The Voices for Voices Podcast Episode 21 with Guests, RockAbility (including a special unplugged performance in studio)
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Welcome to the podcast today. This is a special edition of the podcast, we're also doing a live stream on the Voices for Voices Facebook page, for those out there in Northeast Ohio around the United States or potentially around the world. It's a special edition because today our guest is the band, some of the band members of RockAbility. So we're going to learn a lot about what RockAbility is, how it started, and then the connection to our upcoming Voices for Voices Charity Event, coming up on October 12th and their performance there. So first off, we're just going to go around, do introductions. So we know who all we have and especially for those watching on livestream. So we can maybe start with you, Laurie.
Lori Weber:
Great, I am Lori Weber. I came up with the idea for RockAbility maybe about a year ago. We started actually in December getting going, December 2021 and our very first rehearsals began in January 2022. We'll talk more about the beginnings later on, but why don't we introduce everybody else?
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Yeah.
Melissa:
I am Melissa and I've been with RockAbility since March.
Lori Weber:
What do you play, Melissa?
Melissa:
I play flute and rhythm.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Fantastic.
Nathaniel:
I'm Nathaniel, and I've been with RockAbility for quite a while now, I'm not really sure how long. But, I'm a keyboard player and also play acoustic piano, so.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Right, thanks for joining us.
Nathaniel:
No problem.
Jenny:
Okay, I'm Jenny, I'm the lead singer. I can also play acoustic piano. And I've been with RockAbility since day one, since Lori brought it up, okay.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Yeah.
Jenny:
Mm-hmm.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
And then...
Lori Weber:
Right.
Rick Socal:
Hi, I'm Rick Socal. I play the guitar, I'm a mentor musician in the group. I got involved... I've known Laurie for several years playing music at gigs. And when she told me about the idea and was looking for mentor musicians, I said, "I'm in." It's a great thing and it's been very rewarding. I enjoy doing it.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Great, thanks for that introduction for everybody. And so for those listening, those on livestream, you've heard me talk about Voices for Voices, what we are, what we try to bring to the community and RockAbility is one of those foundational pieces. So my other brand, The House of You, having that strong foundation is key to anything and having the opportunity to do that, to whatever that is, if it's playing an instrument, if it's doing sign language, if it's doing art, whatever that is, give any individual that opportunity and give them in turn that voice.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
So that's the connection to RockAbility, giving anybody the opportunity to play music, to get up on stage, to sing, to play an instrument, to be seen by family, friends, members of the community, members that they have never met before. And so that's really the draw to RockAbility from the Voices for Voices standpoint. And we'll bring that connection full circle after our musical performance of talking about the event and how anybody out there can help, can join us. We'd love to see you October 12th. So let's get started, Lori, do you want to maybe get into a little bit of the beginnings?
Lori Weber:
Sure, absolutely. So I'm going to go back, the beginning of last summer, when I was at a softball game, it was a Special Olympics game and I was there just watching a member of the community, just there watching, my husband happens to be an umpire. And actually I was really there to heckle him, that was the real purpose. But at one point before the games started, there was a military tie into this whole thing and somebody called Jen out to sing the national anthem acapella. And I didn't know, Jen, I knew who you were. I had seen you in the community, but she and I had never had a real conversation other than a hello, how you doing? All right, so I'm sitting there and all of a sudden I hear this beautiful voice belt out the national anthem on pitch and I'm going, what the heck is that?
Lori Weber:
I'm in a softball game for Special Olympics and here is this excellent musical performance. And she didn't have a mic, so she's just doing this. And I went up to her at that game and I said, are you in the band? And she said, no. And that was the end of our conversation. But that day never left me because, right there, I knew that there were people, like Jen, out in the community who had talents that were being overlooked because of a label. And I thought, wow, what if we could give these people... What if I could find more people like this? Are they out there? What if I could find people in the community who like to play music, who I've already worked with?
Lori Weber:
I know people in the community and all of the musicians that I have played with in the past just are, I don't know what happened to me. I got so lucky, they all have big hearts, they're all good people. And they're all solid musicians. And I thought, I wonder if I could even get five of them to agree, to practice and take some of these folks under their wings to demonstrate good, soft skills in action, to demonstrate this is how you work in a group. This is how a band comes together. This is how you tell somebody they're playing a wrong chord without telling them they're wrong. This is how you do it. And just be a soothing presence and lead them.
Lori Weber:
Rick had the expression, I think, take somebody under your wing and make it happen. So I thought I'm going to see who I can get. I ended up with a solid drummer and then I ended up with who else? There's a whole bunch of people and I know some people are sensitive about me sharing their names. So I'm not going to say everybody's name, but...
Nathaniel:
You could say my name.
Lori Weber:
Well, you're here, Nathaniel, we would hope we can.
Lori Weber:
And I found a handful of musicians, people who played drums, bongos, a flute player, ukulele players, and other singers. People who have done this since high school, and then once they graduate, all those opportunities go away. So it's very difficult to find. And so all this talent just withers on the vine and nothing happens. The other half was calling all my peers, all my musical friends. And I started off with 10 people and I thought, can I get five? I got 10. And then I widen the net more because I knew not everybody could do it. And I had some amazing conversations with wonderful people. Everybody wanted to do it, to participate in some way. I'm going to mention the name Rob Garuccio, because without him we would not have had RockAbility. He donated the drums, the original PA system, Metzenbaum and the Geauga County Board of Developmental Disabilities has given us space and they have supported us since day one.
Lori Weber:
So many of the other mentor musicians, Stebal Drums has been a big help. A lot of other music stores, Anne Marie Wolfe of Geauga Music Center also, she has donated so much equipment, has brought stuff in. Rick Socal here, our guitarist has done so much, what my expectations were and what the outpouring of support from the community was, just blew me away, the kindest people are working on this project and that I would say is 80% of the reason of our success, is we've got a very strong base of committed mentors. But then the guys in the band are client musicians, they go home, they work on their material and they show up at practice, binder in hand, microphone ready to go, having practiced her parts all week and ready to belt it out and she does a fantastic job.
Lori Weber:
Melissa comes, she works with Anne Marie, who's a flute teacher as well as a Metro musician and they practice their parts. They email each other what they're going to be doing and Melissa shows up ready to go. Rick has befriended Joe, a wonderful young... I think he's like what? 20? 21? 21 year old guitarist and Joe, he's coming out of his shell and he's playing amazing. He's taking some solos and telling us what songs he's counting in. If it's Bare Naked Ladies, he owns that song. He is very happy to share that with everyone. Nathaniel, who can solo amazing, he is a very good blues piano player and is so fun to listen to and has expanded his repertoire and is now doing some country songs and other material that was completely foreign to him and is embracing it. As you see these connections between the mentors and the musicians...
Nathaniel:
May I add something? I'm trying to learn how to read music actually, classically, so I'm learning beginner pieces through a Russian piano teacher. If you put one of those pieces, it's just the notes and I'm able to just play it, like say that's an A or a C, so I do know how to read music.
Lori Weber:
That's awesome. And these skills just keep growing. It's wonderful, we are so happy to have Nathaniel. So anyway, that's the background of the group and how we all came together. But one of the things I'd like to add is that we're not music teachers, with the exception of Anne Marie. We are not teaching anyone how to play an instrument. We're not teaching anybody how to become a vocalist, this has to be there for you. You have to audition to come with us. We are looking to start a non-performance track next year that would be ... open it because of what you said, just touched a resonating chord with me, and that is everybody needs to contribute. And when we lift up people and make them feel valued, that expands into their homes and into their families and into the larger community and then everybody has a more fulfilled life and everything just gets better.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Yeah, and I think part of the success of having donations and people having equipment and money and grants, and that comes from people that are generous, that have a part in their heart that wants to help. And maybe they can't do the instrument, can't play the instrument, can't sing, but they love music. And that's how they want to contribute. And I think given people the opportunity, but then also to share what they have, their wealth, their equipment. So giving them that opportunity to do that, but that doesn't come without the awareness of the organization. The organization exists, that the band exists. What have you found that has been, maybe one of the toughest things of awareness about RockAbility, things that you're working on, we're all working on organizationally, individually on something. I'm just wondering if you'd be able to share, because I think that might help some of the people on livestream that are going to listen to this in the very near future.
Lori Weber:
What has been the most challenging thing?
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Yeah.
Lori Weber:
Is that the question? I think that answer's going to vary for everybody here and I'd like to have some other inputs, but for me, I think my most challenging piece is communication. I have to be extremely clear. We're working with people who have developmental disabilities, so we're talking Down, the whole spectrum of people with Down syndrome. And so a lot of times I'm communicating with adults and their adult parents. I'm communicating with people who have autism, all over the spectrum. So some people, I might be able to work with them directly, other people I'm talking to their parents. So when I talk about we're changing the key of a song to better accommodate our vocalist, that means nothing to the parents.
Nathaniel:
I was described to have had high functioning Asperger, but I think that instead of saying that I'm on the spectrum really, I'm just an eccentric person, I'm high energy and yeah.
Lori Weber:
That describes all of us.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Yeah. Everybody, Me...
Lori Weber:
We're all on the spectrum.
Rick Socal:
I believe everybody is at some level, I truly believe that.
Nathaniel:
Doesn't matter who you are.
Lori Weber:
Rick, what do you think the biggest challenge is for this group?
Rick Socal:
Well, the newest challenge for me is I've come to the realization that when I'm playing in the rehearsals with the clients and even with other mentor musicians, sometimes I start doing what I do in bands and I start getting ideas and I'll quietly play. And the other day, actually, when the one of musicians says, well, when Rick does that on the guitar, I was like, okay, wait a minute. I need to just remind myself to keep it very, very simple. And Jen caught me in check the other day. There's a song we did that has two little riffs and I got them swapped. And as I was playing it, I realized I played the wrong one, but Jen was right on. She played the wrong riff. And you are so good, I know that you focus on the details and it is, it's nice to be able to listen to the client musicians and know that there's going to be a cue from you. 'Cause I know you have perfect pitch. Is that correct?
Jenny:
Yes.
Rick Socal:
Yeah, so that's a great thing.
Lori Weber:
Very helpful.
Rick Socal:
I think also like Lori was saying, I think one of the challenges is getting people to understand what this is about. It is to help people. And you were talking about the value of performance as someone as a has been playing music for a long time. Even when I'm not playing in a band, there's a value of this, when you get together with one or two or three other people and just playing a song and say, wow, this is fun, playing music with other people. And to give people that opportunity, to see because coming up from the beginning as a young kid, learning how to play music and playing with other people, you learn that this is different from when you're just sitting at home, playing by yourself. You learn to listen to other people. And music is like a conversation. You don't have one person talking all the time. And I see in Joe's parents, to see the look on their faces when they see how much this has meant to him, it feels good to do something right.
Lori Weber:
You do lots of things right, Rick.
Rick Socal:
I picked up after the dogs today. But, I want to say you were talking about all the people that have helped you. I've been playing music with Lori for a while and I've been to her house for rehearsals. I've met her husband, I've met all of her kids and I've met her dog. If you look up family in the dictionary, the Weber family is the picture you see. You emote positivity, you have so much energy. And I think you motivate people to be better people because you are always looking for the positive, the upside of itself. And I think that's contagious to...
Lori Weber:
Thank you.
Rick Socal:
To help people, wanted to do that and see what you do.
Lori Weber:
I live with... My daughter has autism and I've been around it and I've seen her peers and I've seen and experienced, not every day is positive. I've seen the struggles of people who don't typically fit into the mold, but who have talents. And it is so easy to say, you have to be like, why can't you be like? Why can't you fit in? And I'm saying, no, it's not about making people fit in, it's about finding out how people belong and then creating that environment. Because as long as you're forcing somebody to fit into our world...
Melissa:
It doesn't work.
Lori Weber:
It doesn't work, it's never going to work. Go ahead, take it over.
Melissa:
It does not work to try to... There're ways you got to work around because you got to figure out something, but forcing people, you're just going to create a disaster and it ends up in meltdowns and then makes it more difficult.
Lori Weber:
Then families are fighting, and then how do you think mom and dad feel when they go to work? They are mad at themselves and I've been there. I have been down this road and at some point you have to say, there's got to be a better way. What is it? What is it? And the thing that I have found that works the best...
Nathaniel:
Just life.
Lori Weber:
Is art, the arts or sports or music and it's...
Melissa:
Something to keep them active.
Lori Weber:
Active, and it has to be meaningful for that person. For my daughter, the concept of punishments and rewards meant nothing. I have four kids and for one of them it means nothing. Well, what do you do with that? How do you deal with that? If we could encourage her with what means something to her, it's her voice. Voices for Voices, like what your organization is promoting. Go ahead.
Nathaniel:
I thought that Cara was a drawing artist, she's a painter or something, so she's good at that too. I think generally, she's just a very good artist across the board with the ukulele and the drawing and the painting. I never saw any of her drawings, but he said, "Well, Cara's at home drawing today, she's not at RockAbility."
Lori Weber:
Jen, what about you? What do you think about this whole project and what has it meant to you?
Jenny:
Geez. Okay, I'm not very good with words here, just so you know.
Lori Weber:
But she can sing.
Jenny:
Yeah, I can sing. It's just opened up a whole big, new world. I've always dreamed of singing in a band, just never had the opportunity to do so. Nor did I have any idea how to put one together. So yeah, it's just been wonderful for me to be able to sing and perform in front of people and showcase my talents.
Lori Weber:
And I'd like to come back to being on stage. That's something that I haven't really talked about, but Rick nailed it. It's one thing to practice at home and everybody practices at home, everybody does that, we all do our homework. But there's nothing like the adrenaline rush of getting on stage and nailing it. And let me tell you, special needs or no special needs, when we are on stage, and Justin you've heard us, we don't suck. We are a very good band, we are a very good band...
Nathaniel:
Especially with the songs, like Have you Ever Seen the Rain and songs like that. I think I like that song because I can really play the chords pretty well. And the lyrics make the most sense out of some of the other songs. I get Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, but I don't know what they're trying to say and Desmond, but...
Rick Socal:
It's just...
Nathaniel:
I know.
Rick Socal:
A couple gets together and he tells the story, an interview with him on YouTube and they were in the islands somewhere, I forget which island, and one of the local guys was, he would see him, and Paul would say, how you doing? He'd say, oh, ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on bra.
Nathaniel:
Yeah.
Rick Socal:
And Paul just liked that, and he just made a song about it. He likes...
Melissa:
I did not know that.
Nathaniel:
But you know, Have you Ever Seen the Rain? I guess the lyrics make sense to you because basically what they're trying to say is, have you ever seen the rain? I kind of understood the song, what they're like Yesterday and day before time, rain is hard. I know it's been coming. It's like the hardness of the rain.
Rick Socal:
I think every song can write your own meaning. I never knew the meaning of that song until I spent too much time on YouTube.
Nathaniel:
That's a good song.
Rick Socal:
Well, a lot of the songs, I knew of songs and I don't know. You go to You Tube...
Lori Weber:
Every time a history lesson.
Melissa:
Yep.
Rick Socal:
And all these other things pop up. So I don't get ... oh no, there's an interview with John Fogerty and he's talked about that song. That song, he wrote it about the imminent ending of Creedence Clearwater Revival. And if you listen to the words again, you can hear how he's talking about the internal breakdown of that. I saw him talk about it in an interview.
Nathaniel:
Well, I thought a lot of those Creedence Clearwater Revival songs were about the Vietnam war in a way, even Have you Ever Seen the Rain, Fortunate Son and just talking about the hardships of soldiers and at the time and death and politics and the government. And so I thought it was maybe deeper than just the ending of a band, but that's just my interpretation. Just documenting turmoil at the time.
Lori Weber:
I think that could...
Rick Socal:
People can relate to it in a different way.
Nathaniel:
Another song would be Sympathy for the Devil or I know that's an Rolling... they say about the Kennedys and everything just seems like gibberish, but sometimes, but it's actually a hardcore song and look at all this crap that's happening right now. And yeah, there's still stuff happening in the world. I don't know why I'm saying something about Russia or the Ukraine, it's like in Vietnam. It's like, we're not in the war on terror anymore.
Lori Weber:
Well, RockAbility is a great distraction from a lot of these awful realities. We can all come together and work on something. Melissa, why don't you share what RockAbility has meant to you?
Melissa:
I did band all through high school, I was not very good to be honest, but I always say that band is the only reason that got me through high school. And I have a lot of musicians now in my family and well watching them go to gigs and hearing them play, I never thought I'd be able to do that. I always enjoyed it and always thought it was really cool to watch them play on stage, but never thought I'd be able to be a part of something like that. And finding Lori this past spring has changed my life and finding RockAbility and being a part of this has just been absolutely amazing.
Nathaniel:
You are definitely a part of it. So, just as much as everybody else.
Rick Socal:
For me, this is part of the reward to hear you three tell your stories. To a part of something that's helping people. And that's why all of your peers get on board and help, it feels good to you.
Lori Weber:
It does feel good, it does. And honestly, it's a little bit selfish for me because I genuinely like everybody in that room. We rehearse on Wednesday nights, we have an itinerary of all the stuff that we are going to go over. A lot of it is band meeting notes. Make sure you have these days open, potential upcoming gigs, who needs transportation? Challenge? You want to talk about a challenge? I'll tell you a challenge. The majority of our clients don't drive and let me tell you Geauga county is a big ass county, it's huge. And getting people there, and it's not convenient for folks to get to places. For some of these far away gigs, I try to make sure that, with gas prices being what they are, we can give them folks gas cards, make sure that there's something in it for them.
Lori Weber:
That's a challenge. That is a challenge all the time. But back to the selfish thing, I live for Wednesday evenings, I know that rehearsal is coming and that means I better be practicing too. I got to practice what I preach, show up knowing my stuff. And then by the time we walk out of there, if something's kind of rough, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, the first time we did it, a little shaky, but now we're playing it really well now. I mean, I think that's going to be a song that we'll be able to do maybe at your gig. We'll hear that Beatles song. So there's a lot of really cool, fun things to look forward to and I think that's part of what the appeal of RockAbility.
Melissa:
Doesn't feel like work.
Lori Weber:
It doesn't feel like work.
Melissa:
It's just fun.
Nathaniel:
Except when it gets a little bit later, maybe. Not that I get tired, I'm not speaking for myself, I see some people yawning.
Melissa:
The focus...
Lori Weber:
When you're do those seven to 9:00 PM, you've worked all day...
Nathaniel:
[inaudible 00:26:47] at night.
Melissa:
8:30, You can see some people's focus is starting to...
Lori Weber:
Yeah.
Nathaniel:
I wonder what's on their minds. Are they just going to go to sleep or just what do they want to do?
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Great. Before we get into our live performance, why don't we have Rick share with our listeners and our viewers. He came up with this, well, the RockAbility acronym and each letter means something and how it relates. So since he put it together, I thought maybe he could just share that with them.
Rick Socal:
I was just looking at the RockAbility and I've seen other things where people have taken acronyms and done something with that. And one day when I had 10 minutes with nothing to do, I was looking at it and I thought RockAbility oh, and so I just had a moment where I was able to think of things and I wrote them down and emailed it off to her and said, what do you think of this? And she liked it and tweaked a couple things to make it more sensible. And then the next thing I knew, she sent me a picture of this. I said, well, can you take my name off it? She said, no. My hope is that when people look at it and understand what RockAbility is, just to get a better understanding, because if you go to the website and you look at the goals and it's the same thing, it's just put into a...
Lori Weber:
Why don't you read your poem? Read it, it's beautiful.
Melissa:
Do you want us each read a line? Maybe that I don't know.
Rick Socal:
Well, it's just the word RockAbility R, realize you're important. O, obtain greater self worth. C, challenge yourself. K, know your strength, A, accomplish a new goal. B, bring awareness to others. I, inspire others. L, learn a new skill. I, increase your confidence. T, try something new. And Y...
Lori Weber:
You totally rock.
Rick Socal:
Laurie always says that, that's her catch phrase. She always, when somebody gets something right, she walks around and gives high fives and you rock. So, that would be a great way to...
Nathaniel:
It's very nice.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Yeah.
Lori Weber:
That was very nice. Thank you for doing that, Rick, completely unexpected that when I saw that in the mailbox, unfortunately I did not have 10 minutes with nothing to do when that came through and I thought don't lose that, don't lose that. And then I forgot about it. And then the concert came, we did a two hour concert of all rock songs, and Rick shows up with two, eight and a half by elevens with this poem on it. And I thought, I need more than two. I'm going to design it, I'm going to actually put a design to this. And so we made a poster out of it and it hangs in our rehearsal space.
Rick Socal:
I know once you plant an idea in Laurie's mind...
Lori Weber:
It just takes some time.
Rick Socal:
Whenever we were rehearsing to learn new songs, playing [inaudible 00:29:55] every week. Oh, this is my new favorite song.
Melissa:
One thing I like is Lori in the band, they take all of our ideas. When we come up, try to suggest new songs. May not always work, but we try to come up with ideas and Lori and the other men are musicians, are always very open to trying new things.
Lori Weber:
Yeah. We have some songs that people have brought up. We have a master spreadsheet with all the songs on it. We might not get to it now. We might not get to it next year, but who knows down the road, as new people come in and skills evolve it's on the table as a favorite for something that we could do later. All genres are potentials that we would look at. It's whatever the guys want to do, we're listening to them.
Nathaniel:
I don't think we would do classical per se.
Lori Weber:
Probably not. But we do have a classical piano player, Roberto McCaslin Diapa, who was with us from the get go. He was at our first meeting and he's played all over the world and is just a phenomenal classical player. And we have another guy, Christopher Mylo, who is a classical piano player and has played on cruise ships.
Nathaniel:
I think that our member Carl is an excellent drummer. So is our other drummer...
Rick Socal:
Alex,
Nathaniel:
Alex.
Lori Weber:
Alex is awesome. Carl is awesome.
Nathaniel:
Carl's in the background and he's playing the bongos and he's good. And he's good at the regular drums too and everything. And he just, yeah.
Lori Weber:
And the Merch's, they're awesome. Fred and Kathy. Kathy plays and sings everything, and her husband, Fred plays drums for us, and also a shout out to Julie Slattery. She is an excellent, excellent vocalist. Power, power pipes and she's also a fantastic piano player.
Rick Socal:
I'll give in.
Lori Weber:
Oh, you know what? Yeah. So, she and I are in the dueling piano games. We bring the party, if you ever want some dueling pianos. And Rick, what's your band?
Rick Socal:
I'm in two bands. One's called The North Coast Goats. We're not real busy right now, but we do play every year at the Middle Bass Island Music Festival. And then Fred and Kathy play in two bands, and I play in one of them. And that band is currently called Merchant Spice.
Lori Weber:
Plug their other band, In Cahoots.
Rick Socal:
Their other band is called In Cahoots and they do play. I think they might have a gig tonight somewhere.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Oh, wow.
Rick Socal:
I can't remember where. I'm sorry, Fred.
Lori Weber:
They're awesome, every single...
Rick Socal:
They're just genuinely good people.
Lori Weber:
And that's why I think, the magic of RockAbility, we've got genuinely good people in every position. Yeah, it's awesome.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Great. So for our guests, we're going to head off and get the instruments tuned for a performance. For those that are watching the livestream you'll see us continue. With the podcast, with the performance coming in at the end.
Nathaniel:
...the song in here, he goes, don't worry about a thing, goes worrying about a thing.
Jenny:
Yeah, I know. Yeah.
Rick Socal:
Well, you could worry about everything.
Melissa:
Yeah, we could, we could
Jenny:
I just sort of add my own...
Speaker 11:
Don't worry about it, nothing...
Melissa:
Don't worry about it, it's all good.
Nathaniel:
Worry about sleeping.
Rick Socal:
That's another good song. Don't Worry, Be Happy.
Nathaniel:
That's another good song.
Lori Weber:
Kira wants to do that. Oh, she does. She wants, that has been on her. I do too. Yeah. She wants that. Bobby McFaren song. I know you'd love it, but it's a great ukulele song.
Rick Socal:
Yeah.
Lori Weber:
So, All right.
Rick Socal:
Did you want to do another one?
Lori Weber:
Do you want to do Seen the Rain? Want to do the CCR song since we talked about it?
Rick Socal:
Sure. Let's see.
Jenny:
I don't have to lyrics with me. I don't know that song.
Melissa:
Won't be as easy, but yeah, I think once you start singing it, I think.
Rick Socal:
That's the second riff, right? But when I give out a note, is it on? Does it go from the B to the C or the D to the C?
Lori Weber:
That's how I play it.
Rick Socal:
Okay.
Lori Weber:
All right. So here are your lyrics and Jen, you're just going to have to scroll. It's...
Jenny:
I got it.
Lori Weber:
I don't like this version, hang on, let me see if I can get you cleaner... Oh, here we go. Here we go. This one's easier. This one's all it's out there. So you are going to be the one who is calling the shots, Jen, I'm going to follow you.
Jenny:
Okay. Okay. I'm ready whenever.
Rick Socal:
Let me just tweak the tuning here.
Lori Weber:
I think this is not going to be a piano [inaudible 00:38:15] Dame's Song. We're stealing stuff for RockAbility. That's another added benefit of this band where everyone's repertoire is increasing.
Lori Weber:
That was the unplugged version, thank you, Rick. So Rick...
Rick Socal:
Rick was still rolling.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Okay, so how about that performance? For those interested, like that music, that sound, RockAbility is going to be performing one of their gigs is on October 12th in Canton, Ohio at the Canton Cultural Center, starting anywhere between 7:00pm and 7:30pm. The time depends on when everything gets put together. There's been some verbiage at 7:00pm, some at 7:30pm. We're going to be ready at 7:00 and we're going to go from there.
Lori Weber:
Can I mention something?
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Yeah, go ahead.
Lori Weber:
You're not going to find it, but to find us look up NPowerServices.com. N like Nancy, P-O-W, all one word, NPowerServices.com is the website that has all the information on it. There's a page called RockAbility. And also if you follow NPower Services on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, that's where you will find all the information about RockAbility. So you have to look up NPower Services.
Rick Socal:
You should also promote that NPower has a few other services besides RockAbility.
Lori Weber:
Yeah, we have a free jogging and walking group, and we tour all over the parks of Northeast Ohio. We also have adaptive CrossFit. It's Chagrin Falls CrossFit, and you wouldn't believe what these athletes have done in the last six months. They're amazing, Melissa's one of them. And then what else do we do? We place volunteers in the community and Project Kindness. Project Kindness is my new baby and that is something where, unless people actually feel good about themselves, if they can not be kind to themselves, it's impossible for them to be kind to other people. So when we get together for project kindness activities, we do something that encourages self-kindness and then we also do something that's nice for somebody else. So those are the other things that NPower Services does. RockAbility is one component of NPower Services. If people look up RockAbility, you're going to find Darrell Holland and John Oats, and then there're other things, but you're...
Nathaniel:
You're Making my Dreams Come True.
Lori Weber:
Yes, that's a great song. That's it.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Yeah, and so I think that's another important thing for our audience to know that RockAbility is just one aspect. And so empower, takes a look at the whole person, the whole individual, not just on the music aspect, but looking at physical health and placement in the community. Those are all things that I don't care, have a challenge, a disability or not. They're all things that could benefit us as individuals. Thank you to the members for RockAbility here...
Lori Weber:
You're very welcome.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
In studio for that performance. It was great to hear unplugged or plugged, doesn't matter. It was fantastic. So as we close down this episode, I wanted to send it over to Lori here for a minute.
Lori Weber:
Just wanted to let everybody know we are going to be performing our holiday concert. This is our exciting new news Berkshire High School just built a brand new, wonderful state-of-the-art facility. It's got a killer auditorium and we're going to be playing there on December 10th at seven o'clock. We're going to do an hour of rock songs that we're working on now. And we're adding holiday music. And one of our members just told me we need to add a Hanukkah song. So we are very inclusive. So yes, we are going, we're...
Rick Socal:
Song by Adam [inaudible 00:45:07].
Lori Weber:
That's the one that came to mind.
Rick Socal:
Four different versions of that song.
Lori Weber:
Wow, so mark your calendars Saturday, December 10th, Berkshire Auditorium. It's in Burton Ohio. Yeah, it's at the high school. It's by the fairgrounds.
Melissa:
It's on Kent State Geauga Campus, actually.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Okay. Yeah, so I wanted to give a big thank you today for The Funk Studio, who is our home studio for the podcast. I'm going to give a huge thank you for the members of RockAbility coming in studio and playing and singing and talking. Hopefully we're able to share with more members of the community, who they are, what they are, what they do, and potentially go check out our upcoming performance. They are going to be joining the Voices for Voices 2022, Brand New Day charity event coming up on October 12th. And that is at the Canton Cultural Center for the Performing Arts.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
For anybody who is going to be in town, you can head on over to Eventbrite, type in A Brand New Day or Voices for Voices. Or you can even just head over to voicesforvoices.org and you can purchase your tickets there. Again, Voices for Voices is now probably a 501(c)(3) charity. So all your donations are tax deductible and is going to go to individuals here in the Northeast Ohio area who really could use the help. So before we go, anything else we can add Lori before?
Lori Weber:
Rock on. Rock on.
Justin Alan Hayes - Voices for Voices
Great, thank you so much, we'll see you soon.
Lori Weber:
Thank you, that was a pleasure here.
Nathaniel:
Thank you.
Lori Weber:
Thank for Justin.
Please donate to Voices for Voices, a 501c3 nonprofit charity today at: https://www.voicesforvoices.org/shop/p/donate
#thankyou #justinalanhayes #501c3nonprofit #charity #charityfundraiser #organization #podcast #recoveryispossible #nonprofit #mentalhealthmatters #advocate #disabilityinclusion #stigmafree #erastour #taylorswift #taylor #youbelongwithme #maroon5 #memories #music #guitar #studio #singing #voices #thevoice #sing #epic #alternative #recovery #accessibility #501c3nonprofit #501c3 #abrandnewday #sponsor #legacy #voicesforvoices #thanksbrain #podcast #faith #mentalhealth #mary #jesus #christmas #holidays #motherteresa #survivor #motherangelica #angels #ewtn #stjudes #donatetoday #givingtuesday #givetoday #donate #support #share #gift #human #goingviral #viral #news #wegivecatholc #media #mentalhealthishealth #theinterview #interview #ukraine #ukrainewar #art #expression #arttherapy #suicideawareness #depression #anxiety
#mentalillness #ronaldmcdonaldhouse #menu #2022 #2023 #gala #substancefree
#sleep #nutrition #nontoxicpeople #foofighters #davegrohl #davidgrohl
#taylorhawkins #chesterbennington #linkinpark