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Cause aint nobody got time for Amateur's
Unknown Speaker 0:00
You're listening to local programming produced in KU NV studios. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5. Jas and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. This
Unknown Speaker 0:16
is talking with the pro professional. This is talking with the pros with me just be I speak to the professionals in the world of audio to gain an insight into what it takes to become a pro talking with the pros. Talking with the pros with my co hosts, Paulie. Hey, Polly, you know, what I was thinking we could do today is go into who is Polly, there's just so much more to you that we really need to dive in. Because you're like a treasure trove of experience a treasure trove of knowledge and professional nonetheless, in the world of audio. So we're going to tie it all talk about like the beginnings of poly.
Unknown Speaker 1:01
My name is actually Paul and I
Unknown Speaker 1:05
tell people please state your legal name for them.
Unknown Speaker 1:08
No, I actually will. Because the reason why I like to give my name out as Polly, I can hear my name better. Because when people say Paul, I can't hear my name. It sounds like wall or something. Or all like it just it's so hard to hear my name it being
Unknown Speaker 1:25
difficult in an environment where there's a concert, there's music going on. And people need to communicate with you. So basically, that's what you're talking about. Absolutely.
Unknown Speaker 1:33
Especially across a room across the stage. Or just anywhere. i It's hard to hear my name when I it sounds like other words, it's just really hard. So that's why I like Paulie. It gives a nice tinge to my name, but it's not my real name. It's Paul.
Unknown Speaker 1:50
But do you enjoy pole when people's call you Polly is your like to the core you feel like a poly to
Unknown Speaker 1:58
the core. I feel like a poly poly pocket. I'll talk to somebody and they'll say a dino Polly Pockets are or once I say poly, right? Hey, my name is Polly. They're like, Oh, Polly Polly Pocket or Pauly Shore or poly D? I'm totally okay with that. Okay, well, yeah,
Unknown Speaker 2:16
I love being recognized as another artists too. I mean, DJ Pauly D. Oh, oh, we're
Unknown Speaker 2:25
so so actually. That's where I chime in and I say I'm not just a DJ. Okay. And, you know, shout out to DJ Pauly D. Jersey Shore. Great show. Oh, you like cheesy? I thought it was funny. I thought it was crazy. Just a lot of
Unknown Speaker 2:40
are you guilty pleasure watcher. No,
Unknown Speaker 2:42
I just would come on. And I'd be like, okay, sure, why not? And I saw his hair. And I'm like, Who is that? And I saw his name. I didn't think any of it. I didn't think that my name would be confused with him when I started calling myself Polly, or Polly DLT, which is my full name. Just abbreviations. Like when I was watching that show. I didn't think of that. And then now I'm like, everyone's everyone confuses me with DJ Pauly D, in a way because the poly so then I shit. I say to people. I'm not just a DJ.
Unknown Speaker 3:17
Yeah, DJ Pauly D released like, long lasting somebody that we didn't expect to be on the scene for so long. But he's, I think it has to do with his grind. He's dedicated. He's going to show to show even in the show, I have a show like I got to do on the move doing the most. And I think that's something just be sad, or why he's still around and still relevant. And creating, and people are still a fan of him. Obviously, you know, he's putting in to his craft. And he's not just like really surfing the oh, I'm famous for my show. It was like something that he was doing before the show. And like he built from the audience that he gained committed to it as an artist
Unknown Speaker 3:57
that proves the point that even if you've been successful in the past, nobody cares. Unless you're still putting in the work and you're still getting after it. Tom Brady, for example, we like to talk about outliers because they're an example for what we could be as a person people watch sports or people watch musicians and artists, speakers, we like to tune in to these things because we want to better our lives in some way or or escape in some way or see how they're doing it. Right. So those types of people, the people that are doing the work the football players or the baseball players or anybody who's in front of a camera, or behind a microphone, you don't just stop when you are successful. You keep going you try to find ways of innovating and constantly pursuing your craft that it doesn't just stop DJ Pauly D didn't just stop his career in Jersey Shore, and then just fell off and took the money and ran. He continued to put in work and that is an example of to me, someone who's successful how you made people feel over the course. Most of your life over the course of an entire generation in a sense, once you we go, we leave this planet, right? We think, oh, what
Unknown Speaker 5:07
what legacy Are we leaving behind, but also to those people that are having success? Okay, that's great. Oh, nice that they did something but then oh, they're still out there winning. And then it's like, oh once hated somebody for being successful. But oh, look how prevalent they are, and prolific they are with their content, oh, maybe I should really consider looking twice and looking into this person has actually got something this person, it's not just like a fluke, and it's long sustaining. So maybe I can, maybe I can learn
Unknown Speaker 5:37
from that. It's part of who that person is. It's part of who they are, and part
Unknown Speaker 5:41
of who they are. But I want to know more about who you are Polly. Because I know you're so dedicated to the learning, the growing, gaining knowledge and so multifaceted that I want to dive more into the younger years, I know you're an instrument player, you're a musician, and you're also create so like you're an artist at the core, not only professional in the world of audio, I think we can learn something from like your beginning story. I know you had mentioned before that you went to LVA. And you kind of like that's where Polly was formed. But also like, the earlier years of elementary, and like, what got you into going to LVA? Which for those who don't know, please explain. Well,
Unknown Speaker 6:28
I actually didn't become who I was in LVA, or in my middle school years, or that young part of my life. I in elementary school, like just early development, I like to start in early childhood development, because that's where I really started was blessed into a good family, two loving parents. Now, I understand immediately when I say that people are like, Okay, this guy's a rich kid. All right, great. Whatever, I can't relate to him. Well, I'll get it. I'll get into the story in elementary school, because I was in a nice environment at home. When I go to elementary school, and I and I'd see other kids and I interact with people. I thought everybody was nice. Everyone's supposed to be nice. It actually goes before elementary school, it goes preschool. Okay, you know, just grabbing a toy out of a toy box. I'm like, oh, I want to give this to somebody, I feel good. When I give a toy to someone. Let me grab this little toy and give it to my friend. Here you go. Now you want to be friends. All right. And in preschool, I learned how the world kind of works in in a messed up way. It's an early lesson an early my first lesson that I remember just being alive on planet Earth. It was when I wanted to play with that person, or just have fun. And it's in the sandbox and just like, Okay, I gave you the toy like, Can we be friends? They would not share the toy. They would keep it for themselves and they would run away. And then I'm like, what's going on? Like? Do they not like me? Do they hate me? Like, what's going on? Do they not? I just gave them a toy. And they just ran with it. And then they didn't give it back. And then when I tried to hang out with them, they'd start like crying and fighting. And I'm like, what, what is this planet? Well, where am I? It seems
Unknown Speaker 8:12
like a duality from who you were, and how you were raised? Oh, yeah. And seen. There's other sides out there in the world, it was
Unknown Speaker 8:20
not a good time at all. It was actually a very traumatic time as a child, kid in the sandbox that wants to play with other kids in the sandbox and gives another kid a toy to play with. And I didn't get it back. Or I wouldn't play with the kid. And then they they kind of ostracize me. So I was always in preschool. Before elementary school, just kind of away from everybody else. I would literally like go into a corner and just kind of like sleep on my own or whatever. And then just wait for mom to come home. This was right before 911. And once 911 happened. I just remember the trauma of that day how our history was about to change or like the course of history was changing in America. And I remember my parents screaming I remember that just everybody felt different. It felt like this low point, this blue sinking feeling. And I remember feeling that as a child, and I'm just like, this sucks. What is humanity? Where am I? What is this place? Like I'm just born into this world? And I'm like feeling all this negativity? Well, I don't want to be like that. I want to be a force for change and a force for positivity. Well, that's the mindset I adopted before elementary school once I went into elementary school, I thought I could make friends like that. It's not how the world works. I would make a friend we would be cool outside of school having a great relationship and then in school around other people jealousy or some kind of like hey, I'm better than you and we'll just act cooler than me in the in the cool group in the popular kid group. And then I just noticed the social dynamics early on in life. It's it is tough, cruel world.
Unknown Speaker 9:59
Yeah. posturing is major in a social setting in an environment where it seems like we're all you know, going through the same experience, but cliques are being formed groups are being formed. And then it's the who's who, unfortunately, instead of like, banding together through this shared experience, and like having each other's back and support,
Unknown Speaker 10:24
it's hard on someone that comes from a good family. In the attempt, they're working hard. The two parents working their tails off to run a business. My dad's a physician just stressed out all the time, because he's got people come in at complaining that serious, serious stuff. So the stress level is is unreal, a lot of my family members. Yeah, it's a lot. And I'm just I don't know what's going on as a child in social circles. In elementary school, I'm trying to be nice to everybody. Because you know, when I come home, my parents are greeting me nice. So I want to be nice to other people. It got me nothing. All it did was I noticed people fighting with me bullies, right. And I didn't understand that concept of bullying, I would just sit under a tree by myself for a majority of the school time, and I was I think this was kindergarten through fifth grade, right? Most of my time, socially, was spent underneath a frickin tree. Well, I think
Unknown Speaker 11:19
this lends to more of who you are now who I know you're so talented, musically, that I want to talk about what sparked that interest in you from going from under the tree to now picking up an instrument, having curiosity about music,
Unknown Speaker 11:36
I was in my head a lot. I would physically mentally, emotionally and energetically detach from everyone around me. And I would push people away. And I was by myself in this playground, big grass area. And then you have the main playground right? At the back of the grass area. There's just like this huge playground. When you're a kid, everything's big. So I was underneath this tree sitting by myself. For years, everybody was playing, everybody was socializing. Everybody was fighting, right? Everyone was just learning how to play. I didn't do any of that. I just completely detached from everybody. I think it developed in my mind, just a sense of detachment, like I could see the world outside, right. But I didn't see it in a negative way. I saw it as like, Oh, more observant, more observant, I wasn't a negative person. Yes, I was going through a traumatic experience dealing with a rough situation and not knowing how to be tougher, right, not knowing how to overcome tough, a tough thing. So there's also
Unknown Speaker 12:38
like a new concept too, because you were coming from that environment where probably the people around you that the children around you had come from a little tougher background. So the interaction, maybe they didn't have the tools, you know, I've learned it's probably more of like, what that person experiences and capabilities and wherewithal factors into how they treat others, like a consideration, I don't think is something that's being taught. Oh,
Unknown Speaker 13:06
okay, so it's not taught. That's the key to life. You're not going to learn this in school. You're not going to learn this from your teachers. You're not going to learn this from anybody except you. That's how I look at it. Because the only person that can overcome this in life is you.
Unknown Speaker 13:26
So Polly, here young Polly, observing the world, looking out from a distance having a different point of view than the majority of people. When does music come into your life at that point, third
Unknown Speaker 13:42
grade elementary school so that time I'm by myself dealing with those issues of like, I can't make friends with anybody right now. What's going on? It
Unknown Speaker 13:49
sounds like an outlet. So yeah, I'm
Unknown Speaker 13:52
looking for an outlet and my sister's boyfriend at the time who went to school here and was in the drumline here at UNLV got me a drum set. Wow. Yeah. And he got me drumsticks. My parents said it was Santa, but I knew I knew it was a Christmas thing. So this little tiny Yamaha drum set showed up. I didn't want to learn how to play drums. I thought the drummer was stupid. I thought the drummer was like, weird. Like, who's that nerd in the back? That's just like, I want to be in the front. I want to do because, right as if I'm a kid who has been like always at the back, literally, yeah, like bullied, right? Like, didn't know how to deal with bullies didn't know how to be strong and tough. Right? I want to do something that's cool. So I want to be in front of people and like, be the showman be the person in front. Right? Have a passion for like being seen. And having a voice because I had no voice. I was mute. I was literally physically mute. I didn't know how to talk. I had to become somebody who's extroverted. I was not at all.
Unknown Speaker 14:50
Wow. So this moment comes, Santa brings you this great President. And
Unknown Speaker 14:56
I would just start messing with the kit, but I didn't know what I was doing. He knew how to play drums. This is happening in third grade of elementary school. I don't know what's happening. I thought guitarists were way better than drummers because guitarist they wrote a lot of rock music at that time, as singers, right. So I want to be a singer and rock star, I want to be on the stage playing a guitar. Well, I never learned guitar, because that day that he gave me those drumsticks, he showed me how to play a rock beat a simple just
Unknown Speaker 15:34
but when I was doing that, as a kid, I'm like, I don't know how to, like, what is this coordination thing? What is this? Like octopus level stuff? And then my brain explode? Oh, yes, yes. And it still does right now to this very day recording this show dude. And everyday anybody
Unknown Speaker 15:55
to the future, learn an instrument and played music. It's real, not
Unknown Speaker 16:01
only just that for life, because let's say you grab a rocket, a little RC, rocket, radio control rocket or RC car. Or you're passionate about football and you grab a football for the first time and you're like, this is cool. What is this? What is this thing that I can throw in and catch in? And, you know, tackle people with and play a game and when that is the most important thing to capture, for the rest and hold on to for the rest of your life. So
Unknown Speaker 16:38
you experienced that playing the drums? And yes, going with that beat and a spark went off. Totally.
Unknown Speaker 16:46
And it's still going off today. The same spark I had then as the same spark, I still have no. And I apply it to different things that I've that I'm passionate about and that I want to learn and pursue now
Unknown Speaker 16:56
coming of age high school age and going into what your next step is. And you How did you find out that there was a high school dedicated to the arts?
Unknown Speaker 17:10
Well, because I learned the rock beat and it the explosion happened. That explosion continued a day after day after day, I would practice for 12 hours. And I didn't even know I was sitting at a drum set for that long. You weren't. I was Yeah, I was relentless. But it I didn't feel relentless. I just felt like it was me. I'm just like, Dude, I love this stuff. And that's anybody who's successful, who gets really good at a craft is anybody who gets really good at anything. They're so obsessed with just doing it, that when I hear the term hard work, I think it's complete garbage. I think the term hard work is garbage. It's not for somebody who is passionate about something and they like it, they're willing to do the work. You're willing to get out there, you're willing to put yourself on the frontlines of a stressful situation and make something happen. Like if you want to be a Navy Seal, and you're physically capable of it, if you can execute on the training, right. And it's just anything in life you're
Unknown Speaker 18:09
passionate about. Oh, right. So here's this high school that oh, yeah, the high stick. Yeah. So though, right? Oh, you're interested in different not just music, but like theater, language, and music. So you have to apply and be accepted. And here you are a high school student a freshman before
Unknown Speaker 18:30
Okay, so the story then continues in the middle school middle school. I'll keep it super simple. I actually didn't want to be a musician. Oh, dude,
Unknown Speaker 18:39
was it kind of like the idea of I love this thing, so I don't want to kill it kind of thing. Exactly.
Unknown Speaker 18:43
But I just got stupid good at it. Just got really good at it. Because that that obsession, that obsession from the explosion, I'm calling it the explosion right now. Just Whoa, I got the rock beat down. Dude. Look at this rock feed. Right? Once I got the rock beat down. That continued in the middle school and I started doing crazy stuff. I just started I kept on learning. I kept on going lessons. Just dedication, whatever. Cool. Well, while I was in middle school, I actually didn't want an element school. I didn't want to be a musician. Because to me, musicians are nerds. They're weird. I didn't like it. Even though I was weird. Even though I was weird. I wanted to be I wanted to be cool. I wanted to be a jock and I wanted to be physically fit. So my eyes to this day, even right now. I would rather be an athlete than a musician.
Unknown Speaker 19:33
Oh, hot take Oh,
Unknown Speaker 19:38
no, I suck in certain way in certain ways. We'll get to that. Oh, and the last part about laziness and motivation, all that? Sure.
Unknown Speaker 19:44
Sure. So you have aspirations of being an high school athlete at this point, rather than I have
Unknown Speaker 19:52
I have aspirations of being a middle school athlete in the middle school. It was a developmental time for me. It actually I want the same schools. system that Ariana Grande one, two, it was really, really cool got to travel to Europe, it's great because my good grades whatever that time I told my coach, hey coach, I know you want me to play football right now want me to be a wide receiver, whatever that position was, Coach, I don't want to do that I don't want to play for the football team, I want to be a drummer, I made that decision in eighth grade seventh eighth grade right before going into high school. Because I just saw how strong I was playing the drums, I didn't want to lose that momentum. I locked it down. And I firmly believe that people don't become successful in high school, they become successful in middle school, because to get to high school, you need to accomplish great things in middle school. So I'm talking to anybody who's super young right now, if you're a young teenager, and you found a passion, and you're really good at that thing, and you're learning more about it, stick with it as much as you can, because it becomes a lifeline in your professional career
Unknown Speaker 20:55
to those now in university, who can now look back on their life, and go back to the time when they're in elementary, junior high middle school, and then see, oh, there was this beginning sparks in me there was something that I was actually focused on. And I enjoyed something spark in middle school, and now you're in university and you can like look back on Oh, there was defining moments in my life that is led me to this point and understanding where you're headed and be assured, like you're heading into what you want to do long term got
Unknown Speaker 21:29
me into LVA auditioning and making it into a school like that. It all stems from that explosion. I had an elementary school because that I never lost it. I never lost that little spark that I had for drums or for music in general. And just getting good at something, right? Getting good at something was my way out to become socially accepted in this world. Right? It's it's not because I was a nice person or my personality or whatever, that didn't matter. Right actually goes into a philosophical thing, but we will go down there yet. In middle school, I was playing the drums. I was maintaining it and I was getting good. I was in the jazz band there. So I just got super good at it. I didn't stop it. For summary. I was like a little prodigy in middle school, that I just will really really really liked music.
Unknown Speaker 22:18
And you weren't just Tupac drums specific. You were percussion you ventured out into I hated
Unknown Speaker 22:25
that. So okay. percussions sucks to me. I really do. Does let me let me explain. I never wanted to be a percussionist. I hated the idea. It goes to like the shaker. It was nerdy. I'm like, What is this weirdo like shaking this in? Like, what is that? And then the marimba, like, I don't even know what that is like, what xylophone? What is this? Right? But here's the thing. I would rather be a drummer than a percussionist bar none. And I would still be my middle school self versus, you know, having all those other skills? Well,
Unknown Speaker 22:56
I know you can play other instruments and play them. Well, totally. So what got you venturing out to those other instruments?
Unknown Speaker 23:04
Well, that was the decision to go to high school, just it depended on where I'd go, right, because I'm in middle school. And I'm focused on actually being a well rounded person as an athlete as much as I can. And as a musician. So I wanted to, I wanted to just be a drummer, I didn't want to do anything else. I wanted to be a really well known famous drummer. That was kind of like my idea in middle school. Then my mom comes in one day, and she tells me, Paul, you shouldn't be just a drummer. I was in the kitchen, and I was getting food. And she says, Paul, I don't want you just being a drummer. That fateful day, I listened to my mom. And I made the decision. Alright, screw it, I'll learn other things. And I started learning other things. I auditioned to LVA because I got in touch with percussionist from UNLV. That was teaching here. And his name is Alex Stopa. He's literally the coolest guy ever. He's amazing. He's super talented. And he's somebody that loves to learn as well. So I got lucky there. And he started to teach me how to play these instruments, these other instruments. And it enabled me to get into an audition at all VA and make it into the school. So
Unknown Speaker 24:18
the program kind of like required that to write. Oh,
Unknown Speaker 24:22
yeah. Keep in mind, though, I think all of the stuff that I'm doing all of the drawer, all this percussion stuff the whole time. I'm in high school. I hate my life. I don't like being a percussionist. I hate it. I think it's stupid. Because me, I like the athletic mentality. I like I would like I said, I would rather be an athlete and be a strong you know, physically fit person that's doing cool stuff with cool people. Like to be honest with you. I wanted to be a jock. I wasn't a jock. Now you can see how everything is coming from this elementary school story, right that I've just like, been socially, you know, ostracized. to now having some status because I'm learning drumming, instrumental learning something that I want to be cool. And Cool. Is that it in that way do that. So, but whatever. So yeah, I just wanted to be cool. And I thought the coolest people were the athletes.
Unknown Speaker 25:20
Well, you're picking up some diversity in your musical talent repertoire. And you're growing, you love learning, you're practicing and like, I'm sure eight hours a day. So this is something you're dedicated to, you're putting in your passion and your hard work. And now fast forward from your mom leading you into being not only a drummer, but learning other instruments and picking up instruments and I'm sure at this point, you're trying out your own music, learning that you can make your own music.
Unknown Speaker 25:56
Oh, yeah. Okay, so that actually happened. And that actually happened in high school. Cuz I joined a little band. There were some other talented kids. We were like, Hey, can we all do something cool? Because I want to play drums. I don't want to do all this percussion stuff. And I got really good at that, too. But honestly, all of that was purely for survival. I hate I hated it. Like Mark my words. I hated being a percussionist. It was who I mean, I didn't like the people I was around. I didn't like any of it. It was just, I didn't have fun doing it. It was I did it out of out of necessity, because my parents, I was trying to fulfill that thing that, hey, my mom wants me to be a percussionist, so I'll do it. But I was doing something I hated. I really, really hated it. Deep down, I hated it. I didn't like it. I did it. And I developed a somewhat passion for it. But I was doing it out of pure survival for school for grades for having some sort of talent to do something else. Yeah, developed a love in it, right? Because it gave me an awareness of music. And it gave me the it actually led to the passion of creating music, because, but I've always had it, that's the thing. I've always had the passion. In middle school, I started making music. He was on my laptop, he was on GarageBand. I was with other athletes too. It was like other dudes that played sports. We were just hanging out. And it was like, Yo, like, let's make this beat. Let's just like throw down some keyboards and drums, and we were all musical type, you know, on the keyboard. GarageBand is just like hitting the keyboard and making beats. It was so cool. I made songs dude, that passion was way before I knew music theory or wanted to be a percussionist or wanted to do any of that, which I never really did. I never wanted to do it. My mom told me to. So it's like the cold hard truth. And people are listening right now that know who I am, are probably like, what? Because I ended up winning all state twice and in high school.
Unknown Speaker 27:57
Wow. Yeah. That's great. Yeah, I'll state like in music or in your sport in
Unknown Speaker 28:02
the whole state, the Nevada education, all state competition, I don't know exactly the name. There was a competition statewide thing against all schools, I won that competition twice. Super cool. But that didn't come from my mindset of being a musician that came from my mindset of being an athlete. See, I'm competitive. I'm extremely competitive. I want to win in this world. And I want to do cool things. So
Unknown Speaker 28:26
I just want to thank you so much, Polly, for giving us a glimpse into your beginnings, everything that you've overcome, and everything you've achieved, and how that applies to who you are now and in the future. So thank you for taking us on that journey of your beginnings of your life. Now we can really get a more well rounded base of where you're coming from what we can apply moving forward to everybody else in this professional space. So thank you, Paulie, and my co host, my favorite person in the world of audio. Thank you again for being my co host.
Unknown Speaker 29:02
Thank you. I'm excited to catch you
Unknown Speaker 29:05
on the next one.
Unknown Speaker 29:05
Let's go. I
Unknown Speaker 29:06
want to thank you so much for tuning in. And if you missed any of today's episode, you can find us anywhere podcasts are available like Spotify, Google and Apple podcasts. Thank you for listening to today's episode of talking with the pros with me. Just be I love you and I'll catch you in the next one. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai