(pleasant music) (rhythmic music) - See how wild the Hudson Valley can be in Natalie Wargin's lush landscape paintings.

DJ HollyW8D shares his tips for success as a creative freelancer and catch a performance from Sara Milonovich.

It's all ahead on this episode of "AHA, A House for Arts."

- [Announcer] Funding for "AHA" has been provided by your contribution and by contributions to the WMHT venture fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, the Alexander and Marjorie Hover Foundation and The Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success; that's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts and we invite you to do the same.

(rhythmic music) (gentle piano tinkling) (rhythmic music) - Hi, I'm Lara Ayad and this is "AHA, A House for Arts"; a place for all things creative.

Here's Matt Rogowicz with today's field segment.

(bright music) - I'm here in Cottekill, New York at the studio of Natalie Wargin, whose paintings are inspired by the nature that surrounds her.

Let's go.

(bright music) - I'm working on an acrylic painting, an 18 x 24, my usual horizontal size.

The topic is a walk that I took with a couple of friends up at Mohonk and it was spring; this was few years ago.

And we were walking and we were talking and we were laughing and goofing around and we turn this corner, and my friend, Mary Grace, almost stepped on a porcupine.

I mean the porc- and I had never seen a porcupine before, I mean, outside of a zoo.

And here's this porcupine, and the porcupine was just sitting there eating, and the porcupine was like, nothing; you know, we were nothing to this porcupine.

Eventually the porcupine got up and wandered and I took a bunch of photographs; so that's what this painting is.

(gentle music) I would describe my work as Maximalist; I do a lot of detail, I use a lot of color.

When I post a new painting on my blog or on Instagram, there's always a story.

And I do that for two reasons; one, because I wanna tell what prompted the painting and what is going on in the painting.

And the other thing that I do is I can kind of lead the viewer around the painting and point out details that, unless you really look at the painting for a while, you might miss.

I do not have a fine arts background, I have a graphic designs background, I have a degree in graphics from the University of Illinois, Chicago campus, and I had a business for 20 years doing graphic design in Chicago.

We moved here to Cottekill, Hudson Valley, beautiful Hudson valley, almost 15 years ago and I had retired, more or less, from graphic design before we left.

And I got here and we had a dog and we would take walks and the dog would stop to sniff and I would stop to look; and I started looking.

And I saw all kinds of things; I saw bears in my front yard, I saw coyotes all over the place, red foxes are everywhere, all the birds, and I got a chance to sort of let my eyes linger on things.

And I started doing some watercolors and I kind of liked it; I didn't have a look or anything, I just, I kind of liked it and I kept going.

And I think the trick is to do it every day, I think that's the trick, and I did because it was very pleasant.

And so eventually I moved on to acrylics and that's where I am now.

I mean, I'm really not a fine artist.

I mean, I do it, but I'm not trained that way, so I use the tricks I know.

I don't like to draw, so if I've done... say now I'm working on a painting with porcupines; if I've done a porcupine sketch, even if it's a loose sketch, I don't ever wanna draw that again, I really don't.

So I scan it into my computer and that's how I put my drawings together, I do little bits by little bits and then I piece them together.

And the beauty of this is that I can move things a little bit here, a little bit there, make the composition better to my eye.

And then I can enlarge it to a full-size sketch, print that out, you have to tile it out and piece it together.

And I use a piece of transfer paper and I trace it onto my board, and then I do an underpainting, and the underpainting is always in black.

Because the drawings are so detailed and there are all kinds of little flowers and little things going on, this really helps me because it starts to look... almost like when you're doing a paint-by-number thing; you know, you can actually see that here's a flower, here's a bird, and then I apply the color over that.

And the way I use acrylics is as washes; I don't throw a lot of paint at the board, I work in slow, small layers, I build my color up and this allows me to make changes too, really easily.

(bright music) I think what you need to start doing this is...

I think you need to feel something in here, I think something has to grab you.

I feel that in every piece that I make, there's some part of me, and there's a part when I'm painting where I feel it happen; physically feel it.

And I think that's the thing, I think people need to find something that really works for them, that really gets their mind going, gets their heart going.

- Mario Johnson arrived at Hudson Valley Community College to become a football player, but when he found that sports were not in the cards for him, he discovered the power of music and DJ HollyW8D was born.

How did he get inspired to become a creative freelancer?

And what advice does he have for other aspiring DJs?

I sat down with HollyW8D to find out.

DJ HollyW8D, welcome to "A House for Arts", it's such a pleasure to have you.

- Yes, thank you for having me, it's a pleasure, happy new year.

- And happy new year to you.

So since 2016, you've been getting people to jump and shake it, and I wanna come back to the way you develop your craft as a DJ in just a minute, but I'm just curious to know, how did this all begin for you?

How did you become a DJ?

- So it is a short-long story, but to wrap it up, basically I came up to upstate New York.

I played football in high school and I had to make a decision on what did I wanna do post-high school.

And I found Hudson Valley Community College and got that as a recommendation to go there.

And from going to the college, I, long story short, got cut from the football team.

- Okay, so you originally wanted to play sports and then you got cut from the football team?

- Yeah, yeah yeah, so sports was basically my whole entire life.

And then coming to college, played football, got cut; never got cut in my life.

And then going from there to what did I want to do next, I decided to stay and finish my degree, my communications degree, and then ended up going to U-Albany and got the chance through WCDB Albany to be on on-air radio DJ.

- So the radio station, so the college radio station.

And you had originally come up from Brooklyn, right?

- Yeah, yup yup yup.

- Wow, that's so interesting.

So you decided to stay in the area and it sounds like this door closed on that sports route that you were thinking of going, but then you saw another one open with radio and with music.

So how did that play out?

Is there something that you learned about deejaying and about deejaying on a radio station that you think would surprise a lot of people?

- I would probably say the impact that music has on people's everyday life; when I started doing the radio station, people were calling in, requesting songs.

I would play local artists' songs as well and just seeing the impact that you have on people's everyday life, like I said.

I've played some people's first time hearing themselves on the radio.

- Oh wow, so you've played the work of emerging local artists, as well as really established artists that are known on a wider, geographical level; can you give maybe one or two examples?

- Yeah, so I have a friend who is, he's famous at this point, his name is Capella Grey.

- [Lara] Capella Grey?

- Yeah, Capella Grey, he has a song called "Gyalis", it was famous in 2021.

Just tapping into talent from an early beginning is very important to me.

- That's really interesting, so tell me a bit about how you create your playlist then.

So you talk about kind of bringing local artists into the fold, helping build up their visibility, their credibility too, and then really giving them this audience, which is so awesome.

How do you go about making a playlist?

Let's say you're making a dance playlist, (DJ laughing) how do you know that you found the right thing?

- [DJ] The one.

- and what do you do to craft that?

- So it is very tough being a DJ, but I crowned myself, "The independent artist enthusiast" and I love, in every set list that I do, I try to sprinkle some independent music in there.

But you know, Instagram, we have social media, we have TikTok now; you hear, repetitively you'll hear certain songs.

So it's like, "Okay, let me take this one, put it in a playlist."

But also at the same time I have a Jamaican background, so I try to bring that island vibe and the energy into all my playlists.

So between all of those; the independent artists, the Jamaican background and the TikTok and the Instagram.

(Lara laughing) Facebook as well, putting all that together and just music I also like as well.

- That's a buffet of a lot of cool sounds.

- Yes.

- So you grew up, then, listening to Jamaican music.

Let's go back to that a bit; did your parents have music set site for you or for your future as you were growing up?

- Yeah, not really.

Growing up, my parents, they listened to music, but it wasn't a stamp in my childhood I'd say from them.

I grew up in church, I grew up playing drums, so that was kinda where it sparked for me.

But beyond that, like I said, playing sports, you gotta warm up to some music, and being from a Caribbean background and being in East Flatbush, New York, you hear all different types of music and just a variety of nationalities.

So yeah, that's kind of where it all started from for me.

- That's really amazing.

And I imagine that since you've been really building up your business over the past couple of years, it must've been a really interesting time too, to be working during the onset of the pandemic.

Tell me a bit about what are some challenges you ran into as well as maybe some breakthroughs or new things that you've learned and done and adapted your business to this sort of interruption, if you will.

- So even in the current situation, we're kind of currently, basically still in the pandemic and it's just making the, I call it the pandemic pivot.

Basically within the pandemic I realized, well I make a living off of gathering people, so from 2020 to basically 2021, it was kinda shunned upon in bringing people together ironically.

But what I did is I used the internet to my full extent, and I started doing virtual showcases, you'd say.

- So virtual showcases like virtual shows?

And then what else do you do?

'Cause I know you don't just play music, don't you also train other DJs?

- Right, right right, so yeah, I would do virtual DJ lessons as well.

From virtual DJ lessons to House Chella on Instagram live-- - What's House Chella?

Tell us a bit about that.

- So House Chella was basically a concept I came up with, with a spinoff of Coachella, and I throw independent artist showcases.

But I basically do a independent artist showcase via Instagram live; they split the screen.

I would have the artists tune in from wherever they are in the world, which was easier for me; they don't have to travel and come to me, and they would perform three songs and people would tune in and have a blast.

- That's amazing.

What's an example of an artist that's tuned in that really got people listening?

- There was Kayami from the UK.

- Oh, wow, so these are like international listeners then, international artists.

- Correct, correct.

Like I said, using social media to my full extent.

And Kayami from the UK, Swift from Brooklyn, Ricky Bandana from Albany, New York; people from all over were tuning in and wanting to be a part of it, because artists also weren't performing as well.

- Right, that's so great that you gave them an outlet for that, and I understand too that you've gotten involved with local events as well, including ones that help raise awareness about violence in the community?

- Yup, yup yup.

So my latest campaign is called, "More Music Less Violence"; the music we hear now, it's a lot of, I call it rah-rah, where it's not a lot of stuff being said.

- (laughing) Is this your term, 'cause I kinda love it, rah-rah?

(laughing) (DJ laughing) - I feel like the hip-hop culture would get what I mean if I say rah-rah music, and you could also call it popcorn music, because it comes and goes; it's really, really quick like popcorn.

So with that being said, a lot of music is very negative in a sense, or looked upon as negative, so I try to find artists who have one, positive music and two, no curse words.

And that's kinda like one of the guidelines for the "More Music Less Violence" showcases that I started.

- And you believe, HollyW8D, that having this kind of music that's more positive, that's maybe more uplifting, has a better impact on listeners.

- Yeah, without a doubt.

Within the past two years, we've gone through a lot, so with having a positive message and giving people a takeaway, I feel like it definitely benefits everyone; the artists, the listeners, and myself.

(chuckling) - So what kind of advice, then, do you have for other aspiring DJs out there?

I know for instance, that branding is such an important part of your business, - Yes, it is.

- as a DJ and as a musician; what kind of advice do you have for other DJs out there that are listening right now?

- So my advice would be to be yourself, find your passion, find your purpose and follow them; I have a famous quote, it's, "Don't force it, find it."

And like I said, find what you love to do and see how you could make a living from it.

It's not guaranteed, but you miss 100% of the shots that you don't shoot.

(chuckling) - Right, thank you so much for offering that wonderful insight and for sharing your story.

- Thank you for having me, yes.

- It's such a pleasure to have you.

- Likewise, likewise, yeah, it's more than music.

- (laughing) More than music.

Please welcome Sara Milonovich.

- This is a song I wrote called, "Two Dollar Town" and it's off our latest album, which is titled "Northeast."

("Two Dollar Town" playing) ♪ Got a million dollar view of two dollar town ♪ ♪ Streets are safe at midnight ♪ ♪ 'Cause there's no one else around ♪ ♪ Days crawl by like weeds taking over in the hollows ♪ ♪ At summer's end the children fly away with the swallows ♪ ♪ Is it a long time gone ♪ ♪ Can you ever go home ♪ ♪ Smokey old red diesel and days too long to measure ♪ ♪ Find us in the driveway always talking about the weather ♪ ♪ Breathing in the evening dew ♪ ♪ Settling on the windrows ♪ ♪ Silent at the sunset ♪ ♪ Don't waste words on what you know ♪ ♪ Wasn't that long ago ♪ ♪ Wonder who's next to go ♪ ♪ We all gotta pick a hill to die on ♪ ♪ A mountaintop to make a stand ♪ ♪ Roads of clay you can rely on ♪ ♪ Or a paper tombstone in your hand ♪ ♪ Nights were still long in the dairy barn ♪ ♪ Found him in his fort with a needle in his arm ♪ ♪ I wish I'd thought to ask him if his war was ever won ♪ ♪ Never talked about it even when the chores were done ♪ ♪ We're all fault lines ♪ ♪ We're all dying all the time ♪ ♪ Maybe there's mercy no decision left to make ♪ ♪ Last night left your sign on still the deepest cut to take ♪ ♪ Surrender your kingdom to a stranger in the fog ♪ ♪ Who stares out at the cornfields ♪ ♪ And sees nothing there at all ♪ ♪ This is the season of tall grass ♪ ♪ But like all things must pass ♪ ♪ We all gotta pick a hill to die on ♪ ♪ A hill of sand or a hill of corn ♪ ♪ If you wanna get away with murder ♪ ♪ Just make a killing a million times more ♪ ♪ Now I always get a heartache driving past the headlands ♪ ♪ Listening to the radio instead of the rain ♪ ♪ I wish those golden fields hadn't flown away so far ♪ ♪ I trap all those glowing eyes safely in a glass jar ♪ This is a song I wrote about drinking and questioning every life decision you've ever made; it's called, "Queen of Suburbia."

("Queen of Suburbia" playing) ♪ Well I got drunk with the Queen of Suburbia ♪ ♪ 30 miles from our threadbare hometown ♪ ♪ Well the big city lights might've hurt ya ♪ ♪ But it sure beats that hole in the ground ♪ ♪ Hey honey how's life with ya these days ♪ ♪ Did you figure it out on the way ♪ ♪ How's the view through the eyes of your two kids ♪ ♪ Those bottles of Chardonnay ♪ ♪ Hey hey hey ♪ ♪ Ain't it funny how life comes around ♪ ♪ Do we settle on something to live for ♪ ♪ Or just settle down ♪ ♪ When we reminisced back on our childhood ♪ ♪ You'd have thought we were living in war ♪ ♪ As we tried not to die from the boredom ♪ ♪ And figuring out what we're good for ♪ ♪ Remember just after the first frost ♪ ♪ We played hide-n-seek in the corn ♪ ♪ And everyone thought we were lost ♪ ♪ Til we came in at last to get warm ♪ ♪ Hey hey hey ♪ ♪ Ain't it funny how life comes around ♪ ♪ We settle on something to live for ♪ ♪ Or just settle down ♪ ♪ Now it's been a few years since we've spoken ♪ ♪ Guess there's not much we needed to say ♪ ♪ And I see by the pictures you posted ♪ ♪ That your second one's making her way ♪ ♪ Well let's head up and settle our bar tab ♪ ♪ And study ourselves in the glass ♪ ♪ And wonder how life would've turned out ♪ ♪ If we'd each chosen each other's path ♪ ♪ Hey hey hey ♪ ♪ Ain't it funny how life comes around ♪ ♪ Did we settle on something to live for ♪ ♪ Or just settle down ♪ ♪ Hey hey hey ♪ ♪ Are we happy with all that we've found ♪ ♪ Looking back at the road not taken ♪ ♪ For tracks on the ground ♪ ♪ Now I wish that I wanted what you've got ♪ ♪ Quiet chores and nice cozy bed ♪ ♪ Instead of stalking these highways and alleys ♪ ♪ With these dreams bleeding out in my head ♪ (music fades to silence) (rhythmic music) - Thanks for joining us.

For more arts, visit wmht.org/aha and be sure to connect with WMHT on social.

I'm Lara Ayad, thanks for watching.

(bright rhythmic music) (soft music) - [Announcer] Funding for "AHA" has been provided by your contribution and by contributions to the WMHT venture fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, the Alexander and Marjorie Hover Foundation and The Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success; that's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts and we invite you to do the same.