Beantown Podcast - 06232018_Quinn David Furness presents the Beantown Podcast ft. John Paul Pendowski

Episode Date: June 23, 2018

Quinn sits down with college friend John Paul Pendowski to discuss the life of a music major, Russian music and culture, and drinking coffee at the Bourgeois Pig

Welcome, this is Quinn David Furnace. This is my podcast, The Bean Town podcast. The People's podcast is voted by you, the fans. It is Saturday, June 23rd, 2018. This is our, I think, 24th episode. So we are getting close to the halfway spectacular. It's going to happen right around the 4th of July. What a just a big celebration for our country. Love America and America loves the Beentown podcast. So as promised, I'm gonna be joined by guests today who I will introduce in one second momentarily. I want to give the Beentown podcast disclaimer. Listening discretion is advised.

When you're listening to my podcast first and foremost we will use some adult language here and there although neither myself nor my guests have foul mouths by any means I believe and then the other thing is that podcast is objectively terrible although it's gonna be made a little bit less objectively terrible today because I'm joined by one of my good friends, brothers from the School of Music. For those of you who don't know, yes, I was a music major for a brief stint in my life.

Lots of stories, we got a lot of stuff to talk about. Joining me now on the podcast, John Paul Pendowski, welcome to the Bean Tom podcast. How are you doing? Good. Thanks for having me, man. Joining me now on the podcast, John Paul Pendowski, welcome to the Bean Tom Podcast. How are you doing? Good, thanks for having me now. Yeah, absolutely. This is, believe it or not, this is the second,

in your view, this month that I've done with a resident of Outgrow Village, your former high school sweetheart, Maggie Day. Sure, sure. No, they they never dated but John Paul and Maggie both went to the same high school same graduating class right? Yes. Yeah this is a wow inception almost not really but I'll say it anyways so John Paul Pandowsky is currently a master's of music candidate at the DePaul University School of Music in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago.

We entered as undergrad together. I graduated in three years, but that was still plenty of time for lots of early morning group piano sessions and choir concerts and some shots in the basement of the concert hall we had time for all that so JP why don't you just get us started with Sharing a little bit of your story about how you decided to commit to majoring in music think back in all the way Six years ago and you were making this choice music think back in all the way six years ago and you were making this choice. You know it's kind of when I think back on my decision to go into music and to become a musician and sort of embark on this sort of wild ride that is being a

musician. I sort of I've always thought about being a pianist and doing music you know especially in high school when they sort of prime you and say, like, what do you want to do? And what type of things do you want to get into? I was always under the impression that I would do something with music. And I mean, it makes sense in high school, I was like that guy that knew so much about music. I was that canist who would do stuff and was known primarily for the piano for a lot

of people who didn't know me personally. And so, you know, it just became such a big, big part of my identity as a high schooler, and I couldn't really imagine breaking it off and not doing that in college. And so, really, I sort of went into the audition process as if it were the most normal thing that could happen. And when I started auditioning my junior year, it was just like, well, where do I want to go? And was it a question of, do I really want to do music? And I mean, we have a lot of friends that, like, you know, before their junior year of high school,

really didn't know if they were going to do music. Like if you remember, uh, cello, David, you know, David from graduating class or my graduating class. But he didn't know, or even Sean, I didn't know if he was going to be a musician up until like late in his high school career. But for me personally, I just, I sort of felt that music was this calling that I couldn't ignore. And so that's really like how I got into, you know, I just think I'm going to Nepal and it only helped that my parents. They're both the lums of to Paul as well.

My dad had a degree in music from there. And so, yeah, that's right. I, two things. I recall a couple of musicianship classes here and they were in our professor Kurt would, uh, would call you Jim. That's your dad's name, right? Jim or James. Uh, yeah. Yeah.

I remember. James. Like at least twice. I remember that happening. The other thing, um, back to what you were saying about, you know, people we know who didn't decide to major in music until late in their life. I think I recall Dominic, a tar player, he didn't even start playing guitar until like his freshman year of high school. I don't know that as fact, but I think I recall in between one of the conversations about the Anaheim Ducks,

I think he slipped that in at some point. So. I mean, have you ever get him to talk about the Anaheim Ducks? Well, hopefully he was happy this year because as bad as the Anaheim Ducks were, the Blackhawks were even worse than neither team made the playoffs. Yeah, like, I know.

Getting back to the topic here. So you have a little extension of this story because you've made a choice that actually both you and one of our good friends Ryan made. And that is to go to the exact same school and the same program or less and the same teacher for your master's degree. So talk us through a little bit more about how you made that decision. So it wasn't really, it was kind of a hard decision

to make when I was ending my undergraduate career. And I was thinking about what I was going to do. And like, what was the what is like my what were my goals as a musician going forward and that and having to think about that for so long you know really pushed me to like weird you know, an extent of what I could do with music, what music really meant to me. And so there are a few factors that go into my decision to going back. One of the bigger ones being that, well, two of the bigger ones, that take a great per se. I know that for a lot of people, it's a great decision to take some time

off from school, like to focus on yourself, maybe like a cruise some money before going back and like spending it all on the tuition again. But for me, it was like knowing myself, I wanted to stay in a routine that kept me working and kept me pushing towards a goal rather than becoming a little bit, what's the word for it. Sort of sticking that thing down in my career and not really practicing as much with all my free time. That sort of temptation and the worry that I wouldn't practice for a year, if I took a year off, sort of pushed me into taking my masters at the Paul. Another thing too is just my goals for,

my goals for what I wanted to do, music shifted substantially to what I was like in my last year. And it just, it made a lot more sense for me to go into the Paul and use it as like, use it as a stepping stone towards a better musical goal. That was sort of like what I wanted from music after I master his degree. And so like, going back to George as well and back to my instructor, I mean he's such a great performer and he has so many insights and he's like his prominence in Chicago as one of the best channis in Chicago. He really stands

out on where you can go and what you can do. I mean, I'm throwing a lot of information at you that should be taken to account for anyone who wants to go back to me. That made him Chicago, that made me to fall really, was that I have, I was starting to spread out rooting my career in Chicago. I was getting a bit more work and I was making a lot more connections. And so for me, it made sense to stay in Chicago and like work It made sense to stay in Chicago and work. I know the goal in music while also retaining my students, being able to set up my career in Chicago. That has like boundless amounts of other opportunities. And so that really went into why I wanted to stay at the fall.

You know, would I have liked to go to another school? You know, that would have been nice. I think part of it has to fall. And I have to blame myself for what a bit for not preparing enough for that. But at the same time, it comes with its pros and cons of living in a big city. Yeah. One thing that I'm actually curious about,

and I think I partially know the answer. What did the finances of this look like? You think about sticking around it to Paul versus you might go somewhere else, Michigan or USC or wherever to get your masters in music. I don't know what the expenses look like for look like in that instance. So, did the finances, the financial aid, did that come into play at all?

So, I actually didn't apply for any financial aid and for this year or for the next year as well. I didn't get full tuition, but I got a substantial amount, maybe about 70, 75% full tuition, but I got a substantial amount, maybe about 75% of it paid for. So for me, it was a better decision to go and to just pay it off and not have to accruate more debt than I already have. And that played into why I went back as well, considering that not some people don't get the opportunity to go back with scholarship and to have their school and paid for it. So, trying to be creative, full of both, you know, the opportunity, you know, those gave a night, they didn't want to pass up.

Yeah, so to clarify, you're not getting financially per se, but you're on scholarship from the school music. I'm on scholarship, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm on scholarship, and I'm just paying tuition out of pocket. Yeah, and that's a big thing. I mean, for a school like DePaul, who's a solid music school, but not the top of the top, you can get that scholarship from them, and I'm sure that they're pretty eager to hand that out to you, because they know your abilities, they know your potential, or

as you can go to another master of music program and it might be more highly rated than DePaul, it might be the same rating as DePaul, but they don't know you as well and so you're taking a little bit more of a gamble with the finances in general. So yeah, so you're not on like a government federal aid of any kind, but you are getting a lot of it covered by scholarship and that's an important thing. I know this is a conversation that we've had frequently in the past, but I haven't had this conversation with you in a couple months now. So, talk me through a little bit about career interests,

goals, this point next year, what you hope to be doing. Give us a little glimpse into that. Gladly. So what has really puked my interest last few years has been more of the research side of music going into the fine details around and how developed, you know, and to be really broad with it like the cultural and the philosophical implications surrounding music and its

development. So what sort of started off, what started me on this path towards research was, I had, it's sort of a, it's going to feel or sound like it's a long story, but I promise it won't be, it won't be too, but it a time at a concert where I listened to... I had to hurt my first precof... Except... You know, from then on I was just sort of taken by his music and I was so amazed and you know, and wonder about how he could write something, you know, so seemingly random,

you know, so jarring and disgusting and yet I haven't been like this masterwork of music that I can just enjoy time and time and time again. And so, you know, I did, I started like looking into it by myself. I played a sonata, like I play his music and I look through it. I listened to it frequently and I did that a lot. And what, what inevitably happened was it led me into other like other Russian musicians and composers of the same time for it and thinking about how like

how their environment and how their political their political standing and like the culture surrounding them pushed them into a musical sound that was Sounded I'm seeing my namely a bike I'm seeing my name, like, from the Chicago F. Triminski, you know, those big guys, you know, in some extent, they catch a champion, but did another conversation. And so, what, in that interest me a whole lot, so I brought it to Dr. Elias, who told me, like, so, who told me, you know, gave me some direction about where I should be doing, and, you know, sort of oriented me towards musicology. And so that was my plan last year, was that I wanted to take to Paul as a way of getting

myself rooted in Chicago, but then also using my performance degree that I would get as a master's student to look more into my interest with Russian piano music. And you know, give myself more of a chance to study it. And so what had to become lately, especially with like having written, you know, having written some substantial work on it, I really become interested in how, you know, Russian music, spanning like, you know, before the 18th century was just so anti-Western. It didn't really it was heavily based on like either like orthodox music or secular music that was spread around Orally or through tradition and so like you know, they sort of like roar into the 18th century When they you know with Peter the Great, you know you know, getting into the West and using France as their standard for understanding culture.

And so that's sort of a big deal, and I think what's really interesting for me is seeing how the interplay of cultures, and mainly how the, how sort of like the view of Russia as a sort of oriental sound as an oriental culture really peaked everyone in the West's interest. They really had a feel for that orientalist sound as they called it orientalism. And I remember reading about a quote that was from the Garden Music Hall, a French magazine of sorts or journal that basically said like the Russian has afforded so much beautiful sound because of their proximity to the Orient. And their ability to tap into those sounds and those harmonies just automatically affords them a richer musical, history history and musical culture. And so it's sort of that study that is really interesting to me

and by association that pouring into the historical music of Russia up to 1700 or 1700 rather, that is all based on these oriental melodies and all of this like, you know, these more ancient Russian music. You and I have had extensive conversations in the past about Alexander Scrabbe and specifically who at one point in a young Quinn's music career, I spent a summer writing a 20-page research paper about his styles comparing

and contrasting and how they changed and why they changed. But you mentioned the Russian and kind of Parisian French styles connecting with each other at some point in history. And if you look at an early scrubbing work, and you listen to it, one could easily confuse it for a show pan piece. And then you give it another five years, and all of a sudden, scrubbing, writing piano stuff

that sounds like nothing else at the time and is really difficult to play and really difficult to understand. So yeah, it's definitely very volatile, it changed quickly, but like you said, it's fascinating. It's certainly cosmopolitan yet at the same time there's this, I don't know, there's this distinct Russian sound and I think Chikovsky does a good job among others of capturing that.

As I ramble here, have you ever, I'm holding in my hand right now, a collection of essays by Richard Taraskin, who you may or may not know I assume you know at this point, his essays on Russian music. Have you ever picked up this volume? It's just like a green cover. It's titled On Russian Music, and it's just a a green cover it's titled on Russian music and it's just a collection of about 35 different Tarasgan essays. Yeah actually I actually own the book.

Very good. It was part of my research just looking through it. It has a lot of really interesting things to say about, you know, I don't know if you've read through the early chapters but like Borsanyansky and his work with Balticaria Galupi and, you know, how that worked, like, the Orthodox Church and then with drug amissity as well. His writing is writing to get into it a little bit is always really fun to read just because he's such a provocateur. He's kind of like, if you get on his bad side, like he'll flame you really hard.

And it's funny, because like, he kind of like, in the most concise way, he'll give like a saving review of someone's like criticism of him. And you know, I mean, I guess like his book isn't without drama, and it really draws attention because of that. Well, at the same time, he's got he's got such a vast knowledge of Russian music.

It just sort of, it comes off as being almost completely natural, like that his style of writing is almost conversational and he's speaking to you in the room. Yeah, boy, talking about 19th century Russian music and operas on the bean town podcast. This is what everyone comes here for so You're welcome I'll briefly so so that we don't get terribly long here because there are a couple other things that that I definitely want to touch on I'm already into you know 19 minutes here I'll briefly share share my story. I think're going to transition this now into sort of talking about outcomes and just sharing, you know, we already shared a little bit, you know, kind of on the

front half of being a music major and how you decide to get into it, but you know, the types of things that are happening on the back and post-graduation are really fascinating as well. So, back and post graduation are really fascinating as well. So for those of you, most of you who know me probably know that I was a music major with John Paul with a lot of the other guys that we mentioned here. For three years, I chose it really because I was 17 and I had no idea what I wanted to study. It had always been a really good student in high school,

so I wasn't concerned about not being able to do something other than maybe like engineering, because I really didn't like AP Physics. But I chose to study music because I knew that I had a good talent for the piano, and it just seemed like something I could do, and I knew that I was going to get a good financial aid package as well because of the scholarship stuff that we talked about. So I actually kind of came around to this musical, logical way of thinking before a lot of people do. I actually knew, you know, applying to schools that that was what I wanted to do. I never had an interest in spending, you know,

four years as a music major, you know, in practicing hardcore three, four hours a day and giving a bunch of these concerts because I get just absolutely terrible stage anxiety. So I came in knowing that I wanted to do that research and I think it was just, it was a combination for me at the Paul and why I won't say things didn't work out because I actually had a great time, but why I didn't end up pursuing musicology was a combination of two

things. One, I'm very much just a laid back is one thing, but I do better when the opportunities are sort of placed in front of me. I'm not as good at kind of just going out and taking things for myself, whether that be research opportunities or jobs or performance opportunities, whatever. So that was the first half of it. The second half of it is,

and John Paul, you've done a much better job of navigating this than I have, but there aren't a ton of musical research opportunities or even staff or faculty members at our school. Our school definitely does not, or I guess at your school, it's not my school anymore. There isn't a huge emphasis on research and there isn't a huge appetite for either. I mean, I know you, and if I sat down for a couple minutes and thought I could probably identify one or two other music majors that I knew who are interested in research but beyond that it's pretty much

performance and its technology and its education. It's a Paul there really isn't much in the way of the types of things that you're interested in that I'm interested in. So I think it was a the types of things that you're interested in and that I'm interested in. So, I think it was a combination of those things that led me to just kind of get out of it. And then the other thing is I know that you're still somewhat experiencing this, but I know you've experienced it more hardcore in the past, is just this living from gig to gig paycheck to paycheck, not always sure when your next big money boost is going to come in for me who is someone that struggles with anxiety and likes knowing

when my paycheck is coming. That was just a lifestyle that I don't know. I really struggle to throw myself fully into. So I ended up going to grad school and getting a degree in education and the rest is history. But it certainly, I'll wrap up my story here. It's certainly a skill that you never have taken away from you, which is particularly useful as a piano person, because yeah, maybe a church needs a accompanist, or maybe anybody needs an accompanist, or maybe you have the

opportunity to teach a little bit. You certainly get rusty and significantly worse as you don't consistently practice and hone your craft. I may living example of that, but at the end of the day, I can still sit down and I can play you my scales. And I know music theory, like it's a second language, which is a huge thing that I know you and I have, it talked about in the past as the advantage that pianists have with just knowing music theory inherently.

So those are still things that I carry with me to this day. I'll be listening to my iPod and listening to a random song and almost without me realizing it, I'll just be thinking, okay, one, four, six, two, five, back to one, that sort of thing. I don't know, that runs in the back of my operating system, which is kind of weird, but also, I think, really cool. So I'll wrap my story up there, because it wasn't very exciting. But let's just talk a little bit about some of the people that we have known or currently know, and who are all music majors, at some point, whether they left school or they graduated

or they switched majors will include all that here. So all good, it started off with a couple of people who I, some of them I keep in touch with, some of them I just see on Facebook, but our friend Jack, who I know did a lot of like house party concerts and there's some good videos and he actually has one song on YouTube that has 80,000 views or something. But he still records.

I know, he just dropped a new track on SoundCloud like a week ago and I listen to it, it's really fun. But he works full time in Boulder as a software engineer, which is related directly to, you know, he was a performing arts technology, if that's what they call it, major. And so he's doing that, so he got into the engineering game and I hope that he continues to record music and play with whatever band he's recording with, because that's actually really good.

I'm actually, I promise I wasn't gonna do this, but I'm gonna do it if you're interested. Go check out Jack Campbell on SoundCloud and he has some music videos on YouTube. Jack, I hope you don't mind, because I'm sure you listen to the podcast all the time. I love your music. Another guy, Nick, who I never knew super closely,

but I almost wish I knew better, because he was always really nice to me And I didn't have any issues with him. He goes to wash you in St. Louis and he's in law school Which is definitely a unique twist. I don't know of any Other people in our class that either went to law school or went to med school That's just like not a thing that happens very often. So he was a unique story that I wanted to law school or went to med school. It's just like not a thing that happens very often. So he was a unique story that I wanted to touch on. Our friend, Jang, who I grew up in the same town with, he goes to IIT and he's doing an architecture degree

out of all things, played soccer against Jang in high school. Miguel, he stayed at DePaul, but he switched, was he math or engineering or something? I don't remember. I think computer science. Computer science, that's right. I remember that. Yeah, so he stayed at school. He just decides to do something else differently.

Chris, who I don't think either of us really knew that well, but he was in school for like one year, maybe two. And he works as a mechanic and auto mechanic now, which is definitely something different. So that was just a rundown of some of the people that I don't necessarily keep in touch with, but I see on their Facebook feeds what they're doing. Do you have any other unique stories of what people

haven't doing since either graduation or since their days as a music major? Well, I mean, the first one that I always think about is you, like getting your degree and then going into education. I don't think that was like, I don't know if anyone expected it. I mean, I knew that you were going into it because we kept in contact and like, you know, we used to talk. And half the top of my head, I think, like we've got our old classmates to see the like my Henry who like the jobs he like you know they'll get around the city whenever or he'll even take it it's like out of this like out of the city and stuff like that.

You know I think like coming out of music school. Yeah that when you're music school that you'll go into like, like, oh, it'll be like this really nice thing where we'll get like, we'll get a job playing the instrument that you've, you know, practiced so hard on. But I think like, a lot of times like, or at least a lot more commonly than you might expect, like, ha. Trying to think of like all of it, like some of our other classmates that, you know, may have taken other roads and unfortunately, it's like my memories betraying me.

Well, I think the most common thing that I see are people are certainly after graduation, they're playing in orchestras. That's a pretty common thing to do. But for most people, that's not going to give you your living paycheck. So I think the standard is to get out, play in Orkestras, do a lot of giggling around the city, and then potentially start getting into the teaching game as well, but you'll see that they're... I mean, Henry, he used to drive for Uber, does he still do that? I think he does. Yeah, and our friend Sean works at a coffee shop.

So it's certainly some of the outsider perspective stereotypes where you're working a bunch of different jobs to try to make ends meet that's certainly true. I'm definitely glad that we lived in and used to live in Chicago and not a place like Manhattan or even you go to a place like Berkeley or something and it's in Boston. Living right there is just crazy expensive and Chicago really isn't that bad and it's big enough to where there are a lot of different isn't that bad and it's big enough to where there are a lot of different places you can live and it's actually really affordable compared

to a lot of other places. So, yeah, I guess moral of the story here is there are a bunch of different things that people go into. We have such a small sample size of graduating class for us is like 70 people. But one other thing, our friend, Steven, has done a lot of odd jobs since graduating. He does a lot of working as a set up in Taredown crew, working late hours, lots of like third-chief stuff.

So yeah, there's a lot of stuff all over the place and doing a lot of gigs and part-time jobs to make ends meet, but I guess the old ad industry, if you love what you're doing, then it's worth it. And I think that underlying philosophy might have been the biggest thing for me is that I never truly loved performing and I still don't and I never have and I probably never will. And I got to the point where I realized I just didn't love music research because you want to do something like that and you want to become a faculty member and musicology or ethnomusicology then you pretty much exclusively have to go get your PhD as well. And that's just

pretty much exclusively have to go get your PhD as well. And that's just whether it's finances or time or just your own personal happiness. That is a huge commitment. And I just was definitely not ready to take that step. Are you, JPR, are you thinking of going the PhD route? Absolutely. I have my schools lined up. That's actually why I've been writing papers

or trying to do so the last eight months or so. It's just been to prepare myself for entrances. And so that's going to happen relatively soon. I think it's coming up quicker than I'm taking it. Then I think it is. What programs are you looking at? I'm definitely looking at University of Chicago. I guess with that, the question is whether or not to go into

a musicology or a music history sort of aspect of the psychology. There's that. I'm looking at Northwestern, of course. I'm looking at Madison, MSU, Boston University, and then I'm going to apply for Columbia because I know that Richard Taroskin is there. So, you know, to launch shot. Oh yeah, also maybe, also Yale as well.

I mean, I know that Yale is trying to build up its music school and trying to build up its program. So, I mean, not to say that they're doing not money, but like there are definitely opportunities at Yale. Sure. You want to pursue music. What is the process application components look like? Is it just used to meeting essays that you've written research papers or what are they looking for?

It's based on, so I think the meat of the application is that. It's like all the work that you've done, you know, like the papers that you've written and stuff that they can, you know, I guess, ascertain what your study is and whether or not they want to, like, want to, I guess, help you get to where you want to go. The other part is you need to take the GRE and so I'm cropping for that as well. And then just having a good CV or having a good artist statement as well. Most of the programs that I've looked at don't require much else other than that and you know a master's degree, but like,

so that's what I'm spending so much time trying to get these trying to get my papers underway. I've got one boarder right. And after that, it'll just be fine to it for the next three months. So yeah. Well, that's exciting. If you want any GRE tips, you're talking to the master

over here. I mean, I will hit you up for those tips then. I'm like, I haven't taken a stipularized test in five years now. So yeah, man, you're going to have to revamp your algebra two knowledge, bring that back to life. So that's the statistics that would be doing algebra two. It's a lot of algebra two and some basic statistics and a hefty amount of geometry as well. I don't remember if there's any trig on there, but I think I know geometry plays a significant

part. That's fine for me. It's more of the, I'm just afraid of you getting anywhere. So like, you're passing out one stuff because that's where that sort of dropped off. Yeah. I know there's no calculus or anything beyond that on the GRE, which is nice. like you're not asking me how to do one stuff because that's where that sort of dropped off a lot. Yeah, no, there's no calculus or anything beyond that on the GRE, which is nice. Yeah, I have one other, not maybe big question, but question I want to post to you before we start to wrap it up and reminisce a little bit here, but my last big question for you is, in what ways did you change

or grow significantly in your first year of grad school? So, I guess one of the biggest things that's happened to me, or like, you know, how my character has changed, is more like, I value, I'm coming to a point where I value having time to myself and I value having enough time to prepare something well. Because a lot of times when you're starting off in music, you're in this mindset, at least I was where I didn't want to turn any gig down, I didn't want to pass up an opportunity because like, you know, it was more than just making money. It was like, you know, you're putting your name out there, like people know that you can

do this. And, you know, if they know that they can call you and you'll answer the first time, there's definitely a case to be made about them calling you a second time in getting back at gigant. And so, like, trying to, there's a sort of need and a will for myself to be established in the musical community and trying to get myself out there and like build a resume because at that point I didn't really have anything to go off of. But so like as of late, you know, this last year I've been able to pick up work and you

know, really build on my resume and ways that are like, you're having regular work teaching you know, for institutions and doing stuff like that. And so what I've come to, what I've come to appreciate a lot more is, you know, creating a schedule that allows me to either, you know, both have enough time to myself. And that's, you know, that was part of, you know, that came, came about part of, part is, sorry, came about as I was, you know,

living in Chicago you know going around trying to try to get a lot enough time to do both school both work and then perhaps a second so so there's that and then the other part too is I've come to really appreciate simplification and simplifying almost anything. You're not grasping simplifying or seeing or making your life simpler has made my life so much easier. And it's sort of like a lesson that I've had to learn continuously over this entire year. Because I was still in that mindset where the opportunity, But by simplifying my life and by basically being real with how much I could do, how much I could reasonably handle,

I was able to make for myself a better environment with which I was supposed to work and do things. And so if I were to go back and tell myself something that I needed to know, it would be like, they'll be afraid to say no and you know, definitely simplify. Like, nothing has to be so complex that, you know, that you sort of lose side of what you're doing. Having that, having that end goal in mind at all, at, you know, at any point is the, is what simplification should be about. Yeah, I promise my listeners, last week when I announced that you're going to be joining us, that you had a lot of sage wisdom and advice, and I always look forward to our conversations.

I think you're much better at articulating advice than I am. So it's always nice to have you share your thoughts because it makes a big difference to me. Yeah, last thing before we wrap up here are already pretty deep in. I don't want to keep it too much longer on your weekend here. Just sharing any of your favorite memories from undergrad. They don't have to be related to us, just anything that you thought was really fun. I have a couple that I wrote down. Some of them, I'm sure you'll remember and find fun.

Some of them are just for my own benefit. But taking shots in the basement of the concert hall, I think we usually drink shitty vodka. I'm glad I said vodka because I remember, I reminded me in your old apartment on Sheffield. I remember you still have that stupid marshmallow vodka and that stuff just tasted like ass. Oh my god, that was terrible.

That was the worst thing I ever bought. And the only reason I bought it was because they were selling it at 90% off at the DBS. And so this is probably good for mixing. Absolutely terrible, for everything. You ruined everything you touched. There was one time, this must have, oh yes, it was, because some of us were 21, some of us weren't. We went to that CVS South

of your apartment by binnies and it was it me and Ryan we were just like bumming around and trying to get you to buy the alcohol and the lady wouldn't sell to us because yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that point. That was a small window, because when's your birthday, like September? Yeah. Yeah.

And I, in the last one, had turned 21 in this March. So yeah, it must have been sometime during that scleror. That was frustrating. Group piano in general is just something I'll never forget partially because of our instructor Carpezi on Just a lot of what their class start 8 30 a.m. Is that when they started?

Yeah, just I mean good for getting out of the way, but I can recall particularly our sophomore year. A lot of days when I would wake up at like 6 a.m., take the train down from uptown, get a coffee at the student center as soon as it opened at 7.30 and then go practice for a group piano for like 45 minutes. That was the only time I would ever look at my stuff. And I can distinctly remember some class periods where You walk in like 30 seconds before you're expected to play because you would always sit in the front row Sometimes I just felt so bad because it just was not working for you

I don't know if you remember but sometimes sometimes I come and I feel like I'm not doing this. I would sit far in the back and I would shout to Ryan who I was saying next to me. So you don't have to deal with the first of it. I can't believe that that Sado, I think he just didn't care enough, but I can't believe that he never like did a randomization thing going because man, there were definitely, I think I was always pretty good at this but I know people like Maxwell and And caution to an extent definitely utilize their position in

the rotation to get stuff done so I Also distinctly remember a couple class periods because I I was usually the second to last one to go, especially after Sam dropped out. Oh, yeah. But I can recall, like, leaving the classroom as Maxwell is playing and just listening to it, not going well. And I just take one last look back, and we make eye contact.

And in that moment, I just felt so bad. Oh, man. Oh, I know it's not pretty. I know it's not pretty. It's pretty rough though. Like having to, so it's not really anything like multiple parts, like orchestration is really hard. Oh yeah.

Absolutely. I just think like none of us ever took it too seriously and that was the big problem. I loved coming in like on those certain Fridays where we'd all have to play. And we'd all have to play a Beethoven reduction. Then we'd all get better. There would be sometimes I'd be like, I definitely looked at the part and it's solid.

And then there are times when I'm like, oh man, I'm hoping I can remember what this one sounds like. And I think we got together probably somewhere between our sophomore and junior years and we played Beethoven 5 in the green room. Yeah, and I just remember getting to the end and we both knew how it sounded. It's that even the last one is very famous, but it just being we took it too fast and see major isn't exactly the easiest key to play in and yeah it's surprisingly everyone starts on that but it's like it's definitely like this

weird awkward key to play in. Yeah I don't know what the physical stuff is behind it in the space in your fingers but yeah it's not easy. I'll keep going here because we're running long but this one is just my own one. We had like a test prep class session and musicianship when Dr. Hutter was teaching us. I don't even know if you were in this class in this section, but I remember one time because these classes are 8.30 a.m. in your college student. I woke up and went to class and my sweatpants and probably like a hoodie or something. And we were doing like this weird family feud style thing like at the buzzer where two people go up and it's like whoever can answer it faster. And I remember the first time I walked up,

all Dr. Hunter said, and this is way better if you know him, which obviously no one does, but he's hilarious. All he says is, nice of you to get dressed up. And I just, it was this combination, like me feeling embarrassment, but also just like laughing, because I just thought it was absolutely hilarious. So that was a fun one. One that I just thought of, like, five minutes ago that I loved.

When you played piano for, was it, it your a dead man, Charlie Brown. A lot of what I talk about is hot snoopy and that's a topic for another time. But you had to play to accompany Lucy in one of the songs. You were playing the first moon in the moonlight, Sonata, I think. And your music flew away or fell off the stand or something. Oh, yeah. And you played it by memory and you killed it. And I think was it Ryan and I, we were there.

It's me and Steven, I remember. Yeah, you and Ryan were there for sure. Yeah. I remember getting out of that being like, I don't want to do this ever again. I mean, I think one of my favorite parts about that, that whole ordeal was, if they're all for all the listeners who ever watch Always Sunny, they had asked me to do incidental music. Do you watch Always Sunny Quit?

They had asked me to do incidental music and I needed something heroic standing. So of course, the first thing I came to mind was a piano reduction of the Dayman song and I was able to slip that in in both concerts. That's I love that. I used to do that in church and I would never do anything as bold as that but like you're playing all the pastors praying or something and they'll say like a particular phrase that triggers some song in your head and you just work it and you're probably the only one in the room who gets it But but you're having fun either way. Yeah, that's something that's great about piano. You can't really do that with anything else I mean you get to accompany yourself right. Yeah, keep yourself company

We were talking about this a little bit before we started recording but just all the the choir songs that we sang particularly in our freshman year when we had a different conductor. The songs he chose bring us in, good ale, and Bolly Laca. Was that American rock song that we ended up doing? Or just sounded like it needed a rip in guitar solo. Well, Balilaka was like the South Asian one with the Sagadugu Sagadugu and yeah, America's stretching to four syllables.

And yeah, I don't even think, I'm confident that that sounded like total garbage when we actually sang in the concert. We just never got that going I forget about the socket you go part that's a goal That's to pull it goal. It was they were six teeth notes and the quarter note was already like 100 beats or something it was just That was brutal. I mean for all the for all the crap that we sang in our tears acquire We also got to do some fun things. We did Mozart's Requiem and the church which

was really cool so yeah there were there were there were good good days and bad days in choir. Yeah yeah go ahead. I don't know if you know this story but I remember that fact so when we did Mozart from the first time it was a Michael and it was such a it was a heavy performance it was like something it was something profound so I don't remember that same night it was both it was someone's birthday ran one out I had just a bit too much to drink and like that I remember we had to get up we had to be there by 1 p.m. and I just remember standing there for 45 minutes straight completely hungover singing Mozart's Requiem. And I like to think that that's an experience that only music school students

whatever like whatever have and it's something that we like I'd like to hear because of that like singing that's beautifully profound and sad like a piece of music and you're also hungover the entire. Yeah that and I don't know if this is true everywhere, but certainly at the Paul at that time when you're a freshman and a sophomore where you like have the total liberty to just like be a total not not necessarily a slacker but just like do whatever you want and get away with it and there won't be really any consequences especially because you're seeing like a 70% choir where you can pull that off.

I was never drunk for any concerts in college. I never had the balls snorted. I never want to do that. But I wouldn't be surprised, and I could give you a list of a couple names of guys that wouldn't be surprised if they were for those concerts. One other thing, or I have a couple other things, but there was that conversation in the music student lounge where we were sitting with our friend Kasha, and this was when she

was together with Tom number one, not to be confused with Tom number two, and she had left her phone, which is just like a very unconsha thing to do. And it went to the bathroom and of course Tom calls. And I got a shining moment here. I got to take advantage of it. I remember picking up and I said something like, oh yeah, she's just getting out of the shower or something. And people who are listening

don't know Kasha but they definitely don't know Tom and neither do we really. But they really had some, probably not the healthiest relationship and some insecurities. And I mean, I was a total dick, but at the same time, it was just, it was too easy. So that was one of my favorite ones. I was a hilarious, I know,'s dry and I definitely like died.

We're just like, oh man, like there's no way you just did that. Yeah, yeah. I have one other good one and then I'll turn it over to you to finish up if you have any any fun memories. That one night I think it was our I don't know if it was our sophomore year or junior year, but it might have been our, I actually don't remember. We remember the night where we ended up at Danny's house. That was the same night that we did the shots in the concert hall. Yeah, we had, I think like, we did some shots in the concert hall then we went to a concert

which ended up being like way too long and Right a spring. I Thought though. I thought it was like a new music thing or something because didn't we leave early? It was right a screen. We were left right afterwards. Okay, so we left and then we we went downtown, right? We took the train downtown. Oh my yeah, we went all the way downtown Well, you had to be my friend. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and way downtown. I don't even know why we went down. Well you had to stand to be my friend. Yeah yeah yeah. And we met them on a street for like two minutes. And then though you ran into that guy and he was pissed about something and yeah something with a

hat. Remember why. And then I think we I think my plan was just like because I it was drunk this whole time Which is a very not a common thing for me to do But we somehow stumbled into Danny's party which he lived in like Lakeview or something and I just remember I had a handle of Smirnoff in my backpack and this is probably like the worst thing I ever did And well a couple of other bad things that I won't talk about. But I gave, I was just like handing out shots to Freshman who were at that party and like out of the handle and yeah, I think the night ended after that.

But that was a weird night. That was, yeah, that was a weird night. That was something that was before like the ride sharing craze. I remember not having like Uber or lift at that point. So, like... Well, yeah, just ride that train up and down all night. Oh, there. Screw you.

Do you have any memories or reminiscences from undergrad or really any year time at the Paul that really stick out to you. So I have to just to keep you short and they're more general but so like my some of my favorite moments in general and just some of my favorite like times were had after root carer where we would go and we'd go and get coffee with all the pianists. And you know we would just like shoot the shit for like maybe a couple hours max maybe

hour and a half before like before we had to go to studio or before we had to practice and those conversations always ended up like at a place you would expect them but because of that they're so because of that they just had such a special place for me. Just, you know, having that, just meeting up every Friday and just having that time to hang out, it's invaluable. And, you know, those are the moments that stuck with me. You know, it was always you, they're first out there, there's some time around, good old Ryan show up sometimes. Sorry guys, I just I just woke up. I'll be there in like 20 minutes and then he gets there 45 minutes later. And then I think like one of the fun parts about that too is it's sort of the first

fruits of like us having a thing and then you have like guests show up at some point. Like I know even what show up for time to time. We have max there from time to time. It was just always, it was always just a positive hang and a positive experience for all of us. We got to like talk about ideas we had going on or like you know sharing music. We're just like beat dumb and then we just like it was the best because I think that's where a lot of our like our friendships all really just bloomed because of that. And then the second one that I sort of take to heart a lot of the time is,

we used to have a thing, you know, it was our junior year, like around software junior year, where it's Thursdays, we would hang out and watch movies. And you know, the movie thing fell through eventually we all got dizzy, but there was that certain time when we got to introduce Ryan to all those Star Wars movies.

Yeah. And you know, that was fun for me. You know, you pick up some beer, like we get some Stella and Nita. This is before like this huge IPA craze, before we got into a little crap stuff. But like, you know, you know, we just get beer and just hang out and watch Star Wars. And it was just like such a good experience for me. Something that I miss a lot actually is having a regular movie night. So. experience for me, something that I miss a lot actually is having a regular movie night. So, you guys had that giant STV. That was good for me.

They still have a weird STV, that's huge, and it's like 70 pounds. Yeah, I imagine. It's kind of a dish to move. Yeah, and then one time last year, like just randomly, one time, Ryan and I drove down to that place where you live for, I think, what, just one year or two years maybe. And we watched 2001, do you remember that? I do remember that. That was the first time Ryan had ever seen it too, right? I know, you thought of that, you got a big moving knowledge, so I think you had seen it before, right? Yeah, I had, but not for a while and not like as an adult.

So yeah, that was, that was fun. I forgot a lot of like those certain nights would be going to the thing in the student center, picking up the free food, which was usually pretty terrible. Oh, it was always horrible. I think, Jim General, it was just a bad food. Oh, I'm so upset with myself. I was going to take a picture of this. I was at a college that was hosting a regional college

fair for high school students in Central Pennsylvania. Shipanceburg University. I was there on Thursday. And as I was driving out, I drove past the, well, it was in the dining hall. And I drove past a truck. And on the side, it was Chart Wells, the infamous provider of the Paul food.

Oh man, it's just everywhere. Did you stop it and get some like soggy fries? Luxus soggy fries or some, I don't know, taco salads or pizza that wasn't that good. Taco sounds like one of the most horrible things humans have created. If it's not amazing, it's just the most awful thing. Yeah, I was just to remember like... It was just too much lettuce and too much beans and the meat had no flavor and the bowls were just either way too crispy or nothing

going on so yeah that and then what brownstones that with a coffee shop was named that that was pretty bad coffee man. I remember one time this is a bad memory from the I just remember one time running on about four three hours of sleep and I went to brownstones right before right after our musicians of class I drink like that was when they had 30 ounces of like beer up here. I drink those 30 ounces in ten minutes and they felt sick the entire day. And that meal, that meal, what is it? The meal plan money just backfire on me at that point. It was It was fun for like a couple months and then you were just like, man, the variety really isn't that great.

I go occasionally, I'll go to the primary dining hall where I work. One, the quality is just night and day better, but also the variety. And you would think that, I don't know, I guess the DePaul Student Center has variety because of all the different types of restaurants that have, but I don't know, it didn't quite do it for me. So yeah, DePaul Food definitely got a lot of flack.

And when I was a student, I think I remember defending a little bit more, but looking back now and having tried other colleges and university dining halls, like, man, that was rough. So I don't know if that's the Paul, I don't know if that's Tartwell's, I don't know if it's some of both, but yeah, not great. That's more or less what I wanted to get through.

We're right at an hour here, which is going to be the longest podcast, I think. So apologies for keeping you so much, but I'll be in Chicago two weeks from now. Two weeks from today, I'm advertising this to the world because it's going to be a blowout. So I hope Ryan and Sean are okay with that because they're the ones who live there. It's a farewell to far well My old apartments. They're finally moving out of it. I think the rent there is like But it's 1700 a month I think for four bedrooms, which is a steel But it also means that it is a trash pile

So JP you're gonna be there, right? I will be there. OK, absolutely. I don't want anybody flaking on this, because it's one time in Chicago, and it's just an absolute rager of a party. So yeah, we got to get everybody who's anybody there. I want to see everybody from school. So I'll bring my brother out. No, I'll hold you.

Yeah, absolutely. Oh, yeah. You can serenade us with some mom's teen, maybe some guitar. Oh, dude. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, yeah. You can, you can serenade us with some, uh, Momstein, maybe some guitar. Yeah. Give me some of that English. Oh, yeah. That's, that's good stuff. If anybody doesn't know, uh, Momstein, go check out the Icarus Dream, which is a popular, uh, was a popular video among, uh,

Austin, we were undergrad. One other thing that just popped into my head that, um, man, I don't know why we did this so much. And I don't think you ever super active part of it, I think I was definitely the instigator. But remember all the Facebook group chats we had and all the variations. And, um, that was just like, why did we do that so much? I guess that was our primary way of communicating because we didn't group text for whatever reason but yeah there were too many I'm convinced that's like I still have all the they're like to relics now there's a

yeah my messenger do so I just have them and I see them sometimes I'm like yeah that was a thing well and there was always a different variation because of whoever the flavor of the month like other person that was close to our friend group was. So I won't name any names but I'm sure you remember all those different people. I do. I do. I actually am going to ask you out one of those people after we wrap up here. So let me close it out here because we are 61 minutes into the podcast. I want to thank John Paul Pandewski so much for coming on and sharing his insight and just allowing me

to really go back to a different time for just one hour here. So JP, thank you so much for coming out of the podcast. My pleasure, man. Happy back again, since I'm. Yeah, this has been Quinn David Furnace. This is my podcast, The Bean Town Podcast. You can like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter. We are at Bean Tom Cast. If you have any comments, concerns or suggestions, you can email us at Bean Tom Podcast at Yahoo.com. It's Bean Tom, B-E-A-N-T-A-W-N podcast. Yahoo.com.

Next week, no big plans. It'll be a farewell to June and then week after that is a Chicago trip. so I don't know what's going to happen there, we're yet to figure that out. Anyways thanks for listening, if you made it this far into the podcast, appreciate you, let me know what you thought and otherwise hope you have a good weekend. All right, bye. Bye.