 This is Think Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Welcome to Seymour's World on Think Tech Hawaii. Every now and then I ask a guest to come back and talk about what they're doing and what's going on. And our today's guests are very, very special to me. We have Taz Vegas and Bobby Pelaghi. You've probably seen them here before, but why they are here today is really something for all of us to contemplate and to understand how important the work of what Taz Vegas is doing in today's world. We're going to talk about his new song and his new song is called No More Walls. And I know I've tried to stay away from politics. I've tried to stay out of the commentary of what's going on in both the Hawaii politics area as well as the national politics, but I can't help myself because what Taz has in this song is exactly what all of us need to understand is important in our national political arena. So without further ado, may I introduce Taz and Bobby. Both of you have been with our Make Him Smile program for the last year and a half, two years. Taz, you're always playing at the hospitals and if there's a musician that's being asked for at Shriners Hospital or Capulani Hospital or Kaiser Hospital, can we get Taz Vegas again? Can he come back? You are so fabulous with the kids. It's absolutely amazing what you're doing. So thank you for coming today and thank you for giving your heart and your soul and your talent to help to Make Him Smile program. Thank you. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Bobby, what can I say? You are the master of all the musicians that I know here in Hawaii. You provided Make Him Smile with so many musicians over the time. We have a young musician, Malia, who is working with us. Yes. And she is blossoming. This is a young 18-year-old girl in college here at UH. First time she came on our show, she was shy and very hesitant about playing. And now you've got to see her when she goes to the hospitals. She's just wonderful with the kids and doing such a great job. So both of you are close to my heart and I feel like your brothers. Thank you so much, Seymour. It's an honor and indeed a pleasure to be here with you. I look upon you as family. Thank you. And it's always a pleasure. So tell me a little bit about why we're here. We're here about music, basically. Music versus humanity. As you know, music is a tool. I believe it's more than just a door to success and money. It's more of a tool to heal, to inspire, to unite, to bring people together. And what we're trying to do now in our publishing company is try to create a wave of influence from the aloha state in the form of music and lyric that can create lasting impression amongst hearts and souls and give certain direction and understanding. And growing up in the 60s, being exposed to artists like Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, John Lennon, these crafters of music would write songs that would last generations. And when you think about it, the music of today that's out there, not that I'm comparing, is how many songs can you say that you hear on the radio that are going to be lasting 30, 40, 50 years? So what are the better ways than coming from New York, living on the island of Molokai, and using my experience to influence artists and songwriters to write songs, to craft music that will create a message, and one that will resonate in our hearts and give us an understanding of what we're really about. We all want answers, and that's where we came up with the title No More Walls. So Taz, tell me a little bit about it. I mean, you have written some Hoku award-winning songs. You're very famous, not just in Hawaii. You work with Hawaiian Airlines around the world. You really wanted to do this. This was one of the big deals for you was to make this song. Tell us about it. Well, yes. This song, when the song title came to us, we're not going to lie. It was when we seen a little bit of politics going on social media about building walls. And Bobby and I said, why don't we write a song about walls? I said, what do you want to call it? He said, No More Walls. I said, wow. I said, if we're going to write this, I'm going to relate to it the way it's going to hit me. And the way it relates to me is when I hear the title No More Walls, I feel like it speaks to me about breaking your walls from fear, breaking the walls that stop you from going to the next level, whatever it is. But for me, that's how I relate to it. And it just transcended into something that depends on paper. The words came. Some songs, they take a year. Some songs, it'll take five minutes, literally. These are one of the songs that took us no more than a day to write and a day to tweak. I think the interesting part for me is that in today's political climate, we hear No More Walls and all we think about is the immigration wall. What you're talking about is personal walls. Everything that we as individuals have to face every single day in our lives. Physical walls. Vices people have in their lives. And that prevent them from doing what they really should be doing or what they were, rather than should be doing what they were born to do. They're Dharma, so to speak. I like that word. I think for all of us here, and I'm talking about our audience as well, we all have to understand that we make our own walls around us. Whether they're physical walls, mental walls, emotional walls, all of these things are items that we have to encounter. We have to climb those walls. Get on the other side. Sometimes break those walls down. Absolutely. You know, we're not perfect. I have walls right now that I put up. I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do. We all do. I mean, if you look at the opioid epidemic, that's a huge wall. That's a wall. If you look at the homeless situation, that's a huge wall. So when you came to me with this show, Bobby, and you said, can we come on with No More Walls? I said, I'm going to introduce the show as No More Walls, but I want you guys to talk about everything that it means to you, not just Mr. President's wall that he wants to build. Absolutely. It's not about him. It's all about the personal walls. And I think the song is going to resonate with our audience when they understand it's not about an immigration wall. No. It's about every single one of us. It's not about presidential politics. The song is more than that. Correct. You know, it's deeper than that. It's about life. It's about racism. You know, that's huge what's going on now. I have to say, Taz, I'm only smiling because my earpiece is saying, when is he going to play the song? You know, people want to hear the song. Can you get ready to play the song? Can you do it? Absolutely. We would love to do it. Oh, I see. No, you sound good. Can you get the message? I have to say, Taz, that is such a great message. Breaking boundaries. The separation that you have between people's love for each other. You know, and I've couldn't have written it without Bobby. Bobby has a very, we have working lyrics and words. I have a way of working the melody. He brings life into the poetry. Well, I think one of the things that really gets me is the respect that you have for each other. And you take that respect and you turn it into music. So people, when they hear that song, they can learn from that song. They can take something from that song that maybe will inspire them to do something for themselves, change what some of the bad habits they have. And more important is do what you guys do so much, which is to help others. You know, music is the most universal language. I believe we believe in that music has a way to heal. And I believe no matter you're singing opera, a different language, it's all about the tone. It's all about the message. I just want people to know that this song is not about me. It's not about nothing to do with me. It's just about now is the time to write songs that's going to last. Anthems. And this is what I've been working on with my partner Bobby. He's what enlightens me today. It's what's changed my style of music. It's also an empowerment. You're empowering yourself to create music that's going to help the world. And that is so important. That's what it's all about. You know, growing up, music got me through, and our world through some difficult times. You know, growing up in the 60s with the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, presidents getting assassinated, Martin Luther King getting assassinated, what kept us together? Music. And we're not finding that that much these days. And if it is, it's not as abundant. And we just want, from the aloha straight state, voice armor not all, create a little influence that could affect the affluence. It's a beautiful message, guys. Unfortunately, we have to take a little break. Sure, no problem. After the break, I'd like you to talk about some of your career. Taz, what you've done and where you're going. And you have another song that's one of my favorite, which is the children's song. Can you play that after the break as well? Anything for you, absolutely. Thank you for having us. It's just one of those things where you have such a great talent, and you're just starting to get exposed to the world. And I want to see you up there with the music that you're doing today as part of the best that Hawaii has to offer. Thank you, Seymour. Thank you. I'm Seymour Kazimurski on Seymour's World on ThinkDec, Hawaii. We will be back in a minute with my guests, Taz, Vegas, and Bobby Palleghi. And the excellent, excellent, excellent singing of a master. Thank you. Ted Ralston here, folks. You're a host on Where the Drone Leads our weekly show at noon on Thursdays here on ThinkDec. We talk about drones, anything to do about drones, drones, remotely piloted aircraft, unmanned aircraft, whatever you want to call them, emerging into Hawaii's economy, educational framework, and our public life. We talk about things associated with the use, the misuse, technology, engineering, legislation with local experts as well as people from across the country. Please join us noon on Thursdays and catch the latest on what's taking place in the world of drones that might affect you. Guys, don't forget to check me out right here, Prince of Investing. I'm your host, Prince Dykes. Each and every Tuesdays at 11 a.m. Hawaii time. I'm going to be right here. Stop by here from some of the best investment minds across the globe. And real estate, finances, stocks, hedge funds, managers, all that great stuff. Thank you. Hi. Welcome back to Seymour's World on ThinkDec, Hawaii. Our guests today are Bobby Palleghi and Taz Vegas, two of our wonderful sponsors for our Make Him Smile program. Taz has been playing for us for a long time and it's just a pleasure to see the growth that you have had in your career, Taz. Tell us how it all started and how you got to where you are today. You know, I started at a very young age. I had a great support team in my mom. And when I say team, I mean mom was, she's the backbone to why I play music. She's supported me at a very young age. And so I give everything to my mom and thank you to our Heavenly Father for allowing me to have this talent to do what I do. You know, music has been a blessing for me at a young age. I traveled with Hawaii Visitors Bureau, Hawaii Tourism Association, and they took me around the world, a lot of to Asia, but it already brought in my eyes, you know, on to what's around this world, you know, what's outside of this rock that we live in, this beautiful place, paradise. And I was able to witness that there's aloha all around the world. We just got to go and find it and put out that positive energy, you know. And I believe music has that touch of positive energy. Finding people like Bobby, finding people like UC Moore, thank you so much for allowing musicians on a platform to go into these hospitals and do what I believe what was meant to do was to heal. Music is healing, plain and simple. Tongue is healing. My favorite artist is Brother Israel Kamakavivole. The reason why is because of his tongue and you can just close your eyes and listen to him and you feel a certain type of healing. And I believe that tone, I try to carry that into my music as much as I can. And again, you know, I'm just very blessed and blessed to have friends like both of you in my life. So thank you very much. Well, Taz, I'll tell you, you have a blessing. I'm the one that has the blessing because it has helped me through all of my issues. You know, I have cancer and I'm living with it. And every day I go to the hospital to play with the kids and with you guys and that keeps me going. There's a quid pro quo for everything. We seem to be able to find a balance. When something happens and you need to have a little bit of a chance to feel better about yourself and what's going on, you find a place. For me, it's going to the hospitals and playing with the kids. And you guys, you especially, are one of those that has such a unique talent. And I'm just going to give you guys a great story about this young man. The first time we went to play, it was at Schreiner's Hospital. And we have been playing for about a year and Taz came with Bobby. And he did something that no other musician had ever done before. He went down on his knee to be at the kids level. So he wanted to be face to face with the kids. Instead of standing up and playing down to the kids, this guy went down on his knee and played his guitar to play with the kids. Taz, I'll never forget that. Wow. You know, I learned that from Kaepernick. I was going to say, he took a knee for the kids. But I have children on my own, so it became natural. It's just natural. It's just beautiful. It's just natural. It's all about meeting one on one. Yeah. And Bobby, for you, you've got a lot of musicians in your publishing company, I know. I do. But this guy seems to be the number one for you. He seems to be here all the time. The number one pain. I don't know. I don't know how it is. We have developed a camaraderie that is just precious and priceless. And it's all about learning from each other. He teaches me a lot. You know, there's an old saying that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well, you know, Taz has said a lot of light on my perception of things. And, you know, how can I thank him? Do everything I can to help his career. My goal is to create, through the world of publishing, through songwriting and musical creation, a Grammy award-winning artist that will one day accept that award and hold it up and say, this is for Hawaii Day. Not for me, for the state that made me who I am. Before we get to playing, because they're asking me to, can you play another song for me? Absolutely. Bobby, I want to talk a little bit about this other song that we're going to play, which is the kids' song. Tell us about it. This song is entitled Don't Stop the Children. Basically, the song's title came to me in a dream one night. And what I didn't realize is that this song has biblical meaning, which I didn't really know about. And it's about the children today or the future of our tomorrow. And while the baby boomers, me included, are running this world, we have to save a part of the world for them, for tomorrow. Environment, not to get political, but also setting example how to behave, how to act, how to respect. So this song is all about the children. Can I say something, Bobby? Sure. This song is a teaching tool. It is. And I have taken, you know I go and I lecture to the schools about the Holocaust. Sure, sure, sure. That's part of my thing that I do. And I have used the words in your song as part of my lecture series. Thank you. Because what the children have to learn is a lot about what's on this song. Wow. That's what, that's a right or right to correct the wrongs in life. It's absolutely amazing. Thank you. Are you ready, Taz? Absolutely. Go for it. So this is called, Don't Stop the Children. Don't Stop the Children. Yeah. See my world. Don't stop the children. Hearts are not flourished. People are unparalleled. It's up to us. Don't stop the children. Don't stop the children crying. And all the nations share this cry. A spirit's lost. And so the generation rides on. It's falling to the children's heart. Don't stop the children. Inspirational is that. That is just. Wow. You know I've heard that song many times and yet every time you play it, Taz. It's like the first time. It's like the first time. That's how terrific that is. Wow, Taz. I am just floored by. Fantastic. I think the message that the children of today are our future. Especially with what's going on in this world. Not just here in the United States. I know, everywhere. I just came back from China and I'm leaving for Africa next week. Wow. And one of the things that I do is try to help the kids wherever I am because they are the future. It's not the people we have that are out there today. Taz, it has been an amazing, amazing pleasure. Bobby, thank you for bringing this guy to me. Thank you for having us. It has just been wonderful. I wish we had a little more time and you could play another song for us. But unfortunately, we're running out of time. No worries at all. So to my audience, I have to say this has been one of the best shows I have ever, ever had because I think the message that both Bobby and Taz are giving you is to make sure that you do more for others than you do for yourself. I wish you all well. I'll see you when I get back from Africa in about a month from now. That's if I come back with all my limbs intact because I hope so. Aloha from Seymour's World. You just got a massage. Ah, I love it.