I talked at USC every year and and this this year,
- 25:28Speaker 1: we did a zoom talk with with the class. This
- 25:30Speaker 1: is a business class, and so I did that. Um,
- 25:34Speaker 1: we are having the solo pianists record and then and
- 25:38Speaker 1: then we do a zoom with them as well. So
- 25:41Speaker 1: so even though they can't play live right now, people
- 25:45Speaker 1: can still see them through through Facebook and all the
- 25:48Speaker 1: other modalities you YouTube and Instagram and all those and so, um,
- 25:53Speaker 1: we are doing that, and we're looking at doing some
- 25:56Speaker 1: of some other things like that, maybe doing a bigger,
- 25:58Speaker 1: bigger concert thank you, and and we're also look looking
- 26:01Speaker 1: at doing some some talks myself and some of some
- 26:05Speaker 1: of the other people that have worked with over the years,
- 26:08Speaker 1: just doing question and answer session. So we're looking at
- 26:10Speaker 1: doing a lot of different things. I mean, the world
- 26:12Speaker 1: has changed, and even when it does go back to
- 26:14Speaker 1: some type of normalcy, I think zoom and these these
- 26:18Speaker 1: opportunities are going to be there because what that gives
- 26:20Speaker 1: is the people from all over the world a chance
- 26:23Speaker 1: to see here and talk to you know, myself, yourself,
- 26:27Speaker 1: and and and and others that they may have interest
- 26:29Speaker 1: and that they may never get to see you may
- 26:31Speaker 1: never come into their city, but if they have Internet,
- 26:34Speaker 1: they can hear them and they can see them, and
- 26:36Speaker 1: I think it's a very good outlet for for for
- 26:39Speaker 1: all of us. You know that not not only the
- 26:42Speaker 1: content creators, but also the listeners and viewers as well. Awesome.
- 26:46Speaker 1: I appreciate your Atrian. I want to thank you for
- 26:48Speaker 1: coming on Money Making Conversation. Anyway, we'll get in touch
- 26:50Speaker 1: with you. Anyway we can buy this album, get involved
- 26:54Speaker 1: social media. Tell us about the Solo Piano Group. It
- 26:56Speaker 1: came out May eight, uh developed you know from the
- 26:59Speaker 1: So Little Piano Group. The name of the album is
- 27:02Speaker 1: Mellow Moods made by the Solo Piano Group. Anyway we
- 27:06Speaker 1: can reach out socially or digitally. How can we reach out? Yeah,
- 27:09Speaker 1: so so, I'm on Instagram, I'm on all platforms Solo
- 27:13Speaker 1: Piano well, first of all, Solo Piano Group. Soli Piano
- 27:15Speaker 1: Group is on all platforms um from Instagram to Facebook, YouTube, everything.
- 27:23Speaker 1: I'm on all platforms. You can reach me on Facebook, Twitter,
- 27:26Speaker 1: or Instagram. Adrian Gregory. Depending pun the whether it's whether
- 27:31Speaker 1: it's Facebook or or Instagram or Twitter might be a
- 27:35Speaker 1: little bit different handled, but Adrian Gregory is always in
- 27:38Speaker 1: the front. My first name is spelled A t R
- 27:40Speaker 1: O N and Gregory g R E G g O
- 27:43Speaker 1: R Y and it's always at the front or whatever
- 27:45Speaker 1: the handle is on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. And my
- 27:49Speaker 1: brother Johnny kick Car said, you know, be a Dawn
- 27:52Speaker 1: site cheaper the price is right. I got the babies crying.
- 27:59Speaker 1: Oh my god, my man, your special brother. I want
- 28:01Speaker 1: to thank you for taking the time to share your
- 28:03Speaker 1: story on Money Making Conversation. It's a journey man. I
- 28:06Speaker 1: feel blessed having this conversation because you're walk in history
- 28:09Speaker 1: and I appreciate you so much for doing this. Thank you. Okay,
- 28:14Speaker 1: we'll talk soon. I remember I am your friend and
- 28:16Speaker 1: I am a fan and that means a lot because
- 28:19Speaker 1: of the fact that means I'll do anything to keep
- 28:20Speaker 1: make sure your voice is continuing heard in this of
- 28:23Speaker 1: a changing world. Again, thank you for coming on Money
- 28:26Speaker 1: Making Conversation. You want to hear more money Making Conversation interviews,
- 28:29Speaker 1: please go to money Making Conversation dot com. I'm ra
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