Episode 9 - Show Brain - On throwing free and all ages punk shows in NYC parks

This week I am chatting with Ozzie Silva of Show Brain. Show Brain is a DIY non-profit organization in NYC that books free shows in different parks around the city. Ozzie has tirelessly put on incredible and consistently fun shows for the last couple years with epic lineups and has done a lot for the NYC music scene. He also is a drummer who fills in for lots and lots of bands on a regular basis, sometimes during the same shows he is organizing. I wanted to chat with him because he has been making a big impact on building community via music. I wanted to see what sparked the idea for starting Show Brain, what the behind the scenes looks like and what he envisions for the future. Enjoy!

You can watch this full episode on our Youtube here.

Learn more about or donate to Show Brain here.

Learn more about Ozzie here.

Check out my remaining Europe tour dates with Tea Eater (playing bass).

Check out my upcoming USA tour dates with Gustaf (playing drums). 

Chapters

• 0:44 Intro & Announcements
• 3:26 Who are you and what do you do?
• 6:46 What inspired booking shows in the parks?
• 11:34 On getting permits and becoming a non-profit
• 13:20 Where did this drive come from?
• 15:56 On touring Europe as a teenager
• 19:47 How being a musician helps you run good shows
• 22:34 Day of show - behind the scenes run down
• 29:15 Funding Show Brain with other jobs
• 30:41 SORRY Cables
• 31:19 Fundraising to offset costs
• 34:32 Making band dreams come true
• 36:30 How do you find bands?
• 39:44 Building community through music
• 41:30 Videographers' importance in music
• 43:26 Gaining confidence from his first tour overseas
• 46:09 On filling in on drums for multiple bands
• 49:38 Any final thoughts?
• 51:08 Outro

Transcript

Hello, everyone.

Welcome back to another week of What It Takes To Be A Rockstar.

I am your host, Mel, and this week, I am interviewing Ozzie Silva of Show Brain.

All right, welcome back to another week of What It Takes To Be A Rockstar.

If you're watching this, the light looks really weird.

I'm in a random hotel room in Sweden right now, and I'm making do with what I have.

And after being in the car for like 10 hours today, I feel crazy, I look crazy.

But everything's going great.

I'm finishing up the tour with TeaEater right now.

I've been playing bass in Europe with TeaEater.

It's been an awesome, super fun tour.

But after this tour, three of us in TeaEater, we're going to fly to the West Coast in the US and do a two-week tour with our other band, Gustav.

So we're going to be doing dates, opening up for the band Dead, D-E-H-D, until mid-November.

So check out the tour dates.

I'll link them in the description of the show.

And I hope to see you out there.

But yeah, anyway, this week, I'm really excited because I'm chatting with my friend Ozzie, who is actually the leader of this nonprofit organization in New York called Show Brain.

And Show Brain is super cool.

They've been putting on some really awesome shows the past couple of years, and they weren't on my radar until last year when I met Ozzie.

He was playing drums for the band Shred Flintstone.

During a cassette tape release show that I threw.

And yeah, immediately he came up after the show and was like, hey, I'm putting on these shows at the New York City parks.

And if your band ever wants to play, like I could hook it up.

And it was just, I don't know, just really legit sounding.

And I actually was seeing some of my friends bands playing these shows.

So I kind of put two and two together and realized, oh, this is the guy who's making that all happen.

And yeah, I ended up playing some of those shows and they were super awesome.

Great sound system.

Everyone's playing in the New York City parks.

It's all legit.

It's all permitted.

So I wanted to talk to Ozzie to see, like, why he started doing this, how he's doing this, like, yeah, everything behind it, because now he has a team and volunteers and it's really super cool.

And also, on top of that, he is a musician.

He drums in a ton of bands.

He's, like, always filling in for a bunch of bands that he books.

And yeah, he's just very legit, has it all together.

So I wanted to see how he was doing it all.

So I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

And here we go.

I want you to tell people, like, who you are, what you do, why, you know, we're going to get into the why you do it and all that stuff.

But I just want, like, like, who's Ozzie?

Who the heck is Ozzie?

Well, I'll go back.

My name is Ozzie.

I'll start from the beginning.

Born and raised in New York City.

I'm very grateful for that.

It's taught me a lot being here about adversity and determination and grit.

And just kind of moving forward when you fall down.

I'm a drummer.

My first instrument was guitar, actually.

And then I switched to drums so that I could join a band to go on tour.

When all I knew how to play was air drums, I was at the right place at the right time.

So I switched to drums when I was like 18.

I've been slowly integrating myself in the music scene in New York City since then.

Very grateful to play with various artists.

I used to play in a band called In Circles, and that band opened up a lot of doors for me.

And that's actually what started off Show Brain.

So yeah, in short, I'm a drummer, I'm a musician.

I'm a cat owner.

Let me put this guy down.

Cat papa.

Yeah, drummer, musician.

You know, lover of all sorts of arts and music.

And yeah, I just, I love organizing events.

I love playing and having the opportunity to perform with different artists.

Yeah, I guess it's a short bio there.

Okay, cool.

Yeah, I wanted you to do it because people know themselves better.

And then I was like, you know what?

You got a lot going on.

That said, I actually forgot to mention I'm also a small business owner.

So there's that.

Really?

What business?

So I do.

Well, Show Brain is a non-profit.

So that's on the books.

And then I also have an online clothing sale company, Ozzie's Apparel.

So it's up close and well.

And yeah.

All right.

Cool.

So how I met you was through playing, I think the first time we met was when we played Alphaville together, right?

And you were playing drums in Tread Flinstone.

And the first thing that stuck out was that you brought a ton of drums with you.

And you were like, hey, I know that you might want to switch out a drum.

So you can use anything of mine.

And then you switched out to your tom, I think your floor tom.

And it was like way better.

And I was really, really grateful.

And then afterwards, you were like, hey, I've been setting up these shows at this park.

Maybe your band would want to play at the park someday.

And then I kind of put two and two together because I was starting to see some videos of bands just randomly playing in the parks in New York.

And I was like, oh, you're the person who's doing that.

And it made me really excited because A, you were like, yeah, it's super legit.

You're like, you know, it's all good.

Like you got permits and stuff, right?

You're like, I'm doing this.

And then B, you were, you're just able to glue like so many pieces of the scene together through this organization.

And I just want to hear a little bit about like how that idea came about to start Show Brain and like why you decided to do it and like how the heck you went about making it all happen and making it legit because I feel like a lot of people like want to do something like that, but they don't know how to even begin.

Yeah.

Yeah, totally.

I'll start from what spawned the idea.

So as you, I'm sure you know, 2020, 2021, a lot of venues were closed.

A lot of venues didn't even come back.

Businesses shuttered their doors.

2020, I didn't play music at all.

2021, my old band, In Circles, we started replaying again.

And after not playing for a whole year.

And venues were still closed.

People were still kind of afraid to go to venues.

It was a very polarizing thing where people were saying, stay out of venues, go to venues.

So there was that whole divisive part of it, which was a bummer.

And I remember walking through Washington Square Park and Tompkins Square Park and seeing these guitarists jam.

And I'm like, what are they plugged into?

And I see them plugged into these little batteries, particularly this brand called Jackery.

And I'm like, huh, interesting.

And then I saw it again at Tompkins.

I'm like, and I saw someone with a small drum kit.

I'm like, this is interesting.

And again, remember, all venues are closed.

So this is like for a lot of people, this is their first time hearing any sort of live music outside of venues in over a year.

So I had this conversation with our singer Julia.

I said, hey, trust me on this.

Let's do a small setup.

Let's go to Union Square.

Let's just find random places to set up shop and play.

And we went to Union Square and it was a hit.

We probably played like over 60 times, like two, three times a week.

And I will say maybe like two or three times did the cops come up to us and they were like, you guys gotta stop.

And even at that, they were like, we hate to be the buzz kill and you guys are so good, but you gotta stop.

And I'm like, can we play like one or two more songs?

They're like, yeah, go for it.

So they were like super duper chill about it.

And so that's like what started the idea of playing outdoors.

And then this was 2021, yeah.

And then into 2022, I said, hey, why don't we get park permits and start making this more legit things?

And try to invite our friends.

And we started this thing called In Circles and Friends.

That's like the precursor to Show Brain.

Did that for most of 2022.

We did like maybe four shows.

And it was really rough because we didn't have a lot of equipment.

You know, we had to like borrow, convince people to like come with their car and let us bring in some of their equipment and our equipment and share.

And it was this whole thing.

But we made it work and it was fun.

And again, there was still this excitement where a lot of people were not going to venues and not seeing any shows.

And people will come up to us at Union Square and at these parks and say, Oh my gosh, I haven't heard music in so long.

I need this.

It was like almost a cathartic, religious kind of thing.

So that spawned the idea.

And then at the end of 2022, I realized I was doing most of the work like I was booking all the bands.

I was slowly acquiring equipment, coordinating, getting the permits and this and that.

And I said, OK, I'm going to change this from in circles and friends to Show Brain.

It was between the name Show Brain and Third Son.

And I went with Show Brain just because it sounds a little wacky.

And I like being wacky.

So yeah, at the end of 2022, the last show we did was technically a Show Brain event, but it wasn't until 2023 that I got us on the books early before the spring, early that year as a nonprofit, raised a little bit of money, worked very hard, sold equipment, bought equipment, slowly just upgraded the stuff because the equipment that we were playing with through before was crazy.

Like we didn't even have monitors.

We were using this, I don't know if you've ever seen this suitcase PA system by Fenders called a passport, like folds into itself.

You got to check it out.

If you dig far enough in the internet, you'll see these videos.

But, and I'm very thankful of the early bands that played with us because our equipment was not the best, but the fun was there, like people were coming out.

So it was like, despite the equipment not being top notch, it was still so fun and exciting.

And it was, you know, we're grateful to be in a city like New York City where we can pull something off like that.

Like Tompkins, you can have a great band and people come out, but no matter what, whether you have a good draw, you're organically going to get people who are walking through the parks and just stop and like, whoa, what's this?

And then next thing you know, that band has new fans, Show Brain has new followers, and the cycle goes on and on.

So yeah, to digress, the idea started from in circles, just busking, essentially.

Yeah, restless history.

Was it complicated for you to go get, you know, become a non-profit and get the permits?

Like what was that?

Oh, what did that tell you?

So for the permits, it's not so hard.

The harder thing is the logistics, and I'll get into the permit side of things first.

I mean, it's pretty simple.

You just apply through the city to the parks department website, and there's a parks permit involved, and then there's a sound permit through the NYPD.

If you're going to have any electronic instruments, or like PA systems for that matter.

As far as the non-profit side of things, it was a lot easier than I thought.

I did use like a third-party service called Swift to just like get the red tape stuff done for me.

So it was like a pretty cheap price.

I think it was like a couple hundred bucks.

But it was pretty easy.

With this stuff, I've been learning as I go.

Like for a while, I didn't know we were tax exempt, so I applied for that.

I was like, wait a second.

The state owes me so much money.

I got hundreds of dollars back, actually over like a couple of thousand.

That went right back into Show Brain and paying the artists and buying equipment and stuff we need for the logistics.

So the permacide is not so hard for the shows.

It's really just organizing, reaching out to the bands, renting a van, just like organizational aspect of it, the equipment and whatnot, the promotion, the permacide is a breeze.

And registering the business, yeah, that's the third party service.

It wasn't too hard.

I know people, there's people out there who've done it themselves, and they mailed it out and they save a few hundred bucks not paying a third party service, but I ain't got time for that.

Yeah, you want to make sure it's all right too.

That too.

Yeah, I'm just so curious because you make it sound so simple, you're just like, yeah, I just do this, I'm not going to do that.

I have some other friends a lot like you, but I'm just so curious where that comes from.

Do you even have any idea of why you're like this?

Is it because you've been running a small business before, so you're just good at this stuff, or have you always been like this, or you know?

I think it's a combination of a lot of things.

I think a big chunk of what makes me a hard worker is my mom.

My mom, although my father was still in my life, my mom and my dad separated when I was eight years old.

They had a good relationship, just things didn't work out, but something that I noticed from my mom at an early age was that she was such a hard worker.

She really was.

And I learned a lot about saving money, whether it was through coupons or just putting money away, that translated to who I am today to run a business, and just try to save money wherever possible.

But she was always a hard worker.

She had determination and grit.

She just always, her and my father always, just supported me in what I wanted to do, whether I was playing guitar, to get educated, whether I was going through school, or not, just educate yourself.

So a lot of it has to do with my mom.

I got a lot of my hard work ethic through her.

Also, I think something I mentioned earlier, I believe that growing up in New York City, whether it's for good or bad, you have to hustle in a lot of ways.

So I've always, ever since I was like 13, like I had my first job at 13, and I was new, like, okay, this is my money.

I need to pay my own phone bill when I'm 15, 16.

I need money for lunch and whatnot.

So that always like gave me the independence and just kind of confidence that I needed in myself to know like, okay, if I work hard, I can get what I need to, where I need to get to.

So I, you know, I don't realize I make things sound easy.

I just kind of, it's organically just the way I am naturally.

I like to get things done.

I think I have also ADD.

So now I think I definitely have.

So that's what I'm saying.

It's a lot of different reasons why I have the way I am.

So like, I just, my mind is always going, I'm thinking of ideas and always thinking of how to make a process better or more efficient.

I'm just, the wheels are always turning.

So it's for a lot of reasons, the way I am in terms of just kind of getting things done.

It's cool.

I like it.

Can you talk about a little bit like drums?

Like when you made the switch from guitar to drums and like how old you were in your first shows and like why you got so into music that like you're spending all this time and effort booking bands now and everything.

And you know, playing in a million bands as a villain.

And all this is what I had to do.

Yeah, yeah.

So what got me into drums?

So I had drumsticks when I was like 11, 10.

So I was always like air drumming.

I never had a drum kit.

I didn't get a drum kit until I was like 22.

But when I was 16, my old high school band called Offset, before the rapper Offset existed, my old high school band, we had mutual friends of a band in the scene called Team Spider.

They actually used to play Tompkins a lot.

And we played shows together, so we were already buddy buddy.

And they had a tour lined up, and I was at the right place at the right time.

One day, I'm riding my bike in the city, and I run into the singer, and we're chit chatting.

And I think I was 17 at the time.

And he says to me, they have a tour lined up and they're looking for a drummer.

Because the drummer was in a freak accident, the tour is like a month away, and it was a tour in London.

And I was like, I play drums.

I definitely did not play drums.

I could kind of hold a beat.

And I knew their song from seeing them live, so I at least had the format down.

It was really fun.

It was like a punk ska band.

And I told him I played drums.

We had a few jams.

It was, I guess I was good enough.

Really, like, it's cringed watching some of those early videos.

But that was a pivot point for me.

I was like, yeah, I could do this.

So I faked it until I made it.

We went on tour to Europe.

It was amazing.

It was incredible.

And that's what got me into drums.

But I didn't really take drums seriously until I joined my old band in circles.

And that was a long time ago.

That was like 2014.

And that's when I started taking drums seriously.

So that's when I considered myself.

That's when I considered that I started playing drums.

That's when I got my first drum kit.

That's when I learned to do rudiments and whatnot.

So that's what got me into drums.

Just faking it until I make it, taking advantage of an opportunity.

I wanted to go to London.

I wanted to go to Europe rather.

So that's what started that.

And then like the promotion side of things and organizing.

Again, going in 2020, 2021 when we had this idea.

At the core of it, I wanted to have fun when it came to doing these shows.

I wanted to have a party.

I wanted to invite all these bands.

That's why we called it In Circles and Friends.

We just wanted to have our friends and jam and we wanted to make new friends.

And it was hard to sell the vision at first.

Like, hey, come to the park, like to bands that we didn't know.

We want to put on the show in the park.

This could be great.

It's a hard sell, but thankfully some listened to us.

But then it was easier to sell to our friends who knew us and saw what we were doing.

But yeah, at the core of it, even today with Show Brain, despite all the work and all the organization, at the end of the day, I want to make it a good time for the artists.

I want them to be able to hear themselves through the equipment.

I want their stuff to sound good.

I want them to like badass in the videos that our video person Katie edits.

Everything about Show Brain is just about having fun, despite all the hard work.

Sometimes you deal with the New York City grid, and you deal with the crazies out there.

There's a lot of benefit for this.

I'm just trying to party with all the bands and have a fun time.

Well, that's exactly what you said.

Can I answer that second part of the question?

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah, that was great.

I think that's what definitely sticks out about Show Brain, is that you also play music, and so you know exactly what bands would want, and what bands would need.

And so you're on both sides of it.

So it's like, yeah, an awesome sound system, an awesome sound person, awesome videos, a crowd, a built-in crowd, or just random people walking through the street.

It's everything bands would want.

And then it's like, everyone's just making friends with everyone.

And that's why I tell people all the time, I'm like, Show Brain is like, you're like a glue, like literally a glue for all these bands, because it's like something that could bring everyone together on a Saturday in the park, in the summer, people just want to be outside.

It's like, yeah, it's just really, really cool.

That's why I wanted people to hear about it more, because it's just, it's making bands happy.

If I could touch on something you mentioned there, and something that I didn't bring up, it's that, yeah, having the perspective of being a musician.

And it's awesome when you play a great venue that takes care of you.

And I mean, takes care of you on different levels, whether it's from having good equipment, taking care of you on drinks, maybe they offer food and they'll give you a discount or a free meal, et cetera, et cetera.

A good, sound person.

So I know what the good of it looks like, the best possible situation that a venue could be taking care of you.

And I know also the worst side of it, where you're playing a drum kit that's missing the leg spurs and a floor tom that just falls on the floor, or just equipment, or engineers with attitude.

I've dealt with it all.

At the very least, I think a venue should give you drinks.

You're providing entertainment.

And so when I go to a venue and have to pay for drinks, I'm like, what is this, man?

Like, no shame.

I get it.

It's a business.

Everyone operates differently.

But yeah, like, I just want to touch on that.

I do my best to make it a fun experience for everyone.

And so does the team.

They're all there to support.

And I'm grateful that we also have volunteers, but everyone knows the protocol.

I don't like to work with jerks on our side.

I want to make sure everyone's treated well.

We provide drinks.

And we even recently just started ordering pizza, because like, why not?

Like, just make it eat.

You're in a park, sometimes you don't want to leave and whatnot, but yeah, I think like a big goal for us is just to make it such a fun experience that not only do the bands want to come back, but they become advocates and promoters of Show Brain.

And that helps us build the case that, hey, we want to get other artists involved as well.

This is a fun time.

Yeah.

Can you give us a rundown of your day, like the day of a show?

Because I want people to get a perspective of like how much work you're doing it.

Like I see you with a freaking U-Haul there.

And I see you with like a team of people carrying stuff.

I see you when it's raining out, like putting tarps and bags.

And like, can you give us like a real, real deal rundown?

Like give us the nitty gritty, like what is going on on a Show Brain show day?

Yeah, yeah.

So I'll tell you the rundown and I'll also explain how we've improved from the past because, you know, I have a pretty small car.

So normally I'd have to get like two other, like an additional car involved and coordinate with people to bring equipment.

I'm grateful that now I have all the equipment in house and I've learned to rent a U-Haul.

You know, we raised money.

So for the most part, it covered itself, which is very, it's very, I'm very grateful for that.

But yeah, I rent the van the night before.

I used to rent to the day of and it was such a headache just trying to get in the morning and cram everything into the van.

So I rented the night before.

I slowly just packed the van up.

Sometimes if any of my two younger brothers are around, because we live close by, I'll hit them up.

Hey, come help me load the van.

It's a lot of fun.

Otherwise, I'll listen to like a podcaster again on a phone call and I'm like, this is therapy.

I'm just packing the van.

Yeah, because tell people what you bring.

You bring drum set, you bring.

Yeah, we bring like a whole PA system, so that's two subwoofers, two main speakers, a full kit, hardware, two guitar amps, bass amp, three, four monitors, stands, huge cooler with water, sodas, what else?

Tent, we need a tent, microphones, XLRs, I'm pretty sure that's everything.

Oh, and of course, what powers at all?

Yeah, well, the XLR cables, right?

The power cables, but of course the batteries, because we don't run off of noisy gas polluting generators.

We have these electric batteries by Jackery.

Jackery, please sponsor us.

Yeah, I'll be in talks with them, which we're gonna hopefully work together.

But yeah, that's everything.

It's a lot of equipment.

It's a lot of equipment.

It's like, it might not sound like a lot, me listing it out, but when you're packing up the van, you're like, not done yet.

Still so much to go.

No, it's like a small bedroom.

Like, you can fill my room.

It's a lot, it's a lot, yeah.

It's a lot.

But yeah, rent the van the night before, slowly pack it, either in one shower, just take time here and there, instead of just pack it up.

You know, we also, I guess I forgot to mention we have like tables and accessories, stickers, mailing lists that we have for the shows to just try to get in touch with people and have more outreach that way.

But yeah, pack it up over the course of 24 hours leading up to the show.

Buy ice in the morning for the cooler, for the drinks, coordinate with the team, get there, get the volunteers and crew to unload, make sure that we're ordering food at the right time, the limited catering, and then it's showtime.

It's all the shows are four hours, but it's like it's so much work that goes into it just for those four hours, but it's so worth it.

Like I'm always shot at the end of the night, but I'm like, yes, I'm going to watch the books.

But yeah, that's like for the most part what it's like.

At the end of the day, packing up, it's like so daunting.

It's like, oh yeah, we've got to do this again.

But it's all worth it.

It's fun.

And again, I'm grateful that year over year, we've had more people interested and excited about it, and then people reaching out about volunteering and getting involved.

So yeah, it's gotten better and better every year in terms of making it more efficient.

Sweet.

Well, yeah.

And you have to pack up the stuff, put it into the van, and then drive the van to where the equipment goes and unpack it, right?

So the unpacking part, I do that by myself.

Basically, I have a first floor garage, so it's not too bad.

I don't have to go back to the staffs or wheel it in anywhere.

But I just take my time with it.

And I'm like, that's a workout.

It's like, you ever watch that show Nathan Fielder by any chance?

No, I don't know.

He makes his...

It's basically a skit show where he convinces people that he has a gym and he has his new workout routine, but it's really just him having people go into homes that need to move out, and he just has people carrying equipment out of the homes.

Again, this is the new workout.

You got to squat and you move the sofa.

So I'm like, yeah, I'm working out.

It's cool.

I feel that way too.

I always tell...

Because a lot of people always want to help me with my amp because it's a Fender DeVille and it's super heavy.

But I'm always like, no, I want to...

Yeah, the two-amp.

I'm always like, I like doing this because it keeps me strong.

But everyone's like, you're crazy.

Why?

And I'm like, well, you know, I don't know.

Maybe in like 10 years.

Cart it?

I carry it.

Yeah, I have a cart.

But anytime I go to use the cart, it's like I don't I feel like I'm destroying the amp because it's just like so, you know, on the gravel.

It's like and like actually this summer, I think I tried to use it.

And then my amp, the tubes were starting to come out and I had to go get it serviced.

So I'd rather just carry it and then know that it's like safe.

Then yeah, that's wild.

I didn't even think about the ice.

I'm like, you know, you show up, there's like a cooler with ice and like water and you're like sweet.

And it's like, I didn't even know Ozzie was up at like whatever time in the morning going to get ice.

And then I also have to like, I print out flyers for like some of that I have leftover flyers of the show that I've been promoting that's coming up.

So we're and I'll bring those or I'll go to Staples and print out additional flyers to hand out, I guess, like the run of the show.

So we know what's going on today for the new folks.

But then I also have to print out flyers of upcoming shows.

So I have those there and have to give those out as well.

So it's a whole operation.

It's a lot of them.

Yeah, I know.

That's why I wanted people to hear what's really happening behind the scenes because I have an idea.

But it's like when I come, I just have to bring my amp if I feel like playing my own amp.

But you're bringing literally, I didn't even know you brought the whole sound system because I thought maybe Eddie brought it or something.

But no, it's you.

That's cool.

During the week, when you work, is it just your small business that you work or do you have other jobs you work too?

I have a full-time job.

So outside of music, I do IT.

So I've been doing that for like eight years.

Really?

Cool.

I accidentally fell into it.

It wasn't like, I was like, I'm going to go to school and become an information technology specialist.

It just kind of happened.

Is that how you help?

Like with Show Brain, do you help fund Show Brain with that money from?

Yeah.

And again, like year over year, like I don't make money off these shows at all.

But a goal of mine is to break even.

Like one day when I'm not spending any of my money, that's going to be wonderful.

And yeah, year over year, my spending has decreased, but it's also increased in some ways because I'm trying to improve things here and there.

But I'm happy to say like, they've been so grateful to have people be enthusiastic with their wallets.

So it's been a huge help.

And we're also, what is it called?

A tax deductible charitable organization.

So any money that anyone gives it to us, they can write it off.

But yeah, yeah, my job has allowed me thankfully to fund Show Brain and my side business as well.

Otherwise, I don't know how I do it.

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Yeah.

Yeah.

When people give money to Show Brain, like how do they...

I know I've seen like here and there, like a little GoFundMe with like a very, very, very humble goal of like $500.

And I'm like, oh Ozzie, you could probably get more.

But like, is it through little chunks of GoFundMe like that, or is there like a running website that people couldn't...

You know, if they're listening and they're like, I want to give this organization some money, like how do they do that?

Yeah, there's a couple of ways.

So on our website, showbrainnyc.org, there's a donate tab in there that goes right into our PayPal account.

I consistently now have a fundraiser running on Instagram.

And yes, you're right, it's a modest like donation goal, but it's just to offset costs.

I'm not like looking to make money off of this.

If that happens one day and we get amazing sponsors and corporate brand deals or whatever, amazing.

That would be great if I could quit my day job and just do this all the time.

But for now, I'm just trying to like, just build the excitement and get the brand and awareness about Show Brain.

And so I'm not really looking to make money.

I'm just like, any money goes right back into the organization, whether it's for artists or gas or whatever.

But yeah, so those are the two ways to donate.

We get on-site donations all the time, which is why I don't make a huge goal.

That's another reason why I don't make a huge goal online, because people do come on the site and donate.

Maybe I should make it bigger now that I'm saying it out loud, just because why not?

But I also like the idea, the shows are free, so I don't want to say, hey, people, give us a thousand dollars.

The goal is to get either funding from the city or from a brand or from sponsorship.

So that's the goal.

So that hopefully on the road, I don't have to emphasize so much like, hey, give us money.

If people give us money, that's great, but I don't want to have to, that be a thing on the front of my mind.

I want that funding to come in.

And it will one day.

I'm confident it will.

And there's people who come to me after the show and literally have said, like express how grateful they were for Show Brain.

There's one guy at Punk Island who, I'll keep him anonymous, because he probably doesn't want his name out.

But he came to me, he said, I've been coming to your shows this year and last year.

And it's been so helpful.

He went on and on to say, to explain to me how it's been such a positive thing on his mental well-being.

He gave me 500 bucks.

It was crazy.

And then, yeah.

And then someone else recently donated a thousand bucks.

So it's like, and they come at good times because I'm like, sometimes I put a lot of the expenses on a credit card, like on the business credit card, and I paid off little by little.

But I'm like, when people make these donations, I'm like, oh my gosh, that's great.

We're like, there's the first year that I've gone into shows in the green, but we're not owing any money.

I was like, this is incredible.

So yeah, there's various ways that people can donate and we're super grateful for it.

It helps us bring maximum rock and roll to the masses for free.

So we'll keep going at it.

Yeah.

It's super cool.

One thing that I wanted to touch on was that, I think a lot of bands always wanted to do that, like play in the park.

It's just the coolest thing ever.

Having your music bouncing off trees and walls and going three blocks away or however far it goes, it's like the coolest feeling.

And even for my boyfriend, Rye, he was like 10 years ago, he was like, one day, I just want to set up in Washington Square Park and just play some heavy music.

Yes.

He's like, I just want to play some heavy music.

That would be so cool, wouldn't it?

And then you made that happen.

Like you're just, I don't know.

It's just, yeah, so when you had Crusades play, he was like, his head was just blown away because he was like, this is like the thing.

And I think it was literally at Washington Square Park.

Yeah.

So that's because two bands dropped out, they like hours before they're set because of a protest.

So like, you want to play the game and close up the show.

Yeah.

Made the dream come true twice.

Yeah.

It's just so cool.

Yeah.

And you filled it.

You were playing drums like you.

That's the thing too.

Like when we played Punk Island, like you had that stage of Punk Island and you had Francie Moon play and I'm like watching this whole thing happen.

But then I'm seeing all these just super shredder bands.

And then I see you on the side just like you're like watching, and then you're like on your phone coordinating like crazy, and then you're like watching, and then you're like, and I'm just like, I was just watching you like, you're just like a bee like running around, like making sure everything's cool.

And I was like, yeah, that was fun.

Hot too.

That's super fun.

I was so grateful to have you all.

That was awesome.

Yeah.

It's just like, when did you start learning about all the bands?

Because I feel like every band you have, I'm like, oh, I've played with them here and there.

Like, was it a slow thing that you like, like within circles?

Did you know all about all the bands that you had?

Or was it like you were slowly just learning about them as you were making the shows happen?

So part of it is that last part you mentioned, just kind of as we were doing the shows, I'm learning more about bands and making these connections.

But something that there's two big things that were pivotal into me, that were actually pivotal for the early success of Show Brain.

One was in Circles and the second was actually Arbacad Lady because in Circles in 2022, we were one of 16 bands that got chosen out of some over 100 bands to participate in their annual Winter Madness Battle of the Bands.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And we made some lifelong buddies from those events.

That's how I met Dead Tooth, that's how I met Dan and Shred Flintstone, and a bunch of other bands that were on that show.

And that integrated me into the Brooklyn scene because I was always in the New York City scene.

And I didn't know that many Brooklyn bands.

So that helped where I made these connections.

And then from that, as you know, I started playing with Shred Flintstone.

Eventually, I went on tour with Dead Tooth.

And so as I'm able to maneuver and help out other bands for shows, I'm also meeting other bands through that, playing a show, a build together.

I'm like, huh, this is an interesting band.

And then I make the pitch, hey, so I run this organization, Show Brain, yada, yada, yada.

So yeah, I think I'm super grateful for the opportunity to play with so many amazing, talented artists.

And that in itself is incredible.

I'm so blessed for that.

But then I take advantage of that by connecting with new artists that we're sharing bills with.

Or it also helps make the pitch, like when I'm reaching out to folks and say, like I've had artists like Francy Moon, Dattoos, Gustav, X, Y, Z.

They're like, cool, who are these?

I know these bands, I would love to do this thing that all these other cool bands are doing.

So as time goes on, the resume gets stronger and it makes it a little easier to make these connections for other new bands.

But yeah, just being part of the scene and playing music with other artists has definitely helped me connect with new artists and meeting new bands at these shows.

Yeah, it's cool.

Cause I, yeah, every line up, I'm like, wow, Ozzie did it again.

There's like another amazing line up.

And I don't know.

And some bands I met through you.

Like I didn't really know Miranda and the Beat at all.

Like until I've heard of them a million times, but I never actually met them until we played that first, like Halloween time show with them last October.

It was like dark.

It was, yeah, yeah.

We dressed as vampires.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So like, yeah, I'm making friends too, you know, through it.

It's like, yeah.

What?

It's literally community.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

And that's why it's just like so great.

Because, yeah, I just I love that.

And thank you is all I really wanted to say for doing that.

And do you feel like Show Brain is something that's like bigger than you now?

Do you feel like it's because like, do you feel like if you were reaching out to people when you're like, hey, I'm Ozzie, I make shows in the park, do you think people would be as interested if you weren't like, I have this non-profit organization?

Like, do you think that helps the cause?

Do you feel like it's?

Yeah.

Yeah, 100 percent.

Yeah.

Because even when Show Brain was like super new, like, it was sometimes hard to make those new connections.

But now, like, I try to stay humble.

But people come up to me like, wow, it's amazing what you're doing for the scene.

I'm like, and I'm just like thinking like, well, I'm just like, trying to have fun.

But like, oh yeah, I guess Show Brain is part of the scene.

That's right.

Like I and, you know, like the name on the books is Show Brain Community Incorporation or Incorporated or whatever.

So it's like, yeah, like it makes sense.

Like we were slowly being a part of the scene.

And I say that humbly.

I don't mean it to be like, we're this big shot thing.

But it's like, it's really a wonderful thing.

Like you said, you've made friends.

I see bands that play Show Brain builds together for the first time.

And then they go on to play other bills at other venues together.

I'm like, oh, that's cool.

That happened from that or whatever.

But I think I got lost with the question.

I think you asked me if it makes it easier to like put these both together under Show Brain.

100 percent.

And I'm very grateful for everyone who's involved to who's been building up Show Brain.

But I have to give a special, special shout out to Katie, our video person.

She puts in a lot of work, even work outside of just being a video, like filming and editing, like she's there.

Like she, I see her putting in the work and helping out.

But she's been very pivotal building the resume on our Instagram.

All the videos that she's like, I would say like 90 percent of the videos on there are edited by her.

And she makes Show Brain and all the bands look sick.

Like, and so people go on the Instagram like, well, of course I want to play this show.

This is amazing.

So yeah, like having Show Brain and having it grow and become more known, more popular has definitely helped with the pitch.

Yeah, definitely.

I was talking with Emily from 95 Bulls in episode one, about like how pivotal videographers are to music.

And like it's like they should just be another member of the band because in this day and age, it's like you need video of everything.

And like the better it looks and the better it sounds, it's like the more people think you're legit or something.

You know, they're like, oh, that's legit.

And yeah, it's super, super, super helpful to have a video person in your corner.

Yep.

Yep.

Yeah.

Good one at that.

Definitely instrumental.

But like you need it nowadays.

The age of social media.

Yeah.

I have another question.

What's your cat's name?

Oh, that's Rocky.

Rocky.

He got tired of me not paying attention to him.

Rocko.

Oh, he's cool looking.

Yeah.

And my other question, do you still play guitar?

Yeah, I play guitar from time to time.

Yeah.

I want to get back into it, like during the off season to write music because I haven't written anything in a while, but I want to get back into it.

Like more regular.

Yeah.

I have a question too about your first tour was in, you went to London?

Yeah, I went to Europe.

It was crazy.

Yeah.

Ireland, Amsterdam, all that.

Yeah.

Do you feel like that set you up in a way to just have, I don't know, I feel like that would be so wild to have the first tour to be overseas, especially when you didn't even play the instrument really?

Like, did that give you a confidence boost or was it just this giant high that you had that you've been trying to get back the rest of your life?

It definitely gave me confidence because I remember thinking, okay, if I can do this here, I could so do this in the States.

Like, the currency conversion alone was crazy because I remember the dollar was, like, way bad when we went.

This was many years ago.

But I remember thinking, like, all the logistics and, like, the cultural stuff that's just different over there, like, all the tiny little things that you kind of have to get accustomed to.

And I had never been to that country.

And I thought to myself, if I can do this here, I can definitely do this.

And this thing from a cell phone service, right, whether I forgot whether I had my own phone and I had to prepaid, I think I had to prepaid.

And then, like, hotspot wasn't a thing, so being connected was a little tougher back then.

I mentioned the currency conversion, just like, just like different cultural behaviors.

And people were so amazing over there.

But I do remember distinctly thinking, if I can do this here, I can do this in the States.

So it did give me the confidence I needed.

Okay, cool.

Yeah, I like could not imagine that.

But it's funny, air drumming is a thing.

If you're good at air drumming, I actually, one of my old bands, the reason I picked my drummer was because of how he air drummed.

When I was like jamming on the guitar.

Yeah, and I was like, wow, this is awesome.

Like that's going to sound sick.

That's so funny.

Yeah, that's true.

It converts, it makes sense.

I think so.

Yeah, if you're really doing it, it's like, why not?

That's so funny.

What was it like with your first band?

Well, that band, that was Melissa and Paul.

And me and Paul, we took a hike up to this fire tower thing, and I just had an acoustic guitar, and then he was just going crazy.

He made crazy faces when he played, and it was super fun.

But I was like, I was like, oh, you want to play a show with me?

And he was like, I think so.

Yeah, it was really fun.

Yeah, that's awesome.

You're just like, can you talk a little bit about, I know, I hope it's not confusing for everyone because I'm flying around in between drums and guitar and tour and Show Brain.

But like, I really want people to just see you as the full person that you are.

And now I'm forgetting what I was going to ask you.

Oh, when you're filling in, you're filling in constantly for people all the time on drums, and you're doing a great job.

Like, how do you do that?

Do you like listen to the songs all week or do you just, are you just like so natural at like, are you good at just like saving it if you like kind of mess up?

Yeah.

So I will, something that I've learned about myself is that when it comes to showtime, I have no option and I can't fail.

And I don't, I usually cram in the songs like two, three days before, like I'll listen to the songs here and there.

But then when it's like two, three days before like rehearsal, I'm like, okay, now I have to sit behind the drums and really practice.

I don't know if it's because I'm procrastinating or just, that's how my brain operates.

But yeah, then I end up getting, getting into the rehearsal studio.

And I do okay, but I end up doing much better from my perspective when it comes to showtime.

And then I end up doing some stuff.

I'm like, well, I didn't mean to do that, Phil, but that's how it's pretty cool.

And I usually get invited back, so I guess I must be doing something right.

I'm super, like I said earlier, I'm very grateful for the opportunities.

And, and a lot of these opportunities have come because of Show Brain, because I see all these awesome bands and I'm like, hey, if you ever need a drummer, you're in a bind, you need a Phil, I'm happy to help, you guys are sick.

And that opens up a conversation from there.

Yeah.

Well, and a lot of people take you up on it.

Because I think, again, they see you in these videos on the Show Brain page.

It's like, what?

Ozzie's doing that?

What?

It sounds so good.

And, you know, and yeah, some of your fills are awesome because when I've seen you fill in for Crucesis, I'm like, oh, that's a good fill right there.

I'm like, wow, why did I think of that?

That was a good one.

A cool thing, like, I also like about filling in is like, like I try for the most part, like I try to keep it true to what the drummer's doing, but a lot of artists have said, hey, do your own thing.

But I'm like, cool, at least I have like this reference point to use.

And I, and I hear these fills or like phrases that drummers do.

I'm like, I'm going to do that, but then I'm going to have a little bit of my own spices to that or whatever.

So it's kind of cool to get these different perspective of like different people's playing.

And then I take that home with me and then I have that in my arsenal of like drum stuff in terms of like fills or whatever.

But yeah, it's pretty fun.

Yeah, I can relate with that because, you know, I'd be drumming for T-Eater and then on one record is one drummer.

And then, you know, I'll be learning from like a song that was in like a live show with a different drummer.

And then I'm listening to learning another song with another record with another drummer.

And it's like three different flavors of drums.

And then I kind of like soak it all in.

And I'm like, all right, what am I going to do?

Like, all right, I can I kind of like that version.

And, you know, it's it's kind of fun because I learned a lot just from like hearing three different drummers with the same band, you know.

And you're like, I don't know, it's kind of fun to soak in that stuff.

Yeah, yeah, totally.

I feel that 100 percent.

Yeah.

Is there anything you want people to know about Show Brain that we haven't covered at all?

Is there anything?

As far as maybe telling the viewers and listeners something that maybe wasn't mentioned here, because we did cover a lot.

So I'm trying to see if there's anything we missed.

I mean, no pressure.

Yeah.

I mean, we're literally a DIY organization.

We have no extensive backing.

And we're just grateful for everyone who's been interested in and showing interest and super grateful for people who are spreading the word.

And if you still, if you want to help Show Brain, even if you can't help financially, just spread the word, like send our Instagram or website to people who you think might be interested, whether it's band, listeners, donors, maybe some people with deep pockets that want to get some tax write-offs, please send them our way.

We'll say hello to them and get them some pizza and drinks at the next Show Brain event.

Heck, we'll even put them on the guest list.

Yeah.

But that's such a bad joke.

I think we covered most of everything.

Yeah.

I can't think of anything right now on top of my head.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for doing this.

This was absolutely amazing to have you and drink coffee with you in the morning.

Yeah.

All right.

That was it.

Thank you for tuning in this week.

I hope you enjoyed that conversation.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, you can email me at whatittakestobearockstar at gmail.com and check in next week for another episode.