Full Transcript
Brian:
I’ve been playing saxophone for 32 years. Then I started engineering about 2002. But then I went to school for it in 2004. So my affiliation with State Services for the Blind goes a long way back. You know, I had an instructor who told me he didn’t think I’d go very far because of my eyesight.
Jeff:
Brian Powers, musician, engineer, teacher and client at State Services for the Blind.
Brian
What I loved about State Services, though, the most, is that they really narrowed it down to focus on what you really need to be productive. Just don’t be afraid to use the services that are out there. I guess that’s my biggest – I know I’ve said it like three times. But it’s true. We’re, you know, we’re so afraid of looking for help. We think it makes us look weak, or we think it accentuates our disability. Sometimes we’re too, you know, blinded by trying to be independent that we refuse to ask for it and end up shooting ourselves in the foot.
Jeff:
It’s our pleasure to present professional saxophone player, engineer, Brian Snowman Powers. And for more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web at blindabilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities, and download the free Blind Abilities app from the App Store. That’s two words, blind abilities. We hope you enjoy.
[saxophone music]
Jeff:
Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson. Brian, thank you so much for taking time out of your day, and coming over and joining us here in the studios.
Brian:
Yeah, thank you very much, Jeff, for doing this.
Jeff:
Oh, yeah. My pleasure. But really, the thanks does go to you. Hey, Brian, can you start it out by telling us how you got affiliated with State Services?
Brian:
My affiliation with State Services for the Blind goes a long way back. So I’m from Louisiana originally, you know, I’ve been a musician all my life. Well, great thing about being a jazz musician is I’m an improviser. So, because even you know, sight reading is tough. With your vision. So State Services from Louisiana actually helped me go to a jazz conservatory in New York back in 1995, which was amazing. So I actually went to the best jazz conservatory in America for performance, and then I toured for many years and then when I had my kids decided to stay closer to home. And we ended up moving out here to Minnesota because this is where my ex-wife’s family’s from. Then I actually started engineering as a way to stay around home more, and then State Services actually helped me go to school for that and IPR here at Minneapolis. And then I opened my own studio in my house for a little while, and then I ended up changing businesses and expanding, and then the current State Services with Brianna helped me get new gear and get some equipment for starting up my own studio, and actually now I’ve expanded into Ability in uptown, which has actually been really nice. So we’re actually building that out now. But all the core gear that I needed to get, and some things for my site, including like a nice touchscreen monitor and a desk that had all the equipment closer to eye level rather than have to bend down underneath. Because most studio racks or gear racks, they’re behind you or underneath. Well, this special desk that we got actually has the rack gear on top, which makes it easier to see. Yes, I’ve dealt with State Services about three or four times throughout my career, and gosh, it’s always been like amazing with the amount of help and the amount of support there to help us because you know, with our disabilities, it’s hard to get normal jobs in general, because people, you know, everybody talks about non-discrimination. But here’s all the racial tension going on today. But let’s face it, handicapped people are still probably discriminated the most against, even if you can fulfill the job requirements, the first thing they do is look at what they have to do to accommodate you and they don’t like that usually. So I have albinism. That’s my disability. Which gives me drastic nearsightedness, my eyes move. So focusing is a problem, then, of course, sunlight is my mortal enemy, which makes the music industry great because we do most of our work at night anyway, so there you go.
Jeff:
So what was it like when you entertained the idea of going to engineering school?
Brian:
So when I first went to recording school, which is when I first used the State Services for Minnesota, I believe it was my sister who’s also legally blind, so they helped with some low vision aids, I’d be hooked up with an eye doctor that really specialized in low vision. We did contacts, things like that. But so my sister actually is the one who initially had found out the information and given it to me, and then when I needed to change, and do a new business, I actually just still have their numbers. Of course, the caseworker wasn’t there anymore, it was somebody new, who was Brianna.
Jeff:
So Brian, how tough was it to get Brianna on your side?
Brian:
Well, as far as that round went, it was actually reasonably easy with Brianna because I had already established that what I was doing was a viable career.
Jeff:
And Brianna is your state services counselor.
Jeff:
Yes, it was actually it wasn’t too bad because I think Brianna also had I think it was a family member or someone close to her who also had a studio or something of that nature. So she’d already kind of had an idea about that particular job and I’d already been doing it for, gosh, seven or eight years of making a living at it. And that was changing, and forming my own business out of it, and leaving a partner I had had. So it was a new business that I was starting. But so that actually wasn’t super hard. For me writing the business plan was interesting, because I had actually never sat down and wrote an official business plan. I think my first one was like 40 pages long or something like that. She also helped me, hooked me up with like small business services and places where I could get information about setting up a proper business plan. So the hardest part about that particular round with State Services was just getting all the details in order, things that I had done before, but Brianna was super great. She even helped me write the business plan as far as editing it for me, making sure that it fit the criteria, but actually convincing them was really easy, because of the proof that I’d already made a living at it. And then with all the market research I did as a part of the business plan, the State Services certainly felt it was a viable business opportunity.
Jeff:
Well, good job on that. How about when you’re going to school for engineering?
Brian:
The first time I ever did it with going to school for it took a lot more convincing. And I don’t know if the criteria had changed much because obviously these had been several years apart, but when I first came to State Services with the school for recording, I had to really go in and prove that being an engineer freelance, you know, could be profitable and because anything in the music industry or the arts, whether you’re an author writing a book or whether you’re a performer or whatever is certainly hit or miss. It depends a lot not just on your ability and talent to do it but your understanding of being an entrepreneur, you know. And then with a handicap of some sort, knowing how to overcome that to achieve what you need, well, in the music industry, having albinism – I actually have a nickname, they call me Snowman, it actually helped, image-wise, a lot with my career, to be honest. Albinism actually works in my favor, because everybody likes a cool image or a unique look. And I definitely have that. Yeah, so it was a little tougher then to get funding to go to school for engineering, because again, it’s not like a normal nine to five job that pays x, you had to kind of prove that it could be a source of income for a living. So that was a little tougher.
Jeff:
But as you mentioned, you had been doing it making a living off of it. Now, Brian, with respect to services, take us back to the K through 12, and tell us your experiences.
Brian:
Oh, sure. Schooling was interesting. So I’m 42, I was in elementary school, junior high, and high school in the 80s and early 90s. Things were different then than they are now, as far as site and state services go. Plus, I was living in Louisiana. And I don’t know how different funding is from state to state, you know, I’m sure it is. Back then, originally they had wanted to send, if you had some sort of disability or blindness, they wanted to just send you to a blind school where they actually blindfolded you if you had sight so that you learned how to react and interact without sight at all. That’s how they trained you. And I actually refused to go because I have sight, even though I’m legally blind, and I wanted to learn how to use what I had. Back then they trained you, if you were legally blind, they trained you as if you were blind completely, at least in Louisiana. I had a counselor who was with me during all my years of schooling and she got me large print materials when I needed them, taught me Braille, those different things like that, if I needed it, worked with me on, you know, those various things. So as far as devices, now, when I was in junior high, elementary school, I used large print books, a lot of Braille books. When I got into high school, obviously, with the class load, it was just too many heavy books to carry around. Because I don’t know if you remember what those large print books were like, but they were like, huge, oh my gosh, and like they’d come in like, you know, 12 volumes from one book, you know, that kind of thing. But, so just, I guess, visual aids like that. You know, they even offered to let me drive if I used that little telescopic lens that they have, you know. I refused to do that because I don’t think you have enough peripheral vision to drive even if you could pass a test with a little telescope, so I won’t do that. I feel like that’s dangerous. The biggest thing nowadays though, is our phones. And in fact, one of the guys here told me about the over 40 app, which actually is for magnification, which is amazing and then I’ll use my camera on the phone for zooming to like, you know, watch things that are far away like sporting events or whatever, even television sometimes, so the phones now have replaced a lot of adaptive technologies that we would have used. I do have a closed circuit camera TV thing that I use for reading like bills or small print things like that if I have to, but in high school, the biggest problem, and junior high, that kind of stuff, the biggest problems I always had was bullying, you know, those kinds of things so that was always, you know, an issue, until you know, you work on your own self-esteem, and then If you take yourself more seriously that people start to take you more seriously. And actually my nickname came from a bandleader who- people used to call me Frosty the Snowman when I was a kid to tease me and he actually nicknamed me the Snowman, turned it around, put me on stage as a musician. It kind of turned around all the bullying because now it was like a cool thing. You know, it’s something that was a positive name, I guess, you know, when it comes to my career choice and everything, so yeah, so in high school, I had some help. They also kind of taught me how to be independent and then I ended up going to New York for college, which, you know, blind man on the streets of New York, wandering around. It was a challenge, but it was great.
Jeff:
And now you’re starting or enhancing your engineering company. What is it like on a day to day basis, being an engineer in the music industry with a visual impairment?
Brian:
Well, engineering is interesting because obviously we have to do a lot with computer work, a lot with consoles, and wiring. So there’s some things I can’t do. For example, I can’t solder cables together, although they even use magnifying glasses for that as you have to get so close, I’d probably burn my nose off with solder.
Jeff:
Or melt like a snowman.
Brian:
Exactly. So I just, a lot of times, I just have to look really close, like if I’m working with a large format console, which has a lot of little bitty knobs and buttons, there’ll be words written. A lot of times I memorize where things are. Obviously having a visual problem helps you with your memory, because you have to do a lot of things by memory, by touch and feel. So a lot of times I’ll either just literally lean over the console, look really close. And so I have things memorized, where things are, that I just kind of know where things are. But when it comes to things I really have trouble seeing, I’ll use the zooming feature on my phone or the over 40 app, when I’m wiring up gear and I’m underneath or behind the desk, I do a lot of wiring and stuff, I’ll definitely use, you know, zoom-in features, that kind of thing, so I can read what’s going on and see stuff in the dark. So it’s definitely a little cumbersome to have a device with you. But again, in today’s age, the cell phone has become just an indispensable tool for the visually impaired.
Jeff:
Brian, you mentioned the over 40 app for your iPhone. Can you explain to our listeners how you utilize that app?
Brian:
Yeah, I guess it was, I don’t know what it was originally meant for, but I’m sure it the name says it all, like for people who – adults who have, vision starts going bad. For us what it is, it allows for magnification well beyond what like your photo, your picture thing could do. Plus, of course, you have the flashlight involved, and it’s got a little bit more of a stabilization feature than your camera does. So when you get super zoomed in, you can be pretty shaky. It works on that a little bit too. And it focuses better the more you zoom, so unlike the camera, which will kind of get blurry a bunch as it’s trying to focus it on something, so it’s got a lot better features for zooming in really close, that combined with the light. Plus it can take pictures if you need to take a picture of something and then take a look at it later. But yeah, it’s a more advanced zooming tool with better stabilization.
Jeff:
Oh, great. We’ll put a link to that in the show notes. Brian, for someone who is interested in a musical career or engineering, what advice would you have for them?
Brian:
First of all, just the industry itself is an entrepreneur style industry. You have to go get what you want, you have to go get your work, whether you’re handicapped or not, even, you know, regular sighted people or whatever have to work really hard at conducting business, getting clients, that kind of thing. And if you are going to work in a facility like a studio or go to school for it, you will need some sort of aid especially if you’re working with consoles. And a lot of times the screens will be far away from you. Because a lot of people like to put the computer screens on top of things or just out of the way of the gear. So you know, when I went to school, I had them adapt, even when I taught school, use the monitor orbs, that way the computer monitor could be moved around, that way when people who don’t need it close we could have it further back and they when I need it up close to my face, because even with glasses or contacts I still need the computer monitor right in my face, there’s just no way of getting around it. So those monitor orbs were very, very useful for that, and I even just went and purchased a small little $100 standalone monitor that just sits, that way I could put it right next to me all the time. So being able to find a way to get your computer screen close to you is a big deal because you will have to do a lot of computer work, and then the studios if you actually get a job at a studio or you’re in school learning studio equipment, you’ll definitely need to learn wiring, you’ll have to be able to be in dark places and still read the backs of the gear, still need some sort of magnifying, you know, device with a light. And even working with large format consoles, it helps to have that as well. Get your memory up, you’ll have to memorize where things are on a console a lot, it helps a ton. It helps keep you from sweating and having to lean over so much. But a lot of it comes down to just dealing with gear that has a lot of small buttons and a lot of small writing. Now because the music industry is based on hearing, I know a lot of people that have sight issues have really good ears. That’s one reason why I make a good engineer, I could hear distortion and sound that people don’t even realize is there. So use that, you know to your advantage, of course, but there are a lot of site obstacles that you have to overcome as far as computer placement, things like that, and gear placement, because things are designed for people with sight. And I know that every school, in every school I went to and every school I worked at, especially the modern era, everybody’s been super accommodating, even offering to, you know, make standing desks that rise and fall, you know, for me or whatever. So obviously, generally, in the job market, people aren’t as accommodating as far as getting a job. But typically with the school system, I find they’re very accommodating for making large print materials, especially in college, a lot of structures use PowerPoints or they’ll use things up on a screen, you know, as far as their studies and lectures. What’s great about the modern educational system is a lot of them use internet-based services to put their material up for the students to study and almost all those PowerPoints they use in lectures, they usually put up on those internet sites for you as a student resource. So we used to have to have people transcribe for us what was on a chalkboard or what was a PowerPoint, nowadays instructors are putting that up on the internet for their students to use to study, so a lot of that has been taken care of which is nice.
Jeff:
You’re also a teacher.
Brian:
Yes, I’ve taught for about nine years.
Jeff:
And in what area did you teach, Brian?
Brian:
Oh, I’ve always taught saxophone privately, but actually worked for Minneapolis Media Institute for a while and I worked for McNally Smith College of Music. I taught recording production, audio mixing, audio editing, I taught post-production for film and video, I’m a certified Pro Tools expert, which is the main software used for recording, you know, songwriting and composition, different things like that, music theory.
Jeff:
McNally Smith, that’s a highly sought after school for musicians.
Brian:
Well, no, they just closed it, unfortunately, that’s been the big news, actually. I was on Kare-11 on Friday about it. It was a sudden closing, they informed all of us, the faculty and student body, Thursday evening last week. It was the day before pay day actually, it said that we were getting paid, the school is closing. So a lot of us had to go in for free to actually make sure the students finished the semester, got their grades so they even got the credits they paid for, it was a big deal. But there are other schools here still like IPR, Hennepin Tech, and some other schools are still doing that kind of thing, you know. And all across the country there are a ton of music schools out there and production schools, but yes, I taught at McNally for three years.
Jeff:
So Brian, it’s obvious that I’m gonna ask you to get me some music that I can put down for this podcast and it’s gonna be obvious that you do play saxophone.
Brian:
Yes, that’s what I initially had been doing since I was eight and I had my first performance six months after I started playing. I played “Silent Night” for the school, and got a standing ovation. Performing is still my favorite thing to do, I still gig a whole bunch. That was my first source of income for a long time and I worked out in New York for a long time, I played with Dave Matthews and the Spin Doctors, and I toured with the Samples and a bunch of different groups like that, and here in town. I play a lot of- I played with a lot of gospel groups. Darnell Davis, Excelsior, played with people for the Sounds of Blackness, I’ve played with Lane MacFarlane. I’m playing with a group now called the New Primitives, which is a reggae group, and I play with a group called Chase & Ovation which is an 11-year Prince tribute group actually. That’s still my favorite thing to do is to play, and again, with eyesight, you know, it all comes down to whether you can hear or whether, you know, how good you can play what you hear, that kind of thing. Having bad eyesight never has really hurt me as far as being a musician that way. You know, sight reading like I mentioned earlier was always tough, but you find ways around it. I can pretty much play whatever I hear, and that comes from training up your ears and stuff. Yeah, that’s part of my income, too.
Jeff:
Oh, yeah. I have a hunch that you do know “Baker Street.”
Brian:
Yeah, the solo? Yeah, yeah. I get that request all the time. That one and Bob Seger, “Turn the Page.” Of course, “Careless Whisper” is another one that people love to hear that melody. Oh, yeah, absolutely. So I’ve learned all those famous sax lines because people just, you’ll just be sitting at a grocery store and somebody is like, oh, saxophone, oh, yeah, “Baker Street,” right! And you’re just like yeah, you know. Those are all great songs, though. Absolutely great songs.
Jeff:
So that’s like modern day saxophone player. Like when I start thinking of influences or people who played the sax, Charlie Parker comes to mind.
Brian:
He’s one of the best known bebop jazz musicians. Jazz had many different eras to it. You had swing, bebop, hard bop. You had, you know, the avantgarde period, you had – actually jazz and classical kind of mirrored each other in the different phases of the music that was made. Although jazz happened really fast, for classical took centuries to have it evolve. But Charlie Parker was definitely a big influence, him and John Coltrane and [unintelligible], who’s actually one of my favorites. But Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, really brought in the Bebop era. They took swing music and brought it up to hold new intellectual harmonic levels. And actually that’s when jazz kind of got away from the listener, because jazz used to be the pop music of the day. That’s what people listened to. But when bebop came around, Charlie Parker and those guys played everything so fast it was almost too much for the common listener to understand. It became a musician’s music then. But I love Charlie Parker, you know, his song “Donna Lee,” which we still think Miles Davis actually wrote, but he claimed it anyway, is a, you know, great influence on a lot of the playing and stuff. But you know, these days as a musician, you have to be able to do a lot of things. You have to be able to play jazz, funk, r&b, rock, depending on what you get hired to play.
Jeff:
Well, flexibility creates opportunities. So Brian, you mentioned bullying earlier. Now, is that something you’d be comfortable sharing with our listeners?
Brian:
It was hard. I mean, it was really mainly from probably like fourth grade through ninth grade that it was the worst. You know, people would throw metal screws at me, they would line up, they would get a circle around me to take turns hitting me because I couldn’t really see who was hitting me, that kind of thing. Like it was kind of cool to pick on me, I guess, or anybody with handicaps back then, where today things are a little different with bullying at school, and they’ve definitely made some great strides forward. It still happens. But they’ve definitely been more sensitive. Back then, you know, the more complaints we would raise the more I would get in trouble about it. The teachers would just be like, well, just deal with it. Just kids being kids. Yeah, things are different, man, you know, it definitely – I still have insecurity because of it, you know, I’ve never done the whole therapy thing but I know what my issues are. But definitely, you know, it gives you an insecurity problem, like even today, like you know, no matter how much practicing I do, how good I get, I’ve always worried about oh, do people really like what I do? You know what I mean? There’s always that insecurity about yourself. I’ve gotten more secured in my looks, though, as I’ve turned my image of albinism into part of my professional image. That’s gotten a lot better. People still look at me kind of funny sometimes when I’m walking around but now it might be because they actually see me on stage somewhere more than just the fact that I look different, so I started celebrating the fact that people thought I was different rather than fearing it like I used to as a kid or wanting to be normal so to speak. And nowadays, let’s face it, normal has changed, everybody is a little weird nowadays. So it’s different. You know, it did drive me to be more independent though, I think. There was always a particular stigmatism, I think that’s the right word, attached to any kind of handicap or handicap devices. One of the reasons I stopped using large print books – I didn’t say this earlier, but it was because I was tired of people looking at me strange when I did, or having to have a special desk that was over the size, you know, bigger than the other students desks because I had to have all that big material or a big magnifying glass. I wanted to be as normal as possible. So I started using just what everybody else was using and just kind of tried to figure out a way out through it, which I don’t know if that was the smartest idea, like even nowadays people sometimes don’t realize I even have an eyesight problem, because – not that I tried to hide it but just in my day to day carrying of myself I got so used to trying to hide it when I was a kid that I guess I got kind of good at it, and it was hard, it was really hard and it affects your whole life, you know, you don’t ever really get over it even though you certainly could overcome it and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that and again, that’s where my nickname came from. And I just, I celebrate that a lot but a lot of it comes down to – one reason you get bullied is not just because you have a handicap but because you allow yourself and you think of yourself as inferior. And usually the percept. And the better you look at yourself the better other people look at you too. As touchy feely as that sounds it really is the truth.
Jeff:
Well, thanks for sharing that. I remember when we first started corresponding by email I saw the snowman at the bottom, something about a snowman and a portal.
Brian:
Was it the mind of the snowman through his iPhone portal? Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, it’s a colorful industry. You know, it’s an image driven industry, which is what’s so interesting why I got into it because it is very image driven. And again, the handicap certainly helped with being an image, you know, so it’s, yeah, the more colorful you are for the music business, the better, more overexaggerated you are the better.
Jeff:
You know, Brian, when I was young, I didn’t know much about albinism. But when I came across a great blues guitar player named Johnny Winter, I tied the two together. And so now when people see you playing, I don’t know if they see the disability of blindness or albinism, but they see a positive role model with your success.
Brian:
I hope so. What’s really interesting about the common man these days, like so, for example, Edgar, Johnny Winter, and actually I get that reference a lot, obviously, playing saxophone. I play a lot of blues and rock music too. So they get brought up a ton, especially Edgar. “Deal with Frankenstein.” I think that was his big song, right? Something like that. And then actually, there’s a famous wrestler I think here, from MInnesota, “The Crusher” from the old days? I get called The Crusher sometimes. Or Ric Flair because he was really blind, you know, but sometimes people don’t even associate it with the handicap anymore because I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me what my real hair color was. And I’m kind of looking at them like, don’t you see the hair on my arms? I couldn’t dye all this, oh, you know, my eyebrows and my beard and my hair? You know? I don’t know if that’s just because people aren’t used to seeing albinism still or even on stage they think it’s just the look in some ways. Some people know-
Jeff:
Goth.
Brian:
Yeah, sure. And actually I’ll even go, like sometimes I like to, you know, put dye in and color my hair for gigs and things like that. So yeah, it’s funny, some people don’t even realize that it’s actually, that I even have a disability sometimes, and of course those that do, it’s amazing the example that you are for people who don’t even realize it. You know, like people who have their own struggles or they actually see someone with a handicap do what they do or at least something that seems like that, so you hope to be an inspiration to people. And I didn’t even know that Minnesota I guess is the National Chapter for Albinism’s capital, like NOAH or something like that, I think? Because I know that the University of Minnesota actually has a research program for people with albinism or something like that. Like when I first moved here, I found that out, I had no idea. But I still haven’t seen very many people with albinism here at all. Yeah, but it’s funny how a lot of people don’t even realize it and you know, every now and then I’ll get the odd comment of you know, people think I’m like 90 or something, like especially if I haven’t shaved, which actually to be honest with you that actually probably insults me the most because like I don’t have any wrinkles. I don’t look 90, you know, but every now and then you’ll still hear that sometime.
Jeff:
Brian, where can people go to find out more about Brian Powers and his engineering and his sax playing and his music.
Brian:
Until I get the new stuff up, as far as my own personal compositions and things, I do have a SoundCloud that I will be putting up I still have a band.com that will also be going up this year, probably early in the year and of course you can always look me up on Facebook, Brian Powers. Even if you just Google Brian Snowman Powers you’ll find a ton of me everywhere but I play a lot, like every Tuesday down at Shaw’s Bar and Grill I play with the New Primitives. It’s like reggae and New Orleans music. Again, I play with Chase & Ovation which is a Prince tribute band. We play at Bunker’s every month, but we toured the country and internationally with those guys. And then I will be playing with my own band starting this year in the Twin Cities Jazz Fest, places like that. So if you just look me up online, you will find me.
Jeff:
We’ll be sure to put some of those links right in the show notes. Brian, it’s really cool that you’re able to live out your passion and record and play with such a diverse group of musicians.
Brian:
Yeah, I’ve been very, very blessed to- I work with a lot of- even my local work isn’t even that much, I work with a lot of national, international artists. I just mixed Foursomes, a record with Victor Wooten who’s one of the top five bass players of all time. I guess with me people expect really good quality of sound, like I’m known for really high fidelity sound. Like everything sounds really three dimensional, really top notch, it’s national or international level sound, of course I credit my hearing to that, you know, because of the lack of eyesight I guess. So that’s kind of what people come to me for is like really, really, high, high fidelity sound in their projects.
Jeff:
Well Brian, is there anything else you would like to leave our listeners with?
Brian:
Just that you know, people talk about following your dreams a lot and you know, with handicaps in general our dreams could be – because you’ve really got to reach, and it’s hard to follow your dreams, thought, to quote a different meaning, the older I get. Dreams are great. And you want to have hope for the future. But you have to take a very practical approach to your dreams. You can’t just think of them as some far off distant land where things happen to you, you’ll have to work hard for them, and there’s a lot of work that goes into achieving your goals. And especially with disability, we have to work about 30 times harder, but there are resources out there to help, and I’ve benefited from them all my life, the key pivotal moments of my life. I know that budgets change, sometimes you can’t always get what you want to get or think you should get from these services because of constraints, of regulations and things. But those services are there. There’s a lot of helpers, a lot of people who even just want to encourage you as well as help and obviously for low vision aids and things, never be afraid to ask for help. A lot of us just want to be as independent as we can. But you know, the things you can achieve faster or even that you didn’t know you could achieve, you can achieve with help from these services. I know Brianna has just been just a spark of life, I know, into what I’ve been doing, and even after, just, I know, she’s worked with my sister and stuff a ton. And again, it’s just, don’t be afraid to use the services that are out there. I guess that’s my biggest- I know I’ve said it like three times. But it’s true. We’re, you know, we’re so afraid of looking for help. We think it makes us look weak, or we think it accentuates our disability, but in a lot of ways it helps reduce our disability. And yet, sometimes we’re too blinded by trying to be independent that we refuse to ask for it and end up shooting ourselves in the foot.
Jeff:
So Brian, I’m sure on your next album, we’ll be able to look down in the credits in the small Braille and read thank you, State Services for the Blind.
Brian:
Oh, well. If there were Braille now, yes, absolutely. No, but there’s definitely a thank you or eight coming for them because again, they helped me with both schoolings that I’ve had and they helped me with setting up the new studio. Yeah, absolutely.
Jeff:
You know, Brian, with all your engineering, mixing, recording, playing, gigging, all that, doesn’t productivity feel good?
Brian:
It is, you know, it gives you a sense of- I hate using the word normalcy. But to be able to really achieve a career and to do anything, like even if it’s working at a reception desk, or something, something that brings money into your life that you have earned certainly gives you a sense of purpose, a sense of productivity, and a sense of just accomplishment.
Jeff:
Absolutely. You know, I remember thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up, or what I wanted to do after I gained some skills and competence. What did I want to do? And my answer to myself is passion. Chase passion.
Brian:
Well, if you don’t have that don’t get into any field that you’re in. Just like my daughter, for example. She likes to play basketball. So she plays high school ball. It was a passion for her as far as a communal aspect. But it’s not something that she practiced and did every day of her life until midnight every night, sitting there with a basketball in her hand, you know what I mean? You’re only gonna succeed as far as the effort that you put into something, right? If you don’t love something, you’re not going to put in the effort that you should put in to master something, because to really master something, it’s something you feel called to do or something that you do whether you get paid for it or not. You do it because you love it, and that kind of intensity only comes from something you love. That’s the only way you can get really good at something that you love, or at anything in general. So if you don’t really love what you’re doing, you just, you shouldn’t do it, because you’re not going to put in the effort required to master it, or be at the top of that game. And the only people that are going to really be successful in that particular field are people who are willing to put in that extra time and that extra effort because they love it.
Jeff:
Passion. Love it. Brian, I really want to thank you very much for taking the time out of your day and coming down to the studios here and recording this for the Blind Abilities listeners. It’s been great talking to you, looking forward to your studio in Uptown, and I’m gonna come down there, check it out. Sounds like a really good time. So thank you very much, Brian.
Brian:
Yeah, thank you very much, Jeff, for doing this, and yeah, I can’t wait to hear it.
[Music] [Transition noise] -When we share
-What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.
Jeff:
For more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities, download our app from the app store, Blind Abilities, that’s two words, or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.
Contact Your State Services
If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.
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