hey everybody welcome it's eric mintel welcome to another episode of talking jazz and we've got a fun show today we've got a my good friend mandy cancel hammerstein's who is not only an arts advocate but she is an entrepreneur and is doing some wonderful wonderful wonderful things in music and in the arts and also about a wonderful music program going on in labor deal but we'll get to that but maybe welcome to the show thank you hank it's great to be here it really is yeah well that's good you know and i was just saying before you know have always gotten people on television and you know you know hubble assist and that kind of thing so it's like to have you in front of the camera and you know tell people about a lot of the things that you do which you do all lot so you know in part of the show  try to do is i i try to tell people look you know give people a little background on my guests and like so let's talk about that let's let's start from your beginnings like like where did you like what got the arts bug like word of the fire in the belly come from oh boy so many contributors to that are my mother and my father my friends but i'm as a very young person i was always drawing and making these little cartoon characters and my mother would always encourage it and hang it on the fridge my dad would come home from work and he'd say you're treating this kid like she's because so she didn't think she was a cop and this is like stop it right now never make a living starving artist and my mom would talk about the importance of art and that sort of thing then my dad being self employed he had me working you know he was raised working for his dad from the time he was a child and that history just goes on throughout generations anyway i work for my father and the one thing that i really gravitated to aside from answering the phones that he made me answer and i'm talking to all the time  people for example with advertising wow ok i love to you know working with his salespeople i'm like nine years old at this time and they're talking about how they're going to attract people to these ads where they actually pick up the phone and start buying things and i was fascinated was really young my father was also a hobbyist for talk or for and we would shoot together from time to time and he had all the expenses expensive lenses and when he was off at work and mom was doing her thing i'd be home with all the neighborhood kids doing photo shoots while getting really glamorous taking the lamp shades off the lamp putting on their makeup like crazy well you know having them interviewed putting on little shows and it's funny very creative that a very very young age well that's that's all and that's that's really great because i think  lot of that is missing nowadays because you know when i was talking with somebody looking yeah right right exactly you had to use your brain you know and and your creativity and now or you would only child or did you have brothers and sisters hands it feels like that because i'm the oldest o a group of us and there was a good gap in between so yeah i was kind of bossy it's funny i was a lot last year when i was younger of course than i am now l a times but yeah i know it's not an only child my god so you have you were very creative and then so that kind of serves you well in your career i mean that's really like you really think about it and you go back to that and then how it's wild how things kind of cope full circle again right where you could use that into your own  you know true so no schooling so you went to the high school where did you grow i grew up in new york about ok eight or ten miles outside of manhattan ok in the suburbs and coincidentally my husband lived down the road we didn't even know each other now we here we are married the past three how did you know combine the verbal with the visual that i was so used to recreate and it's been a real asset blending businesses bridging businesses with the arts so i've been relied on it such an honor of by really great institutions at least locally for probably aired already but we had we've had we'll hammerstein your husband on the show too so that was a lot of fun too yeah so yeah i actually was his media coach and i p r the heck out of him when he was having to bucks county playhouse to support the oscar hammerstein festival that they were launching for the very first time so that was a lot of excitement but yes i launched the bucks county children's museum in charge of all the communications white power i did have that's great yeah that was a really exciting so it was a vision a wonderful vision from the founder her name is kelly crim an actor like that or a coffee shop although i said i was shy before i heard her talking with some friends that she was relying on sipping coffee and talking about this idea and here i was studying at lasalle and i said how i'm sorry to interrupt but i just have to know more of what you're talking about your missing all these things that i just love you're talking about horses you're asking about children in museums and i need to know more you know so they were actually creating your comfort zone you know in order to do that so you know we as musicians you know we're always doing that jazz musicians are always like you know we're going outside the box all the time when we're playing a piano solo or an improvisation you know or a you know in that group setting you're trying to you're exploring things that never have been explored before and just one idea you know and like we were saying to you know a lot of people believe in that universal energy you have a thing you put it out there and there it is you know exactly and you attract and again we were just talking brick before the show that how you attract people into your lives who are of like minded you know energy you know that kind of thing i think that's really important i think that's like most what i find to when i meet people and artists is that's what they do they they put that vision out there and then they just really work toward that you know you have to kind of go it's a little bit of a you know process to go through it it's not an overnight thing but it happens and so we're going on like so you are studying at lasalle now where did you get the know you've done a lot of other things to see your art your photography jazz so all of the stuff so tell us about the process i think video shows i mean you know all of that stuff so where does all of that come from like where it is that again it probably goes right back to your to your you know youth and you know your creativity that way so let's talk a little bit about that let's see well i first got to talk about this very surreal moment when i was a kid and i was writing scripts for friends and having to put on shows and doing the for toddler fee of the son and again i was like eight to twelve years old and all my friends are like you are doing exactly what you were meant to do and yes just kind of cool that here because when you're a teenager and it's time to decide on college what exactly and that's one of the things we were saying to is like around fourteen thirteen fourteen years old is like right around the time frame that the young person is trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives and hopefully find a mentor or something that you know they can that's kind of drawing them toward that you know and i know for me i found dave brubeck music at fourteen so i was like that was it i knew like you know maybe we're old souls to you know that everything and i knew that's what i wanted to do with my life and the same thing it sounds like with u two and a lot of other people that kind of really get into that that mind that mind set yeah that was a fun thing was to to add to that being of that age and just trying to figure it out but things are coming naturally right i love annie i was obsessed with and i've been all day after day after day and i'm always thinking i was going to be here and i just couldn't wait to meet andrea mcardle but that was never happening my that from that what i i think in two thousand and thirteen ok and i was part of the initial it was just about five people who launched the bucks county playhouse the revival anyway so i was you know working very hard on different community outreach and tactics and press initiatives you know creating situations that were worthy aside from just the rescue which was so dramatic and i did a photo essay actually of the rescue and it was in the james a mission and although it's also from the beginning from the construction yes and construction that's al that's great experience i think that's awesome so that now that was read two thousand and thirteen so what i'm what i wanted to get back to was so you had this vision like you always wanted to meet and greet so here again it's you're kind of putting that universal right exactly so i love that i love stories like that i think that i have one more for you go ahead when i was we've got time ok but i was a baby my mom got me this beautiful little handmade what in music box it would spin around there was a sweet little girl  was a real big part of my growth i mean it was probably you know for many people yeah you know not only special but that call with no one how how did that i think you know people are supposed to be in your life for a reason you know i really truly believe that and just  as a jazz me vission and we're when we come out on the road we meet so many great people that come to the concerts and some of the people that come to the concerts are some of the greatest people that you'll ever meet who because it's the music is it's it's on another  level of thought process you know people and i think you're seeing that a little bit more now that people are trying to come out to more instrumental type music the real news out yeah that's not electronic it's not processed it's nothing it's not auto tune this and that daytime authentic stuff which is really nice to see that and so you know that's been one of the greatest things for me too but so the shift i was like to say this to like so when you said ok you're at  you're you know studying and you say it will look i want to make this i want to do this for a living i want to be able to do this for a living what do you do like what's the proper what's your thought process as far as like from that point to making it happen and then to go into business oh gosh because i'm a people person the first thing i think of is who can i get to meet who have learned off of this and i just look for that mentor in fact that was big brothers big sisters i'm not a mentor myself but i volunteer when i whenever i can and i have for years i've met a lot of amazing people that way but i'm really big about mentorship and i know you are to yes totally and you know when i was a young person i really needed that and i didn't have it during a crucial time but as an adult it's never too late so totally i think you know i think in the world today i think kids need more mentors like real positive good to have role models musicians artists and people like that they can use their creativity that way i think that's that's really important so you had that so so then how did you start your business that so you're saying well you know actually i ran my own for tog a few studio for several years before the recession before the prosumer market  rehab which is great because then it gives a platform to a lot of creative people who otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity and they get yeah exactly my optimistic that was exactly and so you so you had that so then oh yeah th so you started your business oh yes so i work corporately in advertising for an international fine china company so i would come up with all the copyright they interested me with photography miles well dalton oh yeah i didn't do the feature for tara fee i was like no we're going to take that for team of like three hundred including the warehouse of the us headquarters and it went down to twenty five i was the last of that chopping block wow here i was pregnant and i'm like no one is hiring eight month pregnant woman so i did some i designed a website when nobody really robert graphic design for taguchi people love my photography i was shocked and for you it the phone was just ringing off the hook of loss and yeah and then again when the recession came and the presume or market sales went down dramatically and i was a single parent  like you know something has to change so i assessed my background and my experiences how can i add ons that make it more dimensional and that's when i came up with business communications and got my masters in that i was going to actually do psychology because i find there's a lot of psychology of volved with what i do totally and the arts and you know feeling oh yeah so when i started working for the playhouse or actually the children's museum i was still doing my photography and then i connected with news friends about the playoffs because i knew what was happening there and it was dark it was terrible for the town how can i help i was willing to volunteer yeah and my news friend put me directly in contact with the producer jen bernstein and said you you two would have to meet and he hired me on the spot once question the playhouse i wound up you know having oscar and i started again my own business but this time more p r more robust with p r photography video service where a new business launches you know event initiatives and is that ladies and gentlemen if you're listening as a musician artist it's about connecting people it's about you it's not a lot of times it's not about the telling you can have all the tell the world but if you're not in the right you know connections with people  you're not to be seen in certain areas so it's it's always going to be connected with really good people and please stay around positive people because that's the good that they get all the yeah exactly exactly you had exactly so and then your photography now you do a special thing though you told me that the you're designing an award no yes or tell us about that this is really cool yes so it's funny i'm in my theater experience here i was you know doing professional stage production shots doing news shots for the stories i was building what a have you different community initiatives i've even produced new works readings however the playhouse some nice friends over there they remembered something that i created years ago which is called yet and what it is it's  manufacturing business and by far father again being for toher for i wanted to do a little tribute to that process so i started creating jewelry and different art installations of photography on glass but i patina it looks very like a relic of some sort so the playhouse remembered this and they're honoring someone called lu volpi and there's a show in his honor that's what you know n b c in the fall want to rise ok very much like a leaf from what i understand ok and they are giving him write absolutely so apparently lou is very inspirational and made a lot of strong impact on many young people who desperately needed it in levittown p a and back ok so to be able to you know help honor this man is exciting for me absolutely i have that's that's awesome and when is that when is that oh i don't know i have to get it to them by march first i look at the weekend wow yes that's coming up yes around the corner  of it but i like it in my hands like hands on oh yeah art oh yeah totally i mean and that's and that's part of the creative process you know and that's i think i find that with with a lot of different artists we're all involved in a lot of different projects all the time just because our creative brains have to yeah you know people keep working and that's it's a you know it's a great great environment to be in and so let's talk a little bit about this wonderful there's a wonderful music series elaborate bill which is really at a very good friend introduce them to me she was bragging about an award that i received from happenings media which is really cool and they we that we instantly liked each other and we had to get creative on how to get their business rolling so the artists sound specializes in european entertainment systems primarily you know mostly digital on and that sort of thing like exquisite speakers had made in italy you name it their space is about four thousand square feet and church street and so she you know she has that creative way about her and she also worked in human services for quite some time now so she's a natural people person to so far as we have got anyway the point is that i wan really show my clientele an appreciation i want to offer them something you know i you know and she loves music and she met an artist on the streets and she was like learning his story and lambertville he was in visiting psych how can we help artists and how can i let my clients know that i love them and i said well you know with my background you know let's get in touch with this artist that you've discovered you know that you've learned about i mean he's already been discovered but he's not as known perhaps in the bucks county area just really it's going to be a really nice like club type setting in stone walls and the equipment is beautiful so first of all the equipment there it's a very very high and hi fi speakers  amplifiers but for vinyl and for and c d s but just vinyl too but it'll make your vinyl record i mean sound a live lights or to like a live concert like it should and there's nothing like vinyl really there's nothing like that pump water now pumps sound yeah and it's a great time and they serve why in the very generous there's limited seating now so this event is offered to exclusively their clientele first they have the right of first refusal on you know and then once there's a search amount of seats available it's open to the public and it's complimentary only about twenty seats though you've got to get in and get your reservation and we're going to be playing there on g s seventh which is going to be a lot of fun so eric can tell trio will be there on june seventh which is going to be a lot of we're doing a a rare vinyl of dave brubeck that is hopefully going to be released by them but it's hasn't even been released on cd or even to the public but it's something that the company that they have who has this as company is so one of their wholesalers i life through incredible technology and craftsmanship that is so concrete vinyls lacquer even that are thousands of dollars but it's that that is really cool and then prior to the show he put they put on a a little bit of a display of how her name is i'm glad you remembered her name is kathy bag and she has she's you know a little bit older and she suffered two strokes and has been diagnosed with parkinson's wow in her past she was a therapist and now what she does with she didn't have use of her arm she was always an artist to she can use her arm for i believe six or seven years and so she had to kind of think like a therapist again all all the while being an artist and she worked her way through sawdust sculptures that she created the special material and started getting use of her hands again wow from the sawdust sculptures she now creates over five foot tall wooden installations all from locally sourced beautiful would kind of george nakashima inspiring i want to say and all custom commissions i was functional are it's beautiful art she did a beautiful railing installation that was inspired by the movement of if you would imagine a mermaid in the oh yeah all that hassle or more and then she also has you know ready made pieces that she makes in her studios in new hope kids and the community and she helps support other artists and helps them get their name out there through her gallery that is incredible that you have a really great but i mean back when somebody would normally lose hope you know she she found a whole new way of thank talking jazz with intel and join us again we've got some always got some interesting guests coming on and there's always a lot of fun so thank you so much god bless