Amena Brown:
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to a new episode of HER with Amena Brown, and we are another installment in a new series that my husband and podcast producer, Matt, and I have been doing, Road Stories. We've been telling y'all a little bit about what our life was like in the before times, when we were people who were on the road all the time. So, shout out to those of you who are listening, who know road life, whether you are a person who travels for work, or you may be an artist that traveled like we did. So, we wanted to share with y'all a couple of perks, I would say, that we've received from traveling on the road. So, hey, babe.
Matt Owen:
Hey, been some good times. Yeah, we got some good stories to tell.
Amena Brown:
Okay. So, the first one that came to my mind was, we got booked in Vegas, one year, to do a college gig, and college gigs ... I was about to say that it's one of my favorite gigs, and then I thought to myself, is that true?
Matt Owen:
It's funny because people do ask me, have you ever DJed in Vegas? And I'd be like, "Well ... "
Amena Brown:
Kind of.
Matt Owen:
When you think DJ in Vegas, you think that [synth sounds] in this big room with pyrotechnics, and I've done that before, just not in Vegas.
Amena Brown:
That's true. That's true. And college gigs are interesting because I've done two types of college gig. I've done college gigs that were related in some way to Christian colleges or organizations that were doing events for Christians who were in college or college age. And then, I have done your mainstream, college institutions that weren't faith-based in that way. And there are parts of it that I do really love. I love college students as a crowd. I love talking to them. Of all of the developmental stages from elementary school up through college, college is my favorite of those. So, I do love it, but I will tell you, there's always a little something interesting about a college gig.
Matt Owen:
Always just that little ... Yeah.
Amena Brown:
There's always something. When I did college gigs, and actually, Matt and I, right before we got married, did a couple of my last, what I would say is, mainstream college gigs together, when we went to Broward, Florida area. Before we got married, we did some of those gigs together, which still, for the reasons I said, were a lot of fun.
But when you're doing just mainstream schools that are not in any way Christian-related, what tends to be tricky about those is those college gigs, in a lot of ways, tend to be very flat-rate based, which I think we talked a little bit about this, in the sense that they will say, "Herein is a flat rate. We're going to pay you to come to our school because we don't want to deal with reimbursements afterwards. We don't want to be responsible for booking flights or hotels."
So, you would really want your college agent to think very hard about it before they tell the rate to the school because there could be times that you thought you were going to get paid this much, and by the time you subtract yourself getting there and where you're going to stay and what you're going to eat, you're like, "This isn't as much money."
Matt Owen:
You learn some hard lessons that way, definitely.
Amena Brown:
Yeah. So, I remember when we had that gig in South Florida, one of those last, mainstream college gigs, I remember that we drove down there, and that was a nine-hour drive. Why would you ever do a nine-hour drive to a gig? Because you can't afford to pay to fly down there, and that's a hard part. That's a hard part.
Matt Owen:
Nothing leaves you fresh to hit the stage like a nine-hour drive. Oowee.
Amena Brown:
Big yikes. And then, on the side of our experiences at either Christian colleges or events that were supposed to be for Christians that went to college, that part was where a lot of checks just ended up in a weird place. I feel like those college gigs, there'd be somebody that was over at the chapel, that books you for this, and everything went great during chapel.
Sometimes, Matt and I would perform together because we had our show we were doing together that we talked about last episode. We'd perform together, and everything would go great. Students loved it. Especially when you're doing chapel at a Christian school, they're used to mostly people who are coming there to drone on and on or preach to them. They're just sleeping, or whatever they got-
Matt Owen:
The most regular comment I remember, from you doing chapels, was, "Wow. Way more people stayed awake than usually do." That was a big compliment.
Amena Brown:
I'm like, "What are y'all doing here that that's the compliment you're giving us?"
Matt Owen:
Yo.
Amena Brown:
So, everything would go super great. And sometimes, they would take us out to lunch afterwards, or sometimes, we'd have lunch with students, which is one of my favorite things to do. But either way, there's that moment where you're walking away. If Matt had DJed, he's wheeling his equipment out to the car. We're packed up all the merch, grabbing all the merch to leave. And there's that moment where you're like, "Hey." There's a lot of savvy ways an artist is trying to find out how you're about to get paid. My favorite one of choice was, "Hey, is there anything else you need from us? Any other paperwork or anything like that?" Because that would typically trigger their minds to be like, "No. No, we've got all the paperwork we need from you." And then sometimes, their minds would go, "Yeah, no. And your check, I'm sure my assistant sent it."
Matt Owen:
I'm sure. I always like to ask, I go straight forward, "So, am I picking up a check from you, or is one being mailed?"
Amena Brown:
And I want y'all to know, a full disclosure, that for the most part, both of our contracts do not, not support, but do not suggest that mailing is what you should do.
Matt Owen:
No.
Amena Brown:
Both of our contracts suggest that, if you going to mail a check, you should mail it in advance, that I have traveled to you, and you have paid already.
Matt Owen:
And some people, they got to pay us as soon before we hit that stage. There's a couple folks that have taken us out for a few, nice lunches, and at dessert time, let us know, "I bet my assistant mailed it." Or the most common college one is, "See, our school just started using a new financing program."
Amena Brown:
Yikes.
Matt Owen:
What was it?"
Amena Brown:
They would say, "Our school just started using a new accounting system."
Matt Owen:
New accounting, that's what it is.
Amena Brown:
"So, everything's really in disarray. It's just chaos over there, so sorry."
Matt Owen:
We just got a new accounting system.
Amena Brown:
Yes. Yes.
Matt Owen:
And last time we were at your school, you just got a new accounting system in the time-
Amena Brown:
It ain't that many new accounting systems in the world. I don't care.
Matt Owen:
Use a spreadsheet, homie. Give my check.
Amena Brown:
I don't care. So, I'm going to tell y'all that college gigs on the Christian industry side were very squirrely regarding how you may or may not receive payment. And then, whenever someone said, "I bet my assistant sent it."
Matt Owen:
They never sent it.
Amena Brown:
Narrator-
Matt Owen:
They did not.
Amena Brown:
... the assistant did not.
Matt Owen:
Nope.
Amena Brown:
Narrator, we are going home, and now having to chase down said check.
Matt Owen:
And it's always the check that you really needed.
Amena Brown:
Listen.
Matt Owen:
You were like, "This check is coming, and rent, mortgage, whatever is coming. And it's a race to see who's going to get here first."
Amena Brown:
Yikes. It was always when you really needed that money that it never came. But the other times, when you live road life, you do sometimes have a time, especially when you're on the road a lot, and typically, for us, that busy time was that first quarter, into second quarter, was real busy. And then, we might have a couple months in the fall. Obviously, sometimes Black History Month would be a very busy time for me. You'd have those vibes.
So, sometimes, you would be on the road long enough that you're on the road, just depositing checks as you get them, so you really are having something of a surplus until you get home. And then, you have time that you're going to be home and not get as many checks, right? So, we experienced that part. But typically, when that was happening was not when you needed that money, and those checks came just fine. It was the moment where you really needed that money, when they looked at you and said, "Man, isn't that the best pie in this whole city? Whoo, I love that pie."
Matt Owen:
When they order dessert, you know that check ain't coming.
Amena Brown:
Yikes. They'll be like, "Listen." Right while you're eating that delicious apple pie, they'd be like, "Listen, it turns out we thought we were going to have the check for you today."
Matt Owen:
Got me full, first.
Amena Brown:
"But because of our new accounting system, we have to fill out more forms." And it really, for us just, sounds like wah wah wah wah wah, you're about to be broke. That's what it sounds like.
Matt Owen:
What's funny is, when they've got the check, that's when they give you the firm handshake. Here's your pamphlet or your packet that's got everything in it. See you later. Go feed yourself.
Amena Brown:
You bringing up a good point there.
Matt Owen:
But when they're taking you out and, "Oh, you're going to love this restaurant," that's the first red flag. And, "Oh, they've got the best ... " If they insert the name of pie or cake, that means that they're going to feed you, get you real full, and then be like, "Hey."
Amena Brown:
Yikes. Sorry about-
Matt Owen:
And I would like to bring back something that we talked about in a previous episode. Shout out to the time of the merch table.
Amena Brown:
Okay, because it will come through in the clutch.
Matt Owen:
Because in these moments-
Amena Brown:
Yes.
Matt Owen:
... you had some cash in hand, so that way, you could eat something on the way home. Or when you got home, if you needed to hit that grocery store or whatever it is, there was some ways that you could make it work. So, you know what, thank God for the merch table.
Amena Brown:
Okay, shout out to that. That's true about the merch table, especially because we would have runs of events that we would have happen, sometimes, where we would do a bunch of colleges in the southeast, for example. So, we might go on a run for almost two weeks that we weren't home, but we were driving to different gigs and stuff. And so, if you hit that one gig, where you were like, "We thought we were going to get a check there, and we didn't," but maybe we sold $500 of merch, that $500 is gas in the gas tank of your car or heaven help you, if that's a rental car, bless your heart, that's cash for you to eat food in between. So, shout out to the people who buy merch at artist events because you're helping for when the venues don't pay.
So, this first perk that we are talking to y'all about, in Vegas, was a college gig, was a Christian college gig, which I remember the event itself was actually a good time. I just remember leading up to the event, the event itself was on February 15th, and right as we were getting ready to book our flights and stuff, they were like, "Hey, we really need to have a meeting with y'all, so we can just go over the event logistics. Is it possible for y'all to fly in on the 14th." And there are some holidays, or if it falls on my birthday or Matt's birthday that, if they want us to fly in, I'm like, "Nah," because we don't want to spend our birthday or our anniversary or something in some town, in middle of no place. No. But Vegas on Valentine's Day? Okay.
Matt Owen:
Okay.
Amena Brown:
And we didn't even know what our plans were going to be or anything. But Valentine's Day is important to us, as a couple. Neither of us are people who, for the most part, are very big on posting a lot about Valentine's Day. I tend to feel our anniversary is more of my time that I might want to share on socials. But Valentine's Day is still very important to both of us, even though-
Matt Owen:
I say same. I say same that our anniversary is when I post a picture of us, which very interestingly, is when I get the most likes, so I just really might switch my account over just to be, "Here's pictures of Amena," which I understand. And then, my birthday, I would say, or our birthdays, we post about each other.
Amena Brown:
Yeah.
Matt Owen:
I would say, on my birthday, that's the one time of year I log in to Facebook.
Amena Brown:
Boy.
Matt Owen:
Because then, your mom and dad and they friends and people you knew from way back then, they all say, "Happy birthday." You just give them a little ... Also, I noticed this, last time, because I hadn't been on Facebook in a long time. You can only like so many comments, so many posts, in one day. I don't remember how many, but Facebook popped up and said, "You've reached your limit." And I said, "We have reached our limit," logged back out of Facebook.
Amena Brown:
I've reached my limit in more ways than one with you, Facebook.
Matt Owen:
And I'm out.
Amena Brown:
Big facts. So, we love a good Valentine's Day. But I was like, "Hmm. Valentine's Day in Vegas could be kind of interesting. Sure, we'll come in early." So, we booked our flights, flew in that morning. Oh my gosh, this just occurred to me, another amazing Valentine's Day story, but I'm going to come back to it. I'm going to come back to it.
Matt Owen:
Okay, bonus episode.
Amena Brown:
Okay. Okay. So, we fly in, go in for the meeting, and I'm not really sure what to expect of the meeting because it really depends how produced the event is, how intense that meeting's going to be. Sometimes, they're saying, "Come in early," because they want Matt to go ahead and load in his equipment. They want us to soundcheck. They want us to rehearse. This could be anywhere from a 10-minute meeting to taking an hour or two, depending on what the situation is. So, we don't know. We just-
Matt Owen:
I always think the intro meetings are kind of funny, when it comes to me.
Amena Brown:
Yeah?
Matt Owen:
Typically, it's going to be, "Okay, before anything starts, we're going to need some music. That's you." And what's funny is, in some spaces, most of the time, I'd say, the Christian spaces, they'd be like, "So, we're going to have you up there for 15 minutes. Is that going to be okay?" I'm like, "Yeah."
Amena Brown:
Yikes.
Matt Owen:
"I do four hour sets on the regular. 15 minutes? I bet I can come up with 15 minutes for your crowd. Okay." So, that's usually what it is. "Here is the place where nothing's happening. That's you."
Amena Brown:
Man.
Matt Owen:
Got it.
Amena Brown:
It's like that's-
Matt Owen:
Be in there.
Amena Brown:
... how you know that a lot of folks who are at especially these types of white, evangelical events, are not people who party because that's the only way they can think that a DJ works in a space, is they're like, "Okay, we're going to have 15 minutes of worship music that are just going to play in the house, and then we're going to abruptly cut off that music. And that's you. That's 15 minutes. And then, you going to abruptly stop playing. We going to abruptly turn off your volume so that somebody can come and play guitar, which is totally going to take all of the energy out of the room."
Matt Owen:
It's like they're like, "All right, we want people on 10." So, I was like, "I got you. Give me two turntables and a microphone and a crowd. I'm going to have y'all chanting, clapping. Let's go." And sometimes, there's some production going on, and they're like, "All right, we want you to count backwards, count them all down, get them all just rah." So, we'll be like "3, 2, 1. Ah." And then, some guitar comes in. Hroom, chinga, chinga, chinga, ching.
Amena Brown:
Oh my gosh. It's so anticlimactic, y'all. Whereas, now, what Matt's DJ sets are like, it's like he's DJing at a place where people actually came there to party. So, 15 minutes is no time. He's DJing there for four hours, taking people on this whole journey, so that would always make us laugh, when they would be like, "Is 15 minutes going to be okay?" And he's looking at them like, "What you mean? 15 minutes is-"
Matt Owen:
So, the pre-meeting is usually just a bunch of me going, "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. That sounds good. I got you."
Amena Brown:
Sure. Yep. So, we go to the meeting, and I really don't remember what we talked about at the meeting for this event. I just remember that it was over very quickly. It was a 20-minute meeting, and we were both like, "So, there's nothing else y'all need from us?" They didn't want us to load in or anything until the next day, so we were like, "Okay." And they were like, "Yeah, just go enjoy the day or whatever." So, Matt and I looked at each other like, "What?" We were like, "Let's hurry up and leave before they think about something else they might want us to do." So, we left, and I think we weren't staying at what would be your traditional, Vegas hotel. I think they had us staying in a place where it was more condo-like, almost.
Matt Owen:
I think you're right. I think you're right.
Amena Brown:
And so, wherever we were staying, they had a little program or something, where they sometimes had discounted tickets to shows. So, we get back to the hotel, and we're like, "Man, we're in Vegas. What should we do?" So, we look through the packet from whatever this condo place was and find a little thing in there that was like, "You can call this number or go to this website," whatever it was, "And you could get discounted tickets to see The Beatles LOVE." And I was like, "That would be so perfect." And I think we had packed some clothes because, at this point of both of our careers, as far as us doing college and high school events, we were wearing tracksuits and sneaks.
Matt Owen:
Yep. Same.
Amena Brown:
This is not a dressed-up environment, but I think we had both packed something, just in case we decided to go out to dinner or whatever. And we were like, "Oh my gosh, I cannot believe we're about to go see The Beatles LOVE on the Valentine's Day."
Matt Owen:
Cirque du Soleil, doing the Beatles LOVE.
Amena Brown:
Yo.
Matt Owen:
Wow.
Amena Brown:
For a discount, y'all. Wow. So, we went, and it was one of my favorite things.
Matt Owen:
Beautiful.
Amena Brown:
Oh my gosh.
Matt Owen:
It was absolutely stunning the amount of audio that they had of the guys in the studio, talking through things and stuff, and I just recently watched through The Beatles documentary that they had on Apple+. Back in December, I had COVID and had to quarantine off from you, so I had nothing but time and watched through the longest documentary. And it took my brain back to us sitting there, watching, and listening. And then, of course, at the same time that you're hearing these guys talk about this music they're going to make, or these, to us, never been heard before clips, and then, you're also seeing Cirque du Soleil performers-
Amena Brown:
Man.
Matt Owen:
... pull off the most amazing things and the most beautiful light show. And you're like, how did we get here?
Amena Brown:
Man. Man, that was amazing.
Matt Owen:
I think I ate a steak that night also.
Amena Brown:
Yo, I forgot about that though because we went to eat. I wish I could remember which restaurant we went to. But I remember you had steak, and I remember I had Chilean sea bass.
Matt Owen:
Oof.
Amena Brown:
And there are a few dishes in the world that, for some reason, when you eat that, you're like, "And now, I'm a rich person." And Chilean sea bass, for me-
Matt Owen:
I think it's the Chilean part.
Amena Brown:
Yeah. It's like, "And now, I'm wealthy for 20 minutes."
Matt Owen:
If it was Forest Park sea bass-
Amena Brown:
You'd be like, "Yikes."
Matt Owen:
... I'd be like, "Uh."
Amena Brown:
Or if it was lake sea bass, then automatically now, you're like, "Yikes, no." But Chilean sea bass, you're like, "Yes, here I am. I'm rich."
Matt Owen:
Are there other types of bass that aren't sea bass?
Amena Brown:
I feel like yes because I feel like Bass Pro Shops is telling me that there must be a lot of more generalized bass that's out there.
Matt Owen:
Man. Man.
Amena Brown:
And really, truthfully, Chilean sea bass could be also very generalized, but because we don't live in Chile, it sound like we having something. Because maybe people from another place would be like, "Ooh, Forest Park sea bass." They might think that's a vibe. Either way, it came in parchment, y'all. Wow.
Matt Owen:
Wow.
Amena Brown:
I was rich for 20 minutes.
Matt Owen:
Wow, wow, wow.
Amena Brown:
Please.
Matt Owen:
Remember the candy shop we went to?
Amena Brown:
That's right.
Matt Owen:
It was a fill up your own bag of candy.
Amena Brown:
Y'all, please. No.
Matt Owen:
And when I tell you we went in there with no concept of how much was too much.
Amena Brown:
Nah. Nah. You don't want to see two people like us in there, wilding, because the way the little things were made, it was like you put a bag up to it, and then it had a lever where it just starts [noise] candy in the bag.
Matt Owen:
We might as well have been a couple of 10-year-olds in that thing, just-
Amena Brown:
Please, I'm pretty sure we got back to the room, and I was like ... It was like I just lost myself for a minute, in the candy store because we go back to the room, and I was like, "Why did I pick this candy? For what? I never eat this. What was I doing?" Very exciting times.
Matt Owen:
We were living our best candy life.
Amena Brown:
Very exciting times.
Matt Owen:
We were in Vegas.
Amena Brown:
And that was us, in Vegas, having an extra almost 24 hours before we had to go work the event, the next day. That was an amazing perk. Fantastic. I also would like to bring into the chat our anniversary because we have been people that, because we were on the road a lot, and I think where we were financially at that time, too, we couldn't really afford to take a separate vacation. We couldn't afford, for many years, to travel and say, "Herein, we're just going to take a trip for personal reasons."
Matt Owen:
Nah.
Amena Brown:
We couldn't afford to do that, so we were always looking for how we can get a gig, either near the place where we wanted to go, or sometimes, it was the opposite way. A gig came in close to our anniversary, and we were like, "Can we make that work? Can we figure it out?" So, a gig came in, in Florida, and it was very close to our anniversary. I want to say it was maybe two days before or something, and we were like, "Do we want to take this gig?" And then we were like, "Yeah."
Matt Owen:
Because there are definitely some gigs that we said yes to because it was near an anniversary, a birthday, a Valentine's. We're like, we could go to somewhere we could not have otherwise gone to, at that time, for sure.
Amena Brown:
Yeah. Because at least it's like, if you're there for a gig, the gig is helping pay for you to travel there. The gig is helping pay for part of your lodging or whatever while you're there.
Matt Owen:
Might be a per diem.
Amena Brown:
Might be some per diem. Might be the merch table-
Matt Owen:
Might be the merch table.
Amena Brown:
... or something, to help you get gas to get wherever. And then sometimes, you would have this huge, wonderful moment, where you would actually get a check, bless your heart, before you left the gig. So then, you could put that check in the bank-
Matt Owen:
My God.
Amena Brown:
... and then have money to add to your personal account, right? But sometimes it didn't go like that. You thought you was going to get that check, and then you didn't. And now you like, "We out here now. We got to figure it out."
Matt Owen:
Sometimes, I would try to psych our bank account out and be like, "I don't even want this check," as a way of trying to will them into paying us on time. I thought-
Amena Brown:
Man.
Matt Owen:
... I don't even need this check.
Amena Brown:
We don't even need that check.
Matt Owen:
I don't even care nothing about this little check.
Amena Brown:
I ain't even looking for that check, but I'm very much looking for that check.
Matt Owen:
But when that check didn't come up, it was like, I was looking for it.
Amena Brown:
Sad. So, we had a gig. There were a few things about the gig that we took, right there near our anniversary, that number one, I'm pretty sure we never did again, and that we had concerns about. But we were like, "We accept this because we're trying to see what we can make happen here." This was a youth event, and this was towards the end of our time doing youth events because I think we both got to a point where we were like, "Herein, we are people who we don't want to be doing youth events anymore. We're not built for that life anymore." So, this was a youth event. I also want to bring into our conversation, today, that this youth event was a lock-in.
Matt Owen:
Man, what were we doing?
Amena Brown:
Big yikes. And for those of you who grew up in church settings, I really don't know any other setting, outside of church, where students were doing lock-ins. Do you?
Matt Owen:
I can't think of any other organization that's like, "Here's what we want you to do. Let your kids come and drink Mountain Dew all night and eat pizza."
Amena Brown:
And eat pizza.
Matt Owen:
"Your child, who you struggle to entertain, please drop a bunch of them off with me and let me entertain them all night. What's the worst that could happen?"
Amena Brown:
Yikes. And I want to particularly speak to this because, when Matt and I got married, Matt was a youth pastor at a church where they were doing an annual lock-in. I also-
Matt Owen:
That was my fault. That was my fault.
Amena Brown:
Okay. You added this to the program.
Matt Owen:
I'm the one who brought that back. The dude who was there previous to me, he's like, "What are you doing?" And I was like, "I don't know." The pastor was like, "What are you doing?" And I was like, "I don't ... " But it was fun. It was fun. And also, because I am an extrovert, and I'm cool with being around people 24/7, and my goal has always been just to stay a little more random than the middle-school-aged kids, and so that kind of kept me ahead of the wave. And so, I was like, "All right, so if we going to be running all night, I want you to be trying to catch up with me. Let's go."
Amena Brown:
Yo.
Matt Owen:
The wild thing is, it would never fail that, the next morning-
Amena Brown:
Yikes.
Matt Owen:
... after I've been up for 24 hours with your kid, somebody was going to text me, be like, "Hey, can you bring my child home?" So, not only are you asking me to hang out ... I guess I asked for it. I did ask for it. I'll take that part. But you were like, "I think it's a good idea. Let's drop my kid off with this dude over here and a whole bunch of kids. What's the worst that could go wrong?" But then be like, "You haven't had any sleep."
Amena Brown:
The best thing for you-
Matt Owen:
"Would you drive my kid home?"
Amena Brown:
Once, I remember we were dating through one of those lock-ins, and when you shared that with me, I was like, "Say what?" But then, once we got married, and it's like, we now are living in the same household, and I'm watching, in general, how much you're giving to the kids and everything. And now, I'm like, I'm checking in with you, throughout the night and whatever, to see how the lock-in's going, and now, I'm just hearing how exhausted you are. And now, you done got the whole church straightened back up, done got everybody out. Except now there's two or three students, just lingering here.
Matt Owen:
Ain't no parent, nowhere.
Amena Brown:
And you are either texting, calling, the kids texting, calling, trying to find out this, that, where their parent is. Finally, hear from them after you waited an extra hour, to be like, "I'm sorry about that. My phone died. Can you just go ahead and drop so-and-so off?" And I'm like, "So, you want my exhausted husband, after he been with your kid all night ... " Okay, so I just want to give y'all, that's a idea of a little bit-
Matt Owen:
A sneak peek into a lock-in.
Amena Brown:
... of how a lock-in goes. I grew up in church with lock-ins, too, but Matt always laughs because our youth staff was not playing. You's fixing to go to sleep. You not going to be ... They really were afraid of us having sex in the building, to be honest. And so, at a certain point, they just separated everybody, and they were like, "The boys over here, the girls over here." And they basically had two or three very stern moms pacing the whole lock-in like, "You fixing to go to sleep. You've been a ... " So, that was my lock-in experience.
So, why two people who knew how a lock-in could be, agreed to be the talent to perform at said lock-in is literally because we wanted to be able to afford a little anniversary trip. So, y'all, we went to this gig, and we were the performance before the kids ... Because part of a lock in is there's a certain amount of time that the kids just get to go and just do whatever the activities are. They get to go play basketball, play board games, just hang out. So, we were the thing they had to sit through before they got to go have fun.
The way they had the room set up, I remember it was standing room only. I don't recommend that for when Matt and I are performing together, and I definitely don't recommend it when I'm performing alone. Had they just invited Matt to DJ, Matt got that. You can do standing room, but spoken word and DJing?
Matt Owen:
I feel strange DJing when people are just sitting down, if it's just me.
Amena Brown:
Right.
Matt Owen:
Now, if we're taking them through a program or performance, that's all right, but if it's just me, I'm like, "What these seats for?"
Amena Brown:
No, yikes. So, these kids are in suburban-wherever Florida. They are staring at us like we are green, from another planet, that we are literally the color green, and we are not from Earth. We are from some other planet that they don't know about.
Matt Owen:
We do not know what's happening, and we are not into it.
Amena Brown:
These students arms are crossed. There's literally either a scowl, or there's a I just don't understand what I'm looking at. That was our audience for 45 minutes. For 45 minutes, y'all. And then, after we get off stage, after just trying to perform our guts out to a crowd of people who did not want to hear it, the church people had the nerve to be like, "Y'all are welcome to stay and hang out." Huh?
Matt Owen:
See, we got to get back. Our manager has us going to a-
Amena Brown:
We were like, "No. First of all, we want to stay and hang out at a youth lock-in? No."
Matt Owen:
You don't want to stay, so I for sure don't want to stay. I'm out of here.
Amena Brown:
Okay, exactly. Don't rope me into this. I don't want to do this. No.
Matt Owen:
Can you hand me the check, and then I give you the answer?
Amena Brown:
Okay, because we trying to get that check, for real, for real. So, we had booked, in advance, a beach condo. I remember it was literally right on the beach. We could walk downstairs, out of our little condo. So, this was the only reason we endured this entire thing, was so we could leave that youth event. I think we stayed in whatever the hotel was that they had booked for the night. And then, we drove to our little beach condo, and we had a few days on the beach. And we got to see the Dalí Museum.
Matt Owen:
We did.
Amena Brown:
And there are a very small number of art museums that are dedicated to one artist, and so the Dalí Museum is one of that small number. And to get to see Dalí's work in person, that was worth it.
Matt Owen:
It was worth it. Worth it. I think, if I remember correctly, I had just gotten this monkey tattoo on my arm.
Amena Brown:
Oh my gosh, that's right.
Matt Owen:
Remember? And it jogged my memory when you talking about us going to the beach because I remember I had it wrapped, and I had to get some sort of ... I think we had gone to a grocery store, and I got one of those plastic bags. And I just wrapped it around it, and I had to try to hold my arm above my head because I'm going to get in the ocean. So, anyways, never get a tattoo right before going to do a lock-in, right before going to the beach. However, the Dalí Museum, worth it.
Amena Brown:
Worth it. Totally worth it. And y'all, my husband loves the beach. Okay. I have been to the beach way more times than I would have, if we were not together, so when we could, on our anniversary, I like to see if we can go to a place where there's a beach because I know he loves it. So, it was hilarious seeing you like, "I don't care. I got this tattoo. I'm getting in the ocean, even if I have to hold my arm all the way up."
Matt Owen:
Bonus, at the Dalí Museum, they were having an MC Escher exhibit.
Amena Brown:
Yes. He was a fantastic visual artist also.
Matt Owen:
One of my favorite artists, not even realizing, you grow up, buy a sketch pad. It had a picture of one of MC Escher's works probably on the front of the sketch pad.
Amena Brown:
Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Owen:
And you're like, "Oh my gosh, this is that artist." And you're starting to see more of their work, and how he did ... And you're like, I still, to this day, have a T-shirt that I got from that trip. It's one of my favorite, prize possession T-shirts that I own. Yeah.
Amena Brown:
And we have a print too.
Matt Owen:
You're right.
Amena Brown:
Yeah. Y'all, this is probably going to help us because we would get prints and different things from places and just never get them framed to put them up.
Matt Owen:
We got to get a frame for that.
Amena Brown:
So, yeah. We got to get a frame for that too.
Matt Owen:
That had to have been a decade ago, maybe.
Amena Brown:
We have a very nice MC Escher piece that we still haven't put up in the house, so let's work on that.
Matt Owen:
Okey-dokey.
Amena Brown:
Okay. One last perk that is very relevant because we are still in a pandemic currently, is I got booked to host a podcast, to host a limited podcast series, and I'd had to go to New York to record. When did I have to go, y'all? February of 2020, so many things that I did not know at all were about to happen in life. And Matt wasn't supposed to come with me. The organization or the company that had asked me to do it, they had money for me to fly there. They had a certain rate they were going to pay me. And so, Matt and I were looking at our budget, and we were like, "I think we need to splurge, and you should come with me." And the hotel was very nice where we were staying, and so be, y'all-
Matt Owen:
Oh my gosh, you could see the Statue of Liberty across the water from the room. Wow, that was a nice view.
Amena Brown:
It was amazing. So, I think I had to be there two days, so they were providing two nights. And then, we decided to pay for ourselves to stay an additional two or three nights.
Matt Owen:
Because remember, they put us in a room, and then we couldn't afford the room that they put us in. So, we had to get our stuff and move it to another room.
Amena Brown:
That's right, to move it to a smaller one. Bless our hearts. We did what we could with our resources, at the time, because look.
Matt Owen:
Made it work.
Amena Brown:
So, one of the things ... Normally, first of all, y'all, I'm a big New York person. It is one of my favorite cities to visit. It is very much a mojo city for me. I just always leave that city with so much clarity. I've talked about that a lot on the podcast already. So, New York is one of those places like LA. There's literally 1,000 things that you could do, if you're there for two or three days, and I've traveled there enough to know that, if you have two or three days, it's almost better to pick one thing that you're like, "This is what we really, really have to make sure we do," or two things, and that's it. Because if you pick 10 things, five things, you're going to totally overwhelm yourself. So, my one thing was, I really wanted to go see a Broadway show because I don't think you and I had been to a Broadway show together.
Matt Owen:
I had never been to a Broadway show. That's the only one I've ever been to, so yeah.
Amena Brown:
Yeah, so that was my one thing. And then, RIP for Century 21, the store, because that was always my second thing that I'm like, "I want to see a Broadway show. I want to shop at Century 21." It closed during the pandemic, so that was our last time going in there to shop. And you always go in there, you would always find something really unique. We'll bring it back to Atlanta and wear it, and people'll be like, "What is this shirt, sweatshirt, jeans? What's this?"
Matt Owen:
I still get comments. My favorite thing that would always happen, the couple times we've been to New York together, and we went to Century 21, is, because it's so big, you would go your way, I would go my way, and there's no way to be like, "Yo, this, this, this." You're just coming out with just arms full of clothing. And it never failed that it would be something that I thought was so fresh, and then you would see it on me. You'd be like, "Where'd you get that?" And I'd be like, "I got it from Century 21." You're like, "Okay." And there's something that my wife always lets me know that something may not have hit the mark, and she'll be like, "I can see where you were headed with that." In other words, you have not arrived at a accessible location. What you going to do with this sweatshirt?
Amena Brown:
Y'all, I be trying to just be affirming of the journey. I be trying to just get my husband some good affirmations regarding the journey. Maybe the journey is more important than the destination.
Matt Owen:
Maybe you're trying not to break my spirit. Ahhh. Reset, reset, reset.
Amena Brown:
Oh my gosh.
Matt Owen:
Too soon. Too soon.
Amena Brown:
Please, please. So, our Broadway pick was Tina on Broadway, which is the show about Tina Turner's life. Adrienne Warren was starring in it when we went to see it.
Matt Owen:
So good.
Amena Brown:
Y'all, what an amazing show, and we actually saw it after Adrienne Warren had injured herself.
Matt Owen:
I was like-
Amena Brown:
She was wearing a boot. I don't know if it was her ankle, her foot. She had injured herself to where she was wearing a boot, and she still killed it.
Matt Owen:
Killed it. It was so good that, by the end of the show, it's like they do their bow. They do the final thing. And they come back and did an encore, and everyone was up on their feets, clapping, singing along, as if we were watching a Tina Turner concert. It was incredible.
Amena Brown:
Y'all. And once we left there, I think we had a few more gigs, both of us. And then, we did our last gig in Dallas, and the flight home in March was when we were seeing all of the shut down conversations happening. So, we got home, promptly found out we both had COVID, in March of 2020, but during all of that time, quarantine and especially all that 2020 time, in general, what that was for so many of us, I was so glad that we splurged a little bit and stayed in New York a couple of extra days and went to a show. Because it took so long for Broadway shows to be able to come back and for people to start going back to travel to New York, as far as tourism and stuff was concerned, so for us being people who love to see performers on stage, that gave us a little something to hold onto, that we got a chance to see that show and experience it. So, shout out to that, babe. That was a good time.
Matt Owen:
Good times, and shout out to us going to get a frame for that Dalí piece.
Amena Brown:
Okay. Yes. Thank y'all for helping remind us to do that. We're going to work on that and try to post on our social media, in our stories or something on IG, when we finally get that MC Escher piece up. This has been great, talking to y'all about road stories, and more road stories to come. See y'all soon.
HER with Amena Brown is produced by Matt Owen, for Sol Graffiti Productions, as a part of the Seneca Women Podcast Network, in partnership with iHeartRadio. Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast.