Episode 127: Talk w/ Eric Gordon (Galactic)

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0:42 Not only will you save each money next month, but you'll also be able to secure your family and your home. So do yourself a favor and call or text 209-573-0589. Again, that number is 209-573-0589 to get a free energy savings consultation about your path to energy independence today. Guidelines Smart Energy. Take control over rising energy costs. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Uncle Dad Talks. I'm Uncle Dad. With me as always is the ever so handsome, the Mardi Gras man himself, Mike Hampton. Mike, what is up? How are you? Hey, hello, hello, Mardi Gras man himself. So we'll be, I will be in a couple of weeks. I'll say that. Yes.

1:31 Mike, you have a very special show today. We have a very special guest on and I'll let you do some. We haven't done this in a while where Mike, you take the keys, you know, I'll let you drive the car. You know, this car means a lot to me. So don't crash it. Well, well, I haven't had any drinks yet. So the odds are I will be okay. What? Well, good, good. I like that. I like that design. Mike, without further ado, I'm going to hand them over, introduce our guests. Our audience can see if we, just so everybody knows, we may release this as a video. And if we do, you will see the lovely man's face of our guests. And you'll also see Uncle Dad and Mike's face as well. Uh-oh. Yeah, right?

2:13 So without further ado, Mike, take over and let's begin this journey down Mardi Gras lane. Michael Lane. Yeah. So I'm so stoked to have our guest on. I've been a fan of New Orleans jazz music, the culture, you know, for our listeners that don't know, that's my birthplace and have always felt so connected to it. And our guest today is a Grammy nominated trumpet player. He's a member of the billboard chart topping band galactic as well as the grammy award-winning rebirth brass band and who i saw recently at the treme hideaway with the big six brass band, eric gordon eric i i don't know how you have time for anything else but am i leaving anything else.

3:10 That's right yes and you and you also i saw you have a you have a birthday coming up on february 4th which is also my mama's birthday so happy happy birthday to you my man whoa happy birthday Yeah. What a, what a time. I mean, you know, it's carnival time in, in, in Louisiana and New Orleans specifically, it's your birthday. And you know, one thing I wanted to say real quick here is I saw a video this morning that someone showed me where you got to play Louis Armstrong's trumpet. Last week. Yes. I was last week.

3:51 We went to his house and we went to the archive. We said to the archive about two albums, the history of the U.S. arms race. And after we go, he's like, are there any trumpet players in the house? And they were on TV. Let me blow on the floor. You know, which is an amazing experience, simply based on the fact that, you know, you don't really, as a trumpet player, he is like the trumpet player of all trumpeters. You know, he pioneered so much in the music. Like I said, we spent two hours just learning about the history of those. And as a trumpet player, you never expect to play his horns. Like, that in itself was an experience.

4:32 You know, some things you just don't think are possible. You know like to play those instruments his instruments the ones he actually played on hello darling and what a wonderful world it's like what more of an honor yeah i gotta say that's like that's got to be for you like a spiritual experience almost right like you know like holding that and blowing and doing what you do all the time on you know one of like the if not the greatest trumpet player of all time, you know, right? So congratulations on that, man. I imagine the emotions running through you were pretty special.

5:14 Yeah, it was definitely a moment because, like I said, I would have never even thought that was possible in a lifetime, you know, to play on that instrument that he actually played on, you know. So I thought it would be behind some glass mural that you can't even touch it. And here I am playing on the trumpet. I played, and the crazy part, I played for 10, 20, 30,000 people. And that was with 20 or 30 people. That was the most nervous I have ever been just simply that I was playing on that horn. Yeah. Don't, don't mess up. Don't mess it up.

5:55 Right on. Well, that's, man, that's, that's, that's awesome. And again, congratulations. And, you know, one of the things, you know, you mentioned, you know, the golden Comanches and the Mardi Gras Indians. And this is something that, you know, I've been to Mardi Gras a few times, more as a kid in Lafayette than in New Orleans as an adult. And it's one of those things that I know some about, but I feel like I want to know more. I think I mentioned to you when we talked before, I've got Cherokee in my heritage and I'm just always feel called to that part of me. And it's so interesting to me that this tradition still carries on in the way that it does.

6:38 And I see you have your suit and hopefully we get to put the video of this out. But Eric has his suit that he's been working on all year, right behind him. And it's beautiful. And, you know, one of the things that you told me that you did recently was you played a tribute in Congo Square. And for those that don't know, you know, Congo Square is a place in New Orleans where where the Homa Indians used to live, and it was like a sacred ground. And correct me if I'm wrong in any of this. It also was like a marketplace for enslaved Africans, which, you know, a lot of like the second line and Mardi Gras traditions kind of grew from there.

7:18 And there's a statue of the chief, Tutti Montana, right? I'm saying all that. And so you play a tribute there every year? What does that place mean to you specifically? specifically? Oh, Congo Square, like you said, it's in the Tremaine neighborhood, which is the oldest African-American neighborhood in America. And Congo Square is where, like you said, the slaves, during slavery and after slavery, on Sundays we would get to meet. So during the slavery days, we got to practice the vision of an ancestral history. So, the Mardi Gras Indian Group came up with the idea.

7:59 Later on, it was a marketplace. On Sundays, there was always a tribute of something going on, because we had our freedom down in New Orleans on Sundays in the New Orleans. Condo Square pretty much is all of the culture, all the city. So, no matter what part that you want, the direction you want to go, or where you want to go, that's going to be your place. because that's where Fruity Montana was. During the slavery days, we weren't able to, I guess, show our own roots. So we had to mask to pay respect to those who came before us, our ancestors. And with that, Tongo Square still has a lot of the history in that location down in New Orleans.

8:43 Like I said, and also the brass bands were able to practice all the time. It was also a market place. Tongo Square is pretty much the center of all history of African American coming from New Orleans. Back to the Indians, I want to say, there was a bunch of tribes. Indians ran away. African, I'm sorry, the slaves, when we ran away, we were running away to reservations. reservations. So a lot of different reservations would take in the slaves, you know, whether it's the Cherokee, the Seminole, the Homer, the Natchez, the Tonica, the, uh, it's so many of them. The Seminole, which I have Seminole in my bloodline, you know, it's a little bit away, but, but yeah, uh, so when they took us in, it would be a safety net for us.

9:31 So that's when we get all these people like the Cajuns and the Creoles, these mixed bloodlines from those African and Indian roots. And from there, like I say, we pay homage to those who escaped and, you know, found a better life and came back to free others. So even until today, we always sew these hand sewn suits with thousands and thousands of beads and we always try to tell a story, you know, about the history because there's so much history in the world. Like you sit down and you just walk through the, even just Just the front quarter, like the LaRue House. I've done a story of the Nat Turner Revolt before. I've done a slave ship where the Indians and the slaves were escaping off the slave ship.

10:14 I've done a peace pipe of the slaves and the Africans sitting together, you know, sitting around a campfire, smoking a peace pipe. Every year, I try to do a suit to tribute those who came before us. Even if you're really different, I'll show you on this suit here. Here, I have this Louisiana, and it's beaded with a, I'll start over here first. When we were slaves, my count was backwards, but 1718, we were slaves, and I have the chain across Louisiana. But on the opposite side of the suit, I have the chain broken in 1865, you know, and it says free. You know, that kind of symbolizes freedom. Of course, we all know slavery was signed to be free a little before 1865.

10:59 But, true to Texas, you know, Juneteenth, the guys in Texas never received that until 1865 So we always include the last of the people But in Louisiana, we were free a little before that. And that's, you know, that's like the short, short and out version of the mighty grail, you know, we could do that for hours. Oh, yeah. I want to come back to it a little more, too, as we as we go on. And, you know, and I love that you love the history and you take this and you really own it. Like, I could tell, you know, we could tell it's really special to you. Right. Like, and, and I take in new Orleans specifically is, is very special to you.

11:42 Am I right? Like that's home, right? Yeah. And so you, you lost, you lost a lot after Katrina, right? Like you lost your equipment and you had to move out of state. Am I right? Right. Right. And so, so, so how important was that for you to, to, to come back to new Orleans and, and like to get back into the music? Uh it was it was that that was pretty much a turning point in my show and bringing back New Orleans definitely based off of all right Katrina hit in August of 2005 uh we went to Houston you know we stayed there for actually I'm left in a year due to there was a loophole not really a good loophole but our my family's home it flooded we got about five feet or five and a half feet of Ward, which is my home, and our house in New Orleans East.

12:36 So that house was totally ruined, but my grandmother had a house over in the community neighborhood, which is still there, on a black and blue digital record line. And that house sat up maybe about five feet off the ground. So we moved back around the summer of 2006. And when we moved back, the music really brought the city back to life, because when we moved back, of course, everybody wanted to get back home, but if anybody who was here, they can tell New Orleans was a ghost town. From 2006 to 2000, I want to say nine. So people literally came for the music. Like, I would be out there in the first quarters with the brass bands, and every night, you know, we would stay out all the time tonight.

13:20 Like, some days we would go out at 8 in the morning and play until 12. Sometimes it would be 4 p.m. until, you know, 9 p.m. Some days it was so empty. Some days we would get up at 2 in the morning and say, what y'all doing? And everybody would go on Bird in the Canal or on Fritzman. And you know we'll play music like 2am to like 5am just because everybody who's in the city was in the city so you know so uh the music kind of really brought the city back to life you know you think about the Katrina days and so many parts didn't have like in power you know you saw 2006 it's 2024 and the lower ninth wall and some parts of the east are still devastated so imagine 2006 like this part of the city you didn't even want to go to because like the night war you know because it was dark you know you don't know who's who they still had the military here you know trying to you know enforce certain things but the spirit never left the water and it was something about the music no matter what when people seen a horn at that point in time in 2006, 2007, 2008, it brought life to people. It made everybody happy, you know.

14:32 And you could feel it because outside of that moment of us playing music. We were pretty much going back to destroyed neighborhoods. Because no matter where we stayed, the neighborhood was destroyed. Like I said, it's remaining one at that point in time. And, you know, the lights were breaking down, you know. Random power outages, you know, a lot of schools are still closed. So, like, music in that time, it definitely played a big part in bringing the city back. Like I said, it was only, at that point in time, it was only about three brass bands in the city. You know, I want to say the Truth Brass Band, the Free Asian, and 2B Continuum Brass.

15:13 Yeah, and you've played with a lot of different, a lot of different, these bands, right? Right. And, and what's the biggest challenge when you're trying to play with a, with a group of guys, you know, is it, is it, you know, obviously this is, and now I'm talking about like way after Katrina, is it hard? Is it, is there too many distractions in new Orleans to keep a band together? Like when you're playing with a bunch of guys, you know, especially when you're out at, you know, the clubs and you're on the streets and, and, you know, I know you guys got to rehearse too. Like what's the biggest challenge there? The biggest challenge, I won't, no. Because the music brings us together.

15:53 This was probably the hardest part. Because I had to play the gig and make money, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Every band is always one thing or another. You know, you always have to deal with everyone's circumstances. You know, everybody's different. Everybody's coming to enjoy and read. This guy smokes a lot of weed, this guy drinks a lot of alcohol, that's his problem. But sometimes problems are this guy has a lot of girlfriends and all his girlfriends show up to the gig and you know it's always you deal with situations, all day come you know but the music will always keep us together you know even guys get into physical applications you know but if the music is strong long enough if you are as passionate as the next person it'll bring you together like you know something simple is not putting the right notes sometimes when you want to have something tight and be genuinely good you know you have a certain passion about it you know what you know that's everything across the board like you want to have the perfection with it not to be perfect but to get your best every time so a lot of friends you know they they focus on you know doing their best.

17:10 Everything and i can say every band is different you know some bands have a lot of women come around some bands do a lot of partying it's just things alone you know as long as you're passionate about community because i can't say any group was more passionate than the other it's just the individuals change you know it's like what clothes are you going to wear today you might hang out with a certain set of friends because they wear joggers or this set of friends who wear suits all all the time you know it's just about what you like and what you like so yeah well speaking of bands let's talk about galactic you know how does that happen do they do they call you do you audition like what how do you get with with a band like that manifestation yeah hey i'm into it i'm into that yes let's hear it yeah i heard about galactic i want to say maybe around 2007 out in 7th, 8th, 6th, and 7th.

18:08 From that point, I was always interested in black. So, years and years down the road, 2019, 2019, I want to say, Shamar Allen, which is the trumpet player for the Lakers, you know, real popular figure in the world of trumpet playing, a good friend of mine, you know, and he called me up and said, I have a gig for you. Because he was getting ready to go solo. And at that point in time, I was the best fit for the band. Got into the band, you know, started learning the music and realized it was a tight shift. I had to really learn the music. But the guys were very embracing, they always embraced me you know, I'd still get nervous for the first couple of years I would get nervous all sorts of things, I never was in a touring band, I always you know, did a tour maybe, a week or so, two weeks but to be in a touring band is a different thing, you know, to have everything tight, and at that point in time the guy had just got to patina, so that whole galactic experience has been been amazing.

19:09 I was active out with the Galactic when I played on Louis Armstrong's trumpet. And those guys always embraced me and pushed me to be better. So the whole Galactic thing is kind of like one of the best experiences with a band that I've ever dealt with. And that's it. Outside of just being good guys, I was in great business with. You know, so I learned a lot from him. You know, just learned how to be better at doing things that make more sense. Building my own brand, because up until I got with the Lashley, I was more of just a good or great brass band musician. But they kind of taught me, you know, what's going to make you different? And the great drummer Stan Moore said to me now, he was like, okay.

19:53 He named a couple of trumpet players that were like iconic. And he said something, but these guys are playing here. What's going to make you different from those guys? to make your brand better and it's just simple talk like that can make you open your eyes and all of the guys always embrace me and always try to push me to, what's going to be the Eric Gordon what is Eric Gordon going to bring so that translates across everything I do whether it's Indians to Indians to the clan, because like my first skiing experience you don't have snow in the water was with the guys they were like hey you should go skiing and I'm like uh they're like try it and i'm like i'll try it so yeah just like dealing with the guys in the life is always push for something different or push for something new push for something better like even them with going into tipatina they would have never thought they was going to be the guys to buy tipatina and when it happened it was great but then the pandemic happened So I watched those guys, you know, brainstorm and they brought me to brainstorm and just work on music, on ideas, different things to get through, you know, because the pandemic was rough.

21:06 They had just purchased a club that was in the negative. They had to close it down for a year. So just learning how to work through your problems, the guys would be like, you know, they're amazing. The great guys. And anytime you're around, these guys embrace you like family. Yeah. You know, real quick, just to give you a second on that, man, like, even if it's not something that you may continue to do, like, you may not go skiing ever again, or you might, but just trying those new things, I think, help your brain expand to trying new things within the stuff that you already do, right? Like, it just helps wire your brain in that way to think, which allows for you to grow as a musician, especially within a band.

21:51 And also, can we please give a shout out to Shamar Allen for Hit the Sean Payton and why we never hear that. Hit the Sean Payton is my favorite Saints jam ever. Why didn't you complain? Hit the Sean Payton. Yeah, anyways. We're always so behind our strengths, though. Big Father figured out the Sean Payton was back there. So I'm going to play this song for you guys. Yeah, no kidding, man. Well, yeah. So like, yeah, Galactic Bot tips in 2018, like you said, and I've seen you guys play a couple of times there, like a New Year's Eve show.

22:34 And they're amazing there. The shows in that place are amazing. I've seen you guys at the Warfield and SF. I've seen you play in Berkeley at the Greek. What are your top three favorite venues that you've played in? What are three that come to mind when I say that? I would say the Fillmore in San Francisco, 930 Club in D.C. And here with the Tiff Latinas. You got to give Tiff Latinas. Yeah, Tiff's got me. I will say my favorite, though, would have to be the 930 Club.

23:21 930 Club? Yeah, it's an illusion. I love it. It's an illusion. So, with the 930 Club, they have a moving stage. So, if it's a sold-out crowd, they'll push the stage all the way back. But, if the crowd is light, and this is for anybody, if the crowd is kind of light, they'll move the stage up and be a part of the ticket sales. So it's always a penthouse. Oh, that's great. That's clever. Yeah. I think more and more venues should adopt that system because, you know, I mean, as a musician, like, you don't always, it's not your responsibility to get people in there. And, you know, if you're in a place and it's half empty, like, you still got to do what you got to do.

24:02 But it's a lot easier to jam when everybody's packed together. And yeah, yeah. Yeah. You can definitely find more people that. You know, I love that, you know, we always do two nights over there and it's like there's something changing here because it's a huge building. So it's maybe I want to say two to three times the size of Tipitina. So it's a huge building. It's amazing. amazing yeah uh yeah i was i was reading some of the history of tipitinas and how they uh upstairs used to be apartments and they would there was a radio station that, wwz was up there and they would they would put a microphone through a hole in the in the floor and record live broadcast of the shows while while uh the shows were going on downstairs stairs it's such a i i love that place and speaking of tips on mardi gras day which which this year is on february 13th you'll be starting off your day real early coming out of tips, to do as a member of you know as with the golden comanches and and and starting that so so take take us through that that the the hours before and that time when you come out and and start like How does that all work?

25:25 I'll say this. For the past few years, those two days have been the longest two days of my life. Since that was the last year. I didn't manage 2019, the whole track show. But in 2020 on until last year, as a Mardi Gras Indian, your suits never finish until you absolutely have to go out the door. So that last 48 hours you're just sewing and hooking up and and making adjustments and making sure your suit doesn't fall apart well the last few years galactic does a london garage show so literally i will bring my suit to tippertina at 11 45 get on stage from 12 a.m to 6 a.m.

26:12 Literally get off stage and put my suit on and walk the rest of Mighty Grime Day. So I literally didn't go to sleep for that whole $40. How does a guy do that? I would be working on my suit all day, trying to get it done, trying to get it done. Literally go to Simplatina, jump around on stage, do a great show, 12 to about 6, and get off stage, tired. But it's Mighty Grime. And once that sun hits, it's time to go out the door. So we always out the door you know roughly about seven eight like i said we stood up around six seven eight o'clock we're all in the street last year started a new thing where my big chief won part of the early morning show so now he's doing finally so i think six or six thirty, so uh this year is going to be the first he's going to be new we're going to, actually have the whole tribe outside in front ready waiting on him so when he finishes his set In his last year's suit, he's going to change and put the new suit on and come outside and sing in his brand new suit.

27:19 So we'll be outside waiting on him to get ready. And the whole thing is going to modify to him, you know? He's going to sing in the old suit. Just to clarify, he's going to sing in the old suit inside and then come out in the new suit outside. Yeah, yeah. And then do the... because he as an Indian as a chief he has to bless all of the suits so until he sings Indian Red which is our traditional Indian song, you don't really put the new suit on, not the big chief at least so he's going to wait and sing this whole set in his old suit because the old suit is elaborate and beautiful and as a part of the master you have to build a better suit every year so imagine Imagine you watching him in his amazing big suit on the landing ground, really mighty ground boiling from 5 to 6 a.m., and then he gets off stage, and now it's time to see the new suit, So we'll be outside as a spy boy and a wild man. All of us can be outside early.

28:23 We just don't go anywhere until our chief tells us. So we'll be sitting there waiting on our chief to get ready. And when the chief says, say Indian Red, which is our traditional prayer, it's showtime. And in that neighborhood, we come out of Tipitina, from Tipitina, we're going to go with the wild capuchins, Indian tribe. There's, you know, the criminal wild west, the golden blade, you know, the beautiful criminal past. We're going to start meeting these tribes. But we have to sing Indian Red with the blessings of the big chief, Almighty God. Wow. Of the golden command. Right. And so when you guys, okay, so I have a couple of questions. So what are you guys doing while you're waiting outside? Are you sitting, are you standing, are you drinking coffee?

29:08 Are you just, you know, BS and with each other or like, what are you guys doing out there? It's almost, It's actually very tribal It's like we're conjuring up the spirit At that point in time Because we waited These suits take a year to make And we waited all year to put these suits on Like all these beads So as we're waiting We're conjuring up spirit We're singing, chanting Early in the morning On the shallow water And we're And this whole time we just conjuring up these spirits and that's pretty much what we're doing you know that whole time because my idea is, it's kind of hard to explain it's by a massive we are not ourselves like I'm not the Chuck and Claire or Miley Grimes just like I am a spirit.

30:06 So I'm paying respect to those there. So you see me, but I'm a different person. So that entire time on Miley Grubb, we're masking. We're kindling up these spirits of these gods and ancestors, like the god Shango of thunder and ocean and all of these Greek gods. And, you know, we kind of, everything reaches. So that whole time with all time, it's us, but it's not us. We have the drums going the tambourines going we're chanting, we're screaming you know, whatever your spirit feels, we're running up and down the street so it's definitely something to experience it's hard to explain but it's something that if you see it you will understand it.

30:55 It's almost a kind of spirit almost in a positive way you got your suit on i mean this is this is part of like your lineage and you sort of become that like you you allow yourself to be primal in that right and and it and it and it feels good i'm sure it feels good to just just let it be that and in a in a place where that is not just accepted but it's almost it's expected right yeah and and and that's amazing that you get to be a part of that and And so when you guys, when you do your suit, like, do you think of the theme for your suit each year? Or is it like a tribal, like you guys come up with a theme and then you can have your own interpretation of it for each individual suit?

31:42 No, it's, it's solely based on you. It's solely based on you. You kind of, you don't have to stick to like the, the, the roots of, of. The history, you can pretty much sew whatever kind of suit you want. You know, and most guys sew suits based on history, which is always a good thing. Like my big team, Juan, did a 300-year suit, the Centennial suit a few years ago, you know, it's always about telling the history of the past. You know, so there'll always be a new suit to make. It's not like you're going to run out of ideas, which is a pet peeve of mine with dealing with Indians sometimes. They think it's all Indians and cowboys, but there's so much history that you can sew on a suit.

32:29 You can do a civil rights suit because it's still, as long as you're telling history, it's limited. I've done a police suit. I've done a I've only left about four suits in. But I've had a lot before. And what place has... There's just so much history in New Orleans. Just right there i mean you know like from the from the from from the friends were there and from when the spaniards were there and then from you know the when the graves that are there you know there's just so much crazy history and and a lot of it's not like something that you can just go read somewhere it's it's like the history is almost with the people at this point so you you mentioned something like kind of your role is you is a spy boy and i and i've seen the photos of you where you have a sign and it literally says Spy Boy. What is Spy Boy?

33:26 Okay, we all have our own positions in the track. Me, I am pretty much the most important piece outside of the big chief in the track. The big chief calls all of the shots, but the Spy Boy is the one who puts his life on the line. So he has to have as much discernment as a chief because. Masked and Mardi Gras Indians isn't just a show of suit there are altercations there are situations that get rough and we've tried to change Mardi Gras Indians with that narrative but, Mardi Gras Indians still do fight so as a spy boy I have to when I'm meeting a trier I have to be able to say, first of all dance and understand where they're coming from dance and you know greet them with respect which is a big thing in my book There's tribes that are disrespectful and disrespect is tolerated very well by everybody.

34:27 As a spy boy, I am responsible for protecting my whole tribe. There's other positions like the Wildman, which he's responsible for protecting the Chief, the Big Chief. I'm responsible for everybody because if I get into altercations and I start fighting, now it's possible everybody else starts fighting. You know, it's possible that everything could go crazy because I personally believe, even though we're still masking and showing respect, there are fights, there are knives, there are guns sometimes. I'm telling you. So I have to be the one as much as the big sheet to say you know what? This guy's drunk. He's doing it for the wrong reason. You know, because some people put on a suit and it's not for, you know, the purpose of paying homage and respect to the ancestors.

35:15 So I have to be the one to say, you know what? I don't want to meet this guy because this guy is drunk. He's high and he's trying to push me or push to go whatever to say, all right, you know what? We're not going to meet. Have a great day. And we have something called two-way populate, which is, it's a cold two-way here. We're going to go around you. You're not going to meet your two-way populate, which is a, you know, two-way populate, and our two-way just died. And that, you know, I have to have the discernment of a chief. Everybody doesn't have that. But you, as a tribal, I have to have that. I mean, I say, I put my life on it, because I'm first up, because when meeting tribes, if I told you, back in the day, most tribes fought.

35:58 But you have to be the guy to say you know what you're not gonna fight you're not gonna let it get out of control because even in the event of it's too respectable pride we still both built these beautifully created suits which no two suits are alike and sometimes it can become an ego battle or you know my suit's better than your suit and then that can get out of hand too suit. So the spy boy has to be the one with the assignment of, you know what? Your suit's pretty, but I always think I'm the best in the city. And we can shake hands, and you know, I have to be able to regulate everything. Like I said, the big chief, he's kind of in the back with the chief scouts who taught the children, which I'm regulating two of my children this year as chief scouts.

36:45 Like I said, the big chief is the overall seer, and the spy boy, like I said, I protect everybody. I make sure everything goes good. I'm the the first out the door you know i have to be friendly because i have to see all the indians. And like you say, with tribal things, you never know what's going to happen. The next position behind me is the flag boy, which is the first of the prettiest in the tribe. The flag boy holds the flag of our tribe. And he shows off how beautiful he is in the tribe. So we got the flag boys, and then it will be the wild men. The wild men, they work hand in hand with the spy boys. Those are my two favorite positions of all time because they have to show assertiveness and they have to have a protective nature for the tribe the wild man's job is to control everything going within the tribe i start the meat off and once i say it's good for the flag and all the rest of the guys to me then it's up to the wild man to make sure everything doesn't get out of control and And a wild man's number one job is to protect the chief.

37:53 The wild man is the fearless one. Like, don't do anything crazy. It's like going after the king and queen of England or something. You know, it's like that level of respect. You have to have someone who is willing to go the mile for you. So wild men are pretty much one of my favorite positions between a wild man and a spy boy. I have to say this. hearing you explain all this because I'm basically the audience right now and I have to tell you man I never thought it ran so deep like that like you're just opening my mind in ways I've never thought about so thank you for that and if you're a wild man you can't be you can't be messed up and well I guess you could be but you know you also can't be you also gotta like probably be in shape in case stuff goes down you gotta you know hold it down for the chief right, Look at it like this. The Secret Service or the President.

38:49 You have to really be ready for anything at any moment and put your life on the line because the wild man, you know, their suits are getting more elaborate as we speak but traditionally the wild man, he kind of had a suit to let you know I don't care to mess this suit up. You know? Like, I don't care. We can go the distance. And like I said, all of these positions all have real significant rules. You know, Chief scouts are the children, and you have to be queens, which are more about the beauty. But when you get to UCS for Mighty Grounds, like I said, we come out early that morning, but the spy boys are always first. You have to have the sentiment of the spy boys, make sure everything's good.

39:29 Flag boys are beautiful. They have a gang flag, which some tribes have, which is the leader of the flag boys, which is the gang flag, which is the prettiest. Then you have the chiefs. Queens and the chiefs. No, and it was so far apart because... We have signals. So I might be four or five blocks from my chief. And I'll shoot a signal like, whoa! And let him know from five blocks away, sometimes eight blocks away, there's a tribe coming. And as that tribe approaches, the chief might sit back for eight to ten blocks. And as we up there, I'm the lonely one. I'm by myself.

40:12 You're the canary in the tunnel. You have to be determined now. Just imagine you're up there by yourself and something goes wrong. At least everybody else is safe. So ultimately, I can put my life, not so much my life. We're not killing each other, but, you know, I can say that all over the place. I'm in the front and I have to always say, leave me with respect. A lot of guys out there are being beautiful. And I'm glad we're kind of getting over the curve of disrespecting each other. And I'm trying to help push that narrative. You know, I think respect goes a long way with any culture you know, just me as a spy boy, just imagine if you go into a situation where you're by yourself and there's a whole group of people, I don't want to go in there with this monster attitude with, y'all I'm the best and I'm the prettiest and I'm this and all this arrogance, so as a spy boy, you know, you have to be smart about it.

41:09 For sure great position to run Now what about, okay okay, let me, this is, I'm curious. So people know, so like people know you, they know you do this. It, you know, you guys are saying, Hey, we're going to be here. So people can come in and watch and watch you guys do your thing. Like what if someone knows you as Eric and they're like, Eric, yo, I brought you a bottle of water or yo, those guys are messing with you. I'm going to step in and help you out, but they're not part of the tribe. Is that, is there like an invisible wall there? Or like, is there interaction or what? I see everybody who's talking to me, but yes, I'm looking for people who mask. If you have a suit on, whatever happens, happens.

41:50 If you don't have a suit on, you're not allowed to put yourself in it. Okay. That's kind of where, honestly, a lot of things go wrong. And we call those guys second liners. Like, you know a second liner? The second liner at an Indian meet, they have to be in check by the tribe. You know because you don't want a guy who everybody gets excited everybody gets excited if i've been walking with this tribe you know and it could be a girlfriend it could be a wife a cousin a family member you know of this friend you have to be like no this is a this is for the people that match because we do this for you guys we do this for the neighborhood and everybody else but let's keep it with the guys who are matching because there are rules of engagement you know there's ways to beat a guy like not physically but.

42:42 It's almost like a sport also. So it's not just traveling and meeting. There's dancing. When I first meet somebody, I'll start dancing for two, three blocks away. And then we get up close and personal. We'll do our dance. And it's a competition of the beauty of the suit. So when I swing back and forth, you see my plumes going back and forth. And it's like a peacock almost. You're showing off your beauty and your dominance respectfully. I'm just both beautiful. of them all and and with that you still have to show this this assertiveness and in the right respectfully peacocking this is what it is right here.

43:25 Man new orleans is so great because like what other city in this in the u.s does anything close to that like there's just nowhere like there's just you know there's so many festivals and and shows and music and character and one season just rolls into the next with the next thing. But there's nothing like this anywhere, you know, and that's part of what makes New Orleans so great. And I could talk to you for forever about this, but I do want to get to you and Rebirth. We talked to Vincent Broussard, the saxophonist, on our last trip, our last show. So how do you get a spot with Rebirth?

44:07 Years and years. You know, just like the horn, Rebirth is the iconic brass band of New Orleans. They don't admit it, but growing up in New Orleans, everybody loved Rebirth. You know, they loved Dirty Dozen. They grew up on the Dirty Dozen. But a certain age bracket, it's really only Rebirth. Everybody has a Rebirth CD. That was pretty much the first horn CD I had of just a lot of instrumental horns of New Orleans Brass. And I had the original Do What You Want Album with Do What You Want, Leave That Pipe Alone, Mexican Special. I think that was something. He had a couple of songs on there. And just having that CD was like an opening to a reverb.

44:49 And I was a kid. This was before I even played an instrument. Before I thought about going brass band. so over the years rebirth has dropped 17 albums growing up they've always been the staple of brass band in the community so i just kind of worked my way up from like the little band like the true brass band and i got to the new birth which is like cousins of them and i went to the brass band which is an amazing journey the students brass band taught me how to be a lead trumpet. They said back, I was like, you're young, but you are the lead. So at 19 years old, I was leading the Stooges. And that was pretty much my first big thing. From the Stooges, I got with TBC, and we developed some music from there, The Truth, and then Big Six.

45:33 As I was with Big Six, Cliff, the prover player, and the leader of the Big Six, started playing with Rebirth after Phil had his stroke, I think his second stroke. And Phil was like, you know, let's call it Cliff. let's talk to them and so he made it happen you know and from then one of my good good longtime friends the trumpet player of rebert with the chad allery chad quentin as he goes by his name he went solo uh actually last year on january 1st he went solo and the guys they called me up and i guess he's a good friend of mine me and chad has been a long time riding so So we talked about a lot of stuff, like, from middle school, like, 12 years old, that's when I met Chad.

46:16 And Chad is a great trumpet player. I don't really tell him in person, and I won't tell him in person. Don't feel bad. We won't let him do that. Chad went to school with, like, Trombone Shorty, Chris Roy. You know, like, he went to school with, like, elementary. a mentor. When I met him in middle school, he was already so talented. Just think about how talented Trombone Shorty and a lot of these cats are. So I took to me with Chad and he's a great guy, a great trumpet player. Like I said, he left Rebirth last year and I was looking around and they gave me a call and I'm like, okay, yeah.

46:59 Mm-hmm, yeah. So I thought of musicals, I'm pretty much living the dream. Like so that's just the funk band I've always wanted to be with and Rebirth is the brand that I've always wanted to be with and it's like, Mind blown. It's a journey. It's an unbelievable experience because literally these are the best two bands out of New Orleans that I can think of because everybody comes from them. If you want to funk style of the music, the revivalists, Trombone Short, it's a long list of guys. My name is John Michael, Jada Cosmich, all these guys come from the lake.

47:39 And then Soon as High Day Little Rascals Big Six all of these guys come from the Rebirth so to be playing with both of these bands is definitely an experience and I love it I love it you know not to be too loud but it's the dream for me because. It's life so I try to put my best foot forward playing every time I play you know I feel like I could be better because these are the legendary bands in the city I mean, yeah, you've got it covered. And, you know, I feel like you can probably feel that you went into all of this with the right intention, with respect.

48:21 You really care about what you do. You're also really good at what you do. But even just the way that you talk about, you know, the Mardi Gras, the Indians and how much space you give of your life for that, I feel like you've given the same for your music. And that's why these doors have opened up for you. And you're a nice, genuine person. And, you know, you deserve everything that you have. And I hope you feel that too, because, you know, I, I've, I respect you just from watching you play, from seeing the videos of you doing, doing the Mardi Gras Indians and just how much you're willing to share because, you know, I don't live in Louisiana.

49:04 I don't live in New Orleans anymore, but you're willing to share your story with everyone. And I think it inspires other people to feel okay to do that, that, and, and, and to have that same outlook on life, you know? If there is a way to win at life, Eric, you're winning at life. It's been a long road. What's the big difference? What's the main difference of playing with Rebirth or with Big Six, which is so swingy? And like if so I don't know there's probably another word that I'm blanking on and then with with Galactic it's a little more controlled like is that the biggest difference of playing with those two bands essentially I, Outside of the song selection, no, to me personally, it's not really a big difference because I didn't want to bring my own flavor into all this. That's what they all like.

50:08 It's like cooking with rice. You know, sometimes you have jambalaya, sometimes you have red beans, sometimes you have dirty rice, creole. A lot of stuff is being able to make the dish better. You know, it's short. you know I kind of try to bring my own flavor every time you know I'm still the same individual so my style is my style of playing and I'm pretty much like that Louis Armstrong New Orleans style of trumpet playing but essentially I try to just bring it every time you know it's not so much about the music it's just about the feeling because there's jazz cats that'll play a thousand notes and nobody felt it but sometimes you'll catch a solo of me playing one note and I'm going.

50:56 You know and people will feel that and they'll be like yeah yeah yeah it's more about a feeling i try to bring that that feeling that that love even in all my schools you'll see me having a good time i can't you know it's a blessing in itself to be able to perform on stage you know oh yeah so yeah it's a feeling definitely a feeling not not to try to separate the two it's always a good vibe between, no matter, because I do gospel sometimes, and it's all about what you're doing. All you're smiling, all you're happy while doing it, because if you're not happy while doing it, just don't do it. Yeah, and people are going to see that, too. It's going to come off as that.

51:39 And that's another thing about New Orleans that's so great is. Is, is the, is the feel right. Of like watching that music, you know, like I watch, I watch other jazz bands, even when they're covering rebirth, you know, from Chicago or from North Carolina, where I'm at right now. And like, there's just the different feel when you're watching, when you've seen live new Orleans jazz and uncle dad, I mean, I know you can agree because uncle jazz, uncle jazz, uncle dad's seen you guys play too. And I, and I've seen, you know, I've seen him light up watching you guys play. Oh, it's incredible. It's one of the greatest experiences ever. I think like, you know, I've been to like Jazz Fest in the past.

52:19 And whenever I see a NOLA act in town, I'm in the Bay Area. And so whenever I see a NOLA act, I have to be there because we just don't get that. You know what I mean? It's such a unique, beautiful experience. Like I'm a, you know, like Soul Rebels I love. And so when Soul Rebels are out here, I have to see them, you know, it's just something. If you could bottle that energy and hand that out, I think the world would be a better place. Let me tell you. be a better place. That means coming out to the show at the Fillmore. I hope to see you. Oh, yeah. That's right. Yeah. I will go. I am going to go. I'll be waiting for you. I'll be there. I'll be there on the set. Just look for the short little fat Mexican kid.

53:02 I think you were making him hungry with all your rice dish analogies, too, right? I love me some jambalaya, let me tell you. All right, Eric. Eric, real quick, I'm going to shoot these at you real quick before we go. And I just want to, you know, quick answer. Favorite music venue to play at other than Tipitina's in New Orleans? Stumped him. Oh, Blue Nile on purpose. Blue Nile. Blue Nile's a great one. Blue Nile's a great place. I love the name. Oh, yeah. Blue Nile's my favorite. Yeah, Blue Nile's amazing. Okay, what's your, what's just your favorite bar in New Orleans? Oh, well, Hank's.

53:46 What's that? Hank's. thank you okay favorite place to get a meal, these are the tough questions these are tough, like little disney little disney was amazing um but a lot of the smaller stores like the manchus, the VNC you know those spots are amazing and uh Prowl Ease is a good spot too Prowl Ease Prowl Ease okay. Alright what if you just wanted to go out and go dancing like you're not playing you just want to be a guy enjoying the music or can you do that like are you able to go watch a show and just and enjoy the show and not feel like you gotta get up there and start playing, yeah I would do Blue Now for that yeah Blue Nine and a lot of Hole in the Wall once you had Celebration Hall which is the hall not in the ballroom but Celebration Hall always has you know and the jump ball, currently the jump ball is like the new hot spot to catch a band and you know just go fly, jump ball okay alright last one where would you go watch a Saints game Kermit oh yeah Kermit Russell's Mother-in-law, okay and Kermit always has a vibe you know Kermit has a band also on Sunday Hammond says like.

55:13 It's under Kato's camera, mother-in-law. Just such a vibe. It's so nostalgic. It has this seventies, eighties vibe with the murals and the paintings. And it's just old school. You know, sometimes you want to chill where the people are good. Well, somebody knows your name. Okay. All right. Yeah. Yeah. That place is always on my list to go. And I just, I just never ended up making it there because there's a million other things in the way. Right. Kermit owns the place he's always there and that's the thing about Kermit he's such a great spirit if you walk in Kermit's mother's house he's liable to be sitting at the bar drinking a beer drinking a bud like with his trumpet hanging right behind him and sometimes the band will play he'll just pick up the trumpet and start playing he genuinely loves that place and that's the energy that you get you'll see Jelly Ali singing at that that sometimes you run across like a bunch of the artists that's in there because it's such a chill, really vibe, second line show.

56:20 It's a lot of people just going there just to hang, you know? Yeah. Sometimes you go, it's about who you are. Hey, hey, hey. But in time, it's just kind of like, Everybody's just playing, you know? Yeah. No, I love that. I love that. Well, Eric, thank you so much. Everyone. Mardi Gras at Tipitina's. I know you guys are playing there Saturday the 10th and also is it Mardi Gras night? Well, we're in the 10th. What's that? Say that again. February 3rd and the 10th. We're playing there. Third and the 10th. And then you will also be Mardi Gras morning as a golden Comanche, as the spy boy. Golden Comanche. Spy boy. There you go.

57:03 I don't know my name. Hey. Spy boy. Look at that. Spy boy. And we're going to put this out on our Instagram, you know, pictures so everyone can see. Even if this video does come out so people can see what you put together, man, it's beautiful. It's very beautiful, for sure. I do have one last question, Mike. I got to ask him. It is very important because when this comes out, it'll be right around that time. Here we go. Who is going to win the Super Bowl? There's one right answer. There's one right answer. I'm not giving you. No, you're not going to give me anything?

57:48 See hey hey he doesn't care who's gonna win the super bowl is mardi gras time. Audience i tried who that uh eric where can uh where can our listeners find you if if on social media or on website or how do they find out where you're gonna be, I'll go by I Am Eric Gordon. Simple enough. I just spell street. I Am Eric Gordon. All social platforms, you know, Facebook, Instagram, whatever. If you want to search some music, I have some songs under I Am Eric Gordon.

58:30 I just put out a new one last week called Province Prince for the Zulu, which, you know, the Zulu Parade is coming up on Mighty Drive Day. So the Province Prince, they are a crew in the Zulu. We dropped one for them. I have a song called Down in New Orleans, which is one of my favorite songs. Definitely suggest checking out. I am Eric Gordon, Down in New Orleans. I'm featuring Lou and all these and Angelica Jolie-Joseph. But I am Eric Gordon across the music platforms, across everything. You know, and out there you'll be able to be birthday singers. I like to be so. All right. I am Eric Gordon. And Eric, I am Mike Hampton. And this is Uncle Dad. And thank you so much for coming on here and sharing all that you share with us, man. It's really special.

59:15 And I can't wait to see you down there. Yeah, it's going to be a special day. I'll see y'all there with the tambourine. Everybody come and bring your tambourines. I'll get a tambourine. You need a tambourine. I'll get you a tambourine. Right on. okay and and i guess that's going to be it for for uh for now right uncle dad uh that is but mike it's you're running the show so you got to say the trademark line before we wrap up oh that's right oh yeah eric and for everyone listening we're not uncles we're not dads we're just someone you can talk to and we will see you all next week well done mike yeah all right.