Harmony in Hardship: Tracey DuBree's Mission to Support Local Musicians

In this inspiring episode, Rich Bennett sits down with Tracey DuBree, founder of The Turntable Fund in Harford County. They delve into the origins and impact of the nonprofit, which began amid the challenges of COVID-19 to support struggling local musicians. Tracey shares her personal journey from music enthusiast to community leader, revealing how the shutdown of local venues sparked her to action. The conversation highlights key initiatives like fundraising events and the development of a scholarship program aimed at fostering the next generation of musicians. With a blend of personal stories and community impact, this episode showcases how passion and perseverance can create harmony in the face of hardship.

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Transcript

Rich Bennett 0:00
I am sitting here with a young lady. Let me rephrase that. I am sitting here with a young, tough ass lady and also a hell of a mom. And she is the founder of a local nonprofit here in Harford County that we're going to talk about the turntable. Fun. I have Tracy Newberry here. How are you doing, Tracy? 

Tracey DuBree 0:25
I'm doing well, thank you. 

Rich Bennett 0:26
A coffin's allowed if you have to tell her. 

Tracey DuBree 0:28
Gee, cops is sorry if you hear that in in the interview. But thank you for having me. 

Rich Bennett 0:33
Oh, my pleasure. So the turntable fun just started with 2020, right? Yes. So tell everybody how you started this, why you start. Well, I guess why first. 

Tracey DuBree 0:45
Oh, okay. Well, I it's a kind of multifaceted answer to that. So I am a huge music fan. I don't claim to be a musician. I sing by myself in the shower, in in the car where I really sound good to myself, but nobody else. 

Rich Bennett 1:03
What degree damage Second only up for thinking that you're a musician. I'm going to put you on the spot and have you sing. 

Tracey DuBree 1:10
Yeah. Now you guys would be turning it off if I did. 

So I had supported a nonprofit in and around the county and it gave me and I have been supporting them for a number of years, 15 years. And I had the idea of starting my own nonprofit in Harford County for a number of years. I always wanted to do it. And there was I was so busy with my own personal life and sitting on other boards and things like that. I just didn't have the bandwidth and no pun intended. Yeah, right. So I covered I had it. I mean, I really wanted to do it for a number of years. And then COVID happened and essentially all the local venues closed and our local music scene was silenced. And I had quite a few friends who are musicians who are really struggling through that time period. And I was essentially kicking myself because I didn't have the means to support them. I'm a kind of a person who, if I know of someone in need, I'm I do my best to try to figure out how to help them. May not be me directly helping them or finding the resources to support them. But my mind started working again and said, okay, now is the time, this is it. And so I started doing research. I reached out to the other local nonprofit out of Anne Arundel County or Annapolis and asked them why it was a bad idea, because I really didn't want to be a competitor to them. 

Rich Bennett 2:43
You way back up. You asked them why it was a bad idea for you to start the table, finding out why would it be a good idea? 

Tracey DuBree 2:49
I wanted to know what the pitfalls would be. 

Rich Bennett 2:52
And smart thinking. Most people be like, I want to know all the good ideas about this. 

Tracey DuBree 2:57
Yeah, I so I. I asked them why I shouldn't and I didn't want to be a competitor of theirs. And that's kind of what I was kind of trying to dissect out and ask. After several hours of a conversation and explaining what my hopes were for my idea, I got their blessing. And so we are a complement to one another. We we cover different areas in Maryland. And again, I got their blessing and then I started doing my own research and figuring out what I needed to do to develop the 501c3 And I did it pretty much all my own and incorporated folks on my small, albeit mighty board who could fill in the gaps that I didn't have, like the areas where I didn't have the expertise to support it. Marketing, 

accounting, and then having folks on my board who could who had the network that I didn't. You know, I'm in finance by trade, but I don't have I'm not a marketing person. And, you know, I do know enough about finance, but I don't do taxes yet. I do have people I do have a network of people in Harford County. But I wanted to incorporate folks who had a larger network of people in Harford County. And that's how we got started. And we I got the 501c3 designation in May and we put our minds together May of 2020. 

Rich Bennett 4:35
So. And when did you start the process? 

January of 2020? 

Tracey DuBree 4:43
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 4:44
Five months. Wow. That's amazing. 

Tracey DuBree 4:47
I got it all. Everything set up. And, you know, our board started working and we were really well together. And our first, you know, essentially was, okay, what do we do? I will step back a bit. We all put our money where our mouth is. We didn't, you know, we we did this all on our own. You know, all the the filing fees and everything that I did, which is. 

Rich Bennett 5:10
Not cheap. 

Tracey DuBree 5:10
Out of my pocket. 

And so our first fundraiser was at Hopkins Firm Brewery during COVID. And it was incredible. It was in October. So it gave us about a you know, a five was too. 

Rich Bennett 5:30
Hot, not too cold. 

Tracey DuBree 5:32
Yeah. And a five month window to get us set up. And this is something that none of us had ever done before. We'd never organized an all day event where, I mean, we had two stages. One of the stages was donated to us by Harford County, Barry Glassman. And then they had a smaller acoustic stage that was already there at Hopkins. And we had back to back music for 8 hours. 

Rich Bennett 5:57
And none of you have ever put anything together that involved bands. 

Tracey DuBree 6:01
No. 

Rich Bennett 6:02
Wow. 

Tracey DuBree 6:03
I will. I mean, I guess constructively, we collectively, we hadn't not a not a concert, if you will, Right. However, Ed Ninan on who was on our board at that point. He's a musician in a band, so I guess in that respect, he he knew what it took or what what equipment we would need and that type of thing. So, yes, I mean, I would I wouldn't say that we were completely blind. For me, I was. But we all we all worked together and it was a perfect synergy. And we put off I mean, I jokingly say it was like a mini Woodstock because people had been cooped up in their houses for so long. And and as you and I spoke about earlier, before that, we started this, you know, it was a time period where when we were outside, we still had to wear masks. Yeah. And it was it was an incredible a. 

Rich Bennett 6:59
You were correct me if I'm wrong, but for this where you guys streaming it live as well. 

Tracey DuBree 7:05
We tried, okay. We tried at Hopkins at that point the wi fi was not that good. And, and even your cell service was poor. Yeah. So there was a little bit of a learning curve, that event. But we, I mean, we asked for feedback and we didn't have anyone who really gave us anything that we needed to improve on good us ourselves. We walked away from it and said, okay, I think we could do this better, this, this, this. 

Rich Bennett 7:32
As everybody any nonprofit does. 

Tracey DuBree 7:34
Right, Right. And and I'll tell you, 

we did incorporate the state theater and have it grace to did our production that day. Okay we we couldn't I mean they they handled our sound and everything and we had a ton of volunteers. I don't want to be dismissive of it because it wasn't just us. Yeah, we have a lot of volunteers who still civilians. Yes. Who, you know, were out there helping us get the the and again, this is terminology that is still kind of new to me, the back line for the or the bands and just the set up in turn our turnover for the bands on and off the stage. I incorporated my kids to go out with their sweet cute faces in a in a a tin to go ask for money. I mean we and you know, just had friends and and it was just wonderful and everybody worked together and we raised that event We raised $15,000. 

Rich Bennett 8:36
Nice. 

Tracey DuBree 8:36
For our first go round was. 

Rich Bennett 8:37
Doreen who. 

Tracey DuBree 8:38
During COVID and well and so that led us to be able to fund our flagship fund, which is to offer temporary financial relief to musicians in Hartford County. So what that means is we have musicians who live in Hartford County or that we will support or musicians who they would qualify for benefits if they performed in Hartford County 12 times a year. Oh, okay. So and then we will cover venues if, say, for instance, they're ill and can't perform double bookings we cover and venue closures as as we know with COVID that happened, we had a couple of waves of that. 

Rich Bennett 9:26
So still happening? 

Tracey DuBree 9:27
Yeah. So we will cover those venues up from a 50 mile radius of Bel Air. So Disney. 

Rich Bennett 9:36
Miles. 

Tracey DuBree 9:36
And not just Hartford County. 

Yes. Wow. So we support musicians, not only Hartford County residents, but those who perform in Hartford County 12 times a year. And will cover, you know, like I say, issues where they can't perform in venues within a 50 mile radius. Wow. So we that's our flagship fund And and then, you know, on my as I mentioned to you off record here but I had a business plan that was legitimately written on a napkin, just kind of brainstorming on a napkin. And I still have that napkin. And napkin pretty much was the flagship fund to offer a temporary financial relief to musicians, but also scholarships. But in the midst of that, you know, we had a need from a couple of musicians who came to us and said, Would you be willing to support me? It's not that I'm sick. It's not that there's a venue closure or double booking, but my wife is ill and I have to be a primary care person for that for that time period. And I'm not able to perform. And our board collectively agreed to have a what we call our catastrophic fund to support that, because we don't you know, we're not out to we are we have to keep it. You know, we have to have guidelines so we're not, you know, you know, losing too much money and not losing it. But you know what I mean? Distributing money for everything. But so we have our flagship fund with the temporary financial relief, and then we have our catastrophic fund for musicians who need support for other reasons. Yeah. And then I really one of one of the things I'm outside of helping musicians. One of the things that's really been impressive for me is on my napkin business plan, I wanted to be able to support 

scholarships and the next generation of musicians, 

and my hope was to be able to fund that by year five. And part of that, the scholarship aspect really kind of got to me because during COVID, my son, my he was in fourth grade and you have to designate a instrument to play. 

Rich Bennett 12:02
And good on record. 

Tracey DuBree 12:04
Well, yeah, thankfully we graduated from the recorder, but during COVID, I reached out and there were some other extenuating circumstances and I reached out to the band teacher at my son's elementary school and I said, My son has an interest in playing an instrument, and there wasn't a ton of communication about it at that point because all the teachers were learning. The school systems are trying to adapt to what everything is. 

Rich Bennett 12:30
Yeah. 

Tracey DuBree 12:31
And she said, I'm so glad you reached out. What is he wanting to play? And I was pleased to say that he wanted to pursue percussion. It was I and I, and when I was younger, in fourth grade, they let us pick three things. Our first pick. Second pick and our third alternative. My first pick was percussion. And I was told as a young, young female that girls don't girls don't usually play percussion. 

Rich Bennett 12:59
A boy were they were all looking at a lot of these famous female drummers. 

Tracey DuBree 13:03
Now, now and then myself. 

Rich Bennett 13:05
Back then. Karen Carpenter. 

Tracey DuBree 13:07
That's true. That's true. She's considered one of the best. 

Rich Bennett 13:10
Female Yes, yes. 

Tracey DuBree 13:13
And my my second pick was flute. Well, all the girls pick the flute and then so I got pigeonholed down into clarinet. No offense to anyone. 

Rich Bennett 13:20
I had a feel. 

Tracey DuBree 13:21
No offense to anyone who plays the clarinet, but my dad was really proud because I got to play his wooden clarinet, which whatever, which I still have today. But that being said, you know, my son wanted to play percussion and I was like, Yes, okay, he's going to do it. And the the band teacher said, I'm really pleased to hear this, because normally in my class I'm teaching about 120 kids, you know, each year. 

Rich Bennett 13:50
Wow. 

Tracey DuBree 13:51
She only had 25. 

Rich Bennett 13:54
Really? 

Tracey DuBree 13:55
Yes, She only had 25. And and it and it's not a knock on the school system. We were all trying to figure out how how we're going to do this. And I think there was an area where or a period of time where it really just wasn't being articulated. Well, Yeah, because they were trying to figure out how to make it work. And so I'm thinking of that. My son's generation, you know, not as many kids participating in music. And I thought, gosh, we need we're going to have to pick up the pace here. We're going to have to focus on being able to to find a scholarship program, to be able to promote that next generation of musicians. And I'm pleased to say with the work of our our team, that we were able to fund scholarships in within three years. 

Rich Bennett 14:41
Wow. So now the scholarships are designed to provide the instrument. 

Tracey DuBree 14:49
So, you know, so there's another organization in Harford County that does that. And we thought about doing that, but that's just out of our our right. And we'll let them I think they're called band together and in Harford County and it's I believe, a conglomerate of teachers in Harford County that will take a collection of instruments and refocus them and help those who may need them. We our scholarships are to support high school seniors who are graduating and going to pursue musical arts in their higher ed, you know, outside of high school. And we've right now we are we have four applicants this year. I'm so darn excited. I can't I can't even now. 

Rich Bennett 15:33
Is the scholarship strictly for a for them to attend a school for music in Hartford County or anywhere else. 

Tracey DuBree 15:39
So the way it works is it's for Harford County students who are graduating from Harford County High Schools. 

Rich Bennett 15:46
Okay. 

Tracey DuBree 15:47
Who plan to go to college or a musical school or anything higher to to pursue their higher musical endeavors. 

Rich Bennett 15:56
Anywhere. 

Tracey DuBree 15:57
Anywhere. 

Rich Bennett 15:58
Wow. That is all because I know most people when it comes to scholarships, they try to focus on their area. Right. But let's face a lot of kids that aspiring musicians want to go to, which the ones would say like Juilliard or something like that. Yeah. And a lot of them do get accepted to that. 

Tracey DuBree 16:19
Right. Right. 

Rich Bennett 16:20
And that's where they're just. 

Tracey DuBree 16:23
Focusing on, not necessarily where they're going. We have to. 

Rich Bennett 16:27
Know. 

Tracey DuBree 16:27
Where we're going. They need to prove that they're going to be going to, you know, a higher institution. But our focus is on what they've been able to do academically. MM. And and be able to support them for the future. And that's really what our motivation is, is not really to kind of promote anything really local. We just want to help that next generation of Hartford musicians. 

Rich Bennett 16:54
All right. So I have to ask this because the first time that I saw the turntable fund, I thought it was something for deejays. 

Tracey DuBree 17:03
Well, you see the turntable. 

Rich Bennett 17:05
And that's I mean, yes, I'm old school, so we used to use. 

Tracey DuBree 17:08
Right. 

Rich Bennett 17:09
The turntables. How did you come up with the name? 

Tracey DuBree 17:13
It just popped into my head. 

Rich Bennett 17:15
I thought, That's too easy. 

Tracey DuBree 17:17
I'm not kidding. I mean, I think it was always in my head and I was trying to talk myself out of it. I even I even thought, well, maybe hi fi, the old school. Oh, yeah. But that was like it just didn't it just didn't jive. 

Rich Bennett 17:29
And so now people might get it mixed up with wi fi. 

Tracey DuBree 17:32
Right, Right. Yeah. And, and older school would understand what Hi-Fi is. Yeah. But turntable kind of. I mean, it's still around and it's, you know, it's just gone. 

Rich Bennett 17:42
And will never. 

Tracey DuBree 17:43
Go away. Yeah. And it's a generational thing and vinyl I mean I think it's you know really coming becoming more popular. 

Rich Bennett 17:51
It has also more expensive too, right? 

Tracey DuBree 17:54
Right. Yeah, it has. I mean, I will I mean, outside of the name, I, you know, I really am I would be remiss if I didn't mention other you know, we've had a lot of area sponsorship, a lot of local businesses who have supported us year after year after year. 

Rich Bennett 18:12
Very note of as high as any. 

Tracey DuBree 18:14
Yes. Yeah yeah. At Music Land and there'll be, there'll be an announcement if you follow us on Facebook or Instagram, you'll see an announcement in the near future, within a couple of weeks relative to a joint 

event with Music Land and Larry Noto. 

Rich Bennett 18:32
So on the stage there, maybe. 

Tracey DuBree 18:35
Okay, but we haven't we haven't hammered out all the details yet. 

Rich Bennett 18:40
But I have a funny feeling that if that's the case, why do I sense that Larry is going to be on stage singing. 

Tracey DuBree 18:47
No, no, no, we haven't got it's not that. 

Rich Bennett 18:50
Oh, he's got a hell of a voice. 

Tracey DuBree 18:52
I'm like, Oh, I'm not discounting. Oh, I didn't mean it like that. No, no, no. It's again, we haven't hammered out the details. It's really just it's wait. 

Rich Bennett 19:01
Just wait to. 

Tracey DuBree 19:02
Find a way to find out. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 19:04
What's the date? You're going to announce it. 

Tracey DuBree 19:06
Within the next couple of weeks. 

Rich Bennett 19:07
Okay. 

Tracey DuBree 19:08
Well, I will let folks know it's. It's more of a I can't say. I don't. I can't say anything yet. Okay? It's not. It's nothing. It's not what you were alluding to, okay? It's more of what he's done in the community to support students and their need for instruments and and, you know, any any of their needs. Yeah. And we're kind of working together to. He's awesome. He is. He is. He's he's supported us in the past and hopefully we can hammer out the details and get the next small event organized for us to be able to promote online. 

Rich Bennett 19:51
And actually, because of that first event at Hopkins, have you done more? 

Tracey DuBree 19:55
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 19:55
So you do it once a year? Yeah. 

Tracey DuBree 19:57
I mean, we were trying to do it twice a year. But again, we're we're you're small. Yeah, we're small and we're volunteers and we all have our, you know, lives outside of turntable, even though we would love to kind of commit 100% of our time to that is really not feasible. So we've had yeah, we've had two events at Hopkins and then we had a fundraiser at Loonies. Mm. We and all of these are successful events and then we had a event at the Boston Barrel House. Mm hmm. And, and then were, we had one last October at Independent Brewing Company, actually. Phil Rudy, who is owner of Independent Independent is on our board and we're working on another event for October. We have the date set out, but we're not we're haven't rolled out that that yet. We're going to we got a stair stat or ease into this we've got we've got our near-term need with our scholarships. Yeah. To you know focus on that right now and then we'll roll out the next event for our fundraiser. 

Rich Bennett 21:07
Okay. So within four years, you've already helped musicians. You've launched the scholarship program, which you wanted to do within five years. So what's the next goal for the next five years? 

Tracey DuBree 21:18
Um, I, I would say really just, I don't know. I don't think we could support the or do anything with the instruments, the capacity. That was something that we really wanted to focus on early on, but mainly just building up our flagship fund to be able to support and right now and, and increase our funding ability, right? We don't do dollar for dollar. So if someone applies for a benefit, say it's one event that they were sick and couldn't perform. We currently pay five or I'm sorry, $75 per event. What I would really like to do is be able to step that benefit base up so that when they apply for benefits that maybe we double what we're currently doing. So increase our ability or increase our distribution rate. 

Rich Bennett 22:18
So when you say benefits, you mean like, let's say for the musician. So if the musician is booked at a place and the place shuts down or for some reason they can't make it, that's the it's the musician that's covered or is it the venue or booth? 

Tracey DuBree 22:37
No, it's the musician. Okay. So say, for instance, I don't know, say there is an electrical power outage at a venue. Right. And you know, a group, you know, we. 

Rich Bennett 22:51
Have to shut down because you can't run the cash or. 

Tracey DuBree 22:53
Anything. Everything is shut. You know, if if for whatever reason, they can't perform, 

there's an application process which you just go on to our website and the application is all, you know, electronic now and they apply for benefits. They give us the name of the venue, the contact person who organizes or books their gigs, and they, you know, kind of give us a synopsis of what happened as to why they couldn't perform. We call up those venues once we get the application, we call up the venues to verify it. Yeah, and we once we get that vetted out, then we will stroke them a check for $75 per event. So if say say that's an electrical outage and then the and then they're supposed to perform a couple of weeks later somewhere else and they're sick, well then they can file for that as well. Okay. We have a 90 day lookback period. So, you know, say today we're in April, we can look back to January for any type of event that they couldn't or any type of gig that they weren't able to perform. 

Rich Bennett 24:05
Well, okay. What about, let's say, a venue box? So I've seen this happen with deejays, not necessarily bands or musicians, 

but let's say a venue box home. And they it's just a no show, no excuse whatsoever. Who's covered. Do you cover the venue or anything or just. 

Tracey DuBree 24:25
If they if the musicians don't show up? 

Rich Bennett 24:28
Yeah. 

Tracey DuBree 24:29
We don't cover the venue. Okay. I sort of have. I mean, they lost the entertainment, but they didn't really lose. I mean, they may have lost the draw of customers, but we really don't we don't reimburse, right. A venue. It would be the other way around, say, when we've had this quite a few times where 

they've been double booked. 

Rich Bennett 24:51
Yeah. Mm. 

Tracey DuBree 24:53
And so both you know, two different bands show up for a gig at the exact same time, at the same location. Well they've got to decide who's going to perform. Somebody's is obviously going to perform and somebody is going to lose out. We'll cover those individuals who lost out of that can come. 

Rich Bennett 25:13
And it's strictly musicians, not deejays. 

Tracey DuBree 25:16
Well I will tell you, we did. There was a fire at Jumbo. Jimmy's. Yeah. And the deejay there had had set up for the day, and he lost his equipment in the fire. 

And I've gotten his approval to mention this. But, yeah, I mean, he he lost his equipment, so our board got together because it's just a different type of. Yes. And we did support we offered support to him. 

Rich Bennett 25:51
Okay. So with because the Harford County music scene is growing. It is it which is awesome. 

Tracey DuBree 25:58
We we're an amazing hub. Oh, my God. Music here. 

Rich Bennett 26:01
It's a lot of great musicians around here. Do they for a musician to. 

All right, let me do it. Say this way. Is there a membership fee for a musician to be part of the turntable? Fun? 

Tracey DuBree 26:15
No. 

Rich Bennett 26:16
Why not? 

Tracey DuBree 26:18
Because we are. We're not trying to profit from the musicians. We're trying to support them. 

Rich Bennett 26:25
Well, no, you wouldn't be profit from them. 

Tracey DuBree 26:27
Well, I mean, if there's a membership fee, we're not. We're. I mean, I guess maybe at some point we might consider that. But at this point, we're not we're not trying to be fancy, right? We're just we're trying to keep it basic and simple and just offer support. 

Rich Bennett 26:47
And the other thing is, I mean, I know the answer for it is, but tell the listeners why it's important to support these musicians, because a lot of people would be you know, a lot of people think, well, hell, they got a full time job, they get support, but they all do it right. 

Tracey DuBree 27:07
I think, you know, for us and we've gotten a lot, you know, a bit of questioning about them there. We don't we're not in the in the business to discriminate on somebody who who works if full time job outside of music or who doesn't and and makes music their livelihood. We are not in the place to decide what dollar amount they get from in music to be able to pay whatever bill they need to pay or whatever their goal is or whatever expenses they need to pay. It could be that they use music there the the income from music as they may have a full time job, but they may have extenuating circumstance is where the music pays for their their electric bill. Yeah. Or whatever that is. 

Rich Bennett 27:58
Or heck therapy as well. 

Tracey DuBree 28:00
That's exactly right. And that's what I was going to say. I mean, oftentimes music is therapeutic. Yes. Not only for the receiver, but for the musician, the who's who's performing. Mm hmm. And so it is not our place to to judge. And it just has to fall within the guidelines of what our parameters are. Bylaws have designated for us to offer support. So that is that is where we stand. And, you know, I there's a lot of wonderful full time musicians in Harford County, amazing, incredible musicians who who have not applied for benefits, who could. Yeah. And, you know, I, I will tell you, one of the one of the biggest hurdles for us early in our 

our mission was getting folks to apply. Really? Yes. Because it was this well, somebody needs it more than I do. Somebody needs a more than I do. Yeah. And and and I'm not kidding you. Our board and modus operandi during that time period was to go, hey, I know that you got rained out. I know that you were sick. I know. And we would we would reach out to them individually and say, please apply for benefits. This is what we are here for. So that was a ha for quite a while. This is I mean, it's gotten better, but it's still we are 

we are we are still constantly, you know, reaching out to folks. I see. I'll see somebody who, you know, got rained out this time of year is terrible for outdoor music summer. So when I see, you know, oh, we're not going to be able to perform tonight due to weather. I do my best if I see it too. Hey, hey. You apply for benefits because you, you, you may be able to qualify. Do it. That's what we are here for. And we, we for a while there I was getting worried. I was like, I the one thing and I sit on many boards, the one thing that donors want to see is where their money is. Yes. And 

when we can't get people to apply for benefits, how are we going to show what we're doing? We don't have a ton of overhead. And most most of the time, you know, like if there's an a large expense most of the time I'm paying for it out of pocket or somebody else in our on our board is doing that out of their own pocket. So, you know, that was for me in my experience and sitting on boards, that was one of the things that was really important to me. And now, you know, it's taken some time, but now we are getting people applying for benefits. And I will tell you, the other part is I'm mean, I'm very proud about in our board is proud about is that we approved to support local musicians who are working on their own albums. Nice So Rachel Hall Rachel Hall Band. We yeah, we helped support her album. And there's another musician. He hasn't come out and said that, so I'm not going to say it, but there is, you know, we've been able to do that as well. 

Rich Bennett 31:18
Hey, Mark, is it Barry? 

Tracey DuBree 31:20
No. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 31:22
No, he or he put something out any. 

Tracey DuBree 31:24
I believe so, yeah. But you know, those are things that we are still adapting and trying to, you know, we're trying to help anyway. We Yeah. And, but we need that and I'm going to here's my ask. We need this support. Come and support our events. Come support or, you know, hop on our web site and click the button because that helps keep our mission going, helps us support those musicians who can't perform for whatever reason, helps support our our initiative with our next generation of musicians through our scholarship program and our catastrophic fund for those extenuating circumstances where musicians can't perform. We are here for that. But we do need the support of our continued support of our community. We laugh. We rely heavily on our corporate sponsors. We're very thankful for them and hopefully those wells will won't run dry. But we we do need continued support from, you know, local individuals to to keep our mission alive. 

Rich Bennett 32:32
What's the website? 

Tracey DuBree 32:33
The turntable fund, dawg. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 32:36
It's not that you just said there and all of you listening, you know, she said corporate sponsors, corporate sponsors are behind the turntable. Fine. So that there should tell you if they have corporate sponsors, what they're doing is legit. They're they're really out to do this. Well, they are doing it. So that means even you, a single person making your making a donation is definitely going to something that's going to help. And if you're a listener and you don't like music. 

Tracey DuBree 33:13
Well, I well, I will tell you, they're. 

Rich Bennett 33:15
Going to hire me as a deejay. So. 

Tracey DuBree 33:17
Well, sometimes, you know, it's it's not even liking music. 

Rich Bennett 33:21
Sometimes the person. 

Tracey DuBree 33:23
It's the person or it takes you to a time period in your life that maybe was happy, maybe, I guess at a low point. And you are listening to a musician locally who is playing a song that that hits you at your heart songs and you say, Wow, it's been on such a long time since I've heard that song. God, it reminds me of my uncle or it reminds me of growing up here. Or it takes you to a place that you maybe hadn't been in a while, good or bad. Yeah. Or. And I, you know, I'll tell you, I've had my fair share of health issues and music got me through. Put on my, my, my earbuds and listen to music and take me to a place where I could escape for a while. And, you know, there is there is something to be said for music and what it does and, and and also on the flip side what it does for for musicians you don't know the backdrop or back story of a musician that might be out there performing and playing their songs that you love to hear they it could be the lifeline for them too. And a lot of work in it is I can't I don't play an instrument. I, like I said in the very beginning, I claim to sing in the shower, in the car by myself, and I think I'm good. But outside of that I'm horrible. I can't sing. I don't play in an instrument, but I really appreciate the the knowledge and and what it takes to to get out there. I mean, just getting out outside of that, getting out, getting up on stage alone takes a certain level of courage that I don't have. And to be able to perform maybe on a day where you're just not feeling like it, but you you get out there and you perform because you have your set up, you have your gigs already planned in advance and you don't want to go out and do it, but you do it anyway. And once you get out there, maybe you feel better, but then you're you're seeing those folks who come in support you at various venues that you can put a smile on their face or get them up dancing when they've had a really crummy week or whatever the case may be, or help them forget life. Sometimes music helps with that. 

Rich Bennett 35:35
Oh, big time in. 

Tracey DuBree 35:35
Life can be really heavy. 

Rich Bennett 35:37
It's it's pretty funny because the grocery store where I, of course, go grocery shopping all the time, I love going in there because the music they're piping in, I mean, it's I would have never thought that you could go grocery shopping and hear Judas Priest playing throughout the store. And then so it's just my I can't tell you how many people I've talked to. They're like, they're all combined heads just pop. And guess what? They're buying more food because they're feeling good, right? You know, music? Yeah, music is great therapy, something that people don't understand when it comes to musicians. It's a lot of work, especially if you got a band. You got to learn, You got to figure out what songs you're going to play. You all got to practice it. Let's say your drummer can't make it. Then you got you to fill in. Drummer Somebody that's familiar with those songs, the upkeep of your instruments. And you figure if you go, let's say you go to someplace and you're just doing a one hour show that could be 3 hours of your time. 

Tracey DuBree 36:45
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 36:46
Yes. And a lot of people don't realize. 

Tracey DuBree 36:47
Well, and I want to tell you this above everything else and you've mentioned score corporate sponsors. I'm above all of them. And I don't mean I don't mean to diss, you know, disregard them. Every musician that has performed at our events has done it for absolutely nothing. 

Rich Bennett 37:08
Wow. 

Tracey DuBree 37:09
We have almost nearly a hundred musicians who have volunteered their time and their day and their expertise to the turntable fund for our mission. So they are putting their their effort out there to support their own community. Yeah. And that that speaks so much greater than anything else I've said today. I mean, nearly a hundred musicians, 

and that is I mean, they're volunteering their time, their money, making time to support us and our community. It's just incredible. 

Rich Bennett 37:49
That's awesome. Well, and your support, your children and supporting them, too. 

Tracey DuBree 37:52
Yes. But I mean, they're doing it because. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, they may not they're volunteering their time and they may never apply for a benefit with us. But they're doing it to help. They're there for their fellow musicians. 

Rich Bennett 38:05
Yes, exactly. 

Tracey DuBree 38:07
Yeah, exactly. And So I just, you know, outside of Turntable, go out and support your local musicians, tip them, leave them some dollars in their in their tip bucket, Venmo them and you know and if it happens that you are available to come to one of our events and support our mission, we would love to see you. We are going to be having an event in October, I believe, October 12th. We haven't announced it yet, but that's October 12th. You can't give me any more information, but please, please, please continue to support us. And we thank everyone who has, you know, donated to our efforts, who the corporate sponsors who continue to support us and and and those who come and buy a ticket to an event or, you know, anything. We just are so grateful for ever grateful. And and the support that we have received has has got us above our benchmark in our time frame. So I'm very, very thankful for that. And and I cannot wait to announce our sponsorship or I'm sorry, our scholarship 

beneficiaries. I it's that is, you know, when when we have an event and we see people come to the event to support us, it's it's gratifying because it just means so much not not for I mean, it means for us as our mission, but it really just comes comes back around to our musicians. And then we've got, you know, our our scholarships and and being able to I can't I remember writing out the first cheque to one of our first musicians who applied for benefits, and I cried because I was so darn proud of what we had done. And, and, and being able to do exactly what we put our minds to. And so being able to stroke a check to a college or a higher level institution to for the benefit of that student is I just can't wait. And that's happening. That's going to be happening in the next couple of weeks. So please continue to support us and come out when we announce where that's going to be, where we can, you know, really highlight the academic level and the the the musicians who are aspiring to be something greater than they are today. I just it's it's it's very validating. 

Rich Bennett 40:33
Like I said before, too, there's a lot of great musicians out there and a lot of up and coming ones that are just going to be continuing to do what the other guys are doing now and ladies. 

Tracey DuBree 40:45
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 40:46
So and who knows, maybe in an event you will see Tracy get up on stage and sing because I have a funny feeling I'm going to have a shower in place. Tracy, I want to thank you. 

Tracey DuBree 40:56
I hope not. For everyone's sake. 

Rich Bennett 40:59
Remember the turntable? Fun, dawg. 

Tracey DuBree 41:01
Actually, I have to edit that. It's turned fun, dawg. Not the It's just turntable fund, dawg. 

Rich Bennett 41:09
Well, like I said, turntable fun, dawg. Either way, the link will be in the show notes. Tracy, thanks a lot. 

Tracey DuBree 41:16
Thank you so much for your time.