Murphy Bug - Community Reinforces Intuition (#ProtectOakFlat)

Musician and Activist Murphy Bug has been on an intuition-led journey to discovering and living his truth. He shares his experience road-tripping across the country in the month leading up to the election, how his marketing career made him a better artist, and the was in which community reinforces his intuition. The episode ends with Leo giving advice on how to be yourself in any room and Murphy expressing how we can help protect sacred Apache land, Oak Flat.

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By: Leo Yockey

Transcript

0:14

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Leo Yockey show, the show where I Leo Yockey interview guests about how their unique life path led them to define success and fulfillment. The goal is to provide all of us with some relief from our existential dread. But here's a secret, that feeling. It's just telling us that life is fleeting, you know what I mean? We got to we got to do what we love, we got to find connection. And I think that's what I'm doing here. Right? Anyway, big news. I am officially a tick talker. Is that what we call people that do Tick Tock? I don't even know what is happening. Why am I on Tick Tock? Oh, my God, change is a real thing, y'all. I always hated social media, never understood influencers. And now here I am creating content. But you know what I'm doing it for I'm doing it for connection. I really believe in the stuff that we talk about here on the podcast, and I want to find other people that are just as excited about it. But one thing that Arlen Hamilton said is, you have to show up and be who you are, so that people looking for you can find you. So I'm excited to get this community growing. You can follow me at Leo Yockey. The link is in the show notes. And yeah, you know, through all of the change in the move and the breakup, like I didn't think that I was going to get this going as quickly as I did. But you know what, honestly, again, I can't say it enough. Thank you for being on this journey with me, this podcast ended up being a huge anchor for me through all of the changes that I've been navigating, not just in the last few weeks, but also really in the last six months. You know, it's been great to have something to just kind of be accountable to and focus on and to kind of get just to keep me responsible and accountable. I don't I don't know, words are hard right now. But speaking of accountability, another thing that kept me grounded and was kind of an anchor, through all this change, honestly, has been volunteering. And that's always been a big value of mine is, you know, when you're going through a lot of stuff, who can you help? And, you know, it's not to say that your problems should be ignored, right? It's not to say that they you should be over exerting yourself in giving more than you're able to, but being able to volunteer and to just right size, my problems has been a huge anchor for me. And it's it's helped me develop some community in my neighborhood, which is great. I love having, you know, friends and other people that live around me and to have community and to feel like I know, my neighbors, both housed in unhoused. So actually, the organization that I volunteer with know, whoa, home Alliance. We're actually in the middle of a summer fundraiser right now. And you know, this organization, like I said, it's meant a lot to me, it's been a huge anchor for me. And it's helped me build community with all of my neighbors. And I don't know if you know this, okay, I might shock you guys. The best way to solve homelessness is to help people experiencing homelessness. What Oh, my God, is that the sound of everyone's minds being blown. But no, seriously, we add nahama Lyons we provide, you know, housing referrals, DMV vouchers, showers, food, books, clothing, basically anything and everything that a person experiencing homelessness needs to be able to bridge that gap and just get their life back on track. And it's been really cool to just be able to talk to people and to see that this homelessness issue here in LA is one very complicated and two, there's no single route to experiencing homelessness. And three that hey, just a few hours every week is providing a tangible difference, which I think is really cool. So if you're able to give, especially if you're in the LA area, but even if you're not, you know, as little as $5 can go a long way. I have the link in the show notes. And anyway, thank you any any little bit counts. But anyway, Murphy bug, my guest today is actually someone that I met through noho home Alliance, and he's a musician and an activist and he actually plays music every Monday when he's available at noho. Home Alliance and to be able to bridge the gap with are neighbors, you know, and using music as a way to kind of help people connect has been really cool to see, you know, the atmosphere is very different. When the music is there versus when it's not. I don't think all of that is just from the showers because you know, the showers are there when he's not there anyway, we get to talk about, you know, following our intuition and community and how, you know, friends on the same path as you can kind of help you understand that you're on the right track. So, anyway, that was already a lot of ADO. So I'm not gonna add any more. Here is Murphy bog. Let's Murphy, how are you doing today? I'm doing well. I'm doing well. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. I feel like man, you know, I went from what was it two months ago, not even knowing that you were a person that existed. And now I feel like I see you pretty much more than I see anybody else. I was thinking the same thing. And I had that discussion with some of the people at the place where I volunteer at nh h A. No home Alliance for those of you don't know. It's like, yeah, shout out. No, it's like, those are the people I see the most in my life. Like, yeah, regardless of whatever else I'm doing. Yeah, yeah. Same for the listeners, because I would imagine that virtually none of them know who you are yet. Who are you? What do you do? Who am I? I am Murphy bug. The one and only never has been another one. Probably won't be another one. Unless I name someone that or someone likes me enough to name their child after me. Born and raised Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, little suburb of Philadelphia. They're pretty much my whole life. Yeah, shout out, shout out the mall. Shout the sixth one out to one, five, the 484 was another one that I learned recently, but shout out Philly. Went to school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Carnegie Mellon University. After that, moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where I worked at a financial services company, and decided that was not what I want to do. Because it wasn't what I wanted to do. I took a job working at an ad agency that specializes in music and entertainment, because I'm a musician, I'm an entertainer, someone, some would say some might not. But that's fine. That's their prerogative and worked there for a while loved it got to experience got to live in London for a little while working Sony UK as kind of being the point person there for all the advertising campaigns that would come through. So I got to just work on like, the biggest names in music, digital advertising, like Drake, Justin Timberlake, Red Hot Chili Peppers, everyone also got to see a lot of like, smaller artists when they're just starting out. But awesome. Like, I think I ran like colleagues first touring campaign like digital advertising for it. And then, I mean, he blew up pretty quick. But it was really cool to just get to be on both ends of the spectrum. And also just be around music, because that's what I love. And that's what I do. And then after being there, for plus, amazing, fulfilling years, had some kind of, you know, went through a bunch of things just in my personal life, and also just was at a place where I was like, I think I want to take the next step. And take what I've learned here, kind of do it on my own, but also give the music thing a try. And so quit there was doing the kind of individual consulting for advertising for bit. And like kind of building my own brand around there, while also focusing on becoming like more of an artist performer in Boston, and had been doing that for a year, maybe a little bit more than a year and then pandemic. And so, as we all kind of did, for us, a lot of people that took that time to look inward and do a lot of self evaluation and introspection and growth. And along that journey, realized that I'd really always wanted to be in LA and do music in LA and kind of explore Hollywood and that lifestyle. And if there's one thing I think myself and a lot of people took from the pandemic, it's that life is short, and you never know when things are going to just get completely turned on their head or shut down. So why not do the things you've always wanted to do and trust your intuition and trust yourself and go for it. So two month road trip out to California? I mean, we can get into all the specifics. Did you want a short answer? Am I just like giving a long answer to a short answer question? No, no, this is great. Give me a give me the whole rundown. And then we'll break we'll kind of dissect it piece by piece afterwards. You're right. You're You're almost at the end anyway. So you might as well that's true. I'm almost I'm almost at the present. So planned, a Kind of two months, like about 58 day 6000 mile 100 hour of driving road trip from Yeah, it was a it was a hog. It was a it was a real a real haul across country right in time for Halloween and the election and then the next shutdown and then a slow reopening. And here we are. And here we are. That sounds like quite an adventure. Do you think that so you know, we're we're kind of in similar boats right now where we both have kind of left corporate jobs laps these you know, quote unquote careers, said kind of pursue creative endeavors. And, you know, it already sounds like just from the little bit that you've told me that, you know, this wasn't so much a huge, sudden sharp turn as much as it was a gradual transition, you know, because you went from, from financial services to an ad agency those specifically in the realm of music to consulting on your own and getting you know, some experience building your own brand to now you're finally here. Do you think that that kind of grounded you going into the movie, did you feel less crazy, I guess, cuz I feel like that long road trip for a move like that i there be so many times in my head that like I would be in it, I'd be excited. But I feel like I would also be like, what am I doing? Am I did I just throw my whole life away? Like, is this a mistake? Because I feel like that with the stuff that I'm doing right now? Hmm. No, that's a great question. And I think it started to really kind of come together slowly. And then in terms of the move, and then the more I was, the more that things like kind of went well or fell into place, the more reinforced I felt about it. And that was also a lot of just kind of like, we're gonna get into the real woowoo hippie dippie stuff, but like, just trusting kind of my intuition and trusting that, like the path I was on was the right path. And things would kind of fall into place when you kind of put out into the universe, what you want and what you what you're going for, like, I met, I met nd and she was like, I'm doing this, like, I want to do the same exact thing. And I was like, Oh, okay. And that was like, a reinforcing. Kind of that was one piece of reinforcement. I was like, you know, you are both thinking the same thing at the same time. Like, that's a good sign that you're not completely out of, out of your mind doing something that is like ridiculous. And then even like, like, I when I started playing this, I didn't have a car, which I needed a car to drive across the country. I didn't have an apartment in LA, like I hadn't planned it at all. And within two months, it all came together. Like I had told some of my friends out here that I was thinking moving. And then one of them. she she she called me She's like, hey, my roommate needs a roommate. Someone dropped out, can you fill this spot, like kind of sight unseen? Like I need to know right now. And I was like, yep, like, Sure, I trust it. And that's where I'm at now. And it's beautiful. It's a perfect place. It's like great location, reasonably priced. Like it's everything I would have wanted. But like it just kind of fell into my lap as I was planning this. So like, when things like that kept happening, it was really reinforcing that. Like, just keep, you know, believing at what you want to do. And trusting the process that you have, and things will work out. And if they don't. That was another thing that I kind of learned in my last, you know, what are we gonna call this like, year and a half two year period of great self reflection and understanding that people have had like the great The Great Awakening. I mean, I think we're gonna call it a pandemic, but okay. pandemic, you know what it is back to the hippie dippie stuff. You know what it is? It's the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Yeah, it is. The dawning of the Age of Aquarius started. I think the solstice of last year it started somewhere between May and March of last year, let's say yeah, it was either right, right before George Floyd died or like right, as those protests were starting to really intensify somewhere in there. And for those of you who don't know, or don't believe in astrology, which I don't know, I'm kind of like halfway in there. There's something to it. Basically, astrological ages come about once every, I think 21 the numbers aren't right, somewhere around 2100 years and it's basically the shifting of whatever constellation in the sky is like the main constellation. Anyone knows astrology is going to tell me I'm way off but like this is the gist of it. And it's basically whatever constellation is the main constellation in the sky for that like period. And so that constellation or that like Zodiac or astrological sign is supposed to be the kind of overarching one that dictates kind of everything. So I don't know if you ever seen here they're talking about the dawning of the Age of Aquarius but the actual Age of Aquarius is like happening now. And it's supposed to be the the It's the change it brings about the beginning and end of civilizations and social constructs. That is what the dawning of the Age of Aquarius supposed to bring. So Hell yeah, shadow. What it's worth shout out to. I'm also an Aquarius. Hell yeah, yeah. We just learned our birthdays are as a single day apart. Yeah. In February. That's true. We did that. Can you tell I I moved to West Hollywood. I immediately brought up Yes, you are right. where you belong in Los Angeles. Welcome. We're still work here. Oh, yeah. I thought they needed another sis white male talking about astrology and lso. Yeah, of course. Welcome. And talk to talking out of his ass about astrology. I don't have anywhere else to talk out of. I agree with you though. I mean, it does feel like there is a shift happening. And it feels like everybody notices it. Everybody is aware of it. And you know, kind of depending on how life was going for you beforehand, I suppose is kind of the the litmus is, you know, you're either excited about it. or you're not. Yeah. And I for one, I'm very excited about it. Yeah, no, I think and we Yeah, we've talked about as a bunch because we're both kind of in the performing speaking, you're speaking your heart speaking your truth, right? Like not being afraid of having bearing what is like inside of you to the world as like art or whatever you want to call it. That's kind of it's been very reinforcing. And just like kind of fulfilling to know that, like, you can do that and you can trust that and it's, it's gonna be okay. Because we survived a pandemic and we're alive honestly versus alive. Like it's, I went to I went to the Dodgers game last night. Shout out Phillies one though. Shout out fails. And All right, well, who's your team Dodgers? I will name the y'all beat us like two three years in a row in the playoffs and I've hated you ever since back to the Dodgers. 10 2011 something like that. That's right. Yeah, actually, everyone gave me first of all, everyone loved the chase la jersey, which I really appreciated how nice everyone at Dodger Stadium was considering I was wearing on the way jersey but how can you not love chase Utley? Yeah, but smart move on your toes. You know, I'm a strategic dresser. Those of you who don't know Chase, Utley was a was a beloved member of the Dodgers and went to Philly. I think for like his last year. other way around. Right in Philly. My path I've long. I could have sworn he did one season in Philly before. Yeah, tired? No, it was weird that I think he did retire as a Dodger, which was weird because he was a lifelong Philly. And then once the Dodgers for like a year and a half and retire the Dodgers. So who knows always love Chase, though. I got fans screaming at me now. No, it's fine. But I guess the point of that was that I kept looking around, like, we had to wait in like, an hour to park for traffic, and then like concessions, like half an hour. And I like kept creeping in like this, like, this is annoying. But then it was this new realization that kept snapping and be like, wait, I'm at a baseball game haven't been like allowed to do anything. And like, you're not. Moreover, I'm just alive right now, like being alive as the new kind of bar that has been set after the pandemic. And it's so cool to be able to, like, bring oneself back to that and just like, appreciate being alive. Like, if that's your baseline, you're golden. I mean, as long as you're still alive. But yeah, I mean, that's true. I mean, there's definitely plenty of people who were alive at the beginning of this of this period, who no longer are, you know, and yeah, I think you're absolutely right, you know, to be alive at all is absolutely a gift. And we forget that sometimes in those moments of frustration, you know, I'm upset about a line when the reality is, this line is is indicative of something much better. Yeah, precisely. I love that. So. So what what exactly was the I know, you said you wanted to kind of like, see what the Hollywood lifestyle was, like, you know, kind of pursue music from here. Did you have like a specific vision in mind of what you thought you wanted to look like? Like, what what exactly kind of was your goal? You know, for, let's say, the first year here in LA. First year? Well, yeah, that's an interesting question since I've been here for what like eight months, nine months, and the majority of the first year has been like the pandemic like locked up, share. He knew you knew you were moving in a pan. Yeah, great. Yeah. No, totally. I you're asking me that. You're asking me the questions that I should be better at. Long Middle to long term goal planning. No, that's great. Let's work it out right here, it's on my to do list to get my one year plan, but I have, it's like to just to be able to be consistently performing and sharing my music and my, what is inside my head and my heart with the world and have that resonate with other people and use my experiences and understanding to help other people with their experiences. And just in life, like I, you know, that was that was a big part of why I did the road trip out here was because it was like, I need to gain both, like, experiences to write about but also insight for like, people that I don't really know, like, I've never been to, like so many places in the middle of country. And it's like, that was also a very divisive divided time. This was like, yeah, months leading up to the election. So I'm driving through like the reddest parts of the country. And I don't know, if you could tell anyone who's listening, pretty blue type guy, pretty liberal guy over here, really the guy that just went on and on about that Dawn of the Age of Aquarius, flew. Go figure. But it was like I, I really wanted to be able to kind of understand what other people were, like, where they're coming from, or where they're going, what they're going through. Cuz I mean, you can't really speak to people if you don't understand what, where they're coming from, like as an advertiser, and a marketer. And one of the most important things I always learned was like, first thing is to know your audience, if you don't know, your audience, or the people you're talking to, nothing you say is going to resonate, nothing you say is going to make any sense. And you can't cater a message to someone when you don't really understand their perspective. So that was a big part of like, that trip coming out here was to gain the insight on like, what's going on with other people who like don't have my perspective. And so yeah, my goal is to just really be able to share what I understand what I go through with other people to help kind of, it's gonna sound pretty cliche, but you know, make the world a better place and help people who are struggling, like that's the beauty of music, is that it, it can kind of unite people against or unite people in the things they go through and kind of give people something to really look at and say, okay, someone else is going through a similar thing. This is it gives like a universal nature to the struggles that people go through everything I like, kind of do i do nowadays through like the guise of mental health and like how we see things, because like, anything that happens to you or anything that you like, experience or process, it's the only like, you you everything you see, you see through your own kind of brain, right, like through your mind. And that's, that's like that his mental health, right, the way that you see things and the way that your mind functions in your brain that that is all kind of mental health, right? So like, if it just like a way of looking at pretty much anything that goes on. So I'm always trying to like zoom out and be like, Okay, what is like the overarching way I can like consider something I can consider anything that goes on under like, the like, you know, all the the George Floyd riots and the civil unrest, everything that went on with that. And while I mean is still going on, even the pandemic, like the way that people were reacting, and the way that people were kind of hoarding and scared, like, that's all still mental health, like people are scared because of the way they perceive something or what they think is going to happen. Yeah, totally. What was the most surprising thing that you learned from the people that you met? In your travels on your way from Boston to LA? As a really good question. I mean, there was, I'm trying to think through each of the stops and like what stuck out? It was. Unfortunately, it wasn't super unexpected. But well, I mean, it wasn't not unexpected, though. The thing in terms of meeting people that stuck out to me the most was when I was camping in when I was camping in the Smoky Mountains. I was just like, by myself, and it was like a campsite was a bunch of other people. And it was like a campfire with a couple people. I think it was there's two girls, two girls and a guy sitting around it. And they had like a fire and playing music and we're like drinking and I like went over it like I'm by myself and I'm like hey, like do you guys mind if I like sit down and chat with you? cuz I've just been like trying to talk to people as much as I could, like, sure. And they're always super nice. I think they're two nurses from Minnesota and they were talking about how like They were like dealing with all the pandemic nursing stuff and like just needed to get away. And also, like Minnesota was very interesting because like, it was in Minnesota, or was it? Yeah, it was, it was Minnesota. And so then they were talking about, you know, again about race and George Floyd. And at first, like, we were like, just seemed very similar getting along, I got a lot in common just talking about that. And then I got to that, and they kind of got really angry about it and had very different ideological ideas about what was going on than myself. And that, for me was like, kind of the first instance I'd had of talking to someone face to face. Who was that vehemently. I don't say racist? Because I don't like kind of putting labels on things, but they're not well, okay. Yeah, they're very, they're racist as hell. And I was like, trying to still have a conversation with them with out kind of, you know, being like, you know, chastising them for being like, obviously racist, but it just got to a point where I was like, Okay, these people are kind of set in their, their ways, and there's not going to be any, like, can't go any farther with this open exchange of ideas. So I think that was something that really resonated with me and I, I saw it a lot more, I think it spoke to the bigger picture of like, how everyone is just kind of been trapped inside, or had been, we're all outside now. But how it had been trapped inside for a while, and people kind of got stuck in these. And this was like me extrapolating on it, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. People got stuck in these echo chambers, because you didn't have an open exchange. And it's a combination of social media, and the kind of fact that the world was shut down. But like people were just really stuck in their own beliefs and had no other counter beliefs to kind of open their eyes to what was going on. And I'd kind of saw that same thing a couple more times. And I'd rather have those conversations in other places. So it was was a little, it wasn't like, surprising, it was more reinforcing something, I guess I would have assumed but it was, it was kind of shocking, I guess, to just experience it firsthand. Yeah. And I'm sure it was especially jarring, because, you know, like, up until that point, they, you know, they seem like cool people. And then yeah, it got to the point where you could even have a conversation with them. Well, I'm sure everyone's had that experience, right, or anyone who tries to have those conversations is probably how that experience. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, it's interesting, I think about this a lot with how people respond to homelessness, but I'm almost I almost feel like it also applies here, too, with, with the George Floyd thing, and, and on a on a more general scale, like police brutality, whether or not the way policing works needs to be changed in America, which I obviously think it needs to be, you know, with homelessness, you know, there's, there's people who, you know, they, they drive by a homeless encampment and practically spit on the unhoused, from their Mercedes, you know, and the more that I think about it, the more that I realized that people who act like that, they, they need to live in a world where to be homeless makes you lesser than, because if you've created all of your self worth, and everything that you have, around this idea that you worked hard for everything you got, there wasn't any kind of privilege involved. And that and or that the amount of money that you had, or your accomplishments are, you know, kind of the basis for your self worth. Once you kind of look at it from a different angle, and understand that, you know, there's some systemic forces that are, you know, that either cause people to experience homelessness or keep them there, or that, you know, in a lot of cases, we're closer to being homeless than we are to being millionaires, when you really stop and think about that stuff. And you think about how, you know, people who are experiencing homelessness are real people who deserve respect, and all that, it, it takes away the one thing that you had, that you build all of your self worth on. So in order to feel any kind of self worth, you have to feel better than the homeless, you know what I mean? And I feel like this is almost the same thing, you know, like when you when you have, you know, kind of lived in this bubble, where the police were always friendly, always safe, always the protector. And you, I don't know, might have used the police to, you know, to call on people who were, you know, making you nervous, or whatever the case may be, or you know, what I mean, like, when you're when you're in that world where the police are good, you have to continue to believe that because there's so much else in society that you have to then examine where if all of that was working for you, that's a lot of work that's very overwhelming, and it's so much easier to cling on to the to this idea that things are fine that things are working and It's like, the more the more that everything has been happening with the George Floyd protests and everything that's come out pretty much since Trump got elected, the harder it is, I think, to hold on to that, because there's so much evidence to the contrary, that the system is broken, the system needs to change. And that people who aren't ready to make that change are going to cling on to their old beliefs for dear life. Because you know, as we said, we're in this dawn at the Age of Aquarius, things are changing. And like I said, depending on how you felt about the world before, this is either the best thing that could have ever happened, or the worst thing and it sounds like you're running into people who felt like this is the worst thing that could be happening. Totally, totally, that's 100% what it is people are, people are scared of change people like the status quo, but you have to believe that things because it's the you don't have to think about, you know, it did just, it's easier, it's easier. People are okay with that, because it's easier to kind of explain things away. You know, this is the way it's always been. They're different than me. I that could never be me, because that's scary, right? Like, you're you could be a homeless person that's scary to some people. Yeah. And if and if you know, George Floyd was innocent, which he very obviously was, that is also scary, you know, because it could, you know, it could happen to you. And you know, and so these, you know, these people who, you know, are still saying, Oh, you know, he died of a drug overdose, which to me, I like that. That's like saying that Kobe Bryant died because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, like, maybe it could have helped a little bit, but like, that helicopter was still going down No matter what, you know, like, there's nothing he could have done to save himself at that point. You know, so it's just, it's, it's really, it's really interesting. And, you know, for some people, it's, it's unavoidable to think about that kind of stuff, you know, like I have, in my own experience, being biracial, and having, you know, on one hand, the immigrant parent, who, you know, dealt with a lot of systemic racism, all his life, both in Africa, under British rule, and here in America, and then to have my other half be white and completely privileged in every single way possible. And, and the government has just worked for them for generation upon generation upon generation. It, it's it, it, I have no choice but to but to examine all that every day. I mean, it's been my entire life since before all of this. So you know, so these people who can't imagine that maybe there's a there's a different way of looking at, it's like, I can't I get it, but I can't relate to it. Because, you know, like, I don't, I don't have that luxury of being able to pretend like this isn't the case. You know, it's really interesting, though. It's really interesting watching how, how much people will will cling on to an old idea, even to their own detriment, you know, yeah. to the grave. Exactly. You said, you said something else. Interesting that I wonder, I wonder what your take is on this. Because you mentioned something at the beginning about or not at the beginning. But recently, you mentioned something about when you were in advertising, when you were in marketing, you know, it was important to know your audience. And that's also kind of what you want to do in your music because, you know, you want to unite people and allow people to relate. And I heard, I wish I remember who told me this because it was it was so brilliant, and I want to give proper credit where it's due. But someone recently told me that oh, I think it was my friend Tatyana Tatyana max shout out to Tatyana I'm pretty sure it was them. Yeah. What they said, if this is who I think was his art ERD sorry. Marketing does intend Yeah. Man. I don't remember how they said, Okay. Tatiana said something like, what advertising does is is take it is, is commodity commoditize. Or make a product out of what the effect that art has on the mind and the spirit, you know, and I've been kind of, you know, toying around with this concept a lot about how everything has kind of like a dark and a light side, like there's a good and a bad to everything, you know, and that being said, Do you think that your time in marketing and advertising made you a better artist? Yeah, I would say, so. I think any time that you can be more, it was funny when I started working at the I started, like actually working in the ad agency, like actually doing, you know, running campaigns and it was funny because I would tell people or talk to you about it. It's like most people's reaction Usually, it's like, you know, you Everyone hates like YouTube ads. I'm like, I'm gonna skip it. That kind of thing. Like Yeah, that's like the big joke is like, you know, Facebook's always listening, Amazon's always listening and they're stealing your data so they can show you these things. I was thought that was funny because that to me was like That that was always like kind of bad advertising like, it is better to if you see an ad, or you're showing a product or if you like, are given a message that you either don't want or like, don't enjoy or isn't presented. Well, that's bad advertising. So I was like a good advertiser, you always want to be actually talking to people who either know that they want what you're selling, or providing and don't know about it, or need it, but don't even know they need it. And you're like, opening them up to something new that actually is beneficial to them. So all both of those things are about understanding how to communicate with people how to communicate something important to people that either they they want already, and they just hadn't been able to find or that they would you would find useful if they knew and just didn't know already. And that's true. And like, that's true. And music, it's an art. It's about it's about communication. I i've been recently trying to blast through every masterclass ever, because I absolutely love them. And they're just so informative, and which one it was Neil deGrasse Tyson, who I already loved before his master class, but love even more, he did one on or he does one not on, not on like physics and astronomy, which is a physicist, but more on communication and his methodologies for communication. And he talks a lot about how being able was as a corollary of love. It's wisdom is knowledge distill down into like, an acceptable form or an easily transferable form. Yeah, or like, you can very concisely impart very complicated things to people. And he just, he just talks a lot about how like, the communication is the most important thing for no matter what you're doing, like you need to be able to talk to your audience, you need to understand your audience, you need to understand, like, what, what is palatable and what isn't like, you can't give too much information at once, people you can't really tell people to do. Honestly, if you try to tell people to do more than one thing or learn more than one thing at once. It's gonna be tough. So like, just keeping things like simple and concise, but still making them resonate. That's advertising, that's music. That's our that's everything. That's communication. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I love how all that is connected. Because even even coming from my world coming from software engineering, my friend ej said, it said it really well. You know, they said, I'm really glad that I got into tech, because it taught me, it taught me how to be bad at things. And what they what they mean by that is that often in engineering, you know, it's like, you go into a new product, or you go into, you know, fixing a bug, and you don't really know what you're doing yet, or you don't really know what the final product is gonna be. And you're kind of iterating over it over time. And you start out with like this proof of concept. And then from there, you kind of have like, a minimal viable product. And then from there, you have, you know, version one, version two, and so on, and so on. And it constantly evolves, as technology improves, as the engineers understanding of the product improves. And as the company's understanding of the customers using the product also improves, you know, and so, comedy has a very similar cadence to it, where, you know, like, you kind of start out with an idea that you're bringing on stage. And you're kind of gauging how the, how the audience reacts to it, and you're just constantly fine tuning it over time. And, you know, for me software engineering, I thought at first, you know, I was like, Well, I'm glad that I had this, you know, this this career that allowed me to be able to afford to move back to LA from Vegas. But other than that, like, to hell with it, like, I don't need it, I don't want it. And now I have this newfound appreciation for it, because I can see how that engineering experience made me a better artist, and I find it so fast. It's like no, no experience goes wasted, even if it's a job that we cannot stand, you know, huh. No, I totally. I totally agree with you on that. It's, and I guess I actually had a question for you that that just made me think of this in terms of stand up and performance. And I was thinking myself in when you're when you're like deciding what to write or what to talk about the jokes to say, how much of it is like, how do you balance just saying exactly what's in your heart and what's true to you with saying things that you know, will resonate with the audience. Because I go back and forth with that a lot. I'm always being like, should I just like completely ignore the audience and just stream of consciousness, everything I'm going through, or cut off anything I'm going through and Say what I know they want to hear like, Well, how do you deal with that push and pull? Yeah, well, I think I think there's a middle ground where I'm able to say, what's true to my heart in a way that is connecting to to any audience. So like, for example, the very first open mic that I did, was in front of this group of like, older, like 50 year old, straight white men, like they thought their idea of funny was to hurl a bunch of super vulgar jokes at the one woman in the audience. And me, am I am I? Yeah, pretty much. This is right here in LA. So who, and it turned out that one of them gets booked in LA, all the time, he is all over the place. But yeah, it is what it is. But he was looking at my, my comedy, buddy, you know, Tyler, we're looking at each other, you know, because I have a bunch of jokes about being trans and he has a bunch of jokes about being gay, and we're like, Are we going to get murdered today? Like, is this is going to be bad? And, and I was actually thinking about, you know, should I should I take out some of these trans jokes, should I put something a little bit more generic in there. And I decided not to, I decided I was still gonna speak my truth. But I added a couple of little ad libs in there, that, that made it so that I could kind of connect a little bit better, you know, so like, the very first thing I walked on stage, which I did not plan on saying this is not a prepared part of the joke is, I just walk up and I look around, and I say, I don't think I don't think I have the same background as a lot of as a lot of you. And it was so funny, because I said that to you know, as a reference to, you know, how I look and how I present and it compared to them, and, and, you know, and some of the stuff that I was obviously going to say later in the joke, or in the set. But the what was interesting about it was the very next thing I said after that was meant to be a setup and kind of turned into a punch line. So I look around and I say, I don't think that I that I have the same background as all the rest of you. It's important to me that y'all know that I come from a small town. And they thought that was hilarious, because obviously that was not what they were thinking when I said, I think because you know, there were people that came on and said, I don't believe in defund the police, there was people that, you know, made a bunch of transphobic jokes, like all this stuff. And so to say, you have to say I'm from a small town was the original start of that set. But because this was a different audience, you know, having it just like that, it made it funny. And there were other little moments in it sprinkled throughout that in a normal audience, or not a normal audience, but an audience that's a little bit more like my people, the things that they've found funny, aren't probably the thing, it wasn't a lot of my what I would consider to be my punch lines, but because I kind of was willing to, like, meet them where they're at, you know, like, I could be, I can live, you know, I can I could speak my truth in a way that, that connected to them, you know, and because in some rooms, I can say, you know, I can make these jokes, I can make a joke about how Ariel the Disney Princess has a lot in common with trans men. And, and it hits in one way in one room and a different way and in another room, but I can say that same thing. And you know, in one room, it's funny, because I'm like, oh, here I go again, with my you know, with my millennial jokes in front of all these old men, you know, talking about Disney Disney movies. And then in a roomful of millennials, they, they, they just find it relatable because they liked Disney movies, you know. So, I think I think there's a middle ground where you can definitely like, speak your truth, but but presented in a way where it's like you, you know that this is not going to be just an echo chamber, you know, totally that. That is that just completely kind of connected it for me that it's like, you, you kind of you're putting yourself out there and you're speaking your truth, and you're connecting it to them, but you never know how anyone else is going to receive it. Because you even though like you're you know, you're thinking about their lens, you can never really understand how someone is going to take something or like the connections that will happen in someone's brain when they see or hear something because we've all had such different experiences. Like maybe some people in the audience had like a really weird experience with the Little Mermaid and they're laughing at that you would never know that. So it's like you put these things out there and yeah, you like get a joke at a setup and not at the punch line. But then you're like, Okay, well maybe that is funny to people because of x. Like you never really know until you like practice it and you like put it out there how people are gonna take it like it's, it's so true. And that is like, that's just one of the things that I just think you answered the question perfectly and really drew it for me. Yeah, it's like, just put it out there and you'll never like People are gonna react to it somehow. Yeah, exactly. And and, you know, I think me meeting them where they're at halfway definitely house because there, there was another moment in that set where I really could have like leaned into it, how different we were in and it was a moment where I could I should yes and did a little bit better because I said some stuff later on about my dad being from Tanzania, and I'm used to people having never heard of that country before. And so especially in my mind with this crowd, I'm like, okay, for sure. They will not have heard of Tanzania. Right. And, and so, you know, like I said, you know, like, my dad's from Tanzania. Has anybody ever heard of it? And I had no preparation for them having saying, Yeah, so I was just like, see, see, like, no one's ever heard of it, blah, blah, blah. They said yes. And one of them was like, yeah, it's in Africa, like all proud of himself because people hear Tanzania and they're like, oh, like Tasmania, like the Tasmanian devil. I'm like, No, my dad's not Australian. Like, I always thought it was Tanzania for like, a long time. Yeah, I've heard both interchangeably, but I've never heard of Tanzania and say Tanzania. Yeah, I don't think that's right. Yeah, it just, you think Tasmanian Tasmania? Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna trust you on how to pronounce the place where your family's from. Thank you. Yeah, so so when when people were saying yes, I said something about like, Oh, wow. So we have like a bunch of liars in the audience. It's totally like not connecting with them, you know, but first time on stage, it is what it is. But of course, immediately after, I was like, Oh, my God, if I had done like a yes. And in this moment, I could have had a great callback and said, and been like, shots been like, Oh, my gosh, this has never happened before. You see, like, this is why I left the small town that I came from. Because Yeah, this because even this group is heard of it. Because we're, you know, we're in the city or something along those lines, you know, like, again, like, you know, playing to the fact that we're all different. Like there's a there's a way to do that. So hopefully, if that comes up again, I will respond to it better. Yeah, I'm on stage. I think I did. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like you did always, always just send one end up. Always. Yes. And, yeah, for sure. I think that's the, that's the main takeaway here is when in when in doubt, always send because I think the other thing too, and that's kind of the point that I wanted to make earlier. Because, you know, when I first met you, and we first were talking, you know, you kind of said, you know, like I had this job in advertising, which at the time, I did not know, that it was in the music industry at all, I just knew that it was digital advertising. So I figured it was some sort of agency that was a catch all for any industry. And, you know, so I figured that you took his big leap, you know, huge pivot from one thing to a completely unrelated thing. And it turns out that that wasn't so much the case, you know, that with each move, you kind of inched your way closer to where you're at now. And so in, in kind of hearing that everything felt real, everything kind of fell into place, everything felt right. I think that the preparation of having that experience leading up to that moment is part of why I felt right. You know, like if you had just been, you know, like, for example, I don't know, like, I'm trying to, I'm trying to think of something that isn't gonna throw shade at anybody. But if you had been doing something completely out, like Sage has been working at a bank all this time, you know what I mean? Like you just been working at a bank, this whole time staying in financial services didn't didn't pivot into any of these other places. And then all of a sudden, in 2020, you wanted to drop everything moved to LA become a musician. I don't know if you would have ever even had that thought. I don't know if that would have felt right, because it wouldn't have been right for you. Because you wouldn't have been prepared for it. You know. So it's like, you know, sometimes we worry about the timeline of things, I think, and whether we're doing things too early or too late. But I think going back to what you said before, trust your intuition if something feels right, you know that there's a reason for it. And sometimes we don't even realize we have as much preparation as as we do. You know, like, I didn't realize how much work I'd been doing on Comedy without labeling it until I dove into it. And I was like, I don't know, it feels right. And I've found I've found notes Murphy, I found notes of comedy sets that I was trying to do that dated back as far as nine years. I just found an old file. That was literally comedy question mark was the name of the file. And it's from March of 20. Oh, it's just something question mark. As if, like, you didn't know what you're talking about, like, almost all my notes are this question mark. Like, I don't know. Like, what what? Yes, not question mark. Like this. Trust yourself. Exactly. Trust yourself. Trust yourself. Trust yourself. Yeah, I love that. You know, go ahead. No, no, please, please. Well, I was saying I love that you brought that up because that was an exact conversation I had the other day about um, you didn't realize you were working on Comedy so much in until You'd like pick these things up, I had the exact conversation the other day about, like how I want to be doing more creative writing to kind of stimulate that part of my brain in terms of like lyric writing. And like, I keep a very strict, like, keep very strict when it shouldn't be as strict but I keep a very extensive like Journal of like what I'm supposed to do of my habits and all that stuff. And I was going back through and saying, like, Oh, I didn't creative, right, like these days these days. And I was talking to someone, and they were like, well, you, you. Just because you didn't check the box of what you thought was supposed to be your creative writing time doesn't mean that it wasn't that like writing just like weird, like notes in my phone are like one offs of stuff. Yeah, where I'm just like thinking, but I didn't like sit down and have structured Creative Writing time. I think mentally we all don't like really, man, I won't speak for everyone. I know myself, I don't do a great job of accounting for that and giving myself credit for that. And you know, celebrating the win of actually doing something that I've been meaning to doing. Do because I didn't do it in the exact box that I wanted to do it. So exactly what you said, like you've been working on it, the things that we know we want to do, and then we know we're good at and that are like our callings you've been working at your entire life. Yeah, may not always realize it. And it may not always be overt. But if you're passionate about it, and you have the drive to do it, it's always been somewhere in your mind, it's always been somewhere within what you're doing. And what you just do on a daily basis and your experiences and the way you you live your life, it's always in there somewhere whether or not you really kind of are like overtly aware of it. And you start to realize that once you start to realize that and actually accept that, and like, really own that, that becomes then that's that just like snowballs, and then that becomes even more reinforcing. Because you realize that you are you know, you get more confidence because like I'm I know what I'm doing because I've been doing this because this is intertwined. In every part of my life. This is who I am, this is what I love is what I want to do. 100%. And yeah, it's like the answer is always inside of us. It's like we're doing it without even realizing. And sometimes we just need other people to help us bring it out. Like you were saying, you know, when you meet other people who are on the same path as you, it's reinforcing. And that that's exactly why I started this podcast, honestly, it's like, I wanted to hear other people's stories to see where I fit into it and where I don't. And even earlier today, I was sending an email to someone. And I was kind of telling them about kind of an idea that I have for my platform. And I think I like came up with my three main pillars for for moving forward, just in the middle of writing that email, you know, it's like, connection is everything. And yeah, we reinforce each other. That's the beauty of it is that you find people and they're doing it doing like, Okay, cool. And you learn you learn from them. Also you learn what works, what doesn't what, what their insights, and we're all just a big community helping each other kind of, because everyone wants, like, when you meet people who are also doing that, you realize that they want you to succeed, because by then helping you succeed, it's reciprocal, you know that if you're in a community of people who are all helping each other succeed, and you're helping everyone succeed, they're gonna do the same exact really, it really reinforces it. Exactly. 100%. And I'm grateful that you were you're part of this new circle of mine, and that we're able to reinforce each other. Man, I got to start being careful when I yeah, I'm happy to have you here, too. Got to start being careful when I bring artists on CDs. I think you might have now beaten both Marshall and Addy woolridge as as the longest Interview Artists, I could talk man, we went from baby Hawk. I think we covered like two of the questions on my list. But this is great. Man. I love this interview. I knew that we would have plenty of material to talk about. We'll have to do it again. Absolutely. We'll start a podcast and have you on it. 100% Yeah, because there's that there were actually some other things that I really wanted to get to that the we get to at all. So yeah, we'll have to do a follow up of some sort. It's such a completely different subject. But I'm like, we can't start this. Now. My listeners have to do I want to respect their time too. So yeah, we'll do it. We'll do a follow up for sure. You know, we literally see each other at least twice a week we will for sure make it happen. So aside from from promos, we'll do that in a second. Is there anything else that you want to say that you'd be remiss if you if you left it out? Oh, no pressure. If the answer is Yeah. Look that just showed your face. Just believe in your belief in yourself. And remember that even when you don't believe in yourself, it's okay because sometimes we don't sometimes sometimes you doubt yourself sometimes you're not feeling that's okay. That's okay. These things come in waves. Just always come back with Even yourself. Maybe take three deep breaths. Let it go. Yeah. And yeah, I don't know. I'm a self help guru now I guess. Welcome to LA my friend. He fit right in with your daily Runyon Canyon runs. I'm actually gonna go do that right after this. Oh, you were correct. That's great. Murphy, thank you so much for coming on. I had a great conversation with you. As always, I'm always happy that we got to record one for one. Yeah, right. Oh, man, this has been great. I love it. I'll see you. I'll see you on Monday. Absolutely. But in the meantime, is there anything that you would like to promote? Where where can our listeners find you? Oh, um, we got a new video that hopefully is coming out. June 25. Now it looks like got the call. It's promoting. It's raising awareness for what's going on in Oak flat, Arizona, the US government is trying to sell sacred tribal Apache land to a foreign mining company. And they're going to tear it all up. I went down there with Marshall, who you've already on the show, and Turin frost who's also in another major, amazing artist and activist. And we we kind of wanted to see what's going on for ourselves. We checked it out. We learned from kind of the people who were camping there. We also met some of the people who were there for like a ritual celebration over the weekend. Basically, videos coming out. 25th more instructions, but check out the link in my bio for what you can do. You can write your senator, you can call your senator, tell them don't destroy this beautiful oasis in the desert to mine for copper. Yeah, save oak flat, hashtag protective flat, hashtag save oak flat? Absolutely. You want to hear something very funny. The thing that I said I wanted to get into that we didn't have time for was literally that. So listeners, please segue, please, please check out the video, please check out the hashtags I do. I do want to have you on again to talk more in depth. And maybe we'll do a joint thing with you and Marshall, about just using using our platform as artists to shine a spotlight on things that we think are really important because one of the things that I've been learning a lot about in this pandemic or not a lot, probably not enough, but but a little bit is about, you know, some of the stuff that's happened to the indigenous people here in America. And I feel a lot of I feel a lot of a kinship with them, you know, and listen, people are like, Oh, are we supposed to just give them the land back? And I'm like, Yeah, yes, yes. Please give the land back to the people who protect the land. Yeah, respect. People like me who are transgender, like shit. What What do I have to lose? Right? Yeah, let's let's Yeah, let's give the land to the only people who aren't destroying it and actually know how to use it and make it Yeah, like, What a crazy idea. Exactly. Yeah, so definitely check that out. I'm sure I'm sure there'll be a link to Murphy's direct Instagram account as well as as the links for learning more about oak flats and what's going on over there. Yeah, sorry. Is there anything else that you want to promote? And if you want to get COVID pandemic laugh check out at Freddie Mercury COVID. For all parity needs. How many? How many listeners are like 4050 plus of this podcast made? It might be more than genre? I've found. Yep. Dating kids these days? Don't listen to Queen. That's true. Yeah, you cut out for just a second but I could fill in it was it's a comedy parody account, where Mr. Murphy bug plays Freddie Mercury and he made Queen parody songs based on COVID It's great. Definitely check that out as well. That's a clever one. Have a great day. I believe in yourself. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Murphy. I will see you soon. My pleasure. See in real life. Alright, once again, that was Murphy bug. Thank you again for coming on the show. Murphy. It's always a pleasure talking to you. And hey, listener, you're still here. What's up? How's it going? How do you like the show so far? Let me know. I'm thinking about closing out the season soon just to give myself a little bit of a break in between you know, the move and and getting my content creation off the ground? Aye. Aye. Kind of getting a little bit overwhelmed with my schedule here. So I want to take that time to both give myself a break and also just kind of really focus in on the direction that I want this show to go so you know, follow me on social media. And you know, let me know hit me up. Let me know which episodes you liked the best and what your what you're really liking about the show because the more input that I get from y'all, the better I can make the show for you. So yeah, thank you again for being on this journey with me. If you haven't already, please leave me a five star rating and review especially on Apple. It really helps the algorithms and helps me be seen. Take a screenshot Make this your Instagram story, you know, tag me. And yeah, let's just keep this going, y'all. I love you all. Thank you for being a part of this with me and stay evolving.