**** Producer's Note: The following is a general transcript of LCC Connect's weekly radio program. Contents include but may not be limited to podcasts, program imaging, announcements, and PSAs. More detailed and accurate transcripts of the podcast episodes featured in this broadcast can be found at LCCconnect.com or by following the links provided in the show notes of this episode. ****

Hello, friends, and welcome to Coach Cut's.

Corner.

Streaming bright from Michigan's capital city. This podcast is dedicated to helping you better understand the who, the what and the why of mental performance, personal growth and Lansing Stars baseball.

Down on the fixing line.

Coach Cuts Corner, brought to you by.

Iwash in collaboration with Lansing Community College.

And now, here's your host, Stephen Cutter.

Most players need noise to lead. This guy in the studio today leads through presence, precision and poise. He's the kind of guy that makes a room better by walking into it. Welcome to Coach Cutts Corner, where we challenge limits, push for greatness, and develop athletes who thrive on and off the field. Today's episode is about something deeper than stats or standings. It's about leadership that doesn't need a spotlight, stoicism in high pressure moments, and work that speaks before you ever say a word. Our guest today, Kyron Humphreys, one of the most physically gifted athletes to wear the Lansing jersey. 65230 outfielder, Eastern Michigan transfer, Detroit roots. Quiet when needed, vocal when it counts. But what makes him uncommon isn't just the size or the tools. It's the discipline, the approach, the way he holds himself and everyone around him to a higher standard. He came up at Detroit Country Day, built from a strong family foundation, earned his opportunity at Eastern Michigan, and now he's here at Lansing stacking bricks with us every single day. Let's get to work. Welcome to the studios.

That was very nice words. I really appreciate that.

Absolutely.

That was really cool.

From one savage to another.

Yes, sir.

Kyron, you're intentional with your voice. And when you speak, guys listen. Where does that sense of timing and leadership come from?

I learned a lot from my father while he was coaching. I was attached to his hip since I was 2. So I was at every practice, every game in the dugout listening to how he spoke to his players and how they spoke back to him. And then when my brother was in high school, he played for him as well. So I got to not only hear that after school, in the dugout and on the field, but I got to hear that at home when he was on the phone with his teammates in our room and when my dad was talking to him. But aside from that, as I grew up, I learned the right time to speak was when you listened the most. So being able to have as few words as possible mean the most, really for me, just came from listening to everyone.

The listening just in general is just this huge thing that we all can do a better job of. A lot of times there's a lot of noise and a lot of things going on and we're just not focused on what we should be. But when I was brought up in a generation that when somebody's speaking that you listen to them before you provide a response. And, and I think today sometimes we, you know, even I get to the point where somebody speaking and I already have a response for them before they're even done. So I think that's, that's really cool stuff that you were taught at a young age by family. And I think we'll get into family a little bit in this, in this podcast. But how do you balance being vocal with also showing your work through action?

I tend to see a lot of guys say what they're gonna do and not all the time do they actually do what they say. And I learned from you, especially being humble but hungry. Being hungry enough to be able to go out and do what you need to do every single day with the discipline it takes. But also being humble to know that you might have done this or that there. And what we're going through right now with after the past happens, it doesn't matter anym. Being able to put that foot forward in the present. Actions obviously speak louder than words. So being humble enough to know you're doing what you need to do, but there's always room to do more.

Really solid answer. And we talk about a lot of stoic ideas in our program, one of them being controllables. How do you stay grounded when pressure hits?

I pretty much just like every game, I give myself a checklist. There's only a certain amount of things I can control. Since I'm in a leadership role within the team, I can control my behavior and my emotions. If things go my way perfectly or if they don't go my way at all. I know even if no one's looking at me, everyone's still watching me. So being able to have a level head, especially for our freshmen that may not get to play much, I know they're looking everywhere. As I did my freshman year, I was watching everyone. So knowing that there are important eyes on me in the aspect of internally being able to control myself and stay level headed. And then when things go my way, you know, I'm a very religious person. So in the outfield, I do my prayer, I do my little jump and everything and I get going. But even when things are going my way, I still thank him, you know, I still talk to him and I still pray. And not only for me, but for the rest of the Guys on the team, every day we have a game. Even when I don't have, you know, a prayer in my head ready to say, guys, like Bruno and Prawl, they're like, all right, Kai, you got us. We all take our hats off. You know, we all, you know, stand in a close circle. So even when I'm like, okay, I don't really have anything to say, they're like, hey, all right, we're looking at you. So, yeah, I love that.

Super important, especially when things are going great, to be able to stay humble and stay hungry and somewhat check yourself with what we talk about a lot where, like, it doesn't matter what happened. What matters is, like, right now and what you do with this time right now. And that's what stacking bricks looks like. And we're not trying to put a resume together here. We're trying to be present, and we're trying to be at elite levels right now. And I know when I was putting these questions together for you for this podcast, I was fired up because of just the person that you are, but also the baseball player that you've really transformed into. And as I started thinking about these questions, I was like, you know, I think he'll do really well with these questions. You're one of the first guests that I haven't provided, like, show notes for. Like, hey, we're going to talk about this or we're going to talk about that. I didn't give you anything. You're just rolling, and that's the rawness of it. And from your experience, how do you carry yourself differently on days you're struggling versus days you're locked in?

Days I'm struggling, I really tend to focus on my routine. And I've always been told, hey, you need a routine, you need a routine. But I didn't really put an active routine together until maybe my sophomore year when I noticed, okay, well, some of these things are going out of control. But there's not really a way I ground myself other than being isolated. And you're not always going to be isolated. Sometimes, you know, I get up at 7 in the morning or 6:30 in the morning, and I have lift. Then I have to go straight to class. And then after class, I have other things to worry about. I have to go home and make food and with other teammates, and then I'm off to practice already. So having a routine within myself, you know, I only listen to certain music. Well, I only listen to certain music all throughout times of the day, but I only listen to Certain songs, if I really need a message externally, you know, to really ground myself internally, and then being able to slow myself down has been really important for me this year, especially on the field. I know last year I was sort of new to the mental performance that we do, but this year, I mean, it's been amazing. This year By Breathing really works. I have a thing where I on my chest three times. If I'm in a.02 counter, if something doesn't go my way in the box, and pretty much every guy in the dugout now does it back to me, and it really is like a mirror looking back at myself, like, okay, all right, I got this. They know I got this. They trust me. So if they can trust me, then I can trust myself, yeah, 100%.

And I've got to see you struggle, and I've got to see you be successful. I've got to see you hit, you know, walk off home runs, and I've got to see you feel like I'm terrible. And that's the. The beauty of the game in itself, too. And when you do have those special moments, yes, you've had some incredible home runs here, most specifically recently. But then there's also those moments where you just like, wow, this is an incredible game. And it's been a heck of a journey here. You've been a part of multiple programs growing up, high school, D1, and now here. What's something about leadership or hard work that most players overlook, in your opinion?

You'll rarely hear someone, if ever, speak about how hard they work or how great of a leader they are. You always see it. I know when I played for Arsenal baseball under Aaron Wilson, he surrounded me around certain people that have worked hard, really, their entire life, and they don't showboat it, they don't talk about it. They just put the next foot forward and they move on. One of my coaches, Eddie Dewalt, he coached Arsenal 15 through 17U. And when I met him, you know, he had actually went to school with my mom, so my mom had great things to say about him. My dad knew him for a while, so off the bat, you know, before I got to see him in action, they really showed me with how they treated him and, you know, how he treated them and how they were around him, that, okay, he's a hard worker. He knows what he's gonna do. Even if he doesn't know what he's gonna do, he knows how he's gonna get around it, to get to do it. And then later in life, being At Country Day, I was surrounded by family. My best friend. We ended up finding out we were related. So for me, like, during COVID his entire family. And then the people that I've been surrounded with at Country Day, the guys that. The Vandy guys and the Stanford guys, they were your best friend, but they were on you when it was time to be real.

Accountability.

Yeah. And they really showed me what leadership looks like. Saborn Campbell, he's up at Stanford right now. He was hard on himself, but as soon as you went to go talk to him, he was all ears. Even if he had a million words to say to you, he always let you say your words first. And he used that, and he took that into account before he said anything. And he treated everyone with respect. The coaches, athletic director, the other teams especially, and his parents, you know, because he grew up in a great household as well. So no one really hears the leadership and the hard work that other people put in, but, you know, they can see the fruits of the labor that they put in.

Right. Where sayings like actions are more important than words. Right. And words are extremely important as well. And at the collegiate level, people think that you've got to have great stats to be a leader. And. No, it's more about, like, what you do, who you are, your words, making sure they have meaning in meaningful times. And you've done a really great job of that. And I was thinking about the weight room a little bit, and I've seen you tell guys before, watch how I work. And what does that look like, though, on a regular day here for you?

On a regular day. Oh. So, I mean, this year, I mean, everything for me, including routine, has been steps greater, you know, steps better than last year and any year before. Having a roommate like Paul as well. He really. He really keeps me humble and in tune with my routine. Being able to see his routine reminds me of my routine. Being on top of my schoolwork especially, I always had the saying, don't study where you sleep because then you won't get as much done. I did a study in psychology in one of my psychology lectures to where it's like 20 to 30% increase in productivity if you're not studying where you sleep. And I really use that a lot. So with study tables, I know there's guys we got to go to study tables. I was happy to go to study tables.

Great environment to. To do what you need to do.

Yeah, you're around resources, you're around your teammates, and, you know, chances are pretty high that you're in a class with one of your teammates. So that's that extra help you didn't think you had if you were laying at home and isolated. And you know you get stuck in procrastination. So as soon as you put those shoes on, you can put the bag on your back. That procrastination, you know, it's already shattered almost. So looking internally and knowing I need to get my schoolwork done, not only because you know you have to get all the credits to go to a different school, but knowing I know what's best for myself and getting the best grade that I can. So there are days where Paul and I, you know, we sit in the kitchen, we both do our homework. You know, he could have a completely different class than me because I know he hates history, but I used to be a little bit of a history geek in high school. So you know, we're all making it right. So then being able to watch other routines really puts me in perspective of my own routine. It really gets me going with my routine. And then working around like minded people who want to accomplish the best things for themselves really helps me.

Marcus Aurelius said, you have power over your mind, not outside events. What helps you maintain that self control on and off the field.

So with on the field, my checklist, how I spoke about earlier, can't control what the umpire says, you can't control what the other team does. You can't even can really control where you hit the ball. You can control the effort you put into it. If you want to swing for a home run every single time, that's the effort that you put in for it. If you want to swing to do your job every time, then you swing to do your job. But you don't want to. Okay, I'm going to be selfish and do this or I don't think he's a great pitcher. So I'm not going to swing at anything and I hope the umpire doesn't call it. Once you put yourself in those shoes, you're going to think you can control everything, but you can't.

Question for you, as you were talking about swinging for a home run, you just hit a walk off home run to win the game just a few days ago. There's a really cool moment in that. But I want to answer your question. Were you swinging for a home run there?

I wasn't. I'll be honest, they, they found the one thing that I hadn't worked on a lot, which high end strike. But then when the new guy came in, I didn't even remind myself of the past succession against him because, you know, as we're practicing right now, pass doesn't matter. And I really just honed in on being locked in with him because, you know, I've watched tons of videos on Barry Bonds and everything. And yeah, he says he has to beat the pitcher. But then I made it a step further and I said, I just have to beat the ball. I wasn't swinging for a home run at all. I was just sticking to everything. I practiced staying on top of the ball. And then right before I walked in the box, Mo tats me. He goes, hey, small bites. And that really helped me a lot more. And the die got hurt it too. So they're telling me small bites too.

I think we could do a massive podcast on small bites and what that means and what the psychology of that behind that is. But that's for another. The moment when you hit that walk off, it was electric. People were excited. I mean, it's a walk off, so, you know, it's normal for people to be excited. And I remember trying to keep some guys back so that you were able to actually cross home plate. Your run did not matter. But, you know, I was trying to keep some people back. And then I remember seeing our bat boy Joseph on your shoulders amongst, you know, just a whole slew of people. And I was really hoping like somebody captured it. And I think I did see a picture of it the other day, and I was like that. That's when we talk about hard work, we talk about just putting in the enormous amounts of effort and nobody sees it. It's in a dark room. There's. There's not cameras. There's not a whole lot of people that are telling you, you know, keep going, you know, that kind of stuff, pat me on the back. It's just really raw. And then when you get to see the game give back and you get to see somebody else that's, you know, just loves our program. To be, to be able to see that and experience it and on your shoulders, I just like, that was absolutely incredible. So we're talking about success here. We've won 17 of our last 19. It's really hard to do in baseball. It's a tough game that takes maturity. What internal standards are the stars right now holding themselves to in your perspective?

From my perspective, I see a lot of guys really internalizing positivity within themselves. You know, we have our, you know, our core values, but they take it a step further. I've been able to see and this goes back to being able to listen and not speak all the time. Being able to watch and not think. You're being watched all the time. Being able to see other people in their everyday life, because I see them at Lyft and I see them at practice, and even back at home, they always want to hang out in my apartment. So I see them there, too. I see a lot of the guys, they don't put on a front with it either. Guys like Parker Vaughn. And he's been great. Him, A.J. i've got to see him mature greatly. I know when he got here, he was nervous. He didn't think he could hit a ball. And I'm like, hey, you're here for a reason. And I told him that. And he would text me every day, hey, I'm thinking about working. And a lot of times the guys that ask me, hey, I think I need to work on this. What should I do? I tell them, no, you don't. You need to find peace. You need to be.

Be an athlete.

Exactly. Be an athlete and trust yourself. Don't think you have to change everything.

Right?

Just keep working. And he came back over the winter and started hitting the ball. I'm like, okay, this is the AJ that, you know, the coaches saw and that I can see now.

We've got. I've got some more, you know, questions for you, and I got some quick hitters for you. So we're really going to make you think on this one. You played in some big mom now. Pressure reveals people. And we've talked about where pressure comes from. And a lot of times it's conceived that pressure is one of these things that comes from external forces. The external stuff, like the events, the crowd, the moments. But the pressure really comes from internal. It comes from yourself. And so if you can create pressure on yourself for that big moment, you can also create pressure on yourself for that practice when it's just you and the tee and the bat. What have you learned about yourself in those situations, those big moments? What have you learned about yourself?

My mental strength is a lot better than I thought. It was interesting, that game. I hit the walk off against Kezu. I was 0 for 3. Boy, that ABA. I thought they had my number. I was struggling. The only thing I was focused on was being a teammate. My family was there. My little sister hadn't seen me play in a while, and she noticed, too. And she'd go over and we'd do our little handshake. If I, you know, didn't have a successful ab, we'd do a little handshake. My dad just looks at me, taps it on his chest. He's like, hey, you're fine. So having those. Those little moments, too, really helped. But even with our second game against K Zoo at their place, I was.03 that day, too, before I hit that home run in extras. So I think perseverance is not something I really looked at too much. But it's been, you know, it's instilled in me from the work that I've put in and the things that I've done, the roads that I've had to change into. Being at Eastern Michigan and then coming here, learning that my mentality is a lot tougher than I thought it was. Being able to come out on top after being buried deep and deep in that game and then being able to reset the next day, just keep stacking.

And that's what you've done beautifully. You've mentioned before how much your family means to you. You talked about it at the top of the show. But how do they influence how you lead, prepare and carry yourself today?

I talk to both of my parents every day. And within the little conversations I have with my little sister where she's always asking homework questions, I still find a way to use what my parents told me that day to try and tell her that day as well. My dad was a. He was a baseball coach and coached golf a little bit in football as well. He was in the Detroit police force for 20 years, too. Everything that he's told me and everything that I've seen from him because, you know, I've been by his side since I was 2. I mean, at this point, I'm just his little shadow. But really, the way he treated people, telling me about his leadership. And then with my mother as well, she's leading Blue Cross down in Detroit right now as well. I don't hear as much of that leadership from her because I'm not around her as my father. But then, you know, in high school, my dad was always at work and I'd have days where I didn't have class until noon or 11. I'm at home and I'm with my mom. And then she's working in our home office a lot now, so I hear her phone calls and I get to hang out with her. But they've been a great ground for me. And then as I'm growing with my religion, you know, my father is as well and my mother always has been. So having that as well. And my grandparents being deacons, so that that circle is very tightly knit with a bunch of different strings that connect to all in every different spot.

A lot of fingerprints on you. That's the beauty of it. When your time at Lansing is done, there's a special place here. We throw around the word uncommon, but it's not just a thrown around word that goes on T shirts. It is one of those things that's oftentimes hard to explain. You kind of have to see it to understand it a little bit. When your time is done, what do you want your name to stand for in this program?

I know now, you know me and Pral joke about I'm going to break the home run record, the average record, the slugging record. Yeah, we want that. We were using that to boost our fuel right now. But I think, you know, by the time I'm done here, I really want it to just be the person I was and the teammate I was. I have a lot more games where I can hit a home run to win the game for us. I can make the throw or make the catch to save the game for us. You can do that everywhere. You won't always be able to imprint your personality and yourself everywhere.

Impact.

There won't be not every spot. You can, you know, imprint yourself 100%. I think being here, especially being my second year here, the people that come into here are not the same people that leave here. And I think that's a very appreciative stance to look at it from. I've grown exponentially here and I'm still growing. And the fact that this is the environment to where I can fully branch out, every one of my branches is really going to help me and shift my perspective on. Okay, yeah, I'm gonna break these records to, you know, I wanna be the best person that came out of here internally. I wanna be the best person to my guys, to my teammates. You know, I wanna see how big of a heart I can grow for these guys next to me.

Couple quick hitters for you. Best leader you've ever played with.

Best leader.

Yes. Go.

Best leader. Honestly, I mean, I played some. Some family player, parent games with my dad. I'd say my dad.

All right. Love it. Favorite pregame moment this year.

Favorite pregame moment down in Mississippi. The entire team, we all sat down and prayed.

What flips the switch for you on game day?

My music beforehand.

Beats per minute. Love it. You've gone from prospect to leader to tone setter. What do you hope the guys take away from being around you?

Doesn't matter how much you struggle, you can always put the best foot forward and make a Make a succession out of yourself.

Finish this sentence. To be uncommon, you have to be disciplined. Love it. Thank you for being in the studio today. Electric make winning in life your habit, not your goal. Excellence isn't an outcome, it's a daily standard. Leadership isn't about shouting, it's about showing up and stoicism. It's not about being emotionless, it's about being unshakable. Build the right habits. Lead with intent. Push yourself in silence and let your work speak. Until next time. Keep stacking bricks and go stars. Coach Cut's Corner is recorded live in the WLNZ studios with the Dalian Lowry providing engineering and production assistance. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today's podcast, please share it and follow us on all forms of social media. Our program has been built and maintained with the help of many great people. If you want to be part of our mission, you can donate using the link in the show notes below. You can learn more@coachcutter.com and more about our team@lccstars.com see you next time down.

On the Victory Loud Featuring the faculty.

Staff, students and others that helped to make Lansing's premier college what it is today. LCC Connect Mid Michigan's connection to Lansing Community College. To find out more about our featured programs or to listen on demand, Visit us@lccconnect.org.

LCC Connect Voices vibes Vision.

K12 operations at Lansing Community College has been a proud collaborator of the Mason promise scholarship since 2016. The Mason Promise Scholarship is a community organization of volunteers that guarantees funding for two years of Lansing Community College education to selected Mason Public School students. These selected students are chosen by the Mason Public Schools at the end of the fifth grade and then become a Mason Promise Scholarship through an induction ceremony over the course of the next six years. These students receive mentoring and support, as well as introduction to career possibilities through the Pathway Program. For more information on the Mason Promise Scholarship at lcc, please visit lcc. Edu Hope.

Feeling Froggy well leap into 20 plus podcasts@lccconnect.org LCC alumni stories a show dedicated.

To highlighting the amazing alumni of Lansing Community College. I'm Steve Robinson, President of lcc, and on each episode I have the awesome privilege of getting to know one of our many inspiring alums and hearing about their experiences at and since leaving lcc.

Listen to this program and many others on demand@lccconnect.org.

Just just now another kid.

Dropped out of school.

There's one every 20 seconds. Over 200 kids an hour. That adds up to nearly 5,000 kids every school day. If we do nothing, 3.5 million kids won't receive a diploma over the next four years. But there is someone who can change that, and that someone is you. United Way knows that kids who have a caring adult in their life are more likely to make it. So Make a pledge Tutor a child who needs help. Mentor a kid who needs someone on their side. Volunteer to read to children because the path to success or failure starts long before graduation day. And the difference between a graduate and a dropout could be you. Take the pledge to volunteer now@unitedway.org brought to you by United Way and the Ad Council.

The job Training center at Lansing Community College provides two month job training opportunities that are free to eligible participants. Training courses range from information technology to administrative assisting. For more information, visit LCC.edu JTCTraining, LCC.

Connect Voices Vibes Vision.

This is Time Signatures with Jim Irvin, a podcast and radio program presented by the Capital Area Blues Society in Lansing, Michigan. Most any contemporary musical style can trace its roots back to the blues. Time Signatures explores the blues and its musical connections with captivating interviews, lively discussions and news from the world of the blues. And now here he is, your host, Jim Irvin.

Well, thank you so much, Parker, and welcome to Time Signatures. I'm your host, Jim Irvin, and I'm pleased to introduce today's guest. Now, if you look back in history, this gentleman's been an integral part of some really big names in the music industry. In 1964 he met fellow Hampton Bay pupil Brian May, and the two of them would form the blues rock band 1984. Now this band played a supporting role for the likes of none other than Jimi Hendrix as well as Pink Floyd. He and May left the band in 1968 in favor of academic pursuits, but the two of them would team up again to form the band Smile with drummer Roger Taylor. In the early 1970s, our guest handed off the lead role microphone to none other than a very young Freddie Bulsara. As History Records, Balsera soon changed his name to Mercury and the band's name to Queen. And the rest, as they say, is history. Gives me great pleasure to introduce Tim Staffel of two Time Signatures. Tim, it's great to have you here, man. Welcome. How are you?

I'm very well, Jim, thank you. And thanks very much for asking me on the show.

So let's get right into the discussion, Tim, because there's a lot to Talk about. And for me, the best place to start is to ask you about your earliest memory of music. Where did that begin for you?

Well, for me it began. I know it sounds crazy, but it began in the late 50s. Now I was born in 1948.

Okay.

So 10 years later I was at what we call primary school, kindergarten I guess you'd call it. And even at that point we were aware of skiffle bands. Is skiffle a common term? It may be an English term. It basically involved acoustic instruments, a base made out of a tea chest with, with a broom handle and a piece of string, banjos. It was like a kind of hybrid of folk and bluegrass, but with an English touch on it, which is not, not always a good thing. But there was some fairly cheesy stuff came out of those years. But nevertheless it was. I think it was because it was family friendly that it came to my awareness. It was later on that started to become culturally divisive between the age groups.

Sure.

But in those days, you know, and I mean, I'm a kid of 10 or 11 at this point, I'm listening to comfortable family shows. I don't think we had a television then, so it would have been the radio. But there was a show on Saturday morning over here, Children's Favorites it was called, and it played everything from songs from the shows, Doris Day, Howard Keel to skiffle, Lonnie Donegan, Johnny Duncan and the Bluegrass Boys and things like popular opera and light classics. So that was my first total awareness of music as a thing, as it were.

Okay.

Before I, before I decided that I wanted to involve myself in it. That was my first exposure to music.

Sure.

Now, as you grew up in, in your musical taste, evolved, were there any early influences growing up? Any favorite bands or artists, maybe songs you just couldn't get enough of?

Well, the first single I bought happened to be Return to Sender by Presley. And I think the second single I bought was Runaway by Del Shannon. Now I'm. I'm talking 7 inch vinyls in those days. And so I was, I was listening at some. Maybe when the 60s turned, I was maybe listening to mainstream American pop. I'd grown out of the children's favorites era into. I was listening to Radio Luxembourg, which was a kind of. It wasn't exactly a pirate station, but it was, it was not easy to get hold of, but I was listening to, you know, Bobby V, Johnny Burnett, Phil Spector, early American pop, you know. Then at some point, I can't give you an exact incident, but at some time, I Became aware of the blues. I mean, I think it was something that happened to a lot of us guys over here. Suddenly we became aware of the blues and that changed everything for me. I didn't immediately start playing the blues, although I suppose the thing is, and I've actually said this to my kids when they profess to want to learn an instrument. There's no better way of learning an instrument than learning a 12 bar blues. It's a ubiquitous format that's easy. And if you work out, you can do a whole set of 12 bars blues and be a performer. But apart from anything else, it gives you, it gives you a grounding in the ability to be confident enough to play guitar, piano, whatever. It's a stepping off point into music, that 12 bar blues. And I mean when you look right back into, into the early days even of jazz, regular 12 bar blues have been. Have been a feature of virtually every kind of music. It's extraordinary really. Anyway, that was my introduction to thinking that I could play. Was learning a 12 bar blues.

Very cool. Well, Tim, I want to flip the page here and talk about the early days in your musical journey as you began to play. You met Brian May in 1964. After then, then you enrolled in the graphics and drawing course in 65. That's where you met Farouk Bulsara. Had he taken the name Freddie yet? And were there any collaborations between you guys at that point?

Yeah, he was already Freddie at that point. Yeah.

Okay.

And I've got a feeling he, he was a late enroller at the college I was at, so I'd probably been there a year maybe before he, before he came. Yeah, we kind of hit it off straight away because we were interested in the same music. Because at this time, at this point, there'd been an explosion of English music. The Beatles had established themselves, that had established themselves. It was on the up and it was the cultural. The cultural center of London, which was, I suppose Carnaby street and Soho, was a focus for all sorts of kids of my sort of age. And music was the kind of the lubricant that kept us all together. You know, music's a tribal thing. And I think the beginnings of tribalism in British music started at that point, I think, you know, for, for young people. And with Freddie we just, we just dug the same things. And I was playing in Smile. He had a band as well. He used to come to our gigs, we used to go to his. You know, it was kind of social. It was social as well as, as musical.

Now I Wanted to ask you real quick, I. I forgot to mention this earlier. When you were playing with 1984, which was originally something that you and Brian had formed, you supported the likes of Hendrix and Pink Floyd. Those must have been some incredibly heady times for you guys.

Yeah, yeah, they were. There's a kind of a gray area between the end of 1984 and the beginning of Smile, during which I think mainly it was one of the reasons why Smile became an entity anyway was that it was a five piece band, 1984 and as soon as we graduated from high school and moved to go on to tertiary education, two or three of the guys were off to the provinces so they couldn't stay around London, which only really left Brian and I. So that's why we formed Smile. But before that, because Brian had started as a student at Imperial College, he was networking into the entertainments at Imperial College. So we got to play support gigs for all sorts of bands there because he was in the office and he could get us those support gigs. So that's how we, that's how we supported Hendrix. The first time we supported Floyd and Hendrix as an all night gig it was either 67 or 68 or maybe even earlier, maybe it was 65 or 60. It was either 65, 66, 67 or 68. But it was an all night gig at Christmas which started at 8 in the, in the evening I think on a Friday night, finished at five o' clock the following morning. And actually we were. 1984 was the last band on. But that doesn't mean to say we top the bill. We were just playing to the punters as they finally passed out.

Wow.

I have to ask you, what do you recall most about Hendrix and, and playing with, with Pink Floyd?

That's a really good question because there's so much baggage that exists about Hendrix and about Floyd now. It's sometimes difficult to separate out your own sort of attitude to, towards the music, to the memory you had at the time. But the one thing I do recall is that those were the days when. Oh God, what's his name? What's the original singer from Floyd? Sid Barrett is his name. Okay. Sid Barrett was the original singer and writer in Floyd in my view was, was the core of Floyd and is unfortunately no longer with us. He wrote some wonderful, wonderful songs. See Emily Play and Arnold Lane and I, I personally have felt that they never, they never really lived up to Sid Barrett's promise since, since then. But I'm. I mean a minority, I know because they're they. They're the hugest band in the world or, you know. Yeah, one of. One of the hugest bands in the world. As for Hendrix, well, I wish to God he was around now.

Oh, yeah.

Very interested to hear what he was thinking. I. I think he would have become a jazz fusion player if he'd have. If he'd have survived. I think so, yeah.

You don't think he would have followed the blues. The blues road a little heavier or.

No, no, I don't think he would. I think he would have.

Okay.

I think he would have become. I wonder who. Who there is. Who's. Who's similar. Well, there's nobody who's similar. I mean, that's. That's the. That's the answer. There is nobody similar. I'm just trying to think of. I'm just trying to think of a modern fusion player who. Who is, shall we say, unrestrained in the same way that Hendrix was. Actually, I can't think of anybody. And that's really why I would love it if he was around now because I'm sure he'd be playing up some extraordinary things.

Oh, yeah.

I think he'd have got in with John McLaughlin. He doesn't play like John McLaughlin. Donald McLean doesn't play like him, but I think that's the area he would have moved into. It wouldn't have surprised me if Hendrix would have ended up playing with Miles Davis.

Wow.

I. I think that that'd be a great team, man. That would have been the dream team, wouldn't it? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

I'm gonna leapfrog back to 68 here. When you and Brian form Smile with Roger, and of course, fans of the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, remember your band smile and the song Doing All Right being prominently featured. But as I've read, you actually introduced Freddie to the band. I'd like you to talk about the. The passing of the baton, as it were, because, you know, it's one of those things where I think Hollywood took liberties and. And told their story their way. But I'd like the. I'd like the straight story from you.

Well, effectively. I mean, I have no problem with the way they depicted it. They. They had time constrictions, so they had to condense everything into a. Into virtually an overnight occurrence. As I said, Freddie had a band. We were a smile. He used to come to our gigs. We used to go to his. Eventually I decided to move on because I didn't feel comfortable at the end of the time. I decided to move on. And once I'd Gone. Freddie went to Brian and Roger, as I understand, with the game plan. And then, as you say, the rest is history. Freddie convinced them very quickly that he was the man for the job. And of course he was. Good heavens, I have no problem in acknowledging his supreme effectiveness. He was the guy for that gig, not me, and I kind of knew that, which is why I left. And, I mean, I've been more interested in improvisational music or music that allows the player to improvise, and that's not what they do. But, you know, I'm in awe of Freddie's talent, frankly. We didn't see how huge it would be at the time. It's a little retrospective now, but my goodness me.

Imagine if.

Yeah, right. I was humbled, really, by being included.

I think it was important that they did include you because it was a piece that I didn't know about, you know, growing up. I mean, I. I liked Queen growing up, but I didn't know the history, you know, unfortunately. So it was kind of a. Kind of a cool thing.

The thing that I can't get out of my mind is the fact that. Is the fact that every successful band there ever was had a guy who used to be in it, if you see what I mean. There was always.

Yeah, true.

The Beatles had Pete Best, Iron Maiden, I think, had a free. And then. And then Deep Purple. There was a. There was a previous guy. And. And I. And I always thought to myself, do I deserve this exposure, really? But the fans are so kind to me. It's. It's extraordinary, I suppose. You know, we've got that. There is that album, a Smile album, which for some reason are. The Queen management have decided that it's not to be available. I mean, you can listen to it on the. On YouTube and all, but it's not available on Spotify or any of the digital platforms, streaming platforms. I don't know why. And I suppose that because it exists. That body of work exists. And a lot of the fans have said there is a similarity between what Smile were doing and what eventually became Queen. Well, I suppose that's inevitable since it was two thirds of Smile was right. Went into Queen, you know.

Well, in that. That I. That iconic harmonization between you guys, you know.

Yeah, but they made much more of it. I mean, we. In Smile, we were just singing. We were just singing regular type harmonies. But, you know, Freddie's originality and creativity took it to a new level. Sure. I bow down before them. I really do.

All right, Tim, we're going to flip the page Once again here. After your departure from Smile in the 70s, you took on a different type of work, getting into modeling, animation, design, and most notably, some of the work that you did on the BBC adaptation of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And then as chief model maker for the children's television show Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. I'd love to hear a little bit more about this story from you.

You know, when I finally threw the towel in as regards being a professional musician, and I had to, because my wife had been keeping me financially for a number of years and the guilt was becoming unbearable, I didn't really know where I was going to go with. With any kind of career. And it was pure chance that a friend of mine who'd taken a gig in a special effects workshop called me one day and said, did I think I could sculpt a figure of a man drinking a can of beer? Now, I'd never done any sculpture before. Okay. You know, when someone asks you something like that, the rule is you always say yes. And so I said, well, yeah, not knowing whether I could hack it or not, you know, But I did. And from that moment on, I was in that workshop for a period of two years. And during that time, we were taking spillover work from the BBC. If their workshops couldn't manage, they'd throw it our way. And some of the stuff from Hitchhiker came into our workshop, which we worked on. There's also the story of the fact that I was approached by the workshop, was approached by Hypnosis, the album design company, to do the COVID of an album, which was a little sculpt of an alien. Didn't know who it was for. I did the job, it went out the door. I got paid for it. And it wasn't until maybe five, six, seven years later, I happened to be around Roger Taylor's house to see the alien that I'd sculpted on his mantelpiece.

Oh, my God.

I said, what are you doing with that? And he said, that was the COVID of my album, Fun in Space.

Wow.

And I had no idea. And neither did he know that I've made it. What a cool story. I've eaten out on that one a few times.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, I've lunched on that one.

Very cool.

But then I've been in that studio for some. A couple of years and. And I got the call to go over to this. It wasn't so far away. It was quite local, Clearwater Films in Battersea. And we were working. We were working on some pretty above the line commercials there for the next year or so. You'd call them gold standard products. They were national products, global products. And then they managed to get the gig to do Tommy the Tank Engine and, and, and I just got the. The job to. To be the supervisor and I stayed there. The build and the. The initial day of shooting was about 18 months and I left at that point. But we established the style of it without a shadow of a doubt, because from that moment on for the next six or seven series, it was just using the same models that we'd built, you know, adding one here and there. But that was kind of almost. And it was so well paid as well. That was kind of the. The most fun job you could imagine, you know, playing with gauge one railway engines and huge train sets. I mean, what a buzz. And getting paid for it.

Yeah, absolutely. Like being an overgrown kid, right?

Crikey. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, no, absolutely.

Well, Tim, your return to music in 2001 via the formation of the blues funk band Amigo. Did I pronounce that correctly? It's how it's spelled.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right. A band which reportedly drew its inspiration from folk, Latin and rock. Now, as I listened to this album, I also got a hint of jazz. A little bit of a vibe of jazz in there. But something that caught my eye is that you re recorded a couple of smile items, including Earth and Doing all right. Now, both of these tunes featured your former bandmate, Brian May on guitar and vocals, which. Oh, my God, as soon as I heard the guitar, I'm like, oh, that's Brian. That had to have been a special moment for you.

Yeah, well, over the course of the time when I was a musician, I'd played with several interesting people, Brian being one of them, Snowy White being another, Morgan Fisher being another. And so when it came time to make that album, I rang each one of them up and said, look, do you fancy doing some stuff on my album? And they all did, except Roger didn't. I wish Roger had been able to do it, but he wasn't able to. So I had Brian on one track, two tracks. I had Morgan Fisher on a couple of tracks. I had Snowy White on a couple of tracks, but of course, Brian is the feather in the cap, as it were. And we treated Earth. Not a dissimilar manner to the original recording, but doing all right. I turned it into kind of a country. A country tune, but I. But I still enjoy the way it came out and I really enjoy the way those Those two songs work on the album. I used songs from the last 30 years, plus a couple of new ones I'd written. I mean, on that album. Stray and Country Life were written in the 70s. Earth and Doing All Right were written in the 60s. The Land and Love of the People were written in the 90s. Oh, why can't We Be Free was written in the 60s as well. So it was an eclectic mix of songs from the period of my musical activity because although when I packed up music as a profession, I was still playing in little bands here and there, on and off, you know, evenings, weekends.

Right.

So I'd never given it up completely. It was just on the back burner, musically speaking.

You.

You really haven't slowed down either. You've since released two more solo albums, including your most recent album, Wayward Child, which was released to coincide with your 75th birthday on the 24th of February. And this work was recorded with your son Andrew, too.

That's right. Well, Andrew was the drummer on all three of my albums. Okay. And the great thing is, you see that I carefully brainwashed him, as he was growing up, into liking the same kind of music that I liked. Actually, the fact that he and I share identical musical tastes virtually is a pure coincidence. It's just that he responded to what I like. And so it became obvious, you know, he got. I bought him a kit of drums. He became very proficient, and it became obvious that he was the guy to use. And I haven't looked back. He's a great drummer. He lives in Barcelona, as you. You probably know. He has his own band. In fact, I'm going over to. They've got an important gig coming up supporting Joel Sarakula. I'm going over to see them. So, yeah, I'm still buzzing with it, as it were.

Yeah, I think that's very cool. And it's so nice to have the ability to hand off that passion to one of your children. I've got three children of my own. The one rule that we had growing up is I would listen to your music if you sampled some of mine as well. And it's kind of cool because, as fate would have it, I became fans of some of the bands, people that they enjoyed, some of the bands they enjoyed. And of course, you know, my kids got to enjoy and became fans of a couple of people that. That I listened to.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that I can report the same experience.

Very nice.

Yeah, it's great, isn't it? When I compare my relationship with my children to my relationship with my parents, we just did not communicate with the same degree of intensity and depth that I communicate with my kids. I don't know if it's the same with you.

Very much the same. Very much.

Yeah.

Well, Tim, as we get ready to wrap up this episode, I want to ask you where people can go to find your music, your merchandise. From what I'm seeing, you're out and about doing a little bit of playing once in a while here. Rumor has it you also have some art available. But as for all of this with your music, are signed CDs available as well?

Yes, they are. My signed CDs are available in a couple of places. You can purchase them from Bandcamp or my Shopify page. And I sign CDs personally and I dispatch them from here. Got a number of amusing T shirts that I use a print on demand service, so if you buy a T shirt, I can get it shipped to you quite easily in a very short space of time. I'm offering illustrated lyrics, both of Earth and Doing All Right on my page. Each one is individually handwritten and Earth is illustrated. What else have we got? Mugs. I've got Smile mugs.

Yes.

Yeah.

And no. I'm on Substack as well. I'm doing a regular blog on Substack, Ramblings of My Crazy Mind.

Well, we will make sure to have all of those links put up on the information for this episode so people can reach out to you. And thank you. Tim Staffel. Thank you so much for joining me today on Time Signatures. My friend, it's been an honor to talk to you today.

I'm very grateful for you to contacting me and asking me to do it. I. I'm very pleased, Jim. Thanks so much.

Well, that brings us to another close of this edition of Time Signatures. Again, my thanks to our esteemed guest, Tim Staffel, but most importantly to you, our listeners, our watchers, subscribers. For without you, none of this would be possible. Jim Irvin reminding you that keeping the blues alive is everyone's responsibility. But preserving the history of the blues, one story at a time is my mission. Until next time. So long.

This has been Time Signatures with Jim Irvin, presented by the Capital Area Blues Society in Lansing, Michigan. For more information on CABS, visit capitalareablues.org you can find this episode and past episodes@lccconnect.org the Time Signature's theme song, Michigan Roads, is used by permission and it was written by Root Doctor featuring Freddie Cunningham. Until next time, keep on keeping the blues alive. This has been a presentation of LCC Connect, a weekly program that features the voices, vibes and vision of Lansing Community College. All shows featured on LCC Connect are recorded at the WLNZ studio located on LCC's downtown campus. Each program is podcast based and can be heard anytime@lccconnect.org if you or someone you know would like to be a guest on one of our shows, connect with us by emailing LCC ConnectCC.edu.