Here we go and lets get this blog started! get ready for the amazingly, not amazing writing you are about to read. This is gonna be an emotional roller coaster of a blog. So since this is my first post let me introduce myself.
Hi, my name is Riyan and I like music, concerts and my ukulele. Okay now lets get to the good stuff! about a week ago (January 18th), I got to do my dream interview although I wasn't the one asking the questions I still got to be there and meet them. "Who is them?" You may be asking yourself, Well I'm glad you asked! "Them" is the incredible and iconic(maybe not so iconic right now, but they are to me) Jesse Cale and Ashley Dun!
A little over a year ago Jesse and Ashley started a little project called Secret Midnight Press(SMP) a collection of poems that they have wrote over the years. SMP has blown up over the year and has lead up to this, their first ever American book tour which is where we are interviewing Jesse and Ashley. Jesse and Ashley are the most down to earth people I have ever met. After the interview we stayed for the show and it was absolutely amazing.
Lets start with the opener Give Me Motion, as he took the stage he started off with a little bit of a different type of vibe than I'm used to but he gave the crowd energy and I loved it. He was really good and honestly I was surprised and I have nothing bad to say about him.
As the curtains closed and we hear the rumbling behind it because they were setting up for SMP. The curtains open to a really sick light and a neon sign that was white but shaped as their symbols. As we wait for them to go on stage they have an audio clip of Ashley reading one of her poems. As Jesse and Ashley took the stage Ashley starts to read a couple of her poems and then leaves stage. But oh my god it was beautiful and eye opening as I had never focused so much on someone before. It was truly life changing, this whole experience was.
As Ashley left Jesse started to sing and play piano, I was blown away. As Jesse started reading his poems I just listened. I zoned out a few times just listening to his voice and the words he was saying. After they were done they pulled up a few people and had them read their own poetry and I felt like as they were reading they kind of just gave away a part of themselves to everyone in that room and I love that. They had the courage to come up in front of 50-100 people and read their deepest thoughts to us and for that I have so much respect for them.
Overall this was probably one of the best moments of my life and I don't think I'll ever get an opportunity like that again. I want to give a huge thank you to Jesse and Ashley for making this all happen!
♡Riyan♡
Interview with Jesse Cale and Ashley Dun:
Hey guys! This is Trenton with musikalnotes.com and we are here with Jesse Cale and Ashley Dun of Secret Midnight Press.
Trenton~ Thank you guys for sitting down with us today before your show!
Jesse & Ashley~ You are very welcome
Trenton~ Can you introduce yourself?
Jesse~ Hi, my name is Jesse Cale, I was born and raised here in Columbus, Ohio and I sing and write poetry.
Ashley~ Hi, my name is Ashley Dun I am also born and raised here in Columbus, Ohio and I write poetry.
Trenton~ How did you guys meet?
Jesse and Ashley~ We have known each other as kids and grew up together here in Columbus.
Trenton~ When did you guys realize that this is what you wanted to do?
Jesse~ I think we still don't know what we want to do, I mean we are doing it and we love it. That's the thing about me I just fall in love with everything, you know "oh I want to do this, oh no I don't have a song direction". Expressing that feeling has always been a favorite of mine, so basically we are expressing all of our emotions to the world.
Ashley~ I have always had this journey of always writing and posting it online and then a year and a half ago I started blogging about a bunch of different emotional issues. I feel like that kinda blossomed into "this is my heart" and letting people know that they are not alone. We both(Ashley and Jesse) are emotional people so I wanted to create something for people like us so they feel safe and accepted.
Trenton~ What was your favorite thing you have done since you started this?
Jesse~ We did a combined music tour, we did 5 dates but on our last date we were on the boat in Paris reading poetry to people and then we realized it was our 6th month anniversary as a company and everyone started singing "Happy Birthday" and it was the most magical moments of our entire lives.
Ashley~ Paris is my favorite place already so it was so magical and special. That whole trip was the best thing we have gotten to do so far.
Trenton~ Can you tell us about the Smoothie Revolution?
Jesse~ Oh the Smoothie Revolution! it's really funny because it's a goofy thing because I'm a goofy person I actually make a smoothie every morning on Snapchat.
But it actually comes out of something way more serious and dark but it's helpful. I used to drink a lot 2 years ago and I got really depressed, I wasn't eating right and gained a lot of weight and I was truly unhappy. I woke up one morning and said to myself "I owe myself a better version of my life" and this is the life where I experienced the love from my family, friends and the world and I need to make this one better. I needed to treat myself the way I treated my family and friends. I needed to love myself. So I said "I'll change my diet" and started making smoothie's everyday and since the birth of "Smoothie Revolution" I lost 55lbs and got in great shape and so far over 20,000 people have participated in it.
Trenton~ What would you recommend at Zest?
Jesse~ Oh god! I love everything there, I was one of their first employees, I worked there for 9 months and I still can not decide what I want when I go in. The blue almond is great, Hazel bliss grape juice is insane, the kaleidoscope is great in the summer time over ice is amazing.
Ashley~ Definitely the liquid gold shot is a go to and their toast is so good and it was my favorite when I worked there.
Trenton~ When you were touring with Vesperteen, what was your favorite City?
Jesse~ Oh my gosh every single night because every place had a different vibe and the guys were awesome.
Thank you guys so much for your time! it is very much appreciated and it was an honor to get to sit and talk with these 2 very talented individuals.
♡Debbie & Trenton♡
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