 Hi, welcome to Think Tech. We are bringing you technology, energy, diversity, and globalism here on this station. This show is center stage. I am your host, Donna Blanchard, proud managing director of Kumakahua Theater. And my guest today is going to be a lot of fun to talk to you. This is Mike Lewis. He is a trumpet player. Mike? Yes. Welcome to my show. Thanks, Donna. We have never met before. Is this true? We haven't? I don't believe we have. Not even in another life. I think we have. We just don't remember it. I think it was that much fun. Rock stars that we are. It's possible. Do you think? Maybe. Okay. We will see how the conversation goes and then I will let you know. And maybe it will come back. I'll come back to it. Like euphoric recall. Euphoric recall. I like the sound of that. Okay. Go get what? Go what? Before you run away with this train, I want to say a couple of things. When I got on your website and I read the list, Mike Lewis trumpet. Is that MikeLewisTrumpet.com? I read the list of people that you have played your trumpet with. Right, yes. It was like my childhood unfolding, like Sonny and Cher. That's where we met. You know, maybe that's what it was. When you were a child. Yes. You have an amazing list of people that you have played with. And it's a lie. I never played with any of those people. Here's what I want to know. I want to ask you all about your background and how you got into it and all of that. And Big Band Mondays here in Waikiki. Sure. But after that list of like Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Orlando. That's where I talk about my childhood. People who had variety shows in my childhood. Tony. Yeah, Ty Yellow Ribbon. Tony, sure, of course. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So before we finish the show today. Before the half hour is up. We don't know. I want to know who your favorite was to play with. Who was the most trouble to play with? Oh. You know. Oh, trouble. I'd really like to hear some of the stories about. Let's go to the trouble. Who was the most trouble to play with? Well, I spent a year with a Buddy Rich band. And that was a phenomenal experience because it was the best band I had ever played with. And Buddy was a Taskmaster and sometimes very difficult to work with. And he was very tough on his band because he demanded perfection every night. And there was the risk and intimidation and tension every evening that you might be fired from the gig if you didn't play well. So it was very nerve-wracking. But it brought out a certain energy on a nightly basis. That band was just smoking. And it was wonderful. And it was the greatest experience. And I got on that band as a result of Eric Miyashiro, who was a trumpet player from Hawaii that went to McKinley. And he went to Berkeley School of Music in Boston. And he got on the band. And then they needed a trumpet player for recording. And he asked me here in Hawaii, would you like to be on the band? And of course I did. So Eric Miyashiro from Hawaii got me on the Buddy Ridge Band. And I was just amazed that there were two trumpet players from Hawaii on a mainland band that had the highest energy band, incredible, adventuresome, exciting band. And the trumpet players were from Hawaii, which is a traditionally mellow place. Playing with this incredibly exciting band. And the trumpet players had a lot to do with the energy. So it was great. So how did you, you've said yes an awful lot in your life. That's the impression that I get. One too many times, as far as I'm concerned. One, just the one. Have you ever said yes too often? Yes, but it doesn't stop me from saying it the next time. And the great fact that you said yes to my question didn't include that many yeses. That was honest. I appreciate that. Yeah, right. So do you have a philosophy about, if someone says, will you come and do this for me? Are you more likely to say yes than no? Yes, because I'm here, Donna. You said yes to me. You didn't even know. You thought you were just coming to talk with me. I thought you owed me money. And you do, but we'll talk about that. Good luck, brother. What? Okay, so let's go back to the beginning then. I played trumpet in high school. You must have picked it up since 1980. I thought you looked familiar. Maybe in the 70s. Why not? You must have picked it up. You know, I always enjoyed that instrument, but I guess it just didn't work out. I went the choir way instead. So you were a choir at... Yeah, I went from the band in high school. I switched over to choir. And now you're in choir. And now I'm in choir. Right. I'm one of those minds. I went there. Right. Okay. So you started playing. Do your parents play? My dad owned a music store in Minneapolis, New York. So it was basically, which instrument do you want to play, Mike? And I was always attracted to the trumpet from day one. I started when I was eight years old. So that's, what is that, 51 years now? Why the trumpet? 53 years. What's that? I'm sorry, Matt. You look really good for your age, by the way. Why the trumpet? I was very young when I was born. I got a... I made someone laugh. But he's... Zuri. Zuri. Hi, Zuri. You just made the... Where's Zuri from? Zuri. The station of Overlord. Lav. Zuri's from Minnesota. Lav, did you say? Lav. Oh, Lav. Oh, I thought you said Lav. It was a country called Lavia. Minnesota, Lavia. What... Why the trumpet? Mark. Mark. Name wrong. And now your tone just went up. Mike. What happened? What's the matter? Why are you yelling at me? Talk to me. Why the trumpet? Because the sound was... I'm going to ask myself the questions from now on. Okay. Because I love the sound of it. It's such a commanding instrument. It still is. It's a take charge instrument. I just love the way it functions in a band. You know, I lived in New York for the last 20 years. And I was often the only person in the band that didn't have any microphone or amplification. Oh, yeah. Because the instrument is just so dominant. And the instrument bleeds into everybody else's microphone. And it's just a powerful instrument. And I just love that feeling. And when the instrument is working right, it's just nothing like it. And I had a fantastic gig, if I might mention. The other night at the Blue Note, we did a tribute to Miles Davis. We had an excellent crowd. I had a fantastic band with DeShannon Hegan, Rick Broadwell, and Eldred Olo, and Dan Delnegro, Daryl Pellegrini, and Dean Taba. And we did a sensational show. It was just wonderful. Oh, I'm sorry. I missed that. I love that place. That must be an awesome place to play. Yeah. But they're not too happy with you. You didn't pay your bill the last time you heard someone. I ran out of that. I know. That's okay. But the acoustics are good. And it looks like they always draw really good crowd. People who just really want the music. Excellent music venue. And they have the best acts in the world. Now, I told my audience, I can't believe we have this kind of quality club in the middle of Waikiki. And I actually played the Blue Note when it was in New York City with the Buddy Rich Band, which was a real thrill. So Blue Note has quite a reputation for providing quality jazz entertainment. They attract... And you haven't been there yet. I have. I was there. I saw Jake Shimabukuro play there. That was pretty... That was pretty full for Jake, gotta say. Well, it's Jake, you know? He's like, yeah, the son coming home. Mike, I do apologize for that. You almost derailed me on my own show. Okay, so wait. See, I'm kind of getting... Stay with me. No, no, I'm holding you in. Stay with me. Okay. Eight years old, you were attracted to that instrument. You said, that's the one dad I want to play. And he said, okay, did he show you how? How did you learn? No, he hit me in the face so hard. No, he said, Mike... I can't imagine why. Well, you like this as a child. I still am a child. And that's good. That's why you say yes all the time and that's awesome. And no. Because children like to say no. Because they get more attention. And that explains a lot. What was the question? My dad. My dad said, of course. But what happened is the trumpet my dad gave me, which is ironic because he was a musical instrument repairman, the trumpet had a hole in it. Which, not at the end, normally it has a hole in the beginning where it has mouthpiece, but someplace else in the horn had a little crack. So for about three years I was playing a trumpet that leaked. So I think that's where I developed really good lungs. And I was overplaying and developed quite a big sound as a little child. Wow. Which got a lot of attention. And then my father, as I was growing up, was my biggest fan. God bless him. And he would bring me to great jazz clubs to sit in with these old timers. And I would sit in, and of course they loved me, because I was a little kid with a big sound that, you know, and that kind of started me off. But I learned quite a bit from older musicians and I have a great respect for the jazz icons. And I just loved the business and loved the music. Wow. Okay, so you were being introduced to all of these people who were impressed by you at an early age. Right. Who was the first person who said, come play with me? You know, this is a great question, because I really feel part of the success in this business is just answering the phone and showing up. We talked about this, about this interview, how we haven't met, and we just kind of, I didn't know what this was today and met you on the street. You said, would you like to do an interview? Okay. It's pretty much how it happens. Say when the music, the phone rings, would you like, can you do the gig? And you just keep showing up and the phone rings and you keep showing up. That's how this business grows one step at a time. And thankfully that continues today. People actually call me and ask me to play in their bands and I'm very grateful. And that's the way it works. Yeah. So my big break I think came in, when I moved to Hawaii from New York in 1975 and I was playing the Steve Lawrence and Edie Gourmet show. I don't know if anybody remembers them. My childhood. Right? I loved the... And on the bandstand were these trumpet players from Los Angeles. I'll mention them. The rehearsal, there was Ollie Mitchell, Jerry Hay, Ron King and myself. And then later on that afternoon, flying in from Los Angeles were Chuck Finley and Gary Grant, replacing Jerry Hay and Ron King. Now, most people don't know who these people are but these are the biggest names in Los Angeles studio history. They've recorded with everybody, Michael Jackson and Al Jarreau. They've Earth, Wind and Fire. These are the best cats. So when I was sitting amongst them at age 20, New Year's Eve in 1975, I just couldn't believe the power of the trumpet. I was so blown away and I thought, wow, can I do that? Can I actually do that? And that kind of started it. You know, I thought, well, maybe I can. So while I was a business student at Chaminade University getting my business degree, which I got, I started devoting more time to practicing and working on it. So actually my musical roots have a lot to do with Hawaii. I became inspired here in Hawaii. And we talked about this earlier about Hawaii is there's a lot of opportunity here, you know, and the street that you're on, all these placards of history and how things got started here in Hawaii, because obviously people came here and they thought, wow, this place is really beautiful. Can I do this here? Can I have a big band here? Can I play trumpet here? And so I always felt there was lots of opportunity here for that kind of thing. And had I stayed in New York, I wouldn't have been a musician because there were so many good people there. I would have said, maybe I better do something else like my parents were encouraging me to do. Maybe you should do something else. Didn't they all? It was their job. Okay, we're going to take a break. And by the way, I love it that you refer to our elevator ride as, you know, when we were talking earlier. We literally just met. Okay, we're going to take a little break. We're going to come back and we're going to talk about Big Band Mondays and all of that kind of stuff. Good. All right, thank you. Thank you, Don. We're going to be right back. Please stay put. I know you don't want to miss the rest of this interview. No, no. This could be really exciting. This is Steve Katz. I'm a marriage and family therapist. I do shrink wrap which is now going to every other week all during the summer and maybe forever after. Take care of your mental health this summer. Have a good time. Do what's fun and take good care of yourself. Bye-bye. Hello and aloha. My name is Raya Salter and I am the host of Power of Hawaii where Hawaii comes together to figure out how we're going to work towards a clean and renewable energy future. We have exciting conversations with all kinds of stakeholders, everyone who needs to come together to talk about renewable energy, be they engineers, advocates, lawyers, utility executives, musicians or artists, to see how we can come together to make a renewable future. Tuesdays at 1 p.m. Hey, how you doing? Welcome to Abachi Talk. My name is Andrew Lanning. I'm your co-host. And we have a nice program here every Friday at 1 o'clock Think Tech Studios where we talk about technology and we have a little bit of fun with it. So join us if you can. Thanks. Aloha. Hi, we're back and we are live. This is center stage on the Think Tech Hawaii digital network. I'm your host Donna Blanchard, proud managing director of Kumakuhua Theater. And we are coming to you from Pioneer Plaza in the heart of downtown Honolulu, very near Kumakuhua Theater. We're talking with Trumpeteer, Mike Lewis. We say that. Trumpeteer. Yeah, like Musketeer? Yeah. Or Musketeer? Trumpeteer. Musketeer. Let's go with that. Okay, so we were introduced by mutual friend, James Charisma, who said to each of us, you guys should get together and we both said, yes, okay. Right, because he has, he is Charisma. Is that his real name? Right. Is that his real name? We can't, we can't. Do you know? It's top secret. Oh, it is, okay. It's a great name. But he met you at Big Band Monday. Yeah, well, yes. Yeah. Yes, he came down and we had just celebrated one year anniversary at the Bogota, and it was fabulous. We had a fabulous crowd. I have a 16-piece band and I featured all kinds of vocals. I just saw a little clip of Jenai sang with our band, and Renee Balarosa, and Rachel Gonzalez, and Jason Nagashin. We have all these great people that want to sit in with our big band. And we did Tony Bennett and Lady Ganges, Lady is a Tramp, which I called Lady is a Trump, but that wasn't funny. No, that's not funny. It wasn't funny. What? Trump is the first five letters of trumpet. Oh, man. That was kind of funny. Now you're going to switch to cornet. Bam. That's corny. Oh, oh. Ouch. What did you say? Ouch. Ouch. Okay. No, I didn't swear on you. You didn't? No. Do you ever? I have. Really? In my head. What are you thinking? Not today. What are you thinking? Not today. But yeah, we used to be able to swear. We used to be able to swear on Think Tech when I originally started this show, a little over three. Not that this interview is about me, but a little over three years ago when I started this show. It's all about you. Isn't that your website? That's my email. What is it? Oh, you don't give that out? No. I just did. But you don't know what the ad is. When we first started the show, the studio, everything was smaller. And I remember Jay Fidel saying, yeah, you can swear. I asked him, can I swear? What if I have a guest who swears? He says, yeah, you can say whatever you want. There's no FCC here. Well, we've gotten a little bigger and a little more legit and, you know, a little bigger board. FCC? We can't do that anymore. Yeah, we can't do that anymore. But you don't seem to be having any problem with that. Oh, my gosh. I want to swear so bad right now. In your head. In your head. That's what I do. Just think it. It'll come out, you know, in the attitude. Okay, so you... When you moved to Hawaii, was that with your parents? That was a parent thing that you went to Shamanad? He's going through a litany of sailor speak right now. Yeah, okay. Okay, I'm done. You went to Shamanad. The first person who said, come play in my band. Let's go do this. It was my wife. She was the first person I met. And she didn't even have a band. But she actually said, come play in my band. And I thought that was so sexy. I just thought that was beautiful. And she didn't even have a band. She was the first girl I met. Isn't that a really romantic story? It was pretty awesome. Isn't it? Too good it's not true. But, no, it was. And he said, yes. Yes. Okay, where does Sunny and Cher come in? Can we get to them? Oh, gosh. Well, she had been calling me incessantly. Mike, can I come to Hawaii and hang out with you? All right, Cher. No, actually, it was a show. And in November of, I think, was 1976. And actually, at that point in their career, Sunny and Cher were no longer together. But contractually, they were obliged to do shows together. Oh. And so they still continued to work together, which was a terrific show. And working with both of them was a lot of fun. And the opening act was Andy Kaufman. Oh. Who hadn't become a big hit yet. He was a big star in 1976. But I knew who he was. And I had a great time with him teasing him. What a tremendous mind and talent that guy was. Yeah. Andy Kaufman, the opening act. I remember him when he used to do the underdog humor. Yeah, here I come to save the day. Man, he had such a warped, beautiful warped sense of humor. But you like warped. I do. I've seen your house and it's on an angle. We're in Hawaii. I know. But it's moving because it's on the lava flow on the big orbit. So, oh man, Andy Kaufman. Yeah. And you got him right away. Oh, yeah. And I remember backstage, I offered him an olive. And I just thought that was, you'd have to do something obtuse with him right to, and he looked at me kind of crazy. Then I, he knew I was crazy. So it was fine after that. But you know, getting to this thing about me working with this great talent, you know, I'm not a wealthy man. But in terms of enriching my life with working with great talent, I know I've worked with the greatest on the planet. And to me sharing the bandstand and being with amongst people with great talent and charisma. Bing. Bing. Bing. To me, that's wealth. Yeah. That's the richness of life. Oh, yeah. Clearly. I absolutely believe, I absolutely agree with you. And do you travel a lot or do you mostly work with people when they come here? You know, it would be nice if they came here. That's one of the nice things about living here in Hawaii is when people do come to visit, they're in such great moods. It's Hawaii. Hanging out with a great jazz talent in New York City. You know, they got a cab to catch and they just got yelled at by somebody on the street. It's not quite so great. But here in Hawaii, they chill out. It's a wonderful place to hang with people. So I invite people to come to Hawaii all the time. And of course I try to put them to work with my big band and other gigs that I might be producing. So it, yeah. So I would prefer people coming here. But I do travel. I'm going to be going up to Seattle soon to do a jazz ed program, doing jazz programs for kids, which is just terrific because kids understand jazz better than anyone because they understand how to play. And they can immediately see that we're playing. Yeah. Immediate. They get it. They just want to get in there. They got it. Oh, that's cool. So we don't have to teach anything. We're just, we're doing what they do naturally. So you do travel. Yes. And I think that is good for the soul. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It shakes up your world when you get in a different place in the world. Of course. Have you ever worked with, you know, and I just thought of something. There's a woman I interviewed, Natalia Peruse, who plays the saw. Have you heard of this woman? No, but she- One of these big carpenter saws? Right. But she did work on your house in Hilo. And that's the reason that things are starting to move. No, this is a real woman who plays, the saw is one of the most haunting sounds you can hear. And she plays in the subway in New York. And I found her because she was in a movie playing her saw. Right. And she had a big bandage on her arm. And I was real curious about that now. But a subway in New York that's a very popular venue for musicians, as a matter of fact, you need a license. Yes. You knew that. Because some areas are so popular for generating income from tips and stuff that, you know, musicians can bicker and have like, I want to work there. So you have to actually reserve a spot in the subway system. Yeah, I told her I'm going to be out there around the holidays when can I come see you. And she said, oh, I haven't gotten my schedule yet. Right. Right. All right. It's just an interesting sound. And the great thing about doing the Saw Act is if they don't tip, you can threaten them with an injury. You've got a weapon. You know, it's or else. Is it an electrical saw? No, it's just a- Oh, okay. That's musical. If you can- She doesn't do that. You know, she plays it with a bow. You know what I'm talking about. I like that technique. Right. You can- I'm not sure if I did that right. I'm a singer. Have I mentioned that? No. I'll just say that. Yeah. Perhaps you should sing with my big band. Oh. Who do you like? Yeah. Let me guess. Rosemary Clooney. Oh, well. Who doesn't? I know. And you know I worked with her? And my favorite Christmas movie is White Christmas. And she's in that. And she actually plays Bing Crosby's Love Interest. And I think he was in his 50s then. And she was only like 28. She was young. Yeah. But she actually played the older sister of Vera Ellen. And Vera was older than her. I didn't know that. But this is- we digress. I'd love to come sing with you sometime. Yeah. Just throw me out there. I'll be happy to do that. Without an arrangement? Yeah. We should have an arrangement. Okay. We can have an arrangement. How about- Let's talk about the show. We've only got a couple minutes left. But yeah, I will totally do that. Panic. Let's talk about your holiday show. Yes. Oh. Friends of Ellington Jazz? Yeah. Friends of Ellington. It's a tribute to Duke Ellington. And we're going to be doing Duke's Nutcracker Suite, which is a piece he wrote. It's kind of a holiday piece. And it's a very difficult piece. And it's going to be beautiful. We're going to be doing that. Plus some other great Ellingtonia hits. And we're going to have a 16-piece band. And it's going to be conducted by Tommy James, who is the orchestra leader for the Duke Ellington Orchestra. And he lives in Hawaii. Oh, wow. Yeah. So Tommy's going to be with us. And we're going to have a fantastic show. December 6th, two shows, 6.30, and 9 o'clock. At the pagoda. No, at the blue note. Oh, at the blue note. Blue note. And we're at the pagoda every second and fourth Monday of the month. So we'll be there on November 28th. We're going to be there December 12th. We're going to be doing a little Sinatra tribute because it's Sinatra's birthday. And we'll be there also December 26th. And on the 28th, we're featuring a trombone player from Los Angeles named Les Benedict, who's the tuba player on the Grammy Awards every year. He's going to be here. And we're going to be featuring him. So we've got some great stuff. And coming the new year, we're moving the big band to a place called Jazz Mine. So it could be a Lonnie Boulevard. Oh. So we'll be there every second and fourth Monday come the new year. Okay, good. So I just heard about it recently. And it's a secret that shouldn't be kept. Everybody should know about it. Yeah, it's out now. It's out now. We're announcing it on this show. So now, billions of people. And I noticed the backdrop for us. I think it's out of space. Is that what it's going to be? It's a stage. Can you see? Oh, I saw something else that had celestial bodies. That's another show. Oh, it is another show. Because we can invite people from out of space to our show. They can hear you, I'm sure. Have you ever thought about doing anything else? We've got one minute. I really need to know. Interviews. I think I want to do interviews the rest of my life. I've enjoyed this so much. I think that's what I want to do. You can come back. Tomorrow? Can you be that guy that I call and say, I just had a guest drop out. Will you come in and talk to me again? I drop out. In what way? Physically? Oh, I'm sick. Do they drop? It sounds like it sometimes. Oh, I'm sick. You can call me. As a matter of fact, I'm going to stay here for the next one and just do a cameo. You just talked to the next person and it comes up. I'm just going to keep talking. I'm not leaving. That would be awesome. Do you ever feel challenged? One more question. I've got to slip in. You said the show is very challenging. The piece Duke Ellington. Yes. Nutcracker Suite. Do you still feel challenged by music? Oh. You've been doing this for a long time. More so than ever. There's so much. It's infinite. Music is infinite. There's always more you can learn. That's why I'm so attracted to music. And we all are. Because our musical minds and hearts are constantly growing. We're constantly hearing new things. We're constantly hearing things that remind us of something in the past. We're, it's just infinite. And that's, it's, it's better now than it's ever been. My high school jazz band got together. A 40 year reunion. And it wasn't the chess club or the knitting club that got back together. It was the jazz band because we all realized that the gift we got in high school kept growing. Oh, wow. And these are doctors and lawyers and accounts and they all came back and we all played together. It was very, it was like going to church. It was spiritual. You feel like your life experience influences your music? I know it like for actors and writers always say this, you feel that way as a musician. The blues. I mean, I have a story to tell, which will be our next interview. The next interview. Yes. We're going to talk about that. But you can hear that story when you play me, when you hear me play trumpet. I tell that story musically. I mean, that's why, that's another reason I do it. It's a great resource of feelings and emotions and come out when we play. The blues. We got a little clip from your website. Oh. This is a band I played with in New York called Dr. K. in the Motown Review. This is someplace in New Jersey. That's saxophone player there, Roger Byam. He's the Roberta Flax saxophonist. And I forget, I even forget what this song is, but this is, we're just jamming. The band leader brought us out in front of the stage and I'm just going for it. Yeah. That's awesome. And I think Roger plays the first cell or maybe I do. Here I go. I'm doing something. I'm doing something. You can hear him if you go to the website. Thank you. I got to wrap up. Good. Thank you very much for being here. I'm glad you showed up even not having any idea what you were getting into. I still don't. And I'm more confused now that we finished it. We'll talk about it later. Next time you come on. Thank you so much. Thank you very much for being here. There's a few people here in the studio. I would like to thank Robert McLean, who's our floor manager today, who just left us using these. Who went to the bathroom. Okay. We have Kahli Bender, our studio overlord, who is in my ear. And Jay Fai-Belle, who is sometimes managing to put all of this together. Join us next week here on center stage. Happy Thanksgiving!