Transcript:
Intro: This is words that move me, the podcast where movers and shakers, like you get the information and inspiration you need, to navigate your creative career with clarity and confidence. I am your host master mover, Dana Wilson. And if you're someone that loves to learn, laugh and is looking to rewrite the starving artist story, then sit tight. But don't stop moving because you're in the right place.
Dana: Ladies and gentlemen. Hello, Hello. My name is Dana and this
Ava: Is Ava Flav here with you.
Dana: Ava will be joining me as co-host on this episode and I could not be more thrilled. Um, I'm jazzed that you're here and I'm really excited for this episode because today will be, we will be talking to our friend, Mr. Terry Santiel.
Ava: Yes.
I mean, we'll let him do the speaking the introduce of himself, but, uh, we met Terry back in 2007 when we toured with JT on the future sex love show tour. Terry plays percussion and Terry is exceptional, and we're going to get to that. But first, you know how we do on the podcast, and I think this is important, All my guests introduce themselves and maybe it'd be cool for you for you to do a little self intro real quick.
Cool, cool. Well, my name is Ava Bernstein Mitchell. I am a dancer choreographer teacher worked with lots of artists, toured with many artists, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears. I am heavy in Dance advocacy. I am on the board at SAG AFTRA and on dancers Alliance and fighting a lot for dancers rights and what not and I just all around just loved dance.
And you are also a podcast host, and I am borrowing you for this episode. Tell us a bit about your podcast.
Oh, my podcasts called the dance room. It is a podcast that I co-host with Heather Morris and we basically talk about dance shows and have wonderful guests on there. But at the moment it is on a hiatus, but you can always go back and listen to these episodes. We have some great guests and go over some really cool stuff. So yeah, The Dance Room,
Your library is good. I went on a, I did a road trip once I was doing a long drive and that's just what I listened to top to bottom the whole thing the two of you together. Hi, Heather, love you. Okay. But first Ava, you know the deal we're doing wins and I'm going to let you kick it off today. What are you celebrating today?
It's might sound not like a win to some people, but it's a win because I've been teaching three-year-olds, which is a struggle. I'm not going to lie. Three-year-old is tough. I'm five and up and recently that class just got canceled and I'm so excited. It's a win for me. So yes.
And do you know what? I think that might be a win for them as well. You know, they have this time freed up now they can be yes.
Now they can play with each other. That's all they wanted to do. They want us to play with each other and I'm happy for that. You didn't need to dance.
Congratulations. Thank you. I'm glad that I'm glad that you're winning in that way is it's important. Cancellations are not always a loss.
No, not always a loss.
Okay, great. I love that. Um, this week I am celebrating that I've decided I can't believe it took me so long to decide to do this, but I've decided to choose a donation organization to send all the proceeds from my podcast shop. So for the next 30 days, all proceeds from my Words that Move Me online store are going directly to Chloe and Maude Arnold,
My sister, friends. Yay.
I, I love that too. And I, I love that. I love what they do. I love how they lead. Um, and I'm really thrilled to be supporting them. Okay. Um, now it's your turn. What is going well in your world?
Phenomenal. Congratulations. Maybe, maybe without any further ado we jump to, how do you feel about that?
I think we shall let's do it.
Enjoy everybody.
Dana: I think we're doing it. I think this is it.
Ava: Yes. Well hello Terry Santiel, yeah.
Terry: Hey Ava. And now I'm saying hi, Dana.
Dana: Hi Terry. Welcome to the podcast, my friend. This is amazing. I'm jazzed about this. The first thing we'll ask you to do, unfortunately, because this is a challenge is to introduce yourself. What would you like us to know about you?
Somebody who's never met you?
Terry: Well, my name is Terry Santiel. Terrell Santiel is my legal name and I'm born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Um, I went to school all over this city. I am, I guess I'm a rolling stone of Los Angeles. You know, where my mom and dad were when I was growing up, my mom and dad were separated. So I moved a lot. That's why I sent him a rolling stone of Angeles. Cause I've lived everywhere from the Valley, to Compton to Watts, to South central and now I'm here near Hollywood. So anyway,
Amazing. I love it here. That you're, uh, a native Ava is as well.
Yeah, I think I know that about Ava. Yes.
Isn't it odd that things that we've learned about each other and the things that we remember and the things that we, that we, don’t. Ava and I were just talking the other day about how our memories are so selective. Like I remember the oddest things about being on tour and then full-blown chapters that are just, I have zero recollection.
I do remember one thing about you on tour when you were watching the tour bus bus to carwash.
That's amazing.
Yes! We washed the bus! Terry thank you for reminding me. And actually that is, is one of the things that I would like to talk about on this, but, but maybe we'll get there oddly enough. I talk about car washes on the podcast a lot. Not because they're interesting, but because I live across the street from one,
Literally across the street
I hear it often. I don't think, I don't think we can hear it today. I'm in the booth as it were. Um, but, but let's, uh, let's go pre carwash for a second. Some people listening might not even know what we mean by that, but we'll get there.
Ava: I would love to know where your lover percussions came from.
Well, that's a very interesting question. My, um, family grew up basically playing percussion, my uncles, my cousins, my brothers, everybody. Sort of kind of played, but with me they sorta kinda like wouldn't let me play. They told me, I didn't know. You know? And then they set out to be a challenge for me to learn. And then I learned, and I got better than everybody. I hate to say that, but better. I got a little bit more skilled than the rest of them. And my career started from that point. But man, I can remember my uncle junior. He would like, we would play on the bottom of oatmeal boxes, the Quaker oatmeal boxes at like three years old, four years old, just didn't know we were doing just, it was fun and it was noise cause they had to real drums. So yeah, it started at a very young age. I was like 13 though
Okay. So it started young, but when did it take off, like when did you start getting paid to do this? How did that happen?
Started getting paid at a really early age. I, um, well first, uh, before I guess I must've been 16 and my mother used to sign for me to be able to play in clubs, the local bands on the waiver. So we could play because they sold alcohol in these places and, you know, go in and play with some of the bands. And then I ended up getting my own, you know, being in a band that I was involved in. At the time the band was called Total concept Unlimited
That's a good name
TCU.
I really loved that name. Total concept, unlimited LLC incorporated unlimited.
That's a point. Maybe I'll start LLC with that TLC total.
Come on. Okay. So, so we get a tiny picture of the early days and then Rose Royce happened. So you're one of the founding members of the group Rose Royce with that mega hit carwash, uh, which I will not sing because although I did do my vocal warmups today, the voice of the little subpar, there it is. Don't let it stop please. Uh, that crack crack, crack, crack, Terry that's you. And my question about that track is as you were writing that song, as you came up with that mega catchy super clap, did you know that that was going to be a hit, like as you were making it, did you know?
No. When you know, when you're doing these things, when they're, when they're happening and they're in their infancy, you don't know what's going to happen with these songs. And that, by the way, that song was written by Norman Whitfield, if you guys Google Norman Whitfield, you'll see his catalog is pretty extensive and like that. So anyway, but yeah, but those are my hands on that hand clap that you hear all the time.
That is remarkable. I just think thats so cool
Let me say this about Rose Royce. Since we went there, Total Concept Unlimited became Rose Royce. We changed the name to Rose Royce.
Oh see, now I'm conflicted because I like both names. Uh, and when did, what brought about the change?
Well, we met Norman Whitfield, the producer, and we ended up getting a girl in the group and we decided to change the name to Rose Royce. So a lot of people got it mixed up with Rolls Royce, the car, right. It's actually Rose Royce like the flower.
Like the flower. So that's an important distinction. Yes. So I did a little, a little digging and I know that you were one of the, uh, early incorporators of using electronic instruments. Like you would use an electronic drum pad. I would love to hear a little bit about the differences making music then versus making music now.
Okay. Making music now. Well, let's start with making music now. Making music now is a little easier with all of the computers and all of the easy ways of making music. Now you could play, say a shaker for four bars, and then you could copy it and paste it, make it go throughout the whole song and cut it and chop it back in the day we had to physically play all of the parts. Whether you said play as shaker as an example, whether you sit there and play shaker 10 times on a five minute song, you know, your wrist will be on fire because the weight it gets heavy, you know, and holding your arm in a certain position for so long and not trying to mess up a tempo or anything like that. And then a lot of times it wasn't your fault that you had to do it, you know, as many times as you're going to doing it because we recorded everything together with multiple people. So one person could make a mistake that starts the whole thing over. So that's how that works out. Yeah. Even back when we did carwash, when we did carwash, there were, um, before we got it all the way, right. I think there were 47 tapes. So that song had to be played that many times with a whole band together. A whole group of people together from top to bottom. Yeah. Well, if we even got to the bottom, right, right.
Top to Middle. Yeah. Wow. Okay. This is, that's giving me flashbacks of, I think the same is true for dance in video, especially. That's flashbacks to the opening scene of Lala land, which is this big ensemble highway moment. And it's a oner and to get all the way through, without everybody messing up, like camera, props that yeah.
So speaking a la la land, the percussionist that was on the back of the truck is my cousin.
Get out of town! Yeah. So much fun in that moment, we got Liz Imperio dancing in front of that truck. That's so cool. The entertainment world is the size of a tiny acorn. At very least it could fit into the back of a truck. Um, okay. So that's one of the key differences is like the duration or the actual recording process. Having to be a steady all the way through. I'm sure that damn near everything else has changed as well. But maybe this is the better question. What has stayed the same?
What has stayed the same?
Um, nothing.
My, my drum set stayed the same
Because you've got it tuned in. You've got that.
That set up is nice.
Well, you know, the drums I used for my real recording sessions. I used the same drum set I use since they, the first drums I ever owned and the original Mahogany Congas, and they're all everybody's stuff. I mean, I played on a lot of records, but they're from carwash back in the day, you know,
Will you name drop a little bit for us. Yeah.
Tell us you've, you've played on a lot of records, but don't, don't be shy. I mean some Motown classics, the Temptations, Smokey Robbinson.
Yes. Yes. Actually the temptations were, those were temptations was the first group I've ever recorded with. And interesting about that story is the Temptations Runaway child, running wild song was the first song I learned how to play on congas, you know, like very young.
And then, and then you found yourself working for them.
Yeah. It was the first thing that I did professionally you recording wise. So did the 1990 album with the Temptations. Yeah, it was, it was amazing experience back then, but the same drums are used on like all of that stuff from Marvin Gaye to Smokie. Can you everybody's yeah. Even recordings with Berry Gordy over there. I did a lot of Mo-Town stuff. It was amazing. I had a, I had a great time over at man.
So funky that music. Oh, but you also, you, I don't want to, um, pigeon hole you or, or pin you as being this old school guy. Um, we obviously know you from touring with JT, but you play for Janet Jackson, um, and, and, uh, a host of others. So your, your musical talents and sensibilities are not, I couldn't put a date on them.
You transcend generations
So how, how is it that you do that?
I just try to stay current and I don't feel like I know everything or think that I know everything I'm always progressing and learning, you know? And I think that's what keeps me current, you know? Um, now, like right now I'm like, uh, I've sorta kinda like figured out the whole trap thing and
Yes, what is it? Please explain it to me.
Well, what I'm trying to do now is a corporate rate, low am, percussion stuff to match the stuff that goes on within those rhythms and groups. That trap is all about, you know, it's and the whole trap thing. It's like, it's fascinating to me because it's all low end, and A lot of people can't hear that frequency, but it moves them. You know what I mean? That's what I mean about
Figuring it out on a Sonic level, you're figuring out the trends and how to do it and how to make complimenting things, right?
Yeah. Yeah. Like I can do it. And I know how I'm just trying to figure out how to incorporate my instrument in it and make it like, make it crazy like I'm in that process now. How about that?
Cool. I can't wait to hear what comes out of it. I know
This, this is the reason why you stand the test of time is because you, you keep current and you're always learning, like you said, and that is fascinating to see and a good lesson to take away. Honestly,
I agree absolutely
The thing is too, is just to stay humble. That's the, that's the main thing. Stay humble and try to not, I guess, try not to feel like you're more than you are. That's the best, better way, uh, way of putting it. But then when I say that, there's, I see a lot of people all the time on a lot of tours and throughout my whole career, they think they're as important as the artist. And you're not, you're there to compliment the artists, you know what I mean? And do what you do. But I see a lot of people, you know, over the years just doing things that just in my mind make absolutely no sense at all, you know, with the life. Because when you go on through life, you've got to, you've got to set up your future, you know, and a lot of people don't do that. They live for now. They want to go to all them clubs. They want to be a part of the, I call it the hype crowd. They want to be, you know, they're not artists, they're just a part of something, you know? So,
You know, that's, that's a lovely segue. We had planned to talk about touring. I think one of the areas where musicians and dancers overlap almost in an identical type of way is an a tour scenario. A dancers' experience of tour is very similar to a musician's experience of tour. You're away from your loved ones. You're unnaturally like living, eating, sleeping, you know, breathing, working with your, you know, uh, cohorts colleagues. Um, and I think that's really unnatural. And I think you do it very, very well. How many, how many tours have you been on Terry? Is that even a number you can count?
You know, I've been torn since forever.
Did Terry did Jesus’s Birthday Tour.
I've been on several tours, but I've not been on a lot of tours because I will pick and choose who I like to work with. And a lot of them have worked for, you know, I've worked with them for a long period of time, You know? And you could take JT as an example, you know, I've been working with JT since 2002, it's been 20 years. It doesn't even seem like that long. And in the same, same thing, you know, with like Janet, I worked with her for at least, at least 10 years, you know, and Mary J Blige, I worked for her for a long time. I mean, you know, Barry White, I was part of the whole Love Unlimited Orchestra. And, you know, I worked in that for a long time. You know, I haven't been on tour with a lot of different people. I've been on tour a long time with different people.
Right. You can be on many tours with a few of the same people. Right. You mentioned, you mentioned staying out of the hype, um, is that one of the secrets to touring? Well, to like not combusting or going broke? I mean, trust me a tour is a great way to make money, but it's also a great way to spend it. So what are the secrets
If you're caught up in the hype? You know what I mean? I, um, I try to do my thing. I tried to study and learn a lot of different things and then I try to stay out of harm's way. And what I mean by that is you could see people doing things that, you know, are going to get them fired. So I sorta kind of stay out of the way, you know, like, okay, I see that I know where that's going to lead because I've seen it so many times I'll move, I'll move on. I'll go another direction. So yeah,
You learn from people's mistakes, just as much as you can learn from their successes. I learned that on tour as well.
And then what are you going to, I mean, I, I learned, I made when I was very young and we were talking once Lionel Richie and myself, and he was telling me one of his secrets to success is not to be, not to be too familiar with everybody, you know? And I sort of kind of live by that. And you guys know that too. Everybody knows me, but you don't know a whole lot about me. You know what I mean? I just try not to stay too familiar because it, it sort of keeps you out of harm's way. You know, people have a lot to say about you, then it could, it could go either way, it could go negative or positive. Right. We'll just sorta kind of stay out of the way.
Well, speaking of knowing about you, I remember on tour that you were a collector of Air Force Ones, and I wanted to know, do you still have a love for the Air Force One? And how many do you have?
No, I used to do that and I used to, like I said, I was caught up.
If there's something to get caught up in, I'd say it could be worse. Yeah.
Well, you know, it was like one of those six now look at it. I was like, Oh, that's a waste of money. But there's like this kid that lives down in San Diego and he sells and collects like sneakers. So I ended up giving him a bunch of that stuff just so he could make some money. You know, he's a little entrepreneur, I think it's like 12 or 13 years old. His name is Eric, you know, and love this. Like, go make some money because a lot of that stuff I was buying and collecting back then and Ava I'm never get rewarded ****. I know there was a thing. And I was like, Oh, I got all of this stuff. So I stopped minimalizing my life. You know what I mean? And just getting, I have no clutter in my house, you know what I mean? It's just, if I don't use it, it's gone. If I don't wear it in a year, it's gone. I have no problem taking it to the shelter and giving it to somebody that's going to use it. You know what I mean? I don't throw anything like that in the trash. I'm not going to try to go on eBay and put the stuff on sale. You know what I mean?
Terry, you are so patched in to the questions that I wanted to ask you today because I would love to talk to you about money. Um, I remember being on tour and you being the voice of reason so often, uh, like, you know, you're, you're being smart out here on the road, save your money. You knew I was, uh, I think Ava and I were both in the same situation. We got rid of our, um, apartments when we went on tour. So we had almost zero expenses and you encouraged us both buy a house, get yourself some investment properties. Um, you were really were a voice of financial reason to me at a very early age. And I would love for you to just shed a little wisdom on that. Um, because most of my listeners are young artists and I simply don't believe that we need to be starving. I believe we can be thriving and I believe we can live under roofs that we own. Um, and I know you believe that too. You could you talk a little bit about, uh, your thoughts about money, how you manage it and how you've grown your wealth.
I think that everybody should think, think for the future, you know what I mean? Where are you going to be in 10 years? Where do you want to be in 10 years and establish yourself. Uh, when I say establish yourself, I mean, set up your future, set up your foundation, which I believe is the most important thing, is where you live. You know what I mean? And if you could get yourself in a position where you could own something, rather than paying rent, you're in a better position. You know, I've got, you know, I mean, I've, you know, but I've got, you know, different income properties, but I always encourage people who live under my roofs, you know, to buy something. I will not hold somebody to a lease that I know I can hold them to if I wanted to. If they're like, wow, I found this out like, Oh, cool, I'll let you go do your thing. I'm happy for you. You know? And how, you know, find somebody else to occupy that space because it is a business. And for me, when you're doing something like that, even if you dove into something like I dove into, like with real estate, you have to take it very seriously and not look at it. And you have to look at it as a business, you know, get all kinds of equity and capital and money and taxes. A lot of things come along with the home ownership thing. So, but you need to set up your life and you need to build your future and you shouldn't be playing around with it because people who played around with it found out how serious it was. They when this whole COVID hit it's like, now you can't work. Now you getting kicked out of your apartments, you know, and there's all of these other things come into play as like, wow, what am I going to do for money? You know, what is it? Unemployment checks. And I can imagine it's not a good feeling. You know what I mean? And it's not a good thing. So I just think that we all have to be conscious of what we're going to do with our lives going forward.
This is, this is perfect. I want to, I want to ask a question. I'm sorry to interrupt. I think one of the notions that I myself, I had this thought and I'm sure a lot of my peers in similar situations thought, well, if I have to focus on a building, I won't be able to focus on my craft. Or if I buy a, if, if I make my home, my business or this income property, my business it'll take me away from the thing that I really love. And I love that you're the person saying this because you are a living breathing example that that doesn't have to be the case. I mean, surely could you get distracted? Absolutely. There's enough. There's enough enough, you know, uh, things of being a homeowner to distract you for a very long time, but you have been more working, more touring, more learning, more building than anybody I know. And you're still doing all those other things on the sides. It's possible to do both without losing focus on one or the other.
You set your foundation.
POP OUT:
Okay my friends, DW here popping out with a quickness, because we’re getting a little technical here with some financial jargon. Talking about residual payment structures and so on and so on. And it dawned on me, that we have never really gone deep on money on the podcast. So, I am deciding to dedicate 4 of the 5 Mondays in March to money, March. Were we will get into all things Dancer contracts, choreographer contracts, money mindset and the difference between math and drama. So buckle up and get ready for that, but in the mean time lets jump back in with Ava and Terry.
**
But go ahead. What was your question?
Yeah. Um, so Ava and I, and a lot of dancers in our, our field. It's, it's not uncommon to work on a two day shoot for a commercial. And the, the amount you make for those two days of work is not, not a ton of money, but the residual income you make from that point that's, that's, that's starting to look, that's a real number, right? So you're you play a, you're a session player as well. Am I calling that the right thing?
Yes, it, yeah. And I try to write it. Yeah. Session Artist.
And how does that look for you? Do you feel like that's a better use of your time and talent?
Let me tell you, let me tell you something. Like I said, I've run everything through the union and I do a lot of, and have done a lot of recording sessions like throughout the year. So this was just a story. I'll just throw it out there. My neighbor down the street picks up my mail when I'm on the road, things that are important, she FedEx them to me. Like I said, as part of the business, you have FedEx numbers and all these things. So things that get to you the next day, you have to have these things set up. She told me once, if you're like, dude, I have never seen anybody get as many checks as you in my life.
That residual income is real.
You know, and I'm not saying that in a braggadocious kind of way or anything like that, it's just, when you set yourself up a certain way, when you're young, everything has to be processed through you because these companies don't want to lose their livelihood to get sued or anything like that. So you just have to do it, you know, and it may seem like at the time, I, well, I'm spending money on this, but it pays off. It really does. It pays off. I get calls from people. Sometimes I do just the song you played in this, on this. I heard it in this new movie. And for me, since I'm in the union, it's just a matter of calling SAG AFTRA or the musician union.And saying, I was in this movie and their attorneys go after the money, their incentive is they get paid. They get their little portion of whatever they collect from me. So, man, I found, I found tens of thousands of dollars
Because you're smart again because you treat it like a business and you know how to go after it and when to go after it and where to go to get it. And I think there's not much help in like in a — man, My husband and I were just talking about this the other night, a lot of big labels put tons of money into copyright claims. You're not allowed to use this song on Instagram. You're not allowed to use that song in this. And there's a lot of money tied up in copyright. And it's only any good if somebody actually makes a claim, like it's only, you're only protected if you're looking out for yourself. So it's, as you, as much as it is about having a union for protection, it doesn't mean that the ball is not, is totally not in your court. You do still have responsibility to keep an eye in an ear out for your work that might be out in the world.
And a lot of times people won't tell you, they use it. You just have to sorta kind of stumble upon it. The union doesn't go out and try to track that stuff for you. You know what I mean? So a lot of times you know, you rely on your friends and loved ones and people, you know, that you've made contacts with. And sometimes it could be a music exec somewhere in, Hey, you know, and they will help you out. I heard this and that, you know, and they will turn your onto where your stuff is being played or used without your consent. That's huge. Yeah. So that's sorta kind of one of those things you have to stay on top of you. Can't just slide and go to the club.
So, um, I remember Ava and I got involved more heavily with SAG-AFTRA around the same time. And for me, that was after the future sex left show tour, I was a union member before the tour and the tour was over, lasted over a year. I didn't do any union gigs during that time. And I lost my membership. I had to rejoin after the fact. And I remember being pissed about having to rejoin because that, you know, as I mentioned before, the, the, um, to become a member is not cheap. And so I'm doing it twice. I was frustrated. So I decided with my arms folded that I was going to go into that union building and find out what they're all about. So I went to one of these, you know, one of their member — member, only meetings. And I just fell in love with so many of the people that work there. I started seeing the member, or I started seeing the union as a membership. And that's, and that's the truth. The union is made up of its members. It's only as good as we are.
Real people, yes!
So it became less a them versus us and more of a we. And that really changed the scope for me, um, changed my relationship and it helped me do more for the union and in return, I'm getting so much out of it. Yeah. It's awesome.
Yeah. I've got these numbers down. I know who to call now. Question my phone. Yes. Yes.
I've got numbers like that too. So yes. Yeah, yeah. And they're really helpful, man. They'll stick there. They'll stick their neck out for you and they will follow through. They won't just say, okay. Yeah, we'll get to that. Then you have to call them two weeks later. No, they're calling you back the next day.
I will say I've had both. I've had, I've had both experiences where if you stay on, then they stay on. If you stay on and drop off the face of the earth and stop returning your emails then,
But the people you have that you know, now that you could contact, they get right back with you.
Oh, for sure. After those relationships have been made 100%,
The know when Dana's calling it's business,
Um, okay. Terry, this is brilliant. Thank you so much for offering, you know, my husband calls you “The Real Deal Terry Santiel” Yeah.
That came from Marty.
Daniel's still, he might, he might hate me for saying this. He still credits you for introducing him to the single product that brought, I don't, I don't know if I can say the most comfort or joy in his life, but, and by the way, my husband is not a person who prioritizes comfort. He's fine with not being comfortable, but you introduced him to this little mechanical, uh, tweezer thing, like hair, a hair, trimmer.
Yes the nose trimmer! Let me tell you about those nose trimmers. I’ve seen people, man. And it's like, if you don't keep those nose hairs trimmed,
Its all you’re going to stare at
They catch things and it's, and it's crazy because if you're having a conversation with somebody that got something in their nose your focus is not on the conversation.
Its snot
Should I say something? Should I not? Is it going to move? You’re distracted.
It's a crazy, it's a crazy thing, you know? And then, and then that could be sensitive. You know what I mean? It's the type of person you would say that to. How are they? There's all kinds of things that led me to think about another crazy story. I was in a, I was presenting some songs to a music exec once this was many years ago. And I'm not going to say any names, we're going to start with not saying any names. So I'm in the office, they're playing the song. It's a woman. Right. And she's in a very high power position. We're in her little small office in this building. I'm being so political.
I see, I see where this, and I don't like it.
She farted, but she..
I did not, I did not expect that.
But it wasn't silent giant. You know, it was one of those. It wasn't like I would rather, she did a regular fart.
Silent, giant hahaha
So the rooms filled up amazing air. Right.
How do you know this person? Is it only the two of you? How do you know it was her?
Well for us in this office. There's so now in my head, I'm going okay. Is she checking me to see what type of person I am? Am I going to say anything
Its a part of the audition.
Was it an accident? And maybe I should. So all of this is going through my head. So I'm just, Oh my gosh, I'm stuck. You know, I don't know. Okay. Well, how do you deal with this?
What did you do?
What I ended up doing was saying something about it. So, you know, when the song finished playing, I was like, okay, are we address the elephant in the room? Those are the words. And that's it.
Incredible
Well, that's a great, that's a good one. The elephant in the room.
I didn't know what to do. I mean, I really didn't know. And by me saying something was probably the worst thing because she took it really personally and she acted like nothing was wrong and nothing happened. And that's how that ended. It couldn't be any worse.
Terry that is not the story I was expecting This Terry, this might be the first official fart story on the podcast.
My, well, it happened,
You know what I like, you know, what I like though about that is that you gave the opportunity for her to ignore it. You said, are we going to address the elephant in the room? Instead of did you fart? Like you gave a little grace, you give a little grace. And, uh, and then she took it and ran.
And that was how that ended. And I was on the project, you know, and it was a pretty big project. It was a movie thing. So,
Oh God, I'd still say you're winning. So it's okay. You're winning. It's a great story to have.
Um, it's it. That is a great story. And I'm this close to letting us end on on that story. Okay. I do have one more question. You you've been around for a long time. You've done a lot of incredible things. You've, you've not only built a foundation, but uh, a fully sustaining thing. It's not just the foundation. It's, uh, it's the whole body. It's all of it. And I'm wondering if there's anything that you haven't done that you want to do, like a, a project that you're looking forward to, or a prediction for music that might happen in the future.
Um, you know, I'm open for anything that may come my way. You know what I mean? As far as helping other people out or doing things like that, I'm at the point now where I want to pay forward or can pay it forward, you know, and I'm into talking to people and just, if I can sweat a little bit of knowledge or insight on, on something for somebody, those are the things that are important, you know? Um, yeah. You know, I have money coming in all the time, so that's not an issue. So you don't have to about. How you're gonna, yeah. You don't have to worry about the hustle. So you just, you help you help everybody until the next thing comes along. And then you go move on that. I'm never going to stop touring and making money or doing anything like that. I'm going to do this till I'm 90. That's my retirement. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I could be, I could be Uncle T. You know what I mean? I can be the old, you know, I don't care about that.
When you look when you're 90, you're probably going to look in your sixties, come on. Like, you know, I could get away with a whole lot.
Yeah, yeah. You too. Look at you, man. You look like you're still 20 years old.
It's true. You do. And you got a baby. Terry did you know this?
Say that again.
Did you know that? Ava has a little one.
Yes I did. Congratulations. Ava, thank you for that. Somebody cause you guys have like three, you guys had babies at the same time. Tammy had a baby. Nancy has a little one.
And AJ.
And AJ! You guys like look at you guys, all moms and you know what the best now the beauty of your life starts because now you have another. And that's the other thing. Cause I, I grew up doing the same thing. I had to raise a son through all of these other things that I was doing. So now you have to balance all of it together. You've got to balance your career, your life, marriages, all of these things are all factored into life, but you all have to move forward together.
Terry, do you have a guiding principle in terms of balance? Is there, is there a compass that keeps you, you know?
Yeah. Keep an open mind. You know what I mean? And don't get caught up in your own personal ego. Cause a lot of people get caught up in their own personal ego and, and everything goes crazy at that point because people get stubborn and stuck in their, in their reality that may not even be a reality, but yeah. Yes.
That's huge. And that's helpful. I will remember that as I am in the market for maybe a goldfish, uh, Not, not quite, Not quite to the human being point yet. My husband and I are talking about getting a Roomba, one of those, uh, vacuums that lives it own life. Yeah. We’re thinking about it or thinking about it. But I know
I used to have, um, a person to come clean the household once, once a week, but I don't even do that anymore. Since this whole COVID date. I'm like, huh, I can do this **** myself. So I've got all of this time.
I Got it.
Yeah. And it's unfortunate for them cause they're not making as much money, but I still paid for that one day as much as for two weeks, you know what I mean?
It's safer, safer for you.
I don't want, you know, cause I don't want people in the house. It's crazy, but it's just this is spotless now.
I was just going to say you, you keep a clean house. You keep a clean nose clean. Clean Life. Clean life. He's clean. He's clean. Well, Terry, I cannot thank you enough for joining us today.
I don't even want to get off the phone.
Well, we do have, I mean, we might call this episode rap, but I have a special question that I need to ask you. I ask all of my questions. I ask all of my quests. I ask this question to all of my guests. Um, and this might, this might be a whole another conversation. So I will put a pin in this one. Although I would love for you to be able to tell the listeners where to find you, if they're interested in finding more of your work or in talking to you or in, uh, renting a property from you possibly. So what's, what's the best way for people to find you.
You could just, you can email me. How about that? That's the easiest and it's um, email address is my name Terrell — T-E-R-R-A-L with, four Zs — Z-Z-Z- Z @aol.com. (
[email protected]) And it will come through
Can we find you on instagram?
Yeah. I do have an IG. You know what? I've got it. I've got to be quite honest about it. I got bored with it. You know what I mean? And I haven't really posted or done too much on that. I'll look at it from time to time Facebook. I will never go on, I do have Facebook account and you know, but it's, everything's at my name, but it's @TerrySantiel everything's @TerrySantiel and it's a last name is spelled S-A- N- T -I- E- L. And Terry is with a Y — T -E -R- R- Y.
I'll be sure to put that in the show notes to the episode as well. So everybody knows where to find
Yeah. Twitter, uh, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are all the same.
Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Well, thank you Terry. I couldn't thank you enough. I adore you. This was the best, so much fun. My cheeks hurt
For your listeners. If you go on tour with anybody, don't get caught up in the celebrity a hundred percent.
How do they do that? Terry tell them how to do it or how to not tell them how to do that.
I guess that's on each individual. You know what I mean? Because everybody's paths is going to be a little bit different in their connections with the different things that occur. But you just have to, I guess the way to do that is just to understand that you are not the artists.
Hmm. Yeah. I, I think one of the other like Ava, I'll, I'll speak for our relationship from my behalf of our relationship, but that, that was one tremendously grounding thing for me was having a real relationship with a person that wasn't about visibility or, uh, a red rope anywhere or a fancy outfit like that, that friendship kept me very in touch with myself, my, my actions, my words, um, and it was fruitful and it was real and it was beautiful. And so having a real relationship on the road, other than just a relationship with the crowd or a really relationship with the club or a relationship with the money, that was huge for me. And the thing, this, this wasn't until 2020, but on the 2020 tour, Terry, you remember I had, I did my daily videos. I had, I had a personal project that I was as accountable for as I was for my gig. And that was also tremendously helpful.
I remember being in Scotland and watching you dance with the guys,
A Scottish bagpipe guy that was a good video. I like that one.
I may have been holding the camera
You Probably where I'm going to find that I'll put that in the show notes as well. Yeah, that was a good one. That that's, that's huge though. Like stay, don't get caught up in the hype and there are a thousand different ways to do that. Um, it's actually quite simple actually, because there's one way to get caught up in the hype, but there's many ways to not. Have a project, find a friend, you know, read, invest in the future, make decisions from the future, with the future in mind, not from the present moment and the present moment, always, almost always once the immediate gratification of like go to the club, get a drink, have the expensive mood, uh, have you.
And I'm not saying, but don't not do those things. You just,
Everything in moderation.
Yeah. Doing the moderation that's you know what I mean? It's like, ah, I don't really need to be there tonight. I shouldn't be doing right. And you know what, let me just say this to me. I don't, I'm always, I got like me and they used to say like with me one night, how I ended up getting in to that whole real estate thing is I saw one of those infomercials on TV and I was like, Oh, you can make money off of other people's money. And I was like, well, I don't need other people's money to make money. How do you do that? And I tried it, I flipped the property. And I think I made like my first one maybe $40,000. I was like, Oh, that was easy. That was fun. And that only took a couple of months to make 40 grand. So then I did another one and another one and I ended up, um, you know, in the course of a year, you know, I did well.
I mean, I love you so much.
I could have been at a club and miss that information. That's my point. So anyway. Okay. That's okay. Sorry. I know we've got to get off, so
We're doing it. I appreciate you. I just think the world of you. Thank you, Terry.
Thank you. Love you too.
Love you so much. Bye bye.
Okay, so that was “the real deal” Terry Santiel. Terry's right.
That was so much fun. It was wonderful reconnecting with him.
I just can't get over the fact that the same guy that gave us real estate advice was telling us fart stories
Pretty incredible.
So good. Um, what were your biggest takeaways?
Oh, my biggest takeaway is that he is literally a part of history. He is history. He is a living legend, and I know we tend to use that word loosely, but he really is. He has stood the test of time. Um, he's, we've got so much to glean from him. I just really enjoyed this little sit down here.
I couldn't agree more. He he's, he is himself and his work have been hugely prominent in the past, in the present. And from the sounds of it, he's really investing in the future. He's figuring it out, I adore. I'm very happy to be sharing that episode with you all. Um, I hope that you enjoyed hearing from Terry as much as we enjoy talking to him, I wish you could have seen all the faces, just smiles.
And I think we said we surmised this episode with Terry as clean it up, read up and keep an open mind.
Clean it up, read up, keep keeping up. That's it. Yup. That's it. Those simple things. And you too will still be producing top tier content when you're, how old is Terry? Do we even know?
I didn’t ask, you know what?
This might be a moment I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to check the Googles.
Okay. So Terry's around 72. We just took 15 minutes to do a math break around 72.
We had to research.
Yep. That's true. That's true. And we want to save you time so we didn't share with you how long it took us to do that math. So that puts him in, in around the same ballpark is Miss Toni Basil. Yes. Um,
I mean they are a fountain of youth.
It's true. That that's really important to notice because I don't like, and, and, and the thing that unifies them, is this ever learning yes this ever practicing and I do think it's an open open-mindedness open-mindedness yeah. All right. I'm open. That's it. I'm open. I'm going into the world open. I'm staying forever young. Um, and I, I hope that you all are forever inspired by that. It was so much fun. Ava. Thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you for having me! This was fun.
My pleasure. We'll do it again. Sometime love you to bits.
Me, again, wondering if you ever noticed that one more time. Almost never means one more time. Well, here on the podcast, one more thing actually means two more things. Number one thing. If you're digging the pod, if these words are moving you, please don't forget to download, subscribe and leave a rating or review because your words move me to number two thing. I make more than weekly podcasts. So please visit thedanawilson.com for links to free workshops. And so, so much more. All right, that's it now for real talk to you soon. Bye.
